Changes in renal function after nephroureterectomy for upper urinary tract carcinoma: analysis of a large multicenter cohort (Radical Nephroureterectomy Outcomes (RaNeO) Research Consortium)

Purpose To investigate prevalence and predictors of renal function variation in a multicenter cohort treated with radical nephroureterectomy (RNU) for upper tract urothelial carcinoma (UTUC). Methods Patients from 17 tertiary centers were included. Renal function variation was evaluated at postoperative day (POD)-1, 6 and 12 months. Timepoints differences were Delta 1 = POD-1 eGFR - baseline eGFR; Delta 2 = 6 months eGFR - POD-1 eGFR; Delta 3 = 12 months eGFR - 6 months eGFR. We defined POD-1 acute kidney injury (AKI) as an increase in serum creatinine by >= 0.3 mg/dl or a 1.5 1.9-fold from baseline. Additionally, a cutoff of 60 ml/min in eGFR was considered to define renal function decline at 6 and 12 months. Logistic regression (LR) and linear mixed (LM) models were used to evaluate the association between clinical factors and eGFR decline and their interaction with follow-up. Results A total of 576 were included, of these 409(71.0%) and 403(70.0%) had an eGFR < 60 ml/min at 6 and 12 months, respectively, and 239(41.5%) developed POD-1 AKI. In multivariable LR analysis, age (Odds Ratio, OR 1.05, p < 0.001), male gender (OR 0.44, p = 0.003), POD-1 AKI (OR 2.88, p < 0.001) and preoperative eGFR < 60 ml/min (OR 7.58, p < 0.001) were predictors of renal function decline at 6 months. Age (OR 1.06, p < 0.001), coronary artery disease (OR 2.68, p = 0.007), POD-1 AKI (OR 1.83, p = 0.02), and preoperative eGFR < 60 ml/min (OR 7.80, p < 0.001) were predictors of renal function decline at 12 months. In LM models, age (p = 0.019), hydronephrosis (p < 0.001), POD-1 AKI (p < 0.001) and pT-stage (p = 0.001) influenced renal function variation (ss 9.2 +/- 0.7, p < 0.001) during follow-up. Conclusion Age, preoperative eGFR and POD-1 AKI are independent predictors of 6 and 12 months renal function decline after RNU for UTUC

Interconnessioni nel paesaggio delle Delizie. Un progetto di valorizzazione per il sito UNESCO di Mesola, Ferrara

Il contributo illustra gli esiti del progetto finanziato a valere sui fondi Legge 20 febbraio 2006 n.77 “Misure speciali di tutela e fruizione dei siti italiani di interesse culturale, paesaggistico e ambientale, inseriti nella “lista del patrimonio mondiale”, posti sotto la tutela dell’UNESCO” dal titolo “Interconnessioni nel Paesaggio delle Delizie”, che si è svolto tra il marzo 2018 e il settembre 2019 come sperimentazione pilota di un programma più ampio di collegamento virtuale tra monumenti e paesaggi patrimoniali locali, in un’ottica di duplice valorizzazione dell’ambito della Delizia Estense di Mesola all’interno del Sito UNESCO “Ferrara, Città del Rinascimento e il suo Delta del Po”

Alcide De Gasperi. Una vita a tappe: Lettere e commenti

La prodigiosa attività di corrispondente di De Gasperi ci permette di incrociare il carattere dell'uomo con i piani della storia che altrimenti restano vincolati alla memoria personale, sempre più lontana, o alla ricostruzione erudita. L'esito, non scontato, è che alla luce di quanto si può leggere nelle sue lettere De Gasperi ritorna ad interrogarci con forza. Sempre che non si faccia finta di credere che, dopo il 1954, anno della sua scomparsa, tutto sia cambiato e che gli esempi e le gesta degli anni della Ricostruzione siano da collocare lungo il viale del tramonto, come grandi alberi da contemplare e basta. Il volume propone un'antologia di 50 lettere di e a Alcide De Gasperi, attraverso le quali i due curatori, Stefano Malfatti e Marco Odorizzi, ripercorrono la biografia dello statista e la storia italiana ed europea fra i primissimi anni del Novecento e il 1954, anno della morte di De Gasperi

Some possible mechanism deployed by fungal pathogens to prevent the effects of plant PR-proteins.

