Menstrual products: culprits or bystanders in endometriosis and adenomyosis pathogenesis?

Products that may reduce menstrual flow from the endometrial cavity to the vagina (i.e. tampons and menstrual cups) could facilitate retrograde menstruation and the spillage of blood into the myometrium, two mechanisms which could be major determinants in endometriosis and adenomyosis pathogenesis.

"Back to Braak": Role of Nucleus Reuniens and Subcortical Pathways in Alzheimer's Disease Progression.

Background: Patients with Alzheimer's Disease (AD) exhibit structural alterations of the thalamus that correlate with clinical symptoms. However, given the anatomical complexity of this brain structure, it is still unclear whether atrophy affects specific thalamic nuclei and modulates the clinical progression from a prodromal stage, known as Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI), to full-fledged AD.

Objectives: To characterize the structural integrity of distinct thalamic nuclei across the AD spectrum, testing whether MCI patients who convert to AD (c-MCI) show a distinctive pattern of thalamic structural alterations compared to patients who remain stable (s-MCI).

Atrophy of hippocampal subfields and amygdala nuclei in subjects with mild cognitive impairment progressing to Alzheimer's disease.

The hippocampus and amygdala are the first brain regions to show early signs of Alzheimer's Disease (AD) pathology. AD is preceded by a prodromal stage known as Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI), a crucial crossroad in the clinical progression of the disease. The topographical development of AD has been the subject of extended investigation.

Atrophy of specific amygdala subfields in subjects converting to mild cognitive impairment.

Introduction: Accumulating evidence indicates that the amygdala exhibits early signs of Alzheimer's disease (AD) pathology. However, it is still unknown whether the atrophy of distinct subfields of the amygdala also participates in the transition from healthy cognition to mild cognitive impairment (MCI).

Methods: Our sample was derived from the AD Neuroimaging Initiative 3 and consisted of 97 cognitively healthy (HC) individuals, sorted into two groups based on their clinical follow-up: 75 who remained stable (s-HC) and 22 who converted to MCI within 48 months (c-HC).

Navigating geopolitical crises for energy security: Evaluating optimal subsidy policies via a Markov switching DSGE model.

This paper aims to provide insights on the design of optimal subsidy policies to enhance energy security amidst energy disruptions triggered by geopolitical conflicts. We introduce a novel Markov switching dynamic stochastic general equilibrium (MS-DSGE) model to address the limitations of existing integrated assessment models in environmental evaluation. These models often fail to adequately consider the environmental and economic impacts of geopolitical conflicts and do not prioritize energy security sufficiently in policymaking.

Color Doppler ultrasound evaluation of arteriovenous grafts for hemodialysis.

Although arteriovenous fistula (AVF) continues to be the vascular access of choice for the hemodialysis, arteriovenous graft (AVG) can be the best choice in certain categories of patients and could have several advantages over AVF in a "patient centered approach" to vascular access. In the clinical management of prosthetic fistulas, color Doppler ultrasound (CDU) is the imaging method of choice for identifying stenosis and other AVG complications. In this review, besides highlighting the pivotal role of CDU in the diagnosis of AVG complications, we will underline the key role that ultrasound can play in identifying those stenosis most likely to cause AVG thrombosis.

New Italian version of the Wilkins Rate of Reading Test: Materials for repeated-measure designs in optometry and neuropsychological research.

Purpose: To develop a series of equivalent passages of text in Italian, according to the principles of the Wilkins Rate of Reading Test (WRRT), suitable for both clinical examination and scientific research when equivalent stimuli are needed to compare performance in repeated-measure designs.

Method: Fifteen high-frequency Italian words (matched for grammatical class and length to the English WRRT) were used to generate 15 different 10-line meaningless passages, according to the design principles of the English WRRT. Thirty-two healthy Italian-speaking higher education students read the passages aloud according to a fixed randomisation schedule.

Report on an Italian survey of 72 stuck hemodialysis catheters.

Background: Reports of stuck hemodialysis catheters have been on the rise in recent years. Aim of this work is to report how this complication has been managed and the relative outcomes in a multicente Italian survey.

Methods: Since 2012, the Italian Society of Nephrology (SIN) Project Group of Vascular Access has collected data among nephrologists on this complication.

Effectiveness of noninvasive brain stimulation in the treatment of anxiety disorders: a meta-analysis of sham or behaviour-controlled studies.

Background: The possibility of using noninvasive brain stimulation to treat mental disorders has received considerable attention recently. Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) and transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) are considered to be effective treatments for depressive symptoms. However, no treatment recommendation is currently available for anxiety disorders, suggesting that evidence is still limited.

Functional signature of conversion of patients with mild cognitive impairment.

The entorhinal-hippocampal circuit is a strategic hub for cognition and the first site affected by Alzheimer's disease (AD). We investigated magnetic resonance imaging patterns of brain atrophy and functional connectivity in an Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative data set that included healthy controls, mild cognitive impairment (MCI), and patients with AD. Individuals with MCI were clinically evaluated 24 months after the first magnetic resonance imaging scan, and the cohort subdivided into sets of individuals who either did or did not convert to AD.

The pharmacological perturbation of brain zinc impairs BDNF-related signaling and the cognitive performances of young mice.

Zinc (Zn) is a pleiotropic modulator of the neuronal and brain activity. The disruption of intraneuronal Zn levels triggers neurotoxic processes and affects neuronal functioning. In this study, we investigated how the pharmacological modulation of brain Zn affects synaptic plasticity and cognition in wild-type mice.

Influence of and on Behavioral and Cognitive Features of Female Patients Affected by Mild Cognitive Impairment or Alzheimer's Disease.

The risk for Alzheimer's disease (AD) is associated with the presence of the 𝜀4 allele of Apolipoprotein E () gene and, recently, with a novel genetic variant of the gene. This study aimed at evaluating interactions between -𝜀4 and /G variants in the modulation of behavioral and cognitive features of two cohorts of patients suffering from mild cognitive impairment (MCI) or AD. We enrolled a total of 173 female MCI or AD patients (83 MCI; 90 AD).

High-flow arteriovenous fistula and heart failure: could the indexation of blood flow rate and echocardiography have a role in the identification of patients at higher risk?

Background: Although only high-flow arteriovenous fistulas (AVFs) are postulated to cause high-output cardiac failure (HOCF), there are currently no universally accepted criteria defining a high-flow fistula.

Methods: To verify if vascular access blood flow (Qa) ≥ 2000 ml/min provides an accurate definition of high-flow fistula, we selected 29 consecutive patients with Qa ≥ 2000 ml/min at color-duplex ultrasound examination and assessed them for the presence of cardiac failure symptoms; transthoracic echocardiography was also performed.

Results: Nineteen patients (65%) had heart failure symptoms and were classified with HOCF.

Modafinil-Induced Changes in Functional Connectivity in the Cortex and Cerebellum of Healthy Elderly Subjects.

In the past few years, cognitive enhancing drugs (CEDs) have gained growing interest and the focus of investigations aimed at exploring their use to potentiate the cognitive performances of healthy individuals. Most of this exploratory CED-related research has been performed on young adults. However, CEDs may also help to maintain optimal brain functioning or compensate for subtle and or subclinical deficits associated with brain aging or early-stage dementia.

Combined anaerobic-ozonation process for treatment of textile wastewater: removal of acute toxicity and mutagenicity.

A novel set up composed of an anaerobic biofilm reactor followed by ozonation was used for treatment of artificial and real textile effluents containing azo dyes. The biological treatment efficiently removed chemical oxygen demand and color. Ozonation further reduced the organic content of the effluents and was very important for the degradation of aromatic compounds, as shown by the reduction of UV absorbance.

Impact of seeding on the start-up of one-stage deammonification MBBRs.

Treating nitrogen-rich reject water from anaerobically digested sludge with deammonification has become a very beneficial side stream process. One common technique is the one-stage moving bed bioreactors (MBBRs), which in comparison with the other deammonification techniques can be started up without seeding anammox bacteria. This study investigated the impact of biofilm seeding on the start-up of one-stage deammonification MBBRs.

[The Montecorvino Rovella Project: prevalence of coronary disease risk factors in an area of Campania].

Background: The "Montecorvino-Rovella Project" is a clinical epidemiological study, whose aim is to ascertain the distribution of the coronary risk factors and to treat the high risk people in a southern Italian community (21,328 inhabitants) with a reference area.

Methods: The project consists of three phases: 1) identification and classification of high risk subjects among people aged 25-74 years at Montecorvino Rovella and Bellizzi (intervention area) and in a significant sample at Battipaglia (reference area); 2) treatment of high risk people at Montecorvino Rovella and Bellizzi; 3) periodic rescreening (after 5 and 10 years) of the enrolled cohorts and monitoring of morbidity and fatal cardiovascular events. In the first phase (1988-1990) 569 females and 522 males were examined.

[Evaluation of the function of heart valve prostheses by Doppler echocardiography. Primary findings].

The authors have executed an investigation on the functional evaluation of the valvular prosthesis, availing themselves of the use of the Echocardiography complete of Doppler effect and executing echocardiography tracings not according to the standard position, but putting the sound in correspondence with the cardiac apex. This method has been considered valid to obtain olways images of the movable element for all the types of the prosthesis and for amy situation of theirs. Furthermore the classic position of the sound can't be respected either for the eventual cardiomegaly, either for the manipulations that the heart undergoes inevitable during the operation, either for the pleurapericardic adhesions, alla factors that induce a change of the anatomic focuses.

[The index of left ventricle dilatation estimated with echocardiography in infarct patients].

The Authors have introduced, for functional valuation of the left ventricle in infarcted patients, an echocardiographic new parameter: the index of dilatation (ID). This index constantly show oneself increased in all infarcted patients that clinically show marks of the cardiac decompensation, also when the Vcf and Fe show modest alterations. According to the Authors, the ID have in report with the PTDVS and constitute and important evidence of the left ventricular working controllable in the time.

[Echocardiographic study with the Doppler effect, of floating of the interventricular septum as a determining factor in the genesis of innocent murmurs].

The present study offers the possibility of individuating the genesis of innocent murmurs. 30 patients between 5 and 20 years, showing at the phonocardiogram a train of oscillations in a proto-mesosistolic or mesosistolic phase with characteristics that testify an innocent murmur, have been examined. The routine examinations and cardiac cateterism to exclude congenital or acquired heart diseases have been done to all the patients.

[Cardiac muscle malacia as the factor inhibiting myocardiac electric stimulation, as seen in echocardiographic examination].

In this present research work the Authors think that a preliminary echocardiography study may be useful to evoluate the type of answer of the cardiac muscle to the artificial stimulus; they deem, forthmore, thot, among the ecocardiografic obtainable parameters the principle importance must be attributed to the velocity of contraction of the circumference fibres (Vef) and to the velocity of the motion of the back wall in a sistolic phase the cases like the one mentioned in the text, with marked reduction of the motion and with Vef of 0.25 circ./sec, according to the Authors can't be stimulated through the employment of a stimulating endocavitle catheter, but they require, for a sure stimulation, the application of the epicardic electrodes.