Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Epidemiology of Antibiotic Resistance in an Intensive Care Unit (ICU): The Experience of a North-West Italian Center.

The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic caused an increase in intensive care unit (ICU) hospitalizations with a rise in morbidity and mortality; nevertheless, there is still little evidence on the impact of the pandemic on antibiotic resistance in ICUs. This is a retrospective, monocentric epidemiological study. The aim of the study was to describe and analyze the impact of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic on ICU bacterial resistance patterns.

Adherence to Mediterranean Diet of Breastfeeding Mothers and Fatty Acids Composition of Their Human Milk: Results From the Italian MEDIDIET Study.

Background And Aims: The content of fatty acids (FA) in human milk may be influenced by maternal nutrition. We evaluated the role of a Mediterranean diet in influencing the content of FA in human milk among 282 breastfeeding mothers participating in the MEDIDIET study.

Materials And Methods: Mediterranean Diet Score (MDS), a composite index, was used to evaluate adherence to the Mediterranean diet.

Dietary Intake of Breastfeeding Mothers in Developed Countries: A Systematic Review and Results of the MEDIDIET Study.

Background: Lactation is a demanding period for women, and a good nutrition is crucial for optimal health of mothers and infants.

Objectives: To provide new data and summarize the overall evidence on maternal nutrient intakes during lactation in developed countries, we present a systematic review (SR) of the literature and concurrently original results of the Italian MEDIDIET study. We compared nutrient intakes with dietary reference values (DRVs) proposed by the European Food Safety Authority.

Dietary Patterns of Breastfeeding Mothers and Human Milk Composition: Data from the Italian MEDIDIET Study.

(1) Background: Several studies have reported associations between maternal diet in terms of single foods or nutrients and human milk compounds, while the overall role of maternal diet and related dietary patterns has rarely been investigated. (2) Methods: Between 2012 and 2014, we enrolled 300 healthy Italian mothers, who exclusively breastfed their infant. During a hospital visit at 6 weeks postpartum, a sample of freshly expressed foremilk was collected and information on maternal dietary habits in the postpartum period was obtained through an interviewer-administered food frequency questionnaire.

Botulinum Toxin Type A and Physiotherapy in Spasticity of the Lower Limbs Due to Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis.

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a progressive neurodegenerative disease (unknown pathogenesis) of the central nervous system that causes death within 1-5 years. Clinically, flabby paralysis, areflexia, muscular atrophy, and muscle fasciculations, signs of II motor neuron damage, appear. Sometimes, clinical manifestations of damage of the I motor neuron come out in lower limbs; spastic paralysis, iperflexia, and clonus emerge, and they impair deambulation and management of activities of daily living, such as personal hygiene or dressing.

From Morocco to Italy: How Women's Bodies Reflect their Change of Residence.

The body structure and nutritional status of Moroccan women who have immigrated to Italy are examined here in relation to changes in their alimentary behaviors and life-styles, and compared with those of women living in Morocco, who still retain a traditional rural life-style. It is known that the choice to migrate to a foreign country may not only lead to conflicting situations, when the people involved encounter socio-cultural contexts which are very different from those of their original countries, but such choices may also involve severe consequences for health and nutritional status, following changes in alimentary behaviors and life-styles. Among groups recently migrated to Italy, the Moroccan-community is an appropriate reference to highlight these effects.

The genetic history of Ice Age Europe.

Modern humans arrived in Europe ~45,000 years ago, but little is known about their genetic composition before the start of farming ~8,500 years ago. Here we analyse genome-wide data from 51 Eurasians from ~45,000-7,000 years ago. Over this time, the proportion of Neanderthal DNA decreased from 3-6% to around 2%, consistent with natural selection against Neanderthal variants in modern humans.

Mountain pygmies of Western New Guinea: a morphological and molecular approach.

The presence of "pygmy" or pygmoid groups among New Guinea populations has been the object of scientific interest since the end of the nineteenth century. Morphological and molecular data are used here to study western New Guinea population variability, focusing in particular on two pygmoid groups living in the eastern fringe highlands of Papua: the Una and the Ketengban. Various kinds of anthropometric data are examined, as well as height, weight, and body mass index, to carry out comparisons with nearby ethnic groups living in the highland and lowland regions.

Metric characterization of the human coxal bone on a recent Italian sample and multivariate discriminant analysis to determine sex.

The ability of human pelvic bones to sexually differentiate has been of great interest in forensic anthropology for quite some time as it allows for the determination of skeletal sex by combining metric and morphological data. However, the criteria for determining the sex of a skeleton must be calibrated according to the variability of the population to which it belongs. The aim of this work is the metric characterization of the human coxal bone on a recent sample (of known sex) from the region of Apulia, in southern Italy, in order to establish its efficacy in sex determination by way of multivariate discriminant analysis.

Assessment of the tolerance to lupine-enriched pasta in peanut-allergic children.

Background: Reports of allergy to lupine derivatives (as de novo sensitization or cross-reactivity in subjects allergic to peanut) are increasing as their use in food products increases.

Objectives: The aim of this study was to assess: (1) lupine tolerance in a group of children allergic to peanut, using lupine enriched-pasta instead of raw flour as has been done in previous clinical studies; (2) whether technological treatments of lupine modify its cross-reactivity or co-sensitization with peanut; (3) the role of lupine seed proteins in sensitization, and (4) to identify the eliciting doses (EDs) by using double-blind, placebo-controlled food challenges (DBPCFC).

Methods: Twelve patients with a history of clinical allergic reactions to peanut were evaluated by skin prick tests (SPTs), the ImmunoCAP test, immunoblotting, and DBPCFC.

Relevance of 99mTc-HYNIC-tir-octreotide scintigraphy in a patient affected by sarcoidosis with lung and joints involvement and secondary Sjogren's syndrome treated with infliximab: case report.

We report the case of a 59 years old woman affected by lung and joint sarcoidosis, secondary Sjogren's syndrome refractory to common disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs) that regressed with infliximab and methotrexate. 99mTc-HYNIC-TOC scintigraphy was useful in diagnosis, choice of treatment and follow-up.

Shape analysis of the mid-sagittal craniogram in some European middle and upper-Paleolithic adult and subadult crania.

In order to evaluate the lateral shape contour of the Neanderthal cranium, the mid-sagittal profiles (glabella-opisthocranion) in adult and subadult Neanderthal remains were examined and compared with those of other specimens of fossil Homo. Size normalized boundaries were digitally acquired as ordered series of coordinates; the series of the distances from the glabella opisthocranion axis, was decomposed in Fourier polynomials; the extracted amplitudes and phase angles were used as variables to carry out multivariate discriminant analysis (PCA). The first and the second components accounted for 70% of the total variance.

Three-dimensional topographic survey of the human remains in Lamalunga cave (Altamura, Bari, southern Italy).

The aim of the Research Unit, in the framework of the "Programma Nazionale di Ricerca - MURST (Ministero dell'Universita e della Ricerca Scientifica e Tecnologica) 1998-2000", was to study human fossil remains and sites of paleoanthropological interest; the observations regard sites and remains found principally in Apulia, amongst which, the Lamalunga Cave - Altamura. The results of the survey phases of the cave and the three-dimensional topographic distribution of the human remains are reported. Three-dimensional spatial coordinates describing the collocation of the skeleton were sampled.

End-tidal CO2 pressure determinants during hemorrhagic shock.

Objectives: To examine the relationship between end-tidal CO2 (PETCO2) and its physiological determinants, pulmonary blood flow (cardiac output, CO) and CO2 production (VCO2), in a model of hemorrhagic shock during fixed minute ventilation.

Design And Setting: Prospective, observational study in a research laboratory at a university center.

Subjects And Interventions: Six anesthetized, intubated, and mechanically ventilated mongrel dogs.

Nuclear shape and axillary metastases in breast cancer. Analytic morphometry of aspiration smears.

The aim of this work was to seek quantitative parameters other than dimensions to describe nuclear shape and, by this means, to determine the sum of contour irregularities and large asymmetries and seek a connection with the biologic behavior of the tumor. Nuclei of the cells obtained from 57 aspiration smears of breast cancers were studied. Dimensional parameters (area, perimeter, maximum diameter and roundness factor) and analytic parameters were computed by the Shape Analytical Morphometry software system to evaluate both contour irregularities and asymmetry of nuclear shape.

A new approach to the histologic study of ovarian tumors by analytical morphometry.

In recent years, borderline epithelial tumors of the ovary have been investigated by morphometric techniques to allow for a differential diagnosis from benign and malignant neoplasms. In order to enhance this discriminant power, we have applied a new analytical procedure to the evaluation of the nuclear shape in epithelial ovarian tumors. Sixty nuclei of benign ovarian serous neoplasms, 60 nuclei of serous borderline tumors and 60 nuclei of serous carcinomas (18 cases in all) were examined using the software system SAM (Shape Analytical Morphometry).

Biological image analysis for microscopical diagnosis: the work-station S.A.M. (Shape Analytical Morphometry).

The S.A.M.

Laryngeal intraepithelial neoplasia (LIN). An analytical morphometric approach.

Laryngeal Intraepithelial Neoplasia (LIN) is graded in 3 levels (LIN Grade I-II-III), corresponding to the classic aspects of mild, moderate and severe dysplasia-in situ carcinoma, on the basis of the number and position of mitoses and of the undifferentiated or atypical cells limited to the basal or extended to the intermediate or the superficial layers of epithelium. In order to reduce the subjective imprecision of these parameters we have applied not only traditional dimensional evaluators but also procedures of analytical morphometry to the nuclear shape. By using the software system S.

Multiparametric discrimination of serous ovarian tumors by analytical morphometry.

In order to enhance the discrimination power in the field of serous ovarian tumors, we applied the software system SAM (Shape Analytical Morphometry) to the analytic studies of biological forms. Besides the usual dimensional evaluations (perimeter, area, maximum diameter and shape index), this procedure permits the description of the nuclear form using analytical parameters: 1) extraction of nucleus fundamental curve; that is a functional curve giving the "smoothing" of the original contour by two parametric equations (separately for x and y values as independent variables); 2) evaluation of nuclei contour irregularities by Fourier analysis; 3) evaluation of shape asymmetry by SAE (Shape Asymmetry Evaluator); that is the ratio between the length of a segment of a parabola interpolating the original curve points, and a straight line joining its extremities for a 180 degrees barycentric rotation according 10 degrees steps. All parameters resulted to be independent and were submitted to multivariate discriminant analysis.

Analytical morphies on mid-sagittal craniograms glabella-opisthocranion of Homo erectus and Homo sapiens neanderthalensis: Fourier parameters and multivariate discriminant analysis.

The analytical description of complicated morphologies offers the possibility to define patterns of parameters characterizing the investigated groups. These patterns must be considered as morphies useful in performing classification and comparison. Fourier parameters are extremely effective in describing and comparing complex irregular forms and since they are statistically independent we can use them in performing multivariate discriminant analysis.

Analytical morphies on mid-sagittal craniograms glabella-opisthocranion of Homo erectus and Homo sapiens neanderthalensis: Fourier parameters and synthesis of mean craniograms.

Among mathematic procedures used in morphological description, Fourier analysis was indicated as extremely effective in obtaining numerical representations of shape. In order to fully exploit its potentiality in morphology the worked data have to be referred exclusively to the shape of the investigated object and the application of suitable procedures of dimensional normalization are necessary, moreover the significance of the parameters obtained from the analysis must be referable univocally to the morphological datum. In these conditions the numerical characterization of shapes and the relations detectable from different parameters obtained from the description assume the significance of real "analytical morphies".

[Quantitative evaluation of the allometric transformation of of biological structures].

Detection and quantification of allometry is a crucial problem in understanding morphological changes, both for systematic and morphogenetic purposes. A section of S.A.

[Vectorial description of the horizontal craniogram].

After the polynomial approximation we used Bezier's algorithm to obtain a vectorial description and to compare the horizontal craniogram morphology of hominid skulls. A minimum number of determinant points chosen on the original curves constitutes the vertices of a closed polygonal. By these points Bezier's interpolation gives new curves very similar to the polynomial curves obtained by the original ones.

[Nuclear morphometry and estrogen receptors in infiltrating ductal carcinoma of the breast].

In this study ten cases of breast infiltrating ductal carcinoma have been considered. In all of them the content of ER has been evaluated by using monoclonal antibodies. Five of them were ER positive and five were ER negative.