The impact of body mass index on the pregnancy outcomes and risk of perinatal depression: Findings from a multicenter Italian study.

Background: Body Mass Index (BMI) is an informative factor on body fatness which has been associated to higher levels of Perinatal Depression (PD) and complications during pregnancy. We aimed to explore the impact of pre-pregnancy and postnatal BMI on the risk of Perinatal Depression and pregnancy outcomes among women recruited at their third trimester of pregnancy.

Methods: We report on findings from a large multi-centre study conducted in the South of Italy and involving 1611 women accessing three urban gynaecological departments from July to November 2020.

Perinatal depression screening and prevention: Descriptive findings from a multicentric program in the South of Italy.

Introduction: Perinatal depression (PD) is a cluster of clinical depressive symptoms occurring globally during pregnancy or after childbirth, with a prevalence of 11.9%. Risk factors for PD among pregnant women may include personality traits of neuroticism, low personal resilience, higher anxiety, avoidance in close relationships, as well as dysfunctional coping strategies.

Blood supply, transfusion demand and mortality in Italian patients hospitalised during nine months of COVID-19 pandemic.

Background: We describe blood supply and usage from March to December 2020 in two research medical hospitals in the Apulia region of Italy: Research Hospital "Casa Sollievo della Sofferenza" (Centre 1) and University Hospital of Bari (Centre 2).

Materials And Methods: We performed a retrospective observational study of blood component transfusions in the first eight months of the pandemic: 1 March-31 December 2020. We assessed the number of hospitalised patients who were transfused, the number and type of blood components donated and the number and type of blood components transfused in different care settings.

Nutrition and Metabolic Adaptations in Physiological and Complicated Pregnancy: Focus on Obesity and Gestational Diabetes.

Pregnancy offers a window of opportunity to program the future health of both mothers and offspring. During gestation, women experience a series of physical and metabolic modifications and adaptations, which aim to protect the fetus development and are closely related to both pre-gestational nutritional status and gestational weight gain. Moreover, pre-gestational obesity represents a challenge of treatment, and nowadays there are new evidence as regard its management, especially the adequate weight gain.

Gestational diabetes: A link between OGTT, maternal-fetal outcomes and maternal glucose tolerance after childbirth.

Background And Aim: The relationship among distribution of pathological values at the Oral Glucose Tolerance Test (OGTT), metabolic risk factors and pregnancy outcomes in women with Gestational Diabetes (GDM), has not been clearly identified. We retrospectively compared metabolic and therapeutic parameters, maternal-fetal outcomes and post-partum OGTTs, with respect to the number and distribution of altered values of diagnostic OGTT in pregnancy. Secondly, we assessed whether insulin therapy predictive factors were identifiable.

Jugular diameter and venous reflux.

Objectives: Aims of this study were to investigate the prevalence of reflux on internal jugular veins(IJV) by Valsalva maneuver and to define the association between reflux of IJV in subjects with both CCSVI and MS.

Methods: We recruited 393 patients with MS and CCSVI. Study participants underwent EchoColor Doppler exam in order to define IJV diameter at confluence in subclavian (JSd).

Class II-selective histone deacetylase inhibitors. Part 2: alignment-independent GRIND 3-D QSAR, homology and docking studies.

(Aryloxopropenyl)pyrrolyl hydroxamates were recently reported by us as first examples of class II-selective HDAC inhibitors and can be useful tools to probe the biology of such enzymes. Molecular modelling and 3-D QSAR studies have been performed on a series of 25 (aryloxopropenyl)pyrrolyl hydroxamates to gain insights about their activity and selectivity against both maize HD1-B and HD1-A, two enzymes homologous of mammalian class I and class II HDACs, respectively. The studies have been accomplished by calculating alignment-independent descriptors (GRIND descriptors) using the ALMOND software.

Small molecule inhibitors of histone arginine methyltransferases: homology modeling, molecular docking, binding mode analysis, and biological evaluations.

The screening of the inhibition capabilities of dye-like small molecules from a focused library against both human PRMT1 and Aspergillus nidulans RmtA is reported as well as molecular modeling studies (homology modeling, molecular docking, and 3-D QSAR) of the catalytic domain of the PRMT1 fungal homologue RmtA. The good correlation between computational and biological results makes RmtA a reliable tool for screening arginine methyltransferase inhibitors. In addition, the binding mode analyses of tested derivatives reveal the crucial role of two regions, the pocket formed by Ile12, His13, Met16, and Thr49 and the SAM cisteinic binding site subsite.