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We develop a novel database Alpha&ESMhFolds which allows the direct comparison of AlphaFold2 and ESMFold predicted models for 42,942 proteins of the Reference Human Proteome, and when available, their comparison with 2,900 directly associated PDB structures with at least a structure to sequence coverage of 70%. Statistics indicate that good quality models tend to overlap with a TM-score >0.6 as long as some PDB structural information is available. As expected, a direct model superimposition to the PDB structure highlights that AlphaFold2 models are slightly superior to ESMFold ones. However, some 55% of the database is endowed with models overlapping with TM-score <0.6. This highlights the different outputs of the two methods. The database is freely available for usage at https://alpha-esmhfolds.biocomp.unibo.it/., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.)

The current paper investigated differences in secure attachment levels and behavioral problems among four groups of children in out-of-home care in Italy: closed adoption (child and birth parents not in contact following adoption), open adoption (child and birth parents still in contact after placement), foster care (child living temporarily with relatives or unrelated foster parents) and institutional care (child in residential care for large groups of children). One hundred and thirty children aged 10-19 were included in this study. The Attachment Interview for Childhood and Adolescence and the Achenbach Youth Self-Report were employed to measure participants' secure attachment levels and behavioral problems. Both a multivariate analysis of covariance and measured variable path analysis were performed. Age, gender and time elapsed between the request for child protection and placement on out-of-home care were used as covariates. The results showed that adolescents in closed adoption had higher secure attachment scores than those in foster care and institutional care, while adolescents in open adoption scored significantly higher on problem behaviors than those in the other out-of-home care groups. Findings were discussed in terms of limitations and implications for future research.

The study addresses some gaps in the current understanding of adolescents' Problematic Social Network Site Use (PSNSU) by exploring the role of parenting as a precursor, and dysregulation and self-esteem as possible mediators. The sample includes 148 parents (15% fathers) and their adolescent offspring (23% male, age ranging from 14 to 18 years old, M = 15.96, SD = 1.36). Parent-reported dysregulation and positive/negative parenting style and adolescent-reported PSNSU and self-esteem were collected. As to positive parenting, simple parallel mediations were fully supported: positive parenting was associated with less dysregulation and higher self-esteem and both conditions independently predicted adolescents' PSNSU. Additionally, a serial mediation model was confirmed, suggesting that positive parenting is associated with less PSNSU by means of the sequential effect of dysregulation on self-esteem. As to negative parenting, results only support one simple mediation: negative parenting predicted PSNSU through dysregulation. Self-esteem was not impacted by negative parenting, interrupting the indirect pathways. The direct effect of negative parenting on PSNSU was significant, suggesting a partial mediation. Findings deepen the current understanding of teens' PSNSU and highlight the importance of targeting parenting when implementing interventions to prevent and treat PSNSU.

The treatment of recurrent high-grade gliomas remains a major challenge of daily neuro-oncology practice, and imaging findings of new therapies may be challenging. Regorafenib is a multi-kinase inhibitor that has recently been introduced into clinical practice to treat recurrent glioblastoma, bringing with it a novel panel of MRI imaging findings. On the basis of the few data in the literature and on our personal experience, we have identified the main MRI changes during regorafenib therapy, and then, we defined two different patterns, trying to create a simple summary line of the main changes of pathological tissue during therapy. We named these patterns, respectively, pattern A (less frequent, similar to classical progression disease) and pattern B (more frequent, with decreased diffusivity and decrease contrast-enhancement). We have also reported MR changes concerning signal intensity on T1-weighted and T2-weighted images, SWI, and perfusion imaging, derived from the literature (small series or case reports) and from our clinical experience. The clinical implication of these imaging modifications remains to be defined, taking into account that we are still at the dawn in the evaluation of such imaging modifications., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2022 Gaudino, Marziali, Giordano, Gigli, Varcasia, Magnani, Chiesa, Balducci, Costantini, Della Pepa, Olivi, Russo and Colosimo.)

Prognosis of patients with acute ischemic stroke is strictly related to the patency and prominence of the collateral leptomeningeal pathways distal to the arterial occlusion. The gold standard for assessment of collateral circulation is conventional angiography, but it is invasive and used in selected cases. To date, the most reliable technique is multiphase CTA; currently, the available classifications of collateral circles are often complex, time-consuming, and require a trained observer. The purpose of our work is to establish the effectiveness of a new semi-automatic post-processing software (ColorViz FastStroke, GE Healthcare, Milwaukee, Wisconsin) in evaluation of collateral circulation compared to the six-point classifications of multiphase CTA already validated in literature. We selected 86 patients with anterior ischemic stroke symptoms who underwent multiphasic CTA in our emergency department. Two radiologists separately evaluated the collateral leptomeningeal vessels, analyzing respectively, the multiphase CTA (using the six-point scale and its trichotomized form) and ColorViz (using a three-point scale). Then the results were matched. We found a good correlation between the two different analyses; the main advantage of ColorViz is that, while maintaining fast diagnostic times, it allows a simpler and more immediate evaluation of collateral circulation, especially for less experienced radiologists.

More than 100 years after the first description by Kanavel of a transoral-transpharyngeal approach to remove a bullet impacted between the atlas and the clivus [1], the transoral approach (TOA) still represents the 'gold standard' for surgical treatment of a variety of conditions resulting in anterior craniocervical compression and myelopathy [2, 3]. Nevertheless, some concerns-such as the need for a temporary tracheostomy and a postoperative nasogastric tube, and the increased risk of infection resulting from possible bacterial contamination and nasopharyngeal incompetence [4-6]-led to the introduction of the endoscopic endonasal approach (EEA) by Kassam et al. [7] in 2005. Although this approach, which was conceived to overcome those surgical complications, soon gained wide attention, its clear predominance over the TOA in the treatment of craniovertebral junction (CVJ) pathologies is still a matter of debate [3]. In recent years, several papers have reported anatomical studies and surgical experience with the EEA, targeting different areas of the midline skull base, from the olfactory groove to the CVJ [8-19]. Starting from these preliminary experiences, further anatomical studies have defined the theoretical (radiological) and practical (surgical) craniocaudal limits of the endonasal route [20-25]. Our group has done the same for the TOA [26, 27] and compared the reliability of the radiological and surgical lines of the two different approaches. Very recently, a cadaver study, with the aid of neuronavigation, tried to define the upper and lower limits of the endoscopic TOA [28].

The far lateral approach (FLA) is a technique performed nowadays to gain access to and remove intradural lesions located ventrolaterally to the brainstem and to the craniovertebral junction (CVJ).

Maternal mind-mindedness has been shown to be a powerful predictor of many developmental outcomes and to buffer the impact of psychosocial risk conditions, but no study has investigated whether this parental feature might support child development in the presence of biological risk, such as preterm birth. The present study addresses this gap, by investigating whether early maternal mind-mindedness contributes to the growth of a child's linguistic abilities in the following two years of life, and if the contribution of this maternal feature might be stronger in the presence of preterm birth. Forty mother-child dyads (twenty with a preterm infant) were followed longitudinally, with maternal mind-mindedness assessed at 14 months of age and child's expressive linguistic abilities at 24 and 36 months through observational measures. Multilevel models showed that linguistic abilities increased from 24 to 36 months of age, but that this increase was stronger in full-term infants. Maternal mind-mindedness also contributed to this growth, playing a stronger role in preterm infants than in full-term infants. Altogether, these findings contribute more deeply to the understanding of language development in preterm infants and of the joint contribution made by biological risk and environmental factors; from a practical standpoint, they suggest the importance of addressing mother's mind-mindedness in order to support child's language development., (Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

One of the most striking pieces of evidence in attachment research is that attachment security is transmitted from 1 generation to the next. Although there has been an enormous advance in the understanding of this process, this area of research suffers from some significant gaps, as for example the transmission across 3 generations when considering the 2 parents as well as the 2 couples of grandparents. The current study was designed to fill this gap in existing literature by investigating AAI attachment representations in the members of 3 generations, belonging to a total of 32 families, each including an adult offspring, both parents and the 4 grandparents (N = 224). Main findings show that the transmission across 2 generations was stronger in the presence of a female caregiver (either mother or maternal/paternal grandmother), and that across 3 generations was confirmed only in the presence of 2 female caregivers (grandmother to mother to offspring). Conversely, the transmissions across 3 generations with only 1 or no female caregiver were not confirmed. Last, experiencing 2 secure parents increased the likelihood of developing a secure state of mind with respect to attachment among offspring, mothers and fathers, 95% confidence intervals [3.52, 1,238.72], [1.67, 31.17], and [1.67, 19.98], respectively. These findings may have important theoretical implications related to the understanding of the factors involved in the continuity and discontinuity of attachment patterns across generations. (PsycINFO Database Record, ((c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved).)

A group of sex offenders (clinical group: n = 19) was compared to a nonclinical sample matched by age, years of education, and gender (control group A: n = 19) to verify a higher incidence of insecure attachment models among sex offenders. In addition, we tested whether sex offenders were characterized by specific childhood experiences, compared to control adults (control group B: n = 19) with the same secure/insecure attachment classification. Results showed significant differences between offenders and control adults on both the AAI continuous score and the distribution of the two-way attachment classifications. Furthermore, sex offenders reported more intense experiences of rejection by the father figure and abuse in the family context during early childhood compared to not offenders subjects with the same attachment classification., (© 2014 American Academy of Forensic Sciences.)

Thanks to the advances in grid technologies, we are able to propose here an evolution of our molecular simulator that, when moving to larger systems, instead of reducing the granularity of the dynamical treatment (as is often done in molecular dynamics studies of such systems) exploits the extra power of the grid approach to the end of preserving the detailed nature of theatomistic formulation of the interaction. Key steps of such evolution are: (1) the assemblage of the interaction based on a composition of the ab initio intramolecular data and a portable parameterization of the intermolecular potential linking ab initio evaluation of intramolecular potentials and the partitioning of molecular polarizability; (2) the exploitation of an efficient coordinated porting and running of molecular dynamics codes on the European grid distributed computing infrastructure. As a prototype case study, the N-methylacetamide dimer in vacuo has been considered and the formation of possible conformers is analyzed.

Background: Endoscopy represents both an alternative and useful complement to the standard microsurgical approach to the anterior craniovertebral junction (CVJ). Nevertheless, few studies provide an experimental comparison between transnasal and transoral endoscopic control on CVJ. We compared the surgical exposition angle and the working channel volume of both the transnasal and transoral approaches in the cadaver., Methods: Eleven fresh non-perfused cadavers were studied. Transnasal and transoral linear and angled exposure of the CVJ were evaluated by means of X-ray and CT scan both in sagittal and lateral planes., Results: The transoral endoscopic surgical exposition was wider compared with the transnasal in anterior and lateral projections:(1)in the sagittal plane, both in vertical exposition (transnasal inferior to transoral from 5.89 % to 76.48 %, average 35.89 %) and in vertical surgical angle (from 22 % to 77.42 %, average 56.53 %); (2)in the coronal plane, both in coronal exposition (transnasal inferior to transoral from 50.77 % to 83.88 %, average 70.34 %) and in coronal surgical angle (from 65.58 % to 86.71 %, average 76.70 %). The sagittal surgical domain was found to spanning from the inferior third of the clivus to C3 with the transoral and from the middle third of the clivus to the nasopalatal line (NPL) with the transnasal approach. The overlapping surgical domain area was found to be the inferior third of the clivus., Conclusions: The endoscope assisted transoral approach allows a better surgical control of the CVJ. It provides a better CVJ exposure, in sagittal and transverse planes, providing a larger working channel and an easier manoeuvrability. The transnasal approach is limited in caudal direction down to the NPL, otherwise the transoral approach is limited in the rostral direction with a maximum to the foramen magnum in normal specimen. In every individual case, pros and cons of the appropriate approach have to be taken into account as well as the choice of a combined transnasal and transoral approaches strategy.

A new six-dimensional (6D) global potential energy surface (PES) is proposed for the full range description of the interaction of the N2(1Σg+)+N2(1Σg+) system governing collisional processes, including N atom exchange. The related potential energy values were determined using high-level ab initio methods. The calculations were performed at a coupled-cluster with single and double and perturbative triple excitations level of theory in order to have a first full range picture of the PES. Subsequently, in order to accurately describe the stretching of the bonds of the two interacting N2 molecules by releasing the constraints of being considered as rigid rotors, for the same molecular geometries higher level of theory multi reference calculations were performed. Out of the calculated values a 6D 4-atoms global PES was produced for use in dynamical calculations. The ab initio calculations were made possible by the combined use of High Throughput Computing and High Performance Computing techniques within the frame of a computing grid empowered molecular simulator., (Copyright © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.)

