Publications by authors named "Catapano F"

Article Synopsis
  • Mitral annular disjunction (MAD) is divided into pseudo-MAD (appears only during systole) and true-MAD (appears in both systole and diastole).
  • A study of 290 patients indicated that 50% had MAD, with 35% classified as true-MAD and 16% as pseudo-MAD.
  • The presence and extent of MAD were higher in patients with mitral valve prolapse (MVP), particularly in pseudo-MAD cases, and the inferior
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Background: Systemic steroids are recommended for patients with IgA nephropathy (IgAN) and proteinuria. However, there are concerns about their safety due to an excess of serious adverse events (SAEs) in previous randomised trials. This study evaluates the incidence of SAEs in IgAN patients receiving different treatment regimens in clinical practice.

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Background: Psoriasis is a chronic skin disorder affecting 2-3% of the global population, and is associated with several comorbidities, including psychiatric disorders. This study aimed to identify factors influencing anxiety, depression, and quality of life (QoL) in patients with psoriasis.

Methods: This observational study included 112 patients diagnosed with psoriasis.

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Objective: To better understand the experience of parents with neonates with congenital heart diseases (CHD) admitted to a neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) in order to identify challenges faced by parents and discover support strategies helpful in positive coping.

Study Design: Prospective cohort study of parents of neonates with CHD. Parents completed a questionnaire with open ended questions regarding their experience and feeling during the hospitalization within one week of the child discharge from the NICU.

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Background: Perinatal Palliative Care (PPC) is individualized medical-nursing care aimed at improving the quality of life of newborns with life-limiting conditions and to support their families. This study draws on the analysis of the experience gained over ten years by a service of PPC called the "Percorso Giacomo" (PG).

Methods: We employed a SWOT analysis to identify the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats of the PG through a systematic retrospective review of 48 cases followed by the program over the course of 10 years, 21 unsolicited parents' narrative and 27 experts' point of view.

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Article Synopsis
  • This study focused on how myocardial perfusion imaging (MPI) stress tests—specifically using stress cardiac magnetic resonance (sCMR) and single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT-MPI)—affect the safety of high-risk patients undergoing non-cardiac surgery.
  • It involved 1,590 patients with heart disease or significant cardiovascular risk factors, finding that those who underwent stress tests had fewer cardiac complications within 30 days post-surgery (1.2% vs. 3.4%).
  • While both sCMR and SPECT-MPI reduced cardiac event rates equally, sCMR was shown to be more accurate for predicting the need for coronary artery revascularization.
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Background: After approval for clinical use in 2017, early investigations of ultra-high-field abdominal magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) have demonstrated its feasibility as well as diagnostic capabilities in neuroimaging. However, there are no to few systematic reviews covering the entirety of its neurosurgical applications as well as the trends in the literature with regard to the aforementioned application.

Aim: To assess the impact of 7-Tesla MRI (7T MRI) on neurosurgery, focusing on its applications in diagnosis, treatment planning, and postoperative assessment, and to systematically analyze and identify patterns and trends in the existing literature related to the utilization of 7T MRI in neurosurgical contexts.

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Background: The presence of mitral annulus disjunction (MAD) has been considered a high-risk feature for sudden cardiac death based on selected study populations. We aimed to assess the prevalence of MAD in consecutive patients undergoing clinically indicated cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR), its association with ventricular arrhythmias, mitral valve prolapse (MVP), and other CMR features.

Methods: This single-center retrospective study included consecutive patients referred to CMR at our institution between June 2021 and November 2021.

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Transfemoral aortic valve implantation (TAVI) has been long considered the standard of therapy for high-risk patients with severe aortic-stenosis and is now effectively employed in place of surgical aortic valve replacement also in intermediate-risk patients. The potential lasting consequences of minor complications, which might have limited impact on elderly patients, could be more noteworthy in the longer term when occurring in younger individuals. That's why a greater focus on early diagnosis, correct management, and prevention of post-procedural complications is key to achieve satisfactory results.

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Article Synopsis
  • - Risk stratification for dangerous heart arrhythmias and sudden cardiac death is challenging for doctors, but multiparametric mapping via MRI can help identify issues leading to these irregularities.
  • - Current use of this advanced mapping method in clinical settings is limited, despite evidence linking mapping abnormalities to increased arrhythmia risk in various heart diseases.
  • - The review emphasizes the need for more clinical studies to evaluate how these mapping techniques can enhance patient selection for implantable cardioverter defibrillator treatments beyond traditional MRI methods.
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Background: Up to 34% of patients with schizophrenia are resistant to several treatment trials. Lack of continuous and adequate treatment is associated with relapse, rehospitalization, a lower effect of antipsychotic therapy, and higher risk of side effects. Long-acting injectables antipsychotics (LAI APs) enhance compliance and improve clinical outcomes and quality of life in patients with schizophrenia, and thus it may be advisable to administer two LAI APs at the same time in cases of treatment-resistant schizophrenia.

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Introduction: Trisomy 21 (T21), which causes Down syndrome (DS), is the most common chromosomal aneuploidy in humankind and includes different clinical comorbidities, among which the alteration of the immune system has a heavy impact on patient's lives. A molecule with an important role in immune response is zinc and it is known that its concentration is significantly lower in children with T21. Different hypotheses were made about this metabolic alteration and one of the reasons might be the overexpression of superoxide dismutase 1 () gene, as zinc is part of the SOD1 active enzymatic center.

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Rationale: To provide an overview of the current status of cardiac multimodality imaging practices in Europe and radiologist involvement using data from the European Society of Cardiovascular Radiology (ESCR) MRCT-registry.

Materials And Methods: Numbers on cardiac CT and MRI examinations were extracted from the MRCT-registry of the ESCR, entered between January 2011 and October 2023 (n = 432,265). Data collection included the total/annual numbers of examinations, indications, complications, and reporting habits.

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The one-carbon metabolism pathway is involved in critical human cellular functions such as cell proliferation, mitochondrial respiration, and epigenetic regulation. In the homocysteine-methionine cycle S-adenosyl-methionine (SAM) and S-adenosyl-homocysteine (SAH) are synthetized, and their levels are finely regulated to ensure proper functioning of key enzymes which control cellular growth and differentiation. Here we review the main biological mechanisms involving SAM and SAH and the known related human diseases.

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Cardiac computed tomography angiography (CCTA) is considered the standard non-invasive tool to rule-out obstructive coronary artery disease (CAD). Moreover, several imaging biomarkers have been developed on cardiac-CT imaging to assess global CAD severity and atherosclerotic burden, including coronary calcium scoring, the segment involvement score, segment stenosis score and the Leaman-score. Myocardial perfusion imaging enables the diagnosis of myocardial ischemia and microvascular damage, and the CT-based fractional flow reserve quantification allows to evaluate non-invasively hemodynamic impact of the coronary stenosis.

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Background: After approval for clinical use in 2017 early investigations of ultra-high-field abdominal magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) have demonstrated the feasibility as well as diagnostic capabilities of liver, kidney, and prostate MRI at 7-Tesla. However, the elevation of the field strength to 7-Tesla not only brought advantages to abdominal MRI but also presented considerable challenges and drawbacks, primarily stemming from heightened artifacts and limitations in Specific Absorption Rate, Furthermore, evidence in the literature is relatively scarce concerning human studies in comparison to phantom/animal studies which necessitates an investigation into the evidence so far in humans and summarizing all relevant evidence.

Aim: To offer a comprehensive overview of current literature on clinical abdominal 7T MRI that emphasizes current trends, details relevant challenges, and provides a concise set of potential solutions.

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A cardiac lesion detected at ultrasonography might turn out to be a normal structure, a benign tumor or rarely a malignancy, and lesion characterization is very important to appropriately manage the lesion itself. The exact relationship of the mass with coronary arteries and the knowledge of possible concomitant coronary artery disease are necessary preoperative information. Moreover, the increasingly performed coronary CT angiography to evaluate non-invasively coronary artery disease leads to a rising number of incidental findings.

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Background: Persons with Down syndrome (DS) reveal adaptive functioning (AF) difficulties. Studies on AF in DS have focused mainly on describing the profile (i.e.

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Mitral valve prolapse (MVP) is the most common valve disease in the western world and recently emerged as a possible substrate for sudden cardiac death (SCD). It is estimated an annual risk of sudden cardiac death of 0.2 to 1.

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Background: Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a neurodegenerative disease of the upper and lower motor neurons with varying ages of onset, progression and pathomechanisms. Monogenic childhood-onset ALS, although rare, forms an important subgroup of ALS. We recently reported specific variants resulting in sphingolipid overproduction as a cause for juvenile ALS.

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Fabry disease (FD) is a genetic lysosomal storage disease with frequent cardiovascular involvement, whose presence is a major determinant of adverse clinical outcomes. As a potentially treatable cause of left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) and heart failure with preserved ejection fraction, the early recognition of FD is crucial to initiate enzyme replacement therapy and improve long-term prognosis. Multimodality imaging plays a central role in the evaluation of patients with FD and helps in the differential diagnosis of other conditions presenting with LVH.

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Background: Since primary membranous nephropathy is a heterogeneous disease with variable outcomes and multiple possible therapeutic approaches, all 13 Nephrology Units of the Italian region Emilia Romagna decided to analyze their experience in the management of this challenging glomerular disease.

Methods: We retrospectively studied 205 consecutive adult patients affected by biopsy-proven primary membranous nephropathy, recruited from January 2010 through December 2017. The primary outcome was patient and renal survival.

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The workplace represents a relevant source of stress for workers, being a risk factor for many mental disorders and psychological difficulties, including burn-out syndrome. Healthcare workers and other help-professions are particularly susceptible to work-related stress. The present systematic review aims to (1) identify available interventions for managing workplace-related stress symptoms; (2) assess their efficacy; and (3) discuss the current limitations of available interventions.

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