Abstract Background and aims To be successful, lifestyle intervention in obesity must take into account patients’ views. The aim of the present study, conducted using a narrative-autobiographical ...approach, was to report on the perception of disease, food and physical exercise in a group of 80 obese patients during a structured multidisciplinary lifestyle intervention. Methods and Results Patients underwent lifestyle intervention, of three months’ duration, structured in the following steps: 1) an initial medical examination; 2) an interview by a psychologist; 3) an assessment by a dietician, 4) a physical examination by a specialist in sports medicine; 5) an individualized program consisting of 24 sessions (two per week) of structured indoor exercise 6) eight sessions of group therapeutic education; 7) Nordic walking activity combined with walking excursions during weekends. All the narrative autobiographic texts obtained during the lifestyle intervention were submitted for content analysis; data were analysed according to the ‘‘grounded theory’’ method. According to patients’ descriptions at the end of the intervention, lifestyle intervention resulted in enhanced self-efficacy and a reduction in their dependency on food and people; their fear of change was also diminished because, by undergoing intervention, they had experienced change. Conclusion The findings made in the present qualitative analysis suggest that whenever multidisciplinary lifestyle intervention is planned for patients with obesity, it is of the utmost importance to tailor the approach while taking the following key aspects into account: motivation, barriers and/or facilitators in lifestyle change, patients’ perceptions of obesity and relationship with food, diet and exercise.
Extended theories are widely used in the literature to describe relativistic fluids. The motivation for this is mostly due to the causality issues allegedly present in the first order in the ...gradients theories. However, the decay of fluctuations in the system is also at stake when first order theories
that couple heat with acceleration
are used. This paper shows that although the introduction of the Maxwell–Cattaneo equation in the description of a simple relativistic fluid formally eliminates the generic instabilities identified by Hiscock and Lindblom (Phys Rev D 31:725–733,
1985
), the hypothesis on the order of magnitude of the corresponding relaxation term contradicts the basic ordering in Knudsen’s parameter present in the kinetic approach to hydrodynamics. It is shown that the time derivative, stabilizing term is of second order in such parameter and thus does not belong to the Navier–Stokes regime where the so-called instability arises.
Aim:
To describe the multidisciplinary lifestyle intervention model used in an experimental CURIAMO (Centro Universitario Ricerca Interdipartimentale Attività Motoria) project designed to validate ...the short- and long-term efficacy of the model in obesity and Type 2 diabetes.
Research design and methods:
Over a 3-yr period, about 1000 adults (70% diabetes-free and overweight or obese; 30% with Type 2 diabetes and overweight or obese).
Inclusion criteria:
Age range 18–80 yr, body mass index >27 kg/m
2
with or without Type 2 diabetes mellitus; participants will be divided into three age groups (18–45, 45–65, 65–80 yr). The study duration will be from 5 to 6 yr: 1 yr of intervention followed by a mean follow-up period of 4 yr. In the first years, after a 4-month intensive lifestyle intervention, subjects will follow a maintenance programme. The intervention, which includes seven steps, involves the following experts: endocrinologists, sport medicine doctors or cardiologists, psychologists, dietitians, educators, nurses, exercise physiologists, and promoters of outdoor activities.
Results:
The main endpoint of the study is to measure the efficacy of the lifestyle improvement intervention, defined as a loss of at least 7% of body weight combined with an increase of at least 10 MET/h
−1
week
−1
of energy expenditure by physical activity, after 1 yr and during the follow-up. A cost/utility analysis of the model will be made in participants with diabetes.
Conclusions:
We expect that the CURIAMO model will be highly effective, and that the aim of the intervention will be achieved in more than 70% of cases.
The aim of this work was to obtain information concerning the properties of ophthalmic formulations based on hyaluronic-drug ionic complexes, to identify the factors that determine the onset, ...intensity and duration of the pharmacotherapeutic effect.
Dispersions of a complex of 0.5% w/v of sodium hyaluronate (HyNa) loaded with 0.5% w/v of timolol maleate (TM) were obtained and presented a counterionic condensation higher than 75%. For comparison a similar complex obtained with hyaluronic acid (HyH) was also prepared. Although the viscosity of HyNa-TM was significantly higher than that of HyH-TM, in vitro release of TM from both complexes showed a similar extended drug release profile (20–31% over 5h) controlled by diffusion and ionic exchange.
Ocular pharmacokinetic study performed in normotensive rabbits showed that HyNa-TM complex exhibited attractive bioavailability properties in the aqueous humor (AUC and Cmax significantly higher and later Tmax) compared to commercial TM eye-drops. Moreover, a more prolonged period of lowered intra-ocular pressure (10h) and a more intense hypotensive activity was observed after instillation of a drop of HyNa-TM as compared to the eye-drops. Such behavior was related to the longer pre-corneal residence times (400%) observed with HyNa-TM complex. No significant changes in rabbit transcorneal permeation were detected upon complexation.
These results demonstrate that the ability of HyNa to modulate TM release, together with its mucoadhesiveness related to the viscosity, affected both the pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic parameters. The HyNa-TM complex is a potentially useful carrier for ocular drug delivery, which could improve the TM efficacy and reduce the frequency of administration to improve patient compliance.
