Friday, July 25, 2014

dear vacation bill

go talk to Ristori and you will learn that healthcare in Italy is even more useful than the great food
healthy people have a good appetite?

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Neurology. 2014 Jan 7;82(1):41-8. doi: 10.1212/01.wnl.0000438216.93319.ab. Epub 2013 Dec 4.

Effects of Bacille Calmette-Guerin after the first demyelinating event in the CNS.

Ristori G1, Romano S, Cannoni S, Visconti A, Tinelli E, Mendozzi L, Cecconi P, Lanzillo R, Quarantelli M, Buttinelli C, Gasperini C, Frontoni M, Coarelli G, Caputo D, Bresciamorra V, Vanacore N, Pozzilli C, Salvetti M.

Author information

Abstract

OBJECTIVE:

To evaluate Bacille Calmette-Guérin (BCG) effects after clinically isolated syndromes (CIS).

METHODS:

In a double-blind, placebo-controlled trial, participants were randomly assigned to receive BCG or placebo and monitored monthly with brain MRI (6 scans). Both groups then entered a preplanned phase with IM interferon-β-1a for 12 months. From month 18 onward, the patients took the disease-modifying therapies (DMTs) that their neurologist considered indicated in an open-label extension phase lasting up to 60 months.

RESULTS:

Of 82 randomized subjects, 73 completed the study (33 vaccinated and 40 placebo). During the initial 6 months, the number of cumulative lesions was significantly lower in vaccinated people. The relative risks were 0.541 (95% confidence interval [CI] 0.308-0.956; p = 0.03) for gadolinium-enhancing lesions (the primary endpoint), 0.364 (95% CI 0.207-0.639; p = 0.001) for new and enlarging T2-hyperintense lesions, and 0.149 (95% CI 0.046-0.416; p = 0.001) for new T1-hypointense lesions. The number of total T1-hypointense lesions was lower in the BCG group at months 6, 12, and 18: mean changes from baseline were -0.09 ± 0.72 vs 0.75 ± 1.81 (p = 0.01), 0.0 ± 0.83 vs 0.88 ± 2.21 (p = 0.08), and -0.21 ± 1.03 vs 1.00 ± 2.49 (p = 0.02). After 60 months, the cumulative probability of clinically definite multiple sclerosis was lower in the BCG + DMT arm (hazard ratio = 0.52, 95% CI 0.27-0.99; p < 0.05), and more vaccinated people remained DMT-free (odds ratio = 0.20, 95% CI 0.04-0.93; p = 0.04).

CONCLUSIONS:

Early BCG may benefit CIS and affect its long-term course.

CLASSIFICATION OF EVIDENCE:

BCG, as compared to placebo, was associated with significantly reduced development of gadolinium-enhancing lesions in people with CIS for a 6-month period before starting immunomodulating therapy (Class I evidence).

Comment in

PMID:
24306002
[PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

PMCID:
PMC3873620
[Available on 2015/1/7]



NY Politics

In Italy, de Blasio Digs In With Gusto

Mayor and His Family Indulge in Nation's Famous Food


By
connect
Updated July 24, 2014 10:47 p.m. ET
New York Mayor Bill de Blasio and his family chow down in Naples. European Pressphoto Agency
GRASSANO, Italy—Mangia, mangia, Mr. Mayor.
Bill de Blasio and his family have been eating their way through Italy—and that's just fine with them.
"We liked pretty much everything," said Mr. de Blasio, discussing the family's meals during his eight-day summer vacation here. "This has been an amazing trip for food."
The mayor and his family have enjoyed several typical Italian meals during their eight-day summer vacation. With pizzas, mozzarella, lemon risotto and special desserts, it's possible the mayor may return home a tad heavier.

De Blasio Family Says 'Ciao' to Italy

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The mayor of Rome Ignazio Marino, left, poses with New York city mayor Bill de Blasio, his wife Chirlane McCray and their children Dante and Chiara at the entrance of Rome's city hall on Sunday. Agence France-Presse/Getty Images
On Wednesday night, the mayor and his family dined with the mayor of Naples at La Bersagliera, a famous restaurant which, Mr. de Blasio learned, his grandfather used to frequent. The mayor said he indulged in a "large variety of fried things" and described the meal as "absolutely wonderful."
The menu included fried pizzette, fried vegetables and zucchini flowers. The main dish was baked sea bass filet, which the mayor described as "very fresh."
While on the island of Capri, the mayor said a meal at Da Gelsomina, located on a cliff, was exquisite. "They have their own vineyards and their own gardens. So, they grow everything there," he said. "I'm a huge roast peppers fan. That was amazing. Just really, really unusual, exceptional food."
In Sant'Agata de' Goti, local mayor Carmine Valentino treated the mayor and his family with a special lunch, which lasted around three hours in the typical Italian habit of long meals, cooked by a local young chef.
Federico Petti —who has a restaurant in northern Italy but was asked by Mr. Valentino to go back to Sant'Agata for the occasion and cook lunch for the de Blasio family—said he wanted to re-create dishes that could remind the mayor of his ancestors.

Earlier

The main course was a raviolo filled with ragu and pork meat—a special cut called tracchiulella in Italian—on a cream of mozzarella and basil. The dish also represented the Italian flag, featuring its red, white and green colors. The mayor then had a pork filet with a red wine reduction and steam cooked vegetables.
"I made a lot of research and came up with dishes that were similar to what his mum used to make for him," Mr. Petti said.
Mr. de Blasio congratulated the chef for the meal, saying in Italian it was "eccellente," or excellent and "delizioso," or delicious.
The chef also baked a special quality of apple, typical of the Sant'Agata de' Goti area and called annurca, for a starter with a caprino cheese foam on tomato bread. That meal was washed down with local wines, such as Falanghina and Piedirosso.
In Grassano, from where Mr. de Blasio's grandmother left for the U.S., the city organized on Thursday a little buffet with all the typical products of the region. Among the dishes served were fresh mozzarella made on site for the occasion and several other types of cheese, as well as the typical eggplant parmesan, which Mayor Francesco Sanseverino hoped could remind the mayor of the eggplant parmesan that Mr. de Blasio's mother used to make.
The mayor and his wife have been particularly interested in seafood, especially when they were on Capri. But their 16-year-old son, Dante, was craving pizza, and mom and dad obliged when the family reached Naples on Wednesday.
The family enjoyed pizza at Sorbillo, a well-known place on the water.
"You could pick [the pizza] up with your hands, but I don't believe that's the right way to do it," Mr. de Blasio said. "So, I used a knife and fork."
The mayor said his daughter, Chiara, held up her knife and fork to the Paparazzi to show them that the family is devoted to eating pizza with utensils, despite the teasing from New Yorkers who insist pizza must be eaten with hands.
"I stand by the knife and fork," Mr. de Blasio said. "I'm not changing."
Write to Michael Howard Saul at michael.saul@wsj.com and Manuela Mesco at manuela.mesco@wsj.com
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