Continuous vs Intermittent Meropenem Administration in Critically Ill Patients With Sepsis: The MERCY Randomized Clinical Trial.

Importance: Meropenem is a widely prescribed β-lactam antibiotic. Meropenem exhibits maximum pharmacodynamic efficacy when given by continuous infusion to deliver constant drug levels above the minimal inhibitory concentration. Compared with intermittent administration, continuous administration of meropenem may improve clinical outcomes.

Diaphragm ultrasound evaluation during weaning from mechanical ventilation in COVID-19 patients: a pragmatic, cross-section, multicenter study.

Background: Diaphragmatic dysfunction is a major factor responsible for weaning failure in patients that underwent prolonged invasive mechanical ventilation for acute severe respiratory failure from COVID-19. This study hypothesizes that ultrasound measured diaphragmatic thickening fraction (DTF) could provide corroborating information for weaning COVID-19 patients from mechanical ventilation.

Methods: This was an observational, pragmatic, cross-section, multicenter study in 6 Italian intensive care units.

Utility of Teleorthodontics in Orthodontic Emergencies during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Systematic Review.

Coronavirus disease has subjected the whole of humanity to two years of social isolation and a series of restrictions. These circumstances have led to the use of information technology in an increasingly widespread manner. Even in the dental field, telematic means have been used to respond to emergencies.

Can Lung Ultrasound Be the Ideal Monitoring Tool to Predict the Clinical Outcome of Mechanically Ventilated COVID-19 Patients? An Observational Study.

Background: During the COVID-19 pandemic, lung ultrasound (LUS) has been widely used since it can be performed at the patient's bedside, does not produce ionizing radiation, and is sufficiently accurate. The LUS score allows for quantifying lung involvement; however, its clinical prognostic role is still controversial.

Methods: A retrospective observational study on 103 COVID-19 patients with respiratory failure that were assessed with an LUS score at intensive care unit (ICU) admission and discharge in a tertiary university COVID-19 referral center.

Traumatic Events and Eagle Syndrome: Is There Any Correlation? A Systematic Review.

Background: Eagle syndrome occurs when elongated styloid process or ossification of the stylohyoid ligament interfere with the surrounding anatomical structures giving rise to various symptoms. Watt W. Eagle identified two types: stylo-hyoid classic syndrome and stylo-carotid artery syndrome.

Artificial neural network model from a case series of COVID-19 patients: a prognostic analysis.

Background And Aim: There is a need to determine which clinical variables predict the severity of COVID-19. We analyzed a series of critically ill COVID-19 patients to see if any of our dataset's clinical variables were associated with patient outcomes.

Methods: We retrospectively analyzed the data of COVID-19 patients admitted to the ICU of the Hospital in Pordenone from March 11, 2020, to April 17, 2020.

Comparison of diuretic strategies in diuretic-resistant acute heart failure: a systematic review and network meta-analysis.

Objective: Up to 50% of patients hospitalized for acute heart failure (AHF) show resistance to diuretics. This condition contributes to a prolonged hospital length of stay and a higher risk of death. This review aimed to investigate whether a diuretic therapeutic approach more effective than furosemide alone exists for patients with diuretic-resistant AHF.

Classification and analysis of outcome predictors in non-critically ill COVID-19 patients.

Background: Early detection of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2)-infected patients who could develop a severe form of COVID-19 must be considered of great importance to carry out adequate care and optimise the use of limited resources.

Aims: To use several machine learning classification models to analyse a series of non-critically ill COVID-19 patients admitted to a general medicine ward to verify if any clinical variables recorded could predict the clinical outcome.

Methods: We retrospectively analysed non-critically ill patients with COVID-19 admitted to the general ward of the hospital in Pordenone from 1 March 2020 to 30 April 2020.

Continuous infusion versus intermittent administration of meropenem in critically ill patients (MERCY): A multicenter randomized double-blind trial. Rationale and design.

Objective: Meropenem is a β-lactam, carbapenem antibacterial agent with antimicrobial activity against gram-negative, gram-positive and anaerobic micro-organisms and is important in the empirical treatment of serious infections in Intensive Care Unit (ICU) patients. Multi-drug resistant gram-negative organisms, coupled with scarcity of new antibiotic classes, forced healthcare community to optimize the therapeutic potential of available antibiotics. Our aim is to investigate the effect of continuous infusion of meropenem against bolus administration, as indicated by a composite outcome of reducing death and emergence of extensive or pan drug-resistant pathogens in a population of ICU patients.

Endotracheal intubation to reduce aspiration events in acutely comatose patients: a systematic review.

Background: It is customary to believe that a patient with a Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) score less than or equal to 8 should be intubated to avoid aspiration. We conducted a systematic review to establish if patients with GCS ≤ 8 for trauma or non-traumatic emergencies and treated in the acute care setting (e.g.

Methotrexate-induced pneumonitis in Crohn's disease. Case report and review of the literature.

Methotrexate (MTX) is a folate-antagonist used in several neoplastic and inflammatory diseases. Reports of pulmonary complications in patients given low-dose MTX therapy are increasing. Pulmonary toxicity from MTX has a variable frequency and can present with different forms.

Respiratory involvement in inflammatory bowel diseases.

Inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) include ulcerative colitis (UC) and Crohn's disease (CD) and are due to a dysregulation of the antimicrobial defense normally provided by the intestinal mucosa. This inflammatory process may extend outside the bowel to many organs and also to the respiratory tract. The respiratory involvement in IBD may be completely asymptomatic and detected only at lung function assessment, or it may present as bronchial disease or lung parenchymal alterations.

Production of ethanol by an integrated valorization of olive oil byproducts the role of phenolic inhibition.

