Low-Cost UWB Based Real-Time Locating System: Development, Lab Test, Industrial Implementation and Economic Assessment.

This paper presents the technical development and subsequent testing of a Real-Time Locating System based on Ultra-Wideband signals, with the aim to appraise its potential implementation in a real industrial case. The system relies on a commercial Radio Indoor Positioning System, called Qorvo MDEK1001, which makes use of UWB RF technology to determine the position of RF-tags placed on an item of interest, which in turn is located in an area covered by specific fixed antennas (anchors). Testing sessions were carried out both in an Italian laboratory and in a real industrial environment, to determine the best configurations according to some selected performance indicators.

Regular-Season Injury Rates in the National Football League After an Attenuated Preseason Due to COVID-19.

Background: The preseason is a crucial time period for professional athletes to prepare for the upcoming season. However, due to the coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, the 2020 National Football League (NFL) preseason was canceled. As the regular season progressed, an increased number of injuries became apparent.

Physician reported outcomes of hip arthroscopy without a perineal post: an international survey.

Although the current literature reports an acceptable rate of complications with the use of a perineal post in hip arthroscopy, they are still possible and preventable. The purpose of this study was to survey International Society for Hip Arthroscopy (ISHA) members on their use of postless distraction in hip arthroscopy. A 19-question survey was emailed to hip preservation surgeons that are members of ISHA.

201 cases of foreign body ingestion in a Surgical Emergency Unit A 16-year retrospective study.

Aim: The aim of this study is to analyse clinical characteristics of FB ingestion and predictive factors for complications, in order to reduce mortality and morbidity.

Materials And Methods: A retrospective study of emergency surgical consultation records has been carried out from June 2005 through June 2015 yielded 201 episodes with the diagnosis of ingestion of foreign objects at the Surgical Unit of the University of Bari.

Results: Natural Removal in 44,8% of cases; Endoscopic retrieval in 42,4%, Surgical Procedures 4,4%.

"Re-engineering of a food oven for thermal sanitization of Personal Protective Equipment against Sars-CoV-2 virus".

One of the main issues addressed by the recent COVID-19 pandemic which affected the whole world is the availability of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) (e.g., face masks, white coats, or disposable gloves).

Conservative Treatment of Avulsion Injuries of the Lesser Trochanter in Adolescent Athletes.

Background:  Avulsion injuries of the lesser trochanter apophysis are relatively uncommon injuries and there have been no peer-reviewed case series dedicated to the evaluation and treatment of this injury. The purpose of this study is to characterize avulsion injuries of the lesser trochanter apophysis, review treatment protocols, and time to return to sport.  Methods: We reviewed 30 confirmed avulsion fractures of the lesser trochanter.

Open-aperture Z-scan study for absorption saturation: accurate measurement of saturation intensity in YLF:Yb for optical refrigeration.

Knowledge of saturation intensity of gain or absorption plays a fundamental role in a variety of applications ranging from lasers to many nonlinear optical processes. Here, we present an analytical expression for open-aperture Z-scan transmission for accurately measuring the saturation intensity in the low absorbance samples but at arbitrary pump intensities. We exploit this formalism to investigate the absorption saturation of : (YLF:Yb) in the anti-Stokes excitation region for optical refrigeration at high pump intensities.

Chest radiography or computed tomography for COVID-19 pneumonia? Comparative study in a simulated triage setting.

Introduction: For the management of patients referred to respiratory triage during the early stages of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus type 2 (SARS-CoV-2) pandemic, either chest radiography or computed tomography (CT) were used as first-line diagnostic tools. The aim of this study was to compare the impact on the triage, diagnosis and prognosis of patients with suspected COVID-19 when clinical decisions are derived from reconstructed chest radiography or from CT.

Methods: We reconstructed chest radiographs from high-resolution CT (HRCT) scans.

Point-of-Care Chest Ultrasonography as a Diagnostic Resource for COVID-19 Outbreak in Nursing Homes.

Objective: Bedside chest ultrasonography, when integrated with clinical data, is an accurate tool for improving the diagnostic process of many respiratory diseases. This study aims to evaluate the feasibility of a chest ultrasonographic screening program in nursing homes for detecting coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19)-related pneumonia and improving the appropriateness of hospital referral of residents.

Design: Pragmatic, descriptive, feasibility study from April 2 to April 9, 2020.

The Role of Chest Imaging in Patient Management During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Multinational Consensus Statement From the Fleischner Society.

With more than 900,000 confirmed cases worldwide and nearly 50,000 deaths during the first 3 months of 2020, the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has emerged as an unprecedented health care crisis. The spread of COVID-19 has been heterogeneous, resulting in some regions having sporadic transmission and relatively few hospitalized patients with COVID-19 and others having community transmission that has led to overwhelming numbers of severe cases. For these regions, health care delivery has been disrupted and compromised by critical resource constraints in diagnostic testing, hospital beds, ventilators, and health care workers who have fallen ill to the virus exacerbated by shortages of personal protective equipment.

The Role of Chest Imaging in Patient Management during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Multinational Consensus Statement from the Fleischner Society.

With more than 900 000 confirmed cases worldwide and nearly 50 000 deaths during the first 3 months of 2020, the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has emerged as an unprecedented health care crisis. The spread of COVID-19 has been heterogeneous, resulting in some regions having sporadic transmission and relatively few hospitalized patients with COVID-19 and others having community transmission that has led to overwhelming numbers of severe cases. For these regions, health care delivery has been disrupted and compromised by critical resource constraints in diagnostic testing, hospital beds, ventilators, and health care workers who have fallen ill to the virus exacerbated by shortages of personal protective equipment.

