14 research outputs found
Dataset of mRNA levels for dopaminergic receptors, adrenoceptors and tyrosine hydroxylase in lymphocytes from subjects with clinically isolated syndromes
No full textThis data article presents a dataset of mRNA levels for dopaminergic receptors, adrenoceptors and for tyrosine hydoxylase, the rate-limiting enzyme in the synthesis of catecholamines, in peripheral blood mononuclear cells as well as in CD4+ T effector and regulatory cells from subjects with clinically isolated syndromes (CIS), which is a first episode of neurological disturbance(s) suggestive of multiple sclerosis. CIS subjects are divided into two groups according to their eventual progression, after 12 months from CIS, to clinically established multiple sclerosis. The data reported are related to the article entitled "Dopaminergic receptors and adrenoceptors in circulating lymphocytes as putative biomarkers for the early onset and progression of multiple sclerosis" (M. Cosentino, M. Zaffaroni, M. Legnaro, R. Bombelli, L. Schembri, D. Baroncini, A. Bianchi, R. Clerici, M. Guidotti, P. Banfi, G. Bono, F. Marino, 2016
Lethal nature of ischemic gastropathy: A case report of celiomesenteric vascular insufficiency
No full textCeliomesenteric ischemia has an insidious onset and the non-specific symptoms are often misdiagnosed as cholecystitis or peptic ulcer disease with a consequential delay between the onset of symptoms and radiological evidence of vascular occlusive disease. A elderly man was hospitalized after a 2-3 week history of acute abdominal pain, frequent vomiting, and chronic diarrhea associated with bloody stools. Upper gastrointestinal endoscopy showed a cobblestone gastric pattern with multiple ulcerated areas and the specimens indicated focal full thickness coagulative necrosis of the mucosa. A magnetic resonance angiography (MRA) revealed a widespread and severe atheromatous disease characterized by a hemodynamically significant stenosis of the celiac tripod, pre-occlusive stenosis of the superior mesenteric artery and complete occlusion of the inferior mesenteric artery. MRA is now the best and most accessible noninvasive examination to help establish a diagnosis, providing high-quality three-dimensional images of the celiac axis and mesenteric arteries. However, the various features observed in this case such as the clinical history, the presence of a cobblestone pattern with multiple ulcerated areas in the stomach, the coagulative-type necrosis and ischemic atrophy of the adjacent mucosa were considered diagnostic of gastric ischemia. © 2011 Springer
Global Public Goods, Global Commons, Fundamental Values and International Investment Law: the Responses of the New Generation of International Economic Law Agreements and Investment Arbitration Proceedings
No full textThe group of five articles forming this special section of Brill Open Law is a selection of the papers presented at the Workshop on “Global Public Goods, Global Commons, Fundamental Values: the Responses of International Economic Law,” organized by the Interest Group (ig) on International Economic Law (iel) of the European Society of International Law (esil) in Naples on September 6th, 2017. The mission of the esil iel ig is to promote research in the field of International Economic Law, endorsing exchange of views among young and experienced scholars, as well as supporting debate and discussion with practitioners, lawyers and officials from international organizations and national administrations working in the fields of international trade and investments and International Financial Law.
The articles appearing in this Section are all devoted to International Investment Law, the first work being the opening speech to the Naples Workshop by Professor Pavel Šturma on “Public Goods and International Investment Law: Do the New Generation of iias Better Protect Human Rights?”, while the subsequent four essays are all dedicated to the recent case-law developed in international arbitration proceedings dealing with the right to water and the right to human health.
Professor Šturma provides a synthetic effective reconstruction of the way in which International Investment Law now interacts with International Human Rights Law. Starting from the description of the situation in the first generation of Bilateral Investment Treaties (bits), establishing the rights of investors and the obligations of States, the author then goes on exposing the differences with human rights treaties, and analyzes the significant developments in relation to the new generation of investment treaties. The relevant clauses concerning the exceptions to investment protection, or the right to regulate of the host State, expressed by the new generation of International Investment Agreements (iias), such as the eu-Canada Comprehensive Economic Trade Agreement (ceta), the now-abandoned Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (ttip), or the bit models of Norway, Canada, Austria, or the Czech Republic, are therefore considered, stressing their relevance to guide interpreters and arbitrators when having to combine investment protection with human rights. Due attention is then given to the role of private parties with reference to human rights, underlining the introduction of the concept of Corporate Social Responsibility (csr) in the new iias encouraging economic operators to conduct their business in compliance with the relevant international soft law codes inspired by the principle of sustainable development – requiring that economic development be constantly combined with environmental protection and social progress. The article also emphasizes the role that the principle of systemic integration in treaty interpretation, as codified in Article 31, para. 3(c) of the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties, may play when arbitrators have to combine human rights, environmental protection and bits, illustrating the relevance of the case-law of international investment disputes in order to strike a fair balance between non-economic considerations and investors’ rights.
The analysis by Pavel Šturma opens the door to the subsequent four articles. Professor Ursula Kriebaum, in her work on “The Right to Water Before Investment Tribunals,” provides a complete overview of the case-law developed in international investment arbitration proceedings with reference to the right to water. She presents the constantly rising relevance that the human right to water has been given by the Arbitral Tribunals while discussing the respect of the investors’ prerogatives enshrined in the various bits invoked by the claimants. Professor Kriebaum thus emphasizes that the Arbitrators never denied that they have an obligation to take into consideration human rights while interpreting bits. On the contrary, international awards concluded that national measures introduced in order to protect the environment against the pollution of water resources, and the termination of concessions as a consequence of inadequate performance of an investment contract on the part of the investor involved in water distribution services cannot be automatically considered as infringements of bits by the States benefitting from the foreign investments. Furthermore, Ursula Kriebaum stressed the highly relevant developments reached by the Arbitral Tribunal in the Urbaser case, where it was held in an obiter that investors have to abstain from acts which may violate the human right to water by endangering access to water.
The Urbaser case is at the center of the analysis by Dr Edward Guntrip and Dr Patrick Abel. In his work on “Private Actors, Public Goods and Responsibility for the Right to Water in International Investment Law: An Analysis of Urbaser v. Argentina,” Dr Guntrip considers how the Arbitral Tribunal allocated responsibility for compliance with the right to water between the host State and the foreign investor while being asked to settle the dispute over privatized water services in Greater Buenos Aires. The author underlined that the Arbitrators chose to follow the scheme defined by the un Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (cescr). Pursuant to that, human rights obligations in relation to economic, social and cultural rights, which include the right to water, have to be broken down into obligations to respect, protect and fulfil. Edward Guntrip criticizes the Tribunal’s decision to limit the duties of the investor to the obligation to respect only, i.e. not to interfere with the enjoyment of the right to water. In fact, such a limitation makes the human right to water vulnerable for the right holders trying to hold a foreign investor responsible. Dr Patrick Abel manifests further perplexities on the counterclaim raised by Argentina in relation to the existence of an international investor obligation under the human right to water, for the first time accepted as possible in international investment arbitration proceedings. While stressing the importance of the novelty of the Urbaser award -i.e. the possibility of holding investors accountable for a breach of an international human rights obligation- Patrick Abel highlights the flaws in the legal reasoning of the Tribunal, which he considers unclear in the way it perceives the integration of human rights obligations as a source of international law external to the relevant bit invoked in the investment arbitration.
Last but not least, Professor Pei-Kan Yang, in his article on “The Margin of Appreciation Debate over Novel Cigarette Packaging Regulations in Philipp Morris v. Uruguay,” explores the legal reasoning of the Arbitrators in the case brought by the famous tobacco multinational company against the Latin-American State. The majority of the Tribunal, applying the “margin of appreciation” doctrine as originally developed by the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), found that Uruguay’s tobacco legislation did not violate the Switzerland – Uruguay bit as the Latin-American State enjoyed a substantial degree of discretion in choosing the regulatory means to achieve its public health objectives among various options of effective measures. Pei-Kan Yang analyzes both the majority conclusions and the dissenting opinion by Gary Born, and identifies lacunae in each of the two approaches, suggesting an adjustment of the concept of the margin of appreciation in order to better accommodate the right to regulate of the host State for public health purposes and balance it against the investor’s private rights.
We do hope that the proposed set of articles may represent a welcome perspective of analysis of some recent developments concerning treaties and case-law in the field of International Investment Law. Enjoy the reading
Clinical and radiographic performance of indirect foraminal decompression with anterior retroperitoneal lumbar approach for interbody fusion (ALIF)
No full textStudy design: Retrospective study Background: Indirect decompression with ALIF allows the restoration of the disk and foraminal height with limited soft tissue damage. However, it does not offer a direct view of the neural structure and a direct intraoperative assessment of the results of the decompression is not possible. For this reason, ALIF is often accompanied by posterior, direct decompression. So far, there is no consensus on the effects of indirect decompression alone for L5-S1 foraminal stenosis. Objective: Evaluation of the clinical and mechanical performance of indirect decompression with anterior lumbar interbody fusion (ALIF) in L5-S1 foraminal stenosis. Methods: All patients who underwent ALIF at our institution and had a minimum follow-up of six months were assessed for inclusion. Radiographic parameters (anterior and posterior disc height, foraminal height and surface, L5-S1 angle, pelvic incidence, pelvic tilt and lumbar lordosis) and clinical data (Oswestry Disability Index - ODI and Numeric Rating Scale - NRS) before ALIF and at the last follow-up were compared. A regression analysis was performed to investigate the correlation between radiographic and clinical outcomes. Results: Thirty-four patients were available for the study (55.9% female, mean age 53.4 +/- 11.5 years), mean follow-up was 26.4 +/- 11.1 months. At the last follow-up, a significant increase in foraminal height (14.6 +/- 4.0 vs. 17.9 +/- 3.9 mm, p<0.001), posterior disc height (6.5 +/- 2 vs. 9.1 +/- 2 mm, p<0.001) was observed. ODI and NRS back and leg improved significantly. The NRS leg correlated with foraminal height (r=-0.45), foraminal surface (r=-0.36) and anterior (r=-0.41) and posterior disc height (r=-0.43). Conclusion: ALIF provided significant indirect foraminal decompression and improvement of radicular pain. The increase of foraminal height, surface, and posterior disc height is directly associated with radicular pain improvement. Level of evidence: IV Availability of data and material: The datasets used and/or analyzed in the present study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request
Clinical and radiographic performance of indirect foraminal decompression with anterior retroperitoneal lumbar approach for interbody fusion (ALIF)
No full textAbstract
Study design: Retrospective study BACKGROUND: Indirect decompression with ALIF allows the restoration of the disk and foraminal height with limited soft tissue damage. However, it does not offer a direct view of the neural structure and a direct intraoperative assessment of the results of the decompression is not possible. For this reason, ALIF is often accompanied by posterior, direct decompression. So far, there is no consensus on the effects of indirect decompression alone for L5-S1 foraminal stenosis.
Objective: Evaluation of the clinical and mechanical performance of indirect decompression with anterior lumbar interbody fusion (ALIF) in L5-S1 foraminal stenosis.
Methods: All patients who underwent ALIF at our institution and had a minimum follow-up of six months were assessed for inclusion. Radiographic parameters (anterior and posterior disc height, foraminal height and surface, L5-S1 angle, pelvic incidence, pelvic tilt and lumbar lordosis) and clinical data (Oswestry Disability Index - ODI and Numeric Rating Scale - NRS) before ALIF and at the last follow-up were compared. A regression analysis was performed to investigate the correlation between radiographic and clinical outcomes.
Results: Thirty-four patients were available for the study (55.9% female, mean age 53.4±11.5 years), mean follow-up was 26.4±11.1 months. At the last follow-up, a significant increase in foraminal height (14.6±4.0 vs. 17.9±3.9 mm, p<0.001), posterior disc height (6.5±2 vs. 9.1±2 mm, p<0.001) was observed. ODI and NRS back and leg improved significantly. The NRS leg correlated with foraminal height (r=-0.45), foraminal surface (r=-0.36) and anterior (r=-0.41) and posterior disc height (r=-0.43).
Conclusion: ALIF provided significant indirect foraminal decompression and improvement of radicular pain. The increase of foraminal height, surface, and posterior disc height is directly associated with radicular pain improvement.
Level of evidence: IV AVAILABILITY OF DATA AND MATERIAL: The datasets used and/or analyzed in the present study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request
Sa1588 Management of Acute Malignant Colorectal Obstruction With Self-Expanding Metal Stent in General Endoscopic Practice: A Retrospective, Single Centre, Clinical Study
No full textSecond Edition of the Book: Practical Measurements Manual in Pediatric Radiology
No full textLa creación de esta segunda edición surge de la necesidad de actualizar una obra publicada en 2011, que recopilaba las mediciones clave para la práctica de la radiología pediátrica. Los retos diarios que plantea esta especialidad debido a los cambios en la proporción de las estructuras anatómicas y el crecimiento exponencial de las publicaciones médicas; motivaron la renovación del contenido. A través de una exhaustiva búsqueda de literatura y siguiendo la experiencia de dos subespecialistas en radiología pediátrica, se seleccionaron los temas que debían incorporarse. Se desarrollaron capítulos nuevos sobre generalidades, sistema nervioso central y Doppler. Los capítulos sobre cabeza y cuello, columna, tórax, abdomen y sistema musculoesquelético fueron significativamente actualizados. El resultado final es un manual de consulta renovado, diseñado para apoyar la práctica diaria de los profesionales médicos dedicados a la atención pediátrica (Texto tomado de la fuente).The creation of this second edition arises from the need to update a work published in
2011, which compiled key measurements for the practice of pediatric radiology. This
specialty poses daily challenges due to changes in the proportions of anatomical structures
and the exponential growth of medical publications. The topics to be included in the second
edition were selected based on an extensive literature search and the expertise of two
pediatric radiologists. New chapters were developed on generalities, central nervous
system, and Doppler. The chapters on the head and neck, spine, chest, abdomen, and
musculoskeletal system were significantly updated. The result is a renewed reference
manual designed to support the daily practice of medical professionals dedicated to
pediatric care.Especialidades MédicasEspecialista en Radiología e Imágenes Diagnóstica
Educational material of Digi4MSK – Volume 3: Assessing patients’ readiness for self-management: Motivation
No full textEste volumen ofrece una introducción general y basada en la evidencia al Este volumen ofrece marcos prácticos para evaluar y mejorar la motivación para el automanejo del dolor musculoesquelético. Traduce conceptos de la teoría del cambio de comportamiento (por ejemplo, etapas del cambio, COM B/Rueda del cambio de comportamiento, entrevista motivacional) en técnicas y ejemplos concretos. Los profesionales sanitarios obtienen herramientas para adaptar las intervenciones a la disposición motivacional y mantener el compromiso a lo largo del tiempo.
This volume offers practical frameworks to assess and enhance motivation for musculoskeletal self-management. It translates concepts from behaviour change theory (e.g., stages of change, COM B/Behaviour Change Wheel, motivational interviewing) into concrete techniques and examples. Clinicians gain tools to tailor interventions to motivational readiness and sustain engagement over time.Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA). Neither the European Union nor EACEA can be held responsible for them. ERASMUS-EDU-2022-PI-ALL-INNO: Project n.10111170
Educational material of Digi4MSK – Volume 1: Introduction to self-management in musculoskeletal pain
No full textEste volumen ofrece una introducción general y basada en la evidencia al automanejo del dolor musculoesquelético. Aclara las definiciones, los principios básicos y el papel del profesional sanitario, y describe las recomendaciones alineadas con las guías clínicas. Las secciones prácticas abordan las barreras y los facilitadores comunes del automanejo, las habilidades para la resolución de problemas y la alfabetización sanitaria como piedra angular de una atención segura y centrada en la persona.
This volume provides a general, evidence-based introduction to self-management in musculoskeletal pain. It clarifies definitions, core principles, the role of the healthcare professional, and outlines guideline-aligned recommendations. Practical sections address common barriers and facilitators of self-management, problem-solving skills, and health literacy as a cornerstone of safe, person-centred care.Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA). Neither the European Union nor EACEA can be held responsible for them. ERASMUS-EDU-2022-PI-ALL-INNO: Project n.10111170
Educational material of Digi4MSK – Volume 4: Understanding and supporting musculoskeletal health literacy
No full textEste volumen se centra en un segundo elemento clave para la implementación del automanejo: la alfabetización en salud musculoesquelética: qué es, por qué es importante y cómo evaluarla y apoyarla en la práctica. Revisa los ámbitos clave (acceso, comprensión, valoración y aplicación de la información sanitaria), destaca las herramientas disponibles e identifica las lagunas para futuras mediciones. Las estrategias prácticas ayudan a adaptar la comunicación a las necesidades de los pacientes para mejorar el automanejo seguro.
This volume focuses on a second key element for the implementation of self-management: musculoskeletal health literacy—what it is, why it matters, and how to assess and support it in practice. It reviews key domains (accessing, understanding, appraising and applying health information), highlights available tools, and identifies gaps for future measurement. Practical strategies help align communication with patients’ needs to enhance safe self-management.Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA). Neither the European Union nor EACEA can be held responsible for them. ERASMUS-EDU-2022-PI-ALL-INNO: Project n.10111170
