Immigrazione al femminile: approccio transculturale e soddisfazione delle cure infermieristiche

L’impatto del fenomeno migratorio in termini di cambiamenti demografici in Italia coinvolge anche il Sistema sanitario in tutte le sue articolazioni ed è crescente la consapevolezza della opportunità di sviluppare una “competenza culturale”, come strategia per affrontare le disuguaglianze di salute. Ciò comporta anche la necessità di sviluppare conoscenze nel campo del cosiddetto “nursing transculturale”. In Paesi con antica storia di migrazione, come gli Stati Uniti, lo studio di tali competenze è ormai consolidato, con una tendenza a diversificare gli orientamenti sulla base dei diversi gruppi etnici presenti sul territorio. La presente ricerca s’inserisce nell’ambito della ricerca infermieristica in Sanità pubblica e si basa sull’approccio di cura transculturale in un’ottica di genere con particolare riferimento alla soddisfazione per le cure ricevute, quale proxy di qualità erogata ai pazienti. La soddisfazione percepita è una caratteristica soggettiva che può avere significati diversi. Il ruolo dell'etica è importante in quest’ambito per potenziare il rispetto reciproco, l'uguaglianza, e costruire la fiducia nei pazienti per promuovere risultati positivi di cura. Il focus di questa ricerca nasce dal fatto che la maggior parte degli studi italiani e internazionali riscontrati analizza solo la competenza culturale degli operatori, mentre poco si sa circa le ricadute di quest’orientamento sulla soddisfazione degli utenti stranieri immigrati in un’ottica di genere. Obiettivi. Questo studio ha l’obiettivo di valutare le competenze culturali degli infermieri e la soddisfazione delle cure delle donne immigrate assistite negli stessi ambiti territoriali dell’ASL Roma 2 ex-B. Saranno obiettivi specifici quelli di: a) stabilire il grado di competenza culturale del personale infermieristico; b) comprendere il livello di soddisfazione/insoddisfazione delle donne immigrate per le cure ricevute; c) valutare eventuali correlazioni tra i dati raccolti; d) far emergere, all’interno del processo di presa in carico, le situazioni positive e gli aspetti di criticità; e) diffondere il concetto di assistenza infermieristica culturalmente adeguata. Risultati attesi. Poter caratterizzare la percezione della cura in un’ottica di genere e le competenze culturali dei professionisti che assistono le donne straniere, con possibilità di confronti incrociati; proporre una lettura dei bisogni di salute delle donne straniere; progettare una adeguata formazione sulle competenze culturali del personale operante. Tutto ciò per produrre dei benefici sia per le pazienti in termini di efficacia delle cure ricevute, che per gli infermieri in termini di qualità della dimensione professionale

Location and Shape Reconstruction of 2D Dielectric Objects by Means of a Closed-Form Method: Preliminary Experimental Results

An analytical approach to location and shape reconstruction of dielectric scatterers, that was recently proposed, is tested against experimental data. Since the cross-sections of the scatterers do not depend on the z coordinate, a 2D problem can be formulated. A closed-form singular value decomposition of the scattering integral operator is derived and is used to determine the radiating components of the equivalent source density. This is a preliminary step toward a more complete solution, which will take into account the incident field inside the investigation domain in order to provide the dielectric features of the scatterer and also the nonradiating sources. Reconstructions of the equivalent sources, performed on some scattering data belonging to the Fresnel database, show the capabilities of the method and, thanks to the closed-form solution, results are obtained in a very short computation time

Glucose-6-phosphate-dehydrogenase deficiency as a risk factor in proliferative disorder development

Glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD) is an important site of metabolic control in the pentose phosphate pathway (PPP) which provides reducing power (NADPH) and pentose phosphates. The former is mainly involved in the detoxification of chemical reactive species; the latter in the regulation of cell proliferation. G6PD deficiency is the most common enzymopathy in the human population, characterized by decreased G6PD activity, mainly in red blood cells, but actually also in nucleated cells. This decreased activity is not due to enzyme synthesis impairment, but rather to reduced enzyme stability, which leads to a shortening of its half-life. Therefore, a major problem is to understand the underlying mechanisms linking G6PD deficiency to oxidative stress and cell proliferation. In order to address this issue, in the present study we utilized, as an experimental model, fibroblasts isolated from pterygium, an ocular proliferative lesion, from G6PD normal and deficient (PFs+ and PFs-, respectively) patients. Our choice was determined by the fact that pterygium is believed to be caused by chronic oxidative stress induced by UV exposure, and that pterygium fibroblasts resemble a tumorigenic phenotype. As controls we utilized fibroblasts isolated from conjunctiva from G6PD normal and deficient patients (NCFs+ and NCFs-, respectively) who had undergone cataract surgery. 
Growth rate analysis revealed that PFs grow faster than NCFs, but while NCFs- grow more slowly than NCFs+, PFs- and PFs+ grow at the same rate. This was associated with significantly lower G6PD activity in NCFs+ compared to NCFs-, while no significant differences in the G6PD activity of PFs+ and PFs- were noted. This result was supported by the finding that in PFs-, G6PD mRNA levels were significantly higher than in PFs+. Another interesting finding of this study was increased green autofluorescence in both NCFs- and PFs- compared to corresponding positive cells, indicative of pronounced oxidative stress in deficient cells. Finally, abnormal accumulation of neutral lipids, mainly cholesterol esters was observed both in PFs- and PFs+ compared to NCFs- and NCFs+. Though further studies are necessary for better understanding the exact mechanism which links G6PD to oxidative stress and cell proliferation, our data allow to speculate on the role of G6PD on tumorigenesis, and to consider G6PD-deficient subjects at major risk to develop common and dreaded proliferative disorders, such as atherosclerosis and cancer. 
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Association between diagnostic imaging and biochemical markers: a possible tool for monitoring metabolic disorders

Metabolic syndrome (MetS), obesity, and diabetes mellitus (DM) are the most common metabolic disorders (MDs) in the world, characterized by abnormalities in body’s metabolic processes. The typical diagnosis of MDs is usually executed by monitoring the levels of specific biochemical markers, but diagnostic imaging may provide valuable complementary information in MDs, offering advantages in diagnosis, target organ monitoring, follow-up, and development of new therapeutic approaches. The aim of this review is to summarize and discuss the studies published in the literature about the connection between images deriving from the diagnostic techniques and the key biochemical markers in the main MDs, in order to gain a comprehensive view of the different disorders

Verificación de efectividad de imprimación asfáltica para la impermeabilización de bases estabilizadas con cemento, carretera Los Ángeles - Yacango, Moquegua, 2023

La presente investigación tiene como objetivo verificar la penetración de imprimación asfáltica en bases granulares estabilizadas con cemento, considerando algunas variaciones de factores como el porcentaje de cemento, la humedad de compactación y la temperatura de la base granular aplicadas en la carretera Los Ángeles – Yacango del departamento de Moquegua, siendo esta una carretera de tercera clase según la clasificación de rutas del SINAC del Ministerio de Transportes, para la cual se plantea una investigación tipo aplicada con un enfoque cuantitativo, nivel descriptivo y de diseño no experimental, se obtiene resultados mediante ensayos de laboratorio aplicados a una muestra de base estabilizada con cemento alterando en el diseño el porcentaje de cemento entre 2%, 4% y 6%, el contenido de humedad óptima de 8.8%, variando dos puntos por encima y por debajo 6.8% y 10.8%, y en cuanto a la temperatura de base granular de 15°C y 25°C. En relación a los resultados se tiene que, a menor porcentaje de cemento (2%), la penetración es de 2.5 mm, a menor contenido de humedad (6.8%) la penetración es de 2.5 mm, y a una temperatura de base granular de 25°C la penetración fue de 2.5 mm

From by-products to new application opportunities: the enhancement of the leaves deriving from the fruit plants for new potential healthy products

In the last decades, the world population and demand for any kind of product have grown exponentially. The rhythm of production to satisfy the request of the population has become unsustainable and the concept of the linear economy, introduced after the Industrial Revolution, has been replaced by a new economic approach, the circular economy. In this new economic model, the concept of "the end of life" is substituted by the concept of restoration, providing a new life to many industrial wastes. Leaves are a by-product of several agricultural cultivations. In recent years, the scientific interest regarding leaf biochemical composition grew, recording that plant leaves may be considered an alternative source of bioactive substances. Plant leaves' main bioactive compounds are similar to those in fruits, i.e., phenolic acids and esters, flavonols, anthocyanins, and procyanidins. Bioactive compounds can positively influence human health; in fact, it is no coincidence that the leaves were used by our ancestors as a natural remedy for various pathological conditions. Therefore, leaves can be exploited to manufacture many products in food (e.g., being incorporated in food formulations as natural antioxidants, or used to create edible coatings or films for food packaging), cosmetic and pharmaceutical industries (e.g., promising ingredients in anti-aging cosmetics such as oils, serums, dermatological creams, bath gels, and other products). This review focuses on the leaves' main bioactive compounds and their beneficial health effects, indicating their applications until today to enhance them as a harvesting by-product and highlight their possible reuse for new potential healthy products

