Publications by authors named "Alfano A"

Background: Controversies exist around the external validity of clinical trials on disease-modifying treatments for Alzheimer's disease (AD). Detailed information on the clinical characteristics of research participants is lacking, hampering the understanding of their representativeness.

Objective: This study aimed to systematically review the baseline comorbidities and health status of patients with AD enrolled in clinical trials.

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Article Synopsis
  • * In a study with 85 adults, 49.4% of patients showed at least a 90% improvement in eczema severity, while 61.2% had a favorable assessment from doctors.
  • * No major safety issues were reported, and naïve patients (those who hadn't previously tried treatment) had better outcomes than those who had failed another medication, highlighting its effectiveness in real-world settings.
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Triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) is a highly aggressive breast cancer subtype characterized by the lack in the expression of estrogen and progesterone receptors, and human epidermal growth factor receptors 2. TNBC stands out among other breast cancers subtypes for its high aggressiveness and invasiveness, and for the limited therapeutic options available, which justify the poor survival rates registered for this breast cancer subtype. Compelling new evidence pointed out the role of epigenetic modifications in cancer, prompting tumor cell uncontrolled proliferation, epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition, and metastatic events.

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Characterizing the structural development of the neural speech network in early childhood is important for understanding speech acquisition. To investigate speech in the developing brain, 94 children aged 4-7-years-old at risk for early speech disorder were scanned using diffusion weighted imaging (DWI) magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Additionally, each child completed the Syllable Repetition Task (SRT), a validated measure of phoneme articulation.

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@AntonioPulcine1, @KenYamazaki5, @EvelineTiekink, @TrevorAHamlin, @tnoel82, @HimsUva, @VU Science, @NoelGroupUvA.The homologous series of gaseous C1-4 alkanes represents one of the most abundant sources of short alkyl fragments. However, their application in synthetic organic chemistry is exceedingly rare due to the challenging C-H bond cleavage, which typically demands high temperatures and pressures, thereby limiting their utility in the construction of complex organic molecules.

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Fatigue is a common and distressful symptom in older people and has been associated with adverse health outcomes. Nevertheless, its sex-specific pathophysiological underpinnings and clinical correlates have been scarcely investigated. We aimed to comprehensively explore the clinical and neurobiological determinants of fatigue in cognitively unimpaired older adults.

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The widespread and irrational use of azole antifungal agents has led to an increase of azole-resistant strains with an urgent need for combination drug therapy, enhancing the treatment efficacy. Here, we report the discovery of a first-in-class pyrazole-isoxazole, namely, , that showed remarkable growth inhibition against the . ATCC 10231 strain in combination with voriconazole, acting as a downregulator of ERG 11 () gene expression with a significant reduction of the yeast-to-hypha morphological transition.

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Recent national estimates suggest that 1 in 2 women will experience intimate partner violence (IPV) in their lifetime. Given the high prevalence of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) among women experiencing IPV, it is necessary to consider whether PTSD assessments function adequately for this population. Thus, the present study aimed to evaluate the psychometric properties of the past-month version of the PTSD Checklist for DSM-5 (PCL-5), one of the most widely used self-report measures of PTSD symptoms, in a sample of community women experiencing IPV.

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A new photochemical CSTR system capable of handling solids in scaled continuous processes is presented. High-power UV-LEDs are integrated in these CSTRs containing an insoluble base that aids in generating pyrazolines cycloaddition between alkenes and generated diazo species. Contrary to reported batch methods product degradation ring contraction is suppressed whilst generating gram quantities of spirocyclic pyrazolines.

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According to the World Health Organization, social isolation, particularly of older adults, is a public health issue endangering the well-being of individuals, families, and communities. Social isolation affects health through biological, behavioral, and psychological pathways and is associated with physical and psychological/emotional well-being, increases morbidity and mortality rates, and lowers quality of life. This systematic review examined the relationship between social isolation and physical health, including subjective and objective dimensions, and factors that influence this relationship in adults.

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Lactobacillus paracasei IMC502® is a commercially successful probiotic strain. However, there are no reports that investigate growth medium composition in relation to improved biomass production for this strain. The major outcome of the present study is the design and optimization of a growth medium based on vegan components to be used in the cultivation of Lactobacillus paracasei IMC502®, by using Design of Experiments.

