1,721,171 research outputs found
Fruibilità di risorse idriche pregiate nel territorio afferente all’Unione dei Comuni “Terre d’Oriente”
No full textPartecipazione come Unità operativa al Progetto di ricerca finanziato dal CUIS Consorzio e dall’Unione dei Comuni "Terre d’Oriente" per l’erogazione dei contributi Anno 2005. (Bando Prov.le, progetto su Base competitiva
Interleukin-17 regulates visceral obesity in HIV-1-infected patients.
Full text linkObjective
The aim of the study was to evaluate the interleukin-17 (IL-17) plasma level in HIV-1-infected patients and its relation to central obesity.
Methods
Eighty-four HIV-1-infected patients [42 with visceral obesity (group A) and 42 without visceral obesity (group B)] and 46 HIV-negative subjects [23 with visceral obesity (group C) and 23 without visceral obesity (group D)] were enrolled in the study. Sonographic measurements of perirenal fat diameter/body mass index (PRFD/BMI) were used to assess visceral adipose tissue thickness.
Results
HIV-1-infected patients had higher plasma levels of IL-17 than HIV-negative subjects [837.8 ± 260 pg/mL (mean ± standard deviation) vs. 395.3 ± 138.6 pg/mL, respectively; P < 0.001]. Furthermore, HIV-1-infected patients with a diagnosis of visceral obesity had lower levels of IL-17 than HIV-infected lean patients (756.9 ± 282.9 pg/mLvs. 918.7 ± 208.4 pg/mL, respectively; P < 0.01). IL-17 (r = −0.21; P = 0.03) and waist circumference (r = 0.48; P < 0.001) were significantly associated with visceral adipose tissue thickness. A negative correlation of IL-17 (r = −0.23; P < 0.001) with PRFD/BMI was found.
Conclusions
This study suggests a linear negative association between IL-17 and visceral adipose tissue thickness
Clinical features and risk factors associated with COVID-19 mortality in a non-Intensive Care Unit: Clinical features and risk factors in COVID-19 patients
Full text linkIntroduction. The Coronavirus disease 2019 caused by a new Coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) throughout the pandemic period has been characterised by a wide spectrum of clinical manifestations, courses, and outcomes. In particular, most patients with severe or critical symptoms re-quired hospitalization. The demographic and clinical characteristics of patients upon admission to the hospital, as well as pre-existing medical conditions, seem to have affected the clinical out-come. Predictive factors of inauspicious outcome in non-Intensive Care Unit hospitalized patients were investigated.
Methods. A retrospective, single-centre, observational study of 239 patients with confirmed COVID-19 disease admitted during the first waves of the pandemic to the Infectious Disease Operative Unit of a hospital in Southern Italy was conducted. Demographic characteristics, under-lying diseases, and clinical, laboratory, and radiological findings were collected from the patient’s medical records. Information about in-hospital medications, days of admission, and out-come were also considered. Inferential statistical analysis was performed to evaluate the association between patients\u27 characteristics upon hospital admission and during in-hospital length of stay and death. Results. Mean age was 67.8 ± 15.8 years; 137/239 (57.3%) patients were males, and 176 (73.6%) had at least one comorbidity. More than half of patients (55.3%) suffered from hypertension. The length of stay in hospital was 16.5 ± 9.9 days and mortality rate of 12.55%. In multivariable logistic regression analysis, predictors of mortality of COVID-19 patients included age (OR, 1.09; CI, 1.04 - 1.15), Chronic Kidney Disease (OR, 4.04; CI,1.38 - 11.85), and need of High Flow Oxygen therapy (OR, 18.23; CI, 5.06 - 65.64).
Conclusions. Patients who died in the hospital had shorted length of stay than that of the surviving patients. Older age, pre-existent chronic renal disease and need of supplemental oxygen represented independent predictors of mortality in patients hospitalized in non-Intensive Care Unit with COVID-19. The determination of these factors allows retrospectively a greater understanding of the disease also in comparison with the successive epidemic waves
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Esperienza del questionario somministrato ai pazienti emodializzati.
No full textGli emodializzati hanno problematiche diverse dagli altri pazienti: trascorrono una buona parte della loro vita tra le mura ospedaliere e in rapporto stretto con il personale medico e infermieristico. Questo porta a un rapporto di maggiore confidenza e nello stesso tempo a una maggiore esigenza nelle richieste. D'altra parte lo stretto rapporto di dipendenza che si viene a creare con il monitor dialitico e quindi con il personale che lo gestisce può creare a volte una strana "paura di ritorsioni" a seguito di reclami o di pretese.
Di questo va tenuto conto nell'esaminare le risposte del questionario.
