A comprehensive review of the efficacy and safety of ertugliflozin.

Introduction: Ertugliflozin is the fourth sodium-glucose co-transporter (SGLT2) inhibitor approved by the US FDA in 2017 for the treatment of type 2 diabetes mellitus.

Areas Covered: The main purpose of this review is to evaluate the clinical efficacy and safety of ertugliflozin. We conducted a search of relevant literature on ertugliflozin in the PubMed and Web of Science databases up to 22 October 2024.

The hidden threat: Klebsiella pneumoniae may develop co-resistance to colistin and cefiderocol under pressure of colistin.

Objectives: Carbapenem-resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae (CRKP) has become a global concern owing to its difficult treatment. This study aimed to determine the impact of colistin resistance on susceptibility to cefiderocol.

Methods: The colistin-susceptible clinical strain CRKP12-130 (colistin minimum inhibitory concentration [MIC] 0.

Clinical value of saliva therapeutic drug monitoring of newer antiseizure medications.

Introduction: Saliva is a promising option for therapeutic drug monitoring, with studies since the 1970s indicating a good correlation between plasma and saliva levels for early anti-seizure medications, although limited data exist for newer generation drugs.

Objectives: To evaluate the reliability and predictive power of saliva as a minimally invasive surrogate marker of plasma concentration for the routine therapeutic drug monitoring (TDM) of newer anti-seizure medications (ASM).

Methods: We collected blood samples at steady state in patients at least 6 h post-dose, paired with unstimulated saliva samples.

Pharmacological differences and switching among anti-CGRP monoclonal antibodies: A narrative review.

Antibodies targeting either the calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP), such as galcanezumab, fremanezumab, and eptinezumab, or the receptor (erenumab) have been approved for the prevention of episodic and chronic migraine. Although widely used and generally effective, a proportion of patients discontinue treatment due to lack of efficacy. In both randomized controlled trials and observational studies, all anti-CGRP monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) have consistently demonstrated comparable efficacy and tolerability, suggesting a pharmacological class effect.

Predictors of drooling severity in people with Parkinson's disease.

Background: Drooling, defined as the unintentional loss of saliva from the anterior oral cavity, remains poorly understood in terms of the underlying clinical factors in people with Parkinson's disease (PwP). This study aims to clarify these factors by analyzing predictors and secondarily the correlates with the severity of drooling in PwP.

Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional study involving 42 PwP with drooling and 59 without drooling.

Abnormal p53 High-Grade Endometrioid Endometrial Cancer: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

Objective: Our primary objective was to evaluate the oncologic outcomes of patients with abnormal p53 FIGO grade 3 (high-grade) endometrioid endometrial cancer. As secondary objectives, we determined the global prevalence of abnormal p53 in grade 3 endometrioid endometrial carcinomas and the geographical variations.

Methods: The following electronic databases were searched: PubMed/Medline, EMBASE, Cochrane Library, Scopus, and Web of Science.

Safety of Immersive Virtual Reality for the Management of Parkinson's Disease.

Virtual reality (VR) has been used in research and clinical practice in the management of Parkinson's disease (PD), potentially enhancing physiotherapy. Adverse events (AEs) associated with VR applications in PD have been poorly explored. We conducted a randomized controlled trial to compare two 12-week interventions using physiotherapy and immersive VR, and analyzed the frequency and type of AEs occurring in 30 people with PD.

Cerebrospinal fluid proteomics reveals the innate immunity and blood-brain barrier dysregulation in a patient with multidrug-resistant ventriculitis treated with intrathecal and intravenous polymyxin B.

is a major pathogen of nosocomial meningitis and ventriculitis. Due to very limited antibiotic treatment options, polymyxins are often used as a last-line therapy. To optimise polymyxin use in the intraventricular environment, cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) proteomics was employed to investigate host-pathogen-polymyxin interactions in a 69-year-old patient with multidrug-resistant ventriculitis treated with a combination of intrathecal (ITH; 50,000 IU q24h/q48h), intraventricular (IVT; 50,000 IU q48h), and intravenous (500,000 IU, q12h) polymyxin B.

Targeting TOP2A in Ovarian Cancer: Biological and Clinical Implications.

The enzyme topoisomerase II alpha (TOP2A) plays a critical role in DNA replication and cell proliferation, making it a promising target for cancer therapy. In epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC), TOP2A overexpression is associated with poor prognosis and resistance to conventional treatments. This review explores the biological functions of TOP2A in EOC and discusses its potential as a therapeutic target.

Highly sensitive ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography coupled with tandem mass spectrometry method for the multiplex analysis of levosimendan and its metabolites OR-1855 and OR-1896 in human plasma.

Levosimendan is a positive inotrope and vasodilator used in patients with acute and chronic decompensated heart failure. It is metabolized into OR-1855 (inactive metabolite), which is further acetylated into OR-1896 (active metabolite having a prolonged half-life, hence a sustained effect). Levosimendan represents a valuable alternative to traditional inotropes with broad clinical applications in critically ill patients with cardiogenic shock, advanced heart failure and post-cardiac surgery.

Electroencephalogram criticality in cognitive impairment: a monitoring biomarker?

Unlabelled: Critical states present scale-free dynamics, optimizing neuronal complexity and serving as a potential biomarker in cognitively impaired patients. We explored electroencephalogram (EEG) criticality in amnesic Mild Cognitive Impairment patients with clinical improvement in working memory, verbal memory, verbal fluency and overall executive functions after the completion of a 6-month prospective memory training. We compared "before" and "after" stationary resting-state EEG records of right-handed MCI patients (n = 17; 11 females), using the method of critical fluctuations and Haar wavelet analysis.

