Recurrent pericardial effusion after cardiac surgery: the use of colchicine after recalcitrant conventional therapy

Pericardial effusion represents a common postoperative complication in cardiac surgery. Nonetheless, it can be resistant to conventional therapy leading to prolonged in-hospital stay and worsening of clinical conditions

Chloroplast SSR markers to assess DNA diversity in wild and cultivated grapevines

Research Not

Management of pericarditis in women

The risk of developing pericarditis is similar in men and women. However, systemic autoimmune diseases are more common in women and may determine an increased risk of recurrences and complications. Specific management issues for women with pericarditis include pregnancy and lactation. Relatively few data have been published on pericardial involvement during pregnancy, and major concerns of clinicians are related to management issues, especially medical treatment. Nowadays, the general outcomes of these pregnancies can be similar to that expected in the general population when carefully followed by dedicated multidisciplinary teams. The aim of this article is to review the management of pericarditis with a focus on gender-specific issues

Genetic relationships among grapevine cultivars grown in Oltrepò Pavese (Italy)

In order to evaluate the genetic distance among 47 grapevine accessions, including major and minor local cultivars grown in Oltrepò pavese (Pavia, Italy), DNA has been analysed with the AFLP approach (VOS et al. 1995). The electrophoretic analysis of the products amplified by 3 primer combinations showed high polymorphism.Furthermore, considering that DNA markers for haploid, uniparentally inherited genomes, such as the chloroplast DNA, are important indicators of pedigree, CpSSR analysis was also performed and this identified cases of maternal common origin among the analysed cultivars. The results show that these molecular tools allow univocal genotype identification and that the analysed germplasm has a wide genetic dissimilarity. Results are coherent with the postulation of a polycentric origin for the Oltrepò pavese cultivars and of a multiple varietal flow from different viticultural regions. The molecular information gathered in this research is essential for the establishment of an appropriate presentation programme of autochthonous varieties

Acute idiopathic pericarditis: current immunological theories

Alida LP Caforio,1 Renzo Marcolongo,2 Antonio Brucato,3 Luca Cantarini,4 Massimo Imazio,5 Sabino Iliceto11Division of Cardiology, Department of Cardiology, Thoracic and Vascular Sciences, University of Padua, Padua; 2Haematology and Clinical Immunology, Department of Medicine, University of Padua, Padua, 3Internal Medicine, Ospedali Riuniti, Bergamo, 4Rheumatology Unit, Policlinico Le Scotte, University of Siena, Siena, 5Department of Cardiology, Maria Vittoria Hospital, Torino, ItalyAbstract: Idiopathic recurrent acute pericarditis (IRAP) is a rare disease of suspected immune-mediated pathogenesis. It represents a diagnosis of exclusion. It is necessary to rule out infectious and noninfectious causes of pericardial inflammation, including systemic autoimmune and immune-related disorders, eg, Sjögren's disease, systemic lupus erythematosus. Since pericarditis may precede diagnosis of these disorders, IRAP diagnosis is often made after a long follow-up. According to the two main pathogenetic theories IRAP may represent an organ-specific autoimmune disease or an autoinflammatory disease (AInfD). The main evidence for autoimmunity in IRAP is provided by the detection of serum antiheart and antiintercalated-disk autoantibodies, and the response to anti-inflammatory or immunosuppressive therapy. The findings of familial forms and of proinflammatory cytokines in the pericardial fluid in IRAP would be in keeping with both organ-specific autoimmune disease and AInfD. In fact, AInfD are genetic disorders characterized by primary dysfunction of the innate immune system, due to mutations of genes involved in the regulation of the inflammatory response, in the absence of antigen specific T cells or autoantibodies. In AInfD there are active disease phases with raised non-cardiac specific inflammatory markers, such as C-reactive protein, as well as symptom-free intervals with possible C-reactive protein normalization. A minority of IRAP patients (6%) carry a mutation in the TNFRSF1A gene, encoding the receptor for tumor necrosis factor-alfa. This suggests that some IRAP patients may have an atypical or subclinical form of AInfD. Thus, IRAP may represent a syndrome with distinct pathogenetic mechanisms in different patients' subsets.Keywords: pericarditis, autoimmunity, autoantibodies, heart disease, immune factor

Normative EMG activation patterns of school-age children during gait

Gait analysis is widely used in clinics to study walking abnormalities for surgery planning, definition of rehabilitation protocols, and objective evaluation of clinical outcomes. Surface electromyography allows the study of muscle activity non-invasively and the evaluation of the timing of muscle activation during movement. The aim of this study was to present a normative dataset of muscle activation patterns obtained from a large number of strides in a population of 100 healthy children aged 6-11 years. The activity of Tibialis Anterior, Lateral head of Gastrocnemius, Vastus Medialis, Rectus Femoris and Lateral Hamstrings on both lower limbs was analyzed during a 2.5-min walk at free speed. More than 120 consecutive strides were analyzed for each child, resulting in approximately 28,000 strides. Onset and offset instants were reported for each observed muscle. The analysis of a high number of strides for each participant allowed us to obtain the most recurrent patterns of activation during gait, demonstrating that a subject uses a specific muscle with different activation modalities even in the same walk. The knowledge of the various activation patterns and of their statistics will be of help in clinical gait analysis and will serve as reference in the design of future gait studies

Molecular approach to assess the origin of cv. Marzemino

DNA marker analysis was used to determine the varietal identity of Marzemino accessions in public collections and private Italian vineyards; relationships among this varietal group and Vertzami, a traditional Greek cultivar, were also investigated through SSR and AFLP approaches. Molecular results strongly support the relationship among Vertzami cultivars growing in Greece, Marzemino and several Italian accessions selected on the basis of etymological similarity. SSR data exclude a direct descent of Marzemino, or other related Italian varieties, from Vertzami; on the other hand the level of similarity among Vertzami, Marzemino and some related varieties indicates a possible common ancestor. None of the accessions is considered as common ancestor but on the basis of genomic variability in the Marzemino group and of the relationships with the other Italian cultivars a probable Italian ancestor is supposed.

Considerations on the European wild grapevine (Vitis vinifera L. ssp. sylvestris (Gmelin) Hegi) and Phylloxera infestation

Research Note