Evaluation of bowel management efficacy and subjects' satisfaction in people with spinal cord injury (SCI): An Italian multicenter survey via the MENTOR tool.

Study Design: Observational prospective multicenter study.

Objectives: The aim of this study is to evaluate the efficacy of bowel management and subjects' satisfaction by the Monitoring the Efficacy of Neurogenic Bowel Treatment On Response (MENTOR) tool and the impact of demographic and clinical factors on bowel management.

Methods: Consecutive patients with SCI were recruited by nine Italian Spinal Units.

Intermittent self-catheterization training and effects on treatment adherence and infection.

Background: Intermittent self-catheterization (CISC) is the preferred treatment for patients with bladder dysfunction due to spinal cord injuries or multiple sclerosis (MS). However, the learning phase plays a crucial role in the still frequent drop-out.

Aim: To examine whether the timing of training affects the treatment compliance and the prevalence of urinary tract infections in patients with neurogenic urinary retention.

Fascial manipulation as an adjunct to physiotherapy management in obstetric brachial plexus palsy: A case report.

The integrity of connective tissue sheaths surrounding the nerves influences both the severity and the potential for recovery of brachial plexus lesions. This study presents an innovative, early onset, multidisciplinary approach to obstetric brachial plexus palsy. This approach is aimed at functional recovery of the nerve lesion and includes mobilization of the fascia using the Fascial Manipulation® method.

Changes in gut microbiota in the acute phase after spinal cord injury correlate with severity of the lesion.

After spinal cord injury (SCI), patients face many physical and psychological issues including intestinal dysfunction and comorbidities, strongly affecting quality of life. The gut microbiota has recently been suggested to influence the course of the disease in these patients. However, to date only two studies have profiled the gut microbiota in SCI patients, months after a traumatic injury.

Diagnosis and Therapy of Infectious Encephalitis in Children: A Ten-Years Retrospective Study.

Background: Infectious encephalitis represents a rare but potentially severe clinical condition. However, limited international data are available in pediatric age.

Methods: We conducted a retrospective study to review (a) the clinical presentation; (b) laboratory, radiology, and neurophysiology findings; (c) the correlations between these exams and outcome; and (d) the therapy performed.

Macronutrient composition of the diet and long-term changes in weight and waist circumference in the EPIC-Italy cohort.

Background And Aims: The overall macronutrient composition of diet, rather than just calorie intake, may influence long-term changes of anthropometry. We investigated relationships between dietary macronutrient composition and long-term changes in weight and waist circumference in participants of the EPIC-Italy - the Italian section of the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition - study.

Methods And Results: A total of 32,119 participants provided anthropometric measures at recruitment and 12 years later (mean).

Vaccine Hesitancy and Mandatory Immunizations in Emilia-Romagna Region: the case of MMR vaccine.

Background And Aim: An increase of vaccine hesitancy has spread worldwide and lead to reduction in coverage rates. The trivalent Measles-Mumps-Rubella (MMR) vaccine has been one of the most targeted leading due to possible (but never proven) adverse effects. This resulted in an increase of measles cases.

Associations of dairy product consumption with mortality in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC)-Italy cohort.

Background: The relation of dairy product consumption to health and mortality is controversial.

Objectives: We investigated associations of consumption of various dairy products with mortality in the Italian cohort of the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC)-Italy study.

Methods: Dairy product consumption was assessed by validated semiquantitative FFQs.

Low incidence of nephrotoxicity following intravenous administration of iodinated contrast media: a prospective study.

Objectives: To estimate the incidence of contrast-induced acute kidney injury (CI-AKI) after intravenous (iv) iodinated contrast material (ICM) exposure.

Methods: This prospective cohort study included all consecutive patients who underwent radiological investigations using low-osmolar iopamidol 370 mg/ml in a regional hospital over a period of 36 months, without any exclusion criteria. The estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) was evaluated using the MRDR equation before (2-10 days) and after (24-36 h) radiological investigations.

Kidney transplantation in patients with previous renal cancer: a critical appraisal of current evidence and guidelines.

Due to the increasing occurrence of renal cell carcinoma (RCC) in the general population and the high prevalence of chronic kidney disease among cancer patients, many people with a previous RCC may eventually require renal replacement therapy including kidney transplantation. They should accordingly be evaluated to assess their life expectancy and the risk that the chronic immunosuppressive therapy needed after grafting might impair their long-term outcome. Current guidelines on listing patients for renal transplantation suggest that no delay is required for subjects with small or incidentally discovered RCC, while the recommendations for patients who have been treated for a symptomatic RCC or for those with large or invasive tumours are conflicting.

Dietary glycemic index, glycemic load, and cancer risk: results from the EPIC-Italy study.

Factors linked to glucose metabolism are involved in the etiology of several cancers. High glycemic index (GI) or high glycemic load (GL) diets, which chronically raise postprandial blood glucose, may increase cancer risk by affecting insulin-like growth factor. We prospectively investigated cancer risk and dietary GI/GL in the EPIC-Italy cohort.

Socioeconomic factors influencing childhood vaccination in two northern Italian regions.

Background: Infant vaccination rates have been declining in Italy over the past 5-7years. The aims of this study were to assess the trend in the proportions of children unvaccinated at 24months old, to identify sociodemographic factors associated with non-vaccination; and to examine changes in parental attitudes to vaccination over time.

Methods: We conducted a population-based birth cohort study by combining existing electronic data sets.

Impact of preventable risk factors on stroke in the EPICOR study: does gender matter?

Objectives: The effect of modifiable stroke risk factors in terms of prevented cases remains unclear due to sex-specific disease rate and risk factors prevalence. Our aim was to estimate their impact on stroke by gender through population-attributable fraction (PAF), preventive fraction (PF) and their combination in EPIC-Italian cohort.

