Microbes are an integral component of the tumor microenvironment. However, determinants of microbial presence remain ill-defined. Here, using spatial-profiling technologies, we show that bacterial and immune cell heterogeneity are spatially coupled.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntroduction: Fluoride exposure may have various adverse health effects, including affecting thyroid function and disease risk, but the pattern of such relation is still uncertain.
Methods: We systematically searched human studies assessing the relation between fluoride exposure and thyroid function and disease. We compared the highest versus the lowest fluoride category across these studies, and we performed a one-stage dose-response meta-analysis for aggregated data to explore the shape of the association.
Objective: To evaluate in low-risk pregnancies if longitudinal change in cerebro-placental ratio (CPR) between 37 and 40 weeks of pregnancy is associated with cesarean section (CS) for non-reassuring fetal status (NRFS) during labor.
Methods: This is a prospective observational study of women with singleton low-risk pregnancies who underwent an ultrasound scan at 36 + 0 to 37 + 6 and 39 + 0 to 41 + 6 weeks of pregnancy, when the CPR was calculated from the middle cerebral artery (MCA) and umbilical artery (UA) pulsatility indices. Managing professionals were kept blinded to the Doppler results.
Objective: The prediction of adverse perinatal outcomes in low-risk pregnancies is poor, mainly owing to the lack of reliable biomarkers. Uterine artery (UtA) Doppler is closely associated with placental function and may facilitate the peripartum detection of subclinical placental insufficiency. The objective of this study was to evaluate the association of mean UtA pulsatility index (PI) measured in early labor with obstetric intervention for suspected intrapartum fetal compromise and adverse perinatal outcome in uncomplicated singleton term pregnancies.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMany uncertainties still surround the possible harmful effect of fluoride exposure on cognitive neurodevelopment in children. The aim of this systematic review and meta-analysis was to characterize this relation through a dose-response approach, by comparing the intelligence quotient (IQ) scores in the highest versus the lowest fluoride exposure category with a random-effects model, within a one-stage dose-response meta-analysis based on a cubic spline random-effects model. Out of 1996 potentially relevant literature records, 33 studies were eligible for this review, 30 of which were also suitable for meta-analysis.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground Recent studies have identified an increased risk of dementia in patients with atrial fibrillation (AF). However, both AF and dementia usually manifest late in life. Few studies have investigated this association in adults with early-onset dementia.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjectives: The reported prevalence of TSH-receptor (TSHR) autoantibodies (TRAb) in patients with chronic thyroiditis (CT) range from 0 to 48%. The objective was to study the prevalence of TRAb in patients with CT and hypothyroidism and to correlate it with gender, age, thyroid dimensions, TSH levels, and autoimmune diseases.
Methods: The study comprised 245 patients with CT and hypothyroidism (median age 42 years, 193 females, 52 males) and 123 Italian healthy subjects matched for sex and age as controls.
Background And Aim: The exact COVID-19 severity is still not well defined and it is hotly debated due to the a few methodological issues such as the uncertainties about the spread of the SARS-CoV-2 infection.
Methods: We investigated COVID-19 case-fatality rate and infection-fatality rate in 2020 in Italy, a country severely affected by the pandemic, basing our assessment on publicly available data, and calculating such measures during the first and second waves.
Results: We found that province-specific crude case-fatality rate in the first wave (February-July 2020) had a median value of 12.
Agonist CD40 antibodies are under clinical development in combination with chemotherapy as an approach to prime for antitumor T cell immunity. However, treatment with anti-CD40 is commonly accompanied by both systemic cytokine release and liver transaminase elevations, which together account for the most common dose-limiting toxicities. Moreover, anti-CD40 treatment increases the potential for chemotherapy-induced hepatotoxicity.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAgonistic anti-CD40 monoclonal antibody (mAb) therapy in combination with chemotherapy (chemoimmunotherapy) shows promise for the treatment of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDA). To gain insight into immunological mechanisms of response and resistance to chemoimmunotherapy, we analyzed blood samples from patients (n = 22) with advanced PDA treated with an anti-CD40 mAb (CP-870,893) in combination with gemcitabine. We found a stereotyped cellular response to chemoimmunotherapy characterized by transient B cell, CD56+CD11c+HLA-DR+CD141+ cell, and monocyte depletion and CD4+ T cell activation.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFTGFβ is a pleiotropic cytokine with immunosuppressive activity. In preclinical models, blockade of TGFβ enhances the activity of radiation and invokes T-cell antitumor immunity. Here, we combined galunisertib, an oral TGFβ inhibitor, with stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT) in patients with advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and assessed safety, efficacy, and immunologic correlatives.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: To construct valid reference standards reflecting optimal cerebroplacental ratio and to explore its physiological determinants.
