BACKGROUND: Acute intestinal obstruction (AIO) is a syndrome defined by the cessation of intestinal transit caused by an obstacle or paralysis of intestinal peristalsis. It is a diagnostic and therapeutic emergency. The multi-bar CT scan has revolutionized the management of this pathology, as it allows the surgeon to answer different questions. The aim of our study was to describe the CT aspects of AIO, to determine the etiologies and to show the place of CT in the management of AIO.
METHODS: This was a retrospective descriptive study conducted over 5 years (January 2010 to December 2015) on 81 patient files collected in the imaging departments of the CHU Aristide Le Dantec and the Hôpital Principal. The files retained were those whose diagnosis was established from the clinic, imaging and/or not from surgery.
RESULTS: Mechanical occlusions represented 94.4% (76 cases) and functional occlusions 5.6% (05 cases). They were of the small bowel type in 70% of cases and colonic in 30%. The elementary lesions found were: transitional zone (36 patients), feces sign (28 patients), beak sign (06 patients), whirlpool sign (11 patients), signs of severity (36 patients). Seventy-two patients received surgery and 04 patients received medical treatment. The preoperative diagnosis was confirmed by surgery in 68 patients. Surgery corrected the diagnosis in 04 cases. Signs of severity were confirmed at surgery in all our patients.
CONCLUSIONS: The CT scan has a major role in the therapeutic choice of AIO. It should be requested in first intention before an occlusive syndrome.
BACKGROUND: L\'occlusion intestinale aiguë (OIA) est un syndrome défini par l\'arrêt du transit intestinal provoqué par un obstacle ou par une paralysie du péristaltisme intestinal. Il s\'agit d\'une urgence diagnostique et thérapeutique. Le scanner multibarrette a révolutionné la prise en charge de cette pathologie, car permettant de répondre aux différentes questions du chirurgien.Le but de notre étude était de décrire les aspects scanographiques des OIA, de déterminer les étiologies et de montrer la place de la TDM dans la prise en charge des OIA.
UNASSIGNED: Il s\'agissait d\'une étude rétrospective descriptive réalisée sur 05ans (Janvier 2010 à décembre 2015) portant sur 81 dossiers de patients colligés dans les services d\'imagerie du CHU Aristide Le Dantec et de l\'hôpital Principal. Les dossiers retenus sont ceux dont le diagnostic était établi à partir de la clinique, de l\'imagerie et/ou non de la chirurgie.
UNASSIGNED: Les occlusions mécaniques représentaient 94,4% (76 cas) et fonctionnelles 5.6% (05 cas).Elles étaient de type grêle dans 70% des cas et colique dans 30%.Les lésions élémentaires mises en évidence étaient : zone transitionnelle (36 patients), signe du fèces (28 patients), signe du bec (06 patients), signe du tourbillon (11 patients), signes de gravité (36 patients). Soixante-douze patients ont bénéficié d\'une chirurgie et 04 patients d\'un traitement médical. Le diagnostic préopératoire était confirmé par la chirurgie chez 68 patients. La chirurgie a redressé le diagnostic dans 04 cas. Les signes de gravité étaient confirmés à la chirurgie chez tous nos patients.
CONCLUSIONS: La TDM occupe une place prépondérante dans le choix thérapeutique des OIA. Elle doit être demandée en première intention devant un syndrome occlusif.

BACKGROUND: Previous studies have shown that financial strategies are beneficial for improving the appropriate use of antibiotics within a limited period of time. Long-term effects have rarely been explored.
METHODS: This study evaluated the changes in expenditure and prescription patterns of antibacterial agents under the global budget (GB) program and drug price adjustment of a National Health Insurance scheme. Two structural methods, that is, the Laspeyres method and Fisher\'s Ideal Index decomposition method, were used to illustrate the impacts of price, volume, and drug change.
RESULTS: During the first 5 years of the GB program (ie, 2001-2006), the expenses of antibacterial agents increased by 54.1%, while the volume decreased by 11% to 21.3%. Therapeutic choice was the predominant cause of expense growth. In the second and third 5-year periods (ie, 2006-2011 and 2011-2016), the driving force of therapeutic choice gradually decreased. The antibacterial expense remained stable with a slight increase in prescription volume. Periodic price adjustment contributed steadily to cost containment, by 21.9% to 39.9%.
CONCLUSIONS: The GB program led to a remarkable increase in antibacterial expenses mainly attributed to therapeutic choice, especially in the early stage. In contrast, periodic price adjustment, provided steady benefits to pharmaceutical budget control without a noticeable increase in drug volume.

