Emerging immune-based technologies for high-grade gliomas

The selection of a tailored and successful strategy for high-grade gliomas (HGGs) treatment is still a concern. The abundance of aberrant mutations within the heterogenic genetic landscape of glioblastoma strongly influences cell expansion, proliferation, and therapeutic resistance. Identification of immune evasion pathways opens the way to novel immune-based strategies. This review intends to explore the emerging immunotherapies for HGGs. The immunosuppressive mechanisms related to the tumor microenvironment and future perspectives to overcome glioma immunity barriers are also debated

Microscope-based augmented reality with diffusion tensor imaging and fluorescein in insular glioma resection

Maximal safe resection is the goal of insular glioma surgery. The combination of intraoperative augmented reality (AR) diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) fiber tracking with fluorescein dye (F) helps achieve this goal throughout a microscope-based visualization of the tumor and white matter fiber tracts. The aim of the present video article was to show the technical key aspects of DTI-F microscope-based AR-assisted surgery during the gross-total resection of an insular Berger-Sanai type I+IV high-grade glioma in a 63-year-old patient, performed through a pterional transsylvian approach. The video can be found here: https://stream.cadmore.media/r10.3171/2021.10.FOCVID2157

In-Hospital Mortality in Non-COVID-19-Related Diseases before and during the Pandemic: A Regional Retrospective Study

Italy was one of the nations most affected by SARS-CoV-2. During the pandemic period, the national government approved some restrictions to reduce diffusion of the virus. We aimed to evaluate changes in in-hospital mortality and its possible relation with patient comorbidities and different restrictive public health measures adopted during the 2020 pandemic period. We analyzed the hospital discharge records of inpatients from public and private hospitals in Apulia (Southern Italy) from 1 January 2019 to 31 December 2020. The study period was divided into four phases according to administrative restriction. The possible association between in-hospital deaths, hospitalization period, and covariates such as age group, sex, Charlson comorbidity index (CCI) class, and length of hospitalization stay (LoS) class was evaluated using a multivariable logistic regression model. The risk of death was slightly higher in men than in women (OR 1.04, 95% CI: 1.01–1.07) and was lower for every age group below the >75 years age group. The risk of in-hospital death was lower for hospitalizations with a lower CCI score. In summary, our analysis shows a possible association between in-hospital mortality in non-COVID-19-related diseases and restrictive measures of public health. The risk of hospital death increased during the lockdown period

Analisi costo/efficacia di sevelamer nel trattamento dell'iperfosforemia del paziente in dialisi

Dialysis-associated hyperphosphatemia has been treated with chelating calcium salts, in particular with calcium carbonate. A new option for the management of this problem is represented by sevelamer, a chelating agent which contains no calcium and no metals. Sevelamer and calcium carbonate are more or less equally effective and tolerated. The prolonged use of sevelamer instead of calcium carbonate, nevertheless, reduces calcemia and C-reactive protein levels, with a consequent reduction in myocardial infarction, angina pectoris and other peripheral vasculopathies. The limit to the wide-spread use of sevelamer is in its very high acquisition cost, as compared to the alternative. In this article, a semi-markovian pharmacoeconomical model for the comparison of clinical and economical outcomes of sevelamer and calcium carbonate is presented. The analysis is conducted in the perspective of the Italian health system (SSN). Clinical data are derived from published studies and integrated with expert panel estimates, cost data are relative to the Italian setting. The incremental cost-effectiveness analysis indicated that sevelamer is more costly, but also more costeffective: a one month gain in survival costs the SSN additional 2710 Euro, a value inferior to the conventionally accepted willingness-to-pay of industrialised countries. The majority of this excess cost is derived from the gain in survival, and consequent increase in dialysis costs. Thus, the choice of using sevelamer instead of calcium carbonate is even more justified from an ethical point of view. Sensibility analyses confirmed the robustness of the basic scenario results

Clinical, cultural and personal dimensions of fashion modelling as a basis for phenomenological and depth psychological exploration of femininity in Western societies

This study investigates the lived experiences of female international fashion models, a shortcoming within extant literature. An interdisciplinary, pluralistic approach was embraced. Using clinical vignettes, an autoethnographic account and an interpretative phenomenological analysis of qualitative interviews of a group of fashion models, this study overturns the idealised image of the fashion model life within the collective consciousness and shows the embodiment and personality of female fashion models to be socially constructed within a field wherein several forces, illuminated herein, are at play. Intrapsychic forces, interpersonal dynamics and the role of transgenerational trauma are also illuminated. The results show the embodied lived experiences of female fashion models and their performances to epitomise metaphors for the predicaments faced by many females in contemporary Western societies. A hegemonic, normative ideal, that compresses all feminine qualities into an impossible composite icon, is pursued. A specific persona holding the characteristics of the puella is culturally offered, through media dissemination of models’ imagery, as the ultimate signifier of high status and feminine ideal, leaving women with limited external reference to the multiple feminine attributes and roles necessary to express themselves fully and to respond to life situations effectively. The research findings also confirm that subjective embodiment contains relevant information about individuals’ challenges, intersubjective dynamics, collective shared experiences and vicissitudes, precious for advances within multiple academic disciplines. According to the researcher, conscious fashion models, engaged on a journey of individuation, supported by an ethical industry and by their striking socialising power, could embody inspirational role models of wholeness, authenticity, interconnectedness and diverse feminine qualities for the larger population