1. Impact of comorbidity on the outcome in men with advanced prostate cancer treated with docetaxelAndrej Žist, Eitan Amir, Alberto Ocaña, Boštjan Šeruga, 2015, original scientific article Abstract: Men with metastatic castrate-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC) may not receive docetaxel in everyday clinical practice due to comorbidities. Here we explore the impact of comorbidity on outcome in men with mCRPC treated with docetaxel in a population-based outcome study. Methods. Men with mCRPC treated with docetaxel at the Institute of Oncology Ljubljana between 2005 and 2012 were eligible. Comorbidity was assessed by the age-adjusted Charlson comorbidity index (aa-CCI) and adult comorbidity evaluation (ACE-27) index. Hospital admissions due to the toxicity and deaths during treatment with docetaxel were used as a measure of tolerability. Association between comorbidity and overall survival (OS) was tested using the Cox proportional hazards analysis. Results. Two hundred and eight men were treated with docetaxel. No, mild, moderate and severe comorbidity was present in 2%, 32%, 53% and 13% using aa-CCI and in 27%, 35%, 29% and 8% when assessed by ACE-27. A substantial dose reduction of docetaxel occurred more often in men with moderate or severe comorbidity as compared to those with no or mild comorbidity. At all comorbidity levels about one-third of men required hospitalization or died during treatment with docetaxel. In univariate analysis a higher level of comorbidity was not associated with worse OS (aa-CCI HR 0.99; [95% CI 0.87%1.13], p = 0.93; ACE-27: HR 0.96; [95% CI 0.79%1.17], p = 0.69).
Keywords: metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer, prostate cancer, comorbidity, chemotherapy
Published in DiRROS: 22.04.2024; Views: 50; Downloads: 16
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2. A new approach towards a user-driven coastal climate service to enhance climate resilience in European citiesRoberta Paranunzio, Iulia Anton, Elisa Adirosi, Tasneem Ahmed, Luca Baldini, Carlo Brandini, Filippo Giannetti, Cécil J. W. Meulenberg, Alberto Ortolani, Francesco Pilla, 2024, original scientific article Abstract: Coastal climate services play a crucial role in developing customised climate information for diverse end-users and stakeholders. To build climate-resilient societies, decision-makers should be empowered through easy access to powerful tools that enable timely adaptation to future and ongoing hazards. For this reason, fit-for-purpose climate services are needed to conduct accurate historical characterisation and projections for interpretative studies on climate- and water-related risks at the local coastal scale. The EU-funded SCORE project (Smart Control of Climate Resilience in European Coastal Cities) utilises climate and marine services for the development of smart technologies that support nature-based solutions to address specific concerns, including rising sea levels, coastal erosion, and coastal flooding due to extreme weather events. As part of the SCORE project, decision-makers will be able to address climate change-related coastal effects in their own cities through novel participatory approaches (Coastal City Living Labs—CCLLs). As part of this framework, this work (i) discusses the main requirements for the identification of fit-for-purpose coastal climate services for local-scale impact studies in European coastal cities based on CCLL requests and prior knowledge and (ii) provides relevant parameters and features that fulfil the users’ needs.
Keywords: ecosystem, ecosystem services, climate change adaptation, coastal climate service, urban areas, climate resilience, coastal hazards
Published in DiRROS: 05.01.2024; Views: 223; Downloads: 99
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3. Analog and digital image qualityAlberto Sardo, 2004, published professional conference contribution Abstract: Background. Lastly the X ray facilities are moving to a slow, but continuous process of digitalization. The dry laser printers allow hardcopy images with optimum resolution and contrast for all the modalities. In breast imaging, thedelay of digitalization depends to the high cost of digital systems and, attimes, to the doubts of the diagnostic accuracy of reading the breast digital images. Conclusions. The Screen film mammography (SFM) is the most efficient diagnostic modality to detect the breast cancer in early stage and with reasonable cost. The digital mammography (DM) with the independent capturing, displaying, processing, printing and archiving phases, makes possible an optimisation of the image guality for each, single phase, assuringa satisfactory diagnosis.
Published in DiRROS: 01.12.2023; Views: 154; Downloads: 43
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4. Deformable polyurethane joints and fibre grids for resilient seismic performance of reinforced concrete frames with orthoblock brick infillsTheodoros Rousakis, Alper Ilki, Arkadiusz Kwiecień, Alberto Viskovic, Matija Gams, Petra Triller, Bahman Ghiassi, Andrea Benedetti, Zoran Rakicevic, Camilla Colla, Omer Faruk Halici, BogusŁaw Zając, Łukasz Hojdys, Piotr Krajewski, Fabio Rizzo, Vachan Vanian, Anastasios Sapalidis, Efthimia Papadouli, Aleksandra Bogdanovic, 2020, original scientific article Abstract: The behaviour of reinforced concrete frames with masonry wall infills is influenced a lot by the stiffness and strength difference between the frame and the infill, causing early detrimental damage to the infill or to the critical concrete columns. The paper reports the results from shake table seismic tests on a full-scale reinforced concrete (RC) frame building with modified hollow clay block (orthoblock brick) infill walls, within INMASPOL SERA Horizon 2020 project. The building received innovative resilient protection using Polyurethane Flexible Joints (PUFJs) made of polyurethane resin (PU), applied at the frame-infill interface in different schemes. Further, PUs were used for bonding of glass fibre grids to the weak masonry substrate to form Fibre Reinforced Polyurethanes (FRPUs) as an emergency repair intervention. The test results showed enhancement in the in-plane and out-of-plane infill performance under seismic excitations. The results confirmed remarkable delay of significant infill damages at very high RC frame inter-story drifts as a consequence of the use of PUFJs. Further, the PUFJ protection enabled the resilient repair of the infill even after very high inter-story drift of the structure up to 3.7%. The applied glass FRPU system efficiently protected the damaged infills against collapse under out-of-plane excitation while they restored large part of their in-plane stiffness.
Keywords: polyurethane, flexible joint, RC column, brick infill, shake table, resilience
Published in DiRROS: 05.09.2023; Views: 294; Downloads: 123
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5. Effect of surface machining on the environmentally-assisted cracking of Alloy 182 and 316L stainless steel in light water reactor environments : results of the collaborative project MEACTOSMariia Zimina, Stefan Ritter, Bojan Zajec, Marc Vankeerberghen, Liberato Volpe, Anna Hojna, Rik-Wouter Bosch, Fabio Scenini, Zaiqing Que, Alberto Sáez-Maderuelo, P. Jill Meadows, Michael Grimm, Matthias Herbst, Andraž Legat, Agostino Maurotto, Radek Novotny, Karl-Heinz Seifert, 2023, original scientific article Abstract: The main objective of the EU-funded project mitigating environmentally-assisted cracking through optimisation of surface condition (MEACTOS) was to gain knowledge on the ability of different surface machining procedures to mitigate environmentally-assisted cracking (EAC) in typical light water reactor structural materials and environments. Surfaces of cold-worked (CW) type 316L austenitic stainless steel and nickel-based weld metal Alloy 182 flat tapered tensile specimens were machined using different processes. EAC initiation susceptibility of these specimens was evaluated using constant extension rate tensile (CERT) tests under simulated boiling water reactor (BWR) and pressurized water reactor (PWR) conditions and assessed using constant load experiments. More than a hundred tests were performed covering about 10 years of autoclave testing time. Only minor or no measurable improvements in EAC initiation susceptibility as a function of surface treatments (grinding or advanced machining) compared to the standard industrial face milling were demonstrated. In most cases, the stress thresholds for EAC initiation determined in constant load tests confirmed the trend obtained from CERT tests. This paper summarises the most important results and conclusions concerning the EAC initiation behaviour for the CW 316L and Alloy 182 under reducing PWR and oxidizing BWR conditions.
Keywords: crack initiation, environmentally-assisted cracking, Alloy 182, AISI 304 stainless steel, surface treatment, light water reactor, open access
Published in DiRROS: 30.05.2023; Views: 329; Downloads: 189
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6. Production and characterization of lightweight aggregates from municipal solid waste incineration fly-ash through single- and double-step pelletization processAlberto Ferraro, Vilma Ducman, Francesco Colangelo, Lidija Korat, Danilo Spasiano, Ilenia Farina, 2023, original scientific article Abstract: The performance of a cold-bonding pelletization process was investigated for lightweight aggregates (LWAs) production from municipal solid waste incineration (MSWI) fly-ash (FA), by including multiple waste materials in the aggregate mixture. Before pelletization, FA was pre-treated by washing with water, which led to a reduction of chloride (66.79%) and sulphate (25.30%) content. This was further confirmed by XRF and XRD analyses, which showed a reduction of chloride elements and the content of chlorine crystalline phases. The pelletization process was carried out using both single- and double-step methods. For single-step pelletization, all the mixtures contained 80% FA, combined with various compositions of cement (5, 10, and 15%) and granulated blast furnace slag (GBFS) (5, 10, and 15%). For the double-step pelletization 30% of cement and 70% of marble sludge (MS) were added to each of the previous mixtures. The apparent density of all the aggregates varied between 1.60 and 1.87 g cm 3, suggesting their suitability to be classified as LWAs. Aggregates produced from double-step pelletization showed improved characteristics, with water absorption capacity and open porosity generally lower compared to the corresponding aggregates from the single-step pelletization. The best values of compressive (crushing) strength (almost 11 MPa) were observed for double-step pelletization aggregates with initial cement: GBFS mixture of 15%:5%. Results from leaching tests showed an overall significant release of chloride and sulphate. Nevertheless, leaching from double-step pelletization aggregates was reduced by 1.73- 4.02 times for chloride and 1.58-5.67 times for sulphate, further suggesting that better performances are achievable through the addition of an aggregate second layer.
Keywords: MSWI fly ash, lightweight aggregate, microtomography, open access
Published in DiRROS: 03.05.2023; Views: 343; Downloads: 296
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8. Distinct conformational changes occur within the intrinsically unstructured pro-domain of pro-Nerve Growth Factor in the presence of ATP and ▫$Mg ^ {2+}$▫Francesca Paoletti, Sonia Covaceuszach, Alberto Cassetta, Antonio N. Calabrese, Urban Novak, Peter Konarev, Jože Grdadolnik, Doriano Lamba, Simona Golič Grdadolnik, 2023, original scientific article Published in DiRROS: 21.03.2023; Views: 447; Downloads: 165
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9. A methodological proposal for the climate change risk assessment of coastal habitats based on the evaluation of ecosystem services : lessons learnt from the INTERREG project ECO-SMARTAlberto Barausse, Cécil J. W. Meulenberg, Irene Occhipinti, Marco Abordi, Lara Endrizzi, Giovanna Guadagnin, Mirco Piron, Francesca Visintin, Liliana Vižintin, Alessandro Manzardo, 2022, original scientific article Abstract: Climate change is seriously impacting coastal biodiversity and the benefits it provides to humans. This issue is particularly relevant in the case of the European Union’s Natura 2000 network of areas for nature protection, where the sensitivity of local ecosystems calls for intervention to increase resistance and resilience to climate-related risks. Given the complex ways in which climate can influence conservation hotspot areas, there is a need to develop effective strategic approaches and general operational models to identify priorities for management and inform adaptation and mitigation measures. Here, a novel methodological proposal to perform climate risk assessment in Natura 2000 sites is presented that implements the systematic approach of ISO 14090 in combination with the theoretical framework of ecosystem services assessment and local stakeholder participation to identify climate-related issues for local protected habitats and improve the knowledge base needed to plan sustainable conservation and restoration measures. The methodology was applied to five Natura 2000 sites located along the Adriatic coast of Italy and Slovenia. Results show that each of the assessed sites, despite being along the coast of the same sea, is affected by different climate-related issues, impacting different habitats and corresponding ecosystem services. This novel methodology enables a simple and rapid screening for the prioritization of conservation actions and of the possible further investigations needed to support decision making, and was found to be robust and of general applicability. These findings highlight the importance of designing site-specific adaptation measures, tailored to address the peculiar response to climate change of each site in terms of biodiversity and ecosystem services.
Keywords: ecosystem, ecosystem services, climate change adaptation, nature conservation, sustainability, coastal management
Published in DiRROS: 01.07.2022; Views: 660; Downloads: 436
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10. SERPING1 variants and C1-INH biological function : a close relationship with C1-INH-HAEChristian Drouet, Alberto López Lera, Arije Ghannam, Margarita López-Trascasa, Sven Cichon, Denise Ponard, Faidra Parsopoulou, Hana Grombirikova, Tomas Freiberger, Matija Rijavec, Camila Lopes Veronez, João Bosco Pesquero, Anastasios E. Germenis, 2022, review article Abstract: Hereditary angioedema with C1 Inhibitor deficiency (C1-INH-HAE) is caused by a constellation of variants of the SERPING1 gene (n = 809; 1,494 pedigrees), accounting for 86.8% of HAE families, showing a pronounced mutagenic liability of SERPING1 and pertaining to 5.6% de novo variants. C1-INH is the major control serpin of the kallikrein–kinin system (KKS). In addition, C1-INH controls complement C1 and plasminogen activation, both systems contributing to inflammation. Recognizing the failed control of C1s protease or KKS provides the diagnosis of C1-INH-HAE. SERPING1 variants usually behave in an autosomal-dominant character with an incomplete penetrance and a low prevalence. A great majority of variants (809/893; 90.5%) that were introduced into online database have been considered as pathogenic/likely pathogenic. Haploinsufficiency is a common feature in C1-INH-HAE where a dominant-negative variant product impacts the wild-type allele and renders it inactive. Small (36.2%) and large (8.3%) deletions/duplications are common, with exon 4 as the most affected one. Point substitutions with missense variants (32.2%) are of interest for the serpin structure–function relationship. Canonical splice sites can be affected by variants within introns and exons also (14.3%). For noncanonical sequences, exon skipping has been confirmed by splicing analyses of patients' blood-derived RNAs (n = 25). Exonic variants (n = 6) can affect exon splicing. Rare deep-intron variants (n = 6), putatively acting as pseudo-exon activating mutations, have been characterized as pathogenic. Some variants have been characterized as benign/likely benign/of uncertain significance (n = 74). This category includes some homozygous (n = 10) or compound heterozygous variants (n = 11). They are presenting with minor allele frequency (MAF) below 0.00002 (i.e., lower than C1-INH-HAE frequency), and may be quantitatively unable to cause haploinsufficiency. Rare benign variants could contribute as disease modifiers. Gonadal mosaicism in C1-INH-HAE is rare and must be distinguished from a de novo variant. Situations with paternal or maternal disomy have been recorded (n = 3). Genotypes must be interpreted with biological investigation fitting with C1-INH expression and typing. Any SERPING1 variant reminiscent of the dysfunctional phenotype of serpin with multimerization or latency should be identified as serpinopathy.
Keywords: Hereditary angioedemas -- genetics -- diagnosis, genetic variation, serpins, SERPING1 gene, C1-INH, C1-INH-HAE, C1 inhibitor, serpinopathy
Published in DiRROS: 06.04.2022; Views: 866; Downloads: 524
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