Osservatorio territoriale droga e tossicodipendenze. Il Fenomeno delle dipendenze sul territorio della ASL MI 3. Anno 2007.

Report on the state of legal and illegal substances use in the territory of the Local Healthcare Service-Mi 3, Province of Milan.Il report analizza il fenomeno delle dipendenze nel territorio della ASL Milano 2. La descrizione del fenomeno si sviluppa intorno all\u27analisi degli indicatori individuati dall\u27Osservatorio Europeo delle Dipendenze di Lisbona (OEDT): 1-uso di sostanze nella popolazione generale (questo indicatore va a rilevare i comportamenti nei confronti di alcol e sostanze psicoattive da parte della popolazione generale); 2-prevalenza d\u27uso problematico delle sostanze psicoattive; 3-domanda di trattamento degli utilizzatori di sostanze; 4-mortalit? degli utilizzatori di sostanze; 5-malattie infettive. Altri due importanti indicatori che si stanno sviluppando, e che vengono qui illustrati, sono l\u27analisi delle Schede di Dimissione Ospedaliera (SDO) e gli indicatori relativi alle conseguenza sociali dell\u27uso di droghe (criminalit? droga correlata). Inoltre sono state applicate diverse metodologie standard di stima sia per quantificare la quota parte sconosciuta di utilizzatori di sostanze che non afferiscono ai servizi, sia per identificarne alcune caratteristiche

Academic patenting: the importance of industry support

This paper provides evidence that university-industry collaboration is important for turning commercial opportunities into patents. The results suggest that researchers who receive a large share of research grants from industry have a higher propensity to file a patent. Small dissemination grants generally exert a positive effect, whether they come from industry or not. It also finds that these interactions do not increase the number of industry owned patents alone but benefit universities’ commercialisation efforts in general

Sigh in patients with acute hypoxemic respiratory failure and acute respiratory distress syndrome: the PROTECTION pilot randomized clinical trial

Background: Sigh is a cyclic brief recruitment manoeuvre: previous physiological studies showed that its use could be an interesting addition to pressure support ventilation to improve lung elastance, decrease regional heterogeneity and increase release of surfactant. Research question: Is the clinical application of sigh during pressure support ventilation (PSV) feasible? Study design and methods: We conducted a multi-center non-inferiority randomized clinical trial on adult intubated patients with acute hypoxemic respiratory failure or acute respiratory distress syndrome undergoing PSV. Patients were randomized to the No Sigh group and treated by PSV alone, or to the Sigh group, treated by PSV plus sigh (increase of airway pressure to 30 cmH2Ofor 3 seconds once per minute) until day 28 or death or successful spontaneous breathing trial. The primary endpoint of the study was feasibility, assessed as non-inferiority (5% tolerance) in the proportion of patients failing assisted ventilation. Secondary outcomes included safety, physiological parameters in the first week from randomization, 28-day mortality and ventilator-free days. Results: Two-hundred fifty-eight patients (31% women; median age 65 [54-75] years) were enrolled. In the Sigh group, 23% of patients failed to remain on assisted ventilation vs. 30% in the No Sigh group (absolute difference -7%, 95%CI -18% to 4%; p=0.015 for non-inferiority). Adverse events occurred in 12% vs. 13% in Sigh vs. No Sigh (p=0.852). Oxygenation was improved while tidal volume, respiratory rate and corrected minute ventilation were lower over the first 7 days from randomization in Sigh vs. No Sigh. There was no significant difference in terms of mortality (16% vs. 21%, p=0.342) and ventilator-free days (22 [7-26] vs. 22 [3-25] days, p=0.300) for Sigh vs. No Sigh. Interpretation: Among hypoxemic intubated ICU patients, application of sigh was feasible and without increased risk

Impact of Bevacizumab-containing Primary Treatment on Outcome of Recurrent Ovarian Cancer: An Italian Study

The aim of the study was to assess the outcome of advanced ovarian cancer patients who i) underwent primary surgery followed by carboplatin/paclitaxel-based chemotherapy with or without bevacizumab, ii) were in complete response after chemotherapy, iii) and subsequently recurred

Evidence for a neuroimmunomodulatory and a hematopoietic role of the Luschka's coccygeal body

OBJECTIVES: In humans the glomus coccygeus was described in 1860 by Luschka. It is present at the coccyx tip and corresponds to a complex anastomosis between the median sacral artery and vein, and it is innervated by sympathetic fibers. In rats and mice it has been located in the tail ventral face. Its function is not known. According to our previous work, which demonstrated that hematopoiesis is under a noradrenergic control and based on the presence of epithelioid cells and sympathetic innervation, we assumed that the coccygeal gland might influence hematopoiesis via neuroendocrine or neural mechanisms. Therefore, the present study was undertaken to analyze the effect of glomus coccygeus on hematopoiesis. MATERIAL & METHODS: Peripheral blood leukocyte and platelet concentrations as well as body temperature (BT) and body weight (BW), and norepinephrine (NE), adrenaline (A) and dopamine (DA) content in bone marrow of Luschkaectomized (LCGx), Sham LCGx operated (ShLCGx) and normal mice (Co) were investigated. RESULTS: We found that in LCGx vs. ShLCGx and Co, platelets and neutrophils increased while lymphocytes decreased. The effect of LCGx was significant from day 0 until day 65. Total leukocytes, monocytes, granulocytes, eosinophils and BT did not show any variation. Moreover, 22 days after the operation the amount of NE, A and DA seemed to be decreased in LCGx vs. ShLCGx while the difference was less evident between ShLCGx vs. Co. CONCLUSIONS: This study suggests for the first time a possible hematopoietic function and an immunomodulatory activity of the "Luschka's body" or Coccygeal body by a modulation of the sympathetic nervous system

Mitochondrial Cx43 hemichannels contribute to mitochondrial calcium entry and cell death in the heart

Mitochondrial connexin 43 (Cx43) plays a key role in cardiac cytoprotection caused by repeated exposure to short periods of non-lethal ischemia/reperfusion, a condition known as ischemic preconditioning. Cx43 also forms calcium (Ca2+)-permeable hemichannels that may potentially lead to mitochondrial Ca2+ overload and cell death. Here, we studied the role of Cx43 in facilitating mitochondrial Ca2+ entry and investigated its downstream consequences. To that purpose, we used various connexin-targeting peptides interacting with extracellular (Gap26) and intracellular (Gap19, RRNYRRNY) Cx43 domains, and tested their effect on mitochondrial dye- and Ca2+-uptake, electrophysiological properties of plasmalemmal and mitochondrial Cx43 channels, and cell injury/cell death. Our results in isolated mice cardiac subsarcolemmal mitochondria indicate that Cx43 forms hemichannels that contribute to Ca2+ entry and may trigger permeability transition and cell injury/death. RRNYRRNY displayed the strongest effects in all assays and inhibited plasma membrane as well as mitochondrial Cx43 hemichannels. RRNYRRNY also strongly reduced the infarct size in ex vivo cardiac ischemia-reperfusion studies. These results indicate that Cx43 contributes to mitochondrial Ca2+ homeostasis and is involved in triggering cell injury/death pathways that can be inhibited by RRNYRRNY peptide

La competitività dell'Italia. Scienza, ricerca e innovazione

La situazione italiana per la ricerca scientifica e tecnologica nei riflessi sulla nostra competitività internazionale vine qui esaminata sotto tre profili: il primo riguarda il benchmarking di ricerca e innovazione italiana nel contesto mondiale; il secondo le politiche e le attività di ricerca e innovazionae del nostro Paese; il terzo i modelli nazionali di successo internazionale in settori ad avanzata componente di scienza-tecnologia. Ne emergonio linee strategiche per promuovere il "terzo miracolo economico italiano": quello basato sulla qualificazione del sistema universitario e del sistema della ricerca anche per promuovere la collaborazione con i "distretti industriali", fatti di piccole e medie imprese, e con i "pilastri industriali", fatti da grandi imprese. Dagli inizi degli anni '70 ad oggi l'Italia ha avuto un "secondo miracolo economico" sostenuto dalle Pmi competitive. La sfida è adesso, nell'era dell'euro che anche l'Italia ha meritoriamente raggiunto, quella di una crescita dimensionale delle imprese e di una collaborazione tra piccole e medie imprese, pilastri industriali e università. Cruciali a tal fine saranno ricerca, innovaziona scientifica e tecnologica, flessibilità dei fattori di produzione e dei mercat

Prone Positioning during Venovenous Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation in Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome: A Multicentre Cohort Study and Propensity-matched Analysis

Prone positioning reduces mortality in severe ARDS patients. To date no evidence supports the use of prone positioning during venovenous extracorporeal oxygenation (ECMO)