Asbestos fiber identification in liver from cholangiocarcinoma patients living in an asbestos polluted area: a preliminary study.

Purpose: To assess whether asbestos fibers may be observed in liver tissue of patients with cholangiocarcinoma (CC) with environmental or working asbestos exposure.

Methods: Detection of fibers was performed directly on histologic sections of liver from 7 patients with CC using optical microscope and variable pressure scanning electron microscopy equipped with energy-dispersive spectroscopy (VP-SEM/EDS). All patients were from Casale Monferrato, Italy, a highly asbestos-polluted town.

Low complication rates in Minimally Invasive Plate Osteosynthesis (MIPO) for proximal humeral fractures at 5 years of follow-up.

Introduction: Purpose of this study was to analyse the medium term follow-up of minimally invasive plate osteosynthesis (MIPO) for proximal humeral fractures in terms of postoperative shoulder function, radiological outcome and complications.

Methods: 76 consecutive patients with unstable proximal humeral fractures were treated using locking plate with a minimally invasive antero-lateral approach in two surgical centers. Constant score and radiographic evaluation of 74 patients were available at mean follow up of 5 years (minimum 4 years).

Translation and initial validation of the Medication Adherence Report Scale (MARS) in Italian patients with Crohn's Disease.

The MARS-5 (Medication Adherence Report Scale) was developed in English. The aim of this project was to analyse the MARS-5I (© Prof Rob Horne) psychometric properties and to identify whether its Italian translation is suitable for assessing medication adherence in Crohn Disease (CD) Italian patients. The MARS was translated and linguistically validated in Italian.

Variability in genes regulating vitamin D metabolism is associated with vitamin D levels in type 2 diabetes.

Mortality rate is increased in type 2 diabetes (T2D). Low vitamin D levels are associated with increased mortality risk in T2D. In the general population, genetic variants affecting vitamin D metabolism ( rs12785878, rs10741657, rs4588) have been associated with serum vitamin D.

The predictive power of transcranial sonography in movement disorders: a longitudinal cohort study.

Transcranial sonography (TCS) is a noninvasive, easily performed, and commonly available neuroimaging technique useful for the study of brain parenchyma in movement disorders. This tool has been increasingly used in the diagnosis of Parkinson's disease and atypical parkinsonism. The aim of the study was to evaluate the applicability of this technique as supportive tool in the early diagnosis of movement disorders.

Management of atrial fibrillation in the emergency room and in the cardiology ward: the BLITZ AF study.

Aims: To assess the number of admissions to the emergency room (ER) of patients with atrial fibrillation (AF) or atrial flutter (af) and their subsequent management. To evaluate the clinical profile and the use of antithrombotics and antiarrhythmic therapy in patients with AF admitted to cardiology wards.

Methods And Results: BLITZ-AF is a multicentre, observational study conducted in 154 centres on patients with AF/af.

The Aspirin Regimens in Essential Thrombocythemia (ARES) phase II randomized trial design: Implementation of the serum thromboxane B assay as an evaluation tool of different aspirin dosing regimens in the clinical setting.

Once-daily (od), low-dose aspirin (75-100 mg) is recommended to reduce the thrombotic risk of patients with essential thrombocytemia (ET). This practice is based on data extrapolated from other high-risk patients and an aspirin trial in polycythemia vera, with the assumption of similar aspirin pharmacodynamics in the two settings. However, the pharmacodynamics of low-dose aspirin is impaired in ET, reflecting accelerated renewal of platelet cyclooxygenase (COX)-1.

"The Less I Think About It, the Better I Feel": A Thematic Analysis of the Subjective Experience of Malignant Mesothelioma Patients and Their Caregivers.

A cancer diagnosis-and in particular a Malignant Mesothelioma (MM) one-breaks the somatopsychic balance of the individual, compromising the quality of residual life and giving rise to many negative emotions difficult to integrate and to elaborate (such as depression, fears, anxieties, hopelessness, guilt, shame, and rage). Several national and international guidelines acknowledged the importance of evaluating psychological and socio-relational features in MM patients and their caregiver. However, only few studies have investigated the subjective experience of MM patients and even less research has focused on the caregivers' experience.

Solitary pancreatic head metastasis from tibial adamantinoma: a rare indication to pancreaticoduodenectomy.

Pancreatic metastases are rare, <2% of all pancreatic neoplasia. This is the first case of pancreatic metastasis from adamantinoma, a rare, low grade and slow growing tumor which is frequently localized in long bones. We describe a case of a 45-year-old woman presenting with increased bilirubin level.

Eustachian tuboplasty and shrinkage of ostial mucosa with new devices : Including a proposal of a classification system.

