Noninvasive Assessment of portal Hypertension in Patients With Primary Biliary Cholangitis is Affected by Severity of Cholestasis.

Background & Aims: Noninvasive tests (NITs) for ruling-out clinical significant portal hypertension (CSPH) and high-risk varices (HRVs) in patients with primary biliary cholangitis (PBC) and compensated advanced chronic liver disease (cACLD) are lacking. We evaluated NITs in these patients and the influence of cholestasis on their performance.

Methods: Consecutive patients from the "Italian PBC registry" and 2 United Kingdom large-volume PBC referral centers with upper endoscopy within 6 months from biochemical evaluation and transient elastography were included.

Long-term outcome of hepatitis delta in different regions world-wide: Results of the Hepatitis Delta International Network.

Background And Aims: Chronic hepatitis delta represents a major global health burden. Clinical features of hepatitis D virus (HDV) infection vary largely between different regions worldwide. Treatment approaches are dependent on the approval status of distinct drugs and financial resources.

A holistic evaluation of patients with chronic Hepatitis D virus (HDV) infection enrolled in the Italian PITER-B and delta cohort.

Background And Aims: We aimed to characterize the epidemiologic and comorbidities profiles of patients with chronic Hepatitis D (CHD) followed in clinical practice in Italy and explored their interferon (IFN) eligibility.

Methods: This was a cross-sectional study of the PITER cohort consisting of consecutive HBsAg-positive patients from 59 centers over the period 2019-2023. Multivariable analysis was performed by logistic regression model.

Natural History and Hepatitis B Virus Surface Antigen (HBsAg) Spontaneous Seroclearance in Hepatitis B Virus e-Antigen (HBeAg)-Negative Patients with Inactive Chronic Infection: A Multicenter Regional Study from South Italy.

Spontaneous HBsAg seroclearance has been mainly studied in populations from Asia, Australia, the Pacific Islands, and Polynesia. For the first time, we evaluated the spontaneous HBsAg seroclearance and its possible associated factors and the risk of disease progression in HBeAg-negative patients with inactive infection all coming from the same region in South Italy. In this multicenter retrospective study, 146 patients were selected after 18 months of observation and followed for a median of 82 months (IQR 60-107).

Pneumococcal vaccination status among cirrhotic patients in Italy: a neglected topic.

To date, few reports have evaluated the pneumococcal vaccination status in cirrhotic patients. No data are available for European countries. We have explored this topic and the potential independent predictors motivating lack of vaccination in Italy.

Design and Fabrication of a Flexible Gravimetric Sensor Based on a Thin-Film Bulk Acoustic Wave Resonator.

Sensing systems are becoming less and less invasive. In this context, flexible materials offer new opportunities that are impossible to achieve with bulky and rigid chips. Standard silicon sensors cannot be adapted to curved shapes and are susceptible to big deformations, thus discouraging their use in wearable applications.

Wearable Heart Rate Monitoring Device Communicating in 5G ISM Band for IoHT.

Advances in wearable device technology pave the way for wireless health monitoring for medical and non-medical applications. In this work, we present a wearable heart rate monitoring platform communicating in the sub-6GHz 5G ISM band. The proposed device is composed of an Aluminium Nitride (AlN) piezoelectric sensor, a patch antenna, and a custom printed circuit board (PCB) for data acquisition and transmission.

COVID-19 vaccination among cirrhotics in Italy: High coverage and effectiveness of 3 doses versus 2 in preventing breakthrough infection and hospitalization.

Background And Aims: Few reports, all retrospective, have evaluated vaccine coverage against COVID-19 infection in cirrhotic subjects. No data are available for European Countries. We aimed to explore this topic and potential independent predictors of lack of vaccination.

Genetic regulation of iron homeostasis in sideropenic patients with mild COVID-19 disease under a new oral iron formulation: Lessons from a different perspective.

Background: Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) needs iron to replicate itself. Coronaviruses are able to upregulate Chop/Gadd153 and Arg1 genes, consequently leading to CD8 lymphocytes decrease, degradation of asparagine and decreased nitric oxide (NO), thus impairing immune response and antithrombotic functions. Little is known about regulation of genes involved in iron metabolism in paucisymptomatic patients with COVID-19 disease or in patients with iron deficiency treated with sucrosomial iron.

A compact evolved antenna for 5G communications.

Flexible and bendable electronics are gaining a lot of interest in these last years. In this scenario, compact antennas on flexible substrates represent a strategical technological step to pave the way to a new class of wearable systems. A crucial issue to overcome is represented by the poor radiation properties of compact antennas, especially in the case of flexible and thin substrates.

The hepatitis D virus in Italy. A vanishing infection, not yet a vanished disease.

Introduction: Hepatitis D Virus (HDV) infection is vanishing in Italy. It is therefore believed that hepatitis D is no longer a medical problem in the domestic population of the country but remains of concern only in migrants from HDV-endemic areas.

Objectives: To report the clinical features and the medical impact of the residual domestic HDV infections in Italy.

Rapid Prototyping of Bio-Inspired Dielectric Resonator Antennas for Sub-6 GHz Applications.

