LA NUOVA CARTOGRAFIA NAUTICA PER IL DIPORTO

L’Istituto Idrografico della Marina (I.I.M.), Organo Cartografico dello Stato responsabile della produzione di carte e documentazione per la navigazione marittima, ha pubblicato quest’anno per la prima volta le Carte Ufficiali dello Stato dedicate al diporto nautico che, avendo ormai superato il milione di imbarcazioni, contribuisce in maniera consistente al turismo costiero nel nostro Paese

Follow-up after bariatric surgery: is it time to tailor it? Analysis of early predictive factors of 3-year weight loss predictors of unsuccess in bariatric patients

Bariatric surgery (BS) is the most effective treatment strategy for obesity. Nevertheless, a subset of patients does not reach a successful weight loss or experience long-term weight regain. Conflicting evidence exists regarding predictors of BS outcomes. We aimed to define the early factors linked to 3 year unsuccessful weight loss in order to promote a tailored close follow-up. We enrolled 443 patients who underwent BS from January 2014 to December 2018 with a 3 year follow-up. An unsuccessful BS outcome was defined as a percentage of total weight loss (%TWL) <20. We compared the characteristics between successful and unsuccessful patients in order to identify predictor factors of unsuccess after surgery. We found that the proportion of patients with unsuccessful weight loss progressively increased from one to three years after BS. In a multiple regression model, only 1 month %TWL and sleeve gastrectomy (SG) were significantly associated with 3 year unsuccessful weight loss. We stratified our cohort in four groups according to the risk of BS unsuccess, in terms of 1 month %TWL and type of surgery (SG vs gastric bypass). Interestingly, groups showed a significant difference in terms of %TWL at each follow-up point. Patients submitted to SG with lower 1 month %TWL must be considered at higher risk of future weight regain; consequently, they require a tailored and closer follow-up.[GRAPHICS]. © 2022, The Author(s)

Thymosin β4 and β10 Expression in Human Organs during Development: A Review

This review summarizes the results of a series of studies performed by our group with the aim to define the expression levels of thymosin β4 and thymosin β10 over time, starting from fetal development to different ages after birth, in different human organs and tissues. The first section describes the proteomics investigations performed on whole saliva from preterm newborns and gingival crevicular fluid, which revealed to us the importance of these acidic peptides and their multiple functions. These findings inspired us to start an in-depth investigation mainly based on immunochemistry to establish the distribution of thymosin β4 and thymosin β10 in different organs from adults and fetuses at different ages (after autopsy), and therefore to obtain suggestions on the functions of β-thymosins in health and disease. The functions of β-thymosins emerging from these studies, for instance, those performed during carcinogenesis, add significant details that could help to resolve the nowadays so-called "β-thymosin enigma", i.e., the potential molecular role played by these two pleiotropic peptides during human development

I liposarcomi retroperitoneali

Il liposarcoma è l’istotipo più frequente tra i rari tumori maligni del retroperitoneo. Tale neoplasia ha la spiccata tendenza a recidivare dopo asportazione chirurgica, raramente a metastatizzare. La recidi - va mostra generalmente un comportamento più aggressivo della malattia primitiva con maggiore tendenza ad infiltrare gli organi vicini. La sintomatologia compare spesso tardivamente ed il segno di esordio è molto frequentemente la massa addominale palpabile. Lo studio preoperatorio implica l’uso della TC e della RMN. La terapia vede nelle chirurgia resettiva o citoriduttiva l’unico strumento in grado di modificare la storia naturale in termini di sopravvivenza e di recidiva locale. La prognosi è severa, con una sopravvivenza a 5 anni variabile tra il 12 ed il 50% nelle varie casi - stiche. Fattori prognostici importanti sono il grado della neoplasia ed il trattamento chirurgico radicale. Dal 1990 al 2001 sono stati eseguiti presso l’U.O. degli Autori 32 interventi per neoplasie maligne del retroperitoneo su 19 pazien - ti, in 7 di questi la neoplasia era un liposarcoma (4 uomini e 3 donne). Il numero complessivo di interventi per liposarcoma retrope - ritoneale è stato di 15. Quattro pazienti sono stati sottoposti ad un secondo intervento per recidiva, di questi 3 ad un terzo intervento ed 1 ad un quarto. In 11 casi su 15 è stata eseguita una exeresi della neoplasia. La sopravvivenza media è stata di 4 anni e 2 mesi. La radioterapia intraoperatoria, eseguita in 3 pazienti, sembra poter offrire dei vantaggi sul controllo locale della malattia e quindi sulla sopravvivenza. Un follow-up precoce con TC e RMN è giustificato dalla possibile resecabilità delle eventuali recidive

Is sleeve gastrectomy a therapeutic procedure for all obese patients?

Background: Laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy (LSG) is a worldwide surgical procedure for morbid obesity. However patients selection is still anecdotal. The aim of this study is to analyse clinical and anthropometric parameters correlated with LSG and to check the validity of this procedure for different categories of obese patients. Methods: Two-hundred one consecutive patients were submitted to LSG as a primary bariatric procedure between 2008 and 2014. One year follow-up was completed in 159 patients. Smaller groups of patients completed 2 and 3 years follow-up (78, 46 patients respectively). Median preoperative body mass index (BMI) was 45.4 kg/m2 (range: 34.8-73.8); 135 patients (80%) had one or more comorbidities. Potential correlations between age, gender, preoperative BMI, preoperative excess weight, early excess weight loss (EWL) and 1 and 3 year-EWL were investigated. Results: All procedures were regularly completed with laparoscopic approach without conversion to laparotomy. Postoperative complications occurred in six patients (3.7%); no postoperative mortality was observed. Median one-year BMI and EWL were 32.8 kg/m2 and 55.34%, respectively. Three year-EWL was significantly influenced by age, and early EWL. A complete normalization of glycemic levels after the three-year follow-up was also observed in high percentage of diabetic patients. In patients with preoperative BMI>50 kg/m2 we observed most failure cases in terms of EWL and the worst metabolic results. Conclusions: Our experience indicates that LSG is a safe procedure with satisfactory three-year late weight loss in patients with preoperative BMI <50 kg/m2. Promising results, in terms of improvements of comorbidities, were also observed. These results make LSG one of the most attractive first stage surgical procedure for morbid obesity

Oxidative stress and bronchopulmonary dysplasia: Evidences from microbiomics, metabolomics, and proteomics

Bronchopulmonary dysplasia is a major issue affecting morbidity and mortality of surviving premature babies. Preterm newborns are particularly susceptible to oxidative stress and infants with bronchopulmonary dysplasia have a typical oxidation pattern in the early stages of this disease, suggesting the important role of oxidative stress in its pathogenesis. Bronchopulmonary dysplasia is a complex disease where knowledge advances as new investigative tools become available. The explosion of the "omics" disciplines has recently affected BPD research. This review focuses on the new evidence coming from microbiomics, metabolomics and proteomics in relation to oxidative stress and pathogenesis of bronchopulmonary dysplasia. Since the pathogenesis is not yet completely understood, information gained in this regard would be important for planning an efficacious prevention and treatment strategy for the future

Nitric Oxide Donor Molsidomine Positively Modulates Myogenic Differentiation of Embryonic Endothelial Progenitors

<div><p>Embryonic VE-Cadherin-expressing progenitors (eVE-Cad⁺), including hemogenic endothelium, have been shown to generate hematopoietic stem cells and a variety of other progenitors, including mesoangioblasts, or MABs. MABs are vessel-associated progenitors with multilineage mesodermal differentiation potential that can physiologically contribute to skeletal muscle development and regeneration, and have been used in an <i>ex vivo</i> cell therapy setting for the treatment of muscular dystrophy. There is currently a therapeutic need for molecules that could improve the efficacy of cell therapy protocols; one such good candidate is nitric oxide. Several studies in animal models of muscle dystrophy have demonstrated that nitric oxide donors provide several beneficial effects, including modulation of the activity of endogenous cell populations involved in muscle repair and the delay of muscle degeneration. Here we used a genetic lineage tracing approach to investigate whether the therapeutic effect of nitric oxide in muscle repair could derive from an improvement in the myogenic differentiation of eVE-Cad⁺ progenitors during embryogenesis. We show that early <i>in vivo</i> treatment with the nitric oxide donor molsidomine enhances eVE-Cad⁺ contribution to embryonic and fetal myogenesis, and that this effect could originate from a modulation of the properties of yolk sac hemogenic endothelium.</p></div

Weight loss associated with bariatric surgery does not restore short telomere length of severe obese patients after 1 year

11Telomere shortening is physiologically associated with ageing but it may be influenced by oxidative stress and chronic inflammation, linked to obesity. Thus, obesity might represent an additional cause of telomere attrition. We aim to study relative telomere length (RTL) in obese subjects with and without metabolic syndrome and to assess the effect of weight loss induced by bariatric surgery.reservedmixedFormichi, Caterina; Cantara, Silvia; Ciuoli, Cristina; Neri, Ornella; Chiofalo, Francesco; Selmi, Federico; Tirone, Andrea; Colasanto, Giuseppina; Di Cosmo, Leonardo; Vuolo, Giuseppe; Pacini, FurioFormichi, Caterina; Cantara, Silvia; Ciuoli, Cristina; Neri, Ornella; Chiofalo, Francesco; Selmi, Federico; Tirone, Andrea; Colasanto, Giuseppina; Di Cosmo, Leonardo; Vuolo, Giuseppe; Pacini, Furi

Molsidomine treatment during embryonic development increases eVE-Cad⁺ derived cells contribution to MF20⁺ myotubes.

<p>A) Immunofluorescence (IF) using anti-EYFP and MF20 specific antibodies on transverse sections of Cdh5-CREERT2;R26R-EYFP E12.5 embryos untreated (CTRL) and treated with Molsidomine (MOLS). Nuclei were stained with Hoechst. Arrowheads indicate EYFP⁺MF20⁺ single-nucleated myocytes. Inset in panels represent a 5x magnification of the cells indicated by the white arrowhead. Scale bars: 50 um; B) Immunofluorescence (IF) using anti-EYFP and anti-MF20-specific antibodies on transverse sections of Cdh5-CREERT2;R26R-EYFP E15.5 fetuses untreated (CTRL) and treated with molsidomine (MOLS). Nuclei were stained with Hoechst. Arrowheads indicate EYFP⁺MF20⁺ single-nucleated myocytes/myofibers. Inset in panels represent a 5x magnification of the cells indicated by the white arrowhead. Scale bars: 50 um. C) Graph representing the quantification of the number of EYFP⁺/MF20⁺ cells per mm² in E12.5 and E15.5 embryos, performed by counting cells in at least 20 fields in different areas (20x and/or 40x) for each data point. Data are expressed as mean± S.E.M. *p≤0,05; **p≤0,005 MOLS vs CTRL (n = 4 embryos per group).</p