In December 2019, an initial cluster of interstitial bilateral pneumonia emerged in Wuhan, China. A human-to-human transmission was assumed and a previously unrecognized entity, termed coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19) due to a novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) was described. The infection has rapidly spread out all over the world and Italy has been the first European country experiencing the endemic wave with unexpected clinical severity in comparison with Asian countries. It has been shown that SARS-CoV-2 utilizes angiotensin converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) as host receptor and host proteases for cell surface binding and internalization. Thus, a predisposing genetic background can give reason for interindividual disease susceptibility and/or severity. Taking advantage of the Network of Italian Genomes (NIG), here we mined whole-exome sequencing data of 6930 Italian control individuals from five different centers looking for ACE2 variants. A number of variants with a potential impact on protein stability were identified. Among these, three more common missense changes, p.(Asn720Asp), p.(Lys26Arg), and p.(Gly211Arg) were predicted to interfere with protein structure and stabilization. Rare variants likely interfering with the internalization process, namely p.(Leu351Val) and p.(Pro389His), predicted to interfere with SARS-CoV-2 spike protein binding, were also observed. Comparison of ACE2 WES data between a cohort of 131 patients and 258 controls allowed identifying a statistically significant (P value < 0.029) higher allelic variability in controls compared with patients. These findings suggest that a predisposing genetic background may contribute to the observed interindividual clinical variability associated with COVID-19, allowing an evidence-based risk assessment leading to personalized preventive measures and therapeutic options.

Conclusion. In mild cases of CTS, US did not detect more anomalies than NCV and vice versa, and no anomalies were detected with either diagnostic instrument in 23.5% of mild cases.

The aim of the present study was to demonstrate the mitogenic and differentiating properties of platelet-rich plasma releasates (PRPr) on human chondrocytes in mono- and three-dimensional cultures. In order to assess if PRPr supplementation could maintain the chondrocyte phenotype or at least inhibit the cell de-differentiation even after several days in culture, we performed a proteomic study on several cell cultures independently grown, for different periods of time, in culture medium with FCS, human serum (HS), and releasates obtained from PRP and platelet-poor plasma (PPP). We found that PRP treatment actually induced in chondrocytes the expression of proteins (some of which novel) involved in differentiation.

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The calcaneal lesions that could be found in EOA are similar to those observed in NOA. The frequency of calcaneal enthesophytosis is similar in EOA, NOA, and PsA, but inflammatory lesions of calcaneal entheses and of the adjacent bursae are more frequent in RA and in PsA. In terms of heel involvement, EOA seems to be similar to NOA. US shows an excellent concordance with radiography in detecting entheseal cortical bone abnormalities.