Is the Swallow Tail Sign a Useful Imaging Biomarker in Clinical Neurology? A Systematic Review.

Background: Loss of dorsolateral nigral hyperintensity (DNH) in iron-sensitive sequences of Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI), also described as "swallow tail sign" (STS) loss, has shown promising diagnostic value in Parkinson's Disease (PD) and Atypical Parkinsonian Syndromes (APS).

Objective: To conduct a bibliometric analysis on substantia nigra MRI and a systematic review on the clinical utility of STS visual assessment on Susceptibility-Weighted Imaging in various clinical entities.

Methods: VOSviewer's keyword co-occurrence network was employed using Web of Science (WOS).

The Frequency and Main Characteristics of Obesity in Undocumented Migrants Receiving Medical Assistance from a Charitable Organisation in Italy.

Background: Obesity is continually growing not only in medium- and high-income countries but also in low-income countries, from where increasing numbers of migrants arrive in Western countries. We aimed to investigate the frequency and characteristics of obesity in a sample of undocumented migrants, a population for which official health data are not available.

Methods: We collected demographic and socio-economic data and information on medical diagnoses and pharmacologic treatments for 341 undocumented migrants consecutively attending the outpatient clinic of a big non-governmental organisation in Milan, Italy, from March to July 2023.

Effects of natalizumab on oligoclonal bands in the cerebrospinal fluid of patients with multiple sclerosis: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Introduction: Oligoclonal bands (OCBs) in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) are utilized for diagnosing multiple sclerosis (MS), as they are found in 95% of patients. Additionally, OCBs are linked to disease prognosis. The primary contributors to OCB production are long-lived plasma cells.

Antibacterial and antifungal drug concentrations in intra-abdominal abscesses: a prospective clinical study.

Secondary peritonitis with intra-abdominal abscesses (IAA) is difficult to treat because of the supposed low rate of penetration of antimicrobial drugs at the site of infection. However, clinical data about the actual bioavailability of antimicrobial drugs in IAA are scarce. This prospective observational study aimed at assessing the drug penetration in IAA of the antibiotics (piperacillin-tazobactam, carbapenems) and antifungals (fluconazole, echinocandins) that are usually recommended for the treatment of intra-abdominal infections.

Development and Validation of a UHPLC-MS/MS Method for the Simultaneous Quantification of Candesartan and Bisoprolol Together with Other 16 Antihypertensive Drugs in Plasma Samples.

Antihypertensive pharmacological therapy is often characterized by a coadministration of different classes of drugs. Therefore, analytical methods allowing the simultaneous quantification of many drugs are needed for therapeutic drug monitoring (TDM) purposes in this context. In particular, TDM represents a useful tool to discriminate poor adherence from real cases of resistant hypertension.

Investigating Sodium-Glucose Cotransporter 2 Inhibitors Versus Other Glucose-Lowering Drugs on Ventricular Arrhythmias or Sudden Cardiac Death Using the US FDA Adverse Event Reporting System.

Purpose: Sodium-glucose cotransporter 2 (SGLT2) inhibitors have been reported to exhibit antiarrhythmic effects. However, there is conflicting evidence regarding the association between SGLT2 inhibitors and ventricular arrhythmias or sudden cardiac death (SCD). We utilized the US FDA Adverse Event Reporting System (FAERS) database to investigate the reporting frequencies of SGLT2 inhibitors with ventricular arrhythmias and SCD compared to other glucose-lowering drugs (ATC-A10B).

Suppression of Dad1 induces cardiomyocyte death by weakening cell adhesion.

As cardiomyocyte loss causes heart failure, inhibition of cardiomyocyte death may be a therapeutic strategy against heart failure. In this study, we have identified defender against cell death 1 (Dad1) as a candidate regulator of cardiomyocyte death, using complementary DNA microarray and siRNA knockdown screening. Dad1 is a subunit of oligosaccharyltransferase (OST) complex that is responsible for protein N-glycosylation; however, its function in cardiomyocytes remains unknown.

Long-term oritavancin therapy for shoulder prosthetic joint infection: A case guided by therapeutic drug monitoring (TDM).

Oritavancin is a novel long-acting lipoglycopeptide with in vitro activity against methicillin-resistant (MR) Gram-positive pathogens and a good bactericidal activity even in presence of biofilm forming bacteria. It has been approved for acute bacterial skin and skin structure infections (ABSSSI), but recent reports have demonstrated possible off-label uses, as for prosthetic joint infections (PJI), which, in more than half of cases, are caused by MR Gram positive organisms. W reported a case of a man in his eighties with a late shoulder PJI caused by methicillin resistant (MRSE) with contraindications for surgical replacement and few oral therapeutic options for a long term suppressive antibiotic therapy.

The LDL Receptor-Related Protein 1: Mechanisms and roles in promoting Aβ efflux transporter in Alzheimer's disease.

The LDL Receptor-Related Protein 1(LRP1), a member of the Low-density Lipoprotein (LDL) receptor family, is a multifunctional cellular transporter and signaling receptor, this includes regulation of lipid metabolism, cell migration and signaling. Abnormal accumulation of amyloid beta (Aβ) in the brain is thought to be the main pathological change in Alzheimer's disease. By binding to a variety of ligands, LRP1 is involved in the internalization and degradation of Aβ, thereby affecting the course of Alzheimer's disease (AD).