BK virus associated meningoencephalitis in an AIDS patient treated with HAART

A severely immune-suppressed AIDS patient was suspected of suffering from BK virus (BKV) meningoencephalitis, after being studied for common causes of neurological complications of co-infectious origin. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and sequence analysis of cerebrospinal fluid and brain samples, confirmed the presence of BKV. His clinical condition improved along with the regression of brain lesions, after modifications on his antiretroviral regime. Five months after discharge, the patient was readmitted because of frequent headaches, and a marked inflammatory reaction was evidenced by a new magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). The symptoms paralleled a rising CD4+ lymphocyte count, and immune reconstitution syndrome was suspected. This is the first non-postmortem report of BKV meningoencephalitis in an AIDS patient, showing clinical and radiographic improvement solely under HAART

Segmentazione di masse metastatiche su dati di tomografia computerizzata (CT)

La tesi studia le regioni affette da melanoma. Attraverso un opportuno preprocessing delle immagini si propone un algoritmo di selezione dei contorni dell'area neoplastica. Al campo di forze esterne VFC viene aggiunta l’influenza di un’altra forza esterna definita un confronto locale tra le intensità dei livelli di grigio degli intorni esterni ed interni al bordo, inglobando le informazioni fornite dal gradiente dell’immagin

Controlli di sicurezza, verifiche funzionali e modalità operative dell'elettrocardiografo

Relazione sul periodo di tirocinio svolto presso l'Azienda Ospedaliera di Padova, servizio di ingegneria clinic

Imperium, Staat, Civitas. Ein kritischer Beitrag zum postmodernen Konzept der Macht. Imperium, Staat, Civitas. Contributo critico alla concezione postmoderna del potere. Villa Vigoni19-21 marzo 2013

Le nuove esigenze economico-sociali imposte dalla globalizzazione hanno comportato una criusi del modello dello stato-nazione. I singoli stati si trovano a fronteggiare problemi globali con i limiti degli ordinamenti giuridici nazionali, e ciò si ripercuote, minandole sulla concezione di "sovranità" (e sul suo fondamento popolare) nonché sulla "cittadinanza statuale". Con un approccio interdisciplinare si è guardato alle costruzioni romane di imperium, res publica e civitas -desedimentandole dalle incrostazioni moderne- per tentare di superare ni problemi di gestione in atto

A new role for microRNAs, as ligands of Toll-like receptors

Tumor microenvironment plays a central role in the development and dissemination of cancer cells. In addition to study each specific cellular component of the microenvironment, it has become clear that it is the type and amount of information that cells exchange that ultimately affects cancer phenotype. Recently, it has been discovered that intercellular communication occurs through the release of microvesicles and exosomes, whose cargo represents the information released by one cell to a recipient cell. A key component of this cargo is represented by microRNAs (miRNAs), small non-coding RNAs with gene regulatory functions. We discovered that miRNAs released by cancer cells within microvesicles can reach and bind to Toll-like receptors (TLRs) in surrounding immune cells, and activate them in a paracrine loop. As a result, immune cells produce cytokines that increase cell proliferation and metastatic potential. This discovery provides the rationale for the development of new drugs that might be used in the treatment of cancer as well as other inflammation-related diseases

Invasive mucormycosis in children with cancer: A retrospective study from the Infection Working Group of Italian Pediatric Hematology Oncology Association

Invasive mucormycosis is a rare but frequently fatal fungal disease. The acute and rapidly progressive evolution causes unfavourable outcome in 22%-59% of patients and its treatment represents a clinical challenge, especially in immunocompromised patients. Current data in paediatric oncological patients are limited

Treatment of Acute Graft-versus-Host Disease in Childhood with Extracorporeal Photochemotherapy/Photopheresis: The Padova Experience

AbstractAcute graft-versus-host disease (aGVHD) is the major cause of morbidity and mortality after allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. Systemic steroid treatment represents the first-line therapy for aGVHD and is associated with a response rate of 30% to 60%. Steroid-resistant patients have a poor prognosis with high transplantation-related mortality (TRM). Several second-line therapies have been proposed for the management of unresponsive aGVHD, without proven beneficial effects on patients' outcome or overall long-term survival. For these reasons, extracorporeal photochemotherapy/photopheresis (ECP), a cell-based approach to control GVHD that spares generalized immunosuppression, seems to be promising. In this study, we report the outcome of 72 consecutive pediatric patients treated with ECP between 1997 and 2013 for aGVHD. Among them, 21 patients had steroid-resistant aGVHD, 42 had steroid-dependent aGVHD, and 9 did not receive steroid as first-line therapy because of clinical contraindications. A complete response was obtained in 72% of patients, a partial response was observed in 11%, and there was no response in 17% of patients. At day +180, TRM was 4% in the whole cohort; TRM was 3% and 20% among responders and nonresponders to ECP, respectively (P < .0001). The 5-year overall survival was 71%, showing a difference between responders and nonresponders of 78% and 30%, respectively (P = .0004). The 5-year time to progression of primary disease was 81%, without any significant difference between the 2 groups. Moreover, the 5-year progression-free survival of primary disease was 72%, with a significant difference (P = .0007) between responders (79%) and nonresponders (30%) to ECP. In conclusion, this study demonstrates that ECP is highly effective in aGVHD without a negative impact on primary disease