Do Lifestyle Interventions before Gastric Bypass Prevent Weight Regain after Surgery? A Five-Year Longitudinal Study

It is unclear whether weight loss (WL) achieved by means of lifestyle interventions (LSIs) before bariatric surgery (BS) can improve long-term WL outcomes after surgery. We aimed to assess the impact of a structured LSI on WL% after gastric bypass (GBP). Two groups of patients were selected from a large cohort of participants with obesity who underwent GBP surgery at Santa Maria Nuova Hospital (Reggio Emilia, Italy). The groups were categorized as those who have or have not received LSI prior to GBP. The LSI group included 91 participants (cases) compared to 123 participants (controls) in the non-LSI group. WL% was measured at follow-up times of 1, 3, 6, 12, 24, 36, 48, and 60 months. The LSI group achieved a clinically significant WL% (-7.5%) before BS, and at the time of surgery, the two groups had similar body weights and demographic statuses. At all points, until the 24-month follow-up, the two groups displayed similar WLs%. With regard to the longer follow-ups, the LSI group maintained weight loss until the last timepoint (60 months), whereas the non-LSI group experienced weight regain at 36, 48, and 60 months. In a real-world context, a structured behavioral LSI prior to GBP seems to prevent longer-term weight regain

Influence of socio-demographic features and apolipoprotein E epsilon 4 expression on the prevalence of dementia and cognitive impairment in a population of 70-74-year olds: The InveCe.Ab study

Abstract The age-specific prevalence rates of dementia vary widely. Studies focusing on specific age groups are needed to provide reliable estimates for healthcare providers and policy makers. We estimated the prevalence of dementia, dementia subtypes and cognitive impairment in "InveCe.Ab" (ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT01345110 ), a single-step multidimensional population-based study of 70–74-year olds living in Abbiategrasso (Milan, Italy). We also looked for associations with socio-demographic factors and the presence of the apolipoprotein E-ɛ4 allele. The overall dementia prevalence was 3% (95%CI: 2.1–4.1%) [Alzheimer's disease (AD): 1.2% (95%CI 0.6–1.9%); vascular dementia (VD): 1.4% (95%CI: 0.8–2.2%)]. Being single was found to be a risk factor for vascular dementia; subjects born in southern Italy were shown to be at greater risk both of overall dementia and of vascular dementia. The prevalence of cognitive impairment, with or without subjective cognitive complaints (cognitive impairment, no dementia, CIND) was 7.8% (95%CI: 6.4–9.4%). As regards the CIND subgroups, the prevalence of subjects with subjective cognitive complaints (mild cognitive impairment, MCI) was 5.0% (95%CI 3.9–6.3%), while the prevalence of those without MCI (CIND-other) was 2.8% (95%CI: 1.9–3.8). The males had a higher risk of MCI and CIND-other; the older subjects were more likely to have MCI, and those born in north-eastern Italy to have CIND-other. The prevalence of AD was higher among the apolipoprotein E-ɛ4 carriers. Our data highlight the importance of dementia and cognitive impairment in the transitional period from adulthood to old age, and reveal the presence of different associations with socio-demographic and genetic factors

Intravitreal Dexamethasone Implant in Patients Who Did Not Complete Anti-VEGF Loading Dose During the COVID-19 Pandemic: a Retrospective Observational Study

Introduction To compare the functional and anatomic outcomes between eyes in patients with diabetic macular edema (DME) who underwent a complete anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) loading dose with aflibercept and those who were switched to dexamethasone intravitreal (DEX) implant after an incomplete anti-VEGF treatment regimen during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Methods This was a retrospective and comparative study conducted on patients with DME. Main outcome measures were mean change in best corrected visual acuity (BCVA) and central retinal thickness (CRT) from baseline to month 4. Results Forty-three eyes (23 eyes in the anti-VEGF group and 20 eyes in the DEX group) were included. Mean BCVA significantly improved from 37.7 +/- 25.3 and 35.7 +/- 22.0 letters at baseline to 45.4 (23.9) (mean adjusted BCVA improvement 7.6 +/- 20.8 letters, p = 0.033) and 46.1 +/- 26.0 (mean adjusted BCVA improvement 10.6 +/- 15.9 letters, p = 0.049) at month 4 in the anti-VEGF and DEX groups, respectively, with no significant differences between study groups (mean adjusted BCVA difference 2.8 letters, 95% CI - 9.4 to 14.9 letters, p = 0.648). There were no statistically significant differences in the proportion of eyes that achieved a BCVA improvement of >= 5, >= 10, and >= 15 letters between groups. CRT was significantly reduced from baseline to month 4 in both DEX (mean adjusted CRT reduction 167.3 +/- 148.2 mu m, p = 0.012) and anti-VEGF groups (mean adjusted CRT reduction 109.9 +/- 181.9 mu m, p < 0.001), with no differences between them (mean adjusted CRT difference 56.1 mu m, 95% CI - 46.0 to 158.2 mu m, p = 0.273). Of 20 eyes in the DEX group, 16 (80.0%) and 9 (45.0%) eyes achieved a CRT reduction of >= 20% from baseline at 2 months and at 4 months, respectively. Conclusions Our results seem to suggest that DEX implant can significantly improve both functional and anatomic clinical outcomes in patients who were unable to complete anti-VEGF loading dose during the COVID-19 pandemic

