Le funzioni metacognitive nei pazienti con disturbi del comportamento alimentare. Uno studio sul trattamento di gruppo psicodinamico

There is an emerging empirical evidence that patients with eating disorders have severe metacognitive concerns, i.e. ability to reflect on mental states. This single-case study aims to explore the relationship between limited metacognition and eating symptoms in six patients who attended a long-term group treatment. This study also aims at analysing the change of patients metacognition over the course of treatment. All the patients were female, with a mean age of 17 years. Three patients have a diagnosis of anorexia nervosa, and three have a diagnosis of bulimia nervosa. The group treatment was delivered in a outpatient clinic of the hospital of Acireale (CT). The SVaM (Carcione et al., 1997) was used to measure metacognition of patients, by analysing the transcripts of group sessions. The preliminary findings, which included the first year of the group treatment (N=27 group sessions) showed that metacognitive dysfunctions more evident concern Understanding One's Own Mind and Mastery. The first concerns abilities to reflect on the own mental states; the second concerns ability of regulation and control. Data show that patients don't present failures in the Understanding Other's Minds. The study has not identified meaningful differences between anorexic patients and bulimic patients

Bacterial and Fungal Co-Infections and Superinfections in a Cohort of COVID-19 Patients: Real-Life Data from an Italian Third Level Hospital

The use of immune suppressive drugs combined with the natural immune suppression caused by SARS-CoV-2 can lead to a surge of secondary bacterial and fungal infections. The aim of this study was to estimate the incidence of superinfections in hospitalized subjects with COVID-19. We carried out an observational retrospective single center cohort study. We enrolled patients admitted at the “Garibaldi” hospital for ≥72 h, with a confirmed diagnosis of COVID-19. All patients were routinely investigated for bacterial, viral, and fungal pathogens. A total of 589 adults with COVID-19 were included. A total of 88 infections were documented in different sites among 74 patients (12.6%). As for the etiology, 84 isolates were bacterial (95.5%), while only 4 were fungal (4.5%). A total of 51 episodes of hospital-acquired infections (HAI) were found in 43 patients, with a bacterial etiology in 47 cases (92.2%). Community-acquired infections (CAIs) are more frequently caused by Streptococcus pneumoniae, while HAIs are mostly associated with Pseudomonas aeruginosa. A high rate of CAIs and HAIs due to the use of high-dose corticosteroids and long hospital stays can be suspected. COVID-19 patients should be routinely evaluated for infection and colonization. More data about antimicrobial resistance and its correlation with antibiotic misuse in COVID-19 patients are required

High-Risk HPV CISH Detection in Cervical Biopsies with Weak and/or Focal p16 Immunohistochemical Positivity

In cervical biopsies, for diagnosis of Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) related conditions, the immunohistochemical staining for p16 has a diagnostic value only if diffusely and strongly positive, pattern named “block-like”. “Weak and/or focal (w/f) p16 expression” is commonly considered nonspecific. In our previous study, we demonstrated the presence of high-risk HPV (hrHPV) DNA by LiPa method in biopsies showing w/f p16 positivity. The aim of the present study was to investigate the presence of hrHPV-DNA by CISH in the areas showing w/f p16 expression. We assessed the presence of hrHPV16, 18, 31, 33, 51 by CISH in a group of 20 cervical biopsies showing w/f p16 expression, some with increased Ki67, and in 10 cases of block-like expression, employed as control. The immunohistochemical p16 expression was also assessed by digital pathology. hrHPV-CISH nuclear positivity was encountered in 12/20 cases of w/f p16 expression (60%). Different patterns of nuclear positivity were identified, classified as punctate, diffuse and mixed, with different epithelial distributions. Our results, albeit in a limited casuistry, show the presence of HPV in an integrated status highlighted by CISH in w/f p16 positive cases. This could suggest the necessity of a careful follow-up of the patients with “weak” and/or “focal” immunohistochemical patterns of p16, mainly in cases of increased Ki67 cell proliferation index, supplemented with molecular biology examinations

Visible light-activated water-soluble Platicur nanocolloids: photocytotoxicity and metabolomics studies in cancer cells

none9noNanoparticles-based drug delivery systems for cancer therapy offer great promising opportunity as they specifically target cancer cells, also increasing the bioavailability of anticancer drugs characterized by low water solubility. Platicur, [Pt(cur)(NH3)2](NO3), is a cis-diamine-platinum(II) complex linked to curcumin. In this work, an ultrasonication method, coupled with Layer by Layer technology, allows to obtain highly aqueous stable Platicur nanocolloids of about 100 nm. The visible light activated Platicur nanocolloids showed an increased drug release and antitumor activity on HeLa cells, with respect Platicur Nanocolloids in darkness. This occurrence could give very interesting insight for a selective activation of the nano-delivered Pt(II) complex and a possible side effects lowering. For the first time, the metabolic effects of Platicur nanocolloids photoactivation, in Hela cell line, have been investigated using a NMR based metabolomics approach coupled with statistical multivariate data analysis (MVA). The reported results highlight specific metabolic differences between photoactivated and non-photoactivated Platicur NCs treated HeLa cancer cells.This study was supported by “Tecnopolo di Nanotecnologia e Fotonica per la Medicina di Precisione” (TECNOMED)- FISR/MIUR-CNR: delibera CIPE n.3449 del 7/08/2017, CUP: B83B17000010001; “Tecnopolo per la Medicina di precisione" (TecnoMed Puglia) - Regione Puglia: DGR n.2117 del 21/11/2018, CUP: B84I18000540002; Italian Ministero dell’Istruzione, dell’Universita’ e della Ricerca within the program: Assegnazione risorse ai Consorzi Interuniversitari di Ricerca per “Progetti competitivi” (Decreto Ministeriale 29 marzo 2016 n. 202); and the PON 254/Ric. Potenziamento del “CENTRO RICERCHE PER LA SALUTE DELL’UOMO E DELL’AMBIENTE” Cod. PONa3_00334.restrictedFederica De Castro, Viviana Vergaro, Michele Benedetti, Francesca Baldassarre, Laura Del Coco, Maria Michela Dell’Anna, Piero Mastrorilli, Francesco Paolo Fanizzi, Giuseppe CiccarellaDE CASTRO, Federica; Vergaro, Viviana; Benedetti, Michele; Baldassarre, Francesca; DEL COCO, Laura; Michela Dell’Anna, Maria; Mastrorilli, Piero; Fanizzi, Francesco Paolo; Ciccarella, Giusepp

