F-VIPGI: a new adapted version of VIPGI for FORS2 spectroscopy. Application to a sample of 16 X-ray selected galaxy clusters at 0.6 < z < 1.2

The goal of this paper is twofold. Firstly, we present F-VIPGI, a new version of the VIMOS Interactive Pipeline and Graphical Interface (VIPGI) adapted to handle FORS2 spectroscopic data. Secondly, we investigate the spectro-photometric properties of a sample of galaxies residing in distant X-ray selected galaxy clusters, the optical spectra of which were reduced with this new pipeline. We provide basic technical information about the innovations of the new software and, as a demonstration of the capabilities of the new pipeline, we show results obtained for 16 distant (0.65 < z < 1.25) X-ray luminous galaxy clusters selected within the XMM-Newton Distant Cluster Project. We performed a spectral indices analysis of the extracted optical spectra of their members, based on which we created a library of composite high signal-to-noise ratio spectra representative of passive and star-forming galaxies residing in distant galaxy clusters. The spectroscopic templates are provided to the community in electronic form. By comparing the spectro-photometric properties of our templates with the local and distant galaxy population residing in different environments, we find that passive galaxies in clusters appear to be well evolved already at z = 0.8 and even more so than the field galaxies at similar redshift. Even though these findings would point toward a significant acceleration of galaxy evolution in densest environments, we cannot exclude the importance of the mass as the main evolutionary driving element either. The latter effect may indeed be justified by the similarity of our composite passive spectrum with the luminous red galaxies template at intermediate redshift.Comment: 15 pages, 15 figures, in press on Astronomy and Astrophysic

Use of balloon catheter dilation and steroid-eluting stent in light and severe rhinosinusitis of frontal sinus: a multicenter retrospective randomized study

OBJECTIVE: Frontal sinus surgery has an increased rate of re-stenosis, if compared to other sinuses, that mainly depends on recurrent inflammation and abnormal scarring at the frontal recess; its reduction represents one of the keys of therapeutic success. Balloon catheter dilation (BCD) and implantable sinus stents/spacers represent strategies to improve sinus ventilation respecting the integrity of mucosa and reducing abnormal post-surgical scarring. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness, safety and correct indication for the use of BCD and a non-absorbable stent (Relieva Stratus™ MicroFlow spacer) in the management of chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS) of the frontal sinus. PATIENTS AND METHODS: In this multicentric retrospective study we included a population of 76 frontal sinuses with non-polypoid CRS. Forty-one frontal sinuses were treated with BCD alone and 35 with BCD + Spacer. We analysed both radiological (Lund-McKay CT scoring modified by Zienrich) and symptomatologic results (SNOT-20 questionnaire) before surgery and after 12 months, dividing patients in two main groups: group “L” (light/mild frontal CRS) and group “S” (moderate/severe frontal CRS). RESULTS: Our results confirm a good safety and effectiveness of BCD in management of frontal CRS and show a good safety, although without significant effectiveness, of Relieva Stratus™ MicroFlow spacer when added to BCD in the management of light and severe frontal CRS. CONCLUSIONS: BCD is an option in management of frontal CRS; the use of stents/spacers could become a new and effective tool in management of CSR, both in addition to standard therapies and in patients where the use of systemic drugs is contraindicated

The zCOSMOS 10k-Bright Spectroscopic Sample

We present spectroscopic redshifts of a large sample of galaxies with I_(AB) < 22.5 in the COSMOS field, measured from spectra of 10,644 objects that have been obtained in the first two years of observations in the zCOSMOS-bright redshift survey. These include a statistically complete subset of 10,109 objects. The average accuracy of individual redshifts is 110 km s^(–1), independent of redshift. The reliability of individual redshifts is described by a Confidence Class that has been empirically calibrated through repeat spectroscopic observations of over 600 galaxies. There is very good agreement between spectroscopic and photometric redshifts for the most secure Confidence Classes. For the less secure Confidence Classes, there is a good correspondence between the fraction of objects with a consistent photometric redshift and the spectroscopic repeatability, suggesting that the photometric redshifts can be used to indicate which of the less secure spectroscopic redshifts are likely right and which are probably wrong, and to give an indication of the nature of objects for which we failed to determine a redshift. Using this approach, we can construct a spectroscopic sample that is 99% reliable and which is 88% complete in the sample as a whole, and 95% complete in the redshift range 0.5 < z < 0.8. The luminosity and mass completeness levels of the zCOSMOS-bright sample of galaxies is also discussed

