Publications by authors named "Nicola L"

Objectives: Chlamydia trachomatis is the most commonly diagnosed bacterial sexually transmitted infection (STI) worldwide. Diagnosis relies on nucleic acid amplification techniques, such as PCR, which does not distinguish between viable pathogens and residual bacterial DNA, leading to potential overdiagnosis and overtreatment. PCR with confirmation of pathogen viability has not been widely explored in the STI field.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Introduction: Urinary albumin-to-creatinine ratio (uACR) is an independent predictor of chronic kidney disease (CKD) progression. However there is limited evidence on the burden of CKD according to uACR categories at the population level. This study estimates future clinical and financial burden of CKD according to uACR categories using the Inside CKD microsimulation.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Importance: Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is a global health priority affecting almost 1 billion people. New therapeutic options and clinical trial innovations such as adaptive platform trials provide an opportunity to efficiently test combination therapies.

Objective: To describe the design and baseline results of the Global Kidney Patient Trials Network (GKPTN) and the design and structure of the global adaptive platform clinical trial Chronic Kidney Disease Adaptive Platform Trial Investigating Various Agents for Therapeutic Effect (CAPTIVATE) to find new therapeutic options and treatments for people with kidney disease.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Obesity is recognized as a public health challenge. During the last three decades, the global age-standardized prevalence increased from 8.8% to 18.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is widely recognized as a leading and growing contributor to global morbidity and mortality worldwide. Nutritional therapy is the basic treatment for metabolic control, and may contribute to nephroprotection; however, the absence of solid evidence on slowing CKD progression together with poor adherence to dietary prescription limit de facto its efficacy and prevent its more widespread use. Sodium-glucose transport protein 2 inhibitors (SGLT2is) are now considered the new standard of care in CKD; in addition, novel potassium binders, glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor antagonists (GLP1-RAs) and nonsteroidal mineralocorticoid receptor antagonists (nsMRAs) show either direct (SGLT2i, GLP1-RA, nsMRA) or indirect (potassium binders that enable the optimal use of renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system inhibitors) nephroprotective effects.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Sodium-glucose cotransporter 2 inhibitors (SGLT2i) lower ambulatory blood pressure (ABP) in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus; whether the same holds true in diabetic kidney disease (DKD) is unknown. This information is critical to the knowledge of mechanisms of nephroprotection and safety of this therapy.

Methods: This multicenter prospective study evaluates the changes in ABP after 12 weeks of dapagliflozin 10 mg/day in a cohort of patients with type 2 DKD and glomerular filtration rate (GFR) >25 mL/min/1.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Purpose: To compare the incidence of in-stent restenosis (ISR) and ipsilateral neurologic symptoms in patients treated with maximum plaque dilation before stent deployment (max-pre-D) and stent placement followed by angioplasty (post-D) technical variants of carotid artery stent placement at midterm follow-up.

Materials And Methods: This was a single-center, real-world, retrospective comparative study of 307 patients treated in a single vascular surgery unit between 2014 and 2018. The follow-up protocol consisted of Doppler US performed at 1, 6, and 12 months and annually thereafter.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • Acute kidney disease (AKD) occurs 7 to 90 days after acute kidney injury (AKI) and carries a high risk of developing into chronic kidney disease.
  • Current treatment for AKD is non-specific and focuses on preventing further kidney damage through follow-ups, medication management, blood pressure control, nutrition, and avoiding harmful substances.
  • New medications like SGLT2 inhibitors and GLP1 receptor agonists are being studied for their potential to help maintain kidney function and prevent the transition from AKD to chronic kidney disease.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The Andean Páramo is an environment known for its high biodiversity; however, due to its remote location and difficult access, it is still relatively poorly studied. The aim of this work was to explore the fungal biodiversity of Ecuadorian Páramo soils in the undisturbed natural reserve of Quimsacocha through ITS metabarconding with an MiSeq platform. This analysis revealed the presence of 370 fungal Amplicon Sequence Variants (ASVs), mainly composed by , and .

