Botulinum toxin therapy: functional silencing of salivary disorders.

Botulinum toxin (BTX) is a neurotoxic protein produced by Clostridium botulinum, an anaerobic bacterium. BTX therapy is a safe and effective treatment when used for functional silencing of the salivary glands in disorders such as sialoceles and salivary fistulas that may have a post-traumatic or post-operative origin. BTX injections can be considered in sialoceles and salivary fistulas after the failure of or together with conservative treatments (e.g. antibiotics, pressure dressings, or serial aspirations). BTX treatment has a promising role in chronic sialadenitis. BTX therapy is highly successful in the treatment of gustatory sweating (Frey\u2019s syndrome), and could be considered the gold standard treatment for this neurological disorder

Lattice Boltzmann Models with Mid-Range Interactions \ud \ud

An extension of the standard Shan-Chen model for non ideal-fluids, catering for mid-range, soft-core and hard-core repulsion, is investigated. It is shown that the inclusion of such mid-range interactions does not yield any visible enhancement of the density jump across the dense and light phases. Such an enhancement can however be obtained by tuning the exponents of the effective interaction. The results also indicate that the inclusion of soft-core repulsion can prevent the coalescence of neighborhood bubbles, thereby opening the possibility of tailoring the size of multi-droplet configurations, such as sprays and related phase-separating fluids. \ud \u

Esquema de rechazo automático de carga por mínima tensión en el sistema anillado de Piura Oeste 60 kV

La motivación de la presente investigación se debe a que existen perturbaciones o contingencias en las líneas de transmisión en el sistema anillado de Piura Oeste en 60 kV que restringen suministros de energía eléctrica. Por ello, para poder mitigar estas pérdidas, este trabajo presenta un esquema de rechazo automático de carga por mínima tensión en el sistema anillado de Piura Oeste 60 kV que plantea la desconexión selectiva de cargas en el sistema anillado, todo esto fundamentándose en ajustes de mínima tensión en los relés de las subestaciones asociadas. Asimismo, los ajustes de las funciones de sobrecorriente direccional de fases de las líneas que conforman este sistema anillado coordinarán adecuadamente con el esquema de rechazo propuesto, permitiendo tener una alternativa de solución ante esta problemática local de la zona de Piura Oeste. Para la elaboración del esquema primero se realizó una investigación de los conceptos teóricos involucrados, se recolectó la información necesaria para actualizar el sistema eléctrico de análisis, así como todos los estudios eléctricos necesarios para validar el óptimo funcionamiento del esquema propuesto. Se concluye que, ante una contingencia en el sistema de análisis, el esquema de rechazo automático de caga por mínima tensión opera de manera correcta

Prognostic significance of serine-phosphorylated STAT3 expression in pT1-T2 oral tongue carcinoma

Objectives. Phosphorylated (activated) STAT3 (pSTAT3) is a regulator of numerous genes that play an essential part in the onset, development and progression of cancer; it is involved in cell proliferation and preventing apoptosis, and in invasion, angiogenesis, and the evasion of immune surveillance. This study aimed mainly to investigate the potential prognostic role of pSTAT3 expression in oral tongue squamous cell carcinoma (SCC). Methods. Phospho-ser727 STAT3 immunolabeling was correlated with prognostic parameters in 34 consecutive cases of pT1\u2013T2 tongue SCCs undergoing primary surgery. Computer-based image analysis was used for the immunohistochemical reactions analysis. Results. Statistical analysis showed a difference in disease-free survival (DFS) when patients were stratified by pN status (P=0.031). Most tumors had variable degrees (mean\ub1SD, 80.7%\ub123.8%) of intense nuclear immunoreaction to pSTAT3. Our findings rule out any significant association of serine-phosphorylated nuclear STAT3 expression with tumor stage, grade, lymph node metastasis, recurrence rate, or DFS. Conclusion. In spite of these results, it is worth further investigating the role of pSTAT3 (serine-and tyrosine-pSTAT3) in oral tongue SCC in larger series because preclinical models are increasingly showing that several anticancer strategies would benefit from STAT3 phosphorylation inhibition

