Risk factors in gastric cancer

STATE OF THE ART: Gastric cancer (GC) is still a major health problem worldwide due to its frequency, poor prognosis and limited treatment options. At present prevention is likely to be the most effective means of reducing the incidence and mortality from this disease. The most important etiological factors implicated in gastric carcinogenesis are diet and Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) infection. High intake of salted, pickled or smoked foods, as well as dried fish and meat and refined carbohydrates significantly increased the risk of developing GC while fibers, fresh vegetables and fruit were found to be inversely associated with GC risk. Epidemiological investigations (retrospective, case-control and prospective) and several meta-analyses have demonstrated that concurrent or previous H. pylori infection is associated with an increased risk of GC in respect to uninfected people. H. pylori colonizes gastric mucosa where it induces a complex inflammatory and immune reaction that on time leads to a severe mucosal damage i.e., atrophy, intestinal metaplasia (IM) and dysplasia. The risk of GC is closely related to the grade and extension of gastric atrophy, IM and dysplasia. PERSPECTIVES AND CONCLUSIONS: Today a plausible program for GC prevention means: (1) a correct dietary habit since childhood increasing vegetables and fruit intake, (2) a decrease of H. pylori spread improving family and community sanitation and hygiene, (3) a search and treat H. pylori strategy in offspring of GC, (4) a search and treat H. pylori strategy in patients with chronic atrophic gastritis and intestinal metaplasia (IM), (5) a careful endoscopic and histologic follow-up if precancerous lesions persist irrespective of H. pylori eradication

The human gastric microbiota: Is it time to rethink the pathogenesis of stomach diseases?

NTRODUCTION: Although long thought to be a sterile organ, due to its acid production, the human stomach holds a core microbiome. AIM: To provide an update of findings related to gastric microbiota and its link with gastric diseases. METHODS: We conducted a systematic review of the literature. RESULTS: The development of culture-independent methods facilitated the identification of many bacteria. Five major phyla have been detected in the stomach: Firmicutes, Bacteroidites, Actinobacteria, Fusobacteria and Proteobacteria. At the genera level, the healthy human stomach is dominated by Prevotella, Streptococcus, Veillonella, Rothia and Haemophilus; however, the composition of the gastric microbiota is dynamic and affected by such factors as diet, drugs and diseases. The interaction between the pre-existing gastric microbiota and Helicobacter pylori infection might influence an individual's risk of gastric disease, including gastric cancer. CONCLUSIONS: The maintenance of bacterial homeostasis could be essential for the stomach's health and highlights the chance for therapeutic interventions targeting the gastric microbiota, even if gastric pH, peristalsis and the mucus layer may prevent bacteria colonization; and the definition of gastric microbiota of the healthy stomach is still an ongoing challenging task

Laparoscopic Approach in the Treatment of Inguinal Hernia and Associated Pathologies in Children

The data from our follow-up confirm that the results of the laparoscopic IRIS technique, presents an acceptable low percentage of recurrences that is comparable to those of the open technique, with the advantage of reduced post operative pain, rapid return to everyday activities, and optimal cosmetic results. Although the results of our experience seems promising we think that the follow-up is too short and the number of the patients too small for drawing definitive conclusion

Croce y la teoría viquiana de la risa. Del "yo grave" al "yo melancólico"

En el mismo periodo en el que concluía la monumental monografía sobre Giambattista Vico (1911), Benedetto Croce afronta en un breve ensayo un tema viquiano, hasta entonces casi desconocido, la doctrina sobre la risa. Abordamos este tema de la teoría viquiana sobre la risa, en cuyo texto Vico realiza una serie de reflexiones que constituyen el fondo y el objeto del ensayo crociano.At the same time that he concluded his prominent monograph about Giambattista Vico (1911), Benedetto Croce confronted in a brief essay a Viquian topic, almost unknown until then, which is the doctrine of laugh. We address here this Viquian theory of laugh, a text in which Vico produces a series of reflections that are both the background and focus of the Crocian essay

record linkage of banks and municipalities through multiple criteria and neural networks

Record linkage aims to identify records from multiple data sources that refer to the same entity of the real world. It is a well known data quality process studied since the second half of the last century, with an established pipeline and a rich literature of case studies mainly covering census, administrative or health domains. In this paper, a method to recognize matching records from real municipalities and banks through multiple similarity criteria and a Neural Network classifier is proposed: starting from a labeled subset of the available data, first several similarity measures are combined and weighted to build a feature vector, then a Multi-Layer Perceptron (MLP) network is trained and tested to find matching pairs. For validation, seven real datasets have been used (three from banks and four from municipalities), purposely chosen in the same geographical area to increase the probability of matches. The training only involved two municipalities, while testing involved all sources (municipalities vs. municipalities, banks vs banks and and municipalities vs. banks). The proposed method scored remarkable results in terms of both precision and recall, clearly outperforming threshold-based competitors

Non-Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drugs in the Carcinogenesisof the Gastrointestinal Tract

It is estimated that underlying infections and inflammatory responses are linked to 15–20% of all deaths from cancer worldwide. Inflammation is a physiologic process in response to tissue damage resulting from microbial pathogen infection, chemical irritation, and/or wounding. Tissues injured throughout the recruitment of inflammatory cells such as macrophages and neutrophils, generate a great amount of growth factors, cytokines, and reactive oxygen and nitrogen species that may cause DNA damage that in turn predisposes to the transformation from chronic inflammation to neoplasia. Cyclooxygenase (COX), playing a key role in cell homeostasis, angiogenesis and tumourigenesis, may represent the link between inflammation and cancer. Currently COX is becoming a pharmacological target for cancer prevention and treatment

Effects of atmospheric conditions on surface diffuse degassing

International audienceDiffuse degassing through the soil is commonly observed in volcanic areas and monitoring of carbon dioxide flux at the surface can provide a safe and effective way to infer the state of activity of the volcanic system. Continuous measurement stations are often installed on active volcanoes such as Furnas (Azores archipelago), which features low temperature fumaroles, hot and cold CO2 rich springs, and several diffuse degassing areas. As in other volcanoes, fluxes measured at Furnas are often correlated with environmental variables, such as air temperature or barometric pressure, with daily and seasonal cycles that become more evident when gas emission is low. In this work, we study how changes in air temperature and barometric pressure may affect the gas emission through the soil. The TOUGH2 geothermal simulator was used to simulate the gas propagation through the soil as a function of fluctuating atmospheric conditions. Then, a dual parameters study was performed to assess how the rock permeability and the gas source properties affect the resulting fluxes. Numerical results are in good agreement with the observed data at Furnas, and show that atmospheric variables may cause the observed daily cycles in CO2 fluxes. The observed changes depend on soil permeability and on the pressure driving the upward flux

Optimización en tiempo real con disyunciones lógicas: aplicación a sistemas de calor y potencia

La Optimización en Tiempo Real (RTO) permite operar en cercanías del óptimo económico de una planta, respetando restricciones y respondiendo a cambios en el proceso. La adaptación con términos modificadores de las restricciones y los gradientes corrige eficientemente los errores estructurales de los modelos de RTO. Este trabajo propone el uso de RTO incluyendo disyunciones lógicas en el problema de optimización, y plantea una estrategia de adaptación con modificadores para este problema. La estrategia se muestra a través de un caso de estudio que consiste en un sistema de generación de vapor y potencia. Los resultados obtenidos muestran la validez de la estrategia sugerida y la utilidad de incluir variables discretas o disyunciones en los sistemas de RTO.Fil: Serralunga, Fernán José. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Santa Fe. Instituto de Desarrollo y Diseño (i); ArgentinaFil: Mussati, Miguel Ceferino. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Santa Fe. Instituto de Desarrollo y Diseño (i); ArgentinaFil: Aguirre, Pio Antonio. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Santa Fe. Instituto de Desarrollo y Diseño (i); Argentin

A rigorous, mixed-integer, nonlineal programming model (MINLP) for synthesis and optimal operation of cogeneration seawater desalination plants

This paper presents a rigorous mixed-integer nonlinear programming (MINLP) model for optimal synthesis and design of dual-purpose seawater desalination plants. The proposed superstructure considers more alternative configurations than the model recently proposed by Mussati et al. [1] and all process equipment is modelled in a rigorous way. The MINLP model introduces binary variables in order to select equipment for the cogeneration plant. The detailed model for the MSF desalter developed by Mussati et al. [2] was considered. The MSF mathematical model involves the real-physical constraints for the evaporation process. Nonlinear equations are used to model all plant equipment rigorously in terms of chemico-physical properties (enthalpies, entropies, vapor pressure) and design equations (efficiencies, NEA, BPE, heat transfer coefficients, momentum balances, among others). The proposed model is not only useful for synthesis, but also for analyzing different design alternatives. The model has been implemented in a general algebraic modelling system [4]. Several study cases were successfully solved by applying the MINLP model. A case study is presented in order to illustrate the model's capabilities.Fil: Mussati, Sergio Fabian. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Santa Fe. Instituto de Desarrollo y Diseño. Universidad Tecnológica Nacional. Facultad Regional Santa Fe. Instituto de Desarrollo y Diseño; ArgentinaFil: Aguirre, Pio Antonio. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Santa Fe. Instituto de Desarrollo y Diseño. Universidad Tecnológica Nacional. Facultad Regional Santa Fe. Instituto de Desarrollo y Diseño; ArgentinaFil: Scenna, Nicolas Jose. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Santa Fe. Instituto de Desarrollo y Diseño. Universidad Tecnológica Nacional. Facultad Regional Santa Fe. Instituto de Desarrollo y Diseño; Argentin