Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) may lead to neuropsychiatric sequelae. Palmitoylethanolamide (PEA) is an anti-inflammatory and neuroprotective amide used in depressive syndromes. Here we investigate whether micronized/ultramicronized (m/um) PEA improves neuropsychiatric sequelae in COVID-19 survivors.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: To report a preliminary experience of outpatient management of patients with Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) through an innovative approach of healthcare delivery.
Patients And Methods: Patients evaluated at the Mild-to-Moderate COVID-19 Outpatient clinics (MMCOs) of San Raffaele University Hospital and Luigi Sacco University Hospital in Milan, Italy, from 1 October 2020 to 31 October 2021 were included. Patients were referred by general practitioners (GPs), Emergency Department (ED) physicians or hospital specialists (HS) in case of moderate COVID-19.
Background: Persistent symptoms including dyspnea and functional impairment are common in COVID-19 survivors. Poor muscle quality (myosteatosis) associates with poor short-term outcomes in COVID-19 patients. The aim of this observational study was to assess the relationship between myosteatosis diagnosed during acute COVID-19 and patient-reported outcomes at 6 months after discharge.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFFront Endocrinol (Lausanne)
March 2022
Background: acute illnesses, like COVID-19, can act as a catabolic stimulus on muscles. So far, no study has evaluated muscle mass and quality through limb ultrasound in post-COVID-19 patients.
Methods: cross sectional observational study, including patients seen one month after hospital discharge for SARS-CoV-2 pneumonia.
Dercum's disease (DD), or adiposis dolorosa, is a rare condition of unknown etiology characterized by growth of painful subcutaneous adipose tissue. No specific treatment exists. Pain is often invalidating and resistant to analgesic drugs.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) may leave behind an altered health status early after recovery. We evaluated the clinical status of COVID-19 survivors at three months after hospital discharge.
Methods: In this prospective observational cohort study, hospitalized patients aged ≥18 years, evaluated at one (M1) and three (M3) months post-discharge were enrolled.
Background: COVID-19 is associated with unintentional weight loss. Little is known on whether and how patients regain the lost weight. We assessed changes in weight and abdominal adiposity over a three-month follow-up after discharge in COVID-19 survivors.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: COVID-19 long-term sequelae are ill-defined since only a few studies have explored the long-term consequences of this disease so far.
Aims: To evaluate the 6-month respiratory outcome and exercise capacity of COVID-19 acute respiratory failure (ARF) patients treated with continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) during the first wave of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
Methods: A retrospective observational study included COVID-19 patients with ARF.
Aims/hypothesis: The aim of the study was to characterise the humoral response against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) in patients with diabetes. Demonstrating the ability to mount an appropriate antibody response in the presence of hyperglycaemia is relevant for the comprehension of mechanisms related to the observed worse clinical outcome of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pneumonia in patients with diabetes and for the development of any future vaccination campaign to prevent SARS-CoV-2 infection.
Methods: Using a highly specific and sensitive measurement of antibodies by fluid-phase luciferase immunoprecipitation assays, we characterised the IgG, IgM and IgA response against multiple antigens of SARS-CoV-2 in a cohort of 509 patients with documented diagnosis of COVID-19, prospectively followed at our institution.
Background And Aim Of The Work: The coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19) outbreak is posing considerable challenges to healthcare systems and societies worldwide. While the knowledge on the acute phase of the disease has rapidly expanded, little is known on the consequences of COVID-19 following clinical remission. We set up a multidisciplinary COVID-19 follow-up outpatient clinic to identify and address the clinical needs of COVID-19 survivors.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Mortality of patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), and systemic inflammation is high. In areas of pandemic outbreak, the number of patients can exceed maximum capacity of intensive care units (ICUs), and, thus, these individuals often receive non-invasive ventilation outside of the ICU. Effective treatments for this population are needed urgently.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFNeuroendocrine carcinomas of the cervix are very rare, accounting for only 1-2% of all cervical cancers and <1% of all neuroendocrine tumors. Small-cell carcinoma of the cervix is associated with poor prognosis, even in early stages. Despite their neuroendocrine origin, tumors presenting with syndromes due to secreted neuroendocrine hormones are extremely rare.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Endocrinol Invest
February 2020
Dercum's disease is a rare condition of painful subcutaneous growth of adipose tissue. Etiology is unknown and pain is difficult to control. We report the case of a 57-year-old man with generalized diffuse Dercum's disease, who improved after the treatment with transcutaneous frequency rhythmic electrical modulation system (FREMS).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPrevious reports on antimalarial toxicity have only been related to long-term continuous treatments for nonmalarial indications, which require prolonged use of large doses, up to 1000 g or more every year. We describe a patient with recurrent malaria, prophylactically treated with low-dose chloroquine, who developed heart failure due to biventricular cardiac dysfunction. The right ventricle endomyocardial biopsy was suggestive of chloroquine toxicity.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFA first-line gene therapy for type 1 diabetes should be based on a safe procedure to engineer an accessible tissue for insulin release. We evaluated the ability of the skeletal muscle to release human insulin after electrotransfer (ET)-enhanced plasmid DNA injection in mice. A furin-cleavable proinsulin cDNA under the CMV or the MFG promoter was electrotransferred to immune-incompetent mice with STZ-induced severe diabetes.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe aim of this study was to compare the metabolic pathway to mature insulin through the intermediate forms (32-33 split, 65-66 split, des31,32 and des64,65) in human or murine cells engineered for the release of wild-type human proinsulin and in a genetically mutated one, in the search for a new approach for an insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus cure by gene therapy. Primary human fibroblasts, myoblasts and stabilized cell lines (HepG2 and NIH3T3) were transduced either with a retroviral vector coding for wild-type proinsulin or for a genetically mutated one, carrying cleavage sites sensitive to furin. The pattern of all the proinsulin cleavage products released into the cell culture supernatants was analyzed by capillary electrophoresis.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAutoimmune destruction of pancreatic beta cells in type I, insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (IDDM) results in the loss of endogenous insulin secretion, which is incompletely replaced by exogenous insulin administration. The functional restoration provided by allogeneic beta-cell transplantation is limited by adverse effects of immunosuppression. To pursue an insulin replacement therapy based on autologous, engineered human non-beta cells, we generated a retroviral vector encoding a genetically modified human proinsulin, cleavable to insulin in non-beta cells, and a human nonfunctional cell surface marker.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe development of autologous somatic cells, engineered for the synthesis and release of human insulin under physiological stimuli, would certainly represent a major breakthrough in the therapy of insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus. We generated a retroviral vector containing the human proinsulin cDNA and the gene coding for the human nerve growth factor receptor for quantitative analysis of transduced cells. Primary rat hepatocytes were selected as target cells because of the constitutive expression of the pancreatic beta-cell glucose transporter GLUT-2 and the glycolitic enzyme glucokinase.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCapillary electrophoresis (CE) for the simultaneous and precise quantification of human insulin (hI), proinsulin (hPI) and intermediate forms (des 31, 32; split 65-66 and des 64, 65), released in culture media by engineered cells, is described. Analytical conditions for standard proteins were optimized using a bare silica capillary (20 cm X 50 microm internal diameter). Proteins were monitored at 200 nm and separated at constant voltage.
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