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Rheumatoid arthritis-associated joint pain is frequently observed independent of disease activity, suggesting unidentified pain mechanisms. We demonstrate that antibodies binding to cartilage, specific for collagen type II (CII) or cartilage oligomeric matrix protein (COMP), elicit mechanical hypersensitivity in mice, uncoupled from visual, histological and molecular indications of inflammation. C
Background: The aim of this study was to determine whether lymph node metastasis on pre-treatment 18F-choline PET/CT is an independent prognostic factor for biochemical recurrence (BCR), skeletal metastasis, and cancer specific mortality (CSM), after radical local treatment (radical prostatectomy and/or radiotherapy) in men with high-risk prostate cancer. Medical records were reviewed for men with
The stiffness assessment of the trackbed should include an assessment of ballast, subballast and formation (e.g sub-ballast depth, groundwater profile). Furthermore, a lack of a systematic monitoring brings to the impossibility to produce an effective long term track management system, by allocating budget where emergencies come. Consequently, there is an increasing importance in obtaining a consi
Railway tracks are complex systems, made up numerous critical components such as rails, sleepers/ties, fasteners, ballast, joints, crossings, switches, that require regular monitoring in order to ensure track safety and optimize track efficiency. Many large railways make use of expensive Track Geometry Cars in order to measure railway asset condition through the measurement of rail geometry (gauge
The present paper reports different applications which have a common data source: Automatic Road Analyzer (ARAN) of the Transport Infrastructure Laboratory of the University of Catania. Data surveyed with ARAN were used to develop performance indicators of the road asset. A BIM model makes possible to improve the flexibility in information access and to merge data with the aim to allow a complete
Safety performance functions (SPFs) are crucial to science-based road safety management. Success in developing and applying SPFs, apart data quality and availability, depends fundamentally on two key factors: the validity of the statistical inferences for the available data and on how well the data can be organized into distinct homogeneous entities. The latter aspect plays a key role in the ident
The paper target is to analyze the influence of passing lane section and merging area lengths, which represent a critical part in the geometric design of passing lanes. The lack of observed data and the still limited implementation of short passing 2 + 1 lane in Poland do not allow to perform a reliable performance-based design of their length to balance context and economical restrains with opera
Rail Track performance is highly dependent upon the magnitude and variation of differential track geometry. Consequently, there is an increasing interest in obtaining a consistent measure of trackbed stiffness and track geometry in the physical and time restrictions applicable on live track for assessing potential maintenance requirement and subsequent design of remedial measures. Furthermore, a l
The research presented here evaluated road safety on the road sections included in the Intelligent Traffic Control System of the Podhale Region (ISSRRP) in Poland. This travel time information system consists of a remote traffic microwave sensor, cameras, as well as automatic plate number recognition on national roads with variable message signs and a mobile app to suggest alternative routes in th
The road safety barriers are today designed and installed in compliance with the European standards for Road Restraint Systems (EN 1317), which lays down common requirements for the testing and certification in all EU countries. The introduction of the European Union (EU) regulation for safety barriers, which is based on performance, has encouraged European road agencies to perform an upgrade of t
Detection and classification of distresses is a fundamental activity in the road pavement management. Even in the early stages of deterioration, road pavement needs to be monitored to identify problems, evaluating the actual conditions and predicting what the future conditions will be. Monitoring activities through manual/visual inspections are time consuming, costly and cause of safety concerns.
The European Directive 2008/96/CE on Road Infrastructures Safety Management gives great emphasis to road Safety Inspections SI as tool for safety management of existing roads. In this framework, development of surrogate measures of safety derived from data collected during safety inspections can provide a source of information for risk assessment. Furthermore, SIs derived information seems to be p
As it is well known, one of the keys to improve traffic performance of two lane rural roads with high traffic volumes is to provide passing sections. However, providing a long segment in which the passing maneuver is allowed, is not always feasible, especially when suburban areas are considered. The retrofitting of some road sections by adding a passing relief lane can improve traffic performance
Objective: A new European Union (EU) regulation for safety barriers, which is based on performance, has encouraged road agencies to perform an upgrade of old barriers, with the expectation that there will be safety benefits at the retrofitted sites. The new class of barriers was designed and installed in compliance with the 1998 (European Norm) EN 1317 standards for road restraint systems, which l
Black spot ranking is an important tool for finding the sites with potential safety improvement on the road network. The EU Directive on Road Infrastructure Safety Management also demands the ranking of high accident concentration sites. This paper gives an introduction to localizing high accident concentration sites and the indicators used by Italy and Hungary. Accident and traffic volume data ar
Most crash prediction models are statistically-based prediction methods which require significant efforts in crash data collection and may not be applied in particular traffic environments due to the limitation of data sources. Traffic conflict studies have been proposed to mitigate this issue using short time survey to count traffic conflicts which are assumed as a surrogate measure of safety. Un
The subgrade is the top surface of a roadbed upon which the pavement structure is constructed. The purpose is to provide a platform for construction of the pavement and to support the pavement without unwanted deflection that would reduce its performance. For those reasons subgrade bearing capacity have to be investigate during the construction process as a quality control, based on the design res
Road Agencies set quantitative targets and adopt related road safety strategies within the priorities and the available resources at the time of an economic crisis. In this framework, benefit-cost analyses (BCA) are carried out to support the decision making process and alternative measures are ranked according to their expected benefit and benefit-cost ratio calculated using a Safety Performance
Road agencies set quantitative targets and adopt related road safety strategics in accordance with each agency's priorities and available resources. Benefit-cost analyses are carried out to support the decision-making process, and alternative measures are ranked according to their expected benefits and benefit-cost ratios, calculated with a safety performance function (SPF) and crash modification
The analysis of a road network could be carried out using different techniques, the most advanced of which for the identification of hazardous sites are based on a statistical tool known as a "Safety Performance Function" (SPF). SPFs are fundamental to procedures in the Highway Safety Manual (HSM) and Safety Analyst, both of which require calibration of the SPFs to local conditions. In the case of
