Activity of eribulin mesylate in brain metastasis from breast cancer. a stone in a pond?

Background: Brain metastases develop in approximately 10-25% of patients with metastatic breast cancer (MBC) and are associated with a very poor prognosis. Case Report: We report the case of a 40-year-old woman with MBC and associated lung, bone, liver, and brain metastases, who experienced a time to progression of several months with eribulin after whole-brain radiotherapy (WBRT), 2 lines of chemotherapy, and 1 line of hormonal therapy, maintaining a good toxicity profile. Discussion: Eribulin, in association with local treatment such as WBRT, can be well tolerated and effective in achieving a long progression-free survival and a good control of brain metastases in patients with MBC who have received multiple lines of treatment. The vascular remodeling properties of eribulin, combined with brain radiotherapy, might facilitate the passage of eribulin across the blood brain barrier, improving brain response. Conclusion: Our anecdotal experience suggests that eribulin may have a potentially beneficial effect on brain metastases while maintaining a good systemic control of the disease in patients with MBC

Impressive long-term response with pertuzumab and trastuzumab in HER2-positive breast cancer with brain metastasis

This is a case report of a 40-year-old woman who, after conservative breast cancer treatment, developed a HER2 positive solitary brain metastasis in the left temporal lobe, without extracranial disease. She underwent surgery resection followed by stereotactic radiotherapy and, because of early brain progression, she was submitted to the first line therapy with pertuzumab, trastuzumab and weekly paclitaxel. After six months of treatment, a brain magnetic resonance imaging revealed a complete disappearance of brain recurrence, which persisted for more than 24 months

Liquid film spray deposition of transparent conducting oxide coatings

A room temperature spraying technique was developed for the deposition of transparent conducting sol-gel ATO (antimony doped tin oxide, SnO2:Sb) coatings, based on an 0.2 M solution of SnCl2 in 1-propanol with 5 mol.% SbCl3 and a mixture of 2-isopropoxyethanol and 2-butoxyethanol as additives with a low evaporation rate. The selection of solvents and the adjustment of the evaporation rate are crucial to obtain uniform films and to avoid film defects like wetting problems or an orange peel effect. The ATO coatings were spray deposited manually on complex shaped substrates as well as on large area flat substrates with a size up to 21 x 30 cm2 by means of an industrial flat spray coater. The resulting ATO coatings are characterised by a thickness of up to 120 nm, a resistivity of approximately 2 x 10-2 Ω cm and a transmission T>85% in the visible, which is similar to the properties obtained for dip coated films

Multilayer SnO2:Sb transparent electronic conducting coatings made by the sol-gel process

Transparent conducting thin sol-gel SnO2:Sb multilayer coatings having the same total thickness, but different numbers of layers have been deposited on borosilicate glass by the dip-coating method using an ethanolic solution of SnCl2 (OAc)2 doped with 5mol% SbCl3. The densification of the multilayers was done by 3 different processes. In process I each layer was dried at 200°C and the coating process repeated to obtain a tick dry coating which was then sintered as a whole at 550°C. In process II every single layer was dried at 120°C and then directly sintered at 550°C before repeating the coating process. In process III every single layer was directly sintered at 550°C without drying step. The electrical properties and the morphologies of the coatings depend highly on the sintering and drying conditions. With process I all layers are homogenous and have a high resistivity (1.4x10 -² Omega cm) whatever their thickness. The multilayers produced by process II and III show a sandwich structure with alternated dense and porous layers. The resistivity of a 10 times dipped multilayers obtained by these processes is about 3,2X^0 -³ Omega cm. Moreover the electrical properties vary with the number of layers whereas in process I no such correlation can be found. A model was developed which allows to caclulate the electrical properties of the dense and porous layers. The chemical composition of the homogeneous coating and of the multilayers with the alternated structure is also reported

Influence of the Antithrombotic Therapy in the Healing of Simple Post-Extraction Sockets: A Randomized Clinical Trial

Background: An adequate blood supply plays a leading role in the healing process of the post-extractive socket; its coagulation leads to fibrin clot formation, which acts as a physical barrier able to prevent postoperative bleeding and microbial infection. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of antiaggregant drugs in healing post-extraction sockets compared to natural wound healing. Methods: This was a single-center prospective clinical trial. Extraction sockets allocated in healthy patients and in patients assuming antiplatelet drugs were considered. Thirty consecutive patients under (treated with/in treatment with) oral antiplatelet treatment were enrolled in the test group. In order to provide a control group, 30 consecutive patients meeting all the exclusion and inclusion criteria were enrolled. The extraction of the mono-radicular tooth was atraumatically performed without gingivoplasty or osteotomy procedures that could influence the healing process. Photographs were obtained before and immediately after surgery and at 3-, 7-, 14-and 28-days follow-up. Results: All patients assumed the prescribed therapy and their postoperative recovery was uneventful without any kind of post-extractive complications. The results of inter-group comparison show that on the third and seventh days of follow-up, the antiplatelet group expressed a statistically significant higher level of healing compared to the control group (p < 0.05), while no statistically significant differences were recorded at 14-and 28-days follow-up. Conclusions: Patients treated with antiplatelet agents seemed to show that this therapy can positively affect the healing process after tooth extractions

Influence of the layer morphology on the electrical properties of sol-gel transparent conducting oxide coatings

Tranparent conducting coatings have been prepared by sol gel methods either by a conventional sol-gel process (Antimony doped Tin Oxide - ATO, Aluminium doped Zinc Oxide - AZO) or a new wet chemical process using fully dispersed crystalline nanoparticles (ATO, Indium Tin Oxide - ITO). The dip coating technique has been used as deposition technique with single coating thickness varying from a few nanometer to ca. 400 nm. The layers have been fired in a furnace. Structural properties have been determined by x-ray diffraction and TEM analysis and the electrical properties by the van der Pauw/Hall measurement. Three different coating procedures have been used to investigate the effect on the structure, morphology and the electrical properties of the coatings. It is shown that the individual layer thickness in multilayer coatings influences dramatically the mentioned properties. Very thin individual layers favour a heterogeneous nucleation with dense columnar growth of the crystallites leading to low electrical resistivity (Ω ≈ 10 -³ Ω cm), while thick individual layers result in a porous morphology made of small crystallites leading to resistivities in the 10≈2 Ω cm range

Ampelographic and Molecular Characterisation of Aglianico Accessions (Vitis vinifera L.) Collected in Southern Italy

To characterise 31 different Aglianico accessions randomly collected in Southern Italy, 30 ampelographicdescriptors, 13 SSRs and 10 AFLP primer combinations were analysed. An appreciable variation ofampelographic descriptors was revealed mainly by mature leaf traits, while very few variations wererecorded for shoot and berry traits. Similarly, all SSR loci revealed molecular monomorphism and AFLPswith a very high genetic similarity (Dice coefficient) among all the accessions considered. One of the aimsof this study was to clarify the genetic assessment of Aglianico Nero and Aglianico del Vulture Nero,since they are registered as two different cultivars with distinct varietal codes at the Italian Register ofGrape Varieties. Registered Aglianico Nero and Aglianico del Vulture Nero were included in the analyses,compared and used as reference material. Our plants showed that all the accessions tested, independentfrom the biotype, and the two registered cultivars belong to the same genotype, suggesting that, as reportedby the Vitis International Variety Catalogue, a case of synonymy occurred between Aglianico Nero andAglianico del Vulture Nero. These cultivars could therefore be considered as a single cultivar. Moreover,the AFLP data revealed a partial match between morphological and molecular data, showing that theAFLP molecular method was able to discriminate between different accessions belonging to the samecultivar

Viticultural Climate Indexes and Their Role in The Prediction of Anthocyanins and Other Flavonoids Content in Seedless Table Grapes

Background: Viticulture bioclimatic indexes like the Heliothermal Index (HI), Cool Night Index (CI), and Dryness Index (DI), can be used to assess the influence of climate on grapes’ quality. Methods: HI, CI, and DI + total seasonal irrigation were utilized to assess the effect of climate on the flavonoids content and composition of two Vitis vinifera seedless varieties, ‘Summer Royal’ and ‘Crimson Seedless’, both grown in Apulia (Southern Italy). Results: The flavonoids content was significantly affected by variety and climate conditions on the base of HI, CI, and DI + total seasonal irrigation. Factor analysis applied to climate indexes and flavonoids showed that anthocyanins and flavonols were negatively and positively correlated to CI in both varieties, respectively. Additionally, warmer night temperatures determined higher fla-van-3-ols. HI increase promoted anthocyanins, flavonols, and flavan-3-ols content in Crimson Seedless, whilst it induced an opposite trend in Summer Royal. Finally, DI + total seasonal irrigation showed to be positively linked to flavonols content and negatively linked to anthocyanins content just in the case of Crimson Seedless. Significant regression models were also determined between climate indexes and productive parameters (i.e., yield, TSS, TA, pH, bunch, and berry weight). Conclusions: Climate indexes HI, CI, and DI + total seasonal irrigation showed an effect on quality grape parameters like flavonoids and contributed to building predictive models when new climatic zones are going to be evaluated for the production of table grapes