1,721,011 research outputs found
Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis: from monocyte and macrophage inflammation to a novel, non-invasive measurement of pulmonary density
Full text linkThe anti-fibrotic drug nintedanib (NTD) has been approved for the management of Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis (IPF), a rare progressive interstitial lung disease. Monocytes/macrophages and alveolar macrophages have been demonstrated to contribute to the wound healing process, promoting inflammation and collagen deposition. Aim: We intend to evaluate the effects of NTD on phenotype and responsiveness of monocytes/macrophages isolated from IPF patients before (TO) and after 3 months of treatment
(T1) with the drug. In this thesis the results obtained from patients at TO will be showed. Samples from healthy volunteers and from patients will be challenged in vitro with NTD. Methods: Monocytes were isolated from peripheral blood and differentiated into M1 and M2 macrophages; cell viability, superoxide anion production and surface markers expression were evaluated. Results: we included 10 IPF patients and 5 healthy volunteers. For in vitro experiments, we used increasing concentrations of NTD up to the highest of 15nM. In monocytes from both healthy
volunteers and patients NTD reduced the basal production of superoxide anion and at 15nM the effect was similar in both populations. After NTD treatment we observed a reduction of non classical monocytes percentage, with a relative reduction of classical monocytes. NTD did not significantly affect the basal 02- production in M1 neither in M2, but it reduced in a dose dependent manner the PMA-induced burst in both macrophage populations. Among surface markers' expression, we observed a reduction of CD206 in M2 macrophages of IPF subjects after NTD stimulation. Conclusions: Our results could build the basis to verify if in IPF patients monocyte production of oxidative stress would influence macrophages polarization, and to support the antifibrotic effects of NTB also by the reduction of CD206 profibrotic marker expression in M2 cells
Potential role of hematological parameters in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: current point of view
No full textInsights from Italy: the Novara-COVID score for rapid destination of COVID-19 patients at emergency department presentation
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Endobronchial ultrasound: a pictorial essay
Full text linkBackground and aim: endobronchial ultrasound has gained widespread popularity in the last decade, becoming the primary technique for minimally invasive evaluation of the mediastinum and staging of lung cancer. Several tertiary and quaternary care institutes use this method, performed by trained and accredited specialists. Its main indications are (I) diagnosis and staging of lung cancer, (II) mediastinal lymphadenopathy diagnosis (III) sampling peripheral pulmonary lesions. Conclusions: this manuscript aims to describe the operational potential of both convex endobronchial ultrasound probe and radial endobronchial ultrasound probe technology, focusing on lung cancer. This narrative review is complemented with by the description of peculiar clinical cases in which endobronchial ultrasound played a pivotal role in reaching the diagnosis
Adherence to guidelines for hospitalized community-acquired pneumonia over time and its impact on health outcomes and mortality.
Full text linkCompliance with validated guidelines is crucial to guide management of patients hospitalized with community-acquired pneumonia (CAP). Data describing real-life management and treatment of CAP are limited. We aimed to evaluate the compliance with guidelines over time, and to assess its impact on all-cause mortality and clinical outcomes. We retrospectively compared two cohorts of patients admitted to the hospital, throughout 2005, just after the implementation of a local clinical pathway based on CAP international guidelines, and 7 years later over 2012. We included all patients with a diagnosis of pneumonia and/or related complications. 564 patients were included. The Pneumonia Severity Index calculation was better documented in 2012 (25.23 %) compared to 2005 (17.70 %; p = 0.032), but compliance with guideline empirical antibiotic therapy was lower in 2012 (56.70 %) than in 2005 (68.75 %; p = 0.004). Performance of guideline recommended urinary antigen tests was higher in 2012, and associated with 57.3 % lower odds of in-hospital mortality (95 % CI 15.0-78.5 %) and with 65.9 % lower odds of 30-day mortality (95 % CI 31.5-83.0 %). Compliance with empirical antibiotic therapy was associated with 2.9 days lower mean length of hospital stay (95 % CI -4.2 to -1.6 days) and with 2.0 days lower mean duration of antibiotic therapy (95 % CI -3.3 to -0.7 days). Compliance with guidelines changed over time, with some effects on mortality and with an apparent reduction in the length of hospital stay and the duration of antibiotic therapy. Specific clinical training and hospital control policies could achieve greater compliance with guidelines, and thus reduce a burden on hospital services
Electromagnetic Navigation Bronchoscopy: Where Are We Now? Five Years of a Single-Center Experience
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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
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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