Publications by authors named "Marotta C"

Background: Hyperkalemia, the buildup of serum potassium to levels >6 mEq L, has been a recognized complication of combat injuries such as acute kidney injury since World War II. Currently, renal replacement therapy (RRT) serves as the standard of care for hyperkalemic patients who fail to respond to medical management. However, RRT is difficult to administer in combat settings, and the time between evacuation and RRT is critical in preventing post-traumatic hyperkalemia.

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  • Climate change is causing more frequent and intense tropical cyclones in Mozambique, leading to health crises like cholera outbreaks, particularly after Cyclones Idai and Kenneth in 2019.
  • A study in Cabo Delgado Province investigated factors contributing to acute watery diarrhea (AWD) and cholera, surveying 1,615 households to analyze the impact of climate disasters and armed conflict on health.
  • Key risk factors identified included overcrowding, poor access to safe water, and inadequate handwashing facilities, highlighting the need for targeted climate adaptation policies to improve community health.
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Refugees and migrants remain one of the most vulnerable people and the COVID-19 pandemic has posed additional challenges both in terms of increased risk of infection and death experienced, highlighting existing inequities in access to and utilization of health services, as underlined by World Health Organization in 2020 in the Health and Migration Programme. In the context of the Programme 'Epidemiological surveillance and control of COVID-19 in metropolitan urban areas and for the containment of the circulation of SARS-CoV-2 in the migrant population in Italy', coordinated by the Italian Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CCM) and funded by the Italian Ministry of Health, an experimental epidemiological, virological, and molecular SARS-CoV-2 surveillance system addressed to migrant populations in Sicily through Mediterranean routes was implemented. To this end, a multidisciplinary network supported by a hub&spoke system of laboratories was established in Sicily Region (Southern Italy), using molecular and Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) techniques to identify different SARS-CoV-2 strains in relation to migration flows.

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Purpose: Posterior vitreous detachment (PVD) is implicated in numerous retinal pathologies. A necessary step in developing new therapies, an area of significant interest, is a quantifiable assessment of posterior vitreous adhesion (PVA) that is also clinically relevant.

Methods: A 23-gauge vitrector was used at varying levels of vacuum to attempt PVD induction in a porcine eye model injected with either balanced salt solution (BSS) (control) or plasmin (2, 3, or 5 U), which can pharmacologically induce PVD.

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  • * The paper reviews the latest transthyretin stabilizers, discussing their effectiveness and providing crystallographic data to explain how they work in the body.
  • * Additionally, it highlights new findings that challenge existing design principles for developing new stabilizers, aiming to guide future research and improve treatment options.
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Introduction: Climate change is contributing to increase the frequency and severity of climate disasters in Mozambique, leading, since 2019, to extensive damage to infrastructure and displacement 1.3 million people. Aim of this study is to evaluate baseline preparedness to vector-borne and water-borne infections among households and internally displaced people exposed to climate disasters in Mozambique.

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Deficits in memory performance have been linked to a wide range of neurological and neuropsychiatric conditions. While many studies have assessed the memory impacts of individual conditions, this study considers a broader perspective by evaluating how memory recall is differentially associated with nine common neuropsychiatric conditions using data drawn from 55 international studies, aggregating 15,883 unique participants aged 15-90. The effects of dementia, mild cognitive impairment, Parkinson's disease, traumatic brain injury, stroke, depression, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), schizophrenia, and bipolar disorder on immediate, short-, and long-delay verbal learning and memory (VLM) scores were estimated relative to matched healthy individuals.

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  • * Researchers analyzed data from migrants collected in Sicily between February 2021 and May 2022, using advanced molecular techniques to identify and categorize various SARS-CoV-2 variants present among the population.
  • * The findings revealed 472 full-length virus sequences, identified 12 clades and 31 lineages, and demonstrated the potential of this molecular surveillance to predict emerging variants, which can help shape vaccination and public health strategies.
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Background And Objectives: Although commonly used in the evaluation of patients for epilepsy surgery, the association between the detection of localizing fluorine fluorodeoxyglucose PET (F-FDG-PET) hypometabolism and epilepsy surgery outcome is uncertain. We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis to determine whether localizing F-FDG-PET hypometabolism is associated with favorable outcome after epilepsy surgery.

Methods: A systematic literature search was undertaken.

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Objective: The intricate neuroanatomical structure of the cerebellum is of longstanding interest in epilepsy, but has been poorly characterized within the current corticocentric models of this disease. We quantified cross-sectional regional cerebellar lobule volumes using structural magnetic resonance imaging in 1602 adults with epilepsy and 1022 healthy controls across 22 sites from the global ENIGMA-Epilepsy working group.

Methods: A state-of-the-art deep learning-based approach was employed that parcellates the cerebellum into 28 neuroanatomical subregions.

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The use of platinum-based anticancer drugs, such as cisplatin, oxaliplatin, and carboplatin, is a common frontline option in cancer management, but they have debilitating side effects and can lead to drug resistance. Combination therapy with other chemotherapeutic agents, such as capecitabine and gemcitabine, has been explored. One approach to overcome these limitations is the modification of traditional Pt(II) drugs to obtain new molecules with an improved pharmacological profile, such as Pt(IV) prodrugs.

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We developed fluorescent protein sensors for nicotine with improved sensitivity. For iNicSnFR12 at pH 7.4, the proportionality constant for ∆F/F0vs [nicotine] (δ-slope, 2.

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Objective: The intricate neuroanatomical structure of the cerebellum is of longstanding interest in epilepsy, but has been poorly characterized within the current cortico-centric models of this disease. We quantified cross-sectional regional cerebellar lobule volumes using structural MRI in 1,602 adults with epilepsy and 1,022 healthy controls across twenty-two sites from the global ENIGMA-Epilepsy working group.

Methods: A state-of-the-art deep learning-based approach was employed that parcellates the cerebellum into 28 neuroanatomical subregions.

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Background: Pregnancy is both a risk factor for infection and development of severe malaria. In low- and middle-income countries, the COVID-19 pandemic severely impacted health systems, including utilization of maternal services. This study aimed to assess trends in delivering malaria in pregnancy-related health-care services before and during COVID-19 in Northern Uganda.

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Objectives: High blood pressure is a common health concern among seafarers. However, due to the remote nature of their work, it can be difficult for them to access regular monitoring of their blood pressure. Therefore, the development of a risk prediction model for hypertension in seafarers is important for early detection and prevention.

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Objective: to address the nexus among climate change, migration, and health at global and Italian levels.

Design: narrative review.

Setting And Participants: comprehensive, critical, and objective analysis of the current knowledge on the topic by searching online databases.

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Introduction: Worldwide, COVID-19 pandemic lead to a large fall in the number of newly reported TB cases. In sub-Saharan Africa, microbiological diagnosis of TB is generally based on smear microscopy and Xpert MTB/RIF on sputum samples, but good quality sputum samples are often difficult to obtain, leading clinicians to rely on more invasive procedures for diagnosis. Aim of this study was to investigate pooled sensitivity and specificity of Xpert MTB/RIF on stool samples compared to respiratory microbiological reference standards in African countries.

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Objectives: The incidence of acute cardiac events is one of the main reasons for medical consultation, disembarkation, repatriation, and death among seafarers at sea. Managing cardiovascular risk factors, particularly those that can be modified, is the key to preventing cardiovascular disease. Therefore, this review estimates the pooled prevalence of major CVD risk factors among seafarers.

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Mesolimbic nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (nAChRs) activation is necessary for nicotine reinforcement behavior, but it is unknown whether selective activation of nAChRs in the dopamine (DA) reward pathway is sufficient to support nicotine reinforcement. In this study, we tested the hypothesis that activation of β2-containing (β2*) nAChRs on VTA neurons is sufficient for intravenous nicotine self-administration (SA). We expressed β2 nAChR subunits with enhanced sensitivity to nicotine (referred to as β2Leu9'Ser) in the VTA of male Sprague Dawley (SD) rats, enabling very low concentrations of nicotine to selectively activate β2* nAChRs on transduced neurons.

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  • Researchers in neuroscience are using Big Data to improve the reliability and replication of cognitive studies, focusing on memory testing.
  • They conducted a mega-analysis with data from 53 studies, involving over 10,500 individuals, employing methods to harmonize data and reduce variability across different sites.
  • Their findings show that large-scale data sharing can enhance the reproducibility of research in behavioral sciences, and they offer a free conversion tool for this purpose.
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We developed fluorescent protein sensors for nicotine with improved sensitivity. For iNicSnFR12 at pH 7.4, the proportionality constant for vs [nicotine] (δ-slope, 2.

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Migrant populations are more susceptible to viral hepatitis and HIV due to the epidemiology from their country of origin or their social vulnerability when they arrive in Europe. The aims of the study are to explore the incidence of HIV and HCV in low-wage agricultural migrant workers and their knowledge, attitude, and practice with regard to HIV and HCV, as well as their sexual behaviour and risk factors. As part of the mobile clinic services, we performed a screening campaign for HIV-HCV involving migrants living in three Apulian establishments.

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Although important progress has been made, cancer still remains a complex disease to treat. Serious side effects, the insurgence of resistance and poor selectivity are some of the problems associated with the classical metal-based anti-cancer therapies currently in clinical use. New treatment approaches are still needed to increase cancer patient survival without cancer recurrence.

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