Expression of Matrix Metalloproteinases and Their Tissue Inhibitors in Chronic Rhinosinusitis With Nasal Polyps: Etiopathogenesis and Recurrence:

Chronic rhinosinusitis with nasal polyps is a multifactorial disease of the nasal and paranasal sinus mucosa and it includes, as comorbidities, anatomic and morphologic alterations, allergic rhinitis, and immunologic diseases. We investigated matrix metalloproteinases (MMP-2, MMP-7, and MMP-9) and their tissue inhibitors (TIMP-1 and TIMP-2) concentration in different etiopathogenetical groups of patients with nasal polyposis (NP) in relation to recurrence after sinonasal surgery. The study group consisted of 45 patients with NP (those with allergic rhinitis, nonallergic rhinitis and asthma or nonallergic rhinitis, and obstruction of osteomeatal complex [OMC]) who underwent endonasal sinus surgery. We also collected 10 patients who underwent septoplasty as control. Immunohistochemistry of nasal mucosa fragments, Western blotting, and polymerase chain reaction analysis showed increased MMPs levels (MMP-9 more than MMP-2 and MMP-7) and decreased tissue inhibitors of MMPs levels (TIMP-1 less than TIMP-2), in patients with chronic rhinosinusitis with nasal polyps compared with control group, in particular in patients with nonallergic rhinitis and asthma compared to those with allergic rhinitis and nonallergic rhinitis and obstruction of OMC. We observed a higher risk of recurrence in patients with nonallergic rhinitis and asthma than in those with allergic rhinitis and nonallergic rhinitis and obstruction of OMC after 36 months from surgery. In this research, we evaluated pathogenesis of NP related to MMPs and their inhibitors concentrations in polypoid tissue

Latest achievements in PET techniques

Positron emission tomography (PET) has moved from a distinguished research tool in physiology, cardiology and neurology to become a major tool for clinical investigation in oncology, in cardiac applications and in neurological disorders. Much of the PET accomplishments is due to the remarkable improvements in the last 10 years both in hardware and software aspects. Nowadays a similar effort is made by many research groups towards the construction of dedicated PET apparatus in new emerging fields such as molecular medicine, gene therapy, breast cancer imaging and combined modalities. This paper reports on some recent results we have obtained in small animal imaging and positron emission mammography, based on the use of advanced technology in the field of scintillators and photodetectors, such as Position-Sensitive Detectors coupled to crystal matrices, combined use of scintillating fibers and Hybrid-Photo-Diodes readout, and Hamamatsu flat panels. New ideas and future developments are discussed

Characterization of the Ferrara animal PET scanner

A dedicated small animal PET scanner, YAPPET, was designed and built at Ferrara University. Each detector consists of a 20� 20 matrix of 2� 2� 30 mm 3 YAP:Ce finger-like crystals glued together and directly coupled to a Hamamatsu position sensitive photomultiplier. The scanner is made from four detectors positioned on a rotating gantry at a distance of 7:5 cm from the center and the field of view (FOV) is 4 cm both in the transaxial direction and in the axial direction. The system operates in 3D acquisition mode. The performance parameters of YAPPET scanner such as spatial, energy and time resolution, as well as its sensitivity and counting rate have been determined. The average spatial resolution over the whole FOV is 1:8 mm at FWHM and 4:2 mm at FWTM. The sensitivity at the center is 640 cps=mCi: r 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved. PACS: 87.59.Wb; 87.59.Q

Detector development for a novel Positron Emission Mammography scanner based on YAP:Ce crystals

A prototype for positron emission mammography is under development within a collaboration of the Departments of Physics of Pisa and Ferrara. The device will be composed of two opposing detectors (parallel plane geometry). The active part of the detector head is constituted by a matrix of scintillators with a small pixel size (2 2m m 2 ). We have evaluated the possibility to use an array of Position Sensitive PhotoMultiplier Tube (PSPMT mod R8520-C12 from Hamamatsu) for the readout of the scintillation matrix. Two different crystal-PMT coupling techniques have been explored: the results for each method are reported in this work. The overall performance, in terms of efficiency and pixel identification of the final prototype of the detector head are also presented. For future applications the new H8500 (also called the 'flat panel' PMT) has been studied and compared to the R8520 in terms of the imaging performance and other considerations such as cost and geometry. The imaging performance of these tubes is characterized in terms of the pixel image resolution and the peak-to-valley ratio. r 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved

Ballistic differences in professional soccer players with and without visual impairment

Vision is considered the most important sensory input modality for sport performance (1). Recent studies have shown the existence of developmental delays in motor and sport skills in individuals with visual impairment (2). The purpose of the current study is to examine the kinematic and ballistic differences during football match between professional players with visual impairment and players without visual impairment. During athletic preseason, all soccer players of Delfino Pescara 1936 were evaluated on the basis of visual and orthotic parameters. The sample was composed of 18 professional players including 8 with visual impairment (age -yrs- 23.5 ± 2,50 SD; height -cm- 181.75 ± 9.08 SD ; mass -kg- 78 ± 8.58 SD)and 10 with no visual impairment (age -yrs- 26.6 ± 5.29 SD; height -cm- 177.1 ± 5.95 SD; mass -kg-74.3 ± 6.78 SD). All players were subjected to Natural and Corrected Visual Acuity, Refractive Examination during Miosis and Cycloplegia, Intraocular Pressure (IOP), Extrinsic Ocular Motility, Examination of Convergence and Cover Tests. During all regular season (September 2015/ May 2016, 42 matches, 3780 minutes) for each player it was reported the number of passing under 10 meters, errors of passing under 10 meters (expressed in centimeters), number of passing over 10 meters, errors of passing over 10 meters (expressed in centimeters) and shots in the target and out the target. The results suggest that the players with visually impairment miss passing with a higher percentage than in the control group in both conditions (under the 10 meters and over 10 meters). No significance emerged on the parameter shots on target in both groups. Results showed that the vision is a fundamental proprioceptive channel for the performance in elite soccer players but the small samples analyzed and the lack of prior research studies on the topic subject suggest that further studies will be needed

Preparation and frst biological evaluation of novel Re-188/Tc-99m peptide conjugates with substance-P

Introduction: New 188Re and 99mTc peptide conjugates with substance- P (SP) were prepared and biologically evaluated. The radiopharmaceuticals have been labelled with the [M=N]2+ (M=99mTc, 188Re) core using a combination of pi-donor tridentate and pi-acceptor monodentate ancillary ligands. Methods: The new radiopharmaceuticals have been prepared through a two-step reaction by simultaneous addition of the tridentate and monodentate ligands to a vial containing a preformed [M=N]2+ core. The tridentate ligand was formed by linking two cysteine residues to the terminal arginine of the undecapeptide SP, whereas the monodentate ligand was a tertiary phosphine. The preparation of the corresponding Re-188 derivative required developing a more complex chemical procedure to obtain the [Re=N]2+ core in satisfactory yields. Characterization of the resulting products was obtained by chromatographic methods. Biological evaluation was performed for both Tc-99m and Re-188 derivatives by in-vitro studies on isolated cells expressing NK1-receptors. In-vivo imaging in mice was carried out using a small-animal YAP(S)PET tomograph. Conclusion: New Tc-99m and Re-188 peptide radiopharmaceuticals with SP have been prepared in high yield and with high-specifc activity. Both Tc-99m and Re-188 peptide radioconjugates exhibit high affnity for NK1 receptors, thus giving further evidence to the empirical rule that structurally related Tc-99m and Re-188 radiopharmaceuticals exhibit identical biological properties

Phenotypic and functional characterization of endothelial progenitor cells isolated from peripheral blood of renal cell carcinoma patients

Endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) are mobilized from either bone marrow or arterial walls to restore blood perfusion to ischemic organs and establish the vascular network within growing tumors [1]. The Ca2+ machinery plays a key role in EPC activation and might serve a molecular target for novel therapies of highly angiogenic tumors, such as renal cell carcinoma (RCC) [1]. The Ca2+ toolkit is remodelled in EPCs isolated from RCC patients (RCC-EPCs) as respect to healthy donors [2]. The present study was undertaken to evaluate for the first time the functional properties of EPCs isolated from tumor patients by focusing on RCC-EPCs. We extended our analysis at microscopic level by monitoring the sub-cellular structure of RCC-EPCs relative to their Ca2+ signalling fingerprint. Our results showed a striking functional and ultrastructural difference between RCC-EPCs and their normal counterparts, which might be the basis for designing novel, more specific anti-angiogenic treatments