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • Chronic kidney disease (CKD) affects about 13.4% of people worldwide and is linked to other health problems like heart disease and diabetes.
  • Obesity can either cause kidney disease or make it worse, so losing weight through diet is important.
  • The Italian Society of Endocrinology and other groups suggest diets like low-carb or Mediterranean to help manage obesity and prevent CKD from getting worse.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Atomistic simulations are performed to assess how the main characteristics of a pairwise interatomic potential function can affect the occurrence of wear. A Morse-like potential is tailored in its attractive part such as to vary independently the cut-off radius and the maximum value of the attractive (adhesive) force. An ideal numerical experiment is then performed where the interaction between a metal crystal and a probe changes, while their material properties are not affected, to isolate the behavior of the interface.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Introduction: The underdiagnosis of chronic kidney disease (CKD) remains a significant public health concern. The Early chroNic kiDney disease pOint of caRe Screening (ENDORSE) project aimed to evaluate the clinical and economic implications of a targeted training intervention for general practitioners (GPs) to enhance CKD awareness and early diagnosis.

Methods: Data on estimated Glomerular Filtration Rate (eGFR) and Urinary Albumin-Creatinine Ratio (uACR) were collected by 53 Italian GPs from 112,178 patients at baseline and after six months.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Objective: Women with type 2 diabetes experience higher cardiovascular and mortality risk than men possibly because of a sub-optimal cardio-protective treatment. We evaluated whether an intensive multifactorial therapy (MT) produces similar protective effect on development of adverse outcomes in women and men.

Research Design And Methods: Nephropathy in Diabetes type 2 study is an open-label cluster randomized trial comparing the effect of Usual Care (UC) or MT of main cardiovascular risk factors (blood pressure < 130/80 mmHg, HbA1c < 7%, LDL < 100 mg/dL, and total cholesterol < 175 mg/dL) on cardiovascular and mortality risk in patients with type 2 diabetes.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is affecting more and more individuals over time. The importance of the increased prevalence is enhanced by the close association with the increased risk of poor individual outcomes such as death, fatal and non-fatal cardiovascular (CV) events and progression to end stage kidney disease (ESKD). ESKD requires replacement treatment such as hemodialysis (HD), a particular and complex context that unfortunately has been rarely considered in observational studies in the last few decades.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Clinical practice guidelines for patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) recommend regular monitoring and management of kidney function and CKD risk factors. However, the majority of patients with stage 3 CKD lack a diagnosis code, and data on the implementation of these recommendations in the real world are limited.

Aim: To assess the implementation of guideline-directed monitoring and management practices in the real world in patients with stage 3 CKD without a recorded diagnosis code.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Dementia, particularly Alzheimer's Disease (AD), has links to several modifiable risk factors, especially physical inactivity. When considering the relationship between physcial activity and dementia risk, cognitive benefits are generally attributed to aerobic exercise, with resistance exercise (RE) receiving less attention. This review aims to address this gap by evaluating the impact of RE on brain structures and cognitive deficits associated with AD.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system (RAAS) inhibitors are standard care in patients with hypertension, heart failure or chronic kidney disease (CKD). Although we have studied the RAAS for decades, there are still circumstances that remain unclear. In this review, we describe the evolution of the RAAS and pose the question of whether this survival trait is still necessary to humankind in the present age.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Purpose: A comprehensive return on investment (ROI) calculator was developed to evaluate the monetary and nonmonetary benefits of an artificial intelligence (AI)-powered radiology diagnostic imaging platform to inform decision makers interested in adopting AI.

Methods: A calculator was constructed to calculate comparative costs, estimated revenues, and quantify the clinical value of using an AI platform compared with no use of AI in radiology workflows of a US hospital over a 5-year time horizon. Parameters were determined on the basis of expert interviews and a literature review.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Estimated glomerular filtration rate is considered the principal measure of kidney function and, together with albuminuria, is a relevant prognostic factor for the development of end-stage kidney disease. Due to the strong association between estimated glomerular filtration rate and clinical events, such as commencement of dialysis, cardiovascular outcomes and all-cause death, estimated glomerular filtration rate is crucial for clinical decision-making in terms of scheduling follow-up and pharmacological interventions, and planning renal replacement therapies in advanced chronic kidney disease. In this review we discuss the available methods for measuring glomerular filtration rate and for estimating it through mathematical equations developed over the last few decades.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

We investigated the impact of distance covered in the six-minute walk test (6mWT) before being discharged from the hospital after cardiac surgery on the risk of all-cause mortality. Our study included 1127 patients who underwent cardiac surgery and then took part in a standardised physiotherapist-supervised inpatient rehabilitation programme during 2007-2017. The percentage of the predicted 6mWT distance, and the lower limit of normal distance was calculated based on individual patients' age, sex, and body mass index.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF