Early time-restricted carbohydrate consumption vs conventional dieting in type 2 diabetes: a randomised controlled trial.

Aims/hypothesis: Early time-restricted carbohydrate consumption (eTRC) is a novel dietary strategy that involves restricting carbohydrate-rich food intake to the morning and early afternoon to align with circadian variations in glucose tolerance. We examined the efficacy, feasibility and safety of eTRC in individuals with type 2 diabetes under free-living conditions.

Methods: In this randomised, parallel-arm, open label, controlled trial, participants with type 2 diabetes and overweight/obesity (age 67.

A Web Tool to Help Counter the Spread of Misinformation and Fake News: Pre-Post Study Among Medical Students to Increase Digital Health Literacy.

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic was accompanied by the spread of uncontrolled health information and fake news, which also quickly became an infodemic. Emergency communication is a challenge for public health institutions to engage the public during disease outbreaks. Health professionals need a high level of digital health literacy (DHL) to cope with difficulties; therefore, efforts should be made to address this issue starting from undergraduate medical students.

Can a validated website help improve university students' e-health literacy?

Background: The fight against fake news, mainly spread through Internet, is a major public health issue, even among undergraduate students. This study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of a website promoted by the Italian Federation of the Provincial Orders of the Medical Doctors as a first aid communication kit for health topics.

Study Design: Pre-post study using a web-based survey, conducted in April-May 2019 on Medical students and October-November 2020 on Communication Sciences students at the University of Florence (Italy).

Attitudes and Perceptions of University Students in Healthcare Settings towards Vaccines and Vaccinations Strategies during the COVID-19 Pandemic Period in Italy.

Background: Healthcare students that refuse to get vaccinated may expose themselves and their patients to several vaccine-preventable diseases, especially during outbreaks or at peak epidemic activity, becoming a threat to themselves and their patients. This study aimed to assess their attitudes towards and perception of vaccines and vaccination.

Methods: An anonymous questionnaire was shared with medical students, pharmacy students and medical residents in Hygiene and Preventive Medicine at the University of Florence (Italy), in February 2021.

Knowledge of University Students in Health Care Settings on Vaccines and Vaccinations Strategies: Impact Evaluation of a Specific Educational Training Course during the COVID-19 Pandemic Period in Italy.

Background: Training future healthcare professionals on vaccination through specific courses is important to properly promote active immunization among the general population and to fight fake news and false beliefs on vaccinations. The aim of the study was to assess the impact of an elective course about vaccinations on the knowledge of medical students, pharmacy students, and medical resident in Hygiene and Preventive Medicine in Italy. Methods: The participants were asked to complete an anonymous questionnaire before and after an elective teaching activity (ETA) on vaccination.

WhatsApp and other messaging apps in medicine: opportunities and risks.

WhatsApp is a popular messaging application frequently used by physicians and healthcare organizations that can improve the continuity of care and facilitate effective health services provision, especially in acute settings. However WhatsApp does not comply with the rules of the European GDPR and the US HIPA Act. So it is inappropriate to share clinical information via WhatsApp.

Reduced plaque size and inflammation in the APP23 mouse model for Alzheimer's disease after chronic application of polymeric nanoparticles for CNS targeted zinc delivery.

A local dyshomeostasis of zinc ions in the vicinity of amyloid aggregates has been proposed in Alzheimer's disease (AD) due to the sequestration of zinc in senile plaques. While an increase in zinc levels may promote the aggregation of amyloid beta (Aβ), increased brain zinc might also be beneficial rescuing some pathological alterations caused by local zinc deficiency. For example, increased Aβ degradation by metalloproteinases, and a reduction in inflammation can be hypothesized.

Novel Curcumin loaded nanoparticles engineered for Blood-Brain Barrier crossing and able to disrupt Abeta aggregates.

The formation of extracellular aggregates built up by deposits of β-amyloid (Aβ) is a hallmark of Alzheimer's disease (AD). Curcumin has been reported to display anti-amyloidogenic activity, not only by inhibiting the formation of new Aβ aggregates, but also by disaggregating existing ones. However, the uptake of Curcumin into the brain is severely restricted by its low ability to cross the blood-brain barrier (BBB).

Darknet and bitcoin, the obscure and anonymous side of the internet in healthcare.

Illegal activities prosecutable by law in the real life can be committed on the internet alike. In the healthcare domain, we refer mainly to selling of illegal and counterfeit drugs, exchange of pedo-pornographic material and marketing of stolen medical records. These illegal activities are made easier by recent developments of the Internet that medical community must be aware of: darknet and bitcoin.

A multi-parametric protocol to study exercise intolerance in McArdle's disease.

McArdle's disease is the most common metabolic myopathy of muscle carbohydrate metabolism, due to deficiency of myophosphorylase and alteration of glycogen breakdown in muscle. The clinical manifestations usually begin in young adulthood, with exercise intolerance, exercise-induced muscle cramps, pain and recurrent episodes of myoglobinuria. Many patients experience the second wind phenomenon, characterized by an improved tolerance for aerobic exercise approximately after eight minutes of motor activity, secondary to the increased availability of blood glucose and free fatty acids associated to an enhanced glucose uptake by muscle cells.

Malnutrition, anorexia and cachexia in cancer patients: A mini-review on pathogenesis and treatment.

Malnutrition, anorexia and cachexia are a common finding in cancer patients. They become more evident with tumor growth and spread. However, the mechanisms by which they are sustained often arise early in the history of cancer.

Sitagliptin as add-on therapy in insulin deficiency: biomarkers of therapeutic efficacy respond differently in type 1 and type 2 diabetes.

Background: Sitagliptin has been proven to be effective and safe as add-on to insulin in adult patients with type 2 diabetes and absolute insulin deficiency. Recently, it has been suggested to extend the use of dipeptidyl-peptidase-4 inhibitors to type 1 diabetes. The aim of this study was to evaluate and compare the effects of a long-term, fixed-dose combination of sitagliptin and metformin as add-on to insulin on body mass index, fasting plasma glucose, fructosamine, HbA(1c), lipids, and daily dose of insulin in both type 1 diabetes and insulin-treated type 2 diabetes.

Exploring leukocyte mitochondrial membrane potential in type 1 diabetes families.

Proper cellular function requires the maintenance of mitochondrial membrane potential (MMP) sustained by the electron transport chain. Mitochondrial dysfunction is believed to play a role in the development of diabetes and diabetic complications possibly because of the active generation of free radicals. Since MMP can be investigated in clinical settings using fluorescent probes and living whole blood cells, mitochondrial membrane alterations have been observed in some chronic disorders.

Circadian blood pressure variability in type 1 diabetes subjects and their nondiabetic siblings - influence of erythrocyte electron transfer.

Background: Normotensive non-diabetic relatives of type 1 diabetes (T1D) patients have an abnormal blood pressure response to exercise testing that is associated with indices of metabolic syndrome and increased oxidative stress. The primary aim of this study was to investigate the circadian variability of blood pressure and the ambulatory arterial stiffness index (AASI) in healthy siblings of T1D patients vs healthy control subjects who had no first-degree relative with T1D. Secondary aims of the study were to explore the influence of both cardiovascular autonomic function and erythrocyte electron transfer activity as oxidative marker on the ambulatory blood pressure profile.

Clinical pictures of unknown origin in neurology: past, present and future usefulness of artificial intelligence.

Although, in the course of the last 50 years, the achievements in the medical field have been astonishing, at the beginning of the third millennium a number of clinical pictures are still left without a precise nosographic origin. In the past, the delay in scientific communication was the main explanation presented for the lack of understanding of clinical pictures of unknown nosographic origin. The history of medicine provides excellent examples of this dispersion of human capital, even if the history of clinical neurology presents "exceptions" (the pictures that we now call de la Tourette's syndrome and Parkinson's disease) that indicate that major clinical syndromes could be clearly detected and relatively rapidly diffused even in the 19th century.

[The electronic mail in the patient-physician relationship].

The continuous spread of e-mail determines an ever-increasing use of this tool for information exchange in healthcare. In spite of that, the frequency and quality of on-line communication between the physician and the patient are still scarce. Beyond analyzing the causes that make difficult the adoption of e-mail in healthcare, and beyond explaining the potential advantages, this paper focus on how this type of communication may influence the patient-physician relationship.

Protective effects of N-acetylcysteine and rutin on the lipid peroxidation of the lung epithelium during the adult respiratory distress syndrome.

This study investigates the effects of N-acetylcysteine (NAC) and rutin on the lung oxidative burden of patients with early adult respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). The protection was evaluated by measuring expired ethane and malondialdehyde (MDA), and oxidized (GSSG) and reduced glutathione (GSH) in the epithelial lining fluid of 36 patients who developed ARDS less than 24 hours before enrollment in the study. The patients were randomly assigned to 3 groups, receiving 250 mL 5% dextrose in water (group 1), NAC 50 mg/kg body weight in 5% dextrose (group 2), and NAC 50 mg/kg + rutin 5 mg/kg in 5% dextrose (group 3).

World Wide Web interface for advanced SPECT reconstruction algorithms implemented on a remote massively parallel computer.

Data from Single Photon Emission Computed Tomography (SPECT) studies are blurred by inevitable physical phenomena occurring during data acquisition. These errors may be compensated by means of reconstruction algorithms which take into account accurate physical models of the data acquisition procedure. Unfortunately, this approach involves high memory requirements as well as a high computational burden which cannot be afforded by the computer systems of SPECT acquisition devices.

[A proposal for the use of tridimensional reconstruction in oncology to better assess tumor stage and response to therapy].

Besides radiation therapy, diagnostic imaging has always been considered the main medical application of three-dimensional (3D) reconstruction. On the contrary, our study focused mainly on the use of 3D reconstruction for both spatial characterization and morphometric evaluation of the reconstructed objects. We aimed at assisting physicians to solve clinical and therapeutic problems.