Publications by authors named "Maria Cappello"
Introduction: The prevalences of malnutrition and sarcopenia in patients with IBD are not precisely known, and nutritional assessment is not standardized. We assessed the prevalence and risk factors of these conditions in outpatients and their impact on clinical outcomes.
Methods: This prospective longitudinal study considered patients who had IBD for at least one year, were attending a tertiary IBD center, and were followed for the subsequent year.
Patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) believe that diet plays a significant role in the pathogenesis of their disease and the exacerbation of their symptoms. They often adopt restrictive diets that can lead to malnutrition, anxiety, and stress. Recent studies have found a correlation between IBD and eating disorders, such as anorexia nervosa and ARFID (Avoidant Restrictive Food Intake Disorder).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFRaspberry ( L.) is a fruit of great interest due to its aroma, nutritional properties, and the presence of many bioactive compounds. However, differences among cultivation systems can affect its composition and, consequently, its potential bioactivity.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFArticle Synopsis
- The study investigates the effectiveness and safety of adalimumab biosimilar (ADL-BioS) for treating pediatric patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), as data on this topic is limited.
- It involved 41 pediatric IBD patients treated with ADL-BioS from 2019 to 2021, measuring outcomes such as clinical remission at 14 and 52 weeks, treatment persistence, and adverse events.
- Results showed that approximately 71% achieved remission, treatment persistence was high at 85.4%, and only a small percentage experienced adverse events, suggesting that ADL-BioS is an effective and safe option for pediatric IBD patients.
Gastrointestinal manifestations are common across all hereditary transthyretin amyloidosis (ATTRv) genotypes. However, they are poorly specific, and their recognition as part of ATTRv is difficult, resulting in misdiagnosis with more common conditions. Moreover, delays in diagnosis occur because of fragmented knowledge, a shortage of centers of excellence and specialists dedicated to ATTRv management, and the scarce involvement of gastroenterologists in multidisciplinary teams.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe ability of supercritical CO carrot and pumpkin extracts to counteract inflammation and oxidative stress in RAW 264.7 macrophages stimulated with LPS or MDA-MB-231 cell-conditioned media.
Food Funct
November 2023
Supercritical fluid extraction with CO (SFE) is an alternative technology to conventional solvent extraction (CSE), to obtain food-grade bioactives from plants. Here, SFE and CSE extracts from carrot and pumpkin matrices, impregnated with hempseed or flaxseed oil as co-solvents, were characterized by HPLC and GC-MS, and their ability to counteract the inflammatory and oxidative phenomena underlying the onset of several pathologies was assessed . All extracts showed dose-dependent anti-inflammatory potential and demonstrated an ability to interfere with the pro-inflammatory effects of breast cancer cell-conditioned media, and to inhibit reactive oxygen species (ROS) accumulation and nitrite production (NP) in lipopolysaccharide-stimulated macrophages.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Real-world evidence is needed to determine the value of tofacitinib (TOFA) for the treatment of ulcerative colitis (UC).
Aim: To assess the safety and effectiveness of TOFA in clinical practice.
Methods: TOFA-UC is a multicenter, observational study performed among the Sicilian Network for Inflammatory Bowel Disease (SN-IBD).
Article Synopsis
- Hereditary transthyretin amyloidosis with polyneuropathy (ATTRv-PN) is caused by mutations in the TTR gene, which result in misfolded proteins forming amyloid fibrils that affect the nervous system.
- A systematic genetic screening was conducted for patients with idiopathic polyneuropathy who exhibited specific "red flags," leading to the identification of ATTRv-PN in 10% of screened patients and additional cases among their relatives.
- The study concluded that early recognition through targeted screening, especially looking for symptoms like unexplained weight loss, can significantly enhance diagnosis and treatment opportunities for patients and asymptomatic carriers of ATTRv-PN.
Film-forming yeasts are potential sources of defects in alcoholic beverages. The aim of this study is to assess the growth capacity of Pichia and Candida film-forming yeasts in cider and wine and the effects on their chemical composition. Cider, partially and fully fermented wine were inoculated with strains of C.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: The administration of biological drugs in inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) is increasingly moving from intravenous to subcutaneous formulations.
Aims: To evaluate the efficacy and safety of vedolizumab subcutaneous administration after switching from intravenous administration in ulcerative colitis (UC) patients in corticosteroid-free clinical remission.
Methods: An observational, multicentre, prospective study was conducted by the Italian Group for the study of IBD (IG-IBD).
Background: In Italy, the incidence of SARS-CoV-2 infection peaked in April and November 2020, defining two pandemic waves of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). This study compared the characteristics and outcomes of patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and SARS-CoV-2 infections between pandemic waves.
Methods: Observational longitudinal study of IBD patients with SARS-CoV-2 infection.
Background And Aim: Postoperative recurrence (POR) following ileocolonic resection is a major concern in patients with Crohn's disease (CD). The role of ustekinumab (UST) in this setting is poorly known.
Methods: All consecutive CD patients with a baseline colonoscopy at 6-12 months from ileocolonic resection showing POR (Rutgeerts score ≥ i2) who were treated with UST after the baseline colonoscopy and with an available post-treatment endoscopy, were extracted from the cohort of the Sicilian Network for Inflammatory Bowel Diseases (SN-IBD).
Pichia and Candida species include biofilm-forming yeasts able to spoil foods and beverages. Strains belonging to 10 Pichia and Candida species isolated from apples, grape musts, and wines were analysed. They were subjected to molecular typing and characterized for their ability to grow and ferment must for cider and wine production, and for their biofilm properties.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: The effectiveness of Ustekinumab (UST) and Vedolizumab (VDZ) in patients with Crohn's disease (CD) as third-line biologic therapies is unclear.
Aims: We performed a multicentre, real-world assessment of the effectiveness of UST and VDZ among highly-refractory patients with CD.
Methods: Data of consecutive patients with CD treated with UST and VDZ as third-line biologic therapy until December 2021 were extracted from the cohort of the Sicilian Network for Inflammatory Bowel Disease (SN-IBD).
Background: Vedolizumab registration trials were the first to include elderly patients with moderate-to-severe ulcerative colitis (UC) or Crohn's disease (CD), but few real-life data have been reported in this population.
Aims: We investigated the effectiveness and safety of vedolizumab in matched cohorts of elderly and nonelderly UC and CD patients.
Methods: The Long-term Italian Vedolizumab Effectiveness (LIVE) study is a retrospective-prospective study including UC and CD patients who started vedolizumab from April 2016 to June 2017.
Objective: To provide data on the use of infliximab biosimilars (IFX-BioS) in children with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD).
Methods: A multicenter, observational, retrospective study was performed among the cohort of the Sicilian Network for IBD. All consecutive IBD children who had at least completed the induction with IFX-BioS from its introduction in Sicily to January 2021 were enrolled.
Anti-tumor necrosis factor (anti-TNF) therapy has been successfully used as first-line biologic treatment for moderate-to-severe inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), in both "step-up" and "top-down" approaches, and has become a cornerstone of IBD management. However, in a proportion of patients the effectiveness of anti-TNF therapy is sub-optimal. Either patients do not achieve adequate initial response (primary non-response) or they lose response after initial success (loss of response).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntroduction: The use of ustekinumab and vedolizumab as second-line therapies in patients with Crohn's disease (CD) in which tumour necrosis factor alpha inhibitors (TNFi) failed is still debated. The aim of this study was to compare, in a large multicenter observational retrospective cohort, the effectiveness of ustekinumab and vedolizumab as second-line therapies, as assessed by clinical and objective outcomes including endoscopy and gastrointestinal imaging.
Methods: Clinical response, remission, and steroid-free remission at weeks 26 and 52 were evaluated in a retrospective propensity score-weighted and propensity score-matched cohort of patients in which TNFi failed.
The characterization of Oenococcus oeni strains isolated from Nero di Troia wine (Apulia, Italy) sampled in two distinct production areas was carried out. The two indigenous populations, consisting of 95 and 97 isolates, displayed high genetic diversity when analyzed by amplified fragments length polymorphisms (AFLP). Based on the UPGMA dendrogram obtained by AFLP analysis, the two populations displayed similar genotypes that grouped in the same clusters with a high level of similarity (>95%).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Data from the first wave of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic suggested that patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) are not at higher risk of being infected by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) than the general population and that a worse prognosis is not associated with immunomodulatory drugs, with the possible exception of systemic steroids.
Methods: This retrospective, observational study included consecutive IBD patients from the Sicilian Network for Inflammatory Bowel Disease (SN-IBD) cohort who had a SARS-CoV-2 infection diagnosis (polymerase chain reaction-confirmed presence of the viral genome in a nasopharyngeal swab) during the second COVID-19 pandemic wave (September 2020 to December 2020). Data regarding demographics, IBD features and treatments, and comorbidities were analyzed in correlation with COVID-19 clinical outcomes.
Background: The role of Vedolizumab (VDZ) as therapeutic option for the postoperative recurrence of Crohn's disease (CD) following ileocolonic resection is unknown.
Aims: To assess the effectiveness of VDZ in this setting.
Methods: All consecutive CD patients with a baseline colonoscopy at 6-12 months from the ileocolonic resection showing postoperative recurrence (Rutgeerts score ≥i2) and treated with VDZ after the baseline colonoscopy were extracted from the cohort of the Sicilian Network for Inflammatory Bowel Diseases (SN-IBD).
Background: Older age and comorbidities are the main risk factors for adverse COVID-19 outcomes in patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). The impact of IBD medications is still under investigation.
Aims: To assess risk factors for adverse outcomes of COVID-19 in IBD patients and use the identified risk factors to build risk indices.
Article Synopsis
- Adalimumab is a treatment for ulcerative colitis, but more data on its effectiveness and safety are needed, prompting a study of 381 adult patients across 19 hospitals.
- The study found that at 12 months, 33.6% of patients achieved remission and 44 patients required colectomy, with factors like steroid use and severe disease at baseline influencing treatment outcomes.
- Overall, the findings suggest that adalimumab is both safe and effective for managing ulcerative colitis, with significant clinical responses observed within the first 8 weeks of treatment.*