Effectiveness of tocilizumab in hospitalized moderate-to-severe COVID-19 patients: a real-life study.

Background: To assess the clinical effectiveness of Tocilizumab (TCZ) in moderate-to-severe hospitalized COVID-19 patients and factors associated with clinical response.

Methods: Five hundred eight inpatients with moderate-to-severe SARS-CoV-2 infection were enrolled. TCZ effect in addition to standard medical therapy was evaluated in terms of death during hospital stay.

T Cell-based RAS Activity and Insulin Levels in Obese Subjects with Low Grade Inflammation.

Background: Obesity is a major contributor to inflammation and oxidative stress that are key underlying causes for insulin resistance (IR) and diabetes. Accumulated evidence suggest that RAS may serve as a strong link between IR and obesity. We investigated RAS activity in circulating T cells by obese subjects with and without angiotensin (Ang) II stimulation in presence or not of IR and of low-grade inflammation.

Acute heart failure in the elderly: setting related differences in clinical features and management.

Background: Administrative data show that acute heart failure (HF) patients are older than those enrolled in clinical registries and frequently admitted to non-cardiological settings of care. The purpose of this study was to describe clinical characteristics of old patients hospitalised for acute HF in Cardiology, Internal Medicine or Geriatrics wards.

Methods: Data came from ATHENA (AcuTe Heart failurE in advaNced Age) registry which included elderly patients (≥ 65 years) admitted to the above mentioned settings of care from December 1, 2014 to December 1, 2015.

Serum sodium alterations in SARS CoV-2 (COVID-19) infection: impact on patient outcome.

Objective: Hyponatremia is the most common electrolyte disorder in hospitalized patients and occurs in about 30% of patients with pneumonia. Hyponatremia has been associated with a worse outcome in several pathologic conditions The main objective of this study was to determine whether serum sodium alterations may be independent predictors of the outcome of hospitalized COVID-19 patients.

Design And Methods: In this observational study, data from 441 laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 patients admitted to a University Hospital were collected.

Use of the FebriDx point-of-care test for the exclusion of SARS-CoV-2 diagnosis in a population with acute respiratory infection during the second (COVID-19) wave in Italy.

Objective: Evaluate the real-world accuracy of Myxovirus resistance protein A (MxA) detected by the rapid, point-of-care FebriDx test during the second-wave pandemic in Italy in patients with acute respiratory infection (ARI) and a clinical suspicion of COVID-19.

Design And Methods: Prospective, observational, diagnostic accuracy study whereby hospitalized patients with ARI were consecutively enrolled in a single tertiary care center in Italy from August 1, 2020 to January 31, 2021.

Results: COVID-19 was diagnosed in 136/200 (68.

Clinical risk score to predict in-hospital mortality in COVID-19 patients: a retrospective cohort study.

Objectives: Several physiological abnormalities that develop during COVID-19 are associated with increased mortality. In the present study, we aimed to develop a clinical risk score to predict the in-hospital mortality in COVID-19 patients, based on a set of variables available soon after the hospitalisation triage.

Setting: Retrospective cohort study of 516 patients consecutively admitted for COVID-19 to two Italian tertiary hospitals located in Northern and Central Italy were collected from 22 February 2020 (date of first admission) to 10 April 2020.

Quantitative and qualitative alterations of circulating myeloid cells and plasmacytoid DC in SARS-CoV-2 infection.

SARS-CoV-2 is responsible for a new infectious disease (COVID-19) in which individuals can either remain asymptomatic or progress from mild to severe clinical conditions including acute respiratory distress syndrome and multiple organ failure. The immune mechanisms that potentially orchestrate the pathology in SARS-CoV-2 infection are complex and only partially understood. There is still paucity of data on the features of myeloid cells involved in this viral infection.

Compassionate use of JAK1/2 inhibitor ruxolitinib for severe COVID-19: a prospective observational study.

Overwhelming inflammatory reactions contribute to respiratory distress in patients with COVID-19. Ruxolitinib is a JAK1/JAK2 inhibitor with potent anti-inflammatory properties. We report on a prospective, observational study in 34 patients with COVID-19 who received ruxolitinib on a compassionate-use protocol.

T-Lymphocyte-Based Renin Angiotensin System in Obesity.

Background: Obesity can be associated with increased cardio-metabolic risk, but some subjects with obesity do not show metabolic impairment and escape this association. Low-grade inflammation (i.e.

High-dose intensity-modulated radiation therapy as primary treatment of prostate cancer: genitourinary/gastrointestinal toxicity and outcomes, a single-institution experience.

