Health policy model: long-term predictive results associated with the management of hepatitis C virus-induced diseases in Italy
Francesco Saverio Mennini,1,2 Andrea Marcellusi,1,3 Massimo Andreoni,4 Antonio Gasbarrini,5 Salvatore Salomone,6 Antonio Craxì71Centre for Economic and International Studies (CEIS) – Economic Evaluation and HTA (EEHTA) Faculty of Economics, University of Rome Tor Vergata, Rome, Italy; 2Institute of Leadership and Management in Health, Kingston University, London, UK; 3Department of Demography, University of Rome La Sapienza, Rome, Italy; 4Department of Public Health and Cell Biology, School of Medicine, University of Rome Tor Vergata, Rome, Italy; 5Gastroenterology Division, Catholic University of the Sacred Heart of Rome, School of Medicine, Rome, Italy; 6Department of…
Multidisciplinary Approach to the Diagnosis and In-Hospital Management of COVID-19 Infection: A Narrative Review
Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2 or COVID-19 disease) was declared a pandemic on 11th March 2020 by the World Health Organization. This unprecedented circumstance has challenged hospitals’ response capacity, requiring significant structural and organizational changes to cope with the surge in healthcare demand and to minimize in-hospital risk of transmission. As our knowledge advances, we now understand that COVID-19 is a multi-systemic disease rather than a mere respiratory tract infection, therefore requiring holistic care and expertise from various medical specialties. In fact, the clinical spectrum of presentation ranges from respiratory complaints to gastroin…
An Italian Guidance Model for the Management of Suspected or Confirmed COVID-19 Patients in the Primary Care Setting
An outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 started in China's Hubei province at the end of 2019 has rapidly become a pandemic. In Italy, a great number of patients was managed in primary care setting and the role of general practitioners and physicians working in the first-aid emergency medical service has become of utmost importance to coordinate the network between the territory and hospitals during the pandemic. Aim of this manuscript is to provide a guidance model for the management of suspected, probable, or confirmed cases of SARS-CoV-2 infection in the primary care setting, from diagnosis to treatment, applying also the recommendations of the Italian Society of Ge…
A novel arousal-based individual screening reveals susceptibility and resilience to PTSD-like phenotypes in mice
Translational animal models for studying post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) are valuable for elucidating the poorly understood neurobiology of this neuropsychiatric disorder. These models should encompass crucial features, including persistence of PTSD-like phenotypes triggered after exposure to a single traumatic event, trauma susceptibility/resilience and predictive validity. Here we propose a novel arousal-based individual screening (AIS) model that recapitulates all these features. The AIS model was designed by coupling the traumatization (24 h restraint) of C57BL/6 J mice with a novel individual screening. This screening consists of z-normalization of post-trauma changes in startle …
Genomic portrait of a sporadic amyotrophic lateral sclerosis case in a large spinocerebellar ataxia type 1 family
Background: Repeat expansions in the spinocerebellar ataxia type 1 (SCA1) gene ATXN1 increases the risk for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), supporting a relationship between these disorders. We recently reported the co-existence, in a large SCA1 family, of a clinically definite ALS individual bearing an intermediate ATXN1 expansion and SCA1 patients with a full expansion, some of which manifested signs of lower motor neuron involvement. Methods: In this study, we employed a systems biology approach that integrated multiple genomic analyses of the ALS patient and some SCA1 family members. Results: Our analysis identified common and distinctive candidate genes/variants and related biolog…
Dopaminergic-GABAergic interplay and alcohol binge drinking
© 2019 Elsevier Ltd The dopamine D 3 receptor (D 3 R), in the nucleus accumbens (NAc), plays an important role in alcohol reward mechanisms. The major neuronal type within the NAc is the GABAergic medium spiny neuron (MSN), whose activity is regulated by dopaminergic inputs. We previously reported that genetic deletion or pharmacological blockade of D 3 R increases GABA A α6 subunit in the ventral striatum. Here we tested the hypothesis that D 3 R-dependent changes in GABA A α6 subunit in the NAc affect voluntary alcohol intake, by influencing the inhibitory transmission of MSNs. We performed in vivo and ex vivo experiments in D 3 R knockout (D 3 R −/− ) mice and wild type littermates (D 3 …
Health Policy Model: Long-Term Predictive Results Associated with the Management of HCV-Induced Diseases in Italy
Background: This study is aimed at describing the epidemiological and economic burden that HCV will generate in the next few years in Italy. Furthermore, the impact that future anti-HCV treatments may have on the burden of disease was considered. The analysis has been developed over the period 2013-2030 from the Italian National Health Service (NHS) perspective.Methods: A published system dynamic model was adapted for Italy in order to quantify the HCV-infected population, the disease progression and the associated cost from 1950 to 2030. The model structure was based on transition probabilities reflecting the natural history of the disease. In order to estimate the efficacy of current anti…