Search results for " Middle"
showing 10 items of 1097 documents
Definition of the upper reference limit of glycated albumin in blood donors from Italy.
2017
Abstract Background: Glycated Albumin (GA) has been proposed as a short-term indicator of glycemic homeostasis. The aim of this study is to describe the distribution of GA in a large sample of blood donors from Italy to evaluate whether demographic features, namely age and sex, could influence GA levels and define specific reference limits. Methods: The study included 1334 Italian blood donors. GA was measured using an enzymatic method (quantILab Glycated Albumin, IL Werfen, Germany). The upper reference limit (URL) was calculated using the non-parametric percentile method. Results: A modest, although significant, increase of GA was observed in relation to age (p<0.001), especially in ma…
Liver Perfusate Natural Killer Cells from Deceased Brain Donors and Association with Acute Cellular Rejection after Liver Transplantation: A Time-to-…
2019
Background The ability to predict which recipients will successfully complete their posttransplant clinical course, which is crucial for liver transplant (LT) programs. The assessment of natural killer (NK) cell subset determined by flow cytometry from a monocentric series of consecutive liver perfusates could help identify risk factors portending adverse LT outcomes. Methods Liver perfusates were collected during the back-table surgical time after the procurement procedures for donors after brain death. Lymphocytic concentrations and phenotypes were matched with donors after brain death characteristics and indications, timing, surgical techniques, outcomes, and biopsy-proven acute cellular…
Molecular analysis of sequence variants in the Fcepsilon receptor I beta gene and IL-4 gene promoter in Italian atopic families
2004
The genetic variants in the Fcepsilon receptor I beta gene (Glu237Gly) and the T allele of the (C590T) polymorphism of interleukin (IL)-4 gene promoter were reported to be associated with atopy. But the data of the studies in different populations are contrasting with one another.
Addressing the impact of SARS-CoV-2 infection in persons with congenital bleeding disorders: The Italian MECCOVID-19 study
2021
congenital bleeding disorders
Dermoscopy of cutaneous smooth muscle neoplasms: a morphological study of 136 cases
2019
BACKGROUND: A variety of cutaneous smooth muscle neoplasms may arise in the skin and are frequently unrecognized by clinicians. There is sparse data relating to the dermoscopy of piloleiomyomas (PL), and nothing has been published about the dermoscopy of angioleiomyomas (AL) and leiomyosarcomas (LS). OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the morphological findings of a large series of cutaneous PL, AL and LS under dermoscopic observation, comparing these findings among them. METHODS: Digital dermoscopic images of 136 histopathologically confirmed cases of cutaneous smooth muscle neoplasms (114 PL, 13 AL and 9 LS) collected from 10 Hospitals in Spain, Austria and Italy were evaluated for the presence of d…
Prospective comparison of Fibroscan, King's score and liver biopsy for the assessment of cirrhosis in chronic hepatitis C infection
2010
Historically, liver biopsy (LB) was the sole method to evaluate the severity of hepatic fibrosis in patients with chronic hepatitis C infection. However, LB is expensive and associated with a risk of severe complications. Therefore, noninvasive tests have been developed to assess the severity of liver fibrosis. The accuracy of Fibroscan (FS) and King's score (KS) was evaluated individually and in combination using liver histology as the reference standard. One hundred and eighty-seven patients were identified who had undergone a biopsy with a diagnosis of chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) mono-infection (HCV RNA-positive by RT-PCR), attending King's College Hospital (n = 88) or the Royal Free…
Hepatitis delta infection in Italian patients: towards the end of the story?
2016
Background: The endemicity of hepatitis delta virus infection in Italy has decreased in the last decades. Aim: To evaluate the current epidemiology of chronic delta infection in Italy and to compare the present findings with the corresponding figures from the previous studies. Methods: A cross-sectional study involving 16 referral centres scattered all over the country in 2014. Results: Out of the 513 hepatitis B surface antigen-positive subjects enrolled, 61 (11.9%) were anti-delta positive, with a sex ratio (M/F) of 2.05. The majority (80.3%) of them was 50 years or older, while the proportion of subjects younger than 30 years of age was as low as 3.3%. No difference was detected by geogr…
Comparison of cystatin C and creatinine-based glomerular filtration rate formulas with 51Cr-EDTA clearance in patients with cirrhosis
2011
Renal function is an important predictor of survival in cirrhosis and liver transplantation. GFR estimates using serum cystatin C (CysC) are proposed as better predictors of renal function than ones on the basis of serum creatinine (Cr). Our aims were: (1) evaluate correlations between serum CysC and different methods of creatinine measurements; (2) compare CysC and Cr GFR formulas with (51)Cr-EDTA; and (3) evaluate liver-related parameters potentially influencing GFR.254 blood samples in 65 patients with cirrhosis correlating CysC with four Cr methods were used; another 74 patients comparing (51)Cr-EDTA GFR to Modification of Diet in Renal Disease and Larsson and Hoek formulas for CysC wer…
Computer-assisted image analysis of liver collagen: relationship to Ishak scoring and hepatic venous pressure gradient.
2009
Histopathological scoring of disease stage uses descriptive categories without measuring the amount of fibrosis. Collagen, the major component of fibrous tissue, can be quantified by computer-assisted digital image analysis (DIA) using histological sections. We determined relationships between DIA, Ishak stage, and hepatic venous pressure gradient (HVPG) reflecting severity of fibrosis. One hundred fifteen patients with hepatitis C virus (HCV) who had undergone transplantation had 250 consecutive transjugular liver biopsies combined with HVPG (median length, 22 mm; median total portal tracts, 12), evaluated using the Ishak system and stained with Sirus red for DIA. Liver collagen was expres…
The combination of liver stiffness measurement and NAFLD fibrosis score improves the noninvasive diagnostic accuracy for severe liver fibrosis in pat…
2014
Background & Aims The accuracy of noninvasive tools for the diagnosis of severe fibrosis in patients with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease(NAFLD) in clinical practice is still limited. We aimed at assessing the diagnostic performance of combined noninvasive tools in two independent cohorts of Italian NAFLD patients. Methods We analysed data from 321 Italian patients(179 Sicilian-training cohort, and 142 northern Italy-validation cohort) with an histological diagnosis of NAFLD. Severe fibrosis was defined as fibrosis ≥ F3 according to Kleiner classification. The APRI, AST/ALT, BARD, FIB-4, and NFS scores were calculated according to published algorithms. Liver stiffness measurement(LSM) was …