Human adenocarcinoma cell line sensitivity to essential oil phytocomplexes from pistacia species: A multivariate approach

Principal component analysis (PCA) multivariate analysis was applied to study the cytotoxic activity of essential oils from various species of the Pistacia genus on human tumor cell lines. In particular, the cytotoxic activity of essential oils obtained from P. lentiscus, P. lentiscus var. chia (mastic gum), P. terebinthus, P. vera, and P. integerrima, was screened on three human adenocarcinoma cell lines: MCF-7 (breast), 2008 (ovarian), and LoVo (colon). The results indicate that all the Pistacia phytocomplexes, with the exception of mastic gum oil, induce cytotoxic effects on one or more of the three cell lines. PCA highlighted the presence of different cooperating clusters of bioactive molecules. Cluster variability among species, and even within the same species, could explain some of the differences seen among samples suggesting the presence of both common and species-specific mechanisms. Single molecules from one of the most significant clusters were tested, but only bornyl-acetate presented cytotoxic activity, although at much higher concentrations (IC50 = 138.5 \ub5g/mL) than those present in the essential oils, indicating that understanding of the full biological effect requires a holistic vision of the phytocomplexes with all its constituents

Successful endoscopic closure of iatrogenic duodenal perforation with the new Padlock Clip

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Water-filled technique for therapeutic pancreato-biliary EUS in patients with surgically altered anatomy

One of the main challenges encountered by endosonographers is performing diagnostic and interventional pancreato-biliary endoscopic ultrasound (EUS) procedures in the presence of surgically altered upper gastrointestinal anatomy. We describe the water-filled technique (WFT) for EUS examination and treatment of the pancreato-biliary region in patients with surgically altered upper gastrointestinal anatomy. Using the WFT, the scope is advanced up to the gastro-jejunal anastomosis and, after placing the tip of the scope 2 cm beyond it, enlargement of the jejunal lumen is obtained by water instillation of the jejunal loop. An enlargement of more than 1.5 cm allows advancement of the tip of the scope under EUSguidance up to the duodenum, in a retrograde way. The WFT is useful for reaching the ampullary area and performing diagnostic and therapeutic EUS in patients with surgically altered anatomy. The technique is also reproducible and can be easily used by endoscopists who regularly perform EUS

How do variations in the temporal distribution of rainfall events affect ecosystem fluxes in seasonally water-limited Northern Hemisphere shrublands and forests?

As a result of climate change, rainfall regimes became more extreme over the course of the 20th century, characterised by fewer and larger rainfall events. Such changes are expected to continue throughout the current century. The effect of changes in the 5 temporal distribution of rainfall on ecosystem carbon fluxes is poorly understood, with most available information coming from experimental studies of grassland ecosystems. Here, continuous measurements of ecosystem carbon fluxes and precipitation from the worldwide FLUXNET network of eddy-covariance sites are exploited to investigate the effects of differences in rainfall distribution on the carbon balance of seasonally water10 limited shrubland and forest sites. Once the strong dependence of ecosystem fluxes on total annual rainfall amount is accounted for, results show that sites with more extreme rainfall distributions have significantly lower gross productivity, slightly lower ecosystem respiration and consequently a smaller net ecosystem productivity.JRC.H.7-Climate Risk Managemen

Glove Port Technique for Transanal Endoscopic Microsurgery

Introduction. Despite initial enthusiasm, the use of transanal endoscopic microsurgery (TEM) is still quite limited at present because of the expense of highly specialized equipment and the complexity of the learning curve. Furthermore, some authors report a relevant, although temporary, effect on anorectal function because of the considerable anal dilatation which can even produce a rupture of the internal anal sphincter. The “glove TEM” proposes itself as an alternative to traditional TEM that could settle these problems. Materials and Methods. The technique is accurately described together with the necessary equipment to perform it. Between 2011 and 2012, we operated eight patients with this technique for rectal adenomas or early carcinomas achieving R0 resection in all cases and reporting no early or late complications during the first five months of followup. Discussion. This technique offers multiple advantages compared to the original TEM. (i) It allows the use of all available laparoscopic instruments. (ii) It gives a great manoeuvrability of the instruments in contrast to rigid rectoscope systems. (iii) Given the limited length of the device, it permits to operate on tumors closer to the dentate line. (iv) It is less traumatic to the anal sphincter. It is definitively much cheaper. Conclusions. We believe that this new technique is easy to perform, cost-effective, and less traumatic to the anal sphincter compared to traditional TEM

Extendiendo BPMN2 para soportar workflows científicos de ESTECO

En la última década, los procesos de negocio han adquirido gran popularidad, y derivado de ello han surgido diversos estudios al respecto. Un proceso de negocio es un conjunto de actividades coordinadas, diseñadas para producir una salida específica. Por otra parte, la empresa ESTECO tiene una amplia experiencia en el ámbito de workflows de ingeniería aplicada en el contexto industrial. ESTECO utiliza un modelo de workflow propietario que ha demostrado ser útil en el contexto de procesos de ingeniería. Si bien el modelo propietario cubre las necesidades actuales, el uso de un estándar permitiría claramente construir modelos de manera unificada. Hay numerosos estándares para el modelado de procesos de negocios, pero por lo general no son directamente aplicables al ámbito de procesos de ingeniería o computación científica. BPMN (Business Process Model and Notation) es un estándar clave en el modelado de procesos de negocio. Su notación gráfica muestra las distintas etapas de un proceso de negocio. Además su metamodelo está diseñado para ser extensible, esto permite extenderlo manteniendo la compatibilidad. La última versión del estándar ha sido desarrollada teniendo en cuenta algunas limitaciones y dándole mayor importancia a los objetos de datos persiguiendo el objetivo de poder interpretar y ejecutar directamente los modelos.Eje: Ingeniería de SoftwareRed de Universidades con Carreras en Informática (RedUNCI

{MEYE}: Web-app for translational and real-time pupillometry

Pupil dynamics alterations have been found in patients affected by a variety of neuropsychiatric conditions, in- cluding autism. Studies in mouse models have used pupillometry for phenotypic assessment and as a proxy for arousal. Both in mice and humans, pupillometry is noninvasive and allows for longitudinal experiments sup- porting temporal specificity; however, its measure requires dedicated setups. Here, we introduce a convolu- tional neural network that performs online pupillometry in both mice and humans in a web app format. This solution dramatically simplifies the usage of the tool for the nonspecialist and nontechnical operators. Because a modern web browser is the only software requirement, this choice is of great interest given its easy deployment and setup time reduction. The tested model performances indicate that the tool is sensitive enough to detect both locomotor-induced and stimulus-evoked pupillary changes, and its output is compara- ble to state-of-the-art commercial devicesPupil dynamics alterations have been found in patients affected by a variety of neuropsychiatric conditions, including autism. Studies in mouse models have used pupillometry for phenotypic assessment and as a proxy for arousal. Both in mice and humans, pupillometry is noninvasive and allows for longitudinal experiments supporting temporal specificity; however, its measure requires dedicated setups. Here, we introduce a convolutional neural network that performs online pupillometry in both mice and humans in a web app format. This solution dramatically simplifies the usage of the tool for the nonspecialist and nontechnical operators. Because a modern web browser is the only software requirement, this choice is of great interest given its easy deployment and setup time reduction. The tested model performances indicate that the tool is sensitive enough to detect both locomotor-induced and stimulus-evoked pupillary changes, and its output is comparable to state-of-the-art commercial devices

Prevalence of Chagas disease and strongyloidiasis among HIV-infected Latin American immigrants in Italy – The CHILI study

INTRODUCTION: Screening HIV-positive migrants for neglected tropical diseases having potential for life-threatening reactivation, such as Chagas disease and strongyloidiasis is not widely implemented. We evaluated the prevalence of these infections among a large cohort of HIV-infected migrants from Latin America living in Italy. METHOD: Cross-sectional study evaluating the prevalence of Trypanosoma cruzi and Strongyloides stercoralis infections in HIV-infected migrants from Latin America enrolled in the Italian Cohort of Antiretroviral-Naïve patients (ICONA) between 1997 and 2018, based on serology performed on sera stored in the ICONA Foundation biobank. Screening for Chagas disease was performed using two commercial ELISA complemented by commercial Immunoblot and CLIA if discordant. Strongyloidiasis was evaluated using a commercial ELISA. RESULTS: 389 patients were analysed. Fifteen (3.86%) had at least one positive Chagas ELISA test. Prevalence of Chagas disease was 0.5% or 1.29% depending on the confirmatory technique. Serology for strongyloidiasis was positive in 16 (4.11%) patients. Only Nadir CD4+ T cell count was associated with discordant serology for Chagas disease (p = 0.046). CONCLUSIONS: The accuracy of seroassays for Chagas disease and strongyloidiasis in HIV-positive patients is unclear. To avoid missing potentially life-threatening infections, we suggest implementing additional diagnostic strategies in at-risk patients with inconclusive serology results

Low-dose benzene exposure monitoring of oil refinery workers: inhalation and biomarkers

Airborne benzene in workplaces has progressively decreased due to preventive actions and the redesigning of facility processes. Professionals who assess occupational exposure should select techniques to detect benzene levels comparable to ambient air exposure. Thus, sensitive biomarkers are needed to discriminate the effects of confounding factors, such as smoking or sorbic acid (SA). In order to identify sensitive biomarkers and to study their correlation with confounding factors, 23 oil refinery workers were enrolled in the study; their airborne benzene exposures and biomarkers were monitored. Urinary benzene (U-B), t,t-muconic acid (t,t-MA), and S-phenylmercapturic acid (SPMA) were quantified. Urinary cotinine (U-C) and t,t-sorbic acid (t,t-SA) were evaluated to flag smoking and SA intake, respectively. The benzene measured in personal inhalation sampling ranged from 0.6 to 83.5 (median 1.7) µg/m3. The concentration range of the biomarkers, U-B, t,t-MA, and SPMA, were 18–4893 ng/m3, <10–79.4 µg/g creatinine, and <0.5–3.96 µg/g creatinine, respectively. Pearson tests were carried out; the best correlations were between airborne benzene and U-B (µg/L r = 0.820, p < 0.001) and between benzene and SPMA (g/L r = 0.812, p < 0.001), followed by benzene and t,t-MA (mg/L r = 0.465, p = 0.039). From our study, U-B and SPMA result to be the most reliable biomarkers to assess the internal number of low doses of benzene exposure, thanks to their specificity and sensitivity

The Genetic Origin of Daunians and the Pan-Mediterranean Southern Italian Iron Age Context.

The geographical location and shape of Apulia, a narrow land stretching out in the sea at the South of Italy, made this region a Mediterranean crossroads connecting Western Europe and the Balkans. Such movements culminated at the beginning of the Iron Age with the Iapygian civilization which consisted of three cultures: Peucetians, Messapians, and Daunians. Among them, the Daunians left a peculiar cultural heritage, with one-of-a-kind stelae and pottery, but, despite the extensive archaeological literature, their origin has been lost to time. In order to shed light on this and to provide a genetic picture of Iron Age Southern Italy, we collected and sequenced human remains from three archaeological sites geographically located in Northern Apulia (the area historically inhabited by Daunians) and radiocarbon dated between 1157 and 275 calBCE. We find that Iron Age Apulian samples are still distant from the genetic variability of modern-day Apulians, they show a degree of genetic heterogeneity comparable with the cosmopolitan Republican and Imperial Roman civilization, even though a few kilometers and centuries separate them, and they are well inserted into the Iron Age Pan-Mediterranean genetic landscape. Our study provides for the first time a window on the genetic make-up of pre-Roman Apulia, whose increasing connectivity within the Mediterranean landscape, would have contributed to laying the foundation for modern genetic variability. In this light, the genetic profile of Daunians may be compatible with an at least partial autochthonous origin, with plausible contributions from the Balkan peninsula