Publications by authors named "G Di Fiore"

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  • Plasmacytoid dendritic cells (pDCs) are important for immune responses but are rare in blood and less effective in cancer, making their use in therapies difficult.
  • Researchers developed a new method to differentiate pDCs from cord blood stem cells using specific growth factors like SR-1 and GM-CSF, leading to a significant yield of functional pDCs.
  • The study found that these cord blood-derived pDCs closely resemble primary pDCs and can potentially enhance anti-tumor immune responses, making them promising candidates for cancer therapies.
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  • Dystonia affects about 30% of Parkinson's disease patients and its relationship with deep brain stimulation (DBS) is not well understood.
  • A study analyzed data from 80 PD patients who received DBS, focusing on dystonia before and after the procedure in relation to medication status.
  • Results showed that patients with off-dystonia improved significantly after DBS, while many with on-dystonia developed it post-surgery, potentially due to higher doses of levodopa prior to the procedure.*
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  • The study aimed to evaluate how well right ventricular free wall longitudinal strain can predict peri-operative mortality in patients with severe tricuspid regurgitation undergoing tricuspid valve surgery, compared to traditional risk scores.
  • Researchers analyzed data from 110 patients, ultimately focusing on 79 who met criteria, finding that 9% died within 30 days post-surgery.
  • Results showed that right ventricular free wall longitudinal strain was the strongest predictor of mortality, outperforming classic risk scores when combined, indicating its potential importance in patient assessment before surgery.*
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  • Mitral annular disjunction (MAD) can present as either True-MAD or Pseudo-MAD, with the study identifying their prevalence in patients with mitral valve prolapse (MVP) using transthoracic echocardiography (TTE).
  • Of the 603 patients studied, True-MAD was found in 7% while Pseudo-MAD was found in 37%, suggesting a significant reclassification of cases traditionally thought to be MAD.
  • TTE proved to be a highly accurate and reliable tool for assessing mitral conditions, with accuracy ratings of 0.89 and strong intra/inter-rater reliability, affirming its value as a first-line assessment method in clinical settings.
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Proper household organic waste management practices are crucial to limit the negative environmental and health impacts that can result from inappropriate municipal waste treatment. The environmental impacts of organic waste have previously been described in the literature, and the main treatment strategy for managing such waste relies on technical facilities such as biodigesters. However, such technologies require significant financial investments, which could hinder their application in areas with lower economic power.

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