The Burden of Modifiable Cardiovascular Risk Factors in a Population of Central Italy: A Pilot Study.

Background: By the mid-20th century, cardiovascular disease (CVD) had become an important cause of mortality and morbidity in developed countries. The aim was to set up a pilot study to screen citizens aged 45-59 in order to identify modifiable risk factors (RFs).

Methods: Our study was conducted from February 2019 to February 2020 on citizens of a population of central Italy, aged 45-59, contacted by letter.

SARS-CoV2 Infection and Comorbidity in Inmates: A Study of Central Italy.

Background And Objective: The presence of multiple chronic diseases is associated with an increase in mortality when related to COVID-19 infection.

The Aims Of Our Study Were: (i) to evaluate the association between the severity of the COVID-19 disease, defined as symptomatic hospitalized in prison or symptomatic hospitalized out of prison, and the presence of one or more comorbidities in two prisons in central Italy: L'Aquila and Sulmona; (ii) to describe the profiles of inmates using multiple correspondence analysis (MCA).

Methods: A database was created including age, gender and clinical variables.

Multiple sclerosis lesions in motor tracts from brain to cervical cord: spatial distribution and correlation with disability.

Despite important efforts to solve the clinico-radiological paradox, correlation between lesion load and physical disability in patients with multiple sclerosis remains modest. One hypothesis could be that lesion location in corticospinal tracts plays a key role in explaining motor impairment. In this study, we describe the distribution of lesions along the corticospinal tracts from the cortex to the cervical spinal cord in patients with various disease phenotypes and disability status.

Unsupervised Domain Adaptation With Optimal Transport in Multi-Site Segmentation of Multiple Sclerosis Lesions From MRI Data.

Automatic segmentation of Multiple Sclerosis (MS) lesions from Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) images is essential for clinical assessment and treatment planning of MS. Recent years have seen an increasing use of Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs) for this task. Although these methods provide accurate segmentation, their applicability in clinical settings remains limited due to a reproducibility issue across different image domains.

Point-Cloud Method for Automated 3D Coronary Tree Reconstruction From Multiple Non-Simultaneous Angiographic Projections.

X-ray angiography is the most commonly used imaging modality for the detection of coronary stenoses due to its high spatial and temporal resolution of lumen contour and its utility to guide coronary interventions in real time. However, the high inter- and intra-observer variability in interpreting the geometry of 3D vascular structure based on multiple 2D image projections is a limitation in the accurate determination of lesion severity. This could be addressed by the 3D reconstruction of the coronary arterial (CA) tree.

T2 mapping MRI technique quantifies carotid plaque lipid, and its depletion after statin initiation, following acute myocardial infarction.

Background & Aims: A recently-validated, highly-sensitive T2 mapping magnetic resonance (MRI) technique accurately quantifies carotid plaque lipid. The aims of this study were to determine: (i) the extent of carotid plaque lipid in patients with acute coronary syndromes (ACS); (ii) the effects of initiation of high-intensity statin on plaque lipid content and (iii) whether plaque lipid content is related to standard or 'functional' blood lipid measurements.

Methods: Statin naïve subjects presenting with ACS underwent carotid artery MRI at 3 T scanner to quantify plaque lipid.

3D reconstruction of coronary arteries from 2D angiographic projections using non-uniform rational basis splines (NURBS) for accurate modelling of coronary stenoses.

Objective: Assessment of coronary stenosis severity is crucial in clinical practice. This study proposes a novel method to generate 3D models of stenotic coronary arteries, directly from 2D coronary images, and suitable for immediate assessment of the stenosis severity.

Methods: From multiple 2D X-ray coronary arteriogram projections, 2D vessels were extracted.

Quantification of carotid plaque lipid content with magnetic resonance T2 mapping in patients undergoing carotid endarterectomy.

Background And Purpose: Techniques to stratify subgroups of patients with asymptomatic carotid artery disease are urgently needed to guide decisions on optimal treatment. Reliance on estimates of % luminal stenosis has not been effective, perhaps because that approach entirely disregards potentially important information on the pathological process in the wall of the artery.

Methods: Since plaque lipid is a key determinant of plaque behaviour we used a newly validated, high-sensitivity T2-mapping MR technique for a systematic survey of the quantity and distribution of plaque lipid in patients undergoing endarterectomy.

Quantification of Lipid-Rich Core in Carotid Atherosclerosis Using Magnetic Resonance T Mapping: Relation to Clinical Presentation.

Objectives: The aim of this study was to: 1) provide tissue validation of quantitative T mapping to measure plaque lipid content; and 2) investigate whether this technique could discern differences in plaque characteristics between symptom-related and non-symptom-related carotid plaques.

Background: Noninvasive plaque lipid quantification is appealing both for stratification in treatment selection and as a possible predictor of future plaque rupture. However, current cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) methods are insensitive, require a coalesced mass of lipid core, and rely on multicontrast acquisition with contrast media and extensive post-processing.

Fast and accurate localization of multiple RF markers for tracking in MRI-guided interventions.

Object: A new method for 3D localization of N fiducial markers from 1D projections is presented and analysed. It applies to semi-active markers and active markers using a single receiver channel.

Materials And Methods: The novel algorithm computes candidate points using peaks in three optimally selected projections and removes fictitious points by verifying detected peaks in additional projections.

Urban air pollution monitoring and correlation properties between fixed-site stations.

The rich regional air-monitoring network of the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy has been used to quantify the spatial variability of the main pollutants within urban environments and to analyze the correlations between stations. The spatial variability of the concentrations of the majority of pollutants within the city was very high, making it difficult to differentiate and characterize the urban environments and to apply legal limits with uniform criteria. On the other hand, the correlations between the fixed-site monitoring stations were high enough for their data to be retained generally very appropriately for controlling temporal trends.