0000000000594970
AUTHOR
Francesco Ursini
showing 6 related works from this author
Testing warm Comptonization models for the origin of the soft X-ray excess in AGNs
2018
The X-ray spectra of many active galactic nuclei (AGN) show a soft X-ray excess below 1-2 keV on top of the extrapolated high- energy power law. The origin of this component is uncertain. It could be a signature of relativistically blurred, ionized reflection, or the high-energy tail of thermal Comptonization in a warm (kT $\sim$ 1 keV), optically thick ($\tau\simeq$ 10-20) corona producing the optical/UV to soft X-ray emission. The purpose of the present paper is to test the warm corona model on a statistically significant sample of unabsorbed, radio-quiet AGN with XMM-newton archival data, providing simultaneous optical/UV and X-ray coverage. The sample has 22 objects and 100 observations…
Prevalence of type 2 diabetes and impaired fasting glucose in patients affected by rheumatoid arthritis: Results from a cross-sectional study.
2017
Abstract Although the better management of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) has significantly improved the long-term outcome of affected patients, a significant proportion of these may develop associated comorbidities including cardiometabolic complications. However, it must be pointed out that a comprehensive cardiometabolic evaluation is still poorly integrated into the management of RA patients, due to a limited awareness of the problem, a lack of appropriate clinical studies, and optimal strategies for cardiovascular (CV) risk reduction in RA. In addition, although several studies investigated the possible association between traditional CV risk factors and RA, conflicting results are still av…
Guidelines for biomarkers in autoimmune rheumatic diseases - evidence based analysis
2018
Autoimmune rheumatic diseases are characterised by an abnormal immune system response, complement activation, cytokines dysregulation and inflammation. In last years, despite many progresses in managing these patients, it has been shown that clinical remission is reached in less than 50% of patients and a personalised and tailored therapeutic approach is still lacking resulting in a significant gap between guidelines and real-world practice. In this context, the need for biomarkers facilitating early diagnosis and profiling those individuals at the highest risk for a poor outcome has become of crucial interest. A biomarker generally refers to a measured characteristic which may be used as a…
International consensus: What else can we do to improve diagnosis and therapeutic strategies in patients affected by autoimmune rheumatic diseases (r…
2017
Autoimmune diseases are a complex set of diseases characterized by immune system activation and, although many progresses have been done in the last 15 years, several unmet needs in the management of these patients may be still identified. Recently, a panel of international Experts, divided in different working groups according to their clinical and scientific expertise, were asked to identify, debate and formulate a list of key unmet needs within the field of rheumatology, serving as a roadmap for research as well as support for clinicians. After a systematic review of the literature, the results and the discussions from each working group were summarised in different statements. Due to th…
Persistence of C-reactive protein increased levels and high disease activity are predictors of cardiovascular disease in patients with axial spondylo…
2022
AbstractAn accurate prediction of cardiovascular (CV) risk in patients with Axial Spondyloarthritis (axSpA) is a strong unmet need, as CV risk algorithms poorly perform in these subjects. The aim of this study was to establish whether the persistence of high C-reactive protein (CRP) and high disease activity may be considered predictive factors of CVD in axSpA. 295 patients without personal history of CVD, were consecutively enrolled in this study. To evaluate the relationship between CV events occurrence (fatal and non-fatal) and the persistence of increased CRP levels, ASDAS (Ankylosing Spondylitis Disease Activity Score) > 2.1, and BASDAI (Bath Ankylosing Spondylitis Disease Activity)…
Methods for diagnosing bile acid malabsorption: a systematic review
2019
Abstract Background Bile acid malabsorption (BAM) and bile acid-related diarrhea represent an under-recognized cause of chronic diarrhea mainly because of limited guidance on appropriate diagnostic and laboratory tests. We aimed to perform a systematic review of the literature in order to identify and compare the diagnostic accuracy of different diagnostic methods for patients with BAM, despite a proven gold standard test is still lacking. Methods A PubMed literature review and a manual search were carried out. Relevant full papers, evaluating the diagnostic accuracy of different methods for BAM, were assessed. Available data were analyzed to estimate the sensitivity and specificity of each…