BRAF and RAS mutations as prognostic factors in metastatic colorectal cancer patients undergoing liver resection.

Background: Despite major advances in the management of metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC) with liver-only involvement, relapse rates are high and reliable prognostic markers are needed.

Methods: To assess the prognostic impact of BRAF and RAS mutations in a large series of liver-resected patients, medical records of 3024 mCRC patients were reviewed. Eligible cases undergoing potentially curative liver resection were selected.

Improving the reliability of single-subject fMRI by weighting intra-run variability.

At present, functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) is one of the most useful methods of studying cognitive processes in the human brain in vivo, both for basic science and clinical goals. Although neuroscience studies often rely on group analysis, clinical applications must investigate single subjects (patients) only. Particularly for the latter, issues regarding the reliability of fMRI readings remain to be resolved.

Systematic and Meta-Analytic Review: Triggering Agents of Parental Perception of Child's Vulnerability in Instances of Preterm Birth.

Objective: Parental perception of a child vulnerability (PPCV) to illness, not justified by medically noticeable symptoms, is a situation well known to medical and paramedical staff. It is still disputed whether PPCV is triggered by the child's health problems or by parental emotional status. This review is aimed to clarify the etiology of PPCV in instances of preterm birth.

The processing of actions and action-words in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis patients.

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a neurodegenerative disease with prime consequences on the motor function and concomitant cognitive changes, most frequently in the domain of executive functions. Moreover, poorer performance with action-verbs versus object-nouns has been reported in ALS patients, raising the hypothesis that the motor dysfunction deteriorates the semantic representation of actions. Using action-verbs and manipulable-object nouns sharing semantic relationship with the same motor representations, the verb-noun difference was assessed in a group of 21 ALS-patients with severely impaired motor behavior, and compared with a normal sample's performance.

Body weight and food intake in Parkinson's disease. A review of the association to non-motor symptoms.

Research on eating behaviours has extensively highlighted that cognitive systems interact with the metabolic system in driving food intake and in influencing body weight regulation. Parkinson's disease is a good model for studying these complex interactions since alterations in both body weight and cognitive domains have been frequently reported among these patients. Interestingly, even if different non-motor symptoms may characterize the course of the disease, their contribution to weight and food preference has been poorly investigated.

Facial and bodily emotion recognition in multiple sclerosis: the role of alexithymia and other characteristics of the disease.

Multiple sclerosis (MS) may be associated with impaired perception of facial emotions. However, emotion recognition mediated by bodily postures has never been examined in these patients. Moreover, several studies have suggested a relation between emotion recognition impairments and alexithymia.

Canaloplasty in Open-angle Glaucoma: Mid-term Results From a Multicenter Study.

Purpose: To present the mid-term results of a prospective multicenter study on canaloplasty surgery in chronic open-angle glaucoma.

Materials And Methods: A total of 218 eyes from 197 patients with open-angle glaucoma under maximum tolerated medical therapy underwent canaloplasty within a time period of 42 months in 3 different Italian eye centers. All patients underwent a complete ophthalmic examination every 6 months.

A 5-year survey of antimicrobial susceptibility profiles of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) isolated from patients with bloodstream infections in Northeast Italy.

A 5-year survey (2009-2013) of antimicrobial susceptibility of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) isolated from patients with bloodstream infections was carried out in Northeast Italy. No upward creep of glycopeptides MICs was documented among 582 nonduplicate MRSA blood isolates, which were tested in accordance with broth microdilution and interpreted in accordance with EUCAST recommendations. Teicoplanin showed stably a lower MIC50 in comparison with vancomycin (0.

Population pharmacokinetics of teicoplanin in children.

Teicoplanin is frequently administered to treat Gram-positive infections in pediatric patients. However, not enough is known about the pharmacokinetics (PK) of teicoplanin in children to justify the optimal dosing regimen. The aim of this study was to determine the population PK of teicoplanin in children and evaluate the current dosage regimens.

Pharmacokinetic/pharmacodynamic evaluation of linezolid in hospitalized paediatric patients: a step toward dose optimization by means of therapeutic drug monitoring and Monte Carlo simulation.

Objectives: To report on linezolid exposure in a paediatric population who routinely underwent therapeutic drug monitoring (TDM) for dosage optimization and to assess the factors affecting interpatient variability.

Methods: We performed a retrospective study of patients whose plasma C(min) and Cmax levels were measured during linezolid treatment. Adequate exposure was defined as a C(min) of 2-7 mg/L and/or an estimated AUC24 of 160-300 mg · h/L.

Delirium among critically ill adults: evaluation of the psychometric properties of the Italian 'Confusion Assessment Method for the Intensive Care Unit'.

Objectives: To determine the psychometric properties of the Italian version of the Confusion Assessment Method for the Intensive Care Unit (CAM-ICU), a clinical assessment tool to detect delirium among Intensive Care Unit patients.

Design: Validation study.

Research Methodology: Fifty-seven patients admitted to three medical and surgical Intensive Care Units were recruited.

The effect of pathophysiology on pharmacokinetics in the critically ill patient--concepts appraised by the example of antimicrobial agents.

Critically ill patients are at high risk for development of life-threatening infection leading to sepsis and multiple organ failure. Adequate antimicrobial therapy is pivotal for optimizing the chances of survival. However, efficient dosing is problematic because pathophysiological changes associated with critical illness impact on pharmacokinetics of mainly hydrophilic antimicrobials.

Impact of brain tumour location on emotion and personality: a voxel-based lesion-symptom mapping study on mentalization processes.

Patients affected by brain tumours may show behavioural and emotional regulation deficits, sometimes showing flattened affect and sometimes experiencing a true 'change' in personality. However, little evidence is available to the surgeon as to what changes are likely to occur with damage at specific sites, as previous studies have either relied on single cases or provided only limited anatomical specificity, mostly reporting associations rather than dissociations of symptoms. We investigated these aspects in patients undergoing surgery for the removal of cerebral tumours.

Smaller, softer, lower-impedance electrodes for human neuroprosthesis: a pragmatic approach.

Finding the most appropriate technology for building electrodes to be used for long term implants in humans is a challenging issue. What are the most appropriate technologies? How could one achieve robustness, stability, compatibility, efficacy, and versatility, for both recording and stimulation? There are no easy answers to these questions as even the most fundamental and apparently obvious factors to be taken into account, such as the necessary mechanical, electrical and biological properties, and their interplay, are under debate. We present here our approach along three fundamental parallel pathways: we reduced electrode invasiveness and size without impairing signal-to-noise ratio, we increased electrode active surface area by depositing nanostructured materials, and we protected the brain from direct contact with the electrode without compromising performance.

[Surgical site infections in breast surgery: a descriptive study].

Background: The incidence of postoperative surgical site infections (SSIs) in breast surgery is 3.1%. The risk to develop SSIs seems correlated to the level of glycemia.

Educational and organizational interventions to improve the usefulness of clinical pharmacological advice for personalized drug dosing based on therapeutic drug monitoring.

This study was aimed at increasing the clinical usefulness of clinical pharmacological advice (CPA) for personalized drug dosing based on therapeutic drug monitoring (TDM). Educational and organizational interventions focused on improving the knowledge of clinical pharmacology among hospital healthcare workers and reducing the incidence of errors throughout the process were planned. After a pre-interventional period of risk assessment, different list forms of the types of error occurring in the various phases of the process (Phase 1, request for CPA and blood sampling for TDM; Phase 2, sample delivery to and check in at the CPU; Phase 3, TDM execution and CPA production) were created.

Stability of generic meropenem solutions for administration by continuous infusion at normal and elevated temperatures.

Administration by continuous infusion may represent an effective tool for the treatment of multidrug-resistant gram-negative related infections with meropenem. Currently, no data on chemical stability of generic bioequivalent versions of meropenem over time are available. Triplicate samples of 5 mg/mL solutions of a generic meropenem formulation, Hospira, were evaluated for chemical stability at increasing temperatures (25°C, 30°C, 35°C, and 40°C) by means of a high-performance liquid chromatography technique over 4 separate days.

Spontaneous prostatic hematoma: an unusual presentation of prostatic cancer.

Prostatic fluid collection is not uncommon in urological practice. Prostatic abscess is the most frequent finding in this clinical setting. Spontaneous prostatic hematoma is rare, and may be related to prostatic cancer.

Emotion recognition in Parkinson's disease after subthalamic deep brain stimulation: differential effects of microlesion and STN stimulation.

Deep brain stimulation of the subthalamic nucleus (STN-DBS) has acquired a relevant role in the treatment of Parkinson's disease (PD). Despite being a safe procedure, it may expose patients to an increased risk to experience cognitive and emotional difficulties. Impairments in emotion recognition, mediated both by facial and prosodic expressions, have been reported in PD patients treated with such procedure.

Role of magnetic resonance imaging in probably benign (BI-RADS category 3) microcalcifications of the breast.

Purpose: This study was undertaken to evaluate whether magnetic resonance (MR) imaging is able to rule out malignancy in the case of BI-RADS 3 microcalcifications, providing a sufficient negative predictive value (NPV) for early work-up, and to reduce unnecessary stereotactically guided vacuum-assisted biopsy (SVAB) procedures.

Materials And Methods: We prospectively enrolled consecutive women with BI-RADS 3 microcalcifications, who subsequently underwent MR imaging and SVAB. The MR studies were reviewed according to the MR-BI-RADS classification system; lesions assessed as MR-BI-RADS 1 and 2 were considered negative for malignancy, categories MR-BI-RADS 3, 4 and 5 indicated malignant lesions.

Current pharmacological concepts for wise use of echinocandins in the treatment of Candida infections in septic critically ill patients.

Candida infections represent challenging causes of severe sepsis and/or of septic shock in the critically ill patients. Knowledge of current pharmacological concepts may promote a more wise use of echinocandins in the management of Candida infections in this setting. Echinocandins have some advantages over azoles, both pharmacodynamically (rapid fungicidal activity, anti-biofilm activity, unmodified activity against Candida isolates with decreased susceptibility to azoles and anti-cytokine/anti-chemokine activity) and pharmacokinetically (low interindividual variability, low potential for drug-drug interactions), that may influence the timing and the choice of therapy of Candida diseases in the critically ill patients.