Reference Renal Artery Diameter Is a Stronger Predictor of Contrast-Induced Nephropathy than Chronic Kidney Disease in Patients with High Cardiovascular Risk

Introduction: The incidence of contrast-induced nephropathy (CIN) increases in high cardiovascular risk patients. Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is a known risk factor for CIN development. In a previous report, we demonstrated that the mean reference renal artery diameter (RVD) is an important determinant of CKD in patients undergoing coronary angiography for ischemic heart disease. However, RVD was never tested as a predictor of CIN. Aim: To look at the predictors of CIN. Methods: A total of 218 consecutive patients undergoing coronary and renal angiography were enrolled from the cohort of the RAS-CAD study (NCT 01173666). CIN was defined as a relative increase in baseline serum creatinine ≧25% within 1 week of contrast administration. Results: The incidence of CIN was 22%. In a fully adjusted model, contrast medium dose (20 ml increase, OR 1.12, 95% CI 1.06–1.19, p 2 increase, OR 0.59, 95% CI 0.41–0.86, p Conclusions: In patients undergoing coronary angiography for ischemic heart disease, RVD is a stronger predictor of CIN than CKD

Erratum to: Prevalence of renal artery stenosis in patients undergoing cardiac catheterization

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A systematic review of arterial stiffness, wave reflection and air pollution

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High familial burden of cancer correlates with improved outcome from immunotherapy in patients with NSCLC independent of somatic DNA damage response gene status

Family history of cancer (FHC) is a hallmark of cancer risk and an independent predictor of outcome, albeit with uncertain biologic foundations. We previously showed that FHC-high patients experienced prolonged overall (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS) following PD-1/PD-L1 checkpoint inhibitors. To validate our findings in patients with NSCLC, we evaluated two multicenter cohorts of patients with metastatic NSCLC receiving either first-line pembrolizumab or chemotherapy. From each cohort, 607 patients were randomly case-control matched accounting for FHC, age, performance status, and disease burden. Compared to FHC-low/negative, FHC-high patients experienced longer OS (HR 0.67 [95% CI 0.46-0.95], p\u2009=\u20090.0281), PFS (HR 0.65 [95% CI 0.48-0.89]; p\u2009=\u20090.0074) and higher disease control rates (DCR, 86.4% vs 67.5%, p\u2009=\u20090.0096), within the pembrolizumab cohort. No significant associations were found between FHC and OS/PFS/DCR within the chemotherapy cohort. We explored the association between FHC and somatic DNA damage response (DDR) gene alterations as underlying mechanism to our findings in a parallel cohort of 118 NSCLC, 16.9% of whom were FHC-high. The prevalence of\u2009 65\u20091 somatic DDR gene mutation was 20% and 24.5% (p\u2009=\u20090.6684) in FHC-high vs. FHC-low/negative, with no differences in tumor mutational burden (6.0 vs. 7.6 Mut/Mb, p\u2009=\u20090.6018) and tumor cell PD-L1 expression. FHC-high status identifies NSCLC patients with improved outcomes from pembrolizumab but not chemotherapy, independent of somatic DDR gene status. Prospective studies evaluating FHC alongside germline genetic testing are warranted

Breakthroughs in Medicinal Chemistry: New Targets and Mechanisms, New Drugs, New Hopes-7

Breakthroughs in Medicinal Chemistry: New Targets and Mechanisms, New Drugs, New Hopes is a series of editorials which is published on a biannual basis by the Editorial Board of the Medicinal Chemistry section of the journal Molecules. In these editorials, we highlight in brief reports (of about one hundred words) a number of recently published articles that describe crucial findings, such as the discovery of novel drug targets and mechanisms of action or novel classes of drugs, which may inspire future medicinal chemistry endeavors devoted to addressing prime unmet medical needs

Struttura e funzione arteriosa nelle IBD

Le malattie infiammatorie croniche intestinali (IBD) sono associate ad un aumentato rischio cardiovascolare non completamente spiegabile con la prevalenza dei fattori di rischio cardiovascolare tradizionali. L'infiammazione e l'aumento della rigidità arteriosa ad essa correlata potrebbero avere un ruolo importante nella valutazione del rischio cardiovascolare di questi soggetti. In questa tesi ho studiato la correlazione tra infiammazione e rigidità arteriosa nelle IBD. Per la prima volta ho riportato che i soggetti con IBD hanno un'aumentata rigidità arteriosa che può essere normalizzata dall'uso di farmaci anti TNF-alfa

Medicinal chemistry in parasitology

"Medicinal Chemistry in Parasitology", January 23, 2004. Modena(Italy).The congress has been organized to give an overview of the medicinal chemistry in the area of parasitic/tropical diseases. The aim of the workshop is to stimulate coordination, research initiatives and collaborations among different groups working in the area

Activity of polyphenolic crude extracts as scavengers of superoxide radicals and inhibitors of xanthine oxidase

In view of the pharmacological interest in phenolic substances, we have determined the total amount of anthocyanins and polyphenols present in the berries of several cultivars of Ribes, Rubus, and Vaccinium genera. The in vitro antiradical activity of the crude extracts on chemically-generated superoxide radicals as well as the inhibitory activity towards the enzyme xanthine oxidase were studied. All the crude extracts examined showed a remarkably high activity towards chemically-generated superoxide radicals. The activities were greater than those expected on the basis of the quantities of anthocyanins and polyphenols present in the samples. Furthermore, the extracts showed a certain inhibitory activity towards xanthine oxidase. Ribes nigrum extracts exhibit the highest activity, being the richest in both anthocyanins and polyphenols. On the other hand, Ribes rubrum extracts seem to contain more active substances than the other crude extracts

Structural bases for the inhibition of aldose reductase by phenolic compounds

Aldose reductase (ALR2) is an enzyme involved in the development of long-term diabetic complications. In the search for aldose reductase inhibitors less acidic than carboxylic acids, phenolic compounds related to benzopyran-4-one and chalcone are particularly interesting because they possess good inhibitory properties. In order to investigate the similarities between these two classes of compounds and to provide a structural basis for their inhibition of ALR2, the existing structure-activity relationships were reconsidered. To this end, the acidity constants of a set of chalcones were measured and compared with those of benzopyran-4-one derivatives. Then, having established the relevant protonation state of these phenolics at physiological pH, a conformational analysis was performed on the most active benzopyran-4-one and chalcone derivatives' and the results were compared with the crystal structures of some analogues. Finally, molecular docking of the most active chalcone into the ALR2 binding site was performed, and the structure of the enzyme-inhibitor complex was compared with that of the complex formed between ALR2 and a previously-obtained benzopyran-4-one derivative. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved