Whole-Body Cryostimulation in Fibromyalgia: A Scoping Review

Currently, all available therapies for the control and management of fibromyalgia (FM) are mostly focused on relieving patients’ symptoms and improving their quality of life. The purpose of this review is to provide an up-to-date overview of the evidence supporting the beneficial effects of whole-body cryostimulation (WBC) in patients with FM and evidence-based guidance on the possible adjuvant use of WBC in the treatment of FM. We searched the most recent literature by retrieving 10 eligible studies, 4 of which were abstracts only, from a total of 263 records. Thermal stress caused by cryostimulation induces an analgesic effect, improving pain, redox balance, and inflammatory symptoms in an exercise-mimicking fashion. In addition, it reduces the feeling of fatigue, improves mood, and reduces mental health deterioration with positive consequences on depressive states and improved sleep quality. Although the studies included in this review are not of sufficient quality and quantity to draw definitive conclusions about the effectiveness of WBC in FM, initial evidence indicates WBC as a promising add-on option in the multidisciplinary treatment of FM, due to its rapid action and high patients’ compliance. The application of WBC protocols has the potential to expand therapeutic options for the treatment of FM and related disorders; however, larger, high-quality primary studies are still needed

Whole-Body Cryostimulation: A Rehabilitation Booster in Post-COVID Patients? A Case Series

Given the severity and prevalence of post-COVID-19 symptoms in the general population, the identification of boosters for rehabilitation programs appears to be of paramount importance. The purpose of this case series is to provide some preliminary evidence about the role of whole-body cryostimulation (WBC) as an effective adjuvant for the recovery of patients with the post-COVID-19 condition (PCC). We recruited seven patients with previously confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection and symptoms of PCC of different severities for a comprehensive rehabilitation program, including WBC. The main symptoms were dyspnea, chronic and muscular fatigue, chronic pain, and poor sleep quality. Moreover, some patients presented high levels of hematological markers of inflammation. Because we provided a range of interventions, including nutritional and psychological support along with physical exercise and physiotherapy, we could not determine to what extent WBC may per se have accounted for the clinical and functional improvements. However, for all reported cases, it was observed that the introduction of WBC sessions represented a turning point in the patient’s subjective and objective improvements related to health and functioning

Concept Tagging for Natural Language Understanding:Two Decadelong Algorithm Development

Concept tagging is a type of structured learning needed for natural language understanding (NLU) systems. In this task, meaning labels from a domain ontology are assigned to word sequences. In this paper, we review the algorithms developed over the last twenty five years. We perform a comparative evaluation of generative, discriminative and deep learning methods on two public datasets. We report on the statistical variability performance measurements. The third contribution is the release of a repository of the algorithms, datasets and recipes for NLU evaluation.L’annotazione automatica dei concetti è un tipo di apprendimento strutturato necessario per i sistemi di comprensione del linguaggio natural (NLU). In questo processo le etichette di un’ontologia di dominio sono assegnate a sequenze di parole. In questo articolo esaminiamo gli algoritmi sviluppati negli ultimi venticinque anni. Eseguiamo una valutazione comparativa dei metodi di apprendimento generativo, discriminatorio e approfondito su due set di dati pubblici. Il secondo contributo è un’analisi della variabilitá delle misure di valutazione. Il terzo contributo è il rilascio di un archivio degli algoritmi, dei sets di dati e delle ricette per la valutazione dell’NLU

Surgical treatment of primitive gastro-intestinal lymphomas: a systematic review

Primitive Gastrointestinal Lymphomas (PGIL) are uncommon tumours, although time-trend analyses have demonstrated an increase. The role of surgery in the management of lymphoproliferative diseases has changed over the past 40 years. Nowadays their management is centred on systemic treatments as chemo-/radio- therapy. Surgery is restricted to very selected indications, always discussed in a multidisciplinary setting. The aim of this systematic review is to evaluate the actual role of surgery in the treatment of PGIL

Colorectal Cancer Stage at Diagnosis Before vs During the COVID-19 Pandemic in Italy