Agricultural industrial wastes can frequently be used as raw materials in the production of bio-fuels. Olive-oil milling wastewater is considered as one of the most polluting agro-industrial residues, but fortunately due to its high content of organic matter, it has the potential to be a valuable starting material to obtain bio-ethanol via fermentation with Saccharomyces cerevisiae. The fermentation of olive-oil milling wastewater has been demonstrated with good yield of ethanol (8-12%v/v) once the level of reducing sugars is appropriate and the phenolic fraction, which inhibits the yeast, is removed.

[Periconceptional supplementation with folic acid for the primary prevention of congenital malformations].

Most international trials support the recommendation that all women planning or at risk of pregnancy take a daily multivitamin supplement containing folic acid, beginning one month before conception and continuing through the first trimester for primary prevention of neural tube defects and other congenital malformations. Recently an intervention project started also in Italy, in order to support and maintain the periconceptional supplementation and to evaluate the efficacy of a national preventive campaign on parents' behaviour.

Pulmonary artery leiomyosarcoma with thyroid metastases.

Primary pulmonary artery sarcomas are uncommon and usually fatal tumours. The diagnosis of these tumours is delayed in most cases as they are mistaken for pulmonary thromboembolism. We present a fatal case of a woman referred to us five months after a primary diagnosis of pulmonary thromboembolism, due to an increase in dyspnea and presence of hemoptysis despite having undergone anticoagulant treatment.

[Respiratory diseases in infants hospitalized during the 1st 2 years of life for viral lower respiratory tract infections: a one-year follow-up].

Background: Epidemiologic data suggest strong links between hospitalisation with bronchiolitis in infancy and subsequent higher risk of developing lower respiratory tract infections (LRTI) and/or hyperreactive airway diseases. The aim of this study was to evaluate in an Italian population the natural history of respiratory diseases in children hospitalised for LRTI when they were <2 years.

Methods: An observational, perspective, longitudinal study was performed through telephone interviews.

Prognostic significance of primary-tumor extension, stage and grade of nuclear differentiation in patients with renal cell carcinoma.

Surgery remains the preferred therapy for renal cell carcinoma. The various adjunctive or complementary therapies currently yield disappointing results. Identifying reliable prognostic factors could help in selecting patients most likely to benefit from postoperative adjuvant therapies.

Bronchioloalveolar carcinoma: clinical, radiographic, and pathological findings. Surgical results.

Background: Bronchioloalveolar carcinoma (BAC) remains one of the most controversial of lung cancer subtypes.

Methods: From 1980 to 1998, 374 resected patients for NSCLC were followed up in our department. Of the 147 cases histologically defined as adenocarcinoma, 34 were pure BAC.

Renal biopsy and pregnancy.

Objective: Our aim was to review our experience with renal biopsy in pregnancy.

Study Design: We reviewed 18 renal biopsies performed during pregnancy or in the immediate postpartum period at the University of North Carolina. Indications, histopathologic findings, complications, and neonatal outcome were reviewed for each case.

Cervical stroma apoptosis in pregnancy.

Objective: To determine whether the percentage of apoptotic nuclei is different in cervical stroma of pregnant laboring women compared with nonpregnant women and pregnant nonlaboring women.

Methods: We took cervical stromal biopsies during cesarean delivery at the level of the lower uterine segment from ten women in active labor and 13 women before labor. In addition, we took biopsies of cervical stroma at the level of the internal cervical os from hysterectomy specimens in ten reproductive-aged women.

Clinical behavior of solitary fibrous tumors of the pleura. An immunohistochemical study.

Localized fibrous tumors of the pleura are uncommon, generally asymptomatic and usually have a benign behavior even if in a few cases a malignant variant can be observed. We report 11 cases of localized pleural neoplasms submitted to surgical resection during the period 1987-1996. The differentiation between the localized fibrous as well as the less frequent localized malignant mesothelioma has been researched employing cyto-histopathologic and immunohistochemical assays.

Technetium-99m tetrofosmin single photon emission computed tomography in the evaluation of suspected lung cancer.

Technetium-99m-tetrofosmin is a radiopharmaceutical employed for myocardial imaging, which has recently emerged as useful in the visualization of tumors. In this study technetium-99m-tetrofosmin was evaluated for its accuracy in differentiating malignant from benign pulmonary lesions, and in detecting mediastinal node metastasis due to lung cancer. Eighty-one patients with a solitary lung lesion on the chest radiograph and/or CT scan were submitted to chest single photon emission computed tomography after technetium-99m-tetrofosmin injection (740 MBq i.

Hemodynamic and pulmonary changes during and after laparoscopic cholecystectomy. A comparison with traditional surgery.

Background: The cardiopulmonary changes experienced by patients who undergo laparoscopic cholecystectomy (LC) and the prognostic value of patient characteristics are not well understood.

Methods: Cardiorespiratory changes were investigated in 120 patients undergoing LC or open cholecystectomy (OC). The results and their relation to patient variables were statistically evaluated.

Ventilation-perfusion mismatching as prognostic factor of respiratory failure after pulmonary resection.

This paper reports the results of a retrospective study undertaken to assess the reliability of regional ventilation-perfusion pulmonary scanning in predicting the remaining respiratory function (pFEV1), and the early and long-term outcome of 33 patients with chronic airways disease, submitted to pulmonary resection at the 1st Department of Surgery. All patients had been diagnosed as resectable with the traditional tools and had a traditional pFEV1 (tpFEV1) greater than 800 ml. All pFEV1 were re-calculated (npFEV1) with our new formula which also includes as lost for function all lung areas not to be resected with V/Q mismatching.