Corrigendum to "Synthesis and characterization of a (+)-catechin and L-(+)-ascorbic acid cocrystal as a new functional ingredient for tea drinks" [Heliyon 5 (8) (August 2019) e02291].

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2019.e02291.].

Synthesis and characterization of a (+)-catechin and L-(+)-ascorbic acid cocrystal as a new functional ingredient for tea drinks.

Tea (Camellia Sinensis) is one of the most popular drink, consumed as infusion or bottled ready to drink beverages. Although tea leaves contain many antioxidants compounds, after processing they can drastically decrease, sometimes up to a full degradation, as in the case of catechin, a very healthy flavan-3-ol. In this context, the synthesis of a cocrystal between (+)-catechin and L-(+)-ascorbic acid, was proved to be a useful strategy to make a new ingredient able to ameliorate the antioxidant profile of both infusions and bottled teas. The obtained cocrystal showed a three-fold higher solubility than (+)catechin and its formation was elucidated unambiguously by FT-IR, thermal (DSC) and diffraction (PXRD) analyses. Antioxidant characteristics of the samples were evaluated by colorimetric assays. As expected, infusions showed much better antioxidant features than ready-to-use lemon and peach teas. The same trend was confirmed after the addition of the cocrystal at two concentration levels. In particular, supplementation at concentration of 2 mg mL-1 improved the bottled tea antioxidant values to the level showed by the not-added infusion tea.

Hidatidosis pulmonar bilateral: Reporte de caso / 0 BILATERAL PULMONARY HYDATID DISEASE: CASE REPORT AND REVISION

La hidatidosis es una zoonosis de distribución mundial producida por cestodos del género Echinococcus. Afecta principalmente regiones agrícolas y ganaderas. Es una enfermedad endémica en nuestro país, las mayores incidencias reportadas en Sudamérica corresponden Argentina, Chile, Uruguay y Brasil. El hígado es el principal órgano en el humano, le sigue en frecuencia el pulmón. La clínica suele ser inespecífica. Los síntomas más frecuentes son la tos y el dolor torácico, siendo un hallazgo en estudios imagenológicos. El diagnóstico de sospecha es a través de imágenes, apoyado en antecedentes epidemiológicos y serológicos. La radiografía de tórax asociada a la clínica permite el diagnóstico certero en hasta el 95% de los casos, sin embargo, los avances en la TC y su capacidad de caracterización la han hecho parte habitual del estudio preoperatorio. El tratamiento de la hidatidosis pulmonar es quirúrgico y consiste en la erradicación de los quistes, la corrección de los efectos de la presencia del quiste en el órgano (periquística y cavidad residual) y tratar las complicaciones que el quiste ha provocado en su evolución (fístulas bronquiales y siembra pleural). El tratamiento médico está reservado para quistes múltiples, únicos univesiculares menores de 5cm, pacientes de alto riesgo quirúrgico o inoperables y como quimioprofilaxis pre y postoperatoria. Existe consenso en que la cirugía con preservación de parénquima pulmonar es la elección, reservándose las resecciones pulmonares para aquellos casos en los que el tejido adyacente se encuentra seriamente dañado o infectado o cuando las aéreas de atelectasias son presumiblemente irrecuperables

Hydatidosis is a worldwide distribution zoonosis caused by Cestodes of the genus echinococcus. Mainly affects agricultural and livestock regions. Is an endemic disease in our country, the highest reports in South America correspond to Argentina, Chile, Uruguay and Brazil. The liver is the main target of the parasite, followed in frequency by the lungs. The clinical signs are usually non-specific. Most common symptons are cough and pain chest, being a finding in imaging studies. The presumptive diagnosis is made trough images, support by epidemiological and serological records. The chest x-Ray associated with the clinical symptons allows 95% of accuracy, however advances in CT allows to visualize the difference between the cyst and the normal tissue, this has turned it into a usual step in preoperative studies. The treatment of pulmonary hydatidosis is surgical and consists of the elimination of the cysts, the correction of the effects made by the presence of them in the organ (pericysts and residual cavity) and heal the complications the cysts may have done during the evolution (bronchial fistulas and pleural seeding). The medical treatment (non surgical) is only indicated in multiple cysts or unique uni vesiculares cysts under 5 cm, high risk surgical or inoperable patients and as pre and postoperative chemoprophylaxis. There is general agreement that lung parenchymal preservation surgery is the choice, reserving the pulmonary resections in cases that adjacent tissue is severely damaged of infected or when areas of atelectasis are presumably lost

Oral laser surgical pathology: a preliminary study on the clinical advantages of diode laser and on the histopathological features of specimens evaluated by conventional and confocal laser scanning microscopy.

