Purpose: Prior evidence suggests that patients' Health Related Quality of Life (HRQoL) worsens after COVID-19. This study aimed to investigate HRQoL in Italian patients post-hospitalization for COVID-19, focusing on changes in physical and mental HRQoL over time since COVID-19 diagnosis.
Methods: A cohort of patients hospitalized for COVID-19 at Molinette Hospital in Turin, Italy, was contacted post-discharge to assess HRQoL using the SF-36 questionnaire.
Objectives: Malnutrition in stroke is associated with poor clinical outcomes. Bioelectrical impedance analysis-derived phase angle (PhA) is widely used for assessing nutritional status as an index of muscle quality. This study aimed to evaluate the associations between whole body and limb PhAs and nutritional risk in stroke patients.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCharlson Comorbidity Index (CCI) is one of the most reliable indicators to assess the impact of multimorbidity on COVID-19-related outcomes. Moreover, the patient's clinical conditions are associated with SARS-CoV-2 outcomes. This study aimed to analyze the association between multimorbidity and COVID-19-related outcomes, evaluating whether the National Early Warning Score 2 (NEWS2) mediated these associations.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFButyrate, a short-chain fatty acid, is a crucial product of gut microbial fermentation with significant implications for various metabolic and physiological processes. Dietary sources of butyrate are limited, primarily derived from the fermentation of dietary fibers by butyrate-producing gut bacteria. Butyrate exerts its effects primarily as a histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibitor and through signaling pathways involving G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThis work is the third in a series of articles dedicated to the EASY-NET network programme. The first article described the rationale, structure, and methodologies; while the second evaluated the adherence of individual audit&feedback A&F interventions tested in EASY-NET to literature recommendations. This contribution provides a concise summary of the effectiveness results of A&ented by clinical and organizational areas: chronic disease management, emergency territorial and hospital care for acute conditions, post-acute rehabilitation, hospital oncology care, childbirth, and caesarean sections.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground And Aims: Stroke patients may exhibit low thyroid hormone (TH) levels and disease-related malnutrition, both potentially affecting clinical status; their relationships remain unexplored. This study aimed to evaluate TH concentrations in subacute stroke patients and investigate the relationships between TH levels, nutritional risk, and functional status.
Methods And Results: Early subacute stroke patients admitted to a rehabilitation unit were assessed using various nutritional screening tools (Geriatric Nutritional Risk Index-GNRI, Prognostic Nutritional Index-PNI, and Controlling Nutritional Status-CONUT score) and with the Global Leadership Initiative on Malnutrition (GLIM) criteria.
Background And Aims: Intestinal fibrosis, a frequent complication of inflammatory bowel disease, is characterized by stricture formation with no pharmacological treatment to date. N-acylethanolamine acid amidase (NAAA) is responsible of acylethanolamides (AEs, e.g.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBreaking is a performative art that has recently undergone a process of sportification, developing into an aesthetic sport included in the 2024 Paris Olympic Games. Despite its growing worldwide popularity, there is a lack of research on Breaking. Accordingly, this pilot study's aim was twofold: (a) to provide an initial understanding of the anthropometric measures, body composition data, somatotype profiles, and strength performance of male (B-boys) and female (B-girls) Italian Breakers divided into elite (international) and sub-elite (national) levels and (b) to guide further research on the area, providing the methodological approach for future investigations.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFInflammatory bowel conditions can involve nearly all organ systems and induce pathological processes through increased oxidative stress, lipid peroxidation and disruption of the immune response. Patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) are at high risk of having extra-intestinal manifestations, for example, in the hepatobiliary system. In 30% of patients with IBD, the blood values of liver enzymes, such as AST and ALT, are increased.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Enhanced recovery after surgery (ERAS) protocols are known to potentially improve the management and outcomes of patients undergoing colorectal surgery, with limited evidence of their implementation in hospital networks and in a large population. We aimed to assess the impact of the implementation of an ERAS protocol in colorectal cancer surgery in the entire region of Piemonte, Italy, supported by an audit and feedback (A&F) intervention.
Methods: A large, stepped wedge, cluster randomised trial enrolled patients scheduled for elective surgery at 29 general surgery units (clusters).
Objective: To evaluate the effectiveness of implementing the Enhanced Recovery After Surgery (ERAS) protocol in patients undergoing elective hysterectomy in a network of regional hospitals, supported by an intensive audit-and-feedback (A&F) approach.
Design: A multi-centre, stepped-wedge cluster randomised trial (ClinicalTrials.gov NCT04063072).
This is the second of a series of papers dedicated to the EASY-NET research programme (NET-2016-02364191). The rationale, structure and methodologies are described in the previous contribution. Scientific literature demonstrated that Audit & Feedback (A&F) is an effective strategy for continuous quality improvement and its effectiveness varies considerably according to factors that are currently little known.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPurpose: To investigate whether intensive follow-up (INT) after surgery for endometrial cancer impact health-related quality of life (HRQoL) and healthcare costs compared to minimalist follow-up (MIN), in the absence of evidence supporting any benefit on 5-year overall survival.
Methods: In the TOTEM trial, HRQoL was assessed using the SF-12 and the Psychological General Well-Being (PGWB) questionnaires at baseline, after 6 and 12 months and then annually up to 5 years of follow-up. Costs were analyzed after 4 years of follow-up from a National Health Service perspective, stratified by risk level.
Eur J Orthop Surg Traumatol
April 2024
Soybean (Glycine max ) is the world's most widely grown seed legume. One of the most important pests that decrease seed quality and reduce yield of soybean crops is the southern green stink bug (Nezara viridula ). Insect damage triggers accumulation of defensive compounds such as protease inhibitors (PIs), isoflavonoids and reactive oxygen species, which are regulated by the lipoxygenase (LOX)-regulated jasmonic acid (JA) to stop insect feeding.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFDouble-J (DJ) ureteral stents are used for multiple purposes in urology. Even though they temporize the subsequent treatment of lithiasis, they may cause different symptoms that impact quality of life (QoL). In this randomized trial, we assessed whether the diameter of ureteral stents has an impact on catheter-associated symptoms, and their impact on QoL.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFLate diagnosis and the lack of screening methods for early detection define high-grade serous ovarian cancer (HGSOC) as the gynecological malignancy with the highest mortality rate. In the work presented here, we investigated a retrospective and multicentric cohort of 250 archival Papanicolaou (Pap) test smears collected during routine gynecological screening. Samples were taken at different time points (from 1 month to 13.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe human formyl-peptide receptor 2 (FPR2) is activated by an array of ligands. By phospho-proteomic analysis we proved that FPR2 stimulation induces redox-regulated phosphorylation of many proteins involved in cellular metabolic processes. In this study, we investigated metabolic pathways activated in FPR2-stimulated CaLu-6 cells.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFConsidering that malnutrition (undernutrition) is common in stroke patients and may negatively impact body function, the aim of this study was to determine the relationship between nutritional risk and functional status in stroke patients at admission to a rehabilitation unit. Nutritional risk was assessed using the Geriatric Nutritional Risk Index (GNRI), the Prognostic Nutritional Index (PNI) and the Controlling Nutritional Status (CONUT) score. Functional status was assessed using the Barthel Index, the modified Rankin Scale, the Trunk Control Test and the Sitting Balance Scale, and cognitive function was assessed using the Short Portable Mental Status Questionnaire.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAdults with obesity have a higher risk of hospitalization and high hospitalization-related healthcare costs. However, a predictive model for the risk of readmission in patients with severe obesity is lacking. We conducted a retrospective cohort study enrolling all patients admitted for severe obesity (BMI ≥ 40 kg/m) between 2009 and 2018 to the Istituto Auxologico Italiano in Piancavallo.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFStatins are the most prescribed lipid-lowering agents worldwide. Their use is generally safe, although muscular toxicity occurs in about 1 in 10.000 patients.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThis article proposes a focus on Audit & Feedback (A&F)'s sustainability. If on one side, it is essential to ask how to bring A&F interventions out of research programs into clinical practices and contexts of care. On the other, it is fundamental to ensure that the experiences gained within care contexts can inform research, helping to define the research objectives and questions whose development can support paths of change.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: The Quality of Recovery questionnaire (QoR-15) is an English instrument for measuring quality of recovery in surgical patients, not yet translated and validated in Italian when the Enhanced Recovery After Surgery (ERAS) Piemonte studies were planned.
Objective: To produce the Italian version of the QoR-15 questionnaire, to evaluate its factorial structure and to assess the invariance between two types of surgery.
Methods: The Italian version (QoR-15I) was obtained translating and adapting the original version to the Italian context.