Role of the association of high-risk HPV identified by real-time PCR in cervical preneoplastic lesions.

Objective: To evaluate the effects of infection in multiple types of high-risk human papilloma virus (HPV) in cervical preneoplastic lesions in patients undergoing colposcopy following a diagnosis of atypical squamous cells of unknown significance (ASCUS) and low-grade squamous intraepithelial (LSIL) cytology.

Materials And Methods: Between 2009 and 2010, 2,500 patients were recruited with a mean age of 35 +/- 5 years. Screening for cervical cancer was performed and in case of ASCUS and LSIL the patients underwent colposcopy.

Lifestyle educational program strongly increases compliance to nonpharmacologic intervention in hypertensive patients: a 2-year follow-up study.

The authors investigated the efficacy of a lifestyle educational program, organized in small group meetings, in improving the outcome of a nonpharmacologic intervention. One hundred and eighty-eight hypertensive patients with stable blood pressure (BP) levels and drug therapy in the previous 6 months were randomly divided into educational care (EC) and usual care (UC) groups. They were followed at 3-month intervals up to 2 years.

Increased dispersion of ventricular repolarization in Emery Dreifuss muscular dystrophy patients.

Background: Sudden cardiac death (SCD) is common in patients with Emery-Dreifuss muscular dystrophy (EDMD) and is attributed to the development of life-threatening arrhythmias that occur in the presence of normal left ventricular systolic function. Heterogeneity of ventricular repolarization is considered to provide an electrophysiological substrate for malignant arrhythmias. QTc dispersion (QTc-D) and JTc dispersion (JTc-D) are electrocardiographic parameters indicative of heterogeneity of ventricular repolarization.

MORPHOLOGICAL STUDIES OF SOME MARINE MASTOGLOIA (BACILLARIOPHYCEAE) BELONGING TO SECTION SULCATAE, INCLUDING THE DESCRIPTION OF NEW SPECIES.

Epiphytic diatoms on seagrass and seaweed were collected from tropical (e.g., Siladen Island, Celebes Sea, Indonesia and Phú Bài, China Sea, Vietnam), subtropical (e.

Herbal products: benefits, limits, and applications in chronic liver disease.

Complementary and alternative medicine soughts and encompasses a wide range of approaches; its use begun in ancient China at the time of Xia dynasty and in India during the Vedic period, but thanks to its long-lasting curative effect, easy availability, natural way of healing, and poor side-effects it is gaining importance throughout the world in clinical practice. We conducted a review describing the effects and the limits of using herbal products in chronic liver disease, focusing our attention on those most known, such as quercetin or curcumin. We tried to describe their pharmacokinetics, biological properties, and their beneficial effects (as antioxidant role) in metabolic, alcoholic, and viral hepatitis (considering that oxidative stress is the common pathway of chronic liver diseases of different etiology).

Analysis of photoastigmatic keratectomy with the cross-cylinder ablation.

Aim: The aim was to evaluate the safety and efficacy of the "cross-cylinder" technique in the correction of astigmatism.

Setting And Design: A prospective interventional study from a university eye department was conducted.

Material And Methods: The photoastigmatic refractive keratectomy (PARK) using the "cross-cylinder" technique was performed in 102 eyes of 84 patients with at least 0.

Beyond zoster: sensory and immune changes in zoster-affected dermatomes: a review*.

Neuroepidermal tropism of varicella-zoster virus accounts for cutaneous and nerve lesions following herpes zoster. Skin lesions heal in a few weeks and may or may not leave visible scars. Nerve lesions involve peripheral sensory fibres, sometimes causing permanent damage that results in partial denervation of the affected dermatome.

Intraperitoneal oxygen/ozone treatment decreases the formation of experimental postsurgical peritoneal adhesions and the levels/activity of the local ubiquitin-proteasome system.

We have investigated whether an oxygen/ozone (95%O2/5%O3) mixture would have potential against the formation of experimental postsurgical peritoneal adhesions. In two groups of rats, one control intraperitoneally injected with 3 mL/rat of O2 and one intraperitoneally injected with oxygen/ozone mixture (3 mL/rat equivalent to 300 μg/kg ozone), we induced a midline laparotomy and an enterotomy at the level of the ileum to encourage the formation of peritoneal adhesions. Samples were taken from the parietal peritoneal tissue to assess the formation of adhesions 0 and 10 days after the surgical procedure and to assess the levels of ubiquitin and 20S proteasome.

Prolonged left ventricular twist in cardiomyopathies: a potential link between systolic and diastolic dysfunction.

Aims: Left ventricular (LV) twist and untwist play a major role in LV mechanics. We sought to acquire new pathophysiological insights in cardiomyopathies (CM) studying LV twist dynamics by speckle tracking imaging (STI).

Methods And Results: Standard echo-Doppler and STI study were performed in 67 CM patients divided in four age- and sex-matched subgroups: 18 with apical hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (Group A); 20 with asymmetrical hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (Group B); 15 with dilated cardiomyopathy (Group C); 14 with LV non-compaction (Group D).

Silybin and the liver: from basic research to clinical practice.

Herbal products are increasingly used, mainly in chronic liver disease. Extracts of milk thistle, Silymarin and silybin, are the most prescribed natural compounds, with different indications, but with no definitive results in terms of clinical efficacy. This review analyzes the available studies on the effects of the purified product silybin, both as a free and a conjugated molecule, on liver cells or on experimentally induced liver damage, and in patients with liver disease.

Early viral kinetics and response to treatment in a hepatitis C virus genotype 5 infected patient.

Genotype 5 hepatitis C has been poorly studied despite its worldwide spread. We have analyzed the early kinetics of genotype 5 hepatitis C virus RNA during pegylated interferon/ribavirin treatment in a 59-year-old man with active liver necroinflammatory changes and advanced liver fibrosis. The patient had a high viral load but a small serum level of hepatitis C core antigen.

Arterial duct stenting in low-weight newborns with duct-dependent pulmonary circulation.

Objectives: To evaluate feasibility and results of arterial duct (AD) stenting in low-weight newborns with congenital heart disease and duct-dependent pulmonary circulation (CHD-DPC).

Background: AD stenting is nowadays considered a cost-effective alternative to surgical shunt in CHD-DPC. This option might be even more advisable in low-weight neonates (<2.

Videolaparo-assisted subtotal colectomy with cecorectal anastomosis in the treatment of chronic slow transit constipation.

Mechanical cecorectal anastomosis after subtotal colectomy, in the treatment of slow transit constipation, probably represents the most attractive surgical alternative to total colectomy and ileorectal anastomosis. In fact the operation allows better results in terms of postoperative diarrhoea, fecal incontinence and postoperative adherential syndrome. Literature data have demonstrated the feasibility of the laparoscopic approach with tipically advantages of less invasive surgery respect of parietal integrity,less postoperative pain and ileus, fewer postoperative adhesions, a reduced hospitalitation and finally, a better cosmesis.

Do malocclusion and Helkimo Index ≥ 5 correlate with body posture?

Whether there are correlations between the stomatognathic system and body posture remains controversial. Here, we have investigated whether malocclusal traits and having a Helkimo Index ≥ 5 show detectable correlations with body-posture alterations in children and young adults. A total of 1178 11- to 19-year-old subjects were divided into four groups: (i) controls; (ii) malocclusion; (iii) Helkimo Index ≥ 5 and (iv) malocclusion + Helkimo Index ≥ 5.

Corneal morphological changes after myopic excimer laser refractive surgery.

Purpose: To evaluate the changes in central corneal thickness (CCT) and corneal volume (CV) in eyes that have undergone myopic photorefractive keratectomy (PRK).

Methods: CCT and CV obtained with an Oculus Pentacam before 1, 3, and 6 months after PRK were analyzed in 84 eyes with a mean preoperative refraction of -4.93 ± 2.

The cardio-protective properties of Ncx-6550, a nitric oxide donating pravastatin, in the mouse.

Objective: Determine the cardio-protective properties of a nitric oxide-releasing pravastatin (Ncx-6550), in comparison to pravastatin.

Methods: A mouse model of myocardial infarct was used assessing tissue damage both at 2 and 24 hour post-reperfusion, administering compounds both prophylactically and therapeutically.

Results: Ncx-6550 induced a significant dose-dependent (2.

Reliability of the IOLMaster in measuring corneal power changes after hyperopic photorefractive keratectomy.

Purpose: To test the accuracy of the IOLMaster (Carl Zeiss Meditec) in detecting corneal power changes after hyperopic photorefractive keratectomy (PRK).

Methods: Forty-five consecutive eyes that underwent hyperopic PRK with the SCHWIND ESIRIS excimer laser, ranging from +0.75 to +7.

Transcatheter treatment of "complex" aortic coarctation.

A young woman, submitted to aortic coarctation repair in early infancy, was referred with clinical and echocardiographic signs of severe recoarctation. Spiral CT scan confirmed the aortic isthmus obstruction but imaged also a huge aneurysm distal to the coarctation site, from which arose a large aberrant right subclavian artery. In cardiac catheterization, this vessel showed an upper-to-lower flow direction and its closure was deemed mandatory to abolish a major feeding source to the aneurysmal sack.

Cardioembolic stroke: who is the guilty?

A young woman was referred following a transient ischemic attack due to suspect patent foramen ovale. At the diagnostic workup a spontaneous mild right-to-left atrial shunt owing to fenestrated aneurysmal septum was found. However, also a large arteriovenous malformation of the left lung was also imaged.

The practical use of cytology for diagnosis in dermatology.

Exfoliative cytology for diagnostic purposes is rarely used in Dermatology despite the rapid and reliable results which this procedure can offer in many clinical conditions. This simple procedure may prove advantageous in a wide range of skin diseases, including genodermatoses (Hailey-Hailey disease), infections (mainly herpetic infections, molluscum contagiosum, leishmaniasis), immune disorders (early oral pemphigus) and tumours (basal and squamous cell carcinomas, Paget disease, erythroplasia of Queyrat, and others). The specific circumstances where cytological examination provides a very helpful and practical aid to confirmation or exclusion of a clinically suspected diagnosis are briefly reviewed.

Arterial duct stenting: Do we still need surgical shunt in congenital heart malformations with duct-dependent pulmonary circulation?

Background: Despite current trends toward primary repair, surgical systemic-to-pulmonary shunt is still an invaluable palliative option in some patients with congenital heart defects and duct-dependent pulmonary circulation. However, arterial duct stabilization with a high-flexibility coronary stent could be an effective alternative in high-risk surgical candidates or whenever short-term pulmonary blood flow support is anticipated.

Methods And Results: On the basis of ductal origin and morphology, the stenting procedure can be performed from an arterial or venous route.

Endoscopic surveillance for hereditary non-polyposis colorectal cancer (HNPCC) family members in a Southern Italian region.

Background: Surveillance in hereditary non-polyposis colorectal cancer (HNPCC) family members recommends baseline colonoscopy starting at age 20 and then surveillance colonoscopy every 1-2 years.

Aims: To verify adherence to the guidelines for HNPCC family members enrolled in endoscopic surveillance.

Methods: Data regarding 11 HNPCC families was retrieved from our database.