DFT insights into competing mechanisms of guaiacol hydrodeoxygenation on a platinum cluster.

In a scenario of declining fossil resources and increasing demand for renewable and sustainable alternatives, biomass is the only source able to offer an easy and gradual transition in the use of current energy technologies based on the exploitation of carbon derivatives. Its conversion to liquid fuels has oriented our study towards the computational mechanistic analysis of the guaiacol catalytic hydrodeoxygenation, which is currently considered one of the most challenging routes for upgrading biomass-derived bio-oils. For this purpose, a subnanometric Pt platinum cluster was chosen as the catalyst model, with Pt as a computational reference element for catalytic hydrogenation, and guaiacol as a model compound of bio-oils.

Effectiveness of hemostatic powders in lower gastrointestinal bleeding: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

There is limited evidence on the effectiveness of hemostatic powders in the management of lower gastrointestinal bleeding (LGIB). We aimed to provide a pooled estimate of their effectiveness and safety based on the current literature. Literature review was based on computerized bibliographic search of the main databases through to December 2020.

Efficacy of hemostatic powders in lower gastrointestinal bleeding: Clinical series and literature review.

Background: There is limited evidence on the efficacy of hemostatic powders in the management of lower gastrointestinal bleeding.

Aims: to revise our series of patients with lower gastrointestinal bleeding treated with hemostatic powders and to provide a pooled estimate of their efficacy based on the current literature.

Methods: Sixty-five patients underwent topical endoscopic application of hemostatic powder between 2016 and 2020.

Iron Deficiency Anemia in Celiac Disease.

The iron absorption process developsmainly in the proximal duodenum. This portion of the intestine is typically destroyed in celiac disease (CD), resulting in a reduction in absorption of iron and subsequent iron deficiency anemia (IDA). In fact, the most frequent extra-intestinal manifestation (EIM) of CD is IDA, with a prevalence between 12 and 82% (in relation with the various reports) in patients with new CD diagnosis.

Iron Deficiency Anemia Refractory to Conventional Therapy but Responsive to Feralgine in a Young Woman with Celiac Disease.

Iron, which is an important micronutrient in the human body may be deficient in people with celiac disease (CD). Iron deficiency anemia (IDA) may be the presenting feature of celiac disease, also in the absence of diarrhea or weight loss. The treatment of IDA in patient with CD is primarily a gluten-free-diet (GFD), but it is also very important oral iron supplementation until the iron stores have been restored.

Is a diluted seawater-based solution safe and effective on human nasal epithelium?

Purpose: Nasal irrigation is an effective method for alleviating several nasal symptoms and regular seawater-based nasal irrigation is useful for maintaining nasal hygiene which is essential for appropriate functioning of the nose and for preventing airborne particles including some pollutants, pathogens, and allergens from moving further in the respiratory system. However, safety studies on seawater-based nasal irrigation are scarce. In this study, the safety and efficacy of a diluted isotonic seawater solution (Stérimar Nasal Hygiene, SNH) in maintaining nasal homeostasis were evaluated in vitro.

+ Lactose, A Symbiotic Long-Lasting Vaginal Approach to Improve Women's Health.

The proposal to restore vaginal microbiota using biotherapeutic agents ended with controversial results. Vaginal microbiota modifications from eubiosis to dysbiosis (desquamative inflammatory vaginitis, "aerobic vaginitis") and pathobiosis have recently been demonstrated to have a pivotal role in women's clinical health. Bacterial vaginosis (BV) and its related women's pathology seem to be "the most common vaginal infections" in women; the Center for Disease Control (CDC) recommended treatment for this pathology: metronidazole, clyndamicin or other well known treatment such as dequalinium chloride, unfortunately, has been demonstrated to fail in control of this infection and especially in its recurrence rates.

In vitro safety and performance evaluation of a seawater solution enriched with copper, hyaluronic acid, and eucalyptus for nasal lavage.

Background: The common cold is a viral infectious disease with symptoms such as runny nose, sore throat, and mainly, nasal congestion. State-of-the-art therapeutic approaches focus on alleviating the symptoms of this disease by non-invasive and simple-to-use methods. Nasal irrigation is one of the most accepted approaches to ease nasal congestion which, if left untreated, has a negative impact on the quality of life of patients.

Feralgine™ a New Approach for Iron Deficiency Anemia in Celiac Patients.

Background: Celiac disease (CD) is an immunologically-mediated disorder characterized by duodenal mucosa villi atrophy. Iron absorption is usually reduced in celiac patients making every kind of oral iron treatment unhelpful because of malasorption. Feralgine™ is a new product that has been demonstrated to be more bioavailable.

Spatio-Temporal Closed-Loop Object Detection.

Object detection is one of the most important tasks of computer vision. It is usually performed by evaluating a subset of the possible locations of an image, that are more likely to contain the object of interest. Exhaustive approaches have now been superseded by object proposal methods.

Transarterial radioembolization for hepatocellular carcinoma: An update and perspectives.

In the last decade trans-arterial radioembolization has given promising results in the treatment of patients with intermediate or advanced stage hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), both in terms of disease control and tolerability profile. This technique consists of the selective intra-arterial administration of microspheres loaded with a radioactive compound (usually Yttrium(90)), and exerts its therapeutic effect through the radiation carried by these microspheres. A careful and meticulous selection of patients is crucial before performing the radioembolization to correctly perform the procedure and reduce the incidence of complications.

Assessment of clinical and radiological response to sorafenib in hepatocellular carcinoma patients.

Sorafenib is an effective anti-angiogenic treatment for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). The assessment of tumor progression in patients treated with sorafenib is crucial to help identify potentially-resistant patients, avoiding unnecessary toxicities. Traditional methods to assess tumor progression are based on variations in tumor size and provide unreliable results in patients treated with sorafenib.

Aminaphtone therapy in patients with type 1 diabetes and albuminuria: a case report.

Introduction: Microalbuminuria in type 1 diabetes is the earliest manifestation of diabetic microangiopathy (nephropathy). To date, the pharmacological approach to microangiopathy has not been shown to be useful. By using aminaphtone to control nephrologic complications of insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus we first obtained a significant improvement in microalbuminuria confirming this new pharmacological approach for insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus organospecific complications control.

Probiotics in the prevention of recurrences of bacterial vaginosis.

Context: Bacterial vaginosis (BV) is the most common cause of vaginal discharge in women during their fertile years. BV prevalence runs from 10%-50%, in part due to the high rate of recurrence after standard treatment. Women with BV may experience a decreased quality of life and are at risk of serious obstetric complications.

Granulocytapheresis in steroid-dependent and steroid-resistant patients with inflammatory bowel disease: a prospective observational study.

Background: Despite the mounting importance of granulocytapheresis (GCAP) for inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) treatment, its effectiveness in steroid-dependent (SD) and steroid-resistant (SR) patients has not been clearly evaluated. This prospective observational study describes the use of GCAP in SD and SR patients with either Ulcerative Colitis (UC) or Crohn's Disease (CD).

Methods: 118 patients, 83 affected by UC (55 SD and 28 SR) and 35 by CD (22 SD and 13 SR), were treated with GCAP, using Adacolumn™, for 5 consecutive weeks, 1 session/week.

Assessment of response to sorafenib in advanced hepatocellular carcinoma using perfusion computed tomography: results of a pilot study.

Aims: This prospective pilot study investigated the feasibility of perfusion computed tomography parameters as surrogate markers of angiogenesis and early response following sorafenib administration in patients with advanced hepatocellular carcinoma.

Methods: Ten patients were evaluated with perfusion computed tomography before starting sorafenib and after 3 months. Blood flow, blood volume, mean transit time, hepatic arterial fraction, and permeability surface-product were compared in tumour lesions and in hepatic parenchyma at baseline and at follow-up.

Long-term results of sorafenib in advanced-stage hepatocellular carcinoma: what can we learn from routine clinical practice?

Background And Aims: Prospective randomized trials have proven that sorafenib is a valid treatment option for patients with advanced-stage hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). The aim of the present study is to evaluate the effectiveness and safety of sorafenib in patients encountered in routine clinical practice.

Methods: From September 2008 to March 2011, 42 cirrhotic patients (30 male; 12 female; mean age: 70.

Conventional versus doxorubicin-eluting bead transarterial chemoembolization for hepatocellular carcinoma.

Purpose: To compare short- and long-term clinical outcomes after conventional transarterial chemoembolization and drug-eluting bead (DEB) transarterial chemoembolization in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).

Materials And Methods: Patients with unresectable HCC unsuitable for ablative therapies were randomly assigned to undergo conventional or DEB chemoembolization. The primary endpoints of the study were safety, toxicity, and tumor response at 1 month.

Transarterial chemoembolization in very early and early-stage hepatocellular carcinoma patients excluded from curative treatment: a prospective cohort study.

Aim: To assess clinical outcome of transarterial chemoembolization (TACE) in a series of patients with early-stage hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), within Milan criteria, but clinically unfit for liver transplantation (OLT).

Methods: From January 2006 to May 2009, 67 patients (43 males, mean age 70 ± 7.6 years) with very early or early-stage unresectable HCC, within Milan selection criteria but clinically unfit for OLT, underwent TACE.

Complete response for advanced liver cancer during sorafenib therapy: case report.

Background: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the fifth most common neoplasia in the world. In the past, treatment of advanced HCC with conventional antineoplastic drugs did not result in satisfactory outcomes: recently, in this patient population the oral multikinase inhibitor sorafenib has been able to induce a statistically significant improvement of overall survival. Similarly to other anti-angiogenic drugs employed in other tumour types, also sorafenib seldom induces the dimensional tumour shrinking usually observed with conventional cytotoxic drugs: data gathered from studies carried out with sorafenib and other competitors under development do not report any complete response in HCV-induced HCC.

Endotics system vs colonoscopy for the detection of polyps.

Aim: To compare the endotics system (ES), a set of new medical equipment for diagnostic colonoscopy, with video-colonoscopy in the detection of polyps.

Methods: Patients with clinical or familial risk of colonic polyps/carcinomas were eligible for this study. After a standard colonic cleaning, detection of polyps by the ES and by video-colonoscopy was performed in each patient on the same day.

Entecavir for hepatitis B virus flare treatment in patients with Crohn's disease.

Chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection is a global health problem and has an increased prevalence in patients with Crohn's disease due to their increased requirement for high-risk procedures. A balance between viral replication and host immune response exists and drugs such as the immunosuppressive agents used to treat Crohn's disease may alter this balance. These may result in a hepatic flare, which manifests as high viremia, increased transaminase levels, and hepatic decompensation.

The use of Lactobacillus rhamnosus in the therapy of bacterial vaginosis. Evaluation of clinical efficacy in a population of 40 women treated for 24 months.

Background: Bacterial vaginosis (BV) is the most prevalent vaginal disorder in adult women worldwide. A number of clinical studies indicate that re-establishment of the physiological ecosystem by re-colonization of vaginal mucosa by lactobacilli may be an effective therapy for BV both after initial antimicrobial therapy or when given alone. A vaginal pH <4.