Preoperative fasting - "nihil per os" a difficult myth to break down: a randomized controlled study.

Introduction: For several years the scientific anaesthesia societies declared a preoperative fast of 6 hours for solid foods and 2 hours for clear liquids before elective surgical interventions to be sufficient. The aim of this study is to identify the extent of the gap that exists between the preoperative fasting time required and that actually encountered in operating rooms.

Patients And Methods: The safety and clinical applicability of a reduction of the preoperative fasting time was investigated through the use of oral solutions enriched with maltodextrin and their effects on the pre- and postoperative well-being that this may have on patients who are candidates for elective abdominal surgery.

Optical refrigeration: the role of parasitic absorption at cryogenic temperatures.

Optical cooling of a YLF:Yb single crystal to 87 K, well below the minimum achievable temperature predicted from existing theory, has been observed. This discrepancy between theory and data has motivated us to revisit the current model of optical refrigeration, in particular the critical role of parasitic background absorption. Challenging experiments that measured the cooling efficiency as a function of temperature reveal that the background absorption coefficient decreases with temperature, resulting in a significant enhancement of the cooling efficiency at cryogenic temperatures.

The potential public health impact of Herpes Zoster vaccination in the 65 years of age cohort in Italy.

Herpes Zoster (HZ) presents a considerable public health burden in Italy among people aged ≥50 years. This study aimed to assess the clinical and economic impact of HZ vaccination in the 65 years of age (YOA) cohort in Italy, by comparing the new Adjuvanted Recombinant Zoster Vaccine (RZV) with the currently available Zoster Vaccine Live (ZVL). A static Markov model was developed to follow all 65 YOA subjects from the year of vaccination over their lifetime by comparing three different HZ vaccination strategies: no vaccination, vaccination with ZVL and vaccination with RZV.

Tm-doped crystals for mid-IR optical cryocoolers and radiation balanced lasers.

We report the complete characterization of various cooling-grade Tm-doped crystals including, to the best of our knowledge, the first demonstration of optical refrigeration in Tm:YLF crystals. Room temperature laser cooling efficiencies of 1% and 2% (mol) Tm:YLF and 1% Tm:BYF crystals at different excitation polarizations are measured, and their external quantum efficiency and background absorption are extracted. By performing detailed low-temperature spectroscopic analysis of the samples, global minimum achievable temperatures of 160 to 110 K are estimated.

Complicated duodenal-jejunal diverticulosis: case report.

Background: Bleedings such as melaena are related to diseases in the upper gastrointestinal tract. In 0.06% - 5% of cases these incidents are due to the presence of diverticula of the small intestine, which are asymptomatic and unrecognized in most patients and are only fully diagnosed in cases when complications occur.

Percutaneous microwave ablation of renal angiomyolipomas in tuberous sclerosis complex to improve the quality of life: preliminary experience in an Italian center.

Aim: To evaluate efficacy, safety and quality of life of the patients with renal angiomyolipomas (AMLs) associated with tuberous sclerosis complex (TSC) treated with percutaneous microwave ablation (MWA).

Materials And Methods: Nine patients (7 females and 2 males; mean age 27.6 years, range 23-34), with 10 renal AMLs with a mean size of 6.

Effect of the BH3 Mimetic Polyphenol (-)-Gossypol (AT-101) on the and Growth of Malignant Mesothelioma.

Malignant mesothelioma (MM) is a primary tumor arising from mesothelial cells. The survival of MM patients following traditional chemotherapy is poor, thus innovative treatments for MM are needed. (-)-gossypol (AT-101) is a BH3 mimetic compound which possesses anti-tumoral activity by targeting multiple signaling transduction pathways.

Tuberous sclerosis complex: new insights into clinical and therapeutic approach.

Tuberous sclerosis complex (TSC) is a complex disease with many different clinical manifestations. Despite the common opinion that TSC is a rare condition, with a mean incidence of 1/6000 live births and a prevalence of 1/20,000, it is increasingly evident that in reality this is not true. Its clinical sequelae span a range of multiple organ systems, in particular the central nervous system, kidneys, skin and lungs.

Blunt traumatic injury to the thoracic aorta treated with thoracic endovascular aortic repair: a single-centre 20-year experience.

Objectives: Blunt thoracic aortic injury can be treated with thoracic endovascular aortic repair (TEVAR) with excellent short and mid-term outcomes. However, few data are available about the long-term results. Our goal was to report our single-centre, 20-year experience using TEVAR to treat blunt thoracic aortic injury.

Quality of Life Impact of an Adjuvanted Recombinant Zoster Vaccine in Adults Aged 50 Years and Older.

Background: To determine the efficacy of an adjuvanted recombinant zoster vaccine in reducing the herpes zoster (HZ) burden of illness, HZ burden of interference with activities of daily living, and HZ impact on quality of life.

Methods: The assessments were integrated in two Phase III trials, ZOE-50 (NCT01165177) and ZOE-70 (NCT01165229). HZ burden of illness and HZ burden of interference with activities of daily living were assessed by the Zoster Brief Pain Inventory (ZBPI) instrument and quality of life by the EuroQol-5 Dimension (EQ-5D) utility index and the SF-36 health survey.

Predictive factors for incidental gallbladder cancer (IGBC) in patients undergoing cholecystectomy for presumed benign disease. A single-center experience.

Aim: The incidence of incidental gallbladder cancer (IGBC) is estimated at 0.3-2.1%.

Herpes zoster in frail elderly patients: prevalence, impact, management, and preventive strategies.

Population aging is a worldwide phenomenon with significant and manifold impacts on society. Advanced age correlates with the onset of frailty. In this vulnerable state, the immune response is weakened and a higher susceptibility to infectious diseases is observed.