QTc interval in patients with multiple sclerosis: an inference from the insula of Reil?

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to investigate the correlation between the duration of the QTc interval and the brain lesion load at the level of the structures involved in superior autonomic control (insula, cingulate cortex and amygdala-hippocampus) in multiple sclerosis (MS) patients. METHODS: Thirty-one consecutive patients with relapsing-remitting MS were recruited. The QT interval was measured manually in all 12 leads by a single blinded observer, with the longest QT value adjusted for heart rate by using the Bazett's formula. All patients performed a brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan including three-dimensional double inversion recovery and three volumetric fast-field echo sequences. The following MRI measures were obtained: (i) global and regional cortical thickness (CTh); (ii) white matter lesion load volume; (iii) cortical damage blindly assessed by a trained observer who assigned, on the basis of the number of cortical lesions, a score from 0 to 5 for each of the brain areas analysed. RESULTS: In all, 16% of the patients had an increased QTc interval. The QTc interval was correlated with disease duration, cortical insular lesion volume and grey matter lesion volume in the three examined areas and inversely correlated with global and insular CTh. CONCLUSIONS: An increased QTc interval in patients with MS may have a cerebral origin possibly driven by involvement of the insular cortex. With the recent introduction in clinical practice of treatments with potential cardiac effects such as fingolimod, the recognition of a long QTc interval could be clinically crucial and should encourage appropriate electrocardiographic monitoring in order to prevent the risk of malignant ventricular pro-arrhythmia and iatrogenic sudden death.

Meta-analysis of benefits of portal-superior mesenteric vein resection in pancreatic resection for ductal adenocarcinoma.

BACKGROUND: Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma has a poor prognosis without surgery. No standard treatment has yet been accepted for patients with portal-superior mesenteric vein (PV-SMV) infiltration. The present meta-analysis aimed to compare the results of pancreatic resection with PV-SMV resection for suspected infiltration with the results of surgery without PV-SMV resection. METHODS: A systematic search was performed of PubMed, Embase and the Cochrane Library in accordance with PRISMA guidelines from the time of inception to 2013. The inclusion criteria were comparative studies including patients who underwent pancreatic resection with or without PV-SMV resection. One, 3- and 5-year survival were the primary outcomes. RESULTS: Twenty-seven studies were identified involving a total of 9005 patients (1587 in PV-SMV resection group). Patients undergoing PV-SMV resection had an increased risk of postoperative mortality (risk difference (RD) 0.01, 95 per cent c.i. 0.00 to 0.03; P = 0.2) and of R1/R2 resection (RD 0.09, 0.06 to 0.13; P < 0.001) compared with those undergoing standard surgery. One-, 3- and 5-year survival were worse in the PV-SMV resection group: hazard ratio 1.23 (95 per cent c.i. 1.07 to 1.43; P = 0.005), 1.48 (1.14 to 1.91; P = 0.004) and 3.18 (1.95 to 5.19; P < 0.001) respectively. Median overall survival was 14.3 months for patients undergoing pancreatic resection with PV-SMV resection and 19.5 months for those without vein resection (P = 0.063). Neoadjuvant therapies recently showed promising results. CONCLUSION: This meta-analysis showed increased postoperative mortality, higher rates of non-radical surgery and worse survival after pancreatic resection with PV-SMV resection. This may be related to more advanced disease in this group.

Impact of visceral obesity and sarcobesity on surgical outcomes and recovery after laparoscopic resection for colorectal cancer.

BACKGROUND & AIMS: Studies analyzing the impact of visceral fat excess on surgical outcomes after resection for colorectal cancer (CRC) have yielded conflicting results. Visceral obesity (VO) and sarcobesity (SO) have been recently addressed as risk factors for poor short-term results while no data are available for recovery goals after surgery. No data are available on the protective effect of ERAS in VO and SO patients. The aim of this study was to assess clinical implications of computed tomography (CT) assessed VO and SO on surgical and recovery outcomes after minimally invasive resection for CRC before and after ERAS protocol implementation. METHODS: Visceral adipose tissue (VAT) and skeletal muscle area (SMA) were retrospectively assessed using pre-operative CT studies of 261 patients who underwent laparoscopic resection for CRC between January 2012 and April 2019; ERAS protocol was adopted in 160 patients operated on after March 2014. Patients' surgical and recovery outcomes were compared according to BMI categories, VO and SO which was defined using the VAT/SMA ratio (Sarcobesity Index). Predictive factors for poor surgical and recovery outcomes were evaluated by univariate and multivariate analyses. RESULTS: Of the 261 patients, 12.6% were BMI obese while 68.6% presented visceral obesity. BMI was not associated to any of the outcomes considered. No differences in intra-operative results were found except for a lower number of retrieved lymph nodes both in VO and SO patients. While VO showed no impact on post-operative course, SO resulted an independent risk factor for cardiac complications and prolonged post-operative ileus (PPOI) at logistic regression analysis. Furthermore, sarcobese patients showed delayed recovery after surgery. Patients enrolled in the ERAS protocol showed improved recovery outcomes for both VO and SO groups, although ERAS did not result to be a protective factor for cardiac complications and PPOI. CONCLUSIONS: A high Sarcobesity Index is a risk factor for developing cardiac complications and PPOI after laparoscopic resection for CRC. A reduced number of lymph nodes retrieved is associated to VO and SO. These conditions should then be considered in clinical practice for the risk of down staging the N stage. Effect of VO and SO on recovery items after surgery should be further investigated. ERAS protocol application should be implemented to improve recovery outcomes in VO and SO patients undergoing laparoscopic colorectal resection.

Prognostic value of thrombocytosis in patients undergoing surgery for colorectal cancer with synchronous liver metastases.

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the prognostic role of thrombocytosis in patients with synchronous colorectal liver metastases (CRLM). METHODS: Retrospective analysis of patients who underwent surgery for colorectal cancer with synchronous CRLM at the Division of General and Hepatobiliary Surgery, University of Verona Hospital Trust between 2005 and 2016. RESULTS: One hundred and ninety-six patients met the inclusion criteria. High platelet count (H-PC) was found in 32%, and it was associated with a higher rate of palliative surgery (p < 0.001), extra-hepatic metastases (p < 0.001), bilobar liver disease (p = 0.007), presence of more than three metastases (p = 0.005), biggest metastasis larger than 5 cm (p < 0.001), and CEA level higher than 200 ng/mL (p = 0.035). H-PC was significantly associated with poorer 5-year overall survival (14.3% vs. 34.3%; p = 0.001). At the multivariate analysis on R0-1 cases, platelet count resulted the only independent predictor of survival (HR 2.07, p = 0.036). CONCLUSION: H-PC correlates with the main negative clinical-pathological factors in patients with synchronous CRLM, as well as with overall survival. Moreover, it was the only independent prognostic factor in those who underwent curative surgery.

Cerebral haemodynamics in early puerperium: A prospective study.

AIM: Prospective study on 900 consecutive puerperae to assess normal values and range of the blood flow velocity in the middle cerebral artery in both hemispheres. MATERIAL AND METHOD: M1 and M2 segments of both middle cerebral arteries were assessed in all subjects within 96 hours of delivery. Mean flow velocity was recorded after adjusting for insonation angle. Lindegaard index (LI = middle cerebral artery-Internal Carotid Artery mean flow velocity ratio) was calculated whenever the mean flow velocity exceeded 100 cm/second. Asymmetry indexes were calculated inter hemispherically for M1 and M2 segments separately. RESULTS: Mean flow velocities were 74 ± 17 and 72 ± 17 in right and 73 ± 17 and 72 ± 17 cm/second in the left M1 and M2, respectively. A total of 136 subjects (12.1%) exceeded the threshold of 100 cm/second, but LI was consistently <3 in all of them. Mean flow velocity was inversely and independently correlated to haemoglobin levels and to parity. Mean asymmetry indexes were 0.25 ± 23 in M1 and 0.45 ± 25 in M2. CONCLUSION: Mean flow velocity in the middle cerebral artery of healthy subjects in early puerperium is higher than in age-matched non-puerperal women and may exceed the threshold of 100 cm/second with no evidence of intracranial spasm, because of blood loss during delivery. Mean flow velocity is independently correlated with parity. Right-to-left mean flow velocity asymmetry may reach 50% as a consequence of a transient imbalance in vascular tone regulation.

Comprehensive molecular portrait using next generation sequencing of resected intestinal-type gastric cancer patients dichotomized according to prognosis.

In this study, we evaluated whether the presence of genetic alterations detected by next generation sequencing may define outcome in a prognostically-selected and histology-restricted population of resected gastric cancer (RGC). Intestinal type RGC samples from 34 patients, including 21 best and 13 worst prognostic performers, were studied. Mutations in 50 cancer-associated genes were evaluated. A significant difference between good and poor prognosis was found according to clinico-pathologic factors. The most commonly mutated genes in the whole population were PIK3CA (29.4%), KRAS (26.5%), TP53 (26.5%) MET (8.8%), SMAD4 (8.8%) and STK11 (8.8%). Multiple gene mutations were found in 14/21 (67%) patients with good prognosis, and 3/13 (23%) in the poor prognosis group. A single gene alteration was found in 5/21 (24%) good and 6/13 (46%) poor prognosis patients. No mutation was found in 2/21 (9.5%) and 4/13 (31%) of these groups, respectively. In the overall series, ß-catenin expression was the highest (82.4%), followed by E-Cadherin (76.5%) and FHIT (52.9%). The good prognosis group was characterized by a high mutation rate and microsatellite instability. Our proof-of-principle study demonstrates the feasibility of a molecular profiling approach with the aim to identify potentially druggable pathways and drive the development of customized therapies for RGC.

[Paroxysmal tachycardia in children: analysis of two clinical cases]. / Tachicardie parossistiche in età infantile: analisi di due casi clinici.

Two cases of paroxysmal supraventricular tachycardia in children are reported. Associated congenital heart disease were excluded by color-doppler echocardiogram. Electrocardiogram, holter monitoring and transesophageal study (in one case) suggested associated Wolf-Parkinson-White syndrome. The former case was successfully treated with digitalis, the latter, diagnosed "at risk" by transesophageal recording, was long term treated with propafenone. Clinical evaluation at follow-up confirmed the efficacy of the therapy.

Experimental observation of post-collision interaction and interference effects in resonant double photoionization processes.

The combined effects of post-collision interaction in the final state and interference due to the indistinguishability of the two electrons have been studied in a selected case of resonant double photoionization of neon. In our coincidence experiments, the photo- and Auger-electron pair was measured when the two electrons have nearly equal energy and are ejected at small mutual angle. The obtained energy distributions exhibit a strong interplay of post-collision interaction and interference effects, in agreement with the theoretical prediction of Sheinerman and Schmidt [J. Phys. B 30, 1677 (1997)] made on beryllium.

Photoexcitation of He- hollow-ion resonances: observation of the 2s2p2 4P state.

Highly correlated states are studied in He-, a fundamental 3-electron system and prototypical negative ion. The 2s2p(2) 4P state is observed for the first time. This state is detected in a resonant simultaneous double-Auger decay of unprecedented strength. In addition, the first measurements of photodetachment cross sections, positions, widths, and shapes of triply excited resonances in He- are reported. These measurements provide a sensitive test for several sophisticated ab initio calculations, and indicate differences in the position and shape of some structures.

K-shell photodetachment of He- : experiment and theory.

High-resolution K-shell photodetachment measurements of He- giving rise to He+ ions have been performed using a merged synchrotron vacuum ultraviolet photon-ion beam technique. The measurements on this fundamental negative ion display dramatic structure differing substantially, qualitatively and quantitatively, from the corresponding process in neutral atoms and positive ions, owing to the dominance of correlation in both initial and final states of He-. In addition, this experimental investigation provides an unambiguous test of two independent theoretical calculations that report serious discrepancies and shows excellent agreement with one of them.

O 1s --> sigma* resonance in O2: inadequacy of only two exchange-split components.

The O 1s-->sigma* transition below the O K-edge in O2 has been investigated by absorption, constant ionic state (CIS) experiments, and extensive configuration interaction calculations. CIS scans of the three lowest-lying final states reached in resonant Auger decay provide a wealth of information on energy range, symmetry, and spin multiplicity of the intermediate states with sigma* character. We conclude that the identification of only two exchange-split components is inadequate because a complex manifold of states with sigma* character exists with no unique energy difference between related states.

Probing the molecular environment using spin-resolved photoelectron spectroscopy.

Angle- and spin-resolved photoelectron spectroscopy with linearly and circularly polarized synchrotron radiation were used to study the electronic structure of model triatomic molecules, hydrogen sulfide, and carbonyl sulfide. The spin-polarization measurements of the molecular field split components of the S 2p photolines revealed a strong effect of the different molecular environments. The validity of simple atomic models to explain the results is discussed.

K-shell photodetachment of Li(-): experiment and theory.

An experimental K-shell photodetachment study of Li(-) giving rise to doubly photoionized Li(+) ions has been carried out at the Advanced Light Source, using a collinear photon-ion beam apparatus. The experiment reveals dramatic structure, differing substantially both qualitatively and quantitatively from the corresponding processes above the 1s ionization threshold in Li and Li(+), as predicted by our enhanced R-matrix calculation. The experimental/theoretical comparison shows good agreement over some of the photon energy range, and also reveals some puzzling discrepancies.