Lingua e traduzione dei foglietti illustrativi : i corticosteroidi : Svizzera e Italia a confronto

L'étude se concentre sur la comparaison linguistique de 10 notices d'emballage suisses et 17 notices italiennes. En Italie, le texte est sensiblement plus lisible, comme confirmé par le paramètre Gulpease plus élevé, tandis qu'en Suisse il est possible de remarquer des résidus de traduction assez importants et des phrases moins liées entre elles. L'uniformité terminologique et des collocations est mieux respectée en Italie, tandis qu'en Suisse la terminologie est toujours assez variée, même à l'intérieur d'une même notice d'emballage. L'étude porte également sur la comparaison directe de la notice d'emballage du médicament Medrol (metilprednisolone, 16 mg, comprimés), commercialisé en Suisse et en Italie par Pfizer. Les deux notices sont supposées être identiques, mais à plusieurs reprises des différences substantielles émergent, comme par exemple dans le cas des précautions ou des effets secondaires

Long-term moderate alcohol consumption does not exacerbate age-related cognitive decline in healthy, community-dwelling older adults

Recent census data has found that roughly 40% of adults 65 years and older not only consume alcohol but also drink more of it than previous generations. Older drinkers are more vulnerable than younger counterparts to the psychoactive effects of alcohol due to natural biological changes that occur with aging. This study was specifically designed to measure the effect of long-term moderate alcohol consumption on cognitive health in older adult drinkers. An extensive battery of validated tests commonly used in aging and substance use literature was used to measure performance in specific cognitive domains, including working memory and attention. An age (young, old) * alcohol consumption (light, moderate) factorial study design was used to evaluate the main effects of age and alcohol consumption on cognitive performance. The focus of the study was then limited to light and moderate older drinkers, and whether or not long–term moderate alcohol consumption exacerbated age-related cognitive decline. No evidence was found to support the idea that long-term moderate alcohol consumption in older adults exacerbates age-related cognitive decline. Findings were specific to healthy community dwelling social drinkers in older age and they should not be generalized to individuals with other consumption patterns, like heavy drinkers, binge drinkers or ex-drinkers

Vascular Endoluminal Delivery of Mesenchymal Stem Cells Using Acoustic Radiation Force

Restoration of functional endothelium is a requirement for preventing late stent thrombosis. We propose a novel method for targeted delivery of stem cells to a site of arterial injury using ultrasound-generated acoustic radiation force. Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) were surface-coated electrostatically with cationic gas-filled lipid microbubbles (mb-MSC). mb-MSC was characterized microscopically and by flow cytometry. The effect of ultrasound (5 MHz) on directing mb-MSC movement toward the vessel wall under physiologic flow conditions was tested in vitro in a vessel phantom. In vivo testing of acoustic radiation force-mediated delivery of mb-MSCs to balloon-injured aorta was performed in rabbits using intravascular ultrasound (1.7 MHz) during intra-aortic infusion of mb-MSCs. Application of ultrasound led to marginalization and adhesion of mb-MSCs to the vessel phantom wall, whereas no effect was observed on mb-MSCs in the absence of ultrasound. The effect was maximal when there were 7±1 microbubbles/cell (n=6). In rabbits (n=6), adherent MSCs were observed in the ultrasound-treated aortic segment 20 min after the injection (334±137 MSCs/cm2), whereas minimal adhesion was observed in control segments not exposed to ultrasound (2±1 MSCs/cm2, p<0.05). At 24 h after mb-MSC injection and ultrasound treatment, the engrafted MSCs persisted and spread out on the luminal surface of the artery. The data demonstrate proof of principle that acoustic radiation force can target delivery of therapeutic cells to a specific endovascular treatment site. This approach may be used for endoluminal cellular paving and could provide a powerful tool for cell-based re-endothelialization of injured arterial segments