Publications by authors named "Maria dʼApolito"

Article Synopsis
  • Wiedemann-Steiner syndrome (WSS) is a rare genetic condition linked to impaired gene expression due to mutations affecting chromatin proteins, leading to various developmental issues.
  • A study focused on a 10-year-old girl with signs of WSS utilized whole exome sequencing (WES) and Sanger resequencing to identify a new mutation in the KMT2A gene, which is considered likely pathogenic.
  • Computational modeling of the mutated protein indicated that this change could disrupt its functionality by altering its DNA binding capabilities, providing further insight into the genetic basis of WSS.
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  • Immunotherapy is a diverse set of cancer treatments that use the immune system to fight cancer and includes methods like immune-checkpoint inhibitors and CAR-T therapy.
  • While these treatments can be highly effective, they have been linked to unexpected side effects, especially cardiovascular issues, which have become more documented in recent years.
  • The review emphasizes the need for specialized guidelines to better manage the unique cardiovascular risks associated with immunotherapy, providing insights into how to evaluate and handle these patients effectively.
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Background: Myasthenia gravis (MG) is an autoimmune disease characterized by fluctuating muscle weakness due to autoantibodies targeting neuromuscular junction proteins. Mycophenolate mofetil (MMF), an immunosuppressive therapy, has shown potential for managing MG with fewer side effects compared to other treatments. This study aims to evaluate the effectiveness and safety of MMF in MG patients in a real-life multicenter setting.

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Background: Brugada syndrome (BrS) is an inherited primary channelopathy syndrome associated with the risk of ventricular fibrillation (VF) and sudden cardiac death in a structurally normal heart.

Aim Of The Study: The aim of this study was to clinically and genetically evaluate a large family with severe autosomal dominant Brugada syndrome.

Methods: Clinical and genetic studies were performed.

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Background: In the recent years, there was an important improvement in the understanding of the pathogenesis of hereditary angioedema (HAE). Notwithstanding, in a large portion of patients with unknown mutation (HAE-UNK) the genetic cause remains to be identified.

Objectives: To identify new genetic targets associated with HAE, a large Argentine family with HAE-UNK spanning 3 generations was studied.

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Article Synopsis
  • Mutations in the dystrophin gene are linked to skeletal muscle diseases, including Duchenne and Becker Muscular Dystrophy and X-linked dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM).
  • A 37-year-old woman diagnosed with DCM had a specific mutation (p.Asp3368Gly) identified through whole exome sequencing, which was found to have a potentially harmful impact on the protein's function.
  • Genetic testing revealed the mutation occurred de novo, with her 8-year-old son also carrying the same variant, enabling early diagnosis of a related skeletal muscle condition despite him showing no significant symptoms.
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Ancient grains have gained considerable attention in recent years, as some research suggests they may be healthier than modern wheat. The present study aims to evaluate the chemical, rheological, and microbiological features of three Southern Italian cultivated ancient wheat varieties: Risciola, Carosella, and Saragolla. ATR-FTIR analyses were performed on the finely ground grain samples of the three varieties.

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  • Some women may develop a brain condition called autoimmune encephalitis (AE) during pregnancy, especially in the first two trimesters.
  • Doctors reviewed studies and found that symptoms like seizures and mental health issues often happen in these cases, and specific tests help identify AE.
  • While many women recover well after giving birth, some may have long-lasting brain problems, and there is a higher chance of losing the baby compared to other moms.
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Background: Essential tremor (ET) is one of the more common movement disorders. Current diagnosis is solely based on clinical findings. ET appears to be inherited in an autosomal dominant pattern.

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Background And Purpose: Reduced cerebral perfusion has been observed in multiple sclerosis (MS) and may contribute to tissue loss both acutely and chronically. Here, we test the hypothesis that hypoperfusion occurs in MS and relates to the presence of irreversible tissue damage.

Methods: In 91 patients with relapsing MS and 26 healthy controls (HC), gray matter (GM) cerebral blood flow (CBF) was assessed using pulsed arterial spin labeling.

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Background: Brugada syndrome (BrS) is an inherited primary channelopathy syndrome associated to sudden cardiac death. Overall, variants have been identified in eighteen genes encoding for ion channel subunits and seven genes for regulatory proteins. Recently, a missense variant in DLG1 has been found within a BrS phenotype-positive patient.

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The improved understanding of multiple sclerosis (MS) neurobiology alongside the development of novel markers of disease will allow precision medicine to be applied to MS patients, bringing the promise of improved care. Combinations of clinical and paraclinical data are currently used for diagnosis and prognosis. The addition of advanced magnetic resonance imaging and biofluid markers has been strongly encouraged, since classifying patients according to the underlying biology will improve monitoring and treatment strategies.

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Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is frequently complicated by central nervous system (CNS) metastases affecting patients' life expectancy and quality. At the present clinical trials including neurosurgery, radiotherapy (RT) and systemic treatments alone or in combination have provided controversial results. CNS involvement is even more frequent in NSCLC patients with EGFR activating mutations or ALK rearrangement suggesting a role of target therapy in the upfront treatment in place of loco-regionals treatments (i.

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In this commentary, using existing clinical trial data and FDA approvals we propose that there is currently a critical need for an appropriate balancing between the financial impact of new cancer drugs and their actual benefit for patients. By adopting "pleural mesothelioma" as our clinical model we summarize the most relevant pertinent and available literature on this topic, and use an analysis of the reliability of the trials submitted for registration and/or recently published as a case in point to raise concerns with respect to appropriate trial design, biomarker based stratification and to highlight the ongoing need for balancing the benefit/cost ratio for both patients and healthcare providers.

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Article Synopsis
  • Cerebrovascular reactivity (CVR) is how well the brain's blood vessels can increase blood flow when needed, which helps provide nutrients for the brain.
  • In people with Multiple Sclerosis (MS), brain inflammation can reduce CVR, potentially leading to brain damage.
  • A study found that MS patients had lower CVR before treatment, but it improved after receiving Interferon beta therapy, especially when inflammation decreased, suggesting that treating inflammation can help brain function.
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Among deregulated microRNAs (miRs) in human malignancies, miR-221 has been widely investigated for its oncogenic role and as a promising biomarker. Moreover, recent evidence suggests miR-221 as a fine-tuner of chronic liver injury and inflammation-related events. Available information also supports the potential of miR-221 silencing as promising therapeutic intervention.

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Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) represent an important advance in the adjuvant treatment of patients with high-risk melanoma. Although the safety profile of anti-programmed cell death protein-1 (PD-1) is fairly acceptable, different immune-related adverse events (irAEs) are described. Herein we report for the first time a notably multidisciplinary combined approach on a malignant melanoma (MM) patient treated with anti-PD-1 antibody in adjuvant setting.

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Background: Coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19) due to acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection is the largest emergency that humanity had to be dealing with in the last century. During the last months, different types of vaccines have been designed to contain the ongoing SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, with successful results in many countries. Comirnaty (Pfizer/BioNtech) COVID-19 vaccine is a lipid nanoparticle-formulated, nucleoside mRNA vaccine encoding the prefusion spike glycoprotein of SARS-CoV-2.

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Background: The 2019 Coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) is a novel respiratory virus which causes Coronavirus Disease19 (COVID-19). Although the predominant clinical picture of COVID-19 is represented by respiratory symptoms, neurological manifestations are being increasingly recognized. Headache, in particular migraine-like and tension types, has been largely reported in patients suffering from COVID-19 both in the acute and the healing phase of the infection.

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Hereditary angioedema is a rare inherited disorder characterized by recurrent episodes of the accumulation of fluids outside of the blood vessels, causing rapid swelling of tissues in the hands, feet, limbs, face, intestinal tract, or airway. Mutations in SERPING1, the gene that encodes C1-INH (C1 esterase inhibitor), are responsible for the majority of cases of hereditary angioedema. C1 esterase inhibitor (C1-INH) is a major regulator of critical enzymes that are implicated in the cascades of bradykinin generation, which increases the vascular permeability and allows the flow of fluids into the extracellular space and results in angioedema.

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Background: Immune checkpoint inhibitors targeting cytotoxic T lymphocyte-associated antigen 4 (CTLA-4), programmed death-1 receptor (PD-1), and programmed death-1 receptor and its ligand (PD-L1) increased the survival of patients affected by metastatic malignant melanoma. Due to their mechanism of action, these drugs are associated with a unique toxicity profile. Indeed, immune-related adverse events (irAEs) present a wide clinical spectrum representing the Achilles' heel of immunotherapy.

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Article Synopsis
  • - Chestnut seeds are not only consumed fresh but also processed for products like chestnut flour, generating by-products such as shells, flowers, and leaves during industrial processing.
  • - In this study, researchers extracted polyphenol-rich substances from chestnut shells using boiling water and separated these compounds using chromatography, identifying 243 different phenolic compounds.
  • - The extracts showed significant effects on tumor and normal cell lines, indicating that chestnut by-products might be valuable bioresources with potential uses in health applications.
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