Purpose: Prostatectomy, radiotherapy and watchful waiting are the main therapeutic options available for local stage of prostate cancer (PCa). We report our experience on 394 patients affected by prostate cancer primarily treated with high-dose, image-guided, IMRT, focusing on gastrointestinal, genitourinary toxicities and biochemical control.

Methods: From July 2003 to August 2014, 394 patients were treated with radical high-dose radiotherapy (HDRT) for prostate cancer; the mean total radiation dose was 79 Gy in standard fractions.

Cryptic severe malaria in a Moroccan man living in Tuscany, Italy, August 2018.

In August 2018 a Moroccan man living in Tuscany developed malaria. The patient declared having not recently visited any endemic country, leading to diagnostic delay and severe malaria. As susceptibility to of Anopheles species in Tuscany is very low, and other risk factors for acquiring malaria could not be completely excluded, the case remains cryptic, similar to other malaria cases previously reported in African individuals living in Apulia in 2017.

Re-irradiation as salvage treatment in recurrent glioblastoma: A comprehensive literature review to provide practical answers to frequently asked questions.

The primary aim of this review is to provide practical recommendations in terms of fractionation, dose, constraints and selection criteria to be used in the daily clinical routine. Based on the analysis of the literature reviewed, in order to keep the risk of severe side effects ≤3,5%, patients should be stratified according to the target volume. Thus, patients should be treated with different fractionation and total EQD2 (<12.

Persistent and selective upregulation of renin-angiotensin system in circulating T lymphocytes in unstable angina.

Introduction: Unstable angina is associated with an acute systemic inflammatory reaction and circulating T lymphocytes are activated. We investigated whether in unstable angina with marked immune system activation a selective upregulation of the circulating T-cell renin-angiotensin system, modulated by angiotensin II, could occur.

Methods: We studied 13 unstable angina patients, 10 patients with stable angina and 10 healthy subjects.

Renal resistive index and low-grade inflammation in patients with essential hypertension.

In essential hypertension, increased renal resistive index (RRI) is associated to a reduction of renal function and microalbuminuria, and to renal tubulo-interstitial damage. A tubulo-interstitial inflammatory infiltration was found in experimental models of hypertension, and serum high-sensitive C-reactive protein (hsCRP) levels correlated with urinary markers of tubulo-interstitial damage in humans. We studied the relationship between RRI and serum hsCRP in hypertensives with preserved renal function, without microalbuminuria.

[Carotid and femoral intima-media thickness as an early atherosclerotic marker. Advantages and limits].

The intima-media thickness (IMT) is defined as the distance between the hyperechogenic inner (blood-intima interface) and outer line (media-adventitia interface) of the arterial wall. It is a surrogate marker of atherosclerotic damage. No consensus guidelines are available on which site and how carotid IMT sampling should be performed, and comparison among data from different studies is difficult.

Ang II Upregulation of the T-lymphocyte renin-angiotensin system is amplified by low-grade inflammation in human hypertension.

Background: Low-grade inflammation facilitates the development of essential hypertension and target organ damage (TOD). Recently, human T-lymphocytes were shown to be endowed with a functional active renin-angiotensin system (RAS). We investigated whether in hypertensive patients a selective angiotensin (Ang) II-driven upregulation of T-cell RAS occurs and whether it is differently modulated in presence of low-grade inflammation.

Adherence to antihypertensive therapy affects Ambulatory Arterial Stiffness Index.

Background: A major contributor to poor blood pressure (BP) control is nonadherence to therapy, which remains poorly recognized by physicians. The prevention of hypertension-induced changes in arterial wall, namely increased arterial stiffness and peripheral vascular resistance, is a reasoned adequate end-point of hypertension treatment. Indirect measurement of these arterial factors can be derived from the analysis of 24-hour Ambulatory BP Monitoring (24 h-ABPM).

Serum uric acid levels and renal damage in hyperuricemic hypertensive patients treated with renin-angiotensin system blockers.

Background: A correlation between hyperuricemia and renal target organ damage (TOD) was shown in hypertensive patients, locally mediated by the activation of renin-angiotensin system (RAS). We investigated whether high serum uric acid (UA) levels could negatively affect tubulointerstitial damage in hyperuricemic essential hypertensive patients with normal renal function, on treatment with RAS-blocking drugs.

Methods: We studied 40 patients with World Health Organization stage I-II essential hypertension, 9 with high serum UA levels (hyperuricemic group) and 31 with normal serum UA levels (normouricemic group, either normouricemics, n = 15, or formerly hyperuricemics in chronic allopurinol treatment, n = 16).