Cutaneous Bowen’s Disease: an Analysis of 182 Cases according To Age, Sex, and Anatomical Site from an Italian Center

Bowen's disease (BD), also known as squamous cell carcinoma in situ, is a type of non-melanocytic intraepidermal malignancy characterised by a slowly enlarging erythematous to pink, scaly patch or plaque with irregular and well-demarcated borders. These lesions are usually persistent and progressive; it has been estimated that in general population around 3% to 5% of Bowen's disease transform into invasive squamous cell carcinoma. This report describes our experience with cutaneous BD and assesses the differences found about age, sex and anatomical site. Bowen’s disease was seen more frequently in male patients rather than in female patients in contrast to what confirmed in literature - this difference is probably because being head-neck an exposed region, patients are more easily induced to autoexam and to consult the dermatologist

Do Animals Play a Role in the Transmission of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2)? A Commentary

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) belongs to the Beta-coronavirus genus. It is 96.2% homologous to bat CoV RaTG13 and 88% homologous to two bat SARS-like coronaviruses. SARS-CoV-2 is the infectious agent responsible for the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), which was first reported in the Hubei province of Wuhan, China, at the beginning of December 2019. Human transmission from COVID-19 patients or incubation carriers occurs via coughing, sneezing, speaking, discharge from the nose, or fecal contamination. Various strains of the virus have been reported around the world, with different virulence and behavior. In addition, SARS-CoV-2 shares certain epitopes with some taxonomically related viruses, with tropism for the most common synanthropic animals. By elucidating the immunological properties of the circulating SARS-CoV-2, a partial protection due to human–animal interactions could be supposed in some situations. In addition, differential epitopes could be used for the differential diagnosis of SARS-CoV-2 infection. There have been cases of transmission from people with COVID-19 to pets such as cats and dogs. In addition, wild felines were infected. All These animals were either asymptomatic or mildly symptomatic and recovered spontaneously. Experimental studies showed cats and ferrets to be more susceptible to COVID-19. COVID-19 positive dogs and felines do not transmit the infection to humans. In contrast, minks at farms were severely infected from people with COVID-19. A SARS-Cov-2 variant in the Danish farmed mink that had been previously infected by COVID-19 positive workers, spread to mink workers causing the first case of animal-to-human infection transmission that causes a moderate decreased sensitivity to neutralizing antibodies. Thus, more investigations are necessary. It remains important to understand the risk that people with COVID-19 pose to their pets, as well as wild or farm animals so effective recommendations and risk management measures against COVID-19 can be made. A One Health unit that facilitates collaboration between public health and veterinary services is recommended

Factors predicting distress among parents/caregivers of children with neurological disease and home enteral nutrition

Abstract Background & aims Caregivers of children with chronic diseases included in a home enteral nutrition (HEN) programme are at risk of experiencing a feeling of burden, high level of anxiety and psychological distress. The aims of this study were: first, to examine the prevalence of symptoms of anxiety-depression in caregivers of children with neurological diseases requiring HEN by gastrostomy tube (GT); second, to compare the characteristics of caregivers with high or low risk of exhibiting symptoms of anxiety-depression; and third, to investigate possible associations to child disease severity and nutrition support mode. Methods A cross-sectional observational study was performed in 58 caregivers of children (31 boys, aged 0.3-18 years) with neurological diseases and GT feeding. The characteristics of caregivers with high or low risk of presenting symptoms of anxiety-depression were compared regarding the following variables: socio-demographic characteristics, the primary caregiver's intrapsychic factors, anthropometric parameters of the child, length of HEN, type of nutrients delivered by GT and infusion regime. Results All primary caregivers were mothers. Fifty-three per cent of them showed high risk of exhibiting symptoms of anxiety-depression. Mothers with high or low risk of presenting symptoms of anxiety-depression were comparable in age and family socio-economic status. They were also similar in terms of age, anthropometric conditions and length of HEN in their children. No differences were found between the two groups of mothers according to the level of the child's motor function impairment, type of nutrients delivered by GT and infusion regime. Higher levels of psychological distress and perception of burden overload were found in mothers with high risk of exhibiting symptoms of anxiety-depression. Conclusions This study found a high prevalence of symptoms of anxiety-depression, perception of burden overload and psychological distress in caregivers of children with HEN. Thus, greater practical and emotional support is required for these families

