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Filippo Lagi,1 Seble Tekle Kiros,1 Irene Campolmi,1 Susanna Giachè,1 Pier Giorgio Rogasi,2 Marcello Mazzetti,2 Filippo Bartalesi,2 Michele Trotta,2 Patrizia Nizzoli,3 Alessandro Bartoloni,1,2 Gaetana Sterrantino2 1Infectious Disease Unit, Department of Experimental and Clinical Medicine, University of Florence, Florence, Italy; 2Infectious and Tropical Disease Unit, Azienda Ospedaliero – Universitaria Careggi, Florence, Italy; 3Department of Pharmaceuticals, USL Toscana Centro, Florence, Italy Aim: This study aimed to determine rates of retention in care, viral suppression, and use of antiretroviral therapy (ART) and identify risk factors for loss to follow-up (FU) in an adult cohort from a tertiary teaching hospital in Florence, Italy. Methods: We included all newly diagnosed HIV-infected patients aged >18 years who were linked to our clinic from July 2007 to December 2015. On July 31, 2017, we evaluated the proportion of patients retained in care, on ART, and having HIV RNA

Copyright of Annali di Igiene, Medicina Preventiva e di Comunità is the property of Societa Editrice Universo s.r.l. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Annali di Igiene, Medicina Preventiva e di Comunità is the property of Societa Editrice Universo s.r.l. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Background: Illness impact on HrQoL has been widely studied in hair loss‐affected patients, yet no study has addressed whether individual differences modulate HrQoL in patients with alopecia areata (AA), androgenetic alopecia (AGA) and telogen effluvium (TE). Objective: To identify the personality dimensions most predictive of the impact of disease on HrQoL. Method: A single‐site cross‐sectional study was carried out in the Dermatology Unit of Sant'Orsola‐Malpighi Hospital, Bologna between September 2016 and September 2017. The study included 143 patients (105 females, ages 18–60 years) diagnosed with AA (n = 27), AGA (n = 80) and TE (n = 36). Illness severity, alopecia type, age, gender, education and civil status were documented. Health‐related quality of life (HrQoL), personality traits, trait anxiety, emotional intelligence, social anxiety and social phobia were also measured. Results: AA, AGA and TE groups differed significantly for illness severity with most severe patients falling in AA type. For HrQoL, Gender × Group interaction resulted significant with AGA females reporting a higher impact of hair loss on quality of life than males, while TE males were more impacted by hair loss than AA and AGA males. Lower scores were obtained by AGA females than males on emotional intelligence while no significant differences were evidenced on other groups. A significant Gender × Group interaction was also found for trait anxiety, social phobia and social anxiety: consistently, AGA females reported higher scores than AGA males in all three measures. Finally, discriminant analysis evidenced that anxiety‐related traits can contribute to reliably predict hair loss impact on HrQoL, regardless of illness severity and alopecia type. Conclusions: We recommend that gender and individual differences in anxiety‐related dimensions be considered as key factors in gaining a deeper understanding of hair loss impact on quality of life as well as in reducing the burden of illness in alopecia‐affected patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of the present research was to investigate the importance of different factors in promoting women's adherence to mammography screening programmes. The research was conducted during a mammography screening programme of the Emilia-Romagna region addressed to all women aged 50-69 years. The programme was designed to maximize women's participation by increasing their knowledge of the benefits of breast screening (invitation letter and information campaign) and by reducing barriers (e.g. free test). The research was conducted on a sample of 200 women who adhered to the programme, 65 of whom never had a mammogram in the past, and on a sample of 95 women who did not adhere to the programme, 42 of whom never had a mammogram and 53 of whom had mammograms privately. A semi-structured interview on demographic variables (e.g. age and marital status), an evaluation of mastery and self-esteem and an evaluation of the influence of the different information channels used during the information campaign were asked to participants. Significant differences among groups were found as regards to age, marital status and education and as regards to objective and subjective vulnerability to breast cancer. Among the information channels, the invitation letter undersigned by the family physician had the most influence. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Data on the immune status of chronic alcoholic patients are rather conflicting probably due to the interference of liver disease and/or malnutrition on immune function. In order to avoid this kind of interference, peripheral lymphocytes from 12 chronic alcoholic patients in good nutritional status and without heavy liver damage and 15 healthy controls were examined in this study. Lymphocyte functional activity was evaluated by means of response to phytohemagglutinin, calcium ionophore A 23187, and autologous non-T-cells [autologous mixed lymphocyte reaction (AMLR)]. Phenotypical analysis was carried out by the indirect immunofluorescence technique using monoclonal antibodies specific to CD5 (mature T-lymphocytes). CD4 (helper/inducer T-lymphocytes), CD8 (suppressor/cytotoxic T-lymphocytes), glycoproteins, and an immunoglobulin fraction from rabbit directed to membrane α1 acid glycoprotein (AGP) that is involved in T-cell activation process. Our results show significant impairment in AMLR while response to phytohemagglutinin, heterologous non-T-cells and carcinoma ionophore did not differ from controls. No differences were present in circulating T-lymphocytes expressing CD5, CD4, and CD8 on their membrane, whereas AGP-bearing lymphocytes were significantly lower in chronic alcoholics (14.4 ± 8.6) than in controls (31.9 ± 8.1; p < 0.001). These results support the hypothesis of a direct action of alcohol on one of the pathways of lymphocyte activation and the role of the lymphocyte membrane AGP on the AMLR. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recombinant interleukin-2 (rIL-2) induced highly purified human tonsillar B cells to differentiate into immunoglobulin (Ig)-producing cells in vitro. The B-cell response was not due to rIL-2- contaminating substances, but reflected the activity of IL-2 itself, since it was inhibited by addition to the cultures of anti-TAC monoclonal antibody. The rIL-2-induced B-cell response was apparently not mediated by factors released by residual T cells present in B-cell suspensions at undetectable levels, since supernatants (SN) from unstimulated autologous T cells cultured at concentrations even much higher than those possibly contaminating B-cell suspensions did not induce any detectable Ig production. In addition, the Ig production by B cells cultured with SN prepared from high numbers of autologous T cells stimulated with rIL-2, as well as from allo-activated or mitogen-stimulated T cells, was of the same magnitude as the Ig production resulting from direct addition of rIL-2 concentrations comparable with those present in the supernatants. After centrifugation on Percoll density gradients, most of the tonsillar B cells responsive to rIL-2 were recovered in the lower density cell fraction containing a number of larger activated B cells. Moreover, B-cell enriched suspensions from peripheral blood (PB) (which usually contains a lower number of in vivo activated B cells than tonsil) showed poor or no response to rIL-2 alone, but displayed significant Ig production when rIL-2 was added to the cultures in the presence of Staphylococcus aureus Cowan I (SAC) bacteria. Taken together, these data indicate that IL-2 can directly induce differentiation into Ig-producing cells of in vivo or in vitro activated human B cells. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The pokeweed mitogen (PWM)-induced immunoglobulin (Ig) production by cultures of peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) was reduced in healthy haemophiliacs treated with commercial factor VIII (or IX) concentrate, whereas the spontaneous IgG synthesis in vitro was enhanced, PWM-induced Ig production was lower in those who had received greater amounts of concentrate, in those with inverted T4/T8 lymphocyte ratios and in those with antibody to HTLV-III, The spontaneous IgG production in vitro was higher in haemophiliacs who had received larger amounts of concentrate, in those with inverted T4/T8 ratio and in those with antibody anti-HTLV-III. However, some patients with normal T4/T8 ratio and some with HTLV-III antibody also had raised spontaneous IgG production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Autologous mixed lymphocyte reaction (AMLR) and phenotypical composition of circulating lymphocytes obtained from nine subjects with untreated hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC); three HCC patients locally treated by means of intraarterial chemoembolization; six subjects with gut-derived carcinoma (GDC); nine chronic active liver disease patients (CALD), and 14 normal controls have been evaluated, using monoclonal antibodies (MAB) against CD5, CD8, CD4 glycoproteins and anti-LAK-1 molecule, a novel 120-KD surface antigen that is present on the membrane of large granular lymphocytes, by means of classical indirect immunofluorescence technique. Autologous mixed lymphocyte reaction was significantly reduced in all patients, along with CD4-positive cells that are the responder cells in this reaction. A relative increase in the percentage of LAK cells was also observed in neoplastic patients with a normalization after local treatment of the HCC. In the light of promising results obtained by Rosenberg et al. by adoptive transfer of LAK cells activated with Interleukin-2 (IL2) in various cancers, our results support a similar therapeutic trial in HCC patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Defects in T lymphocyte subpopulations and in the functional characteristics of such cells have been thought to play a role in the evolution of chronic hepatitis B, but the precise nature of the alterations and their significance remains unresolved. We studied lymphocyte subsets in 27 patients with chronic hepatitis B utilizing standard monoclonal antibodies including 1,2a,3a,7 and D1/12 (against the common determinant of the Dr molecule), as well as a newly described monoclonal antibody, "5/9," which is thought to characterize a unique subpopulation of T4 cells with specific helper/inducer function. These results were compared with those obtained using the autologous mixed lymphocyte reaction assay for the same patients in order to further delineate the lymphocyte alterations in chronic hepatitis B. A significant reduction in the mean number of Leu 3a (T4) positive cells was observed as well as a reduction in the number of 5/9 positive cells. These changes were most evident in those positive for HBeAg in serum. Reduction in Leu 3a cells was associated with a reduced autologous mixed lympbocyte reaction assay response, and was most marked in the HBeAg-positive individuals. These findings suggest that HBeAg-positive patients in whom active viral replication is occurring have a defect in T lymphocyte number and function, which may be due in part to reduced 5/9 positive cells. These alterations may be related to the persistence of virus in chronic active hepatitis B patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: In patients with chronic diarrhea associated with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome, bile acid malabsorption, very rarely investigated, may have an important pathogenetic role. Methods: In this 1-yr prospective study, 15 patients with AIDS-associated chronic diarrhea and 10 AIDS-controls were studied for bile acid malabsorption by means of the SeHCAT abdominal retention test. The patients with diarrhea underwent the glucose hydrogen breath test to identify any bacterial proliferation in the small bowel. Results: In the chronic diarrhea group, only one case of small bowel bacterial overgrowth, and seven cases (47%) with generally severe bile acid malabsorption, were observed. Among the controls, only one had an abnormal low SeHCAT retention. In both cases with Cryptosporidium infection, the SeHCAT test was pathological. Conclusions: These data are of clinical importance for the pathogenetic study of AIDS-associated chronic diarrhea and for specific treatment with cholestyramine. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Several studies on the usefulness of oral disodium cromoglycate (DSCG) in the treatment of systemic adverse reaction to foods have been performed, with less attention to gastroenterological symptoms. In the present study, we selected 101 patients with diarrhetic-type irritable bowel syndrome which improved after an elimination diet and worsened after a challenge with specific food(s). All patients were then tested for 48 commercial alimentary antigens by skin prick test (SPT) and underwent 8 wk of oral DSCG (500 mg three times a day), and the results were evaluated by means of a semiquantitative subjective and objective score. We observed an improvement of the symptoms in 61% of the 74 SPT-positive patients, whereas only 41 % of the 27 SPT-negative patients showed a positive response to DSCG (p < 0.05). These data confirm the protective role of DSCG in food-dependent diarrheic-type irritable bowel syndrome with food allergy features. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]