Objective: A new combined approach to Eustachian tube dysfunction (ETD) employing new minimally invasive devices is described.

Study Design: An anatomoclinical classification of ETD was conceived to allow correct categorization of patients and enable comparative studies to be performed. Herein, the authors report on their experience with a consecutive series of obstructive ETD patients treated by balloon dilation of the Eustachian tube using AERA (Acclarent, Menlo Park, CA, USA), combined with a quantic molecular resonance (QMR)-mediated rhinopharyngeal tubal ostial mucosa shrinkage technique with a dedicated "Mitto" hand piece (Telea, Sandrigo-Vicenza, Italy).

Total hip arthroplasty instability in Italy.

Hip dislocation is a major and common complication of total hip arthroplasty (THA), which appears with an incidence between 0.3% and 10% in primary total hip arthroplasties and up to 28% in revision THA. The hip dislocations can be classified into three groups: early, intermediate and late.

Steroid-Eluting Ethmoidal Stent Versus Antero-Posterior Ethmoidectomy: Comparison Of Efficacy And Safety In Allergic Patients.

Background: Allergic and chronic rhinosinusitis is a disabling pathological condition with an 8% prevalence in the European population and 5% in the Italian one. The ethmoidal sinus is the first one involved in the inflammation. The typical surgical procedure to manage ethmoidal sinusitis is an endoscopic antero-posterior ethmoidectomy.

Unbiased pro-thrombotic features at diagnosis in 977 thrombocythemic patients with Philadelphia-negative chronic myeloproliferative neoplasms.

In patients with Philadelphia-negative chronic myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPNs), the anti-thrombotic and/or cytoreductive treatment in the follow-up may affect the evaluation of the pro-thrombotic weight of the clinical and biological characteristics at diagnosis. In order to avoid this potential confounding effect, we investigated the relationship between prior thrombosis (PrTh: thrombosis occurred before diagnosis and before treatment) and the characteristics at diagnosis in 977 thrombocythemic patients with MPN, reclassified according to the WHO 2008 criteria. PrTh occurred in 194 (19.

"Triple positive" early breast cancer: an observational multicenter retrospective analysis of outcome.

We recently found that trastuzumab benefit may be lower in a small subset of early breast cancer (BC) patients (pts) with tumors expressing high levels of both hormonal receptors (HRs), i.e. triple positive (TP).

Minimally invasive plate osteosynthesis in proximal humeral fractures: one-year results of a prospective multicenter study.

Purpose: The aim of this multicentric study was to evaluate results of minimally invasive plate osteosynthesis (MIPO) for proximal humeral fractures in terms of postoperative shoulder function, radiological outcome and number of complications.

Methods: A consecutive series of 76 patients with proximal humeral fractures were treated with locking plate using a minimally invasive antero-lateral approach in two orthopaedic departments. Functional results with Constant score and radiographic evaluation were available for 74 patients at one-year follow up.

Matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time of flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS) and Bayesian phylogenetic analysis to characterize Candida clinical isolates.

Clinical Candida isolates from two different hospitals in Rome were identified and clustered by MALDI-TOF MS system and their origin and evolution estimated by Bayesian phylogenetic analysis. The different species of Candida were correctly identified and clustered separately, confirming the ability of these techniques to discriminate between different Candida species. Focusing MALDI-TOF analysis on a single Candida species, Candida albicans and Candida parapsilosis strains clustered differently for hospital setting as well as for period of isolation than Candida glabrata and Candida tropicalis isolates.

Fistula-tract Laser Closure (FiLaC™): long-term results and new operative strategies.

Background: Fistula-tract Laser Closure (FiLaC™) is a sphincter-saving technique for the treatment of anal fistulas that has been shown to be successful in the short and middle term. However, the long-term success rate is unknown. This study aimed to report long-term results in performing FiLaC™.

Hemoglobin levels and circulating blasts are two easily evaluable diagnostic parameters highly predictive of leukemic transformation in primary myelofibrosis.

To predict leukemic transformation (LT), we evaluated easily detectable diagnostic parameters in 338 patients with primary myelofibrosis (PMF) followed in the Latium region (Italy) between 1981 and 2010. Forty patients (11.8%) progressed to leukemia, with a resulting 10-year leukemia-free survival (LFS) rates of 72%.

Turbinoplasty with quantic molecular resonance in the treatment of persistent moderate-severe allergic rhinitis: Comparative analysis of efficacy.

Background: Allergic rhinitis (AR) presents as the main and most invasive symptom in the blocking of the nose. This condition is almost always related to hypertrophy of the inferior turbinates. When the medical treatments are found to be insufficient to solve the obstructive symptom of the patient, the quality of life is considerably impaired and it is often necessary to submit the patient to a surgical approach.