Prognostic role of mean platelet volume in patients with cirrhosis.

Background: Studies carried out in patients with chronic hepatitis have shown that mean platelet volume (MPV) is associated with worse disease stage, although the role of MPV in patients with cirrhosis is less clear.

Aim: To evaluate the association between MPV values and clinical characteristics and stage of cirrhosis, and to assess its prognostic role.

Methods: We studied 75 patients with cirrhosis and assessed the association between MPV values and cirrhosis characteristics, prognostic scores, and survival.

Associations of Left Ventricular Hypertrophy and Geometry with Adverse Outcomes in Patients with CKD and Hypertension.

Background And Objectives: Left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) and abnormal left ventricular (LV) geometry predict adverse outcomes in the general and hypertensive populations, but findings in CKD are still inconclusive.

Design, Setting, Participants, & Measurements: We enrolled 445 patients with hypertension and CKD stages 2-5 in two academic nephrology clinics in 1999-2003 who underwent both echocardiography and ambulatory BP monitoring. LVH (LV mass >100 g/m(2) [women] and >131 g/m(2) [men]) and relative wall thickness (RWT) were used to define LV geometry: no LVH and RWT≤0.

Prognostic value of PCSK9 levels in patients with acute coronary syndromes.

Aims: Proprotein convertase subtilisin kexin 9 (PCSK9) is an emerging target for the treatment of hypercholesterolaemia, but the clinical utility of PCSK9 levels to guide treatment is unknown. We aimed to prospectively assess the prognostic value of plasma PCSK9 levels in patients with acute coronary syndromes (ACS).

Methods And Results: Plasma PCSK9 levels were measured in 2030 ACS patients undergoing coronary angiography in a Swiss prospective cohort.

A combined proteomics and metabolomics approach to assess the effects of gold nanoparticles in vitro.

Omics technologies, such as proteomics or metabolomics, have to date been applied in the field of nanomaterial safety assessment to a limited extent. To address this dearth, we developed an integrated approach combining the two techniques to study the effects of two sizes, 5 and 30 nm, of gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) in Caco-2 cells. We observed differences in cells exposed for 72 h to each size of AuNPs: 61 responsive (up/down-regulated) proteins were identified and 35 metabolites in the cell extract were tentatively annotated.

Role of neutrophils in atherogenesis: an update.

Background: The role of neutrophils in the beginning and the progression of the atherosclerotic process did not receive much attention until the last years. On the contrary, recent data, in both the experimental animals and humans, suggest important effects of these cells with possible clinical consequences.

Materials And Methods: This narrative review was based on the papers found on PubMed and MEDLINE up to July 2015.

An update on integrase inhibitors: new opportunities for a personalized therapy? The NEXTaim Project.

Thanks to the development of antiretroviral agents to control HIV replication, HIV infection has turned from a fatal disease into a treatable chronic infection. The present work collects the opinions of several experts on the efficacy and safety of recently approved second generation of integrase inhibitors and, in particular, on the role of this new class of drugs in antiretroviral therapy. The availability of new therapeutic options represents an opportunity to ameliorate the efficacy of cART in controlling HIV replication also within viral reservoirs.

Pathophysiology of ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction: novel mechanisms and treatments.

Despite major advances in mechanical and pharmacological reperfusion strategies to improve acute myocardial infarction (MI) injury, substantial mortality, morbidity, and socioeconomic burden still exists. To further reduce infarct size and thus ameliorate clinical outcome, the focus has also shifted towards early detection of MI with high-sensitive troponin assays, imaging, cardioprotection against pathophysiological targets of myocardial reperfusion injury with mechanical (ischaemic post-conditioning, remote ischaemic pre-conditioning, therapeutic hypothermia, and hypoxemia) and newer pharmacological interventions (atrial natriuretic peptide, cyclosporine A, and exenatide). Evidence from animal models of myocardial ischaemia and reperfusion also demonstrated promising results on more selective anti-inflammatory compounds that require additional validation in humans.

Regression of asymptomatic cardiomyopathy and clinical outcome of renal transplant recipients: a long-term prospective cohort study.

Background: Asymptomatic left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) is highly prevalent and associated with an adverse outcome in renal transplant recipients (RTRs). Nonetheless, there are currently no available studies analyzing the effect of LVH regression on solid clinical endpoints in these patients.

Methods: This study is the prospective observational extension of two randomized controlled trials aimed at assessing the effect of active intervention on post-transplant LVH in RTRs.

Trends in Prevalence, Awareness, Treatment, and Control of Blood Pressure Recorded From 2004 to 2014 During World Hypertension Day in Italy.

Estimates of blood pressure (BP) control in real life are not systematically collected in Italy. We evaluated trends in systolic/diastolic BP levels, as well as prevalence, awareness, treatment, and control rates of hypertension among adult individuals visiting open checkpoints during the 2004 to 2014 annual editions of World Hypertension Day. Hypertension was defined as BP level ≥140/90 mm Hg or use of antihypertensive medication, whereas BP control was defined as BP level <140/90 mm Hg.

Improved outcome of patients with relapsed/refractory Hodgkin lymphoma with a new fotemustine-based high-dose chemotherapy regimen.

High-dose chemotherapy (HDT) with autologous stem cell transplantation is the standard of care for relapsed/refractory (RR) Hodgkin lymphoma (HL). Given that HDT may cure a sizeable proportion of patients refractory to first salvage, development of newer conditioning regimens remains a priority. We present the results of a novel HDT regimen in which carmustine was substituted by a third-generation chloroethylnitrosourea, fotemustine, with improved pharmacokinetics and safety (FEAM; fotemustine, etoposide, cytarabine, melphalan) in 122 patients with RR-HL accrued into a prospective registry-based study.

The Role of Cytokines, Chemokines, and Growth Factors in the Pathogenesis of Pityriasis Rosea.

Introduction: Pityriasis rosea (PR) is an exanthematous disease related to human herpesvirus- (HHV-) 6/7 reactivation. The network of mediators involved in recruiting the infiltrating inflammatory cells has never been studied. Object.

Is it possible to preserve lumbar lordosis after hybrid stabilization? Preliminary results of a novel rigid-dynamic stabilization system in degenerative lumbar pathologies.

Purpose Of The Study: To evaluate the results of a novel rigid-dynamic stabilization technique in lumbar degenerative segment diseases (DSD), expressly pointing out the preservation of postoperative lumbar lordosis (LL).

Materials And Methods: Forty-one patients with one level lumbar DSD and initial disc degeneration at the adjacent level were treated. Circumferential lumbar arthrodesis and posterior hybrid instrumentation were performed to preserve an initial disc degeneration above the segment that has to be fused.

Essential Thrombocythemia: The Dermatologic Point of View.

Essential thrombocythemia (ET) is a myeloproliferative neoplasm characterized by an increase in blood platelets and dominated by a predisposition to vascular events. Cutaneous manifestations can complicate its course. itching has been the most common symptom reported; however, the percentage has ranged from 3% to 46%, depending on the survey.

Leptin/adiponectin ratio predicts poststroke neurological outcome.

Background And Aims: Different adipokines have been associated with atherosclerotic plaque rupture and cardiovascular events, such as acute ischaemic stroke (AIS). However, the potential role of these molecules in postischaemic brain injury remains largely unknown.

Methods And Methods: We performed a substudy analysis on nonobese patients with first atherothrombotic stroke (n = 35) from a recently published prospective cohort.

Anti-Tumor Effects of Bak-Proteoliposomes against Glioblastoma.

Despite palliative treatments, glioblastoma (GBM) remains a devastating malignancy with a mean survival of about 15 months after diagnosis. Programmed cell-death is de-regulated in almost all GBM and the re-activation of the mitochondrial apoptotic pathway through exogenous bioactive proteins may represent a powerful therapeutic tool to treat multidrug resistant GBM. We have reported that human Bak protein integrated in Liposomes (LB) was able, in vitro, to activate the mitochondrial apoptotic pathway in colon cancer cells.

Quinazolinedione SIRT6 inhibitors sensitize cancer cells to chemotherapeutics.

The NAD(+)-dependent sirtuin SIRT6 is highly expressed in human breast, prostate, and skin cancer where it mediates resistance to cytotoxic agents and prevents differentiation. Thus, SIRT6 is an attractive target for the development of new anticancer agents to be used alone or in combination with chemo- or radiotherapy. Here we report on the identification of novel quinazolinedione compounds with inhibitory activity on SIRT6.

New therapeutic strategies in neuroblastoma: combined targeting of a novel tyrosine kinase inhibitor and liposomal siRNAs against ALK.

Many different aberrations in the Anaplastic Lymphoma Kinase (ALK) were found to be oncogenic drivers in several cancers including neuroblastoma (NB), therefore ALK is now considered a critical player in NB oncogenesis and a promising therapeutic target. The ALK-inhibitor crizotinib has a limited activity against the various ALK mutations identified in NB patients. We tested: the activity of the novel ALK-inhibitor X-396 administered alone or in combination with Targeted Liposomes carrying ALK-siRNAs (TL[ALK-siRNA]) that are active irrespective of ALK gene mutational status; the pharmacokinetic profiles and the biodistribution of X-396; the efficacy of X-396 versus crizotinib treatment in NB xenografts; whether the combination of X-396 with the TL[ALK-siRNA] could promote long-term survival in NB mouse models.

Ranibizumab for Visual Impairment due to Diabetic Macular Edema: Real-World Evidence in the Italian Population (PRIDE Study).

Purpose. An expanded access program (PRIDE study) in Italy to provide ranibizumab 0.5 mg to diabetic macular edema (DME) patients, prior to reimbursement.

The Neuronal Pentraxin-2 Pathway Is an Unrecognized Target in Human Neuroblastoma, Which Also Offers Prognostic Value in Patients.

Neuronal pentraxins (NPTX) and their corresponding receptors (NPTXR) have been studied as synapse-associated proteins in the nervous system, but their role in cancer is largely unknown. By applying a multidisciplinary, high-throughput proteomic approach, we have recently identified a peptide ligand motif for targeted drug delivery to neuroblastoma. Here, we report the sequence similarity between this peptide and a conserved portion of the pentraxin domain that is involved in the homo- and hetero-oligomerization of NPTX2 and NPTXR.