The nuck's cyst: A disease easily confused for inguinal hernia. A case report

Nuck's canal cyst is a blind end adult residual of the fetal peritoneum. These rare cyst formations are usually found in the inguinal canal and can easily be mistaken for hernia, or enlarged limph nodes. Clinically, a Nuck's canal cyst appears as a painless or moderately painful swelling in inguinal area. We report the case of a 40 years-old woman with a painless swelling in her left inguinal region, believed a groin hernia but diagnosed as a Nuck's canal cyst only after intervention. Intraoperatively, the cyst was opened and sebsequently excised, closing the abdominal wall without the use of any sort of syntetic prostetic material.

Nutrition in inflammatory bowel disease patients

Inflammatory Bowel Diseases (IBD) is a chronic disorder characterized bya relapsing-remitting course, which alternates between active and quiescent states, ultimately impairing a patient's quality of life. The two main types of IBD are Crohn's disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis (UC). CD shows a transmural granulomatous inflammation that can involve any segment of the intestine affecting all layers of the intestinal wall while UC is limited to the mucosa and superficial sub-mucosa of the colon. In physiologial conditions the gut is costantly exposed to various antigens, commensal microflora and pathogens and the inflammatory response is finely balanced. Anyhow in some individuals with genet…

The reference frequency distributions of daily relative sunshine from different locations

Abstract In some applications the relative sunshine distribution curves are very usefull. The present work tends to provide the above frequency distributions for the Italian area, using the daily data of eleven stations. A preliminary compatibility test is applied in order to verify if a dependence on location exist and it is deduced that the area referring to the various locations is statistically compatible with a few exceptions. Therefore, it is possible to give generalized frequency distributions curves which can be considered reference curves for all Italian locations. The empirical distributions are also compared with the calculated ones by the method of Bendt et al. and a good agreem…

The intestinal ecosystem and probiotics

The term "probiotic" comes from the greek "pro bios" and means "pro life": Nowadays, an increasing number of pharmaceutical preparations and functional foods are enriched with probiotics and for the patients it is increasingly important to receive information needed to know how to orient in the choice. The benefits from probiotics are many and include the modulation of the intestinal microflora (stimulation of beneficial bacteria and inhibition of pathogens), the support of bowel function and the stimulation of the immune system. This broad spectrum of beneficial effects to maintain efficient the intestinal ecosystem. Therefore, probiotics are an useful tool to prevent the formation of diso…

One shoot seldinger central venous catheterization in dialyzed patients

Introduction: Central Venous Catheterization is necessary in uremic patient (before dialysis) and many other conditions. In this study we demonstrated the advantages of ultrasonography to perform the procedure. Materials and methods: 48 uremic patient were submitted to ultrasound-guided central venous catheterization. The procedure was performed following the Seldinger “one shot” technique. Results: The mean operative time was 4 minutes, with a high rate of success (100%) and a low percentage of complications (2%). Conclusion: The ultrasound-guided central venous catheterization is a safe procedure, rapid and easy to perform. The procedure has a low rate of failures and complications and a …

Diffuse solar radiation statistics for Italy

Abstract In this paper diffuse radiation is correlated with usually measured or more easy computable quantities in order to have a larger number of data available for the various applications of solar energy. Here are used two types of correlation: (a) diffuse radiation as a function of global and extraterrestrial radiation; (b) diffuse radiation as a function of ralative sunshine and extraterrestrial radiation. On the basis of the above correlations, empirical equations have been proposed and their coefficients have been calculated by fitting the experimental data of three Italian stations. The degree of accuracy of the fit has been estimated by a coefficient introduced and called by us “r…

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?

Probiotics, prebiotics and symbiotics in inflammatory bowel diseases: state-of-the-art and new insights

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) consists of two distinct clinical forms, ulcerative colitis (UC) and Crohn's disease (CD), with unknown aetiology, which nevertheless are considered to share almost identical pathophysiological backgrounds. Up to date, a full coherent mechanistic explanation for IBD is still lacking, but people start to realize that the pathogenesis of IBD involves four fundamental components: the environment, gut microbiota, the immune system and the genome. As a consequence, IBD development might be due to an altered immune response and a disrupted mechanism of host tolerance to the non-pathogenic resident microbiota, leading to an elevated inflammatory response. Consideri…

IMPLICAZIONI NEUROENDOCRINE, IMMUNOFENOTIPICHE E CELLULARI DELLE COLITI MICROSCOPICHE

Systematic review with meta-analysis: the haemodynamic effects of carvedilol compared with propranolol for portal hypertension in cirrhosis.

Intestinal microbiota mutualism and gastrointestinal diseases

The purpose of this work is to investigate the link between an altered intestinal mcro-biota or dysbiosis and chronic inflammatory disorders, in particular inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Along with probiotics, faecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) opts to be a promising therapeutic treatment for restoring the bacterial homeostasis of the hu-man intestine and reducing the risk of colorectal carcinogenesis. Microbiota is the com-plex microbial flora that resides in the gut establishing a mutually beneficial relation-ship. Alteration of the microbiota’s composition, termed as dysbiosis, may lead to pathological conditions. Treatment with probiotics can restore the normal commensal flora i…

An atmospheric model for computing direct and diffuse solar radiation

Abstract This paper proposes an atmospheric model, which extends the computation of the direct radiation given by Cole's model to the cloudy sky and shows a method to calculate the diffuse radiation. Therefore the monthly average values of the global radiation incident on a horizontal surface at Palermo are computed by this method. These values are compared with the experimental data provided by the Istituto di Idraulica Agraria, Universita di Palermo and generally exhibit a mean deviation not more than 10 per cent. The deviations become lower than 8 per cent taking into account the effect of the underlying surface albedo. In order to better verify the validity of the proposed method, it sh…

FOCAL ACTIVE COLITIS AS A PREDICTOR OF INFLAMMATORY BOWEL DISEASE: RESULTS FROM A SINGLE-CENTER EXPERIENCE.

