Cost effectiveness of difelikefalin for the treatment of patients with chronic kidney disease-associated pruritus undergoing hemodialysis in Italy.

Background: Chronic kidney disease (CKD)-associated pruritus is a condition that strongly impacts CKD patients and is associated with increased morbidity/mortality, and worse health-related quality of life (HRQoL). Difelikefalin is currently the only drug approved in Europe specifically for treating moderate to severe CKD-associated pruritus in patients undergoing hemodialysis. The KALM-1 and KALM-2 trials showed better efficacy of difelikefalin vs placebo and best supportive care.

The XENONnT dark matter experiment.

The multi-staged XENON program at INFN Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso aims to detect dark matter with two-phase liquid xenon time projection chambers of increasing size and sensitivity. The XENONnT experiment is the latest detector in the program, planned to be an upgrade of its predecessor XENON1T. It features an active target of 5.

C3 Hypocomplementemia Predicts the Progression of CKD towards End-Stage Kidney Disease in IgA Nephropathy, Irrespective of Histological Evidence of Thrombotic Microangiopathy.

IgA nephropathy (IgAN) is the most common primary glomerulonephritis worldwide. IgAN causes end-stage kidney disease (ESKD) in 30-40% of all cases. The activation of the complement system by pathological circulating IgAs, which is often associated with low serum C3 levels (LowC3), seems to play a crucial role.

Italian healthcare resource consumption for patients on hemodialysis treated for chronic kidney disease-associated pruritus (CKD-aP).

Background: Chronic kidney disease-associated pruritus (CKD-aP) affects patients on hemodialysis. This study identified hemodialysis patients presumably affected or not affected by CKD-aP and integrated healthcare costs, from the perspective of the Italian administrative healthcare data.

Methods: Through cross-linkage of Italian administrative healthcare data collected between 2015 and 2017 (accrual period) in the database of Fondazione ReS (Ricerca e Salute), patients undergoing in-hospital/outpatient hemodialysis were selected.

Prevalence and Characteristics of Chemsex: A Cross-Sectional Observational Study.

Introduction: Chemsex has been defined until now as the use of specific psychoactive substances during sexual activities in men who have sex with men (MSM) contexts to facilitate, enhance, and prolong the experience. Many studies have investigated this phenomenon in specific communities, such as MSM, or have explored the risk of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs). The objective of this study was to investigate the prevalence of chemsex in an Italian group and describe its main characteristics.

First Dark Matter Search Results from the LUX-ZEPLIN (LZ) Experiment.

The LUX-ZEPLIN experiment is a dark matter detector centered on a dual-phase xenon time projection chamber operating at the Sanford Underground Research Facility in Lead, South Dakota, USA. This Letter reports results from LUX-ZEPLIN's first search for weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs) with an exposure of 60 live days using a fiducial mass of 5.5 t.

Searching for Heavy Dark Matter near the Planck Mass with XENON1T.

Multiple viable theoretical models predict heavy dark matter particles with a mass close to the Planck mass, a range relatively unexplored by current experimental measurements. We use 219.4 days of data collected with the XENON1T experiment to conduct a blind search for signals from multiply interacting massive particles (MIMPs).

Persistent Isolated C3 Hypocomplementemia as a Strong Predictor of End-Stage Kidney Disease in Lupus Nephritis.

Introduction: Proliferative lupus nephritis (LN) progresses to end-stage kidney disease (ESKD) in roughly 10% of the cases despite treatment. Other than achieving <0.8 g/24h proteinuria at 12 months after treatment, early biomarkers predicting ESKD or death are lacking.

Search for New Physics in Electronic Recoil Data from XENONnT.

We report on a blinded analysis of low-energy electronic recoil data from the first science run of the XENONnT dark matter experiment. Novel subsystems and the increased 5.9 ton liquid xenon target reduced the background in the (1, 30) keV search region to (15.

The complement system in antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibody-associated vasculitis: pathogenic player and therapeutic target.

Purpose Of Review: The purpose of this review is to discuss the role of the complement system in the pathogenesis of antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibody (ANCA)-associated vasculitis (AAV) as well as the employment of complement inhibitors in AAV treatment.

Recent Findings: AAV has traditionally been considered a pauci-immune disease until recent findings demonstrated the pathogenic role of the complement system. The complement alternative pathway is crucial in AAV, and C5a seems to be a key molecule for AAV to develop.

Difelikefalin for pruritus associated with renal disease.

Chronic kidney disease-associated pruritus (CKD-aP) has been recognized for over a century. The complex pathophysiology of CKD-aP makes it challenging to find an effective treatment; the proposed therapeutic options come from anecdotal reports and small clinical trials, which at best compare the test drug against placebo. Gabapentinoids have shown relevant efficacy but there are serious safety concerns about their possible central nervous system toxicity.

Scintillation light detection in the 6-m drift-length ProtoDUNE Dual Phase liquid argon TPC.

DUNE is a dual-site experiment for long-baseline neutrino oscillation studies, neutrino astrophysics and nucleon decay searches. ProtoDUNE Dual Phase (DP) is a 6   6   6 m liquid argon time-projection-chamber (LArTPC) that recorded cosmic-muon data at the CERN Neutrino Platform in 2019-2020 as a prototype of the DUNE Far Detector. Charged particles propagating through the LArTPC produce ionization and scintillation light.

Material radiopurity control in the XENONnT experiment.

The selection of low-radioactive construction materials is of the utmost importance for rare-event searches and thus critical to the XENONnT experiment. Results of an extensive radioassay program are reported, in which material samples have been screened with gamma-ray spectroscopy, mass spectrometry, and Rn emanation measurements. Furthermore, the cleanliness procedures applied to remove or mitigate surface contamination of detector materials are described.

The risks associated with percutaneous native kidney biopsies: a prospective study.

Background: The known risks and benefits of native kidney biopsies are mainly based on the findings of retrospective studies. The aim of this multicentre prospective study was to evaluate the safety of percutaneous renal biopsies and quantify biopsy-related complication rates in Italy.

Methods: The study examined the results of native kidney biopsies performed in 54 Italian nephrology centres between 2012 and 2020.

[Uremic pruritus through healthcare administrative data].

This retrospective observational study aimed at describing patients on hemodialysis with/without uremic pruritus (UP), their healthcare resource consumption and costs from the perspective of the Italian National Health Service (INHS). Through the cross-linkage of the healthcare administrative data collected in the ReS (Ricerca e Salute) database from 2015 to 2017, patients undergoing in-hospital/outpatient hemodialysis (index date) for ≥2 years were selected. After the exclusion of subjects with other causes of pruritus, UP/non-UP cohorts were created based on the presence/absence of UP-related treatment supplies and characterized.

Phase I Study of Taminadenant (PBF509/NIR178), an Adenosine 2A Receptor Antagonist, with or without Spartalizumab (PDR001), in Patients with Advanced Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer.

Purpose: The adenosine 2A receptor (A2AR) mediates the immunosuppressive effects of adenosine in the tumor microenvironment and is highly expressed in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Taminadenant (PBF509/NIR178) is an A2AR antagonist able to reactivate the antitumor immune response.

Patients And Methods: In this phase I/Ib, dose-escalation/expansion study, patients with advanced/metastatic NSCLC and ≥1 prior therapy received taminadenant (80-640 mg, orally, twice a day) with or without spartalizumab (anti-programmed cell death-1, 400 mg, i.

SARS-CoV-2 RNA in dental biofilms: Supragingival and subgingival findings from inpatients in a COVID-19 intensive care unit.

Background: Saliva, salivary glands, gingival crevicular fluid, and supragingival biofilms may harbor SARS-CoV-2 RNA. This observational study aimed to investigate the presence and load of SARS-CoV-2 RNA in supragingival, and subgingival biofilms obtained from intensive care unit (ICU) patients.

Methods: A convenience sample, composed of 52 COVID-19+ participants (48.

Do you feel itchy? A guide towards diagnosis and measurement of chronic kidney disease-associated pruritus in dialysis patients.

Chronic kidney disease-associated pruritus (CKD-aP) is a potentially distressing condition that affects a significant proportion of patients with end-stage kidney disease undergoing dialysis. CKD-aP may lead to worsening of patients' physical and mental health-related quality of life (HRQoL) and has also been linked with worse clinical outcomes, including increased mortality. Despite these detrimental effects, evidence from real-world studies shows that CKD-aP still remains overlooked by nephrologists and underreported by patients in clinical practice.