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Schematic illustration of CD44-Hi-Dx complex. Mechanism implied in the enhanced internalization of Dx into cells. Display omitted
We report Doxorubicin ionic complexes with hyaluronic acid (HiH-Dx) ...or its sodium salt (HiNa-Dx) as tumor-targeting delivery system. The complexes were prepared in situ by mixing aqueous solutions of Dx.HCl with HiH or HiNa. Clear colloidal dispersions with a high degree of counterionic condensation (cc) were obtained. Affinity constants (logKcc) of HiNa-Dx and HiH-Dx were 7.96 and 8.08, respectively. Delivery rates of Dx from the complexes were measured in a Franz-type bicompartimental device. In line with the high affinity constants, loaded Dx was slowly released from the complexes.
To test the targeting potential of the complexes, carcinogenic A549 cells overexpressing the CD44 receptors were used. HTR8/SVneo cells without overexpression of CD44 were used as control. In A549 cells, cytotoxicity of both HiH-Dx and HiNa-Dx complexes was 3-fold higher than that of the reference solution. However, no differences were observed between the complexes and free Dx solution in HTR8/SVneo cells. Flow cytometry data suggested successful uptake of Dx in cells, with a greater internalization of Dx in A549 cells than in HTR8/SVneo cells when the complexes were used. Similarly, microscopy imagines revealed a higher concentration of Dx in A549 cells with the complexes.
This work provides more detailed information in order to contribute to more solid bases to evaluate the potentiality of Hi as an antineoplastic drug carrier convenient for being used in specific therapeutic indications with minimal side effects.
The measurement of the production of charm jets, identified by the presence of a D$^{0}$ meson in the jet constituents, is presented in proton–proton collisions at centre-of-mass energies of $ ...\sqrt{s} $ = 5.02 and 13 TeV with the ALICE detector at the CERN LHC. The D$^{0}$ mesons were reconstructed from their hadronic decay D$^{0}$ → K$^{−}$π$^{+}$ and the respective charge conjugate. Jets were reconstructed from D$^{0}$-meson candidates and charged particles using the anti-k$_{T}$ algorithm, in the jet transverse momentum range 5 < p$_{T,chjet}$< 50 GeV/c, pseudorapidity |η$_{jet}$| < 0.9 − R, and with the jet resolution parameters R = 0.2, 0.4, 0.6. The distribution of the jet momentum fraction carried by a D$^{0}$ meson along the jet axis $ \left({z}_{\Big\Vert}^{\textrm{ch}}\right) $ was measured in the range 0.4 <$ {z}_{\Big\Vert}^{\textrm{ch}} $< 1.0 in four ranges of the jet transverse momentum. Comparisons of results for different collision energies and jet resolution parameters are also presented. The measurements are compared to predictions from Monte Carlo event generators based on leading-order and next-to-leading-order perturbative quantum chromodynamics calculations. A generally good description of the main features of the data is obtained in spite of a few discrepancies at low p$_{T,chjet}$. Measurements were also done for R = 0.3 at $ \sqrt{s} $ = 5.02 and are shown along with their comparisons to theoretical predictions in an appendix to this paper.graphic not available: see fulltext
This paper builds on a previous paper in which new ciprofloxacin extended-release tablets were developed based on a ciprofloxacin-based swellable drug polyelectrolyte matrix (SDPM-CIP). The matrix ...contains a molecular dispersion of ciprofloxacin ionically bonded to the acidic groups of carbomer, forming the polyelectrolyte-drug complex CB-CIP. This formulation showed that the release profile of the ciprofloxacin bilayer tablets currently commercialised can be achieved with a simpler strategy. Thus, since ciprofloxacin urine concentrations are associated with the clinical cure of urinary tract infections, the goal of this work was to compare the urinary excretion of SDPM-CIP tablets with those of the CIPRO XR® bilayer tablets. A batch of SDPM-CIP tablets was manufactured by the wet granulation method and the CB-CIP ionic complex was obtained in situ. Fasted healthy volunteers received a single oral dose of 500 mg ciprofloxacin of either formulation in a randomised crossover study. Urinary concentrations were assessed by HPLC at intervals up to 36 h. Pharmacokinetic parameters (rate of urinary excretion, maximum urine excretion rate, t
max
, area under the curve, amount and percentage of the ciprofloxacin dose excreted in urine) showed no statistical differences between both formulations at any of the time intervals of collection. The processing conditions to obtain SDPM-CIP tablets are easy to scale up since they involve technology currently employed in the pharmaceutical industry and the process is less challenging to implement. In addition, SDPM-CIP tablets met pharmacopoeial quality specifications.
A compositional study of twenty-two marble artefacts from the medieval Benedictine Abbey of San Caprasio at Aulla (North-western Tuscany, Central Italy) has been carried out. The mineralogical and ...petrographic analyses, the estimation of the maximum grain size of the calcite crystals, and the determination of carbon and oxygen stable isotopes support a provenance of most marbles from the Apuan Alps quarries (Italy). Only some marbles indicate a probable provenance from the islands of Paros and Thasos in the eastern Mediterranean area.
In this paper it is shown that Tolman's law can be derived from relativistic kinetic theory applied to a simple fluid in a BGK-like approximation. Using this framework, it becomes clear that the ...contribution of the gravitational field can be viewed as a cross effect that resembles the so-called Thomson effect in irreversible thermodynamics. A proper generalization of Tolman's law in an inhomogeneous medium is formally established based on these grounds.
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