The term focal active colitis (FAC) is conventionally used to describe the presence of isolated cryptitis, characterized by an inflammatory infiltrate consisting of intraepithelial neutrophils and/or neutrophils invading the lumen of the criptae, with no other microscopic alteration of the colonic mucosa and, in particular, without the presence of signs of chronic inflammation. To date, only four studies, including one conducted in a pediatric population, have been performed to evaluate the clinical significance of this disease. The aim of this retrospective study on prospectively-collected data is to evaluate the clinical implications of the focal active colitis, since there still remains …

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…

An atmospheric model applied to some actinometric stations of Sicily

Abstract In this paper the application of an atmospheric model proposed by S. Barbaro et al. in a previous work for computing the direct and diffuse solar radiation is extended to some actinometric stations in Sicily, namely Gela, Messina, Pantelleria, Trapani and Ustica. The comparison of the monthly average values of the global radiation computed by this method with the experimental data shows a good agreement, that confirms the encouraging results obtained for Palermo in the previous work. This further test of the validity of the proposed model allows this one may be used with good reliability to predict the radiation on locations lacking in actinometric instruments. Finally, the influen…

Global solar radiation in Italy

Colorectal cancer in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus: a single-center experience

Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is associated with an increased risk of colorectal cancer (CRC). The aim of the study is to evaluate the prevalence of CRC in a cohort of Caucasian patients with T2DM and the association with other variables previously known to be related with increased risk of CRC. We retrospectively evaluated the data of 741 consecutive Caucasian patients with T2DM who underwent colonoscopic screening in our tertiary referral center. A control cohort of 333 patients with thyroid disease was selected to evaluate the difference in the incidence of CRC. At a median follow-up of 132.5 months (range 33.3-175.7), 67 cases of cancer (prevalence 9%) occurred; among these, 14 cases …

Results of the measurements carried out in order to verify the validity of the poisson-exponential distribution in radioactive decay events

Abstract Berkson, examining a series of 250,000 disintegration time intervals, found a significant departure of the distribution from the Poisson-exponential law. Therefore he proposed to repeat the experiment using a large number of intervals and to check the interval recordings by using more than one recording instrument simultaneously. Accepting these suggestions we developed two systems of data collecting provided with different controls. In several experiments we collected data for more than one million decay intervals. The results elaborated using the Pearson ξ 2 test reflect a Poisson process of the radioactive decay events.

The value of diagnostic ultrasound for detecting occult inguinal hernia in patients with groin pain

Aims: chronic groin pain caused by an occult hernia can be a difficult clinical diagnosis and may require additional investiga- tive modalities. The aim of this study was to demonstrate the accuracy of ultrasound in diagnosing occult hernia in patients with recurrent inguinal pain and a negative clinical examination. Patients and methods: over a period of three years, a total of 76 patients were referred for ultrasound examination with clini- cally suspected occult inguinal hernia. Patients with positive US scans were offered surgery, while those with negative US findings were offered further imaging or other diagnostic tests. The ultrasound examination of the inguinal region was conducted …

Correlation between relative sunshine and state of the sky

Abstract It is possible to construct a sunshine map referring to a large zone, lacking in a widespread network of recording stations, correlating the relative sunshine with the “state of the sky”, defined by the monthly mean number of the clear, mixed and overcast days, whose data are more largely available. In the correlation here proposed climatological and meteorological factors are introduced in order to express the helioclimatic characteristics of every location. The application to Italy, using the data of the period 1973–1977 provided by the 31 stations of ITAV, has suggested the classification of these stations in seven “helioclimatic groups” characterized by different values of the …

Pouchitis: A tridimensional view

The preferred surgical treatment of ulcerative colitis (UC) and familial adenomatous polyposis (FAP) is represented by proctocolectomy with ileal pouch-anal anastomosis (IPAA). However, patients with UYC who have undergone IPAA are prone to develop several complications, which include surgery related/mecchanical complications; inflammatory or infectious disoreders; dysplasia or neoplasia; and systemic or metabolic disorders. Pouchitis, which is defined as the acute and/or chronic inflammation of the ileal reservoir, represent the most common long-term adverese sequela after IPAA. Gut microbiota play a pivotal role in the initiation and disease progression of pouchitis. Pouchitis can be clas…

Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) in pregnancy: analysis of the possible effects of the disease on the fetus and the newborn and therapeutic approaches

The Inflammatory Bowel Diseases(IBD), are a group of inflammatory diseases characterized by the presence of chronic inflammation, i the absenc of infectious ethiology. The two most well-known diseases in this group are: Crohn's disease (CD) and Ulcerative Colitis (UC). In cases where iti is not possible to distinguish between CD and UC, it is called Indeterminated Colitis. IBD can affect women pregnant. The causes of IBD are unknown, and the clinical course of the sdisease is characterized by phases of activity and remission. UC is a chronic inflammation of the mucosa of the colon and involving predominantly the left colon and rectum. It is associatred with presence of blood and mucus in th…