Insulin receptors and insulin sensitivity in normo and hyperinsulinemic obese patients

The authors have studied insulin receptors on peripheral blood monocytes and insulin sensitivity, evaluated by simultaneous infusion of glucose, insulin and somatostatin in 10 control subjects and in 20 obese patients with normal glucose tolerance. The obese patients have been divided into two groups, normo (NO) and hyperinsulinemic (HO), according to the total insulin response during OGTT. We considered HO patients with insulin response higher than M + 2DS of controls. Obese patients showed, in comparison to the controls, a lower specific binding and higher degree of insulin resistance. The subdivision of obese patients allowed us to distinguish two groups. The first was characterized by b…

Procedura di calibrazione di sistemi dosimetrici a film radio-cromici GAFCHROMIC® mod. HD-V2

I sistemi dosimetrici a film radiocromici vengono utilizzati nelle misure della dose assorbita da vari materiali sottoposti a radiazioni ionizzanti, nei quali avvengono reazioni chimiche che intensificano le bande ottiche d’assorbanza determinata, quest’ultima, tramite l’utilizzo di uno spettrofotometro. L’impiego di questi sistemi comporta una preliminare calibrazione degli stessi in riferimento a standard internazionali. La dose rilevata fa riferimento generalmente alla dose assorbita in acqua anche se è possibile determinare la stessa in altri materiali tramite opportuni fattori correttivi. L’interesse verso questi sistemi dosimetrici è relativo all’impiego in processi industriali d’irra…

Network Positions and the Probability of Being Acquired: An Empirical Analysis in the Biopharmaceutical Industry

This paper examines the relationship between the firm's direct ties, its inter-firm network prominence and its likelihood of being acquired. The authors argue that firm's direct ties and prominence enhance the firm's visibility and signal its quality – and thus foster the firm's likelihood of being acquired. However, higher levels of direct ties and prominence, by providing access to resources and the firm's status, respectively, increase the firm's ability to remain independent and thus reduce its likelihood of being acquired. Thus, the authors posit the overall relation as an inverted U-shaped. Furthermore, they show that, for firms that undergo an initial public offering, the aforementio…

Modelling the NPD process in virtual organizations

Evaluating the Impact of Demand and Inventory Management Policies on Bullwhip Effects in Production Networks

Association of kidney disease measures with risk of renal function worsening in patients with type 1 diabetes

Background Albuminuria has been classically considered a marker of kidney damage progression in diabetic patients and it is routinely assessed to monitor kidney function. However, the role of a mild GFR reduction on the development of stage ≥3 CKD has been less explored in type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) patients. Aim of the present study was to evaluate the prognostic role of kidney disease measures, namely albuminuria and reduced GFR, on the development of stage ≥3 CKD in a large cohort of patients affected by T1DM. Methods A total of 4284 patients affected by T1DM followed-up at 76 diabetes centers participating to the Italian Association of Clinical Diabetologists (Associazione Medici D…

SARS-CoV-2 vaccination modelling for safe surgery to save lives: data from an international prospective cohort study

Abstract Background Preoperative SARS-CoV-2 vaccination could support safer elective surgery. Vaccine numbers are limited so this study aimed to inform their prioritization by modelling. Methods The primary outcome was the number needed to vaccinate (NNV) to prevent one COVID-19-related death in 1 year. NNVs were based on postoperative SARS-CoV-2 rates and mortality in an international cohort study (surgical patients), and community SARS-CoV-2 incidence and case fatality data (general population). NNV estimates were stratified by age (18–49, 50–69, 70 or more years) and type of surgery. Best- and worst-case scenarios were used to describe uncertainty. Results NNVs were more favourable in su…

Early outcomes and complications following cardiac surgery in patients testing positive for coronavirus disease 2019: An international cohort study

The outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndromecoronavirus-2, the cause of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in December 2019 represented a global emergency accounting for more than 2.5 million deaths worldwide.1 It has had an unprecedented influence on cardiac surgery internationally, resulting in cautious delivery of surgery and restructuring of services.2 Understanding the influence of COVID-19 on patients after cardiac surgery is based on assumptions from other surgical specialties and single-center studies. The COVIDSurg Collaborative conducted a multicenter cohort study, including 1128 patients, across 235 hospitals, from 24 countries demonstrating perioperative COVID-19 infection…

Pre-operative leukocytosis: a potential poor prognosis risk factor in cardiac device implantation: a case report

Introduction. Despite the benefits of the implantation of cardiac rhythm management devices cardiac implantable electronic device (CIED) infection is an emerging problem New debate emerged about the unclear role of the pre-operative alteration of pro-inflammatory parameters, such as leukocytosis, in the development CIED infection and/or heart failure, and its consequent impact on the timing of ICD implantation/reimplantation. Case report. A 65 years old patient with a history of Diabetes Mellitus (DM) type II, ventricular and supraventricular arrhythmias, chronic myocardial ischemia, heart failure was admitted to hospital.Healthcare workers opted for ICD implantation despite the presence of…

An Innovative Health Care Management System based on the Virtual Enterprise Paradigm

The critical view of safety during laparoscopic cholecystectomy: Strasberg Yes or No? An Italian Multicentre study

Abstract Background Laparoscopic cholecystectomy is considered the gold standard for the treatment of gallbladder lithiasis; nevertheless, the incidence of bile duct injuries (BDI) is still high (0.3–0.8%) compared to open cholecystectomy (0.2%). In 1995, Strasberg introduced the "Critical View of Safety" (CVS) to reduce the risk of BDI. Despite its widespread use, the scientific evidence supporting this technique to prevent BDI is controversial. Methods Between March 2017 and March 2019, the data of patients submitted to laparoscopic cholecystectomy in 30 Italian surgical departments were collected on a national database. A survey was submitted to all members of Italian Digestive Pathology…

Machine learning risk prediction of mortality for patients undergoing surgery with perioperative SARS-CoV-2: the COVIDSurg mortality score

The British journal of surgery 108(11), 1274-1292 (2021). doi:10.1093/bjs/znab183

Introducing “healthcare resilience” in clinical risk management

This paper reports the results of an explorative case study in an Italian hospital and presents a conceptual framework for healthcare resilience, which clarifies why and how healthcare structures need to be resilient in order to fully deal with clinical risk. In other words, it is not sufficient to take the “path to zero harm”. Healthcare companies have also to pursue strategies for maximizing the organizational resilience, in terms of resistance, reliability, redundancy and flexibility. This is quite important because, no matter which CRM technique and/or best practice is adopted, sometime adverse events occur. And, in this case, being resilient can help in dampening their negative consequ…

Guest editorial

The 21st International EurOMA (EurOMA, 2014) Conference was hosted by Università degli Studi di Palermo. The conference theme was Operations Management in an Innovation Economy. According to innovation economists what primarily drives economic growth in today’s knowledge-based economy is not capital accumulation but innovative capacity spurred by appropriable knowledge and technological externalities. Economics growth in innovation economics is the end- product of knowledge, R&D expenditures, licenses, technological spillovers, and externalities between collaborative firms, i.e. supply chains and networks of innovation. When firms do not explicitly acknowledge and manage their operations as…