Photoactivated aqueous nanocolloids of Platicur: NMR metabolomic study of treated HeLa cancer cells

Platicur is a cis-diamine-platinum(II) complex linked to curcumin. Previous studies have shown that the photoactivation of Platicur, with visible light, is responsible for the production of active species of platinum(II) and a photoactive curcumin. The active species formed act synergistically causing an interesting anticancer activity. In this work, we tried to improve the antitumor activity of photoactivated Platicur by using a nano delivery system. With this aim, Platicur's aqueous chitosan nanocolloids were synthesized, Figure 1. The preliminary in vitro biological assays on HeLa tumor cell line have demonstrated a significantly higher cytotoxicity (a significantly lower IC50 dose) of the photoactivated nanocolloids with Platicur, compared to the photoactivated Platicur not encapsulated in the nanocolloids. The use of a metabolomic approach based on NMR spectroscopy in the research of the mechanism of action or for the evaluation of the tumor response to the anticancer metal drugs is a new tool of recent growth. The side effects induced by metal based drugs, the prediction of the response to treatment and the key information on the mechanism of action (for known and new compounds) could be easily obtained using NMR-based metabolomics. [2, 3] For this reason, the 1H NMR spectroscopy coupled with multivariate statistical analysis was used to characterize the metabolic variations of intracellular metabolites and the compositional changes of the corresponding culture media of HeLa cells treated with photoactivated Platicur nanocolloids. The metabolomic analysis allowed to highlight specific metabolic differences between the cells treated with photoactivated Platicur nanocoloids compared to non-photoactivated ones. The NMR has once again proved to be a valid tool for the study of the mechanism of action of metal-based drugs

Podocalyxin is expressed in normal and leukemic monocytes

We have investigated the expression of podocalyxin in primary cultures of leukemic blast cells from 73 patients with acute mycloid leukemia. Podocalyxin was expressed at moderate levels in 15 patients and at high levels in 13 patients. The analysis of membrane markers showed that Podocalyxin expression in leukemic blasts was associated with a monocytic immunophenotype. Cases of podocalyxin-positive acute myelogenous leukemia had high blastcell counts at diagnosis and elevated CD123, CD135, VLA-4 and CXCR4 expression, features associated with poor prognosis. Podocalyxin expression in leukemic blasts was coupled with the concomitant expression of VEGF-RI, -R2, -R3 and Tie-2, the capacity to release VEGF-A and angiopoictin1 and the ability to differentiate into endothelial cells under appropriate culture conditions. These findings show that podocalyxin is a marker of acute myeloid leukemia with a monocytic phenotype and suggest that podocalyxin-positive cases of acute myeloid leukemia originate from the malignant transformation of progenitors common to the mycloid and endothelial lineages. These observations suggest a possible relationship between the monocytic lineage and podocytes. (c) 2006 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved

Sicurezza e singolarit\ue0

La nostra \ue8 la condizione di esistenza dell\u2019uomo prometeico. L\u2019oligarchia non pu\uf2 accettare l\u2019uguaglianza. Costantemente cerca di minarla alla radice. Attua anche condizioni di oggettivo assoggetta- mento. Tuttavia, almeno fin qui, il verso impresso alla storia dall\u2019uomo moderno non \ue8 cambiato, nonostante tutto. La condizione giuridica dell\u2019esistenza materiale dei singoli resta orientata dall\u2019uguaglianza, dalla democrazia, dalla laicit\ue0 dello Stato. Non \ue8 cambiato il verso, ma non cessa di subire attacchi capaci di ribaltarlo. La storia del secolo appena trascorso, con le ideologie totalitarie, basta a convincere che uguaglianza, democrazia, laicit\ue0 dello Stato non possono mai conside- rarsi condizioni acquisite una volta per tutte. E i tempi attuali non smentiscono questa conclusione. Come per Prometeo, c\u2019\ue8 sempre un\u2019aquila che per ordine di uno Zeus \ue8 pronta a mangiare il fegato all\u2019uomo. In questo Volume, studiosi di discipline civilistiche, costitu- zionalistiche e internazionalistiche, oltre che filosofi del diritto, hanno sottolineato con i loro contributi il pericolo che sempre accompagna l\u2019uguaglianza, la democrazia, la laicit\ue0 dello Stato, pericolo rappresen- tato dal sempre possibile affermarsi di forme e modi oligarchici; peri- colo tanto pi\uf9 grave quanto pi\uf9 la condizione di uguaglianza viene data per scontata e l\u2019oligarchia viene data per superata