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First we prove a comparison result for a nonlinear divergence structure elliptic partial differential equation. Next we find an estimate of the solution of a boundary value problem in a domain Ω in terms of the solution of a related symmetric boundary value problem in a ball B having the same measure as Ω. For p-Laplace equations, the corresponding result is due to Giorgio Talenti. In a special (radial) case we also prove a reverse comparison result.

This article is concerned with three optimization problems. In the first problem, a functional is maximized with respect to a set that is the weak closure of a rearrangement class; that is, a set comprising rearrangements of a prescribed function. Questions regarding existence, uniqueness, symmetry, and local minimizers are addressed. The second problem is of maximization type related to a Poisson boundary value problem. After defining a relevant function, we prove it is differentiable and derive an explicit formula for its derivative. Further, using the co-area formula, we establish a free boundary result. The third problem is the minimization version of the second problem. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We consider blow-up solutions to parabolic systems, coupled through their nonlinearities under various boundary conditions with nonlinearities depending on the gradient solution. To obtain a lower bound to blow up time t* for the vector solution, Sobolev-type inequalities are introduced to make use of a differential inequality technique. In addition for Dirichlet systems sufficient conditions are introduced to derive an upper bound for t* and to have a criterion for the global existence of the vector solution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigate continuous dependence on initial data for solutions of a nonlinear parabolic problem, when Robin conditions are prescribed on the boundary ∂ Ω × (t > 0), Ω a bounded R2 domain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Opening of the cardiac voltage-gated Na+ channel (Nav1.5) is responsible for robust depolarization of the cardiac action potential, while inactivation, which rapidly follows, allows for repolarization. Regulation of both the voltage- and time-dependent kinetics of Nav1.5 inactivation can alter the ability of the heart to initiate and sustain a re-entrant arrhythmia. The C-terminal domain (CTD) of Nav1.5 has been shown to modulate fast inactivation of the channel, and multiple auxiliary proteins bind to the CTD, including calmodulin (CaM) and intracellular fibroblast growth factor 12A (FGF12A). Recently, a non-canonical CaM-binding site was also discovered on the N-terminal of A-splice variants of iFGFs. We performed cut-open Vaseline gap (COVG) voltage-clamp to test whether FGF12A with and without CaM regulates Nav1.5 gating. In WT Nav1.5 channels, FGF12A with and without CaM present had a minimal effect on the voltage dependence of both activation and inactivation. Conversely, when CaM is absent on the Nav1.5 CTD (IQ/AA), a dramatic shift in steady-state inactivation (SSI) occurred, regardless of whether CaM was present on FGF12A. These two distinct mechanisms are operative in Nav1.5 LQT3 mutations where FGF12A requires CaM to shift in the voltage-dependence of inactivation, but not to inhibit the persistent late current. We conclude that there are two distinct mechanisms by which FGF12A modulates the Nav1.5 channel: CaM-regulated alteration of the voltage dependence of inactivation and CaM-independent inhibition of persistent late current.

Neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1) is a multisystemic neurocutaneous disease caused by a heterozygous mutation of the NF1 gene that encodes neurofibromin. Complications include vascular and neurologic abnormalities such as moyamoya syndrome, a cerebrovascular disorder with progressive occlusion of the large intracranial arteries, leading to ischemic events and the formation of abnormal vascular networks. Stenosis of the renal artery is another frequent complication of neurofibromatosis type 1, and it represents the most common cause of secondary hypertension in these patients. The purpose of the article is to describe the clinical manifestations of neurofibromatosis type 1 vasculopathy in 4 patients presenting with a wide range of neurologic and reno-vascular manifestations, as well as to examine current diagnostic management and follow-up, current therapeutic options, and to discuss further perspectives in terms of screening, diagnosis, and treatment., Competing Interests: Declaration of Conflicting InterestsThe authors declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Objectives: Active surveillance (AS) is a management strategy for patients with favorable risk prostate cancer. Multi-parametric magnetic resonance imaging (mpMRI) may impact upgrading rates, but there is mixed evidence on the appropriate timing to introduce mpMRI. We evaluated timing of initial mpMRI use for patients on AS and compared upgrading and intervention rates for AS candidates who received initial mpMRI before diagnostic biopsy vs. confirmatory biopsy., Subjects and Methods: Patients enrolled in AS captured by the Prospective Loyola Urology mpMRI (PLUM) Prostate Biopsy Cohort which captures men undergoing MRI-fusion prostate biopsy. We included patients enrolled in AS between January 2014 and October 2022. We conducted a retrospective analysis of patients who underwent MRI-fusion prostate biopsy while on AS at our institution. The cohort was stratified by men who underwent first mpMRI prior to diagnostic biopsy (MRI-DBx), confirmatory biopsy (MRI-CBx), or a subsequent surveillance biopsy. Oncologic outcomes including pathologic reclassification, intervention-free survival, progression-free survival, and overall survival were evaluated., Results: Of 346 patients identified on AS, 94 (27.2%) received mpMRI at the time of diagnostic biopsy, 182 (52.6%) at confirmatory biopsy, and 70 (20.2%) at a later biopsy. At confirmatory biopsy (median 14 months), there was no difference in upgrading (HR 0.95, P = 0.78) or intervention rates (HR 0.97, P = 0.88) between MRI-DBx and MRI-CBx. PI-RADS score on initial mpMRI was associated with upgrading during AS follow-up relative to men with negative mpMRI (HR 4.20 (P = 0.04), 3.24 (P < 0.001), and 1.99 (P < 0.001) for PI-RADS 5, 4, and 3, respectively), and PSA density was associated with intervention (HR 1.52, P = 0.03)., Conclusion: mpMRI can serve as a prognostic tool to select and monitor AS patients, but there was no difference in upgrading or intervention rates based on initial timing of MRI., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors have no conflicts to disclose., (Published by Elsevier Inc.)

Missense variants in calmodulin (CaM) predispose patients to arrhythmias associated with high mortality rates ("calmodulinopathy"). As CaM regulates many key cardiac ion channels, an understanding of disease mechanism associated with CaM variant arrhythmias requires elucidating individual CaM variant effects on distinct channels. One key CaM regulatory target is the KCNQ1 (K V 7.1) voltage-gated potassium channel that carries the I Ks current. Yet, relatively little is known as to how CaM variants interact with KCNQ1 or affect its function. Here, we take a multipronged approach employing a live-cell fluorescence resonance energy transfer binding assay, fluorescence trafficking assay, and functional electrophysiology to characterize >10 arrhythmia-associated CaM variants for effect on KCNQ1 CaM binding, membrane trafficking, and channel function. We identify one variant (G114W) that exhibits severely weakened binding to KCNQ1 but find that most other CaM variants interact with similar binding affinity to KCNQ1 when compared with CaM wild-type over physiological Ca 2+ ranges. We further identify several CaM variants that affect KCNQ1 and I Ks membrane trafficking and/or baseline current activation kinetics, thereby delineating KCNQ1 dysfunction in calmodulinopathy. Lastly, we identify CaM variants with no effect on KCNQ1 function. This study provides extensive functional data that reveal how CaM variants contribute to creating a proarrhythmic substrate by causing abnormal KCNQ1 membrane trafficking and current conduction. We find that CaM variant regulation of KCNQ1 is not uniform with effects varying from benign to significant loss of function, suggesting how CaM variants predispose patients to arrhythmia via the dysregulation of multiple cardiac ion channels. Classification : Biological, Health, and Medical Sciences, Physiology., (© The Author(s) 2023. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of National Academy of Sciences.)

Pitt-Hopkins syndrome (PTHS) is a rare, neurodevelopmental genetic disorder caused by mutations in the TCF4 gene. This gene encodes a ubiquitous, class I, basic helix-loop-helix factor, which is implicated in various developmental and regulatory processes. Predominant clinical manifestations of PTHS include facial dysmorphisms, intellectual disability, absence of expressive language, epilepsy, as well as visual and musculoskeletal impairments. Gastrointestinal (GI) complications, such as chronic intestinal pseudo-obstruction, gastroparesis with delayed bowel transit, chronic constipation culminating in failure to thrive, and gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), are also prevalent in these patients. The early identification of pain etiology in PTHS patients poses a significant clinical challenge. This report presents two cases of PTHS patients suffering from gastrointestinal dysmotility, evaluated at our Pediatrics Clinic at the "Microcitemico" Hospital. A review of existing literature was conducted via the PubMed database to elucidate the current understanding of the GI phenotype in PTHS. Twenty articles were deemed most relevant and selected for this purpose. In both patients, severe constipation and abdominal distension resulted in persistent agitation and inconsolable crying. These distress symptoms were completely ameliorated following prompt pharmacological intervention., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Copyright © 2023, Comisi et al.)

Voltage-gated sodium (NaV) channels are responsible for the initiation and propagation of action potentials. In the heart, the predominant NaV1.5 α subunit is composed of four homologous repeats (I-IV) and forms a macromolecular complex with multiple accessory proteins, including intracellular fibroblast growth factors (iFGF). In spite of high homology, each of the iFGFs, iFGF11-iFGF14, as well as the individual iFGF splice variants, differentially regulates NaV channel gating, and the mechanisms underlying these differential effects remain elusive. Much of the work exploring iFGF regulation of NaV1.5 has been performed in mouse and rat ventricular myocytes in which iFGF13VY is the predominant iFGF expressed, whereas investigation into NaV1.5 regulation by the human heart-dominant iFGF12B is lacking. In this study, we used a mouse model with cardiac-specific Fgf13 deletion to study the consequences of iFGF13VY and iFGF12B expression. We observed distinct effects on the voltage-dependences of activation and inactivation of the sodium currents (INa), as well as on the kinetics of peak INa decay. Results in native myocytes were recapitulated with human NaV1.5 heterologously expressed in Xenopus oocytes, and additional experiments using voltage-clamp fluorometry (VCF) revealed iFGF-specific effects on the activation of the NaV1.5 voltage sensor domain in repeat IV (VSD-IV). iFGF chimeras further unveiled roles for all three iFGF domains (i.e., the N-terminus, core, and C-terminus) on the regulation of VSD-IV, and a slower time domain of inactivation. We present here a novel mechanism of iFGF regulation that is specific to individual iFGF isoforms and that leads to distinct functional effects on NaV channel/current kinetics., (© 2023 Angsutararux et al.)

BK type Ca 2+ -activated K + channels activate in response to both voltage and Ca 2+ . The membrane-spanning voltage sensor domain (VSD) activation and Ca 2+ binding to the cytosolic tail domain (CTD) open the pore across the membrane, but the mechanisms that couple VSD activation and Ca 2+ binding to pore opening  are not clear. Here we show that a compound, BC5, identified from in silico screening, interacts with the CTD-VSD interface and specifically modulates the Ca 2+ dependent activation mechanism. BC5 activates the channel in the absence of Ca 2+ binding but Ca 2+ binding inhibits BC5 effects. Thus, BC5 perturbs a pathway that couples Ca 2+ binding to pore opening to allosterically affect both, which is further supported by atomistic simulations and mutagenesis. The results suggest that the CTD-VSD interaction makes a major contribution to the mechanism of Ca 2+ dependent activation and is an important site for allosteric agonists to modulate BK channel activation., (© 2022. The Author(s).)

Background: Organs at risk (OARs) delineation is a crucial step of radiotherapy (RT) treatment planning workflow. Time-consuming and inter-observer variability are main issues in manual OAR delineation, mainly in the head and neck (H & N) district. Deep-learning based auto-segmentation is a promising strategy to improve OARs contouring in radiotherapy departments. A comparison of deep-learning-generated auto-contours (AC) with manual contours (MC) was performed by three expert radiation oncologists from a single center., Methods: Planning computed tomography (CT) scans of patients undergoing RT treatments for H&N cancers were considered. CT scans were processed by Limbus Contour auto-segmentation software, a commercial deep-learning auto-segmentation based software to generate AC. H&N protocol was used to perform AC, with the structure set consisting of bilateral brachial plexus, brain, brainstem, bilateral cochlea, pharyngeal constrictors, eye globes, bilateral lens, mandible, optic chiasm, bilateral optic nerves, oral cavity, bilateral parotids, spinal cord, bilateral submandibular glands, lips and thyroid. Manual revision of OARs was performed according to international consensus guidelines. The AC and MC were compared using the Dice similarity coefficient (DSC) and 95% Hausdorff distance transform (DT)., Results: A total of 274 contours obtained by processing CT scans were included in the analysis. The highest values of DSC were obtained for the brain (DSC 1.00), left and right eye globes and the mandible (DSC 0.98). The structures with greater MC editing were optic chiasm, optic nerves and cochleae., Conclusions: In this preliminary analysis, deep-learning auto-segmentation seems to provide acceptable H&N OAR delineations. For less accurate organs, AC could be considered a starting point for review and manual adjustment. Our results suggest that AC could become a useful time-saving tool to optimize workload and resources in RT departments.

Purpose: As a discipline in its infancy, online adaptive RT (ART) needs new ontologies and ad hoc criteria to evaluate the appropriateness of its use in clinical practice. In this experience, we propose a predictive model able to quantify the dosimetric impact due to daily inter-fraction variability in a standard RT breast treatment, to identify in advance the treatment fractions where patients might benefit from an online ART approach., Methods: The study was focused on right breast cancer patients treated using standard adjuvant RT on an artificial intelligence (AI)-based linear accelerator. Patients were treated with daily CBCT images and without online adaptation, prescribing 40.05 Gy in 15 fractions, with four IMRT tangential beams. ESTRO guidelines were followed for the delineation on planning CT (pCT) of organs at risk and targets. For each patient, all the CBCT images were rigidly aligned to pCT: CTV and PTV were manually re-contoured and the original treatment plan was recalculated. Various radiological parameters were measured on CBCT images, to quantify inter-fraction variability present in each RT fraction after the couch shifts compensation. The variation of these parameters was correlated with the variation of V95% of PTV (ΔV95%) using the Wilcoxon Mann-Whitney test. Fractions where ΔV95% > 2% were considered as adverse events. A logistic regression model was calculated considering the most significant parameter, and its performance was quantified with a receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve., Results: A total of 75 fractions on 5 patients were analyzed. The body variation between daily CBCT and pCT along the beam axis with the highest MU was identified as the best predictor ( p = 0.002). The predictive model showed an area under ROC curve of 0.86 (95% CI, 0.82-0.99) with a sensitivity of 85.7% and a specificity of 83.8% at the best threshold, which was equal to 3 mm., Conclusion: A novel strategy to identify treatment fractions that may benefit online ART was proposed. After image alignment, the measure of body difference between daily CBCT and pCT can be considered as an indirect estimator of V95% PTV variation: a difference larger than 3 mm will result in a V95% decrease larger than 2%. A larger number of observations is needed to confirm the results of this hypothesis-generating study., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2022 Iezzi, Cusumano, Piccari, Menna, Catucci, D’Aviero, Re, Di Dio, Quaranta, Boschetti, Marras, Piro, Tomei, Votta, Valentini and Mattiucci.)

Purpose: To evaluate the safety and efficacy of a novel augmentation implant in the treatment of patients with symptomatic vertebral body fractures., Materials and Methods: Thirty consecutive patients (seven males and 23 females), mean age of 70 years (range 56 to 89) with osteoporotic fractures and/or low-energy trauma fractures (osteoporosis confirmed by CT), were enrolled in an IRB-approved prospective study. The type of fracture was classified according to the Magerl classification. The patients were treated with the Tektona ® dedicated vertebral body augmentation system. Visual analogue scale (VAS) and Oswestry Disability Index (ODI) scores were obtained after 1, 6 and 12 months. Quality of life was assessed with the SF36 score., Results: A total of 37 vertebral bodies, mostly from T6 to L5, were treated in the 30 enrolled patients. In 67.6% of the cases (n = 25), lumbar fractures were treated. Most of the fractures (43%; n = 16) were A1.1 according to the Magerl classification. A significant pain reduction evaluated by VAS scores (p < 0.0001) was observed on average 7.6 (before the procedure) to 2.8 (immediately post-treatment), 2.1 and 2.7 (after 6 and 12 months later, respectively). The mean ODI score was 55.5% before treatment, and this was statistically significant reduced to 22.3% and 26.9%, respectively, at 6 and 12 months after treatment (p < 0.0001). The SF36 scores, both physical and mental components, showed statistically significant variations (p < 0.0001) whose direction was subpopulation dependent., Conclusion: Patients with confirmed osteoporosis, suffering from symptomatic vertebral body fractures (osteoporotic and/or low-energy traumatic), were treated safely and effectively using this novel implant.

Purpose: To evaluate the clinical outcome of DiscoGel® chemonucleolysis for symptomatic disc herniation in patients who fail conservative treatment., Material and Methods: Consecutive patients with symptomatic disc herniation confirmed on MRI who failed conservative management for at least 6 months were included. Visual analogue scale (VAS), Oswestry Disability Index (ODI) scores, and analgesic use were recorded at baseline, and 12 months after treatment. Multidetector CT (MDCT) was performed at baseline, and 12 months after treatment to assess for DiscoGel® extravasation and alteration in treated disc volume. In a unique long-term subgroup analysis of 31 patients, telephonic follow-up was performed utilizing VAS and ODI parameters 7 years after the procedure., Results: A total of 87 disc herniations were treated in 71 patients; majority (54%) were treated at L4/5 and L5/S1. VAS score of 8 before treatment was reduced to 3 at 12 months after treatment (p = 0.0001); ODI score of 51 before treatment was reduced to 15 at 12 months after treatment (p = 0.0001). Analgesic use of 70.4% was reduced to 29.6% after treatment. There were no symptomatic procedural complications; MDCT revealed 1 asymptomatic peri-neural DiscoGel® extravasation. In the 31 subjects that underwent telephonic follow-up the VAS and ODI parameters maintained their values without statistically significant differences when compared with the 12-month follow-up., Conclusion: Patients with symptomatic disc herniation who failed conservative treatment and were treated with DiscoGel® chemonucleolysis achieved significant gains in pain relief and reduced disability without symptomatic complication. DiscoGel® chemonucleolysis is a feasible, minimally invasive technique for treatment of symptomatic disc herniation., (Copyright © 2018. Published by Elsevier B.V.)

Introduction: Recent published data demonstrated how subjects born preterm are at higher risk of developing early atrial fibrillation (AF)., Materials and Methods: The surface ECG of twenty-four adults, former preterm infants born with an extremely low birth weight (ex-ELBW; mean age at study: 23.2±3.3 years; mean gestational age: 27.8±2.3 weeks; mean birth weight: 840±120.1 grams), were compared with those of 24 healthy counterparts born at term (C). A few parameters known to be capable of predicting a predisposition to develop AF were examined: P wave duration and dispersion, P terminal force, isoelectric interval length, PR interval length, and advanced interatrial blocks., Results: A shorter PR interval length was found in ex-ELBW compared to C (p<0.0003) as well as longer P wave duration and dispersion, p terminal force, and isoelectric interval (p<0.0001, p<0.0001, p<0.01, and p<0.0004, respectively). Four cases of advanced interatrial block were detected in ex-ELBW, and none in C (p<0.0001). P wave duration, PR interval length, and P wave dispersion were significantly correlated with birth weight (r=0.51 p<0.01, r=0.46 p<0.02, and r=0.42 p<0.04, respectively). When excluding the possible influence of gestational age on birth weight, P wave duration and dispersion were found to be the only statistically significant determinants of abnormal atrial electrical activation (p<0.03 and p<0.04, respectively). On the contrary, when excluding the possible influence of birth weight on gestational age, only P wave duration remained statistically significant (p<0.05)., Conclusion: Surface ECG findings of abnormal atrial activity in ex-ELBW may explain their previously reported predisposition to developing AF.

Atrial fibrillation (AF) is a really uncommon arrhythmia in newborns. Here, we report the case of a 1-day-old infant who was recovered in Neonatal Intensive Care Unit for a twin-to-twin transfusion. The appearance of an unexpected AF was registered at his continuous electrocardiographic monitoring. Both chest X-ray and echocardiographic examination revealed the anomalous insertion of the tip of a central venous catheter (CVC) into the heart ('umbilical artery → inferior vena cava → right atrium → patent foramen ovale → left atrium'). AF ceased as soon as the CVC was extracted from the heart. The mechanical irritation of both atria caused by the malposition of the CVC might be the underlying mechanism responsible for the triggering of AF in this unique case report.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to assess, by the mean apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC), if a relationship exists between disc ADC and MR findings of adjacent disc degeneration after thoracolumbar fractures treated by anatomic reduction using vertebral augmentation (VAP)., Materials and Methods: Twenty non-consecutive patients (mean age 50.7 years; range 45-56) treated because of vertebral fractures, were included in this study. There were 10 A3.1 and 10 A1.2 fractures (AO classification). Surgical treatment using VAP was applied in 14 cases, and conservative in 6 patients. MRI T2-weighted images and mapping of apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) of the intervertebral disc adjacent to the fractured segment were performed after a mean follow-up of 32 months. A total of 60 discs, 3 per patient, were analysed: infra-adjacent, supra-adjacent and a control disc one level above the supra-adjacent., Results: No differences between patients surgically treated and those following a conservative protocol regarding the average ADC values obtained in the 20 control discs analysed were found. Considering all discs, average ADC in the supra-adjacent level was lower than in the infra-adjacent (1.35 ± 0.12 vs. 1.53 ± 0.06; p < 0.001). Average ADC values of the discs used as a control were similar to those of the infra-adjacent level (1.54 ± 0.06). Compared to surgically treated patients, discs at the supra-adjacent fracture level showed statistically significant lower values in cases treated conservatively (p < 0.001). The variation in the delay of surgery had no influence on the average values of ADC at any of the measured levels., Conclusions: ADC measurements of the supra-adjacent discs after a mean follow-up of 32 months following thoracolumbar fractures, showed that restoration of the vertebral collapse by minimally invasive VAP prevents posttraumatic disc degeneration.

Vertebral fracture (VF) is a common condition with >160,000 patients affected every year in North America and most of them with affected lumbar vertebrae. The management of VF is well known and defined by many protocols related to associated clinical neurological symptoms, especially in case of the presence or absence of myelopathy or radicular deficit. In this article, we will explore the percutaneous stabilization of the lumbar spine by showing the newest approaches for this condition.

Ricotta fresca cheese is the product of Sardinian dairy industry most exposed to microbial post-process contamination. Due to its technological characteristics, intrinsic parameters, pH (6.10-6.80) and water activity (0.974-0.991), it represents an excellent substrate for the growth of spoilage and pathogenic microorganisms, which are usually resident in cheese-making plants environments. Generally, ricotta fresca has a shelf life of 5-7 days. For this reason, at industrial level, modified atmosphere packaging (MAP) is used to extend the durability of the product. However, few investigations have been conducted to validate the use of MAP in ricotta fresca. The aim of this work is to evaluate the shelf life of ricotta fresca under MAP. A total of 108 samples were collected from three Sardinian industrial cheese-making plants and analysed within 24 h after packaging and after 7, 14 and 21 days of refrigerated storage. Aerobic mesophilic bacteria, mesophilic and thermophilic cocci and lactobacilli, Enterobacteriaceae and E. coli, L. monocytogenes, Pseudomonas spp, Bacillus cereus , yeasts and moulds, and the chemical-physical parameters and composition of the product were determined. At the end of the shelf life, Pseudomonas spp. and Enterobacteriaceae reached high concentrations, 5 to 7 and 3 to 6 log 10 colony forming unit g -1 , respectively. The presence of environmental contaminants indicates that the use of MAP without the appropriate implementation of prerequisite programmes is not sufficient to extend the durability of ricotta fresca. Gas mixture and packaging material should be selected only on the basis of scientific evidence of their effectiveness., Competing Interests: the authors declare no potential conflict of interest.

Purpose: To evaluate the midterm clinical and radiologic outcome of percutaneous interspinous process spacer (IPS) treatment for neurogenic intermittent claudication (NIC) in patients who fail conservative treatment., Methods: Consecutive patients with NIC, lumbar spinal stenosis confirmed on magnetic resonance imaging, failure of conservative management for at least 6 months, and treatment with percutaneous IPS were included. Visual analog scale (VAS) and Oswestry Disability Index (ODI) scores were recorded at baseline, 1 month, 1 year and 3 years after treatment. Spinal canal and foraminal cross-sectional areas were calculated from multidetector computed tomography at baseline and 1 year., Results: There were 80 patients treated with 94 IPS devices; 83% of patients received a single IPS; 78% of IPS devices were placed at L4-L5. An IPS dislocation was the single periprocedural major complication. VAS score of 8.1 ± 2 before treatment was reduced to 4.4 ± 2 at 1 month after treatment (P = .0001); ODI score of 23.3 ± 10 before treatment was reduced to 11.7 ± 8.5 at 1 month after treatment (P = .0001). These significant reductions were durable at 1-year and 3-year follow-up evaluations (P < .01). Spinal canal and foraminal cross-sectional area increased by 15% at 1 year (P = .0001)., Conclusions: Patients with NIC who failed conservative treatment and were treated with percutaneous IPS achieved significant gains in pain relief and reduced disability that remained durable at 3-year clinical follow-up evaluation. This outcome was accompanied by significant increases in spinal canal and foraminal cross-sectional areas at the treated level., (Copyright © 2015 SIR. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Background: The purpose of this retrospective observational study was to demonstrate the efficacy of a percutaneous screws system in the treatment of lumbar pain caused by high-level disc degeneration combined with facet joint hypertrophy and canal stenosis especially in the L5-S1 levels., Methods: Thirty-eight patients (25 males, 13 females, mean age 63 years) with lumbar pain and/or neuralgia-claudication were treated with interpeduncular dynamic screws. Diagnosis was based on clinical\medical history evaluation and X-ray, CT, and MR examinations. All patients completed the visual analogic scale (VAS) for evaluation of clinical efficacy and pain measurement both before and after (1 month and after 2 years) the procedure. Patients also were given the Oswestry disability index (ODI) before and after treatment. The area of the neuroforamina also was measured., Results: Thirty-eight intervertebral spaces were treated. The VAS pain scale showed a reduction of pain symptoms at 1 month and after 2 years (VAS pre 8.7 ± 1.1; after 1 month 5.1 ± 2.2; after 2 years 6.5 ± 2.1; p = 0.001). ODI also showed improvement (pre 56.7 ± 18.6 %; after 1 month: 31.9 ± 26.3%; after 2 years: 42 ± 24.2 %, p = 0.001). The study showed a widening of the neuroforaminal area of 15.5 % in the right neuroforamen and 17 % in the left ones (right foraminal area pre 0.94 mm(2), post 1.08 mm(2); left foramina area pre 0.95 mm(2), post 1.11 mm(2)). In addition, the spinal canal area displayed a statistically significant reduction (pre = 1.97 and post = 2.23; p < 0.0001)., Conclusions: Our study indicates that patients treated with dynamic screws have VAS pain reduction as well as ODI improvement. Moreover, we found a statistically significant widening of the neuroforaminal area.

Purpose: The aim of the study was to evaluate the efficacy of an injectable and partly absorbable calcium bone cement (CERAMENT™, Bone Support, Sweden) in the treatment of osteoporotic or traumatic vertebral fractures by percutaneous vertebroplasty., Methods: From March 2009 to October 2010 an open, prospective study in two centres was performed. 33 patients with symptomatic vertebral fractures were enrolled. Patients were included based on evaluation by X-ray, CT, and MRI. Clinical evaluation by Visual Analogue Scale (VAS, 0-10) and Oswestry Disability index test (ODI, 0-100 %) was performed before the operation as well as 1, 6 and 12 months after the procedure. Radiology assessment post-procedure was carried out by X-ray, CT, and MRI at 1, 6 and 12 months post-op. Intake of analgesic medications pre- and post-procedure was monitored., Results: 66 vertebral bodies underwent percutaneous vertebroplasty. VAS score demonstrated a significant decrease from 8.61 (SD 19.8) pre-operatively to 2.48 (SD 2.36) at 1 month. The score was 2.76 (SD 2.68) at 6 months and 1.36 (SD 1.33) at the latest follow up. ODI score dropped significantly from 58.86 pre-op to 26.94 at 6 months and further down to 7.61 at 12 months. No re-fractures or adjacent level fractures were reported., Conclusion: Data show that CERAMENT can be a substitute of PMMA in the treatment of osteoporotic and traumatic vertebral fractures, especially in young patients.

Background: Neonatal death in full-term infants who suffer from perinatal asphyxia (PA) is a major subject of investigation, since few tools exist to predict patients at risk of ominous outcome. We studied the possibility that urine S100B measurement may identify which PA-affected infants are at risk of early postnatal death., Methodology/principal Findings: In a cross-sectional study between January 1, 2001 and December 1, 2006 we measured S100B protein in urine collected from term infants (n = 132), 60 of whom suffered PA. According to their outcome at 7 days, infants with PA were subsequently classified either as asphyxiated infants complicated by hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy with no ominous outcome (HIE Group; n = 48), or as newborns who died within the first post-natal week (Ominous Outcome Group; n = 12). Routine laboratory variables, cerebral ultrasound, neurological patterns and urine concentrations of S100B protein were determined at first urination and after 24, 48 and 96 hours. The severity of illness in the first 24 hours after birth was measured using the Score for Neonatal Acute Physiology-Perinatal Extension (SNAP-PE). Urine S100B levels were higher from the first urination in the ominous outcome group than in healthy or HIE Groups (p<0.001 for all), and progressively increased. Multiple logistic regression analysis showed a significant correlation between S100B concentrations and the occurrence of neonatal death. At a cut-off >1.0 microg/L S100B had a sensitivity/specificity of 100% for predicting neonatal death., Conclusions/significance: Increased S100B protein urine levels in term newborns suffering PA seem to suggest a higher risk of neonatal death for these infants.

Objective: Intrahepatic cholestasis of pregnancy (ICP) has been associated with prematurity and fetal mortality. Recently, ICP has also been recognised as a risk factor for neonatal respiratory distress syndrome (RDS) in term or near-term neonates. Since fetal mortality is more frequent in pregnancies with an early ICP onset, we speculated that the time of exposure (ET) to maternal bile acids at the delivery (BAdeliv) could be involved in neonatal lung damage too. Study aim was to develop a scoring system to predict the RDS occurrence., Design: We conducted a retrospective analysis of 77 pregnancies complicated by ICP (years 2000-2004) looking for factors associated to the neonatal RDS. We developed a risk score as follows: RDS risk score=BAdeliv x ET/gestational age and we prospectively applied it to 30 neonates from ICP pregnancies (years 2005-2006)., Results: ROC analysis indicated 9 as the score with the highest sensitivity (83.3%) and specificity (87.5%). Considering a RDS incidence of about 25% in babies coming from ICP pregnancies, the post-test probability showed a risk increased to 66.7% with a score>9 and reduced to 4.8% with a score

Background: BiliCheck (BC), a new transcutaneous bilirubinometer is thought to be lacking in the disadvantages of old devices and could be potentially useful for diagnosing jaundice in preterm babies. Although its accuracy is well known in healthy term babies, there is a lack of knowledge about its usefulness in preterm infants., Aims: To investigate BC usefulness in preterm babies and its suitability in a sub-intensive neonatal unit., Study Design: In 340 preterm infants between 30 and 36 weeks of gestational age, transcutaneous and serum bilirubin measurement were performed. Hematocrit, pH, postnatal age, gestational age, and sex were also studied to clarify their influence on BC accuracy. For a subset of 100 neonates transcutaneous measurement, blood collection and serum analysis were timed and costs were considered., Results: Correlation coefficient is 0.795 (p<0.001) and this is not affected by factors previously supposed to be important. Overall sensitivity was 100% and specificity were comprised between 40% and 72%. BC has a tendency to overestimate serum bilirubin, at high values. Considering the whole time for serum bilirubin measurement, transcutaneous bilirubinometry is a faster (p<0.0001), but more expensive technique with a cost of about 5 euro/measurement. Nevertheless, using BC as a screening-device we could safely avoid 58-79% of blood samples, since its positive predictive values is about 21-42%. This would allow to a cost reduction of 1555-2120 euro/year., Conclusions: BC has a good reliability in preterm infants although not as good as in healthy term babies. BC is a time-sparing tool and can improve the management of neonatal jaundice in preterm infants; however, its tendency to overestimate suggests its use only for screening purposes.

Objective: To investigate the effect of different delivery room strategies on survival, short term morbidity, and outcomes in extremely premature infants., Methods: This retrospective cohort study included all preterm infants with a gestational age between 24 and 28 weeks who were born in 1992-1997 (period A; n = 161) and in 1998-2003 (period B; n = 163). In period A, elective intubation was performed. In period B, if spontaneous breathing was present, nasal continuous positive airway pressure (nCPAP) was applied., Results: Survival rate and the number of never-intubated infants significantly increased in period B. No differences were found concerning short-term morbidity. Among major outcomes, the need for retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) surgery and the length of stay were significantly lower in period B. Subgroup analysis showed no significant differences from period A to period B in infants with gestational age 24-26 weeks. In the 27-28 weeks subgroup, the never-intubated infants rate increased from 2.8% to 21.3% and survival rate increased from 63% to 79%. A reduced need for ROP surgery and a shorter hospital stay were also observed., Conclusions: Changes in delivery room strategy tending to reduce mechanical ventilation in extremely premature infants are likely to benefit essentially infants of 27-28 weeks of gestation. Extension of such benefits to premature infants at the limit of viability requires further research.

Background: Intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR) is associated with perinatal mortality and with neurologic damage from intraventricular hemorrhage (IVH). We investigated whether S100B, a neural protein found in high concentrations after cell injury in the nervous system, is increased in serum of women whose pregnancies are complicated by IUGR and whose newborns develop IVH. We also explored the prognostic accuracy of maternal serum S100B for IVH in the newborn., Methods: We conducted a case-control study of 106 pregnancies complicated by IUGR, including a subgroup (n = 26) who developed IVH after birth, and 212 unaffected pregnancies matched for gestational age. Ultrasound examination, Doppler velocimetry patterns (in the utero-placental vessels and middle cerebral artery), and maternal blood collection were performed before birth; cerebral ultrasound and neurologic examinations were performed after birth., Results: S100B was higher (P <0.001) in IUGR pregnancies complicated by IVH than in those that were not and in controls. At a cutoff of 0.72 microg/L, sensitivity was 100% [95% confidence interval (95% CI), 87%-100%] and specificity was 99.3% (97.5%-99.9%) for prediction of IVH (area under the ROC curve, 0.999). The prevalence of IVH was 8.2% in the whole study population, 93% (95% CI, 83.6%-100%) in those with maternal S100B >0.72 microg/L, and 0% (0%-2.5%) in those with maternal S100B <0.72 microg/L., Conclusion: For prediction of IVH, measurements of maternal S100B may be useful at times before clinical, laboratory, and ultrasound patterns can identify risk of IVH.

Objectives: We sought to verify the association between maternal intrahepatic cholestasis of pregnancy (ICP) and neonatal respiratory distress syndrome (RDS) and to determine how bile acids levels alter the risk of developing neonatal RDS., Methods: We extracted data from our divisional database about all of the newborns born during the years 2000-2004. We compared 77 neonates born from pregnancies complicated by ICP with 427 neonates in the same range of gestational age born from noncomplicated pregnancies. We studied maternal bile acids levels immediately before delivery in mothers with ICP and measured bile acid levels during the first 24 hours of life in their newborns., Results: The incidence of RDS in newborns from cholestatic pregnancies was twice that the reference population (28.6% vs 14%). The multivariate analysis showed that the risk of RDS in these newborns was approximately 2.5 times higher than in control infants. Within the ICP group, maternal and neonatal bile acid levels of infants affected by RDS were not significantly higher than those of healthy infants. The multivariate analysis showed that a low gestational age was the most important risk factor, but the probability of respiratory distress syndrome also increased by 2 per thousand for every additional micromole of the interaction term "neonatal by maternal bile acids level.", Conclusions: Maternal ICP is significantly associated with the occurrence of RDS in the newborn. We hypothesize that bile acids can produce surfactant depletion in the alveoli reverting the reaction of phospholipase A2. This hypothesis could potentially be confirmed by bronchoalveolar lavage study.

Purpose: To assess the efficacy of the percutaneous treatment of femoro-popliteal aneurysms with covered stents., Materials and Methods: Ten femoro-popliteal (1 femoral, 6 femoro-popliteal, 3 popliteal) aneurysms with diameters ranging from 2.1 to 6 cm (mean 3.6 cm) and lengths of 2.2-9 cm (mean 5.8 cm) were treated between September 1998 and December 2001. The patients were 8 men and 2 women aged between 33 and 73 years (mean age 65.4). Self-expanding covered stents (Wallgraft) were employed in all cases: the flexible and elastic stents were implanted percutaneously, under local anesthesia, using 9-10 F introducer sheaths. Color-Doppler ultrasound confirmed the clinical diagnosis. In all cases spiral CT angiography was performed to better evaluate the diameters and lengths of the aneurysms and the size of the arteries above and below the aneurysms. The patients were followed up with color-Doppler US and only occasionally with CT angiography., Results: Stent implantation was successful in all patients; there were no complications. As regards follow up, 6 patients did not show any stent-graft occlusions. One patient, who died 45 days later of causes unrelated to the procedure, was not taken into account. As for the remaining five patients, color-Doppler US showed primary patency of the stents and exclusion of aneurysms at 24 months (2/5), 12 months (1/5), and 6 months (2/5). There were 4 cases of stent-graft occlusion within the first month after placement (in 3/4 cases the caudal end of the aneurysm was located in the median segment of the popliteal artery), re-canalized by local thrombolysis and, in two cases, by PTA aimed at removing the stenoses caused by intimal hyperplasia: one case was patent at 36 months, 3 cases re-occluded and were converted to surgical by-pass (1 at 14 months, 2 at 18 months). Therefore in our series (mean follow-up: 18 months) primary patency was 55.5% and secondary patency was 66.6%., Conclusions: Percutaneous placement of a covered stent seems to provide an alternative to surgery for aneurysms with limited length and caudal end located not beyond the proximal tract of the popliteal artery. A good peripheral run-off (at least two patent leg arteries) is also necessary. Nevertheless, further studies and longer follow-up are required to confirm the results obtained in our small series.