Publications by authors named "Pirrotta S"

Article Synopsis
  • Understanding cancer involves exploring mechanisms, categorizing subtypes, predicting outcomes, and evaluating treatment effectiveness, with gene-expression signatures being vital tools over the last decade.
  • Recent technological advancements like single-cell RNA sequencing have exposed the complexity of tumor cells, prompting the need for new computational tools to analyze this heterogeneity accurately.
  • The R Bioconductor package "signifinder" helps streamline the use of cancer transcriptional signatures across various data types, enhancing the analysis of tumor features through case studies that illustrate its effectiveness in oncology research.
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Epithelial ovarian cancer is a significant global health issue among women. Diagnosis and treatment pose challenges due to difficulties in predicting patient responses to therapy, primarily stemming from gaps in understanding tumor chemoresistance mechanisms. Recent advancements in transcriptomic technologies like single-cell RNA sequencing and spatial transcriptomics have greatly improved our understanding of ovarian cancer intratumor heterogeneity and tumor microenvironment composition.

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Spacecraft observations revealed that rocks on carbonaceous asteroids, which constitute the most numerous class by composition, can develop millimeter-to-meter-scale fractures due to thermal stresses. However, signatures of this process on the second-most populous group of asteroids, the S-complex, have been poorly constrained. Here, we report observations of boulders' fractures on Dimorphos, which is the moonlet of the S-complex asteroid (65803) Didymos, the target of NASA's Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) planetary defense mission.

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Images collected during NASA's Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) mission provide the first resolved views of the Didymos binary asteroid system. These images reveal that the primary asteroid, Didymos, is flattened and has plausible undulations along its equatorial perimeter. At high elevations, its surface is rough and contains large boulders and craters; at low elevations its surface is smooth and possesses fewer large boulders and craters.

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Asteroids smaller than 10 km are thought to be rubble piles formed from the reaccumulation of fragments produced in the catastrophic disruption of parent bodies. Ground-based observations reveal that some of these asteroids are today binary systems, in which a smaller secondary orbits a larger primary asteroid. However, how these asteroids became binary systems remains unclear.

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The Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) had an impact with Dimorphos (a satellite of the asteroid Didymos) on 26 September 2022. Ground-based observations showed that the Didymos system brightened by a factor of 8.3 after the impact because of ejecta, returning to the pre-impact brightness 23.

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The Ma_MISS miniaturized spectrometer is integrated within the Drilling System of the ExoMars Rosalind Franklin Rover for Mars exploration. Here we focus on the on ground calibration campaign to obtain radiometric and linearity calibrations of the Ma_MISS instrument, while the first paper dealt with the spectral calibration [De Angelis et al., Rev.

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Over the last decade, many studies and some clinical trials have proposed gene expression signatures as a valuable tool for understanding cancer mechanisms, defining subtypes, monitoring patient prognosis, and therapy efficacy. However, technical and biological concerns about reproducibility have been raised. Technical reproducibility is a major concern: we currently lack a computational implementation of the proposed signatures, which would provide detailed signature definition and assure reproducibility, dissemination, and usability of the classifier.

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Background: A novel ablation catheter has been released to map and ablate the cavo-tricuspid isthmus (CTI) in patients with atrial flutter (AFL), improving ablation efficiency.

Methods: We evaluated the acute and long-term outcome of CTI ablation aiming at bidirectional conduction block (BDB) in a prospective, multicenter cohort study enrolling 500 patients indicated for typical AFL ablation. Patients were grouped on the basis of the AFL ablation method (linear anatomical approach, Conv group n = 425, or maximum voltage guided, MVG group, n = 75) and ablation catheter (mini-electrodes technology, MiFi group, n = 254, or a standard 8-mm ablation catheter, BLZ group, n = 246).

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The NASA Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) mission performed a kinetic impact on asteroid Dimorphos, the satellite of the binary asteroid (65803) Didymos, at 23:14 UTC on 26 September 2022 as a planetary defence test. DART was the first hypervelocity impact experiment on an asteroid at size and velocity scales relevant to planetary defence, intended to validate kinetic impact as a means of asteroid deflection. Here we report a determination of the momentum transferred to an asteroid by kinetic impact.