UNASSIGNED: Concern exists that noninvasive ventilation (NIV) may promote ventilation-induced lung injury(VILI) and worsen outcome in acute hypoxemic respiratory failure (AHRF). Different individual ventilatory variables have been proposed to predict clinical outcomes, with inconsistent results.Mechanical power (MP), a measure of the energy transfer rate from the ventilator to the respiratory system during mechanical ventilation, might provide solutions for this issue in the framework of predictive, preventive and personalized medicine (PPPM). We explored (1) the impact of ventilator-delivered MP normalized to well-aerated lung (MPWAL) on physio-anatomical and clinical responses to NIV in COVID-19-related AHRF and (2) the effect of prone position(PP) on MPWAL.
UNASSIGNED: We analyzed 216 noninvasively ventilated COVID-19 patients (108 patients receiving PP + NIV and 108 propensity score-matched patients receiving supine NIV) with moderate-to-severe(paO2/FiO2 ratio < 200) AHRF enrolled in the PRO-NIV controlled non-randomized study (ISRCTN23016116).Quantification of differentially aerated lung volumes by lung ultrasonography (LUS) was validated against CT scans. Respiratory parameters were hourly recorded, ABG were performed 1 h after each postural change. Time-weighed average values of ventilatory variables, including MPWAL, and gas exchange parameters (paO2/FiO2 ratio, dead space indices) were calculated for each ventilatory session. LUS and circulating biomarkers were assessed daily.
UNASSIGNED: Compared with supine position, PP was associated with a 34% MPWAL reduction, attributable largely to an absolute MP reduction and secondly to an enhanced lung reaeration.Patients receiving a high MPWAL during the 1st 24 h of NIV [MPWAL(day 1)] had higher 28-d NIV failure (HR = 4.33,95%CI:3.09 - 5.98) and death (HR = 5.17,95%CI: 3.01 - 7.35) risks than those receiving a low MPWAL(day 1).In Cox multivariate analyses, MPWAL(day 1) remained independently associated with 28-d NIV failure (HR = 1.68,95%CI:1.15-2.41) and death (HR = 1.69,95%CI:1.22-2.32).MPWAL(day 1) outperformed other power measures and ventilatory variables as predictor of 28-d NIV failure (AUROC = 0.89;95%CI:0.85-0.93) and death (AUROC = 0.89;95%CI:0.85-0.94).MPWAL(day 1) predicted also gas exchange, ultrasonographic and inflammatory biomarker responses, as markers of VILI, on linear multivariate analysis.
UNASSIGNED: In the framework of PPPM, early bedside MPWAL calculation may provide added value to predict response to NIV and guide subsequent therapeutic choices i.e. prone position adoption during NIV or upgrading to invasive ventilation, to reduce hazardous MPWAL delivery, prevent VILI progression and improve clinical outcomes in COVID-19-related AHRF.
UNASSIGNED: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s13167-023-00325-5.

