Safety and safety protocols for living donor nephrectomy in Italy.

Living donor kidney transplantation (LDKTx) is recommended by all scientific societies. Living donor nephrectomy (LDN) is probably one of the safest surgical procedures, but it carries some risk for healthy donors. The aim of this study is to provide a snapshot of LDKTx activities in Italy and ask about safety measures implemented in LDN. Data on LDKTx were extracted from the national database. Safety measures were examined through a specific survey. Between 2001 and 2022 40,663 kidney transplants (31.4 per million population-pmp) were performed, including 4731 LDKTx (3.7 pmp). There was no postoperative death of the donor. After a median follow-up of 52.2 months [IQR:17.9-99.5], the 10-year donor survival rate was 93.38% (CI:97.52-98.94). There was evidence of renal disease in 65 donors (1.8%), including 42 (1.1%) with stage III end-stage renal disease. Twenty-nine out of 35 transplant centers (TC) involved in LDKTx responded to the survey (82.9%). Six TCs (21.4%) had a total experience of 20 or fewer LDN. Minimally invasive LDN was the first choice at 24 TC (82.8%). At 10 TC (37.0%) only one surgeon performed LDN. Nineteen TCs (65.5%) had a surgical safety checklist for LDN and 14 had a postoperative surveillance protocol. The renal artery was occluded in 3 TCs (10.3%) mainly by non-transfixion methods (including clips). Redundancy of key safety systems in the operating room was available in 22 of 29 centers (75.8%). In summary, LDKTx should be further implemented in Italy. Donor safety should be improved through the implementation of a national procedural protocol.

Effect of Pt particle size and distribution on photoelectrochemical hydrogen evolution by p-Si photocathodes.

In this work, we investigate the effect of the average size and density of Pt clusters on silicon on the photoelectrochemical production of hydrogen. The metallization of Si is performed via electroless deposition from aqueous HF solutions and from water-in-oil microemulsions. The first method enables control of the average diameter and density of Pt clusters by properly changing the deposition parameters like HF concentration and immersion times. However, on one hand, size dispersion is relatively wide and particles agglomeration may occur with this deposition technique. On the other hand, Pt islands with smaller dimensions at the nanoscale as well as with a narrower size distribution are deposited from reversed micellar solutions. Photoelectrochemical experiments show that the effect of Pt morphology on photoconversion efficiency strongly depends on light intensity. At low power of illumination (10 mW/cm2), Pt islands with a mean diameter of 100 nm and a density of 15 particles/microm2, which can be obtained via electroless deposition from a HF-based solution, provide the best photoelectrochemical performance. Nevertheless, this configuration of Pt clusters yields an abrupt collapse of photoconversion efficiency from 31% to 11.8% when the light power is increased up to 100 mW/cm2. At this light intensity, Pt islands with a mean size and density of approximately 40 nm and 75 particles/microm2, respectively, obtained via the microemulsion method, allow photoconversion efficiency as high as 20% to be achieved.

Sexual hormone serum levels and temporomandibular disorders. A preliminary study.

The aim of the present study was to investigate the role of sexual hormones in a young adult population affected by articular forms of temporomandibular disorders (TMD), measuring 17beta-estradiol and progesterone serum levels. In the study, we included 40 patients (20 males and 20 females) with a Research Diagnostic Criteria for Temporomandibular Disorders (RDC/TMD) axis I group II diagnosis of disk displacement and/or group III diagnosis of arthralgia, osteoarthritis or osteoarhrosis, and 32 healthy controls. In female patients, blood samples were collected in follicular and luteal phases of the same menstrual cycle, while only one blood sample was drawn in male patients. Serum levels of estradiol and progesterone were determined using a radioimmunoassay and the comparison between the two groups was performed using a t test. Regarding estradiol, our results showed significantly higher serum levels in patients affected by TMD than in healthy controls, both in males (p < 0.01) and in the luteal phase of the menstrual cycle in females (p < 0.05), while no difference was found for progesterone serum levels. Considering the multifactorial etiology of TMD and the hypothesis that some joint tissues (e.g., bone, cartilage, collagen, proteins) could be a target for sexual hormones, these data suggest that high serum estrogen levels might be implicated in the physiopathology of TMD.

Identification of activin A and follistatin in human milk.

Activin A is a dimeric protein member of the transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-beta) family: it is synthesized by a variety of organs and follistatin is an activin-binding protein. A sensitive and specific assays for bioactive dimeric activin A and follistatin have recently allowed to measure these proteins in blood and other biological fluids, giving a new insights into their possible physiological role. Since human breast is able to produce activin A, the aim of the present study was to evaluate whether it and follistatin are measurable in breast milk of women during lactation. Concentrations of activin A and follistatin were measured in milk samples collected at 3, 5 and 30 days after delivery by using specific and sensitive two-site ELISAs. For the first time the presence of immunoreactive activin A and follistatin in human milk has been shown; no significant different concentration between the third and the fifth day after delivery was found. Furthermore, no difference of activin A and follistatin concentration between the whole and the skim milk or between spontaneous delivery and cesarean section was found. Milk activin A and follistatin concentrations after 1 month of lactation were significantly decreased (P < 0.01). Activin A and follistatin are present in human milk in high concentrations in the first week of lactation, while decrease after a month suggesting a possible role as growth factors in human milk.