Perturbation of specific transcripts in peripheral blood mononuclear cells in breast cancer: a case control pilot study

Introduction: Breast cancer (BC) is the most common type of diagnosed cancer worldwide and the leading cause of cancer death in women and it is the second most frequent cancer-causing mortality for women worldwide. Peripheral blood-based biopsy for BC could be a promising tool for risk prediction and diagnosis. In this study, we aimed to evaluate the gene expression profile of PBMCs in Italian patients with BC. Methods: In this case-control pilot study, we isolated PBMCs from 22 BC patients and 21 healthy controls and evaluated the expression of a panel of 52 target genes related to BC or circadian rhythm by a customized TaqMan Open Array Real-Time PCR panel. Results: Among the differentially expressed genes, 22 remained unchanged. These unchanged genes are mainly involved in cellular processes, including the circadian clock, cellular responses to stress/stimuli, the immune system, signal transduction, and metabolism. We found a total of 30 significantly de-regulated genes. In particular, 8 genes, including PARP6, IGFR1, EZH2, VEGFA, NOTCH1, CD44, BCAR1, and CD24A, resulted significantly down-regulated in patients with BC compared to Controls, while 22 genes were significantly up-regulated in BCs patients compared to Controls. We found several already reported BC-associated genes up-regulated in PBMCs of our BC patients, but FOXO3, ARNTL, and ADAM17 emerged as the most strongly up-regulated. The enrichment pathways analysis highlight that de-regulated genes are mainly involved in the regulation of gene expression and transcription, signal transduction, and immune system response. Discussion: The results of our pilot study demonstrated that the evaluation of PBMC gene signature could be a valuable tool for primary prevention and early diagnosis of BC in several high-risk settings, thus reducing the global mortality associated with this tumour. Take-home message: Non-invasive screening programs, particularly those adopted in workplaces, may have a great impact on early diagnosis and good prognosis for BC. Our study provided proof of concept that the development of a screening test based on PBMC-derived gene expression biomarkers could be a viable route

Blood cell gene expression profiles: A narrative review of biomarkers and effects of low-dose ionizing radiation exposure

Ionizing radiation (IR) is a ubiquitous environmental agent whose effects on organisms are well known. This review provides a summary about definitions and man-made low-dose ionizing radiation (LDIR) sources and dosimeters used in radiation protection. Moreover, the main purpose of this article was to overview the pro-oncogenic effects of LDIR, and to provide experimental evidence that reinforce the use of gene expression data as biomarkers of LDIR effects. Our review showed that basic studies on biological response to LDIR are considered priority. Further, understanding occupational exposure to LDIR may provide valuable information to organize the prevention and prevent from the onset of long-term health effects in radiation workers. Currently, the biodosimetry-based assessment in certain high risk occupational groups may be performed by using peripheral blood cells as samples for testing and validation of biomarkers specificity and sensitivity. Most of the studies on this topic are aimed at establishing new biomarkers and approaches to biological dosimetry, for allowing non-invasive monitoring of long-term health effects of LDIR. Analysis on changes in gene-expression, which is an early specific biological response to LDIR, could provide rapid estimates of individual dose in occupational cohorts, improving the management of periodical medical examination in subjects exposed to LDIR sources

SOCIOLOGIA DEI PROCESSI ECONOMICI: Teorie e modelli per affrontare le crisi e le sfide di una economia globale

Studio della sociologia economica con teorie nuove per un modello innovativo di economia.Theory for a new vision of the sociology of the work. Another point of view of this new sience where we can find a theory for a new model of the economy

Occasioni di dialogo. Progetto di recupero urbano a Vinovo: la Piccola Casa della Divina Provvidenza

La proposta della Città di Vinovo di attivare un workshop per gli studenti delle lauree Magistrali dell’Architettura - DAD Politecnico di Torino, quale spazio dove studenti, docenti, professionisti e amministratori locali si possono confrontare sulle possibilità di riuso dell’edificio della Piccola Casa della Divina Provvidenza (ormai dismesso) offre l’occasione per ragionare sulle potenzialità di trasformazione di un bene culturale e sul processo di valorizzazione da attivare. L’avvio dei lavori del piccolo borgo dell’ex Cottolengo, dove il manufatto risiede, per accogliere attività socio-assistenziali impone con urgenza di assegnare un nuovo ruolo anche per il maestoso edificio disegnato dall’inge- gner Caselli, riconoscibile per il valore storico-culturale e per i contenuti innovativi insiti nell’opera dal punto di vista tecnologico e strutturale

Scale di misurazione del dolore nel neonato: revisione della letteratura

Introduction: The measurement of pain is the fundamental prerequisite for its proper management. Since newborns are unable to communicate verbally, neonatal algometric scales have been developed. However, no gold standard has been identified yet. Objective: To identify and classify the most suitable and effective scales for different kinds of pain for term and preterm newborns in different clinical settings. Method: The review was carried out between December 2019 and November 2020 by consulting the PubMed and CINAHL Database, combining Mesh terms and free text with appropriate inclusion and exclusion filters. The references reported in the articles found in the first part of the research were also analyzed, in order to identify further relevant studies. Results: Out of 2442 papers initially identified, we included 45 articles, describing 50 pain assessment scales (34 for acute pain, 12 for procedural pain, 24 for prolonged/chronic pain and 19 for pain after surgery). Scales with higher evidence are N-PASS, NFCS, BIIP and PIPP for acute and procedural pain, N-PASS, ALPS-Neo, EDIN and EDIN6 for prolonged/chronic pain, and PIPP, CRIES and COMFORT for pain after surgery. Discussion: There is no unanimously accepted gold standard scale for neonatal pain. However, some are more suitable and effective: PIPP, NFCS, N-PASS and BIIP for acute pain; N-PASS, ALPS-Neo and EDIN/EDIN6 for chronic and prolonged pain; PIPP, CRIES and COMFORT for postoperative pain. Among all, N-PASS scale is the most complete and fits to different settings. Key words: Newborn, pain, pain assessment, pain measurement scale.Introduzione: La misurazione del dolore è il prerequisito fondamentale per un’adeguata gestione. Poiché il neonato è incapace di comunicare verbalmente, sono state elaborate numerose scale algometriche specifiche per l’epoca neonatale. Tuttavia, non esiste una scala adottata universalmente o significativamente più efficace di altre. Obiettivo: Individuare e classificare le scale più idonee ed efficaci nella misurazione dei diversi tipi di dolore nel neonato a termine e pretermine in diversi contesti clinici. Metodi: Tra Dicembre 2019 e Novembre 2020 sono state consultate le banche dati scientifiche PubMed e CINAHL, combinando in maniera crociata termini Mesh e parole semplici, applicando filtri di inclusione ed esclusione adeguati. Inoltre, sono state analizzate le voci bibliografiche citate negli articoli reperiti nella prima parte della ricerca. Risultati: Dei 2442 record inizialmente individuati, sono stati inseriti nella revisione un totale di 45 articoli, in cui sono descritte 50 scale algometriche (34 per il dolore acuto, 12 per quello procedurale, 24 per quello prolungato/cronico e 19 per quello post-operatorio). Le scale supportate da maggiori evidenze sono N-PASS, NFCS, BIIP e PIPP per il dolore acuto e procedurale, N-PASS, ALPS-Neo, EDIN e EDIN6 per il dolore prolungato e cronico e PIPP, CRIES e COMFORT per quello post-operatorio. Conclusioni: Allo stato attuale, non esiste una scala per la misurazione del dolore neonatale accettata unanimemente come gold standard. Tuttavia, alcune sono più idonee ed efficaci: per il dolore acuto PIPP, NFCS, N-PASS e BIIP, per il dolore cronico e prolungato N-PASS, ALPS-Neo ed EDIN/EDIN6 e per il dolore postoperatorio PIPP, CRIES e COMFORT. Tra tutte, la N-PASS è la più completa e adatta a contesti differenti. Parole chiave: Neonato, dolore, valutazione del dolore, scala di misurazione del dolore.&nbsp

Prognostic Significance of PET/CT in Patients with Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia (CLL) Treated with Frontline Chemoimmunotherapy

The role of positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) in identifying Richter Syndrome (RS) is well established, while its impact on the survival of patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) has been less explored. The clinical characteristics and PET/CT data of 40 patients with a biopsy-proven CLL who required frontline chemoimmunotherapy, FCR (fludarabine, cyclophosphamide, rituximab) in 20 patients, BR (bendamustine, rituximab) in 20, were retrospectively analyzed. Standardized uptake volume (SUVmax) values ≥ 5 were observed more frequently in patients with deletion 11q (p = 0.006) and biopsies characterized by a rate of Ki67 positive cells ≥ 30% (p = 0.02). In the multivariate analysis, the presence of large and confluent PCs emerged as the only factor with a negative impact on progression-free survival (PFS), and overall survival (OS). Deletion 11q also revealed a significant and independent effect on PFS. SUVmax values ≥ 5 showed no statistical impact on PFS while in multivariate analysis, they revealed a significant adverse impact on OS (median survival probability not reached vs. 56 months; p = 0.002). Moreover, patients with higher SUVmax values more frequently developed Richter Syndrome (p = 0.015). Our results show that higher SUVmax values identify CLL patients with a pronounced rate of proliferating cells in the lymph-node compartment, inferior survival, and an increased risk of developing RS

Characteristics of the overall population.

<p>Characteristics of the overall population.</p