High frequency of inadequate test requests for antiphospholipid antibodies in daily clinical practice

Abstract Background: We have empirically noted that many physicians routinely request anti-phospholipid antibodies (aPL) without a correct clinical indication. The aim of this study was to evaluate retrospectively whether aPL testing at our Thrombosis Centre was justified. Methods: Medical records from 520 subjects for aPL screening tests for various clinical conditions were reviewed. The aPL screening tests were: lupus anticoagulant (LA), anti-cardiolipin antibodies (aCL) and anti-β(2) glycoptotein I (aβ(2) GPI). Requests for aPL screening were divided into justified, potentially justified or not adequately justified. Results: aPL testing requests were considered justified in 358 (69%) patients, potentially justified in 66 (12.6%) and not adequately justified in 96 (18.4%). LA was positive in 65 (18%) of justified requests and in only one (1%) of the 96 potentially justified requests. None of the 66 not adequately justified for aPL testing was positive for LA. aβ(2) ..

Rinuncia all'immunit\ue0 dello Stato estero dalle misure coercitive e tutela del diritto di accesso alla giustizia in alcune pronunce recenti della Cour de cassation francese

Waiver of State Immunity from Measures of Constraint and Access to Justice in Some Recent Judgments of the French Cour de Cassation. The French Supreme Court in three recent judgments of 28 March 2013 has interpreted restrictively the rules of general international law concerning waiver of State immunity from measures of constraint. Assuming that those rules were to be considered as mirrored by the provisions of the United Nations Convention on Jurisdictional Immunities of States and Their Property adopted on 2 December 2004, which is not yet in force, and providing a particularly narrow reading of the relevant rules which is not supported by a consistent State practice, the Cour de cassation considered a general waiver of immunity from execution, as contained in contracts for the issue of Argentine bonds subscribed by private investors, as inapplicable in respect of property of a foreign State to be used for governmental purposes, absent a specific mention of such property within the waiver clause. In extending to any category of State property to be used for governmental purposes a rule which is generally observed only in respect of specific categories of property, such as property pertaining to diplomatic or consular missions and military assets, the French Supreme Court unduly extended the scope of State immunity from measures of constraint, thereby facing the risk of having France being held liable for a violation of the right of access to a court, as guaranteed by Article 6, par. 1, European Convention of Human Rights. Pursuant to the consistent case law of the European Court of Human Rights, such a right, which extends to post-judgment enforcement measures and up to a certain extent can be considered likely to extend to pre-judgment measures of constraint as well, may suffer limitations which, as concerns State immunity, are to be considered as proportionate only insofar as they reflect the existing rules of customary international law

Prix AiSDC 2010

Mr. Fabrizio Marongiu Buonaiuti, from the Roman Sapienza-University, has written a very comprehensive and profound thesis in Italian on \u201cLitispendance and connexity in international cases and about coordination instruments between state-controled civil jurisdictions". His analyses are to a great extent based on comparative examination of different legal systems and lead to theoretical and practical results which are of great value and importance for the developments of private international law and international civil procedure

L'istituzione di una cooperazione rafforzata nel settore della legge applicabile al divorzio e alla separazione personale. I rapporti con le convenzioni internazionali in vigore.

Sommario: 1. Specificit\ue0 della problematica del rapporto con le convenzioni internazionali in relazione ad un regolamento adottato in base ad una cooperazione rafforzata: disparit\ue0 di regime tra Stati membri partecipanti e non. \u2013 2. Competenza esterna dell\u2019Unione e competenza degli Stati membri non partecipanti per quanto attiene alla conclusione di futuri accordi in materia. \u2013 3. Incidenza del riferimento alla norma dell\u2019art. 351 del Trattato sul funzionamento dell\u2019Unione europea. \u2013 4. Raffronto con la disciplina contenuta in altri regolamenti adottati nel settore della cooperazione giudiziaria in materia civile. \u2013 5. La portata concreta della norma in questione: accenno alle convenzioni con le quali il problema pu\uf2 apparire suscettibile di porsi. \u2013 6. Considerazioni conclusive

