Search results for "LED"

Mucoadhesive solid lipid microparticles for controlled release of a corticosteroid in the chronic obstructive pulmonary disease treatment.

2017

Therapeutic efficacy of inhaled drugs is limited by rapid clearance from the site of action due to absorption into systemic circulation or metabolic degradation by alveolar macrophages. Drug delivery systems offer new solutions to clinical problems especially in the treatment of pulmonary diseases. In particular, Solid Lipid Microparticles (SLM) in the range of 3-5 µm are suggested as systems for delivery of therapeutics to the lung as, because of their size, they are able to deposit into secondary bronchi, avoiding systemic absorption typical of alveolar regions. Here, we describe two novel different SLMs prepared with chitosan and alginate for sustained release of fluticasone propionate (…

Proton-coupled folate transporter as a biomarker of outcome to treatment for pleural mesothelioma.

2018

Italian young doctors’ knowledge, attitudes and practices on antibiotic use and resistance: A national cross-sectional survey

2020

Abstract Objectives Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is one of the major health issues worldwide. Clinicians should play a central role to fight AMR, and medical training is a pivotal issue to combat it; therefore, assessing levels of knowledge, attitudes and practices among young doctors is essential for future antimicrobial stewardship (AMS) programmes. Methods A nationwide, cross-sectional, multicentre survey was conducted in Italy. A descriptive analysis of knowledge and attitudes was performed, along with a univariate and multivariate analysis of their determinants. Results Overall, 1179 young doctors accessed the survey and 1055 (89.5%) completed all sections. Regarding the knowledge se…

Therapeutic strategies for severe COVID-19: a position paper from the Italian Society of Infectious and Tropical Diseases (SIMIT)

2021

Abstract Scope Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection has become pandemic, reaching almost one million death worldwide. At present standard treatment for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is not well defined because the evidence, either from randomized or observational studies, with conflicting results, has led to rapid changes in treatment guidelines. Our aim was to narratively summarize the available literature on the management of COVID-19 in order to combine current evidence and interpretation of the data by experts who are treating patients in the frontline setting. Methods The panel conducted a detailed review of the literature and eventual press rele…

Effects of Immunonutrition in Advanced Human Immunodeficiency Virus Disease: A Randomized Placebo-controlled Clinical Trial (Promaltia Study)

2018

[Background]: While nutritional interventions with prebiotics and probiotics seem to exert immunological effects, their clinical implications in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)–infected subjects initiating antiretroviral therapy (ART) at advanced HIV disease remain unclear.

An umbrella review of systematic reviews with meta-analyses evaluating positive and negative outcomes of Hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine therapy

2021

Background & aims: Hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) and chloroquine (CQ) are anti-malarial drugs frequently used in the rheumatologic field. They were recently identified as potential therapeutic options for Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19). The present study aims to map and grade the diverse health outcomes associated with HCQ/CQ using an umbrella review approach. Methods: Umbrella review of systematic reviews of observational and intervention studies. For observational studies, random-effects summary effect size, 95% confidence interval, and 95% prediction interval were estimated. We also assessed heterogeneity, evidence for small-study effect, and evidence for excess significance bias. The quality…

Assessment of ISO Method 15216 to Quantify Hepatitis E Virus in Bottled Water

2020

Hepatitis E virus (HEV) is one of the causative agents of water-borne human viral hepatitis and considered in Europe an emerging zoonotic pathogen. Analysis of bottled water through a standard method validated for HEV can contribute towards the risk management of this hazard. Putting some recent reports by the European Food Safety Authority in place, this study aimed to assess the performance of the concentration and extraction procedures described in ISO 15216-1:2017 for norovirus and hepatitis A virus on HEV detection. Following the ISO recommendation, the bottled water samples were spiked using serially diluted HEV fecal suspensions together with mengovirus as process control and concent…

Harmonising and linking biomedical and clinical data across disparate data archives to enable integrative cross-biobank research

2015

A wealth of biospecimen samples are stored in modern globally distributed biobanks. Biomedical researchers worldwide need to be able to combine the available resources to improve the power of large-scale studies. A prerequisite for this effort is to be able to search and access phenotypic, clinical and other information about samples that are currently stored at biobanks in an integrated manner. However, privacy issues together with heterogeneous information systems and the lack of agreed-upon vocabularies have made specimen searching across multiple biobanks extremely challenging. We describe three case studies where we have linked samples and sample descriptions in order to facilitate glo…

Weakly coupled map lattice models for multicellular patterning and collective normalization of abnormal single-cell states

2017

We present a weakly coupled map lattice model for patterning that explores the effects exerted by weakening the local dynamic rules on model biological and artificial networks composed of two-state building blocks (cells). To this end, we use two cellular automata models based on: (i) a smooth majority rule (model I) and (ii) a set of rules similar to those of Conway's Game of Life (model II). The normal and abnormal cell states evolve according with local rules that are modulated by a parameter $\kappa$. This parameter quantifies the effective weakening of the prescribed rules due to the limited coupling of each cell to its neighborhood and can be experimentally controlled by appropriate e…

Comparative evaluation of antimicrobial efficacy of three herbal irrigants in reducing intracanal E. faecalis populations: An in vitro study

2016

Background: The present study aimed to evaluate the intracanal bacterial reduction promoted by chemomechanical preparation using three different herbal extracts named Ocimum sanctum (OS), Cinnamomum zeylanicum (CZ), Syzygium aromaticum (SA) against Enterococcus faecalis. Material and Methods: Root canals from extracted teeth were contaminated with Enterococcus faecalis ATCC 29212 for 7 days and then randomly distributed into 3 experimental groups of 10 teeth each: which includes conventional irrigation with OS, CZ and SA. The control groups included 5 teeth each consisting of NaOCl (positive control) and distilled water (negative control). Samples taken before and after chemomechanical proc…