Methods: A cohort of 391 low-risk pregnancies of singleton pregnancies of nonmalformed fetuses without maternal medical conditions and with normal perinatal outcomes was created. Doppler measurements of the middle cerebral artery and umbilical artery were performed at 24-42 weeks.
Perturbation of protein homeostasis and aggregation of misfolded proteins is a major cause of many human diseases. A hallmark of the neurodegenerative disease spinocerebellar ataxia type 7 (SCA7) is the intranuclear accumulation of mutant, misfolded ataxin-7 (polyQ-ATXN7). Here, we show that endogenous ATXN7 is modified by SUMO proteins, thus also suggesting a physiological role for this modification under conditions of proteotoxic stress caused by the accumulation of polyQ-ATXN7.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjectives: To assess the ability of prenatal ultrasound (US) in identifying systemic feeding arteries in bronchopulmonary sequestrations and hybrid lesions and report the ability of US in classifying bronchopulmonary sequestrations as intralobar or extralobar.
Methods: Institutional Review Board-approved radiology and clinical database searches from 2008 to 2015 were performed for prenatal lung lesions with final diagnoses of bronchopulmonary sequestrations or hybrid lesions. All patients had detailed US examinations, and most patients had ultrafast magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).
Ramoplanin is a glycolipodepsipeptide antibiotic active against Gram-positive bacteria including vancomycin-resistant enterococci. Ramoplanin inhibits bacterial cell wall biosynthesis by a mechanism different from that of glycopeptides and hence does not show cross-resistance with these antibiotics. The systemic use of ramoplanin has been so far prevented because of its low local tolerability when injected intravenously.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMinerva Cardioangiol
December 2006
Aim: The preoperative cardiac evaluation of a patient who undergoes noncardiac surgery is a very important problem, particularly for diagnostic tools used. Aim of this study is to test the usefulness of 4 most used clinical indexes for the evaluation of cardiovascular risk in the management of patients who undergo noncardiac surgery.
Methods: The study is based on a retrospective analysis of a group of 45 patients, who underwent extracardiac surgery in biennium 2002-2004.
Inflammatory abdominal aortic aneurysm (IAAA) is defined as an unusually thickened aneurysmatic wall, encircled by a wide dense perianeurysmal and/or retroperitoneal fibrosis with adjacent tissues adhesion, and is now considered as an extreme shape of the common phlogistic process involved in atherosclerotic plaque formation. Latest studies demonstrated that inflammation plays an important role in coronary disease and in other atherosclerosis manifestations. We introduce the clinical case of a patient with IAAA who developed an acute myocardial infarction 6 months after the surgical procedure on the aorta.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAppl Environ Microbiol
March 2004
The occurrence of Arcobacter spp. was studied in seawater and plankton samples collected from the Straits of Messina, Italy, during an annual period of observation by using cultural and molecular techniques. A PCR assay with three pairs of primers targeting the 16S and 23S rRNA genes was used for detection and identification of Arcobacter butzleri, Arcobacter cryaerophilus, and Arcobacter skirrowii in cultures and environmental samples.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSeventeen strains of Arcobacter butzleri and thirteen of Arcobacter cryaerophilus, were tested for their antimicrobial susceptibility to 26 antimicrobial agents. Among beta-lactams agents in this study, imipenem was the most active agent against both A. butzleri and A.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe local cytokine response to uropathogenic phenotype Escherichia coli KBC211 infection exhibits characteristics of both TH1 and TH2 profiles. Interleukin (IL)-6, MIP-2, IL-12, IL-18, and tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) are expressed, but IL-4, IL-5, and IL-10 are also present at low levels. This is clearly a complex response that should be explored more fully.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFOur data indicate that H. pylori infection is associated with active interleukin-18 production in patients with chronic gastritis. Different cell types appear to be involved in this activity and may play a role in the development of immunopathologic damage.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) and postantibiotic effect (PAE) of marbofloxacin, enrofloxacin, difloxacin and ciprofloxacin were evaluated in vitro against 43 feline-source Bordetella bronchiseptica strains. All strains tested were susceptible to marbofloxacin and enrofloxacin (MIC90 0.5mg/l), while 93 and 84% of the strains were susceptible, respectively, to ciprofloxacin and difloxacin with MIC(90) values of, respectively, 1 and 8mg/l.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFInt J Antimicrob Agents
February 2001
The minimal inhibitory concentrations (MIC) of flurithromycin on 49 clinical isolates of Helicobacter pylori was investigated. The MICs were determined using an agar dilution technique. Flurithromycin inhibited the growth of H.
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