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Background: Cysteinyl leukotrienes (Cys-LTs) and isoprostanes are inflammatory metabolites derived from arachidonic acid whose levels are increased in the airways of asthmatic patients. Isoprostanes are relatively stable and specific for [...]

Purpose: The effect of combined lifestyle interventions (LSI) including dietary and physical activity on metabolic health, energy metabolism and VO2max in diabetic patients has provided mixed results. We evaluated the impact of 1-year caloric restriction (CR), and 12-week supervised structured exercise training (SSET) on metabolic health, RMR and VO2max in obese adults with type 2 diabetes. Methods: After 1-month education for LSI, 33 participants had anthropometric, biochemical and metabolic assessments. They then started CR based on RMR, and 3-month SSET during the months 1–3 (Early-SSET) or 4–6 (Late-SSET). Reassessments were planned after 3, 6 and 12 months. Using a per-protocol analysis, we evaluated parameter changes from baseline and their associations for the 23 participants (11 Early-SSET, 12 Late-SSET) who completed the study. RMR was adjusted (adjRMR) for age, sex, fat-free mass (FFM) and fat mass (FM). Results: Compared with baseline, after 6 months we found significant increases in VO2max (+?14%) and HDL-cholesterol (+?13%), and reduction in body mass index (-?3%), FM (-?8%) and glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c, -?7%). Training-related caloric expenditure negatively correlated with changes in body weight (p?<?0.001), FM (p?<?0.001) and HbA1c (p?=?0.006). These results were confirmed at the 12-month follow-up. Pooling together all follow-up data, adjRMR changes correlated with changes in glycemia (r?=?0.29, p?=?0.02), total-cholesterol (r?=?0.29, p?=?0.02) and VO2max (r?=?-?0.26,p?=?0.02). No significant differences emerged between the Early- and Late-SSET groups. Conclusions: Combined intervention with SSET and CR improved metabolic control. Changes in metabolic health and fitness correlated with changes of adjRMR, which was reduced improving fitness, glycemia and cholesterolemia. Clinical trial registry: Trial registration number: NCT03785379. URL of registration: http://clinicaltrials.gov.

Quality of life is negatively affected in children with food allergy. Oral immunotherapy is an approach to food allergy that leads to patient desensitization by administering gradually increasing amounts of a given food allergen. The aim of this pilot study is to evaluate how oral immunotherapy affects quality of life in children allergic to cow milk proteins. Thirty children (aged 3–12 years) with cow milk allergy were recruited. Their parents were provided with a validated disease specific quality of life questionnaire (the food allergy quality of life questionnaire – parent form, FAQLQ-PF) before and again 2 months after completing an oral immunotherapy protocol with cow milk. A significant improvement in all the investigated domains - emotional impact, food anxiety and social and dietary limitations - was found. The separate analysis of the different age groups demonstrated that the emotional impact and the food-related anxiety improved in children older than 4, while the social domains improved in each age group. In this pilot experience, oral immunotherapy significantly improves quality of life in children with cow milk allergy. The improvement seems particularly evident in children over 4 years old, who are most likely to benefit from the oral immunotherapy approach. Further placebo-controlled studies are needed to confirm these preliminary results.

Prospective studies have suggested that hypovitaminosis D can predict the onset of obesity, but they relied mainly on body mass index, which could be scarcely reliable in older people. We investigated whether baseline hypovitaminosis D could predict higher fat mass (FM) levels using dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry in a sample of 116 fit and healthy older subjects. Although no significant differences in FM estimates emerged between subjects with and without hypovitaminosis D at the baseline, abdominal FM was found significantly higher in the former group (with hypovitaminosis D at the baseline) than in the latter after 3 years of follow-up. Adjusted logistic regression analysis confirmed these findings: hypovitaminosis D coincided with an approximately sixfold higher risk of subjects having higher abdominal FM levels at the follow-up. In conclusion, hypovitaminosis D predicts higher abdominal FM levels in the elderly.

From January 1990 to April 1993, 60 oesophageal cancer patients were enrolled in a protocol of non-surgical treatment that consisted of induction chemotherapy followed by concurrent chemoradiotherapy. Induction chemotherapy consisted of cisplatin 40mg/m 2intravenous bolus days 1, 2, 14, 15; 24 h continous infusion of 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) 1000 mg/m 2days 1 and 14; leucovorin 20 mg/m 2days 1 and 14 given before and with 5-FU; bleomycin 30 UI days 1 and 14; mitomycin C 10 mg/m 2day 14. Concurrent chemoradiotherapy consisted of 60 Gy (6 weeks) from day 21 and cisplatin 70 mg/m 2days 28, 42 and 56; leucovorin 20 mg/m 2followed by 5-FU 425 mg/m 2days 28, 35, 42, 49 and 56. Complete response occurred in 44 of 55 evaluable patients (80%). The median survival is 32 months; the actuarial survival at 40 months is 35% (CI 18–53). These results appear improved over those reported with surgery or radiation alone, and suggest that organ preservation as a secondary treatment goal should be vigorously investigated.

Bone quality is the result of a complex relationship between bone mass, bone structure, and mechanical characteristics of these individual components. The mass of bone tissue is affected by nutritional factors and other causes, such as bone growth factors like bone morphogenetic proteins (BMPs). Since chitosans promote ordered regeneration of soft tissue and osteoinduction, an osteoporotic model was studied to evaluate the pattern of bone regeneration in the presence of BMP linked to chitosan. BMP was released from the chitosan matrix as a consequence of chitosan biodegradation. Our data show that the association of BMP with chitosan seemed to improve the bone tissue regeneration in a surgical bone defect. This result provides validity to biochemical approaches for therapeutical correction of afflictions in the elderly, such as osteoporosis.