Clinical Features, Cardiovascular Risk Profile, and Therapeutic Trajectories of Patients with Type 2 Diabetes Candidate for Oral Semaglutide Therapy in the Italian Specialist Care

Introduction: This study aimed to address therapeutic inertia in the management of type 2 diabetes (T2D) by investigating the potential of early treatment with oral semaglutide. Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted between October 2021 and April 2022 among specialists treating individuals with T2D. A scientific committee designed a data collection form covering demographics, cardiovascular risk, glucose control metrics, ongoing therapies, and physician judgments on treatment appropriateness. Participants completed anonymous patient questionnaires reflecting routine clinical encounters. The preferred therapeutic regimen for each patient was also identified. Results: The analysis was conducted on 4449 patients initiating oral semaglutide. The population had a relatively short disease duration (42%  60% of patients, and more often than sitagliptin or empagliflozin. Conclusion: The study supports the potential of early implementation of oral semaglutide as a strategy to overcome therapeutic inertia and enhance T2D management

Fatality rate and predictors of mortality in an Italian cohort of hospitalized COVID-19 patients

Clinical features and natural history of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) differ widely among different countries and during different phases of the pandemia. Here, we aimed to evaluate the case fatality rate (CFR) and to identify predictors of mortality in a cohort of COVID-19 patients admitted to three hospitals of Northern Italy between March 1 and April 28, 2020. All these patients had a confirmed diagnosis of SARS-CoV-2 infection by molecular methods. During the study period 504/1697 patients died; thus, overall CFR was 29.7%. We looked for predictors of mortality in a subgroup of 486 patients (239 males, 59%; median age 71 years) for whom sufficient clinical data were available at data cut-off. Among the demographic and clinical variables considered, age, a diagnosis of cancer, obesity and current smoking independently predicted mortality. When laboratory data were added to the model in a further subgroup of patients, age, the diagnosis of cancer, and the baseline PaO2/FiO2 ratio were identified as independent predictors of mortality. In conclusion, the CFR of hospitalized patients in Northern Italy during the ascending phase of the COVID-19 pandemic approached 30%. The identification of mortality predictors might contribute to better stratification of individual patient risk

Heterogeneity in parental time with children: trends by gender and education between 1961 and 2012 across 20 countries

This article investigates the level and dynamics of heterogeneity in parental childcare time using data from the Multinational Time Use Study across 20 countries over five decades. Applying the Gini coefficient as the main summary measure of the dispersion in the distribution at the country level, we show that heterogeneity in paternal time has been higher than that in maternal time throughout the last half-century. The gap has narrowed over the last decade, mainly due to a reduction in paternal time heterogeneity. This pattern is observed not only across countries over time but also within those countries for which we have repeated observations. We also show relevant socio-economic variations. Heterogeneity among low-educated mothers started to be systematically above that of high-educated mothers in the 1970s. In the group of fathers, heterogeneity has always been higher for the low-educated and it has been on the rise in the last decade. Results of a counterfactual analysis suggest that the main driver of the trends in paternal timne heterogeneity is the reduction in the share of fathers who do not provide any childcare, especially among the low-educated

The application of microarrays to food safety issues : gene expression analysis in circulating lymphocytes from cattle illegally treated with dexamethasone for growth promoting purposes

International audienc

Genome-wide transcriptional changes induced by phagocytosis or growth on bacteria in -0

Hese, 14 are directly or indirectly linked to glutamate metabolism, as shown in the Figure. Over- and under-expressed genes are shown in yellow and grey, respectively. (DDB0206436) and (DDB0188068), encode the glutamate decarboxylase A and B [51], respectively and are strongly over-expressed. Up-regulated are also a putative proline dehydrogenase (, DDB0167252), which catalyzes the formation of L-glutamic acid γ-semialdehyde, the histidine ammonia lyase (, DDB0187742) and the glutamic acid formiiminotransferase (, DDB0187716), which are both involved in the major pathway for converting histidine to glutamic acid. Up-regulated is also the gene for the 10-formyltetrahydrofolate synthetase (, DDB0188868), which generates a potential substrate for the formiimino group released by the formiiminotransferase. Slightly up-regulated is also the gene for the glutamate dehydrogenase (, DDB0187484), which leads to α-ketoglutarate formation from L-glutamic acid. Downregulated are seven genes encoding putative enzymes involved in the conversion of L-glutamic acid to, respectively, L-ornithine (, DDB0186887, , DDB0190334 and , DDB0189404), serine (, DDB0203991 and , DDB0190692) or lysine (, DDB0218638 and , DDB0186419). In the assumption that the regulation of all these genes is reflected at enzymatic level, a preferential accumulation of glutamate and its conversion to GABA and α-ketoglutarate could be inferred.<p><b>Copyright information:</b></p><p>Taken from "Genome-wide transcriptional changes induced by phagocytosis or growth on bacteria in "</p><p>http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2164/9/291</p><p>BMC Genomics 2008;9():291-291.</p><p>Published online 17 Jun 2008</p><p>PMCID:PMC2443395.</p><p></p

Genome-wide transcriptional changes induced by phagocytosis or growth on bacteria in -1

Ir small G protein regulators, which are detected in the microarray, with their interactions as known from literature. Over- and under-expressed genes are shown in yellow or grey, respectively. In italics are indicated genes, which are detected in the comparison V12M2 cells vs. AX2 growing on bacteria. The vast majority of these genes is down-regulated. See text for comments. For the DDB ID numbers of the genes see Additional Files , , .<p><b>Copyright information:</b></p><p>Taken from "Genome-wide transcriptional changes induced by phagocytosis or growth on bacteria in "</p><p>http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2164/9/291</p><p>BMC Genomics 2008;9():291-291.</p><p>Published online 17 Jun 2008</p><p>PMCID:PMC2443395.</p><p></p