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to explore clinical and epidemiological characteristics associated with an imaging feature of COVID-19 pneumonia at disease onset, in order to identify factors that may be evaluable by general practitioners at patient's home, and which may lead to identify a more severe disease, needing hospitalization.this is a retrospective/prospective observational hospital cohort.the study population includes all patients consecutively admitted to the emergency department of Città della salute e della scienza University Hospital from 01.03 to 31.05.2020 with a confirmed diagnosis of SARS-CoV-2 infection.patients were classified in two groups according to the findings of X-ray imaging, lung ultrasound and chest computer tomography, as pneumonia or not pneumonia patients.in multivariable analysis, factors most strongly associated with emergency department admission with pneumonia were age, oxygen saturation90% (adj OR 4.16 ;95%CI 1.44-12.07), respiratory rate24 breaths/min (adj OR 6.50; 95%CI 2.36-17.87), fever ≥38° (adj OR 3.05; 95%CI 1.53-6.08) and the presence of gastroenteric symptoms (vomiting and diarrhea). A delay (7 days) between the appearance of the initial lung symptoms (cough and dyspnea) and the admission to the emergency department was also related to a higher probability of receiving a positive imaging report (OR 4.99; 95%CI 2,02-12,34).in order to reorganize the management of COVID-19 patients in Italy, in view of the risk of a second wave of epidemic or of local outbreaks, it would be desirable to relocate the triage, and possibly the patient's care, from hospital to home. In this scenario it is important to identify all symptoms and signs associated with COVID-19 pneumonia that would facilitate the decision-making process of GPs leading to patients hospitalization.

Bertinetto, Francesca Eleonora et al.-- European IgA Nephropathy Consortium, [Background] IgA nephropathy (IgAN) is not generally considered a hereditary disease, even though extensive evidence suggests an undefined genetic influence. Linkage analysis identified a number of genome regions that could contain variations linked to IgAN., [Methods] In this case-control association study, genes possibly involved in the development of IgAN were investigated. DNA samples from 460 North Italian patients with IgAN and 444 controls were collected. Candidate genes were selected based on their possible functional involvement (6 genes) or because of their location within linkage-identified genomic regions IGAN2 and IGAN3 (5 and 13 genes within chromosome 4q26-31 and 17q12-22, respectively). One hundred and ninety-two tag and functional single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were typed with Veracode GoldenGate technology (Illumina)., [Results] C1GALT1 showed an association with IgAN (rs1008898: P = 0.0019 and rs7790522: P = 0.0049). Associations were found when the population was stratified by gender (C1GALT1, CD300LG, GRN, ITGA2B, ITGB3 in males and C1GALT1, TRPC3, B4GALNT2 in females) and by age (TLR4, ITGB3 in patients aged, [Conclusions] Age and gender are likely to evidence distinct immunological and inflammatory reactions leading to individual susceptibility to IgAN. Overall, a genetic predisposition to sporadic IgAN was found. We might hypothesize that C1GALT1 and TLR4 polymorphisms influence the risk to develop IgAN and proteinuria, respectively. © 2012 The Author., This study was supported by a Ph.D. research fellowship from the University of Turin and a health research project funding by Regione Piemonte.

To compare hospital mortality in a cardiac surgery unit with external data and to assess changes in time (patients undergoing surgery in two different periods).Data on risk factors for hospital mortality were collected from clinical records (retrospectively for the first period and prospectively for the second) for all patients undergoing open heart surgery at the Heart Surgery Unit of the University of Turin (Italy) during 1991 and 1995 (n = 1794) and 1999 (n = 892). Comparisons of in-hospital mortality, expressed as Standardized Mortality Ratios (SMR), were adjusted for risk factors defined according to EuroSCORE (European System for Cardiac Operative Risk Evaluation).In the first and second period, complete information on all the 17 EuroSCORE items was available for 58.3% and 89.6% patients respectively. After exclusion of patients with one or more missing data, observed and expected numbers of death were found to be very similar, with SMRs ranging between 0.82 (isolated bypass in the second period) and 1.06 ("other" surgery in the first period). Mortality was higher among patients with missing data, but at least in 1999 the latter had a limited impact on the overall estimates. Compared to the first period, mortality was reduced during 1999 (from 5.9% to 5.4%), in particular for isolated bypass (from 4.4% to 3.4%).In the unit under investigation, hospital mortality following heart surgery was similar to that predicted from EuroSCORE and seemed to be lower in 1999 than in 1991-95, particularly for isolated bypass. Incompleteness of data on individual risk factors may have been a source of bias, especially when data were collected retrospectively.

The genetic structure of the Italian bone marrow donor population was analysed by estimating the HLA-A, -B and -DR gene and haplotype frequencies for the total population and for the Italian administrative regions. The haplotype frequencies were used to predict the probability of finding HLA-compatible donors for Italian patients depending on the registry size, and the probability of recruiting in the different Italian regions a donor with a new phenotype. The analysis of these probabilities allows us to propose strategies for donors recruitment in order to increase the phenotypic variability of the registry, then its efficiency.

We report clear evidence that the interaction of the CD38 molecule with the specific mAb A10 on normal human cells and lines modulates the expression of surface activation markers relevant to T, NK, and plasma cell biology and functions. Moreover A10 mAb binding is followed by proliferation effects on all the target cells analyzed, and the phenomenon is accessory cell and IL-2 dependent. The effects of A10 mAb synergizing both CD2 and CD3 activation pathways indicate that CD38 signal transduction mechanism(s) are apparently different from the aforementioned. Nevertheless the decreased A10-driven proliferation after CD3-Ti modulation suggests a possible functional interdependence between these activation pathways. Taken together, the results indicate that the CD38 molecule might play a physiologic role in T, NK, and plasma cell regulation.

Urinary protein components, highly cationic in nature (pI 10.9), with apparent molecular weights of 65 kD, 45 kD, and 28 kD were detected in type I diabetic patients before (2/7), during (4/7) and after (1/7) exercise. Based on the apparent isoelectric point and molecular weights, the urinary cationic components in the urines of type I diabetic patients were superimposable to purified cationic proteins derived from human platelets. Furthermore, they also shared common antigenic components as evidenced by the ability of a goat anti-human platelet-derived cationic protein serum to immunoprecipitate the 45 kD protein fraction. The latter induced vascular permeability when injected intradermally in the rabbit's skin. The occurrence of urinary cationic proteins was associated with the significant increase in albumin excretion rate (AER) in diabetic patients. No urinary cationic components were ever detected in the urines of 6 healthy subjects before, during, or after exercise. The possible pathogenetic relevance of the urinary excretion of cationic proteins in diabetic AER is discussed.

HLA Class II antigens (human la) are coded by Major Histocompatibility Complex and play important biological roles in health and disease. In this report we describe the generation and characterization of nine murine monoclonal antibodies (MoAbs) specific for determinants localized on the human la molecules. The reactivity of these MoAbs inferred from serological analysis along with the data obtained from biochemical characterization of the target structures allowed a classification of these reagents as monomorphic and polymorphic. Two monomorphic MoAbs, identifying different subsets of human la molecules, were studied in detail.