Lucas 2

BACKGROUND.: Aeration heterogeneity affects lung stress and influences outcomes in adults with acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). We hypothesize that aeration heterogeneity may differ between neonatal respiratory disorders and is associated with oxygenation, so its evaluation may be relevant in managing respiratory support. METHODS.: Observational, prospective study. Neonates with respiratory distress syndrome (RDS), transient tachypnea (TTN), evolving bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD) and neonatal ARDS (NARDS) were enrolled...

N6-methyladenosine (m6A) is a RNA modification that can regulate post-transcriptional processes including RNA stability, translation, splicing and nuclear export. In CD4+ lymphocytes, m6A modifications have been demonstrated to play a role in early differentiation processes. The role of m6A in CD4+ T cell activation and effector function remains incompletely understood. To assess the role of m6A in CD4+ T lymphocyte activation and function, we assessed the transcriptome-wide m6A landscape of human primary CD4+ T cells by methylated RNA immunoprecipitation (meRIP) sequencing...

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the occurrence of carbapenem-resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae increased in human clinical settings worldwide. Impacted by this increase, international high-risk clones harboring carbapenemase-encoding genes have been circulating in different sources, including the environment. The blaKPC gene is the most commonly disseminated carbapenemase-encoding gene worldwide, whose transmission is carried out by different mobile genetic elements. In this study, blaKPC-2 -positive Klebsiella pneumoniae complex strains were isolated from different anthropogenically affected aquatic ecosystems and characterized using phenotypic, molecular, and genomic methods...

The decision to establish a network of researchers centers on identifying shared research goals. Ecologically specific regions, such as the USA's National Ecological Observatory Network's (NEON's) eco-climatic domains, are ideal locations by which to assemble researchers with a diverse range of expertise but focused on the same set of ecological challenges. The recently established Great Lakes User Group (GLUG) is NEON's first domain specific ensemble of researchers, whose goal is to address scientific and technical issues specific to the Great Lakes Domain 5 (D05) by using NEON data to enable advancement of ecosystem science...

Our study investigates the post-mortem findings of the diaphragm's muscular structural changes in mechanically ventilated COVID-19 patients. Diaphragm samples of the right side from 42 COVID-19 critically ill patients were analyzed and correlated with the type and length of mechanical ventilation (MV), ventilatory parameters, prone positioning, and use of sedative drugs. The mean number of fibers was 550±626. The cross-sectional area was 4120±3280 μm2, while the muscular fraction was 0.607±0...

OBJECTIVE: To calculate the rate of tuberculosis recurrence, estimate its average time until recurrence, and identify factors associated with recurrence in Brazil. METHODS: Retrospective cohort study with a linked database from the Notifiable Diseases Information System. The study included individuals diagnosed with tuberculosis in 2015, focusing on those who experienced their first recurrence within 6.5 years. We estimated the relative risk (RR) and its 95% confidence interval (95%CI), as well as the population attributable fraction (PAF) or the population preventable fraction (PPF) of associated factors...

Bimekizumab is the latest monoclonal antibody approved for the management of moderate-to-severe plaque psoriasis. Currently, data investigating its use in real-life setting are limited. Therefore, we performed a short term [(16 weeks (W)] real-life, monocentric, prospective study aiming to assess the efficacy and safety of bimekizumab, also comparing bio-naïve vs bio-experienced patients. Globally, 56 patients were included. At baseline, mean PASI and DLQI were 16.9±7.8 and 22.6±5.9, respectively...

The authors discuss the relevance of aesthetic and affective experience at the heart of the human being's capability to relate to the world and to found relations of sense. Faced with anguish that the world can be meaningless and with fear of uncertainty/chaos, trust and hope are needed for the world to be a hospitable place for existence. Such experience is aesthetic, sensitive and affective before being rational, reflective and deliberative. Through a dialogue between Kant, Winnicott and Bion, it is shown how foundation of trust is based on two essential aspects: (1) The illusion that reality was created to allow us to live in it (namely, the fictionality is a prerequisite for each possible development of psyche) and (2) this illusion is not generated by a solipsistic activity of the human mind; rather, it is made possible starting from the primordial relationship with the other, by containing anguish, nourishing trust and hope, and supporting psychic development and elaboration of progressive forms of symbolisation...

Layered Double Hydroxides (LDH) are synthetic materials nanostructured in two dimensions that present positively charged layers with interspersed anions for charge and structure balancing. Being recognized as a promising material for various applications, a complete exploration of its possible attractive properties and its synthesis process is essential. However, drying, a necessary step in the process, is still little studied. This work aimed to produce MgAl-CO3 /LDH microspheres and calculate the volumetric heat coefficient in spray drying, evaluating the drying air inlet temperature and the concentration of the feed paste in the dryer...

Preconditioning with lipopolysaccharide (LPS) induces neuroprotection against subsequent cerebral ischemic injury, mainly involving innate immune pathways. Microglia are resident immune cells of the central nervous system (CNS) that respond early to danger signals through memory-like differential reprogramming. However, the cell-specific molecular mechanisms underlying preconditioning are not fully understood. To elucidate the distinct molecular mechanisms of preconditioning on microglia, we compared these cell-specific proteomic profiles in response to LPS preconditioning and without preconditioning and subsequent transient focal brain ischemia and reperfusion, - using an established mouse model of transient focal brain ischemia and reperfusion...

Postoperative urinary retention (POUR) is defined as the inability to void in the presence of a full bladder after surgery. Complications include delirium, pain, prolonged hospitalization, and long-term altered bladder contractility. Comorbidities, type of surgery and anesthesia influence the development of POUR. The incidence varies between 5% and 70%. History and clinical examination, the need for bladder catheterization and ultrasonographic evaluation are three methods used to diagnose POUR. The prevention of POUR currently involves identifying patients with pre-operative risk factors and then modifying them where possible...

Memory clinic patients are a heterogeneous population representing various aetiologies of pathological aging. It is unknown if divergent spatiotemporal progression patterns of brain atrophy, as previously described in Alzheimer's disease (AD) patients, are prevalent and clinically meaningful in this group of older adults. To uncover distinct atrophy subtypes, we applied the Subtype and Stage Inference (SuStaIn) algorithm to baseline structural MRI data from 813 participants enrolled in the DELCODE cohort (mean ± SD age = 70...

Remdesivir (RDV) was the first Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved medication for COVID-19, with discordant data on efficacy in reducing mortality risk and disease progression. In the context of a dynamic and rapidly changing pandemic landscape, the utilization of real-world evidence is of utmost importance. The objective of this study is to evaluate the impact of RDV on patients who have been admitted to two university referral hospitals in Italy due to COVID-19. All patients older than 18 years and hospitalized at two different universities (Bari and Palermo) were enrolled in this study...

BACKGROUND: Cohorts A, C, and E of the phase Ib KEYNOTE-651 study evaluated pembrolizumab + binimetinib ± chemotherapy in microsatellite stable/mismatch repair-proficient metastatic colorectal cancer. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Patients received pembrolizumab 200 mg every 3 weeks plus binimetinib 30 mg twice daily alone (cohort A; previously treated with any chemotherapy) or with 5-fluorouracil, leucovorin, oxaliplatin (cohort C; previously untreated) or 5-fluorouracil, leucovorin, irinotecan (cohort E; previously treated with 1 line of therapy including fluoropyrimidine + oxaliplatin-based regimen) every 2 weeks...

BACKGROUND: The purpose of this study was to assess the long-term clinical efficacy of first-generation autologous chondrocyte implantation (ACI) technique for osteochondral lesions of the ankle joint. METHODS: Eleven patients with symptomatic OLTs underwent ACI from December 1997 to October 2002. A total of 9 patients (5 men, 4 women, age 25.2 ± 6.3) were evaluated at baseline and at 1, 3, 10 years, and at final follow-up of minimum 20 years with AOFAS ankle-hindfoot score, NRS for pain, and with the Tegner score...

BACKGROUND: High risk non-muscle invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC) is usually treated with intravesical BCG-therapy. In case of BCG failure radical cystectomy (RC) is the treatment of choice. Nevertheless, many patients are unfit for or unwilling to undergo RC. Hyperthermic intravesical chemotherapy (HIVEC) is a promising bladder sparing therapy in such cases. It was the purpose of the study to evaluate the efficacy of HIVEC in patients with BCG failure as well as in BCG naïve patients in case of BCG shortage or given contra-indications for BCG...

BACKGROUND: Various yoga positions may have an unfavorable impact on intraocular pressure (IOP) and may therefore be seen as a potential risk factor for the progression of glaucoma. The new "iCare HOME2" is a handheld self-tonometer for IOP measurements outside clinical settings. This is the first study to evaluate the immediate effect of common yoga postures on the IOP of healthy and glaucomatous eyes using the "iCare HOME2" self-tonometer and to compare the time of IOP recovery in both groups...

Phototherapies are promising for noninvasive treatment of aggressive tumors, especially when combining heat induction and oxidative processes. Herein, we show enhanced phototoxicity of gold shell-isolated nanorods conjugated with toluidine blue-O (AuSHINRs@TBO) against human colorectal tumor cells (Caco-2) with synergic effects of photothermal (PTT) and photodynamic therapies (PDT). Mitochondrial metabolic activity tests (MTT) performed on Caco-2 cell cultures indicated a photothermal effect from AuSHINRs owing to enhanced light absorption from the localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR)...

We aimed to develop and validate a COVID-19 specific scoring system, also including some ECG features, to predict all-cause in-hospital mortality at admission. Patients were retrieved from the ELCOVID study (ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT04367129), a prospective, multicenter Italian study enrolling COVID-19 patients between May to September 2020. For the model validation, we randomly selected two-thirds of participants to create a derivation dataset and we used the remaining one-third of participants as the validation set...

PURPOSE: Antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 spike (anti-S) may confer protection against symptomatic COVID-19. Whether their level predicts progression among those with COVID-19 pneumonia remains unclear. METHODS: We conducted a retrospective cohort study to assess predictors of anti-S levels and whether anti-S titer is associated with death or mechanical ventilation (MV). Adults hospitalized for COVID-19 pneumonia between July 2021 and July 2022 were enrolled if anti-S had been measured within 72 h of admission...