The Melanocortin System in Inflammatory Bowel Diseases: Insights into Its Mechanisms and Therapeutic Potentials.

The melanocortin system is a complex set of molecular mediators and receptors involved in many physiological and homeostatic processes. These include the regulation of melanogenesis, steroidogenesis, neuromodulation and the modulation of inflammatory processes. In the latter context, the system has assumed importance in conditions of chronic digestive inflammation, such as inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD), in which numerous experiences have been accumulated in mouse models of colitis.

The Burden of Irritable Bowel Syndrome in Medical and Nurse Italian University Student Population: The VANVITELLI-IBS Survey.

Background: The increased prevalence of irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) among medical and nursing students is a global challenge. Unfortunately, data on the Italian medical and nurse student population are scarce. Therefore, this study was designed to assess the prevalence of IBS in this setting and to evaluate the demographic, university, Mediterranean diet adherence, and anxiety factors associated with its increased presence.

Narrative review on the management of moderate-severe atopic dermatitis in pediatric age of the Italian Society of Pediatric Allergology and Immunology (SIAIP), of the Italian Society of Pediatric Dermatology (SIDerP) and of the Italian Society of Pediatrics (SIP).

Currently, there are a few detailed guidelines on the overall management of children and adolescents with moderate-severe atopic dermatitis. AD ​​is a complex disease presenting with different clinical phenotypes, which require an individualized and multidisciplinary approach. Therefore, appropriate interaction between primary care pediatricians, pediatric allergists, and pediatric dermatologists is crucial to finding the best management strategy.

The Lesson from the First Italian Lockdown: Impacts on Anxiety and Depressive Symptoms and Sleep Quality in Patients with Remission of Inflammatory Bowel Disease.

Background: During the COVID-19 pandemic in Italy, decisions were taken to adopt restrictive legislative measures, such as the first half of the 2020 lockdown. In those months, patients with inflammatory bowel disease experienced social isolation and reduced access to health care.

Objective: We aimed to evaluate, in this condition, the presence of remission subgroups that were most impacted by the lockdown.

Microbial Species Isolated from Infected Wounds and Antimicrobial Resistance Analysis: Data Emerging from a Three-Years Retrospective Study.

The antimicrobial resistance is a topic of global interest in the treatment of wound infections. The goal of this retrospective study was both the identification of the microorganisms responsible for wound infections and the determination of their drug susceptibility pattern. The study was performed from 2017 to 2019 and included 239 patients.

Multicenter Analysis of Postoperative Complications in Octogenarians After Radical Cystectomy and Ureterocutaneostomy: The Role of the Frailty Index.

Background: The purpose of this study was to assess patient frailty as a risk factor for radical cystectomy (RC) complications.

Materials And Methods: We performed an analysis of prospectively collected data of consecutive patients 80 years of age or older who underwent RC and ureterocutaneostomy in 6 primary care European urology centers. Frailty was measured using a simplified frailty index (sFI) with a 5-item score including: (1) diabetes mellitus; (2) functional status; (3) chronic obstructive pulmonary disease; (4) congestive cardiac failure; and (5) hypertension, with a maximum 5-item score meaning high level of frailty.

Continuous subcutaneous apomorphine infusion in Parkinson's disease: causes of discontinuation and subsequent treatment strategies.

Continuous subcutaneous apomorphine infusion (CSAI) is a well-recognized therapeutic option for the management of motor fluctuations in Parkinson's disease (PD), although clinical experience suggests that most patients discontinue CSAI after a variable amount of time due to several causes and circumstances. The objective of the present study was to evaluate the reasons of CSAI discontinuation and to investigate which treatment was adopted afterwards. Two independent raters retrospectively reviewed the electronic medical record of 114 patients treated with CSAI for at least 6 months.

New brain reperfusion rehabilitation therapy improves cognitive impairment in mild Alzheimer's disease: a prospective, controlled, open-label 12-month study with NIRS correlates.

Background And Aims: A large body of evidence indicates that cerebral hypoperfusion is one of the earliest signs in the development of Alzheimer's disease (AD). The aim of our study was to evaluate whether the brain reperfusion rehabilitation therapy (BRRT) would improve verbal memory and learning and/or global cognitive impairment in mild AD.

Methods: Using a prospective, controlled, open-label 12-month study, we enrolled 15 patients with mild AD, who underwent BRRT program (BRRT group), and 10 age-sex-matched mild AD patients, who received no treatment (control group).

Transcranial brain photoplethysmography to study the venules of cerebral cortex in patients with multiple sclerosis.

Objective: To evaluate the utility of a transcranial brain photoplethysmography parameter as a potential marker for patients with multiple sclerosis.

Methods: We investigated 38 patients affected by multiple sclerosis, according to the revised McDonald criteria (12 males and 26 females, mean age 41.1 ± 8.

n-3 PUFAs and heart failure.

The risk of death of patients with heart failure (HF) is still too high in daily clinical practice despite the many progress that have occurred in the diagnosis and treatment of this syndrome that significantly reduce the mortality of these patients. Results of the GISSI-HF trial, the first and only large-scale clinical trial to date assessing the effects of n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (n-3 PUFAs) in HF patients, showed that treatment of 100 patients saved almost 2 lives and prevented almost 2 cardiovascular hospitalisations, indicating that beneficial cardiovascular effects of n-3 PUFAs observed in other populations might also apply to patients with HF. Treatment with n-3 PUFAs may be considered as a new option to add to the shortlist of evidence-based life-prolonging therapies for HF, as suggested by the recent guidelines of the European Society of Cardiology.

n-3 PUFAs in cardiovascular disease.

Many large, randomised clinical trials and some meta-analyses have shown that treatment with n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (n-3 PUFAs) is associated with consistent benefits on cardiovascular (CV) events, primarily due to a reduction of coronary and CV deaths in patients with coronary heart disease. At variance with such evidence, some clinical trials and meta-analyses showing a neutral effect of n-3 PUFAs have been recently published, raising concern about the consistency of the evidence on the CV benefits of n-3 PUFAs. Several methodological and clinical aspects of these recent trials deserve to be considered.

Tissue oxygen saturation and pulsatility index as markers for amnestic mild cognitive impairment: NIRS and TCD study.

Objective: To evaluate the utility of near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) and transcranial Doppler (TCD) parameters as potential markers for amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI).

Methods: By means of NIRS and TCD, noninvasive and inexpensive technologies, we studied 21 patients with aMCI (10 M and 11 F, 70.2 ± 7.

Correlation between the arterial pulse wave of the cerebral microcirculation and CBF during breath holding and hyperventilation in human.

Objective: To evaluate if relative changes in the amplitude of the arterial pulse wave of the cerebral microcirculation (APWCM) measured by near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) may provide information about relative changes of cerebral blood flow (CBF) in cerebral cortex.

Methods: In 10 healthy human volunteers, through simultaneous recording of the APWCM amplitude by means of NIRS and the mean blood flow velocity (MBFV) of middle cerebral artery by means of transcranial Doppler (TCD) at rest and during breath holding and hyperventilation, we evaluate a possible correlation between relative changes of the mean APWCM amplitude and relative changes of MBFV.

Results: We found a significant linear correlation: breath holding: R(2) 0.

Pathophysiology of migraine attack with prolonged aura revealed by transcranial Doppler and near infrared spectroscopy.

The aim of this study is to identify the pathophysiology of migraine attack with prolonged aura (between 1 h and 7 days) not clearly understood. We studied cortical cerebral microcirculation by an innovative near infrared spectroscopy system (NIRS) and cerebral macrocirculation by transcranial Doppler (TCD) in eight subjects (3 M and 5 F, age range 21-41 years) during spontaneous prolonged migraine aura and after 1, 2, 4, 6, 12 and 24 h since the end of aura and compared the results with the headache-free periods. During aura NIRS showed a significant decrease of the arterial pulse wave of cerebral microcirculation (APWCM) amplitude (-35%), p < 0.