Marche Polytechnic University

About: Marche Polytechnic University is a education organization based out in Ancona, Italy. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Prostate cancer. The organization has 5905 authors who have published 15769 publications receiving 382286 citations. The organization is also known as: Universitá Politecnica delle Marche & Universita Politecnica delle Marche.

Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease: Basic Pathogenetic Mechanisms in the Progression From NAFLD to NASH

Abstract: Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) represents a growing cause of chronic liver injury, especially in western countries, where it is becoming the most frequent indication for liver transplantation. Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease encompasses a spectrum of diseases that from simple steatosis (pure NAFLD) can progress to nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. The pathogenesis of NAFLD and the mechanisms behind its progression to NASH have been extensively studied. However, although the processes that determine fat accumulation are mostly clear, the mechanisms associated with the progression of the disease are not fully characterized. In predisposed patients, lipid accumulation can promote lipotoxicity and mitochondrial dysfunction, thus triggering hepatocyte death, inflammation and fibrosis. The specific role of different lipids has been identified and free fatty acids as well as free cholesterol have been identified as toxic species. To make the picture more complex, the pathogenesis of NAFLD involves pathological connections between several organs, including the adipose tissue and the gut, with the liver. The "inflamed" adipose tissue plays a key role in the release of toxic lipids, whereas alterations in the gut-liver axis have been associated with the progression from NAFLD to NASH mediated by dysbiosis, alteration of intestinal barrier, and finally bacterial translocation, which can trigger proinflammatory and profibrogenetic pathways, finally leading to cirrhosis development.

Regulatory considerations for the clinical and research use of transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS): Review and recommendations from an expert panel

Abstract: The field of transcranial electrical stimulation (tES) has experienced significant growth in the past 15 years. One of the tES techniques leading this increased interest is transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS). Significant research efforts have been devoted to determining the clinical potential of tDCS in humans. Despite the promising results obtained with tDCS in basic and clinical neuroscience, further progress has been impeded by a lack of clarity on international regulatory pathways. We therefore convened a group of research and clinician experts on tDCS to review the research and clinical use of tDCS. In this report, we review the regulatory status of tDCS, and we summarize the results according to research, off-label and compassionate use of tDCS in the following countries: Australia, Brazil, France, Germany, India, Iran, Italy, Portugal, South Korea, Taiwan and United States. Research use, off label treatment and compassionate use of tDCS are employed in most of the countries reviewed in this study. It is critical that a global or local effort is organized to pursue definite evidence to either approve and regulate or restrict the use of tDCS in clinical practice on the basis of adequate randomized controlled treatment trials.

Proof of Concept of Microbiome-Metabolome Analysis and Delayed Gluten Exposure on Celiac Disease Autoimmunity in Genetically At-Risk Infants

Abstract: Celiac disease (CD) is a unique autoimmune disorder in which the genetic factors (DQ2/DQ8) and the environmental trigger (gluten) are known and necessary but not sufficient for its development. Other environmental components contributing to CD are poorly understood. Studies suggest that aspects of gluten intake might influence the risk of CD occurrence and timing of its onset, i.e., the amount and quality of ingested gluten, together with the pattern of infant feeding and the age at which gluten is introduced in the diet. In this study, we hypothesize that the intestinal microbiota as a whole rather than specific infections dictates the switch from tolerance to immune response in genetically susceptible individuals. Using a sample of infants genetically at risk of CD, we characterized the longitudinal changes in the microbial communities that colonize infants from birth to 24 months and the impact of two patterns of gluten introduction (early vs. late) on the gut microbiota and metabolome, and the switch from gluten tolerance to immune response, including onset of CD autoimmunity. We show that infants genetically susceptible to CD who are exposed to gluten early mount an immune response against gluten and develop CD autoimmunity more frequently than at-risk infants in which gluten exposure is delayed until 12 months of age. The data, while derived from a relatively small number of subjects, suggest differences between the developing microbiota of infants with genetic predisposition for CD and the microbiota from infants with a non-selected genetic background, with an overall lack of bacteria of the phylum Bacteriodetes along with a high abundance of Firmicutes and microbiota that do not resemble that of adults even at 2 years of age. Furthermore, metabolomics analysis reveals potential biomarkers for the prediction of CD. This study constitutes a definite proof-of-principle that these combined genomic and metabolomic approaches will be key to deciphering the role of the gut microbiota on CD onset.

The 2004 WHO Classification of Bladder Tumors: A Summary and Commentary:

Abstract: The key points of the latest World Health Organization (WHO) classification of noninvasive urothelial tumors are the following: the description of the categories has been expanded to improve their recognition; a tumor with particularly good prognosis (papillary urothelial neoplasm of low malignant potential) no longer carries the label of ‘cancer’; it avoids the use of ambiguous grading such as grade 1/2 or 2/3 (as done in the 1973 WHO classification); the group of noninvasive high-grade carcinoma is large enough to virtually contain all those tumors having biological properties similar to those seen in invasive urothelial carcinoma, and a similarly high level of genetic instability. This scheme is meant to replace the 1973 WHO classification, but the use of both the 1973 and the latest WHO classifications is recommended until the latter is sufficiently validated.