Prevalence and Persistence of Breathing Disorders in Chronic Heart Failure Patients: Preliminary Results from Home Telemonitoring in the HHH Study

In this paper we present preliminary results of the European Community multicountry trial HHH (Home or Hospital in Heart Failure), which assessed the prevalence and persistence of nocturnal breathing disorders in mild-to-moderate CHF patients. All subjects (465) carried out a baseline respiratory recording in the hospital, followed by 12 recordings (one per month) at home. The latter were totally self-managed by the patients, and data were transmitted to the referring hospital through telephone lines. We found that 43 % of the patients had a periodic breathing pattern (PB, waxing and waning of ventilation with or without apneas) during the night lasting ≥ 1 hour, and the apnea-hypopnea index (AHI) was ≥ 5 events/hour in 51 % of them. During the 1-year follow-up, a PB ≥ 1 hour and an AHI ≥ 5 events/hour were persistent (i.e., occurred in> 50 % of the recordings) in 43 % and 52 % of the patients. These findings confirm the high prevalence of nocturnal breathing disorders in CHF patients and show that in a large proportion of patients they tend to persist over time. 1

Climbing walls, making bridges: children of immigrants’ identity negotiations through capoeira and parkour in Turin.

Capoeira and parkour are two different body practices which have gained worldwide attention in urban settings in the last few decades. The following paper will explore how capoeira and parkour relate to the construction of identity paths amongst children of immigrants between 12 and 20 in Turin, Italy. It will do so by looking at how such practices are used by young men of migrant origin to negotiate and perform narratives of self-worth, belonging and recognition within marginalising and excluding urban environments. This study acknowledges that social identifications are created, negotiated and (re)produced through bodily and spatial means and within networks of power relations. Following this premise, the insights proposed in this paper suggest that the ambivalent and fluid use of bodies and spaces implied by capoeira and parkour can represent a meaningful lens to understand the embodied and spatial identity negotiations enacted by participants in their daily lives. This theoretical perspective will illuminate the place that active bodies, spaces and leisure practices take in the negotiation of social identities, and dynamics of inclusion/exclusion, enacted by youth of migrant origin within early twenty-first century Turin cityscape

A Comparison of the Conditioning Regimens BEAM and FEAM for Autologous Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation in Lymphoma: An Observational Study on 1038 Patients From Fondazione Italiana Linfomi

Abstract Background Carmustine (BCNU)-Etoposide-Citarabine-Melphalan (BEAM) chemotherapy is the standard conditioning regimen for autologous stem cell transplantation (ASCT) in lymphomas. Owing to BCNU shortages, many centers switched to Fotemustine-substituted BEAM (FEAM), lacking proof of equivalence. Methods We conducted a retrospective cohort study in 18 Italian centers to compare safety and efficacy of BEAM and FEAM regimens for ASCT in lymphomas performed from 2008 to 2015. Results We enrolled 1038 patients (BEAM n=607, FEAM n=431), of which 27% had Hodgkin's lymphoma (HL), 14% indolent Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (iNHL) and 59% aggressive NHL (aNHL). Baseline characteristics including age, sex, stage, B-symptoms, extranodal involvement, previous treatments, response before ASCT, overall conditioning intensity, were well balanced between BEAM and FEAM; notable exceptions were: ASCT year (median: BEAM=2011 vs FEAM=2013, p Conclusions BEAM and FEAM do not appear different in terms of survival and disease control. However, due to concerns of higher toxicity, Fotemustine substitution in BEAM does not seem justified, if not for easier supply