We present extended applications of an established theoretical and computational machinery suitable for the study of the dynamics of CO2+CO2 collisions, focusing on vibrational energy exchange, considered over a wide range of energies and rotational temperatures. Calculations are based on quasi-classical trajectories on a potential energy function (a critical component of dynamics simulations), tailored to accurately describe the intermolecular interactions, modeled by the recently proposed bond-bond semiempirical formulation that allows the colliding molecules to be stretchable, rather than frozen at their equilibrium geometry. In a previous work, the same potential energy surface has been used to show that modifications in the geometry (and in physical properties such as polarizability and charge distribution) of the colliding partners affect the intermolecular interaction and determine the features of the energy exchange, to a large extent driven by long-range forces. As initial partitioning of the energy among the molecular degrees of freedom, we consider the excitation of the vibrational bending mode, assuming an initial rotational distribution and a rotational temperature. The role of the vibrational angular momentum is also carefully assessed. Results are obtained by portable implementations of this approach in a Grid-computing framework and on high performance platforms. Cross sections are basic ingredients to obtain rate constants of use in advanced state-to-state kinetic models, under equilibrium or nonequilibrium conditions, and this approach is suitable for gas dynamics applications to plasmas and modeling of hypersonic flows.

The current research reports that mothers' security of attachment predicts their children's sense of God's closeness. A total of 71 mother-child dyads participated (children's M age = 7.5). Mothers' attachment organization was studied with the Adult Attachment Interview (AAI; Main, Goldwyn, & Hesse, 2003 ) and their religiosity and attachment to God were measured with questionnaires. Children were told stories about visually represented children in attachment-activating and attachment-neutral situations, and placed a God symbol on a felt board to represent God's closeness to the fictional children. Children of secure mothers placed the God symbol closer (d = .78) than children of insecure mothers across both types of situations, suggesting that children's experiences with secure-insecure mothers generalize to their sense of God's closeness. Also, girls (but not boys) placed the God symbol closer in attachment-activating than in attachment-neutral situations, giving partial support for an attachment normative God-as-safe-haven model. Finally, mothers' religiosity and attachment to God were unrelated to child outcomes.

Background: Empirical findings show that the child's illness can interfere with parental well-being and with the construction of a well-functioning effective relationship between the child and his/her caregivers. In line with these findings, the present study aims at investigating the negative impact of the baby's diagnosis of clubfoot on the mother and the protective function of social support; moreover, the study aims at implementing, as a pilot experience, an intervention protocol directed to the same sample of mothers, providing emotional and informational support., Methods: A sample of 34 mothers was recruited within the first 3 months of the baby's life, including 2 groups: a clinical one, with 17 mothers of babies diagnosed with clubfoot, and a control one, with 17 mothers of healthy full-term babies. The participants completed the following instruments in 1 session: the Beck Depression Inventory-II, the Rapid Stress Assessment questionnaire, the Brief COPE, and the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support., Results: The results show that the mothers in the clinical group, compared with those in the control group, reported more stress and depressive symptoms in reaction to the birth of their baby. Moreover, they displayed a pattern of coping strategies different from those of control mothers and coherent with the meaning of having a baby with a malformation. Lastly, the group condition (clinical vs. control) significantly moderated the association of social support with stress and depression., Conclusions: These preliminary findings highlight the negative impact that the congenital malformation of clubfoot can have on mothers' psychological well-being and the protective role of social support. Moreover, the positive feedback from the mothers receiving emotional and informational support confirms the importance of implementing intervention protocols in the hospital unit directed to parents of babies with a congenital malformation.

The psychological correlates of enuresis are receiving growing attention, coherently with a multi-factorial approach to this problem, but to date the empirical findings are still inconsistent and incomplete. The aim of this study is to contribute to the understanding of the socio-affective functioning of enuretic children by exploring four central dimensions: attachment, self-esteem, self-control, and temperament. Twenty-two enuretic children with their mothers were enrolled in the study and matched, based on gender and age, to a control group of continent healthy children. Measures were collected through mothers' reports and individual administrations to all children. Controlling for socio-demographic variables, we found a significantly lower incidence of secure attachment, lower self-esteem, and higher rates of behavioral problems among the enuretic group, compared with the control group. No differences in the temperamental dimensions were found. These preliminary findings support the view of enuresis as a bio-behavioral problem and, from a practical standpoint, underline the urgency for physicians not to underestimate this disturbance, but, indeed, to treat the problem through medical strategies and to devote attention to the psychological difficulties of these patients.

