A CLEIA Antigen Assay in Diagnosis and Follow-Up of SARS-CoV-2-Positive Subjects.

This study includes 259 consecutive nasopharyngeal swabs which tested positive for a molecular SARS-CoV-2 test and 77 subjects who were followed longitudinally, with nasopharyngeal swabs performed weekly until clinical recovery and a negative result for the molecular test were reached. All swabs were also tested with a Lumipulse SARS-CoV-2 chemiluminescence enzyme immunoassay (CLEIA) antigen assay. The antigen test was positive in 169 (65.

Genetic analysis of genes associated with Mendelian dementia.

Background And Aim: Dementia is a disease associated with cognitive and/or behavioral changes that interfere with the ability to perform daily activities. Alzheimer's disease is the most common type of dementia. The aim of this mini-review is to summarize all the syndromes characterized by dementia and for which the associated gene is known.

Universal Human Papillomavirus Vaccination and its Impact on the Southern Italian Region.

HPV is still the most common sexually transmitted infection, leading to the onset of many disorders while causing an increase in direct and indirect health costs. High Risk (HR) HPV is the primary cause of invasive cervical cancer and contributes significantly to the development of anogenital and oropharyngeal cancers. The introduction of universal HPV vaccination has led to a significant reduction in vaccine-targeted HPV infections, cross-protective genotypes, precancerous lesions and anogenital warts.

Interaction between PPARgamma2 variants and gender on the modulation of body weight.

Conflicting results have been reported regarding the effect of the peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-gamma-2 (PPARgamma2) Pro12Ala polymorphism, (singly or in combination with the silent C1431T polymorphism) on BMI. Gender-based dimorphism has been evidenced for genes that affect BMI, but few and conflicting data are available regarding PPARgamma2. We sought to investigate whether the Pro12Ala interacts with gender in modulating BMI in 566 nondiabetic unrelated white subjects (men:women = 211:355, age 36.

Interaction of DIO2 T92A and PPARgamma2 P12A polymorphisms in the modulation of metabolic syndrome.

Type 2 iodothyronine deiodinase (DIO2) converts thyroid prohormone tetraiodothyronine into the biologically active triiodothyronine hormone, which increases insulin sensitivity at the skeletal muscle level. The DIO2 T92A polymorphism modulates deiodinase activity and has been inconsistently associated with insulin resistance. Also, the P121A polymorphism of the peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor (PPAR) gamma2 gene, which encodes a transcription factor involved in insulin signaling, has been inconsistently associated with insulin resistance.

Akt2 Gene common allelic variants in insulin resistance and the metabolic syndrome.

Background And Aim: Several lines of evidence indicate that glucose homeostasis may be under the control of Akt2 and it can therefore be seen as a candidate gene for human insulin resistance (IR) and related phenotypes. The aim of our study was the identification of Akt2 common allelic variants that might modulate susceptibility to IR and related metabolic abnormalities.

Methods And Results: The Akt2 gene (exons, 5' and 3' regulatory regions) was re-sequenced in samples of 50 blood donors from the Gargano region.

A functional variant of the adipocyte glycerol channel aquaporin 7 gene is associated with obesity and related metabolic abnormalities.

Aquaporin 7 (AQP7), the gateway protein controlling glycerol release, has recently emerged as a modulator of adipocyte metabolism. AQP7 knockout mice develop obesity and hyperglycemia. The contribution of AQP7 to these abnormalities in humans is unknown.

Variants of the interleukin-10 promoter gene are associated with obesity and insulin resistance but not type 2 diabetes in caucasian italian subjects.

Interleukin (IL)-10 is a major anti-inflammatory cytokine that has been associated with obesity and type 2 diabetes. The three polymorphisms -1082G/A, -819C/T, and -592C/A in the IL10 promoter were reported to influence IL10 transcription. We investigated whether these polymorphisms were associated with type 2 diabetes and related traits in a cohort of Italian Caucasians comprising 551 type 2 diabetic and 1,131 control subjects.

The functional Q84R polymorphism of mammalian Tribbles homolog TRB3 is associated with insulin resistance and related cardiovascular risk in Caucasians from Italy.

Insulin resistance plays a major role in dyslipidemia, cardiovascular disease, and type 2 diabetes. TRB3, a mammalian tribbles homolog, whose chromosomal region 20p13-p12 has been linked to human type 2 diabetes, impairs insulin signaling through the inhibition of Akt phosphorylation and is overexpressed in murine models of insulin resistance. We here report that the prevalent TRB3 missense Q84R polymorphism is significantly (P < 0.

The allelic variant of LAR gene promoter -127 bp T-->A is associated with reduced risk of obesity and other features related to insulin resistance.

Insulin resistance, which is pathogenic for type 2 diabetes (T2D), is under the control of largely unknown genetic determinants. LAR, a protein-tyrosine phosphatase which inhibits insulin signalling, is overexpressed in animal and human models of insulin resistance. We studied the entire sequence of the LAR gene by SSCP analysis and automatic DNA sequencing, with the aim of verifying whether its sequence variants might be associated with insulin resistance.

Genetics of specific phenotypes of congenital hypothyroidism: a population-based approach.

Congenital hypothyroidism (CH) may cause severe and irreversible neurologic and developmental abnormalities when not recognized early. Many millions of newborns have now been screened and many thousands of patients with CH have been identified. Approximately 80%-85% have defects of thyroid gland development, while 15%-20% have congenital errors of thyroid hormone biosynthesis.

The role of PC-1 and ACE genes in diabetic nephropathy in type 1 diabetic patients: evidence for a polygenic control of kidney disease progression.

Background: The DD genotype of the ACE gene predisposes to faster diabetic nephropathy (DN) progression but its role in DN development is more controversial. We reported previously, in type 1 diabetic patients, an association between faster DN progression and the PC-1 gene Q121 variant, which associates with insulin resistance in non-diabetic subjects. We investigated here whether the combination of the ACE DD genotype and the PC-1 Q121 variant predicts the development and/or progression of DN in type 1 diabetic patients.

Subclinical hypothyroidism in early childhood: a frequent outcome of transient neonatal hyperthyrotropinemia.

Newborns with high TSH at birth and with normal free T(4) and normal or slightly elevated TSH at the confirmatory examination are considered false positive for congenital hypothyroidism. We evaluated thyroid function, thyroid antibodies, thyroid volume and morphology, thyroperoxidase and TSH receptor genes, and auxological data in 56 false positive children at 16-44 months of age. In these children thyroid function at confirmatory examination was fully normal in 33 (TSH, 0.

A variation in 3' UTR of hPTP1B increases specific gene expression and associates with insulin resistance.

Protein tyrosine phosphatase 1B (PTP1B) inhibits insulin signaling and, when overexpressed, plays a role in insulin resistance (Ahmad et al. 1997). We identified, in the 3' untranslated region of the PTP1B gene, a 1484insG variation that, in two different populations, is associated with several features of insulin resistance: among male individuals, higher values of the insulin resistance HOMA(IR) index (P=.