Walk on the wild side: Temporarily unstable paths and multiplicative sunspots

We propose a generalization of the rational expectations framework to allow for temporarily unstable paths. Our approach introduces multiplicative sunspot shocks and it yields drifting parameters and stochastic volatility. Then, we provide an econometric strategy to estimate this generalized model on the data. The methodology allows the data to choose between different possible alternatives: determinacy, indeterminacy, and temporary instability. We apply our methodology to US in?ation dynamics in the 1970s through the lens of a simple New Keynesian model. When temporarily unstable paths are allowed, the data unambiguously select them to explain the stag?ation period in the 1970s

A case of giant sebaceous carcinoma localized in the breast area of a male patient

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Vinblastine, bleomycin, and methotrexate chemotherapy plus irradiation for patients with early-stage, favorable Hodgkin lymphoma - The experience of the gruppo italiano studio linfomi

BACKGROUND. The acknowledged effectiveness of vinblastine, bleomycin, and methotrexate (VBM) chemotherapy in patients with early-stage Hodgkin lymphoma has been associated with conflicting toxicity reports. METHODS. One hundred forty-three patients were evaluated clinically and had favorable Stage IA or IIA Hodgkin lymphoma. Ninety-three patients were treated with the standard VBM schedule combined with extended-field radiotherapy (EFRT), leaving the choice of the therapeutic sequence free. Fifty subsequent patients were treated with a slightly modified VBM schedule (VbMp) combined with RT limited to involved fields (IF-RT) and delivered only after the end of chemotherapy. In the VbMp schedule, intervals between cycles were 21 days instead of 28 days, bleomycin doses were reduced, small doses of prednisone were given orally, and the interval before RT was prolonged. RESULTS. Clinical response was complete in 96% of patients who were treated with VBM plus EF-RT and in 94% of patients who were treated with VbMp plus IF-RT. Recurrence rates were nearly identical (12% and 11%, respectively) over necessarily different follow-up (91 months and 33 months, respectively). Hematologic toxicity was tolerable in both trials, and pulmonary side effects were moderate in the first trial and negligible in the second. On the whole, treatment was tolerated better when RT followed chemotherapy. CONCLUSIONS. The VBM regimen was confirmed to be effective in patients with early-stage Hodgkin lymphoma. Administration of all cycles before RT improved tolerance; pulmonary toxicity probably is mitigated further by reduced bleomycin doses, mild prednisone therapy, and a more prolonged resting interval before RT. A slightly higher recurrence rate was expectable in the VBM plus IF-RT trial despite the actual intensification of vinblastine and methotrexate

Restricted intake and lipid inclusion in Santa Inês ewe lambs diet: age, weight and progesterone concentration at first ovulation.

