91 results on '"Carlo Russo"'
Search Results
2. Purchases of Fruit and Vegetables for at Home Consumption During COVID-19 in the UK: Trends and Determinants
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Cesar Revoredo-Giha, Carlo Russo, and Edward Kyei Twum
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UK fruit and vegetable consumption ,COVID-19 ,online shopping ,panel data analysis ,impact response framework ,Nutrition. Foods and food supply ,TX341-641 - Abstract
This paper addresses the issue of fruit and vegetable purchases in the UK during the COVID-19 pandemic. The study is motivated by the importance of fruit and vegetables for human nutrition, health and reduction of population obesity, especially in the UK where per capita consumption is still below recommended levels. A rich panel dataset was used reporting actual shopping places and quarterly expenditure for at-home consumption of fruit and vegetable purchases of 12,492 households in years 2019 and 2020. The unique dataset allowed us to compare expenditure for fruit and vegetables before and after the COVID-19 outbreak and to identify the main drivers of changes in purchases. Regression analysis found that expenditure increased ~3% less than what expected given the overall increase in the numbers of at-home meals during lockdown. Also, Online shopping was found to be an alternative source for fruit and vegetables purchase during the pandemic. However, the expenditure for processed products grew more than the one for fresh products, resulting in a reduction of the relative share of the latter and possible deterioration of the diet quality.
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- 2022
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3. Price Quality Cues in Organic Wine Market: Is There a Veblen Effect?
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Mariarosaria Simeone, Carlo Russo, and Debora Scarpato
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organic wine ,quality cue ,Veblen ,consumer preferences ,consumer choices ,Agriculture - Abstract
Italian wine consumers show a progressive shift in favor of organic wine. Sustainability is an important driver for the emerging consumers who tend to adopt eco-friendly behaviors, avoiding food waste and respecting the environment. In this scenario, it is of interest to understand the profile of organic wine consumer, the cues that are used in the process and their impact on purchasing choice. The results from a regression on data from a sample survey showed that price is an important factor driving perceptions of organic wine quality. We found an asymmetry in the impact of price as a quality cue: while high prices may be in fact able to elicit a positive perception, low prices do not lead to non-positive perception necessarily. In addition, consumers who value sustainable consumption, have a vegan lifestyle, purchase their wine directly from wineries are more likely to have a positive perception of organic wine. Similarly, elder, educated consumers could have a higher probability to exhibit a positive perception of organic wine. This research shows that the Veblen effect can also exists for food markets in particular with the product with the greatest evocative charge, such as in the wine market.
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- 2023
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4. Assessment of eye-tracking scanpath outliers using fractal geometry
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Robert Ahadizad Newport, Carlo Russo, Abdulla Al Suman, and Antonio Di Ieva
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Higuchi fractal dimension ,Visual scanpath ,Hilbert curve ,Outlier ,Computational neuroscience ,Science (General) ,Q1-390 ,Social sciences (General) ,H1-99 - Abstract
Outlier scanpaths identification is a crucial preliminary step in designing visual software, digital media analysis, radiology training and clustering participants in eye-tracking experiments. However, the task is challenging due to the visual irregularity of the scanpath shapes and the difficulty in dimensionality reduction due to geometric complexity. Conventional approaches have used heat maps to exclude scanpaths that lack a similarity pattern. However, the typically-used packages, such as ScanMatch and MultiMatch often generate discordant results when outlier identification is done empirically. This paper introduces a novel outlier evaluation approach by integrating the fractal dimension (FD), capturing the geometrical complexity of patterns, as an additional parameter with the heat map. This additional parameter is used to evaluate the degree of influence of a scanpath within a dataset. More specifically, the 2D Cartesian coordinates of a scanpath are fitted to a space filling 1D fractal curve to characterise its temporal FD. The FDs of the scanpaths are then compared to match their geometric complexity to one another. The findings indicate that the FD can be a beneficial additional parameter when evaluating the candidacy of poorly matching scanpaths as outliers and performs better at identifying unusual scanpaths than using other methods, including scanpath matching, Jaccard, or bounding box methods alone.
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- 2021
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5. SoftMatch: Comparing Scanpaths Using Combinatorial Spatio-Temporal Sequences with Fractal Curves
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Robert Ahadizad Newport, Carlo Russo, Sidong Liu, Abdulla Al Suman, and Antonio Di Ieva
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visual scanpath ,Hilbert curve ,discrete Fréchet distance ,computational neuroscience ,eye-tracking ,fractal analysis ,Chemical technology ,TP1-1185 - Abstract
Recent studies matching eye gaze patterns with those of others contain research that is heavily reliant on string editing methods borrowed from early work in bioinformatics. Previous studies have shown string editing methods to be susceptible to false negative results when matching mutated genes or unordered regions of interest in scanpaths. Even as new methods have emerged for matching amino acids using novel combinatorial techniques, scanpath matching is still limited by a traditional collinear approach. This approach reduces the ability to discriminate between free viewing scanpaths of two people looking at the same stimulus due to the heavy weight placed on linearity. To overcome this limitation, we here introduce a new method called SoftMatch to compare pairs of scanpaths. SoftMatch diverges from traditional scanpath matching in two different ways: firstly, by preserving locality using fractal curves to reduce dimensionality from 2D Cartesian (x,y) coordinates into 1D (h) Hilbert distances, and secondly by taking a combinatorial approach to fixation matching using discrete Fréchet distance measurements between segments of scanpath fixation sequences. These matching “sequences of fixations over time” are a loose acronym for SoftMatch. Results indicate high degrees of statistical and substantive significance when scoring matches between scanpaths made during free-form viewing of unfamiliar stimuli. Applications of this method can be used to better understand bottom up perceptual processes extending to scanpath outlier detection, expertise analysis, pathological screening, and salience prediction.
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- 2022
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6. Machine Learning and Sustainable Mobility: The Case of the University of Foggia (Italy)
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Giulio Mario Cappelletti, Luca Grilli, Carlo Russo, and Domenico Santoro
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university ,sustainability ,transport policy ,mobility choices ,machine learning ,emissions ,Technology ,Engineering (General). Civil engineering (General) ,TA1-2040 ,Biology (General) ,QH301-705.5 ,Physics ,QC1-999 ,Chemistry ,QD1-999 - Abstract
Thanks to the development of increasingly sophisticated machine-learning techniques, it is possible to improve predictions of a particular phenomenon. In this paper, after analyzing data relating to the mobility habits of University of Foggia (UniFG) community members, we apply logistic regression and cross validation to determine the information that is missing in the dataset (so-called imputation process). Our goal is to make it possible to obtain the missing information that can be useful for calculating sustainability indicators and that allow the UniFG Rectorate to improve its sustainable mobility policies by encouraging methods that are as appropriate as possible to the users’ needs.
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- 2022
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7. Purchases of Meats and Fish in Great Britain During the COVID-19 Lockdown Period
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Cesar Revoredo-Giha and Carlo Russo
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UK meat market ,consumers' response ,COVID-19 pandemic ,nutrition quality ,UK diet ,Nutrition. Foods and food supply ,TX341-641 - Abstract
The purpose of this paper is to provide an analysis of the purchases of meat and fish in Great Britain during the lockdown period using time series constructed from a unique scanner panel dataset available since 2013 and which is based on information about 30 thousand households. The time series available for the analysis represent the purchases (expenditure and quantities) of all consumers and by income groups were used to compute price and quantity indices all the meats together and for each meat (i.e., beef, lamb, pork, poultry, and other meats) and fish. The changes in expenditure were decomposed into changes in prices, quantities purchased and changes in quality purchased (trading up/down in quality) i.e., whether cheaper meat or fish were purchased. A further extension of the analysis was produced by considering the evolution of calories, saturated fats and sodium per purchased quantity for meat and fish during the period of study. The results indicate that although the shares of quantities remained relatively constant, the calories, saturated fats and sodium from the purchased quantities showed an increasing trend, indicating that most of the incomes groups were lowering the nutritional quality of their meat and fish purchases. This is clearly shown by the fact “other meats” represents on average 39 percent of the calories contributed by meat and fish, 49 per cent of the saturated fats and about 68 of the total sodium in meat and fish during the lockdown period. This result highlights the need to emphasize healthy messages related to the purchases of meat.
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- 2021
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8. Psychological pressure and changes in food consumption: the effect of COVID-19 crisis
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Carlo Russo, Mariarosaria Simeone, Eugenio Demartini, Maria Elena Marescotti, and Anna Gaviglio
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COVID-19 emergency ,Conspiracist beliefs ,Food choices ,Impulsive buying ,Reflective buying ,Eating behaviour ,Science (General) ,Q1-390 ,Social sciences (General) ,H1-99 - Abstract
In this paper, we investigate the short-term and long-term effects of the COVID-19 emergency on consumers' decision of changing dietary habit. We used a certified dataset reporting information about 456 Italian consumers during the lockdown in the first wave of the pandemic emergency (April 2020). The survey collected data about changes in food purchases, respondents' mood during the lockdown, conspiracist beliefs, exposure to the virus, and planned food purchasing behavior after the lockdown. We used the data to construct measures of the psychological pressure exerted by the COVID-19 emergency on consumers. We use an endogenous selection regression model to assess the impact of psychological pressure on the decision of changing food purchased. The analysis identified two opposite approaches to change in food purchasing decisions: impulsive approach and reflective approach. The former is associated with a higher probability of changing food purchase but a lower probability to keep the changes in the long run than the latter. Our results suggest that COVID-19 psychological pressure was associated with impulsive approach to buy food. Consequently, food-purchasing behavior is expected to revert to pre-COVID 19 habits when the emergency is over.
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- 2021
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9. Computer-aided assessment of the extra-cellular matrix during pancreatic carcinogenesis: a pilot study
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Fabio Grizzi, Sirio Fiorino, Dorina Qehajaj, Adele Fornelli, Carlo Russo, Dario de Biase, Michele Masetti, Laura Mastrangelo, Matteo Zanello, Raffaele Lombardi, Andrea Domanico, Esterita Accogli, Andrea Tura, Leonardo Mirandola, Maurizio Chiriva-Internati, Robert S. Bresalier, Elio Jovine, Paolo Leandri, and Luca Di Tommaso
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Pancreatic adenocarcinoma ,Extra-cellular matrix ,Degradation ,Modeling ,Fractals ,Medicine - Abstract
Abstract Background A hallmark of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma is the desmoplastic reaction, but its impact on the tumor behavior remains controversial. Our aim was to introduce a computer -aided method to precisely quantify the amount of pancreatic collagenic extra-cellular matrix, its spatial distribution pattern, and the degradation process. Methods A series of normal, inflammatory and neoplastic pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma formalin-fixed and paraffin-embedded Sirius red stained sections were automatically digitized and analyzed using a computer-aided method. Results We found a progressive increase of pancreatic collagenic extra-cellular matrix from normal to the inflammatory and pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma. The two-dimensional fractal dimension showed a significant difference in the collagenic extra-cellular matrix spatial complexity between normal versus inflammatory and pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma. A significant difference when comparing the number of cycles necessary to degrade the pancreatic collagenic extra-cellular matrix in normal versus inflammatory and pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma was also found. The difference between inflammatory and pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma was also significant. Furthermore, the mean velocity of collagenic extra-cellular matrix degradation was found to be faster in inflammatory and pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma than in normal. Conclusion These findings demonstrate that inflammatory and pancreatic ductal adenocarcinomas are characterized by an increased amount of pancreatic collagenic extra-cellular matrix and by changes in their spatial complexity and degradation. Our study defines new features about the pancreatic collagenic extra-cellular matrix, and represents a basis for further investigations into the clinical behavior of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma and the development of therapeutic strategies.
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- 2019
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10. It Seems Italian, Doesn’t It? An Exploratory Analysis of English and Spanish Consumers about Italian Appearance Food Products
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Mariarosaria Simeone, Morena Cinquegrana, and Carlo Russo
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country of origin ,unfair practices ,Italian sounding ,food culture ,food attributes ,Chemical technology ,TP1-1185 - Abstract
The Italian export of agri-food products has been increasingly threatened by the unfair use of misleading Italian symbols (such as the national flag or the green-white-red colors) by non-Italian producers. This research paper investigated what English and Spanish consumers know about “Made in Italy” food, and their attitude towards Italian appearance food products. Primary data were collected in Spain and England, and a probit model was used to identify the determinants of consumers’ vulnerability to misleading Italian symbols. We found that merely having Italian symbols on the package might lead almost half of the consumers in the sample to consider food as Made in Italy, regardless of the actual origin. This result confirms the severity of the problem. The econometric model provides suggestions for public actions to mitigate the issue.
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- 2022
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11. Spatial and time domain analysis of eye-tracking data during screening of brain magnetic resonance images.
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Abdulla Al Suman, Carlo Russo, Ann Carrigan, Patrick Nalepka, Benoit Liquet-Weiland, Robert Ahadizad Newport, Poonam Kumari, and Antonio Di Ieva
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Medicine ,Science - Abstract
IntroductionEye-tracking research has been widely used in radiology applications. Prior studies exclusively analysed either temporal or spatial eye-tracking features, both of which alone do not completely characterise the spatiotemporal dynamics of radiologists' gaze features.PurposeOur research aims to quantify human visual search dynamics in both domains during brain stimuli screening to explore the relationship between reader characteristics and stimuli complexity. The methodology can be used to discover strategies to aid trainee radiologists in identifying pathology, and to select regions of interest for machine vision applications.MethodThe study was performed using eye-tracking data 5 seconds in duration from 57 readers (15 Brain-experts, 11 Other-experts, 5 Registrars and 26 Naïves) for 40 neuroradiological images as stimuli (i.e., 20 normal and 20 pathological brain MRIs). The visual scanning patterns were analysed by calculating the fractal dimension (FD) and Hurst exponent (HE) using re-scaled range (R/S) and detrended fluctuation analysis (DFA) methods. The FD was used to measure the spatial geometrical complexity of the gaze patterns, and the HE analysis was used to measure participants' focusing skill. The focusing skill is referred to persistence/anti-persistence of the participants' gaze on the stimulus over time. Pathological and normal stimuli were analysed separately both at the "First Second" and full "Five Seconds" viewing duration.ResultsAll experts were more focused and a had higher visual search complexity compared to Registrars and Naïves. This was seen in both the pathological and normal stimuli in the first and five second analyses. The Brain-experts subgroup was shown to achieve better focusing skill than Other-experts due to their domain specific expertise. Indeed, the FDs found when viewing pathological stimuli were higher than those in normal ones. Viewing normal stimuli resulted in an increase of FD found in five second data, unlike pathological stimuli, which did not change. In contrast to the FDs, the scanpath HEs of pathological and normal stimuli were similar. However, participants' gaze was more focused for "Five Seconds" than "First Second" data.ConclusionsThe HE analysis of the scanpaths belonging to all experts showed that they have greater focus than Registrars and Naïves. This may be related to their higher visual search complexity than non-experts due to their training and expertise.
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- 2021
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12. Sustainable Mobility in Universities: The Case of the University of Foggia (Italy)
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Giulio Mario Cappelletti, Luca Grilli, Carlo Russo, and Domenico Santoro
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transport modes ,smart mobility ,sustainable choice ,urban sustainability ,sharing mobility ,smart campus ,Environmental technology. Sanitary engineering ,TD1-1066 - Abstract
Among the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that make up the 2030 Agenda and refer to different areas of social, economic and environmental development, goal 11.2 concerns access to safe, cheap, accessible and sustainable transport systems, increasing road safety particularly through the enhancement of public transport. Universities can also contribute to increasing the use of more sustainable means of transport through policies and strategies to encourage students and staff in choosing sustainable transport modes. Numerous universities around the world and in Italy have adopted initiatives to reduce the environmental impact related to the mobility of the entire academic community. In Italy, the Italian Network of Sustainable Universities has set up, within its organization, a working group that has drawn up numerous studies on the sustainable mobility of Italian universities. The University of Foggia also conducted a study on mobility to detect and evaluate the mobility routines of community members (students, academic and administrative staff). In this paper, the first results in terms of descriptive analysis are shown. We submitted a survey consisting of 17 questions, and we obtained 3495 answers. After cleaning the data set, we were able to extract various contingency tables, through which we can statistically describe the main means of transport used by members of the University of Foggia community and, thanks to detailed data about the different means of transport, we can estimate their emissions. According to the results shown in the paper, further considerations could be made concerning the environmental implications of the choices of transportation modes. This could address policies about mobility at universities and provide useful information for applying actions to enhance these sustainable choices.
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- 2021
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13. Covid-19 Pandemic and Food Waste: An Empirical Analysis
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Federica Di Marcantonio, Edward Kyei Twum, and Carlo Russo
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Covid-19 ,food waste ,agrifood supply chain ,Agriculture - Abstract
This paper investigates the impact of Covid-19 pandemic on food waste using an original dataset from 176 agrifood business operators in the European Union (EU). Our objective is to assess whether and why the pandemic crisis affected food waste level. Unlike previous studies that addressed the issue at a consumer level, our research focuses on pre-consumption waste covering stages of the agrifood supply chain from input suppliers to retailers. Considering the importance of waste reduction for the sustainability of food production, the study provides an insight into the ability of the agrifood supply chain to cope with a major shock and its resilience. A multinomial logit regression model is used to estimate the effect of Covid-19, testing whether the ability to innovate, the role in the supply chain, the magnitude of the shock and policy support were drivers of changes in food waste. We find that three main factors affect the change in a firm’s food-waste level during the Covid-19 pandemic: The magnitude of the disruption of the sale channel, the firms’ ability to adapt the business model to the new pandemic environment, and the adoption of public policies mitigating the lockdown effects. The first driver was associated with an increase in food waste, while the others were associated with a decrease.
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- 2021
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14. Generative adversarial networks in digital pathology and histopathological image processing: A review
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Laya Jose, Sidong Liu, Carlo Russo, Annemarie Nadort, and Antonio Di Ieva
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artificial intelligence ,deep learning ,digital pathology ,generative adversarial networks ,histopathology ,image processing ,whole-slide imaging ,Computer applications to medicine. Medical informatics ,R858-859.7 ,Pathology ,RB1-214 - Abstract
Digital pathology is gaining prominence among the researchers with developments in advanced imaging modalities and new technologies. Generative adversarial networks (GANs) are a recent development in the field of artificial intelligence and since their inception, have boosted considerable interest in digital pathology. GANs and their extensions have opened several ways to tackle many challenging histopathological image processing problems such as color normalization, virtual staining, ink removal, image enhancement, automatic feature extraction, segmentation of nuclei, domain adaptation and data augmentation. This paper reviews recent advances in histopathological image processing using GANs with special emphasis on the future perspectives related to the use of such a technique. The papers included in this review were retrieved by conducting a keyword search on Google Scholar and manually selecting the papers on the subject of H&E stained digital pathology images for histopathological image processing. In the first part, we describe recent literature that use GANs in various image preprocessing tasks such as stain normalization, virtual staining, image enhancement, ink removal, and data augmentation. In the second part, we describe literature that use GANs for image analysis, such as nuclei detection, segmentation, and feature extraction. This review illustrates the role of GANs in digital pathology with the objective to trigger new research on the application of generative models in future research in digital pathology informatics.
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- 2021
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15. Consumer Attitudes towards Local and Organic Food with Upcycled Ingredients: An Italian Case Study for Olive Leaves
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Maria Angela Perito, Silvia Coderoni, and Carlo Russo
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olive leaves ,organic ,local ,consumer attitude ,up-cycled ingredients ,by-products ,Chemical technology ,TP1-1185 - Abstract
Food made with upcycled ingredients has received considerable attention in very recent years as a result of the need to both reduce waste and increase food nutritional properties. However, consumer acceptance of these novel foods is fundamental to their market uptake. This paper aims to assess the likelihood of the acceptance of food obtained from upcycled ingredients of olive oil productions and its association with some relevant recent consumption trends, such as organic food consumption and attention to food origin. In addition, particular attention is given to age group behaviors to appraise the differences between generations. Results suggest that, despite the negative influence of food technophobia, a core of sustainability-minded consumers seems to emerge that is interested in organic or local products, that could also favor the uptake of these novel food made with upcycled ingredients in the market. Results suggest that developing organic or “local” food products with upcycled ingredients can increase the probability of consumer acceptance.
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- 2020
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16. Neomelodic Notes: Social Aesthetics, Political Economies, and Networks of Asymmetric Exchange within the Neapolitan Periphery
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Salvatore Giusto and Carlo Russo
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musica neomelodica, produzioni culturali, crimine organizzato, neoliberismo, napoli, italia ,Anthropology ,GN1-890 - Abstract
The term "neomelodic" defines a musical and aesthetic genre that has dominated the mediascape of Naples, Southern Italy, since the early 1990s. Neomelodic cultural productions express "glocalizing" narratives that explicitly aim to represent the experiences of socially marginal Neapolitan subjects, with a remarking preference for those involved in organized crime activities. In spite of the structural poverty illustrating the life conditions of the Neapolitan underclass, the neomelodic musical industry brings in millions of euros per year in that city. Most of this money eventually flows into the pockets of the Neapolitan Camorra, that is one of the most powerful Italian criminal cartels. Camorra affiliates invest impressive amounts of capital into the neomelodic industry, and thus influence this musical genre’s aesthetic forms, economic value, and socio-cultural meanings. This article focuses on the coalescence between neomelodic aesthetics, Neapolitan political economy, and the local cultural sphere to offer insight into the articulation of licit and illicit political economies within the context of contemporary neoliberal Italy. It does so by exploring the commodified aesthetics leading to the entrenchment of organized crime in Naples.
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- 2017
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17. The Impact of Plant Variety Protection Regulations on the Governance of Agri-Food Value Chains
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Antonella Di Fonzo, Vanessa Nardone, Negin Fathinejad, and Carlo Russo
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plant variety protection ,agri-food value chains ,agri-food governance ,kiwifruits club-varietal ,Social Sciences - Abstract
More than 25 years after the 1991 reform of the Union for the Protection of New Plant Varieties (UPOV) treaty, the regulation of Plant Variety Protection (PVP) is still controversial. While the incentives to private innovations are unquestionable, concerns have been raised about farmers’ access to resources, the weakening of their bargaining power, their entrepreneurial freedom, and ultimately their welfare. Our paper investigates the effect of PVP regulation on the governance of agri-food value chains (AFVC) with a small-scale survey of kiwi producers in Italy. We found that AFVC trading-protected (club) plant varieties are more likely to exhibit captive governance forms than those trading the free varieties. Nevertheless, the producers of club kiwis achieve higher returns from their investments and bear less risk than others. Because of the high demand for the club fruits, the breeders must give farmers highly profitable contract terms in order to elicit the production and to promote the adoption of the new cultivar. As a consequence, farmers are capturing a share of the value of innovation, even if the breeders have a strong protection. The long-run sustainability of this win-win agreement between breeders and farmers might be jeopardized should the demand for the new varieties fall.
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- 2019
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18. Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) used to compare two different methods of ripe table olive processing
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Carlo Russo, Giulio Mario Cappelletti, and Giuseppe Martino Nicoletti
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black ripe table olives ,lca ,ripe table olive ,Nutrition. Foods and food supply ,TX341-641 - Abstract
The aim of the present study is to analyze the most common method used for processing ripe table olives: the “California style”. Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) was applied to detect the “hot spots” of the system under examination. The LCA results also allowed us to compare the traditional “California style”, here called “method A”, with another “California style”, here called “method B”. We were interested in this latter method, because the European Union is considering introducing it into the product specification of the Protected Denomination of Origin (PDO) “La Bella della Daunia”. It was also possible to compare the environmental impacts of the two “California style” methods with those of the “Spanish style” method. From the comparison it is clear that “method B” has a greater environmental impact than “method A” because greater amounts of water and electricity are required, whereas “Spanish style” processing has a lower environmental impact than the ”California style” methods.
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- 2010
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19. Food Expensiveness in Scotland's Remote Areas: An Analysis of Household Food Purchases ☆
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Cesar Revoredo‐Giha and Carlo Russo
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Sociology and Political Science - Published
- 2022
20. The E3 Ubiquitin Ligase SCF Cyclin F Promotes Sequestosome-1/p62 Insolubility and Foci Formation and is Dysregulated in ALS and FTD Pathogenesis
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Jennilee M. Davidson, Sharlynn S. L. Wu, Stephanie L. Rayner, Flora Cheng, Kimberley Duncan, Carlo Russo, Michelle Newbery, Kunjie Ding, Natalie M. Scherer, Rachelle Balez, Alberto García-Redondo, Alberto Rábano, Livia Rosa-Fernandes, Lezanne Ooi, Kelly L. Williams, Marco Morsch, Ian P. Blair, Antonio Di Ieva, Shu Yang, Roger S. Chung, and Albert Lee
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Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience ,Neurology ,Neuroscience (miscellaneous) - Abstract
Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS)- and frontotemporal dementia (FTD)-linked mutations in CCNF have been shown to cause dysregulation to protein homeostasis. CCNF encodes for cyclin F, which is part of the cyclin F-E3 ligase complex SCFcyclinF known to ubiquitylate substrates for proteasomal degradation. In this study, we identified a function of cyclin F to regulate substrate solubility and show how cyclin F mechanistically underlies ALS and FTD disease pathogenesis. We demonstrated that ALS and FTD-associated protein sequestosome-1/p62 (p62) was a canonical substrate of cyclin F which was ubiquitylated by the SCFcyclinF complex. We found that SCFcyclin F ubiquitylated p62 at lysine(K)281, and that K281 regulated the propensity of p62 to aggregate. Further, cyclin F expression promoted the aggregation of p62 into the insoluble fraction, which corresponded to an increased number of p62 foci. Notably, ALS and FTD-linked mutant cyclin F p.S621G aberrantly ubiquitylated p62, dysregulated p62 solubility in neuronal-like cells, patient-derived fibroblasts and induced pluripotent stem cells and dysregulated p62 foci formation. Consistently, motor neurons from patient spinal cord tissue exhibited increased p62 ubiquitylation. We suggest that the p.S621G mutation impairs the functions of cyclin F to promote p62 foci formation and shift p62 into the insoluble fraction, which may be associated to aberrant mutant cyclin F-mediated ubiquitylation of p62. Given that p62 dysregulation is common across the ALS and FTD spectrum, our study provides insights into p62 regulation and demonstrates that ALS and FTD-linked cyclin F mutant p.S621G can drive p62 pathogenesis associated with ALS and FTD.
- Published
- 2023
21. Benchmarking Sustainable Mobility in Higher Education
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Domenico Santoro, Luca Grilli, GIULIO MARIO CAPPELLETTI, and Carlo Russo
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Sustainable Mobility ,SDG 11 ,Life Cycle Assessment ,Sustainable Eco-Indicator University ,Renewable Energy, Sustainability and the Environment ,Geography, Planning and Development ,Building and Construction ,Management, Monitoring, Policy and Law - Abstract
Sustainable mobility is an increasingly significant issue that both public and private organizations consider in order to reduce emissions by their members. In this paper, the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) approach was used to evaluate sustainable mobility. Data coming from a study carried out at the University of Foggia were processed by Gabi LCA software to estimate the environmental performance of the community members according to the methodology of the Product Environmental Footprint (PEF) guidelines 3.0. Results of the LCA were organized in different classes, creating an eco-indicator of sustainable mobility that can be applied to both the institution and individual members (called the Sustainable Mobility Indicator, SMI). The SMI, computed to assess the environmental impact of the University of Foggia, was also used to evaluate the best mobility scenario, which can be considered a benchmark. The creation of the performance classes and benchmark analysis represents an easier way to communicate sustainability based on the recommendations for achieving the sustainable development goals from the 2030 Agenda adopted by all United Nations Member States. Indeed, any organization can carry out this approach to assess its environmental impact (in terms of mobility) and shape transport policies accordingly, leading to the adoption of sustainable solutions.
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- 2023
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22. Prenatal hydrometrocolpos as an unusual finding in Fraser syndrome. Case report
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Isabella Dávila Neri, Adriana Patricia Farias Vela, Rafael Leonardo Aragón Mendoza, Roberto Gallo Roa, and Giovanni Carlo Russo Vizcaino
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Embryology ,Pediatrics, Perinatology and Child Health ,Obstetrics and Gynecology - Abstract
Objectives Fraser syndrome is a rare congenital malformation characterized by cryptophthalmos, syndactyly and urogenital tract malformations. The association with hydrometrocolpos is infrequent, with only a few cases reported in the literature. Case presentation A 19-year-old primigravida presenting at 35 weeks of gestation, with prenatal finding of hydrometrocolpos associated with hypotelorism and microphthalmia. Pre-term cesarean delivery was performed due to breech labor and perinatal death. The autopsy confirmed hydrometrocolpos secondary to vaginal atresia and imperforate hymen, associated with cryptophthalmos, syndactyly, nasal and pinna malformations, confirming the diagnosis of Fraser syndrome. Conclusions Fraser syndrome is usually a postnatal diagnosis. The association with genital abnormalities explains the finding of hydrometrocolpos, which could be considered a diagnostic criterion for this syndrome.
- Published
- 2023
23. Artificial Intelligence–Assisted Classification of Gliomas Using Whole-Slide Images
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Laya Jose, Sidong Liu, Carlo Russo, Cong Cong, Yang Song, Michael Rodriguez, and Antonio Di Ieva
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Medical Laboratory Technology ,General Medicine ,Pathology and Forensic Medicine - Abstract
Context.— Glioma is the most common primary brain tumor in adults. The diagnosis and grading of different pathological subtypes of glioma is essential in treatment planning and prognosis. Objective.— To propose a deep learning–based approach for the automated classification of glioma histopathology images. Two classification methods, the ensemble method based on 2 binary classifiers and the multiclass method using a single multiclass classifier, were implemented to classify glioma images into astrocytoma, oligodendroglioma, and glioblastoma, according to the 5th edition of the World Health Organization classification of central nervous system tumors, published in 2021. Design.— We tested 2 different deep neural network architectures (VGG19 and ResNet50) and extensively validated the proposed approach based on The Cancer Genome Atlas data set (n = 700). We also studied the effects of stain normalization and data augmentation on the glioma classification task. Results.— With the binary classifiers, our model could distinguish astrocytoma and oligodendroglioma (combined) from glioblastoma with an accuracy of 0.917 (area under the curve [AUC] = 0.976) and astrocytoma from oligodendroglioma (accuracy = 0.821, AUC score = 0.865). The multiclass method (accuracy = 0.861, AUC score = 0.961) outperformed the ensemble method (accuracy = 0.847, AUC = 0.933) with the best performance displayed by the ResNet50 architecture. Conclusions.— With the high performance of our model (>80%), the proposed method can assist pathologists and physicians to support examination and differential diagnosis of glioma histopathology images, with the aim to expedite personalized medical care.
- Published
- 2022
24. Il ruolo dei contratti di filiera nei mercati «turbolenti» di oggi
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Righi, Selene, Carlo, Russo, and Vigano', Elena
- Published
- 2022
25. It sounds Italian, doesn't it? An exploratory analysis on English and Spanish consumer about Italian sounding in the food product market
- Author
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M. Simeone, Morena Cinquegrana, Carlo Russo, Simeone, M., Cinquegrana, Morena, and Russo, Carlo
- Subjects
country of origin, unfair practices, Italian sounding, food culture, food attributes - Abstract
The Italian export of agri-food products has been increasingly threatened by the unfair use of misleading Italian symbols (such as the national flag or the green-white-red colors) by non-Italian producers. This research paper investigated what English and Spanish consumers know about “Made in Italy” food, and their attitude towards Italian appearance food products. Primary data were collected in Spain and England, and a probit model was used to identify the determinants of consumers’ vulnerability to misleading Italian symbols. We found that merely having Italian symbols on the package might lead almost half of the consumers in the sample to consider food as Made in Italy, regardless of the actual origin. This result confirms the severity of the problem. The econometric model provides suggestions for public actions to mitigate the issue.
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- 2022
26. Machine Learning and Sustainable Mobility: The Case of the University of Foggia (Italy)
- Author
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Domenico Santoro, Luca Grilli, GIULIO MARIO CAPPELLETTI, and Carlo Russo
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Fluid Flow and Transfer Processes ,Engineering management ,Engineering ,business.industry ,Process Chemistry and Technology ,General Engineering ,General Materials Science ,business ,Instrumentation ,Computer Science Applications - Abstract
Thanks to the development of increasingly sophisticated machine-learning techniques, it is possible to improve predictions of a certain phenomenon. In this paper, after having analyzed data relating to the mobility habits of University of Foggia (UniFG) community members and deter- mined their emissions of pollutants, we applied machine-learning techniques to these data to estimate the quantities of pollutants (in a certain time period) produced by new subjects not present in the data sets, using very little information. In this way, we developed a method that the university could apply to inform new students about what their emissions of pollutants could be in the near future, through several easily obtainable features. This method could allow the UniFG Rectorate to improve its sustainable mobility policies by encouraging the use of methods that are as appropriate as possible to the users’ needs. In addition, any public/private organization outside the academic environment can use the method, due to the need for little information.
- Published
- 2021
27. Use of deep learning in the MRI diagnosis of Chiari malformation type I
- Author
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Kaishin W. Tanaka, Carlo Russo, Sidong Liu, Marcus A. Stoodley, and Antonio Di Ieva
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Adult ,Deep Learning ,Humans ,Radiology, Nuclear Medicine and imaging ,Female ,Neurology (clinical) ,Neural Networks, Computer ,Cardiology and Cardiovascular Medicine ,Magnetic Resonance Imaging ,Arnold-Chiari Malformation ,Retrospective Studies - Abstract
Purpose To train deep learning convolutional neural network (CNN) models for classification of clinically significant Chiari malformation type I (CM1) on MRI to assist clinicians in diagnosis and decision making. Methods A retrospective MRI dataset of patients diagnosed with CM1 and healthy individuals with normal brain MRIs from the period January 2010 to May 2020 was used to train ResNet50 and VGG19 CNN models to automatically classify images as CM1 or normal. A total of 101 patients diagnosed with CM1 requiring surgery and 111 patients with normal brain MRIs were included (median age 30 with an interquartile range of 23–43; 81 women with CM1). Isotropic volume transformation, image cropping, skull stripping, and data augmentation were employed to optimize model accuracy. K-fold cross validation was used to calculate sensitivity, specificity, and the area under receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) for model evaluation. Results The VGG19 model with data augmentation achieved a sensitivity of 97.1% and a specificity of 97.4% with an AUC of 0.99. The ResNet50 model achieved a sensitivity of 94.0% and a specificity of 94.4% with an AUC of 0.98. Conclusions VGG19 and ResNet50 CNN models can be trained to automatically detect clinically significant CM1 on MRI with a high sensitivity and specificity. These models have the potential to be developed into clinical support tools in diagnosing CM1.
- Published
- 2021
28. Carbon Fluxes in Sustainable Tree Crops: Field, Ecosystem and Global Dimension
- Author
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Giuseppe Montanaro, Davide Amato, Vitale Nuzzo, Carlo Russo, and Nunzio Briglia
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Geography, Planning and Development ,Climate change ,TJ807-830 ,Context (language use) ,Management, Monitoring, Policy and Law ,Carbon sequestration ,TD194-195 ,Renewable energy sources ,olive ,Ecosystem ,GE1-350 ,Life-cycle assessment ,Ecological footprint ,Environmental effects of industries and plants ,Renewable Energy, Sustainability and the Environment ,business.industry ,LCA ,Environmental resource management ,NECB ,PEF ,carbon sequestration ,Environmental sciences ,Greenhouse gas ,Sustainability ,GHG ,business - Abstract
Carbon (C) budget at cropping systems has not only agronomic but also environmental relevance because of their contribution to both emissions and removals of greenhouse gases (GHGs). Ideally, sustainable orchards are expected to remove atmospheric CO2 at a rate greater than that of the emissions because of (i) optimized biology of the system and (ii) reduced on-site/offsite inputs sourced by the technosphere. However, such a computation might produce inconsistent results and in turn biased communication on sustainability of the cropping systems because C accounting framework(s) are used under unclear context. This study examined the sustainability of orchards in terms of impact on GHGs focusing its significance at the field, ecosystem and global dimension analyzing some operational aspects and limitations of existing frameworks (e.g., net ecosystem carbon balance (NECB), life cycle assessment (LCA)). Global relevance of sustainable orchard was also discussed considering the C sequestration at cropland as instructed by Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). The uniqueness of olive tree lifespan duration and C sequestration is discussed within the Product Environmental Footprint of agrifood product. The paper also highlighted overlapping components among the NECB, LCA and IPCC frameworks and the need for an integrated C accounting scheme for a more comprehensive and detailed mapping of sustainability in agriculture.
- Published
- 2021
29. Assessment of eye-tracking scanpath outliers using fractal geometry
- Author
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Carlo Russo, Abdulla Al Suman, Antonio Di Ieva, and Robert Ahadizad Newport
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Similarity (geometry) ,Jaccard index ,Science (General) ,Computer science ,01 natural sciences ,03 medical and health sciences ,Q1-390 ,0302 clinical medicine ,Fractal ,Higuchi fractal dimension ,Minimum bounding box ,0101 mathematics ,Cluster analysis ,H1-99 ,Multidisciplinary ,business.industry ,Dimensionality reduction ,010102 general mathematics ,Pattern recognition ,Visual scanpath ,Social sciences (General) ,Outlier ,Computational neuroscience ,Eye tracking ,Artificial intelligence ,business ,Hilbert curve ,030217 neurology & neurosurgery ,Research Article - Abstract
Outlier scanpaths identification is a crucial preliminary step in designing visual software, digital media analysis, radiology training and clustering participants in eye-tracking experiments. However, the task is challenging due to the visual irregularity of the scanpath shapes and the difficulty in dimensionality reduction due to geometric complexity. Conventional approaches have used heat maps to exclude scanpaths that lack a similarity pattern. However, the typically-used packages, such as ScanMatch and MultiMatch often generate discordant results when outlier identification is done empirically. This paper introduces a novel outlier evaluation approach by integrating the fractal dimension (FD), capturing the geometrical complexity of patterns, as an additional parameter with the heat map. This additional parameter is used to evaluate the degree of influence of a scanpath within a dataset. More specifically, the 2D Cartesian coordinates of a scanpath are fitted to a space filling 1D fractal curve to characterise its temporal FD. The FDs of the scanpaths are then compared to match their geometric complexity to one another. The findings indicate that the FD can be a beneficial additional parameter when evaluating the candidacy of poorly matching scanpaths as outliers and performs better at identifying unusual scanpaths than using other methods, including scanpath matching, Jaccard, or bounding box methods alone., Higuchi fractal dimension; Visual scanpath; Hilbert curve; Outlier; Computational neuroscience
- Published
- 2021
30. SoftMatch: Comparing Scanpaths Using Combinatorial Spatio-Temporal Sequences with Fractal Curves
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Abdulla Al Suman, Sidong Liu, Antonio Di Ieva, Robert Ahadizad Newport, and Carlo Russo
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Fractals ,Humans ,Fixation, Ocular ,Amino Acids ,Electrical and Electronic Engineering ,visual scanpath ,Hilbert curve ,discrete Fréchet distance ,computational neuroscience ,eye-tracking ,fractal analysis ,Biochemistry ,Instrumentation ,Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics ,Analytical Chemistry - Abstract
Recent studies matching eye gaze patterns with those of others contain research that is heavily reliant on string editing methods borrowed from early work in bioinformatics. Previous studies have shown string editing methods to be susceptible to false negative results when matching mutated genes or unordered regions of interest in scanpaths. Even as new methods have emerged for matching amino acids using novel combinatorial techniques, scanpath matching is still limited by a traditional collinear approach. This approach reduces the ability to discriminate between free viewing scanpaths of two people looking at the same stimulus due to the heavy weight placed on linearity. To overcome this limitation, we here introduce a new method called SoftMatch to compare pairs of scanpaths. SoftMatch diverges from traditional scanpath matching in two different ways: firstly, by preserving locality using fractal curves to reduce dimensionality from 2D Cartesian (x,y) coordinates into 1D (h) Hilbert distances, and secondly by taking a combinatorial approach to fixation matching using discrete Fréchet distance measurements between segments of scanpath fixation sequences. These matching “sequences of fixations over time” are a loose acronym for SoftMatch. Results indicate high degrees of statistical and substantive significance when scoring matches between scanpaths made during free-form viewing of unfamiliar stimuli. Applications of this method can be used to better understand bottom up perceptual processes extending to scanpath outlier detection, expertise analysis, pathological screening, and salience prediction.
- Published
- 2022
31. CLRM-08 TARGETING IMMUNE-PAYLOAD TO THE GLIOBLASTOMA TUMOR MICROENVIRONMENT USING A MACROPHAGE-BASED TREATMENT RELYING ON AUTOLOGOUS, GENETICALLY MODIFIED, HEMATOPOIETIC STEM CELL-BASED THERAPY: THE TEM-GBM STUDY (NCT03866109)
- Author
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Marica Eoli, Francesca Farina, Bernhard Gentner, Alessia Capotondo, Elena Anghileri, Matteo Barcella, Valentina Brambilla, Maria Grazia Bruzzone, Matteo Carrabba, Valeria Cuccarini, Giorgio d’Alessandris, Francesco Di Meco, Valeria Ferla, Alberto Franzin, Paolo Ferroli, Filippo Gagliardi, Federico Legnani, Stefania Mazzoleni, Pietro Mortini, Matteo Maria Naldini, Alessandro Olivi, Roberto Pallini, Monica Patanè, Rosina Paterra, Bianca Pollo, Massimo Saini, Silvia Snider, Luigi Naldini, Carlo Russo, Gaetano Finocchiaro, and Fabio Ciceri
- Subjects
General Medicine - Abstract
We developed an autologous hematopoietic stem cell-based platform designed to deliver IFNa, by a transcriptional and post-transcriptional control mechanism mediated by miRNA target sequences, specifically into the tumor microenvironment (TME) via Tie-2 expressing monocytes (Temferon). As of Feb 2022, 3 escalating doses of Temferon (0.5-2.0x106/kg) were tested across 15 newly diagnosed, unmethylated MGMT GBM patients assigned to 5 cohorts. Follow-up from surgery is 6–28mo (2–25mo after Temferon). To date, no DLTs have been identified. As expected, 1mo after the administration of the highest tested dose, the hematopoietic system of Temferon-treated patients was composed of up to 30% of CD14+ modified cells. Temferon-derived progeny persisted, albeit at lower levels, up to 18mo (longest time of analysis). Despite the substantial proportion of engineered cells, very low concentrations of IFNα were detected in the plasma and in the CSF, indicating tight regulation of transgene expression. SAEs were mostly attributed to conditioning chemotherapy (infections) or disease progression (seizures). 1SUSAR (persistent GGT elevation) occurred. Median OS is 15mo from surgery. Homing of transduced cells to the tumor was demonstrated by the presence of gene-marked cells in the 2nd surgery specimens of 3 out 4 pts belonging to low dose cohorts. Single-cell RNA seq of the TME highlighted a Temferon signature associated with the induction IFNa responsive genes and macrophage repolarization. Potential long-term benefit with Temferon was identified in a patient from cohort 3, who had PD at D+120 with two distant enhancing lesions, and increased tumor necrosis. 1y following Temferon, with no 2nd-line therapy added, there was approximately 40% reduction in enhancing tumor volume compared to D+180 with a stable clinical and imaging picture thereafter. The results provide initial evidence of Temferon’s potential to modulate the TME of GBM patients, and anecdotal evidence for long lasting effects of Temferon in prevention of disease progression.
- Published
- 2022
32. The product environmental footprint approach to compare the environmental performances of artificial and natural turf
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Carlo Russo, Giulio Mario Cappelletti, and Giuseppe Martino Nicoletti
- Subjects
Ecology ,Geography, Planning and Development ,Management, Monitoring, Policy and Law - Published
- 2022
33. An indigenous 2‐month‐old with a papular eruption of the scapula
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David Orchard, Brent J Doolan, and Carlo Russo
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Scapula ,Papular eruption ,medicine.medical_specialty ,business.industry ,Humans ,Infant ,Medicine ,Dermatology ,Exanthema ,business ,Indigenous - Published
- 2020
34. Abstract 5213: Genetically modified Tie-2 expressing monocytes target IFN-α2 to the glioblastoma tumor microenvironment (TME): Preliminary data from the TEM-GBM Phase 1/2a study
- Author
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Bernhard Gentner, Gaetano Finocchiaro, Francesca Farina, Marica Eoli, Alessia Capotondo, Elena Anghileri, Matteo Barcella, Maria Grazia Bruzzone, Matteo Giovanni Carrabba, Valeria Cuccarini, Giorgio D'Alessandris, Francesco Di Meco, Valeria Ferla, Paolo Ferroli, Filippo Gagliardi, Federico Legnani, Pietro Mortini, Matteo Maria Naldini, Alessandro Olivi, Roberto Pallini, Monica Patanè, Rosina Paterra, Bianca Pollo, Marco Saini, Silvia Snider, Valentina Brambilla, Stefania Mazzoleni, Andrew Zambanini, Carlo Russo, Luigi Naldini, and Fabio Ciceri
- Subjects
Cancer Research ,Oncology - Abstract
Increasing clinical use of immune checkpoint inhibitors testifies to the importance of modulating the immune TME to obtain meaningful anti-tumor immune responses. Acting only on T lymphocytes may, however, not be sufficient, e.g. in immunologically-cold tumors or due to de novo or acquired resistance. Moreover, immune-related AEs remain hurdles of T cell therapies. To overcome these limitations and to awaken the immune system in an agnostic way against the tumor, we have developed a genetically modified cell-based autologous hematopoietic stem cell platform (Temferon) delivering immunotherapeutic payloads into the TME through Tie-2 expressing monocytes (TEMs), a subset of tumor infiltrating macrophages. TEM-GBM is an ongoing open-label, Phase 1/2a dose-escalating study evaluating the safety & efficacy of Temferon in up to 21 newly diagnosed patients with glioblastoma & unmethylated MGMT promoter assigned to 7 different cohorts (3 pts each) differing by Temferon dose (0.5-4.0x106/kg) and conditioning regimen (BCNU+ or Busulfan+Thiotepa). By Oct 15th, 2021, 15 pts (cohort 1-5) had received escalating doses of Temferon with a median follow up of 267 days (range: 60-749). Rapid engraftment and hematological recovery from nonmyeloablative conditioning occurred in all pts. Temferon-derived differentiated cells, as determined by the presence of vector genomes in the DNA, were found at increasing proportions in PB and BM, reaching up to 30% at 1 month for the highest cohorts tested (2.0x106/kg) and persisting up to 18 months, albeit at lower levels. Despite the significant proportion of engineered cells, only very low median concentrations of IFNα were detected in the plasma (D+30, 5.9; D+90, 8.8pg/mL) and in the cerebrospinal fluid (D+30, 1.5; D+90, 2.4pg/mL), indicating tight regulation of vector expression. SAEs were mostly attributed to conditioning chemotherapy (e.g. infections) or disease progression (e.g. seizures). 1 SUSAR (persistent GGT elevation) has occurred. Median OS is 14 mth from surgery (11 mth post Temferon). Four pts from the low dose cohorts underwent 2nd surgery. These recurrent tumors contained gene-marked cells and expressed IFN-responsive genes, indicative of local IFNα release by TEMs. In 1 pt, a stable lesion (as defined by MRI) had a higher proportion of T cells & TEMs, an increased IFN-response signature and myeloid re-programming revealed by scRNAseq, as compared to a synchronous, progressing tumor. TCR sequencing of blood and tumor samples showed a post-treatment increase in the cumulative frequency of tumor-associated T cell clones identified in 1st and 2nd surgery specimens (up to 4 out of 9 subjects). These results provide initial evidence for on-target activity of Temferon in GBM, to be consolidated with longer follow up in the higher dose cohorts. Citation Format: Bernhard Gentner, Gaetano Finocchiaro, Francesca Farina, Marica Eoli, Alessia Capotondo, Elena Anghileri, Matteo Barcella, Maria Grazia Bruzzone, Matteo Giovanni Carrabba, Valeria Cuccarini, Giorgio D'Alessandris, Francesco Di Meco, Valeria Ferla, Paolo Ferroli, Filippo Gagliardi, Federico Legnani, Pietro Mortini, Matteo Maria Naldini, Alessandro Olivi, Roberto Pallini, Monica Patanè, Rosina Paterra, Bianca Pollo, Marco Saini, Silvia Snider, Valentina Brambilla, Stefania Mazzoleni, Andrew Zambanini, Carlo Russo, Luigi Naldini, Fabio Ciceri. Genetically modified Tie-2 expressing monocytes target IFN-α2 to the glioblastoma tumor microenvironment (TME): Preliminary data from the TEM-GBM Phase 1/2a study [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2022; 2022 Apr 8-13. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2022;82(12_Suppl):Abstract nr 5213.
- Published
- 2022
35. MARKET POWER AND BARGAINING POWER IN THE EU FOOD SUPPLY CHAIN: THE ROLE OF PRODUCER ORGANIZATIONS
- Author
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Luca Cacchiarelli, Alessandro Sorrentino, and Carlo Russo
- Subjects
Economics and Econometrics ,Supply chain ,Geography, Planning and Development ,0211 other engineering and technologies ,02 engineering and technology ,Market power ,Bargaining power ,CAP ,Food supply chain ,Producer Organization ,Agronomy and Crop Science ,Industrial organization ,Downstream (petroleum industry) ,Planning and Development ,Upstream (petroleum industry) ,Geography ,business.industry ,021107 urban & regional planning ,04 agricultural and veterinary sciences ,Agricultural and Biological Sciences (miscellaneous) ,Relevant market ,040103 agronomy & agriculture ,0401 agriculture, forestry, and fisheries ,Position (finance) ,business ,Imperfect competition - Abstract
Imperfect competition in the food supply chain is a concern for several “weak agents” such as small farmers and consumers. Given the difficulties in applying standard anti-trust regulations in the agri-food system, a growing interest is emerging in a decentralized approach where private entities, such as Producer Organizations (PO), are given active role in the governance of the agricultural markets. We present a simple bargaining model assessing the POs’ capacity to rebalance bargaining power along the supply chain. The results show that POs can benefit farmers by strengthening their negotiation power, improving their bargaining position and worsening the buyer’s one. Imposing a minimum size for POs may improve their effectiveness in affecting the buyer’s bargaining position. Such requirement should be calibrated on the structure of the downstream (upstream) relevant market.
- Published
- 2018
36. Psychological pressure and changes in food consumption: the effect of COVID-19 crisis
- Author
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Maria Elena Marescotti, Anna Gaviglio, Mariarosaria Simeone, Carlo Russo, Eugenio Demartini, Russo, C., Simeone, M., Demartini, E., Marescotti, M. E., and Gaviglio, A.
- Subjects
Conspiracist beliefs ,COVID-19 emergency ,Eating behaviour ,Food choices ,Impulsive buying ,Reflective buying ,0301 basic medicine ,Science (General) ,Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) ,Food consumption ,Food choice ,Certification ,03 medical and health sciences ,Q1-390 ,0302 clinical medicine ,Psychological pressure ,Marketing ,H1-99 ,Multidisciplinary ,Regression analysis ,Conspiracist belief ,Social sciences (General) ,030104 developmental biology ,Mood ,sense organs ,Psychology ,Construct (philosophy) ,030217 neurology & neurosurgery ,Research Article - Abstract
In this paper, we investigate the short-term and long-term effects of the COVID-19 emergency on consumers' decision of changing dietary habit. We used a certified dataset reporting information about 456 Italian consumers during the lockdown in the first wave of the pandemic emergency (April 2020). The survey collected data about changes in food purchases, respondents' mood during the lockdown, conspiracist beliefs, exposure to the virus, and planned food purchasing behavior after the lockdown. We used the data to construct measures of the psychological pressure exerted by the COVID-19 emergency on consumers. We use an endogenous selection regression model to assess the impact of psychological pressure on the decision of changing food purchased. The analysis identified two opposite approaches to change in food purchasing decisions: impulsive approach and reflective approach. The former is associated with a higher probability of changing food purchase but a lower probability to keep the changes in the long run than the latter. Our results suggest that COVID-19 psychological pressure was associated with impulsive approach to buy food. Consequently, food-purchasing behavior is expected to revert to pre-COVID 19 habits when the emergency is over., COVID-19 emergency; Conspiracist beliefs; Food choices; Impulsive buying, Reflective buying, Eating behaviour
- Published
- 2021
37. Impact of Spherical Coordinates Transformation Pre-processing in Deep Convolution Neural Networks for Brain Tumor Segmentation and Survival Prediction
- Author
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Antonio Di Ieva, Carlo Russo, and Sidong Liu
- Subjects
Artificial neural network ,Computer science ,business.industry ,Pattern recognition ,Convolutional neural network ,Convolution ,law.invention ,Data set ,Transformation (function) ,law ,Preprocessor ,Cartesian coordinate system ,Artificial intelligence ,business ,Feature learning - Abstract
Pre-processing and Data Augmentation play an important role in Deep Convolutional Neural Networks (DCNN). Whereby several methods aim for standardization and augmentation of the dataset, we here propose a novel method aimed to feed DCNN with spherical space transformed input data that could better facilitate feature learning compared to standard Cartesian space images and volumes. In this work, the spherical coordinates transformation has been applied as a preprocessing method that, used in conjunction with normal MRI volumes, improves the accuracy of brain tumor segmentation and patient overall survival (OS) prediction on Brain Tumor Segmentation (BraTS) Challenge 2020 dataset. The LesionEncoder framework has been then applied to automatically extract features from DCNN models, achieving 0.586 accuracy of OS prediction on the validation data set, which is one of the best results according to BraTS 2020 leaderboard.
- Published
- 2021
38. CTIM-24. AUTOLOGOUS CD34+ ENRICHED HEMATOPOIETIC PROGENITOR CELLS GENETICALLY MODIFIED FOR HUMAN INTERFERON-α2, ARE WELL TOLERATED & RAPIDLY ENGRAFT IN PATIENTS WITH GLIOBLASTOMA MULTIFORME (TEM-GBM_001 STUDY)
- Author
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Matteo Carrabba, Fabio Ciceri, Marica Eoli, Gaetano Finocchiaro, Andrew Zambanini, Stefania Mazzoleni, Alessia Capotondo, Bianca Pollo, Bernhard Gentner, Maria Grazia Bruzzone, Francesco DiMeco, Federico G. Legnani, Mariagrazia Garramone, Paolo Ferroli, Stefania Girlanda, Valeria Cuccarini, Luigi Naldini, Rosina Paterra, Farina Francesca, Carlo Russo, Elena Anghileri, and Marco Saini
- Subjects
Cancer Research ,Carmustine ,medicine.medical_specialty ,Hematology ,Angiogenesis ,business.industry ,CD34 ,O-6-methylguanine-DNA methyltransferase ,Clinical Trials: Immunologic ,Genetically modified organism ,medicine.anatomical_structure ,Immune system ,Oncology ,Internal medicine ,medicine ,Cancer research ,Neurology (clinical) ,Bone marrow ,business ,medicine.drug - Abstract
GBM with an unmethylated MGMT gene promoter is associated with very poor prognosis. A subset of tumor associated macrophages expressing the angiopoietin receptor Tie2 (TEMs) can be genetically modified for local & tumor restricted release of interferon-α2 (IFN). IFN has antitumor effects, inhibits angiogenesis & modulates the immune system. Temferon consists of autologous HSPCs transduced ex-vivo with an LVV encoding an IFN gene & expression control sequences for TEMs. TEM-GBM is an open-label, Phase I/IIa study (Part A: 3x3x3 dose escalation; Part B: n=12), & Temferon (single dose) is given to patients with first diagnosis of GBM & unmethylated MGMT promoter. Part A 3rd cohort is ongoing & completes dosing in September 2020. Eight patients completed screening; one patient died (disease progression) before Temferon was administered. Six patients received Temferon (3 women, 3 men, mean age 52.3 years). Cohort 1 received Temferon 0.5x106 cells/kg & Cohort 2, 1x106 cells/kg. Neutropenia & thrombocytopenia occurred as expected following conditioning & hematologic recovery (HR) occurred median D+13. Transduced PBMCs were identified by vector copy number (VCN) on myeloid cells at HR & at later timepoints. In general, a dose-ordered increase in VCN was observed (mean VCN D+30 CD14+ Cohort 1: 0.094, cohort 2: 0.125); 1 patient in each cohort had low VCNs. VCN remained detectable up to recent follow up visits (≤ D+180). No dose-limiting toxicities have been reported. Four SAEs occurred in 3 patients who received Temferon (pneumonia, pulmonary embolism, febrile neutropenia, fatigue) but these events were not attributed to Temferon, resolved, & may have been related to the conditioning regimen (carmustine & thiotepa). Disease progression has been confirmed in 3 patients who received Temferon. These preliminary results indicate feasibility of engrafting a pre-determined fraction of Temferon cells in the bone marrow of GBM patients without, so far, causing dose-limiting toxicity.
- Published
- 2020
39. Educated Millennials and Credence Attributes of Food Products with Genetically Modified Organisms: Knowledge, Trust and Social Media
- Author
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Mariarosaria Simeone, Carlo Russo, Maria Angela Perito, Russo, C., Simeone, M., and Perito, M. A.
- Subjects
Sociology of scientific knowledge ,030309 nutrition & dietetics ,Credence ,social media ,Geography, Planning and Development ,Public debate ,TJ807-830 ,Ordered probit ,Management, Monitoring, Policy and Law ,TD194-195 ,educated millennials ,Renewable energy sources ,Social group ,03 medical and health sciences ,Educated millennials ,Genetically modified products ,Social media ,Trust ,0502 economics and business ,Educated millennial ,GE1-350 ,Product (category theory) ,Marketing ,genetically modified products ,Consumption (economics) ,0303 health sciences ,Environmental effects of industries and plants ,Renewable Energy, Sustainability and the Environment ,05 social sciences ,trust ,Genetically modified product ,Environmental sciences ,050211 marketing ,Psychology - Abstract
In this paper, we investigated educated millennials&rsquo, evaluation of credence attributes in food products containing genetically modified organisms (GMO products). Our goal is to assess whether beliefs about GMO products are determined by scientific knowledge alone or if they are affected by other factors such as trust in information providers and use of social media. The focus on millennials is motivated by the increasing relevance of this social group in the public debate and by their extensive use of social media. We surveyed a sample of 215 Italian college students, confronting them with questions about safety, environmental impact and ethical issues in GMO product consumption. Using an ordered probit regression model, we found that educated millennials build their beliefs using a mix of scientific knowledge and trust in information providers. The role of the two drivers depended on the issue considered. Scientific knowledge drove beliefs in health claims, while trust in information providers was a driving factor in almost all claims. After controlling for trust effects, we did not find evidence of impact of confidence in the reliability of traditional and social media on beliefs. This result contradicts previous literature.
- Published
- 2020
40. Isocitrate dehydrogenase (IDH) status prediction in histopathology images of gliomas using deep learning
- Author
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Enrico Coiera, Antonio Di Ieva, Sidong Liu, Aydin Sav, Shlomo Berkovsky, Carlo Russo, Zubair Shah, and Yi Qian
- Subjects
Oncology ,Adult ,Male ,medicine.medical_specialty ,IDH1 ,lcsh:Medicine ,IDH2 ,Article ,Deep Learning ,Internal medicine ,Glioma ,Medicine ,Humans ,lcsh:Science ,Aged ,Multidisciplinary ,business.industry ,Deep learning ,lcsh:R ,Small sample ,Diagnostic markers ,Translational research ,Middle Aged ,medicine.disease ,Prognosis ,Magnetic Resonance Imaging ,Isocitrate Dehydrogenase ,CNS cancer ,Isocitrate dehydrogenase ,Mutation ,Biomarker (medicine) ,lcsh:Q ,Histopathology ,Female ,Artificial intelligence ,business - Abstract
Mutations in isocitrate dehydrogenase genes IDH1 and IDH2 are frequently found in diffuse and anaplastic astrocytic and oligodendroglial tumours as well as in secondary glioblastomas. As IDH is a very important prognostic, diagnostic and therapeutic biomarker for glioma, it is of paramount importance to determine its mutational status. The haematoxylin and eosin (H&E) staining is a valuable tool in precision oncology as it guides histopathology-based diagnosis and proceeding patient’s treatment. However, H&E staining alone does not determine the IDH mutational status of a tumour. Deep learning methods applied to MRI data have been demonstrated to be a useful tool in IDH status prediction, however the effectiveness of deep learning on H&E slides in the clinical setting has not been investigated so far. Furthermore, the performance of deep learning methods in medical imaging has been practically limited by small sample sizes currently available. Here we propose a data augmentation method based on the Generative Adversarial Networks (GAN) deep learning methodology, to improve the prediction performance of IDH mutational status using H&E slides. The H&E slides were acquired from 266 grade II-IV glioma patients from a mixture of public and private databases, including 130 IDH-wildtype and 136 IDH-mutant patients. A baseline deep learning model without data augmentation achieved an accuracy of 0.794 (AUC = 0.920). With GAN-based data augmentation, the accuracy of the IDH mutational status prediction was improved to 0.853 (AUC = 0.927) when the 3,000 GAN generated training samples were added to the original training set (24,000 samples). By integrating also patients’ age into the model, the accuracy improved further to 0.882 (AUC = 0.931). Our findings show that deep learning methodology, enhanced by GAN data augmentation, can support physicians in gliomas’ IDH status prediction.
- Published
- 2020
41. Advanced computational and statistical multiparametric analysis of Susceptibility-Weighted Imaging to characterize gliomas and brain metastases
- Author
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Antonio Di Ieva, Gillian Z. Heller, Carlo Russo, Pierre-Jean Le Reste, and John M Magnussen
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Computer science ,business.industry ,Multiparametric Analysis ,Pattern recognition ,Quadratic classifier ,medicine.disease ,Fractal analysis ,Support vector machine ,Fractal ,Radiomics ,Glioma ,Susceptibility weighted imaging ,Principal component analysis ,medicine ,Artificial intelligence ,business ,Glioblastoma - Abstract
Susceptibility-weighted imaging (SWI) is a technique useful for evaluation of the internal structures of brain tumors, including microvasculature and microbleeds. Intratumoral patterns of magnetic susceptibility can be quantified by means of fractal analysis. Here, we propose a radiomics methodological pipeline to merge advanced fractal-based computational modelling with statistical analysis to objectively characterize the fingerprint of gliomas and brain metastases. Forty-seven patients with glioma (grades II-IV, according to the WHO 2016 classification system) and fourteen with brain metastases underwent 3 Tesla MRI using a SWI protocol. All images underwent computational analysis aimed to quantify three Euclidean parameters (related to tumor and SWI volume) and five fractal-based parameters (related to the pixel distribution and geometrical complexity of the SWI patterns). Principal components analysis, linear and quadratic discriminant analysis, K-nearest neighbor and support vector machine methods were used to discriminate between tumor types. The combination of parameters offered an objective evaluation of the SWI pattern in gliomas and brain metastases. The model accurately predicted 88% of glioblastoma, according to the quantification of intratumoral SWI features, failing to discriminate the other types. SWI is not normally used to classify brain tumors, however fractal-based multi-parametric computational analysis can be used to characterize intratumoral SWI patterns to objectively quantify tumors-related features. Specific parameters still have to be identified to provide completely automatic computerized differential diagnosis.
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- 2020
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42. Spherical coordinates transformation pre-processing in Deep Convolution Neural Networks for brain tumor segmentation in MRI
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Sidong Liu, Carlo Russo, and Antonio Di Ieva
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FOS: Computer and information sciences ,Artificial neural network ,Brain Neoplasms ,business.industry ,Computer science ,Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition (cs.CV) ,Computer Science - Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition ,Biomedical Engineering ,ComputingMethodologies_IMAGEPROCESSINGANDCOMPUTERVISION ,Spherical coordinate system ,Pattern recognition ,Glioma ,Magnetic Resonance Imaging ,Convolutional neural network ,Computer Science Applications ,Convolution ,Transformation (function) ,Image Processing, Computer-Assisted ,Humans ,Segmentation ,Neural Networks, Computer ,Artificial intelligence ,business ,Transfer of learning ,Image resolution - Abstract
Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) is used in everyday clinical practice to assess brain tumors. Several automatic or semi-automatic segmentation algorithms have been introduced to segment brain tumors and achieve an expert-like accuracy. Deep Convolutional Neural Networks (DCNN) have recently shown very promising results, however, DCNN models are still far from achieving clinically meaningful results mainly because of the lack of generalization of the models. DCNN models need large annotated datasets to achieve good performance. Models are often optimized on the domain dataset on which they have been trained, and then fail the task when the same model is applied to different datasets from different institutions. One of the reasons is due to the lack of data standardization to adjust for different models and MR machines. In this work, a 3D Spherical coordinates transform during the pre-processing phase has been hypothesized to improve DCNN models' accuracy and to allow more generalizable results even when the model is trained on small and heterogeneous datasets and translated into different domains. Indeed, the spherical coordinate system avoids several standardization issues since it works independently of resolution and imaging settings. Both Cartesian and spherical volumes were evaluated in two DCNN models with the same network structure using the BraTS 2019 dataset. The model trained on spherical transform pre-processed inputs resulted in superior performance over the Cartesian-input trained model on predicting gliomas' segmentation on tumor core and enhancing tumor classes (increase of 0.011 and 0.014 respectively on the validation dataset), achieving a further improvement in accuracy by merging the two models together. Furthermore, the spherical transform is not resolution-dependent and achieve same results on different input resolution., Comment: 26 pages, 5 figures. Submitted to Computer Methods and Programs in Biomedicine
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- 2020
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43. Eccezione, amministrazione, diritto coloniale in un 'parere' di Santi Romano
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Giancarlo, Scalese, Camillo, Verde, Marco, Badagliacca, Bersani, Carlo, Francesco, Buonomenna, Cherti, Stefano, GIUSEPPE DELLA MONICA, LUIGI DI SANTO, MASSIMO LUIGI FERRANTE, Marika, Gimini, MARÍA JOSÉ CARAZO LIÉBANA, Francesco, Maiello, Raffaele, Maione, Jorge, LOZANO-MIRALLES, FULVIO MARIA PALOMBINO, Pasquale, Passalacqua, Fulvio, Pastore, Porcelli, Maria, Immacolata, Prisco, Stefano, Reali, Stefano, Recchioni, TOMMASO ALESSIO SALEMME, ALBERTO MATTIA SERAFIN, ANNA LUCIA VALVO, ISABEL RAMOS VÁZQUEZ, Vincenzo, Formisano, Simona, Balzano, MARIO ROSARIO GUARRACINO, Luisa, Natale, GIOVANNI CAMILLO PORZIO, MARCELLO DE ROSA, Alessia, Mallozzi, Carlo, Russo, Maurizio, Esposito, Elena, Addessi, Fedele, Maria, Francesco, Ferrante, Fabio, D’Orlando, Andrea, Fontanella, Massimiliano, Frezza, Sergio, Bianchi, Augusto, Pianese, Marco, Lacchini, Simone, Manfredi, Matteo, Palmaccio, Florinda, Petrecca, Francesco, Minnetti, Marcello, Sansone, Roberto, Bruni, Annarita, Colamatteo, Francesco, Zezza, and Gennaro, Zezza
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- 2020
44. Environmental analysis of polyester fabric for ticking
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Giulio Mario Cappelletti, Giuseppe Martino Nicoletti, Michele Dassisti, Giuseppe Ioppolo, Carlo Russo, and Pasqua L’Abbate
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Textile industry ,Engineering ,Environmental analysis ,Strategy and Management ,Polyester ,Life Cycle Assessment ,010501 environmental sciences ,01 natural sciences ,Competitive advantage ,Life Cycle Assessment, Manufacturing Sustainability, Polyester, Textile Industry, Ecolabel ,Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering ,Manufacturing Sustainability ,Ecolabel ,Operations management ,Life-cycle assessment ,0505 law ,0105 earth and related environmental sciences ,General Environmental Science ,Ecological footprint ,Life cycle assessment, Sustainable manufacturing, Fabric, Textile industry ,Renewable Energy, Sustainability and the Environment ,business.industry ,05 social sciences ,Environmental economics ,Natural resource ,Textile Industry ,Sustainability ,050501 criminology ,business - Abstract
The manufacturing trend nowadays seems to be in contrast with the ecosystem needs, as it is based on the exploitation of limited natural resources. A new paradigm is now driving manufacturing in the direction of sustainability: the green and circular thinking. This latter can now guide SMEs in optimizing its processes and products to be more eco-friendly, and this in turn may lead to significant competitive advantages. The purpose of the study is to analyze the environmental lifecycle performance of a 100% PET fabric used for the outer cover of bed mattresses made by an Italian company, with looms of recent technology (2009–2010). The emissions defined in the community labeling system for textile products and mattresses have been taken into account as well as the mid and final impact categories established by the guidelines for the Product Environmental Footprint developed by European. Results show that the fiber and yarn production processes are the most impacted due to transport from China and the use of Chinese electricity grid mix (rich in coal). Furthermore, the disposal of fabric is another environmental critical point. In order to evaluate the improvements in the environmental sustainability of supply of PET yarns and the disposal phase, a number of scenarios were analysed, while a Monte Carlo simulation was performed to evaluate the sensitivity of the results respect to data uncertainty. A number of recommendations for the textile sector are provided, useful to assure sustainability of production. Critical points to achieve environmental labeling are highlighted and new data about textile, not already available in databases and literature, are provided due to the company's engagement. Finally, hints on the best recycling process of the product are given.
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- 2018
45. Spatial and time domain analysis of eye-tracking data during screening of brain magnetic resonance images
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Benoit Liquet-Weiland, Carlo Russo, Abdulla Al Suman, Patrick Nalepka, Robert Ahadizad Newport, Antonio Di Ieva, Poonam Kumari, and Ann J. Carrigan
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Male ,Time Factors ,Eye Movements ,Vision ,Physiology ,Visual System ,Machine vision ,Sensory Physiology ,Social Sciences ,Systems Science ,Diagnostic Radiology ,0302 clinical medicine ,Medicine and Health Sciences ,Psychology ,Contrast (vision) ,Medical Personnel ,Eye-Tracking Technology ,media_common ,Multidisciplinary ,Radiology and Imaging ,Brain ,Middle Aged ,Magnetic Resonance Imaging ,Sensory Systems ,Professions ,Fractals ,030220 oncology & carcinogenesis ,Physical Sciences ,Visual Perception ,Medicine ,Female ,Sensory Perception ,Research Article ,Adult ,Computer and Information Sciences ,Adolescent ,Imaging Techniques ,Science ,media_common.quotation_subject ,Geometry ,Neuroimaging ,Stimulus (physiology) ,Research and Analysis Methods ,Young Adult ,03 medical and health sciences ,Diagnostic Medicine ,Radiologists ,Humans ,Aged ,Visual search ,Hurst exponent ,Spatial Analysis ,business.industry ,Cognitive Psychology ,Biology and Life Sciences ,Pattern recognition ,Gaze ,People and Places ,Detrended fluctuation analysis ,Cognitive Science ,Eye tracking ,Population Groupings ,Perception ,Artificial intelligence ,business ,Photic Stimulation ,Mathematics ,030217 neurology & neurosurgery ,Neuroscience ,Dwell Time - Abstract
Introduction Eye-tracking research has been widely used in radiology applications. Prior studies exclusively analysed either temporal or spatial eye-tracking features, both of which alone do not completely characterise the spatiotemporal dynamics of radiologists’ gaze features. Purpose Our research aims to quantify human visual search dynamics in both domains during brain stimuli screening to explore the relationship between reader characteristics and stimuli complexity. The methodology can be used to discover strategies to aid trainee radiologists in identifying pathology, and to select regions of interest for machine vision applications. Method The study was performed using eye-tracking data 5 seconds in duration from 57 readers (15 Brain-experts, 11 Other-experts, 5 Registrars and 26 Naïves) for 40 neuroradiological images as stimuli (i.e., 20 normal and 20 pathological brain MRIs). The visual scanning patterns were analysed by calculating the fractal dimension (FD) and Hurst exponent (HE) using re-scaled range (R/S) and detrended fluctuation analysis (DFA) methods. The FD was used to measure the spatial geometrical complexity of the gaze patterns, and the HE analysis was used to measure participants’ focusing skill. The focusing skill is referred to persistence/anti-persistence of the participants’ gaze on the stimulus over time. Pathological and normal stimuli were analysed separately both at the “First Second” and full “Five Seconds” viewing duration. Results All experts were more focused and a had higher visual search complexity compared to Registrars and Naïves. This was seen in both the pathological and normal stimuli in the first and five second analyses. The Brain-experts subgroup was shown to achieve better focusing skill than Other-experts due to their domain specific expertise. Indeed, the FDs found when viewing pathological stimuli were higher than those in normal ones. Viewing normal stimuli resulted in an increase of FD found in five second data, unlike pathological stimuli, which did not change. In contrast to the FDs, the scanpath HEs of pathological and normal stimuli were similar. However, participants’ gaze was more focused for “Five Seconds” than “First Second” data. Conclusions The HE analysis of the scanpaths belonging to all experts showed that they have greater focus than Registrars and Naïves. This may be related to their higher visual search complexity than non-experts due to their training and expertise.
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- 2021
46. TEM-GBM: An Open-Label, Phase I/IIa Dose-Escalation Study Evaluating the Safety and Efficacy of Genetically Modified Tie-2 Expressing Monocytes to Deliver IFN-α within Glioblastoma Tumor Microenvironment
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Bernhard Gentner, Filippo Gagliardi, Gabriele Antonarelli, Bianca Pollo, Maria Grazia Bruzzone, Monica Patanè, Elena Anghileri, Stefania Mazzoleni, Fabio Ciceri, Marica Eoli, Valentina Brambilla, Capotondo Alessia, Silvia Snider, Carlo Russo, Matteo Maria Naldini, Valeria Ferla, Matteo Carrabba, Rosina Paterra, Giorgio D'Alessandris, Alessandro Olivi, Zahid Bashir, Matteo Barcella, Luigi Naldini, Valeria Cuccarini, Marco Saini, Roberto Pallini, Francesco Di Meco, Francesca Farina, Paolo Ferroli, Federico G. Legnani, Mariagrazia Garramone, G. Finocchiaro, Tiziana Magnani, and Pietro Mortini
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Tumor microenvironment ,Chemistry ,Immunology ,Cancer research ,Dose escalation ,medicine ,Cell Biology ,Hematology ,Open label ,medicine.disease ,Biochemistry ,Genetically modified organism ,Glioblastoma - Abstract
Background: We developed a macrophage-based treatment relying on ex vivo transduction of autologous hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells (HSPC) to express immune-payloads within the TME. Our ATMP (Temferon) targets IFN-a, an immune-modulatory molecule counteracting also neo-angiogenesis and tumor growth, to a subset of Tie2-expressing, tumor-infiltrating macrophages known as TEMs. Materials and Methods: TEM-GBM is an open-label, Phase I/IIa dose-escalation study evaluating safety and efficacy of Temferon in up to 21 newly diagnosed glioblastoma patients with unmethylated MGMT promoter. Key eligibility criteria include age 18-70 years, ECOG 0-1 and KPS >70%, and adequate cardiac, renal, hepatic and pulmonary function. Important exclusion criteria include the presence of active autoimmune disease or receipt of any oral or parenteral chemotherapy or immunotherapy within 2 years of screening. Autologous CD34+ HSPC are mobilized with lenograstim and plerixafor, collected by apheresis, purified and transduced ex vivo with a 3 rd generation lentiviral vector encoding for IFN-a2. Transgene expression is confined to TEMs by the Tie2 promoter and post-transcriptional regulation by microRNA-126 thus achieving tumor specificity. The study evaluates safety and biological activity of Temferon in 7 cohorts of three patients each, where escalating doses of Temferon are co-administered with a fixed CD34+ cell dose of non-manipulated supporter cells following a sub-myeloablative conditioning regimen (Thiotepa + BCNU or + Busulfan). The primary endpoints for this study are: Engraftment of Temferon over the first 90 DaysThe proportion of patients achieving hematologic recovery by Day +30 from ASCTShort-term tolerability of Temferon; stable blood counts and absence of cytopenias, absence of significant organ toxicities (> grade 2); absence of Replication Competent Lentivirus The figure below reports the TEM-GBM study design. Results: As of 28th June 2021, 18 patients have been enrolled; 15 received Temferon (D+0) with follow-up of 30 - 697 days. There was rapid engraftment and hematological recovery after the conditioning regimen. Median neutrophil and platelet engraftment occurred at D+13 and D+12 for patients in cohort 1-3 and D+16 and D+15 for patients assigned to cohort 4 and 5, respectively. Temferon-derived differentiated cells, as determined by the presence of vector genomes in the DNA of peripheral blood and bone marrow cells, were found within 14 days post treatment and persisted subsequently, albeit at lower levels (up to 18 months). Very low concentrations of IFNa were detected in the plasma (average 7.8 pg/ml at D+30; baseline < LLOQ) and in the cerebrospinal fluid (average 1.6 pg/ml at D+30; baseline < LLOQ), suggesting tight regulation of transgene expression. Seven deaths occurred: six at D+241, +322, +340, +402, +478, +646 after Temferon administration due to disease progression, and one at D+60 due to complications following the conditioning regimen. Nine patients had progressive disease (PD; range D-12 to +239). SAEs include infections, venous thromboembolism, brain abscess, hemiparesis, GGT elevation and poor performance status compatible with autologous stem cell transplantation, concomitant medications and PD. Four patients underwent second surgery. These recurrent tumors had gene-marked cells present and increased expression of IFN-responsive gene signatures compared to diagnosis, indicative of local IFNa release by TEMs. In one patient, a stable lesion (as defined by MRI) had a higher proportion of T cells and TEMs within the myeloid infiltrate and an increased IFN-response signature than in a progressing lesion. The T-cell immune repertoire changed with evidence for expansion of tumor-associated clones. Tumor microenvironment characterization by scRNA and TCR sequencing is ongoing. Conclusion: These interim results show that Temferon is generally well tolerated by patients, with no dose limiting toxicities identified to date. The results provide initial evidence of Temferon's potential to activate the immune system and reprogram the tumor microenvironment (TME), as predicted by preclinical studies. Figure 1 Figure 1. Disclosures Naldini: Genenta Science: Consultancy, Current equity holder in publicly-traded company, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Other: Founder.
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- 2021
47. IOTG-01. Computational Neurosurgery in Brain Tumors: A paradigm shift on the use of Artificial Intelligence and Connectomics in pre- and intra-operative imaging
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Sidong Liu, Carlo Russo, Abdulla Al Suman, and Antonio Di Ieva
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Cancer Research ,Connectomics ,medicine.medical_specialty ,Intra operative ,medicine.diagnostic_test ,business.industry ,medicine.medical_treatment ,Magnetic resonance imaging ,Fluid-attenuated inversion recovery ,medicine.disease ,Oncology ,Glioma ,medicine ,Medical imaging ,Neurology (clinical) ,Neurosurgery ,Radiology ,Blalock–Taussig shunt ,business - Abstract
Computational Neurosurgery is a novel field where computational modeling and artificial intelligence (AI) are used to analyze diseases of neurosurgical interest. Our aim is to apply AI models to brain tumor (BT) images to a) automatically segment BTs on pre-operative MRI, b) predict the genetic subtype of glioma on intra- and post-operative histological specimens; and c) predict the extent of resection according to connectomics data. For the segmentation task, we used 510 BT images to train a deep learning (DL) model for automatic segmentation of the tumors’ edges and comparison of the AI-generated masks versus experts’ consensus (quantified by means of the dice score). For the histopathology task, we digitalized 266 hematoxylin/eosin slides of gliomas (including 130 IDH-wildtype and 136 IDH-mutant) and applied a DL architecture to predict the IDH genetic status, then validated by immunohistochemistry and genetic sequencing. The datasets were also augmented by generating synthetic glioma images by means of a Generative Adversarial Network methodology. The resection of 10 BTs was also customized according to connectomics data. In the segmentation experiment, we reached a dice score of ~0.9 (out of 1.0), while further demonstrating that only the T1, T1 after gadolinium, and FLAIR sequences are necessary for accurate automatic segmentation. In the histopathology task, we were able to predict the genetic status with accuracy between 76% and 95% using the DL model. The machine learning-based connectome analysis allowed us to perform safe supramaximal resection. We have shown the robustness of applying AI methodology or the automatic segmentation of BTs in MR imaging. Moreover, we have also shown that AI can be used to predict the genetic status, specifically, IDH, in histopathology images of gliomas. Our results support the use of AI in the clinical scenario for a fast and objective computerized characterization of patients affected by BTs.
- Published
- 2021
48. CTIM-19. TEM-GBM: A PHASE I-IIA DOSE-ESCALATION STUDY DELIVERING IFN-Α WITHIN GLIOBLASTOMA MULTIFORME TUMOR MICROENVIRONMENT BY GENETICALLY MODIFIED TIE-2 EXPRESSING MONOCYTES
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Alessia Capotondo, Stefania Mazzoleni, Alessandro Olivi, Paolo Ferroli, Rosina Paterra, Bernhard Gentner, Matteo Barcella, Farina Francesca, G. Finocchiaro, Giorgio D'Alessandris, Zahid Bashir, Federico G. Legnani, Mariagrazia Garramone, Valentina Brambilla, Valeria Ferla, Monica Patanè, Valeria Cuccarini, Gabriele Antonarelli, Matteo Carrabba, Bianca Pollo, Matteo Maria Naldini, Luigi Naldini, Mariagrazia Bruzzone, Eoli Marica, Fabio Ciceri, Marco Saini, Tiziana Magnani, Carlo Russo, Roberto Pallini, and Francesco Di Meco
- Subjects
Cancer Research ,Tumor microenvironment ,Karnofsky Performance Status ,Chemistry ,Alpha interferon ,O-6-methylguanine-DNA methyltransferase ,26th Annual Meeting & Education Day of the Society for Neuro-Oncology ,medicine.disease ,Genetically modified organism ,Immune system ,Oncology ,Dose escalation ,Cancer research ,medicine ,Neurology (clinical) ,Glioblastoma - Abstract
Temferon is an ex vivo gene therapy consisting of autologous HSPCs genetically modified to deliver IFN-α2 within the tumor microenvironment (TME) by Tie-2 expressing macrophages. TEM-GBM is an open-label, Phase I/IIa dose-escalation study evaluating safety and efficacy of Temferon in up to 21 newly diagnosed GBM patients with unmethylated MGMT. Autologous HSPCs are transduced with a LVV encoding for IFN-a2 gene. As of 30th April 2021, 18 patients have been enrolled; 13 received Temferon (D+0) with follow-up of 8 – 662 days. After conditioning and Temferon infusion, a rapid engraftment and hematological recovery occurred, with median neutrophil and platelet engraftment at D+13 and D+12, respectively. No dose limiting toxicities were reported. Temferon-derived cells were found within 14 days post treatment and persisted albeit at lower levels in the long-term. Five deaths occurred: one at +478, three at +322, +340 and +402 days due to PD, and the fourth at +60 due to complications following the conditioning regimen. Eight patients had PD (-12 to +239). SAEs include respiratory tract infections, pulmonary embolism, CMV and C.Diff infections, febrile neutropenia, hemiparesis, seizure, brain abscess, worsening of performance status and respiratory failure compatible with ASCT, concomitant medications and PD. Four patients underwent second surgery. Recurrent tumors had gene-marked cells present and increased expression of ISGs compared to diagnosis, indicative of local IFNa release by TEMs. In one patient, a stable lesion had a higher proportion of T cells and TEMs within the myeloid infiltrate and an increased IFN-response signature than in a progressing lesion. Characterization of T-cell immune repertoire suggests the expansion of tumor-associated clones. TME characterization by scRNA and TCR sequencing is ongoing. Interim results show that Temferon is well tolerated, with no dose limiting toxicities identified to date and provide initial evidence of potential immune system activation within the TME.
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- 2021
49. Market power and bargaining in agrifood markets: A review of emerging topics and tools
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Alessandro Bonanno, Carlo Russo, and Luisa Menapace
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Economics and Econometrics ,05 social sciences ,Geography, Planning and Development ,Predictive capability ,Traditional economy ,Power (social and political) ,EconLit ,0502 economics and business ,Value (economics) ,Economics ,Animal Science and Zoology ,050202 agricultural economics & policy ,Market power ,050207 economics ,Construct (philosophy) ,Agronomy and Crop Science ,Imperfect competition ,Industrial organization ,Food Science - Abstract
Recent developments in modern agri‐food markets have called into question the predictive capability of the traditional models and tools used by agricultural economists to assess and measure market power. As a result, agricultural economists are on a quest for novel methods and approaches that surpass the traditional market power construct. In this article, we present an essential overview of the evolution of the literature concerning power relationships in agrifood value chains. The goal of this review is to emphasize recent conceptual and empirical approaches, as well as highlight topics of interest that are likely to shape the direction of future analyses of market power and bargaining in the agrifood sector. [EconLit citations: L1, L2, L3, Q13, Q18].
- Published
- 2017
50. Ralph A. Reisfeld, PhD: In Memoriam (1926–2020)
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Rupert Handgretinger, Andreas Niethammer, Darrell R. Galloway, Edward Barker, Alice L. Yu, Ursula Pertl, Martin A. Giedlin, Barry D. Kahan, Soldano Ferrone, Jürgen C. Becker, Martin Schrappe, Vito Quaranta, Argyrios Theophilopoulos, Hans Loibner, Rong Xiang, Carlo Russo, Gregor Schulz, Thomas F. Bumol, Nissi Varki, Debbie Liao, Michele Pellegrino, John R. Harper, Helen Sabzevari, Ruth Ladenstein, He Zhou, Leslie E. Walker, Kohzoh Imai, Paul M. Sondel, Bill Church, Andreas Stahl, Barry S. Wilson, David A. Cheresh, Barbara M. Mueller, James P. Allison, Wolfgang Wrasidlo, Holger N. Lode, Yunping Luo, Stephen D. Gillies, AhKau Ng, and Ursula Wargalla-Plate
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Cancer Research ,Oncology ,Field (Bourdieu) ,media_common.quotation_subject ,Art history ,Art ,media_common - Abstract
[][1] The sad news that Ralph A. Reisfeld, PhD, passed away on December 6, 2020 reached us early this year, and we would like to reflect on Ralph's long career and distinctive contribution to biomedical science and in particular to the field of cancer research. Ralph was well known
- Published
- 2021
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