Publications by authors named "F Pica"

Introduction: Fungi, including , may be a trigger or exacerbate psoriasis, especially in difficult to treat (DTT) areas, through the activation of IL-17/23 axis.

Methods: In this study, seventy patients with DDT psoriasis were enrolled to evaluate species and/or other opportunistic fungi colonization rate at baseline (T0) and the impact of apremilast on fungal load, clinical outcome, serum cytokine levels and biochemical serum profile of patients after 16, 24 and 52 weeks of treatment.

Results: In our population, 33 (47%) patients were colonized by spp.

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To evaluate the potential synergistic activity of metronidazole (MTZ) and chlorhexidine (CHX) against growth. Antimicrobial susceptibility tests of to MTZ and CHX were performed on in vitro serial 2-fold dilutions of MTZ (from 1 mg/mL to 0.015 mg/mL) and CHX (from 1 mg/mL to 0.

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In recent years, the incidence of fungal infections in humans has increased dramatically, accompanied by an expansion in the number of species implicated as etiological agents, especially environmental fungi never involved before in human infection. Among fungal pathogens, species are the most common opportunistic fungi that can cause local and systemic infections, especially in immunocompromised individuals. () is the most common causative agent of mucosal and healthcare-associated systemic infections.

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Histoplasmosis is a globally distributed systemic infection caused by the dimorphic fungus (). This fungus can cause a wide spectrum of clinical manifestations, and the diagnosis of progressive disseminated histoplasmosis is often a challenge for clinicians. Although microscopy and culture remain the gold standard diagnostic tests for identification, matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization time of flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS) has emerged as a method of microbial identification suitable for the confirmation of dimorphic fungi.

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We quantitatively and qualitatively evaluated the bacterial contamination of mobile phones (MPs) in relation to users' demographics, habits, and device characteristics by administering questionnaires to 83 healthcare university students and sampling their MPs by following a cross-sectional design. The heterotrophic plate count (HPC) at 22 °C (HPC 22 °C) and 37 °C (HPC 37 °C), Enterococci, Gram-negative bacteria, and Staphylococci were evaluated. Higher bacterial loads were detected for HPC 37 °C and Staphylococci (416 and 442 CFU/dm, respectively), followed by HPC 22 °C, Enterococci, and Gram-negative bacteria; the vast majority of samples were positive for HPC 37 °C, HPC 22 °C, and Staphylococci (98%), while Enterococci (66%) and Gram-negative bacteria (17%) were detected less frequently.

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