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The edition and translation of the Dublin Kephalaia, belonging to the Chester Beatty Library, has significantly expanded the horizon of Manichaean studies with valuable information on the genesis and formation of the heterogeneous corpus of primary sources, in their profound textual interconnections. The importance of this Coptic text consists in revealing a circulation of characters and concepts ranging from the Iranian-Zoroastrian world to the Buddhist one and which testify to a level of cultural elaboration dealing with Mani's first experience and missionary travels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highly flexible and mechanically stable organic thin-film transistors (OTFTs) have been fabricated using a very simple approach. Very thin parylene C films have been realized and employed as a freestanding gate dielectric for the realization of OTFTs. We demonstrate that this approach can be employed for scaling down the operating voltage in OTFTs and complementary inverters just by lowering the final free-standing film thickness. Moreover, it has also been demonstrated that the device electrical behavior is scarcely sensitive to mechanical deformation, opening the way for the realization of highly flexible foldable electronics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Plasma chitotriosidase activity (ChT) was previously proposed to quantify severity of sepsis. In a complex surgical case, with prolonged sepsis and consistently high ChT, we found that the least increased values occurred in stages of extreme illness, with profound hypocholesterolemia. ChT needs better characterization before becoming a reliable biomarker of septic evolution. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In this article, we describe a low-cost indoor navigation system, based on the capabilities of modern smartphones commonly equipped with accelerometer, gyroscope, camera and Internet connection. The main claim of this paper is that, relaxing the requirement of best accuracy, with an intelligent use of inertial sensors, digital maps, and ambient tagging, it is still possible to get good results. Our mobile application helps the user in retrieving directions and finding places in large indoor environments where the global positioning system (GPS) is not available, such as airports, hospitals, museums and so on. The goal is to get a system able to work without the use of any physical ad hoc infrastructure and without relying on any wearable device. We name our infrastructure-free system Roodin, and its features are as follows: user-friendly interface, quick install and calibration tool, point-of-interest search and guidance. All the features presented in this paper are designed and implemented, and the application has been evaluated with real users. A summary of user evaluation is reported in the paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Introduction: Fabry disease is an X-linked inherited metabolic disorder characterized by the deficiency of lysosomal α-galactosidase A enzyme. This leads to the accumulation, into lysosomes through the body, of glycosphingolipids, mainly Gb3. Skin involvement and progressive multi-organ failure are usually observed. Endothelium is the preferential target of the Gb3 storage that determines endothelial dysfunction and vasculopathy leading to the clinical manifestations of the disease. The serum levels of Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor-A (VEGF-A), a specific endothelial cell mitogen, were analyzed in Fabry patients to explore a possible association to the clinical manifestations with vascular involvement. Methods: Thirty-five patients with a biochemical and genetic diagnosis of Fabry disease, along with an age–gender-matched healthy control group, were enrolled. Serum samples were collected and analyzed by ELISA. The genetic mutations, the specific organ dysfunction, and the cardiovascular risk factors such as dyslipidaemia, diabetes, smoking habits and hypertension were evaluated in Fabry patients. Results: The mean serum level of VEGF-A in Fabry patients group was significantly higher than in the control group (P =0.006). A statistical significant association, between VEGF-A levels and the skin manifestation including angiokeratomas, sweating abnormalities and Fabry Facies was found. An association was also found between high VEGF-A and specific GLA mutations, the male gender, the renal and neurological manifestations, the presence of eye vessels tortuosity, smoking habit and hypertension. Conclusions: We detected increased VEGF-A levels in patients with Fabry disease compared to the controls, and we hypothesized that this could be a response to the vascular damage characterising this lysosomal disorder. However, further studies are necessary to clarify the role of VEGF-A in Fabry. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Objective: Phenobarbital crosses the placenta quickly, and the balance between maternal and fetal blood is achieved in a few minutes. Data on the clinical outcomes of infants born to mothers under phenobarbital treatment during pregnancy show that they are at risk of adverse events, such as sedation and abstinence syndrome. The aim of this study was to analyse the correlation between serum levels of phenobarbital and clinical features of neonates. Study design: Twenty-three infants born between 2001 and 2008 were studied. Maternal, neonatal and pharmacological variables were considered. Results: Eleven infants displayed symptoms related to phenobarbital. Withdrawal syndrome was seen in seven infants and sedation syndrome was seen in four infants. One infant had severe cardiorespiratory depression at birth. None of the infants had severe neonatal abstinence syndrome. No statistically significant differences were found between symptomatic and asymptomatic infants. At birth, the mean serum level of phenobarbital of the 23 infants was 15.4 [standard deviation (SD) 6.2]μg/ml. A peak (16.1μg/ml, SD 5.5) was seen on Day 3, followed by a gradual decrease to non-therapeutic levels (<10μg/ml) by Day 8 (9.3μg/ml, SD 1.0). Phenobarbital levels were higher in symptomatic infants than asymptomatic infants, although the difference was not statistically significant. Conclusions: Serum levels of phenobarbital remained in the therapeutic range for both mothers and infants, and reduced gradually in infants. However, some infants displayed symptoms related to phenobarbital. As such, a clinical pharmacological surveillance protocol is necessary. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]