Mitochondrial cytochrome b DNA sequence variations: an approach to fish species identification in processed fish products.

The identification of fish species in food products is problematic because morphological features of the fish are partially or completely lost during processing. It is important to determine fish origin because of the increasing international seafood trade and because European Community Regulation 104/2000 requires that the products be labeled correctly. Sequence analysis of PCR products from a conserved region of the cytochrome b gene was used to identity fish species belonging to the families Gadidae and Merluccidae in 18 different processed fish products. This method allowed the identification of fish species in all samples. Fish in all of the examined products belonged to these two families, with the exception of one sample of smoked baccalà (salt cod), which was not included in the Gadidae cluster

Optical Coherence Tomography Angiography Findings After Intravitreal Ranibizumab in Patients With Coats Disease

: The aim of this retrospective study was to describe the vascular features in eyes with Coats disease, using optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA), at baseline and after 3 monthly intravitreal injections of ranibizumab. Fifteen eyes of 15 consecutive patients affected by Coats' disease were recruited in this study. All patients underwent the best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA) evaluation, fundus examination, fluorescein angiography (FA), indocyanine green angiography (ICGA), multicolor imaging, structural Spectral Domain (SD)-OCT and OCTA at baseline and 1 month after the third monthly ranibizumab injection (loading phase). Fifteen patients completed the study, of whom nine were males and six females. Mean age was 20.4 ± 2 years. BCVA was 0.46 ± 0.11 logMar and 0.47 ± 0.12 logMar at baseline and after treatment, respectively (p = 0.164). SD-OCT revealed no significant decrease in central macular thickness (486.33 μm ± 93.37 at baseline vs. 483.4 μm ± 80.97 after treatment; p = 0.915). The subretinal exudates persisted in macular region after intravitreal injections. OCTA showed a general vascular rarefaction in superficial capillary plexus (SCP), deep capillary plexus (DCP), and choriocapillary (CC) that did not change after loading phase. This study showed no functional and vascular improvement following 3 monthly ranibizumab injections. OCTA, non-invasive technique, could be useful during follow up of these patients and provide a better understand of pathogenesis of this disorder

Optical coherence tomography angiography findings in Huntington’s disease

Objectives: To evaluate the retinal and choriocapillaris vascular networks in macular region and the central choroidal thickness (CCT) in patients affected by Huntington disease (HD), using optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA) and enhanced depth imaging spectral-domain OCT (EDI SD-OCT). Methods: We assessed the vessel density (VD) in superficial capillary plexus (SCP), deep capillary plexus (DCP), and choriocapillaris (CC) using OCTA, while CCT was measured by EDI SD-OCT. Results: Sixteen HD patients (32 eyes) and thirteen healthy controls (26 eyes) were enrolled in this prospective study. No significant difference in retinal and choriocapillaris VD was found between HD patients and controls while CCT turned to be thinner in patients respect to controls. There were no significant relationships between OCTA findings and neurological parameters. Conclusion: The changes in choroidal structure provide useful information regarding the possible neurovascular involvement in the physiopathology of HD. Choroidal vascular network could be a useful parameter to evaluate the vascular impairment that occurs in this neurodegenerative disease

Optimized Identification of High-Grade Prostate Cancer by Combining Different PSA Molecular Forms and PSA Density in a Deep Learning Model

After skin cancer, prostate cancer (PC) is the most common cancer among men. The gold standard for PC diagnosis is based on the PSA (prostate-specific antigen) test. Based on this preliminary screening, the physician decides whether to proceed with further tests, typically prostate biopsy, to confirm cancer and evaluate its aggressiveness. Nevertheless, the specificity of the PSA test is suboptimal and, as a result, about 75% of men who undergo a prostate biopsy do not have cancer even if they have elevated PSA levels. Overdiagnosis leads to unnecessary overtreatment of prostate cancer with undesirable side effects, such as incontinence, erectile dysfunction, infections, and pain. Here, we used artificial neuronal networks to develop models that can diagnose PC efficiently. The model receives as an input a panel of 4 clinical variables (total PSA, free PSA, p2PSA, and PSA density) plus age. The output of the model is an estimate of the Gleason score of the patient. After training on a dataset of 190 samples and optimization of the variables, the model achieved values of sensitivity as high as 86% and 89% specificity. The efficiency of the method can be improved even further by training the model on larger datasets

Peri-Prostatic Adipocyte-Released TGFβ Enhances Prostate Cancer Cell Motility by Upregulation of Connective Tissue Growth Factor

Periprostatic adipose tissue (PPAT) has emerged as a key player in the prostate cancer (PCa) microenvironment. In this study, we evaluated the ability of PPAT to promote PCa cell migration, as well as the molecular mechanisms involved. Methods: We collected conditioned mediums from in vitro differentiated adipocytes isolated from PPAT taken from PCa patients during radical prostatectomy. Migration was studied by scratch assay. Results: Culture with CM of human PPAT (AdipoCM) promotes migration in two different human androgen-independent (AI) PCa cell lines (DU145 and PC3) and upregulated the expression of CTGF. SB431542, a well-known TGFβ receptor inhibitor, counteracts the increased migration observed in presence of AdipoCM and decreased CTGF expression, suggesting that a paracrine secretion of TGFβ by PPAT affects motility of PCa cells. Conclusions: Collectively, our study showed that factors secreted by PPAT enhanced migration through CTGF upregulation in AI PCa cell lines. These findings reveal the potential of novel therapeutic strategies targeting adipocyte-released factors and TGFβ/CTGF axis to fight advanced PCa dissemination

New strategy for the identification of prostate cancer: The combination of Proclarix and the prostate health index

Prostate health index (PHI) and, more recently, Proclarix have been proposed as serum biomarkers for prostate cancer (PCa). In this study, we aimed to evaluate Proclarix and PHI for predicting clinically significant prostate cancer (csPCa)

SARS-CoV-2 complete genome sequencing from the Italian Campania region using a highly automated next generation sequencing system

Since the first complete genome sequencing of SARS-CoV-2 in December 2019, more than 550,000 genomes have been submitted into the GISAID database. Sequencing of the SARS-CoV-2 genome might allow identification of variants with increased contagiousness, different clinical patterns and/or different response to vaccines. A highly automated next generation sequencing (NGS)-based method might facilitate an active genomic surveillance of the virus

Association of neovascular age-related macular degeneration with month and season of birth in Italy

In order to investigate the influence of season and month of birth on the risk of neovascular age-related macular degeneration (n-AMD) in Italy, we evaluated the month birth and sex of all patients, recorded in the anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) monitoring registry of the Italian Medicines Agency, born between 1925-1944, who received intravitreal anti-VEGF injections for n-AMD between January 1, 2013 and July 29, 2015. The numbers of all births in Italy in the same years, extracted from the Italian National Institute of Statistics, were used to calculate the expected number of n-AMD cases. Overall, 45,845 patients (19,207 men, 26,638 women) received intravitreal anti-VEGF for n-AMD; in the same years, 20,140,426 people (10,334,262 male, 9,806,164 female) were born in Italy. Comparing the observed number of n-AMD cases with the expected number of n- AMD cases in each season, we found that the season-specific risk for n-AMD was 2.5% higher for those born in summer (OR=1.03, Bonferroni-corrected P=0.008) and 3% lower for those born in winter (OR=0.96, Bonferroni-corrected P=0.0004). When considering the month of birth, the risk of n-AMD was 5.9% lower for people born in January (OR=0.93, Bonferroni-corrected P=0.0012). The factors causing such differences should be determined

Liquid biopsy biomarkers in urine: a route towards molecular diagnosis and personalized medicine of bladder cancer

Bladder cancer (BC) is characterized by high incidence and recurrence rates together with genomic instability and elevated mutation degree. Currently, cystoscopy combined with cytology is routinely used for diagnosis, prognosis and disease surveillance. Such an approach is often associated with several side effects, discomfort for the patient and high economic burden. Thus, there is an essential demand of non-invasive, sensitive, fast and inexpensive biomarkers for clinical management of BC patients. In this context, liquid biopsy represents a very promising tool that has been widely investigated over the last decade. Liquid biopsy will likely be at the basis of patient selection for precision medicine, both in terms of treatment choice and real-time monitoring of therapeutic effects. Several different urinary biomarkers have been proposed for liquid biopsy in BC, including DNA methylation and mutations, protein-based assays, non-coding RNAs and mRNA signatures. In this review, we summarized the state of the art on different available tests concerning their potential clinical applications for BC detection, prognosis, surveillance and response to therap