The STAGES view of red spirals and dusty red galaxies: Mass-dependent quenching of star-formation in cluster infall

We investigate the properties of optically passive spirals and dusty red galaxies in the A901/2 cluster complex at redshift ~0.17 using restframe near-UV-optical SEDs, 24 micron IR data and HST morphologies from the STAGES dataset. The cluster sample is based on COMBO-17 redshifts with an rms precision of sigma_cz~2000 km/sec. We find that 'dusty red galaxies' and 'optically passive spirals' in A901/2 are largely the same phenomenon, and that they form stars at a substantial rate, which is only 4x lower than that in blue spirals at fixed mass. This star formation is more obscured than in blue galaxies and its optical signatures are weak. They appear predominantly in the stellar mass range of log M*/Msol=[10,11] where they constitute over half of the star-forming galaxies in the cluster; they are thus a vital ingredient for understanding the overall picture of star formation quenching in clusters. We find that the mean specific SFR of star-forming galaxies in the cluster is clearly lower than in the field, in contrast to the specific SFR properties of blue galaxies alone, which appear similar in cluster and field. Such a rich red spiral population is best explained if quenching is a slow process and morphological transformation is delayed even more. At log M*/Msol<10, such galaxies are rare, suggesting that their quenching is fast and accompanied by morphological change. We note, that edge-on spirals play a minor role; despite being dust-reddened they form only a small fraction of spirals independent of environment.Comment: Accepted for publication in MNRA

SIPGI: an interactive pipeline for spectroscopic data reduction

SIPGI is a spectroscopic pipeline for the data reduction of optical/near-infrared data acquired by slit-based spectrographs. SIPGI is a complete spectroscopic data reduction environment retaining the high level of flexibility and accuracy typical of the standard "by-hand" reduction methods but with a significantly higher level of efficiency. This is obtained exploiting three main concepts: 1) a built-in data organiser to classify the data, together with a graphical interface; 2) the instrument model (analytic description of the main calibration relations); 3) the design and flexibility of the reduction recipes: the number of tasks required to perform a complete reduction is minimised, preserving the possibility to verify the accuracy of the main stages of data-reduction process. The current version of SIPGI manages data from the MODS and LUCI spectrographs mounted at the Large Binocular Telescope (LBT) with the idea to extend SIPGI to support other through-slit spectrographs.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure, to appear in proceedings of the Astronomical Data Analysis Software and Systems (ADASS) XXXII, virtual conference held 31 October - 4 November 202

Invasive and Non-Invasive Human Salmonellosis Cases Admitted between 2015 and 2021 in Four Suburban Hospitals in the Metropolitan Area of Milan (Italy): A Multi-Center Retrospective Study

Non-Typhoidal Salmonellas (NTSs) are diffused worldwide. In Italy, more than 3,500 cases are notified each year, but despite this, data about salmonellosis are scarce. Our multi-center, retrospective, descriptive study selected 252 patients with positive cultures for Salmonella spp. (feces 79.8%, blood 8.7%, feces and blood 7.5%), aiming to describe the epidemiological and clinical characteristics of this population. Bacteremic infections constituted 16.3% (41/252) of patients. Extreme ages (≤12 and ≥65 years old) accounted for 79.7%, but only elder ages were strongly associated with bacteremic infections (aOR 5.78). Invasive infections had a 7-fold higher mortality rate than non-invasive disease (9.8% vs. 1.4%, p = 0.013), with an overall rate of 2.8%. The two more represented serogroups were O:4 (52.8%) and O:9 (22.2%). The O:9 serogroup was strongly associated with a higher frequency of invasive infection (aOR 2.96, 95% CI 1.17–7.63). In particular, S. napoli, an emerging serovar in Europe, accounted for 31.7% of bacteremic infections and only 9.5% of non- bacteremic ones (p &lt; 0.001). Antibiotic microbial resistance (AMR) observed a steep increasing trend and was detected in 60.4% of cases (122/202): amoxicillin/clavulanate, ampicillin, and gentamicin were most commonly involved (26.7%, 21.8%, 14.3%, respectively), while TMP/SMX, ciprofloxacin, and ceftriaxone were &lt;10%. Resistance was, in general, less common in the O:9 serogroup, while amikacin resistance was significantly more common. Factors associated with an MDR Salmonella acquisition were time (OR 1.37 per year more), O:4 serogroup (OR 2.67), and being a woman (OR 2.11). The most frequent symptoms were diarrhea (90.5%) and fever (81.7%). In conclusion, our study highlights a high burden of NTS infections, leading to severe or fatal outcomes in frail patients. Furthermore, AMR shows an increasing trend with a concerning high prevalence of cephalosporine resistance compared to the rest of Europe

Easylife: a Conceptual Framework for Semi-automatic Survey Management

Easylife is a conceptual framework aimed at the semi-automatic management of spectroscopic surveys. Conceived in 2012 (Garilli et al. 2012) as a tool to manage the VIPERS spectroscopic survey (Guzzo et al. 2014) and based on a prototype version of the FASE framework (Grosböl et al. 2012), it evolved into a survey-independent generalised framework following the MVC (Model-View-Controller) paradigm. Easylife has been deeply modified to exploit PNGS (Pandora Next Generation Software) APIs (Fumana et al. 2019) and FASE stable version, and is currently used to manage the ongoing VANDELS ESO public spectroscopic survey carried out using the VIMOS@VLT spectrograph

PNGS: an API Ecosystem for Astronomical Applications Development

PNGS (Pandora Next Generation Software) is a collection of object oriented Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) implementing a broad set of functionalities and routines aimed at the manipulation of spectroscopic astronomical data. In particular a subset of GUI-oriented APIs are available. Based on the FASE (see Grosböl et al. (2012)) framework, PNGS offers a fully customizable software ecosystem which allows to develop applications spanning the whole spectroscopic data life cycle, from data classification to its organization on disk, analysis, reduction, visualization and archiving

SIPGI Documentation

We present Sipgi, a spectroscopic pipeline to reduce optical/near-infrared data from slit-based spectrographs. Sipgi is a complete spectroscopic data reduction environment, which retains the high level of flexibility and accuracy typical of the standard ‘by-hand’ reduction methods but is characterized by a significantly higher level of efficiency. The current version of Sipgi manages data from the MODS and LUCI spectrographs mounted at the Large Binocular Telescope

Trends and correlates of HIV-1 resistance among subjects failing an antiretroviral treatment over the 2003-2012 decade in Italy

BACKGROUND: Despite a substantial reduction in virological failures following introduction of new potent antiretroviral therapies in the latest years, drug resistance remains a limitation for the control of HIV-1 infection. We evaluated trends and correlates of resistance in treatment failing patients in a comprehensive database over a time period of relevant changes in prescription attitudes and treatment guidelines. METHODS: We analyzed 6,796 HIV-1 pol sequences from 49 centres stored in the Italian ARCA database during the 2003-2012 period. Patients (n = 5,246) with viremia > 200 copies/mL received a genotypic test while on treatment. Mutations were identified from IAS-USA 2013 tables. Class resistance was evaluated according to antiretroviral regimens in use at failure. Time trends and correlates of resistance were analyzed by Cochran-Armitage test and logistic regression models. RESULTS: The use of NRTI backbone regimens slightly decreased from 99.7% in 2003-2004 to 97.4% in 2010-2012. NNRTI-based combinations dropped from 46.7% to 24.1%. PI-containing regimens rose from 56.6% to 81.7%, with an increase of boosted PI from 36.5% to 68.9% overtime. In the same reference periods, Resistance to NRTIs, NNRTIs and PIs declined from 79.1% to 40.8%, from 77.8% to 53.8% and from 59.8% to 18.9%, respectively (p < .0001 for all comparisons). Dual NRTI + NNRTI and NRTI + PI resistance decreased from 56.4% to 33.3% and from 36.1% to 10.5%, respectively. Reduced risk of resistance over time periods was confirmed by a multivariate analysis. CONCLUSIONS: Mutations associated with NRTIs, NNRTIs and PIs at treatment failure declined overtime regardless of specific class combinations and epidemiological characteristics of treated population. This is likely due to the improvement of HIV treatment, including both last generation drug combinations and prescription guidelines