Ho voluto pertanto la somministrazione del questionario accompagnato da una lettera di presentazione a firma del Direttore Generale, fosse preceduta da una spiegazione al paziente, effettuata dal caposala, in cui veniva sottolineato in particolar modo l'anonimato nelle risposte e l'impossibilità a risalire al nome del compilatore, dato che la risposta veniva imbucata in un contenitore chiuso, posto in una stanza diversa dalla sala dialitica.
Veniva inoltre spiegata la necessità di risposte veritiere per identificare eventuali problematiche e poter quindi intraprendere azioni correttiva per il miglioramento della qualità delle prestazioni.
Sono stati coinvolti rappresentanti delle associazioni di volontariato (in particolare il Tribunale per i diritti del malato) che hanno collaborato nella raccolta dei questionari e nella compilazione dello stesso in presenza di pazienti con menomazioni sensoriali (due pazienti non vedenti).
I pazienti erano stati edotti che potevano essere aiutati nella compilazione dai familiari o anche dai rappresentanti delle associazioni di volontariato, di cui veniva indicato il recapito telefonico e la sede dell'ufficio, situata nello stesso ambito ospedaliero con possibilità di consegnare le risposte nella stessa sede.
I questionari sono stati raccolti in poco più di due settimane (66 su 72 pazienti), due soli sono stati consegnati nella sede di volontariato e questo per me sta a significare un rapporto di estrema fiducia con l'equipe nefrologica e l'esistenza di un clima di serenità.
La cassetta di raccolta sigillata è stat aperta in presenza di un rappresentante delle associazioni di volontariato e i questionari senza essere letti sono stati inviati in busta sigillata all'Ufficio Qualità.
Questa procedura è indispensabile per garantire dalla tentazione di una manipolazione dei dati
Sonographically measured perirenal fat thickness: an early predictor of atherosclerosis in HIV-1-infected patients receiving highly active antiretroviral therapy?
Full text linkABSTRACT
Purpose. The aim of our study was to evaluate whether perirenal fat thickness (PRFT), a pa- rameter of central obesity, is related to carotid intima- media thickness (IMT), an index of atherosclerosis in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-1-infected patients.
Methods. We enrolled 70 consecutive HIV-1- infected patients receiving highly active antiretroviral therapy for more than 12 months, in a prospective cohort study. Sonographically measured PRFT and carotid IMT, as well as serum metabolic parameters, were evaluated. PRFT and IMT were measured using 3.75-MHz convex and 7.5-MHz linear probes, respec- tively.
Results. The mean PRFT and IMT in HIV-1-infected patients with visceral obesity was significantly greater than those in patients without it (p < 0.0001 and p < 0.01, respectively). Using the average IMT as the dependent variable in regression analysis, PRFT was an independent factor associated with ca- rotid IMT (p < 0.05). A PRFT of 6.4 mm was the most discriminatory value for predicting an IMT ! 0.9 mm (sensitivity 83.3%, specificity 83.9%). Sub- jects with visceral obesity had a progressively increasing carotid IMT on the 12-month measure- ment (p < 0.05).
Conclusion. Our data demonstrated that PRFT mea- surement could be used as an early predictor of IMT increase in HIV-1-infected patients receiving highly active antiretroviral therapy
Efficacy of a dermoxen lenitiva for pruritus genitalis in a randomized, double blind trial.
No full textBACKGROUND: Pruritus can be defined as an unpleasant cutaneous sensation associated with the immediate desire to scratch. In particular external intimate zone could be hit by pruritus genitalis because of several reasons (bacterial infection, fungal infection, stress, bad intimate behavior, synthetic intimate clothes).
AIM: The aim of the study was to compare the efficacy of Dermoxen® Lenitiva cream versus a methylprednisolone aceponate 0.1% based cream in treating pruritus of the external genitalia.
PATIENTS AND METHODS: Independent, randomized, double-blind, controlled trial in two University affiliated Italian Hospitals. 80 women, affected by aspecific pruritus genitalis with negative vaginal swab for bacterial or fungal infections or other pathogenic causes of itching, were selected and blindly treated by Dermoxen® Lenitiva cream or methylprednisolone aceponate 0.1% based cream. The main outcome measures were: the reduction of sensation of pruritus, evaluated by a visual analog scale (VAS) pain score, and improvement of intimate wellness sensation, and comfort during sexual intercourse, frequency and severity of adverse reactions.
RESULTS: Significant reduction of itching sensation was verified for each treatment.
CONCLUSIONS: Based on our results, DermoXen® Lenitiva vaginal cream showed efficacy so as methylprednisolone aceponate 0.1% based cream for itching treatment on external female genitalia and improved intimate comfort and comfort in sexual intercourse
Variations on the Author
Full text link“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
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