Objective:To review follow-up imaging after equivocal bone scans in men with castration resistant prostate cancer(CRPC)and examine the characteristics of equivocal bone scans that are associated with positive follow-u...Objective:To review follow-up imaging after equivocal bone scans in men with castration resistant prostate cancer(CRPC)and examine the characteristics of equivocal bone scans that are associated with positive follow-up imaging.Methods:We identified 639 men from five Veterans Affairs Hospitals with a technetium-99m bone scan after CRPC diagnosis,of whom 99(15%)had equivocal scans.Men with equivocal scans were segregated into“high-risk”and“low-risk”subcategories based upon wording in the bone scan report.All follow-up imaging(bone scans,computed tomography[CT],magnetic resonance imaging[MRI],and X-rays)in the 3 months after the equivocal scan were reviewed.Variables were compared between patients with a positive vs.negative follow-up imaging after an equivocal bone scan.Results:Of 99 men with an equivocal bone scan,43(43%)received at least one follow-up imaging test,including 32/82(39%)with low-risk scans and 11/17(65%)with high-risk scans(p=0.052).Of follow-up tests,67%were negative,14%were equivocal,and 19%were positive.Among those who underwent follow-up imaging,3/32(9%)low-risk men had metastases vs.5/11(45%)high-risk men(p=0.015).Conclusion:While 19%of all men who received follow-up imaging had positive follow-up imaging,only 9%of those with a low-risk equivocal bone scan had metastases versus 45%of those with high-risk.These preliminary findings,if confirmed in larger studies,suggest follow-up imaging tests for low-risk equivocal scans can be delayed while high-risk equivocal scans should receive follow-up imaging.展开更多
Biochar is a solid material obtained from the carbonization of biomass. Biochar is used on agricultural lands as a soil amendment to improve the fertility of the soils. Currently the most common method of producing bi...Biochar is a solid material obtained from the carbonization of biomass. Biochar is used on agricultural lands as a soil amendment to improve the fertility of the soils. Currently the most common method of producing biochar is through biochar stoves. There are two basic stove operations in the production of biochar. The first type of stove produces biochar by direct combustion of biomass. Here biomass is burnt inside a chamber in an oxygen limited environment. The resulting residue is the bio-char. The second type involves burning the biomass in one chamber and housing the biomass to be charred in the annular portion of an outer chamber. Heat is transferred from the burning fuel on the inner chamber to the material to be charred in the outer chamber. While the process of biochar production in these stoves is known, the basic principles of the stove design are not readily available. The design methodology for both the types was developed from first principles. Prototypes of both types were constructed based on the design developed and tested. The paper lists the basic principles in the design of biochar stoves and the test results.展开更多
Stemming from the renewed desire to requalify the former Brembana Valley railway route (inside one of the valleys of the Province of Bergamo and close to the important city of Milan), from Bergamo to Villa d’Almè...Stemming from the renewed desire to requalify the former Brembana Valley railway route (inside one of the valleys of the Province of Bergamo and close to the important city of Milan), from Bergamo to Villa d’Almè, in 2017, the Bergamo Transport Company and other partners have signed a memorandum of understanding. They have also entrusted a project company to develop a technical and economic viability study, which would be an update of a preliminary one presented in 2009. A private proposal for the realization of a test survey, useful for the required engineering project, has been submitted to the project company and accepted. For this reason, a team, comprising different companies, and among them also the Geomatics group at the University of Bergamo, was formed so as to perform this task and develop it in a degree thesis. The aim of the test survey is to evaluate a joint use of the new available technologies, so as to possibly get faster, more economic and thorough results, by performing a 3D metric analysis over two sub-areas selected along the route. The paper describes this experience and the achieved results. In particular, the areas of interest in the test project have been analyzed first thing with a GIS software and then surveyed with a multi-sensor approach, i.e. terrestrial laser scanner, GNSS techniques and UAV. The final integrated results allowed providing a metric model of the morphological and urban aspect for the territorial layout, useful also for further advanced GIS analyses. The analysis of the reached precisions has provided satisfactory results which agree with the metric requirements of the project. Further meaningful considerations can be derived from this test survey: the implementation of different techniques has helped to overcome problems due to hidden parts in complex objects, it has allowed to provide a faster survey and to test different technologies and software packages. The results have been quite satisfactory.展开更多
基金The study was supported by the NIH/NCI under Award Number P50CA09231(WJA)and NIH K24 CA160653(SJF).
文摘Objective:To review follow-up imaging after equivocal bone scans in men with castration resistant prostate cancer(CRPC)and examine the characteristics of equivocal bone scans that are associated with positive follow-up imaging.Methods:We identified 639 men from five Veterans Affairs Hospitals with a technetium-99m bone scan after CRPC diagnosis,of whom 99(15%)had equivocal scans.Men with equivocal scans were segregated into“high-risk”and“low-risk”subcategories based upon wording in the bone scan report.All follow-up imaging(bone scans,computed tomography[CT],magnetic resonance imaging[MRI],and X-rays)in the 3 months after the equivocal scan were reviewed.Variables were compared between patients with a positive vs.negative follow-up imaging after an equivocal bone scan.Results:Of 99 men with an equivocal bone scan,43(43%)received at least one follow-up imaging test,including 32/82(39%)with low-risk scans and 11/17(65%)with high-risk scans(p=0.052).Of follow-up tests,67%were negative,14%were equivocal,and 19%were positive.Among those who underwent follow-up imaging,3/32(9%)low-risk men had metastases vs.5/11(45%)high-risk men(p=0.015).Conclusion:While 19%of all men who received follow-up imaging had positive follow-up imaging,only 9%of those with a low-risk equivocal bone scan had metastases versus 45%of those with high-risk.These preliminary findings,if confirmed in larger studies,suggest follow-up imaging tests for low-risk equivocal scans can be delayed while high-risk equivocal scans should receive follow-up imaging.
文摘Biochar is a solid material obtained from the carbonization of biomass. Biochar is used on agricultural lands as a soil amendment to improve the fertility of the soils. Currently the most common method of producing biochar is through biochar stoves. There are two basic stove operations in the production of biochar. The first type of stove produces biochar by direct combustion of biomass. Here biomass is burnt inside a chamber in an oxygen limited environment. The resulting residue is the bio-char. The second type involves burning the biomass in one chamber and housing the biomass to be charred in the annular portion of an outer chamber. Heat is transferred from the burning fuel on the inner chamber to the material to be charred in the outer chamber. While the process of biochar production in these stoves is known, the basic principles of the stove design are not readily available. The design methodology for both the types was developed from first principles. Prototypes of both types were constructed based on the design developed and tested. The paper lists the basic principles in the design of biochar stoves and the test results.
文摘Stemming from the renewed desire to requalify the former Brembana Valley railway route (inside one of the valleys of the Province of Bergamo and close to the important city of Milan), from Bergamo to Villa d’Almè, in 2017, the Bergamo Transport Company and other partners have signed a memorandum of understanding. They have also entrusted a project company to develop a technical and economic viability study, which would be an update of a preliminary one presented in 2009. A private proposal for the realization of a test survey, useful for the required engineering project, has been submitted to the project company and accepted. For this reason, a team, comprising different companies, and among them also the Geomatics group at the University of Bergamo, was formed so as to perform this task and develop it in a degree thesis. The aim of the test survey is to evaluate a joint use of the new available technologies, so as to possibly get faster, more economic and thorough results, by performing a 3D metric analysis over two sub-areas selected along the route. The paper describes this experience and the achieved results. In particular, the areas of interest in the test project have been analyzed first thing with a GIS software and then surveyed with a multi-sensor approach, i.e. terrestrial laser scanner, GNSS techniques and UAV. The final integrated results allowed providing a metric model of the morphological and urban aspect for the territorial layout, useful also for further advanced GIS analyses. The analysis of the reached precisions has provided satisfactory results which agree with the metric requirements of the project. Further meaningful considerations can be derived from this test survey: the implementation of different techniques has helped to overcome problems due to hidden parts in complex objects, it has allowed to provide a faster survey and to test different technologies and software packages. The results have been quite satisfactory.