Background In the era of increased antimicrobial resistance, there are limited therapeutic options available for the treatment of bacteremia caused by multidrug-resistant organisms (MDROs). This study aims to find out the feasibility of using ceftazidime/avibactam (CZA) as a therapeutic option for bloodstream infections caused by multidrug-resistant (MDR) Enterobacterales and Pseudomonas aeruginosa based on its susceptibility profile. Materials and methods The isolates were routinely subjected to antimicrobial susceptibility testing (AST) by an automated AST system (VITEK-2). Those isolates found as MDR (resistant to at least one drug for ≥3 antimicrobial classes) were tested against CZA by Kirby-Bauer\'s disk diffusion (kb-DD) method. Results A total number of 293 MDR Enterobacterales and 31 MDR P. aeruginosa isolates were included. Of these, 87.3% of isolates were found as carbapenem-resistant (CR), whereas 12.7% of isolates were found as carbapenem susceptible. About 30.6% of MDROs were susceptible to CZA. Among carbapenem-resistant organisms (CROs), CR Klebsiella pneumoniae(33.5%) is most susceptible to CZA, compared to CR P. aeruginosa(0%)and CREscherichia coli(3.2%). Among the MDR isolates that were susceptible to CZA (30.6%), the majority had poor susceptibility against other β-lactam-β-lactamase inhibitor (BL-BLI) agents. Among all antimicrobial agents tested against CROs, colistin (96%) was found to have the best susceptibility profile. Conclusion It is observed that CZA is an acceptable therapeutic option for the treatment of bacteremia caused by MDROs, especially CROs. Therefore, it is important for the laboratories to perform the AST for CZA if the healthcare settings intend to use CZA for the management of such \"difficult-to-treat\" bloodstream infections.

Long-term disease control is achieved in 80-90% of patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia of B origin (B-ALL). About half of adult and 10% of pediatric patients develop refractory or relapsed disease, whereas survival after relapse accounts about 10% in adults and 30-50% in children. Allogeneic bone marrow transplantation offers remarkable benefit in cases with unfavorable outcome. Nevertheless, novel immunotherapeutic options have been approved for patients with adverse prognosis. Immunotherapeutic agents, nowadays, are preferred over standard chemotherapy for patients with relapsed or refractory B-ALL The mode of action, efficacy and safety data of immunotherapeutic agents released, indications and sequence of those therapies over the course of treatment, are herein reviewed.

UNASSIGNED: To review the therapeutic strategy in Merkel cell carcinoma (MCC) treated with radiotherapy (RT) discussed in a multidisciplinary tumour board.
UNASSIGNED: Clinical records of patients with a diagnosis of MCC and with an indication to undergo RT at the European Institute of Oncology between 2003 and 2018 were reviewed retrospectively.
UNASSIGNED: Twenty-six patients were included in the analysis (median age 65 years, range 42-87). Nineteen received adjuvant RT, 4 exclusive RT, and the remainder palliative RT. Intensity-modulated RT was used in 13 cases, a 3D conformal technique in 11 cases, and stereotactic RT in 2 cases. No major toxicities were recorded. The median relapse-free survival (RFS) after adjuvant RT was 20.5 months, while for unknown primary MCC, it was 23 months. In the adjuvant setting, median polyomavirus-positive RFS was 21.5 months (range 1-49) and median polyomavirus-negative RFS was only 14 months (range 4-45). Overall, RFS of polyomavirus-positive and polyomavirus-negative patients was 10.5 and 8 months, respectively. After adjuvant RT, only 1 out of 10 patients had a recurrence in the RT field. At the time of data collection, 16 patients were alive with no evidence of disease, 1 patient was alive with advanced status of disease, 8 patients died of disease progression, and 1 patient died of other causes.
UNASSIGNED: The management of unknown primary and polyomavirus-positive cases, which had a better prognosis in our series, may benefit from a multidisciplinary approach, given the limited data available regarding optimal treatment.

