Keratitis: A Case Series and Review of Literature.

Background: is a filamentous fungus commonly used as an insecticide that rarely causes keratitis.

Methods: Patients affected by keratitis were retrospectively recruited at San Raffaele Hospital (Milan, Italy) between 2020 and 2022. All subjects underwent comprehensive ophthalmic evaluation, including in vivo confocal microscopy (IVCM) and microbiologic examination of corneal scrapings.

Answer to July 2023 Photo Quiz.

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Disentangling tumorigenesis-associated DNA methylation changes in colorectal tissues from those associated with ageing.

Physiological ageing and tumorigenesis are both associated with epigenomic alterations in human tissue cells, the most extensively investigated of which entails de novo cytosine methylation (i.e., hypermethylation) within the CpG dinucleotides of CpG islands.

Modified Kudo classification can improve accuracy of virtual chromoendoscopy with FICE in endoscopic surveillance of ulcerative colitis.

 Virtual chromoendoscopy with Fuji Intelligent Color Enhancement (FICE) has never been studied in prospective trials of endoscopic surveillance for ulcerative colitis (UC). We compared FICE and white light endoscopy (WLE) in differentiation of visible lesions in UC.  In a prospective parallel study, we compared consecutive outpatients with UC submitted to surveillance colonoscopy with FICE or WLE.

EUS-guided tissue acquisition in chronic pancreatitis: Differential diagnosis between pancreatic cancer and pseudotumoral masses using EUS-FNA or core biopsy.

Background And Objective: EUS-FNA sensitivity for malignancy in parenchymal masses of patients with concurrent chronic pancreatitis (CP) has been reported to be unsatisfactory. The aim of the present study was to directly compare the diagnostic accuracy of EUS-FNA and EUS-fine-needle biopsy (FNB) in differentiating between inflammatory masses and malignancies in the setting of CP.

Methods: We performed a retrospective analysis of prospective, multicentric databases of all patients with pancreatic masses and clinico-radiological-endosonographic features of CP who underwent EUS-FNA or FNB.

Epidemiological, clinical and pathological characteristics of gastric neoplasms in the province of Cremona: the experience of the first population-based specialized gastric cancer registry in Italy.

Background: The gastric cancer incidence rate differs widely across geographical areas. In Italy, in the province of Cremona the incidence is high, compared to the national situation. For this reason a specialized population-based registry was set up.

The proto CpG island methylator phenotype of sessile serrated adenomas/polyps.

Sessile serrated adenomas/polyps (SSA/Ps) are the putative precursors of the ~20% of colon cancers with the CpG island methylator phenotype (CIMP). To investigate the epigenetic phenotype of these precancers, we prospectively collected fresh-tissue samples of 17 SSA/Ps and 15 conventional adenomas (cADNs), each with a matched sample of normal mucosa. Their DNA was subjected to bisulfite next-generation sequencing to assess methylation levels at ~2.

Loss of expression of μ-protocadherin and protocadherin-24 in sporadic and hereditary nonpolyposis colorectal cancers.

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is a neoplastic disease in which normal mucosa undergoes a process of malignant transformation due to the progressive accumulation of molecular alterations affecting proto-oncogenes and oncosuppressor genes. Some of these modifications exert their carcinogenic potential by promoting a constitutive activation of the β-catenin signaling proliferation pathway, and when present, loss of cadherin expression also significantly contributes to the same effect. Using a combined approach of molecular and immunohistochemical analysis, we have previously demonstrated that most sporadic CRCs exhibit a down-regulated expression of a cadherin, named μ-protocadherin, that is generally observed in association with a higher proliferation rate and a worse prognosis.

Virtual Chromoendoscopy With FICE for the Classification of Polypoid and Nonpolypoid Raised Lesions in Ulcerative Colitis.

Goals: The aim of this study was to analyze the performance of Fuji Intelligent Color Enhancement (FICE) using the classification of Kudo in the differentiation of neoplastic and non-neoplastic raised lesions in ulcerative colitis (UC).

Background: The Kudo classification of mucosal pit patterns is an aid for the differential diagnosis of colorectal polyps in the general population, but no systematic studies are available for all forms of raised lesions in UC.

Study: All raised, polypoid and nonpolypoid, lesions found during consecutive surveillance colonoscopies with FICE for long-standing UC were included.

[Transcatheter valve-in-valve implantation in a patient with a degenerative sutureless aortic bioprosthesis: case report and literature review].

Sutureless aortic bioprostheses (SAB) provide shorter aortic cross-clamp time and cardiopulmonary bypass duration compared to conventional aortic valve replacement. Similarly to other bioprostheses, reintervention may become necessary in some cases because of long-term structural degeneration of the valve. Valve-in-valve (ViV) transcatheter aortic valve replacement may represent an effective and safe alternative to aortic valve replacement in patients with degenerated bioprostheses who carry a high risk for reintervention.