The botanical drug PBI-05204, a supercritical CO2 extract of Nerium oleander, sensitizes alveolar and embryonal rhabdomyosarcoma to radiotherapy in vitro and in vivo

: Treatment of rhabdomyosarcoma (RMS), the most common a soft tissue sarcoma in childhood, provides intensive multimodal therapy, with radiotherapy (RT) playing a critical role for local tumor control. However, since RMS efficiently activates mechanisms of resistance to therapies, despite improvements, the prognosis remains still largely unsatisfactory, mainly in RMS expressing chimeric oncoproteins PAX3/PAX7-FOXO1, and fusion-positive (FP)-RMS. Cardiac glycosides (CGs), plant-derived steroid-like compounds with a selective inhibitory activity of the Na+/K+-ATPase pump (NKA), have shown antitumor and radio-sensitizing properties. Herein, the therapeutic properties of PBI-05204, an extract from Nerium oleander containing the CG oleandrin already studied in phase I and II clinical trials for cancer patients, were investigated, in vitro and in vivo, against FN- and FP-RMS cancer models. PBI-05204 induced growth arrest in a concentration dependent manner, with FP-RMS being more sensitive than FN-RMS, by differently regulating cell cycle regulators and commonly upregulating cell cycle inhibitors p21Waf1/Cip1 and p27Cip1/Kip1. Furthermore, PBI-05204 concomitantly induced cell death on both RMS types and senescence in FN-RMS. Notably, PBI-05204 counteracted in vitro migration and invasion abilities and suppressed the formation of spheroids enriched in CD133+ cancer stem cells (CSCs). PBI-05204 sensitized both cell types to RT by improving the ability of RT to induce G2 growth arrest and counteracting the RT-induced activation of both Non-Homologous End-Joining and homologous recombination DSBs repair pathways. Finally, the antitumor and radio-sensitizing proprieties of PBI-05204 were confirmed in vivo. Notably, both in vitro and in vivo evidence confirmed the higher sensitivity to PBI-05204 of FP-RMS. Thus, PBI-05204 represents a valid radio-sensitizing agent for the treatment of RMS, including the intrinsically radio-resistant FP-RMS

OpenCoesione experience: citizen is the best communicator!

Communication plays an essential role in scientific projects, especially since it is possible to use social media and web platforms, to reach a wide audience. OpenCoesione is the “open-government” iniziative on cohesion polizie in Italy, a web plat form with navigable data on public programmed resources and expenses, that allows to evaluate how there sources are used. Any citizen can enrich this platform, analysing public projects and documentino the current state with open data. «A Scuola di OpenCoesione» is an innovative experimental project of school teaching of open government strategy of openness and transparency on development policies. The goal of A Scuola di Open Coesione is to involve and sensitize students and teachers to the use of contents and tools to learn and monitor the projects of cohesion policies, to build interdisciplinary educational programs starting from the projects financed on their respective territories and enriching, through crowd sourcing, the information base of OpenCoesione adding information and data that are not currently availableas, for example, geolocation,multimedia materials, the characteristics of the project, the physical performance of the works

Targeting Medium-Chain Acyl-CoA Dehydrogenase for Glioblastoma

View full abstracthttps://openworks.mdanderson.org/leading-edge/1041/thumbnail.jp

Rainfall Field Reconstruction by Opportunistic Use of the Rain-Induced Attenuation on Microwave Satellite Signals: The July 2021 Extreme Rain Event in Germany as a Case Study

This paper presents a practical application of an opportunistic technique for the estimation of rainfall intensity and accumulated precipitation. The proposed technique is based upon signal strength measurements made by commercial-grade interactive satellite terminals. By applying some processing, the rain-induced attenuation on the microwave downlink from the satellite is first evaluated; then the rain attenuation is eventually mapped into a rainfall rate estimate via a tropospheric model. This methodology has been applied to a test area of 30×30 km2 around the city of Dortmund (North Rhine-Westphalia, upper basin of Ermscher river), for the heavy rain event that devastated western Germany in July, 2021. A rainfall map on this area is obtained from the measurements collected by a set of satellite terminals deployed in the region, and successfully compared with a map obtained with a conventional weather radar

Exploiting videos for science communication: the edulab experience

Nowadays, science communication and popularisation are part of a scientist’s everiday life because because divulgation disseminates scientific information to the general pubblic, helping himto under stand specific scientific subject and the advancements of research, as well as inspiring critical reflection, awareness and environmentally responsible behaviours. A team of scientists, researches and technicians of the IAS-CNR of Capo Granitola welcomed this challenge, founding the EDULab group. Its core activities are addressed in science divulgation and experimentation of innovative approaches using emerging digital technologies. Among a variety of science comunication products, videos have proved to be one of the best ways to litterally «immerse» the audience in scientific research and make the experience fun, in particular for non scientic audience and young people