Publications by authors named "Maria G"

Background&aims: Non-invasive tests (NITs) for ruling-out clinical significant portal hypertension (CSPH) and high-risk varices (HRV) in patients with primary biliary cholangitis(PBC) and compensated advanced chronic liver disease (cACLD) are lacking. We evaluated NITs in these patients and the influence of cholestasis on their performance.

Methods: Consecutive patients from the "Italian PBC registry" and two UK large-volume PBC referral centres with upper endoscopy within 6 months from biochemical evaluation and transient elastography were included.

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  • The study explores the assessment of coronary microvascular dysfunction (CMD) using a new hybrid index derived from pressure-wire measurements and angiography, promoting its potential use in clinical settings.
  • Researchers compared this hybrid index, known as IMR, with a traditional bolus thermodilution-based index in a cohort of patients with acute coronary syndrome and stable coronary artery disease.
  • Results indicate that both the new hybrid IMR and the traditional index showed strong correlations and diagnostic accuracy for CMD, suggesting IMR is a simpler and effective alternative for routine clinical use.
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  • This study examines how early clinical hepatic decompensation (CHD) affects the overall survival (OS) of patients with unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma (uHCC) who are receiving systemic treatments like Atezolizumab plus Bevacizumab or Sorafenib.
  • Researchers analyzed data from the IMbrave150 trial and found that patients experiencing early CHD had a significantly higher risk of mortality, indicating a poor prognosis.
  • The study identifies specific factors (like ALBI grade, INR levels, and macrovascular invasion) that put patients at a greater risk for CHD, suggesting that these could be useful in future clinical trials to better assess patient outcomes.
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Spinal cord injury (SCI) is one of the most serious conditions of the central nervous system, causing motor and sensory deficits that lead to a significant impairment in the quality of life. Previous studies have indicated that inosine can promote regeneration after SCI. Here we investigated the effects of inosine on the behavioral and morphological recovery after a compressive injury.

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Large language models (LLMs) are transforming the medical landscape by enhancing access to information, diagnostics, treatment customization, and medical education, especially in areas like Gastroenterology. LLMs utilize extensive medical data to improve decision-making, leading to better patient outcomes and personalized medicine. These models are instrumental in interpreting medical literature and synthesizing patient data, facilitating real-time knowledge for physicians and supporting educational pursuits in medicine.

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Aims: Coronary Computed Tomography Angiography (CCTA) is a first line investigation for chest pain in patients with suspected obstructive coronary artery disease (CAD). However, many acute cardiac events occur in the absence of obstructive CAD. We assessed the lifetime cost-effectiveness of integrating a novel artificial intelligence-enhanced image analysis algorithm (AI-Risk) that stratifies the risk of cardiac events by quantifying coronary inflammation, combined with the extent of coronary artery plaque and clinical risk factors, by analysing images from routine CCTA.

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Background And Aims: Patients with overt or occult hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection receiving immunosuppressive treatments have a wide risk of HBV reactivation (HBVr). We performed meta-analysis with decision curve analyses (DCA) to estimate the risk of HBVr in HBsAg-negative anti-HBc-positive patients naïve to nucleos(t)ide analogues (NAs) receiving immunosuppressive treatments.

Approach And Results: Studies were identified through literature search until October 2022.

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  • A new method called intracoronary continuous thermodilution is being studied to measure coronary blood flow (Q) and resistance (R) without needing special tools like pressure wires or microcatheters, using standard coronary angiograms.
  • The validation of this technique was conducted on a group of 62 patients across two medical centers, comparing flow and resistance measurements during rest and increased blood flow (hyperemia).
  • The study found strong correlations between the traditional and angiography-derived measurements for both flow and resistance, suggesting the new method is reliable for assessing coronary function.
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Importance: The recent change in terminology from nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) to metabolic dysfunction-associated fatty liver disease (MAFLD) and metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD) highlights the link between hepatic steatosis and metabolic dysfunction, taking out the stigmata of alcohol.

Objective: We compared the effects of NAFLD and MAFLD definitions on the risk of overall and cardiovascular (CV) mortality, liver-related events (LRE), nonfatal CV events (CVE), chronic kidney disease (CKD), and extra-hepatic cancers (EHC).

Data Sources And Study Selection: We systematically searched four large electronic databases for cohort studies (published through August 2023) that simultaneously used NAFLD and MAFLD definitions for examining the risk of mortality and adverse CV, renal, or oncological outcomes associated with both definitions.

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Background: Optical coherence tomography (OCT) allows to carefully characterize coronary plaque morphology and lumen dimensions. We sought to evaluate the value of OCT in predicting fractional flow reserve (FFR).

Methods: We performed a multicenter, international, pooled analysis of individual patient-level data from published studies assessing FFR and OCT on the same vessel.

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Objective: We systematically reviewed and meta-analyzed the efficacy of Tailor-Made Notched Music Training (TMNMT) for primary subjective tinnitus in adults. The main goal was to evaluate TMNMT's impact on tinnitus symptoms.

Methods: Following PRISMA guidelines, we included randomized and non-randomized trials.

