Granulocyte-Colony Stimulating Factor (G-CSF) in Stroke Patients with Concomitant Vascular Disease—A Randomized Controlled Trial

G-CSF has been shown in animal models of stroke to promote functional and structural regeneration of the central nervous system. It thus might present a therapy to promote recovery in the chronic stage after stroke.Here, we assessed the safety and tolerability of G-CSF in chronic stroke patients with concomitant vascular disease, and explored efficacy data. 41 patients were studied in a double-blind, randomized approach to either receive 10 days of G-CSF (10 µg/kg body weight/day), or placebo. Main inclusion criteria were an ischemic infarct >4 months prior to inclusion, and white matter hyperintensities on MRI. Primary endpoint was number of adverse events. We also explored changes in hand motor function for activities of daily living, motor and verbal learning, and finger tapping speed, over the course of the study.Adverse events (AEs) were more frequent in the G-CSF group, but were generally graded mild or moderate and from the known side-effect spectrum of G-CSF. Leukocyte count rose after day 2 of G-CSF dosing, reached a maximum on day 8 (mean 42/nl), and returned to baseline 1 week after treatment cessation. No significant effect of treatment was detected for the primary efficacy endpoint, the test of hand motor function.These results demonstrate the feasibility, safety and reasonable tolerability of subcutaneous G-CSF in chronic stroke patients. This study thus provides the basis to explore the efficacy of G-CSF in improving chronic stroke-related deficits.ClinicalTrials.gov NCT00298597

APPUNTI PER UNA EDIZIONE DEL GLOSSARIO BERGAMASCO MEDIOEVALE DI ANTONIO TIRABOSCHI

Il presente contribuito descrive la struttura e i contenuti del Glossario Bergamasco Medioevale di Antonio Tiraboschi, attualmente conservato presso la Biblioteca Civica Angelo Mai di Bergamo, e costituito da quattro quaderni manoscritti e inediti, all’interno dei quali sono registrati oltre 2000 lemmi organizzati alfabeticamente. Si descrivono le fonti, edite e inedite, dalle quali Tiraboschi attinge i frammenti citati all’interno di ciascun lemma e si propone una classificazione delle annotazioni di cui il Glossario si compone in tre sottogruppi:  note di carattere dialettologico, riguardanti gli esiti di forme latine o proto-romanze in italiano e nei dialetti gallo-italici (bergamasco, in primis) o relative alle particolari sfumature semantiche osservabili nel lessico del bergamasco; annotazioni di natura linguistica sulla comparsa di costruzioni romanze in sostituzione delle costruzioni latine, e sulle innovazioni semantiche romanze ravvisabili all’interno dei frammenti citati ad esemplificazione di ciascun lemma; osservazioni di carattere onomastico, relative a toponimi, microtoponimi e – più raramente – nomi personali. L’analisi condotta rappresenta un passo preliminare alla realizzazione di una edizione digitale (consultabile in modalità Open access a partire dalla home page della Biblioteca Civica Angelo Mai) dei preziosi materiali linguistici di cui il Glossario si compone e di una corrispondente edizione cartacea, che favoriscano valorizzazione e la fruizione del lavoro svolto dallo studioso bergamasco.   Notes for an edition of Glossario Bergamasco Medioevale by Antonio Tiraboschi This paper describes the structure and the content of Antonio Tiraboschi's Glossario Bergamasco Medioevale, currently preserved at the Biblioteca Civica Angelo Mai in Bergamo, consisting of four manuscripts and unpublished notebooks containing more than 2000 alphabetically organized headwords. The sources, both published and unpublished, from which Tiraboschi drew the fragments cited as part of each lemma are described and a classification of the annotations into three subgroups is proposed:  notes of a dialectological nature, concerning either Latin or proto-Roman forms in Italian as well as in the Gallo-Italic dialects (Bergamasque, in primis) or relating to particular semantic nuances observable in the lexicon of Bergamasque; linguistic notes on the appearance of Romance constructions replacing Latin constructions and questionable Romance semantic innovations in the fragments cited as examples of each lemma; onomastic observations, concerning toponyms, microtoponyms and - more rarely - personal names. This analysis is preliminary step towards creating a digital edition (available in Open access mode from the home page of the Biblioteca Civica Angelo Mai) of the precious linguistic materials which compose the Glossary and a corresponding paper edition, which will favor the valorization and fruition of the work carried out by the Bergamasque scholar

LA FORMAZIONE DEGLI ETNICI NELLA RIFLESSIONE LINGUISTICA DI FRANCESCO CHERUBINI

Il presente contributo si propone di fornire una descrizione della struttura del Vocabolario Patronimico di Francesco Cherubini e delle fonti empiriche consultate per la sua compilazione. Si accennerà poi a due questioni ricorrenti nel dibattito sulla formazione degli etnici in italiano, ovvero, la presenza di varianti allomorfiche o suppletive, e la motivazione morfo-pragmatica sottesa all’impiego di alcuni suffissi derivativi nella formazione di etnici e aggettivi deonomastici, cercando di chiarire quale attenzione tali tematiche abbiano ricevuto nella riflessione linguistica di Francesco Cherubini. Si formuleranno infine alcune osservazioni conclusive, evidenziando luci ed ombre del Vocabolario Patronimico e sottolineando alcuni degli spunti che tale opera ancora può offrire agli studiosi contemporanei.The formation of ethnic words in Francesco Cherubini’s reflection on language The aim of this paper is to describe the structure and contents of Francesco Cherubini’s Vocabolario Patronimico, as well as the empirical sources consulted for its compilation. We will address two of the most common issues in the debate on the formation of ethnic nouns and adjectives in Italian, namely the existence of allomorphs and supplementary variants, and the morpho-pragmatic motivation displayed by some of the derivative suffixes occurring in ethnic nouns and adjectives derived from both personal and place names. We will offer a few observations on the place occupied by the above-mentioned issues in Cherubini’s thought and, by analyzing the strengths and weaknesses of the Vocabolario Patronimico, we will draw attention to a few topics which may be of some interest to contemporary scholars

