Psoriasis is an inflammatory and chronic skin disorder associated with physical and psychological burden impairing patients' quality of life. In the last decade, biologic drugs have widely changed ...treatment of moderate-severe psoriasis and their number is increasing overtime. To early identify expected/unexpected adverse events (AEs) with biologic treatments, pharmacovigilance programs are needed. We designed a post-marketing active pharmacovigilance program to monitor and analyse AEs and/or serious adverse events (SAEs) reports. All consecutive patients treated with one biologic drug during a two-years period and satisfying inclusion criteria have been enrolled in five Dermatology tertiary units. Demographic and clinical features of patients, type of treatment used, therapy discontinuation, failures, switch/swap to another biologic, and possible onset of AEs were collected. Overall, 512 patients with a diagnosis of psoriasis (286; 55.9%) or arthropathic psoriasis (226; 44.1%) have been enrolled. Eighty-two (16%) patients with AEs and 5 (1%) with SAEs have been identified. Further, 59 (11.5%) had a primary/secondary failure (mainly on infliximab and etanercept). The adverse events and SAEs were reported with golimumab (4/12), adalimumab (32/167), infliximab (9/48), etanercept (31/175) and ustekinumab (11/73), no adverse events have occurred with secukinumab (0/37). Infliximab and etanercept were significantly associated with primary/secondary failures, whereas no differences have been highlighted for AEs insurgence. On the other hand, ustekinumab seems to be associated with a low rate of AEs (p = 0.01) and no adverse events or failures have been reported with secukinumab (p = 0.04 and 0.03, respectively). Our study, even though limited by a small sample size and a brief follow-up period, provide useful data on widely used biologic drugs and their tolerability, discontinuation rate and the incurrence of severe adverse events. Further studies are necessary to include the recently approved biologic drugs and to increase the sample size for more detailed analysis.
Purpose
To evaluate if there was a correlation between in vivo kinematics of a medial-stabilized (MS) total knee arthroplasty (TKA) and post-operative clinical scores. We hypothesized that (1) a ...MS-TKA would produce a medial pivot movement and that (2) this specific pattern would be correlated with higher clinical scores.
Methods
18 patients were evaluated through clinical and functional scores evaluation (Knee Society Score clinical and functional, Womac, Oxford), and kinematically through dynamic radiostereometric analysis (RSA) at 9 months after MS-TKA, during the execution of a sit-to-stand and a lunge motor task. The anteroposterior (AP) Low Point translation of medial and lateral femoral compartments was compared through Student’s
t
test (
p
< 0.05). A correlation analysis between scores and kinematics was performed through the Pearson’s correlation coefficient
r
.
Results
A significantly greater (
p
< 0.0001) anterior translation of the lateral compartment with respect to the medial one was found in both sit-to-stand (medial 2.9 mm ± 0.7 mm, lateral 7.1 mm ± 0.6 mm) and lunge (medial 5.3 mm ± 0.9 mm, lateral 10.9 mm ± 0.7 mm) motor tasks, thus resulting in a medial pivot pattern in about 70% of patients. Significant positive correlation in sit-to-stand was found between the peak of AP translation in the lateral compartment and clinical scores (
r
= 0.59 for Knee Society Score clinical and
r
= 0.61 for Oxford). Moreover, we found that the higher peak of AP translation of the medial compartment correlated with lower clinical scores (
r
= − 0.55 for Knee Society Score clinical,
r
= − 0.61 for Womac and
r
= − 0.53 for Oxford) in the lunge. A negative correlation was found between Knee Society Score clinical and VV laxity during sit-to-stand (
r
= − 0.56) and peak of external rotation in the lunge motor task (
r
= − 0.66).
Conclusions
The MS-TKA investigated produced in vivo a medial pivot movement in about 70% of patients in both examined motor tasks. There was a correlation between the presence of medial pivot and higher post-operative scores.
Level of evidence
IV.
During last decades, Magnetic Resonance (MR)--compatible sensors based on different techniques have been developed due to growing demand for application in medicine. There are several technological ...solutions to design MR-compatible sensors, among them, the one based on optical fibers presents several attractive features. The high elasticity and small size allow designing miniaturized fiber optic sensors (FOS) with metrological characteristics (e.g., accuracy, sensitivity, zero drift, and frequency response) adequate for most common medical applications; the immunity from electromagnetic interference and the absence of electrical connection to the patient make FOS suitable to be used in high electromagnetic field and intrinsically safer than conventional technologies. These two features further heightened the potential role of FOS in medicine making them especially attractive for application in MRI. This paper provides an overview of MR-compatible FOS, focusing on the sensors employed for measuring physical parameters in medicine (i.e., temperature, force, torque, strain, and position). The working principles of the most promising FOS are reviewed in terms of their relevant advantages and disadvantages, together with their applications in medicine.
Aquaporins and Brain Tumors Maugeri, Rosario; Schiera, Gabriella; Di Liegro, Carlo Maria ...
International Journal of Molecular Sciences,
07/2016, Letnik:
17, Številka:
7
Journal Article, Book Review
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
Brain primary tumors are among the most diverse and complex human cancers, and they are normally classified on the basis of the cell-type and/or the grade of malignancy (the most malignant being ...glioblastoma multiforme (GBM), grade IV). Glioma cells are able to migrate throughout the brain and to stimulate angiogenesis, by inducing brain capillary endothelial cell proliferation. This in turn causes loss of tight junctions and fragility of the blood-brain barrier, which becomes leaky. As a consequence, the most serious clinical complication of glioblastoma is the vasogenic brain edema. Both glioma cell migration and edema have been correlated with modification of the expression/localization of different isoforms of aquaporins (AQPs), a family of water channels, some of which are also involved in the transport of other small molecules, such as glycerol and urea. In this review, we discuss relationships among expression/localization of AQPs and brain tumors/edema, also focusing on the possible role of these molecules as both diagnostic biomarkers of cancer progression, and therapeutic targets. Finally, we will discuss the possibility that AQPs, together with other cancer promoting factors, can be exchanged among brain cells via extracellular vesicles (EVs).
Long pentraxin 3 (PTX3) is an essential component of humoral innate immunity, involved in resistance to selected pathogens and in the regulation of inflammation
. The present study was designed to ...assess the presence and significance of PTX3 in Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19)
. RNA-sequencing analysis of peripheral blood mononuclear cells, single-cell bioinformatics analysis and immunohistochemistry of lung autopsy samples revealed that myelomonocytic cells and endothelial cells express high levels of PTX3 in patients with COVID-19. Increased plasma concentrations of PTX3 were detected in 96 patients with COVID-19. PTX3 emerged as a strong independent predictor of 28-d mortality in multivariable analysis, better than conventional markers of inflammation, in hospitalized patients with COVID-19. The prognostic significance of PTX3 abundance for mortality was confirmed in a second independent cohort (54 patients). Thus, circulating and lung myelomonocytic cells and endothelial cells are a major source of PTX3, and PTX3 plasma concentration can serve as an independent strong prognostic indicator of short-term mortality in COVID-19.
Giulio Bizzozero classified the tissues concerning their capacity to self-renew during the adult life in labile, stable and permanent tissues. In 1940 Viktor Hamburger and Rita Levi Montalcini ...exposed the possibility to induce the growth of permanent cells thanks to a specific ligand Nerve Growth Factor (NGF). Stanley Cohen purified a protein the Epidermal Growth Factor (EGF), able to induce epidermis proliferation and to elicit precocious eye disclosure and teeth eruption, establishing the "inverse" relationships between the proliferation and differentiation. These two biological effects induced by EGF were according to EGFR signaling is involved in a large array of cellular functions such as proliferation, survival, adhesion, migration and differentiation. This review is focused on the key role of growth factors signaling and their downstream effectors in physiological and in pathological phenomena, the authors highlight the governance of Growth factors during the EMT in cancer invasion.
Widespread commercial use of the internet has significantly increased the volume and scope of data being collected by organisations. 'Big data' has emerged as a term to encapsulate both the technical ...and commercial aspects of this growing data collection activity. To date, much of the discussion of big data has centred upon its transformational potential for innovation and efficiency, yet there has been less reflection on its wider implications beyond commercial value creation. This paper builds upon normal accident theory (NAT) to analyse the broader ethical implications of big data. It argues that the strategies behind big data require organisational systems that leave them vulnerable to normal accidents, that is to say some form of accident or disaster that is both unanticipated and inevitable. Whilst NAT has previously focused on the consequences of physical accidents, this paper suggests a new form of system accident that we label data accidents. These have distinct, less tangible and more complex characteristics and raise significant questions over the role of individual privacy in a 'data society'. The paper concludes by considering the ways in which the risks of such data accidents might be managed or mitigated.
C‐reactive protein (CRP), fibrinogen, and d‐dimer are determined in the human plasma of 2745 hospitalized patients with and without coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‐19) by automated‐latex enhanced ...immunoassay and immuno‐turbidimetric assay. SARS‐COV‐2 RNA qualitative test, real time polymerase chain reaction (RT‐PCR) based, is performed in nasopharyngeal swabs to confirm those with SARS‐COV‐2 positivity. Furthermore, serum proteins are separated and quantified in all the patients by serum protein electrophoresis (SPE).
A new SPE parameter, inflammatory protein ratio (IPR), is elaborated for the first time by a mathematical equation that considers the albumin, α1‐globulin, and α2‐globulin. IPR normal reference range (10.7%–28.3%) is calculated considering the normal reference range of albumin, α1‐globulin, and α2‐globulin obtained for controls. Analysis of variance (ANOVA), Pearson's, Kruskal–Wallis, and Spearman's tests application show that IPR significantly correlates with direct proportionality with d‐dimer, CRP, and fibrinogen. Significant (p < 0.001) increase of these parameters, IPR included, is detected in COVID‐19 patients only. Our results show that IPR is more specific for monitoring inflammatory status thanks to its correlation with the only three serum proteins involved in inflammation: albumin, α1‐globulin, and α2‐globulin. Furthermore, IPR can simplify the interpretation of SPE results about inflammatory status, being of unique value compared to the six‐serum protein classes separately presented in the typical SPE clinical reports.
This work focuses on evaluating the potential of variable speed limits (VSLs) in a synthetic urban network to improve both environmental sustainability and traffic performance. The traffic system is ...modeled using the microscopic traffic simulator SUMO, and a physical fuel consumption and NOx emission model is used to assess the vehicles' energy efficiency. Speed limits are controlled through a nonlinear model predictive control (NMPC) approach, in which the traffic evolution and fuel consumption are respectively predicted with a macroscopic traffic model, namely the cell transmission model (CTM), and a pre-calibrated artificial neural network (ANN). The results reveal that in transient phases between different levels of congestion, the proposed eco-VSL controller is faster to decongest the network, resulting in an improvement of the environmental sustainability and the traffic performance both in the controlled network, and at its boundary roads.
PDF