Expression and accumulation of PR proteins is part of the defense machinery developed by plant to contrast plant pathogens attack. Different classes of PR-proteins accumulate locally, near the site of infection, and sistemically along the entire plant. It is supposed that plant pathogens have evolved mechanisms to avoid or prevent the harmful effects of PR-proteins. We have studied the effects of PR-proteins from grape on the fungal necrotrophic pathogens Botrytis cinerea and Sclerotium rolfsii. Mature berries and wine were chosen as useful sources of PR-proteins, especially because enriched in chitinase and thaumatin-like proteins. When the fungi were grown on berry juice, PR-proteins precipitated probably because complexes with plant oxidized polyphenols occurred, a process catalyzed by fungal laccase. When berry or wine proteins were added to the medium, B. cinerea produced appreciable proteinase activity and showed a noticeable mycelium fragmentation in comparison when grown in culture containing heat-denatured proteins. Instead, S. rolfsii grew in a normal way in the presence of native PR proteins and secreted only trace amounts of proteinase activity in the medium. The abundant glucan sheath, externally secreted by S. rolfsii, appears as the principle mechanism deployed by this fungus to defend itself from the toxic effects of grape PR proteins

Some possible mechanisms deployed by fungal pathogens to prevent the effects of plant PR-proteins

Expression and accumulation of PR proteins is part of the defense machinery developed by plant to contrast plant pathogens attack. Different classes of PR-proteins accumulate locally, near the site of infection, and sistemically along the entire plant. It is supposed that plant pathogens have evolved mechanisms to avoid or prevent the harmful effects of PR-proteins. We have studied the effects of PR-proteins from grape on the fungal necrotrophic pathogens Botrytis cinerea and Sclerotium rolfsii. Mature berries and wine were chosen as useful sources of PR-proteins, especially because enriched in chitinase and thaumatin-like proteins. When the fungi were grown on berry juice, PR-proteins precipitated probably because complexes with plant oxidized polyphenols occurred, a process catalyzed by fungal laccase. When berry or wine proteins were added to the medium, B. cinerea produced appreciable proteinase activity and showed a noticeable mycelium fragmentation in comparison when grown in culture containing heat-denatured proteins. Instead, S. rolfsii grew in a normal way in the presence of native PR proteins and secreted only trace amounts of proteinase activity in the medium. The abundant glucan sheath, externally secreted by S. rolfsii, appears as the principle mechanism deployed by this fungus to defend itself from the toxic effects of grape PR proteins

Epistolario De Gasperi: National Edition of De Gasperi’s Letters in Digital Format

We present an ongoing project aimed at creating the National Edition of Alcide De Gasperi’s letters in digital format. Our main goal is to systematically collect and transcribe a large number of private and public letters, present in different archives, written or received by De Gasperi throughout his life, and to shed light into all the critical steps of his biography and of the major events of the time. Thirty-eight transcribers have already acquired and annotated 1,549 letters, using an ad-hoc tool specifically developed for the project. All the transcribed material is available through a constantly updated free access web platform. In questo contributo presentiamo un progetto tuttora in corso volto a creare l’edizione nazionale delle lettere di Alcide De Gasperi in formato digitale. Il nostro obiettivo principale è quello di raccogliere e trascrivere sistematicamente un gran numero di lettere private e pubbliche, presenti in diversi archivi, scritte o ricevute da De Gasperi nel corso della sua vita, e di far luce su tutti i passaggi critici della sua biografia e dei principali eventi del tempo. Trentotto trascrittori hanno già acquisito e annotato 1.549 lettere, utilizzando uno strumento appositamente sviluppato per il progetto. Tutto il materiale trascritto è disponibile attraverso una piattaforma web ad accesso libero constantemente aggiornata

Grape berry proteins act as scavengers of grape polyphenols and protect polygalactutonase activity of Botrytis cinerea from inhibition