BACKGROUND: According to the National Trauma Data Bank, the liver, after the spleen, is the first most injured organ in closed abdominal trauma.
METHODS: From June 2010 to December 2015 we observed in our department of Hepato-biliary Surgery and Liver Transplant Unit of the A.O.R.N. A. Cardarelli of Naples 40 patients affected by hepatic trauma. In our retrospective study, we review our experience and propose portal vein ligation (PVL) as a first - line strategy for damage control surgery (DCS) in liver trauma.
RESULTS: 26/40 patients (65%) which received gauze-packing represented our study group. In 10 cases out of 26 patients (38,4%) the abdominal packing was enough to control the damage. In 7 cases (18,4%) we performed a liver resection. In 7 cases, after de-packing, we adopted PVL to achieve DCS. Trans Arterial Embolization was chosen in 6 patients. 2 of them were discharged 14 days later without performing any other procedure.In 3 cases we had to perform a right epatectomy in second instance. Two hepatectomies were due to hemoperitoneum, and the other for coleperitoneum. Two patients were treated in first instance by only doing hemostasis on the bleeding site. We observed 6 patients in first instance. Five of them underwent surgery with hepatic resection and surgical hemostasis of the bleeding site. The other one underwent to conservative management. In summary we performed 15 hepatic resections, 8 of them were right hepatectomies, 1 left hepatectomy, 2 trisegmentectomies V-VI-VII. So in second instance we operated on 10 patients out of 34 (30%).
CONCLUSIONS: The improved knowledge of clinical physio-pathology and the improvement of diagnostic and instrumental techniques had a great impact on the prognosis of liver trauma. We think that a rigid diagnostic protocol should be applied as this allows timely pathological finding, and consists of three successive but perfectly integrated steps: 1) patient reception, in close collaboration with the resuscitator; 2) accurate but quick diagnostic framing 3) therapeutic decisional making. Selective portal vein ligation is a well-tolerated and safe manoeuvre, which could be effective, even if not definitive, in treating these subjects. That is why we believe that it can be a choice to keep in mind especially in post-depacking bleeding.

To inform patients and their carers about both the probability of reducing glycated haemoglobin (HbA1c) to clinically desirable levels and the sustainability of such control over 2 years with major second-line antidiabetic therapies, in individual risk scenarios, with and without third-line intensification.
From US Centricity Electronic Medical Records, 163 081 patients with type 2 diabetes aged 18 to 80 years, who had initiated metformin, intensified their treatment with dipeptidyl peptidase-4 (DPP-4) inhibitors, glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) receptor agonists (GLP-1RAs), sulphonylureas (SUs), insulin or thiazolidinediones (TZDs), and continued second-line treatment for ≥6 months, were selected. Treatment groups were balanced with regard to baseline characteristics, and glycaemic achievements were estimated using logistic regression analysis.
With HbA1c concentrations of 58-63.9 mmol/mol (7.5-7.9%) at second-line treatment initiation, the adjusted probabilities of achieving HbA1c <53 mmol/mol (<7%) at 6 months were 32%, 38%, 39%, 26% and 38% in the SU, DPP-4 inhibitor, GLP-1RA, insulin and TZD groups, respectively, while with baseline HbA1c concentrations of 64-75 mmol/mol (8-9%), the corresponding probabilities of reducing HbA1c to <58 mmol/mol (<7.5%) were 38%, 44%, 40%, 34% and 42%, respectively. In these baseline HbA1c categories, the adjusted probabilities of sustaining HbA1c achievements over 2 years were higher in the GLP-1RA and TZD groups, compared with the SU and insulin groups (P < .01). With baseline HbA1c concentrations of 75.1-108 mmol/mol (9.1-12%) 38% of patients achieved an HbA1c concentration <58 mmol/mol (<7.5%) at 6 months. The adjusted probability of sustaining this control over 2 years was higher in the incretin and TZD groups (range 62%-75%), while insulin and SUs offered lower chances of sustainable control (range 54%-56%).
Patients treated with second-line incretins and TZDs had a significantly higher probability of achieving and sustaining glycaemic control over 2 years without further intensification, compared with those treated with SUs or insulin.

With the reforms of 2011 and 2013 relating to psychiatric hospitalisation, raises the question of the suitability of modern psychiatric practice with regard to a person\'s recognised principles and basic rights. Achieving a balance is difficult and the Constitutional Council has joined the debate, bringing to an end any idea of compromise between safety and freedom. A decision which was made as a result of a clarification of certain regulations which have proved controversial from the point of view of individual liberties.
METHODS: