Short-term effects of Pilates-based exercise on upper limb strength and function in people with Parkinson's disease.

Background: People with Parkinson's disease (PD) have impaired upper limb motor coordination, limiting the execution of activities of daily living. This study investigated the feasibility and safety of a short-term Pilates-based exercise program in the treatment of upper limb motor coordination for people with PD.

Methods: Fifteen patients - n (%) 4 women/11 men (27/73), median [interquartile range] age 66 [9] years - participated in this quasi-experimental (before-and-after) clinical trial.

Using big data and Population Health Management to assess care and costs for patients with severe mental disorders and move toward a value-based payment system.

Background: Mental health (MH) care often exhibits uneven quality and poor coordination of physical and MH needs, especially for patients with severe mental disorders. This study tests a Population Health Management (PHM) approach to identify patients with severe mental disorders using administrative health databases in Italy and evaluate, manage and monitor care pathways and costs. A second objective explores the feasibility of changing the payment system from fee-for-service to a value-based system (e.

DM management in HIV patients: the adoption of population health management to transform the chronic management of HIV.

Background: The success of antiretroviral therapies has made human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) a chronic disease, changing the care scenario dramatically. This study aimed to measure adherence to diabetes mellitus standards of care provided for people living with HIV (PLWH). Diabetes represents a paradigmatic case for tackling chronic care management in this target group.

Avoidable hospitalizations and access to primary care: comparisons among Italians, resident immigrants and undocumented immigrants in administrative hospital discharge records.

Background: Immigrants face multiple barriers in accessing healthcare; however, empirical assessment of access presents serious methodological issues, and evidence on undocumented immigrants is scant and based mainly on non-representative samples. We examine avoidable hospitalization (AH) as an indicator of poor access to primary care (PC) in Italy, where a universal healthcare system guarantees access but fails to assign general practitioners to undocumented immigrants.

Methods: Using anonymized national hospital discharge records in 2019, undocumented immigrants were identified through an administrative financing code.

Establishing a national HTA program for medical devices in Italy: Overhauling a fragmented system to ensure value and equal access to new medical technologies.

Differing contexts have greatly influenced HTA development in various countries, with considerable effort recently made by international HTA networks (e.g., EUnetHTA) and the European Union (EU) to make HTA a more coherent, equal, and efficient process.

Factors influencing adherence to adjuvant endocrine therapy in breast cancer-treated women: using real-world data to inform a switch from acute to chronic disease management.

Purpose: Adjuvant endocrine therapy (AET) for ≥ 5 years is generally recommended for women with hormone receptor-positive breast cancer to reduce cancer recurrence/mortality; however, adherence can be suboptimal. We tested determinants of AET adherence using patient characteristics, treatment pathways, AET initiation timing, and multiple healthcare facility use. An underlying objective was to explore how oncological pathways mirror chronic disease management to monitor adherence and target improvement interventions using administrative datasets.

Leishmania infantum infection reduces the amyloid β-stimulated NLRP3 inflammasome activation.

Activation of the NLRP3 inflammasome has been shown to play a major role in the neuroinflammation that accompanies Alzheimer's disease (AD); interventions that down regulate the NLRP3 inflammasome could thus be beneficial in AD. Parasite infections were recently shown to be associated with improved cognitive functions in Apolipoprotein E4 (ApoE4)-expressing members of an Amazonian tribe. We verified in an in vitro model whether Leishmania infantum infection could reduce NLRP3.

A scoping review of core outcome sets and their 'mapping' onto real-world data using prostate cancer as a case study.

Background: A Core Outcomes Set (COS) is an agreed minimum set of outcomes that should be reported in all clinical studies related to a specific condition. Using prostate cancer as a case study, we identified, summarized, and critically appraised published COS development studies and assessed the degree of overlap between them and selected real-world data (RWD) sources.

Methods: We conducted a scoping review of the Core Outcome Measures in Effectiveness Trials (COMET) Initiative database to identify all COS studies developed for prostate cancer.

Patient access to oral nutritional supplements: Which policies count?

Objectives: Oral nutritional supplements (ONS) represent a cost-effective method for treating malnutrition. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of public policies on patient access to ONS, using the Italian regionalized health care system as a case study, subsequently compared with the centralized British National Health Service.

Methods: Regional policies in the nine largest Italian regions and British policies were gathered through a literature review; interviews with officers responsible for clinical nutrition policies at the regional level in Italy were also conducted.

Opportunities and challenges of a novel cardiac output response to stress (CORS) test to enhance diagnosis of heart failure in primary care: qualitative study.

Objective: To explore the role of the novel cardiac output response to stress (CORS), test in the current diagnostic pathway for heart failure and the opportunities and challenges to potential implementation in primary care.

Design: Qualitative study using semistructured in-depth interviews which were audio recorded and transcribed verbatim. Data from the interviews were analysed thematically using an inductive approach.

The short-term economic burden of gestational diabetes mellitus in Italy.

Background: The incidence of Gestational Diabetes Mellitus (GDM) is rising in all developed countries. This study aimed at assessing the short-term economic burden of GDM from the Italian healthcare system perspective.

Methods: A model was built over the last pregnancy trimester (i.

Five year trends (2008-2012) in cardiac implantable electrical device utilization in five European nations: a case study in cross-country comparisons using administrative databases.

Aims: Common methodologies for analysis of analogous data sets are needed for international comparisons of treatment and outcomes. This study tests using administrative hospital discharge (HD) databases in five European countries to investigate variation/trends in pacemaker (PM) and implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD) implant rates in terms of patient characteristics/management, device subtype, and initial implantation vs. replacement, and compares findings with existing literature and European Heart Rhythm Association (EHRA) reports.

Correction: Mortality and Length of Stay of Very Low Birth Weight and Very Preterm Infants: A EuroHOPE Study.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.

Investigating Regional Variation of Cardiac Implantable Electrical Device Implant Rates in European Healthcare Systems: What Drives Differences?

Despite established efficacy for cardiac implantable electrical devices (CIEDs), large differences in CIED implant rates have been documented across and within countries. The aim of this paper is to investigate the influence of socio-economic, epidemiological and supply side factors on CIED implant rates across 57 Regions in 5 EU countries and to assess the feasibility of using administrative data for this purpose. A total of 1 330 098 hospitalizations for CIED procedures extracted from hospital discharge databases in Austria, England, Germany, Italy and Slovenia from 2008 to 2012 was used in the analysis.

Variations and Determinants of Mortality and Length of Stay of Very Low Birth Weight and Very Low for Gestational Age Infants in Seven European Countries.

The EuroHOPE very low birth weight and very low for gestational age infants study aimed to measure and explain variation in mortality and length of stay (LoS) in the populations of seven European nations (Finland, Hungary, Italy (only the province of Rome), the Netherlands, Norway, Scotland and Sweden). Data were linked from birth, hospital discharge and mortality registries. For each infant basic clinical and demographic information, infant mortality and LoS at 1 year were retrieved.

Parameter Heterogeneity In Breast Cancer Cost Regressions - Evidence From Five European Countries.

We investigate parameter heterogeneity in breast cancer 1-year cumulative hospital costs across five European countries as part of the EuroHOPE project. The paper aims to explore whether conditional mean effects provide a suitable representation of the national variation in hospital costs. A cohort of patients with a primary diagnosis of invasive breast cancer (ICD-9 codes 174 and ICD-10 C50 codes) is derived using routinely collected individual breast cancer data from Finland, the metropolitan area of Turin (Italy), Norway, Scotland and Sweden.

Mortality and Length of Stay of Very Low Birth Weight and Very Preterm Infants: A EuroHOPE Study.

The objective of this paper was to compare health outcomes and hospital care use of very low birth weight (VLBW), and very preterm (VLGA) infants in seven European countries. Analysis was performed on linkable patient-level registry data from seven European countries between 2006 and 2008 (Finland, Hungary, Italy (the Province of Rome), the Netherlands, Norway, Scotland, and Sweden). Mortality and length of stay (LoS) were adjusted for differences in gestational age (GA), sex, intrauterine growth, Apgar score at five minutes, parity and multiple births.

Hospital Burden and Gastrointestinal Surgery in Inflammatory Bowel Disease Patients in Italy: A Retrospective Observational Study.

Backgrounds And Aims: Despite recent advances in medical therapies for inflammatory bowel disease [IBD], little is known about their impact on inpatient management. Our objectives were to explore hospitalisation and surgery trends for all IBD patients in Italy at three time points over 7 years.

Methods: National hospital discharge records were retrospectively reviewed for all admissions with a Crohn's disease [CD, 555*] or ulcerative colitis [UC, 556*] diagnosis in 2005, 2008, and 2011.

The role of transposable elements in the regulation of IFN-lambda1 gene expression.

IFNs lambda1, lambda2, and lambda3, or type III IFNs, are recently identified cytokines distantly related to type I IFNs. Despite an early evolutionary divergence, the 2 types of IFNs display similar antiviral activities, and both are produced primarily in dendritic cells. Although virus induction of the type I IFN-beta gene had served as a paradigm of gene regulation, relatively little is known about the regulation of IFN-lambda gene expression.

Detecting and modulating the NF-kB activity in human immune cells: generation of human cell lines with altered levels of NF-kappaB.

NF-kappaB plays a pivotal role in immunity and inflammation and is considered to be a promising candidate for drug development. However, global suppression of NF-kappaB may have undesirable side-effects. Our data and the results of others suggest that each of the five NF-kappaB subunits may have a specific function in controlling the expression of inflammatory mediators in immune cells.

Accuracy of Thinprep Imaging System in detecting atypical glandular cells.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the accuracy of the ThinPrep Imaging System (Imager) in detecting atypical glandular cells (AGC) or adenocarcinoma in the 22 selected fields. All cases reported as AGC or adenocarcinoma from January 2005 to December 2006 that had been initially screened by the Imager were retrospectively reviewed to determine whether the most diagnostically relevant groups/cells were within the 22 selected fields. A total of 39 cases were reviewed.

Accuracy of ThinPrep Imaging System in detecting low-grade squamous intraepithelial lesions.

Context: The ThinPrep Imaging System (Imager) for cervical cytology is used in many US laboratories, but the ability of the system to identify classic changes of low-grade squamous intraepithelial lesion (LSIL) has not been independently reported.

Objective: To evaluate the accuracy of this system in detecting classic LSIL cells.

Design: A total of 114 imaged ThinPrep LSIL cases from April to June 2005 were reviewed to determine whether the most diagnostically relevant cells were present in the 22 fields selected by Imager.

Is cytologic screening an effective surveillance method for detection of vaginal recurrence of uterine cancer?

Objective: Cytologic screening is commonly used in follow-up of women with uterine cancer to detect vaginal recurrence. The study objective was to assess the efficacy and costs associated with Pap tests in routine surveillance of women with uterine cancer.

Methods: Medical records and pathology databases identified patients with uterine cancer at one institution from 1990 to 2002.

MiMiR: a comprehensive solution for storage, annotation and exchange of microarray data.

Background: The generation of large amounts of microarray data presents challenges for data collection, annotation, exchange and analysis. Although there are now widely accepted formats, minimum standards for data content and ontologies for microarray data, only a few groups are using them together to build and populate large-scale databases. Structured environments for data management are crucial for making full use of these data.