At maturity grape berries contain a large amount of proteins and polyphenols with potential anti-fungal activity. The protein fraction of grape extract includes mostly thaumatin-like proteins and chitinase while flavonoids predominate among polyphenols. However, Botrytis cinerea grows well in the presence of proteins and polyphenols when these molecules are supplied to the culture in a ratio similar to that measured in the grape fruit extract. In vitro it was observed that a fraction of grape proteins interacts with polyphenols forming complexes with reduced solubility and that B. cinerea laccase enhances this process. Polyphenols are well known inhibitors of fungal polygalacturonases (PGs) activity, and B. cinerea PG activity is inhibited by grape polyphenols in vitro. However, the simultaneous administration of grape proteins diminishes the inhibitory activity of grape polyphenols, and laccase addition restores completely B. cinerea PG activity. Similar results are obtained when the stylbenic phytoalexin resveratrol is used in combination with grape proteins and B. cinerea laccase. The scavenging of polyphenols by grape proteins could favour the berry infection by B. cinerea

CHARACTERIZATION OF BOTRYTIS CINEREA POLYGALACTURONASES AND LACCASES DURING GRAPE BERRIES INFECTION

Botrytis cinerea, the causal agent of grey mould disease on grapevine, when infects the grape berries encounters an environment rich in polyphenols and proteins with potential anti-fungal activity. In particular, the stilbenic phytoalexin trans-resveratrol and proteins structurally and functionally related to plant pathogenesis-related (PR) proteins, including mostly thaumatin-like proteins and chitinase. B. cinerea is thought to infect the host tissue by producing cell-wall degrading enzymes, such as polygalacturonases (PGs), and detoxification enzymes, for example laccase which is likely to be involved in trans-resveratrol detoxification. The combination of trans-resveratrol and grape polyphenols or proteins induce in vitro a strong release of B. cinerea laccase activity which, in turn, neutralizes the toxicity of grape stilbenic phytoalexins and, by oxidizing grape polyphenols, causes the insolubilization of grape proteins. This mechanism could favour berry infection by the fungus and is in accordance to the observation that grape berries infected with B. cinerea show a strong reduction of the protein content in comparison to healthy ones. Grape polyphenols have been also shown to inhibit B. cinerea PG activity in vitro. Nevertheless, the importance of B. cinerea PGs in grape berries infection cannot be ruled out since the fungus could have evolved an avoidance mechanism in order to escape the inhibitory effect of polyphenols. To better understand the role played by B. cinerea PG and laccase activities during grape berries infection, we are analyzing the enzyme activities secreted by the fungus in the infected berry and the expression of the corresponding encoding genes

The role of grape polyphenols on trans-resveratrol activity against Botrytis cinerea and of fungal laccase on the solubility of putative grape PR proteins

The necrotrophic fungus Botrytis cinerea is the causal agent of grey mould disease on grapevine. In contact with mature grape berries, the fungus encounters an environment particularly rich in polyphenols and proteins, where the stilbenic phytoalexin trans-resveratrol may accumulate. Some grape proteins are structurally and functionally related to plant pathogenesis-related proteins. To mimic conditions similar to those found in grape berries, B. cinerea was grown in vitro with proteins and polyphenols extracted from mature grapes, and with trans-resveratrol. Results showed that in the presence of highly toxic amounts of trans-resveratrol, grape polyphenols allowed total recovery of fungal growth, and proteins allowed partial recovery. These resveratrol-polyphenol or resveratrol-protein combinations also induced a strong release into the medium of laccase activity, which is likely to be involved in transresveratrol detoxification. The protein pattern changed during fungal growth; most grape proteins quickly disappeared from the culture when polyphenols and transresveratrol were present together. Similar protein patterns were obtained in vitro by incubating grape proteins with grape polyphenols and/or trans-resveratrol with a purified B. cinerea laccase. Under these conditions, most proteins became insoluble. The grape protein pattern obtained from grape berries infected by B. cinerea strongly resembled that obtained in vitro by incubating grape proteins and polyphenols with fungal laccase. It seems that B. cinerea, through laccase secretion and activity and by exploiting the berry polyphenols, easily neutralizes the toxicity of grape stilbenic phytoalexins and makes the grape pathogenesis-related proteins insoluble