The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Women's Perinatal Mental Health: Preliminary Data on the Risk of Perinatal Depression/Anxiety from a National Survey in Italy

Increasing evidence suggests that during the COVID-19 pandemic, anxiety and depression during the perinatal period increased. The aim of the study is to estimate the prevalence of risk for both maternal depression and anxiety among women attending 18 healthcare centres in Italy during the SARS-COV-2 pandemic and to investigate the psychosocial risks and protective factors associated. It was divided into a retrospective phase (2019, 2020, and the first nine months of 2021) and a prospective phase (which began in November 2021 and it is still ongoing), which screened 12,479 and 2349 women, respectively, for a total of 14,828 women in the perinatal period. To evaluate the risk of anxiety and depression, the General Anxiety Disorder-7 (GAD-7), the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS), and an ad hoc form were used to collect sociodemographic variables. In the prospective study, the average age of the women is 31 (range 18-52) years. Results showed that the percentage of women who had EPDS score ≥9 increased from 11.6% in 2019 to 25.5% in the period ranging from November 2021 to April 2022. In logistic regression models, the variables associated with the risk of depression at a level ≤0.01 include having economic problems (OR 2.16) and not being able to rely on support from relatives or friends (OR 2.36). Having the professional status of the housewife is a lower risk (OR 0.52). Those associated with the risk of anxiety include being Italian (OR 2.97), having an education below secondary school level (OR 0.47), having some or many economic problems (OR 2.87), being unable to rely on support from relatives or friends (OR 2.48), and not having attended an antenatal course (OR 1.41). The data from this survey could be useful to determine the impact of the SARS-COV-2 pandemic on women and to establish a screening program with common and uniformly applied criteria which are consistent with national and international women's mental health programs

Biodegradable polymeric membrane systems for tissue engineering applications

Dipartimento di Ingegneria per l'Ambiente e il Territorio e Ingegneria Chimica, Dottorata di Ricerca in"Ingegneria Chimica dei Materiali" Scuola di Dottorata "Pitagora" in Scienze Ingegneristiche, Ciclo XXVI, a.a. 2012-2013Università degli Studi della Calabri

SYNTHESIS AND BIOLOGICAL EVALUATION OF NEW INHIBITORS OF ENZYMES INVOLVED IN c-di-GMP METABOLISM

Recently, much attention has been focused on the need for new antimicrobial agents with new targets or mechanisms of action against multidrug-resistant bacteria. Heavy antibiotic use and person to person spread of bacteria have greatly increased antibiotic resistance due to genetic mutation and this problem is continually increasing in severity. Biofilm-forming bacteria, resistant to antibiotics, cause over 65% of hospital infections. Biofilms are structural communities of bacterial cells enclosed in a self-produced polymeric matrix and adherent to an inhert or living surface. In the biofilm, bacteria are 1000-times more resistant to conventional antibiotic treatment. Despite the central role that bacterial biofilm plays in infection, there is currently no anti-biofilm drugs in clinical use. Therefore, the development of original compounds that specifically target the formation of biofilm is of great need in view of a rational use of antibiotics. Cyclic di-GMP (c-di-GMP) is a second messenger unique of bacteria that plays a central role in biofilm formation and also in the expression of virulence traits. Synthesis of c-di-GMP occurs via diguanylate cyclase enzymes (DCGs), while degradation of c-di-GMP occurs via phosphodiesterase enzymes (PDE). Small molecules interfering with c-di-GMP metabolism could potentially inhibit biofilm formation and virulence in a variety of bacteria. Inhibition of bacteria virulence rather than growth is an alternative strategy that allows to combat bacterial infections without exerting strong selective pressure for the bacteria to evolve resistance mechanisms. The exact details of c-di-GMP signaling is currently being studied by several laboratories and it is expected that analogs of c-di-GMP or other small molecules able to inhibit the enzymes involved in the c-di-GMP metabolism will become useful as either antivirulence or antibiofilm drugs. To date, only few molecular scaffolds have been identified and new small molecules that are able to prevent or destroy biofilm formation are needed. Based on these findings new c-di-GMP analogs have been synthesized and their ability to inhibit both PDE or DCG enzymes has been evaluated using an innovative approach to follow the enzymatic c-di-GMP formation and degradation in real-time.(1) The enzymes assayed are RocR and the cytoplasmatic portion of PA1120 from P. aeruginosa (PDE and DCG, respectively) and PleD from C. crescentus, as a reference of DCGs. The newly synthesized compounds showing the highest activity in vitro are currently being analyzed for their ability to inhibit c-di-GMP signaling, biofilm formation and/or virulence factors production in vivo, using the human pathogen P. aeruginosa as model bacterium. Results of these studies will be discussed. (1) Stelitano, V, et al. Nucleic Acids Res. 2013, 41, e79

Protein Kinase Gene Expression Profiling and In Vitro Functional Experiments Identify Novel Potential Therapeutic Targets in Adult Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia

BACKGROUND: Despite recent improvements in the treatment of acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), adult patients still have an overall poor outcome. The future of ALL management relies on the introduction of novel targeted therapies. The authors sought to assess if protein kinases (PKs), frequently deregulated in cancer, show an altered expression pattern and can be considered as suitable therapeutic targets in adult ALL. METHODS: The authors studied the PK gene expression profile by oligonucleotide arrays in 133 adult ALL samples at the onset of the disease and subsequently performed in vitro experiments to evaluate the sensitivity to first- and second-generation PK inhibitors of a set of ALL cell lines, as well as of primary ALL cells. RESULTS: The study documents a distinctive PK signature for different adult ALL subgroups; the PKs identified include several tyrosine kinase (TK) genes, especially in E2A/PBX+ B-lineage ALL (B-ALL), B-ALL without known molecular abnormalities, and T-lineage ALL. Consistently, cell lines and primary samples belonging to these groups proved susceptible to TK inhibitors. CONCLUSIONS: These results indicate that second-generation TK inhibitors may be effective in ALL subsets other than BCR/ABL+ B-ALL and provide the rationale for testing the impact of the newly developed TK inhibitors in the management of adult ALL patients. Cancer 2010;116:3426-37. (C) 2010 American Cancer Society

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) micro-elimination in the hospital setting: The results of the HCV Caserta hospital project

Background: In the present study we evaluated the efficacy of an innovative model of HCV micro-elimination in a hospital setting in an area of high HCV prevalence.Patients and metods: Between January and December 2019, a prospective, interventional study for a program of HCV case-finding and linkage-to-care was performed in S. Anna and S. Sebastiano hospital of Caserta, in Campania, a region in southern Italy. All adult patients who were admitted to the Caserta hospital in the study period and resulted positive for anti-HCV were included in the study. The outcomes evaluated were the number of subjects resulting HCV-RNA-positive, those linked-to-care and treated with a DAA and the subjects whose anti-HCV-status was unknown.Results: In the study period, 14,396 subjects, admitted to the hospital for different reasons, were tested for anti-HCV: 529 (3.7%) subjects resulted positive for anti-HCV. Of the 529 anti-HCV-positive subjects, 10 died during hospitalization and 243 were already treated with a DAA. The remaining 276 subjects were contacted and agreed to be evaluated. Of these 276 subjects, 68 patients resulted HCV- RNA-negative and 194 HCV-RNA-positive and 180 of these were treated with a DAA according to the international guidelines.Discussion: A simple, rapid, inexpensive model of HCV micro-elimination in the hospital setting allowed us to find anti-HCV-positive subjects with unknown anti-HCV status or not linked to a clinical center. (c) 2022 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd on behalf of King Saud Bin Abdulaziz University for Health Sciences. CC_BY_NC_ND_4.

Serum levels of polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins, polychlorinated dibenzofurans and polychlorinated biphenyls in a population living in the Naples area, southern Italy

The objective of this study was to estimate the levels of polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins (PCDDs), polychlorinated dibenzofurans (PCDFs) and polychlorinated biphenyls (DL-PCBs and NDL-PCBs) in blood serum obtained from non-occupationally exposed volunteers living in the Naples area (Campania Region, southern Italy).The samples were taken from two geographical zones: one was an urban area of Naples and its surroundings and the other was located in an area deemed to be at high environmental risk.Total mean concentrations of these persistent pollutants proved to be in the range 1.43-17.38pgWHO-TEQ1998g-1 lipid for PCDD/Fs, and 0.98-25.45pgWHO-TEQ1998g-1 lipid for DL-PCBs. NDL-PCBs were in the range 316.57-482.90ngg-1 lipid.No significant differences were observed between women and men, nor between donors living in the two different areas.The mean levels of PCDD/Fs and PCBs in the population living in the Naples area were lower than those observed in some studies of populations living in exposed areas (near incineration plants or industrial sites) and urban or rural areas. © 2013 Elsevier Ltd

L'amor platonico. Variazioni sul tema nei Sonetti di Shakespeare

La presenza del modello dell'amore platonico nei Sonetti di Shakespeare. Convergenze e divergenz

c-di-GMP-based molecules as potent diguanylate cyclase (DGC) inhibitors

The emergence of antibiotic and multi-target resistant bacterial strains is a major life-treating health problem with high socio-economic costs in developed countries. Thus, innovative strategies to target antibiotic- resistant infections are urgently needed. In the establishment of chronic infections, one of the crucial steps is the transition of bacteria from the planktonic to the biofilm lifestyle.[1] The intracellular levels of the second messenger cyclic di-GMP (c-di-GMP) play a crucial role in this transition. Indeed, high intracellular c-di-GMP levels positively correlate with bacterial processes relevant for chronic virulence and biofilm formation. Since the pathways involved in c-di-GMP signaling are not present in mammalians, they represent attractive targets for the development of antibacterial drugs. The intracellular levels of c-di-GMP are regulated by the opposite activities of diguanylate cyclases (DGC), involved in c-di-GMP synthesis, and phosphodiesterases (PDE), involved in c-di-GMP degradation. Therefore the identification of compounds inhibiting the DGC activity would allow the development of new anti-biofilm drugs. Following a molecular simplification approach on the chemical structure of c-di-GMP, and a click chemistry methodology, an array of c-di-GMP-based compounds was designed, synthesized and tested against enzymes involved in c-di-GMP metabolism. Two of the novel compounds were able to significantly inhibit DGC activity, targeting the I-site of PleD from Caulobacter crescentus. References 1. Romling, U. & Balsalobre, C. Biofilm infections, their resilience to therapy and innovative treatment strategies. J. Intern. Med., 2012, 272, 541-561