An outbreak of a novel coronavirus disease-19 (nCoV-19) infection began in December 2019 in Wuhan, China, and now involved the whole word. Several health workers have been infected in different ...countries. We report the case of a young man with documented nCoV-19 infection evaluated with lung ultrasound and discuss potential applications of lung ultrasound in this setting. Lung ultrasound allowed the identification of nCoV-19 infection at bed-side. Moreover, lung ultrasound can have several other advantages, such as reduced health worker exposition to infected patients, repeatability during follow-up, low-costs and easier application in low-resource settings.
Abstract
Bifidobacteria are amongst the first bacteria to colonize the human gastro-intestinal system and have been proposed to play a crucial role in the development of the infant gut since their ...absence is correlated to the development of diseases later in life. Bifidobacteria have the capacity to metabolize a diverse range of (complex) carbohydrates, reflecting their adaptation to the lower gastro-intestinal tract. Detailed understanding of carbohydrate metabolism regulation in this genus is of prime importance and availability of additional genetic tools easing such studies would be beneficial. To develop a fluorescent protein-based reporter system that can be used in
B. longum
NCC 2705, we first selected the most promising fluorescent protein out of the seven we tested (i.e., mCherry). This reporter protein was then used to study the carbohydrate mediated activation of P
Bl1518
and P
Bl1694
, two promoters respectively predicted to be controlled by the transcriptional factors AraQ and AraU, previously suggested to regulate arabinose utilization and proposed to also act as global transcriptional regulators in bifidobacteria. We confirmed that in
B. longum
NCC 2705 the AraQ controlled promoter (P
Bl1518
) is induced strongly by arabinose and established that the AraU controlled promoter (P
Bl1694
) was mostly induced by the hexoses galactose and fructose. Combining the mCherry reporter system with flow cytometry, we established that NCC 2705 is able to co-metabolize arabinose and glucose while galactose was only consumed after glucose exhaustion, thus illustrating the complexity of different carbohydrate consumption patterns and their specific regulation in this strain.
Gut barrier is a functional unit organized as a multi-layer system and its multiple functions are crucial for maintaining gut homeostasis. Numerous scientific evidences showed a significant ...association between gut barrier leaking and gastro-intestinal/extra-intestinal diseases.
In this review we focus on the relationship between gut barrier leaking and human health. At the same time we speculate on the possible new role of gut barrier protectors in enhancing and restoring gut barrier physiology with the final goal of promoting gut health.
The alteration of the equilibrium in gut barrier leads to the passage of the luminal contents to the underlying tissues and thus into the bloodstream, resulting in the activation of the immune response and in the induction of gut inflammation. This permeability alteration is the basis for the pathogenesis of many diseases, including infectious enterocolitis, inflammatory bowel diseases, irritable bowel syndrome, small intestinal bacterial overgrowth, celiac disease, hepatic fibrosis, food intolerances and also atopic manifestations. Many drugs or compounds used in the treatment of gastrointestinal disease are able to alter the permeability of the intestinal barrier. Recent data highlighted and introduced the possibility of using gelatin tannate, a mucosal barrier protector, for an innovative approach in the management of intestinal diseases, allowing an original therapeutic orientation with the aim of enhancing mucus barrier activity and restoring gut barrier.
These results suggest how the mucus layer recovering, beside the gut microbiota modulation, exerted by gut barrier protectors could be a useful weapon to re-establish the physiological intestinal homeostasis after an acute and chronic injury.
In this study, the serum triglycerides and total serum cholesterol levels in patients with rotator cuff tear were determined.
Frequency-matched case-control study. Setting University teaching ...hospital.
240 individuals who were operated on at our institution were included in the study. 120 patients (45 men and 75 women; mean age 64.86 years, range 40 to 83 years) who underwent arthroscopic repair of a rotator cuff tear were included in group 1. 120 patients (45 men and 75 women; mean age 63.91 years, range 38 to 78 years) who underwent arthroscopic meniscectomy for a meniscal tear and had no evidence of shoulder pathology were included in group 2 (control group). These patients were frequency-matched by age (within 3 years) and sex with patients of group 1.
Measurement of serum triglyceride and total cholesterol concentrations.
When comparing the two groups, there was no difference either in serum triglyceride concentration or total serum cholesterol concentration.
There appears to be no association between serum triglyceride concentration and total serum cholesterol concentration in rotator cuff tears.
Ticagrelor is a reversibly binding, direct-acting, oral, P
Y
antagonist used for the prevention of atherothrombotic events in patients with coronary artery disease (CAD). Ticagrelor blocks adenosine ...reuptake through the inhibition of equilibrative nucleoside transporter 1 (ENT-1) on erythrocytes and platelets, thereby facilitating adenosine-induced physiological responses such as an increase in coronary blood flow velocity. Meanwhile, adenosine plays an important role in triggering ischemic preconditioning through the activation of the A1 receptor. Therefore, an increase in ticagrelor-enhanced adenosine bioavailability may confer beneficial effects through mechanisms related to preconditioning activation and improvement of coronary microvascular dysfunction.
To determine whether ticagrelor can trigger ischemic preconditioning and influence microvascular function, we designed this prospective, open-label, pilot study that enrolled patients with stable multivessel CAD requiring staged, fractional flow reserve (FFR)-guided percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). Participants will be randomized in 1:1 ratios either to ticagrelor (loading dose (LD) 180 mg, maintenance dose (MD) 90 mg bid) or to clopidogrel (LD 600 mg, MD 75 mg) from 3 to 1 days before the scheduled PCI. The PCI operators will be blinded to the randomization arm. The primary endpoint is the delta (difference) between ST segment elevations (in millimeters, mm) as assessed by intracoronary electrocardiogram (ECG) during the two-step sequential coronary balloon inflation in the culprit vessel. Secondary endpoints are 1) changes in coronary flow reserve (CFR), index of microvascular resistance (IMR), and FFR measured in the culprit vessel and reference vessel at the end of PCI, and 2) angina score during inflations. This study started in 2018 with the aim of enrolling 100 patients. Based on the rate of negative FFR up to 30% and a drop-out rate up to 10%, we expect to detect an absolute difference of 4 mm among the study arms in the mean change of ST elevation following repeated balloon inflations. All study procedures were reviewed and approved by the Ethical Committee of the Catholic University of Sacred Heart.
Ticagrelor might improve ischemia tolerance and microvascular function compared to clopidogrel, and these effects might translate to better long-term clinical outcomes.
EudraCT No. 2016-004746-28. No. NCT02701140. TRIAL STATUS: Information provided in this manuscript refers to the definitive version (n. 3.0) of the study protocol, dated 31 October 2017, and includes all protocol amendments. Recruitment started on 18 September 2018 and is currently ongoing. The enrollment is expected to be completed by the end of 2019.
Fondazione Policlinico Universitario A. Gemelli - Roma, Polo di Scienze Cardiovascolari e Toraciche, Largo Agostino Gemelli 8, 00168 Rome, Italy.
Joint disease reduces the rheological properties of synovial fluid, increasing the susceptibility of the articular cartilage to damage. Thus, a therapeutic strategy, called viscosupplementation, was ...proposed in which intra-articular injections of a suitable material are used to restore the viscoelastic properties of the synovial fluid. Solutions of high-MW native HA, which is the main component of the synovial fluid, were a natural choice to reach this goal, but HA-derived materials, engineered to achieve greater elastoviscosity and intra-articular residence time, were also developed. In the last twenty years the clinical experience showed that viscosupplementation is effective in joint diseases such as osteoarthritis, with beneficial effects on pain, function and patient global assessment. However, a marked variability between different preparations on different outcome parameters was reported to exist.
In the present paper the available data on Hyalubrix®, a specific 1.5% formulation of natural HA with MW in the range 1500-2000 kDa, were reviewed, trying to outline, in the framework of the available intra-articular therapies, the role it can play for the symptomatic management of patients with degenerative joint arthropathy.
We report 2 children with Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) infection complicated with spontaneous pneumopericardium (PP) and pneumomediastinum (PM), one also associated with pneumorrhachis (PR).
Two ...previously healthy children presented with fever, violent dry cough, dyspnea, and tachypnea. Chest X-ray and CT scans showed sizeable PP and PM in both patients. One of them also presented PR. Children were initially treated with intravenous antibiotics, antipyretics, and a cough sedative. Because of worsening of respiratory distress syndrome, children underwent helmet-delivered CPAP with oxygen supplementation. The patients' clinical conditions quickly improved and they were discharged in good conditions.
Pathogenetic mechanism of spontaneous PP and PM complicating RSV infection could be related to the cough, causing intrathoracic pressure increase and rupture of alveoli near the mediastinal pleura. Nevertheless, RSV seems to play a role in facilitating such complications, attenuating the cough threshold in infected children.
RSV bronchiolitis can lead respiratory and systemic consequences, so their prompt recognition is essential to establish a fast and adequate therapy, especially control of cough and respiratory distress syndrome treatment.
To determine the plasma glucose levels in non-diabetic patients with rotator cuff tear.
Frequency-matched case-control study.
University Teaching Hospital.
The study included 194 subjects who were ...operated on at our institution. Group 1 included 97 consecutive patients (36 men and 61 women; mean age: 62.9 years, range 37 to 82) who underwent arthroscopic repair of a rotator cuff tear in 2007 and 2008. Group 2 (control group) included 97 patients (36 men and 61 women; mean age: 61.6 years, range 36 to 80) who underwent arthroscopic meniscectomy for a meniscal tear in the same period, and had no evidence of shoulder pathology. These patients were frequency-matched by age (within 3 years) and gender with patients of Group 1.
Measurement of fasting plasma glucose levels.
Patients with rotator cuff tears (Group 1) showed statistically significantly higher fasting plasma glucose levels within the normoglycaemic range (p = 0.007) than patients with meniscal tear (Group 2).
The present study suggests that normal, but in the high range of normal, increasing plasma glucose levels may be a risk factor for rotator cuff tear. An enhanced understanding of these factors holds the promise of new approaches to the prevention and management of rotator cuff tears.
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