Obesity-Related Chronic Kidney Disease: Principal Mechanisms and New Approaches in Nutritional Management.

Obesity is the epidemic of our era and its incidence is supposed to increase by more than 30% by 2030. It is commonly defined as a chronic and metabolic disease with an excessive accumulation of body fat in relation to fat-free mass, both in terms of quantity and distribution at specific points on the body. The effects of obesity have an important impact on different clinical areas, particularly endocrinology, cardiology, and nephrology.

Isolated Abducens Nerve Palsy in a Patient With COVID-19: A Case Report and Literature Review.

Introduction: The pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) stands as a major global health and social burden. As cases are growing, several other symptoms, besides the typical respiratory ones, are emerging. The involvement of the nervous system is increasingly recognized with manifestations ranging from hyposmia to meningoencephalitis and cranial neuropathies.

An Innovative Synbiotic Formulation Decreases Free Serum Indoxyl Sulfate, Small Intestine Permeability and Ameliorates Gastrointestinal Symptoms in a Randomized Pilot Trial in Stage IIIb-IV CKD Patients.

Proteolytic dysbiosis of the gut microbiota has been recognized as both a typical feature of chronic kidney disease (CKD) and a risk factor for its progression. Blood accumulation of gut-derived uremic toxins (UTs) like indoxyl sulfate (IS) and p-cresyl sulfate (PCS), intestinal permeability and constipation are typical features accompanying CKD progression and triggering chronic inflammation. In order to verify the efficacy of the innovative synbiotic formulation NATUREN G in modulating the levels of circulating UTs, intestinal permeability and gastrointestinal symptoms, we set up a randomized, single-blind, placebo-controlled, pilot trial in stage IIIb-IV CKD patients and in healthy controls.

Cerebral cavernous malformation in a patient with pontine hemorrhage: A case study.

The cerebral cavernous malformations are benign vascular hamartomas, with thin and dilated vascular walls and therefore constantly susceptible to hemorrhage. Clinically, they present with recurrent headaches, acute intracranial hemorrhage and focal neurological deficits. They are considered as and the imaging technique of choice for their diagnosis is magnetic resonance tomography.

Effect of restorative, endodontic, and fatigue treatments on the cuspal deflection of maxillary premolars subjected to different cyclic occlusal forces: an in vitro study.

This study aimed to determine the effect of adhesive direct composite restorations, endodontic treatments, and fatigue treatments on the cuspal deflection of maxillary premolars subjected to different cyclic occlusal forces. Thirty intact maxillary second premolars were selected. Ten teeth were left untreated (group IN), 10 teeth were subjected to endodontic and restorative treatment (group FL), and the remaining 10 teeth were subjected to endodontic, restorative, and fatigue treatments (group FT).

Polymerization degree and cementation methods of two different self-adhesive luting cements used for glass fiber postcementation.

Aim: Aim of this study was to evaluate two different luting cements and how their clinical procedures influence the postcementation quality.

Methods: Thirty-six freshly extracted mono-radicular teeth (N.=18) were treated endodontically and randomly divided into two groups.

Degree of conversion of dual-cure resins light-cured through glass-fiber posts.

Purpose: To evaluate the degree of conversion (DC) of dual-curing materials used to lute glass-fiber posts in a simulated root canal polymerized by two different modalities.

Methods: Artificial root canals were used to simulate a clinical condition to lute 45 posts by three different dual curing luting cements (Calibra, Multilink Automix and Variolink II). Two light cure modalities were chosen for each luting cement: standard (S group) 400 mW/cm2 for 120 seconds and high-power (H group) 1200 mW/cm2 for 40 seconds.

Adhesive restoration of endodontically treated premolars: influence of posts on cuspal deflection.

Purpose: To determine, by means of a non-destructive experimental procedure, the effectiveness of adhesive restorations in reducing the cuspal deflection of endodontically treated premolars, with or without root canal fiber posts.

Materials And Methods: The cuspal deflection of ten sound, intact maxillary premolars was evaluated. A loading device induced deformation by axial force (ranging from 98 to 294 N) applied on the occlusal surface of teeth while laser sensors registered the amount of deflection.

Degree of conversion of three composite materials employed in the adhesive cementation of indirect restorations: a micro-Raman analysis.

Objectives: Adhesive luting of indirect restorations can be carried out employing dual- or light-curing materials. This in vitro study evaluated the degree of conversion (DC) of the materials employed in this procedure, seeking how the combination of time and power of curing applied during polymerisation, as well as the temperature of the light-curing composite, influenced the DC.

Materials And Methods: One hundred and eighty onlays of different thicknesses (2 mm, 3 mm, 4 mm) were luted with three different composites: two dual-curing cements (Variolink II and Calibra) and a light-curing composite (Venus).

Bilateral symmetric polyarthralgia revealing Fanconi's syndrome.

We report the case of a 45-year-old woman who presented with a six-year history of diffuse polyarthralgia responsible for major disability. She reported bilateral symmetric arthralgia in nearly every joint, as well as back pain. Muscle wasting predominating in the roots of the limbs was found.

Uveitis, an under-recognized adverse effect of pamidronate. Case report and literature review.

Ophthalmologic adverse effects of bisphosphonate therapy are infrequent and of unclear pathogenesis. The most common has been anterior uveitis, of which 18 cases have been reported. Onset was within 24 to 48 hours after infusion initiation, and both eyes were affected in most patients.

Fibrous dysplasia with intramuscular myxoma (Mazabraud's syndrome). Report of a case and review of the literature.

About 30 cases of fibrous dysplasia associated with one or more myxomas (Mazabraud's syndrome) have been reported since 1926. We report a new case in a woman with polyostotic fibrous dysplasia and a myxoma in the left femoral muscle. She also had a history of precocious sexual development and café au lait spots, two manifestations whose association with polyostotic fibrous dysplasia defines McCune-Albright syndrome.

Anteroposterior atlantoaxial subluxation in cervical spine osteoarthritis: case reports and review of the literature.

Nontraumatic anteroposterior atlantoaxial subluxation (AAS) has been described in several rheumatic or inherited disorders, especially rheumatoid arthritis and to a lesser extent the inflammatory spondyloarthropathies. We describe AAS secondary to osteoarthritis (OA) of the cervical spine in a 76-year-old man and a 73-year-old woman with severe cervical OA, symptomatic C1-C2 facet joints, and signs of generalized OA. Only 6 similar cases exist in the literature.

The intravertebral vacuum phenomenon ("vertebral osteonecrosis"). Migration of intradiscal gas in a fractured vertebral body?

Study Design: Retrospective cohort.

Objectives: To compare the prevalence of the association between contiguous intervertebral disc and vertebral collapses with or without an intravertebral vacuum phenomenon.

Summary Of Background Data: The mechanism of occasional gas accumulation within some vertebral collapses is poorly known.

Bone mineral density in patients given oral vitamin K antagonists.

Background: Divergent results have been obtained in studies of bone mineral density in patients under oral vitamin K antagonists.

Objective: To gather prospective data on bone mineral density and bone metabolism in 70 aortic valve replacement patients.

Study Design: 49 patients who had been under oral vitamin K antagonists for at least one year after implantation of a mechanical aortic valve were compared with 21 recipients of a tissue aortic valve that did not require anticoagulant therapy.

Bone insufficiency fractures as an inaugural manifestation of primary hyperparathyroidism.

Primary hyperparathyroidism causes excessive bone resorption with a decrease in bone mineral density. Fractures of the vertebras and appendicular bones, however, seem uncommon, even in the long term. We report three patients who presented with bone insufficiency fractures as the inaugural symptom of primary hyperparathyroidism.

Insufficiency fractures of the medial femoral condyle.

We report six cases of insufficiency fractures of the medial femoral condyle responsible for severe mechanical pain in the medial knee compartment in the absence of any identifiable precipitating factor. Suggestive changes were seen on initial roentgenograms in only one case, whereas increased radionuclide uptake was a consistent finding on the bone scan. The diagnosis was established only by magnetic resonance imaging in five cases.

[Post-traumatic psoriatic arthritis. 2 cases].

Physical trauma is generally accepted as a possible factor in the pathogenesis of rheumatoid arthritis. In the last ten years, there have been a few rare case reports of physical trauma precipitating psoriasic arthritis. We observed two such cases following an occupational accident discovered one and a half year and two and a half year after onset of the first clinical manifestations.

Lack of correlation between pharmacokinetics and efficacy of low dose methotrexate in patients with rheumatoid arthritis.

Objective: To determine if the variability in the efficacy of methotrexate (MTX) in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is correlated with its pharmacokinetics.

Methods: MTX pharmacokinetics was evaluated in 46 patients with RA starting a weekly intramuscular low dose MTX treatment. The patients were divided into 32 responders and 14 nonresponders to MTX according to the clinical response in the 6 months after the pharmacokinetic study.

Total and free methotrexate pharmacokinetics, with and without piroxicam, in rheumatoid arthritis patients.

The pharmacokinetic profile of total and free methotrexate (MTX) and the effect of piroxicam on MTX pharmacokinetics was studied in 20 rheumatoid arthritis patients receiving a stable dosage of MTX (10 mg/week). Plasma protein binding ranged from 25 to 55%. To describe the variations with time of the unbound fractions a mathematical characterization relationship between the total and free MTX was used.

Erosive polyarthritis and Crohn's disease. A case with HLA DRB1 determination.

The authors report the case of a 49-year-old woman with an asymmetrical, seronegative and peripheral polyarthritis with erosions, who subsequently developed Crohn's disease. She was diagnosed as having an erosive Crohn polyarthritis as no evidence of rheumatoid arthritis was found. However, the patient was homozygote for DR4 and the HLA DRB1 oligotyping was 0401/0404.