Cure indicators and prevalence by stage at diagnosis for breast and colorectal cancer patients: A population‐based study in Italy

People alive many years after breast (BC) or colorectal cancer (CRC) diagnoses are increasing. This paper aimed to estimate the indicators of cancer cure and complete prevalence for Italian patients with BC and CRC by stage and age. A total of 31 Italian Cancer Registries (47% of the population) data until 2017 were included. Mixture cure models allowed estimation of net survival (NS); cure fraction (CF); time to cure (TTC, 5-year conditional NS >95%); cure prevalence (who will not die of cancer); and already cured (prevalent patients living longer than TTC). 2.6% of all Italian women (806,410) were alive in 2018 after BC and 88% will not die of BC. For those diagnosed in 2010, CF was 73%, 99% when diagnosed at stage I, 81% at stage II, and 36% at stages III-IV. For all stages combined, TTC was >10 years under 45 and over 65 years and for women with advanced stages, but <= 1 year for all BC patients at stage I. The proportion of already cured prevalent BC women was 75% (94% at stage I). Prevalent CRC cases were 422,407 (0.7% of the Italian population), 90% will not die of CRC. For CRC patients, CF was 56%, 92% at stage I, 71% at stage II, and 35% at stages III-IV. TTC was <= 10 years for all age groups and stages. Already cured were 59% of all prevalent CRC patients (93% at stage I). Cancer cure indicators by stage may contribute to appropriate follow-up in the years after diagnosis, thus avoiding patients' discrimination

Trends in Net Survival from Vulvar Squamous Cell Carcinoma in Italy (1990–2015)

Objective: In many Western countries, survival from vulvar squamous cell carcinoma (VSCC) has been stagnating for decades or has increased insufficiently from a clinical perspective. In Italy, previous studies on cancer survival have not taken vulvar cancer into consideration or have pooled patients with vulvar and vaginal cancer. To bridge this knowledge gap, we report the trend in survival from vulvar cancer between 1990 and 2015. (2) Methods: Thirty-eight local cancer registries covering 49% of the national female population contributed the records of 6274 patients. Study endpoints included 1- and 2-year net survival (NS) calculated using the Pohar-Perme estimator and 5-year NS conditional on having survived two years (5|2-year CNS). The significance of survival trends was assessed with the Wald test on the coefficient of the period of diagnosis, entered as a continuous regressor in a Poisson regression model. (3) Results: The median patient age was stable at 76 years. One-year NS decreased from 83.9% in 1990–2001 to 81.9% in 2009–2015 and 2-year NS from 72.2% to 70.5%. Five|2-year CNS increased from 85.7% to 86.7%. These trends were not significant. In the age stratum 70–79 years, a weakly significant decrease in 2-year NS from 71.4% to 65.7% occurred. Multivariate analysis adjusting for age group at diagnosis and geographic area showed an excess risk of death at 5|2-years, of borderline significance, in 2003–2015 versus 1990–2002. (4) Conclusions: One- and 2-year NS and 5|2-year CNS showed no improvements. Current strategies for VSCC control need to be revised both in Italy and at the global level

Immune Defences: A View from the Side of the Essential Oils

The use of essential oils is increasingly being investigated among new therapeutic approaches based on medicinal plants and their extracts. With the wide use of synthetic and semi-synthetic antimicrobial drugs, the spread of drug-resistant clinical isolates has increased, and research is directed towards natural products, such as essential oils, as useful antimicrobial resources. In the context of a prospective infection, we compared the impact of essential oils and common antimicrobial agents on the microbicidal activity of human phagocytes. Here, we present the results of our decades-long investigation into the effectiveness of thyme red oil (26.52% thymol chemotype), tea tree oil (TTO), and Mentha of Pancalieri [(Mentha x piperita (Huds) var. officinalis (Sole), form rubescens (Camus) (Lamiaceae)] essential oils on human polymorphonuclear leukocytes (PMNs) capacity to kill clinical strains of Candida albicans and C. krusei when compared to three antifungal drugs used to treat candidiasis (fluconazole, anidulafungin, and caspofungin) These essential oils demonstrate antifungal drug-like and/or superior efficacy in enhancing intracellular killing by PMNs, even at subinhibitory concentrations. Our results are compared with data in the literature on essential oils and immune system interactions. This comparison would aid in identifying therapeutic solutions to the increasingly prevalent antibiotic resistance as well as filling in any remaining knowledge gaps on the bioactivity of essential oils

On cross- and self-nucleation in seeded crystallization of isotactic poly(1-butene)

none5mixedDario Cavallo;Lorenza Gardella;Giuseppe Portale;Alejandro J. M?ller;Giovanni C. AlfonsoCavallo, Dario; Lorenza, Gardella; Giuseppe, Portale; Alejandro J., M?ller; Alfonso, GIOVANNI CARL

Impact of synthetic talc on PLLA electrospun fibers

Poly(L-lactic acid) (PLLA) is an important biomaterial with application as surgical meshes, sutures, and in artificial tissue. Here we prepared novel fibers by electrospinning solutions containing PLLA and a specially synthesized talc (ts), characterized by the presence of aliphatic chains in the structure and completely soluble in the electrospinning solutions. Even a small amount of ts (2 wt.-%) in the toluene/chloroform solvent increases the solution viscosity, most likely because of specific interactions between talc and PLLA. Morphological characterization demonstrated that homogenous fibers, of neat PLLA and PLLA/ts, are obtained by proper choice of electrospinning conditions. Among the parameters studied, relative humidity (Rh) was found significantly to affect fiber morphology. Morphological homogeneity increases by increasing Rh. In contrast to fibers containing a commercial talc, which is insoluble in the electrospinning mixture, and whose aggregates render the fiber irregular, in the case of PLLA/ts fibers the dispersion of the synthetic talc is achieved at the nanometric length scale. Electrospun mats based on PLLA/ts showed a much higher water contact angle than the neat PLLA mats, the contact angle increasing from 92° to ca. 140°, thus highlighting that a superhydrophobic PLLA surface is obtained by dispersing synthetic talc into PLLA fibers, widening the potential for biomedical applications of this material. Fiber properties of superhydrophobic PLLA were studied by means of differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), static and real-time wide angle X- ray diffraction (WAXD), and water contact angle measurements. Talc was found to promote the development of a small amount of crystallinity during the electrospinning process, and to favor the development of the α crystallographic form during annealin