Environment and bladder cancer: molecular analysis by interaction networks

Bladder cancer (BC) is the 9th most common cancer worldwide, and the 6th most common cancer in men. Its development is linked to chronic inflammation, genetic susceptibility, smoking, occupational exposures and environmental pollutants. Aim of this work was to identify a sub-network of genes/proteins modulated by environmental or arsenic exposure in BC by computational network approaches. Our studies evidenced the presence of HUB nodes both in “BC and environment” and “BC and arsenicals” networks. These HUB nodes resulted to be correlated to circadian genes and targeted by some miRNAs already reported as involved in BC, thus suggesting how they play an important role in BC development due to environmental or arsenic exposure. Through data-mining analysis related to putative effect of the identified HUB nodes on survival we identified genes/proteins and their mutations on which it will be useful to focus further experimental studies related to the evaluation of their expression in biological matrices and to their utility as biomarkers of BC developmen

Procedura per la pubblicazione di un'app sull'Oculus Store

Questo documento contiene una guida dettagliata “passo passo” per la pubblicazione di una nuova applicazione all’interno della piattaforma Meta “Oculus Store”. La procedura descritta in questo documento è stata utilizzata per effettuare il caricamento sullo store Oculus dell’applicazione “Castello Manfredonico VR” realizzata da Xenia Progetti per conto del Parco Scientifico e Tecnologico di Sicilia nell’ambito del progetto 3DLab-Sicilia

Procedura per la pubblicazione di un'app sull'Oculus Store

Questo documento contiene una guida dettagliata “passo passo” per la pubblicazione di una nuova applicazione all’interno della piattaforma Meta “Oculus Store”. La procedura descritta in questo documento è stata utilizzata per effettuare il caricamento sullo store Oculus dell’applicazione “Castello Manfredonico VR” realizzata da Xenia Progetti per conto del Parco Scientifico e Tecnologico di Sicilia nell’ambito del progetto 3DLab-Sicilia

Cultural Heritage and Gamification: Xenia Progetti solutions that revolutionize the ways of learning and visiting cultural sites

In recent years, the concept of gamification has acquired increasing relevance, becoming a valid and recognized learning methodology. Gamification, using characteristic elements of games, such as prizes, timed challenges and competitions, makes the learning process more engaging and interactive, thus promoting the acquisition of knowledge. When integrated with technology, this method turns into a highly effective tool, also capable of improving the user experience, especially in certain contexts such as, for example, the cultural one. The adoption of gamification in cultural contexts not only attracts a larger and more diverse audience, but stimulates a more dynamic approach to culture and education

Cutaneous melanoma: From pathogenesis to therapy (Review)

In less than 10 years, melanoma treatment has been revolutionized with the approval of tyrosine kinase inhibitors and immune checkpoint inhibitors, which have been shown to have a significant impact on the prognosis of patients with melanoma. The early steps of this transformation have taken place in research laboratories. The mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) pathway, phosphoinositol-3-kinase (PI3K) pathway promote the development of melanoma through numerous genomic alterations on different components of these pathways. Moreover, melanoma cells deeply interact with the tumor microenvironment and the immune system. This knowledge has led to the identification of novel therapeutic targets and treatment strategies. In this review, the epidemiological features of cutaneous melanoma along with the biological mechanisms involved in its development and progression are summarized. The current state-of-the-art of advanced stage melanoma treatment strategies and the currently available evidence of the use of predictive and prognostic biomarkers are also discussed

Evolution of Cancer Pharmacological Treatments at the Turn of the Third Millennium

The medical history of cancer began millennia ago. Historical findings of patients with cancer date back to ancient Egyptian and Greek civilizations, where this disease was predominantly treated with radical surgery and cautery that were often ineffective, leading to the death of patients. Over the centuries, important discoveries allowed to identify the biological and pathological features of tumors, without however contributing to the development of effective therapeutic approaches until the end of the 1800s, when the discovery of X-rays and their use for the treatment of tumors provided the first modern therapeutic approach in medical oncology. However, a real breakthrough took place after the Second World War, with the discovery of cytotoxic antitumor drugs and the birth of chemotherapy for the treatment of various hematological and solid tumors. Starting from this epochal turning point, there has been an exponential growth of studies concerning the use of new drugs for cancer treatment. The second fundamental breakthrough in the field of oncology and pharmacology took place at the beginning of the ‘80s, thanks to molecular and cellular biology studies that allowed the development of specific drugs for some molecular targets involved in neoplastic processes, giving rise to targeted therapy. Both chemotherapy and target therapy have significantly improved the survival and quality of life of cancer patients inducing sometimes complete tumor remission. Subsequently, at the turn of the third millennium, thanks to genetic engineering studies, there was a further advancement of clinical oncology and pharmacology with the introduction of monoclonal antibodies and immune checkpoint inhibitors for the treatment of advanced or metastatic tumors, for which no effective treatment was available before. Today, cancer research is always aimed at the study and development of new therapeutic approaches for cancer treatment. Currently, several researchers are focused on the development of cell therapies, anti-tumor vaccines, and new biotechnological drugs that have already shown promising results in preclinical studies, therefore, in the near future, we will certainly assist to a new revolution in the field of medical oncology