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Abstract
A mean-field selective optimal control problem of multipopulation dynamics via transient leadership is considered. The agents in the system are described by their spatial position and their probability of belonging to a certain population. The dynamics in the control problem is characterized by the presence of an activation function which tunes the control on each agent according to the membership to a population, which, in turn, evolves according to a Markov-type jump process. In this way, a hypothetical policy maker can select a restricted pool of agents to act upon based, for instance, on their time-dependent influence on the rest of the population. A finite-particle control problem is studied and its mean-field limit is identified via Γ -convergence, ensuring convergence of optimal controls. The dynamics of the mean-field optimal control is governed by a continuity-type equation without diffusion. Specific applications in the context of opinion dynamics are discussed with some numerical experiments.
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Affiliation(s)
- Giacomo Albi
- Dipartimento di Informatica, Università di Verona, Strada Le Grazie 14, Ca Vignal 2, 37134 Verona, Italy
| | - Stefano Almi
- Dipartimento di Matematica e Applicazioni “R. Caccioppoli”, Università di Napoli Federico II, via Cintia, 80126 Napoli, Italy
| | - Marco Morandotti
- Dipartimento di Scienze Matematiche “G. L. Lagrange”, Politecnico di Torino, Corso Duca degli Abruzzi 24, 10129 Turin, Italy
| | - Francesco Solombrino
- Dipartimento di Matematica e Applicazioni “R. Caccioppoli”, Università di Napoli Federico II, via Cintia, 80126 Napoli, Italy
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2
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Abstract
This study measured the subclinical frailty of centenarians by looking at the accumulation of their biological abnormalities. For this aim, a biological Frailty Index (FI) was computed in centenarians living in Northern Italy. The median value of the biological FI was 0.33 (interquartile range, IQR 0.28–0.41). The biological FI did not significantly differ between women (0.34, IQR 0.31–0.39) and men (0.32, IQR 0.26–0.43). The biological FI seems to have a narrower distribution compared to clinical FI we previously computed in the same cohort. In conclusion, our study suggests that centenarians benefit from exceptional biological reserves that might be underestimated by clinical appearances.
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Affiliation(s)
- Beatrice Arosio
- Laboratorio di Geriatria, Department of Clinical Sciences and Community Health, University of Milan, Via Pace 9, 20122, Milan, Italy.
| | - Annalisa Geraci
- Geriatric Unit, Fondazione IRCCS Ca' Granda Ospedale Maggiore Policlinico, Via Pace 9, 20122, Milan, Italy
| | - Evelyn Ferri
- Geriatric Unit, Fondazione IRCCS Ca' Granda Ospedale Maggiore Policlinico, Via Pace 9, 20122, Milan, Italy
| | - Daniela Mari
- Laboratorio Sperimentale di Ricerche di Neuroendocrinologia Geriatrica ed Oncologica, Istituto Auxologico Italiano, IRCCS, Via Zucchi 18, 20095, Cusano Milanino, Italy
| | - Matteo Cesari
- Laboratorio di Geriatria, Department of Clinical Sciences and Community Health, University of Milan, Via Pace 9, 20122, Milan, Italy
- Geriatric Unit, IRCCS Istituti Clinici Scientifici Maugeri, Via Camaldoli 64, 20138, Milan, Italy
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Leoni E, Cencetti G, Santin G, Istomin T, Molteni D, Picco GP, Farella E, Lepri B, Murphy AL. Measuring close proximity interactions in summer camps during the COVID-19 pandemic. EPJ Data Sci 2022; 11:5. [PMID: 35127327 PMCID: PMC8802275 DOI: 10.1140/epjds/s13688-022-00316-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/28/2021] [Accepted: 01/11/2022] [Indexed: 06/14/2023]
Abstract
Policy makers have implemented multiple non-pharmaceutical strategies to mitigate the COVID-19 worldwide crisis. Interventions had the aim of reducing close proximity interactions, which drive the spread of the disease. A deeper knowledge of human physical interactions has revealed necessary, especially in all settings involving children, whose education and gathering activities should be preserved. Despite their relevance, almost no data are available on close proximity contacts among children in schools or other educational settings during the pandemic. Contact data are usually gathered via Bluetooth, which nonetheless offers a low temporal and spatial resolution. Recently, ultra-wideband (UWB) radios emerged as a more accurate alternative that nonetheless exhibits a significantly higher energy consumption, limiting in-field studies. In this paper, we leverage a novel approach, embodied by the Janus system that combines these radios by exploiting their complementary benefits. The very accurate proximity data gathered in-field by Janus, once augmented with several metadata, unlocks unprecedented levels of information, enabling the development of novel multi-level risk analyses. By means of this technology, we have collected real contact data of children and educators in three summer camps during summer 2020 in the province of Trento, Italy. The wide variety of performed daily activities induced multiple individual behaviors, allowing a rich investigation of social environments from the contagion risk perspective. We consider risk based on duration and proximity of contacts and classify interactions according to different risk levels. We can then evaluate the summer camps' organization, observe the effect of partition in small groups, or social bubbles, and identify the organized activities that mitigate the riskier behaviors. Overall, we offer an insight into the educator-child and child-child social interactions during the pandemic, thus providing a valuable tool for schools, summer camps, and policy makers to (re)structure educational activities safely.
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Affiliation(s)
- Elia Leoni
- DIGIS, Fondazione Bruno Kessler, Via Sommarive 18, 38123 Trento, Italy
- DEI, University of Bologna, Viale del Risorgimento 2, 40136 Bologna, Italy
| | - Giulia Cencetti
- DIGIS, Fondazione Bruno Kessler, Via Sommarive 18, 38123 Trento, Italy
| | - Gabriele Santin
- DIGIS, Fondazione Bruno Kessler, Via Sommarive 18, 38123 Trento, Italy
| | - Timofei Istomin
- DISI, University of Trento, Via Sommarive 9, 38123 Trento, Italy
| | - Davide Molteni
- DISI, University of Trento, Via Sommarive 9, 38123 Trento, Italy
| | | | | | - Bruno Lepri
- DIGIS, Fondazione Bruno Kessler, Via Sommarive 18, 38123 Trento, Italy
| | - Amy L. Murphy
- DIGIS, Fondazione Bruno Kessler, Via Sommarive 18, 38123 Trento, Italy
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Bobbio A, Campanile L, Gribaudo M, Iacono M, Marulli F, Mastroianni M. A cyber warfare perspective on risks related to health IoT devices and contact tracing. Neural Comput Appl 2022; 35:13823-13837. [PMID: 35075332 PMCID: PMC8769794 DOI: 10.1007/s00521-021-06720-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/03/2021] [Accepted: 10/30/2021] [Indexed: 11/26/2022]
Abstract
The wide use of IT resources to assess and manage the recent COVID-19 pandemic allows to increase the effectiveness of the countermeasures and the pervasiveness of monitoring and prevention. Unfortunately, the literature reports that IoT devices, a widely adopted technology for these applications, are characterized by security vulnerabilities that are difficult to manage at the state level. Comparable problems exist for related technologies that leverage smartphones, such as contact tracing applications, and non-medical health monitoring devices. In analogous situations, these vulnerabilities may be exploited in the cyber domain to overload the crisis management systems with false alarms and to interfere with the interests of target countries, with consequences on their economy and their political equilibria. In this paper we analyze the potential threat to an example subsystem to show how these influences may impact it and evaluate a possible consequence.
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Affiliation(s)
- Andrea Bobbio
- DiSit, Università del Piemonte Orientale, viale Teresa Michel 11, 15121 Alessandria, Italy
| | - Lelio Campanile
- Dipartimento di Matematica e Fisica, Università degli Studi della Campania “Luigi Vanvitelli”, viale Lincoln 5, 81100 Caserta, Italy
| | - Marco Gribaudo
- Dipartimento di Elettronica, Informatica e Bioingegneria, Politecnico di Milano, via Ponzio 34/5, 20133 Milano, Italy
| | - Mauro Iacono
- Dipartimento di Matematica e Fisica, Università degli Studi della Campania “Luigi Vanvitelli”, viale Lincoln 5, 81100 Caserta, Italy
| | - Fiammetta Marulli
- Dipartimento di Matematica e Fisica, Università degli Studi della Campania “Luigi Vanvitelli”, viale Lincoln 5, 81100 Caserta, Italy
| | - Michele Mastroianni
- Dipartimento di Matematica e Fisica, Università degli Studi della Campania “Luigi Vanvitelli”, viale Lincoln 5, 81100 Caserta, Italy
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Abstract
In so-called interactive biorobotics, robotic models of living systems interact with animals in controlled experimental settings. By observing how the focal animal reacts to the stimuli delivered by the robot, one tests hypotheses concerning the determinants of animal behaviour in social contexts. Building on previous methodological reconstructions of interactive biorobotics, this article reflects on the claim, made by several authors in the field, that this strategy may enable one to explain social phenomena in animals. The answer offered here will be negative: interactive biorobotics does not contribute to the explanation of social phenomena. However, it may greatly contribute to the study of animal behaviour by creating social phenomena in the sense discussed by Ian Hacking, i.e. by precisely defining new phenomena to be explained. It will be also suggested that interactive biorobotics can be combined with more classical robot-based approaches to the study of living systems, leading to a so-called simulation-interactive strategy for the mechanistic explanation of social behaviour in animals.
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Affiliation(s)
- Edoardo Datteri
- RobotiCSS Lab, Laboratory of Robotics for the Cognitive and Social Sciences, Department of Human Sciences for Education, University of Milano-Bicocca, Milano, Italy.
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Laviola E, Gattullo M, Manghisi VM, Fiorentino M, Uva AE. Minimal AR: visual asset optimization for the authoring of augmented reality work instructions in manufacturing. Int J Adv Manuf Technol 2021; 119:1769-1784. [PMID: 34866738 PMCID: PMC8629731 DOI: 10.1007/s00170-021-08449-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/29/2021] [Accepted: 11/24/2021] [Indexed: 06/13/2023]
Abstract
UNLABELLED This work investigates the possibility of using a novel "minimal AR" authoring approach to optimize the visual assets used in augmented reality (AR) interfaces to convey work instructions in manufacturing. In the literature, there are no widely supported guidelines for the optimal choice of visual assets (e.g., CAD models, drawings, and videos). Therefore, to avoid the risk of having AR technical documentation based only on the author's preference, our work proposes a novel authoring approach that enforces the minimal amount of information to accomplish a task. Minimal AR was tested through a simulated AR LEGO-based assembly task. The performance (completion time, mental workload, errors) of 40 users was evaluated with 4 combinations of visual assets in 4 tasks with an increasing amount of information needed. The main result is that visual assets with an excess of information do not significantly increase performance. Therefore, the location of a specified object should be "minimally" authored by an auxiliary model (e.g., a circle and an arrow). For identifying an object within a couple, color coding is preferred to using additional visual assets. If more than two objects must be identified, a drawing visual asset is also needed. Only when the orientation of a selected object must be conveyed, animated product models are required. These insights could be helpful for an optimal design of AR work instructions in a wide range of industrial fields. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s00170-021-08449-6.
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Affiliation(s)
- Enricoandrea Laviola
- Department of Mechanics, Mathematics, and Management, Polytechnic Institute of Bari, via Orabona, 4, 70125 Bari, Italy
| | - Michele Gattullo
- Department of Mechanics, Mathematics, and Management, Polytechnic Institute of Bari, via Orabona, 4, 70125 Bari, Italy
| | - Vito Modesto Manghisi
- Department of Mechanics, Mathematics, and Management, Polytechnic Institute of Bari, via Orabona, 4, 70125 Bari, Italy
| | - Michele Fiorentino
- Department of Mechanics, Mathematics, and Management, Polytechnic Institute of Bari, via Orabona, 4, 70125 Bari, Italy
| | - Antonio Emmanuele Uva
- Department of Mechanics, Mathematics, and Management, Polytechnic Institute of Bari, via Orabona, 4, 70125 Bari, Italy
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Micheli L, Parisio C, Lucarini E, Vona A, Toti A, Pacini A, Mello T, Boccella S, Ricciardi F, Maione S, Graziani G, Lacal PM, Failli P, Ghelardini C, Di Cesare Mannelli L. VEGF-A/VEGFR-1 signalling and chemotherapy-induced neuropathic pain: therapeutic potential of a novel anti-VEGFR-1 monoclonal antibody. J Exp Clin Cancer Res 2021; 40:320. [PMID: 34649573 PMCID: PMC8515680 DOI: 10.1186/s13046-021-02127-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/09/2021] [Accepted: 10/04/2021] [Indexed: 01/25/2023] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Neuropathic pain is a clinically relevant adverse effect of several anticancer drugs that markedly impairs patients' quality of life and frequently leads to dose reduction or therapy discontinuation. The poor knowledge about the mechanisms involved in neuropathy development and pain chronicization, and the lack of effective therapies, make treatment of chemotherapy-induced neuropathic pain an unmet medical need. In this context, the vascular endothelial growth factor A (VEGF-A) has emerged as a candidate neuropathy hallmark and its decrease has been related to pain relief. In the present study, we have investigated the role of VEGF-A and its receptors, VEGFR-1 and VEGFR-2, in pain signalling and in chemotherapy-induced neuropathy establishment as well as the therapeutic potential of receptor blockade in the management of pain. METHODS Behavioural and electrophysiological analyses were performed in an in vivo murine model, by using selective receptor agonists, blocking monoclonal antibodies or siRNA-mediated silencing of VEGF-A and VEGFRs. Expression of VEGF-A and VEGFR-1 in astrocytes and neurons was detected by immunofluorescence staining and confocal microscopy analysis. RESULTS In mice, the intrathecal infusion of VEGF-A (VEGF165 isoforms) induced a dose-dependent noxious hypersensitivity and this effect was mediated by VEGFR-1. Consistently, electrophysiological studies indicated that VEGF-A strongly stimulated the spinal nociceptive neurons activity through VEGFR-1. In the dorsal horn of the spinal cord of animals affected by oxaliplatin-induced neuropathy, VEGF-A expression was increased in astrocytes while VEGFR-1 was mainly detected in neurons, suggesting a VEGF-A/VEGFR-1-mediated astrocyte-neuron cross-talk in neuropathic pain pathophysiology. Accordingly, the selective knockdown of astrocytic VEGF-A by intraspinal injection of shRNAmir blocked the development of oxaliplatin-induced neuropathic hyperalgesia and allodynia. Interestingly, both intrathecal and systemic administration of the novel anti-VEGFR-1 monoclonal antibody D16F7, endowed with anti-angiogenic and antitumor properties, reverted oxaliplatin-induced neuropathic pain. Besides, D16F7 effectively relieved hypersensitivity induced by other neurotoxic chemotherapeutic agents, such as paclitaxel and vincristine. CONCLUSIONS These data strongly support the role of the VEGF-A/VEGFR-1 system in mediating chemotherapy-induced neuropathic pain at the central nervous system level. Thus, treatment with the anti-VEGFR-1 mAb D16F7, besides exerting antitumor activity, might result in the additional advantage of attenuating neuropathic pain when combined with neurotoxic anticancer agents.
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Affiliation(s)
- Laura Micheli
- Department of Neuroscience, Psychology, Drug Research and Child Health - NEUROFARBA - Pharmacology and Toxicology Section, University of Florence, Viale G. Pieraccini 6, 50139, Florence, Italy
| | - Carmen Parisio
- Department of Neuroscience, Psychology, Drug Research and Child Health - NEUROFARBA - Pharmacology and Toxicology Section, University of Florence, Viale G. Pieraccini 6, 50139, Florence, Italy
| | - Elena Lucarini
- Department of Neuroscience, Psychology, Drug Research and Child Health - NEUROFARBA - Pharmacology and Toxicology Section, University of Florence, Viale G. Pieraccini 6, 50139, Florence, Italy
| | - Alessia Vona
- Department of Neuroscience, Psychology, Drug Research and Child Health - NEUROFARBA - Pharmacology and Toxicology Section, University of Florence, Viale G. Pieraccini 6, 50139, Florence, Italy
| | - Alessandra Toti
- Department of Neuroscience, Psychology, Drug Research and Child Health - NEUROFARBA - Pharmacology and Toxicology Section, University of Florence, Viale G. Pieraccini 6, 50139, Florence, Italy
| | - Alessandra Pacini
- Department of Experimental and Clinical Medicine - DMSC - Anatomy and Histology Section, University of Florence, L.go Brambilla 3, 50134, Florence, Italy
| | - Tommaso Mello
- Department of Biomedical, Experimental and Clinical Sciences, University of Florence, Viale G. Pieraccini 6, 50139, Florence, Italy
| | - Serena Boccella
- Department of Experimental Medicine, Section of Pharmacology, University of Campania "L. Vanvitelli", Via Santa Maria di Costantinopoli 16, 80138, Naples, Italy
| | - Flavia Ricciardi
- Department of Experimental Medicine, Section of Pharmacology, University of Campania "L. Vanvitelli", Via Santa Maria di Costantinopoli 16, 80138, Naples, Italy
| | - Sabatino Maione
- Department of Experimental Medicine, Section of Pharmacology, University of Campania "L. Vanvitelli", Via Santa Maria di Costantinopoli 16, 80138, Naples, Italy
- I.R.C.S.S., Neuromed, 86077, Pozzilli, Italy
| | - Grazia Graziani
- Department of Systems Medicine, University of Rome Tor Vergata, Via Montpellier 1, 00133, Rome, Italy.
- IDI-IRCCS, Via Monti di Creta 104, 00167, Rome, Italy.
| | | | - Paola Failli
- Department of Neuroscience, Psychology, Drug Research and Child Health - NEUROFARBA - Pharmacology and Toxicology Section, University of Florence, Viale G. Pieraccini 6, 50139, Florence, Italy
| | - Carla Ghelardini
- Department of Neuroscience, Psychology, Drug Research and Child Health - NEUROFARBA - Pharmacology and Toxicology Section, University of Florence, Viale G. Pieraccini 6, 50139, Florence, Italy
| | - Lorenzo Di Cesare Mannelli
- Department of Neuroscience, Psychology, Drug Research and Child Health - NEUROFARBA - Pharmacology and Toxicology Section, University of Florence, Viale G. Pieraccini 6, 50139, Florence, Italy.
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Abstract
INTRODUCTION Although several studies have shown that a simplified cardiovascular drug treatment leads to better treatment adherence, limited and conflicting findings have been reported on the separate or single-pill combination of the now recommended association between a statin and ezetimibe. We addressed this issue in a large cohort of patients newly treated with statins to whom ezetimibe was additionally administered, either separately or as a single-pill combination. METHODS A total of 256,012 patients (age 40-80 years) from the Lombardy Region (Italy) newly treated with statins during 2011-2013 were followed until 2018 to identify those to whom ezetimibe was added. The 2881 and 5351 patients who started a two-pill or a single-pill combination, respectively, of statin and ezetimibe were identified and matched for propensity score. Adherence to drug therapy at 1 year was measured as the ratio between the number of days in which the drug was available and the days of follow-up (the proportion of days covered; PDC). Patients who had a PDC > 75% or < 25% were, respectively, defined as highly and poorly adherent to drug therapy. Analysis was extended to the association between adherence and the risk of fatal/non-fatal cardiovascular events. RESULTS Compared to those prescribed a two-pill combination, those prescribed a single-pill combination had an 87% (75-99%) greater odds of being highly adherent and a 79% (72-84%) lower odds of being poorly adherent to treatment. These advantages were manifest in all strata of age, sex, and clinical profile. The risk of cardiovascular outcomes decreased by 55% in patients with high adherence compared to those with low adherence. CONCLUSION Patients who were prescribed a single-pill combination of statin/ezetimibe more frequently exhibit a good adherence and less frequently bad adherence to treatment than those prescribed a two-pill combination of these drugs.
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Affiliation(s)
- Federico Rea
- National Centre for Healthcare Research and Pharmacoepidemiology, at the University of Milano-Bicocca Milan, Milan, Italy.
- Unit of Biostatistics, Epidemiology and Public Health, Laboratory of Healthcare Research and Pharmacoepidemiology, Department of Statistics and Quantitative Methods, University of Milano-Bicocca, Via Bicocca degli Arcimboldi, 8, Edificio U7, 20126, Milan, Italy.
| | - Laura Savaré
- National Centre for Healthcare Research and Pharmacoepidemiology, at the University of Milano-Bicocca Milan, Milan, Italy
- Department of Mathematics, MOX-Laboratory for Modeling and Scientific Computing, Politecnico di Milano, Milan, Italy
- CADS-Center for Analysis Decisions and Society, Human Technopole, Milan, Italy
| | - Giovanni Corrao
- National Centre for Healthcare Research and Pharmacoepidemiology, at the University of Milano-Bicocca Milan, Milan, Italy
- Unit of Biostatistics, Epidemiology and Public Health, Laboratory of Healthcare Research and Pharmacoepidemiology, Department of Statistics and Quantitative Methods, University of Milano-Bicocca, Via Bicocca degli Arcimboldi, 8, Edificio U7, 20126, Milan, Italy
| | - Giuseppe Mancia
- University of Milano-Bicocca (Emeritus Professor), Milan, Italy
- Policlinico di Monza, Monza, Italy
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Congiu M, Micheli L, Santoni M, Sagheddu C, Muntoni AL, Makriyannis A, Malamas MS, Ghelardini C, Di Cesare Mannelli L, Pistis M. N-Acylethanolamine Acid Amidase Inhibition Potentiates Morphine Analgesia and Delays the Development of Tolerance. Neurotherapeutics 2021; 18:2722-2736. [PMID: 34553321 PMCID: PMC8804012 DOI: 10.1007/s13311-021-01116-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 09/02/2021] [Indexed: 11/26/2022] Open
Abstract
Opioids are essential drugs for pain management, although long-term use is accompanied by tolerance, necessitating dose escalation, and dependence. Pharmacological treatments that enhance opioid analgesic effects and/or attenuate the development of tolerance (with a desirable opioid-sparing effect in treating pain) are actively sought. Among them, N-palmitoylethanolamide (PEA), an endogenous lipid neuromodulator with anti-inflammatory and neuroprotective properties, was shown to exert anti-hyperalgesic effects and to delay the emergence of morphine tolerance. A selective augmentation in endogenous PEA levels can be achieved by inhibiting N-acylethanolamine acid amidase (NAAA), one of its primary hydrolyzing enzymes. This study aimed to test the hypothesis that NAAA inhibition, with the novel brain permeable NAAA inhibitor AM11095, modulates morphine's antinociceptive effects and attenuates the development of morphine tolerance in rats. We tested this hypothesis by measuring the pain threshold to noxious mechanical stimuli and, as a neural correlate, we conducted in vivo electrophysiological recordings from pain-sensitive locus coeruleus (LC) noradrenergic neurons in anesthetized rats. AM11095 dose-dependently (3-30 mg/kg) enhanced the antinociceptive effects of morphine and delayed the development of tolerance to chronic morphine in behaving rats. Consistently, AM11095 enhanced morphine-induced attenuation of the response of LC neurons to foot-shocks and prevented the attenuation of morphine effects following chronic treatment. Behavioral and electrophysiological effects of AM11095 on chronic morphine were paralleled by a decrease in glial activation in the spinal cord, an index of opioid-induced neuroinflammation. NAAA inhibition might represent a potential novel therapeutic approach to increase the analgesic effects of opioids and delay the development of tolerance.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mauro Congiu
- Division of Neuroscience and Clinical Pharmacology, Department of Biomedical Sciences, University of Cagliari, Cagliari, Italy
| | - Laura Micheli
- Section of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Department of Neuroscience, Psychology, Drug Research and Child Health - Neurofarba, Università Degli Studi Di Firenze, Florence, Italy
| | - Michele Santoni
- Division of Neuroscience and Clinical Pharmacology, Department of Biomedical Sciences, University of Cagliari, Cagliari, Italy
| | - Claudia Sagheddu
- Division of Neuroscience and Clinical Pharmacology, Department of Biomedical Sciences, University of Cagliari, Cagliari, Italy
| | - Anna Lisa Muntoni
- Neuroscience Institute, National Research Council of Italy (CNR), Cagliari, Italy
| | - Alexandros Makriyannis
- Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Center for Drug Discovery, Northeastern University, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Michael S Malamas
- Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Center for Drug Discovery, Northeastern University, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Carla Ghelardini
- Section of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Department of Neuroscience, Psychology, Drug Research and Child Health - Neurofarba, Università Degli Studi Di Firenze, Florence, Italy
| | - Lorenzo Di Cesare Mannelli
- Section of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Department of Neuroscience, Psychology, Drug Research and Child Health - Neurofarba, Università Degli Studi Di Firenze, Florence, Italy
| | - Marco Pistis
- Division of Neuroscience and Clinical Pharmacology, Department of Biomedical Sciences, University of Cagliari, Cagliari, Italy.
- Neuroscience Institute, National Research Council of Italy (CNR), Cagliari, Italy.
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Oluwagbemigun K, Anesi A, Clarke G, Schmid M, Mattivi F, Nöthlings U. An Investigation into the Temporal Reproducibility of Tryptophan Metabolite Networks Among Healthy Adolescents. Int J Tryptophan Res 2021; 14:11786469211041376. [PMID: 34594109 PMCID: PMC8477685 DOI: 10.1177/11786469211041376] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/25/2021] [Accepted: 08/01/2021] [Indexed: 01/15/2023] Open
Abstract
Tryptophan and its bioactive metabolites are associated with health conditions such as systemic inflammation, cardiometabolic diseases, and neurodegenerative disorders. There are dynamic interactions among metabolites of tryptophan. The interactions between metabolites, particularly those that are strong and temporally reproducible could be of pathophysiological relevance. Using a targeted metabolomics approach, the concentration levels of tryptophan and 18 of its metabolites across multiple pathways was quantified in 24-hours urine samples at 2 time-points, age 17 years (baseline) and 18 years (follow-up) from 132 (52% female) apparently healthy adolescent participants of the DOrtmund Nutritional and Anthropometric Longitudinally Designed (DONALD) Study. In sex-specific analyses, we applied 2 network approaches, the Gaussian graphical model and Bayesian network to (1) explore the network structure for both time-points, (2) retrieve strongly related metabolites, and (3) determine whether the strongly related metabolites were temporally reproducible. Independent of selected covariates, the 2 network approaches revealed 5 associations that were strong and temporally reproducible. These were novel relationships, between kynurenic acid and indole-3-acetic acid in females and between kynurenic acid and xanthurenic acid in males, as well as known relationships between kynurenine and 3-hydroxykynurenine, and between 3-hydroxykynurenine and 3-hydroxyanthranilic acid in females and between tryptophan and kynurenine in males. Overall, this epidemiological study using network-based approaches shed new light into tryptophan metabolism, particularly the interaction of host and microbial metabolites. The 5 observed relationships suggested the existence of a temporally stable pattern of tryptophan and 6 metabolites in healthy adolescent, which could be further investigated in search of fingerprints of specific physiological states. The metabolites in these relationships may represent a multi-biomarker panel that could be informative for health outcomes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kolade Oluwagbemigun
- Nutritional Epidemiology, Department of Nutrition and Food Sciences, University of Bonn, Germany
| | - Andrea Anesi
- Department of Food Quality and Nutrition, Research and Innovation Centre, Fondazione Edmund Mach, San Michele all’Adige, Italy
| | - Gerard Clarke
- APC Microbiome Ireland, University College Cork, Ireland
- INFANT Research Centre, University College Cork, Ireland
- Department of Psychiatry and Neurobehavioural Science, University College Cork, Ireland
| | - Matthias Schmid
- Department of Medical Biometry, Informatics and Epidemiology, University Hospital Bonn, University of Bonn, Germany
| | - Fulvio Mattivi
- Department of Food Quality and Nutrition, Research and Innovation Centre, Fondazione Edmund Mach, San Michele all’Adige, Italy
- Department of Cellular, Computational and Integrative Biology – CIBIO, University of Trento, San Michele all’Adige, Italy
| | - Ute Nöthlings
- Nutritional Epidemiology, Department of Nutrition and Food Sciences, University of Bonn, Germany
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11
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Gianazza U, Liao N. Continuity of the temperature in a multi-phase transition problem. Math Ann 2021; 384:1-35. [PMID: 36068870 PMCID: PMC9439994 DOI: 10.1007/s00208-021-02255-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/22/2021] [Revised: 08/02/2021] [Accepted: 08/02/2021] [Indexed: 06/15/2023]
Abstract
Locally bounded, local weak solutions to a doubly nonlinear parabolic equation, which models the multi-phase transition of a material, is shown to be locally continuous. Moreover, an explicit modulus of continuity is given. The effect of the p-Laplacian type diffusion is also considered.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ugo Gianazza
- Dipartimento di Matematica “F. Casorati”, Università di Pavia, via Ferrata 5, 27100 Pavia, Italy
| | - Naian Liao
- Fachbereich Mathematik, Universität Salzburg, Hellbrunner Str. 34, 5020 Salzburg, Austria
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Abstract
BACKGROUND Recent development of automated closed-loop (CL) insulin delivery systems, the so-called artificial pancreas (AP), improved the quality of type 1 diabetes (T1D) therapy. As new technologies emerge, patients put increasing trust in their therapeutic devices; therefore, it becomes increasingly important to detect malfunctioning affecting such devices. In this work, we explore a new paradigm to detect insulin pump faults (IPFs) that use unsupervised anomaly detection. METHODS We generated CL data corrupted with IPFs using the latest version of the T1D Padova/UVA simulator. From the data, we extracted several features capable to describe the patient dynamics and making more apparent suspicious data portions. Then, a feature selection is performed to determine the optimal feature set. Finally, the performance of several popular unsupervised anomaly detection algorithms is analyzed and compared on the identified optimal feature set. RESULTS Using the identified optimal configuration, the best performance is obtained by the Histogram-Based Outlier Score (HBOS) algorithm, which detected 87% of the IPF with only 0.08 false positives per day on average. Isolation forest is the best algorithm that offers more conservative performances, detection of 85% of the faults but only 0.06 false positives per day on average. CONCLUSION Unsupervised anomaly detection algorithms can be used effectively to detect IPFs and improve the safety of the AP. Future studies will be dedicated to test the presented method inside dedicated clinical trials.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Gian Antonio Susto
- Department of Information Engineering, University of Padua, Italy
- Human Inspired Technology Research Centre, University of Padua, Italy
| | - Simone Del Favero
- Department of Information Engineering, University of Padua, Italy
- Simone Del Favero, PhD, Department of Information Engineering, University of Padua, Via Gradenigo 6/b, 35131 Padua (PD), Italy.
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Baldi F, Iannelli R, Pecorini I, Polettini A, Pomi R, Rossi A. Influence of the pH control strategy and reactor volume on batch fermentative hydrogen production from the organic fraction of municipal solid waste. Waste Manag Res 2019; 37:478-485. [PMID: 30736725 PMCID: PMC6484781 DOI: 10.1177/0734242x19826371] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/09/2018] [Accepted: 12/26/2018] [Indexed: 06/09/2023]
Abstract
Three different experimental sets of runs involving batch fermentation assays were performed to evaluate the influence of the experimental conditions on biological hydrogen production from the source-separated organic fraction of municipal solid waste collected through a door-to-door system. The fermentation process was operated with and without automatic pH control, at a pH of 5.5 and 6.5, food-to-microorganism ratios of 1/3 and 1/1 (wet weight basis) and with different working volumes (0.5 and 3 L). The experimental results showed that the pH control strategy and the reactor volume did not affect the final hydrogen production yield but played an important role in determining the time evolution of the process. Indeed, although the different experimental conditions tested yielded comparable hydrogen productions (with maximum average values ranging from 68.5 to 88.5 NLH2 (kgTVSOF)-1), the automatic pH control strategy improved the process from the kinetic viewpoint resulting in a t95 reduction from an average of 34.9 h without automatic pH control to an average of 19.5 h.
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Affiliation(s)
- Francesco Baldi
- DIEF, Department of Industrial Engineering, University of Florence, Italy
| | - Renato Iannelli
- DESTEC – Department of Energy, Systems, Territory and Construction Engineering, University of Pisa, Italy
| | - Isabella Pecorini
- DESTEC – Department of Energy, Systems, Territory and Construction Engineering, University of Pisa, Italy
| | - Alessandra Polettini
- DICEA, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Rome “La Sapienza”, Italy
| | - Raffaella Pomi
- DICEA, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Rome “La Sapienza”, Italy
| | - Andreina Rossi
- DICEA, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Rome “La Sapienza”, Italy
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