Relationship between cytokine release and stress hyperglycemia in patients hospitalized with COVID-19 infection.

Introduction: Stress hyperglycemia is a frequent finding in patients with COVID-19 infection and could affect the outcome of disease. Cytokines released in response to infection could have adverse effects on insulin sensitivity and pancreatic beta-cell function. The aim of the study was to examine the relationships of stress hyperglycemia with cytokines and clinical outcomes in hospitalized patients with COVID-19.

When rhinosinusitis is not just rhinosinusitis: Clinical characteristics and phenotypes of patients with type 2 chronic rhinosinusitis with nasal polyps.

Background And Aim: Chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS) is a chronic and recurrent disease that negatively affects patients' quality of life. CRS has two main phenotypes: CRS with nasal polyps (CRSwNP) and CRS without polyps (CRSsNP). Minimal research has been conducted to study the variability in patients' characteristics.

Computer-Based Cognitive Training in Children with Primary Brain Tumours: A Systematic Review.

Late neurocognitive sequelae are common among long-term brain tumour survivors, resulting in significantly worse quality of life. Cognitive rehabilitation through specific APP/software for PC/tablets represents an innovative intervention spreading in recent years. In this study, we aim to review the current evidence and trends regarding these innovative approaches.

Non-small cell lung cancer harboring EGFR G724S mutation and exon 19 deletion responded to afatinib monotherapy after multiple lines of target therapies.

Epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) G724S mutation represents a resistance mechanism to first- and third-generation EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitors. Limited data are available regarding the efficacy of afatinib in patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) harboring G724S mutation, particularly after osimertinib. A patient diagnosed with advanced EGFR-mutated (exon 19 deletion) NSCLC after several lines of treatment - gefitinib, osimertinib, heat shock protein inhibitors and chemotherapy-developed EGFR G724S mutation retaining the exon 19 deletion.

Leflunomide-induced pulmonary arterial hypertension: Case report and review of literature.

Unlabelled: Leflunomide, an isoxazole derivative, is a disease-modifying antirheumatic drug, that has successfully been used for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis and psoriatic arthritis as a feasible alternative to methotrexate. Among side effects, pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) has been described in a few case reports.We present a 55-year-old woman treated with leflunomide for psoriatic spondyloarthritis who consulted our hospital because of progressive exertional dyspnea.

From Goliath to David: Interventricular fibroma.

We describe an interventricular septum mass in 1 years old child, followed during 14 years. The mass did not grow up over time, the patient did not experienced any arrythmia, and did not developed heart failure. A complete diagnosis of interventricular Fibroma was made at the age of 14 years old when the patient underwent to cardiac MRI.

Risk of Cancer in Connective Tissue Diseases in Northeastern Italy over 15 Years.

Objective: To evaluate cancer risk among individuals with connective tissue disease (CTD) in Friuli Venezia Giulia, northern Italy.

Methods: A population-based cohort study was conducted based on data from health records available in the regional healthcare database. Demographic characteristics, hospital discharges, exemption from medical charges, drug prescriptions, were individually matched with data from the population-based cancer registry.

Hepatocellular Carcinoma Intrinsic Cell Death Regulates Immune Response and Prognosis.

Ablative and locoregional treatment options, such as radiofrequency, ethanol injection, microwave, and cryoablation, as well as irreversible electroporation, are effective therapies for early-stage hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Hepatocyte death caused by ablative procedures is known to increase the release of tumor-associated antigen, thus enhancing tumor immunogenicity. In addition, the heat ablative resection induces pyroptotic cell death accompanied by the release of several inflammatory factors and immune-related proteins, including damage-associated molecular patterns (DAMPs), heat shock proteins (HSPs), ficolin 3, ATP, and DNA/RNA, which potentiate the antitumoral immune response.

Immunotherapy in NSCLC Patients with Brain Metastases.

Approximately 40% of unselected non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients develop brain metastases (BMs) during their disease, with considerable morbidity and mortality. The management of BMs in patients with NSCLC is a clinical challenge and requires a multidisciplinary approach to gain effective intracranial disease control. Over the last decade, immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) have emerged as a game-changer in the treatment landscape of advanced NSCLC, with significant improvements in survival outcomes, although patients with BMs are mostly underrepresented in randomized clinical trials.

Selected Patients With Peritoneal Metastases From Breast Cancer May Benefit From Cytoreductive Surgery: The Results of a Multicenter Survey.

Background: Even though breast cancer is the most frequent extra-abdominal tumor causing peritoneal metastases, clear clinical guidelines are lacking. Our aim is to establish whether cytoreductive surgery (CRS) could be considered in selected patients with peritoneal metastases from breast cancer (PMBC) to manage abdominal spread and allow patients to resume or complete other medical treatments.

Methods: We considered patients with PMBC treated in 10 referral centers from January 2002 to May 2019.

Improving management and antimicrobial stewardship for bacterial and fungal infections in hospitalized patients with COVID-19.

SARS-CoV-2 (severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2) infection is being one of the most significant challenges of health care systems worldwide. Bacterial and fungal infections in hospitalized patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) are uncommon but consumption of antibiotics and antifungals has increased dramatically during the ongoing pandemic resulting in increased selective pressure for global antimicrobial resistance. Nosocomial bacterial superinfections appear to be more frequent than community-acquired coinfections, particularly among patients admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU) and those receiving immunosuppressive treatment.

One Word to Describe My Experience as a COVID-19 Survivor Six Months after Its Onset: Findings of a Qualitative Study.

The COVID-19 pandemic emotionally affected the lives of patients cared for in different settings. However, a comprehensive view of the whole experience as lived by survived patients, from the onset of the disease and over time, is substantially unknown to date. A descriptive qualitative design was implemented according to the Standards for Reporting Qualitative Research.

Diagnostic and prognostic role of the electrocardiogram in patients with pericarditis.

Objective: The ECG has been traditionally used to support the diagnosis of pericarditis. However, the pericardium is electrically silent and ECG changes may imply concurrent myocardial involvement rather than simple pericarditis. The aim of the present paper is to analyse the frequency, type and clinical implication of ECG changes in patients with pericarditis compared with those with myocarditis.

Perceptions and knowledge of nurses on incident reporting systems: Exploratory study in three Northeastern Italian Departments.

Reporting of adverse clinical events (IRs) is believed to be an effective methodology for optimizing health care safety, however, only 1%-3% of incidents are reported by healthcare professionals, lack of information resulting from errors/adverse events/near misses limits the development of safety and improvement measures. This study aimed to identify barrier factors/incentives to report adverse events and find possible improvement strategies and possible correlations between the population under examination and the willingness to report through Incident Reporting. An ad hoc questionnaire was used and administered to 122 nurses belonging to three different departments of an Italian hospital.

Unmasking the prevalence of amyloid cardiomyopathy in the real world: results from Phase 2 of the AC-TIVE study, an Italian nationwide survey.

Aim: To investigate the prevalence of amyloid cardiomyopathy (AC) and the diagnostic accuracy of echocardiographic red flags of AC among consecutive adult patients undergoing transthoracic echocardiogram for reason other than AC in 13 Italian institutions.

Methods And Results: This is an Italian prospective multicentre study, involving a clinical and instrumental work-up to assess AC prevalence among patients ≥55 years old with an echocardiogram suggestive of AC (i.e.

Does Timing of Ventricular Tachycardia Ablation Affect Prognosis in Patients With an Implantable Cardioverter Defibrillator? Results From the Multicenter Randomized PARTITA Trial.

Background: Optimal timing for catheter ablation of ventricular tachycardia is an important unresolved issue. There are no randomized trials evaluating the benefit of ablation after the first implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD) shock.

Methods: We conducted a 2-phase, prospective, multicenter, randomized clinical trial.

Genetic Therapy and Molecular Targeted Therapy in Oncology: Safety, Pharmacovigilance, and Perspectives for Research and Clinical Practice.

The impressive advances in the knowledge of biomarkers and molecular targets has enabled significant progress in drug therapy for crucial diseases such as cancer. Specific areas of pharmacology have contributed to these therapeutic outcomes-mainly targeted therapy, immunomodulatory therapy, and gene therapy. This review focuses on the pharmacological profiles of these therapeutic classes and intends, on the one hand, to provide a systematic definition and, on the other, to highlight some aspects related to pharmacovigilance, namely the monitoring of safety and the identification of potential toxicities and adverse drug reactions.

Venetoclax in combination with hypomethylating agents in previously untreated patients with acute myeloid leukemia ineligible for intensive treatment: a real-life multicenter experience.

The addition of venetoclax to hypomethylating agents (HMA-V) improved the outcome of patients with newly diagnosed acute myeloid leukemia (AML) ineligible for intensive treatment. The aim of our study was to confirm data reported in literature, in a real-life multicenter experience. We retrospectively evaluated 56 naïve AML patients who received HMA-V at 8 different collaborating Hematology Units in the North-East of Italy, from September 2018 to October 2020.

Stress and depressive symptoms among Italian mental health nurses during the COVID-19 pandemic, a cross-sectional study.

This study used the cross-sectional web survey methodology to assess how the COVID-19 pandemic affected Italian psychiatric nurses in terms of stress levels and depressive symptoms. A total of 266 nurses belonging to the Italian Mental Health Departments were interviewed and they were subjected to two validated scales respectively PSS-10 (for the evaluation of stress) and PHQ-9 (for the evaluation of depressive symptoms). Statistical analysis showed moderate stress levels and a prevalence of sub-threshold (borderline) depressive symptoms among responding nurses.

The Role of Exercise-Induced Molecular Processes and Vitamin D in Improving Cardiorespiratory Fitness and Cardiac Rehabilitation in Patients With Heart Failure.

Heart failure (HF) still affects millions of people worldwide despite great advances in therapeutic approaches in the cardiovascular field. Remarkably, unlike pathological hypertrophy, exercise leads to beneficial cardiac hypertrophy characterized by normal or enhanced contractile function. Exercise-based cardiac rehabilitation improves cardiorespiratory fitness and, as a consequence, ameliorates the quality of life of patients with HF.

Pneumonia in Solid Organ Transplant Recipients: First Report of Two Cases.

Emerging fungal infections are a major challenge in solid organ transplantation (SOT) and are associated with high morbidity and mortality. We report two cases of pneumonia in SOT recipients. Infections were diagnosed with molecular analysis and histology.

The peculiar role of vitamin D in the pathophysiology of cardiovascular and neurodegenerative diseases.

Vitamin D is a hormone with both genomic and non-genomic actions. It exerts its activity by binding vitamin D receptor (VDR), which belongs to the superfamily of nuclear receptors and ligand-activated transcription factors. Since VDR has been found in various tissues, it has been estimated that it regulates approximately 3% of the human genome.