The role of dietary nutrients in peripheral nerve regeneration

Peripheral nerves are highly susceptible to injuries induced from everyday activities such as falling or work and sport accidents as well as more severe incidents such as car and motorcycle accidents. Many efforts have been made to improve nerve regeneration, but a satisfactory outcome is still unachieved, highlighting the need for easy to apply supportive strategies for stimulating nerve growth and functional recovery. Recent focus has been made on the effect of the consumed diet and its relation to healthy and well-functioning body systems. Normally, a balanced, healthy daily diet should provide our body with all the needed nutritional elements for maintaining correct function. The health of the central and peripheral nervous system is largely dependent on balanced nutrients supply. While already addressed in many reviews with different focus, we comprehensively review here the possible role of different nutrients in maintaining a healthy peripheral nervous system and their possible role in supporting the process of peripheral nerve regeneration. In fact, many dietary supplements have already demonstrated an important role in peripheral nerve development and regeneration; thus, a tailored dietary plan supplied to a patient following nerve injury could play a non-negotiable role in accelerating and promoting the process of nerve regeneration

Factors affecting the reproduction and mass-rearing of sclerodermus brevicornis (Hymenoptera: Bethylidae), a natural enemy of exotic flat-faced longhorn beetles (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae: Lamiinae)

© 2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. Many species of long-horned beetles are invasive pests causing significant economic damage in agro-forestry systems. They spend the majority of their life-cycle concealed inside natural wood or wooden packaging materials and are largely protected from adverse environmental conditions and pesticide sprays. Biological control via parasitoid natural enemies including members of the bethylid genus Sclerodermus, has proven effective against some long-horned beetles that are invasive in China. In Europe, the biocontrol potential of native Sclerodermus species is being evaluated with a view to developing efficient mass-rearing techniques and then actively deploying them against invasive Asian beetles. Here, we continue evaluations of S. brevicornis by establishing that groups of females that have already reared offspring to emergence are capable of reproducing subsequent hosts and by evaluating the lifetime reproductive capacity of individual females provided with successive hosts. Additionally, we assess the laboratory shelf-life of adult females stored for different times at different temperatures including cold storage, and then assess the post-storage reproductive performance of groups of females provided with a single host. We found that adult female longevity declines with increasing storage temperature and that most aspects of subsequent performance are negatively affected by high temperatures. The adaptability to low temperature storage enhances the suitability of S. brevicornis to mass-rearing programs and thus biocontrol deployment

Association of kidney disease measures with risk of renal function worsening in patients with type 1 diabetes

Background: Albuminuria has been classically considered a marker of kidney damage progression in diabetic patients and it is routinely assessed to monitor kidney function. However, the role of a mild GFR reduction on the development of stage 653 CKD has been less explored in type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) patients. Aim of the present study was to evaluate the prognostic role of kidney disease measures, namely albuminuria and reduced GFR, on the development of stage 653 CKD in a large cohort of patients affected by T1DM. Methods: A total of 4284 patients affected by T1DM followed-up at 76 diabetes centers participating to the Italian Association of Clinical Diabetologists (Associazione Medici Diabetologi, AMD) initiative constitutes the study population. Urinary albumin excretion (ACR) and estimated GFR (eGFR) were retrieved and analyzed. The incidence of stage 653 CKD (eGFR < 60 mL/min/1.73 m2) or eGFR reduction > 30% from baseline was evaluated. Results: The mean estimated GFR was 98 \ub1 17 mL/min/1.73m2 and the proportion of patients with albuminuria was 15.3% (n = 654) at baseline. About 8% (n = 337) of patients developed one of the two renal endpoints during the 4-year follow-up period. Age, albuminuria (micro or macro) and baseline eGFR < 90 ml/min/m2 were independent risk factors for stage 653 CKD and renal function worsening. When compared to patients with eGFR > 90 ml/min/1.73m2 and normoalbuminuria, those with albuminuria at baseline had a 1.69 greater risk of reaching stage 3 CKD, while patients with mild eGFR reduction (i.e. eGFR between 90 and 60 mL/min/1.73 m2) show a 3.81 greater risk that rose to 8.24 for those patients with albuminuria and mild eGFR reduction at baseline. Conclusions: Albuminuria and eGFR reduction represent independent risk factors for incident stage 653 CKD in T1DM patients. The simultaneous occurrence of reduced eGFR and albuminuria have a synergistic effect on renal function worsening

New onset and flare of rheumatic diseases following COVID-19 vaccination are mild and respond well to treatment: 9-month follow-up data from a single centre cohort

Anti-COVID-19 vaccines have proved to be effective and well tolerated. Great attention is now being paid to the characterisation of possible adverse events associated to their administration. We report a case series of suspected rheumatic diseases (RDs) following anti-COVID-19 vaccination

Clinical predictors of response and discontinuation of belimumab in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus in real life setting. Results of a large, multicentric, nationwide study

OBJECTIVE: To investigate efficacy, safety and survival of belimumab and to identify predictors of drug response and drug discontinuation in patients with active SLE in clinical practice. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Data of SLE patients, treated with belimumab, from 11 Italian prospective cohorts were analyzed. SLEDAI-2K, anti-dsDNA, C3, C4, prednisone daily dose, DAS-28, 24-h proteinuria, CLASIa (Cutaneous LE Disease Area and Severity Index Activity) were recorded at baseline and every 6 months. SLE Responder Index-4 (SRI-4) was calculated at 12 and 24 months. Demographic and clinical features and comorbidities were included in the univariate and multivariate analysis. Adverse events were recorded at each visit. Statistics was performed using the SPSS software. RESULTS: We studied 188 SLE patients, mean follow-up 17.5 \ub1 10.6 months. The most frequent manifestations, which required the use of belimumab, were polyarthritis (45.2%) and skin rashes (25.5%). SRI-4 was achieved by 77.0% and 68.7% of patients at 12 and 24-months. Independent predictors of 12-month response were SLEDAI-2K 65 10 (OR 40.46, p = 0.001) and polyarthritis (OR 12.64, p = 0.001) and of 24-month response were SLEDAI-2K 65 10 (OR 15.97, p = 0.008), polyarthritis (OR 32.36, p = 0.006), and prednisone 657.5 mg/day (OR 9.94, p = 0.026). We observed a low rate of severe adverse events. Fifty-eight patients (30.8%) discontinued belimumab after a mean follow-up of 10.4 \ub1 7.5 months. The drug survival was 86.9%, 76.9%, 69.4%, 67.1%, and 61.9% at 6, 12, 18, 24, and 30 months, respectively. No factors associated with drug discontinuation were found. CONCLUSION: Belimumab is effective and safe when used in clinical practice setting

Early disease and low baseline damage predict response to belimumab in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus

Objective. To investigate predictors of response, remission, low disease activity (LDA), damage 3 and drug discontinuation in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) treated with 4 belimumab. 5 Methods. We retrospectively analysed data of a multicentre cohort of SLE patients receiving 6 intravenous belimumab. Proportion of patients achieving remission, LDA and SLE Responder 7 Index-4 (SRI-4) were evaluated. SLICC damage index (SDI) was calculated yearly. Predictors of 8 outcomes were investigated by multivariate logistic regression. 9 Results. We included 466 active SLE patients from 24 Italian centres: median (range) follow-up 10 18 (1-60) months. SRI-4 was achieved by 49.2%, 61.3%, 69.7%, 69.6% and 66.7% patients at 6, 11 12, 24, 36 and 48 months. Baseline predictors of response at 6 months were SLEDAI-2K≥10 (OR 12 3.14, 95%CI 2.033-4.860) and disease duration≤2 years (OR 1.94, 95%CI 1.078-3.473); at 12 13 months SLEDAI-2K≥10 (OR 3.48, 95%CI 2.004-6.025), SDI=0 (OR 1.74, 95%CI 1.036-2.923); 14 at 24 months SLEDAI-2K≥ 10 (OR 4.25, 95%CI 2.018-8.940), disease duration ≤2 years (OR 15 3.79, 95%CI 1.039-13.52); at 36 months SLEDAI-2K≥10 (OR 14.59, 95%CI 3.54-59.79) and 16 baseline smoking (OR 0.19, 95%CI 0.039-0.69). Patients spending≥25% follow-up in remission 17 (42.9%) or ≥ 50% in LDA (66.0%) accrued significantly less damage (p=0.046 and p=0.007). 18 Baseline SDI=0 independently predicted LDA ≥50% and remission ≥25%; the lower the baseline 19 damage, the higher the probability of remission ≥ 25%. Number of previous flares negatively 20 predicted belimumab discontinuation due to inefficacy (p= 0.009) 21 Conclusions. The early use of belimumab in patients with active SLE and low baseline damage 22 predicts favourable outcomes in a real-life setting

Early and Late Response and Glucocorticoid-Sparing Effect of Belimumab in Patients with Systemic Lupus Erythematosus with Joint and Skin Manifestations: Results from the Belimumab in Real Life Setting Study-Joint and Skin (BeRLiSS-JS)

Aim: To assess the efficacy of belimumab in joint and skin manifestations in a nationwide cohort of patients with SLE. Methods: All patients with skin and joint involvement enrolled in the BeRLiSS cohort were considered. Belimumab (intravenous, 10 mg/kg) effectiveness in joint and skin manifestations was assessed by DAS28 and CLASI, respectively. Attainment and predictors of DAS28 remission (<2.6) and LDA (≥2.6, ≤3.2), CLASI = 0, 1, and improvement in DAS28 and CLASI indices ≥20%, ≥50%, and ≥70% were evaluated at 6, 12, 24, and 36 months. Results: DAS28 < 2.6 was achieved by 46%, 57%, and 71% of patients at 6, 12, and 24 months, respectively. CLASI = 0 was achieved by 36%, 48%, and 62% of patients at 6, 12, and 24 months, respectively. Belimumab showed a glucocorticoid-sparing effect, being glucocorticoid-free at 8.5%, 15.4%, 25.6%, and 31.6% of patients at 6, 12, 24, and 36 months, respectively. Patients achieving DAS-LDA and CLASI-50 at 6 months had a higher probability of remission at 12 months compared with those who did not (p = 0.034 and p = 0.028, respectively). Conclusions: Belimumab led to clinical improvement in a significant proportion of patients with joint or skin involvement in a real-life setting and was associated with a glucocorticoid-sparing effect. A significant proportion of patients with a partial response at 6 months achieved remission later on during follow-up