Prevalence of anti-histone antibodies, their clinical significance and correlation with other autoantibodies in a cohort of Italian scleroderma patients.

Purpose: The aim of our study was to determine the prevalence, clinical significance of antibodies to individual histone components and to evaluate their correlation with other autoantibody specificities in a cohort of Italian SSc patients. Some authors, demonstrated high prevalence of anti-histone antibodies in Italian SSc patients, associated with cardiac and renal involvement, suggesting a prognostic value of these autoantibodies; however, these data need to be confirmed.

Methods: Serum from 112 adult SSc patients, classified as diffuse (dc) and limited cutaneous (lc) SSc subsets were analyzed for autoantibodies by indirect immunofluorescence, fluoroenzyme immunoassay and enzyme immunoassay.

Evaluation of the effect of Bosentan treatment on proinflammatory cytokine serum levels in patients affected by Systemic Sclerosis.

Systemic sclerosis (SSc) is a connective tissue disease characterized by vascular and fibrotic changes in the skin and in internal organs. Endothelin-1 (ET-1) is a peptide that has a role in promoting both vascular injury and the fibrotic process in SSc; indeed, patients with systemic sclerosis have higher levels of ET-1 compared with healthy subjects. Moreover, ET-1 enhances expression of pro-inflammatory cytokines in animal model.

Extended-spectrum beta-lactamases Klebsiella pneumoniae: multimodal infection control program in intensive care units.

Introduction: The aims of our study were to investigate a nosocomial spread of an extended-spectrum fl-lactamases-Klebsiella pneumoniae cluster at a University teaching hospital in Italy, to describe, and to monitor the implementation of a multimodal infection control program in two mixed ICUs.

Methods: During the 1 October 2005-30 September 2006 period, 79 colonized patients have been identified. Isolates were genotyped by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE).

Chronic treatment with statins increases the availability of selenium in the antioxidant defence systems of hemodialysis patients.

Project: Oxidative stress (OS) is enhanced in hemodialysis (HD) patients. Lipid peroxidation and oxidative damage to glycids, proteins and nucleic acids are the main consequences of OS and are associated with increased cardiovascular risk. Vitamin E and glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px) represent the main antioxidant systems in human cells.

Surveillance of acute flaccid paralysis in the Marches region (Italy): 1997-2007.

Background: The last case of poliomyelitis due to transmission of indigenous wild poliovirus occurred in Italy in 1982, however, it is important to guarantee a high quality surveillance as there is a risk of importation of cases from areas where polio is endemic. Stopping poliovirus transmission is pursued through a combination of high infant immunization coverage and surveillance for wild poliovirus through reporting and laboratory testing of all cases of acute flaccid paralysis (AFP) among children under fifteen years of age. The aim of this study was to describe and to evaluate 11 years of active surveillance in the Marches (Italy) in terms of: incidence, aetiology and clinical manifestation of AFP cases.