The State-of-the-Art of Phase II/III Clinical Trials for Targeted Pancreatic Cancer Therapies

Pancreatic cancer is a devastating disease with very poor prognosis. Currently, surgery followed by adjuvant chemotherapy represents the only curative option which, unfortunately, is only available for a small group of patients. The majority of pancreatic cancer cases are diagnosed at advanced or metastatic stage when surgical resection is not possible and treatment options are limited. Thus, novel and more effective therapeutic strategies are urgently needed. Molecular profiling together with targeted therapies against key hallmarks of pancreatic cancer appear as a promising approach that could overcome the limitations of conventional chemo- and radio-therapy. In this review, we focus on the latest personalised and multimodal targeted therapies currently undergoing phase II or III clinical trials. We discuss the most promising findings of agents targeting surface receptors, angiogenesis, DNA damage and cell cycle arrest, key signalling pathways, immunotherapies, and the tumour microenvironment

Stem Cells for the Cell and Molecular Therapy of Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus (T1D) between Lights and Shadows

T1D consists of selective autoimmune killing of pancreatic islet β-cells that physiologically accomplish the task of secreting insulin on a regulated manner, in order to maintain blood glucose levels within normal range (70-140 mg/dl), under any circumstances

Remote sensing of crop water requirements in orange orchards using high spatial resolution sensors

With the aim to derive crop water requirements (ET p) for an irrigated area covered by orange orchard in Sicily, Quick Bird and ASTER TERRA high resolution satellites data were used and compared with reference to their different spatial and spectral resolution. Satellites data allowed to improve the monitoring of canopy development in the irrigated area by identifying biophysical vegetation variable (LAI, albedo, vegetation indicators, etc...); this information was successively used for the evaluation of maximum crop water needs by means of the well known Penman-Monteith equation. The paper results evidence the importance of very-high resolution sensors such as QuickBird in areas characterised by strong spatial heterogeneity. The algorithms applied to estimate the canopy parameters and the crop water requirements were applied by considering different levels of radiometric calibration of the satellite data, which produced marked differences in the final results

Reducing psychosocial risks through supervisors’ development: a contribution for a brief version of the “Stress Management Competency Indicator Tool”

With the recent changes in the world of work psychosocial risks are increasingly prevalent, causing work stress and physical and mental illnesses, which have a tremendous impact on public health and social participation. Supervisors' behaviour development was proposed as an innovative intervention that can reduce psychosocial risks. The "Stress Management Competency Indicator Tool" is one of the most important questionnaires that assess managers' preventive behaviour. However, its psychometric properties have never been evaluated and the length of the questionnaire (66 items) limits its practical applicability. The aim of this study was to contribute to the development of the questionnaire by providing psychometric evidence on a brief version of the tool focusing on the "Managing and Communicating existing and future Work" cluster of behaviours, which has been found to be the crucial one in terms of stress prevention. A questionnaire was administered to 178 employees of two Italian public organizations (a municipality and a hospital), measuring the supervisors' "Managing and Communicating existing and future Work" competency, and the affective well-being and work team effectiveness. The results showed excellent psychometric properties of the supervisors' behaviour scale and confirmed the expected relationships with criterion outcomes (affective well-being and team effectiveness). Overall, the factorial structure and dimensionality, the construct validity and reliability, and the concurrent validity of the tool were strongly supported by this study. We concluded that the brief version of the scale is a valid and reliable measure that can be easily used in practice and that can contribute to the development of research and practice on this topic

Griffin and Neal\u2019s safety model: Determinants and components of individual safety performance in the Italian context

Introduction: Griffin and Neal\u2019s model is a useful model to understand workers\u2019 different safety behaviour (com- pliance and participation) starting from their mastery of safety procedures (safety knowledge) and the motivation to put them in place (safety motivation). Although the theoretical model has proven to be adequate and is widely used in research, two problems arise: 1) there is no Italian validation of the four scales measuring the key constructs of the model; 2) the hypothesis regarding the differential impact of the determinants on the components of safety perfor- mance produced mixed evidence. Objectives: The study had a twofold objective: 1) validate an Italian version of the four scales, primarily assessing their construct validity; 2) verify the relationships between the constructs accord- ing to the assumptions made within the theoretical model. Methods: The psychometric properties of the scales as well as the relationships between the constructs were investigated in a sample of 277 workers in the construction and logistics sectors, using questionnaires. The analyses were based on the use of structural equation modelling tech- nique. Results: Results confirmed the validity and reliability of the Italian scales, showing indices that were both satisfactory and aligned with those from previous studies. The relationships between the constructs were substan- tially consistent with the safety model. Conclusions: The study provided a valid version of the scales measuring determinants and components of individual safe performance. Such scales can be appropriately used in the Italian context for the development of theoretical as well as practical contributions on work safety. The results suggest that interventions to increase overall safe performance should address both knowledge and motivation for safety

Elimination of bacterial contaminants in in vitro shoot cultures of 'MRS 2/5' plum hybrid by the use of Melia azedarach L. extracts.

Abstract The antimicrobial activity of leaf and callus extracts of Melia azedarach was tested on in vitro shoot cultures of the peach rootstoch \u2018MRS 2/5\u2019 (Prunus cerasifera 7 Prunus spinosa) that were heavily contaminated with Sphingomonas paucimobilis (Sp) and Bacillus circulans (Bc). The extracts were filter-sterilised and added at 0%, 1%, 5%, 10% and 20% to a modified Murashige and Skoog proliferation medium previously autoclave-sterilised. Up to about 17% shoots died with 10\u201320% extract, except for Sp contaminated shoots, whose survival was reduced to 50% after treatment with 20% extract. No shoots died with 1% to 5% supplement. The undiluted leaf extrashowed bactericidal activity on plated Sp and Bc isolates. The homogenates of shoots randomly collected from treated cultures were processed for bacterial colony counting. Thus the 10% supplement was the best treatment for ridding Bc-contaminated cultures of bacteria (although 5% had a similar bactericidal effect), and allowing shoot growth and proliferation comparable to controls at the fifth subculture on a standard medium, while 20% extract was needed to eliminate Sp, and could induce higher growth and proliferation rates in surviving shoots than in untreated cultures. Callus extract was ineffective. The bactericidal activity of the leaf extract seemed attributable to a synergistic effect of azadirachtin with other unidentified compounds present in the extrac

Elimination of in vitro bacterial contaminants in shoot cultures of 'MRS 2/5' plum hybrid by the use of Melia azedarach extracts

The antimicrobial activity of leaf and callus extracts of Melia azedarach was tested on in vitro shoot cultures of the peach rootstoch 'MRS 2/5' (Prunus cerasifera × Prunus spinosa) that were heavily contaminated with Sphingomonas paucimobilis (Sp) and Bacillus circulans (Bc). The extracts were filter-sterilised and added at 0%, 1%, 5%, 10% and 20% to a modified Murashige and Skoog proliferation medium previously autoclave-sterilised. Up to about 17% shoots died with 10-20% extract, except for Sp-contaminated shoots, whose survival was reduced to 50% after treatment with 20% extract. No shoots died with 1% to 5% supplement. The undiluted leaf extract showed bactericidal activity on plated Sp and Bc isolates. The homogenates of shoots randomly collected from treated cultures were processed for bacterial colony counting. Thus the 10% supplement was the best treatment for ridding Bc-contaminated cultures of bacteria (although 5% had a similar bactericidal effect), and allowing shoot growth and proliferation comparable to controls at the fifth subculture on a standard medium, while 20% extract was needed to eliminate Sp, and could induce higher growth and proliferation rates in surviving shoots than in untreated cultures. Callus extract was ineffective. The bactericidal activity of the leaf extract seemed attributable to a synergistic effect of azadirachtin with other unidentified compounds present in the extract. © 2008 KNPV