NEW OPPORTUNITIES FOR CORRECTION OF HYPERURICEMIA IN GOUT

An open-labeled study of the efficiency and tolerability of the herbal preparation Urisan used for one month in 21 male gout patients has revealed that the agent has moderate antihyperurecemic activity, no adverse reactions, and excellent or good tolerability in the appraisal by physicians and patients

Self-Insulation in the Conditions of the Covid-19 Pandemic, its Influence on the Psychoemocinal State of Students

В работе представлен анализ опроса, в котором рассматривается ряд аспектов: особенности психоэмоционального состояния студентов до и после пандемии, отношение к одиночеству, наличие чувство тревоги и паники во время пандемии, влияние самоизоляции на жизненную ситуацию. Выявлено, что в период вынужденной самоизоляции более 70% студентов отметили изменения в психоэмоциональном состоянии, около 30% существенных изменений не отмечали, продолжали вести обычный образ жизни. Выявленные особенности психоэмоционального состояния студентов позволили определить ряд рекомендаций для сохранения психического и физического здоровья в условиях пандемии COVID-19

Corrigendum to “Identification of Patients Affected by Mitral Valve Prolapse with Severe Regurgitation: A Multivariable Regression Model”

In the article titled "Identification of Patients Affected by Mitral Valve Prolapse with Severe Regurgitation: A Multivariable Regression Model" [1], references [2, 3] should have been included as references 24 and 25 in the original article. Accordingly, in the introduction section, the text reading "Echocardiographically, MVP is defined as a single or bileaflet prolapse, at least 2mm beyond the long-axis annular plane, while the assessment of valve regurgitation takes into account the effective regurgitant orifice area (EROA) [2]" should be changed to "Echocardiographically, MVP is defined as a single or bileaflet prolapse, at least 2 mm beyond the long-axis annular plane, while the assessment of the severity of MR relies on several parameters according to the current recommendations [24, 25]." Additionally, the Acknowledgments section should be updated as follows: "The authors thank the entire Cardiac Surgery Unit at Centro Cardiologico Monzino for the clinical data and blood collection. The authors also would like to thank Dr. Paola Gripari for patient evaluation and critical review. This work was supported by the Fondazione Gigi e Pupa FerrariONLUS and the Italian Ministry of Health [RC2015-BIO30-2613051 to Centro CardiologicoMonzino].

Identification of patients affected by mitral valve prolapse with severe regurgitation : A multivariable regression model

Background. Mitral valve prolapse (MVP) is the most common cause of severe mitral regurgitation. Besides echocardiography, up to now there are no reliable biomarkers available for the identification of this pathology. We aim to generate a predictive model, based on circulating biomarkers, able to identify MVP patients with the highest accuracy. Methods. We analysed 43 patients who underwent mitral valve repair due to MVP and compared to 29 matched controls. We assessed the oxidative stress status measuring the oxidized and the reduced form of glutathione by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry method. Osteoprotegerin (OPG) plasma levels were measured by an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. The combination of these biochemical variables was used to implement several logistic regression models. Results. Oxidative stress levels and OPG concentrations were significantly higher in patients compared to control subjects (0.116\ub10.007 versus 0.053\ub10.013 and 1748\ub1100.2 versus 1109\ub145.3 pg/mL, respectively; p<0.0001). The best regression model was able to correctly classify 62 samples out of 72 with accuracy in terms of area under the curve of 0.92. Conclusions. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to show a strong association between OPG and oxidative stress status in patients affected by MVP with severe regurgitation

Testing for the ability to modify antibiotics of Panus tigrinus 8/18 Lentinus strigosus 1566 laccase

In advanced biotechnology, the utilization of enzymes to achieve new or modified compounds with antibacterial, fungicidal, and anti-cancer specifications is crucial. Mushroom lactases are a hopeful biocatalyst for the synthesis and modification of different compounds. They are an accessible and inexpensive enzyme for the preparation of reaction objects and have recently received attentio

Aortic valve sclerosis adds to prediction of short-term mortality in patients with documented coronary atherosclerosis

Aims: Aortic valve sclerosis (AVSc), a non-uniform thickening of leaflets with an unrestricted opening, is characterized by inflammation, lipoprotein deposition, and matrix degradation. In the general population, AVSc predicts long-term cardiovascular mortality (+50%) even after adjustment for vascular risk factors and clinical atherosclerosis. We have hypothesized that AVSc is a risk-multiplier able to predict even short-term mortality. To address this issue, we retrospectively analyzed 90-day mortality of all patients who underwent isolated coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) at Centro Cardiologico Monzino over a ten-year period (2006\u20132016). Methods: We analyzed 2246 patients and 90-day all-cause mortality was 1.5% (31 deaths). We selected only patients deceased from cardiac causes (n = 29) and compared to alive patients (n = 2215). A cardiologist classified the aortic valve as no-AVSc (n = 1352) or AVSc (n = 892). Cox linear regression and integrated discrimination improvement (IDI) analyses were used to evaluate AVSc in predicting 90-day mortality. Results: AVSc 90-day survival (97.6%) was lower than in no-AVSc (99.4%; p &lt; 0.0001) with a hazard ratio (HR) of 4.0 (95%CI: 1.78, 9.05; p &lt; 0.0001). The HR for AVSc, adjusted for propensity score, was 2.7 (95%CI: 1.17, 6.23; p = 0.02) and IDI statistics confirmed that AVSc significantly adds (p &lt; 0.001) to the identification of high-risk patients than EuroSCORE II alone. Conclusion: Our data supports the hypothesis that a risk stratification strategy based on AVSc, added to ESII, may allow better recognition of patients at high-risk of short-term mortality after isolated surgical myocardial revascularization. Results from this study warrant further confirmation

HDL cholesterol efflux capacity in rheumatoid arthritis patients: contributing factors and relationship with subclinical atherosclerosis

Background: Lipid profiles appear to be altered in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients because of disease activity and inflammation. Cholesterol efflux capacity (CEC), which is the ability of high-density lipoprotein cholesterol to accept cholesterol from macrophages, has been linked not only to cardiovascular events in the general population but also to being impaired in patients with RA. The aim of this study was to establish whether CEC is related to subclinical carotid atherosclerosis in patients with RA. Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional study that encompassed 401 individuals, including 178 patients with RA and 223 sex-matched control subjects. CEC, using an in vitro assay, lipoprotein serum concentrations, and standard lipid profile, was assessed in patients and control subjects. Carotid intima-media thickness (CIMT) and carotid plaques were assessed in patients with RA. A multivariable analysis was performed to evaluate the relationship of CEC with RA-related data, lipid profile, and subclinical carotid atherosclerosis. Results: Mean (SD) CEC was not significantly different between patients with RA (18.9 ± 9.0%) and control subjects (16.9 ± 10.4%) (p = 0.11). Patients with RA with low (? coefficient ?5.2 [?10.0 to 0.3]%, p = 0.039) and moderate disease activity (? coefficient ?4.6 [?8.5 to 0.7]%, p = 0.020) were associated with lower levels of CEC than patients in remission. Although no association with CIMT was found, higher CEC was independently associated with a lower risk for the presence of carotid plaque in patients with RA (odds ratio 0.94 [95% CI 0.89?0.98], p = 0.015). Conclusions: CEC is independently associated with carotid plaque in patients with RA