Publications by authors named "Maurizio Mazzantini"

Article Synopsis
  • Vitamin D deficiency is a significant public health issue in Europe, affecting not just the elderly but also those aged 50-70 years across both genders.
  • A recent survey involving 870 subjects in Italy found that dietary vitamin D intake was alarmingly low, with average daily intakes of 5.05 μg for females and 6.25 μg for males, which is below the recommended average.
  • The data revealed a trend where vitamin D intake decreases with age, indicating that older adults are particularly at risk for potential hypovitaminosis due to inadequate dietary consumption.
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Article Synopsis
  • Atypical femoral fractures (AFFs) are rare but serious injuries linked to bisphosphonate use, and understanding their incidence and risk factors is crucial for treatment.
  • A study reviewed radiographs of femoral fractures in patients over 60 to identify cases of AFFs, finding a 10% occurrence in their sample, an increase from a previous study's 5%.
  • While bisphosphonates are effective for preventing osteoporotic fractures, prolonged use may lead to an increased risk of AFFs, especially at specific sites of the femur.
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Osteoporosis is a skeletal disease characterised by reduced bone mass and deterioration of bone microarchitecture, underlying a higher risk of fragility fractures. Several options are available for its treatment, including both anti-resorptive and anabolic agents. The present review discusses and summarises the most recent literature on anabolic treatment, with a focus on abaloparatide, and on the assessment of fragility fracture risk, with a focus on trabecular bone score.

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Osteoporosis is a worldwide common disease characterised by reduced bone mass and increased risk of fractures.Many genetic variants are associated with the disease, but they account for only a small percentage of variance in individual bone mineral density and fragility fracture risk. Only recently have researchers recognised the role of a broad variety of environmental factors in the pathogenesis of osteoporosis, which has led to a further step: how genetic and environmental factors can interact, which is the next frontier in research on bone fragility.

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Background: Osteoporosis is a common concern in the elderly that leads to fragile bones. Calcium supplementation plays a crucial role in improving bone health, reducing fracture risk, and supporting overall skeletal strength in this vulnerable population. However, there is conflicting evidence on the safety of calcium supplements in elderly individuals.

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Purpose: LRP5 high bone mass (HBM) is an autosomal dominant endosteal hyperostosis caused by mutations of the low-density lipoprotein receptor-related protein 5 (LRP5) gene. Alternative names included "autosomal dominant osteosclerosis" and "Worth disease." The aim of the paper is to provide an historical overview of a disorder whose literature is complicated and confusing due to the past use of several denominations and lack of reviews.

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Osteoporosis is a prevalent bone disease with a relevant burden of mortality and comorbidity, especially due to fragility fractures occurring as a result of reduced bone mineral density. In this review we provide a critical digest of the most recent literature regarding the relationship between gut microbiota and osteoporosis, and discuss the role of radiofrequency echographic multi-spectrometry (REMS) and machine learning in the diagnostic work-up and prevention of osteoporosis.

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Purpose: Tumor induced osteomalacia (TIO) is a rare disease of mineral metabolism, whose clinical picture is dominated by hypophosphatemia usually due to an excess of circulating FGF23 produced by small mesenchymal tumors. Data on the real prevalence of the disease are lacking, with the knowledge of the disease mainly relying on case reports and small case series. No estimate is available on the prevalence of uncured TIO.

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Objectives: To assess vertebral fracture (VFx) occurrence after percutaneous vertebroplasty (PVP) in patients with osteoporosis (OP), primary or secondary to chronic glucocorticoid (GC) therapy.

Methods: Prospective study of a 2-year follow-up.

Primary Outcome: proportion of patients with new VFx 24 months after PVP.

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Osteoporosis is a generalised bone disease characterised by decreased bone mass and deterioration of bone microarchitecture predisposing to fragility fractures. Bone fractures are a remarkable social and economic health problem, and several studies have been carried out in order to reduce their occurrence. Inhibiting bone resorption and increasing bone formation are the mainstay of treatment, anti-catabolic and anabolic, respectively.

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Osteoporosis (OP) is a silent disease unless a fracture occurs; it is a major health problem, mainly due to fragility fractures, that occur at vertebral and peripheral sites. Vertebral fractures (VF) are probably the most common fragility fractures, but they go often unrecognized. The main clinical symptoms of VF are acute and chronic back pain, spinal deformity, reduced mobility and impaired quality of life.

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The fragility vertebral fractures have a considerable impact on an individual's health-related quality of life due to pain, limitations in activity, social participation, altered mood and balance impairment. Physiotherapy interventions may have an important role in improving quality of life, balance and reducing the fracture risk in people with osteoporotic vertebral fractures. In literature there are only a few studies that examine exercise interventions in osteoporotic populations with vertebral fracture and few studies that examine the effects on balance with instrumental measurements.

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Pregnancy and lactation-associated osteoporosis (PAO) is a rare condition characterized by the occurrence of fragility fractures, most commonly vertebral, in late pregnancy or the early postpartum period. The prevalence, etiology and pathogenesis of this osteoporosis are unknown, although there are several hypotheses attempting to explain the etiopathogenesis of pregnancy associated osteoporosis. In this paper we present two cases of young women who developed severe PAO with vertebral fractures: a 42-year-old woman with a family history of osteoporosis, and a 21-year-old woman affected with myasthenia gravis.

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Objective: To assess the occurrence of adverse events in a cohort of patients with polymyalgia rheumatica (PMR), treated with low-dose glucocorticoids (GC).

Methods: This was a retrospective study by review of medical records.

Results: We identified 222 patients who had a mean duration of followup of 60 ± 22 months and a mean duration of GC therapy of 46 ± 22 months.

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Increasing evidence has been accumulated for treating rheumatoid arthritis (RA) with TNF-α blocking agents. The formulation and definition of an early indicator of patient's reactivity during therapy may be extremely simplified by a mathematical model of clinical response. We analyzed the most significant clinical and laboratory parameters of response of 35 homogeneous patients (30 women, 5 men mean age ± SD: 52.

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Objective: To assess the prevalence of comorbidity in a cohort of patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), treated or not with low-dose glucocorticoids (GC) and who have been followed for at least 10 years.

Methods: This was a retrospective study by review of medical records.

Results: We identified 365 patients: 297 (81.

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Objective: To analyze the influence of low dose methotrexate (MTX) on bone using data from a large multicenter, cross-sectional study on bone mineral density (BMD) in women with rheumatoid arthritis (RA).

Methods: We selected 731 female patients with RA divided into 2 groups on the basis of MTX use: never MTX users (n = 485) and MTX users for at least 6 months (n = 246). Demographic, disease, and treatment related variables were collected for each patient.

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Aims: The aim of this study was to assess the effects of a single infusion of the bisphosphonate neridronate (N) on parameters of inflammation and bone resorption in rheumatoid arthritis (RA).

Methods: Forty-five patients with active RA were randomly allocated on a double blind basis to receive a single intravenous infusion of either N 25 mg (15 patients), N 50 mg (15 patients), or placebo (15 patients). At baseline and after 7 and 21 days, we assessed the following: erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR), C-reactive protein (CRP) and Ritchie's articular index as indices of disease activity; and urinary free deoxypyridinoline (DPyr), N-telopeptide of type I collagen (NTx) and hydroxyproline (OHP) as indices of bone resorption.

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