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Background: Several results support the hypothesis that a group of pathologies falling within the Neuromyelitis Optica Spectrum Disorders (NMOSD) diagnostic criteria may coexist with Connective Tissue Diseases (CTD) in patients with a high susceptibility to autoimmune conditions. However, the relationship between NMOSD and rheumatologic diseases deserves further investigations to clarify all clinical aspects of this coexistence. We designed a systematic review and a proportional meta-analysis to estimate the association between CTD and MNOSD, with the aim of helping to plan the best strategy to achieve the most significant public health benefit for these conditions. Methods: We conducted a systematic review of the literature published until February 2023, searching in four databases: PubMed, Web of Science, EmBase, and OVID. Then, we conducted a random-effects proportional meta-analysis and assessed the risk of bias of the included studies using the Joanna Briggs Institute checklist. Results: The literature search yielded an overall result of 3176 publications (272 from PubMed, 880 from Web of Science, 634 from EmBase and 1390 from OVID). Of these, 29 were included in this systematic review. Analyzing studies that recruited unselected patients with Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE) and Sjogren Syndrome (SjS), the pooled percentages of NMOSD overlapping were 0.6% (95% Confidence Interval [95% CI]: 0.1%-1.4%,) and 6.5% (95% CI: 4.7-8.6), respectively. Studies enrolling rheumatologic patients with nervous system symptoms involvement reported higher percentage of NMOSD (i.e., among SjS patients, a pooled percentage of 26.5%, 95% CI: 5.5-54.6%, was found). Similarly, recruiting patients with NMOSD, we found pooled percentages of SjS or SLE respectively of 7.0% and 3.5%. Conclusions: Our research found that the coexistence of these two disorders was more frequent in female rheumatologic patients with a SjS diagnosis with neurological manifestations and in neurologic patients for whom a SjS diagnosis was suspected. Similarly, NMOSD are less frequently found in SLE and very rarely incident in Mixed Connective Tissue Disease (MCTD) patients. These considerations should be taken into account in clinical experience of rheumatologists and neurologists, since early diagnosis of both conditions may influence the timing of immunosuppressive therapy and the prevention of systemic disabilities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Astrorivelatore Gamma ad Immagini LEggero (AGILE) is a high-energy scientific space program funded by the Agenzia Spaziale Italiana (ASI—Italian Space Agency); the mission was developed and is being operated in cooperation with INAF, INFN, CIFS and with the participation of several Italian companies. The satellite was launched from India on April 23rd, 2007 in an LEO equatorial orbit. The scientific payload includes: an imaging detector for hard X-rays (20–60 keV), an imaging gamma-ray detector (100 MeV–10 GeV), and a calorimeter (0.4–100 MeV). As of today, more than 57,700 orbits have been successfully completed with the satellite in operations more than 11 years (well beyond the 2-year nominal lifetime). This paper describes the operational activities performed at the ground segment level (satellite control and user segment) and discusses the high performance achieved during 11 years of successful in-flight operations. This result was obtained in the framework of a small mission and with a relatively small operation team. Important factors have been the implementation of an efficient automatic ground segment telemetry processing and a very fast scientific alert system. The service consists in the operational management of the satellite and of the ground segment in different phases of the mission both in nominal and contingency situations, carrying out the observations plan provided by ASI and the delivery of the scientific data to the ASI Space Science Data Center (SSDC, formerly ASDC). To achieve these objectives satisfying the mission safety requirements, specific operational procedures and strategies have been implemented together with ground segment automation and optimized use of onboard satellite capabilities. This work has been carried out under an ASI contract. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]