The use of artificial nail tips in professional manicure services and the application of false eyelashes are a growing trend among young women. Often, this “beauty routine” is performed at home ...without the supervision of an expert beautician, raising health problems due to either the spillage of these products or to accidental exposure to children. The aim of this study is to review the Pavia Poison Control Centre clinical records to identify the frequency, the most common route of exposure, and the possible risks associated to these events to support the decision-making process in emergency departments. The Pavia Poison Control Centre database was retrospectively searched for records reporting nail or false eyelash glue exposure from January 2007 to April 2020, and 42 patients were identified. Among the patients, 76% presented symptoms from mild to severe, while 24% were asymptomatic. The most common route of exposure was dermal, through cutaneous contact, as determined for 19 patients involved. Among these, seven patients presented with second-degree chemical burns, cutaneous erythema, and ocular symptoms. The most dangerous glue component was cyanoacrylate, leading to symptoms in 16 out of 22 patients, while three cases remained asymptomatic. Even if this exposure is relatively rare, nail and false eyelash glue can be seriously harmful, especially when exposure occurs via dermal or ocular routes. In the case of emergency, it is important to treat the patient as fast as possible to limit the damage caused by a burn. Moreover, even though these products are often perceived as harmless, safety precautions should be taken to prevent children from accidental contact.
The ongoing severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) pandemic and heterologous immunization approaches implemented worldwide for booster doses call for diversified vaccine ...portfolios. GRAd-COV2 is a gorilla adenovirus-based COVID-19 vaccine candidate encoding prefusion-stabilized spike. The safety and immunogenicity of GRAd-COV2 is evaluated in a dose- and regimen-finding phase 2 trial (COVITAR study, ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT04791423) whereby 917 eligible participants are randomized to receive a single intramuscular GRAd-COV2 administration followed by placebo, or two vaccine injections, or two doses of placebo, spaced over 3 weeks. Here, we report that GRAd-COV2 is well tolerated and induces robust immune responses after a single immunization; a second administration increases binding and neutralizing antibody titers. Potent, variant of concern (VOC) cross-reactive spike-specific T cell response peaks after the first dose and is characterized by high frequencies of CD8s. T cells maintain immediate effector functions and high proliferative potential over time. Thus, GRAd vector is a valuable platform for genetic vaccine development, especially when robust CD8 response is needed.
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•GRAd-COV2 vaccine based on a recently developed group C gorilla adenoviral vector•Phase 2 trial confirms favorable safety profile for single- and double-dose regimens•SARS-CoV-2 binding/neutralizing Ab boosted by homologous or heterologous vaccine•Potent, VOC cross-reactive, functional, and durable CD4 and CD8 T cell responses
Capone et al. show that GRAd-COV2 vaccine is well tolerated and immunogenic in phase 2 trial; as an alternative Ad serotype, GRAd represents a valid addition to the SARS-CoV-2 vaccine toolbox for heterologous prime/boost regimens and a promising platform for genetic vaccines, particularly when T cell response is key.
Background/Aims
Apolipoprotein (apo)A‐IMilano, is a molecular variant of apoA‐Iwild‐type, associated with dramatically low HDL‐cholesterol levels, but no increased risk for cardiovascular disease. In ...view of the present uncertainties on the role of apoA‐I in liver cholesterol removal by way of bile acids and neutral sterols, and of the greater capacity of apoA‐IMilano to remove arterial cholesterol, biliary sterol metabolism was evaluated in transgenic mice expressing apoA‐IMilano.
Methods
ApoA‐IMilano mice were fed a high‐cholesterol/high‐fat diet, and compared with human apoA‐Iwild‐type mice. Plasma lipid levels, hepatic bile flow and composition, hepatic and intestinal cholesterol and bile acid content, and faecal sterol content were measured. Moreover, the expression of hepatic ABCA1, SR‐B1 and that of hepatic and intestinal genes involved in bile acid metabolism were evaluated.
Results
The dietary treatment led to a strong elevation in HDL‐cholesterol levels in A‐IMilano mice, associated with an increased expression of hepatic ABCA1. ApoA‐IMilano mice showed lower cholesterol output from the liver compared with apoA‐Iwild‐type mice, in the absence of liver sterol accumulation. Faecal excretion of neutral sterols and bile acids was similar in the two mouse lines.
Conclusions
In spite of a different response to the dietary challenge, with an increased ABCA1 expression and a lower hepatic cholesterol output in apoA‐IMilano mice, the net sterol excretion is comparable in the two transgenic lines.
Preliminary evidence supports the notion that COVID-19 patients may have an increased susceptibility to develop venous thromboembolism (VTE). However, the magnitude of this association still needs to ...be defined. Furthermore, clinical predictors of thrombogenesis, and the relationship with the inflammatory status are currently unknown. On this basis, we conducted a retrospective, observational study on 259 consecutive COVID-19 patients admitted to an academic tertiary referral hospital in Northern Italy between March 19th and April 6th, 2020. Records of COVID-19 patients with a definite VTE event were reviewed for demographic information, co-morbidities, risk factors for VTE, laboratory tests, and anticoagulation treatment. Twenty-five cases among 259 COVID-19 patients developed VTE (9.6%), all of them having a Padua score > 4, although being under standard anticoagulation prophylaxis since hospital admission. In the VTE subcohort, we found a significant positive correlation between platelet count (PLT) and either C reactive protein (CRP) (
p
< 0.0001) or lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) (
p
= 0.0013), while a significant inverse correlation was observed between PLT and mean platelet volume (
p
< 0.0001). Platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio significantly correlated with CRP (
p
< 0.0001). The majority of VTE patients was male and younger compared to non-VTE patients (
p
= 0.002 and
p
= 0.005, respectively). No significant difference was found in
d
-dimer levels between VTE and non VTE patients, while significantly higher levels of LDH (
p
= 0.04) and IL-6 (
p
= 0.04) were observed in VTE patients in comparison to non-VTE patients. In conclusion, our findings showed a quite high prevalence of VTE in COVID-19 patients. Raised inflammatory indexes and increased serum levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines should raise the clinical suspicion of VTE.
The aim of this study was to evaluate the diagnosis and management of postoperative bile leaks, reporting typical diagnostic findings and available percutaneous techniques in association with other ...diagnostic and management methods.
Thirty-six patients (28 male) were treated for postoperative bile leaks. A biliary leak was clinically suspected in case of persistent leakage of bilious material from a surgical drain, or in the presence of non-specific symptoms such as abdominal pain, fever and anorexia, with or without laboratory alteration of liver enzymes. Radiological confirmation was mainly based on noninvasive methods such as ultrasound, computed tomography, and magnetic resonance cholangiopancreatography. We assessed each treatment by evaluating multiple factors, including technical success (TS) and clinical effectiveness (CE), defined as primary or secondary. We also evaluated overall CE (OCE), defined as leak control with either single or multiple procedures.
TS and OCE were achieved in all patients (36/36; 100%) with a grade A or B biliary leak. No grade C was observed. There were no major complications. Minor complications were observed in 7/36 (19.4%) patients. No procedure-related deaths occurred.
In our study, considering all percutaneous techniques, leak healing was achieved in all the patients with a grade A or B biliary leak. These procedures provide a less invasive approach and are increasingly recognized as having a significant role in the management of complications and should be considered as an integral component in the postoperative management of these patients.
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► Optimization of an HPLC-ESI-MS/MS method for glucosamine in rabbit cartilage. ► Application of the method to an
in-vivo study. ► Glucosamine presence in cartilage in physiological ...condition. ► Significant increase of cartilage glucosamine concentration after dosing. ► Good correlation between cartilage glucosamine levels and plasma concentrations.
A new HPLC–ESI-MS/MS method for the determination of glucosamine (2-amino-2-deoxy-
d-glucose) in rabbit cartilage was developed and optimized. Glucosamine was extracted from cartilage by cryogenic grinding followed by protein precipitation with trichloroacetic acid. The HPLC separation was achieved with a polymer-based amino column using a mobile phase composed of 10
mM ammonium acetate (pH 7.5)–acetonitrile (20:80%, v/v) at 0.3
mL
min
−1 flow rate.
d-1-
13CGlucosamine was used as internal standard. Selective detection was performed by tandem mass spectrometry with electrospray source, operating in positive ionization mode and in multiple reaction monitoring acquisition (
m/
z 180
→
72 and 181
→
73 for glucosamine and internal standard, respectively). Limit of quantification was 0.045
ng injected, corresponding to 0.25
μg
g
−1 in cartilage. Linearity was obtained up to 20
μg
g
−1 (
R
2
>
0.991). Precision values (%R.S.D.) were <10%. Accuracy (% bias) ranged from −6.0% to 12%. Mean recoveries obtained at 3 concentration levels were higher than 81% (%R.S.D.
≤
8%). The method was applied to measure glucosamine levels in rabbit cartilage and plasma after single oral administration of glucosamine sulfate at a dose of 98
mg
kg
−1 (
n
=
6). Glucosamine was present in cartilage in physiological condition before the treatment. After dosing, mean concentration of cartilage glucosamine significantly increased from 461 to 1040
ng
g
−1. Cartilage glucosamine levels resulted to be well correlated with plasma concentrations, which therefore are useful to predict the target cartilage concentration and its pharmacological activity.
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