Psychotropic medications sales during COVID-19 outbreak in Italy changed according to the pandemic phases and related lockdowns.

OBJECTIVES: We have investigated the psychotropic medications sales (i.e. benzodiazepines, mood stabilisers and selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors) during the COVID-19 pandemic in the period from March 2020 to February 2021 compared with the same period in the preceding year. STUDY DESIGN: This was a retrospective and observational study. METHODS: Data were obtained from five pharmacies located in a working-class zone populated by approximately 150,000 people in the urban area of Rome (Italy). RESULTS: A general slight increase in psychotropic medications sales was observed during the whole pandemic period compared with the previous year. CONCLUSION: Our data showed that (1) the percentage of sales seems to vary according to the pandemic phases and related lockdowns and (2) the sales differ between the classes of medications considered.

Androgen-deprivation therapies for prostate cancer and risk of infection by SARS-CoV-2: a population-based study (N = 4532).

BACKGROUND: Cell entry of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) depends on binding of the viral spike (S) proteins to angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 and on S protein priming by TMPRSS2. Inhibition of TMPRSS2 may work to block or decrease the severity of SARS-CoV-2 infections. Intriguingly, TMPRSS2 is an androgen-regulated gene that is up-regulated in prostate cancer where it supports tumor progression and is involved in a frequent genetic translocation with the ERG gene. First- or second-generation androgen-deprivation therapies (ADTs) decrease the levels of TMPRSS2. Here we put forward the hypothesis that ADTs may protect patients affected by prostate cancer from SARS-CoV-2 infections. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We extracted data regarding 9280 patients (4532 males) with laboratory-confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection from 68 hospitals in Veneto, one of the Italian regions that was most affected by the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. The parameters used for each COVID-19-positive patient were sex, hospitalization, admission to intensive care unit, death, tumor diagnosis, prostate cancer diagnosis, and ADT. RESULTS: There were evaluable 9280 SARS-CoV-2-positive patients in Veneto on 1 April 2020. Overall, males developed more severe complications, were more frequently hospitalized, and had a worse clinical outcome than females. Considering only the Veneto male population (2.4 million men), 0.2% and 0.3% of non-cancer and cancer patients, respectively, tested positive for SARS-CoV-2. Comparing the total number of SARS-CoV-2-positive cases, prostate cancer patients receiving ADT had a significantly lower risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection compared with patients who did not receive ADT (OR 4.05; 95% CI 1.55-10.59). A greater difference was found comparing prostate cancer patients receiving ADT with patients with any other type of cancer (OR 4.86; 95% CI 1.88-12.56). CONCLUSION: Our data suggest that cancer patients have an increased risk of SARS-CoV-2 infections compared with non-cancer patients. However, prostate cancer patients receiving ADT appear to be partially protected from SARS-CoV-2 infections.

Fluid contact angle on solid surfaces: Role of multiscale surface roughness.

We present a simple analytical model and an exact numerical study which explain the role of roughness on different length scales for the fluid contact angle on rough solid surfaces. We show that there is no simple relation between the distribution of surface slopes and the fluid contact angle. In particular, surfaces with the same distribution of slopes may exhibit very different contact angles depending on the range of length-scales over which the surfaces have roughness.

Time-dependent relaxation of strained silicon-on-insulator lines using a partially coherent x-ray nanobeam.

We report on the quantitative determination of the strain map in a strained silicon-on-insulator line with a 200×70 nm2 cross section. In order to study a single line as a function of time, we used an x-ray nanobeam with relaxed coherence properties as a compromise between beam size, coherence, and intensity. We demonstrate how it is possible to refine the line deformation map at the nanoscale, and follow its evolution as the line relaxes under the influence of the x-ray nanobeam. We find that the strained line flattens itself under irradiation but maintains the same linear strain (ε(zz) unchanged).

Role of statistical properties of randomly rough surfaces in controlling superhydrophobicity.

We investigate the effect of statistical properties of the surface roughness on its superhydrophobicity. In particular, we focus on the liquid-solid interfacial structure and its dependence on the coupled effect of surface statistical properties and drop pressure. We find that, for self-affine fractal surfaces with Hurst exponent H > 0.5, the transition to the Wenzel state first involves the short wavelengths of the roughness and, then, gradually moves to larger and larger scales. However, as the drop pressure is increased, at a certain point of the loading history, an abrupt transition to the Wenzel state occurs. This sudden transition identifies the critical drop pressure p(W), which destabilizes the composite interface. We find that p(W) can be strongly enhanced by increasing the mean square slope of the surface, or equivalently the Wenzel roughness parameter r(W). Our investigation shows that, even in the case of randomly rough surface, r(W) is still the most crucial parameter in determining the superhydrophobicity of the surface. An analytical approach is, then, proposed to show that, for any given value of Young's contact angle θ(Y), a threshold value (r(W))(th) = 1/(-cos θ(Y)) exists, above which the composite interface is strongly stabilized and the surface presents robust superhydrophobic properties. Interestingly, this threshold value is identical to the one that would be obtained in pure Wenzel regime to guarantee perfect superhydrophobicity.

"Design of a Suspension Lever Mechanism in Biomedical Robotic System".

The article discusses the design of a suspended lever mechanism with elastic elements, which is used as a safety device in a robotic system for the rehabilitation of the lower limbs. The article analyzes the existing mechanical structures of devices for rehabilitation, identifies the problems of operation, design, and safety systems and suggests a new design of the device. The process of reverse development of a lever mechanism scheme to ensure safety during rehabilitation of the lower limbs is presented. The design of the lever mechanism consists of movable levers connected by elastic elements. The device allows you to dampen the force during active rehabilitation. The power calculation of the lever mechanism in the rehabilitation system was carried out. The article addresses the issues present in the current mechanical designs with a brief discussion on the system architecture.

Dynamically induced friction reduction in micro-structured interfaces.

We investigate the dynamic behavior of a regular array of in-plane elastic supports interposed between a sliding rigid body and a rigid substrate. Each support is modelled as a mass connected to a fixed pivot by means of radial and tangential elastic elements. Frictional interactions are considered at the interface between the supports and the sliding body. Depending on the specific elastic properties of the supports, different dynamic regimes can be achieved, which, in turn, affect the system frictional behavior. Specifically, due to transverse microscopic vibration of the supports, a lower friction force opposing the macroscopic motion of the rigid body can be achieved compared to the case where no supports are present and rubbing occurs with the substrate. Furthermore, we found that the supports static orientation plays a key role in determining the frictional interactions, thus offering the chance to specifically design the array aiming at controlling the resulting interfacial friction force.

Three-dimensional x-ray Fourier transform holography: the Bragg case.

A novel approach to determine the structure of nanoscale crystals in three dimensions is proposed by the use of coherent x-ray Fourier transform holography in Bragg geometry. The full internal description is directly obtained by a single Fourier transform of the 3D intensity hologram. Together with the morphology, Bragg geometry gives access to the 3D displacement field within the crystal. This result opens great possibilities for the investigation of strain fields inside nanocrystals in a simple way.

Workspace analysis and design improvement of a carotid flow measurement system.

Heart and cerebrovascular diseases such as arteriosclerosis and myocardial ischemia dysfunction are currently among the main causes of death in developed countries. Recently, wave intensity (WI), which is an index used to obtain the force of cardiac contraction, has been investigated as a method for early-stage diagnosis of the above-mentioned diseases. Nevertheless, experimental tests have proven that the manual measurements of WI by means of commercial ultrasonic diagnostic systems require too much time and can be affected by the operator's skills. For this purpose, the introduction of robotic-assisted technology has advantages in terms of repetitiveness and accuracy of the measurement procedure. Therefore, at Waseda University, the development of a carotid blood flow measurement system has been proposed to support doctors while using ultrasound diagnostic equipment to measure the WI. This robotic system is composed of a serial robot with a wrist having a six-degree-of-freedom (6-DOF) parallel mechanism. The main focus is to obtain a suitable workspace performance of the 6-DOF parallel mechanism wrist. In this paper, a workspace analysis is carried out on a wrist prototype built for the Waseda-Tokyo Women's Medical Aloka Blood Flow Measurement System No.1 Refined (WTA-1R). Then, mechanical design enhancements are proposed and validated to provide a suitable workspace performance both as reachable workspace and dexterity, and a refined prototype WTA-1RII has been built.

Liquid crystal director dynamics imaged using two-photon fluorescence microscopy with remote focusing.

We introduce a novel imaging technique adopting remote focusing for resolving the axial dynamics in the director field for liquid crystals. The high axial time resolution of our approach is demonstrated by imaging directly the evolution of the director field for an initially splayed nematic layer subject to a sudden voltage pulse. Images of the switching dynamics are presented, revealing transient state director configurations and changes in topology of the liquid crystal layer.

Adhesive contact of rough surfaces: comparison between numerical calculations and analytical theories.

The authors have employed a numerical procedure to analyse the adhesive contact between a soft elastic layer and a rough rigid substrate. The solution to the problem, which belongs to the class of the free boundary problems, is obtained by calculating Green's function which links the pressure distribution to the normal displacements at the interface. The problem is then formulated in the form of a Fredholm integral equation of the first kind with a logarithmic kernel. The boundaries of the contact area are calculated by requiring the energy of the system to be stationary. This methodology has been employed to study the adhesive contact between an elastic semi-infinite solid and a randomly rough rigid profile with a self-affine fractal geometry. We show that, even in the presence of adhesion, the true contact area still linearly depends on the applied load. The numerical results are then critically compared with the predictions of an extended version of Persson's contact mechanics theory, which is able to handle anisotropic surfaces, as 1D interfaces. It is shown that, for any given load, Persson's theory underestimates the contact area by about 50% in comparison with our numerical calculations. We find that this discrepancy is larger than for 2D rough surfaces in the case of adhesionless contact. We argue that this increased difference might be explained, at least partially, by considering that Persson's theory is a mean-field theory in spirit, so it should work better for 2D rough surfaces rather than for 1D rough surfaces. We also observe that the predicted value of separation is in agreement with our numerical results as well as the exponents of the power spectral density of the contact pressure distribution and of the elastic displacement of the solid. Therefore, we conclude that Persson's theory captures almost exactly the main qualitative behaviour of the rough contact phenomena.

Contact mechanics and rubber friction for randomly rough surfaces with anisotropic statistical properties.

In this paper we extend the theory of contact mechanics and rubber friction developed by one of us (B.N.J. Persson, J. Chem. Phys. 115, 3840 (2001)) to the case of surfaces with anisotropic surface roughness. As an application we calculate the viscoelastic contribution to the rubber friction. We show that the friction coefficient may depend significantly on the sliding direction, while the area of contact depends weakly on the sliding direction. We have carried out experiments for rubber blocks sliding on unidirectionally polished steel surfaces. The experimental data are in a good qualitative agreement with the theory.

The neural cell adhesion molecule (NCAM) present in the cerebrospinal fluid of multiple sclerosis patients is unsialylated.

The neural cell adhesion molecule (NCAM) is a glycoprotein localised in the plasma membrane of neural and glial cells, which plays a role in myelination and remyelination. It increases in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) of acute multiple sclerosis (MS) patients treated with corticosteroids who are improving after an attack, but it has not been shown if it appears in its sialylated (PSA) or unsialylated form. We studied the NCAM and the PSA-NCAM in serum and CSF samples of 16 acute and non-acute MS patients and in the sera of 10 non-neurological controls. The NCAM and the PSA-NCAM were dosed by two different ELISA previously set-up. The NCAM in the serum and in the CSF of the control group presented mean levels similar to those shown in previous papers: 1620 +/- 216 and 970 +/- 210 ng/ml. In the MS patient group the means were 1700 +/- 546 in the sera and 926 +/- 285 in the CSFs. All the sera were PSA-NCAM-positive: the mean PSA-NCAM concentration in the control group was 3150 +/- 950 ng/ml, while in the MS patient group it was 3570 +/- 905 ng/ml. The correlation between serum levels of NCAM and PSA-NCAM was highly significant (p < 0.001). Student's "t" test did not show any significant difference between serum levels of the two groups, both for the NCAM and for the PSA-NCAM. CSF samples did not show any positive results for the PSA-NCAM, in either controls or in MS patients. These results demonstrate that the high levels of NCAM we previously found in the CSF of improving MS patients treated with steroids did not contain a quota of PSA-NCAM, but only the unsialylated soluble form of the molecule.

Effect of drop volume and surface statistics on the superhydrophobicity of randomly rough substrates.

In this paper, a simple theoretical approach is developed with the aim of evaluating shape, interfacial pressure, apparent contact angle and contact area of liquid drops gently deposed on randomly rough surfaces. This method can be useful to characterize the superhydrophobic properties of rough substrates, and to investigate the contact behavior of impacting drops. We assume that (i) the size of the apparent liquid-solid contact area is much larger than the micromorphology of the substrate, and (ii) a composite interface is always formed at the microscale. Results show apparent contact angle and liquid-solid area fraction are slightly influenced by the drop volume only at relatively high values of the root mean square roughness h rms, whereas the effect of volume is practically negligible at small h rms. The main statistical quantity affecting the superhydrophobic properties is found to be the Wenzel roughness parameter r W, which depends on the average slope of the surface heights. Moreover, transition from the Cassie-Baxter state to the Wenzel one is observed when r W reduces below a certain critical value, and theoretical predictions are found to be in good agreement with experimental data. Finally, the present method can be conveniently exploited to evaluate the occurrence of pinning phenomena in the case of impacting drops, as the Wenzel critical pressure for liquid penetration gives an estimation of the maximum impact pressure tolerated by the surface without pinning occurring.

Water entry and fall of hydrophobic and superhydrophobic Teflon spheres.

Hydrophobic and superhydrophobic solid Teflon spheres have been observed while settling in water under the action of gravity, starting from different initial conditions, and have been followed until the steady-state is reached. The superhydrophobic sphere features a nano/microtextured surface and advancing and receding water contact angles equal to, respectively, [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text]. When impacting water from air, both spheres can entrap a conspicuous amount of air deriving from the sealing of a macro-sized air cavity formed upon impact (air cavity trapping) and standing at the rear part of the settling sphere. It is shown that this air amount, like a spindle, reduces the force coefficient exerted on the sphere, basically acting on the pressure drag. However, the air cavity trapping occurs above a critical impact velocity which for the superhydrophobic spheres is significantly lower than that pertaining to the hydrophobic one; thus a certain range of impact velocities exists at which the superhydrophobic sphere experiences a lower pressure drag and a higher mean velocity. As soon as the air cavity vanishes, the dynamics of the superhydrophobic sphere becomes indistinguishable from that of the hydrophobic one, in spite of the persistence of air within the surface micro-texture.

Solid pancreatic pseudopapillary tumor managed laparoscopically: A case report and review of the literature.

BACKGROUND: Solid pancreatic pseudopapillary tumors are a rare neoplasms, about 1-3% of all pancreatic neoplasms. This cancer mainly affects women between the third and fourth decade of life. They are not well known; the molecular origins represent a low degree of malignancy, in which the complete resection is curative. We report our experience with a case report of SPT in a young man. PRESENTATION OF CASE: Thirty-six years old male patient with a mass about 10 cm in the pancreatic tail and splenic ilum. After following CT and MR, the patient was subjected to surgery. Histophatological result was solid tumor pseudopapillary of pancreas with no pathological lymph nodes. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION: Solid pseudopapillary neoplasm shows histological characteristic solid and pseudopapillary proliferation. Immunohistochemistry detects, among the causes of tumor development, a correlation between the Beta-catenin mutations, alteration of the E-cadherin. In the most cases, therapy is surgical treatment with laparoscopic.

Quality in emergency departments: a study on 3,285,440 admissions.

INTRODUCTION: A multi-centre study has been conducted, during 2005, by means of a questionnaire posted on the Italian Society of Emergency Medicine (SIMEU) web page. Our intention was to carry out an organisational and functional analysis of Italian Emergency Departments (ED) in order to pick out some macro-indicators of the activities performed. Participation was good, in that 69 ED (3,285,440 admissions to emergency services) responded to the questionnaire. METHODS: The study was based on 18 questions: 3 regarding the personnel of the ED, 2 regarding organisational and functional aspects, 5 on the activity of the ED, 7 on triage and 1 on the assessment of the quality perceived by the users of the ED. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: The replies revealed that 91.30% of the ED were equipped with data-processing software, which, in 96.83% of cases, tracked the entire itinerary of the patient. About 48,000 patients/year used the ED: 76.72% were discharged and 18.31% were hospitalised. Observation Units were active in 81.16% of the ED examined. Triage programmes were in place in 92.75% of ED: in 75.81% of these, triage was performed throughout the entire itinerary of the patient; in 16.13% it was performed only symptom-based, and in 8.06% only on-call. Of the patients arriving at the ED, 24.19% were assigned a non-urgent triage code, 60.01% a urgent code, 14.30% a emergent code and 1.49% a life-threatening code. Waiting times were: 52.39 min for non-urgent patients, 40.26 min for urgent, 12.08 for emergent, and 1.19 for life-threatening patients.

Nonimmunogenic sarcomas induced by 3-methylcholanthrene treatment of murine fibroblasts in diffusion chambers.

A 30-mug dose of 3-methylcholanthrene (MCA) was applied for 1 week to normal BALB/c fibroblasts in cell-impermeable diffusion chambers (DC) in the peritoneal cavities of BALB/c micemtwo groups of DC cultures, in which the carcinogen was given during weeks 1 and 5 of cultivation, respectively, were compared for the frequency of malignant transformation and for the immunogenicity of the resulting neoplasms. The cells from each DC were transplanted sc into immunodepressed semisyngeneic mice for assay of their tumorigenicity. Although tumor yield was similar in the 2 groups (25 and 22%, respectively), there was clear difference in immunogenicity; 10 of 16 sarcomas from fibroblasts treated during week 1 of culture were nonimmunogenic, whereas 8 of 9 tumors from the older cultures were immunogenic (P less than 0.02). A kinetic study of normal fibroblasts in DC revealed that cells proliferated rapidly, with a peak at day 4 after seeding, then grew progressively more slowly and ceased to replicate between 14 and 28 days of culture. Thus there was a notable difference at the moment of MCA application in the growth phase of the target cell population of the first as compared with the fifth week of culture, possible related to the different expression of tumor-associated transplantation antigens in the resulting neoplasms.

Antigene and antiproliferative effects of a c-myc-targeting phosphorothioate triple helix-forming oligonucleotide in human leukemia cells.

The c-myc gene is frequently deregulated and overexpressed in human cancers, and strategies designed to inhibit c-myc expression in cancer cells may have considerable therapeutic value. The purpose of the present work was to characterize the antigene and antiproliferative activity of a triple helix-forming oligonucleotide (TFO) targeted to a homopurine-homopyrimidine sequence in the P2 promoter of the c-myc gene. The TFO was synthesized with phosphorothioate (PS) internucleotide linkages to confer resistance to intra- and extracellular nucleases. This property is required of oligonucleotides designed for in vivo testing and therapeutic applications. The PS-TFO was found to form triplex DNA with affinity and specificity comparable with that of the corresponding phosphodiester TFO, as shown by gel mobility shift and footprinting assays. Fluorescence microscopy and polyacrylamide gel analysis showed that the fluorescein-labeled PS-TFO accumulated in nuclei of CEM leukemia cells and remained intact for at least 72 h. Incubation of CEM cells with PS-TFO reduced c-myc RNA and protein levels. A single exposure of leukemia cells to the PS-TFO was sufficient to induce dose-dependent growth inhibitory effects. Growth inhibition correlated with accumulation of cells in S phase and with induction of cell death by apoptosis. The PS-TFO was also effective in other leukemia and lymphoma cell lines. Control oligonucleotides had minimal effects in all assays. These data indicate that the c-myc-targeted PS-TFO is an effective antigene and antiproliferative agent, with potential for testing in vivo as a novel approach to cancer therapy.

Cell surface antigens of chemically induced fibrosarcomas: detection by a monoclonal antibody of a tumor-restricted Mr 12,000 protein gag antigen encoded by a dual-tropic murine leukemia virus.

Fusion products of spleen cells of W/FuDp rats immunized with a methylcholanthrene-induced BALB/c sarcoma, CA-2, and mouse myeloma cells were screened in an attempt to identify a monoclonal antibody defining the individually distinct tumor-specific transplantation antigen of CA-2. A hybridoma, MP/69/04, was isolated which produces an IgG2a monoclonal antibody that recognized a tumor-restricted antigen of CA-2. In direct binding assay, MP/69/04 reacted only with 2 of 15 methylcholanthrene induced BALB/c sarcomas tested. Thymus, spleen, lymph nodes, bone marrow, brain, adult lung fibroblasts, newborn muscle fibroblasts and 3T3 cells were negative. Absorption tests revealed, however, expression of the MP/69/04 determinant on 8 of the 12 murine leukemia virus (MuLV) producer BALB/c sarcoma tested. The antigen was not detected on any of the three non-producer sarcomas tested nor on a wide range of normal tissues and cell lines. An N-dualtropic MuLV was isolated from CA-2, and cell lines susceptible to infection by this virus were shown to express the MP/69/04 epitope. By Western blotting, the MP/69/04 epitope was identified as being expressed on the MuLV structural protein with a molecular weight of 12,000, present in CA-2 cells and in the purified CA-2 MuLV. These results indicate the MP/69/04 antigen is not a unique tumor-specific transplantation antigen but is a gag product of a recombinant retrovirus which is expressed on the cell surface of many MuLV + methylcholanthrene-induced BALB/c fibrosarcomas.