Acquisto di concerto ed offerta pubblica obbligatoria. I casi Antonveneta e Fondiaria-Sai

La tesi tratta l'acquisto di concerto nella disciplina dell'offerta pubblica obbligatoria, facendo riferimento al contesto in cui è inserita tale norma, alle fattispecie di "concerto" previste dalla legislazione italiana, ed al profilo sanzionatorio correlato, prendendo in considerazione gli unici due casi ove l'art. 109 del Tuf si sia reso effettivo: il caso Fondiaria-Sai ed il caso Antonveneta

evaluation of three commercial rapid kits to detect cryptosporidium parvum in diarrhoeic calf stool

The aim of this study was to evaluate three commercially available rapid immunochromatographic tests for detection of Cryptosporidium parvum antigens in faeces of naturally infected neonatal diarrhoeic calves. FASTest® CRYPTO strip, FASTest® CRYPTO-GIARDIA Strip and TETRASTRIPS® were compared for their sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value and negative predictive value using a cumulative positivity as gold standard. In addition, the agreement between each test and the gold standard was evaluated by Cohen's Kappa (k) value. The highest infection rate was observed by FASTest® CRYPTO-GIARDIA Strip (65.15%), followed by FASTest® CRYPTO strip (63.64%) and TETRASTRIPS® (56.06%,). A very good diagnostic performance of all the three tests was observed. FASTest® CRYPTO strip (k = 0.935) and FASTest® CRYPTO-GIARDIA Strip (k = 0.968) had the highest sensitivity (100%) while TETRASTRIPS® (k = 0.875) had the highest specificity (100%). Eimeria spp oocysts were present in six samples but cross-reaction with this protozoan was not observed. These assays were not time-consuming and very easy to perform and to read. Based on our results, we recommend the use of FASTest® CRYPTO strip, FASTest® CRYPTO-GIARDIA Strip or/and TETRASTRIPS® for detection of C. parvum antigens in faeces of neonatal diarrhoeic calves

Evaluation of three commercial rapid kits to detect Cryptosporidium parvum in diarrheic calf stool

The aim of this study was to evaluate three commercially available rapid immunochromato-graphic tests for detection of Cryptosporidium parvum antigens in faeces of naturally infected neonatal diarrhoeic calves. FASTest (R) CRYPTO strip, FASTest (R) CRYPTO-GIARDIA Strip and TETRASTRIPS (R) were compared for their sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value and negative predictive value using a cumulative positivity as gold standard. In addition, the agreement between each test and the gold standard was evaluated by Cohen's Kappa (k) value. The highest infection rate was observed by FASTest (R) CRYPTO GIARDIA Strip (65.15%), followed by FASTest (R) CRYPTO strip (63.64%) and TETRASTRIPS (R) (56.06%,). A very good diagnostic performance of all the three tests was observed. FASTest (R) CRYPTO strip (k= 0.935) and FASTest (R) CRYPTO-GIARDIA Strip (k= 0.968) had the highest sensitivity (100%) while TETRASTRIPS (R) (k= 0.875) had the highest specificity (100%). Eimeria spp oocysts were present in six samples but cross-reaction with this protozoan was not observed. These assays were not time-consuming and very easy to perform and to read. Based on our results, we recommend the use of FA

Lamivudine treatment for severe acute HBV hepatitis

Treatment for acute hepatitis B is recommended in order to reduce the risk of progression to fulminant hepatitis and the need of OLT. We report our experience on treatment with high dose lamivudine, in patients with severe acute HBV infection. The diagnosis was based on clinical and virological findings and exclusion of other known causes of liver damage. The decision to treat was based on the prolongation of INR together with increasing values of bilirubin and ALT. Four patients received Lamivudine 200 mg/daily until clearance of serum HBV-DNA and then 100 mg/daily until clearance of HBsAg and appearance of anti-HBs antibodies. One patient received 100 mg/daily because of chronic renal impairment. The median period of hospitalization was 13 days, and none of the patients had complications, related either to underlying disease or to therapy. The complete normalization of serum transaminases and bilirubin occurred on average after 5.5 weeks and 3 weeks respectively. All patients cleared serum HBV-DNA within three months, lost HBeAg and HBsAg and seroconverted to anti-HBe; four patients developed anti-HBs at a protective titre. Early antiviral treatment attenuates the clinical and biochemical impairment leading to fast healing and promoting complete recovery

