Changes in 24-hour blood pressure profile after 12 weeks of dapagliflozin treatment in patients with diabetic kidney disease: an Italian multicenter prospective study.

Background: Sodium-glucose cotransporter 2 inhibitors (SGLT2i) lower ambulatory blood pressure (ABP) in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus; whether the same holds true in diabetic kidney disease (DKD) is unknown. This information is critical to the knowledge of mechanisms of nephroprotection and safety of this therapy.

Methods: This multicenter prospective study evaluates the changes in ABP after 12 weeks of dapagliflozin 10 mg/day in a cohort of patients with type 2 DKD and glomerular filtration rate (GFR) >25 mL/min/1.

Management of patients with hypertension and chronic kidney disease referred to Hypertension Excellence Centres among 27 countries. On behalf of the European Society of Hypertension Working Group on Hypertension and the Kidney.

Objective Real-life management of patients with hypertension and chronic kidney disease (CKD) among European Society of Hypertension Excellence Centres (ESH-ECs) is unclear : we aimed to investigate it. Methods A survey was conducted in 2023. The questionnaire contained 64 questions asking ESH-ECs representatives to estimate how patients with CKD are managed.

May Measure Month 2022 in Italy: A Focus on Fixed-dose Combination, Therapeutic Adherence, and Medical Inertia in a Nationwide Survey.

Introduction: Hypertension is the main risk factor for cardiovascular diseases (CVD). Notably, only about half of hypertensive patients manage to achieve the recommended blood pressure (BP) control. Main reasons for the persistence of uncontrolled BP during treatment are lack of compliance on the patients' side, and therapeutic inertia on physicians' side.

Long-term effectiveness of natalizumab in secondary progressive multiple sclerosis: A propensity-matched study.

Treatment options for secondary progressive MS (SPMS) are limited, especially considering that the new drugs recently approved are licensed for actively relapsing patients. We aimed to compare the disability progression in a real-world cohort of SPMS patients treated with natalizumab (NTZ) or interferon beta-1b (IFNb-1b). This multicenter retrospective enrolled patients with a diagnosis of SPMS according to 2014 Lublin criteria, who received NTZ or IFNb-1b for at least 48 months between the 1st June 2012 and the 15th May 2018 ​at 33 Italian MS centers contributing to the Italian MS Registry NTZ or IFNb-1b.

Real-World Effectiveness of Cladribine for Patients with Multiple Sclerosis: A Sicilian Multicentric Experience (Rewind Study).

Background: Cladribine tablets are a highly effective option for the treatment of relapsingremitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS).

Objective: The study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of cladribine in a real-world setting.

Methods: This prospective real-world study consecutively screened all RRMS patients from seven different MS centers in Sicily (Italy) who completed the 2-year treatment course of cladribine tablets in the period between 11 March 2019 and 31 October 2021.

Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation in People With Active Secondary Progressive Multiple Sclerosis.

Background And Objectives: Uncontrolled evidence suggests that autologous hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (AHSCT) can be effective in people with active secondary progressive multiple sclerosis (SPMS). In this study, we compared the effect of AHSCT with that of other anti-inflammatory disease-modifying therapies (DMTs) on long-term disability worsening in active SPMS.

Methods: We collected data from the Italian Bone Marrow Transplantation Study Group and the Italian Multiple Sclerosis Register.

Unmet needs and gaps in the identification of secondary progression in multiple sclerosis: a Southern Italy healthcare professionals' perspective.

Objective: Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic disease with different clinical courses and a tendency to worsening. The relapsing-remitting MS presents acute onset and relapses of neurological symptoms, followed by their remission. This form can convert to secondary progressive MS (SPMS) with irreversible neurological worsening and disability.

A nurse-led, telephone-based patient support program for improving adherence in patients with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis using interferon beta-1a: Lessons from a consumer-based survey on adveva PSP.

Background: Evidence suggests that organizational models that provide care interventions including patient support programs may increase patient adherence to multiple sclerosis (MS) therapies by providing tailored symptom management, informational support, psychological and/or social support, lifestyle changes, emotional adjustment, health education, and tailored coaching, thus improving patients' overall quality of life across the disease course.

Objective: The main objective of this study was to describe MS patients' self-reported experience of a nurse-led, telephone-based PSP and to explore its potential role in improving disease and therapy management skills.

Methods: Survey data were analyzed from a subset of patients relapsing-remitting MS (RRMS) using interferon beta-1a already registered in the adveva PSP from three Italian multiple sclerosis centers with a consolidated experience in RRMS disease, treatment management, and PSP programs.

Off-Adherence Keeping (OAK) observational study: intentional off-adherence immunomodulatory multiple sclerosis treatment.

To evaluate how improved treatment adherence with a lower-frequency regimen/treatment of intramuscular (IM) IFNβ-1a impacts therapeutic effectiveness in relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (MS) patients switching from a higher-frequency injectable regimen/treatment. Italian patients with relapsing-remitting MS and prior poor adherence to high-frequency injectable treatments (n = 181) were followed for 24 months after starting IM IFNβ-1a. During the study, 97.

Arterial Hypertension and the Hidden Disease of the Eye: Diagnostic Tools and Therapeutic Strategies.

Hypertension is a major cardiovascular risk factor that is responsible for a heavy burden of morbidity and mortality worldwide. A critical aspect of cardiovascular risk estimation in hypertensive patients depends on the assessment of hypertension-mediated organ damage (HMOD), namely the generalized structural and functional changes in major organs induced by persistently elevated blood pressure values. The vasculature of the eye shares several common structural, functional, and embryological features with that of the heart, brain, and kidney.

Do patients' and referral centers' characteristics influence multiple sclerosis phenotypes? Results from the Italian multiple sclerosis and related disorders register.

Background: Multiple sclerosis (MS) is characterized by phenotypical heterogeneity, partly resulting from demographic and environmental risk factors. Socio-economic factors and the characteristics of local MS facilities might also play a part.

Methods: This study included patients with a confirmed MS diagnosis enrolled in the Italian MS and Related Disorders Register in 2000-2021.

and Are Implied in Genetic Susceptibility to End-Stage Renal Disease (ESRD).

Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is characterized by an increased risk of kidney failure and end-stage renal disease (ESRD). Aging and comorbidities as cardiovascular diseases, metabolic disorders, infectious diseases, or tumors, might increase the risk of dialysis. In addition, genetic susceptibility factors might modulate kidney damage evolution.

Gut-oriented interventions in patients with multiple sclerosis: fact or fiction?

Objective: Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic, inflammatory, demyelinating, disimmune disease of the central nervous system whose etiology and pathogenesis remain poorly understood, due to its complex and multifactorial nature. Evidence of a bidirectional connection linking the gut microbiome with the intestinal barrier and the immune system (the gut-brain axis) may have implications for the pathogenesis of inflammatory demyelinating diseases such as MS. This narrative review summarizes the evidence for the gut-brain axis involvement in the pathogenesis of MS and examines the role of gut-oriented interventions in MS.

Resistive index of ophthalmic artery as an imaging biomarker of hypertension-related vascular and kidney damage.

Resistive index of ophthalmic artery (RI-OA) is associated with atherosclerotic diseases. The aim of this study was to evaluate the association of RI-OA and hypertension-related vascular and kidney damage. Two-hundred and eighty hypertensive patients underwent evaluation of RI-OA, carotid atherosclerosis and level of 24 h albuminuria.

Comparison of the Intestinal Microbiome of Italian Patients with Multiple Sclerosis and Their Household Relatives.

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic immune-mediated disease of the central nervous system, caused by a combination of genetic and environmental factors. In recent years, a role in MS pathogenesis was assigned to the gut microbiota. However, different signatures of gut dysbiosis have been shown to depend on environmental factors, like diet and lifestyle.

PML risk is the main factor driving the choice of discontinuing natalizumab in a large multiple sclerosis population: results from an Italian multicenter retrospective study.

Background: Natalizumab (NTZ) is an effective treatment for relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS). However, patients and physicians may consider discontinuing NTZ therapy due to safety or efficacy issues. The aim of our study was to evaluate the NTZ discontinuation rate and reasons of discontinuation in a large Italian population of RRMS patients.

Post-Acute COVID-19 Neurological Syndrome: A New Medical Challenge.

In December 2019, in Wuhan (China), a highly pathogenic coronavirus, named SARS-CoV-2, dramatically emerged. This new virus, which causes severe pneumonia, is rapidly spreading around the world, hence it provoked the COVID-19 pandemic. This emergency launched by SARS-CoV-2 also had, and still has, devastating socio-economic aspects.

Multicenter Interventional Phase IV Study for the Assessment of the Effects on Patient's Satisfaction of Peg IFN Beta-1a (Pre-filled Pen) in Subjects With Relapsing-Remitting Multiple Sclerosis Unsatisfied With Other Injectable Subcutaneous Interferons (PLATINUM Study).

Subcutaneous (SC) interferons beta (IFN-beta) are effective therapies for the treatment of relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS). Factors such as dosing schedule, needle intolerance/fatigue, and side effects may impact patient satisfaction with treatment. Improvement of patient satisfaction may increase the adherence to treatment and the patient quality of life.

Menstrual cycle resumption and female fertility after autologous hematopoietic stem cell transplantation for multiple sclerosis.

Data on fertility after autologous hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (aHSCT) in women with multiple sclerosis (MS) are inconclusive. This study aims to report on post-aHSCT menstrual resumption in a multi-center MS-women cohort. Out of 43 women, 30 (70%) recovered menses after a mean time of 6.

Should reduction of increased short-term blood pressure variability be a target of antihypertensive therapy?

It has long been known that blood pressure (BP) is characterized by marked short-term fluctuations occurring within a 24-h period and also by long-term oscillations occurring over more prolonged periods of time. An increased short-term blood pressure variability (BPV) appears to importantly contribute to target organ damage and to the enhanced cardiovascular risk of hypertensive patients, over and above the effect of an increase in mean BP levels. Reducing 24-h mean BP is the main aim of antihypertensive therapy, but initial data are available that additional cardiovascular protection can be achieved by reducing BPV.

Relationship of choroidal thickness with pulsatile hemodynamics in essential hypertensive patients.

Controversy exists about the association of choroidal thickness (CTh) with blood pressure (BP) values. There is some evidence suggesting that central hemodynamics changes are associated with microvascular disease. Our study was aimed to assess the relationships between CTh and clinic and 24-h BP and between CTh and estimated 24-h aortic pulse pressure (aPP), 24-h aortic systolic BP (aSBP), and 24-h aortic augmentation index (aAIx) in a group of hypertensive patients.