New prognostic markers in acute myeloid lekemia: focus on BCL2 expression

Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) comprises a genetically and clinically heterogeneous group of aggressive haematological neoplasms, characterized by clonal proliferation, reduced maturation of malignant myeloid precursors and resistance to apoptosis. The BCL2 protooncogene encodes an inner mitochondrial membrane protein that blocks programmed cell death, and it can be over overexpressed in AML, but is uncertain if its overexpression could have a prognostic impact. We perform immunophenotypic analysis to identify blast cells population from bone marrow samples of all newly diagnosed AML patients in our haematology unit. At data cut off, we enrol 68 newly diagnosed AML pts from December 2019 to January 2023. 36 male 32 female, the median age 68.5ys (range 20-92ys), 42/68 were treated with intensive chemotherapy, 26/68 were treated with hypomethylating agents or low dose cytarabine. We studied the prognostic biologic futures of the AML samples, especially NPM1, FLT3 mutations and karyotype. The expression of BCL2 is classified by using as a parameter the MFI, mean fluorescence intensity, obtained by calculating the ratio between the median intensity of BCL2 in the sample and the corresponding isotipic control. After several statistical analysis we couldn’t prove a prognostic impact of the over expression of BCL2 about OS, as some papers had shown before. We tried to find also a statistical correlation between over expression of BCL2 and other biological futures with prognostic role, but neither mutations of NPM1, FLT3 were related to the expression of BCL2. Finally we study OS of our cohort of patients treated with intensive chemotherapy and low dose therapies and we found a very good prognosis for responder patients treated with intensive chemotherapy with a median OS not reached after 2 years of follow up. Unfortunately the prognosis of older patients, event with the introduction of new target therapies remain poor, with a median OS less then one year

The dosimetry of neutron fields of therapeutic complex based on the U-120 cyclotron

In this work, the characteristics of the treat beam's dosimetry of fast neutrons of the U-120 cyclotron have been analyzed with the help of the ionizing method. The fast neutrons with 6, 3 MeV as medium energy have been obtained in coordination of deuterons with the target made of beryllium and are meant to be used for treating the patients with malignant neoplasms. The capacity of the dose in the beam of fast neutrons has been measured by ionization chambers of different types. The research has been done with the consideration of co-occurring gamma rays. The monitoring indices needed for calculation the duration of therapy session at given therapy dose have also been specified

Management of Post-Harvest Anthracnose: Current Approaches and Future Perspectives

Anthracnose is a severe disease caused by Colletotrichum spp. on several crop species. Fungal infections can occur both in the field and at the post-harvest stage causing severe lesions on fruits and economic losses. Physical treatments and synthetic fungicides have traditionally been the preferred means to control anthracnose adverse effects; however, the urgent need to decrease the use of toxic chemicals led to the investigation of innovative and sustainable protection techniques. Evidence for the efficacy of biological agents and vegetal derivates has been reported; however, their introduction into actual crop protection strategies requires the solutions of several critical issues. Biotechnology-based approaches have also been explored, revealing the opportunity to develop innovative and safe methods for anthracnose management through genome editing and RNA interference technologies. Nevertheless, besides the number of advantages related to their use, e.g., the putative absence of adverse effects due to their high specificity, a number of aspects remain to be clarified to enable their introduction into Integrated Pest Management (IPM) protocols against Colletotrichum spp. disease

Detection of the Glass Transition of Polymers Used in Art and Art-Conservation Using Raman Spectroscopy

In this work, Raman spectroscopy was employed for the detection of the glass transition temperatures (Tg) of some thermoplastic polymers and natural terpenoid resins. In particular, our attention was focused on evaluating the Tg of polystyrene and colophony. The measurements returned Tg values in accordance with those reported in the literature obtained using the DSC technique, thus confirming the reliability of the approach proposed herein. Further studies will be focused on the evaluation of Tg temperature changes depending on materials treatments and ageing