Variations in “rescuability” of immunoglobulin molecules from different forms of human lymphoma: implications for anti-idiotype vaccine development

Idiotypic (Id) vaccination has shown promising results in patients with follicular lymphoma (FL). However, it still remains unclear whether the same approach might be suitable for the treatment of other B-cell malignancies. For this reason, we recently performed an interim analysis of patients proposed to receive this treatment at our center. The feasibility of employing idiotype vaccines was evaluated for five different B-cell malignancies in their first relapse, both in terms of induction and fusion, as well as overall treatment. Our data suggest that, unlike follicular lymphoma (87%), this approach is not feasible to treat other B-cell malignancies (0–20%) such as mantle cell, small lymphocytic, diffuse large cell and Burkitt’s lymphoma (P < 0.01). The main difficulties encountered were technical problems related to the survival of idiotype-producing hybridomas (83%) and the early loss of idiotype production by growing hybridomas (17%). However, it remains possible that an idiotype vaccine might still be produced through molecular means for most, if not all cases of relapsing B-cell malignancies

Optogenetic Peripheral Nerve Immunogenicity

Optogenetic technologies have been the subject of great excitement within the scientific community for their ability to demystify complex neurophysiological pathways in the central (CNS) and peripheral nervous systems (PNS). The excitement surrounding optogenetics has also extended to the clinic with a trial for ChR2 in the treatment of retinitis pigmentosa currently underway and additional trials anticipated for the near future. In this work, we identify the cause of loss-of-expression in response to transdermal illumination of an optogenetically active peroneal nerve following an anterior compartment (AC) injection of AAV6-hSyn-ChR2(H134R) with and without a fluorescent reporter. Using Sprague Dawley Rag2−/− rats and appropriate controls, we discover optogenetic loss-of-expression is chiefly elicited by ChR2-mediated immunogenicity in the spinal cord, resulting in both CNS motor neuron death and ipsilateral muscle atrophy in both low and high Adeno-Associated Virus (AAV) dosages. We further employ pharmacological immunosuppression using a slow-release tacrolimus pellet to demonstrate sustained transdermal optogenetic expression up to 12 weeks. These results suggest that all dosages of AAV-mediated optogenetic expression within the PNS may be unsafe. Clinical optogenetics for both PNS and CNS applications should take extreme caution when employing opsins to treat disease and may require concurrent immunosuppression. Future work in optogenetics should focus on designing opsins with lesser immunogenicity.MIT Media Lab Consortiu

One-year results of a clinical trial of olipudase alfa enzyme replacement therapy in pediatric patients with acid sphingomyelinase deficiency

PURPOSE: To assess olipudase alfa enzyme replacement therapy for non–central nervous system manifestations of acid sphingomyelinase deficiency (ASMD) in children. METHODS: This phase 1/2, international, multicenter, open-label trial (ASCEND-Peds/NCT02292654) administered intravenous olipudase alfa every 2 weeks with intrapatient dose escalation to 3 mg/kg. Primary outcome was safety through week 64. Secondary outcomes included pharmacokinetics, spleen and liver volumes, lung diffusing capacity (DLCO), lipid profiles, and height through week 52. RESULTS: Twenty patients were enrolled: four adolescents (12–17 years), nine children (6–11 years), and seven infants/early child (1–5 years). Most adverse events were mild or moderate, including infusion-associated reactions (primarily urticaria, pyrexia, and/or vomiting) in 11 patients. Three patients had serious treatment-related events: one with transient asymptomatic alanine aminotransferase increases, another with urticaria and rash (antidrug antibody positive [ADA+]), and a third with an anaphylactic reaction (ADA+) who underwent desensitization and reached the 3 mg/kg maintenance dose. Mean splenomegaly and hepatomegaly improved by >40% (p < 0.0001). Mean % predicted DLCO improved by 32.9% (p = 0.0053) in patients able to perform the test. Lipid profiles and elevated liver transaminase levels normalized. Mean height Z-scores improved by 0.56 (p < 0.0001). CONCLUSION: In this study in children with chronic ASMD, olipudase alfa was generally well-tolerated with significant, comprehensive improvements in disease pathology across a range of clinically relevant endpoints