Obbligazioni non contrattuali (diritto internazionale privato)

SOMMARIO: 1. Introduzione e quadro delle fonti rilevanti. \u2013 Sez. I. La disciplina contenuta nel regolamento \u201cRoma II\u201d: 2. Genesi del regolamento (CE) n. 864/2007 (\u201cRoma II\u201d) sulla legge applicabile alle obbligazioni extracontrattuali. \u2013 3. Ambito di applicazione del regolamento. \u2013 4. Questioni disciplinate dalle regole di conflitto contenute nel regolamento. \u2013 5. Ruolo e limiti dell\u2019autonomia delle parti nel sistema del regolamento. \u2013 6. La determinazione della legge applicabile in mancanza di scelta: regola generale della lex loci damni. \u2013 7. L\u2019eccezione relativa al caso di soggetti entrambi residenti abitualmente nel medesimo paese. \u2013 8. La clausola d\u2019eccezione basata sul collegamento pi\uf9 stretto. \u2013 9. Regole di conflitto speciali per specifiche categorie di illecito: responsabilit\ue0 per danno da prodotto. \u2013 10. Segue: concorrenza sleale e restrizioni della concorrenza. \u2013 11. Segue: danno ambientale. \u2013 12. Segue: violazione dei diritti di propriet\ue0 intellettuale. \u2013 13. Segue: attivit\ue0 sindacale. \u2013 14. Regole di conflitto in materia di responsabilit\ue0 extracontrattuale non derivante da fatto illecito: arricchimento senza causa. \u2013 15. Segue: negotiorum gestio. \u2013 16. La qualificazione in termini extracontrattuali della responsabilit\ue0 precontrattuale. \u2013 17. L\u2019azione diretta nei confronti dell\u2019assicuratore del responsabile e altre questioni sottoposte alla legge regolatrice dell\u2019obbligazione extracontrattuale. \u2013 18. Le norme di applicazione necessaria e le norme di sicurezza e condotta. \u2013 19. L\u2019ordine pubblico \u2013 20. Altre disposizioni del regolamento. \u2013 Sez. II. La disciplina contenuta in altre disposizioni del diritto dell\u2019Unione europea e nelle convenzioni internazionali: 21. Rapporti tra il regolamento \u201cRoma II\u201d e altre fonti: altre disposizioni del diritto dell\u2019Unione europea. \u2013 22. Segue: e convenzioni internazionali in materia \u2013 23. In particolare: la Convenzione dell\u2019Aja del 4 maggio 1971 sulla legge applicabile in materia di incidenti stradali. \u2013 24. Segue: la Convenzione dell\u2019Aja del 2 ottobre 1973 sulla legge applicabile alla responsabilit\ue0 per danno da prodotto. \u2013 Sez. III. La disciplina contenuta nella legge n. 218/1995: 25. Regime intertemporale del regolamento \u201cRoma II\u201d e perdurante applicazione delle regole interne ai fatti verificatisi anteriormente alla sua entrata in vigore: precisazione. \u2013 26. Regole di conflitto applicabili in materia di obbligazioni derivanti da fatto illecito escluse dall\u2019ambito di applicazione del regolamento: in particolare, da violazioni della privacy e dei diritti della personalit\ue0. \u2013 27. Altre categorie di obbligazioni non contrattuali non rientranti nell\u2019ambito di applicazione del regolamento: la promessa unilaterale. \u2013 28. Segue: i titoli di credito e il rinvio alle convenzioni di Ginevra del 1930 e 1931. \u2013 29. Segue: la rappresentanza volontaria. \u2013 30. Segue: obbligazioni derivanti dalla legge

Cell competition in liver carcinogenesis

Cell competition is now a well-established quality control strategy to optimize cell and tissue fitness in multicellular organisms. While pursuing this goal, it is also effective in selecting against altered/defective cells with putative (pre)-neoplastic potential, thereby edging the risk of cancer development. The flip side of the coin is that the molecular machinery driving cell competition can also be co-opted by neoplastic cell populations to expand unchecked, outside the boundaries of tissue homeostatic control. This review will focus on information that begins to emerge regarding the role of cell competition in liver physiology and pathology. Liver repopulation by normal transplanted hepatocytes is an interesting field of investigation in this regard. The biological coordinates of this process share many features suggesting that cell competition is a driving force for the clearance of endogenous damaged hepatocytes by normal donor-derived cells, as previously proposed. Intriguing analogies between liver repopulation and carcinogenesis will be briefly discussed and the potential dual role of cell competition, as a barrier or a spur to neoplastic development, will be considered. Cell competition is in essence a cooperative strategy organized at tissue level. One facet of such cooperative attitude is expressed in the elimination of altered cells which may represent a threat to the organismal community. On the other hand, the society of cells can be disrupted by the emergence of selfish clones, exploiting the molecular bar codes of cell competition, thereby paving their way to uncontrolled growth

Long-term moderate caloric restriction and social isolation synergize to induce anorexia-like behavior in rats

Moderate caloric restriction (CR) is an effective strategy to delay the onset of chronic disease states. Conversely, social isolation (SI) carries an increased risk of morbidity and mortality from several causes. The present studies were designed to investigate the long-term effect of the two combined exposures. Two-month-old male rats of the Fischer 344 strain were fed either ad libitum or under a regimen of CR, and each of the two animal sets were housed either in group or isolation. Food consumption and animal growth curves were as expected during the first 6 wk of observation. However, starting at 2 mo and continuing until the fifth month of follow up, rats exposed to both CR and SI showed signs of altered feeding behavior and were unable to complete their (already restricted) meal. Furthermore, altered behavior was accompanied by a corresponding decrease in growth rate until no further increase in body weight was observed. Restoration of group-housing conditions led to a reversal of this phenotype. We conclude that chronic moderate CR and SI synergize to induce anorexia-like behavior, representing a simple and reproducible model to study such an eating disorder

Clearance of senescent hepatocytes in a neoplastic-prone microenvironment delays the emergence of hepatocellular carcinoma

Increasing evidence indicates that carcinogenesis is dependent on the tissue context in which it occurs, implying that the latter can be a target for preventive or therapeutic strategies. We tested the possibility that re-normalizing a senescent, neoplastic-prone tissue microenvironment would exert a modulatory effect on the emergence of neoplastic disease. Rats were exposed to a protocol for the induction of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Using an orthotopic and syngeneic system for cell transplantation, one group of animal was then delivered 8 million normal hepatocytes, via the portal circulation. Hepatocytes transplantation resulted in a prominent decrease in the incidence of both pre-neoplastic and neoplastic lesions. At the end of 1 year 50% of control animals presented with HCC, while no HCC were observed in the transplanted group. Extensive hepatocyte senescence was induced by the carcinogenic protocol in the host liver; however, senescent cells were largely cleared following infusion of normal hepatocytes. Furthermore, levels of Il-6 increased in rats exposed to the carcinogenic protocol, while they returned to near control values in the group receiving hepatocyte transplantation. These results support the concept that strategies aimed at normalizing a neoplastic-prone tissue landscape can modulate progression of neoplastic disease

Infectious agents including COVID-19 and the involvement of blood coagulation and fibrinolysis. A narrative review

Platelets, blood coagulation along with fibrinolysis are greatly involved in the pathophysiology of infectious diseases induced by bacteria, parasites and virus. This phenomenon is not surprising since both the innate immunity and the hemostatic systems are two ancestral mechanisms which closely cooperate favoring host's defense against foreign invaders. However, the excessive response of these systems may be dangerous for the host itself