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Space exploration is facing a new era in view of the planned missions to the Moon and Mars. The development and the in-flight validation of new technologies, including analytical and diagnostic platforms, is pivotal for exploring and inhabiting these extreme environments. In this context, biosensors and lab-on-chip devices can play an important role in many situations, such as the analysis of biological samples for assessing the impact of deep space conditions on man and other biological systems, environmental and food safety monitoring, and the search of molecular indicators of past or present life in extra-terrestrial environments.

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The Ma_MISS spectrometer is integrated within the drilling system of the Rosalind Franklin ExoMars rover. This paper reports the on-ground calibration campaign performed on the spectrometer. Here, we focus on the spectral calibration of the instrument.

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The detection of life markers is a high priority task in the exploration of the Solar System. Biochips performing in-situ multiplex immunoassays are a very promising approach alternative to gas chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry. As part of the PLEIADES project, we present the development of a chemiluminescence-based, highly integrated analytical platform for the detection of biomarkers outside of the Earth.

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Introduction: Patients with diabetes and coronary artery disease remain at high risk for adverse cardiovascular events after percutaneous coronary intervention. The efficacy and safety of the various drug-eluting stents (DES) in patients with diabetes is unclear.

Methods: Randomized controlled trials comparing first-generation DES [paclitaxel-eluting stents (PES) and sirolimus-eluting stents (SES)] with everolimus-eluting stents (EES) and zotarolimus-eluting stents (ZES) in diabetic patients were systematically searched.

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Objective: To determine whether haptic (touch and proprioception) cues from touching a moving handrail while walking can ameliorate the gait symptoms of Parkinson disease (PD), such as slowness and small stride length.

Design: Nonrandomized, controlled before-after trial.

Setting: Physical therapy clinic.

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Background: The object of this study was to evaluate the prevalence of post stroke depression and its possible role as a predictive negative factor in patients receiving home rehabilitation treatment.

Methods: We analyzed 103 patients with stroke by correlating comorbidities, clinical and blood test parameters and characteristics of the lesion with depression class identified according to the Hamilton scale and the outcome of the rehabilitation program.

Results: A significant association between hypertension and post-stroke severe depression emerged in the female patients.

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In this paper, a novel method of numerical computation of the natural frequencies, depending on the most important running parameters for an ultrasonic motor, is described. The analyzed configuration by the Space Division of Alenia Spazio, Rome, within an Italian Space Agency (ASI) development program, is the flexural traveling wave one. The dynamic equations for the stator and the rotors of the ultrasonic motor are assumed into a differential system, whose equations are coupled by terms that represent interface generalized forces.

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Usually dreaded, annual meetings can provide a crucial, powerful, but often neglected context for reviewing the "vital signs" of a group practice: mission, membership, marketplace strategy and infrastructure. We propose that regular and thoughtful attention to essential issues of cohesion and effectiveness significantly increases the likelihood of group vitality and group member satisfaction. We suggest a methodology for embedding these essential conversations into the ritual of the annual meeting.

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Part I of this series described a research project--a survey of more than 300 physician executives. Asked to share their personal experiences of unsuccessful consultations, our correspondents painted a clear picture of what can go wrong when organizational consultants enter health care systems, and described the lasting destructive sequelae to failed consultations. The two issues responsible for most failed consultations were the intrusion of internal politics into the process and the failure to clearly establish and maintain consensual goals.

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The first article in this series describes a research project--a survey of more than 300 physician executives. Asked to share their personal experiences of unsuccessful consultations, our correspondents painted a picture of what can go wrong when organizational consultants enter health care systems, and described the lasting destructive sequelae to failed consultations. The two issues responsible for most failed consultations were the intrusion of internal politics into the consultation process and the failure to clearly establish and maintain consensual goals.

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