A reflection on the impact of an internationalisation experience via digital platform, based on views, opinions and experiences of students and lecturers

Until recently, internationalisation of higher education was considered important with a focus especially on the UK economy. However, the conversation has changed significantly with the challenges which Covid-19 pandemic restrictions and possibly Brexit have presented for student mobility. There has been a shift, which started even before Covid-19 pandemic, that highlighted the impact of internationalisation on improving the quality of education, research and other social goals. The focus should be on developing a culture of knowledge exchange and active participation between partner Universities with potential development of dual purposing resource, assessments, and mutual enrichment. This study aims to investigate how remote cooperative teaching, based on mutual enrichment across international Initial Teacher Education (ITE) providers, support active participation of students in international activities. Participants were year 3 undergraduate students studying at the University of Glasgow, School of Education, on the Master of Education (MEDuc) ITE programme and Italian student teachers on the course “Scienze della formazione” at the Niccolo’ Cusano University, Rome. Several sessions were organised and remotely delivered to both cohort of students with a careful blending of tutors’ expertise, focused on their cultural and language diversity; a carefully planned topic of high interest for both countries: Parental Engagement in pupil’s Education; and finally, a very well taught integration of the sessions’ content and task requirements into both Universities’ assessment agenda. Results showed a mutual enrichment and active participation which went beyond any expectations with elements of e-networking and overcome of language, communication and even possible stereotype barriers

Predictive factors of hospitalization related to the caregiver burden in older adults presenting to the emergency department

Background Long-term care for the elderly by their family members represents a serious burden in Italy. The physical and psychological health of informal caregivers is a growing public health issue. Old patients often seek urgent medical attention in the Emergency Department (ED) and hospitalisation is frequent event among the elderly. Aim Aim of the study was (1) to investigate the burden of care among the caregivers of old patients; (2) to examine the influence of the burden experienced by the caregivers on ED and hospital admissions of the elderly. Methods We conducted a descriptive study of patients aged 75 years or older and their caregiver admitted to the ED from 10/1/15 to 6/10/15 (77 patient-caregiver pairs). The caregivers were evaluated using the Caregiver Burden Inventory (CBI). A case manager collected the patient's data. Results CBI score is the highest among patients seeking ED evaluation due to caregiver's concern. The majority of the elderly admitted to the ED whose caregiver shows elevated emotional burden at the CBI do not present with serious or urgent medical condition and are not hospitalised. Emotional burden is the highest among the caregivers of demented subjects who share the same house. Conclusion Our findings indicate that the burden experienced by caregiving family members plays a role in elderly people avoidable ED visits

Ellagic acid containing Nanostructured Lipid Carriers for topical application: a preliminary study

Ellagic acid (EA) is a potent antioxidant substance of natural origin characterized by poor biopharmaceutical properties and low solubility in water that limit their use. The aim of the present study was to develop lipid based nanoparticle formulations able to encapsulate EA for dermal delivery purpose. The EA-loaded nanoparticles were prepared using two different lipid compositions, namely tristearin/tricaprylin (NLC-EA1) and tristearin/labrasol (NLC-EA2). The influence of formulations on size, entrapment efficiency and stability of EA-loaded nanoparticles was investigated. Cryo-TEM and SAXS analysess showed that no morphological differences are evident among all the types of loaded and unloaded NLC. The macroscopic aspect of both NLC-EA1 and NLC-EA2 did not change by time. No difference in size is appreciable between empty and drug-containing NLC, thus the nanoparticle diameter is not affected by the presence EA and in general no variations of the diameters occur during time. The percentage of entrapment efficiency of both EA-loaded nanoparticles was almost quantitative. In addition NLC-EA1 maintain EA stability for almost 2 months, while NLC-EA2 up to 40 days. FRAP assay showed an antioxidant activity around 60% for both the loaded NLC, as compared to the solution. Although both types of NLC are characterized by some toxicity, NLC-EA1 are less cytotoxic than NLC-EA2. Taken together these results demonstrated that the inclusion of EA within NLC could improve the water solubility, allowing for a reduction of the dosage. Moreover, the maintaining of high antioxidant effect and low toxicity were evidenced for both types of NLC-EA

Genomic signatures for paclitaxel and gemcitabine resistance in breast cancer derived by machine learning.

Increasingly, the effectiveness of adjuvant chemotherapy agents for breast cancer has been related to changes in the genomic profile of tumors. We investigated correspondence between growth inhibitory concentrations of paclitaxel and gemcitabine (GI50) and gene copy number, mutation, and expression first in breast cancer cell lines and then in patients. Genes encoding direct targets of these drugs, metabolizing enzymes, transporters, and those previously associated with chemoresistance to paclitaxel (n = 31 genes) or gemcitabine (n = 18) were analyzed. A multi-factorial, principal component analysis (MFA) indicated expression was the strongest indicator of sensitivity for paclitaxel, and copy number and expression were informative for gemcitabine. The factors were combined using support vector machines (SVM). Expression of 15 genes (ABCC10, BCL2, BCL2L1, BIRC5, BMF, FGF2, FN1, MAP4, MAPT, NFKB2, SLCO1B3, TLR6, TMEM243, TWIST1, and CSAG2) predicted cell line sensitivity to paclitaxel with 82% accuracy. Copy number profiles of 3 genes (ABCC10, NT5C, TYMS) together with expression of 7 genes (ABCB1, ABCC10, CMPK1, DCTD, NME1, RRM1, RRM2B), predicted gemcitabine response with 85% accuracy. Expression and copy number studies of two independent sets of patients with known responses were then analyzed with these models. These included tumor blocks from 21 patients that were treated with both paclitaxel and gemcitabine, and 319 patients on paclitaxel and anthracycline therapy. A new paclitaxel SVM was derived from an 11-gene subset since data for 4 of the original genes was unavailable. The accuracy of this SVM was similar in cell lines and tumor blocks (70-71%). The gemcitabine SVM exhibited 62% prediction accuracy for the tumor blocks due to the presence of samples with poor nucleic acid integrity. Nevertheless, the paclitaxel SVM predicted sensitivity in 84% of patients with no or minimal residual disease

Everolimus plus aromatase inhibitors vs aromatase inhibitors as maintenance therapy after first-line chemotherapy in HR+/HER2- metastatic breast cancer: Final results of the phase III randomized MAIN-A trial

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Taxanes enhance trastuzumab-mediated ADCC on tumor cells through NKG2D-mediated NK cell recognition

Recent clinical data indicate a synergistic therapeutic effect between trastuzumab and taxanes in neoadjuvantly treated HER2-positive breast cancer (BC) patients. In HER2+ BC experimental models and patients, we investigated whether this synergy depends on the ability of drug-induced stress to improve NK cell effectiveness and thus trastuzumab-mediated ADCC. HER2+ BC cell lines BT474 and MDAMB361 treated with docetaxel showed up-modulation of NK activator ligands both in vitro and in vivo, accompanied by a 15-40% increase in in vitro trastuzumab-mediated ADCC; antibodies blocking the NKG2D receptor significantly reduced this enhancement. NKG2D receptor expression was increased by docetaxel treatment in circulating and splenic NK cells from mice xenografted with tumor cells, an increase related to expansion of the CD11b+Ly6G+ cell population. Accordingly, NK cells derived from HER2+ BC patients after treatment with taxane-containing therapy expressed higher levels of NKG2D receptor than before treatment. Moreover, plasma obtained from these patients recapitulated the modulation of NKG2D on healthy donors' NK cells, improving their trastuzumab-mediated activity in vitro. This enhancement occurred mainly using plasma from patients with low NKG2D basal expression. Our results indicate that taxanes increase tumor susceptibility to ADCC by acting on tumor and NK cells, and suggest that taxanes concomitantly administered with trastuzumab could maximize the antibody effect, especially in patients with low basal immune effector cytotoxic activit

Bioresorbable Nanostructured Chemical Sensor for Monitoring of pH Level In Vivo

Here, the authors report on the manufacturing and in vivo assessment of a bioresorbable nanostructured pH sensor. The sensor consists of a micrometer-thick porous silica membrane conformably coated layer-by-layer with a nanometer-thick multilayer stack of two polyelectrolytes labeled with a pH-insensitive fluorophore. The sensor fluorescence changes linearly with the pH value in the range 4 to 7.5 upon swelling/shrinking of the polymer multilayer and enables performing real-time measurements of the pH level with high stability, reproducibility, and accuracy, over 100 h of continuous operation. In vivo studies carried out implanting the sensor in the subcutis on the back of mice confirm real-time monitoring of the local pH level through skin. Full degradation of the pH sensor occurs in one week from implant in the animal model, and its biocompatibility after 2 months is confirmed by histological and fluorescence analyses. The proposed approach can be extended to the detection of other (bio)markers in vivo by engineering the functionality of one (at least) of the polyelectrolytes with suitable receptors, thus paving the way to implantable bioresorbable chemical sensors

Serum antibody response to Human papillomavirus (HPV) infections detected by a novel ELISA technique based on denatured recombinant HPV16 L1, L2, E4, E6 and E7 proteins

BACKGROUND: Human papillomaviruses (HPVs) are the primary etiological agents of cervical cancer and are also involved in the development of other tumours (skin, head and neck). Serological survey of the HPV infections is important to better elucidate their natural history and to disclose antigen determinants useful for vaccine development. At present, the analysis of the HPV-specific antibodies has not diagnostic value for the viral infections, and new approaches are needed to correlate the antibody response to the disease outcome. The aim of this study is to develop a novel ELISA, based on five denatured recombinant HPV16 proteins, to be used for detection HPV-specific antibodies. METHODS: The HPV16 L1, L2, E4, E6 and E7 genes were cloned in a prokaryotic expression vector and expressed as histidine-tagged proteins. These proteins, in a denatured form, were used in ELISA as coating antigens. Human sera were collected from women with abnormal PAP smear enrolled during an ongoing multicenter HPV-PathogenISS study in Italy, assessing the HPV-related pathogenetic mechanisms of progression of cervical cancer precursor lesions. Negative human sera were collected from patients affected by other infectious agents. All the HPV-positive sera were also subjected to an avidity test to assess the binding strength in the antigen-antibody complexes. RESULTS: Most of the sera showed a positive reactivity to the denatured HPV16 proteins: 82% of the sera from HPV16 infected women and 89% of the sera from women infected by other HPV genotypes recognised at least one of the HPV16 proteins. The percentages of samples showing reactivity to L1, L2 and E7 were similar, but only a few serum samples reacted to E6 and E4. Most sera bound the antigens with medium and high avidity index, suggesting specific antigen-antibody reactions. CONCLUSION: This novel ELISA, based on multiple denatured HPV16 antigens, is able to detect antibodies in women infected by HPV16 and it is not genotype-specific, as it detects antibodies also in women infected by other genital HPVs. The assay is easy to perform and has low cost, making it suitable for monitoring the natural history of HPV infections as well as for detecting pre-existing HPV antibodies in women who receive VLP-based HPV vaccination