Lipoprotein(a) levels and risk of adverse events after myocardial infarction in patients with and without diabetes.

Introduction: The aim of this study was to evaluate the association of lipoprotein(a) [Lp(a)] levels with long-term outcome in patients with recent history of myocardial infarction (MI), and to investigate if diabetes may influence this association.

Methods: Consecutive MI patients who underwent urgent/emergent coronary angiography from February 2013 to June 2019 were prospectively collected. The primary outcome was the composite of MI recurrence and all-cause death.

Clinical Status, Nutritional Behavior, and Lifestyle, and Determinants of Community Well-Being of Patients from the Perspective of Physicians: A Cross-Sectional Study of Young Older Adults, Nonagenarians, and Centenarians in Salerno and Province, Italy.

Longevity is rightly considered one of the greatest achievements of modern society. Biomedical research has shown that aging is the major risk factor for many diseases, so to find the right answers to aging it is necessary to identify factors that can positively influence longevity. This study investigated the clinical status, nutritional behavior, lifestyle, and social and community determinants of the well-being of young older adults and nonagenarians/centenarians in Salerno and province through the judgment of their physicians.

Outcomes in Patients With High Transmitral Gradient After Mitral Valve Transcatheter Edge-to-Edge Repair for Mitral Regurgitation.

Despite being highly effective in reducing residual mitral regurgitation and improving outcomes, mitral valve transcatheter edge-to-edge repair (MV-TEER) may be associated with high postprocedural residual mitral gradient (rMG). Conflicting results have been reported regarding the relation between rMG and adverse events. This study aimed to evaluate the predictors and the impact of elevated rMG after MV-TEER on clinical events in patients with functional mitral regurgitation (FMR) at 2 years follow-up.

Intra- and Inter-observer Agreement of High Resolution Antroduodenal Manometry in Pediatric Patients Among Single Center Experts.

Objectives: Studies in adults have suggested that high-resolution technology increases the diagnostic yield of antroduodenal manometry (ADM). However, there is no study comparing high-resolution with low-resolution ADM recordings as well as comparing the 2 types of high-resolution display [conventional line plot (CLP) and pressure topographic plots (PTP)]. We hypothesized that high-resolution ADM is a superior diagnostic modality with higher inter-observer and intra-observer agreement compared with low-resolution recordings.

The need for custom made frozen elephant trunk: when and where.

The frozen elephant trunk (FET) technique is an increasingly common procedure to treat complex extensive aortic disease both in elective and emergency setting. In a contemporary era, several prostheses are available to be used by surgeons performing such procedures, merging the advantages of endovascular and conventional surgery and preparing a more useful landing zone for second-stage downstream endovascular or open repair. Thoraflex hybrid (Terumo Aortic, Scotland) is a largely used hybrid vascular device merging a conventional surgical vascular graft made of gelatin-sealed woven polyester graft with a nitinol self-expanding stent graft.

Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) antigen detection in the Emergency Department: data from a pediatric cohort during the fourth COVID-19 wave in Italy.

Background: Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) pandemic has been challenging health care systems and made it necessary to use rapid and cost-effective testing methods, particularly in Emergency Department (ED) settings. Rapid Antigen Diagnostic Tests (RADTs) are a valid alternative to the gold standard RT-PCR, even in pediatric populations. This retrospective observational study has been conducted on a pediatric cohort afferent to the ED of the San Giovanni di Dio and Ruggi d'Aragona University Hospital in Salerno, tested at Point of Care with RADT Panbio® (Abbott), from September 1, 2021 to February 28, 2022, analyzing the positivity rate and clinical features of the cohort, also in reference to the rise of positive cases observed in the aforementioned period, and to the introduction in Italy of SARS-CoV-2 vaccination for children and teens on December 16, 2021.

Optical Coherence Tomography Analysis of Retinal Layers in Celiac Disease.

Celiac disease is an immune-mediated, chronic, inflammatory, and systemic illness which could affect the eye. The aim of this study is to look for possible signs of retinal involvement in celiac disease that could be utilized as biomarkers for this disease. Sixty-six patients with celiac disease and sixty-six sex-matched healthy subjects were enrolled in this observational case-control study.

Hodgkin Lymphoma and Hairy Cell Leukemia Arising from Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia: Case Reports and Literature Review.

Richter's syndrome represents the progression of chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) to more aggressive diseases, most frequently diffuse large B-cell lymphoma, while Hodgkin's lymphoma (HL) and hairy cell leukemia (HCL) are rarely described. The first case involved a 67-year-old man with a diagnosis of a high-risk stage-II CLL treated with rituximab and ibrutinib, developed a HL nodular sclerosis variant after three months of therapy for CLL. After achieving a complete remission for HL and ibrutinib cessation because of drug-related cardiotoxicity, the patient relapsed after five months off-therapy and died due to disease progression after two cycles of brentuximab-vedotin.

Stem Cells from Healthy and Tendinopathic Human Tendons: Morphology, Collagen and Cytokines Expression and Their Response to T3 Thyroid Hormone.

The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of triiodothyronine (T3) on tendon specific markers and cytokines expression of stem cells extracted from human tendons. Indeed, thyroid hormones have been reported to be protective factors, maintaining tendons' homeostasis, whereas tendinopathy is believed to be related to a failed healing response. Healthy and tendinopathic human tendons were harvested to isolate tendon stem/progenitor cells (TSPCs).

Challenges in Bariatric Surgery: Outcomes in Patients Having Three or More Bariatric Procedures.

Introduction: Over the last two decades, a progressive increase in failure rate of bariatric surgery (BS) has occurred in conjunction with an exponential increase in BS worldwide. Bariatric surgeons are confronted with challenging situations in patients with a complex bariatric history. In this study, we aim to evaluate the feasibility and outcomes of revisional BS in patients with at least two or more previous bariatric procedures.

Plant hairy roots for the production of extracellular vesicles with antitumor bioactivity.

Plant extracellular vesicles (EVs) concentrate and deliver different types of bioactive molecules in human cells and are excellent candidates for a next-generation drug delivery system. However, the lack of standard protocols for plant EV production and the natural variations of their biomolecular cargo pose serious limitation to their use as therapeutics. To overcome these issues, we set up a versatile and standardized procedure to purify plant EVs from hairy root (HR) cultures, a versatile biotechnological system, already successfully employed as source of bioactive molecules with pharmaceutical and nutraceutical relevance.

Prognostic significance of age within the adolescent and young adult acute ischemic stroke population after mechanical thrombectomy: insights from STAR.

Objective: Although younger adults have been shown to have better functional outcomes after mechanical thrombectomy (MT) for acute ischemic stroke (AIS), the significance of this relationship in the adolescent and young adult (AYA) population is not well defined given its undefined rarity. Correspondingly, the goal of this study was to determine the prognostic significance of age in this specific demographic following MT for large-vessel occlusions.

Methods: A prospectively maintained international multi-institutional database, STAR (Stroke Thrombectomy and Aneurysm Registry), was reviewed for all patients aged 12-18 (adolescent) and 19-25 (young adult) years.

Ischiofemoral impingement syndrome: a case report and review of literature.

Introduction: The etiology of ischiofemoral impingement (IFI) syndrome, an unusual and uncommon form of hip pain, remains uncertain. Some patients demonstrate narrowing of the space between the ischial tuberosity and lesser trochanter from trauma or abnormal morphology of the quadratus femoris muscle. Combined clinical and imaging aid in the diagnosis.

Negative correlation between word-level surprisal and intersubject neural synchronization during narrative listening.

Word-predictability measures, such as surprisal, have been used to show that linguistic prediction is an essential neural mechanism for successful comprehension. However, the neural dynamic of this mechanism may differ across individuals listening to the same narrative, revealing possible idiosyncrasies. Therefore, in this study, we investigated the ability of the surprisal measure to address the linguistic prediction in terms of the intersubject phase synchronization (ISPS) among healthy volunteers listening to a narrative during continuous functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) scanning.

Impact of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease on short-term outcome in patients with ST-elevation myocardial infarction during COVID-19 pandemic: insights from the international multicenter ISACS-STEMI registry.

Background: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is projected to become the third cause of mortality worldwide. COPD shares several pathophysiological mechanisms with cardiovascular disease, especially atherosclerosis. However, no definite answers are available on the prognostic role of COPD in the setting of ST elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI), especially during COVID-19 pandemic, among patients undergoing primary angioplasty, that is therefore the aim of the current study.

coMpliAnce with evideNce-based cliniCal guidelines in the managemenT of acute biliaRy pancreAtitis): The MANCTRA-1 international audit.

Background/objectives: Reports about the implementation of recommendations from acute pancreatitis guidelines are scant. This study aimed to evaluate, on a patient-data basis, the contemporary practice patterns of management of biliary acute pancreatitis and to compare these practices with the recommendations by the most updated guidelines.

Methods: All consecutive patients admitted to any of the 150 participating general surgery (GS), hepatopancreatobiliary surgery (HPB), internal medicine (IM) and gastroenterology (GA) departments with a diagnosis of biliary acute pancreatitis between 01/01/2019 and 31/12/2020 were included in the study.

Impact and Value of Hospital Antibiotic Stewardship: Retrospective Pre-COVID-19-Pandemic Analysis.

Aim: "Antimicrobial stewardship" (AMS) is defined as a healthcare-system-wide approach to promoting and monitoring the judicious use of antimicrobials to preserve their future effectiveness. Therefore, we structured an observational study to monitor the hospital trend of antibiotic consumption and related expenditure before the COVID-19 pandemic and to evaluate how much AMS could affect this trend.

Methods: The research covered the antibiotic prescriptions at the University Hospital (U.

Efficacy of Decitabine and Venetoclax as Salvage and Bridge Therapy to Haploidentical Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation in a Multiresistant Acute Myeloid Leukemia Patient.

Treatment of relapsed/refractory or elderly unfit acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is still challenging, and hypomethylating agents in combination with venetoclax, an oral selective BCL2 inhibitor, might be successfully used as salvage therapy. However, clinical trials evaluating the efficacy and safety of this combination in the setting of multiresistant AML treatment also as a bridge to transplant are still ongoing. Here, we reported a 50-year-old male diagnosed with AML with normal cytogenetics and wild type for fms-like tyrosine kinase 3, nucleophosmin 1, and KIT, and treated with decitabine and venetoclax as the fifth line of therapy and after a relapse post-allogeneic transplant.

Allogenic Umbilical Cord Tissue for Treatment of Knee Osteoarthritis.

Interest in use of perinatal allogenic tissues including clinical-grade minimally manipulated umbilical cord tissue-derived allograft formulations to treat knee osteoarthritis (OA) patients is increasing. Limited studies have characterized these formulations and evaluated their safety and efficacy in knee OA patients. We developed such formulation and reported the presence of growth factors, cytokines, hyaluronic acid, and exosomes.

Cotinine levels influence the risk of rupture of brain aneurysms.

Unlabelled: Cotinine, the primary metabolite of nicotine, is currently regarded as the best biomarker of tobacco smoke exposure. We aim to assess whether cotinine levels are associated with (1) intracranial aneurysm and (2) intracranial aneurysm rupture.

Methods: We performed a single-center case-control study.

Sacubitril/valsartan reduces indications for arrhythmic primary prevention in heart failure with reduced ejection fraction: insights from DISCOVER-ARNI, a multicenter Italian register.

Aims: This sub-study deriving from a multicentre Italian register [Deformation Imaging by Strain in Chronic Heart Failure Over Sacubitril-Valsartan: A Multicenter Echocardiographic Registry (DISCOVER)-ARNI] investigated whether sacubitril/valsartan in addition to optimal medical therapy (OMT) could reduce the rate of implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD) indications for primary prevention in heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF) according to European guidelines indications, and its potential predictors.

Methods And Results: In this observational study, consecutive patients with HFrEF eligible for sacubitril/valsartan from 13 Italian centres were included. Lack of follow-up or speckle tracking data represented exclusion criteria.