Quality of Life in Transfusion-Dependent Thalassemia Patients in Greece Before and During the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Objectives: The peak of the COVID-19 pandemic was a challenging situation for transfusion-dependent thalassemia (TDT) patients. The objectives of this study were to measure the quality of life (QoL) in TDT patients during the COVID-19 lockdown restriction measures, compare the results with the pre-COVID-19 era, and evaluate the influence of sociodemographic and clinical factors on QoL.

Methods: This was a cross-sectional study of 110 consecutively selected adult TDT patients, during the stringent lockdown restriction measures implemented in Greece.

A Cross-Sectional, Multicentric, Disease-Specific, Health-Related Quality of Life Study in Greek Transfusion Dependent Thalassemia Patients.

The assessment of health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in thalassemia offers a holistic approach to the disease and facilitates better communication between physicians and patients. This study aimed to evaluate the HRQoL of transfusion-dependent thalassemia (TDT) patients in Greece. This was a multicentric, cross-sectional study conducted in 2017 involving 283 adult TDT patients.

Advanced Characterization Methodology to Unravel the Biodegradability of Metal-Organic Framework Nanoparticles in Extremely Diluted Conditions.

Porous iron(III) carboxylate metal-organic frameworks (MIL-100; MIL stands for Material of Institute Lavoisier) of submicronic size (nanoMOFs) have attracted a growing interest in the field of drug delivery due to their high drug payloads, excellent entrapment efficiencies, biodegradable character, and poor toxicity. However, only a few studies have dealt with the nanoMOF degradation mechanism, which is key to their biological applications. Complementary methods have been used here to investigate the degradation mechanism of Fe-based nanoMOFs under neutral or acidic conditions and in the presence of albumin.

Degradation and Erosion of Metal-Organic Frameworks: Comparative Study of a NanoMIL-100 Drug Delivery System.

To make a drug work better, the active substance can be incorporated into a vehicle for optimal protection and control of the drug delivery time and space. For making the drug carrier, the porous metal-organic framework (MOF) can offer high drug-loading capacity and various designs for effective drug delivery performance, biocompatibility, and biodegradability. Nevertheless, its degradation process is complex and not easily predictable, and the toxicity concern related to the MOF degradation products remains a challenge for their clinical translation.

Nanoscale Iron-Based Metal-Organic Frameworks: Incorporation of Functionalized Drugs and Degradation in Biological Media.

Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) attract growing interest in biomedical applications. Among thousands of MOF structures, the mesoporous iron(III) carboxylate MIL-100(Fe) (MIL stands for the Materials of Lavoisier Institute) is among the most studied MOF nanocarrier, owing to its high porosity, biodegradability, and lack of toxicity. Nanosized MIL-100(Fe) particles (nanoMOFs) readily coordinate with drugs leading to unprecedented payloads and controlled release.

Immune Response of Adult Sickle Cell Disease Patients after COVID-19 Vaccination: The Experience of a Greek Center.

Vaccines against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) are essential weapons to control the spread of the coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19) pandemic and protect immunocompromised patients. With a greater susceptibility to infection, sickle cell disease (SCD) patients are considered as "high risk" patients during the current COVID-19 pandemic. In our study, we try to determine the immune response of adult SCD patients monitored at our center after the first and second dose of the qualified mRNA vaccines available and correlate them to several disease-specific markers, as well as complement activation.

[Passive immunotherapy in Sars-Cov2 infections].

This article presents the current situation by November 2021 of the prophylactic or therapeutical use of polyclonal or monoclonal antibodies in Covid-19, either as immuno-modulators, or directly directed towards the virus.

Degradation Mechanism of Porous Metal-Organic Frameworks by In Situ Atomic Force Microscopy.

In recent years, Metal-Organic Frameworks (MOFs) have attracted a growing interest for biomedical applications. The design of MOFs should take into consideration the subtle balance between stability and biodegradability. However, only few studies have focused on the MOFs' stability in physiological media and their degradation mechanism.

New insights on the supramolecular structure of highly porous core-shell drug nanocarriers using solid-state NMR spectroscopy.

Nano-sized metal-organic frameworks (nanoMOFs), with engineered surfaces to enhance the targeting of the drug delivery, have proven efficient as drug nanocarriers. To improve their performances a step further, it is essential to understand at the molecular level the interactions between the nanoMOF interfaces and both the surface covering groups and the drug loaded inside the micropores. Here we show how solid-state NMR spectroscopy allows us to address these issues in an aluminum-based nanoMOF coated and loaded with phosphorus-containing species.

Comparative assessment of lymph node micrometastasis in cervical, endometrial and vulvar cancer: insights on the real time qRT-PCR approach versus immunohistochemistry, employing dual molecular markers.

To address the value of qRT-PCR and IHC in accurately detecting lymph node micrometastasis in gynecological cancer, we performed a systematic approach, using a set of dual molecular tumor-specific markers such as cytokeratin 19 (CK19) and carbonic anhydrase 9 (CA9), in a series of 46 patients (19 with cervical cancer, 18 with endometrial cancer, and 9 with vulvar cancer). A total of 1281 lymph nodes were analyzed and 28 were found positive by histopathology. Following this documentation, 82 lymph nodes, 11 positive and 71 negative, were randomly selected and further analyzed both by IHC and qRT-PCR for CK19 and CA9 expression.

Expression profiling of vulvar carcinoma: clues for deranged extracellular matrix remodeling and effects on multiple signaling pathways combined with discrete patient subsets.

The molecular mechanisms of vulvar squamous cell carcinoma (VSCC) remain obscure. To this end, we investigated systematically for the first time the expression profile of VSCC using the microarray technology, in a total of 11 snap-frozen samples, from five VSCC patients covering early and advanced stages of VSCC undergoing radical surgery and from six matched healthy controls. All experiments were performed using Affymetrix Human Genome U133A 2.