Comparative performances of machine learning methods for classifying Crohn Disease patients using genome-wide genotyping data

Crohn Disease (CD) is a complex genetic disorder for which more than 140 genes have been identified using genome wide association studies (GWAS). However, the genetic architecture of the trait remains largely unknown. The recent development of machine learning (ML) approaches incited us to apply them to classify healthy and diseased people according to their genomic information. The Immunochip dataset containing 18,227 CD patients and 34,050 healthy controls enrolled and genotyped by the international Inflammatory Bowel Disease genetic consortium (IIBDGC) has been re-analyzed using a set of ML methods: penalized logistic regression (LR), gradient boosted trees (GBT) and artificial neural ne…

A real life comparison of the efficacy of adalimumab versus golimumab in moderate-to-severe ulcerative colitis. A multicenter experience from the sicilian network for inflammatory bowel disease (SN-IBD)

Introduction: Adalimumab (ADA) and golimumab (GOL) are effective in the induction and maintenance treatment of moderate-to-severe ulcerative colitis (UC). No comparable data between the 2 drugs are available up to now. Aims & Methods: We reported the Sicilian Network experience on the comparative efficacy of ADA and GOL in patients (pts) with moderate-to-severe UC. From June 2015 until April 2017, 197 consecutive pts with moderate to severe UC were treated with ADA or GOL. The efficacy was evaluated at 8 week and at the end of the follow up considering ‘‘clinical response’’ (reduction of at least 2 points of Partial Mayo Score with concomitant steroid reduction or discontinuation) and “…

An unusual presentation of T-lymphoma in a Crohn's 4 disease patient treated with combo therapy: We are 5 willing to take a risk of serious adverse events for a 6 doubtful benefit?

OF RAINSTORMS AND BUS STOPS PIOGGIA E COLORE NELLA POESIA POP INGLESE

This paper aims to demonstrate how much Adrian Henri’s poetry changed in his last years. As a member of the Liverpool Poets together with Roger McGough and Brian Patten, Adrian Henri was attracted by what Edward Lucie-Smith called ‘performativity’. The three of them very often played public readings. Their poetry was a real ‘oral’ literature, lyrical, as only British poetry can be. Mortified by a heart attack in the late ‘90s, Henri changed his life and literary stile, adopting a more subjective and romantic use of the words, whose main power was to be evocative as well as rich in symbols.

Sicilian Network for Inflammatory Bowel Disease (SN-IBD). A propensity score-matched comparison of infliximab and adalimumab in naïve and non-naïve patients with Crohn’s disease.

Background: In the absence of head-to-head trials, there is an unmeet need to better understand the relative effectiveness of different biologics in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). The Sicilian Network for Inflammatory Bowel Disease (SN-IBD) is a group composed by all Sicilian centres which continuously enter in a web-based software all clinical data of IBD patients treated with biologics. Methods: Data of all incident Crohn’s disease (CD) patients treated with infliximab (IFX) and adalimumab (ADA) from January 2013 to April 2017 were extracted from the cohort of SN-IBD. Patients were divided in biologic-naïve and non-naïve, and the two groups were analysed singularly. We used a one-to-tw…

P097 NATURAL HISTORY OF CYTOMEGALOVIRUS INFECTION IN A COHORT OF PATIENTS DIAGNOSED WITH MODERATE-SEVERE ULCERATIVE COLITIS

Nutrition, malnutrition and dietary interventions in inflammatory bowel disease

Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD), which includes both Crohn's disease (CD) and Ulcerative Colitis (UC), is a chronic idiopathic inflammatory disorder affecting the gastrointestinal tract. Diet, as a source of luminal antigens, is thought to be an important factor in the pathogenesis of IBD. often the nutritional status of patients is significantly compromised, particularly in CD. several factors, including drug-nutrient interactions, disease location, symptoms, and dietary restriction can lead to protein energy malnutrition and specific nutritional deficiencies. solid evidence regarding the accountability of certain dietary components in the etiology of IBD are lacking. With regard to malnu…

The Italian Society of Gastroenterology (SIGE) and the Italian Group for the study of Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IG-IBD) Clinical Practice Guidelines: The use of tumor necrosis factor-alpha antagonist therapy in Inflammatory Bowel Disease

Biological therapies are an important step in the management of Inflammatory Bowel Diseases. In consideration of high cost and safety issues there is the need to have clear recommendations for their use. Despite the American Gastroenterological Association and the European Crohn's and Colitis Organisation have published exhaustive Inflammatory Bowel Disease guidelines, national guidelines may be necessary as cultural values, economical and legal issues may differ between countries. For these reasons the Italian Society of Gastroenterology and the Italian Group for the study of Inflammatory Bowel Disease have decided to elaborate the Italian guidelines on the use of biologics in Inflammatory…

Overexpression of interleukin-23, but not interleukin-17, as an immunologic signature of subclinical intestinal inflammation in ankylosing spondylitis

Objective Subclinical gut inflammation is common in spondylarthritis, but the immunologic abnormalities underlying this process are undefined. Perturbation of the interleukin-23 (IL-23)/Th17 axis has emerged as a fundamental trigger of chronic inflammation. This study was undertaken to investigate the expression and tissue distribution of IL-23/Th17–related molecules in Crohn's disease (CD) and in subclinical gut inflammation in ankylosing spondylitis (AS). Methods Quantitative gene expression analysis of Th1/Th2 and IL-23/Th17 responses was performed in intestinal biopsy samples obtained from 12 patients with CD, 15 patients with AS, and 13 controls. IL-23 tissue distribution and identific…

