C-reactive protein in aortic valve disease

Aortic Valve Disease, includes a range of disorder severity from mild leaflet thickening without valve obstruction, "aortic sclerosis", to severe calcified aortic stenosis. It is a slowly progressive active process of valve modification similar atherosclerosis for cardiovascular risk factors, lipoprotein deposition, chronic inflammation, and calcification. Systemic signs of inflammation, as wall and serum CRP, similar to those found in atherosclerosis, are present in patients with degenerative aortic valve stenosis and may be expression of a common disease, useful in monitoring of stenosis progression

Retraction: C-reactive protein in aortic valve disease

<p>Abstract</p> <p>A preliminary version of a review article was published in error on 16 October 2006.</p> <p>The correct version of the article had previously been published in <it>Cardiovascular Ultrasound</it>.</p> <p>The authors have agreed that the preliminary version should be retracted.</p

Efficacy of a Fixed Combination of Tetracycline, Chloramphenicol, and Colistimethate Sodium for Treatment of Candida albicans Keratitis

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Expression level of CCR5 chemokine receptor on blood CD4+ and CD8+ T-cells plays an important role in the Ascending Aortic Aneurysm pathophysiology.

Background and aim: The CC chemokine receptor 5 (CCR5) is involved in the migration of circulating NK and Th1 cells towards inflammatory sites. CCR5 expression has also been demonstrated on endothelial cells, aortic smooth muscle cells and implicated in the development of abdominal aortic aneurysm. Thoracic aortic aneurysm (TAA) is a lethal disease burdened by complications such as aortic dissection/rupture. The risk of these acute events has been related to the severity of aortic enlargement. The aim of our study is to investigate a possible role of CCR5 expression on peripheral blood CD4+ and CD8+ T-lymphocytes in the pathogenesis of TAA. Methods: We have studied 14 patients (8 female, 6 male) with mean age of 67.35?7.70, undergoing isolated aortic valve replacement (AVR) and/or TAA surgery. Preoperatively, venous blood samples were obtained. A three colors flow cytometric analysis was performed by appropriate combinations of monoclonal antibodies directed against the following surface molecules: CD3, CD4, CD8, CCR5. Data are expressed in terms of percentage of positivity. Maximal aortic diameter (MAD) was determined by transesophageal echocardiography. For each patient we calculated the aortic size index (ASI), defined as MAD/BSA (mm/m2). Results: Aortic index was 21.52?3.14 mm/m2. Nine patients underwent isolated AVR (group 1) and five patients underwent TAA surgery (group 2). The percentage of CCR5+ on CD4+ was significantly higher in group 2 (17.03?3.08 vs 13.03?2.72, p=0.0269). A trend towards a higher percentage of CCR5+ on CD8+ was observed in group 2 (22.74?8,39 vs 16.26?3.75, p=0.0653). A significant correlation between aortic index and the percentage of CD4+ and CD8+ T-cells expressing CCR5 was observed (p=0.048, R2=0.287 and p=0.0067, R2=0.471 respectively). Conclusions: The correlation between the percentage of CD4+ and CD8+ T-cells expressing CCR5 and aortic index suggests the role of a T-cell immune-mediated cytotoxic mechanism in the progression of TAA disease

Bone Marrow Clonogenic Capability, Cytokine Production, and Thymic Output in Patients with Common Variable Immunodeficiency

AbstractIn patients with primary Ab deficiencies, hematological and immunological abnormalities are frequently observed. A regenerative failure of hemopoietic stem/progenitor cells has been hypothesized. We evaluated in the bone marrow (BM) of 11 patients with common variable immunodeficiency, the phenotype of BM progenitors and their in vitro growth by colony-forming cell (CFC) and long-term culture (LTC) assays. A significant decrease in erythroid and mixed CFC and, to a greater extent, in primitive LTC-CFC progenitors was observed in patients compared with healthy controls. The frequency of BM pre-B and pro-B cells correlated directly with the absolute number of CD19+ lymphocytes. BM cells cultured in vitro produced spontaneously lower amounts of IL-2 and elevated levels of TNF-α compared with controls, indicating a skewing toward a proapoptotic cytokine pattern. In addition, stromal cells generated after BM LTC secreted less IL-7 and displayed by immunohistochemistry an altered phenotype. These findings were associated with a significant decrease in naive Th cells coexpressing CD31 in the peripheral blood. These results indicate an impaired growth and differentiation capacity of progenitor cells in patients with common variable immunodeficiency

Soil management affects the nutraceutical properties of Primitivo's grape pomace

Soil management is a sustainable agronomic practice to produce grapes, wine, and grape pomace with a low environmental impact in viticulture, affecting soil microbial biodiversity, organic matter, and healthy roots. Grape pomace is the main by-product of winemaking and a valuable source of natural phytochemicals. This research aimed to evaluate the phenolic content and antioxidant activity of pomace deriving from the microvinification of the Primitivo wine grapes obtained by four different soil management techniques: cover crop (C), soil mechanical tillage (T), green manure (G) and farm soil management (F). The content of total phenolic compounds and anthocyanins in grapes and wines is the highest with the vineyard cover cropping system. Moreover, grape pomace derived by cover crop soil management shows a significant abundance of these molecules and a more elevated antioxidant activity than the other soil technique

