3-Year Clinical Outcome of Patients With Chronic Total Occlusion Treated With Drug-Eluting Stents

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Yield, quality, antioxidants and elemental composition of peanut as affected by plant density and harvest time

With the perspective of reintroducing peanut cultivation in southern Italy about six decades after its dismissal, research was carried out with the aim to identify the best performing farming management in terms of yield and quality. In this respect, the effect of the factorial combination between four plant densities (6.1, 7.8, 10.3, and 12.1 plants m-2) and two harvest times (100 and 110 days after planting) was assessed on pod and seed yield, as well as on seed quality, antioxidant activity, and elemental composition. The later harvest time determined a 26.9% dry weight increase, but a 14.3% decrease in the number of seeds per pod. Plant density significantly influenced all the yield and growth indices except for mean seed weight. Yield and growth of each plant were best affected by the lowest plant density, whereas the opposite trend was recorded for the same parameters referred to the surface area unit. The density of 12.1 plants m-2 resulted in a 32% reduction in pods per plant compared to 6.1 plants m-2, but had the greatest effect on seed production per m2 . The leaf area index was the highest with the density of 12.1 plants m-2. The total dry weight increased by 1.7-fold from 6.1 to 12.1 plants m-2. Compared to the first harvest time, in the second one the protein content decreased by 6.8%, and total polyphenols and antioxidant activity decreased by 11.2% and 7.6%, respectively. The second harvest time led to a depletion of N, P, and Mg, by 6.8%, 6.2%, and 6.8%, respectively, and a 7.1% Ca increase. The reintroduction of peanut cultivation in southern Italy is a realistic goal, though further studies regarding the crop system management are needed

Comparison of Early and Long-Term Outcomes After Transcatheter Aortic Valve Implantation in Patients with New York Heart Association Functional Class IV to those in Class III and Less

Our aim was to investigate the impact of a baseline New York Heart Association (NYHA) class IV on clinical outcomes of a large real-world population who underwent transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI). The primary end points were all-cause mortality, cardiovascular mortality, and re-hospitalization, evaluated at the longest available follow-up and by means of a 3-month landmark analysis. The secondary end points were: change in NYHA class, left ventricular ejection fraction, pulmonary pressure and mitral regurgitation. Out of 2,467 patients, 271 (11%) had a NYHA functional class IV at the admission. The latter had higher Society of Thoracic Surgeons (STS) score (9.2% vs 5.5%; p < 0.001) compared to NYHA ≤ III patients, owing to more comorbidities (prior myocardial infarction, severe long-term kidney disease, atrial fibrillation, left ventricular dysfunction, significant mitral regurgitation, pulmonary hypertension). Device success was similar between the two groups (93.7% vs 94.5%; p = 0.583). At a median follow-up of 15 months (interquartile range 4 to 36 months) a lower freedom from primary end points was observed among NYHA IV versus NYHA ≤ III group (survival from all-cause death: 52% vs 58.4%; p = 0.002; survival from cardiovascular death: 72.5% vs 76.5%; p = 0.091; freedom from re-hospitalization: 81.5% vs 85.4%; p = 0.038). However, after adjustment for baseline imbalance, NYHA IV did not influence the relative risk of long-term primary end points. A 3-month landmark analysis showed that NYHA IV independently predicted 3-month all-cause and cardiovascular mortality (hazard ratio: 1.77; 95% CI [1.10 to 2.83]; p = 0.018 and hazard ratio: 1.64; 95% CI [1.03 to 2.59]; p = 0.036, respectively). Instead, after 3-month follow-up NYHA IV did not affect the risk of primary end points. A significant improvement of the secondary end points was noted in both NYHA IV and NYHA ≤≤ III groups. In conclusion, the presence of NYHA class IV in TAVI candidates was associated to a significant increased risk of mortality within 3 months. Patients with baseline NYHA IV who survived at 3 months had a long-term outcome comparable to that of other subjects. Left ventricular systolic function, pulmonary pressure, and mitral insufficiency significantly improved after TAVI regardless of baseline NYHA class IV

Phenolic Composition and Antioxidant and Antiproliferative Activities of the Extracts of Twelve Common Bean ( Phaseolus vulgaris

Beans are important dietary components with versatile health benefits. We analysed the extracts of twelve ecotypes of Phaseolus vulgaris in order to determine their phenolic profiles, antioxidant activity, and the in vitro antiproliferative activity. Ultra-performance liquid chromatography with diode array detector (UPLC-DAD) admitted us to detect and quantify some known polyphenols, such as gallic acid, chlorogenic acid, epicatechin, myricetin, formononetin, caffeic acid, and kaempferol. The antioxidant activity (AA) ranged from 1.568 ± 0.041 to 66.572 ± 3.197 mg necessary to inhibit the activity of the 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical by 50% (EC50). The extracts, except those obtained from the nonpigmented samples, were capable of inhibiting the proliferation of the human epithelial colorectal adenocarcinoma (Caco-2) cells, human breast cancer cells MCF-7, and A549 NSCLC cell line. Cultivars differed in composition and concentration of polyphenols including anthocyanins; cooking affected the antioxidant activity only marginally. Qualitative and quantitative differences in phenolic composition between the groups of beans influenced the biological activities; on the other hand, we did not find significant differences on the biological activities within the same variety, before and after cooking

May Measure Month 2022 in Italy: A Focus on Fixed-dose Combination, Therapeutic Adherence, and Medical Inertia in a Nationwide Survey

Introduction Hypertension is the main risk factor for cardiovascular diseases (CVD). Notably, only about half of hypertensive patients manage to achieve the recommended blood pressure (BP) control. Main reasons for the persistence of uncontrolled BP during treatment are lack of compliance on the patients' side, and therapeutic inertia on physicians' side.Methods During the global BP screening campaign "May Measure Month" (MMM) (May 1st to July 31st, 2022), a nationwide, cross-sectional, opportunistic study endorsed by the Italian Society of Hypertension was conducted on volunteer adults >= 18 years to raise awareness of the health issues surrounding high BP. A questionnaire on demographic/clinical features and questions on the use of fixed-dose single-pills for the treatment of hypertension was administered. BP was measured with standard procedures.Results A total of 1612 participants (mean age 60.0 +/- 15.41 years; 44.7% women) were enrolled. Their mean BP was 128.5 +/- 18.1/77.1 +/- 10.4 mmHg. About half of participants were sedentary, or overweight/obese, or hypertensive. 55.5% individuals with complete BP assessment had uncontrolled hypertension. Most were not on a fixed-dose combination of antihypertensive drugs and did not regularly measure BP at home. Self-reported adherence to BP medications was similar between individuals with controlled and uncontrolled BP (95% vs 95.5%).Conclusions This survey identified a remarkable degree of therapeutic inertia and poor patients' involvement in the therapeutic process and its monitoring in the examined population, underlining the importance of prevention campaigns to identify areas of unsatisfactory management of hypertension, to increase risk factors' awareness in the population with the final purpose of reducing cardiovascular risk

Introducing EDEN ISS - A European project on advancing plant cultivation technologies and operations

Plant cultivation in large-scale closed environments is challenging and several key technologies necessary for space-based plant production are not yet space-qualified or remain in early stages of development. The EDEN ISS project foresees development and demonstration of higher plant cultivation technologies, suitable for future deployment on the International Space Station and from a long-term perspective, within Moon and Mars habitats. The EDEN ISS consortium will design and test essential plant cultivation technologies using an International Standard Payload Rack form factor cultivation system for potential testing on-board the International Space Station. Furthermore, a Future Exploration Greenhouse will be designed with respect to future planetary bio-regenerative life support system deployments. The technologies will be tested in a laboratory environment as well as at the highly-isolated German Antarctic Neumayer Station III. A small and mobile container-sized test facility will be built in order to provide realistic mass flow relationships. In addition to technology development and validation, food safety and plant handling procedures will be developed. This paper describes the goals and objectives of EDEN ISS and the different project phases and milestones. Furthermore, the project consortium will be introduced and the role of each partner within the project is explained

Risk factors associated with adverse fetal outcomes in pregnancies affected by Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19): a secondary analysis of the WAPM study on COVID-19.

Objectives To evaluate the strength of association between maternal and pregnancy characteristics and the risk of adverse perinatal outcomes in pregnancies with laboratory confirmed COVID-19. Methods Secondary analysis of a multinational, cohort study on all consecutive pregnant women with laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 from February 1, 2020 to April 30, 2020 from 73 centers from 22 different countries. A confirmed case of COVID-19 was defined as a positive result on real-time reverse-transcriptase-polymerase-chain-reaction (RT-PCR) assay of nasal and pharyngeal swab specimens. The primary outcome was a composite adverse fetal outcome, defined as the presence of either abortion (pregnancy loss before 22 weeks of gestations), stillbirth (intrauterine fetal death after 22 weeks of gestation), neonatal death (death of a live-born infant within the first 28 days of life), and perinatal death (either stillbirth or neonatal death). Logistic regression analysis was performed to evaluate parameters independently associated with the primary outcome. Logistic regression was reported as odds ratio (OR) with 95% confidence interval (CI). Results Mean gestational age at diagnosis was 30.6+/-9.5 weeks, with 8.0% of women being diagnosed in the first, 22.2% in the second and 69.8% in the third trimester of pregnancy. There were six miscarriage (2.3%), six intrauterine device (IUD) (2.3) and 5 (2.0%) neonatal deaths, with an overall rate of perinatal death of 4.2% (11/265), thus resulting into 17 cases experiencing and 226 not experiencing composite adverse fetal outcome. Neither stillbirths nor neonatal deaths had congenital anomalies found at antenatal or postnatal evaluation. Furthermore, none of the cases experiencing IUD had signs of impending demise at arterial or venous Doppler. Neonatal deaths were all considered as prematurity-related adverse events. Of the 250 live-born neonates, one (0.4%) was found positive at RT-PCR pharyngeal swabs performed after delivery. The mother was tested positive during the third trimester of pregnancy. The newborn was asymptomatic and had negative RT-PCR test after 14 days of life. At logistic regression analysis, gestational age at diagnosis (OR: 0.85, 95% CI 0.8-0.9 per week increase; pPeer reviewe