Solitary fibrous tumor of the omentum: Presentation of a case and literature review

Solitary fibrous tumor (SFT) and hemangiopericytoma (HPC) were considered, since their firsts description in the literature, as separate entities. The World Health Organization (WHO) classification of soft tissue tumors in 2013 declared the term HPC obsolete, and considered these lesions as features of the extrapleural SFT category. Herein we present a rare case of SFT originating from the great omentum. A 68 years old woman was admitted to our hospital with acute abdominal pain. Computed tomography revealed a 142 x 102 x 100 mm solid mass located in the pelvis, that simulated an adnexal lesion. An explorative laparotomy was performed, and a mass of the great omentum with a significant vascular pedicle arising from a branch of the left gastroepiploic artery was revealed. The tumor was completely resected. Microscopically it was composed by non-organized and spindle-shaped cells exhibiting atypical nuclei, arranged in short fascicles, and was diagnosed as. An extensive search was conducted in public scientific databases for published articles on the topic, with the aim to comprehensively describe the demographic, clinical, pathological and prognostic features of SFT; 60 previous cases have been identified and reviewed

Non-invasive Coronary Flow Velocity Reserve Assessment Predicts Adverse Outcome In Women With unstable angina Without Obstructive Coronary Artery Stenosis

Background: Evaluation of coronary flow velocity reserve (CFVR) is the physiological approach to assess the severity of coronary stenosis and microvascular dysfunction. Impaired CFVR occurs frequently in women with suspected or known coronary artery disease . The aim of this study was to assess the role of CFVR to predict long-term cardiovascular event rate in women with unstable angina (UA) without obstructive coronary artery stenosis. Methods: CFVR in left anterior descending coronary artery was assessed by adenosine transthoracic echocardiograhy in 161 women admitted at our Department with UA and without obstructive coronary artery disease. Results: During a mean FU of 32.5 ±19.6 months, 53 cardiac events occurred: 6 nonfatal acute myocardial infarction , 22 UA, 7 coronary revascularization by percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty, 1 coronary bypass surgery, 3 ischemic stroke and 8 episodes of congestive heart failure with preserved ejection fraction and 6 cardiac deaths. Using a ROC curve analysis, CFVR 2.14 was the best predictor of cardiac events and was considered as abnormal CFVR. Abnormal CFVR was associated with lower cardiac event-free survival (30% vs 80%, p<0.0001). During FU, 70% of women with reduced CFVR had cardiac events whereas only 20% with normal CFVR (p=0.0001). At multivariate Cox analysis, smoke habitus (p=0.003), metabolic syndrome (p=0.01), and CFVR (p<0.0001) were significantly associated with cardiac events at FU. Conclusion: Noninvasive CFVR provides an independent predictor of cardiovascular prognosis information in women with UA without obstructive coronary artery disease whereas, impaired CFVR seems to be associated with higher CV events at FU

GRIDA3—a shared resources manager for environmental data analysis and applications

GRIDA3 (Shared Resources Manager for Environmental Data Analysis and Applications) is a multidisciplinary project designed to deliver an integrated system to forge solutions to some environmental challenges such as the constant increase of polluted sites, the sustainability of natural resources usage and the forecast of extreme meteorological events. The GRIDA3 portal is mainly based on Web 2.0 technologies and EnginFrame framework. The portal, now at an advanced stage of development, provides end-users with intuitive Web-interfaces and tools that simplify job submission to the underneath computing resources. The framework manages the user authentication and authorization, then controls the action and job execution into the grid computing environment, collects the results and transforms them into an useful format on the client side. The GRIDA3 Portal framework will provide a problem-solving platform allowing, through appropriate access policies, the integration and the sharing of skills, resources and tools located at multiple sites across federated domains

Plasmodium falciparum LipB mutants display altered redox and carbon metabolism in asexual stages and cannot complete sporogony in Anopheles mosquitoes

Malaria is still one of the most important global infectious diseases. Emergence of drug resistance and a shortage of new efficient antimalarials continue to hamper a malaria eradication agenda. Malaria parasites are highly sensitive to changes in the redox environment. Understanding the mechanisms regulating parasite redox could contribute to the design of new drugs. Malaria parasites have a complex network of redox regulatory systems housed in their cytosol, in their mitochondrion and in their plastid (apicoplast). While the roles of enzymes of the thioredoxin and glutathione pathways in parasite survival have been explored, the antioxidant role of α-lipoic acid (LA) produced in the apicoplast has not been tested. To take a first step in teasing a putative role of LA in redox regulation, we analysed a mutant Plasmodium falciparum (3D7 strain) lacking the apicoplast lipoic acid protein ligase B (lipB) known to be depleted of LA. Our results showed a change in expression of redox regulators in the apicoplast and the cytosol. We further detected a change in parasite central carbon metabolism, with lipB deletion resulting in changes to glycolysis and tricarboxylic acid cycle activity. Further, in another Plasmodium cell line (NF54), deletion of lipB impacted development in the mosquito, preventing the detection of infectious sporozoite stages. While it is not clear at this point if the observed phenotypes are linked, these findings flag LA biosynthesis as an important subject for further study in the context of redox regulation in asexual stages, and point to LipB as a potential target for the development of new transmission drugs

Assessment of origin and fate of contaminants along mining-affected Rio Montevecchio (SW Sardinia, Italy): A hydrologic-tracer and environmental mineralogy study

Hydrologic tracer techniques were applied to Rio Montevecchio (SW Sardinia, Italy), a stream affected by mine drainage, allowing the calculation of discharge and contaminant loads. Discharge along the stream showed a constant increase throughout the 2.7 km-long study reach, up to 13.6 l/s at the last synoptic point. Calculated loads of mine-related constituents were large, reaching values of 1780 kg/day for, 340 kg/day for Zn, 47 kg/day for Fe, and 50 kg/day for Mn. The difference of the cumulative instream metal loads between the first and the last synoptic sampling points indicated gains of 421 kg/day for Zn, 2080 kg/day for, 56 kg/day for Mn, and 50 kg/day for Fe. The source areas critical for contaminants loading were almost all concentrated in the first 800 meters of the stream, with the exception of Pb, whose loading occurs evenly along the whole study reach. Precipitation of secondary minerals along the streambed was responsible for a very high attenuation of Al and Fe loads (66% and 77%) and affected also and Zn loads, though less effectively. Rio Montevecchio has the second highest metal load among the rivers investigated with tracer techniques in SW Sardinia. In comparison with Rio Irvi, which has one order of magnitude higher metal loads, natural attenuation processes limit the loads in Rio Montevecchio. Results are useful to clarify the hydrogeochemical paths involved in the release and attenuation of pollutants, improving our understanding of stream responses to contamination and aiding development of site-specific remediation actions

Impact of past mining activity on the quality of groundwater in SW Sardinia (Italy)

Hydrogeochemical surveys were carried out in SW Sardinia (Italy) to investigate the impact of past mining activities on the quality of groundwater. The chemistry of waters from flooded galleries, adits and dumps was compared with that of springs and wells in the same area at sites relatively far from any mine legacy. A feature, common to all waters, is the circumneutral pH, since the carbonate formations in the area neutralise the acidity produced by the oxidation of Fe-bearing sulphide minerals in the mine impacted water. However, groundwater interacting with mine workings is degraded in quality; it shows high dissolved SO4, Zn, Cd and Pb contents. In some cases groundwater exceeds the limit established by the guidelines of the World Health Organization for Pb content in drinking water, so that groundwater is mixed before entering the local aqueducts. Results from this study suggest that more attention needs to be paid to the impact on the streams from contaminated water flowing out from some mine areas because during the dry season these streams are only fed by mine groundwater. We recommend focusing efforts to reduce the chemical contamination prior to discharge

Effect of major anions on arsenate desorption from ferrihydrite-bearing natural samples

The influence of background electrolytes (Na2HPO4 center dot 2H(2)O, NaHCO3, Na2SO4, NaNO3 and NaCl) on arsenate (As(V)) desorption from 3 environmental samples (a tailings sample, a stream-bed sediment and a top soil) containing ferrihydrite as the main As-bearing phase has been studied by means of kinetic batch experiments and geochemical simulations. The experimental results indicate that As(V) release increases greatly in the presence of dissolved phosphate and carbonate species. Similarly to PO43+, a strong surface interaction of inner-sphere type between ferrihydrite and aqueous carbonate species is suggested. Nitrate and Cl- have negligible effects on the As(V) desorption reaction, whereas SO4_2- exhibits intermediate behavior depending on its dissolved concentration that probably influences the type of surface complex (i.e. outer-sphere or inner-sphere). The process of As(V) release follows the first-order rate equation of Lagergren modified for desorption; most values of the desorption rate constant k(des) are in the range of 0.0012-0.0030 min(-1). Modeling of the desorption experiments with PHREEQC, with ferrihydrite as the main As-bearing phase, indicates that the influence of pH is notably less important than the displacement action of carbonate species in determining the amount of As(V) released to solution. Simulation of As(V) desorption totally fails when the carbonate surface complexes are excluded from the model. In the NaHCO3 experiments with the tailings sample the best match between observed and calculated data is obtained also including dissolution of scorodite and arsenopyrite in the model. Moreover, modeling has stressed the poor quality of the adsorption constants for sulfate species that leads to strong overestimation of As(V) desorption at pH 4 and underestimation at pH 7.5. Although the findings of this study are consistent with the results of recent studies from other authors, they cannot be generalized or directly applied to natural systems. However, environmental implications concerning As mobility, as well as possible application in various fields (e.g. irrigation agriculture, soil decontamination, water treatment and mine site remediation), might be derived from these findings