The Anti-Cholinesterase Potential of Fifteen Different Species of L. (Amaryllidaceae) Collected in Spain.

L. is a renowned plant genus with a notable center of diversity and is primarily located in the Mediterranean region. These plants are widely recognized for their ornamental value, owing to the beauty of their flowers; nonetheless, they also hold pharmacological importance.

Critical heat flux enhancement in microgravity conditions coupling microstructured surfaces and electrostatic field.

We run pool boiling experiments with a dielectric fluid (FC-72) on Earth and on board an ESA parabolic flight aircraft able to cancel the effects of gravity, testing both highly wetting microstructured surfaces and plain surfaces and applying an external electric field that creates gravity-mimicking body forces. Our results reveal that microstructured surfaces, known to enhance the critical heat flux on Earth, are also useful in microgravity. An enhancement of the microgravity critical heat flux on a plain surface can also be obtained using the electric field.

Influence of COVID-19 pandemic on stress levels of urologic patients.

Introduction: Several studies have shown the consequences of COVID-19 pandemic on perceived stress of different populations, but none of them analyzed urological patients who underwent elective surgery.

Methods: We enrolled prospectively patients who underwent elective surgery between March and October 2020. A survey on COVID-19 and the 4-item Perceived Stress Scale (PPS-4) questionnaire were administered at hospital admission.

Antibiotic disturbance affects aquatic microbial community composition and food web interactions but not community resilience.

Notwithstanding the fundamental role that environmental microbes play for ecosystem functioning, data on how microbes react to disturbances are still scarce, and most factors that confer stability to microbial communities are unknown. In this context, antibiotic discharge into the environment is considered a worldwide threat for ecosystems with potential risks to human health. We therefore tested resilience of microbial communities challenged by the presence of an antibiotic.

Evidence for Altered Canonical Wnt Signaling in the Trabecular Bone of Elderly Postmenopausal Women with Fragility Femoral Fracture.

Wnt signaling, a major regulator of bone formation and homeostasis, might be involved in the bone loss of osteoporotic patients and the consequent impaired response to fracture. Therefore we analyzed Wnt-related, osteogenic, and adipogenic genes in bone tissue of elderly postmenopausal women undergoing hip replacement for either femoral fracture or osteoarthritis. Bone specimens derived from the intertrochanteric region of the femurs of 25 women with fracture (F) and 29 with osteoarthritis without fracture (OA) were analyzed.

Up-regulation of the chemo-attractive receptor ChemR23 and occurrence of apoptosis in human chondrocytes isolated from fractured calcaneal osteochondral fragments.

To study the expression level of a panel of pro/anti-apoptotic factors and inflammation-related receptors in chondral fragments from patients undergoing surgical treatment for intra-articular calcaneal fractures, cartilage fragments were retrieved from calcaneal fractures of 20 patients subjected to surgical treatment. Primary cultures were performed using chondral fragments from fractured and control patients. Chondrocyte cultures from each patient of the fractured and control groups were subjected to immunofluorescence staining and quantitatively analyzed under confocal microscopy.

Biodegradable device applied in flatfoot surgery: comparative studies between clinical and technological aspects of removed screws.

Poly-L-lactide (PLLA) is one of the most used polymers for biomedical application; its use in sutures and other implants has been widely investigated. Although the knowledge of PLLA biodegradation and biocompatibility features is deep, PLLA screws used to correct the flat foot deformity have deserved attention since they are not degraded in most of cases after a long period of years (3-7) from the implantation. In this article, a clinical and radiological evaluation (NMR, histological and clinical outcomes) on patients was correlated with physico-chemical characterization (by SEM, DSC, GPC and XRD analysis at different temperatures) on both native and patient-recovered screws together with the theoretical degradation processes of PLLA-based implants.

Application of poly-L-lactide screws in flat foot surgery: histological and radiological aspects of bio-absorption of degradable devices.

The flat foot in childhood is a condition frequently observed in orthopedic practice but it is still debated when and in which patients surgical corrective treatment is appropriate; recently, the application of poly-L-lactic-acid (PLLA) screws was proposed. The present study investigates a group of 33 patients treated with PLLA expansion endorthesis in order to evaluate the deformity correction. Clinical and radiological outcomes in patients were correlated with: a) morphological characterization of screws both before and after being removed from patients, when necessary; b) histological and bio-molecular evaluation of degradation processes of the implants, focusing attention on the correlation between the cellular cohort involved in inflammatory reaction and the bio-absorption degree of PLLA screws.

Acute respiratory distress following fine needle aspiration of thyroid nodule: case report and review of the literature.

Background: Fine needle aspiration (FNA) is a widely used practice to assess thyroid lesions, with a low morbidity rate. Although neck hematomas following this procedure are quite common, only three cases of massive hemorrhage causing acute airways obstruction have been previously described.

Case Report: We report the case of a 74 years old female with acute respiratory distress following ultrasound-guided FNA for a right paraisthmic thyroid nodule.

Sentinel node and radioguided surgery in breast cancer of limited size. Preliminary experience at ASL 1, Massa e Carrara.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of sentinel node (SN) biopsy in breast cancer. Twenty-five female patients classified as T1N0 according to the TNM system of the UICC were evaluated with this procedure from April to October 1999. The day before surgery a subdermal injection of 99mTc-nanocoll within the tissue overlying the neoplastic lesion and subsequent lymphoscintigraphy were performed.

[An aggressive exercise test is suitable for myocardial scintigraphy].

Exercise myocardial scintigraphy is frequently used as a second step tool in the assessment of coronary artery disease. Little attention has been paid on the exercise protocol used as a stress during scintigraphy. However, the diagnostic accuracy of the test is better if higher heart rate is achieved.

Gallium-67 scintigraphy in an AIDS patients presenting tuberculous pericarditis.

The case of a 31-year-old HIV-positive male drug addict, with a history of recurrent intermittent fever is presented. Chest x-ray showed right ilar-node enlargement and moderate venous congestion. A 67Ga-citrate scan of the chest was highly suggestive of Mycobacterial infection.

Influence of long-term diabetes on liver glycogen metabolism in the rat.

Diabetes acutely impairs the ability of the liver to synthesize glycogen. However, the effect of chronic diabetes on the glycogenic function of the liver is not known. We measured hepatic glycogen contents in streptozotocin (STZ)-diabetic rats 3 weeks or 9 months after the induction of diabetes, in the fed state and following a 24-hour fast.

Internal biliary diversion improves glucose tolerance in the rat.

The gastrointestinal tract is known to generate hormonal and neural signals that can affect the endocrine function of the pancreas ("enteroinsular axis"). The physiological circumstances under which this connection is operative are still a matter of debate. We investigated the influence of bile flow on glucose homeostasis in an experimental model of internal biliary diversion.