Meropenem-vaborbactam as intrathecal-sparing therapy for the treatment of carbapenem-resistant K. pneumoniae shunt-related ventriculitis: two case reports and review of the literature.

Recently, an increase in cases of multidrug-resistant Gram-negative bacteria post-neurosurgical ventriculitis and meningitis is reported. Treating these infections has become challenging due to the limited availability of antibiotics and the need to select those with optimal pharmacodynamic and pharmacokinetic profiles. There is limited evidence regarding the use of meropenem-vaborbactam in treating carbapenem-resistant Enterobacterales infections of the central nervous system.

Solid waste management in Ugandan developing cities: Material flow analysis and sustainable practices for reducing the global warming potential.

The introduction of appropriate solid waste management (SWM) strategies can foster the mitigation of waste open dumping and burning in low-income developing cities. In this work, the SWM system in Gulu (Uganda) has been studied, and a material flow analysis, also of informal flows of waste, has been carried out. Moreover, the effectiveness of the SWM system of St.

Inhaled colistimethate sodium in patients with bronchiectasis and Pseudomonas aeruginosa infection: results of PROMIS-I and PROMIS-II, two randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled phase 3 trials assessing safety and efficacy over 12 months.

Background: Chronic lung infection with Pseudomonas aeruginosa is associated with increased exacerbations and mortality in people with bronchiectasis. The PROMIS-I and PROMIS-II trials investigated the efficacy and safety of 12-months of inhaled colistimethate sodium delivered via the I-neb.

Methods: Two randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled trials of twice per day colistimethate sodium versus placebo were conducted in patients with bronchiectasis with P aeruginosa and a history of at least two exacerbations requiring oral antibiotics or one requiring intravenous antibiotics in the previous year in hospitals in Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Greece, Israel, Italy, Netherlands, New Zealand, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland, the UK, and the USA.

Outcomes and safety of atezolizumab plus bevacizumab in the treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma: treatment prognosis and comparison with tyrosine kinase inhibitors in a French multicenter matched real-life study.

Background And Aims: The combination of atezolizumab plus bevacizumab (Atz/Bev) has radically changed the treatment strategy for advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) but raises questions. Our objectives were to determine survival outcomes and safety in a real-life multicenter French cohort, to investigate the on-treatment prognostic value of the bioinflammatory RECA score, and to perform a matched comparison with patients who previously received tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs).

Methodology: A retrospective analysis of 109 consecutive patients enrolled from September 2020 to January 2023 and a post matched comparison with a TKI cohort ( n  = 79) by the propensity score matching method.

Organic waste valorization in remote islands: Analysis of economic and environmental benefits of onsite treatment options.

Solid waste management (SWM) represents an important issue for small islands. This research evaluates the municipal SWM system of the Pelagian archipelago, in Italy. The research aims to evaluate environmental and econoemic benefits of onsite treatment plants for the valorization of the organic fraction of municipal solid waste.

Second-line therapy for advanced hepatocellular carcinoma with regorafenib or cabozantinib: Multicenter French clinical experience in real-life after matching.

Background: Starting a second-line systemic treatment for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a common situation. The only therapeutic options in France are two broad-spectrum tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs), regorafenib (REG) and cabozantinib (CBZ), but no comparative real-life studies are available.

Aim: To evaluate the progression-free survival (PFS) of patients treated with REG or CBZ, we investigated the disease control rate (DCR), overall survival (OS), and safety of both drugs.

Legionella and Air Transport: A Study of Environmental Contamination.

Introduction: There is growing interest in the public health and transport sectors in research into exposure to biological hazards, considering not only the risks arising from inter-human contagion, but also those related to exposure to the flight environment itself. The aim of this paper is to report data from an investigation into the water and air-conditioning systems of commercial aircraft for the presence of Legionella contamination, with a total of 645 water samples taken during the period 2007−2021. Methods: The investigation involved 126 aircraft of six different commercial aircraft types: MD80, Airbus A320 F, Embraer 175/190, AIRBUS A330, Boeing 767 and Boeing 777.

Policies and Toxicological Screenings for No Drug Addiction: An Example from the Civil Aviation Workforce.

