The diabetes-tuberculosis co-epidemic: the role of international migration.

SETTING: A tuberculosis (TB) referral centre in Rome, Italy. OBJECTIVE: To identify demographic and epidemiological characteristics associated with diabetes mellitus (DM) among patients with TB and to compare the clinical presentation of TB and TB-DM in the light of the growing worldwide burden of DM. DESIGN: We performed a retrospective study of TB cases diagnosed from 2007 to 2012. RESULTS: Among 971 TB patients, 723 were foreign-born and 63 (6.5%) had DM. DM prevalence was 12.7% (8/63) among those born in countries with DM prevalence ⩾8%, 4.7% (31/660) among patients from countries with DM prevalence <8% and 9.7% among Italian patients (24/248). In multivariable analysis, DM was independently associated with older age, and with being born in countries other than Italy, compared to Italians; this latter association was stronger in older patients. DM patients were also significantly more likely to be male and less likely to test positive for the human immunodeficiency virus. The presence of cavities was significantly associated with DM. CONCLUSIONS: As individuals born in high TB incidence and high DM prevalence countries emerge as a vulnerable population, greater attention to bidirectional low-cost screening in people from these countries is needed.

[Effects of eledoisin on water intake induced by subcutaneous injection of hypertonic NaCl in the rat]. / Effetto della eledoisina sulla assunzione di acqua indotta da iniezione sottocutanea di NaCl ipertonico nel ratto.

Intracerebroventricular administration of eledoisin, the tachykinin peptide of the salivary glands of Eledone Moschata, exerts a potent and long-lasting inhibition of water intake induced by the subcutaneous administration of hypertonic NaCl in the rat. The inhibitory effect is statistically significant up to 6 hr following eledoisin treatment, while the 24 hr water intake in control and treated rats is essentially identical. The results of the present study demonstrate that the long-lasting effect is not due to increased renal excretion of the osmotic load, nor, likely, to larger production of metabolic water. Probably, eledoisin exerts an inhibitory effect of such a long duration by means of central actions which last well beyond its half-life, or, alternatively, by promoting an increased excretion of the osmotic load through elimination routes different from the kidney.

[Physalaemin-like N-terminal fragments of mammalian tissues, PHLIP-7 and PHLIP-8 do not modify drinking behavior and sodium appetite in rats]. / I frammenti N-terminali fisalemino-simili di tessuti di mammifero, PHLIP-7 e PHLIP-8, non modificano "drinking behaviour" e appetito per il sodio nel ratto.

PHLIP-7 and PHLIP-8, two peptides reproducing at least in part the N-terminal aminoacid sequence of physalaemin, have been identified in mammalian tissues. These peptides produce alterations of fighting behaviour in the mouse, but are devoid of any behavioural activity in the rat. This suggests that PHLIP-7 and PHLIP-8 have no affinity for brain receptors involved in the behavioural effects evoked by tachykinins in the rat, and that the brain of this animal is lacking in receptors for the N-terminal sequence of tachykinins.