Publications by authors named "M BALBI"
Adiponectin removal by the human kidney: A preliminary study.
Nutr Metab Cardiovasc Dis
November 2024
Background And Aims: The adipocyte-derived adiponectin (APN) has potent insulin-sensitizing and anti-inflammatory properties. The adipose tissue is known to be the main source for APN in the circulation, but sites and mechanisms which remove APN from blood are still unknown in humans.
Methods And Results: We reviewed APN data obtained in previous studies in which the inter-organ exchange of amino acids and cytokines was measured in our laboratory.
Objectives: To assess the consistency of automated measurements of coronary artery calcification (CAC) burden and emphysema extent on computed tomography (CT) images acquired with different radiation dose protocols in a lung cancer screening (LCS) population.
Materials And Methods: The patient cohort comprised 361 consecutive screenees who underwent a low-dose CT (LDCT) scan and an ultra-low-dose CT (ULDCT) scan at an incident screening round. Exclusion criteria for CAC measurements were software failure and previous history of CVD, including coronary stenting, whereas for emphysema assessment, software failure only.
Purpose: To uncover the underpinnings of acquired resistance (AR) to immunotherapy (IO), we determined whether distinctive clinico-pathological, radiomic and peripheral blood (PB) immune-inflammatory features reflect oligo- and systemic (sys)-AR in advanced NSCLC patients undergoing immune checkpoints inhibitors.
Experimental Design: On 105 consecutive IO-treated advanced NSCLC, PB immunophenotypes, cytokines and CT-derived radiomic features (RFs), extracted from primary and merged metastatic lesions, were prospectively collected at baseline (T0) and first disease assessment (T1, 9-12 weeks), and their delta (Δ) variation [(T1-T0)/T0] computed. AR, defined as progression after initial response (complete/partial) or stable disease ≥ 6 months, was subdivided according to the number of new and/or progressive lesions in oligoAR (≤3) and sysAR (>3).
Article Synopsis
- The study investigates the combination of a plasma 24-microRNA signature classifier (MSC) with low-dose computed tomography (LDCT) to improve screening strategies for lung cancer in 1024 participants with suspicious findings.
- Results showed that MSC testing significantly increased the risk of lung cancer incidence and mortality in patients with positive LDCT results, highlighting the classifier's effectiveness for determining individual risk.
- The findings suggest that using MSC in routine LDCT screening enhances the accuracy of predicting lung cancer and supports its role in managing uncertain radiologic findings.
Background: The expression of CD64 on neutrophils (nCD64), measured using flow cytometry, has been proposed as a biomarker for bloodstream infections (BSI). However, data regarding its use in the setting of liver cirrhosis are lacking.
Methods: We compared nCD64 levels in 15 cirrhotic patients with BSI to those in 19 controls, including outpatients with stable decompensated cirrhosis without infection.