Publications by authors named "Pini L"

Background And Purpose: Degenerative cervical myelopathy (DCM) is the most common cause of spinal cord (SC) dysfunction. In routine clinical practice, SC changes are well depicted using conventional MRI, especially T2-weighted imaging. However, this modality usually fails to provide satisfactory clinico-radiological correlations.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The preclinical phase of Alzheimer's disease represents a crucial time window for therapeutic intervention but requires the identification of clinically relevant biomarkers that are sensitive to the effects of disease-modifying drugs. Amyloid peptide and tau proteins, the main histological hallmarks of Alzheimer's disease, have been widely used as biomarkers of anti-amyloid and anti-tau drugs. However, these biomarkers do not fully capture the multiple biological pathways of the brain.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

A large literature assessed the relationships between the O-methylguanine-DNA methyltransferase (MGMT) promoter methylation status and glioblastoma location with inconsistent results. Studies assessing this association using the percentage of methylation are lacking. This cross-sectional study aimed at investigating relationships between glioblastoma topology and MGMT promoter methylation, both as categorical (presence/absence) and continuous (percentage) status.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Benralizumab is a monoclonal antibody treatment for severe eosinophilic asthma (SEA). Few studies investigated its role in airway inflammation and its correlation with lung function.

Objectives: The aim of the present study is to assess its effect after 1 year of treatment, focusing on airway inflammation.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Bridging the gap between cortical morphometric remodeling and gene expression can help to clarify the effects of the selective brain accumulation of Amyloid-β (Aβ) and tau proteins occurring in the Alzheimer's disease (AD). To this aim, we derived morphometric similarity (MS) networks from 126 Aβ- and tau-positive (Aβ+/tau+) and 172 Aβ-/tau- subjects, and we investigated the association between group-wise regional MS differences and transcriptional correlates thanks to an imaging transcriptomics approach grounded in the Allen Human Brain Atlas (AHBA). The expressed gene with the highest correlation with MS alterations was , a gene related to Aβ homeostasis.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

This review aims to analyze the current literature to identify articles related to the role of nurses and, in general, the nursing management of patients suffering from medication overuse headache (MOH), a globally spread disease. We specifically argue for non-pharmacological approaches to pain management, such as multidisciplinary team approaches, holistic treatment, cognitive behavioral therapy and exercise. For this review, we investigated international scientific databases, including PubMed, CINAHL, Scopus and Embase, in the period between 2000 and 2024.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Despite substantial advances in cancer treatment, for patients with glioblastoma prognosis remains bleak. The emerging field of cancer neuroscience reveals intricate functional interplays between glioblastoma and the cellular architecture of the brain, encompassing neurons, glia, and vessels. New findings underscore the role of structural and functional connections within hierarchical networks, known as the connectome.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • - Benralizumab effectively manages severe eosinophilic asthma (SEA), showing a significant 89% reduction in exacerbation rates and a 440 mL increase in forced expiratory volume (FEV) over 36 months in a study of 108 Italian patients.
  • - The treatment led to notable improvements in asthma control and sinonasal symptoms for patients with chronic rhinosinusitis with nasal polyposis, with 84.31% achieving partial or complete clinical remission.
  • - Results indicate benralizumab may act as a long-term disease-modifying drug for SEA, with most patients able to reduce or stop their oral corticosteroids, but further research is needed to evaluate its long-term safety and effectiveness.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: In its severe form, where possible, asthma is treated using biological drugs in order to reduce, as much as possible, the use of systemic steroids. Mepolizumab is effective for severe asthma based on key outcomes such as exacerbation and steroid dependence. Its efficacy in terms of the criteria for clinical remission in the short and long term has become of interest.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • The study investigates how pre-biologic biomarker levels, specifically immunoglobulin E (IgE), blood eosinophil count (BEC), and fractional exhaled nitric oxide (FeNO), influence asthma treatment outcomes when patients start biologic therapy.
  • Conducted across 23 countries with over 3750 patients, the research focused on changes in exacerbation rates, symptom control, and lung function about a year after starting treatment.
  • Results showed that higher levels of BEC and FeNO were linked to significant improvements in lung function for specific biologic therapies, while IgE was not a strong predictor of treatment effectiveness.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Lesion network mapping (LNM) is a popular framework to assess clinical syndromes following brain injury. The classical approach involves embedding lesions from patients into a normative functional connectome and using the corresponding functional maps as proxies for disconnections. However, previous studies indicated limited predictive power of this approach in behavioral deficits.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