K → πππγ in chiral perturbation theory

We present a complete analysis K → 3ππγ decays to Open image in new window(p4) in the low-energy expansion of the Standard Model. We employ the notion of "generalized bremsstrahlung" to take full advantage of experimental information on the corresponding non-radiative K → 3π decay

La salvaguardia dell'ambiente e del biota nel settore dei beni culturali

In the past the unsuitable choices made when choosing products to be used for conservation actions related to artefacts of historic-artistic interest were mainly due to wrong assessments. More specifically this means: insufficient determination of the structure-aspect relation which characterises the original materials that make up the artefacts; insufficient knowledge of the behaviour of new materials due to natural ageing processes which might impoverish them or deprive them of specific qualities; lack of interest in measuring the medium-long term effects and interactions of the artefacts-products-environment system. The latter is sometimes capable of triggering new and more serious factors leading to the deterioration of the artefact sometimes causing even greater damage. In particular this study refers to the aspects related to the potential danger deriving from products used for the different types of conservation interventions on stone materials

K+→π+ννˉK^+\to \pi^+\nu\bar\nu: a rising star on the stage of flavour physics

Motivated by the new experimental information reported by the BNL--E787 Collaboration, we analyse the present impact and the future prospects opened by the measurement of \br(K^+\to\pi^+\nu\bar\nu). Although still affected by a large error, the BNL--E787 result favours values of \br(K^+\to \pi^+\nu\bar\nu) substantially larger than what expected within the Standard Model. As a result, this data already provide non-trivial constraints on the unitarity triangle, when interpreted within the Standard Model framework. We stress the importance of the clean relation between \br(K^+\to \pi^+\nu\bar\nu), $\sin2\beta$ and $\Delta M_{B_d}/\Delta M_{B_s}$ that in the next few years could provide one of the deepest probes of the Standard Model in the sector of quark-flavour dynamics. A speculative discussion about possible non-standard interpretations of a large \br(K^+\to \pi^+\nu\bar\nu) is also presented. Two main scenarios naturally emerge: those with direct new-physics contributions to the $s \to d \nu\bar\nu$ amplitude and those with direct new-physics effects only in $B_d$--$\bar B_d$ mixing. Realistic models originating these two scenarios and possible future strategies to clearly identify them are briefly discussed.Comment: 13 pages, 3 figures; minor modifications, version to appear in Phys.Lett.

β-Arrestin-1 expression and epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition in laryngeal carcinoma.

Aim: The novel primary end-point of the present study was to ascertain β-arrestin-1 expression in a cohort of consecutive patients with laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma (LSCC) with information available on their cigarette-smoking habits. A secondary end-point was to conduct a preliminary clinical and pathological investigation into the possible role of β-arrestin-1 in the epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT), identified by testing for E-cadherin, Zeb1, and Zeb2 expression, in the setting of LSCC. Methods: The expression of β-arrestin-1, E-cadherin, zeb1, and zeb2 was ascertained in 20 consecutive LSCCs. Results: Statistical analysis showed no significant associations between β-arrestin-1 and EMT (based on the expression of E-cadherin, Zeb1, and Zeb2). The combined effect of nicotine and β-arrestin-1 was significantly associated with a shorter disease-free survival ( P=0.01) in our series of LSCC. This latter result was also confirmed in an independent, publicly available LSCC cohort ( P=0.047). Conclusions: Further investigations on larger series (ideally in prospective settings) are needed before we can consider closer follow-up protocols and/or more aggressive treatments for patients with LSCC and a combination of nicotine exposure and β-arrestin-1 positivity in tumor cells at the time of their diagnosis. Further studies on how β-arrestin functions in cancer via different signaling pathways might reveal potential targets for the treatment of even advanced laryngeal malignancies