Covid-19 cases in a no-Covid-19 geriatric acute care setting. A sporadic occurrence?

• Covid-19 cases are frequent in elderly patients admitted to acute no-Covid-19 units. • Healthcare personnel is at high risk to present coronavirus infection. • Hospital transmission of Covid-19 can be frequent in older individuals.

Glibenclamide Mimics Metabolic Effects of Metformin in H9c2 Cells.

Background: Sulfonylureas, such as glibenclamide, are antidiabetic drugs that stimulate beta-cell insulin secretion by binding to the sulfonylureas receptors (SURs) of adenosine triphosphate-sensitive potassium channels (KATP). Glibenclamide may be also cardiotoxic, this effect being ascribed to interference with the protective function of cardiac KATP channels for which glibenclamide has high affinity. Prompted by recent evidence that glibenclamide impairs energy metabolism of renal cells, we investigated whether this drug also affects the metabolism of cardiac cells.

The Severity of Acute Illness and Functional Trajectories in Hospitalized Older Medical Patients.

Background: Acute diseases and hospitalization are associated with functional deterioration in older persons. Although most of the functional decline occurs before hospitalization in response to the acute diseases, the role played by comorbidity in the functional trajectories around hospitalization is unclear.

Methods: Observational prospective study of 696 elderly individuals hospitalized in two Italian general medicine wards.

Discovery of a novel glucose metabolism in cancer: The role of endoplasmic reticulum beyond glycolysis and pentose phosphate shunt.

Cancer metabolism is characterized by an accelerated glycolytic rate facing reduced activity of oxidative phosphorylation. This "Warburg effect" represents a standard to diagnose and monitor tumor aggressiveness with (18)F-fluorodeoxyglucose whose uptake is currently regarded as an accurate index of total glucose consumption. Studying cancer metabolic response to respiratory chain inhibition by metformin, we repeatedly observed a reduction of tracer uptake facing a marked increase in glucose consumption.

Cavin-1 and Caveolin-1 are both required to support cell proliferation, migration and anchorage-independent cell growth in rhabdomyosarcoma.

Rhabdomyosarcoma (RMS) is a childhood soft tissue tumor with broad expression of markers that are typically found in skeletal muscle. Cavin-1 is a recently discovered protein actively cooperating with Caveolin-1 (Cav-1) in the morphogenesis of caveolae and whose role in cancer is drawing increasing attention. Using a combined in silico and in vitro analysis here we show that Cavin-1 is expressed in myogenic RMS tumors as well as in human and primary mouse RMS cultures, exhibiting a broad subcellular localization, ranging from nuclei and cytosol to plasma membrane.