Background: To limit the spread of coronavirus disease 2019 , governments have ordered a series of restrictions that may affect glycemic control in individuals with type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM), since physical activity (PA) was not allowed outside home. Methods: We retrospectively evaluated glycemic control of individuals with T1DM using hybrid closed loop (HCL) system in the period before the SARS-CoV-2 outbreak in Italy (February 10-23, 2020-Time 1), when movements were only reduced (February 24-March 8, 2020-Time 2) and during complete lockdown (March 9-22, 2020-Time 3). Information about regular PA (at least 3 h per week) prior and during the quarantine was collected. Results: The study included 13 individuals with a median age of 14.2 years and a good glycemic control at baseline (glucose management indicator of 7%, time in range [TIR] of 68%, time below range [TBR] of 2%). All individuals continued to show good glycemic control throughout the study period. There was an increase in TIR during the study period (+3%) and TIR was significantly higher during Time 3 (72%) than during Time 2 (66%). TBR was significantly lower during Time 3 (1%) both compared with Time 1 and Time 2 (2%). A meaningful variance in TIR at Time 3 between individuals who performed or not PA during quarantine and a significant increase in TIR between Time 2 and Time 3 in individuals both doing PA at baseline and during quarantine was found. At logistic regression, only the presence of PA during quarantine significantly predicted a TIR >70%. Conclusions: Glycemic control of T1DM in adolescents using HCL system did not worsen during the restrictions due to COVID-19 pandemics and further improved in those who continued PA during the quarantine. Maintaining regular PA in a safe home environment is an essential strategy for young individuals with T1DM during the COVID-19 crisis.

No abstract

We screened anti-human-tissue-transglutaminase (IgA and IgG anti-h-tTG) and anti-endomysial antibodies (AEAs) in 238 consecutive adult patients with inherited or sporadic dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM), 418 relatives, and 2000 healthy blood donors. HLADQ2-DQ8 was tested in tTG-positive subjects. The IgA-tTG-positive patients with cardiomyopathy underwent duodenal biopsy. Twenty-six subjects were tTG-positive: five DCM patients (2.1%), two of 28 (7.1%) and three of 390 (0.7%) relatives with and without echocardiographic abnormalities respectively, and 16 controls (0.8%). Twenty-two of 26 subjects were AEA-positive, and 25 HLA-positive. Of the five patients with cardiomyopathy and biopsy-proven CD, four suffered iron-deficiency anaemia. Two CD-positive DCM patients and two tTG-positive relatives were from families with inherited disease in which CD did not co-segregate with DCM. CONCLUSIONS; The higher prevalence of CD in patients with sporadic or inherited DCM, and of tTG-positive serology in relatives with echocardiographic abnormalities, suggests that immune-mediated mechanisms are active in subsets of patients/families. However, gluten intolerance cannot be considered causative since CD seems to be associated but not co-segregated with DCM in familial cases.

Background: Changes and relationships of components of the cytokine and IGF systems have been shown in placenta and cord serum of fetal growth restricted (FGR) compared with normal newborns (AGA). This study aimed to analyse a data set of clinical and biochemical data in FGR and AGA newborns to assess if a mathematical model existed and was capable of identifying these two different conditions in order to identify the variables which had a mathematically consistent biological relevance to fetal growth.