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This article defines the role that continuous flow chemistry can have in new reaction discovery, thereby creating molecular assembly opportunities beyond our current capabilities. Most notably the focus is based upon photochemical, electrochemical and temperature sensitive processes where continuous flow methods and machine assisted processing can have significant impact on chemical reactivity patterns. These flow chemical platforms are ideally placed to exploit future innovation in data acquisition, feed-back and control through artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) techniques.

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NOD1 and NOD2 are members of the pattern recognition receptors involved in the innate immune response. Overactivation of NOD1 is implicated in inflammatory disorders, multiple sclerosis, and cancer cell metastases. NOD1 antagonists would represent valuable pharmacological tools to gain further insight into protein roles, potentially leading to new therapeutic strategies.

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Agri-food residues offer significant potential as a raw material for the production of L-lactic acid through microbial fermentation. Weizmannia coagulans, previously known as Bacillus coagulans, is a spore-forming, lactic acid-producing, gram-positive, with known probiotic and prebiotic properties. This study aimed to evaluate the feasibility of utilizing untreated citrus waste as a sustainable feedstock for the production of L-lactic acid in a one-step process, by using the strain W.

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Herein we disclose a telescoped flow strategy to access electronically differentiated bisaryl ketones as potentially new and tunable photosensitizers containing both electron-rich benzene systems and electron-deficient pyridyl moieties. Our approach merges a light-driven (365 nm) and catalyst-free reductive arylation between aromatic aldehydes and cyanopyridines with a subsequent oxidation process. The addition of electron-donating and withdrawing substituents on the scaffold allowed effective modification of the absorbance of these compounds in the UV-vis region, while the continuous flow process affords high yields, short residence time, and high throughput.

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Background: Ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) is a health care-acquired infection that leads to poor patient outcomes, increased length of hospital stay, exhaustion of health care resources, and unnecessary increases in health care costs.

Objectives: This project was designed to educate registered nurses on the importance of an evidence-based VAP prevention bundle that reduces the overall incidence of VAP infections.

Methods: Patients (N = 146) were enrolled in this quasi-experimental project that took place in a 14-bed neuro trauma surgical burn intensive care unit (ICU) at a level 1 trauma center.

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Background: Globally, high rates of maternal and infant mortality call for interventions during the perinatal period to engage pregnant people as well as their loved ones in care. Mobile health technologies have become ubiquitous in our lives and in health care settings. However, there is a need to further explore their safety and effectiveness to support and improve health outcomes locally and globally.

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Currently, chondroitin sulfate (CS) and hyaluronic acid (HA) pharma-grade forms are used for osteoarthritis (OA) management, CS as an oral formulations component, and HA as intra-articular injective medical devices. Recently, unsulfated chondroitin, obtained through biofermentative (BC) manufacturing, has been proposed for thermally stabilized injective preparation with HA. This study aimed to highlight the specific properties of two commercial injective medical devices, one based on HA/BC complexes and the other containing HA, extractive CS, and cyclodextrins, in order to provide valuable information for joint disease treatments.

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Urinary tract infections (UTIs) and catheter-associated UTIs (CAUTIs) are the principal hospital-acquired infections. Between these, bacterial prostatitis is believed to be the leading cause of recurrent UTIs in men under 50 years of age and is often unresponsive to antibiotic treatment. is more commonly associated with UTIs in these abnormalities, especially in patients undergoing catheterization.

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Background: Meningitis is a possible complication of pneumococcal infection concerning acute otitis media and sinusitis. It might compromise cognitive function, both for the infection itself and the vascular events that sometimes follow the acute phase.

Case Summary: Here we describe the case of a 32-year-old female patient admitted to the emergency room due to extensive pneumococcal meningitis as a consequence of sinus outbreak.

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More than one million women are diagnosed annually worldwide with a gynecological cancer. Most gynecological cancers are diagnosed at a late stage, either because a lack of symptoms, such as in ovarian cancer or limited accessibility to primary prevention in low-resource countries, such as in cervical cancer. Here, we extend the studies of AR2011, a stroma-targeted and tumor microenvironment responsive oncolytic adenovirus (OAdV), whose replication is driven by a triple hybrid promoter.

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