LE IMPOSTURE DEL CIBO. ARGOMENTI PER UNA ESPOSIZIONE DELL' 'ABSENTIA'

According to Ugo Volli, «what defines the identity of any semiotic object is its ability to carry out a specific set of functions». But what happens if the semiotic object does not achieve these functions? If the semiotic object does not keep its promises? What is the relation that connects the presence of a semiotic object with its ‘natural task’? Thus, what happens for example to the food if it cannot be enjoyed, if it does not feed? If it is present on the scene but so distant as to become unreachable and to make its natural function absent? In this particular case it is appropriate to bring up the concept of absentia. «LC». Rivista Dipartimento Letterature e Culture Europee Università d…

Effectiveness and safety of biologics in pediatric inflammatory boweldisease: Real-life data from the Sicilian Network

Background: Biological therapies have modified the disease course of pediatric inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and are routinely used in clinical practice. Our observational study aims to evaluate effectiveness and safety of biologics in IBD. Method: Clinical benefit and safety data of 93 children with IBD, receiving biologics (Infliximab – IFX, Adalimumab – ADA, Golimumab – GOL) from January 2013 to December 2017, were extracted from the cohort of the Sicilian Network of IBD. Results: Among 87 children aged 7–17 years (63 Crohn's disease [CD], 24 Ulcerative colitis [UC]), 101 out of 108 biologic treatments were considered. Evaluation of 74 biologic treatments in CD patients at 26, 52, 104…

The role of calprotectin in predicting endoscopic post-surgical recurrence in asymptomatic Crohn's disease: a comparison with ultrasound

Use of Calprest ® in the diagnosis of Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD)

Abstract Background: Between November 2000 and February 2001 a study has been performed by eight Italian hospital centers with the aim of verifying the usefulness of Calprest® (detection of fecal calprotectin) as a marker of bowel inflammation. Preliminary data are reported. Objective: To define the use of fecal calprotectin as a marker of intestinal inflammation, to assess whether it might help in differentiating between IBS and IBD, and its role in IBD. Subjects: Healthy population (51), active Crohn (16), non active or under remission Crohn (11), active ulcerative Colitis (8), non active or under remission ulcerative Colitis (13), pathological Controls of various nature (79). Results: Th…

The sicilian network for inflammatory bowel disease (SN-IBD): preliminary data on efficacy of biological therapy.

Introduction: The monitoring of appropriateness, costs, and clinical outcomes of biological therapy in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is a relevant need. Aims & Methods: We aimed to evaluate all these issues in Sicily through a webbased network of all prescribing centers. The Sicilian Network for Inflammatory Bowel Disease (SN-IBD) is composed by a super Hub coordinator centre and five Hub plus ten Spoke centres. From January 2013, all IBD patients starting a biological agent (incident cases) or already on treatment (prevalent cases) were entered in a web based software. Herein we report data of incident cases about the efficacy of biological therapy after twelve weeks and one year of…

A rare case of ulcerative proctitis associated with type B lymphomatoid papulosis and superimposed human cytomegalovirus infection.

Infliximab to treat Crohn's disease: an update

Abstract: Crohn’s disease (CD) is a chronic inflammatory disease of the gastrointestinal tract characterized by recurring flares followed by periods of inactive disease and remission. The etiology is unknown, although the common opinion is that the disease arises from a disordered immune response to the gut contents in genetically predisposed individuals. Infliximab (IFX), a chimeric immunoglobulin G1 monoclonal antibody to tumor necrosis factor, has dramatically changed the approach to managing patients with CD and improving their treatment, by achieving treatment goals, such as mucosal healing, and decreasing the need for hospitalizations and surgeries. This review provides an update on e…

Late Autumn Poem; The Poet's Garden; A,A,B,B,; Haiku

Traduzione dei testi di Roger McGough da "Sky in the Pie", Penguin, Londra, 1985

P801 Physicians’ knowledge and application of immunisation strategies in patients with inflammatory bowel disease: a survey by the Italian Group for the study of inflammatory bowel disease (IG-IBD)

Sentire e pensare mafioso nelle parole di elettori e politici siciliani

L’analisi della complessa relazione tra Polis siciliana e mafia e tra comunità e crimine organizzato ha portato ad approfondire la questione dell’inquietante ampliamento di strati sociali che esprimono un sostanziale sentimento di collusiva aderenza ai valori portanti di Cosa Nostra (sentire mafioso) e, più nello specifico, la questione delle diverse forme di consenso che i membri di Cosa Nostra riescono a veicolare verso quella fascia di popolazione (politici, professionisti e classe dirigente in genere) che istituzionalmente dovrebbe garantire il rispetto della legalità. Dal nostro punto di vista, la mafia non è riconducibile ad altre forme di criminalità organizzata, ma è un modo di sent…

Quando la vita è la strada: un’indagine sulla realtà psichica e sociale dei meninos de rua

La storia recente del Brasile è segnata da orrendi crimini (oggi finalmente in netta diminuzione) commessi ai danni dei cosiddetti meninos da rua, bambini e adolescenti poverissimi che riescono a sopravvivere commettendo piccoli reati, ma che spesso, purtroppo, rimangono vittime di fantomatiche organizzazioni di vigilantes che in questo modo impongono ordine e pulizia sociale nelle città. I pochi lavori psicologici in quest’area di ricerca (Lo Piccolo, 1996; 2002), sottolineano soprattutto l’enorme carico di dolore psicologico patito da questi giovani costretti a vivere la propria esistenza per la strada, senza riferimenti affettivi, senza reti di supporto e con il rischio sempre in agguato…