Malignant teratoma in Klippel-Feil syndrome: a case report and review of the literature

Introduction: Klippel-Feil syndrome is characterized by a congenital fusion of cervical vertebrae. Intracranial teratomas are nongerminomatous germ cell tumors and they account for 0.3 to 0.9% of all intracranial tumors. Teratomas with malignant transformation refer to lesions which give rise to malignant cancer of somatic type. The association between tumors of dermoid origin and Klippel-Feil malformation is extremely rare. Only 23 other cases have so far been reported, and only one case of dermoid tumor with areas of dedifferentiation on squamous cell carcinoma has been described. Case presentation: We report the case of a 72-year-old white man with a 2-year history of gait and balance disturbances. A brain magnetic resonance imaging revealed a fourth ventricle neoplastic process with infiltrative features. He was operated through a suboccipital craniectomy with a C1 laminotomy and bilateral vertebral artery transposition. At 6-months follow-up, magnetic resonance imaging showed an early regrowth of the fourth ventricle tumor, with the same radiological features. Conclusions: Patients with Klippel-Feil malformation could develop posterior fossa dermoid tumors. The malignant potential of such tumors must be considered and surgery is recommended. Particular attention must be focused on the histopathological analysis in order to identify possible foci of malignant transformation

Potential association of specific Candida parapsilosis genotypes, bloodstream infections and colonization of health workers' hands

Fungal nosocomial infections continue to be a serious problem among hospitalized patients, decreasing quality of life and adding millions of euros to healthcare costs. The aim of this study was to describe the pattern of fungi associated with the hands of healthcare workers and to genotype Candida parapsilosis isolates in order to understand whether their high clinical prevalence stems from endemic nosocomial genotypes or from the real emergence of epidemiologically-unrelated strains. Approximately 39% (50/129) of healthcare workers were positive for yeasts and among 77 different fungal isolates recovered, C. parapsilosis was the most frequent (44/77; 57%). Twenty-seven diverse genotypes were obtained by microsatellite analysis of 42 selected blood and hand isolates. Most of the isolates from hands showed a new, unrelated, genotype, whereas a particular group of closely related genotypes prevailed in blood samples. Some of the latter genotypes were also found on the hands of healthcare workers, indicating a persistence of these clones within our hospital. C. parapsilosis genotypes from the hands were much more heterogeneous than clinical ones, thus reflecting a high genetic diversity among isolates, which is notably unusual and unexpected for this species

Interrupted versus uninterrupted NOAC peri-implantation of cardiac device: A single-centre randomised prospective pilot trial

BACKGROUND: Many patients requiring cardiac implantable electronic device (CIED) implantation are on long-term oral anticoagulant therapy. While continuation of warfarin has been shown to be safe and reduce bleeding complications compared to interruption of warfarin therapy and heparin bridging, it is not known which novel oral anticoagulants (NOAC) regimen (interrupted vs. uninterrupted) is better in this setting. METHODS: One-hundred and one patients were randomized to receive CIED implantation with either interrupted or uninterrupted/continuous NOAC therapy before surgery. No heparin was used in either treatment arm. The primary end-point was the presence of a clinically significant pocket haematoma after CIED implantation. The secondary end-point was a composite of other major bleeding events, device-related infection, thrombotic events and device-related admission length post device implantation. RESULTS: Both treatment groups were equally balanced for baseline variables and concomitant medications. One clinically significant pocket haematoma occurred in the uninterrupted NOAC group and none in the interrupted group (p = 0.320). There was no difference in other bleeding complications. No thrombotic events were observed in either of the two groups. CONCLUSIONS: Despite the paucity of bleeding events, data from this pilot study suggest that uninterrupted NOAC therapy for CIED implantation appears to be as safe as NOAC interruption and does not increase bleeding complications

Anti-Apoptotic and Anti-Inflammatory Properties of Grapefruit IntegroPectin on Human Microglial HMC3 Cell Line

In this study, we investigated the beneficial effects of grapefruit IntegroPectin, derived from industrial waste grapefruit peels via hydrodynamic cavitation, on microglia cells exposed to oxidative stress conditions. Grapefruit IntegroPectin fully counteracted cell death and the apoptotic process induced by cell exposure to tert-butyl hydroperoxide (TBH), a powerful hydroperoxide. The protective effects of the grapefruit IntegroPectin were accompanied with a decrease in the amount of ROS, and were strictly dependent on the activation of the phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K)/Akt cascade. Finally, IntegroPectin treatment inhibited the neuroinflammatory response and the basal microglia activation by down-regulating the PI3K- nuclear factor kappa-light-chain-enhancer of activated B cells (NF-kB)- inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) cascade. These data strongly support further investigations aimed at exploring IntegroPectin's therapeutic role in in vivo models of neurodegenerative disorders, characterized by a combination of chronic neurodegeneration, oxidative stress and neuroinflammation

The new generation of SPAD—Single-Photon Avalanche Diodes arrays

In the last years the single-photon detection with silicon devices has become an important goal. Here we present the performance of a new generation of single-photon avalanche diodes manufactured by ST-Microelectronics. The 5 × 5 array configuration has been also realized and the performances, in terms of crosstalk and common readout mode, have been investigated

SINPHOS - SINgle PHOton spectrometer for biomedical application

In the last decades several experiments have clearly demonstrated that, once illuminated, all biological systems emit for some time a very weak flux of photons, called Delayed Luminescence (DL). Some recent results have shown the possibility of using the DL as a diagnostic tool in the field of optical biopsy or of multi-dimensional diagnostics. Following such indications we decided to start developing SINPHOS, a monolithic micro-device, capable of measuring simultaneously the time distribution and the spectrum of photons coming from a weak source. Two important innovative aspects will characterize this spectrometer: the optical part, realized by means of the Deep Lithography with Particles (DLP), and SPAD (Single Photon Avalanche Diode) detectors under development along with ST-Microelectronics

New neuroprotective effect of lemon integropectin on neuronal cellular model

Lemon IntegroPectin obtained via hydrodynamic cavitation of organic lemon processing waste in water shows significant neuroprotective activity in vitro, as first reported in this study in-vestigating the effects of both lemon IntegroPectin and commercial citrus pectin on cell viability, cell morphology, reactive oxygen species (ROS) production, and mitochondria perturbation induced by treatment of neuronal SH-SY5Y human cells with H2O2. Mediated by ROS, including H2O2 and its derivatives, oxidative stress alters numerous cellular processes, such as mitochondrial regulation and cell signaling, propagating cellular injury that leads to incurable neurodegenerative diseases. These results, and the absence of toxicity of this new pectic substance rich in adsorbed flavonoids and terpenes, suggest further studies to investigate its activity in preventing, retarding, or even curing neurological diseases

Multilocus microsatellite analysis of European and African Candida glabrata isolates

This study aimed to elucidate the genetic relatedness and epidemiology of 127 clinical and environmental Candida glabrata isolates from Europe and Africa using multilocus microsatellite analysis. Each isolate was first identified using phenotypic and molecular methods and subsequently, six unlinked microsatellite loci were analyzed using automated fluorescent genotyping. Genetic relationships were estimated using the minimum-spanning tree (MStree) method. Microsatellite analyses revealed the existence of 47 different genotypes. The fungal population showed an irregular distribution owing to the over-representation of genetically different infectious haplotypes. The most common genotype was MG-9, which was frequently found in both European and African isolates. In conclusion, the data reported here emphasize the role of specific C. glabrata genotypes in human infections for at least some decades and highlight the widespread distribution of some isolates, which seem to be more able to cause disease than others.This research was supported in part by the EU Mare Nostrum (EUMN-III Call) program of the European Union, grant agreement number 2011-4050/001-EMA2. Dr Sanae Rharmitt was the recipient of a scholarship (10 months) signed within the EUMN program for PhD students (F.S. 1.04.11.01 UORI) under the supervision of Prof Orazio Romeo.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio