Longitudinal Nutritional Intakes in Italian Pregnant Women in Comparison with National Nutritional Guidelines

Background: Nutritional quality during pregnancy is crucial for mother and child health and their short/long-term outcomes. The aim of this study is to evaluate the adherence to nutritional recommendations in Italy during the three pregnancy trimesters in Normal Weight (NW) and Over Weight (OW) women. Methods: Data from a multicenter randomized controlled trial included 176 women (NW = 133; OW = 43) with healthy singleton pregnancies enrolled within 13 + 6 weeks of gestation. Dietary intake was assessed every trimester by a Food Frequency Questionnaire. Results: OW and NW had similar gestational weight gain. However, as Institute of Medicine (IOM) recommend lower gestational weight gain (GWG) for OW, they exceeded the suggested range. In both groups, caloric intake during the three trimesters never met recommendations. Protein intake in first and second trimester was higher than recommendations, as was sugars percentage. Dietary fiber intake was lower in OW. Polyunsaturated fatty acids, calcium, iron and folic acid requirements were never satisfied, while sodium intake exceeded recommendations. Conclusions: NW and OW women in Italy do not adhere to nutritional recommendations during pregnancy, with lower caloric intake, protein and sugars excess and inadequacies in micronutrients intake. Pregnant women in Italy should be provided with an adequate counseling and educational intervention as well as supplementation when indicated.     

Palliative treatment of bone metastases with samarium-153 EDTMP at onset of pain

We evaluated the pain response and daily discomfort in patients suffering from a borderline degree of bone pain due to breast or lung cancer bone metastases, who had undergone early palliative radionuclide treatment. The results were compared with those from patients who had received standard analgesic therapy. Twenty-one patients (65.7 ± 3 years; 17 women) with metastatic bone cancer underwent samarium-153 (Sm-153) ethylene diamine tetramethylene phosphonate (EDTMP) administration (group A) and 18 patients (64.3 ± 8 years; 16 women) continued to receive standard analgesics (group B; control group). The patients kept a daily pain diary assessing both their discomfort and the pain at specific sites by means of a visual analog scale, rating from 0 (no discomfort–no pain) to 10 (worst discomfort–pain). These diaries were reviewed weekly for 2 months and three physicians rated the pain response on a scale from ?2 (considerable deterioration) to +2 (considerable improvement). Baseline characteristics were similar in both groups. The reduction of total discomfort and of bone pain in group A was significantly greater compared to group B (p < 0.0001). A significant improvement of clinical conditions was observed in group A, where the physician rate changed from ?1 to 1, compared to group B in which the rate changed from ?1 to 0. Sm-153 EDTMP therapy can be considered for patients with bone pain from breast and lung cancer in advance, i.e., before the establishment of severe pain syndrome.     

Effectiveness of dupilumab for the treatment of nummular eczema phenotype of atopic dermatitis in adults

Nummular eczema (NE) is currently considered as one of the clinical phenotypes of atopic dermatitis (AD) of the adult. In this multicentre study, 30 adult patients (age ≥ 18 years) affected with nummular‐like AD were treated with dupilumab, a monoclonal antibody against the receptor for interleukin(IL)‐4 and IL‐13. The evaluation of the results after 16 weeks of treatment showed a significant improvement of the disease, as demonstrated by reduction in Eczema Area Severity Score (EASI), visual analogue score (VAS) of pruritus, and Dermatology Life Quality Index (DLQI) scores. Conjunctivitis in one patient was the only side effect. In conclusion, dupilumab seems to be an effective and safe treatment in NE phenotype of AD of the adult.     

Flow cytometry data mining by cytoChain identifies determinants of exhaustion and stemness in TCR-engineered T cells

The phenotype of infused cells is a major determinant of Adoptive T-cell therapy (ACT) efficacy. Yet, the difficulty in deciphering multiparametric cytometry data limited the fine characterization of cellular products. To allow the analysis of dynamic and complex flow cytometry samples, we developed cytoChain, a novel dataset mining tool and a new analytical workflow. CytoChain was challenged to compare state-of-the-art and innovative culture conditions to generate stem-like memory cells (T_SCM) suitable for ACT. Noticeably, the combination of IL-7/15 and superoxides scavenging sustained the emergence of a previously unidentified nonexhausted Fit-T_SCM signature, overlooked by manual gating and endowed with superior expansion potential. CytoChain proficiently traced back this population in independent datasets, and in T-cell receptor engineered lymphocytes. CytoChain flexibility and function were then further validated on a published dataset from circulating T cells in COVID-19 patients. Collectively, our results support the use of cytoChain to identify novel, functionally critical immunophenotypes for ACT and patients immunomonitoring.