A propensity score matched comparative study between paclitaxel-coated balloon and everolimus-eluting stents for the treatment of small coronary vessels.

Objectives: To compare the long-term clinical outcomes of paclitaxel drug-coated-balloons (DCB) and everolimus-eluting-stents (EES) following the treatment of de novo small vessel coronary artery disease.

Background: It is currently unclear whether treatment of de novo small vessel coronary disease with DCB is comparable to second generation drug-eluting stents, which are the current standard of care.

Methods: The present study enrolled 90 patients with small vessel coronary disease from the DCB treatment arm of the BELLO (Balloon Elution and Late Loss Optimization) trial and 2,000 patients treated with EES at the San Raffaele Scientific Institute.

Non-variceal upper gastrointestinal bleeding: Rescue treatment with a modified cyanoacrylate.

Aim: To evaluate the safety and efficacy of a modified cyanoacrylate [N-butyl-2-cyanoacrylate associated with methacryloxysulfolane (NBCA + MS)] to treat non-variceal upper gastrointestinal bleeding (NV-UGIB).

Methods: In our retrospective study we took into account 579 out of 1177 patients receiving endoscopic treatment for NV-UGIB admitted to our institution from 2008 to 2015; the remaining 598 patients were treated with other treatments. Initial hemostasis was not achieved in 45 of 579 patients; early rebleeding occurred in 12 of 579 patients.

Targeted Proteomics for Multiplexed Verification of Markers of Colorectal Tumorigenesis.

Targeted proteomic methods can accelerate the verification of multiple tumor marker candidates in large series of patient samples. We utilized the targeted approach known as selected/multiple reaction monitoring (S/MRM) to verify potential protein markers of colorectal adenoma identified by our group in previous transcriptomic and quantitative shotgun proteomic studies of a large cohort of precancerous colorectal lesions. We developed SRM assays to reproducibly detect and quantify 25 (62.

Comparison of paclitaxel drug-eluting balloon and paclitaxel-eluting stent in small coronary vessels in diabetic and nondiabetic patients - results from the BELLO (balloon elution and late loss optimization) trial.

Objectives: To evaluate the impact of diabetes on the efficacy of drug-eluting balloon (DEB) as compared to paclitaxel-eluting stent (PES) for the reduction of restenosis in small vessels according to the presence of diabetes in patients enrolled in the BELLO (Balloon Elution and Late Loss Optimization) trial.

Background: Small vessel disease is common in diabetic patients but currently there are no available data regarding DEB in these patients.

Methods: In the BELLO trial, 182 patients with lesions in small vessels were randomized 1:1 to receive DEB or PES.

Relationship between early administration of abciximab and TIMI flow in STEMI patients undergoing primary angioplasty: findings from a large regional STEMI network.

Aims: The aim of this study is to assess whether in S-T Elevation Myocardial Infarction (STEMI) a relationship between early administration of abciximab and Thrombolysis In Myocardial Infarction (TIMI) flow before and after primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) in 960 consecutive patients exists.

Methods: From 1 February 2001 onward, in the Province of Mantua it has been operating a 'Cardiology Network for the Acute Infarction Care' having its Hub in the Central Coronary ICU/Cath Lab of Mantua Hospital and being its Spokes centers represented by the emergency rooms and Central Coronary ICUs of the four territorial hospitals.

Results: T1 (time from symptoms onset to first medical contact) and T2 (time from first medical contact to angioplasty) are shorter for patients rescued by first aid units rather than for those presented in emergency rooms as well as Ta (time from symptoms onset to abciximab administration).

Early precut sphincterotomy for difficult biliary access to reduce post-ERCP pancreatitis: a randomized trial.

Background And Study Aim: Precut sphincterotomy is a technique usually employed for difficult biliary cannulation during endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) for the treatment of bile duct disease. It is a validated risk factor for post-ERCP pancreatitis (PEP), but it is not clear whether the risk is related to the technique itself or to the repeated biliary cannulation attempts preceding it. The primary aim of the study was to assess the incidence of PEP in early precut compared with the standard technique in patients with difficult biliary cannulation.

Split-dose preparation for colonoscopy increases adenoma detection rate: a randomised controlled trial in an organised screening programme.

Objective: Although a split regimen of bowel preparation has been associated with higher levels of bowel cleansing, it is still uncertain whether it has a favourable effect on the adenoma detection rate (ADR). The present study was aimed at evaluating whether a split regimen was superior to the traditional 'full-dose, day-before' regimen in terms of ADR.

Design: In a multicentre, randomised, endoscopist-blinded study, 50-69-year-old subjects undergoing first colonoscopy after positive-faecal immunochemical test within an organised colorectal cancer organised screening programmes were 1:1 randomised to receive low-volume 2-L polyethylene glycol (PEG)-ascorbate solution in a 'split-dose' (Split-Dose Group, SDG) or 'day-before' regimen (Day-Before Group, DBG).