Meiofaunal communities of Nisida and the environmental status of the Flegrean area

Nisida is a volcanic islet of the Flegrean Islands archipelago connected to the mainland by a stone bridge. It lies very close to Cape Posillipo, just north of Napoli. The islet has a circular shape, with a flooded crater forming the bay of Porto Paone. In the 1800s Nisida was the site of a Bourbon prison, then an Italian state penitentiary, and, now, a reformatory for juvenile offenders. Since then the access to the island has been limited and this results in a very preserved area, but in the 1900 Nisida was encroached upon by the unsightly steel industry in Bagnoli affecting the state of health of marine communities. Recently Meiofauna has acquired an important role as a indicator of the marine ecosystem. We performed a meiofauna survey in Porto Paone, sampling were made from June 2014 to December 2015 in 4 areas resulting by the division of the bay in 4 quadrants (North-South; West-East), in each area 4 samples to cover all kind of substrate present were collected. To have a comparable parameter of the anthropic effect on meiofauna communities we performed sampling also in the closest area of Bagnoli during the period from November to December 2015. The fauna extraction was performed according to Heip et al. (1985). In Porto Paone, throughout the whole study period we found a diversity resulting in the presence of 24 taxa. A seasonal fluctuation has been observed with a major diversity during fall with the presence of 20 taxa versus 14 taxa in summer. Comparing the same period (November/December 2015) of sampling in Porto Paone and in Bagnoli we found a significant differences in taxa presence resulting in respectively 20 and 8. Beside to give an overview of the meiofaunal communities in Porto Paone to fill the gap in the recent literature, this work represent a starting point to monitor the environmental recovering of the Flegrean marine area

Efficacy and safety of oral beclomethasone dipropionate and budesonide MMX 5-aminosalicylates or placebo in ulcerative colitis: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Background: Low bioavailability steroids, including beclomethasone dipropionate (BDP) and budesonide MMX, have been developed to ensure colonic targeting and low systemic activity than systematic corticosteroids in treating patients with ulcerative colitis (UC). Objectives: This systematic review and meta-analysis evaluated the efficacy and safety of BDP and budesonide MMX® compared with 5-aminosalicylic acid (5-ASAs) or placebo, in patients with mild-to-moderate UC. Design: Systematic review and meta-analysis Methods: We searched MEDLINE, EMBASE, and the Cochrane central register of controlled trials from inception to December 2021. We included all available randomized controlled trials (RCTs) comparing oral BDP or budesonide MMX with 5-ASAs or with placebo in induction of remission of mild-to-moderate UC. Odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated. Results: We identified two RCTs comparing BDP 5 mg with 5-ASA, one RCTs comparing BDP 10 mg with 5-ASA, two RCTs BDP 5 mg versus placebo, one RCT BDP 10 mg versus placebo, two RCTs budesonide MMX 9 mg versus 5-ASA, and six RCTs budesonide MMX 9 mg versus placebo. In terms of achieving clinical remission or improvement, BDP 5 mg, BDP 10 mg, and budesonide MMX 9 mg were more effective than placebo (OR 2.36, 95% CI 1.37–4.08; OR 2.23, 95% CI 1.02–4.87; and OR 2.03, 95% CI 1.45–2.85, respectively). The drugs were also more effective than placebo in achieving endoscopic remission. Regarding the comparisons with 5-ASA, we found no differences between 5-ASA and BDP 5 mg or BDP 10 mg or budesonide MMX 9 mg in achieving clinical remission or improvement (OR 0.90, 95% CI 0.51–1.57; OR 1.54, 95% CI 0.42–5.64; and OR 1.17, 95% CI 0.82–1.66). However, 5-ASA was more effective than budesonide MMX 9 mg in achieving histological remission (OR 0.33, 95% CI 0.16–0.70). Overall, all the drugs were safe and well tolerated. Conclusion: Low bioavailability steroids were more effective than placebo in achieving clinical remission, clinical and endoscopic remission, and histological remission. No differences were found between 5-ASA and BDP or budesonide MMX. Surely, more RCTs, also comparing BDP and budesonide MMX, are mandatory to confirm or not these results

Ustekinumab safety and effectiveness in patients with ulcerative colitis: results from a large real-life study

BackgroundUstekinumab (UST) is an interleukin-12/interleukin-23 receptor antagonist recently approved for treating ulcerative colitis (UC) but with limited real-world data. Therefore, we evaluated the effectiveness and safety of UST in patients with UC in a real-world setting.Research design and methodsThis is a multicenter, retrospective, observational cohort study. The primary endpoints were the clinical remission rate (partial Mayo score, PMS, <= 1) and the safety of UST. Other endpoints were corticosteroid-free remission (CSFR) rate, clinical response rate (PMS reduction of at least 2 points), and fecal calprotectin (FC) reduction at week 24.ResultsWe included 256 consecutive patients with UC (M/F 139/117, median age 52). The clinical remission and clinical response rates at eight weeks were 18.7% (44/235) and 53.2% (125/235), respectively, and 27.6% (42/152) and 61.8% (94/152) at 24 weeks, respectively. At 24 weeks, CSFR was 20.3% (31/152), and FC significantly dropped at week 12 (p = 0.0004) and 24 (p = 0.038). At eight weeks, patients naive or with one previous biologic treatment showed higher remission (p = 0.002) and clinical response rates (p = 0.018) than patients previously treated with >= 2. Adverse events occurred in six patients (2.3%), whereas four patients (1.6%) underwent colectomy.ConclusionThis real-world study shows that UST effectively and safely treats patients with UC