Long-term follow-up after drug eluting stent implantation in left main trifurcations.

Aims: Trifurcation lesions, which are mostly observed in distal left main (LM), represent a technical challenge for interventional cardiologists. We sought to determine the feasibility and long-term clinical outcome of drug eluting stent (DES) implantation in patients with LM coronary trifurcation lesions.

Methods And Results: All patients with clinically significant de novo LM trifurcation lesions, who refused coronary artery bypass surgery and were considered eligible for percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI), were consecutively enrolled in this study from November 2005 to February 2007.

Usefulness of SYNTAX score to select patients with left main coronary artery disease to be treated with coronary artery bypass graft.

Objectives: The purpose of our study was to investigate the utility of the SYNTAX (Synergy Between Percutaneous Coronary Intervention With TAXUS and Cardiac Surgery) score in aiding patient selection for percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) or coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) in a large contemporary registry of patients undergoing revascularization of left main coronary artery.

Background: The SYNTAX score has been developed as a combination of several validated angiographic classifications aiming to grade the coronary lesions with respect to their functional impact, location, and complexity.

Methods: Between March 2002 and December 2008, 819 patients with left main coronary artery disease underwent revascularization in 2 Italian centers.

Conformal radiotherapy of clinically localized prostate cancer: analysis of rectal and urinary toxicity and correlation with dose-volume parameters.

Aims And Background: Rectal and urinary toxicities are the principal limiting factors in delivering a high target dose to patients affected by prostate cancer. The verification of such toxicity is an important step before starting a dose-escalation program. The present observational study reports on the acute and late rectal and urinary toxicity in relation with dose-volume parameters in 104 patients with localized prostate cancer treated with 3-dimensional conformal radiation therapy.

Optical coherence tomographic results at six-month follow-up evaluation of the CATANIA coronary stent system with nanothin Polyzene-F surface modification (from the Assessment of The LAtest Non-Thrombogenic Angioplasty Stent [ATLANTA] trial).

Drug-eluting stents were devised as an answer to restenosis, but research has shown that the eluting drug can interfere with the blood vessel's healing process, thus increasing the risk of stent thrombosis. A stent coated with the new proprietary polymer Polyzene-F, is a novel technical solution that promises to decrease in-stent restenosis and tackle the risk of thrombosis. Fifty-five patients were enrolled in the first clinical human study (ATLANTA registry), addressing the short-term follow-up results of the CATANIA stent with Polyzene-F.

First-in-man 1-year clinical outcomes of the Catania Coronary Stent System with Nanothin Polyzene-F in de novo native coronary artery lesions: the ATLANTA (Assessment of The LAtest Non-Thrombogenic Angioplasty stent) trial.

Objectives: This study sought to assess safety and efficacy of implantation of the Catania Coronary Stent System with Nanothin Polyzene-F (CeloNova BioSciences, Newnan, Georgia) in human coronary arteries with clinical data and comprehensive intracoronary imaging.

Background: Novel approaches to modify stents (e.g.

Feasibility study on the utilization of boron neutron capture therapy (BNCT) in a rat model of diffuse lung metastases.

In order for boron neutron capture therapy (BNCT) to be eligible for application in lung tumour disease, three fundamental criteria must be fulfilled: there must be selective uptake of boron in the tumour cells with respect to surrounding healthy tissue, biological effectiveness of the radiation therapy and minimal damage or collateral effects of the irradiation on the surrounding tissues. In this study, we evaluated the biological effectiveness of BNCT by in vitro irradiation of rat colon-carcinoma cells previously incubated in boron-enriched medium. One part of these cells was re-cultured in vitro while the other was inoculated via the inferior vena cava to induce pulmonary metastases in a rat model.

Kinetic and structural studies of the role of the active site residue Asp235 of human pyridoxal kinase.

Pyridoxal kinase catalyzes the phosphorylation of pyridoxal (PL) to pyridoxal 5'-phosphate (PLP). A D235A variant shows 7-fold and 15-fold decreases in substrate affinity and activity, respectively. A D235N variant shows approximately 2-fold decrease in both PL affinity and activity.

Treatment of multilesion coronary artery disease with simultaneous drug-eluting and bare-metal stent implantation: clinical follow up and angiographic mid-term results.

Objectives: We sought to evaluate clinical and angiographic outcomes of percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) in patients receiving both bare-metal stents (BMS) and drug-eluting stents (DES).

Background: Few data are available about the safety and efficacy of the practice namely called "hybrid PCI".

Methods: One hundred and eighty-six patients, 502 de novo lesions, received during PCI both BMS (n = 266) and DES (316), with a mean of 3.