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Background: Fractional flow reserve (FFR) represents the gold standard in guiding the decision to proceed or not with coronary revascularization of angiographically intermediate coronary lesion (AICL). Optical coherence tomography (OCT) allows to carefully characterize coronary plaque morphology and lumen dimensions.

Objectives: We sought to develop machine learning (ML) models based on clinical, angiographic and OCT variables for predicting FFR.

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Acute coronary syndromes (ACS) are one of the leading causes of mortality worldwide, with atherosclerotic plaque rupture and subsequent thrombus formation as the main underlying substrate. Thrombus burden evaluation is important for tailoring treatment therapy and predicting prognosis. Coronary optical coherence tomography (OCT) enables in-vivo visualization of thrombus that cannot otherwise be achieved by other image modalities.

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Article Synopsis
  • CMR is useful in accurately diagnosing conditions in suspected NSTEMI cases, showing only 52% had actual myocardial infarction, while others had different cardiac issues or normal results.
  • In patients with nonobstructive coronary arteries (NOCA), CMR revealed only 22% had true myocardial infarction and reclassified 67% of these cases as nonischemic or normal.
  • A CMR-first strategy before invasive coronary angiogram (ICA) can lead to more accurate diagnoses, potentially changing treatment approaches for many patients.
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Background: Coronary computed tomography angiography (CCTA) is the first line investigation for chest pain, and it is used to guide revascularisation. However, the widespread adoption of CCTA has revealed a large group of individuals without obstructive coronary artery disease (CAD), with unclear prognosis and management. Measurement of coronary inflammation from CCTA using the perivascular fat attenuation index (FAI) Score could enable cardiovascular risk prediction and guide the management of individuals without obstructive CAD.

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Primary percutaneous coronary intervention (pPCI) has revolutionized the prognosis of ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) and is the gold standard treatment. As a result of its success, the number of pPCI centres has expanded worldwide. Despite decades of advancements, clinical outcomes in STEMI patients have plateaued.

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  • The microvascular resistance reserve (MRR) is a new index developed to evaluate the vasodilatory capacity of the microcirculation, particularly relevant for patients with ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI), whose prognostic value was previously unknown.
  • This study analyzed data from 1,265 STEMI patients, focusing on a subgroup where both MRR and index of microcirculatory resistance (IMR) were available, to compare their effectiveness in predicting long-term outcomes.
  • The findings revealed that MRR is a significant predictor of long-term all-cause mortality or heart failure hospitalization, with a cutoff value of 1.25 indicating higher risk when below this level.
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  • Atezolizumab + bevacizumab is currently the leading treatment for advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), but there's limited direct comparison with other therapies like immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) combined with tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs).
  • A network meta-analysis assessed various first-line systemic therapies, examining their efficacy in terms of overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS), while also considering safety profiles.
  • The analysis included nine studies with 6,600 patients, finding that atezolizumab plus bevacizumab had the highest probabilities for 30-month OS, while lenvatinib excelled in PFS; ICI monotherapies were the most tolerable, and the net health
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The benzothiophene based chromophores (A1D1-A1D5) with A-π-A configuration were designed end-capped tailoring with benzothiophene type acceptors using reference compound (A1R). Quantum chemical calculations were accomplished at M06/6-311G(d,p) level to probe optoelectronic and photophysical properties of designed chromophores. Therefore, frontier molecular orbitals (FMOs), binding energy (), open circuit voltage (), transition density matrix (TDM), density of state (DOS) and UV-Vis analyses of A1R and A1D1-A1D5 were accomplished.

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Background: Primary percutaneous coronary intervention (pPCI) has improved clinical outcomes in patients with ST-segment-elevation myocardial infarction. However, as many as 50% of patients still have suboptimal myocardial reperfusion and experience extensive myocardial necrosis. The PiCSO-AMI-I trial (Pressure-Controlled Intermittent Coronary Sinus Occlusion-Acute Myocardial Infarction-I) evaluated whether PiCSO therapy can further reduce myocardial infarct size (IS) in patients undergoing pPCI.

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Purpose: To assess which signs and eye prosthesis care habits are related to subjective discomfort in patients with dry anophthalmic socket syndrome (DASS), using standardized tools from daily practice.

Methods: 62 anophthalmic sockets were compared with their healthy fellow eye using the Standard Patient Evaluation of Eye Dryness (SPEED) score. The correlations between SPEED questionnaire and the prosthesis care, discharge characteristics score, conjunctival inflammation score, meibomian gland dysfunction (MGD) scores and Schirmer I test were studied.

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Objective: Takotsubo syndrome (TTS) is an acute heart failure syndrome which resembles acute coronary syndrome (ACS) at presentation. Differentiation requires coronary angiography, but where this does not occur immediately, cardiac biomarkers may provide additional utility. We performed a meta-analysis to compare troponin and natriuretic peptides (NPs) in TTS and ACS to determine if differences in biomarker profile can aid diagnosis.

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Background: The assessment of coronary microvascular dysfunction (CMD) using invasive methods is a field of growing interest, however the preferred method remains debated. Bolus and continuous thermodilution are commonly used methods, but weak agreement has been observed in patients with angina with non-obstructive coronary arteries (ANOCA). This study examined their agreement in revascularized acute coronary syndromes (ACS) and chronic coronary syndromes (CCS) patients.

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