Publications by authors named "Azzara C"

Background: Whether solid organ transplant (SOT) can be safely performed in recipients with ongoing SARS-CoV-2 infection is still a debated question.

Methods: A systematic review of the literature on recipients with ongoing SARS-CoV-2 infection at the time of surgery and the associated outcomes.

Results: From 29 studies, we identified 54 recipients; their median age was 47.

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Article Synopsis
  • * A significant number of cases (around 63.7%) occurred within 100 days of transplantation, but some cases emerged at least a year later, with high mortality rates: 36.3% at 90 days and 63.4% at one year, particularly in patients with disseminated disease.
  • * Key factors influencing mortality included the use of multiple immunosuppressive drugs, the presence of diabetes, and the type of disease manifestation, suggesting a need for further research
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  • The study focused on comparing hospitalized vaccinated and non-vaccinated patients diagnosed with SARS-CoV-2 in three major hospitals in Northern Italy, investigating their clinical characteristics and outcomes.
  • Data analysis highlighted that vaccinated patients, despite having more serious underlying health issues, generally had milder COVID-19 symptoms and required less intensive care compared to non-vaccinated patients.
  • No significant difference in intra-hospital mortality rates was found between the two groups, indicating vaccination effectively reduces the likelihood of ICU admission but does not significantly impact overall survival rates in the hospital.
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Passive immunization with mAbs has been employed in COVID-19. We performed a systematic review of the literature assessing the endogenous humoral immune response against SARS-CoV-2 in patients treated with mAbs. Administration of mAbs in seronegative patients led to a reduction in both antibody titres and neutralizing activity against the virus.

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Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) are drugs growingly employed in cancer immunotherapy which have significantly improved the prognosis of several tumours. ICIs act by restoring the "exhausted" immune system and increasing the number of T cells active against pathogens losing tolerogenic signalling, which has been linked to an increased risk of infectious events. We present the case of a 67-year-old man with locally advanced lung adenocarcinoma treated with the anti-PD-L1 durvalumab.

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Background: Perfusion fluid (PRF) is employed in liver transplantation (LTx) to maintain graft viability. Still, it represents a new potential way of infection transmission in LTx recipients (LTRs). Currently, no systematic research has investigated this topic.

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Objectives: Monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) have proven to be a valuable tool against COVID-19, mostly among subjects with risk factors for progression to severe illness. Tixagevimab/cilgavimab (TIX/CIL), a combination of two Fc-modified human monoclonal antibodies, has been recently approved to be employed as early treatment.

Methods: Two groups of immunocompromised patients exposed to different early treatments (i.

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Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) are drugs growingly employed in the treatment of cancers, but there are still uncertainties about their possible role in the risk of developing nontuberculous mycobacteria (NTM) infections. To understand this, we performed a systematic review of the literature including studies published between 20 June 2012 and 20 June 2022 which described the occurrence of NTM infections among patients treated with ICIs. Overall, we included seven studies describing nine patients with NTM infection occurring during ICIs therapy.

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Non-tuberculous mycobacteria (NTM) are ubiquitous environmental microorganisms capable of a wide range of infections that primarily involve the lymphatic system and the lower respiratory tract. In recent years, cases of lung infection sustained by NTM have been steadily increasing, due mainly to the ageing of the population with underlying lung disease, the enlargement of the cohort of patients undergoing immunosuppressive medications and the improvement in microbiologic diagnostic techniques. However, only a small proportion of individuals at risk ultimately develop the disease due to reasons that are not fully understood.

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Psychotic-like experiences (PLEs) are a phenomenon that occurs in the general population experiencing delusional thoughts and hallucinations without being in a clinical condition. PLEs involve erroneous attributions of inner cognitive events to the external environment and the presence of intrusive thoughts influenced by dysfunctional beliefs; for these reasons, the role played by metacognition has been largely studied. This study investigates PLEs in a non-clinical population and discriminating factors involved in this kind of experience, among which metacognition, as well as psychopathological features, seems to have a crucial role.

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Individuals are guided in their actions in the world by a set of narratives portraying them in their relations with others. The narratives contain representations of self, of the world, of the various characters with which individuals interact and of the forms of relationship that they foresee establishing. Within the narratives the various characters, each from the position of an independent author, negotiate the meaning of events.

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We analyzed poisoning-related hospitalization and mortality rates among older adults living in Massachusetts during 1983-85. While poisoning-related hospitalization rates of individuals greater than or equal to 60 years were near the state average, death rates for men greater than or equal to 70 years and for women over 60 were higher than those of younger individuals. Medications and carbon monoxide were commonly implicated agents in these poisoning deaths.

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We evaluated the effectiveness of a community-based injury prevention program designed to reduce the incidence of burns, falls in the home, motor vehicle occupant injuries, and poisonings and suffocations among children ages 0-5 years. Between September 1980 and June 1982, we implemented five injury prevention projects concurrently in nine Massachusetts cities and town; five sites, matched on selected demographic characteristics, were control communities. An estimated 42 percent of households with children ages 0-5 years were exposed to one or more of the interventions over the two-year period in the nine communities.

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Eight lactating Holstein cows were used to study the effect of bovine somatotropin on mammary lipid metabolism, milk production, and milk composition. Eight cows were injected with either excipient (n = 4) or 50 IU somatotropin/d (n = 4). A 2-wk adjustment period preceded a 10-d period when treatments were administered.

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The ability of lipoprotein lipase to move across the mammary epithelium by a paracellular route was investigated. Five goats were milked hourly to activate the paracellular pathway. Three goats responded to hourly milking with a fivefold increase in milk lipoprotein lipase activity as compared with nonresponding goats.

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The effect of long-term administration of recombinant bovine somatotropin to dairy cows on milk lipoprotein lipase activity was investigated. Recombinant bovine somatotropin was administered daily to 32 cows (8/treatment). Treatments were 0 (control), 12.

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The influence of prolonged subclinical mastitis on bovine milk lipoprotein lipase activity was investigated. Nine cows with at least one quarter with prolonged subclinical mastitis and at least one nonmastitic quarter were selected in various stages of lactation. Milk from subclinical quarters had a mean somatic cell count of 5.

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Over half a million injuries related to bicycle crashes were seen in U.S. hospital emergency rooms in 1982.

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