Acute portal vein thrombosis precipitated by indomethacin in a HCV-positive elderly patient

BACKGROUND: An increased risk of venous thromboembolism has been reported in patients treated with non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs). We describe a case of acute portal vein thrombosis (PVT) in a hepatitis C virus (HCV)-positive elderly patient following administration of indomethacin. CASE PRESENTATION: A 79-year-old HCV-positive man was hospitalized for severe abdominal pain, nausea and vomiting, 15 days after starting indomethacin for back pain. Clinical signs and imaging evaluations disclosed a picture of PVT. Indomethacin was discontinued, and the patient was started on fondaparinux and antithrombin. He was discharged 15 days later due to improvement of his clinical conditions. Thirty days later, a follow-up ultrasound did not show appreciable signs of PVT. The time elapsing between the start of analgesic therapy and PVT onset suggests a role of indomethacin as the triggering agent. Indomethacin could have precipitated PVT by a combination of at least two detrimental mechanisms: 1) direct action on liver vascular endothelium by inhibition of prostacyclin biosynthesis; 2) damage to the intestinal mucosa, followed by inflammatory and pro-coagulant activation of portal endothelium upon exposure to bacterial endotoxins. CONCLUSIONS: This case can be of interest to physicians, who should exert caution when prescribing NSAIDs for inflammatory pain in patients with background inflammatory dysfunctions of the portal vein endothelium

Attitudes of Crohn's Disease Patients: Infodemiology Case Study and Sentiment Analysis of Facebook and Twitter Posts

Background: Data concerning patients originates from a variety of sources on social media. Objective: The aim of this study was to show how methodologies borrowed from different areas including computer science, econometrics, statistics, data mining, and sociology may be used to analyze Facebook data to investigate the patients’ perspectives on a given medical prescription. Methods: To shed light on patients’ behavior and concerns, we focused on Crohn’s disease, a chronic inflammatory bowel disease, and the specific therapy with the biological drug Infliximab. To gain information from the basin of big data, we analyzed Facebook posts in the time frame from October 2011 to August 2015. We selected posts from patients affected by Crohn’s disease who were experiencing or had previously been treated with the monoclonal antibody drug Infliximab. The selected posts underwent further characterization and sentiment analysis. Finally, an ethnographic review was carried out by experts from different scientific research fields (eg, computer science vs gastroenterology) and by a software system running a sentiment analysis tool. The patient feeling toward the Infliximab treatment was classified as positive, neutral, or negative, and the results from computer science, gastroenterologist, and software tool were compared using the square weighted Cohen’s kappa coefficient method. Results: The first automatic selection process returned 56,000 Facebook posts, 261 of which exhibited a patient opinion concerning Infliximab. The ethnographic analysis of these 261 selected posts gave similar results, with an interrater agreement between the computer science and gastroenterology experts amounting to 87.3% (228/261), a substantial agreement according to the square weighted Cohen’s kappa coefficient method (w2K=0.6470). A positive, neutral, and negative feeling was attributed to 36%, 27%, and 37% of posts by the computer science expert and 38%, 30%, and 32% by the gastroenterologist, respectively. Only a slight agreement was found between the experts’ opinion and the software tool. Conclusions: We show how data posted on Facebook by Crohn’s disease patients are a useful dataset to understand the patient’s perspective on the specific treatment with Infliximab. The genuine, nonmedically influenced patients’ opinion obtained from Facebook pages can be easily reviewed by experts from different research backgrounds, with a substantial agreement on the classification of patients’ sentiment. The described method allows a fast collection of big amounts of data, which can be easily analyzed to gain insight into the patients’ perspective on a specific medical therapy

congenital tuberculosis after in vitro fertilization presenting with endobronchial granuloma

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