Are drug-eluting stents superior to bare-metal stents in patients with unprotected non-bifurcational left main disease? Insights from a multicentre registry.

Aims: To compare long-term clinical outcome following drug-eluting stents (DES) or bare-metal stents (BMS) implantation on lesions located at the ostium or the shaft of the left main in a large real-world population. The advent of DES decreased the risk of unprotected left main coronary artery (ULMCA) restenosis when compared with BMS, but it is unclear if this advantage continues when non-bifurcational lesions are considered.

Methods And Results: The GISE-SICI registry is a retrospective, observational multicentre registry promoted by the Italian Society of Invasive Cardiology in which 19 high-volume participating centres enrolled 1453 consecutive patients who underwent percutaneous coronary intervention on ULMCA between January 2002 and December 2006.

Long-term clinical benefit of drug-eluting stents over bare-metal stents in diabetic patients with de novo left main coronary artery disease: results from a real-world multicenter registry.

Background: Few data are available on diabetic patients undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) in the context of unprotected left main coronary artery (ULMCA) disease. The main goal of this study was to present the long-term relative benefits of using drug-eluting stent (DES) instead of bare-metal stent (BMS) for diabetic patients submitted to percutaneous ULMCA treatment in a large real world multicenter registry.

Methods: The GISE-SICI registry is a retrospective, observational multicenter registry promoted by the Italian Society of Invasive Cardiology in which 19 high-volume participating centers enrolled 1,453 consecutive patients who underwent PCI on ULMCA between January 2002 and December 2006.

Long-term clinical outcomes after drug-eluting stent implantation in unprotected left main coronary artery disease.

Objective: To investigate long-term outcomes of unprotected left main coronary artery (ULMCA) disease treatment using drug-eluting stents (DES).

Background: In several studies, DES implantation in ULMCA appeared safe and effective at mid-term; however, to date, there is limited long-term data.

Methods: All consecutive patients undergoing sirolimus- or paclitaxel-eluting stent implantation in ULMCA disease at a single institution were evaluated.

Surgical repair of the distal biceps brachii tendon: clinical and isokinetic long-term follow-up.

Anatomical reinsertion of the avulsed distal biceps tendon is the recommended treatment, but the results are hampered by complications. The purpose of this study is to show the results of patients surgically treated with a non-anatomical reinsertion of this tendon. From 1972 to 2006, 26 non-professional athletic patients were surgically treated by suture of the tendon on the brachialis muscle tendon.

Long term results of unprotected left main percutaneous coronary intervention with DES versus BMS.

Aim: Stenosis in the unprotected left main coronary artery (ULMCA) is considered a standard indication for surgical revascularization. Some studies have demonstrated that stenting of the ULMCA is safe and feasible in selected patients. Drug eluting stents (DES) have been shown to be superior to bare metal stents (BMS) in reducing restenosis and major adverse cardiac events (MACE) both in-hospital and at follow-up after treatment of ULMCA disease.

Real world safety and efficacy of the Janus Tacrolimus-Eluting stent: long-term clinical outcome and angiographic findings from the Tacrolimus-Eluting STent (TEST) registry.

Objectives: We sought to evaluate the safety and performance of the Janus Tacrolimus-Eluting stent (TES) in an unselected population of patients, without application of restrictive clinical or angiographic criteria.

Background: Continued attention to the safety, efficacy, and deliverability of first-generation drug eluting stents has led to the development of new antiproliferative agents with alternative stent platforms and different drug carrier vehicles.

Methods: The TEST (Tacrolimus Eluting STent) registry is a prospective, nonrandomized single-center registry in which 140 consecutive patients who underwent single- or multi-vessel percutaneous coronary intervention between February 2005 and August 2005 were enrolled.

Myc down-regulation affects cyclin D1/cdk4 activity and induces apoptosis via Smac/Diablo pathway in an astrocytoma cell line.

Objectives: We investigated the antiproliferative effect of Myc down-regulation via cell proliferation inhibition, cell cycle perturbation and apoptosis in two human astrocytoma models (T98G and ADF) steadily expressing an inducible c-myc Anti-sense RNA.

Materials And Methods: Cell growth experiments were performed using the trypan blue dye exclusion test and cell cycle analysis was evaluated by flow cytometry. Cell cycle molecules were detected by Western blot analysis, co-immunoprecipitation and reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction assays.

Comparison of drug-eluting stents and bare-metal stents for the treatment of unprotected left main coronary artery disease in acute coronary syndromes.

The aim of this study was to compare long term clinical outcome after left main stenting in a large real world population of patients treated with drug-eluting stents (DES) or bare-metal stents (BMS) in the setting of acute coronary syndromes. The advent of DES decreased the risk of unprotected left main coronary artery restenosis as compared with BMS, but safety concerns still exist, especially when high-risk patients presenting with acute coronary syndromes are considered. The Gruppo Italiano Studi Emodinamici-Societa' Italiana di Cardiologia Invasiva (GISE-SICI) registry is a retrospective, observational multicenter registry promoted by the Italian Society of Invasive Cardiology in which 19 high-volume participating centers enrolled 1,453 consecutive patients who underwent percutaneous coronary intervention on unprotected left main coronary artery between January 2002 and December 2006.

Activity profile of elite goalkeepers during football match-play.

Aim: The purpose of this study was to analyse the activities of a goalkeeper during a match and to identify the distances covered at different velocities between the first and second halves.

Methods: Sixty-two goalkeepers belonging to 28 teams in the English Premier League were monitored over 109 matches using the Prozone(R) system. All values are averages and standard deviations.

Use of vitrified MSWI bottom ashes for concrete production.

Bottom ashes from a north Italian municipal solid waste incinerator (MSWI) were vitrified at 1450 degrees C without adding any vitrifying agent, then ground and sieved to different granulometry (ranging from 50 microm to 20mm), and used as filler, sand, or aggregate for concrete. Samples were characterized via slump tests (UNI 9418), alkali-silica reactivity (UNI 8520/22 and ASTM C 298), and compression strength tests (UNI 6132, 6132/72, 6686/72), and compared to reference samples obtained without vitrified bottom ashes (VBA). Our results show that vitrified bottom ashes are unsuitable as a sand substitute; however, concrete containing up to 20 wt.

Prevention of malignant seeding at drain sites after invasive procedures (surgery and/or thoracoscopy) by hypofractionated radiotherapy in patients with pleural mesothelioma.

Introduction: Literature data show that mesothelioma cells can implant along the surgical pathway of invasive procedures such as thoracotomy and thoracoscopy. We investigated the use of hypofractionated radiotherapy for preventing such malignant seeding.

Material And Methods: Thirty-two consecutive patients diagnosed with pleural mesothelioma were included in the present retrospective study.

Proteases and chronic leg ulcers.

Aim: The aim of this study was to compare the effect of cadexomer on reducing wound surface area of leg ulcers compared to that obtained in a group patients whose ulcers were treated by compression therapy.

Methods: For each ulcer group, wound surface area was calculated at day 0 and after 28 days of treatment: this allowed to calculate the average wound surface area reduction, the percent reduction in wound size, as well as the weekly wound size reduction index.

Results: In the cadexomer-treated ulcers the total wound area reduction was 9.

Treatment of anastomotic stenoses of peripheral bypass grafts with cutting balloon angioplasty.

Purpose: The aim of this study was to assess the efficacy of cutting-balloon angioplasty (CBA) in the treatment of anastomotic stenoses of peripheral arterial bypass grafts.

Materials And Methods: Seventeen patients (12 men and five women; age range 54-79 years, mean age 66.5) with stenosis or occlusion at the proximal or distal anastomoses of peripheral bypass grafts were treated with CBA.

Epidemiology, visual outcome, and hospitalization costs of open globe injury in northern Sardinia, Italy.

Background: To investigate the epidemiology, visual outcome, and hospitalization costs of open globe injury in Northern Sardinia, Italy.

Methods: A population-based study involving all residents of Northern Sardinia. Hospital records were analyzed to obtain information on open globe injury.

Crystal Structure of human pyridoxal kinase: structural basis of M(+) and M(2+) activation.

Pyridoxal kinase catalyzes the transfer of a phosphate group from ATP to the 5' alcohol of pyridoxine, pyridoxamine, and pyridoxal. In this work, kinetic studies were conducted to examine monovalent cation dependence of human pyridoxal kinase kinetic parameters. The results show that hPLK affinity for ATP and PL is increased manyfold in the presence of K(+) when compared to Na(+); however, the maximal activity of the Na(+) form of the enzyme is more than double the activity in the presence of K(+).

Pyridoxal 5'-phosphate enzymes as targets for therapeutic agents.

The vitamin B(6)-derived pyridoxal 5'-phosphate (PLP) is the cofactor of enzymes catalyzing a large variety of chemical reactions mainly involved in amino acid metabolism. These enzymes have been divided in five families and fold types on the basis of evolutionary relationships and protein structural organization. Almost 1.

Ocular Munchausen syndrome resulting in bilateral blindness.

Purpose: Münchausen syndrome is a factitious disorder in which patients knowingly harm themselves for subconscious psychological reasons in order to be hospitalized. Recognition of this psychopathology is important, to prevent potentially severe eye damage. Ocular Münchausen syndrome is uncommon.