Psychometric properties of the structured Satisfaction Questionnaire with Gastrostomy Feeding (SAGA-8) for caregivers of children with gastrostomy tube nutritional support

BACKGROUND: To analyse the psychometric properties of the structured Satisfaction Questionnaire with Gastrostomy Feeding (SAGA-8) in parents/caregivers of children with home enteral nutrition (HEN) by gastrostomy tube (GT). METHODS: Eighty-six caregivers (mothers) of paediatric patients with HEN by GT were recruited. Patients suffered from neurological disease (61.6%) and other chronic diseases. The SAGA-8 scale, a structured questionnaire to explore satisfaction with HEN by GT, and the Caregiver Burden Inventory (Zarit) were completed. The discriminating power of each of the SAGA-8 items, internal consistency and external validity were evaluated. An exploratory factor analysis and Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin (KMO) was performed as well. RESULTS: Eighty-four percent of the families expressed high satisfaction with GT feeding. All eight items of SAGA-8 gave additional information. The exploratory factor analysis revealed that a significant part of the items' variability could be explained by two independent factors: Factor 1 (direct benefit), which compiled the variables related to the perception of children's overall improvement by GT feeding; Factor 2 (indirect benefit), which grouped the variables related to a decrease in respiratory infections, feeding time and institutional support. Results from KMO (0.628) indicated the high adequacy of the items assessed in the factorial analysis. Moreover, the questionnaire presented high internal consistency (0.76), and the external validation analysis confirmed the correlation between SAGA-8 and Zarit, thereby emphasising the approptiate use of the SAGA-8 to detect carers' satisfaction. CONCLUSIONS: The SAGA-8 questionnaire has a high discriminatory power to assess the degree of satisfaction experienced by parents/caregivers of children with HEN by GT and, subsequently, the patients' wellbeing

Satisfaction with gastrostomy feeding in caregivers of children with home enteral nutrition: application of the SAGA-8 questionnaire and analysis of involved factors.

Aims: To assess the degree of satisfaction of caregivers of children with gastrostomy tube (GT) feeding through the structured questionnaire SAGA-8. Secondly, to evaluate if the parental satisfaction degree was related to several independent variables. Methods: A cross-sectional observational study was performed in 92 caregivers of children with GT feeding and chronic diseases. The following data was obtained: caregiver satisfaction with GT feeding (SAGA-8), age at GT placement, anthropometric data, length and mode of nutritional support, family demographic characteristics and caregiver psychological status. Results: All primary caregivers were mothers. High satisfaction with GT feeding was expressed by 82.6% of families. The simplicity of the system was emphasized by 87%, and 85.9% were very satisfied with the support received from the hospital staff. 73.9% of mothers acknowledged their child"s nutritional status had improved and 89.1% rated the enhancement family"s overall situation. Moreover, 75% of mothers reduced feeding-time, and 68.5% reported less respiratory infections. Finally, 71.7% of mothers recognized that they would have implemented this technique earlier. Caregiver satisfaction was positively correlated with age at GT placement and length of treatment, and both variables explained the 19.4% of the satisfaction variance. No correlation with anthropometric data, nutrition support mode, family demographic characteristics or caregiver psychological status was observed. Conclusions: The SAGA-8 questionnaire is a simple,specific, straight-forward tool to evaluate parental/caregiver degree of satisfaction with GT feeding and facilitates effective monitoring of the intervention. Lengths of HEN and precocious age at GT placement are responsible for most of parental satisfaction

Authentication of Argan (Argania spinosa L.) oil using novel DNA-based approaches: detection of olive and soybean oils as potential adulterants

Argan oil is a traditional product obtained from the fruits of the argan tree (Argania spinosa L.), which is endemic only to Morocco. It is commercialized worldwide as cosmetic and food-grade argan oil, attaining very high prices in the international market. Therefore, argan oil is very prone to adulteration with cheaper vegetable oils. The present work aims at developing novel real-time PCR approaches to detect olive and soybean oils as potential adulterants, as well as ascertain the presence of argan oil. The ITS region, matK and lectin genes were the targeted markers, allowing to detect argan, olive and soybean DNA down to 0.01 pg, 0.1 pg and 3.2 pg, respectively, with real-time PCR. Moreover, to propose practical quantitative methods, two calibrant models were developed using the normalized ΔCq method to estimate potential adulterations of argan oil with olive or soybean oils. The results allowed for the detection and quantification of olive and soybean oils within 50–1% and 25–1%, respectively, both in argan oil. Both approaches provided acceptable performance parameters and accurate determinations, as proven by their applicability to blind mixtures. Herein, new qualitative and quantitative PCR assays are proposed for the first time as reliable and high-throughput tools to authenticate and valorize argan oil.This work was supported by the FCT (Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia) through projects FCT/CNRST (Portugal/Morocco) (FCT/6460/6/6/2017/S) and the strategic funding of UIDB/50006/2020 | UIDP/50006/2020. This work was also funded by the European Union (EU) through the European Regional Development Fund (FEDER funds through NORTE-01-0145-FEDER- 000052) and the project SYSTEMIC (Knowledge Hub on Food and Nutrition Security, ERA-Net Cofund ERA-HDHL no. 696300). J. Costa and I. Mafra thank the FCT for funding through the Individual Call to Scientific Employment Stimulus (2021.03583.CEECIND/CP1662/CT0012 and 2021.03670.CEECIND/CP1662/CT0011, respectively). L. Grazina is grateful to the FCT for the grant (SFRH/BD/132462/2017) financed by POPH-QREN (subsidized by FSE and MCTES). The authors are grateful to the Groupement des Coopératives Targanine for supplying the argan oil sample. J.S. Amaral is grateful to the FCT for financial support through national funds FCT/MCTES (PIDDAC) to CIMO (UIDB/00690/2020 e UIDP/00690/2020) and SusTEC (LA/P/0007/2020).info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Titanium dioxide nanoparticles temporarily influence the sea urchin immunological state suppressing inflammatory-relate gene transcription and boosting antioxidant metabolic activity.

Abstract Titanium dioxide nanoparticles (TiO2NPs) are revolutionizing biomedicine due to their potential application as diagnostic and therapeutic agents. However, the TiO2NP immune-compatibility remains an open issue, even for ethical reasons. In this work, we investigated the immunomodulatory effects of TiO2NPs in an emergent proxy to human non-mammalian model for in vitro basic and translational immunology: the sea urchin Paracentrotus lividus. To highlight on the new insights into the evolutionarily conserved intracellular signaling and metabolism pathways involved in immune-TiO2NP recognition/interaction we applied a wide-ranging approach, including electron microscopy, biochemistry, transcriptomics and metabolomics. Findings highlight that TiO2NPs interact with immune cells suppressing the expression of genes encoding for proteins involved in immune response and apoptosis (e.g. NF-κB, FGFR2, JUN, MAPK14, FAS, VEGFR, Casp8), and boosting the immune cell antioxidant metabolic activity (e.g. pentose phosphate, cysteine-methionine, glycine-serine metabolism pathways). TiO2NP uptake was circumscribed to phagosomes/phagolysosomes, depicting harmless vesicular internalization. Our findings underlined that under TiO2NP-exposure sea urchin innate immune system is able to control inflammatory signaling, excite antioxidant metabolic activity and acquire immunological tolerance, providing a new level of understanding of the TiO2NP immune-compatibility that could be useful for the development in Nano medicines

Assessment of nutritional status and bone health in neurologically impaired children: a challenge in pediatric clinical practice

NTRODUCTION: neurologically impaired children frequently experience nutritional disorders and bone health complications. Our aim was firstly to analyze a method to interpret bone mineral density (BMD) accurately in neurologically impaired children. Secondly, to determine its relationship with the nutritional status and micronutrient levels in order to identify which factors are associated with low BMD. METHODS: a observational multicenter study was conducted in children with moderate-to-severe neurological impairment. Data collected included: medical records, anthropometric measures, hematologic and biochemical evaluation. BMD was measured with Dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry and z-scores were calculated adjusting for sex and chronological age. Secondly, BMD z-scores were calculated applying height age (age at which the child's height would be in 2nd percentile) instead of chronological age. RESULTS: fifty-two children were included (aged 4-16 years). Seventeen patients (32.7%) received feeding by gastrostomy tube. Height and BMI z-score were below 2SD in 64% and 31% of patients respectively, with normal mid upper arm circumference and skinfold thickness measurements. Low vitamin-D levels were found in 42% of cases. 50% of patients evidenced low BMD when calculated for chronological age, whereas only 34.5% showed BMD z-score <-2 when calculated for height age. No correlation was observed between BMD and vitamin-D levels, weight and height z-scores or age when BMD was calculated applying height age. CONCLUSIONS: the prevalence of low BMD is high in neurologically impaired children, and it is probably multifactorial. In these children, we suggest adjusting BMD for height age, in order not to over diagnose low BMD

Transcriptional Profile Associated with Clinical Outcomes in Metastatic Hormone-Sensitive Prostate Cancer Treated with Androgen Deprivation and Docetaxel

Metastatic prostate cancer; Chemotherapy; Hormonal therapyCáncer de próstata metastásico; Quimioterapia; Terapia hormonalCàncer de pròstata metastàtic; Quimioteràpia; Teràpia hormonalBackground: Androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) and docetaxel (DX) combination is a standard therapy for metastatic hormone-sensitive prostate cancer (mHSPC) patients. (2) Methods: We investigate if tumor transcriptomic analysis predicts mHSPC evolution in a multicenter retrospective biomarker study. A customized panel of 184 genes was tested in mRNA from tumor samples by the nCounter platform in 125 mHSPC patients treated with ADT+DX. Gene expression was correlated with castration-resistant prostate cancer-free survival (CRPC-FS) and overall survival (OS). (3) Results: High expression of androgen receptor (AR) signature was independently associated with longer CRPC-FS (hazard ratio (HR) 0.6, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.3-0.9; p = 0.015), high expression of estrogen receptor (ESR) signature with longer CRPC-FS (HR 0.6, 95% CI 0.4-0.9; p = 0.019) and OS (HR 0.5, 95% CI 0.2-0.9, p = 0.024), and lower expression of tumor suppressor genes (TSG) (RB1, PTEN and TP53) with shorter OS (HR 2, 95% CI 1-3.8; p = 0.044). ARV7 expression was independently associated with shorter CRPC-FS (HR 1.5, 95% CI 1.1-2.1, p = 0.008) and OS (HR 1.8, 95% CI 1.2-2.6, p = 0.004), high ESR2 was associated with longer OS (HR 0.5, 95% CI 0.2-1, p = 0.048) and low expression of RB1 was independently associated with shorter OS (HR 1.9, 95% CI 1.1-3.2, p = 0.014). (4) Conclusions: AR, ESR, and TSG expression signatures, as well as ARV7, RB1, and ESR2 expression, have a prognostic value in mHSPC patients treated with ADT+DX

In Vitro-Generated Hypertrophic-Like Adipocytes Displaying PPARG Isoforms Unbalance Recapitulate Adipocyte Dysfunctions In Vivo

Reduced neo-adipogenesis and dysfunctional lipid-overloaded adipocytes are hallmarks of hypertrophic obesity linked to insulin resistance. Identifying molecular features of hypertrophic adipocytes requires appropriate in vitro models. We describe the generation of a model of human hypertrophic-like adipocytes directly comparable to normal adipose cells and the pathologic evolution toward hypertrophic state. We generate in vitro hypertrophic cells from mature adipocytes, differentiated from human mesenchymal stem cells. Combining optical, confocal, and transmission electron microscopy with mRNA/protein quantification, we characterize this cellular model, confirming specific alterations also in subcutaneous adipose tissue. Specifically, we report the generation and morphological/molecular characterization of human normal and hypertrophic-like adipocytes. The latter displays altered morphology and unbalance between canonical and dominant negative (PPARGΔ5) transcripts of PPARG, paralleled by reduced expression of PPARγ targets, including GLUT4. Furthermore, the unbalance of PPARγ isoforms associates with GLUT4 down-regulation in subcutaneous adipose tissue of individuals with overweight/obesity or impaired glucose tolerance/type 2 diabetes, but not with normal weight or glucose tolerance. In conclusion, the hypertrophic-like cells described herein are an innovative tool for studying molecular dysfunctions in hypertrophic obesity and the unbalance between PPARγ isoforms associates with down-regulation of GLUT4 and other PPARγ targets, representing a new hallmark of hypertrophic adipocytes