Methods: 43,976 participants, age 34-75, and free of cardiovascular disease at baseline (1993-1998) were followed up for almost 11 years.

Abdominal adiposity is not a mediator of the protective effect of Mediterranean diet on colorectal cancer.

Adherence to the Mediterranean diet (MD) has a preventive effect on colorectal cancer (CRC). Several biological mechanisms have been hypothesized to explain this effect, but the involvement of clinical mediators has not been experimentally proven. We examined the role of abdominal adiposity (i.

Up to one-third of breast cancer cases in post-menopausal Mediterranean women might be avoided by modifying lifestyle habits: the EPIC Italy study.

Purpose: Breast cancer (BC) is the most frequent cancer among women in developed countries. Physical activity (PA), body mass index (BMI), and alcohol intake have been identified as relevant lifestyle modifiable risk factors for post-menopausal BC. We aimed to evaluate the role of these factors in modulating post-menopausal BC risk and to estimate the proportion of BC cases attributable to low PA, high BMI, and alcohol taking into account non-modifiable factors.

The Association between Educational Level and Cardiovascular and Cerebrovascular Diseases within the EPICOR Study: New Evidence for an Old Inequality Problem.

Background: A consistent association has been reported between low socioeconomic status (SES) and cardiovascular events (CE), whereas the association between SES and cerebrovascular events (CBVD) is less clear. The aim of this study was to investigate the association between SES (measured using education) and CE/CBVD in a cohort study, as well as to investigate lifestyle and clinical risk factors, to help to clarify the mechanisms by which SES influences CE/CBVD.

Material And Methods: We searched for diagnoses of CE and CBVD in the clinical records of 47,749 members of the EPICOR cohort (average follow-up time: 11 years).

Molecular detection and genetic characterization of circulating measles virus in northern Italy.

Background: Laboratory diagnosis of measles virus (MV) infection and genetic characterization of circulating MV play an essential role in measles surveillance, allowing proper interventions to interrupt endemic transmission.

Objectives: We describe results obtained using serological and molecular methods to confirm MV infection among suspected cases reported in a large region in the north of Italy during 2010-2014 and the genotyping of the MV strains detected.

Study Design: Three hundred seventy-two samples (361 urine and 11 oral fluids) were tested for MV-RNA detection.

The DESCARTES-Nantes survey of kidney transplant recipients displaying clinical operational tolerance identifies 35 new tolerant patients and 34 almost tolerant patients.

Background: Kidney recipients maintaining a prolonged allograft survival in the absence of immunosuppressive drugs and without evidence of rejection are supposed to be exceptional. The ERA-EDTA-DESCARTES working group together with Nantes University launched a European-wide survey to identify new patients, describe them and estimate their frequency for the first time.

Methods: Seventeen coordinators distributed a questionnaire in 256 transplant centres and 28 countries in order to report as many 'operationally tolerant' patients (TOL; defined as having a serum creatinine <1.

Gene-specific DNA methylation profiles and LINE-1 hypomethylation are associated with myocardial infarction risk.

Background: DNA methylation profiles are responsive to environmental stimuli and metabolic shifts. This makes DNA methylation a potential biomarker of environmental-related and lifestyle-driven diseases of adulthood. Therefore, we investigated if white blood cells' (WBCs) DNA methylation profiles are associated with myocardial infarction (MI) occurrence.

Transplantation of kidneys with tumors.

The shortage of donors in the face of the increasing number of patients wait-listed for renal transplantation has prompted several strategies including the use of kidneys with a tumor, whether found by chance on harvesting from a deceased donor or intentionally removed from a living donor and transplanted after excision of the lesion. Current evidence suggests that a solitary well-differentiated renal cell carcinoma, Fuhrman nuclear grade I-II, less than 1 cm in diameter and resected before grafting may be considered at minimal risk of recurrence in the recipient who, however, should be informed of the possible risk and consent to receive such a graft.

Dietary Total Antioxidant Capacity and Colorectal Cancer in the Italian EPIC Cohort.

Background: Colorectal cancer is the third most common cancer worldwide. Diet has been hypothesized as involved in colorectal cancer etiology, but few studies on the influence of total dietary antioxidant intake on colorectal cancer risk have been performed.

Methods: We investigated the association between colorectal cancer risk and the total antioxidant capacity (TAC) of the diet, and also of intake of selected antioxidants, in 45,194 persons enrolled in 5 centers (Florence, Naples, Ragusa, Turin and Varese) of the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC) Italy study.

[Dietary habits and cardiovascular disease: the experience of EPIC Italian collaboration].

Objectives: to report and evaluate the evidence produced by the EPIC Italian collaboration (EPICOR Project) on the dietary determinants of cardiovascular diseases in Italy.

Design: prospective study carried out in a large Italian population, composed by cohorts recruited in Northern, Central and Southern Italy.

Setting And Participants: data on dietary habits collected at the baseline observation through standardised questionnaires on 47,749 free-living adults at the time of the recruitment of the study (1993-1998).

[Dietary habits and cancer: the experience of EPIC-Italy].

Objectives: to investigate hypothesised relationships between diet and cancer by assessing diet as a whole, in the Italian cohort EPIC.

Design: multicentric prospective study.

Setting And Participants: 47,749 volunteers were recruited between 1993 and 1998 in the centres of Varese and Turin (Northern Italy), Florence (Central Italy), Naples and Ragusa (Southern Italy).

[Diagnosis of Alport syndrome].

Diagnosis of Alport syndrome or Thin basement membrane disease is suggested first of all by the clinical picture, the presence of neurisensorial hypoacusia and/or ocular abnormalities, and the family history which should be as accurate as possible involving the largest number possible of family members to recognize the transmission modalities, i.e. X-linked or autosomal.