MYC Rearranged Aggressive B-Cell Lymphomas: A Report on 100 Patients of the Fondazione Italiana Linfomi (FIL)

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Patterns of disease progression in type 2 and 3 SMA : Implications for clinical trials

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives License CC BY NC-ND 4.0 ( http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ ), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, and is not altered, transformed, or built upon in any way.The aim of the study was to establish 12-month changes in the Hammersmith Functional motor scale in a large cohort of SMA patients, to identify patterns of disease progression and the effect of different variables. 268 patients were included in this multicentric study. Their age ranged between 2.5 and 55.5 years at baseline, 68 were ambulant and 200 non-ambulant. The baseline scores ranged between 0 and 66 (mean 23.91, SD 20.09). The 12-month change was between -14 and +9 (mean -0.56, SD 2.72). Of the 268 patients, 206 (76.86%) had changes between -2 and +2 points. Ambulant and non-ambulant subjects had a different relationship between baseline values and age (p for age X ambulation interaction = 0.007). There was no association with age in ambulant subjects, while there was a significant heterogeneity at different age for non-ambulant patients (p < 0.001). The 12-month change (adjusted for baseline) was not associated with age in ambulant patients (p = 0.34), but it was significantly different among various age groups in non-ambulant patients. Our results suggest that there are different profiles of progression in ambulant and non-ambulant patients, and that age may play an important role in the progression of non-ambulant patients.Peer reviewedFinal Published versio

Upper limb function in Duchenne muscular dystrophy: 24 month longitudinal data

The aim of the study was to establish 24 month changes in upper limb function using a revised version of the performance of upper limb test (PUL 2.0) in a large cohort of ambulant and non-ambulant boys with Duchenne muscular dystrophy and to identify possible trajectories of progression. Of the 187 patients studied, 87 were ambulant (age range: 7\u201315.8 years), and 90 non-ambulant (age range: 9.08\u201324.78). The total scores changed significantly over time (p&lt;0.001). Non-ambulant patients had lower total scores at baseline (mean 19.7) when compared to the ambulant ones (mean 38.4). They also had also a bigger decrease in total scores over 24 months compared to the ambulant boys (4.36 vs 2.07 points). Multivariate model analysis showed that the Performance of Upper Limb changes reflected the entry level and ambulation status, that were independently associated to the slope of Performance of Upper Limb changes. This information will be of help both in clinical practice and at the time of designing clinical trials

&quot;Delirium Day&quot;: A nationwide point prevalence study of delirium in older hospitalized patients using an easy standardized diagnostic tool

Background: To date, delirium prevalence in adult acute hospital populations has been estimated generally from pooled findings of single-center studies and/or among specific patient populations. Furthermore, the number of participants in these studies has not exceeded a few hundred. To overcome these limitations, we have determined, in a multicenter study, the prevalence of delirium over a single day among a large population of patients admitted to acute and rehabilitation hospital wards in Italy. Methods: This is a point prevalence study (called "Delirium Day") including 1867 older patients (aged 65 years or more) across 108 acute and 12 rehabilitation wards in Italian hospitals. Delirium was assessed on the same day in all patients using the 4AT, a validated and briefly administered tool which does not require training. We also collected data regarding motoric subtypes of delirium, functional and nutritional status, dementia, comorbidity, medications, feeding tubes, peripheral venous and urinary catheters, and physical restraints. Results: The mean sample age was 82.0 ± 7.5 years (58 % female). Overall, 429 patients (22.9 %) had delirium. Hypoactive was the commonest subtype (132/344 patients, 38.5 %), followed by mixed, hyperactive, and nonmotoric delirium. The prevalence was highest in Neurology (28.5 %) and Geriatrics (24.7 %), lowest in Rehabilitation (14.0 %), and intermediate in Orthopedic (20.6 %) and Internal Medicine wards (21.4 %). In a multivariable logistic regression, age (odds ratio [OR] 1.03, 95 % confidence interval [CI] 1.01-1.05), Activities of Daily Living dependence (OR 1.19, 95 % CI 1.12-1.27), dementia (OR 3.25, 95 % CI 2.41-4.38), malnutrition (OR 2.01, 95 % CI 1.29-3.14), and use of antipsychotics (OR 2.03, 95 % CI 1.45-2.82), feeding tubes (OR 2.51, 95 % CI 1.11-5.66), peripheral venous catheters (OR 1.41, 95 % CI 1.06-1.87), urinary catheters (OR 1.73, 95 % CI 1.30-2.29), and physical restraints (OR 1.84, 95 % CI 1.40-2.40) were associated with delirium. Admission to Neurology wards was also associated with delirium (OR 2.00, 95 % CI 1.29-3.14), while admission to other settings was not. Conclusions: Delirium occurred in more than one out of five patients in acute and rehabilitation hospital wards. Prevalence was highest in Neurology and lowest in Rehabilitation divisions. The "Delirium Day" project might become a useful method to assess delirium across hospital settings and a benchmarking platform for future surveys