Tauroursodeoxycholic acid (TUDCA) increases the influx of primary bile acids into the gut. Results obtained on animal models suggested that Firmicutes and Proteobacteria phyla are more resistant to bile acids in rats. As part of a pilot study investigating the role of probiotics supplementation in elderly people with home enteral nutrition (HEN), a case of a 92-year-old woman with HEN is reported in the present study.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Prognostic risk stratification in older adults with type 2 diabetes (T2D) is important for guiding decisions concerning advance care planning.
Materials And Methods: A retrospective longitudinal study was conducted in a real-world sample of older diabetic patients afferent to the outpatient facilities of the Diabetology Unit of the IRCCS INRCA Hospital of Ancona (Italy). A total of 1,001 T2D patients aged more than 70 years were consecutively evaluated by a multidimensional geriatric assessment, including physical performance evaluated using the Short Physical Performance Battery (SPPB).
The ability to image human tissue samples in 3D, with both cellular resolution and a large field of view (FOV), can improve fundamental and clinical investigations. Here, we demonstrate the feasibility of light-sheet imaging of ~5 cm sized formalin fixed human brain and up to ~7 cm sized formalin fixed paraffin embedded (FFPE) prostate cancer samples, processed with the FFPE-MASH protocol. We present a light-sheet microscopy prototype, the cleared-tissue dual view Selective Plane Illumination Microscope (ct-dSPIM), capable of fast 3D high-resolution acquisitions of cm scale cleared tissue.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFHealthcare workers (HCWs) are reluctant to participate in the influenza vaccination program, despite their high risk to contract and diffuse influenza due to professional exposure. The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic could raise HCW flu vaccination adherence. The aim of this study was to assess HCW attitudes toward influenza vaccination in the COVID-19 era.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjectives: To explore variables associated with adverse maternal/fetal/neonatal outcomes among pregnant/postpartum patients admitted to ICU for hypertensive disorders of pregnancy (HDP).
Methods: Multicenter, prospective, national cohort study.
Results: Variables independently associated with maternal/fetal/neonatal mortality among 172 patients were as follows: Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation-II (APACHE-II)(OR1.
The efficacy of Covid-19 vaccine in hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) recipients is still unknown. We planned a prospective study to evaluate the immune response after the administration of Covid-19 vaccine in HSCT recipients. Fifty patients previously submitted to HSCT (38 autologous and 12 allogeneic) received the mRNA-based SARS-CoV-2 vaccine BNT162b2 (Pfizer-BioNTech).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntroduction: Nomophobia, a form of behavioral addiction, is uncontrolled, obsessive fear of being disconnected from the mobile phone network. Excessive use of smartphone during care, a source of errors and distractions, is among the top ten risks related to the use of technologies in healthcare. The study aims to investigate the presence of nomophobia among nurses and students of the Degree in Nursing and any differences based on gender, age group and seniority.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFHealth and social management of the SARS-CoV-2 epidemic, responsible for the COVID-19 disease, requires both screening tools and diagnostic procedures. Reliable screening tests aim at identifying (truely) infectious individuals that can spread the viral infection and therefore are essential for tracing and harnessing the epidemic diffusion. Instead, diagnostic tests should supplement clinical and radiological findings, thus helping in establishing the diagnosis.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: Many authors have investigated the most appropriate surgical approach to the deviated septum in childhood, considering the obligate mouth-breathing habit a possible cause of malocclusion and disharmonious development of the facial skeleton in growing kids. Nevertheless, controversies still remain about the long-term functional/esthetic results of such procedures, mainly due to the duration of the follow-up and possible confounding factors.
Methods: 111 Caucasian children (age range: 6-13 years) were submitted to a personal "Quick" septoplasty surgical technique between 2005 and 2010.
The novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has caused a pandemic, threatening global public health. In the current paper, we describe our successful treatment of one COVID-19 pneumonia patient case with high mortality risk factors. Our experience underlines the importance of the use of a multidisciplinary therapeutic approach in order to achieve a favorable clinical outcome.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFOtolaryngol Head Neck Surg
January 2021
While olfactory dysfunction associated with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has attracted considerable interest, few studies have tracked outcomes at serial time points or beyond 2 weeks. Furthermore, data are conflicting regarding whether COVID-19 severity correlates with degree of olfactory dysfunction. This prospective case-control study analyzed prevalence and severity of subjective loss of smell in outpatients (n = 23) and inpatients (n = 20) with confirmed severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection vs healthy controls (n = 25).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Preservation rhinoplasty (PR) is revolutionizing rhinoplasty surgery, based on new anatomical studies, advanced tip suture techniques, and refinement of surgical techniques. Septal surgery is a fundamental preparatory stage during PR, especially for the dorsal preservation let/push-down procedure. To increase the predictability of the septoplasty aesthetic effects on the nasal dorsum and further extend the principles of PR to septal surgery, we applied the endoscopic technology to the "quick" septoplasty technique we had already developed in the past decades.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFEur J Cancer Care (Engl)
September 2020
Objective: International guidelines recommend genetic counselling and if indicated the genetic testing for treatment, disease prevention and follow-up for patients and their relatives. However, there is limited utilisation of genetic counselling. This study aimed to verify whether an individual semi-structured guideline-based interview improves the identification of patients eligible for genetic counselling.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFTangier disease is an autosomal recessive disorder caused by mutations in the ABCA1 gene and characterized by the accumulation of cholesteryl ester in various tissues and a near absence of high-density lipoprotein. The subject in this investigation was a 36-year-old Italian man with Tangier disease. He and his wife had come to the In Vitro Fertilization Unit, Pesaro Hospital (Azienda Ospedaliera Ospedali Riuniti Marche Nord) seeking help regarding fertility issues.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntroduction: The "intentional roundings" are planned rounds, conducted at regular intervals by nursing staff to anticipate care, comfort, hospitality and psychological needs of hospitalized users. These purposes are achieved with a structured way to make observations and carry out activities for well-being and patient safety, documenting what was done with a structured ad hoc form. In the United Kingdom, as well as in the USA, intentional rounding is an established model of care that improve the safety of provided care, to reduce the occurrence of preventable events, address proactively basic caring needs, and that increase users and staff satisfaction.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Brugada syndrome (BrS) is a primary electrical disease associated with an increased risk of sudden cardiac death due to ventricular fibrillation. This pathology has nuclear heterogeneous genetic origins, and at present, molecular diagnostic tests on nuclear DNA cover only 30% of BrS patients. The aim of this study was to assess the possible involvement of mitochondrial (mt) DNA variants in BrS since their etiological role in several cardiomyopathies has already been described.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: To evaluate pregnant/postpartum patients requiring ICUs admission in Argentina, describe characteristics of mothers and outcomes for mothers/babies, evaluate risk factors for maternal-fetal-neonatal mortality; and compare outcomes between patients admitted to public and private health sectors.
Design: Multicenter, prospective, national cohort study.
Setting: Twenty ICUs in Argentina (public, 8 and private, 12).
Solitary fibrous tumors (SFT) are rare, ubiquitous neoplasms of mesenchymal origin, with distinctive histopathological and immunohistochemical features. We herein report an unusual case of a presacral SFT diagnosed in an asymptomatic 40-year-old woman preoperatively investigated with computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging. Post-operative pathology examination showed a SFT containing foci of extramedullary hematopoiesis.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPalliative care is aimed to improve the quality of life of both patients and their family members during the course of life-threatening diseases through the prevention, early identification and treatment of the symptoms of physical, psychological, spiritual and social suffering. Palliative care should be provided to every critically ill patient; this requirement renders the training of intensive care practitioners and education initiatives fundamental. Continuing the Technical Council on End of Life and Palliative Care of the Brazilian Association of Intensive Medicine activities and considering previously established concepts, the II Forum of the End of Life Study Group of the Southern Cone of America was conducted in October 2010.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSeveral approaches exist to ascertain the connectivity of the brain, and these approaches lead to markedly different topologies, often incompatible with each other. Specifically, recent single-cell recording results seem incompatible with current structural connectivity models. We present a novel method that combines anatomical and temporal constraints to generate biologically plausible connectivity patterns of the visual system of the macaque monkey.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Personal experience concerning the treatment of 8 patients with infrarenal aortic aneurysms associated with extravascular non-neoplastic abdominal diseases is presented.
Methods And Results: In all 7 cases which underwent combined surgical procedures (aneury-smectomy + cholecystectomy in 4 patients and aneurysmectomy + groin hernia repair in 3 patients) early and late postoperative complications were not recorded.
Conclusions: The main therapeutic guidelines concerning the pathologic association of infrarenal aortic aneurysms associated with extravascular non-neoplastic abdominal diseases are discussed on the basis of a literature review and of personal experience.