Publications by authors named "Valente M"

The traditional choice of insulation material for liquefied natural gas (LNG) transportation with cryogenic tankers is the back-filled perlite-based system. However, aiming to further cut down the insulation cost, spare additional arrangement space, and provide safety in installation and maintenance, the requirement of looking for alternative materials still exists. Fiber-reinforced aerogel blankets (FRABs) could represent good candidates in designing insulation layers for LNG cryogenic storage because of their ability to ensure adequate thermal performance without the need to create deep vacuum conditions in the annular space of the tank.

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The growing demand for personalized medicine we are currently witnessing has given rise to more in-depth research in the field of biomarker discovery and, thus, in biological banks that hold the ability to process, collect, store, and distribute "high-quality" biological specimens. However, the notion of "specimen quality" is subject to change with technological advancements. In this perspective, we propose that the notion of sample quality should shift from a broad definition of "high-quality" to a "fit-for-purpose" concept more suitable for precision medicine studies.

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Background: Spontaneous regression of tumors is a rare phenomenon in which cancer volume is reduced or, alternatively, a tumor completely disappears in the absence of any pharmacological treatment. This phenomenon has previously been described in several tumors, such as neuroblastomas, testicular malignancies, renal cell carcinomas, melanomas, and lymphomas. Spontaneous remission has also been documented in breast cancer; however, it represents an extremely rare and poorly understood phenomenon, with only a few reported cases in the literature.

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Harnessing the immune system with immune-checkpoint(s) blockade (ICB) has dramatically changed the treatment landscape of advanced melanoma patients in the last decade. Indeed, durable clinical responses and long-term survival can be achieved with anti-Cytotoxic T-Lymphocyte Antigen-4 (CTLA-4) and anti-Programmed cell Death-1 (PD-1) monoclonal antibodies (mAb) either alone or in combination. Despite these unprecedented results, due to intrinsic or acquired resistance to ICB-based immunotherapy, about half of metastatic melanoma (MM) patients neither respond to therapy nor experience durable clinical benefit or long-term survival.

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Importance: Acute symptomatic seizures occurring within 7 days after ischemic stroke may be associated with an increased mortality and risk of epilepsy. It is unknown whether the type of acute symptomatic seizure influences this risk.

Objective: To compare mortality and risk of epilepsy following different types of acute symptomatic seizures.

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Article Synopsis
  • NPC1 is a gene that encodes a protein crucial for cholesterol transport in lysosomes, and mutations in this gene can cause Niemann-Pick disease type C, a lysosomal storage disorder.
  • This study investigated the potential link between NPC1 variants and several alpha synucleinopathies, including Parkinson's disease, dementia with Lewy bodies, and rapid eye movement-sleep behavior disorder, using data from multiple cohorts of individuals of European descent.
  • The results showed that neither common nor rare NPC1 variants were associated with these neurodegenerative disorders, indicating that NPC1 mutations likely do not significantly impact the development of alpha synucleinopathies.
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Background: We hypothesized that prolonging the interval to surgery in non-responders to neoadjuvant chemoradiation therapy (nCRT) could lead to worse oncologic outcomes.

Methods: Rectal adenocarcinoma patients with poor tumor response to nCRT (AJCC tumor regression grade 3) were selected. Oncologic outcomes were evaluated according to the time interval between completion of nCRT and surgery.

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Statement Of Problem: The drilling speed used for preparing dental implants may affect bone-implant contact (BIC), implant stability quotient (ISQ), and bone area fraction occupancy (BAFO). Different rotational speeds and the presence or absence of irrigation during site preparation have been investigated, but an established protocol for achieving the best osseointegration results is lacking.

Purpose: The purpose of this systematic review was to investigate the influence of drill rotational speed on bone drilling for dental implant placement and its relationship with osseointegration.

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After large-scale radiation accidents where many individuals are suspected to be exposed to ionizing radiation, biological and physical retrospective dosimetry assays are important tools to aid clinical decision making by categorizing individuals into unexposed/minimally, moderately or highly exposed groups. Quality-controlled inter-laboratory comparisons of simulated accident scenarios are regularly performed in the frame of the European legal association RENEB (Running the European Network of Biological and Physical retrospective Dosimetry) to optimize international networking and emergency readiness in case of large-scale radiation events. In total 33 laboratories from 22 countries around the world participated in the current RENEB inter-laboratory comparison 2021 for the dicentric chromosome assay.

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Introduction: Mucosal lesions located at the ileocecal valve may be challenging for endoscopic intervention because of angulated anatomy and a thinner wall with narrower lumen when compared to other locations of the bowel. This study aimed to evaluate the management and outcomes of ileocecal valve lesions treated endoscopically.

Material And Methods: Patients with mucosal neoplasms involving the ileocecal valve managed with advanced endoscopy at a quaternary care hospital between 2011 and 2021 were included from a prospectively collected database.

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The Hospital Safety Index is a tool developed by the World Health Organization and the Pan American Health Organization in 2008 and updated in 2015. Although it is the most widely used instrument of its kind to assess the level of hospital preparedness, scientific literature on its application in real life is scarce. This study aimed to investigate the use of the Hospital Safety Index to assess disaster preparedness in healthcare facilities.

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Botulinum toxin type A is an effective preventive therapy for chronic migraine. Although the guidelines suggest a 50U/ml dilution of OnabotulinumtoxinA (BoNT/A), many clinicians use more concentrated solutions. However, there are no studies regarding the effect and safety of 100U/ml BoNT/A dilution with the saline solution following the PREEMPT paradigm.

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Ferrite compounds have recently attracted significant interest because of their multifunctional properties. This work investigates the optical, magnetic, and dielectric properties of a LiMnFeO ferrite prepared by a solid-state reaction. Raman spectroscopy analysis substantiated the presence of the 5 active modes representing the vibration of the oxygen anion at both tetrahedral and octahedral sites.

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Article Synopsis
  • The study aimed to analyze different surgical approaches for managing anastomotic leaks that occur after sigmoid colectomy due to diverticular disease, as there is limited existing research on the topic.
  • It found that out of over 37,000 patients, approximately 2.7% experienced an anastomotic leak, with more than half of those undergoing reoperation; the majority of these reoperations involved stoma creation (colostomy or ileostomy).
  • The results indicated no significant differences in recovery metrics (length of hospital stay, readmission rates, or mortality) between ileostomy and colostomy, but ileostomies were associated with higher rates of closure afterward, suggesting that ileostomy may be
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Objective: The aim of this systematic review was to present the current knowledge on the influence of laser surface treatment on the adhesion of bacteria to titanium and its alloys.

Design: This review was structured according to PRISMA guidelines for systematic reviews and -analyses, and registered on the Open Science Framework platform (https://doi.org/10.

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We present an annotated dataset for the purposes of creating a benchmark in Artificial Intelligence for automated clot detection. While there are commercial tools available for automated clot detection on computed tomographic (CT) angiographs, they have not been compared in a standardized manner whereby accuracy is reported on a publicly available benchmark dataset. Furthermore, there are known difficulties in automated clot detection - namely, cases where there is robust collateral flow, or residual flow and occlusions of the smaller vessels - and it is necessary to drive an initiative to overcome these challenges.

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The growing global epidemic of obesity and type 2 diabetes mellitus has determined an increased prevalence of NAFLD (non-alcoholic fatty liver disease), making it the most common chronic liver disease in the Western world and a leading cause of liver transplantation. In the last few years, a rising number of studies conducted both on animal and human models have shown the existence of a close association between insulin resistance (IR), dysbiosis, and steatosis. However, all the mechanisms that lead to impaired permeability, inflammation, and fibrosis have not been fully clarified.

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Plasmacytoid dendritic cells (pDCs) are the main source of type I interferon (IFN-I) during viral infections. Their other functions are debated, due to a lack of tools to identify and target them in vivo without affecting pDC-like cells and transitional DCs (tDCs), which harbor overlapping phenotypes and transcriptomes but a higher efficacy for T cell activation. In the present report, we present a reporter mouse, pDC-Tom, designed through intersectional genetics based on unique Siglech and Pacsin1 coexpression in pDCs.

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Background: The laparoscopic approach for colon cancer has become widely accepted. However, its safety for T4 tumors, and particularly for T4b tumors when local invasion to adjacent structures occurs, remains controversial. This study aimed to compare short and long-term outcomes in patients undergoing laparoscopic vs.

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Background: Advanced endoscopy can be used for the complete removal of large colorectal polyps. To date, few surgeons perform advanced endoscopy, and it is unknown how many procedures are needed to reach proficiency.

Objective: This study aimed to determine the learning curve for colorectal advanced endoscopy.

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Purpose: idiopathic Normal Pressure Hydrocephalus (iNPH) patients have a global reduction of cerebral blood flow (CBF) and Arterial Spin Label (ASL) MRI allows a global evaluation of CBF without the injection of contrast agents. This work aims to assess the qualitative evaluation agreement of ASL CBF colored maps between different neuroradiologists and by correlating these data to the Tap Test.

Methods: Thirty - seven patients with the diagnosis of possible iNPH were consecutively submitted to a diagnostic MRI on a 1.

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Article Synopsis
  • Advances in gene sequencing have highlighted the diverse clinical forms of RYR1-related myopathy (RYR1-RM), making diagnosis challenging.
  • Researchers developed a novel unsupervised cluster analysis method to better understand RYR1-RM by analyzing genetic, morphological, and clinical data from 600 patients, specifically focusing on 73 with genetic variants.
  • The analysis categorized 64 patients into four distinct clusters based on their clinical and morphological traits, revealing that many had mild or no symptoms and improving the understanding of genotype-phenotype correlations.
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Background: Several pathological parameters, including tumor size, depth of stromal invasion, lympho-vascular space invasion and lymph node status, have been proposed as prognostic predictors in cervical cancer. However, given the high mortality and recurrence rate of cervical cancer, novel parameters that are able to provide additional prognostic information are needed in order to allow a better prognostic stratification of cervical cancer patients.

Methods: A search was conducted on PubMed to identify relevant literature data regarding prognostic factors in cervical cancer.

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Background: Scientific evidence for underestimated toxicity from unintentional exposure to chemical mixtures is mounting. Yet, harmonized approaches on how to assess the actual risk of mixtures is lacking. As part of the European Joint programme 'Human Biomonitoring for Europe' we explored a novel methodology for mixture risk assessment of chemicals affecting male reproductive function.

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Collision tumors are rare and very few cases were described in which collision was revealed in a metastatic lesion. Herein we report a case of woman with a peritoneal carcinomatosis underwent to bioptic procedure in correspondence of a nodule of Douglas peritoneum with clinical suspect of ovarian/uterine origin. Histologic examination revealed two different colliding epithelial neoplasms: an endometrioid carcinoma and a ductal breast carcinoma, the latter not suspected at the time of biopsy.

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