Alida Abruzzo

Enteral Nutrition Support to Treat Malnutrition in Inflammatory Bowel Disease

Malnutrition is a common consequence of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Diet has an important role in the management of IBD, as it prevents and corrects malnutrition. It is well known that diet may be implicated in the aetiology of IBD and that it plays a central role in the pathogenesis of gastrointestinal-tract disease. Often oral nutrition alone is not sufficient in the management of IBD patients, especially in children or the elderly, and must be combined with oral supplementation or replaced with tube enteral nutrition. In this review, we describe several different approaches to enteral nutrition-total parenteral, oral supplementation and enteral tube feeding-in terms of results, patients compliance, risks and and benefits. We also focus on the home enteral nutrition strategy as the future goal for treating IBD while focusing on patient wellness.

Using Polymeric Scaffolds for Vascular Tissue Engineering

With the high occurrence of cardiovascular disease and increasing numbers of patients requiring vascular access, there is a significant need for small-diameter (<6 mm inner diameter) vascular graft that can provide long-term patency. Despite the technological improvements, restenosis and graft thrombosis continue to hamper the success of the implants. Vascular tissue engineering is a new field that has undergone enormous growth over the last decade and has proposed valid solutions for blood vessels repair. The goal of vascular tissue engineering is to produce neovessels and neoorgan tissue from autologous cells using a biodegradable polymer as a scaffold. The most important advantage of tissue-engineered implants is that these tissues can grow, remodel, rebuild, and respond to injury. This review describes the development of polymeric materials over the years and current tissue engineering strategies for the improvement of vascular conduits.

THE ROLE OF BUTYRIC ACID AS A OPROTECTIVE AGENT AGAINST INFLAMMATORY BOWEL DISEASE

SUMMARY Inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD), such as Crohns disease and ulcerative colitis, are pa- thologies characterized by a chronic inflammation of the gastrointestinal tract. Their etiopathogenesis is not yet fully understood. Immune system and heat shock proteins (Hsps) dysfunctions are considered to be among the most likely causes of these diseases. Butyrate is a short-chain fatty acid mainly produced by intestinal microflora. It has a tro- phic, beneficial and protective role in the colonic mucosa, and it also induces changes in Hsp levels and localization. It may therefore be a valuable complementary therapeutic agent when used alongside traditional drugs (mesalazine and corticosteroids) to treat such conditions. The administration of specific probiotic formulations in order to increase the production of butyrate in the endoluminal environment may promote clinical remis- sion in IBD patients. Due to these characteristics, there has been keen interest in the use of butyrate as a novel therapeutic supplement in the recent years. The current findings need to be validated through further clinical trials to better define the biomolecular dy- namics of butyrate in the colonocytes of IBD patients.

Reoperation for persistent or recurrent secondary hyperparathyroidism

BACKGROUND Secondary hyperparathyroidism is a common acquired disorder seen in chronic renal failure. Its pathophysiology is mainly due to hyperphosphatemia and vitamin D deficiency and resistance. When medical treatment fails, subtotal and total parathyroidectomy with autotransplantation are the standard procedures, although both are associated with high recurrence rates. METHODS AND RESULTS 4 patients experienced persistence and 9 relapse. The first 4 were subjected to reoperation after 6 months for the persistence of symptoms due to the finding of a supernumerary adenomatous gland while the remaining patients at the reoperation showed in 5 cases 2 more glands in over thymic position, and 4 an hyperplasia of the residual glandular tissue. A classic cervicotomy was sufficient to remove the residual parathyroid in patients with persistent hyperparathyroidism. For cases of recurrent hyperparathyroidism it was enough a medial approach and sometimes lateral for the complete excision of the hyperplastic tissue. The advent of the intraoperative technique of parathyroid hormone dosage allowed a better performance of the surgical technique for the last 3 patients undergoing reoperation. After reoperation all patients had immediate regression of clinical symptoms with normalization of serum calcium and PTH levels. CONCLUSIONS On the basis of these considerations, diagnostic imaging has a not negligible role because during the first intervention helps to have an idea of the possible location of the glands and thus to avoid the risk of recurrence and relapse due to ectopic or supernumerary tissue.

Obtaining Mesenchymal Stem Cells From Adipose Tissue Of Murin Origin: Experimental Study

1 Phd School in Surgical Biotechnology and Regenerative Medicine. School of Medicine – School of Biotechnology, University of Palermo, Italy. 2 DICHIRONS Department, School of Medicine. University of Palermo. Italy. 3 Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale della Sicilia A.Mirri, Palermo, Italy. 4 AUOP “P. Giaccone”, Universitary Hospital, Palermo, Italy. 5 School of Biotechnology, University of Palermo, Italy. 6 Euromediterranean Institute of Science and Technology (IEMEST), Palermo, Italy.