University of Ioannina

About: University of Ioannina is a education organization based out in Ioannina, Greece. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Large Hadron Collider. The organization has 7654 authors who have published 20594 publications receiving 671560 citations. The organization is also known as: Panepistimio Ioanninon.

Diversity in Big Data: A Review.

Abstract: Big data technology offers unprecedented opportunities to society as a whole and also to its individual members. At the same time, this technology poses significant risks to those it overlooks. In this article, we give an overview of recent technical work on diversity, particularly in selection tasks, discuss connections between diversity and fairness, and identify promising directions for future work that will position diversity as an important component of a data-responsible society. We argue that diversity should come to the forefront of our discourse, for reasons that are both ethical—to mitigate the risks of exclusion—and utilitarian, to enable more powerful, accurate, and engaging data analysis and use.

Isolation and characterization of novel bacteria degrading polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons from polluted Greek soils.

Abstract: Three bacterial strains, designated as Wphe1, Sphe1, and Ophe1, were isolated from Greek soils contaminated with polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH)-containing waste from the wood processing, steel, and oil refinery industries. Wphe1, Sphe1, and Ophe1 were characterized and identified as species of Pseudomonas, Microbacterium, and Paracoccus, respectively, based on Gram staining, biochemical tests, phospholipid analysis, FAME analysis, G+C content and 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis. The results of gas chromatography showed that strain Wphe1 degraded naphthalene, phenanthrene, and m-cresol over a wide temperature range; strain Sphe1 was a degrader of phenanthrene and n-alkanes; most interestingly, strain Ophe1 degraded anthracene, phenanthrene, fluorene, fluoranthene, chrysene, and pyrene, as well as cresol compounds and n-alkanes as sole carbon source. This is the first report of a representative of the genus Paracoccus capable of degrading PAHs with such versatility. These three strains may be useful for bioremediation applications.

Management of patients with recurrent/advanced cervical cancer beyond first line platinum regimens: Where do we stand? A literature review

Abstract: Background Cervical cancer is the fourth most common cancer affecting women worldwide. Despite advances in screening and human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination, a significant number of women present with or develop advanced disease. Palliative platinum-based chemotherapy (CT) is the standard first-line treatment for metastatic/recurrent cervical cancer. The prognosis remains poor and effective second line options are urgently needed. Methods We searched the English-language medical literature as well as relevant guideline databases, published from January 1981 to December 2015 and identified publications related to cervical cancer and its therapies. Our effort was to highlight the available treatment options in the setting of recurrent/metastatic disease. Results Although there have been important advances in the management of women with cervical cancer, the optimal treatment for patients with locally recurrent and metastatic disease after platinum failure is still problematic. Overall, there is a trend in terms of longer overall survival (OS) and better quality of life for the combination of cisplatin/paclitaxel (PC) as compared to the doublets of cisplatin/topotecan (TC), cisplatin/vinorelbine (VC), and cisplatin/gemcitabine (GC). Currently available single agents beyond first-line platinum-based therapy have limited efficacy in this setting and include topoisomerase inhibitors, vinca alkaloids, taxanes, alkylating agents and antimetabolites. Several targeted therapies have demonstrated activity in advanced cervical cancer. Bevacizumab has been evaluated in a phase III trial using doublets of cisplatin with paclitaxel or topotecan and has been approved in the first-line setting by the U. S. Food and Drug Administration. Selective targeting of angiogenic kinases by tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) may represent a novel therapeutic tool in this setting, but its use alone or in combination with CT is still investigational. Early reports have implicated PI3KCA somatic mutations suggesting that mTOR-targeted agents should be explored in this disease. Development of the immune checkpoint programmed cell death 1 (PD-1) and T-lymphocyte–associated molecule-4 (CTLA-4) inhibitors have been of considerable interest, leading to ongoing phase II studies in patients with advanced cervical cancer. Conclusions Progress in the management of recurrent and advanced cervical cancer patients has been slow and restricted to palliative intent. These patients should be considered for clinical trials of novel targeted agents and/or immunotherapy.

The NUMEN project: NUclear Matrix Elements for Neutrinoless double beta decay

Abstract: The article describes the main achievements of the NUMEN project together with an updated and detailed overview of the related R&D activities and theoretical developments. NUMEN proposes an innovative technique to access the nuclear matrix elements entering the expression of the lifetime of the double beta decay by cross section measurements of heavy-ion induced Double Charge Exchange (DCE) reactions. Despite the fact that the two processes, namely neutrinoless double beta decay and DCE reactions, are triggered by the weak and strong interaction respectively, important analogies are suggested. The basic point is the coincidence of the initial and final state many-body wave functions in the two types of processes and the formal similarity of the transition operators. First experimental results obtained at the INFN-LNS laboratory for the 40Ca(18O,18Ne)40Ar reaction at 270MeV give an encouraging indication on the capability of the proposed technique to access relevant quantitative information. The main experimental tools for this project are the K800 Superconducting Cyclotron and MAGNEX spectrometer. The former is used for the acceleration of the required high resolution and low emittance heavy-ion beams and the latter is the large acceptance magnetic spectrometer for the detection of the ejectiles. The use of the high-order trajectory reconstruction technique, implemented in MAGNEX, allows to reach the experimental resolution and sensitivity required for the accurate measurement of the DCE cross sections at forward angles. However, the tiny values of such cross sections and the resolution requirements demand beam intensities much larger than those manageable with the present facility. The on-going upgrade of the INFN-LNS facilities in this perspective is part of the NUMEN project and will be discussed in the article.