Get up, stand up: Alongside adolescents and young adults with cancer for their right to be forgotten.

Adolescent and young adult cancer survivors may experience various forms of social difficulties years or even decades after completing their cancer treatments. This article will hopefully help the Italian national project dedicated to adolescents and young adults with cancer promoting political and legal solutions to stop discrimination and supporting the right to be forgotten.

Significant link between sCD30 changes and HIV viremia in patients treated with HAART.

Elevated sCD30 levels were generally associated with poor prognosis in chronic HIV infection prior to the era of highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART). Little information is available on sCD30 and HIV-1 viremia. In this study, the association between sCD30 and HIV-1 viremia was investigated in HIV-infected patients who underwent HAART.

Osteopenia and osteoporosis in HIV+ patients, untreated or receiving HAART.

In the last few years there are increasing evidences suggesting that osteopenia and osteoporosis are frequent among HIV positive patients. It is still not clear if the bone demineralization is a direct consequence of viral infection or of the antiretroviral drugs. Studies to date therefore give conflicting results.

Delayed presentation and late testing for HIV: demographic and behavioral risk factors in a multicenter study in Italy.

Ensuring timely access to care for persons with HIV is an important public health goal. To identify factors associated with delayed presentation to medical care after testing HIV-positive or with late HIV testing, we studied 968 patients at their first HIV care visit, enrolled in a multicenter study in Italy from 1997-2000. Patients completed a questionnaire on HIV-testing history, sexual behavior, and drug use behavior.

Risk factors for lipodystrophy in the CISAI cohort.

Purpose: This study set out to describe the frequency of lipodystrophy, and identify its risk factors, in HIV-positive patients treated with HAART containing at least one protease inhibitor (PI). We analyzed the data collected in the CISAI study.

Methods: The CISAI is a multicenter cohort study that has enrolled 1480 patients.

Cryptococcus neoformans infection in a cohort of Italian AIDS patients: natural history, early prognostic parameters, and autopsy findings.

This observational cohort study of 4,160 AIDS patients hospitalised in a single institution in northern Italy between January 1985 and December 1999 was carried out in order to assess the natural history of cryptococcosis, the epidemiological trend of this opportunistic infection, the risk factors predictive of death at 10 weeks, the response to therapy, and autopsy findings. Cryptococcosis was diagnosed in 177 (4.2%) patients and was the AIDS-defining disease in 2.

Antiviral potency of HAART regimens and clinical success are not strictly coupled in real life conditions: evidence from the MASTER-1 study.

Purpose: To compare in a real clinical setting the largely unknown midterm clinical effectiveness of two protease inhibitor (PI)-based highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) regimens with different potency and tolerability profiles in naïve patients.

Method: This study was a multicenter, open-label, randomized trial in naïve patients with less than 400 CD4+ cell count/microL, regardless of viral load. Treatment arms were hard gel capsule saquinavir (HGC-SQV)-based HAART (Arm A), with an expected more favorable tolerability profile, and indinavir (IDV)-based HAART (Arm B), with more potent virologic activity.

Low frequency of severe hepatotoxicity and association with HCV coinfection in HIV-positive patients treated with HAART.

Background: Highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) is strongly effective in reducing morbidity and mortality in HIV-1-positive individuals. Its main drawback is the potential toxicity. Data on the frequency and determinants of severe hepatotoxicity in a clinical setting are still sparse.

Migrants' admissions to hospital: a retrospective study in Como from 1994 to 1998.

Background: International migrants represent only 4.5% of the world's population, but they may become a challenge for host countries. The aim of the study was to assess the impact of this population on health parameters in Como county, on the northern border of Italy.

A randomized trial comparing the introduction of ritonavir or indinavir in 1251 nucleoside-experienced patients with advanced HIV infection.

ISS-IP1, a multicenter, randomized, 48-week open trial, was designed to compare the introduction of ritonavir or indinavir in patients with previous nucleoside experience and CD4+ cell counts below 50/mm3. Concomitant antiretroviral treatment with nucleoside analogs was allowed. Primary efficacy measures were survival and time to a new AIDS-defining event or death, analyzed through the whole period of observation by the intention-to-treat approach.

European experience with itraconazole in systemic mycoses.

Since January 1985 more than 100 patients with deep fungal infections have been treated with itraconazole (200 to 400 mg/day) in Northern Italy. Evaluation of the drug efficacy and tolerance was possible in one patient with sporotrichosis, in 34 with aspergillosis, and in 36 with cryptococcosis (mainly patients positive for human immunodeficiency virus). Response to itraconazole alone was obtained in the case of sporotrichosis and in 24 of 34 patients with different forms of aspergillosis (of the 18 patients with invasive pulmonary aspergillosis, 15 were cured).

Attempted treatment of fulminant viral hepatitis with human fibroblast interferon.

Beta-interferon was administered by intravenous infusion to 16 patients affected with fulminant hepatitis B virus infection in third or fourth-grade coma. Ten patients presented a superinfection or a co-infection due to the delta (delta)-agent. None had detectable interferon (IFN) activity before therapy was begun.

Immune response in a symptomatic case of Tetrapetalonema perstans infection.

The immune response in a 49-year-old Italian nun affected by Tetrapetalomena (Dipetalonema) perstans following an eight-year stay in Cameroon is reported. On admission the patient presented with polyarthralgia, conjunctival pruritus and irritation, oedema of the limbs, generalized itching, hypereosinophilia and low total IgE titre. During diethylcarbamazine treatment and, subsequently, during mebendazole administration, an exacerbation of her symptoms was observed.

Treatment of fulminant viral hepatitis with anti-lymphocyte gamma globulins.

Ten patients affected by fulminant viral hepatitis (F.V.H.

[Use of an immunomodulator (levamisole) in HbsAg positive patients].

The results of some clinical trials performed with levamisole on 12 HBsAg-positive subjects, including 5 patients with aggressive chronic hepatitis, (ACH) 2 patients with persistent chronic hepatitis (PCH) and 5 healthy carriers are reported. Levamisole was administered in 2.5 mg/Kg/day doses for three consecutive days.