Reduction in physical activity during Covid-19 lockdowns predicts individual differences in cognitive performance several months after the end of the safety measures.

Prior studies suggest that the reductions in physical activity during Covid-19-related lockdowns impacted physical and mental health. Whether reductions in physical activity that occurred during lockdowns also relate to cognitive functions such as memory and attention is less explored. Here, we investigated whether changes in physical activity (PA) that occurred during and following Covid-19-related lockdowns could predict a variety of measures of cognitive performance in 318 young adults.

TemBERTure: advancing protein thermostability prediction with deep learning and attention mechanisms.

Motivation: Understanding protein thermostability is essential for numerous biotechnological applications, but traditional experimental methods are time-consuming, expensive, and error-prone. Recently, deep learning (DL) techniques from natural language processing (NLP) was extended to the field of biology, since the primary sequence of proteins can be viewed as a string of amino acids that follow a physicochemical grammar.

Results: In this study, we developed TemBERTure, a DL framework that predicts thermostability class and melting temperature from protein sequences.

Implications of size dispersion on X-ray scattering of crystalline nanoparticles: CeO as a case study.

Controlling the shape and size dispersivity and crystallinity of nanoparticles (NPs) has been a challenge in identifying these parameters' role in the physical and chemical properties of NPs. The need for reliable quantitative tools for analyzing the dispersivity and crystallinity of NPs is a considerable problem in optimizing scalable synthesis routes capable of controlling NP properties. The most common tools are electron microscopy (EM) and X-ray scattering techniques.

Correlates of markers of dyssynchrony in patients with STEMI and multivessel disease: an analysis from the IAEA SPECT STEMI trial.

Background: In this substudy of the Value of Gated-SPECT MPI for Ischemia- Guided PCI of non-culprit vessels in STEMI Patients with Multi vessel Disease after primary PCI trial after primary PCI we aim to assess if infarct size affects conventional measures of dyssynchrony at rest. Additionally, we explore if there is an independent correlation of stress-inducible ischemia with dyssynchrony at rest.

Methods: The 48 patients with imaging at randomization were analyzed.

The interaction between motor simulation and spatial perspective-taking in action language: a cross-cultural study.

Growing evidence has revealed the crucial role of motor simulation and spatial perspective-taking in action language. However, there is still a lack of understanding of how motor and spatial processes interact when there are multiple actors involved, and if embodied processes are consistent across different cultures. To address this gap, we examined the interaction between motor simulation and spatial perspective-taking in action-sentences comprehension, along with the consistency of embodied processes across cultures.

The Italian Sensorimotor Norms: Perception and action strength measures for 959 words.

Neuroscience research has provided evidence that semantic information is stored in a distributed brain network involved in sensorimotor and linguistic processing. More specifically, according to the embodied cognition accounts, the representation of concepts is deemed as grounded in our bodily states. For these reasons, normative measures of words should provide relevant information about the extent to which each word embeds perceptual and action properties.

Ischemia-guided vs routine non-culprit vessel angioplasty for patients with ST segment elevation myocardial infarction and multi-vessel disease: the IAEA SPECT STEMI trial.

Background: In patients with multi-vessel disease presenting with ST elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI), the efficacy and safety of ischemia-guided, vs routine non-culprit vessel angioplasty has not been adequately studied.

Methods: We conducted an international, randomized, non-inferiority trial comparing ischemia-guided non-culprit vessel angioplasty to routine non-culprit vessel angioplasty, following primary PCI for STEMI. The primary outcome was the between-group difference in percent ischemic myocardium at follow-up stress MPI.

Correlation between brain glucose metabolism (F-FDG) and cerebral blood flow with amyloid tracers (F-Florbetapir) in clinical routine: Preliminary evidences.

Objective: This study compared the performance of F-Florbetapir PET/CT early acquisitions to F-FDG PET/CT.

Methods: We included 12 patients who underwent F-FDG PET/CT and a dual-time F-Florbetapir PET/CT (1-6 min early-scan and 50 min late-scan). PET/CT were analyzed visually by three nuclear medicine physicians with different experience using a four-point scale (0 = no reduction, 1 = slight, 2 = moderate, 3 = severe reduction) for F-Florbetapir early-phase and F-FDG images in 10 cortical regions (bilateral frontal, temporal, parietal, occipital, posterior cingulate/precuneus), and F-Florbetapir late-phase in the same cortical regions using a three-point scale (0 = normal, 1 = abnormal with minor plaques, 2 = abnormal with major plaques).

Prognostic Role of 2-[F]FDG PET/CT Metabolic Volume Parameters in Patients Affected by Differentiated Thyroid Carcinoma with High Thyroglobulin Level, Negative I WBS and Positive 2-[F]-FDG PET/CT.

The clinical and prognostic role of 2-deoxy-2-[F]fluoro-D-glucose positron emission tomography/computed tomography (2-[F]FDG PET/CT) in the study of patients affected by differentiated thyroid carcinoma (DTC) with positive serum thyroglobulin (Tg) level and negative [I] whole-body scan ([I]WBS) has already been demonstrated. However, the potential prognostic role of semi-quantitative PET metabolic volume features, such as metabolic tumor volume (MTV) and total lesion glycolysis (TLG), has not yet been clearly investigated. The aim of this retrospective study was to investigate whether the main metabolic PET/CT parameters may predict the prognosis.

Role of F-FDG PET/CT Radiomics Features in the Differential Diagnosis of Solitary Pulmonary Nodules: Diagnostic Accuracy and Comparison between Two Different PET/CT Scanners.

The aim of this retrospective study was to investigate the ability of 18 fluorine-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography/CT (F-FDG-PET/CT) metrics and radiomics features (RFs) in predicting the final diagnosis of solitary pulmonary nodules (SPN). We retrospectively recruited 202 patients who underwent a F-FDG-PET/CT before any treatment in two PET scanners. After volumetric segmentation of each lung nodule, 8 PET metrics and 42 RFs were extracted.

Defect-Engineered β-MnO Precursors Control the Structure-Property Relationships in High-Voltage Spinel LiMnNiO.

This study examines the role of defects in structure-property relationships in spinel LiMnNiO (LMNO) cathode materials, especially in terms of Mn content, degree of disorder, and impurity phase, without the use of the traditional high-temperature annealing (≥700 °C used for making disordered LMNO). Two different phases of LMNO (i.e.

A double-blind randomized controlled trial combining cognitive training (CoRe) and neurostimulation (tDCS) in the early stages of cognitive impairment.

Background: The prevalence of neurodegenerative diseases is expected to increase over the next years, therefore, new methods able to prevent and delay cognitive decline are needed.

Aims: To evaluate the effectiveness of a combined treatment protocol associating a computerized cognitive training (CoRe) with anodal transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS).

Methods: In this randomized controlled trial, 33 patients in the early stage of cognitive impairment were assigned to the experimental group (CoRE + real tDCS) or control group (CoRE + sham tDCS).

Memory Effect on a LDH/zeolite A Composite: An XRD In Situ Study.

In this memory effect study, hydrotalcite-type compounds in the lamellar double hydroxide-like (LDH)/zeolite A composite material were analyzed using X-Ray Diffration XRD) in situ experiments. Three samples were analyzed: Al,Mg-LDH, Al,Mg-LDH/ZA composite, and a physical mixture (50/50 wt%) of zeolite A and Al,Mg-LDH. The Al,Mg-LDH sample was treated at 500 °C in an O atmosphere and subsequently rehydrated.

Synchrotron XRD of Bromide Mediated Li-O Battery.

Li-O battery technology offers large theoretical energy density, considered a promising alternative energy storage technology for a variety of applications. One of the main advances made in recent years is the use of soluble catalysts, known as redox mediators (RM), decreasing the charge overpotential and improving cyclability. Despite its potential, much is still unknown regarding its dynamic, especially over higher loading electrodes, where mass transport may be an issue and the interplay with common impurities in the electrolyte, like residual water.

2-[F]-FDG PET/CT Role in Detecting Richter Transformation of Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia and Predicting Overall Survival.

Introduction: Chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) is an indolent, low-grade B-cell lymphoproliferative disorder, which may evolve into aggressive lymphoma, a phenomenon called Richter syndrome (RS). Our aim was to study the accuracy of 2-deoxy-2-[18F]fluoro-D-glucose positron emission tomography/computed tomography (2-[18F]-FDG PET/CT) and its semiquantitative parameters for the detection of RS and the impact on overall survival (OS).

Materials And Methods: Eighty patients with histologically proven CLL were retrospectively included.

tDCS effects on brain network properties during physiological aging.

Brain neural networks undergo relevant changes during physiological aging, which affect cognitive and behavioral functions. Currently, non-invasive brain stimulation techniques, such as transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS), are proposed as tools able to modulate cognitive functions in brain aging, acting on networks properties and connectivity. Segregation and integration measures are used and evaluated by means of local clustering (segregation) and path length (integration).

Comparison between NNH-PET and Tc-Tetrofosmin-CZT SPECT in the evaluation of absolute myocardial blood flow and flow reserve.

Background: PET/CT is the standard for quantitative assessments of myocardial blood flow (MBF), but it requires short-lived-tracers, costly, and not widely available. SPECT with Cadmium Zinc Telluride (CZT) detectors allows dynamic acquisition and quantitation of MBF. The study aims were to compare MBF measurements by Tc-tetrofosmin-CZT to NNH PET/CT after regadenoson-induced coronary hyperemia and to evaluate the effect of attenuation correction (AC).

Behavioural and electrophysiological modulations induced by transcranial direct current stimulation in healthy elderly and Alzheimer's disease patients: A pilot study.

Objective: To investigate whether anodal and cathodal transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) can modify cognitive performance and neural activity in healthy elderly and Alzheimer's disease (AD) patients.

Methods: Fourteen healthy elderly and twelve AD patients performed a working memory task during an electroencephalogram recording before and after receiving anodal, cathodal, and sham tDCS over the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. Behavioural performance, event-related potentials (P200, P300) and evoked cortical oscillations were studied as correlates of working memory.

Design of Nickel Supported on Water-Tolerant NbO Catalysts for the Hydrotreating of Lignin Streams Obtained from Lignin-First Biorefining.

In biomass conversion, NbO has attracted increasing attention as a catalyst support presenting water-tolerant Lewis acid sites. Herein, we address the design of Ni/NbO catalysts for hydrotreating of lignin to hydrocarbons. To optimize the balance between acidic and hydrogenating properties, the catalysts were first evaluated in the hydrotreating of diphenyl ether.

Comparison of visual criteria for amyloid-PET reading: could criteria merging reduce inter-rater variability?

Background: Three different amyloid tracers labeled with 18-flourine have been introduced into clinical use. The leaflets of tracers indicate different visual criteria for PET reporting. In clinical practice, it is not yet ascertained whether these criteria are equivalent in terms of diagnostic accuracy or if anyone is better than another.

Radioguided lung lesion localization: introducing a fluoroscopy system in a SPECT/CT scan.

Purpose: The purpose was to report our experience in the use of radiotracer localization and resection of small, indistinct, or nonpalpable pulmonary lesions. We developed an innovative technique implementing a fluoroscopy system on a single-photon emission computed tomography/computed tomography (SPECT/CT) scan that allowed to perform CT-guided injection of radiotracer directly on SPECT/CT.

Patients And Methods: Patients were selected for the radiotracer procedure in presence of difficulties in locating nodules with video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS).

Inter-reader variability of SPECT MPI readings in low- and middle-income countries: Results from the IAEA-MPI Audit Project (I-MAP).

Background: Consistency of results between different readers is an important issue in medical imaging, as it affects portability of results between institutions and may affect patient care. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in pursuing its mission of fostering peaceful applications of nuclear technologies has supported several training activities in the field of nuclear cardiology (NC) and SPECT myocardial perfusion imaging (MPI) in particular. The aim of this study was to verify the outcome of those activities through an international clinical audit on MPI where participants were requested to report on studies distributed from a core lab.

Clinical and prognostic role of detection timing of distant metastases in patients with differentiated thyroid cancer.

Purpose: Distant metastases (DM) from DTC occur in 5-25% of cases and are correlated to lower survival; the prognostic significance of the temporal onset of DM is unclear. Our aim was to retrospectively analyze the prevalence of DM and to assess the prognostic role of the timing of manifestation of DM regarding the outcome.

Materials And Methods: We included 174 patients (mean age 64 years).