Effect on haematological and anthropometric parameters of iron supplementation in the first 2 years of life. Risks and benefits

Effects of iron supplementation (IS) on haematological and anthropometric parameters in a cohort of 121 healthy children, followed from 6 to 24 months of life, in the Paediatric Department, Second University of Naples, were evaluated. Children were randomly segregated in four groups: (1) exclusively breast feeding (BF) weaned with non-iron fortified (NIF) foods, (2) BF and iron fortified formulas (IFF) and foods, (3) exclusively IFF and foods, (4) BF and oral iron supplementation (OIS). Haematological parameters (Hb, MCV, Serum ferritin and transferrin saturation) in addition to anthropometric measurements (length and weight) were obtained. Results from the study at 6, 12, 18 and 24 months showed significantly lower values of haematological parameters in BF infants than other groups and in IFF infants than in those with OIS. In contrast children with OIS showed significant lower length. It appears that IS may be of limited or no benefit for growth in non-iron deficient children

Image Forgery Localization via Fine-Grained Analysis of CFA Artifacts

In this paper, a forensic tool able to discriminate between original and forged regions in an image captured by a digital camera is presented. We make the assumption that the image is acquired using a Color Filter Array, and that tampering removes the artifacts due to the demosaicking algorithm. The proposed method is based on a new feature measuring the presence of demosaicking artifacts at a local level, and on a new statistical model allowing to derive the tampering probability of each 2 × 2 image block without requiring to know a priori the position of the forged region. Experimental results on different cameras equipped with different demosaicking algorithms demonstrate both the validity of the theoretical model and the effectiveness of our schem

Reverse engineering of double compressed images in the presence of contrast enhancement

Abstract-A comparison between two forensic techniques for the reverse engineering of a chain composed by a double JPEG compression interleaved by a linear contrast enhancement is presented here. The first approach is based on the well known peak-to-valley behavior of the histogram of double-quantized DCT coefficients, while the second approach is based on the distribution of the first digit of DCT coefficients. These methods have been extended to the study of the considered processing chain, for both the chain detection and the estimation of its parameters. More specifically, the proposed approaches provide an estimation of the quality factor of the previous JPEG compression and the amount of linear contrast enhancement

Therapeutic opportunities to modulate immune tolerance through the metabolism-chromatin axis

: The ability of the immune system to discriminate external stimuli from self-components - namely immune tolerance - occurs through a coordinated cascade of events involving a dense network of immune cells. Among them, CD4+CD25+ T regulatory cells are crucial to balance immune homeostasis and function. Growing evidence supports the notion that energy metabolites can dictate T cell fate and function via epigenetic modifications, which affect gene expression without altering the DNA sequence. Moreover, changes in cellular metabolism couple with activation of immune pathways and epigenetic remodeling to finely tune the balance between T cell activation and tolerance. This Review summarizes these aspects and critically evaluates novel possibilities for developing therapeutic strategies to modulate immune tolerance through metabolism via epigenetic drugs

