Hydrogen Sulfide and Neurogenic Inflammation in Polymicrobial Sepsis: Involvement of Substance P and ERK-NF-κB Signaling

Hydrogen sulfide (H2S) has been shown to induce transient receptor potential vanilloid 1 (TRPV1)-mediated neurogenic inflammation in polymicrobial sepsis. However, endogenous neural factors that modulate this event and the molecular mechanism by which this occurs remain unclear. Therefore, this study tested the hypothesis that whether substance P (SP) is one important neural element that implicates in H2S-induced neurogenic inflammation in sepsis in a TRPV1-dependent manner, and if so, whether H2S regulates this response through activation of the extracellular signal-regulated kinase-nuclear factor-κB (ERK-NF-κB) pathway. Male Swiss mice were subjected to cecal ligation and puncture (CLP)-induced sepsis and treated with TRPV1 antagonist capsazepine 30 minutes before CLP. DL-propargylglycine (PAG), an inhibitor of H2S formation, was administrated 1 hour before or 1 hour after sepsis, whereas sodium hydrosulfide (NaHS), an H2S donor, was given at the same time as CLP. Capsazepine significantly attenuated H2S-induced SP production, inflammatory cytokines, chemokines, and adhesion molecules levels, and protected against lung and liver dysfunction in sepsis. In the absence of H2S, capsazepine caused no significant changes to the PAG-mediated attenuation of lung and plasma SP levels, sepsis-associated systemic inflammatory response and multiple organ dysfunction. In addition, capsazepine greatly inhibited phosphorylation of ERK1/2 and inhibitory κBα, concurrent with suppression of NF-κB activation even in the presence of NaHS. Furthermore, capsazepine had no effect on PAG-mediated abrogation of these levels in sepsis. Taken together, the present findings show that H2S regulates TRPV1-mediated neurogenic inflammation in polymicrobial sepsis through enhancement of SP production and activation of the ERK-NF-κB pathway

Dropout and compliance to physical exercise in menopausal osteopenic women: the European “happy bones” project

IntroductionDecline in muscle mass and bone density seem to be two of the most disabling side effects of menopause that negatively affect women's quality of life. Promoting physical activity protocols in the workplace can represent a focal point in the prevention and management of several diseases. The study aims to evaluate the compliance and drop-out of menopausal osteopenic women engaged in combined training performed inside and outside the workplace. Strength and balance were analyzed to evaluate the effect of this protocol on osteoporosis prevention and the risk of falling.Methods73 menopausal women were enrolled in 5 European countries. They performed 72 lessons of a combined training proposed in the working place (IW) or sport center (SC).ResultsOut of the total 39 women enrolled in the IW, 12.8% had to leave the program, while out of the 34 women enrolled in SC, 41.2% did not complete the training. According to the compliance results, 47% of women that completed the trained IW and 85% in the SC recorded high compliance (p = 0.019). Moreover, the strength of the lower limbs (p < 0.001) and static balance (p = 0.001) significantly improved in the whole group.DiscussionIn conclusion, proposing well-structured training in the workplace for menopausal women seems to reduce drop-out. Strength and balance results suggest its positive impact on bone health and risk of falls, despite where it is performed

ARIA 2016 : Care pathways implementing emerging technologies for predictive medicine in rhinitis and asthma across the life cycle

The Allergic Rhinitis and its Impact on Asthma (ARIA) initiative commenced during a World Health Organization workshop in 1999. The initial goals were (1) to propose a new allergic rhinitis classification, (2) to promote the concept of multi-morbidity in asthma and rhinitis and (3) to develop guidelines with all stakeholders that could be used globally for all countries and populations. ARIA-disseminated and implemented in over 70 countries globally-is now focusing on the implementation of emerging technologies for individualized and predictive medicine. MASK [MACVIA (Contre les Maladies Chroniques pour un Vieillissement Actif)-ARIA Sentinel NetworK] uses mobile technology to develop care pathways for the management of rhinitis and asthma by a multi-disciplinary group and by patients themselves. An app (Android and iOS) is available in 20 countries and 15 languages. It uses a visual analogue scale to assess symptom control and work productivity as well as a clinical decision support system. It is associated with an inter-operable tablet for physicians and other health care professionals. The scaling up strategy uses the recommendations of the European Innovation Partnership on Active and Healthy Ageing. The aim of the novel ARIA approach is to provide an active and healthy life to rhinitis sufferers, whatever their age, sex or socio-economic status, in order to reduce health and social inequalities incurred by the disease.Peer reviewe

EVALITA Evaluation of NLP and Speech Tools for Italian - December 17th, 2020

Welcome to EVALITA 2020! EVALITA is the evaluation campaign of Natural Language Processing and Speech Tools for Italian. EVALITA is an initiative of the Italian Association for Computational Linguistics (AILC, http://www.ai-lc.it) and it is endorsed by the Italian Association for Artificial Intelligence (AIxIA, http://www.aixia.it) and the Italian Association for Speech Sciences (AISV, http://www.aisv.it)

Epidemiological Aspects of Clostridium Difficile Infection in the Southeast Region of Romania

Clostridium difficile infection (CDI) in Galati county is an very important public health problem, the number of cases per 100 outpatients being in the first 5, nationally. The percentage of community-associated infection in this county is higher than the national and european ones. We performed a prospective observational study on 720 patients admitted between 1.01.2017-31.12.2018 in the Clinical Hospital of Infectious Diseases „St. Cuv. Parascheva“ Galati and we analyzed comparative demographic data, risk factors, disease evolution and prognosis of a batch of 565 (78.47%) patients with healthcare facility associated infection, with a batch of 144 patients (20%) with community-associated infection. The identified type of Clostridium difficile was ribotype 027 in 93.61% of the toxigenic strains studied. The study showed that CDI predominantly affects women in urban areas. Patients with community source are younger, with less comorbidities, have episodes of illness with lower severity and better prognosis both in terms of CDI recurrence and post-CDI death. Patients with a nosocomial source are older, with multiple comorbidities, with greater exposure to antibiotic, proton pump inhibitor and recent abdominal surgery, have severe episodes of the disease and have a poorer prognosis than those with a community source

A Real-Life Action toward the End of HIV Pandemic: Surveillance of Mother-to-Child HIV Transmission in a Center from Southeast Romania

Preventing mother-to-child HIV transmission is a strategy to eliminate new infections to move toward a world free of HIV/AIDS. The aim of this study is to assess the effectiveness of the perinatal infection prevention program in a single center from southeast Romania. Newborns of HIV-positive mothers from 2005 to 2020 were followed-up until the age of two in a retrospective study. The transmission rate from HIV-positive mothers to living children was zero, but neonatal mortality, preterm birth and birth defects were still high. The peculiarity of our study is the high proportion of mothers with a nosocomial pattern of HIV transmission. Intensifying the efforts for accurate implementing the interventions for the prevention of mother-to-child HIV transmission, a long time follow-up for HIV-exposed uninfected children and new research on related HIV pregnancies are necessary to reach the objective of a new generation free of HIV

CLINICAL AND EPIDEMIOLOGICAL FEATURES ON RE-EMERGENCE OF MEASLES IN GALATI COUNTY

The current re-emergence of measles is a serious worldwide public health problem, favored by the decrease in vaccine coverage. Romania is noted for the highest number of illnesses and deaths in the European Union. The study analyzes the clinical-epidemiological characteristics of measles cases hospitalized in a county in south-eastern Romania, where the vaccine coverage with 2 doses of anti-measles vaccine is of 79.6%. We analyzed a number of 221 hospitalized cases confirmed with measles, according to the case definition, characterized by the predominance in unvaccinated infants, from the urban area, frequently diagnosed after the 4th day of illness, most of them with complicated forms of measles

OBSTETRIC AND REPRODUCTIVE CHALLENGES AFTER TRACHELECTOMY IN PATIENTS DIAGNOSED WITH EARLY STAGE CANCER

Radical trachelectomy is an established method of fertility sparing in female patients with early stage cervical cancer. This paper aims to review the series of obstetric and reproductive challenges that may arise following trachelectomy. Additionally, the article emphasized the pregnancy rates achieved after radical abdominal trachelectomy, as presented in studies conducted worldwide, since patients who undergo trachelectomy usually need assisted reproductive technologies to conceive and the pregnancy have a higher risk of preterm birth therefore, the patients should be monitored carefuly by a multidisciplinary team composed of obstetricians, neonatologists and oncologists. Cervical cancer is the second most common type of cancer affecting women of reproductive age. In women of reproductive age, cervical cancer is the second most common type of cancer diagnosed, however nowdays, women diagnosed in early stage who want to conceive children have the opportunity to do so due to the minimum invasive, fertility-sparing procedure such as trachelectomy

Clostridium difficile infection in patients with chronic hepatic disease

Clostridium difficile infection (CDI) associates in the spectrum of comorbidities, more and more often, chronic toxic metabolic or viral hepatic diseases. Patients with chronic hepatic diseases have more severe episodes of CDI with poorer prognosis than episodes of CDI that have occurred in patients with other comorbidities. The measures of prophylaxis and treatment of CDI in these patients require particularizations according to the risk factors and the clinical-evolutionary specificity of these patients. The present study aims to identify the main risk factors of these patients for CDI, as well as to evaluate the severity of the episodes of CDI, the rate of recurrence and death in these patients, compared to those without liver disease