Universal testing for COVID-19 in patients undergoing cancer treatment during the second outbreak in Brescia

Background: The impact of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has been overwhelming on patients with cancer, who may be at higher risk of developing severe disease. During the second COVID-19 outbreak in Italy, we planned universal microbiologic screening for patients scheduled for antineoplastic treatment. Methods: All patients with planned active treatment at Brescia University Radiation Oncology Department were screened for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) RNA with repeated nasopharyngeal swabs (NPS) from October 31, 2020. Treatment continuation, suspension, or delay was modulated for patients testing positive according to clinical presentation. Results: From October 31, 2020, to February 6, 2021, 636 patients were enrolled and 1243 NPS were performed, of which 28 (2.25%) were positive. The infection rate was 2.52%; 81.3% of the patients with a positive NPS were asymptomatic, 2 had mild disease, and 1 severe disease that led to death. All patients already on treatment with mild or asymptomatic COVID-19 carried on the therapy with no or minimal delay. Median delay for patients with infection detected before treatment start was 16.5 days. Conclusions: Detected incidence of COVID-19 was lower during the second outbreak in our patients (2.52% vs 3.23%), despite the extensive testing schedule, and substantiates the high rate of asymptomatic infections and the low mortality among patients with COVID-19 (6.3% vs 38.5% during the first outbreak). Universal SARS-CoV-2 screening for all patients with planned treatment might allow early identification of patients with COVID-19, resulting in timely management that could improve clinical outcomes and prevent spread of the infection

Short-term reproducibility of nocturnal non-dipping pattern in recently diagnosed essential hypertensives.

Objective: To investigate in a selected population of patients with a recently diagnosed essential hypertension the short-term intrasubject variability of diurnal changes in blood pressure (BP). Methods: Two hundred and eight consecutive, recently diagnosed, never treated essential hypertensives (119 men, 89 women, 46 ± 12 years) underwent 24-h ambulatory BP monitoring (ABPM) twice within 3 weeks. Dipping pattern was defined as a reduction in average systolic and diastolic BP at night greater than 10% compared to average daytime values. Results: 177 subjects (85%) showed no change in their diurnal variations in BP. Of the 159 subjects who had a dipping pattern on first ABPM, 134 (90.6%) confirmed this type of profile on the second ABPM, while 15 (9.4%) showed a non-dipping pattern. Of the 59 subjects who had a non-dipping pattern on the first ABPM, 43 (72.2%) confirmed their initial profile on the second ABPM, while 16 (28.8%) did not. Conclusion: These findings indicate that short-term reproducibility of diurnal changes in BP in early phases of untreated essential hypertension, characterized by a large prevalence of dipping pattern, is overall satisfactory. However, our study underlines that also in this particularly selected population of hypertensives the definition of non-dipping status on the basis of a single ABPM remains unreliable in about one-third of patients

Elevated serum procollagen type III peptide in splanchnic and peripheral circulation of patients with inflammatory bowel disease submitted to surgery

BACKGROUND: In the hypothesis that the increased collagen metabolism in the intestinal wall of patients affected by inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is reflected in the systemic circulation, we aimed the study to evaluate serum level of procollagen III peptide (PIIIP) in peripheral and splanchnic circulation by a commercial radioimmunoassay of patients with different histories of disease. METHODS: Twenty-seven patients, 17 with Crohn and 10 with ulcerative colitis submitted to surgery were studied. Blood samples were obtained before surgery from a peripheral vein and during surgery from the mesenteric vein draining the affected intestinal segment. Fifteen healthy age and sex matched subjects were studied to determine normal range for peripheral PIIIP. RESULTS: In IBD patients peripheral PIIIP level was significantly higher if compared with controls (5.0 ± 1.9 vs 2.7 ± 0.7 μg/l; p = 0.0001); splanchnic PIIIP level was 5.5 ± 2.6 μg/l showing a positive gradient between splanchnic and peripheral concentrations of PIIIP. No significant differences between groups nor correlations with patients' age and duration of disease were found. CONCLUSIONS: We provide evidence that the increased local collagen metabolism in active IBD is reflected also in the systemic circulation irrespective of the history of the disease, suggesting that PIIIP should be considered more appropiately as a marker of the activity phases of IBD

