Increased Levels of ICOS and ICOSL Are Associated to Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension in Patients Affected by Connective Tissue Diseases.

BACKGROUND: Pulmonary hypertension (PH) is a life-threatening complication of connective tissue diseases (CTD); in this study, we aimed at investigating the potential role of inducible co-stimulator (ICOS) and its ligand (ICOS-L) as biomarkers of PH in CTD. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We recruited 109 patients: 84 CTD patients, 13 patients with CTD complicated by pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH), and 12 subjects with PAH alone. All recruited patients underwent a complete clinical and instrumental assessment along with quantitative measurement of serum ICOS and ICOS-L. RESULTS: Independently of the underlying cause, patients with PAH were older and had a lower glomerular filtration rate. Interestingly, patients with both CTD-related and CTD-unrelated PAH had higher ICOS and ICOS-L serum concentrations than CTD patients (0.0001 for both). When compared to CTD patients, those affected by CTD-PAH showed higher ICOS (440 (240-600) vs. 170 (105-275) pg/mL, p = 0.0001) and ICOS-L serum concentrations (6000 (4300-7000) vs. 2450 (1500-4100) pg/mL; p = 0.0001). In a logistic regression, ICOS and ICOS-L were associated with a diagnosis of PAH, independently from age, gender, and renal function. The corresponding receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves demonstrated a good diagnostic performance for both ICOS and ICOS-L. CONCLUSIONS: ICOS and ICOS-L are increased in patients with PAH, irrespectively from the underlying cause, and represent promising candidate biomarkers for the diagnostic screening for PAH among CTDs patients.

Long-term sequelae are highly prevalent one year after hospitalization for severe COVID-19.

Many coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) survivors show symptoms months after acute illness. The aim of this work is to describe the clinical evolution of Covid-19, one year after discharge. We performed a prospective cohort study on 238 patients previously hospitalized for Covid-19 pneumonia in 2020 who already underwent clinical follow-up 4 months post-Covid-19. 200 consented to participate to a 12-months clinical assessment, including: pulmonary function tests with diffusing lung capacity for carbon monoxide (DLCO); post-traumatic stress (PTS) symptoms evaluation by the Impact of Event Scale (IES); motor function evaluation (by Short Physical Performance Battery and 2 min walking test); chest Computed Tomography (CT). After 366 [363-369] days, 79 patients (39.5%) reported at least one symptom. A DLCO < 80% was observed in 96 patients (49.0%). Severe DLCO impairment (< 60%) was reported in 20 patients (10.2%), related to extent of CT scan abnormalities. Some degree of motor impairment was observed in 25.8% of subjects. 37/200 patients (18.5%) showed moderate-to-severe PTS symptoms. In the time elapsed from 4 to 12 months after hospital discharge, motor function improves, while respiratory function does not, being accompanied by evidence of lung structural damage. Symptoms remain highly prevalent one year after acute illness.

Confinement of water droplets on rectangular micro/nano-arrayed surfaces.

Micro-patterned surfaces with alternate hydrophilic and hydrophobic rectangular areas effectively confine water droplets down to attolitre volumes. The contact angle, volume, and geometry of the confined droplets as a function of the geometry and physico-chemical properties of the confining surfaces have been determined by phenomenological simulations, validated by atomic force microscopy measurements. The combination between experiments and simulations can be used for the purposeful design of arrays with surface-addressable hydrophobicity employed in digital microfluidics and high-throughput screening nanoarrays.