Publications by authors named "Pinto G"

Cardiomyopathies, historically regarded as rare, are increasingly recognized due to advances in imaging diagnostics and heightened clinical focus. These conditions, characterized by structural and functional abnormalities of the myocardium, pose significant challenges in both chronic and acute patient management. A thorough understanding of the hemodynamic properties, specifically the pressure-volume relationships, is essential.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Next-generation sequencing technology has created many new opportunities for clinical diagnostics, but it faces the challenge of functional annotation of identified mutations. Various algorithms have been developed to predict the impact of missense variants that influence oncogenic drivers. However, computational pipelines that handle biological data must integrate multiple software tools, which can add complexity and hinder non-specialist users from accessing the pipeline.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • Very low-calorie ketogenic diets (VLCKD) effectively aid weight loss in obese individuals and can decrease liver condition risks.
  • Small extracellular vesicles (sEVs) from serum are studied in obese adults to see how they affect liver fibrosis and inflammation, with participants divided into low and high fibrosis risk groups.
  • Results show that sEVs from low-risk patients improved liver health markers, while those from high-risk patients worsened inflammation and fibrosis signals, stressing the importance of assessing sEVs alongside traditional methods like FibroScan.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Objective: Adreno CorticoTropic Hormone (ACTH)-independent Cushing's syndrome (CS) in children is very rare but potentially fatal. In bilateral nodular hyperplasia, synchronous bilateral adrenalectomy (SBA) represents the definitive treatment to correct hypercortisolism. We aim to report the multidisciplinary management of this rare condition.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The condition of cellular senescence has specific features, including an altered lipid metabolism. Delta-9 desaturase (Δ9) catalyzes the conversion of saturated fatty acids, such as palmitic acid and stearic acid, into their monounsaturated forms, palmitoleic and oleic acid, respectively. Δ9 activity is important for most lipid functions, such as membrane fluidity, lipoprotein metabolism and energy storage.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Sleep bruxism is a major research area in dentistry today and needs valid clinical means of diagnosis against valid instrumental methods. Purpose: To assess the validity of the most commonly reported sleep bruxism (SB) signs and symptoms in the literature against a polysomnography (PSG) validated portable electromyographic (EMG) device (BiteStrip®).

Material And Methods: Fifty young adults (40 women & 10 men, 18-30 years old) volunteered for the sequential and simultaneous administration of the SB signs and symptoms questionnaire versus the BiteStrip®.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Some studies indicate that brown adipose tissue (BAT) represents a promising target in the fight against dysmetabolic diseases, with indications suggesting it as a potential target for the effects of ketone bodies. We investigate whether the elevation of plasma levels of the ketone body β-hydroxybutyrate, achieved through the in vivo administration of its precursor 1,3-butanediol (BD) to rats, could impact interscapular BAT (iBAT) mitochondrial biochemistry and functionality. We examined the effects induced by BD within 3 h and after 2 weeks of treatment.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The produce industry needs a tool to evaluate food safety interventions and prioritize investments and future research. A model was developed in R for a generic produce supply chain and made accessible via Shiny. Microbial contamination events, increases, reductions, and testing can be modeled.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Guidelines recommend β blockers (BBs) as first-line therapy in symptomatic patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) and nondihydropyridine calcium channel blockers, particularly, verapamil, as the second-line therapy, despite the absence of comparison trials between those 2 drugs. Because deleterious effects of verapamil have been reported in this setting, the present analysis aimed to evaluate the prognostic impact of BBs and verapamil in a cohort of patients with HCM. From a nationwide cohort of 1,434 patients with a diagnosis of HCM included in the French prospective observational REgistry of hypertrophic cardioMYopathy (REMY), we retrospectively analyzed patients with sarcomeric HCM included in the 3 largest centers and treated either with BBs or verapamil.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Quantum mechanical tunneling (QMT) is a well-documented phenomenon in the C-H bond activation mechanism and is commonly identified by large KIE values. Herein we present surprising findings in the kinetic study of hydrogen tunneling in the Co mediated decomposition of acetic acid and its perdeuterated isotopologue, conducted with the energy resolved single photon initiated dissociative rearrangement reaction (SPIDRR) technique. Following laser activation, the reaction proceeds along parallel product channels Co(CHO) + CO and Co(CHO) + HO.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background/objectives: Metabolic dysfunction-associated fatty liver disease (MAFLD) is currently the most common cause of chronic liver disease. Systemic inflammatory status and peripheral metabolic symptoms in the clinical picture have an impact on gut commensal bacteria.

Methods: Our designed clinical trial was based on a cohort of patients with MAFLD whose diet included the daily consumption of 400 g of "Navelina" oranges for 28 days, compared with a control group of patients with the same pathologic conditions whose diet did not include the consumption of oranges and other foods containing similar nutrients/micronutrients.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Proper hand hygiene is extremely important to control the transmission of pathogens. Although many studies have been undertaken on the effect of washing and drying on bacterial contamination of hands, studies on viral contamination are scarce.

Aim: To assess the viral load of artificially contaminated hands after washing and after drying.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The increase of antibiotic resistance calls for alternatives to control Helicobacter pylori, a Gram-negative bacterium associated with various gastric diseases. Bacteriophages (phages) can be highly effective in the treatment of pathogenic bacteria. Here, we developed a method to identify prophages in H.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

To investigate how contextual or environmental factors may influence the athletic performance of female soccer players during competitions, this study aimed to assess the impact of match-related variables (playing surface; opponent levels; opponent result trends; match status, and match outcomes) on the athletic performance of professional female soccer athletes. Seventeen athletes (25.5 ± 4.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • The study analyzed saliva from 63 hospitalized COVID-19 patients and 30 healthy controls using advanced techniques to identify biochemical changes and potential noninvasive diagnostic biomarkers.
  • It found significant differences in the levels of 77 proteins, with unique and varied expressions among COVID-19 patients, highlighting a complex interplay between pro-inflammatory and anti-inflammatory responses.
  • The research also noted alterations in peptides and amino acids, establishing a diagnostic algorithm with high efficiency to differentiate between COVID-19 patients and healthy individuals.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Many patients with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) have a compromised intestinal barrier associated with low-grade inflammation. Polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) are potential mediators of inflammation: omega-6 PUFAs are pro-inflammatory, while omega-3 PUFAs are antioxidant and anti-inflammatory. Zonulin is a potential biomarker for small intestinal permeability (s-IP).

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Due to the increase in the rate of male and female infertility, assisted fertilization practices are currently adopted as valid support for couples unable to get pregnant. Analytical approaches for fertility hormone dosages are constantly being developed, following the technological progress of fertilization methods that have evolved for more than a century. Indeed, the analysis of fertility hormones in serum samples is a common clinical practice to check the fertility state, but absolute quantification of these hormones is a great challenge due to biological variability and low serum concentrations.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

School share tables offer opportunities for food recovery and increased access to healthy foods by allowing students to donate or consume unopened items, such as cartons of milk. However, stakeholders have concerns about temperature abuse potentially causing premature milk spoilage. Although previous research showed short ambient temperature abuse of milk (under conditions representing share tables) does not meaningfully affect microbial milk quality, differences across school cafeterias (e.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Diuretic resistance is a relevant clinical issue in acute heart failure (AHF), but a standardized, quantitative definition is still missing. The aim of this analysis was to highlight discrepancies between previously proposed definitions of diuretic response and to propose a new urinary sodium (NaU)-based definition of diuretic efficiency (DE) to identify diuretic resistant (DR) patients.

Methods: Three historical definitions of diuretic response and a new NaU-based DE definition, evaluating total NaU after the first diuretic bolus per 40 mg furosemide administered, were applied in a retrospective analysis to an AHF population treated with intravenous (i.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

It was compared smartphone-based measurements of static balance control and mobility of elderly population with and without type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM2). The present cross-sectional study investigated 73 participants grouped in a control group (n = 36) and a DM2 group (n = 37). Smartphone's built in inertial sensors were used to record inertial changes of the participants during static balance and mobility (Timed Up and Go test - TUG) tasks.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Every year, more than 19 million cancer cases are diagnosed, and this number continues to increase annually. Since standard treatment options have varying success rates for different types of cancer, understanding the biology of an individual's tumour becomes crucial, especially for cases that are difficult to treat. Personalised high-throughput profiling, using next-generation sequencing, allows for a comprehensive examination of biopsy specimens.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

To evaluate the potential differences in the propensity of β-casein A1 (β-CNA1) and A2 (β-CNA2) from bovine milk to release health-relevant β-casomorphins (BCMs), food-derived peptides were monitored over time in the blood of eight human volunteers who consumed milk containing both protein variants. Liquid chromatography coupled with high resolution tandem mass spectrometry revealed interindividual variability of milk peptidomic profiles in human blood. BCMs were not detected, whereas BCM precursors originating from both β-CNA1 and β-CNA2 were ascertained, with β-CNA2-derived peptides showing a slightly greater susceptibility to proteolysis.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Spectroscopic methods offer valuable insights into the molecular and structural changes induced by stress, but existing techniques are often unable to perform real-time measurements during deformation. A novel solid open mount design is presented that enables spectroscopic investigations of materials under sustained tensile stress while maintaining crucial alignment of the optical system. The mount design allows for sample movement in response to applied strain while maintaining the position of the sample plane, ensuring consistent and reliable spectroscopic measurements.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Amiodarone is a source of iodine excess that may persist in the body for long time after its withdrawal. The aim of the present analysis was to evaluate the magnitude and long-term time course of 24-h urinary iodine (UI) excretion in patients on antiarrhythmic therapy with amiodarone.

Methods: 24-h UI excretion and thyroid function were evaluated in 67 patients on amiodarone therapy.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF