1,721,047 research outputs found
How Cardio-Oncology is called to prove its maturity
No full textDuring the first years of its life, Cardio-Oncology, born ‘only’ to detect and treat events of cardiotoxicity, experienced a significant change of its own nature. Cardio-oncologists are nowadays called to face multiple, different and complex issues: to evaluate the cardiovascular (CV) profile of a cancer patient prior starting anticancer treatments; to estimate the risk of cardiotoxicity; how to adequately manage this eventuality, in some cases evenwithout halting the causative therapy;whether to suggest a cardiologic follow up at the end of the treatment
Direct Oral Anticoagulants for Cancer-Associated Venous Thromboembolism
No full textPurpose of Review: To present the randomized controlled trial (RCT) evidence and highlight the areas of uncertainty regarding direct oral anticoagulants (DOAC) for cancer-associated venous thromboembolism (CAT). Recent Findings: In the last years, four RCTs have shown that rivaroxaban, edoxaban, and apixaban are at least as effective as low-molecular-weight heparin (LMWH) for the treatment of both incidental and symptomatic CAT. On the other hand, these drugs increase the risk of major gastrointestinal bleeding in patients with cancer at this site. Another two RCTs have demonstrated that apixaban and rivaroxaban also prevent CAT in subjects at intermediate-to-high risk commencing chemotherapy, albeit at the price of higher likelihood of bleeding. By contrast, data are limited about the use DOAC in individuals with intracranial tumors or concomitant thrombocytopenia. It is also possible that some anticancer agents heighten the effects of DOAC via pharmacokinetic interactions, up to making their effectiveness-safety profile unfavorable. Summary: Leveraging the results of the aforementioned RCTS, current guidelines recommend DOAC as the anticoagulants of choice for CAT treatment and, in selected cases, prevention. However, the benefit of DOAC is less defined in specific patient subgroups, in which the choice of DOAC over LMWH should be carefully pondered
Patterns of anticoagulation for atrial fibrillation in cancer patients referred to cardio-oncological evaluation
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Therapeutic use of creatine in brain or heart ischemia: available data and future perspectives.
No full textCreatine (Cr) is essential in safeguarding ATP levels and in moving ATP from its production site (mitochondria) to the cytoplasmic regions where it is used. Moreover, it has effects unrelated to energy metabolism, such as free radical scavenging, antiapoptotic action, and protection against excitotoxicity. Recent research has studied Cr-derived compounds (Cr benzyl ester and phos-pho-Cr-magnesium complex) that reproduce the neuroprotective effects of Cr while better crossing the neuronal plasma membrane and, hopefully, the blood-brain barrier (BBB). Intracellular levels of Cr can be increased by incubation with Cr or some of its derivatives, and this increase is protective against anoxic or ischemic damage. A large amount of experimental evidence shows that pretreatment with Cr is capable of reducing the damage induced by ischemia or anoxia in both heart and brain, and that such treatment may also be useful even after stroke or myocardial infarction (MI) has already occurred. Cr has been safely administered to patients affected by several neurological diseases, yet it has never been tested in human brain ischemia, the condition where its rationale is strongest. Phosphocreatine (PCr) has been administered after human MI, where it proved to be safe and probably helpful. Cr should be tested in the prophylactic protection against human brain ischemia and either Cr or PCr should be further tested in MI. Moreover, Cr- or PCr-derived drugs should be developed in order to overcome these molecules' limitations in crossing the BBB and the cell plasma membrane
HETEROGENEITY AND DIFFERENT RELATIONSHIP WITH BIOCHEMICAL AND INFLAMMATORY BIOMARKERS FOR THE CIRCULATING CD16+ MONOCYTES SUBSETS IN ABDOMINAL AORTIC ANEURYSMS (AAA)
No full textHETEROGENEITY AND DIFFERENT RELATIONSHIP WITH BIOCHEMICAL AND INFLAMMATORY BIOMARKERS FOR THE CIRCULATING CD16+ MONOCYTES SUBSETS IN ABDOMINAL AORTIC ANEURYSMS (AAA)
Chiara Barisione, G. Ghigliotti, S. Garibaldi, C. Brunelli, G. Spinella, B. Pane, D. Palmieri, P. Spallarossa, P. Fabbi, P. Altieri, D. Palombo
Modulation of innate immunity occurs in AAA, which is an evolution of the atherothrombotic plaque. Monocytes display considerable heterogeneity, and three subsets are identified, based on the differential expression of CD14 and CD16 receptor: the classical CD16- monocytes and the activated CD16+ monocytes, further differentiated into CD14++CD16+ and CD14+CD16+ cells. CD143(ACE) is overexpressed during monocyte/macrophage differentiation.
Higher CD16+ cell number and CD143 expression are present during inflammatory diseases, such as Chronic Kidney disease (CKD). Plasma D-dimer is increased in patients with AAA, and might contribute to the circulating pro-inflammatory setting.
Aim of our work was to determine the monocyte subsets frequency in AAA patients, and its relationship with D-dimer levels, renal function and other parameters of inflammation.
Peripheral blood from 76 patients with large (>55 mm) AAA, and 24 healthy controls was analyzed to determine monocytic CD14++CD16+ and CD14+CD16+ frequencies and CD143 expression by flowcytometry.
AAA patients have higher frequency of CD14++CD16+ and similar levels of CD14+CD16+ monocytes when compared to Controls. In AAA patients, raised D-dimer levels(r:0.440), age (r:0.310), reduced eGFR (r: -0.237) predict increases of CD14++CD16+ counts, while increased levels of Cystatin C (r:0.489), of uric acid (r: 0.277), of monocyte CD143 (r:0.241), and reduced white blood cell count (r:-0.300) predicted increases of CD14+CD16+ counts .
In conclusion, in AAA patients:1) we found a selective expansion of CD14++CD16+ monocyte subset, when compared with Controls; 2) we provided evidence for heterogeneity within the CD16+ monocytes, by
attributing specific relationship between circulating subsets and cell-associated biochemical and inflammatory biomarkers
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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