Introduction: Since 2008, Italian legislators, with the aim of ensuring public safety, have made it mandatory for an occupational doctor (OD) to assess specific categories of workers to exclude those who may have consumed drugs of abuse. Due to the relevance of work activities relating to the civil aviation and airport sector, a policy based on the use of training and information tools, as well as a health surveillance protocol, has been undertaken since 2009.

Materials And Methods: A total of 61,008 workers at a commercial airline underwent health surveillance between 2009 and 2019.

Therapeutic efficacy of proton transport inhibitors alone or in combination with cisplatin in triple negative and hormone sensitive breast cancer models.

Triple negative breast cancers (TNBCs) are very aggressive and have a poor prognosis due to lack of efficacious therapies. The only effective treatment is chemotherapy that however is frequently hindered by the occurrence of drug resistance. We approached this problem in vitro and in vivo on a triple negative and a hormone sensitive breast cancer cell lines: 4T1 and TS/A.

The Role of Endoplasmic Reticulum in the Differential Endurance against Redox Stress in Cortical and Spinal Astrocytes from the Newborn SOD1 Mouse Model of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis.

Recent studies reported that the uptake of [18F]-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) is increased in the spinal cord (SC) and decreased in the motor cortex (MC) of patients with ALS, suggesting that the disease might differently affect the two nervous districts with different time sequence or with different mechanisms. Here we show that MC and SC astrocytes harvested from newborn B6SJL-Tg (SOD1) 1Gur mice could play different roles in the pathogenesis of the disease. Spectrophotometric and cytofluorimetric analyses showed an increase in redox stress, a decrease in antioxidant capacity and a relative mitochondria respiratory uncoupling in MC SOD1 astrocytes.

Expected outcomes and patients' selection before chemoembolization-"Six-and-Twelve or Pre-TACE-Predict" scores may help clinicians: Real-life French cohorts results.

Background: Careful selection of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients prior to chemoembolization treatment is a daily reality, and is even more necessary with new available therapeutic options in HCC.

Aim: To propose two new models to better stratify patients and maximize clinical benefit: "6 and 12" and "pre/post-TACE-predict" (TACE, transarterial chemoembolization).

Methods: We evaluated and compared their performance in predicting overall survival with other systems {Barcelona Clinic Liver Cancer (BCLC), Albumin-Bilirubin (ALBI) and NIACE [Number of tumor(s), Infiltrative HCC, alpha-fetoprotein, Child-Pugh (CP), and performance status]} in two HCC French cohorts of different stages enrolled between 2010 and 2018.

Rebalancing expression of HMGB1 redox isoforms to counteract muscular dystrophy.

Muscular dystrophies (MDs) are a group of genetic diseases characterized by progressive muscle wasting associated to oxidative stress and persistent inflammation. It is essential to deepen our knowledge on the mechanism connecting these two processes because current treatments for MDs have limited efficacy and/or are associated with side effects. Here, we identified the alarmin high-mobility group box 1 (HMGB1) as a functional link between oxidative stress and inflammation in MDs.

CXCR4 engagement triggers CD47 internalization and antitumor immunization in a mouse model of mesothelioma.

Boosting antitumor immunity has emerged as a powerful strategy in cancer treatment. While releasing T-cell brakes has received most attention, tumor recognition by T cells is a pre-requisite. Radiotherapy and certain cytotoxic drugs induce the release of damage-associated molecular patterns, which promote tumor antigen cross-presentation and T-cell priming.

The Status of Quality Improvement Programs for Pediatric Traumatic Brain Injury Care in Argentina.

Introduction: Trauma quality improvement (QI) programs improve care and outcomes for injured patients. Information about QI programs for pediatric traumatic brain injury (TBI) is sparse in Latin America.

Methods: We gathered data on the status of QI programs and activities that encompass pediatric TBI at 15 Argentine hospitals.

18F-Fluorodeoxyglucose Positron Emission Tomography Tracks the Heterogeneous Brain Susceptibility to the Hyperglycemia-Related Redox Stress.

In cognitively normal patients, mild hyperglycemia selectively decreases 18F-Fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) uptake in the posterior brain, reproducing Alzheimer disease pattern, hampering the diagnostic accuracy of this widely used tool. This phenomenon might involve either a heterogeneous response of glucose metabolism or a different sensitivity to hyperglycemia-related redox stress. Indeed, previous studies reported a close link between FDG uptake and activation of a specific pentose phosphate pathway (PPP), triggered by hexose-6P-dehydrogenase (H6PD) and contributing to fuel NADPH-dependent antioxidant responses in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER).

Mechanisms underlying the predictive power of high skeletal muscle uptake of FDG in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.

Background: We recently reported that enhanced [18F]-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) uptake in skeletal muscles predicts disease aggressiveness in patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). The present experimental study aimed to assess whether this predictive potential reflects the link between FDG uptake and redox stress that has been previously reported in different tissues and disease models.

Methods: The study included 15 SOD1 mice (as experimental ALS model) and 15 wildtype mice (around 120 days old).

The Elusive Link Between Cancer FDG Uptake and Glycolytic Flux Explains the Preserved Diagnostic Accuracy of PET/CT in Diabetes.

This study aims to verify in experimental models of hyperglycemia induced by streptozotocin (STZ-DM) to what degree the high competition between unlabeled glucose and metformin (MET) treatment might affect the accuracy of cancer FDG imaging. The study included 36 "control" and 36 "STZ-DM" Balb/c mice, undergoing intraperitoneal injection of saline or streptozotocin, respectively. Two-weeks later, mice were subcutaneously implanted with breast (4 T1) or colon (CT26) cancer cells and subdivided in three subgroups for treatment with water or with MET at 10 or 750 mg/Kg/day.

FDG uptake tracks the oxidative damage in diabetic skeletal muscle: An experimental study.

Objectives: The present study aims to verify the relationship between glucose consumption and uptake of F-2-deoxy-glucose (FDG) in the skeletal muscle (SM) of experimental models of streptozotocin-induced diabetes mellitus (STZ-DM).

Methods: The study included 36 Balb/c mice. Two weeks after intraperitoneal administration of saline (control group, n = 18) or 150 mg streptozotocin (STZ-DM group, n = 18), the two cohorts were submitted to an oral glucose tolerance test and were further subdivided into three groups (n = 6 each): untreated and treated with metformin (MTF) at low or high doses (10 or 750 mg/kg daily, respectively).

Sorafenib: Experience and Better Manage-ment of Side Effects Improve Overall Survival in Hepatocellular Carcinoma Patients: A Real-Life Retrospective Analysis.

Background: Sorafenib is the first-line treatment for advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). The management of its side effects is improving. This study aimed to assess, in real life, if this translates into a better prognosis.

A novel knock-in mouse model of cryopyrin-associated periodic syndromes with development of amyloidosis: Therapeutic efficacy of proton pump inhibitors.

Background: Cryopyrin-associated periodic syndromes (CAPS) are a group of autoinflammatory diseases linked to gain-of-function mutations in the NOD-like receptor family, pyrin domain containing 3 (NLRP3) gene, which cause uncontrolled IL-1β secretion. Proton pump inhibitors (PPIs), which are commonly used as inhibitors of gastric acid production, also have anti-inflammatory properties, protect mice from sepsis, and prevent IL-1β secretion by monocytes from patients with CAPS.

Objective: We sought to develop a novel Nlrp3 knock-in (KI) mouse model of CAPS to study amyloidosis, a severe CAPS complication, and test novel therapeutic approaches.

Hepatocellular carcinoma macroscopic gross appearance on imaging: predictor of outcome after transarterial chemoembolization in a real-life multicenter French cohort.

Background: Conventional transarterial chemoembolization (cTACE) with lipiodol is widely performed in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) unsuitable for curative treatment. Additional tumor parameters such as HCC macroscopic appearance based on imaging might be helpful for transarterial chemoembolization prognostication and management.

Patients And Methods: A total of 405 patients with HCC who underwent cTACE between 2008 and 2016 from a real-life multicenter French cohort were retrospectively reviewed.

Increased myocardial F-FDG uptake as a marker of Doxorubicin-induced oxidative stress.

Background: Oxidative stress and its interference on myocardial metabolism play a major role in Doxorubicin (DXR) cardiotoxic cascade.

Methods: Mice models of neuroblastoma (NB) were treated with 5 mg DXR/kg, either free (Free-DXR) or encapsulated in untargeted (SL[DXR]) or in NB-targeting Stealth Liposomes (pep-SL[DXR] and TP-pep-SL[DXR]). Control mice received saline.