AIM: The effects of diode laser therapy reported in literature are both clinical and biological. The aim of the present preliminary study was to verify the clinical benefits such as reduction of postoperative pain, inflammatory response and bleeding and also the benefits concerning wound healing and histopathological alterations of specimens related to diode laser surgery. METHODS: The study was carried out on a group of 25 patients; we evaluated histologically the surgical specimens both by conventional optical microscopy and by autofluorescence by confocal laser scanner microscopy, paying attention to the incision margins and to the eventual presence of thermally induced changes/ damages. Both benign and premalignant or malignant lesions were treated with diode laser, with an output ranging from 2 to 7 Watt. RESULTS: Clinically we had several advantages (haemostasis, reduction of pain, healing without suture) and wound healing was always complete in 20-30 days. In the specimens evaluated histologically we noticed a good precision of surgical margins while changes induced by laser such as coagulation of proteins were present only with high power density output. Considering that nowadays the use of diode laser in the treatment of premalignant or malignant lesions is still debated, in this preliminary study no difficulty occurred with the observation of the specimens and no alterations were found. CONCLUSION: Thanks to the preliminary results obtained with this study, we encourage the use of diode laser also for malignant lesions, considering that an important factor to obtain specimens without alterations is the choice of the laser setting, strictly related to clinical experience, clinical situation, site and biological nature of the lesion.

The role of the expiratory phase in obstructive sleep apnoea.

The role of the expiratory phase in obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA) is not well known. The aim of our study was to verify the contribution of expiratory narrowing to apnoea in a group of OSA patients by evaluating the effects of short-term treatment with continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP), intermittent positive pressure ventilation (IPPV) and bi-level positive airway pressure (BIPAP). We studied a selected group of 10 OSA patients whose therapeutic pressure level of CPAP was at least 10 cm H2O. During CPAP therapy the mean apnoea/hypopnoea index (AHI) and oxyhaemoglobin desaturation index (ODI) decreased from 64.8 to 6.3 (P < 0.001) and from 58.5 to 6.1 (P < 0.001), respectively and mean nadir SAO2 increased from 62.0 to 91.6 (P < 0.001). None of the patients reached optimal setting (elimination of snoring, reduction of apnoeas and non-apnoeic desaturation events at least to 15 or less per hour of sleep and maintenance of oxygen saturation approximately 90%) during IPPV and two patients did not tolerate final IPAP pressure levels. When a critical level of EPAP (BIPAP) was applied in the same night to these patients, optimal setting was reached in all subjects. During BIPAP, mean AHI decreased from 64.8 to 7.4 (P < 0.001); ODI decreased from 58.5 to 7.6 (P < 0.001) and nadir SAO2 increased from 62.0 to 91.2 (P < 0.001). Our study confirms the essential role of a critical level of EPAP in successful ventilatory treatment in OSA, thereby indicating, in agreement with few previous studies, the critical role of end of expiratory occlusion in OSA pathogenesis.

Prescription of nCPAP and nBIPAP in obstructive sleep apnoea syndrome: Italian experience in 105 subjects. A prospective two centre study.

Nasal continuous positive airway pressure (nCPAP) is the current treatment of obstructive sleep apnoea syndrome (OSAS). The indications of bilevel pressure support ventilation (BIPAP PSV) in OSAS patients remain controversial. The purpose of this investigation was to verify the frequency of prescription of BIPAP PSV in a group of OSAS patients when CPAP was ineffective or not tolerated during titration. The study included 286 consecutive patients > or = 18 years of age referred to two Sleep laboratories for sleep related breathing disorders (SRBD) between December 1994 and November 1995. Of these, 130 patients were enrolled and 105 (88 males, 77 females) with moderate to severe OSAS completed the study and were finally analysed. After a full night diagnostic polysomnography (PSGD), patients had a second full night PSG under nCPAP (PSGT). If nCPAP was not tolerated, or failed to correct breathing abnormalities during sleep, a second PSGT was performed, using a BIPAP PSV. Our study shows that nCPAP (mean 8.5 +/- 2.0 cmH20) was considered a satisfactory therapy in 81 patients (77%). Twenty four (23%) required BIPAP PSV (mean IPAP 13.9 +/- 2.9 cmH20). We found the highest prevalence of BIPAP in patients with OSAS associated to obesity hypoventilation syndrome (OHS) (11 of 17) and in OSAS associated to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) (nine of 16). Patients treated with BIPAP PSV were more obese and had a higher PaCO2 and sleep-related desaturations and a lower FEV1, FVC, FEV1/FVC and PaO2. In conclusion our study shows that CPAP therapy in the effective therapeutic option in the majority of patients with OSAS. There is a subset of patients with OSAS associated to COPD or to OHS in whom BIPAP PSV may be a better treatment modality.