This study examined the antecedents of preschool age children's mental representations of attachment, assessed using the Attachment Story Completion Task (ASCT). Antecedent predictors were maternal attachment scripts, assessed using the Attachment Script Assessment (ASA), and the child's secure base behaviors, assessed using the Attachment Q-Set (AQS). Participants were 121 mothers and their preschool children assessed in three samples (Portuguese sample, n = 31; US Midwestern sample, n = 38; US Southeastern sample, n = 52). AQS and ASA assessments were completed approximately 1.5 years before the ASCT data were collected. No cross-sample contrasts for the attachment variables were significant. Correlations and structural equation modeling (SEM) indicated that the three attachment measures were significantly associated and that both maternal secure base script knowledge and children's secure base behaviors (AQS) were uniquely and significantly associated with children's mental representations of attachment (ASCT). A test of the indirect effect between maternal scripts and child representations through children's secure base behaviors was not significant.

The objective of this study is to evaluate language outcome in pre-term children, considering multiple factors. The hypothesis is that early communicative capacity (pre-verbal communicative utterances) is affected mainly by biological (prematurity, birth weight, and gender) and social factors (maternal education), while more advanced linguistic abilities (i.e., combinatorial and syntactic abilities) are mostly influenced by previously acquired communicative abilities. Eighteen monolingual Italian pre-term children (birth weight between 750 and 1600 grams, gestational age <37 weeks; 13 males and five females) were compared with a control group of 18 age-matched full-term children (8 males, 10 females). The longitudinal design comprised motor and cognitive assessment at 14 and 36 months, and communicative evaluation by direct observation at 14, 24, 30, and 36 months, and by indirect observation at 24 and 30 months. The main results evidenced were delayed development in pre-term compared to full-term children, particularly after 24 months of age; intra-individual differences in the pre-term group; and a strong effect of prematurity on communicative ability at 14 and 24 months; however, more advanced communicative developmental stages were influenced both by prematurity and by previously acquired linguistic skills.

Based on the idea that believers' perceived relationships with God develop from their attachment-related experiences with primary caregivers, the authors explored the quality of such experiences and their representations among individuals who differed in likelihood of experiencing a principal attachment to God. Using the Adult Attachment Interview (AAI), they compared attachment-related experiences and representations in a group of 30 Catholic priests and religious with a matched group of lay Catholics and with the worldwide normal distribution of AAI classifications. They found an overrepresentation of secure-autonomous states regarding attachment among those more likely to experience a principal attachment to God (i.e., the priests and religious) compared with the other groups and an underrepresentation of unresolved-disorganized states in the two groups of Catholics compared with the worldwide normal distribution. Key findings also included links between secure-autonomous states regarding attachment and estimated experiences with loving or nonrejecting parents on the one hand and loving God imagery on the other. These results extend the literature on religion from an attachment perspective and support the idea that generalized working models derived from attachment experiences with parents are reflected in believers' perceptions of God.

The influence of prematurity and maternal attachment organization on sensitivity was investigated in 40 mother-infant dyads. Results show a main effect of attachment and an interaction between attachment and prematurity. Sensitivity was differently associated with medical risk and mothers' traumatic reaction, depending on the quality of attachment.

This study provides data supporting the reliability and validity of an Italian version of the adult attachment script representation task, designed by Waters & Rodrigues-Doolabh (2004). Specifically, we tested hypotheses concerning positive relations between attachment scriptedness scores and two other representational measures, derived from the Adult Attachment Interview (AAI). In addition, we tested the hypothesis that secure base script scores should predict maternal sensitivity in the context of mother - infant interaction. Thirty-one mothers completed narrative protocols and received scriptedness scores using the Waters & Rodrigues-Doolabh (2004) criteria. Prior to the attachment script assessment, mothers had been assessed using the AAI and had been observed in the context of infant - mother interactions to assess maternal sensitivity. Assessment of instrument reliability was satisfactory (Cronbach's alpha >.70) and both hypotheses were supported; the attachment scriptedness score (based on 4 attachment narratives) was positively and significantly associated with the AAI coherence score, the continuous security score derived from the AAI State of Mind scales, and with maternal sensitivity. These data extend to another socio-cultural milieu, previous findings supporting reliability, convergent, and predictive validity of the attachment script representation task as a measure of adult attachment.

The case of a female patient who had undergone mastectomy for infiltrating ductal carcinoma and come to the Orthopedics Division for lumbosacral pain unresponsive to conventional treatment is discussed. Pelvic X-ray, CT and scintigraphy were performed. The presence of multiple areas of selerosis of the pelvis and proximal femurs were documented. The differential range could be limited to osteoblastic metastasis and osteopoikilosis. The diagnosis of osteopoikilosis was established based on scintigraphy which proved the absence of uptake of the radiotracer.

The case of a patient with dysphonia and ingravescent dysphagia, associated with crises of lipothymia "ab ingestis" is discussed. ENT examination with videolaryngoscopy evidenced a swelling of the posterior hypopharyngeal wall. X-ray study of the upper digestive tract was discontinued for inhalation. The scintigraphic study of swalling documented marked alteration of the oropharyngeal phase with phenomena of post-deglutitory aspiration. CT of the cervical vertebral column documented anterior diffuse vertebral hyperostosis of C3-C6: this finding was suggestive of Forestier disease.

Werner syndrome is a rare autosomal recessive disorder characterized by clinical signs of premature aging, short stature, scleroderma-like skin changes, endocrine abnormalities, cataracts, and an increased incidence of malignancies. We report on a 48-year-old woman with Werner syndrome associated with intracranial meningiomas who had extensive musculoskeletal manifestations including osteoporosis of the extremities, extensive tendinopathy about the ankles, osteomyelitis of the phalanges of the first left toe, abundant soft-tissue calcification, and two dense ossified soft-tissue masses, with cortical bone and trabeculae arising from the posterosuperior aspect of the calcanei and extending into Kager fat pads. A review of previous descriptions of the radiological abnormalities of Werner syndrome indicates that the presence of soft-tissue calcifications has either not been noted or been mentioned only briefly. Moreover, there is no mention of bony masses associated with Werner syndrome in the world literature, and this would appear to be the first report of this kind.

Purpose: To evaluate changes in qualitative and quantitative parameters at high resolution CT (HRCT) and in respiratory function indexes (RFI) after bronchodilator administration in COPD patients., Materials and Methods: Fifteen former smokers (9 male and 6 female, mean age 65 years), with COPD were studied. Patients with asthmatic or pulmonary diseases were excluded. After informed consent, the patients underwent blood gas analysis, baseline RFI (respiratory function index), inspiratory/expiratory HRCT, administration of salbutamol and bromide (by metered-dose inhaler), RFI after 45 minutes, and inspiratory/expiratory HRCT. First, we performed a visual qualitative analysis (by means of a preformed questionnaire), and then a quantitative analysis by "density mask" programme at three levels: aortic arch, carina, and supradiaphragmatic level. By using this diagnostic approach we were able to determined the global area of each lung, dependent and independent of density, bronchus-artery ratio, emphysema extension, air trapping, morphologic distortion of the airways., Results: Data correlation analysed through linear regression statistical test. Outstanding correlations were found between the RFI (Raw, SVC, IC, RV, FEV1, VP70) and, respectively, density, global lung areas, and bronchus-artery ratio changes before and after bronchodilators administration., Conclusions: Our study confirmed the usefulness of bronchodilators and the need for a multiparametric and comparative (radiological and functional) approach to COPD, as well as the usefulness of HRCT in evaluating the response to visible airway physiologic stimulus and extension, and reversibility of air trapping.

The case of a female patient with recurrent macroscopic hematuria and negative vesical and renal ultrasonography, is discussed. On urography a gross pyelocaliceal filling defect was visualized. Urographic findings were suggestive of the diagnosis of transitional cell carcinoma of the upper urinary. CT was performed to confirm the diagnosis and stage the tumor: it showed the presence of an advanced lesion. At histology the diagnosis of transitional cell carcinoma of the upper urinary tract was confirmed.

Post-processing of bi- and three-dimensional images plays a major role for clinicians and surgeons in both diagnosis and therapy. The new spiral (single and multislice) CT and MRI machines have allowed better quality of images. With the associated development of hardware and software, post-processing has become indispensable in many radiologic applications in order to address precise clinical questions. In particular, in CT the acquisition technique is fundamental and should be targeted and optimized to obtain good image reconstruction. Multiplanar reconstructions ensure simple, immediate display of sections along different planes. Three-dimensional reconstructions include numerous procedures: multiplanar techniques as maximum intensity projections (MIP); surface rendering techniques as the Shaded Surface Display (SSD); volume techniques as the Volume Rendering Technique; techniques of virtual endoscopy. In surgery computer-aided techniques as the neuronavigator, which with information provided by neuroimaging helps the neurosurgeon in simulating and performing the operation, are extremely interesting.