THE RISKS AND ADVANTAGES OF ANTI-DIABETES THERAPY IN THE POSITIVE COVID-19 PATIENT

The new Sars-Cov-2 (COVID-19) is causing thousands of deaths worldwide and has caused a global pandemic, one of the biggest health challenges ever faced in history. in the most severe cases, Sars-Cov-2 infection can cause fatal lung injuries. In this context, it is essential to recognise effective therapeutic agents against the virus. There are currently no direct and effective vaccines and antivirals available. People with pre-existing conditions, such as diabetes, and with chronic drug therapies in place may represent complex patients difficult to manage clinically during COVID-19 infection and at high risk of major complications. The regulation of blood glucose and the adoption of appropriate measures are critical aspects to consider for the diabetic patient in this pandemic period, especially in the patient with ongoing infection. In this article we describe the current evidence in the literature on the possible risks of side effects caused by taking antidiabetic drugs in the COVID-19 patient and the data on extra homeostasis glycemic activity useful to fight viral infection.              Peer Review History: Received 25 May 2020; Revised 8 June; Accepted 3 July, Available online 15 July 2020 Academic Editor: Essam Mohamed Eissa, Beni-Suef University, Egypt, [email protected] UJPR follows the most transparent and toughest ‘Advanced OPEN peer review’ system. The identity of the authors and, reviewers will be known to each other. This transparent process will help to eradicate any possible malicious/purposeful interference by any person (publishing staff, reviewer, editor, author, etc) during peer review. As a result of this unique system, all reviewers will get their due recognition and respect, once their names are published in the papers. We expect that, by publishing peer review reports with published papers, will be helpful to many authors for drafting their article according to the specifications. Auhors will remove any error of their article and they will improve their article(s) according to the previous reports displayed with published article(s). The main purpose of it is ‘to improve the quality of a candidate manuscript’. Our reviewers check the ‘strength and weakness of a manuscript honestly’. There will increase in the perfection, and transparency. Received file:                Reviewer's Comments: Average Peer review marks at initial stage: 5.5/10 Average Peer review marks at publication stage: 7.0/10 Reviewer(s) detail: Dr. Heba M. Abd El-Azim, Damanhour University, Egypt, [email protected] Dr. George Zhu, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran, [email protected] Similar Articles: THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN DIABETES MELLITUS AND TUBERCULOSIS IN REVIEW OF PREVALENCE, DIAGNOSTICS AND PREVENTIO

USE OF COLCHICINE TO COUNTERACT THE STRONG HYPERINFLAMMATORY STATE INDUCED BY SARS-COV-2

Research in present time has been focusing on finding a specific SARS-CoV-2 vaccine or antiviral, which will probably be the therapeutic goal in the fight against the virus. In the meantime, scientific evidence shows that it is possible to have effective clinical improvements of infected patients in reducing the strong hyperinflammatory state. The SARS-CoV-2 infection is divided into three stages. The most serious phase is the third one where the immune system overdrives and launches an intense attack against itself. This is called "cytokine storm" and leads to tissue damage and often to death. Stopping the cytokine storm early is definitely an effective move; since March several studies have been evaluating how this can be an important pharmacological aspect. Blocking IL-6 or IL-1 inhibitors, for example, is already known to have wide efficacy, but they are not alone in being able to block the cascade of cytokines. This is a clinical pharmacology article and demonstrates how the use of colchicine, monotherapy or in combination in all three phases of SARS-CoV-2, controls inflammation and prevents patient death. Colchicine is safe and effective for treating SARS-CoV-2 patients in preventing inflammation and lung collapse and is certainly useful as an added remedy for other drugs. The advantage is certainly its safety profile much higher than that provided by other drugs, such as corticosteroids and immunosuppressive drugs. Note is the story of hydroxychloroquine: use has been banned due to its high toxicity.                               Peer Review History: Received 25 May 2020; Revised 10 June; Accepted 6 July, Available online 15 July 2020 Academic Editor: Dr. Muhammad Zahid Iqbal, AIMST University, Malaysia, [email protected] UJPR follows the most transparent and toughest ‘Advanced OPEN peer review’ system. The identity of the authors and, reviewers will be known to each other. This transparent process will help to eradicate any possible malicious/purposeful interference by any person (publishing staff, reviewer, editor, author, etc) during peer review. As a result of this unique system, all reviewers will get their due recognition and respect, once their names are published in the papers. We expect that, by publishing peer review reports with published papers, will be helpful to many authors for drafting their article according to the specifications. Auhors will remove any error of their article and they will improve their article(s) according to the previous reports displayed with published article(s). The main purpose of it is ‘to improve the quality of a candidate manuscript’. Our reviewers check the ‘strength and weakness of a manuscript honestly’. There will increase in the perfection, and transparency. Received file:                Reviewer's Comments: Average Peer review marks at initial stage: 5.5/10 Average Peer review marks at publication stage: 7.0/10 Reviewer(s) detail: Dr. Jennifer Audu-Peter, University of Jos, Nigeria, [email protected] Dr. Robert Tungadi, State University of Gorontalo, Indonesia, [email protected]

Infiltrating giant cell tumor in a case of Paget’s disease of bone

Giant cell tumor (GCT) of the bone, also called osteoclastoma, is a rare complication of Paget’s bone disease. We report a patient from Southern Italy who developed a GCT infiltrating the neighboring tissues. The natural history and the therapeutic outcomes of this unique complication of Paget’s bone disease are presented