Safety profile of intravenous iron in inflammatory bowel disease: an up-to-date overview.

Up to 30-70% of patients may experience mild and moderate side effects during iron therapy and this is often associated with a poor adherence to therapy. Anemia is frequent in patients with active inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), due to both iron deficiency and chronic inflammation, therefore iron supplementation is frequently needed. Considering that gastrointestinal disorders are the most common side effects with oral iron, in IBD patients intravenous administration must be preferred.

Stem cell-derived exosomes for wound healing: current status and promising directions.

Wound healing, especially of chronic wounds, is still an unmet therapeutic area since assessment and management are extremely complicated. Although many efforts have been made to treat wounds, all strategies have achieved limited results for chronic wounds. Stem cell-based therapy is considered a promising approach for complex wounds such as those occurring in diabetics.

Saffron: Chemical Composition and Neuroprotective Activity.

L. belongs to the Iridaceae family and it is commonly known as saffron. The different cultures together with the geoclimatic characteristics of the territory determine a different chemical composition that characterizes the final product.

Joint laxity in canine hip dysplasia assessed using the hip flexed not distracted ventrodorsal view.

Objectives: The ventrodorsal hip extended standard view is conventionally used for radiographic screening of canine hip dysplasia. However, because the ventrodorsal hip extended standard view minimises hip joint laxity, several alternative views have been proposed. Our aim was to evaluate a new ventrodorsal hip flexed and not distracted view to assess joint laxity, by comparing it with the ventrodorsal hip extended standard and ventrodorsal hip flexed and distracted views.

Impedance-based drug-resistance characterization of colon cancer cells through real-time cell culture monitoring.

Interest in impedance-based cellular assays is rising due to their remarkable advantages, including label-free, low cost, non-invasive, non-destructive, quantitative and real-time monitoring. In order to test their potential in cancer treatment decision and early detection of chemoresistance, we devised a new custom-made impedance measuring system based on electric cell-substrate impedance sensing (ECIS), optimized for long term impedance measurements. This device was employed in a proof of concept cell culture impedance analysis for the characterization of chemo-resistant colon cancer cells.

First month of the epidemic caused by COVID-19 in Italy: current status and real-time outbreak development forecast.

Background: The first outbreak of COVID-19 in Italy occurred during the second half of February 2020 in some areas in the North of the country. Due to the high contagiousness of the infection, further spread by asymptomatic people, Italy has become in a few weeks the country with the greatest number of infected people in the world. The large number of severe cases among infected people in Italy led to the hospitalization of thousands of patients, with a heavy burden on the National Health Service.

Brain Plasticity in Charcot-Marie-Tooth Type 1A Patients? A Combined Structural and Diffusion MRI Study.

Central nervous system involvement has been described in peripheral neuropathies, including different forms of Charcot-Marie-Tooth (CMT) disease. The aim of our study was to systematically investigate possible brain structural modifications in CMT1A patients, using volumetric MRI, and diffusion tensor imaging (DTI). In this prospective cross-sectional study, from May 2017 to May 2019, we acquired 3T MRI brain scans of genetically confirmed CMT1A patients and age- and sex-comparable healthy controls.

Synthesis, Antiproliferative Activity, and DNA Binding Studies of Nucleoamino Acid-Containing Pt(II) Complexes.

We here report our studies on the reaction with the platinum(II) ion of a nucleoamino acid constituted by the l-2,3-diaminopropanoic acid linked to the thymine nucleobase through a methylenecarbonyl linker. The obtained new platinum complexes, characterized by spectroscopic and mass spectrometric techniques, were envisaged to exploit synergistic effects due to the presence of both the platinum center and the nucleoamino acid moiety. The latter can be potentially useful to protect the complexes from early deactivation, as well as to facilitate their cell internalization.

Singular cases of Alzheimer's disease disclose new and old genetic "acquaintances".

Background: Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the most common age-related dementia. Besides its typical presentation with amnestic syndrome at onset, atypical AD cases are being increasingly recognized, often in presenile age.

Objectives: To provide an extensive clinical and genetic characterization of six AD patients carrying one or more singular features, including age of onset, atypical phenotype and disease progression rate.

Vitamin D3 deficiency is associated with more severe insulin resistance and metformin use in patients with type 2 diabetes.

Background: Vitamin D3 (vit. D3) deficiency is considered as one of the main factors involved in the development of type 2 diabetes (T2D). We assessed insulin resistance (IR), β-cell functional activity and metabolic profile according to 25(OH) vit.

Boosting the Immune Response with the Combination of Electrochemotherapy and Immunotherapy: A New Weapon for Squamous Cell Carcinoma of the Head and Neck?

Head and neck squamous cell carcinomas (SCCHN) are not rare malignancies and account for 7% of all solid tumors. Prognosis of SCCHN patients strongly depends on tumor extension, site of onset, and genetics. Advanced disease (recurrent/metastatic) is associated with poor prognosis, with a median overall survival of 13 months.

Long-term follow-up of diabetic and non-diabetic patients with chronic hepatitis C successfully treated with direct-acting antiviral agents.

Background And Aims: Clearance of hepatitis C virus (HCV) is associated with improved glycometabolic control in patients with diabetes mellitus (DM) but whether this effect is maintained over the long term with a reduction in liver-related events (LRE) is still debated. To address these issues, we conducted a long-term prospective study on diabetic and non-diabetic patients with chronic hepatitis C cured by direct antiviral agents (DAAs).

Methods: Among 893 recruited patients, 15.

Effects of Standardized Green Tea Extract and Its Main Component, EGCG, on Mitochondrial Function and Contractile Performance of Healthy Rat Cardiomyocytes.

We recently showed that the long-term in vivo administration of green tea catechin extract (GTE) resulted in hyperdynamic cardiomyocyte contractility. The present study investigates the mechanisms underlying GTE action in comparison to its major component, epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG), given at the equivalent amount that would be in the entirety of GTE. Twenty-six male Wistar rats were given 40 mL/day of a tap water solution with either standardized GTE or pure EGCG for 4 weeks.

Inflammatory bowel disease course in liver transplant versus non-liver transplant patients for primary sclerosing cholangitis: LIVIBD, an IG-IBD study.

Background: Data regarding the effect of orthotopic liver transplantation (OLT) for primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC) on inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) course are scarce and conflicting.

Aims: To compare the incidence of refractory IBD in two groups (OLT and non-OLT) of patients affected by IBD and PSC.

Methods: An observational, multicentre, cohort retrospective study was conducted by the Italian Group for the study of IBD in Italy.

Diffuse brain connectivity changes in Charcot-Marie-Tooth type 1a patients: a resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging study.

Background And Purpose: Changes of brain structure and function have been described in peripheral neuropathies. The aim of our study was to systematically investigate possible modifications of major large-scale brain networks using resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (RS-fMRI) in Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease type 1A (CMT1A) patients.

Methods: In this cross-sectional study, 3-T MRI brain scans were acquired of right-handed genetically confirmed CMT1A patients and age- and sex-comparable healthy controls.

Review: Extragastric diseases and Helicobacter pylori.

The involvement of Helicobacter pylori infection in many extra-gastroduodenal manifestations remains a fascinating field of investigation. However, for several of these supposed associations, the potential pathogenic mechanism remains unclear. The present review highlights the main associations of H pylori with extra-gastroduodenal manifestations reported during the last year.

The role of Nodal and Cripto-1 in human oral squamous cell carcinoma.

Oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) is a common epithelial malignancy of the oral cavity. Nodal and Cripto-1 (CR-1) are important developmental morphogens expressed in several adult cancers and are associated with disease progression. Whether Nodal and CR-1 are simultaneously expressed in the same tumor and how this affects cancer biology are unclear.

Aptamer targeted therapy potentiates immune checkpoint blockade in triple-negative breast cancer.

Background: Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) is a uniquely aggressive cancer with high rates of relapse due to resistance to chemotherapy. TNBC expresses higher levels of programmed cell death-ligand 1 (PD-L1) compared to other breast cancers, providing the rationale for the recently approved immunotherapy with anti-PD-L1 monoclonal antibodies (mAbs). A huge effort is dedicated to identify actionable biomarkers allowing for combination therapies with immune-checkpoint blockade.

Risks and Benefits of Surgical Excision of Orbital Cavernous Venous Malformations (So-Called Cavernous Hemangioma): Factors Influencing the Outcome.

Purpose: To assess risks and benefits associated with surgical excision of orbital cavernous venous malformation and analyze factors influencing the outcome.

Methods: Design: cohort study. Participants: 164 consecutive patients undergoing surgical removal of orbital cavernous venous malformation.