IMPORTANCE Delays in screening programs and the reluctance of patients to seek medical attention because of the outbreak of SARS-CoV-2 could be associated with the risk of more advanced colorectal cancers at diagnosis. OBJECTIVE To evaluate whether the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic was associated with more advanced oncologic stage and change in clinical presentation for patients with colorectal cancer. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS This retrospective, multicenter cohort study included all 17 938 adult patients who underwent surgery for colorectal cancer from March 1, 2020, to December 31, 2021 (pandemic period), and from January 1, 2018, to February 29, 2020 (prepandemic period), in 81 participating centers in Italy, including tertiary centers and community hospitals. Follow-up was 30 days from surgery. EXPOSURES Any type of surgical procedure for colorectal cancer, including explorative surgery, palliative procedures, and atypical or segmental resections. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES The primary outcome was advanced stage of colorectal cancer at diagnosis. Secondary outcomes were distant metastasis, T4 stage, aggressive biology (defined as cancer with at least 1 of the following characteristics: signet ring cells, mucinous tumor, budding, lymphovascular invasion, perineural invasion, and lymphangitis), stenotic lesion, emergency surgery, and palliative surgery. The independent association between the pandemic period and the outcomes was assessed using multivariate random-effects logistic regression, with hospital as the cluster variable. RESULTS A total of 17 938 patients (10 007 men [55.8%]; mean [SD] age, 70.6 [12.2] years) underwent surgery for colorectal cancer: 7796 (43.5%) during the pandemic period and 10 142 (56.5%) during the prepandemic period. Logistic regression indicated that the pandemic period was significantly associated with an increased rate of advanced-stage colorectal cancer (odds ratio [OR], 1.07; 95%CI, 1.01-1.13; P = .03), aggressive biology (OR, 1.32; 95%CI, 1.15-1.53; P < .001), and stenotic lesions (OR, 1.15; 95%CI, 1.01-1.31; P = .03). CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE This cohort study suggests a significant association between the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic and the risk of a more advanced oncologic stage at diagnosis among patients undergoing surgery for colorectal cancer and might indicate a potential reduction of survival for these patients

Proceedings of the Fifth Italian Conference on Computational Linguistics CLiC-it 2018

On behalf of the Program Committee, a very warm welcome to the Fifth Italian Conference on Computational Linguistics (CLiC-­‐it 2018). This edition of the conference is held in Torino. The conference is locally organised by the University of Torino and hosted into its prestigious main lecture hall “Cavallerizza Reale”. The CLiC-­‐it conference series is an initiative of the Italian Association for Computational Linguistics (AILC) which, after five years of activity, has clearly established itself as the premier national forum for research and development in the fields of Computational Linguistics and Natural Language Processing, where leading researchers and practitioners from academia and industry meet to share their research results, experiences, and challenges

Characterization of AH-7921, a synthetic designer opioid

New psychoactive drugs are substances of new synthesis that have been designed to mimicking the psychotropic effect of traditional illicit drugs. The poor knowledge about these emerging drugs represents a serious problem for public health. Here we evaluated the pharmacological profile, the brain penetration and the motivational properties of the synthetic opioid 3,4-dichloro-N-{[1(dimethylamino)cyclohexyl]methyl}benzamide (AH-7921). At this time, no data are available concerning its pharmacokinetic profile and behavioral effects. To reach these goals independent groups of na\uefve male Wistar rats were used. The doses of AH-7921 to be tested were selected on the basis of the primary observation Irwin test. Pharmacokinetics of AH-7921 was evaluated by HPLC-MS/MS while rewarding properties of the drug were assessed in an unbiased conditioned place preference (CPP) paradigm. Pharmacokinetics studies found that Cmax was reached 30 min after treatment, either in plasma and brain with a brain-to-plasma ratio of ~20. Plasma and brain levels then declined with a similar t1/2 (~3 hours) whereas one of the metabolites (N-didesmethylated) showed a very slow elimination from brain tissue. CPP data demonstrate that like another opioid (morphine 6 mg/kg i.p.), AH-7921 10 mg/kg i.p., but not 1 and 3 mg/kg, induces preference for the drug-paired compartment. Taken together these data demonstrate that AH-7921 is a potent opioid-like drug eliciting positive motivational properties with highly risk of addiction related to the long lasting t1/2 of its metabolites

Validation of a new HPLC-MS/MS method for quantification of 4,4'-DMAR in human and rat plasma: application to pharmacokinetic studies in rat

Introduction: 4,4′-DMAR is a para-methyl analog of the known psychostimulants 4-methylaminorex and aminorex. In light of the reports of deaths associated with its abuse, and the easy accessibility by Internet vendors, the European Council recently decided control measures across Member States. Here we describe a validated method for measuring plasmatic levels of 4,4′-DMAR, crucial either for preclinical studies and analysis in human blood. Methods: Chromatography was performed by gradient elution on a Kinetex C18 column; MS detection was achieved by ESI positive ionization in MRM mode. The HPLC-MS/MS methods was validated following EMA guidelines in both human and rat plasma. Pharmacokinetic studies were conducted in rats. Results: Calibration curve was linear in the range 2.5-1000 ng/mL (r2 always > 0.993). The method was accurate (bias always ≤ 11.5%) and reproducible (% CV always ≤ 13.1). The recovery was high (> 93%) with a negligible matrix effect. Analytes were stable under all tested conditions. After acute intravenous treatment of rats with 1 mg/kg, plasma levels declined rapidly (≥ 80% in 4 hours), followed by a slow elimination phase (t1/2 of 5.14 ± 0.65 h). Rapid absorption was found after intraperitoneal administration (tmax = 15 min) and a rapid decline thereafter; Cmax and AUC0-240min showed dose-proportionality over the dose range 1-10 mg/kg. Conclusions: This method provides an accurate, precise, and sensitive method for 4,4’-DMAR quantification in plasma and was successfully applied to investigate pharmacokinetic properties in rats. Moreover the method could be applied to quantify 4,4’-DMAR levels in human plasma