90 research outputs found
Biomolecular Actions by Intestinal Endotoxemia in Metabolic Syndrome
No full textMetabolic syndrome (MetS) is a combination of metabolic disorders that concurrently act as factors promoting systemic pathologies such as atherosclerosis or diabetes mellitus. It is now believed to encompass six main interacting conditions: visceral fat, imbalance of lipids (dyslipidemia), hypertension, insulin resistance (with or without impairing both glucose tolerance and fasting blood sugar), and inflammation. In the last 10 years, there has been a progressive interest through scientific research investigations conducted in the field of metabolomics, confirming a trend to evaluate the role of the metabolome, particularly the intestinal one. The intestinal microbiota (IM) is crucial due to the diversity of microorganisms and their abundance. Consequently, IM dysbiosis and its derivate toxic metabolites have been correlated with MetS. By intervening in these two factors (dysbiosis and consequently the metabolome), we can potentially prevent or slow down the clinical effects of the MetS process. This, in turn, may mitigate dysregulations of intestinal microbiota axes, such as the lung axis, thereby potentially alleviating the negative impact on respiratory pathology, such as the chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. However, the biomolecular mechanisms through which the IM influences the host’s metabolism via a dysbiosis metabolome in both normal and pathological conditions are still unclear. In this study, we seek to provide a description of the knowledge to date of the IM and its metabolome and the factors that influence it. Furthermore, we analyze the interactions between the functions of the IM and the pathophysiology of major metabolic diseases via local and systemic metabolome’s relate endotoxemia
Inhaled corticosteroids in severe COPD patients with cardiovascular diseases. Authors' reply
No full textEffect of Pulmonary Rehabilitation on COPD Assessment Test Items in Individuals Classified as GOLD Group E
No full textPercorso di riconfigurazione organizzativa dei dipartimenti ospedalieri - AUSL Parma
No full textINTRODUZIONE:
L’Azienda USL di Parma ha avviato nell’aprile 2013 un percorso di riconfigurazione organizzativa dei Dipartimenti (Dip) dei due Ospedali del Presidio Unico Aziendale, in attuazione del DGR E.R. 199/2013 con l’obiettivo di avviare politiche di integrazione di strutture organizzative svolgenti attività affini per migliorare la qualità dell’offerta, l’accessibilità dell’utenza e l’efficienza nella produzione di servizi, razionalizzando le risorse umane e finanziarie, in coerenza con la necessità di articolare funzioni dei singoli Ospedali in relazione al rapporto con il territorio di riferimento.
METODI:
Coinvolgendo i professionisti dei due Ospedali, sono stati costituiti con Delibera aziendale, 3 gruppi di progetto, identificati con i 3 Dip trasversali di nuova generazione (Medico; Chirurgico; Emergenza-Urgenza e Diagnostica) ed un gruppo strategico di indirizzo e monitoraggio. È stato avviato un percorso di confronto con le Organizzazioni Sindacali per stabilire un accordo sul documento finale.
RISULTATI:
È stato deliberato il nuovo regolamento per la costituzione ed il funzionamento dei Dip ospedalieri, configurati come macrostruttura per Aree Funzionali Omogenee, definite in funzione delle esigenze interne di integrazione clinica e di organizzazione ottimale del lavoro; riorganizzate le strutture semplici e complesse caratterizzate da una convergenza di competenze e da un coordinamento univoco; rivisti/creati PDTA (stroke, paziente oncoematologico) e percorsi di rete ospedaliera provinciale (teleradiologia, paziente critico di Pronto Soccorso, sorveglianza di laboratorio delle infezioni in ambito ospedaliero, riabilitazione cardiologica).
CONCLUSIONI:
La riorganizzazione dipartimentale gestita dai clinici, in coerenza con gli indirizzi e i criteri regionali, ha portato a risultati positivi in termini di omogeneizzazione dei percorsi di cure, ottimizzazione della gestione dei posti letto, sviluppo di clinical competence, utilizzando in modo sinergico le eccellenze presenti in entrambi gli ospedali
Exogone sophiae Langeneck & Musco & Busoni & Conese & Aliani & Castelli 2018, n. sp.
No full textExogone sophiae Langeneck, Musco & Castelli n. sp. (Figures 3–4) Material examined. Holotype (MSNP: P/3879): St. 8, Northern Tyrrhenian Sea, 110 m. Paratypes: St. 8: 1 individual (MSNP: P/001/SEM); St. 10: 2 individuals (MSNP: P/242/V; P/246/V). Additional material: St. 8: 1 individual. Description. Holotype complete specimen, 6 mm long for 47 chaetigers, 0.30 mm wide. All paratypes incomplete. Prostomium short, rectangular, distinctly broader than long, with four rounded, small eyes in trapezoidal arrangement, reddish, sometimes difficult to distinguish in preserved material. Antennae absent in all examined individuals (Fig. 4a). Palps long, broad, fused for their total length, with barely noticeable distal notch. Dorsal cirri very small, oval, slightly longer in the posterior region, lacking at chaetiger 2 (Fig. 3a). First four parapodia with 2 compound spiniger-like chaetae and 3–4 falcigers, after chaetiger 5 only 1 spiniger-like and 3 falcigers (Fig. 4c). Anterior spiniger-like compound chaetae with thick, distally spinulous shaft (Figs 3c, 4d), and thin, elongated blades 25–35 µm long; blades sometimes slightly curved with several long teeth on basal part (Figs 3c, 4d), difficult to see with the light microscope. Posterior spinigers-like chaetae similar but shorter and thinner, 15–20 µm long blades. Anterior falcigers with 7.5–10 µm long blade, with very small distal tooth, massive, strong proximal tooth, and relatively short, coarse serration along ventral edge (Figs 3d, 4e). Posterior falcigers shorter, blades 3.8–5 µm long, with thicker basal part. Anterior dorsal simple chaetae unidentate, smooth; posterior dorsal simple chaetae become distinctly thicker, with a subdistal notch (Fig. 3e). Ventral simple chaetae absent. Pharynx long, relatively wide, extending through six chaetigers, with a large, triangular distal tooth. Proventricle barrelshaped, as long as pharynx, with 20–23 muscle cell rows. Pygidium sub-triangular with two very long, tapering anal cirri (Fig. 3b). Etymology. This species is dedicated to Sophie Langeneck, sister of the first author. Distribution. Tyrrhenian Sea, at a depth between 100 and 110 m. Remarks. Exogone sophiae n. sp. is chiefly characterised by the absence of antennae; albeit preservation may cause the loss of antennae in some syllid species, we believe that this character is not a preservation artefact, as all the sampled individuals do not show any trace of antennae, nor of scars indicating the lost of antennae. Moreover, dorsal cirri are perfectly preserved, suggesting that preservation should not have altered the soft appendages of the collected specimens. Until now two species of Exogone without prostomial antennae have been described, namely Exogone acerata San Martín & Parapar, 1990, and Exogone oculata (Hartman & Fauchald, 1971) (San Martín, 1991). E. sophiae differs from E. acerata in the absence of dorsal cirri at chaetiger 2 (present in E. acerata), in the less pronounced spinulation on shafts of spiniger-like chaetae and in the longer spines on blades of spiniger-like chaetae (San Martín & Parapar, 1990). Exogone sophiae appears closer to E. oculata, as both species lack the dorsal cirrus at chaetiger 2, but E. oculata lacks spiniger-like chaetae on the first four chaetigers. Moreover, both species are provided of ventral simple chaetae, that are absent in all examined individuals of the new species. Among Mediterranean species, E. sophiae appears particularly close to Exogone verugera (Claparède, 1868) and Exogone dispar (Webster, 1879) in size and overall body shape and number of proventricle cell rows. Apart from the absence of antennae, this species differs from E. verugera as E. sophiae has smaller, non-coalescent eyes, longer blades of falciger chaetae, with a higher number of marginal teeth, and slightly shorter blades of spinigerlike chaetae with a more pronounced spinulation along the ventral edge; moreover E. sophiae lacks ventral simple chaetae. Exogone dispar has similar blades of falciger chaetae, and a more pronounced spinulation along the ventral edge of spiniger-like blades (San Martín, 2003); however, in E. sophiae such spinulation is even more pronounced (Fig. 3d). Moreover, E. dispar has dorsal cirri at the second chaetiger. Lastly, E. sophiae might resemble Exogone lopezi San Martín, Ceberio & Aguirrezabalaga, 1996, since this last species apparently lacks ventral simple chaetae, and has very small antennae that are difficult to see. However, E. lopezi has falciger chaetae with long, thread-like marginal teeth that outgrow the chaetal tip, whereas in E. sophiae the marginal serration of falcigers is coarser and less developed.Published as part of Langeneck, Joachim, Musco, Luigi, Busoni, Giulio, Conese, Ilaria, Aliani, Stefano & Castelli, Alberto, 2018, Syllidae (Annelida: Phyllodocida) from the deep Mediterranean Sea, with the description of three new species, pp. 197-220 in Zootaxa 4369 (2) on pages 202-204, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4369.2.3, http://zenodo.org/record/113567
Airway cell patterns in patients suffering from COPD and OSAS (Overlap Syndrome)
No full textSummaryBackgroundObstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSAS) and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) are two diseases that often coexist within an individual. This coexistence is known as Overlap Syndrome (OS). Both diseases are characterized by local and systemic inflammations, but no studies to date have investigated local airway inflammation in patients suffering from Overlap Syndrome.MethodsWe performed a Berlin Questionnaire to evaluate the presence of the principal OSAS symptoms, a pulmonary function test, and then a nocturnal oximetry and polysomnography in 72 patients that were divided into five groups: OS (n = 18), COPD (n = 15), OSAS (n = 16), 12 obese without OSAS or COPD, and one control group of 11 normal subjects. All patients underwent sputum induction and the analysis of cell patterns were evaluated in all groups. The relationship with the degree of obesity, airway obstruction and OSAS severity was also evaluated.ResultsThe percentage of neutrophils in induced sputum was higher in OS (74.33% ± 14.8), COPD (63.33% ± 13.22) and OSAS (60.69% ± 17.6) subjects compared with control groups of obese (43.5% ± 17.49) and normal weight (32.04% ± 12.26). No difference was found among Overlap, COPD, and OSAS patients (p = 0.56). A negative correlation was found between PaO2 and percentage of airway neutrophils (r = −0.29, p < 0.05); similarly, no correlations arose between BMI, FEV1 or ODI.ConclusionPatients suffering from Overlap Syndrome present a high percentage of neutrophils in induced sputum like patients affected by COPD or OSAS alone. Our result suggests that airway inflammations is always involved in all of these diseases, even though probably sustained by different mechanisms
Mind reading dysfunctions in patients with obstructive sleep apnoea: a neuropsychological approach
No full textObstructive sleep apnoea syndrome (OSAS) is a prevalent sleep-related breathing disorder that has been extensively studied for its effects on cognitive functions. However, little attention has been given to investigating Mind Reading (MR) skills in patients with OSAS. In this study, we employed a neuropsychological approach to thoroughly assess various facets of MR skills in patients with OSAS. Forty-two patients with untreated moderate or severe OSAS (AHI >= 15; 30 men, 12 women) and 16 healthy controls (7 men and 9 women), matched by age, were enrolled. To assess MR skills, we used: (i) The Story-based Empathy Task (SET), which includes three experimental conditions: identifying intentions (SET-IA), emotional states (SET-EA), and a control condition for inferring causality reactions (SET-CI); (ii) the Ekman 60 Faces Test (Ek60), which measures emotion recognition from facial expressions. Our findings revealed that patients with OSAS exhibit deficits in emotion-related MR skills, while their ability to make inferences about the cognitive states of social partners remains largely preserved. This finding corroborates previous evidence indicating that social cognition, particularly MR skills, may be one of the cognitive domains affected by OSAS. It emphasizes the significance of investigating social cognition and the relationship between MR skills and social functioning as a new and intriguing area of research in patients with OSAS
BLOOD LYMPHOCYTE SUBSET POPULATIONS IN HEALTHY BOXERS AND IN BOXERS AFFECTED BY CANINE LEISHMANIOSIS (L. INFANTUM)
No full textIntroduction: Leishmania infantum infects dogs in several Mediterranean countries, including Italy. It is known,
however, that many infected dogs will not develop clinical manifestations of canine leishmaniosis (CL). Several
studies have been aimed at identifying possible breed predisposition to disease and the Boxer breed, among
others, has been reported to be more predisposed. The aim of the present study was to analyze peripheral blood
lymphocyte subset populations in healthy boxers and in boxers affected by leishmaniosis.
Materials and Methods: Nine healthy, L. infantum-negative boxers and 6 boxers with CL were studied. Infection
status was determined by antibody titre and PCR. Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) were isolated by
density gradient and analyzed in flow cytometry for the expression of: CD3, CD4,CD8, CD21, CD11a/CD18, CD25 and
Foxp3. Double staining was carried out for CD4/CD8 and CD4/FoxP3, while triple staining was carried out for
CD4/CD25/FoxP3. Results were analyzed with the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test, with significant differences between
healthy and sick dogs for each subset at p ≤ 0.05.
Results: No significant differences were observed between sick dogs and healthy dogs for CD3+, CD4+CD8- or
CD4+/Foxp3+ cells; levels of CD4-/CD8+ and CD4+/CD8+ lymphocytes tended to be higher in dogs with CL, even
though this was not significant. The levels of CD4+/CD25+/FoxP3+ were extremely low in both groups.
Conclusions: Further studies with a larger population of animals are necessary to confirm or exclude a role for
lymphocyte subset variation in the development of CL in predisposed breeds
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