Reggio Emilia (Northern Italy) Interdisciplinary Uveitis Clinic: What We Have Learned in the Last 20 Years.

PURPOSE: To analyze the referral patterns and the clinical and therapeutic features of patients diagnosed with uveitis in an Italian tertiary referral center to provide a comparison with previously published series from the same center. METHODS: Retrospective retrieval of data on all new referrals to the Ocular Immunology Unit in Reggio Emilia (Italy) between November 2015 and April 2022 and comparison with previously published series from the same center. RESULTS: Among the 1557 patients, the male-to-female ratio was 1:1.27. Anterior uveitis was the most common diagnosis (53.7%), followed by posterior (21.6%), pan- (18.5%), and intermediate (6.2%) uveitis. The most identifiable specific diagnoses were anterior herpetic uveitis (18.4%), Fuchs uveitis (12.8%), and tuberculosis (6.1%). Infectious etiologies were the most frequent (34.1%) and were more diffuse among non-Caucasian patients (p < 0.001), followed by systemic disease-associated uveitis (26.5%), and ocular-specific conditions (20%). Idiopathic uveitis accounted for 19.4% of cases. Fuchs uveitis presented the longest median diagnostic delay (21 months). Immunosuppressants were administered to 25.2% of patients. Antimetabolites, calcineurin inhibitors, and biologicals were prescribed to 18.4%, 3%, and 11.4% of cases, respectively. Compared to our previous reports, we observed a significant increase in foreign-born patients and in infectious uveitis, a decrease in idiopathic conditions, and an increasing use of non-biological and biological steroid-sparing drugs. CONCLUSIONS: The patterns of uveitis in Italy have been changing over the last 20 years, very likely due to migration flows. Diagnostic improvements and a more widespread interdisciplinary approach could reduce the incidence of idiopathic uveitis as well as diagnostic delay.

Development and calibration of a model for the potential establishment and impact of Aedes albopictus in Europe.

The Asian tiger mosquito (Aedes albopictus) is one of the most invasive disease vectors worldwide. The species is a competent vector of dengue, chikungunya, Zika viruses and other severe parasites and pathogens threatening human health. The capacity of this mosquito to colonize and establish in new areas (including temperate regions) is enhanced by its ability of producing diapausing eggs that survive relatively cold winters. The main drivers of population dynamics for this mosquito are water and air temperature and photoperiod. In this paper, we present a mechanistic model that predicts the potential distribution, abundance and activity of Asian tiger mosquito in Europe. The model includes a comprehensive description of: i) the individual life-history strategies, including diapause, ii) the influence of weather-driven individual physiological responses on population dynamics and iii) the density-dependent regulation of larval mortality rate. The model is calibrated using field data from several locations along an altitudinal gradient in the Italian Alps, which enabled accurate prediction of cold temperature effects on population abundance, including identification of conditions that prevent overwintering of the species. Model predictions are consistent with the most updated information on species' presence and absence. Predicted population abundance shows a clear south-north decreasing gradient. A similar yet less evident pattern in the activity of the species is also predicted. The model represents a valuable tool for the development of strategies aimed at the management of Ae. albopictus and for the implementation of effective control measures against vector-borne diseases in Europe.

Deconstructing the eradication of new world screwworm in North America: retrospective analysis and climate warming effects.

Before its eradication from North America, the subtropical-tropical new world screwworm fly Cochliomyia hominivorax (Coquerel) invaded southwestern temperate areas of the U.S.A., where it caused myiasis in wildlife and livestock. Outbreaks of the fly occurred during years when adult migrants were carried northward on North American monsoon winds from the northern areas of Mexico and south Texas. We deconstruct, retrospectively, the biology and the effect of weather on the eradication of the fly in North America. Screwworm was found to be an ideal candidate for eradication using the sterile insect technique (SIT) because females mate only once, whereas males are polygynous, and, although it has a high reproductive potential, field population growth rates are low in tropical areas. In northern areas, eradication was enhanced by cool-cold weather, whereas eradication in tropical Mexico and Central America is explained by the SIT. Despite low average efficacy of SIT releases (approximately 1.7%), the added pressure of massive SIT releases reduced intrinsically low fly populations, leading to mate-limited extinction. Non-autochthonous cases of myiasis occur in North America and, if the fly reestablishes, climate warming by 2045-2055 will expand the area of favourability and increase the frequency and severity of outbreaks.

Haga su diagnóstico / Make your diagnosis

El diagóstico es Enfermedad de Darier.

Interrupted and continuous strip technique for tip surgery during traditional rhinoplasty.

The authors report their experience in corrective surgery of the tip during traditional closed rhinoplasty. After a critical revision of the proposed techniques by other authors, the advantages of the "Doberman's ears" and "Butterfly" are given. The choice of the corrective techniques of the tip next to Tardy's algorithm can use a "sequential criterium" after having used a delivery approach. During rhinoplasty it is possible to perform a system of "progression" from one method to another maintaining or interrupting the cartilaginous arch and having as a goal the increasing or the decreasing of the tip.

Osteocartilaginous flap technique for acquired and congenital saddle nose deformities.

This paper illustrates the objective possible applications of the osteocartilaginous flap technique in solving the functional and aesthetic problems associated with saddle nose deformities, the pathogenesis of which essentially relates to: (1) congenital saddle noses; (2) post-traumatic saddle noses; and (3) saddle noses resulting from previous surgery on the septum. This technique is suggested as an alternative to a combination of other methods (such as septoplasty, bone, or cartilage grafts) to restore the inhalatory function of the internal nasal valve and the integrity of the nasal support structures using locally available tissues. The authors prefer to use this technique in the treatment of serious congenital or acquired saddle nose deformities and to assign composite grafts a supplementary function only. The different stages of this surgical procedure are analyzed and the results are assessed during short- and medium-term follow-up.

Sex-, tissue-, and stage-specific expression of a vitelline membrane protein gene from region 32 of the second chromosome of Drosophila melanogaster.

This study isolated cDNA clones from egg-chamber and adult female Drosophila cDNA libraries using as probe a DNA fragment from a 200-kb "chromosome walk" in region 32E of the second chromosome of D. melanogaster. The present authors believe that these clones correspond to a new vitelline membrane protein (VMP) gene because 1) cDNA clones in Northern blots identify a transcript expressed in a tissue- and stage-specific manner: stage 10 egg-chambers; 2) the sequence of cDNAs and of the genomic subclone shows homology with the other VMP genes that have been identified to date; 3) the amino acid composition of the translational product has the high content of proline and alanine characteristic of VMPs. Two aspects emerging from this study are worth stressing: 1) the presence of a hydrophobic domain that is highly conserved in all the VMP genes; and 2) the particularly narrow period of expression of the isolated gene, which could be related to the mechanism of vitelline membrane assembly.

Maternal and Zygotic Interactions between the Abnormal Oocyte Mutation and the Scute Inversion in DROSOPHILA MELANOGASTER.

The authors have studied the interaction between the abnormal oocyte mutation and an inversion of the X chromosome, In( 1)sc(4), which has a proximal breakpoint in or near the heterochromatic region (ABO) that maternally interacts with the abo product. It has been demonstrated that the presence of X chromosomes carrying this inversion, besides a marked increase in the severity of the maternal effect of the abo mutation, produces a zygotic effect resulting in the lethality of the progeny of stocks homozygous for abo and sc(4). These results indicate that the sc(4) inversion carries an abnormal region indispensable for the development of abo zygotes from sc(4);abo mothers.