Publications by authors named "Telesca M"

Article Synopsis
  • Heart failure (HF) is a significant global health issue, especially for the aging population; this study investigates the drug sacubitril/valsartan's effects on aging-related HF with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF) in rats.
  • After 12 weeks of treatment, both sacubitril/valsartan and valsartan showed improvements in cardiac hypertrophy, evidenced by reduced heart muscle thickness, but neither treatment effectively reduced myocardial fibrosis or corrected diastolic dysfunction.
  • The study indicates that while the treatments positively impacted heart muscle size and activated cardioprotective signaling pathways, challenges like inflammation and oxidative stress remained unaddressed, leaving diastolic dysfunction and fibrosis in aging hearts.
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  • Heart failure and cognitive impairment are significant public health issues, especially as the global population ages, with strong links to age and multiple health issues.
  • Type 2 diabetes increases risks for both heart and brain health, promoting conditions like heart failure and cognitive decline due to its metabolic complications.
  • New anti-diabetic medications, such as GLP-1R agonists and SGLT2 inhibitors, show promise in reducing the risk of cardiovascular and neurological issues beyond just controlling blood sugar, but further research is needed to fully understand their mechanisms.
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  • - The study investigates whether illegal toxic waste discharge can cause a new reproductive condition called morpho-epigenetic pathozoospermia in young men who typically have normal sperm quality.
  • - Findings reveal that exposure to environmental contaminants can lead to serious sperm defects and an increase in low-quality circular RNA in the seminal plasma of men living in heavily polluted areas.
  • - The research involved semen samples from 160 healthy men, split between those from a contaminated region in Italy ('Land of Fires') and a control group, highlighting significant differences in sperm quality attributed to environmental pollution.
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  • Doxorubicin (DOX), a cancer treatment, causes cardiotoxicity, with early signs showing as diastolic dysfunction and fibrosis.
  • Researchers found that cardiac fibroblasts (CFs) become activated soon after DOX treatment, leading to increased metabolic activity and a shift towards glycolytic energy production.
  • The changes in CFs are linked to myofibroblast differentiation and pro-fibrotic signaling, suggesting that targeting these early CF responses could help mitigate the heart damage caused by anthracycline drugs like DOX.
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  • Nuclear F-actin in sperm cells is vital for supporting the acroplaxome and ensuring the correct positioning of the sperm membrane protein IZUMO1, crucial for sperm-oocyte fusion.
  • The study compares high-quality (A-SPZ) and low-quality (B-SPZ) human spermatozoa, revealing that excessive F-actin in B-SPZ altered the localization of IZUMO1.
  • F-actin depolymerization, induced by a treatment called cytochalasin D, improved both IZUMO1 repositioning and acrosome reaction, while promoting better sperm nuclear size and histone acetylation, suggesting F-actin's significant role in sperm quality control.
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  • Cardiorenal syndrome involves heart and kidney issues that often arise from shared risk factors like hypertension and diabetes.
  • A study on dapagliflozin, a sodium-glucose cotransporter 2 inhibitor, showed it can improve kidney function and reduce markers of renal damage in a non-diabetic model of cardiorenal disease.
  • The drug worked by decreasing inflammation, oxidative stress, and modifying the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system, suggesting it offers protective benefits for renal health.
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Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most frequent arrhythmia and is associated with substantial morbidity and mortality. Pathophysiological aspects consist in the activation of pro-fibrotic signaling and Ca handling abnormalities at atrial level. Structural and electrical remodeling creates a substrate for AF by triggering conduction abnormalities and cardiac arrhythmias.

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  • * The study investigated Ranolazine, a metabolic modulator, in aged mice to see if it could improve muscle function and strength.
  • * Results showed that Ranolazine boosted muscle strength and promoted positive changes in muscle structure and gene expression, along with enhancing antioxidant systems, suggesting it may help address muscle deterioration in the elderly.
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  • Type 2 diabetes and heart failure share common risk factors, such as obesity and inflammation, leading to similar underlying issues like endothelial dysfunction and oxidative stress.
  • Sodium-glucose cotransporter 2 (SGLT2) inhibitors provide cardiovascular benefits not just through their effects on diabetes but also via unique cardiac mechanisms impacting ion balance, cell death, and inflammation.
  • Current research emphasizes how reducing intracellular sodium levels enhances calcium handling, improving heart function and has antiarrhythmic effects, highlighting the potential of repurposing these antidiabetic drugs for heart failure treatment.
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  • This study investigates the role of two novel decapeptides, Pep 1 and Pep 2, in reducing tumor progression facilitated by cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs) in a mouse model using fibrosarcoma cells.* ! -
  • Pep 2 specifically targets αv-integrin on cancer and fibroblast cells, leading to decreased size and number of lung metastases, as well as impairing the invasive abilities of CAFs and telomerase immortalized fibroblasts (TIFs).* ! -
  • The findings suggest that these decapeptides could be promising candidates for developing therapies that simultaneously target cancer cells and alter the tumor-promoting characteristics of CAFs.* !
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  • - Fibroblasts in tumors can become Cancer-Associated Fibroblasts (CAFs) that support tumor growth, driven by signals from epithelial cancer cells, particularly when the c-Myc oncogene is activated.
  • - The research shows that the conditioned medium from oncogenic epithelial cells boosts fibroblast activation and mobilization while altering levels of insulin-like growth factor-binding protein-6 (IGFBP-6) and insulin-like growth factors (IGFs), implicating these factors in the transition to CAFs.
  • - Inhibiting the insulin-like growth factor 1 receptor (IGF-1R) activity can disrupt this process, suggesting that targeting the IGF signaling pathway may help in controlling tumor microenvironment
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Background: The goals of neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) are to reduce tumor volume and to offer a prognostic indicator in assessing treatment response. Contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (CE-MRI) is an established method for evaluating response to NAC in patients with breast cancer.

