A preclinical model of TB meningitis to determine drug penetration and activity at the sites of disease.

Tuberculosis meningitis (TBM) is essentially treated with the first-line regimen used against pulmonary tuberculosis, with a prolonged continuation phase. However, clinical outcomes are poor in comparison, for reasons that are only partially understood, highlighting the need for improved preclinical tools to measure drug distribution and activity at the site of disease. A predictive animal model of TBM would also be of great value to prioritize promising drug regimens to be tested in clinical trials, given the healthy state of the development pipeline for the first time in decades.

Leading countries in global science increasingly receive more citations than other countries doing similar research.

Citations and text analysis are both used to study the distribution and flow of ideas between researchers, fields and countries, but the resulting flows are rarely equal. We argue that the differences in these two flows capture a growing global inequality in the production of scientific knowledge. We offer a framework called 'citational lensing' to identify where citations should appear between countries but are absent given that what is embedded in their published abstract texts is highly similar.

At the peak of COVID-19 age and disease severity but not comorbidities are predictors of mortality: COVID-19 burden in Bergamo, Italy.

Background: Findings from February 2020, indicate that the clinical spectrum of COVID-19 can be heterogeneous, probably due to the infectious dose and viral load of SARS-CoV-2 within the first weeks of the outbreak. The aim of this study was to investigate predictors of overall 28-day mortality at the peak of the Italian outbreak.

Methods: Retrospective observational study of all COVID-19 patients admitted to the main hospital of Bergamo, from February 23 to March 14, 2020.

Lung Allocation Score System: First Italian Experience.

Background: Lung transplantation is an established therapeutic option for patients with end-stage pulmonary disease. In May 2005, the lung allocation score (LAS) was introduced in the United States to maximize the benefit to the recipient population and reduce waiting list mortality. The LAS has been applied in a region of Italy since March 2016 on a provisional basis.

Safety of nintedanib before lung transplant: an Italian case series.

Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is a progressive, fatal disease that can only be cured by lung transplantation. Pharmacological agents play a role in preserving lung function and prolonging survival until a suitable donor organ becomes available. However, data on the effects of newer antifibrotic therapies on lung transplantation outcomes in IPF patients are lacking.