Abdominal venous thrombosis presenting in myeloproliferative neoplasm with JAK2 V617F mutation: a case report

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Introduction</p> <p>An unprovoked thombotic event in a patient is cause for further evaluation of an underlying hypercoaguable state. The investigation should include a thorough search, including checking for a variety of known inherited and acquired hypercoaguble states (protein C or S deficiency, anti-phospholipid antibodies, and anti-thrombin III deficiency) and gene mutations that predispose patients to an increased risk of clotting (for example, prothrombin gene 20210 mutation, factor V Leiden, and the <it>JAK2 V617F </it>mutation).</p> <p>Case presentation</p> <p>We report the case of a 38-year-old Caucasian woman with spontaneous, unprovoked abdominal venous thrombosis and demonstrate how testing for the <it>JAK2 V617F </it>mutation was useful in unmasking an underlying hypercoaguable state.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p><it>JAK2 V617F</it>-positive myeloproliferative neoplasm was diagnosed. This case illustrates the importance of testing for <it>JAK2 V617F </it>in patients presenting with Budd-Chiari syndrome, even in the absence of overt hematologic abnormalities, in order to establish a diagnosis of underlying myeloproliferative neoplasm.</p

La rappresentazione grafica dei suoni dialettali nel panorama linguistico salentino

EnThe linguistic landscape of the Italian Salento is heterogeneous in terms of the graphic choices made by Salentino writers. Indeed, the dialect spoken in Salento has no established written standard, so the trend appears to be to primarily rely on Italian orthographic norm. Consequently, for the Salentino writers it's not easy to represent sounds that are not found in the Italian phonology. This paper investigates the graphic solutions adopted in the linguistic landscape of 77 Salento towns to represent the retroflex consonant, the voiceless postalveolar fricative, syntactic gemination and consonant lengthening in writing. The use of diacritics and of graphemes that are not common in the Italian script is also documented. Data show how the absence of orthographic norms in Salento leads both to a high variability, and to a general adherence to the Italian system. The result is often a hiding of phonetic and phonological forms that are typical of Salentino.ItIl panorama linguistico del Salento si presenta eterogeneo quanto a scelte grafiche compiute dagli scriventi. Il dialetto salentino, infatti, manca di uno standard ortografico e la tendenza sembra essere quella di affidarsi perlopiù alle norme italiane. Perciò, la situazione diventa problematica quando si devono rappresentare tratti sonori assenti nella lingua nazionale. Il presente contributo analizza le soluzioni proposte in 77 comuni salentini per rendere nella scrittura esposta la cacuminalizzazione, la fricativa postalveolare sorda, il raddoppiamento fonosintattico e la lunghezza consonantica; inoltre, viene documentato l'uso di segni paragrafematici e di grafemi poco frequenti in italiano. I dati evidenziano come l'assenza di norme ortografiche del salentino porti, da un lato, a una forte variabilità di usi e, dall'altro, a un generale adagiamento sulle regole italiane: ciò spesso risulta in un appiattimento delle realizzazioni fonetico-fonologiche tipiche del salentino

Iohexol Clearance for Determination of Glomerular Filtration Rate in Rats Induced to Acute Renal Failure

IntroductionThe glomerular filtration rate (GFR) is considered an especially important tool for the measurement of renal function. Inulin clearance (InCl) is the classic reference method for this purpose, although it is associated with a number of disadvantages; thus, other markers have been proposed, including iohexol. Determination of iohexol clearance (IoCl) has been established for clinical use; however, its application as a GFR marker in experimental rat models has not been reported.ObjectivesThis study aims to standardize a methodology for the measurement of iohexol clearance and to evaluate its applicability as a marker of GFR in rats with induced toxic acute renal failure (ARF), using InCl as the gold standard.Materials and MethodsTwenty-six Wistar male rats (200-300 g) were divided into the following two groups: a control group (n=7) and an ARF group (n=19). ARF was induced by the subcutaneous administration of cisplatin (5 mg/kg); IoCl and InCl were determined simultaneously, and plasma creatinine (pCreat) dosage was measured colorimetrically.ResultsThe pCreat, InCl and IoCl levels were consistent with the expected values for the renal function ranges of the evaluated animals, and the IoCl and InCl levels were significantly correlated (r=0.792). An inverse moderate linear correlation between the IoCl and pCreat measurements (r=-0.587) and between the InCl and pCreat measurements (r=-0.722) were observed.ConclusionThese results confirm a correlation between IoCl and the gold standard of GFR, InCl measurement. IoCl offers a relevant advantage over InCl because determination of the former allows the animal to live after the procedure.Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)Universidade Federal de São Paulo, Dept Med, Div Nephrol, São Paulo, SP, BrazilUniv São Paulo, Inst Biomed Sci, Dept Immunol, São Paulo, SP, BrazilUniv São Paulo, Sch Med, Dept Nephrol, São Paulo, SP, BrazilUniversidade Federal de São Paulo, Dept Med, Div Nephrol, São Paulo, SP, BrazilWeb of Scienc