Publications by authors named "Cotroneo A"

Background: Citicoline is a naturally occurring compound with pleiotropic effects on neuronal function and cognitive processes.

Objective: Based on previous studies, which shed light on the positive effects of citicoline 1 g when combined with acetylcholinesterase inhibitors (AChEIs) and/or memantine, we further investigated the benefits of citicoline in combination therapy in Alzheimer's disease and mixed dementia.

Methods: We integrated the datasets of CITIMEM and CITIDEMAGE, increasing the overall sample size to enhance statistical power.

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Backgroung: The early identification of cognitive disorder is a primary scope, because it could reduce the rate of severe cognitive impairment and thus contribute to reduce healthcare costs in the next future.

Aims: The present paper aimed to build a virtuous diagnostic path of cognitive impairment, highlighting all the professionalism that can serve this purpose.

Methods: The Delphi method was used by the experts, who reviewed the information available during each meeting related to the following topics: early diagnosis of cognitive impairment, definition of Mild Cognitive Impairment, unmet needs in post-stroke patients, critical decision-making nodes in complex patients, risk factors, neuropsychological, imaging diagnosis, blood tests, the criteria for differential diagnosis and the possible treatments.

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Conventional transbronchial needle aspiration (cTBNA) remains a basic technique that must be part of the bronchoscopists expertise. In cases where EBUS is not available, cTBNA must be kept in mind: 'the old bull knows best'.

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Alectinib is a highly selective tyrosine kinase inhibitor of anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK) that is approved as first-line treatment in adult patients with ALK-positive non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and as second-line in patients previously treated with crizotinib, and has been shown in the literature to significantly prolong progression-free survival compared to chemotherapy in patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer. The authors describe a clinical case of a 24-year-old woman with malignant massive pleural effusion caused by ALK rearranged pulmonary adenocarcinoma with pleural and pericardial metastasis, in which, despite a dramatic clinical debut, the correct and timely management of the diagnostic and therapeutic path allowed for extraordinary therapeutic success.

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Objectives: To compare procedural and in-hospital outcomes of patients undergoing sutureless (Perceval, Livanova PLC, London, UK) and rapid deployment (Intuity Elite, Edwards Lifesciences, Irvine, CA, USA) aortic valve replacement (group 1) versus sutured aortic valve replacement (group 2).

Methods: Patients receiving isolated aortic valve replacement between 2014 and 2020 were analysed using data from the Sutureless and Rapid Deployment International Registry. Patients in group 1 and group 2 were propensity-score matched in a 1:1 ratio.

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The SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) coronavirus pandemic has represented an emergency not only from a clinical point of view, but also for the environment due to the largely increased waste disposal. This study aimed at estimating, in the context of current trends, the increase in healthcare waste (HW) generation during the outbreak, based on data from a tertiary hospital. From the purveying office statements of 'SS Antonio e Biagio e Cesare Arrigo' Hospital of Alessandria (Italy), monthly HW generation data from January 2015 to March 2021 were retrospectively retrieved.

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Introduction: The present article reports an overview of the studies about combination treatment with citicoline of Alzheimer's (AD) and mixed dementia (MD).

Methods: A Medline search was carried out by using the keywords Alzheimer's dementia, mixed dementia, older people, treatment with citicoline, memantine, and acetylcholinesterase inhibitors (AchEIs).

Results: Six studies were found to match the combination treatment of citicoline with AcheIs and/or memantine.

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Root-lesion nematode species rank third only to root-knot and cyst nematodes as having the greatest economic impact on crops worldwide. A survey of plant-parasitic nematodes associated with decaying raspberries ( sp.) in northern Italy revealed that root-lesion nematodes were the most frequently occurring species among other phytonematodes.

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Background: Citicoline is a drug used both in degenerative and in vascular cognitive decline; memantine is a drug used for the treatment of mild to moderate Alzheimer's disease (AD). Our hypothesis is that their combined use could have enhanced action in patients having AD and mixed dementia (MD). We report the main tips from a recent study on the use of these drugs, the CITIMEM study.

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Aims: The aims of the present study, conducted in two regions of Italy, Calabria and Piedmont, were to assess the use of inappropriate drugs according to the Beers Criteria and to study the possible drug-drug interactions.

Methods: Data were obtained retrospectively from 972 residential care patients between 2016 and 2018. Mean age was 82.

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Purpose: Aortic stenosis (AS) is the most common cause of adult valvular heart disease. In the past decade, minimally invasive surgery (MIS) to treat AS has gained popularity, especially if performed in combination with rapid deployment valves (RDVs), which shorten cross-clamp time (XCT). This study examines specific outcomes and related costs of aortic valve replacement (AVR) before and after the introduction of RDVs.

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Prescription for inappropriate drugs can be dangerous to the elderly due to the increased risk of adverse drug reactions and drug-interactions. In this manuscript, we report the complexity of polypharmacy and the possible harmful consequences in an old person. An 81-year-old man with a clinical history of diabetes, blood hypertension, non-valvular atrial fibrillation, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, osteoarthritis, anxiety, and depression, was admitted to our attention for cognitive disorders and dementia.

