hospital anxiety and depression

Objective: The study investigate the presence of depressive disorders in patient who are taken in general hospital, to prevent and reduce the risk of developing a psychological pathology (anxious-depressive symptoms). Methods: We used two tests: 1. General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12) by Goldberg, a self-report questionnaire, consisting of 12 items, used to estimate the probability of detecting non-psychotic mental disorders and problems in every day's activity. 2. Personal Health Questionnaire (PHQ), a self-report questionnaire, consisting of 10 items. It is a new tool for detecting individuals with ICD-10 depressive disorders, used to estimate the probability to individuate the presence of major depression symptoms, and minor depression symptoms. Tests have been administered to 140 subjects (males' experimental group, 32 subjects; males' control group, 20 subjects; females' experimental group 58 subjects; females' control group, 30 subjects) from eight departments of university hospital, medical faculty, and social services. Results: It can be noted that with GHQ-12, the presence of non-psychotic mental disorders does not come out: just the females' group, experimental and control, shows some problems with insomnia and stress. On the other hand, with PHQ, the presence of no great entity depressive symptoms comes out for all groups. In the experimental groups the quantity of depressive symptoms is greater than in the control groups. Conclusions: We have find the presence of a number of depressive symptoms into a hospitalized population. It is known that detecting such symptoms is important for protection and care of depressive disorders in hospitalized and nonhospitalized populations

Stem-like and highly invasive prostate cancer cells expressing CD44v8-10 marker originate from CD44-negative cells

In human prostate cancer (PCa), the neuroendocrine cells, expressing the prostate cancer stem cell (CSC) marker CD44, may be resistant to androgen ablation and promote tumor recurrence. During the study of heterogeneity of the highly aggressive neuroendocrine PCa cell lines PC3 and DU-145, we isolated and expanded in vitro a minor subpopulation of very small cells lacking CD44 (CD44neg). Unexpectedly, these sorted CD44neg cells rapidly and spontaneously converted to a stable CD44high phenotype specifically expressing the CD44v8-10 isoform which the sorted CD44high subpopulation failed to express. Surprisingly and potentially interesting, in these cells expression of CD44v8-10 was found to be induced in stem cell medium. CD44 variant isoforms are known to be more expressed in CSC and metastatic cells than CD44 standard isoform. In agreement, functional analysis of the two sorted and cultured subpopulations has shown that the CD44v8-10pos PC3 cells, resulting from the conversion of the CD44neg subpopulation, were more invasive in vitro and had a higher clonogenic potential than the sorted CD44high cells, in that they produced mainly holoclones, known to be enriched in stem-like cells. Of interest, the CD44v8-10 is more expressed in human PCa biopsies than in normal gland. The discovery of CD44v8-10pos cells with stem-like and invasive features, derived from a minoritarian CD44neg cell population in PCa, alerts on the high plasticity of stem-like markers and urges for prudency on the approaches to targeting the putative CSC

Clinicopathological features of extranodal lymphomas: Kuwait experience

A total of 935 patients with extranodal non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) diagnosed in the period between January 1985 and December 2000 in Kuwait Cancer Center, serving the whole population of Kuwait, were used to describe the clinicopathological and epidemiological features of extranodal lymphomas in Kuwait. Extranodal lymphomas accounted for 45% of all NHL observed during this time. All NHL cases from Kuwait Cancer registry were analyzed and pathologically reclassified using the latest WHO ( 2000) classification. The most common lymphoma observed was diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (58.60%) followed by Burkitt's lymphoma (BL) (3.80%). In the pediatric group, BL comprises more than two thirds of all patients (77.20%). The most common extranodal sites were stomach (19.70%) and skin (17.80%) in the adult group, large intestine (29.80%) and small intestine (19.30%) in the pediatric age group. The majority (73.40%) of adult extranodal lymphomas was in stage IE - IIE and had a very good prognosis. On the contrary, the majority of pediatric extranodal lymphomas were found to be in stage III and IV. Variations in treatment policies ( single agent or combined chemotherapy, radiotherapy, combined modality treatment) adopted and changed during the time period of 16 years of this retrospective study were documented. Copyright (C) 2004 S. Karger AG, Basel

Impact of chemotherapy regimen and rituximab in adult Burkitt lymphoma: a retrospective population-based study from the Nordic Lymphoma Group.

BackgroundStandard treatment of adult Burkitt lymphoma is not defined due to the lack of randomised trials. In this situation, population-based data may represent a useful contribution in order to identify an optimal treatment strategy.Patients and methodsThe aims of this study were to investigate the outcome for adult HIV-negative BL with different chemotherapy regimens, and to assess possible improvement within the time frame of the study. The study population was identified through the Swedish and Danish lymphoma registries 2000-2009.ResultsA total of 258 patients were identified. Since 2000, overall survival (OS) improved significantly only for younger patients (<65 years). Intensive regimens such as the Berlin-Frankfurt-Münster, hyper-fractionated cyclophosphamide, vincristine, doxorubicin, and dexamethasone (hyper-CVAD) and cyclophosphamide, vincristine, doxorubicin, methotrexate, ifosfamide, etoposide, and cytarabine (CODOX-M/IVAC) were associated with a favourable 2-year OS of 82%, 83%, and 69%, respectively. The low-intensive CHOP/CHOEP regimens achieved a 2-year OS of 38.8%, confirming their inadequacy for the treatment of BL. In a multivariate analysis, rituximab was not significantly associated with improved OS.ConclusionsIn this population-based retrospective series of adult BL, intensive chemotherapy regimens were associated with favourable outcome. The impact of the addition of rituximab remains uncertain and warrants further investigation

Long-Term Functional Results of a Modified Caudal-to-Cranial Approach in Laparoscopic Segmental Left Colectomy for Diverticular Disease

A modified caudal-to-cranial approach to perform laparoscopic left colectomy for benign diseases has been recently designed to facilitate the low-tie mesenteric dissection. A chart review has been performed including all consecutive patients with uncomplicated diverticulitis who have been treated by segmental left colectomy with a caudal-to-cranial approach. A total of 34 patients were included in the study. 21 patients were male, mean age was 54.1±11.3, and mean BMI was 26±5.5. Patients with ASA Score I were 7, with ASA II were 9, and with ASA Score III were 5. Incontinence Score (IS) resulted in an average of 5±2,2 grade of incontinence and the CS score showed an average of 10±3,2 grade of constipation. Health status, evaluated by Short Form-36 questionnaire, was demonstrated in these patients' great physical function, role, general health, and social function. The anorectal manometry performed 6 months after surgery showed a normal value in terms of the anal resting pressure (47±13 mmHg) and an increased volume to stimulate desire to defecate (197±25 ml). The length of the anal sphincter was normal compared to the reference value (37±5.4 mm). Although further studies are required to obtain definitive conclusions, our results are encouraging to propose low-tie segmental colectomy as the standard procedure for the treatment of uncomplicated diverticulitis, and our modified surgical approach could be considered useful to facilitate the surgical approach

Naringenin is a powerful inhibitor of SARS-CoV-2 infection in vitro

Recently, an interesting review appeared in Pharmacological Research presented a list of candidate drugs against SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19 [1]. In the present insight, we highlight novel experimental evidence that the flavanone Naringenin, targeting the endo-lysosomal Two-Pore Channels (TPCs), could be added to the list of potential weapons against SARS-CoV-2 infection and COVID-19 disease

The LuGRE project: a scientific opportunity to study GNSS signals at the Moon

The Lunar GNSS Receiver Experiment (LuGRE) is a joint NASA-Italian Space Agency (ASI) payload on the Firefly Blue Ghost Mission 1 with the goal to demonstrate GNSS-based positioning, navigation, and timing at the Moon. When launched, LuGRE will collect GPS and Galileo measurements in transit between Earth and the Moon, in lunar orbit, and on the lunar surface, and will conduct onboard and ground-based navigation experiments using the collected data. These investigations will be based on the observation of the data collected by a custom development performed by the company Qascom, based on the Qascom QN400-Space GNSS receiver. The receiver is able to provide, PVT solutions, the GNSS raw observables obtained by the real time operation, as well as snapshots of IF digital samples collected by the RF front-end at frequencies L1/E1 and L5/E5. These data will be the input for the different science investigations, that require then the development of proper analysis tools that will be the core of the ground segment during the mission. The current work done by the science team of NASA and ASI, which is supported by a research team at Politecnico di Torino, is planning the data acquisitions during the time windows dedicated to the LuGRE payload in the checkout, transit and surface mission phases

VEGFR1 signaling in retinal angiogenesis and microinflammation

Five vascular endothelial growth factor receptor (VEGFR) ligands (VEGF-A, -B, –C, -D, and placental growth factor [PlGF]) constitute the VEGF family. VEGF-A binds to VEGF receptors 1 and 2 (VEGFR1/2), whereas VEGF-B and PlGF only bind VEGFR1. Although much research has been conducted on VEGFR2 to elucidate its key role in retinal diseases, recent efforts have shown the importance and involvement of VEGFR1 and its family of ligands in angiogenesis, vascular permeability, and microinflammatory cascades within the retina. Expression of VEGFR1 depends on the microenvironment, is differentially regulated under hypoxic and inflammatory conditions, and it has been detected in retinal and choroidal endothelial cells, pericytes, retinal and choroidal mononuclear phagocytes (including microglia), Müller cells, photoreceptor cells, and the retinal pigment epithelium. Whilst the VEGF-A decoy function of VEGFR1 is well established, consequences of its direct signaling are less clear. VEGFR1 activation can affect vascular permeability and induce macrophage and microglia production of proinflammatory and proangiogenic mediators. However the ability of the VEGFR1 ligands (VEGF-A, PlGF, and VEGF-B) to compete against each other for receptor binding and to heterodimerize complicates our understanding of the relative contribution of VEGFR1 signaling alone toward the pathologic processes seen in diabetic retinopathy, retinal vascular occlusions, retinopathy of prematurity, and age-related macular degeneration. Clinically, anti-VEGF drugs have proven transformational in these pathologies and their impact on modulation of VEGFR1 signaling is still an opportunity-rich field for further research