The evolution of autologous breast reconstruction.

With breast cancer (BC) becoming more treatable, breast reconstruction has become an integral part of BC treatment. Nowadays, implant-based breast reconstruction is more common. However, there is a growing interest in autologous breast reconstruction due to the increasing awareness of implant-related complications. This work provides a comprehensive overview of the evolution of autologous reconstruction techniques of the breast and the nipple-areolar complex (NAC)

Seizure in isolated brain cryptococcoma: Case report and review of the literature

Background: Central nervous system (CNS) cryptococcosis is an invasive fungal infection predominantly seen among immunosuppressed patients causing meningitis or meningoencephalitis. Rarely, cryptococcosis can affect immunologically competent hosts with the formation of localized CNS granulomatous reaction, known as cryptococcoma. Common symptoms of CNS cryptococcoma are headaches, consciousness or mental changes, focal deficits, and cranial nerve dysfunction. Rarely, seizures are the only presenting symptom. Case description: We report the case of an immunocompetent patient with a solitary CNS cryptococcoma presenting with a long history of non-responsive generalized seizure who has been successfully operated. Conclusion: CNS cryptococcoma is a rare entity, and in immunocompetent patients, its diagnosis can be challenging. The pathophysiology of lesion-related seizure is discussed along with a review of the pertinent literature

Detection of buffalo milk adulteration with cow milk by capillary electrophoresis analysis.

The addition of cow milk during the production of buffalo mozzarella is a common fraud in dairy industries because of the lower price and greater availability of cow milk throughout the year. The aim of this study was to develop a new, rapid, and robust capillary electrophoresis method for detecting and quantifying cow milk in buffalo milk by exploiting cow α-lactalbumin as a marker of adulteration. In particular, a linear calibration curve was generated, using a training set of calibrators consisting of 7 series of 17 buffalo/bovine whey mixtures, obtained after casein precipitation, with increasing percentages of cow whey. The capillary electrophoresis method showed high linearity (R2 = 0.968), repeatability [relative standard deviation (RSD) = 2.11, 3.02, 4.38, and 1.18%, respectively for 5, 10, 20, and 50% of buffalo/bovine whey mixtures], and intermediate precision (RSD = 2.18, 2.49, 5.09, and 3.19%, respectively, for 5, 10, 20, and 50% buffalo/bovine whey mixtures). Moreover, the minimum amount of detectable fraudulent cow milk was 1%, and the limit of quantification was 3.1%

Mre11 Protein Complex Prevents Double-Strand Break Accumulation during Chromosomal DNA Replication

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Rapid liquid AP-MALDI MS profiling of lipids and proteins from goat and sheep milk for speciation and colostrum analysis

Rapid profiling of the biomolecular components of milk can be useful for food quality assessment and for food fraud detection. Differences in commercial value and availability of milk from specific species are often the reasons for the illicit and fraudulent sale of milk whose species origin is wrongly declared. In this study, a fast, MS-based speciation method is presented to distinguish sheep from goat milk and sheep colostrum at different phases. Using liquid atmospheric pressure (AP)-matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionisation (MALDI) MS, it was possible to classify samples of goat and sheep milk with 100% accuracy in one minute of data acquisition per sample. Moreover, an accuracy of 98% was achieved in classifying pure sheep milk samples and sheep milk samples containing 10% goat milk. Evaluating colostrum quality and postnatal stages represents another possible application of this technology. Classification of sheep colostrum samples that were collected within 6 hours after parturition and 48 hours later was achieved with an accuracy of 84.4%. Our data show that substantial changes in the lipid profile can account for the accurate classification of colostrum collected at the early and late time points. This method applied to the analysis of protein orthologs of different species can, as in this case, allow unequivocal speciation analysis

Design of observers for systems with rational output function

Abstract-This note presents an approach for the design of asymptotic state observers for systems characterized by output functions that are ratios of polynomials in the state. The case of linear and bilinear input-state dynamics is considered, and conditions for exponential error decay are provided. The first step towards the construction of the observer is to show that the dynamics of a system in the considered class can be embedded into the dynamics of a system of higher dimension, with time-varying linear state dynamics and linear output map. The construction of the observer here proposed exploits the structure of the extended system. The solution of a Riccati differential equation provides the observer gain

Design of observers for systems with rational output function

This note presents an approach for the design of asymptotic state observers for systems characterized by output functions that are ratios of polynomials in the state. The case of linear and bilinear input-state dynamics is considered, and conditions for exponential error decay are provided. The first step towards the construction of the observer is to show that the dynamics of a system in the considered class can be embedded into the dynamics of a system of higher dimension, with time-varying linear state dynamics and linear output map. The construction of the observer here proposed exploits the structure of the extended system. The solution of a Riccati differential equation provides the observer gain

Mathematical Models and State Observation of the Glucose-Insulin Homeostasis

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Bevacizumab plus XELOX as first-line treatment of metastatic colorectal cancer: The OBELIX study

AIM: To confirm the efficacy and safety of bevacizumab/XELOX combination for the treatment of locally advanced or metastatic colorectal cancer (CRC) in Italy. METHODS: This multicentric, prospective, open-label study included patients with CRC previously untreated with chemotherapy. Patients were administered bevacizumab in combination with XELOX. The primary efficacy end-point was progression-free survival (PFS). Secondary end-points included time to overall response (TOR), duration of response (DOR), time to treatment failure (TTF) and overall survival (OS). The incidence and type of adverse events AEs and severe AEs were evaluated. Also, the mutational status of BRAF and KRAS was assessed by high resolution melting and direct sequencing, and quality of life (QoL) was measured by the EuroQoL EQ-5D questionnaire at baseline and at the last visit. RESULTS: The intention-to-treat population included 197 patients (mean age: 62.3 ± 9.9 years, 56.4% males). At baseline, 16/34 evaluable subjects (47.1%) harbored a KRAS and/or a BRAF mutation; the mean QoL index was 80.2 ± 14.3. First-line therapy was given for 223.7 ± 175.9 d, and after a mean follow-up of 387.7 ± 238.8 d all patients discontinued from the study mainly for disease progression (PD, 45.4%) and AEs (25.4%). Median PFS was 9.7 mo (95%CI: 8.4-10.5) and the median values for secondary end-points were: TOR = 3.9 mo (95%CI: 2.6-4.7), DOR = 8.5 mo (95%CI: 7.3-10.3), TTF = 6.7 mo (95%CI: 6.0-7.7) and OS = 23.2 mo (95%CI: 20.1-27.2). Patients carrying at least one lesion had a lower overall response rate (66.7% vs 88.9%) and a lower probability of achieving complete or partial response than those without mutations, but the difference in relative risk was not statistically significant (P = 0.2). Mean EQ-5D-3L raw index score significantly decreased to 74.9 ± 19.1 at the last visit (signed-rank test, P = 0.0076), but in general the evaluation on QoL perceived by patients was good. CONCLUSION: The efficacy of bevacizumab in combination with XELOX in terms of PFS in patients with aCRC or mCRC in Italy was confirmed, with acceptable toxicity

Evaluation of freezing point in milk from buffalos reared in Calabria, Italy

Evaluation of freezing point is one of the most common technique used to detect milk adulteration such as addition of external water to increase volume. The aim of this study was to evaluate the freezing point of buffalo milk using infrared spectroscopy and to assess how it is influenced by other milk components. A total of 361 individual buffalo milk samples were collected monthly from March to August of 2017 in a dairy farm in Catanzaro district, Italy. Samples were tested for freezing point, urea, acetone and beta-hydroxybutyrate, percent of fat, protein, lactose, casein, by Fourier Transformed Spectroscopy. The pH and daily milk production were also recorded. Freezing point ranged from -0.574°C to - 0.512°C and the mean values was -0.545°C ±0.010. According to lactation stage, freezing point decreased until 210 days post-partum reaching the minimum value of −0.550°C, then it slightly increased during lactation; according to sampling month the highest and lowest values were recorded in August and June, respectively. A positive correlation between freezing point and lactose content were evidenced (r=0.1806, P<0.05). Moreover, a faintly positive correlation was also found between freezing point and beta-idroxibutirrate (r=0.0869, P<0.05) and acetone (r=0.0096, P<0.05), whereas a negative correlation with fat (r=−0.2356, P<0.05), protein (r=-0.1855, P<0.05), casein (r=-0.2127, P<0.05) and urea (r=-0.1229, P<0.05) was evidenced