Abstract: The age at first ovulation is influenced by several factors, and nutrition has an essential role on it. Lipids provide essential fatty acids that are positively associated to reproductive aspects. The aims of this study were to evaluate the effects of lipid inclusion and restricted intake on age and weight at the first ovulation and the serum progesterone (P4) concentration at the sixth day after first ovulation. Thirty-five Santa Inês ewe lambs with initial body weight (BW) of 21.5 ± 0.3 kg and age of 91.6 ± 1.4 days were used. Animals were blocked according to initial BW and distributed to one of four treatments: animals receiving diet without lipid inclusion (3.5% ether extract ? EE), ad libitum intake (WLI-ALI, control group, n = 9); diet without lipid inclusion and restricted intake (WLI-RI, n = 9); lipid inclusion diet, represented by toasted and broken soybean (9.8% EE), ad libitum intake (LIP-ALI, n = 8); and lipid inclusion diet and restricted intake (LIP-RI, n = 9). Ewe lambs subjected to restricted intake had 84% of the diet offered to those in ad libitum treatments. The individual daily dry matter intake (DMI) and EE intake (EEI) were measured and the animals were weekly weighted until 35 kg BW. For P4 analysis, blood samples were collected once a week after the animals reached 25 kg BW and twice a week after 30 kg until 35 kg BW. Ovulation was estimated to occur on the sixth day before P4 ?1 ng/mL. DMI, EEI, average daily weight gain until first ovulation (DWG), weight and age at first ovulation, serum P4 concentration and days in experiment until first ovulation were analyzed by GLM PROC of the SAS software (version 9.3). Ovulation occurred in 60% (21/35) of the ewe lambs (5; 5; 6; 5 from WLI-ALI; WLI-RI; LIP-ALI; and LIP-RI, respectively). DMI of ewe lambs from WLI-ALI group was greater (P 0.05) among WLI-ALI, WLI-RI, LIP-ALI, and LIP-RI treatments, respectively. The first ovulation in Santa Inês ewe lambs occurs at 30 kg BW. The restricted intake imposed in this study did not delay the age at fist ovulation. The greater lipid intake did not favor reproductive parameters. Serum P4 did not increase with the soybean inclusion in the diet. [Restrição alimentar e suplementação lipídica: idade, peso e concentração de progesterona até a primeira ovulação]. Resumo: A idade da primeira ovulação é influenciada por vários fatores e a nutrição tem um papel essencial. Lipídios fornecem ácidos graxos essenciais que estão associados de forma positiva aos aspectos reprodutivos. Os objetivos deste estudo foram avaliar os efeitos da inclusão lipídica e da restrição do consumo na idade e peso a primeira ovulação e na concentração sérica de progesterona (P4) no sexto dia após a primeira ovulação. Foram utilizadas trinta e cinco cordeiras Santa Inês com peso corporal (PC) inicial de 21,5±0,3 kg e idade de 91,6±1,4 dias. Os animais foram blocados de acordo com o PC inicial e distribuído a um dos quatro tratamentos: animais que receberam dieta sem inclusão de lipídeos (3,5% de extrato etéreo - EE), consumo ad libitum (SEM-ALI, grupo controle, n=9); dieta sem inclusão de lipídeos e restrição do consumo (SEMRE, n=9); dieta com inclusão lipídica, representada pela soja tostada e quebrada (9,8% EE), consumo ad libitum (LIP-ALI, n=8); e dieta com inclusão lipídica e restrição do consumo (LIP-RE, n=9). Cordeiras submetidas a restrição do consumo tiveram 84% da dieta oferecida em comparação aos tratamentos ad libitum. O consumo individual diário de matéria seca (CMS) e de EE (CEE) foram mensurados e os animais foram pesados semanalmente até 35 kg de PC. Para a análise de P4, amostras de sangue foram coletadas uma vez por semana depois que os animais atingiram 25 kg de PC e duas vezes por semana após 30 kg até 35 kg de PC. Estimou-se que a ovulação ocorreu no sexto dia que antecedeu P4?1 ng/mL. CMS, CEE, ganho de peso médio diário até a primeira ovulação (GPD), peso e idade da primeira ovulação, a concentração sérica de P4 e dias em experimento até a primeira ovulação foram analisados pelo PROC GLM do software SAS (versão 9.3). A ovulação ocorreu em 60% (21/35) das cordeiras (5; 5; 6; 5 do SEM-ALI; SEM-RE; LIP-ALI e LIP-RE, respectivamente). CMS de cordeiras do grupo SEM-ALI foi maior (P0,05) entre os tratamentos SEM-ALI, SEM-RE, LIP-ALI e LIP-RE, respectivamente. A primeira ovulação em borregas Santa Inês ocorreu com 30 kg de PC. A restrição do consumo imposta neste estudo não retardou a idade a primeira ovulação. A maior ingestão de lipídios não favoreceu os parâmetros reprodutivos. A P4 sérica não aumentou com a inclusão de soja na dieta.Proceedings of the 30th Annual Meeting of the Brazilian Embryo Technology Society (SBTE); Foz do Iguaçu, PR, Brazil, August 25th to 27th, 2016, and 32nd Meeting of the European Embryo Transfer Association (AETE); Barcelona, Spain, September 9th and 10th, 2016

Trend of incidence, subsite distribution and staging of colorectal neoplasms in the 15-year experience of a specialised cancer registry

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Isolated and Syndromic Retinal Dystrophy Caused by Biallelic Mutations in RCBTB1, a Gene Implicated in Ubiquitination.