Bio-inspired Dielectric Resonator Antennas (DRAs) are engaging more and more attention from the scientific community due to their exceptional wideband characteristic, which is especially desirable for the implementation of 5G communications. Nonetheless, since these antennas exhibit peculiar geometries in their micro-features, high dimensional accuracy must be accomplished via the selection of the most suitable fabrication process. In this study, the challenges to the manufacturing process presented by the wideband Spiral shell Dielectric Resonator Antenna (SsDRA), based on the Gielis superformula, are addressed.

Hepatitis delta virus: From infection to new therapeutic strategies.

The hepatitis delta virus (HDV) is a small RNA virus that encodes a single protein and which requires the hepatitis B virus (HBV)-encoded hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) for its assembly and transmission. HBV/HDV co-infections exist worldwide and show a higher prevalence among selected groups of HBV-infected populations, specifically intravenous drug users, practitioners of high-risk sexual behaviours, and patients with cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. The chronic form of HDV-related hepatitis is usually severe and rapidly progressive.

Hepatitis D Virus and Hepatocellular Carcinoma.

Hepatitis D virus (HDV) is a small, defective RNA virus that depends on hepatitis B virus (HBV) for virion assembly and transmission. It replicates within the nucleus of hepatocytes and interacts with several cellular proteins. Chronic hepatitis D is a severe and progressive disease, leading to cirrhosis in up to 80% of cases.

False-positive results of SARS-CoV-2 IgM/IgG antibody tests in sera stored before the 2020 pandemic in Italy.

Objectives: Aside from the outbreak of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), serological tests are not well known for their diagnostic value. We assessed the performance of serological tests using stored sera from patients with a variety of pathologic conditions, collected before the 2020 pandemic in Italy.

Methods: Rapid lateral flow tests and Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assays (ELISA) that detect Immunoglobulin M (IgM) and Immunoglobulin G (IgG) antibodies against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) were carried out using 1150 stored human serum samples that had been collected in 2018 and 2019.

Low influenza vaccination coverage in subjects with liver cirrhosis. An alert waiting for winter season 2020-2021 during the COVID-19 pandemic.

We have evaluated flu vaccine coverage and variables associated with the lack of vaccination in cirrhotic subjects with particular attention to the cirrhosis etiology. Cirrhotic subjects consecutively referring to eight Italian centers were prospectively enrolled for a 6-month period in 2019. Subjects were asked if they had received a flu vaccine in the last 12 months.

Chronic hepatitis B virus infection in Italy during the twenty-first century: an updated survey in 2019.

The aim of this study is to provide updates on the characteristics of chronic HBsAg carriers in Italy before the advent of new drugs eliminating or functionally inactivating the genome HBV reservoirs. HBV endemicity has greatly decreased in Italy over the past decades. A not negligible number of chronic HBsAg carriers are still alive in the country.

Merging Natural Products: Muraymycin-Sansanmycin Hybrid Structures as Novel Scaffolds for Potential Antibacterial Agents.

To overcome bacterial resistances, the need for novel antimicrobial agents is urgent. The class of so-called nucleoside antibiotics furnishes promising candidates for the development of new antibiotics, as these compounds block a clinically unexploited bacterial target: the integral membrane protein MraY, a key enzyme in cell wall (peptidoglycan) biosynthesis. Nucleoside antibiotics exhibit remarkable structural diversity besides their uridine-derived core motifs.

Measurement of Gamma Glutamyl Transferase to Determine Risk of Liver Transplantation or Death in Patients With Primary Biliary Cholangitis.

Background & Aims: Gamma-glutamyltransferase (GGT) is a serum marker of cholestasis. We investigated whether serum level of GGT is a prognostic marker for patients with primary biliary cholangitis (PBC).

Methods: We analyzed data from patients with PBC from the Global PBC Study Group, comprising 14 centers in Europe and North America.

Pyridoxal-5'-phosphate-dependent alkyl transfer in nucleoside antibiotic biosynthesis.

Several nucleoside antibiotics are structurally characterized by a 5″-amino-5″-deoxyribose (ADR) appended via a glycosidic bond to a high-carbon sugar nucleoside (5'S,6'S)-5'-C-glycyluridine (GlyU). GlyU is further modified with an N-alkylamine linker, the biosynthetic origin of which has yet to be established. By using a combination of feeding experiments with isotopically labeled precursors and characterization of recombinant proteins from multiple pathways, the biosynthetic mechanism for N-alkylamine installation for ADR-GlyU-containing nucleoside antibiotics has been uncovered.

Soluble CD163 and mannose receptor as markers of liver disease severity and prognosis in patients with primary biliary cholangitis.

Introduction: In primary biliary cholangitis (PBC), macrophages are involved in liver inflammation and fibrosis. The macrophage activation markers, soluble (s)CD163 and mannose receptor (sMR) are associated with liver disease severity and prognosis in other chronic liver diseases. We aimed to investigate sCD163 and sMR in patients with PBC.

Muraymycin Nucleoside Antibiotics: Structure-Activity Relationship for Variations in the Nucleoside Unit.

Muraymycins are a subclass of naturally occurring nucleoside antibiotics with promising antibacterial activity. They inhibit the bacterial enzyme translocase I (MraY), a clinically yet unexploited target mediating an essential intracellular step of bacterial peptidoglycan biosynthesis. Several structurally simplified muraymycin analogues have already been synthesized for structure-activity relationship (SAR) studies.