Publications by authors named "Luigi Pianese"

The fascial system is the focus of multiple scientific disciplines, and its nomenclature is debated. What tissue should fall under the definition of fascia? Considering university anatomy books where what is considered connective tissue is described as a fact, and through the science of embryology, which allows us to identify the origin of different body tissues, the article reviews and updates the fascial nomenclature. The text is not a point of arrival but rather a basis from which to start again, with the aim of understanding the function of the fascial continuum in the living.

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Instrument-assisted soft-tissue mobilization (IASTM) represents a treatment strategy for soft tissue (skin) and musculoskeletal tissue (myofascia). There are different morphologies of these tools that are used by clinicians and manual therapists for the management of scars, fibrotic formations, muscle-joint pain, and movement limitations. The literature demonstrates the effectiveness of IASTMs in different clinical areas.

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The connective tissue or fascia plays key roles in maintaining bodily function and health. The fascia is made up of solid and fluid portions, which interpenetrate and interact with each other, forming a polymorphic three-dimensional network. In the vast panorama of literature there is no univocal thought on the nomenclature and terminology that best represents the concept of fascia.

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The fascial continuum is a topic for which all clinicians and other healthcare professionals come into contact on a daily basis, both consciously and without having the idea that the tissues they deal with can fall within the concept of fascia. The Foundation of Osteopathic Research and Clinical Endorsement (FORCE) organization includes many clinicians and health professionals, as well as researchers in different scientific disciplines. The goal is to dissect some concepts related to daily practice, such as fascial tissue, from a scientific point of view and impartially.

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Fabry disease (FD) is an X-linked monogenic disorder caused by mutations in the GLA gene which leads to a deficiency of the functionally active lysosomal α-galactosidase A enzyme. Here, we report on a family of five members: unaffected parents, one unaffected son, and another son and daughter both carrying the same mutation (p.G138E) in the GLA gene.

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Objective: To assess the involvement of the peripheral nervous system in cerebral autosomal dominant arteriopathy with subcortical infarcts and leukoencephalopathy (CADASIL) by means of immunofluorescence and confocal analysis of punch skin biopsies.

Methods: We recruited 14 unrelated patients with CADASIL (M/F = 9/5; age 53.9 ± 10.

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Cerebral autosomal dominant arteriopathy with subcortical infarcts and leukoencephalopathy (CADASIL), the most common hereditary cerebral small vessel disease, is caused by mutations in the NOTCH3 gene on chromosome 19. Clinical manifestations of CADASIL include recurrent transient ischemic attacks, strokes, cognitive defects, epilepsy, migraine and psychiatric symptoms. Parkinsonian features have variably been reported in CADASIL patients, but only a few patients showed a clear parkinsonian syndrome.

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Apolipoprotein E (APOE) increases the risk for Alzheimer’s disease (ɛ4 allele) and cerebral amyloid angiopathy (ɛ2 and ɛ4), but its role in small vessel disease (SVD) is debated. Here we studied the effects of APOE on white matter hyperintensity volume (WMHV) in CADASIL (cerebral autosomal dominant arteriopathy with subcortical infarcts and leukoencephalopathy), a nonamyloidogenic angiopathy and inherited early-onset form of pure SVD. Four hundred and eighty-eight subjects were recruited through a multicenter consortium.

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Background And Purpose: White matter hyperintensities (WMH) on MRI are a quantitative marker for sporadic cerebral small vessel disease and are highly heritable. To date, large-scale genetic studies have identified only a single locus influencing WMH burden. This might in part relate to biological heterogeneity of sporadic WMH.

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Background And Purpose: Cerebral autosomal dominant arteriopathy with subcortical infarcts and leukoencephalopathy (CADASIL) is caused by NOTCH3 gene mutations that result in vascular smooth muscle cell (VSMC) degeneration. Its distinctive feature by electron microscopy (EM) is granular osmiophilic material (GOM) detected in VSMC indentations and/or the extracellular space close to VSMCs. Reports of the sensitivity of EM in detecting GOM in biopsies from CADASIL patients are contradictory.

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Cerebral autosomal dominant arteriopathy with subcortical infarcts and leukoencephalopathy (CADASIL) is a genetic disorder caused by mutations in the NOTCH3 gene, with a striking variability in phenotypic expression. To date, only two homozygous patients have been reported, with divergent phenotypic features. We describe an Italian CADASIL patient, homozygous for G528C mutation, in whom early manifestation of the disease was migraine, but whose clinical evolution was characterized by a reversible acute encephalopathy followed by full recovery ("CADASIL coma").

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Background And Purpose: To describe parkinsonism as a clinical manifestation of cerebral autosomal dominant arteriopathy with subcortical infarcts and leukoencephalopathy.

Methods: We report 5 patients carrying the R1006C mutation in the exon 19 of NOTCH3 gene. All cases presented late onset, slowly progressive parkinsonism, not responsive to l-dopa.

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Cerebral autosomal dominant arteriopathy with subcortical infarcts and leukoencephalopathy (CADASIL) is a disorder of the cerebral small blood vessels caused by a mutation in the NOTCH3 gene, which encodes a large transmembrane receptor NOTCH3. It is associated with systemic arteriopathy involving small arteries, besides the brain, in skin, spleen, liver, muscle, aorta and in the kidney. The key pathological finding is the accumulation of granular osmiophilic material (GOM) on degenerating vascular smooth muscle cells.

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Primary pancreatic lymphoma (PPL) is an extremely rare disease which occurs in pancreas, accounts for less than 1% of extra-nodal malignant lymphomas and 0,5% of cases of pancreatic masses. We report the case of PPL in a 15 year-old boy suffering from Maturity Onset Diabetes of the Young type 3 (MODY3) diagnosed at the age of 1 year.

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Cerebral autosomal dominant arteriopathy with subcortical infarcts and leukoencephalopathy (CADASIL) may involve many target organs with relevant variability among affected individuals. We performed a multi-organ assessment tapping nervous system, skeletal muscle and cardiovascular system in thirty-nine individuals belonging to 16 families from Central Italy sharing the same R1006C CADASIL mutation. Stroke prevalence was larger in female patients (66.

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We analyzed the mutations identified in a family affected by Maturity-Onset Diabetes of the Young (MODY3), and searched for correlations between the genotype and clinical manifestations of diabetes. In 4 of 9 subjects we have demonstrated a heterozygous missense mutation in hepatocyte nuclear factor 1 alfa (HNF1α). The missense mutation, caused by a G>A transition at nucleotide 815 of exon 4 (c.

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CADASIL is a hereditary systemic vasculopathy which affects mainly small cerebral arteries and is caused by mutations in the Notch3 gene. Misfolding of Notch3 is linked to endoplasmic reticulum stress and increased reactive oxygen species, which may result in dysfunction of endothelial cells, inflammation and ischemia. Oxidative stress and inflammation may induce a rapid telomere shortening in peripheral blood leukocytes (PBLs).

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Analysis of glucokinase (GCK) gene in a 15-year-old male identified a new frameshift mutation in exon 4 caused by a heterozygous guanine deletion at position 382 (c.382delG, p.E128Xfs).

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Cerebral autosomal dominant arteriopathy with subcortical infarcts and leukoencephalopathy (CADASIL) is a heritable small-vessel disease caused by mutations in NOTCH3 gene and clinically characterized by recurrent ischemic strokes, migraine with aura, psychiatric symptoms, cognitive decline and dementia. Direct sequencing of NOTCH3 gene in 90 Italian patients of sixty-three unrelated families identified four heterozygous mutations (R141C and C144F in exon 4, G528C in exon 10 and R1006C in exon 19) in fifteen probands and sixteen relatives. We detected seventeen heterozygous/homozygous polymorphisms, four of them novel.

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Analysis of GCK and HNF1A genes in 32 MODY families identified three novel mutations: the missense mutation G170D and the deletion/insertion P432Xfs in GCK and the splicing mutation IVS4nt-1G>T, in HNF1A. For IVS4nt-1G>T the sequence analysis of RT-PCR products demonstrated exon skipping with the use of a cryptic splicing site.

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Noise over-stimulation will induce or influence molecular pathways in the cochlea; one approach to the identification of the components of these pathways in the cochlea is to examine genes and proteins that change following different types and levels of stress. Quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction provides a method to look at differential expression of genes in the acoustic stress response. By using this technique we have revealed a down-regulation of the level of otospiralin mRNA in the cochlea of guinea pigs after white noise over-stimulation for 2 h at 108 dB SPL.

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