INTRODUCTIONAlpha-1 antitrypsin (AAT) deficiency, an autosomal co-dominant condition, decreases protein concentration and activity at both serum and tissue levels. Few studies investigated whether the type of gene phenotype in patients with severe asthma can influence symptoms and disease control during follow-up.OBJECTIVETo assess whether the presence of a non-MM genotype of in patients with severe asthma is associated with disease control, systemic and airway inflammation, lung function and comorbidities prevalence compared to severe asthma patients with a homozygous genotype (MM).

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Frontal variant Alzheimer's disease (AD) manifests with either behavioral or dysexecutive syndromes. Recent efforts to gain a deeper understanding of this phenotype have led to a re-conceptualization of frontal AD. Behavioral (bAD) and dysexecutive (dAD) phenotypes could be considered subtypes, as suggested by both clinical and neuroimaging studies.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Objective: Patients' perceptions of asthma symptoms, and attitudes regarding diagnosis and management, can affect their ability to reach good asthma control. The aim of the study was to explore patients' perceptions of asthma management, with focus on treatment with oral corticosteroids (OCS).

Methods: A DOXAPHARMA survey was conducted.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • Guidelines for treating asthma exacerbations typically recommend bronchodilators and corticosteroids, but antibiotic use is often overlooked despite frequent prescriptions in practice.
  • A survey involving 252 healthcare professionals revealed a 19% antibiotic prescription rate for asthma exacerbations, with significant variation among different specialties like pediatrics, pulmonology, general practice, and allergy.
  • The study highlights the need for evidence-based guidelines to ensure more rational use of antibiotics in treating asthma exacerbations, especially considering factors like purulent sputum, fever, and comorbidities that influence prescription decisions.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Dupilumab is currently approved for the treatment of Type 2 severe asthma and chronic rhinosinusitis with nasal polyps (CRSwNP). Few studies have specifically reported on dupilumab efficacy on asthma outcomes as a primary objective in a real-life setting, in patients with and without CRSwNP. Our study aimed to explore the efficacy of dupilumab on functional, inflammatory, and patient-reported outcomes in asthma patients across different disease phenotypes and severity, including mild-to-moderate asthma coexisting with CRSwNP.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • Scientists studied a brain connection called LC-TEC in people with Alzheimer's disease (AD) and a type of dementia called frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD).
  • They used special MRI scans to look at the brain's structure and found that people with bvFTD had more serious changes in this pathway compared to those with AD and healthy people.
  • The results suggest that the changes in the LC-TEC pathway are linked to the loss of thickness in another brain area called the entorhinal cortex, especially in bvFTD patients.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Purpose: To characterize patients with APS type 4 among those affected by APS diagnosed and monitored at our local Reference Center for Autoimmune Polyglandular Syndromes.

Methods: Monocentric observational retrospective study enrolling patients affected by APS diagnosed and monitored in a Reference Center. Clinical records were retrieved and analyzed.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The pervasive impact of Alzheimer's disease on aging society represents one of the main challenges at this time. Current investigations highlight 2 specific misfolded proteins in its development: Amyloid-$\beta$ and tau. Previous studies focused on spreading for misfolded proteins exploited simulations, which required several parameters to be empirically estimated.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • - The study analyzed the long-term effectiveness of mepolizumab in severe asthma patients, focusing on reducing exacerbations and steroid dependence over three years.
  • - Results showed a significant decrease in exacerbations from 84.6% in the first year to 90% and 95% in the subsequent years, along with a reduction in steroid dependency from 54% to just 6%.
  • - Additionally, patients with nasal polyps experienced a 49% decrease in symptoms measured by the SNOT-22 scale, confirming mepolizumab's long-term benefits in an actual clinical setting.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Purpose: To characterize patients with APS and to propose a new approach for their follow-up. Query ID="Q1" Text="Please check the given names and familynames."

Methods: Monocentric observational retrospective study enrolling patients referred to the Outpatients clinic of the Units of Endocrinology, Diabetology, Gastroenterology, Rheumatology and Clinical Immunology of our Hospital for Autoimmune diseases.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF