Association between treatment with colchicine and improved survival in a single-centre cohort of adult hospitalised patients with COVID-19 pneumonia and acute respiratory distress syndrome.

Objectives: The outbreak of COVID-19 posed the issue of urgently identifying treatment strategies. Colchicine was considered for this purpose based on well-recognised anti-inflammatory effects and potential antiviral properties. In the present study, colchicine was proposed to patients with COVID-19, and its effects compared with 'standard-of-care' (SoC).

Prevalence of frontotemporal lobar degeneration in an isolated population: the Vallecamonica study.

The study of neurodegenerative diseases, such as frontotemporal lobar degeneration (FTLD), in isolated populations represents a privileged point of view for identifying new causative genes and pathogenetic mechanisms. Vallecamonica is a valley located in the Brescia province (Northern Italy), which experienced isolation until the end of World War II. The aims of the present work were (1) to estimate the prevalence of FTLD in Vallecamonica, (2) to determine the monogenic FTLD forms, and (3) to identify FTLD cases with no evidence of known pathogenetic mutations and the related clinical features.

Influence of anatomical factors on the feasibility and safety of carotid stenting in a series of 154 consecutive procedures.

Objective: The present study assessed the impact of unfavourable vascular anatomy on the feasibility and safety of carotid angioplasty and stenting (CAS).

Methods: Between 2000 and 2005, 154 CAS procedures (46% in symptomatics) were performed in 138 consecutive patients (mean age 72 +/- 7 years, 63% males), followed for a median period of 16 months by a neurologist performing clinical and duplex scan examination. The impact on outcome of tortuous supra-aortic vessels, tortuous internal carotid artery (ICA), calcified stenosis and contralateral ICA occlusion were assessed.