Purpose: To validate the role of unenhanced MRI (ue-MRI) compared to CE-MRI for assessing response to NAC in women with breast cancer.

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Objectives: The aim of this study is to evaluate the ease of use and the advantages of Sorin Pericarbon Freedom (SPF) stentless valve in cases of acute bacterial endocarditis and to check the intermediate-term results after the implant of SPF with respect to resistance to infection, valve deterioration and durability.

Methods: Between June 2003 and February 2015, 26 patients with active aortic valve bacterial endocarditis underwent aortic valve replacement with SPF pericardial stentless aortic prosthesis. The mean age was 57 ± 18 years; 73% of the patients were in preoperative NYHA class III and VI.

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Anatomical hemispherectomy has had excellent results in treating drug-resistant seizures of infantile hemiplegia. This technique of hemispherectomy consists in the removal of a whole hemisphere, with or without the basal ganglia, the end result being a large cavity left at the end of the operation. The technique, however, is considered to be weighted by important complications, in particular intracranial hemorrhages due to vessels tearing secondary to dislodgement of the remaining hemisphere.

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Breast neoplasms are one of the leading causes of morbidity and mortality in women. Even if surgery is the treatment of choice, other forms of less invasive radical treatment are desirable. High-intensity focused ultrasound is already established as a valid non-invasive technique that ensures tumor ablation in various organs.

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Benign uterine disease is a common entity affecting women of all ages. Ultrasound has historically been the predominant imaging method used in the evaluation of benign gynaecological disease, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) being reserved for use in the staging of malignant uterine and cervical disease. MRI is now increasingly used in the diagnosis of benign uterine disease as well as a tool for problem-solving in cases of diagnostic dilemma.

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In recent years, evidence has emerged indicating that insulin resistance and diabetes mellitus type 2 are associated with inflammation of adipose tissue (AT). Interest has been focused on epicardial AT (EAT) because of its possible involvement with atherosclerosis and cardiovascular diseases. The aim of this study was to characterize adipocyte size and inflammatory profile in subcutaneous (SAT) and EAT among subjects with or without diabetes.

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A right atrial in-growth of renal carcinoma occurs in 1% of cases. A traditional approach to removal of the tumor using cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) and deep-hypothermic circulatory arrest (DHCA) has been challenged in favor of techniques that allow tumor removal without CPB and DHCA. To the best of the present authors' knowledge, no report has yet been made of an invasion by the tumor of the tricuspid valve leaflets and subvalvular apparatus.

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Objective: Improved respiratory outcome has been shown after selective pulsatile pulmonary perfusion (sPPP) during cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB). No contemporary study has analysed the impact of sPPP on alveolar and systemic inflammatory response in humans.

Methods: Sixty-four patients undergoing a coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) were randomized to sPPP or standard CPB (32 patients each).

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Purpose: Open chest management with delayed sternal closure (DSC) is a valuable strategy in the management of patients with postcardiotomy hemodynamic instability or severe coagulopathy. The conventional extemporized material available for off-label sternal stenting however may limit its efficacy. We evaluated outcomes of patients with refractory severe postcardiotomy cardiogenic shock (SPCCS) treated with DSC using a novel temporary sternal spreader (NTSS) which allows myocardial recovery by progressive controlled approximation of the sternal edges.

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Purpose: To evaluate breast magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) for cancer staging and surgical planning in patients with known breast cancer, and to evaluate recurrence rates at long-term follow-up.

Methods And Materials: Institutional review board approval and patient consent were obtained. Preoperative MRI with 0.

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Objective: Acute lung injury still accounts for postoperative mortality after cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB). The safety and the efficacy of pulsatile pulmonary perfusion (PPP) during CPB were analyzed. Preliminary results of the first PPP trial in human beings are reported.

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Spontaneous ruptures of the ascending aorta are extremely rare and require emergent surgical intervention. We report a case of a delayed diagnosis of a spontaneous, localized periostial rupture of a nondilated right sinus of Valsalva, which mimicked an intramural hematoma of the ascending aorta. The diagnosis and surgical management of this unusual pathology is the subject of this case report.

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Purpose: This study prospectively assessed second-look ultrasound (US) for the evaluation of incidental enhancing lesions identified on preoperative breast magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).

Materials And Methods: Between 2004 and 2007, 182 patients with malignant breast lesions detected on US and/or X-ray mammography and confirmed by cytology/histology underwent preoperative breast contrast-enhanced (CE)-MRI. Patients with incidental lesions on breast MRI underwent second-look high-resolution US directed at the site of the incidental finding.

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