Coexistence of bla, bla, bla, bla genes in multidrug-resistant K. pneumoniae ST437-carrying OmpK36 and OmpK37 porin mutations: First report in Italy.

Objectives: K. pneumoniae is a common cause of severe hospital-acquired infections. In the present study, we have characterised the whole-genome of two K.

Identification of IncA Plasmid, Harboring Gene, in Goldcoast ST358 and ST62 Isolated in a Hospitalized Patient.

In the present study, we analyzed the genome of two strains TS1 and TS2 from stool and blood cultures, respectively, and one strain of TS3, isolated from a single hospitalized patient with acute myeloid leukemia. The Goldcoast ST358 (O:8 (C2-C3) serogroup), sequenced by the MiSeq Illumina system, showed the presence of β-lactamase genes (, and ), , , , , , , and several incompatibility plasmids. A wide variety of insertion sequences (ISs) and transposon elements were identified.

Sexual Satisfaction and Quality of Life in Cardiovascular Patients: The Mediating Role of Anxiety.

Background: Cardiovascular diseases represent one of the most important problems for public health. Research indicates that elderly patients consider sexual satisfaction as a fundamental aspect of their quality of life and a better sexual function is related to higher general wellbeing.

Objective: The main objective of this study was to investigate the mediating role of anxiety and depression in the relationship between quality of life and sexual satisfaction in cardiovascular (CVD) patients.

Quality of life and clinical factors in women with endometriosis, the role of dienogest vs EE/dienogest over time: a single-center study.

Purpose: The aims of this observational study were: to assess the relationship between psychological variables, pain, Duration Untreated Endometriosis (DUE) in a sample of women with Endometriosis; and to assess the effect of dienogest 2 mg/daily (DNG) and dienogest/ethinylestradiol 0.03 mg/daily (EE/DNG) on Symptoms, QoL, HRQoL, pain and sexual satisfaction, over time.

Methods: 64 women constituted the study group; (56%) took DNG and (44%) took EE/DNG.

Airway Obstruction in Primary Care Patients: Need for Implementing Spirometry Use.

(1) Background: To detect early airway obstruction in an adult primary care setting. (2) Methods: Seventeen general practitioners (GP) were involved. A total of 912 patients consulting their GPs over 40 years were recruited: 583 of them (323M) agreed to perform/undergo all the procedures: respiratory questionnaire, mMRC questionnaire, and spirometry.

Emotional Competence in Primary School Children: Examining the Effect of a Psycho-Educational Group Intervention: A Pilot Prospective Study.

Emotional competence (EC) is a key component of children’s psychological, cognitive, and social development, and it is a central element of learning. The primary goal of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of implementing a psycho-educational group intervention aimed at improving children’s emotional competence (EC), quality of integration and scholastic skills. A total of 229 children (123 females; M Age = 7.

Relationship between Multimorbidity and Quality of Life in a Primary Care Setting: The Mediating Role of Dyspnea.

Multimorbidity is known to impair Quality of Life (QoL) in patients in a primary setting. Poor QoL is associated with higher dyspnea perception. How multimorbidity and dyspnea perception are related to QoL needs clarification.

Lung Function Decline in Adult Asthmatics-A 10-Year Follow-Up Retrospective and Prospective Study.

Asthma may have an impact on lung function decline but conflicting results are reported in forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV) decline. We aimed to describe the changes in FEV in lifelong non-smoking adult asthmatic outpatients during a 10-year follow-up comparing years 1-5 (1st period) with years 6-10 (2nd period) to assess factors affecting these changes. A total of 100 outpatients performed spirometry every 3 months during a 10-year survey.

Clinical and molecular characterization of COVID-19 hospitalized patients.

Clinical and molecular characterization by Whole Exome Sequencing (WES) is reported in 35 COVID-19 patients attending the University Hospital in Siena, Italy, from April 7 to May 7, 2020. Eighty percent of patients required respiratory assistance, half of them being on mechanical ventilation. Fiftyone percent had hepatic involvement and hyposmia was ascertained in 3 patients.

End-of-life Health-Care Utilization Patterns Among Chronically Ill Older Adults.

Patients with chronic illness are associated with high health-care utilization and this is exacerbated in the end of life, when health-care utilization and costs are highest. Complex Care Management (CCM) is a model of care developed to reduce health-care utilization, while improving patient outcomes. We aimed to examine the relationship between health-care utilization patterns and patient characteristics over time in a sample of older adults enrolled in CCM over the last 2 years of life.

Identifying distinct risk profiles to predict adverse events among community-dwelling older adults.

Preventing adverse events among chronically ill older adults living in the community is a national health priority. The purpose of this study was to generate distinct risk profiles and compare these profiles in time to: hospitalization, emergency department (ED) visit or death in 371 community-dwelling older adults enrolled in a Medicare demonstration project. Guided by the Behavioral Model of Health Service Use, a secondary analysis was conducted using Latent Class Analysis to generate the risk profiles with Kaplan Meier methodology and log rank statistics to compare risk profiles.

"In Our Corner": A Qualitative Descriptive Study of Patient Engagement in a Community-Based Care Coordination Program.

The purpose of this study was to explore participants' experience in the Health Quality Partners (HQP) Care Coordination Program that contributed to their continued engagement. Older adults with multiple chronic conditions often have limited engagement in health care services and face fragmented health care delivery. This can lead to increased risk for disability, mortality, poor quality of life, and increased health care utilization.

Testing the Replicability of a Successful Care Management Program: Results from a Randomized Trial and Likely Explanations for Why Impacts Did Not Replicate.

Objectives: To test whether a care management program could replicate its success in an earlier trial and determine likely explanations for why it did not.

Data Sources/setting: Medicare claims and nurse contact data for Medicare fee-for-service beneficiaries with chronic illnesses enrolled in the trial in eastern Pennsylvania (N = 483).

Study Design: A randomized trial with half of enrollees receiving intensive care management services and half receiving usual care.

Propofol Pretreatment Fails to Provide Neuroprotection Following a Surgically Induced Brain Injury Rat Model.

Neurosurgical procedures are associated with unintentional damage to the brain during surgery, known as surgically induced brain injuries (SBI), which have been implicated in orchestrating structural and neurobehavioral deterioration. Propofol, an established hypnotic anesthetic agent, has been shown to ameliorate neuronal injury when given after injury in a number of experimental brain studies. We tested the hypothesis that propofol pretreatment confers neuroprotection against SBI and will reduce cerebral edema formation and neurobehavioral deficits in our rat population.

Managing Chronic Illness.

Models of care coordination can significantly improve health outcomes for older adults with chronic illnesses if they can engage participants. The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of nursing contact on the rate of participants' voluntary disenrollment from a care coordination program. In this retrospective cohort study using administrative data for 1,524 participants in the Health Quality Partners Medicare Care Coordination Demonstration Program, the rate of voluntary disenrollment was approximately 11%.

Rhinitis as a risk factor for depressive mood in pre-adolescents: a new approach to this relationship.

Background: Respiratory allergic symptoms impact on social life and school activities, influencing the patient's mood states. We evaluated the relationships between allergic respiratory diseases and depressive/anxious mood in a large sample of Italian middle school students, using the partial directed acyclic graph (P-DAG).

Methods: We studied 1283 subjects aged 10-13.

Effect of a community-based nursing intervention on mortality in chronically ill older adults: a randomized controlled trial.

Background: Improving the health of chronically ill older adults is a major challenge facing modern health care systems. A community-based nursing intervention developed by Health Quality Partners (HQP) was one of 15 different models of care coordination tested in randomized controlled trials within the Medicare Coordinated Care Demonstration (MCCD), a national US study. Evaluation of the HQP program began in 2002.

Effects of hemodilution after traumatic brain injury in juvenile rats.

Background: Normovolemic hemodilution (HD) in adult animal studies has shown exacerbation of traumatic brain injury (TBI) lesion volumes. Similar studies in juvenile rats have not been reported and outcomes are likely to be different. This study investigated the effects of normovolemic hemodilution (21% hematocrit) in a juvenile TBI (jTBI) model.

Matrix metalloproteinases inhibition provides neuroprotection against hypoxia-ischemia in the developing brain.

The present study was designed to investigate the role of matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) in the immature brain and the long term effects of early MMPs inhibition after hypoxic-ischemic (HI) injury. HI was induced by unilateral ligation of the right carotid artery followed by hypoxia (8% O(2) for 2 h) in P7 rat pups. GM6001, a broad spectrum MMPs inhibitor, was injected (50 mg/kg or 100 mg/kg) intraperitoneally at 2 h and 24 h after HI injury.

3% hypertonic saline following subarachnoid hemorrhage in rats.

Background: Hypertonic saline (HTS) has been proposed as a treatment after aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) to minimize ischemic brain injury due to its osmotic and rheologic properties. Although the benefits of 7.2% HTS use in brain injury have been studied, there is a paucity of data on the use of 3%HTS.

p53 may play an orchestrating role in apoptotic cell death after experimental subarachnoid hemorrhage.

Objective: Secondary brain injury after subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) is poorly understood. As a result, there are few treatment options. Consequently, SAH is associated with a high rate of morbidity and mortality.

Study of global left atrial shortening in fetuses of diabetic mothers.

Objective: To test the hypothesis that left atrial shortening fraction is lower in fetuses of diabetic mothers than in fetuses of mothers with no systemic disease.

Methods: Forty-two fetuses of mothers with previous diabetes or gestational diabetes and 39 healthy fetuses of mothers with no systemic disease (controls) underwent echocardiographic examination. Their gestational ages ranged from 25 weeks to term.

[Research on Pisa University student's life style and health].

Surveys on life and health conditions of university students besides providing useful epidemiologic data partly related to the young population. They are potentially useful for the intervention planning aimed to remove possible environmental or behavioural risk factors. Following these purpose a survey sample about 1200 student attending the University of Pisa was carried out through an anonymous questionnaire about 41 questions focused on behaviours and lifestyles of young people, possible health problems, self-perception of the health state, the use of public health services, and the more commonly used (or preferred) sources of information on health topics.

Ductus venosus flow and myocardial hypertrophy in fetuses of diabetic mothers.

Objective: To test the hypothesis that the pulsatility index of ductus venosus (PIDV) is greater in the fetuses of diabetic mothers (FDM) with myocardial hypertrophy (MH) than in the FDM with no MH and in the control fetuses of nondiabetic mothers (FNDM). Comparing the results with mitral and tricuspid diastolic peak flows.

Methods: The cross-sectional study included fetuses with gestational ages ranging from 20 weeks to term, divided into the following 3 groups: 56 FDM with MH (group I), 36 FDM with no MH (group II), and 53 FNDM (group III, control).