Autonomic dysfunction in normotensive awake subjects with obstructive sleep apnoea syndrome.

Obstructive sleep apnoea syndrome (OSAS) is associated with systemic arterial hypertension and cardiac arrhythmias and may lead to cardiovascular complications. Dysfunction of the autonomic nervous system (ANS) may play a role in the development of cardiovascular complications. The aim of this work was to study the ANS by spectral analysis of the heart rate variability (HRV) at rest and after stress (head-up tilt test) in a group of normotensive awake OSAS subjects. We studied 22 males with OSAS, aged 47.6 +/- 13.1 yrs, with a body mass index (BMI) 35.6 +/- 7.7 kg.m-2 and blood systolic and diastolic pressure (BSP and BDP, respectively) of 128 +/- 16 and 80 +/- 9 mmHg. Nineteen healthy males were studied as controls. Autonomic investigations were performed using the computerized power spectral analysis of HRV with autoregressive modelling which identifies low frequency (LF), as a marker of sympathetic activity and high frequency (HF), as a marker of vagal activity. OSAS patients showed greater sympathetic activity (LF) at rest than normal subjects, and an abnormal response to the head-up tilt test compared to control subjects. Five OSAS patients behaved like control subjects. Comparison of the functional parameters between these five OSAS patients and the other 17 OSAS patients showed a statistically significant difference for only basal arterial carbon dioxide tension (Pa,CO2) and minimal nocturnal oxyhaemoglobin (HbO2) saturation (NADIR). Our study shows autonomic nervous system dysfunction in patients with obstructive sleep apnoea syndrome, which may have facilitated a pathophysiological link with the cardiovascular complications observed in these patients.

Depressed baroreceptor reflex in patients with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA).

In this study we evaluated the cardiovascular autonomic function in twenty-five OSA patients and in twenty-five control healthy subjects, by computerized spectral analysis of R-R interval variation at rest and during orthostatism by head-up tilt maneuver to up-right position (80 degrees) as a sympathetic provocation. The results of our study show that most patients affected by OSA have a sympathetic overactivity and a decreased baroreflex response in comparison with normal subjects. The method here described is simple, objective and very sensitive and may be utilized to discover early signs of an autonomic dysfunction consequent to OSA leading to cardiovascular complications of the late stage of the disease.

Airborne Cupressaceae pollen in southern Italy.

The allergenic airborne pollen of Cupressaceae was surveyed in the area of Bari (Southern Italy) over an 8-year period (1982-1989). A Burkard 7-day recording volumetric spore trap was used for the aerobiologic investigation. The results showed a notable annual pollinic presence of airborne Cupressaceae pollen, the largest amount recorded in winter and early spring. Remarkable fluctuations of the Cupressaceae pollen counts in a 2-year cycle were also observed. The features of the main pollen season are described. In particular, its duration was found to be on average 45 days. A study of Cupressaceae trees distribution indicated that the most widespread genus was Cupressus, represented in particular by the species Cupressus arizonica Green and Cupressus Sempervirens L. The employment of these trees for reforestation and garden-use has increased considerably in the last 40 years. These findings can also be of interest in other countries where Cupressaceae allergy has been reported, particularly in the Mediterranean basin and in North America.

[Local recurrence after gastrectomy for cancer. Presentation of 2 clinical cases]. / La recidiva locale dopo gastrectomia per cancro. Presentazione di due casi clinici.

The Authors report two cases with local recurrence after partial gastrectomy for advanced gastric carcinoma. The Authors suggest that chemo and/or radiotherapy associated with surgical treatment can improve the prognosis in some patients with recurrence. Response to chemotherapy and time elapsing before recurrence appears may select this group of patients.