Inherited retinal dystrophies (iRDs) are a group of genetically and clinically heterogeneous conditions resulting from mutations in over 250 genes. Here, homozygosity mapping and whole-exome sequencing (WES) in a consanguineous family revealed a homozygous missense mutation, c.973C>T (p.His325Tyr), in RCBTB1. In affected individuals, it was found to segregate with retinitis pigmentosa (RP), goiter, primary ovarian insufficiency, and mild intellectual disability. Subsequent analysis of WES data in different cohorts uncovered four additional homozygous missense mutations in five unrelated families in whom iRD segregates with or without syndromic features. Ocular phenotypes ranged from typical RP starting in the second decade to chorioretinal dystrophy with a later age of onset. The five missense mutations affect highly conserved residues either in the sixth repeat of the RCC1 domain or in the BTB1 domain. A founder haplotype was identified for mutation c.919G>A (p.Val307Met), occurring in two families of Mediterranean origin. We showed ubiquitous mRNA expression of RCBTB1 and demonstrated predominant RCBTB1 localization in human inner retina. RCBTB1 was very recently shown to be involved in ubiquitination, more specifically as a CUL3 substrate adaptor. Therefore, the effect on different components of the CUL3 and NFE2L2 (NRF2) pathway was assessed in affected individuals' lymphocytes, revealing decreased mRNA expression of NFE2L2 and several NFE2L2 target genes. In conclusion, our study puts forward mutations in RCBTB1 as a cause of autosomal-recessive non-syndromic and syndromic iRD. Finally, our data support a role for impaired ubiquitination in the pathogenetic mechanism of RCBTB1 mutations

A pragmatic approach improves the clinical management of stage IV gastric cancer: Comparison between the Meta-Gastro results and the GIRCG's retrospective series

Introduction: The Italian Research Group for Gastric Cancer developed a prospective database about stage IV gastric cancer, to evaluate how a pragmatic attitude impacts the management of these patients. Materials and methods: We prospectively collected data about metastatic gastric cancer patients thanks to cooperation between radiologists, oncologists and surgeons and we analyzed survival and prognostic factors, comparing the results to those obtained in our retrospective study. Results: Three-hundred and eighty-three patients were enrolled from 2018 to September 2022. We observed a higher percentage of laparoscopic exploration with peritoneal lavage in the prospective cohort. In the registry only 3.6 % of patients was submitted to surgery without associated chemotherapy, while in the retrospective population 44.3 % of patients were operated on without any chemotherapy. At univariate and multivariate analyses, the different metastatic sites did not show any survival differences among each other (OS 20.0 vs 16.10 vs 16.7 months for lymphnodal, peritoneal and hepatic metastases, respectively), while the number of metastatic sites and the type of treatment showed a statistical significance (OS 16,7 vs 13,0 vs 4,5 months for 1, 2 and 3 different metastatic sites respectively, p < 0.001; 24,2 vs 12,0 vs 2,5 months for surgery with/without chemotherapy, chemotherapy alone and best supportive treatment respectively, p < 0.001). Conclusions: Our data highlight that the different metastatic sites did not show different survivals, but survival is worse in case of multiple localization. In patients where a curative resection can be achieved, acceptable survival rates are possible. A better diagnostic workup and a more accurate staging impact favorably upon survival

A re-evaluation of phylogenomic data reveals that current understanding in wheat blast population biology and epidemiology is obfuscated by oversights in population sampling.

Abstract: Wheat blast, caused by the Pyricularia oryzae Triticum lineage (PoT), first emerged in Brazil and quickly spread to neighboring countries. Its recent appearance in Bangladesh and Zambia highlights a need to understand the disease's population biology and epidemiology so as to mitigate pandemic outbreaks. Current knowledge is mostly based on characterizations of Brazilian wheat blast isolates and comparison with isolates from non-wheat, endemic grasses. These foregoing studies concluded that the wheat blast population lacks host specificity and, as a result, undergoes extensive gene flow with populations infecting non-wheat hosts. Additionally, based on genetic similarity between wheat blast and isolates infecting Urochloa species, it was proposed that the disease originally emerged via a host jump from this grass, and that Urochloa likely plays a central role in wheat blast epidemiology, owing to its widespread use as a pasture grass. However, due to inconsistencies with broader phylogenetic studies, we suspected that these seminal studies hadn't actually sampled the populations normally found on endemic grasses and, instead, had repeatedly isolated members of PoT and the related Lolium pathogen lineage (PoL1). Re-analysis of the Brazilian data as part of a comprehensive, global, phylogenomic dataset that included a small number of S. American isolates sampled away from wheat confirmed our suspicion and identified four new P. oryzae lineages on grass hosts. As a result, the conclusions underpinning current understanding in wheat blast's evolution, population biology and epidemiology are unsubstantiated and could be equivocal