Potential advantages of cell administration on the inflammatory response compared to standard ACE inhibitor treatment in experimental myocardial infarction

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Bone Marrow (BM) progenitor cells can target the site of myocardial injury, contributing to tissue repair by neovascolarization and/or by a possible direct paracrine effect on the inflammatory cascade. Angiotensin Converting Enzyme inhibitors (ACE-I) are effective in reducing mortality and preventing left ventricular (LV) function deterioration after myocardial infarction.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We investigated the short term effects of BM mononuclear cells (BMMNCs) therapy on the pro-inflammatory cytokines (pro-CKs) and on LV remodelling and compared these effects over a standard ACE-I therapy in a rat model of myocardial cryodamage.</p> <p>Forty two adult inbread Fisher-F344 rats were randomized into three groups: untreated (UT; n = 12), pharmacological therapy (ACE-I; n = 14, receiving quinapril), and cellular therapy (BMMNCs; n = 16, receiving BMMNCs infusion). Rats underwent to a standard echocardiogram in the acute setting and 14 days after the damage, before the sacrifice. Pro-CKs analysis (interleukin (IL)1β, IL-6, tumor necrosis factor (TNF)α was performed (multiplex proteome arrays) on blood samples obtained by direct aorta puncture before the sacrifice; a control group of 6 rats was considered as reference.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Concerning the extension of the infarcted area as well as the LV dimensions, no differences were observed among the animal groups; treated rats had lower left atrial diameters and higher indexes of LV function. Pro-Cks were increased in infarcted-UT rats if compared with controls, and significantly reduced by BMMNCs and ACE-I ; TNFα inversely correlated with LV fractional shortening.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>After myocardial infarction, both BMMNCs and ACE-I reduce the pattern of pro-Ck response, probably contributing to prevent the deterioration of LV function observed in UT rats.</p

Distribution Dynamics in the US. A spatial perspective.

It is quite common in cross-sectional convergence analyses that data exhibit strong spatial dependence. While the literature adopting the regression approach is now fully aware that neglecting this feature may lead to inaccurate results and has therefore suggested a number of statistical tools for addressing the issue, research is only at a very initial stage within the distribution dynamics approach. In particular, in the continuous state-space framework, a few authors opted for spatial pre-filtering the data in order to guarantee the statistical properties of the estimates. In this paper, we follow an alternative route that starts from the idea that spatial dependence is not just noise but can be a substantive element of the data generating process. In particular, we develop a tool that, building on a mean-bias adjustment procedure established in the literature, explicitly allows for spatial dependence in distribution dynamics analysis thus eliminating the need for pre-filtering. Using this tool, we then reconsider the evidence on convergence across US states

VizieR Online Data Catalog: HI and 250um images of the Virgo cirrus (Bianchi+, 2017)

Images of the Virgo cirrus in the atomic gas HI emission and in the dust emission at 250um from Herschel-SPIRE. Two images are provided for HI emission from low velocity (LVC; -20km/s<v<100km/s) and intermediate velocity (IVC; -100km/s<v<-20km/s) clouds. The images are the same presented in the left and mid panels of Fig. 3 in the paper. Three images are provided at 250um: the observations, with large scale offsets removed; the model, obtained from the emissivity values derived in the paper and the two atomic gas maps; the residuals between observations and models. The three images have been obtained from observations/model/residuals for each of the four HeViCS fields, and combined in a single large scale map after removing field-to-field offsets; they are the same presented in Fig. 8 of the paper. In all cases the resolution is 4.8'

The effect of immigration on convergence dynamics in the US

This paper analyzes the impact of immigration on the dynamics of the cross-sectional distribution of GSP per capita and per worker. To achieve this we combine different approaches: on the one hand, we establish via Instrumental Variable estimation the effect of the inflow of foreign- born workers on output per worker, employment and population; on the other hand, using the Distribution Dynamics approach, we reconstruct the consequences of migration flows on convergence dynamics across US states