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Background: Evidence provides inconsistent findings on risk factors and health outcomes associated with loneliness. The aim of this work was to grade the evidence on risk factors and health outcomes associated with loneliness, using an umbrella review approach.

Methods: For each meta-analytic association, random-effects summary effect size, 95% confidence intervals (CIs), heterogeneity, evidence for small-study effect, excess significance bias and 95% prediction intervals were calculated, and used to grade significant evidence (p<0.

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Introduction: Citicoline can have beneficial effects both in degenerative and in vascular cognitive decline; it works through an increase in acetylcholine intrasynaptic levels and promoting phospholipid synthesis, (chiefly phosphatidylcholine), cellular function, and neuronal repair. Memantine is an N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor antagonist used for the treatment of mild to moderate Alzheimer's disease (AD). When co-administered they could have a synergistic action in patients affected with AD and mixed dementia (MD) too.

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Background:  Repeat surgery of the chronically dissected aorta following repair of a Type-A acute aortic dissection (AAD) still represents a challenge. The proposed surgical options are as follows: (1) staged procedure with elephant trunk (ET) technique, (2) traditional frozen elephant trunk (FET) intervention, and (3) beating heart cerebral vessel debranching followed by thoracic endovascular aortic repair (TEVAR). However, a marked enlargement of the proximal descending thoracic aorta might make it difficult to perform FET/ET intervention.

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We report a case of a 57-year-old female with dextrocardia and a solitary kidney. A patch aortoplasty for isthmic aortic coarctation repair was performed 40 years before when she was admitted to our department for dyspnea. Computed tomography scan showed a giant and saccular 10-cm diameter patch false aneurysm.

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Introduction: The association of pure aortic regurgitation and porcelain aorta represents a challenging situation. In the Transcatheter Aortic Valve Implantation (TAVI) era, porcelain aorta (PA) becomes an additional risk for patient treatment and sometimes serves as the primary indication for the TAVI approach, even in low-risk patients. Devices currently on the market are not yet validated for the treatment of pure aortic regurgitation (AR) in PA and mid/long-term results are still not available.

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Purpose: To investigate the diagnostic accuracy of MRI for placenta accreta spectrum (PAS) and clinical outcome prediction in women with placenta previa, using a novel MRI-based predictive model.

Methods: Thirty-eight placental MRI exams performed on a 1.5T scanner were retrospectively reviewed by two radiologists in consensus.

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Objective: To assess the radiation dose and image quality of ultra-low dose (ULD)-CT colonography (CTC) obtained with the combined use of automatic tube current (mAs) modulation with a quality reference mAs of 25 and sinogram-affirmed iterative reconstruction (SAFIRE), compared to low-dose (LD) CTC acquired with a quality reference mAs of 55 and reconstructed with filtered back projection (FBP).

Methods: Eighty-two patients underwent ULD-CTC acquisition in prone position and LD-CTC acquisition in supine position. Both ULD-CTC and LD-CTC protocols were compared in terms of radiation dose [weighted volume computed tomography dose index (CTDI ) and effective dose], image noise, image quality, and polyp detection.

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Objective: To investigate and describe the distribution of aortic and cerebral blood flow (CBF) in patients with severe valvular aortic stenosis (AS) before and after aortic valve bypass (AVB) surgery.

Methods: We enrolled 10 consecutive patients who underwent AVB surgery for severe AS. Cardiovascular magnetic resonance imaging (CMR) and brain magnetic resonance imaging were performed as baseline before surgery and twice after surgery.

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Aim: To prospectively evaluate the accuracy of cardiac magnetic resonance (cMR) imaging for the assessment of aortic valve effective orifice area (EOA) by continuity equation and anatomical aortic valve area (AVA) by direct planimetry, as compared with transthoracic (TTE) and transesophageal (TEE) two-dimensional (2D) echocardiography, respectively.

Methods And Results: A total of 31 patients (21 men, 10 women, mean age 69 ± 10 years) with moderate-to-severe aortic stenosis (AS) diagnosed by TTE and scheduled for elective aortic valve replacement, underwent both cMR and TEE. AVA by cMR was obtained from balanced steady-state free-precession cine-images.

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Pulmonary arterial pseudoaneurysm is a rare but life-threatening complication of infective endocarditis. This report describes a case of bleeding pulmonary arterial pseudoaneurysm in a young, drug-addicted woman with tricuspid annuloplasty after infective endocarditis that was promptly identified by computed tomography pulmonary angiography and successfully treated using coil embolization. Perfusion scintigraphy at 30 days confirmed the safety of endovascular treatment.

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Objective: To investigate the influence of different CT reconstruction parameters on coronary artery calcium scoring (CACS) values and reclassification of predicted cardiovascular (CV) risk.

Methods: CACS was evaluated in 113 patients undergoing ECG-gated 64-slice CT. Reference CACS protocol included standard kernel filter (B35f) with slice thickness/increment of 3/1.

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