MTOR cross-talk in cancer and potential for combination therapy

The mammalian Target of Rapamycin (mTOR) pathway plays an essential role in sensing and integrating a variety of exogenous cues to regulate cellular growth and metabolism, in both physiological and pathological conditions. mTOR functions through two functionally and structurally distinct multi-component complexes, mTORC1 and mTORC2, which interact with each other and with several elements of other signaling pathways. In the past few years, many new insights into mTOR function and regulation have been gained and extensive genetic and pharmacological studies in mice have enhanced our understanding of how mTOR dysfunction contributes to several diseases, including cancer. Single-agent mTOR targeting, mostly using rapalogs, has so far met limited clinical success; however, due to the extensive cross-talk between mTOR and other pathways, combined approaches are the most promising avenues to improve clinical efficacy of available therapeutics and overcome drug resistance. This review provides a brief and up-to-date narrative on the regulation of mTOR function, the relative contributions of mTORC1 and mTORC2 complexes to cancer development and progression, and prospects for mTOR inhibition as a therapeutic strategy

Role of mTOR signaling in tumor microenvironment. An overview

The mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) pathway regulates major processes by integrating a variety of exogenous cues, including diverse environmental inputs in the tumor microenvironment (TME). In recent years, it has been well recognized that cancer cells co-exist and co-evolve with their TME, which is often involved in drug resistance. The mTOR pathway modulates the interactions between the stroma and the tumor, thereby affecting both the tumor immunity and angiogenesis. The activation of mTOR signaling is associated with these pro-oncogenic cellular processes, making mTOR a promising target for new combination therapies. This review highlights the role of mTOR signaling in the characterization and the activity of the TME’s elements and their implications in cancer immunotherapy

Connectivity for the frisbee architecture

In this paper we investigate the kconnectivity threshold of distributed dense ad hoc heterogeneous wireless sensor network architecture. We consider the situation when sensors are deployed in the surveillance area according to a uniform distribution perturbed by a Gaussian noise. We derive analytically the minimum detection range which guarantees an emerging structure in the network, namely the connectivity, which becomes larger and larger as the number of sensors in the network increase. This allows the target track to be propagated almost surely throughout the network using the minimum possible amount ofprime energy. We report the results of some simulation experiments which further support the theoretical results

Algorithms for the selection of the active sensors in distributed tracking: Comparison between Frisbee and GNS methods

This paper compares two different approaches for sensor selection for distributed tracking: 1) The Frisbee method, and 2) Global Node Selection (GNS). The Frisbee method is based on the proximity of the nodes to the predicted location of the target; GNS is based on minimizing the unbiased Cramer Rao lower bound (CRLB). Both theoretical and experimental results indicate that the Frisbee method is as effective as GNS. Furthermore, the Frisbee method is attractive due to its very light computational load

WISER Deliverable D3.3-2: The importance of invertebrate spatial and temporal variation for ecological status classification for European lakes

European lakes are affected by many human induced disturbances. In principle, ecological theories predict that the structure and functioning of benthic invertebrate assemblage (one of the Biological Quality Elements following the Water Framework Directive, WFD terminology) change in response to the level of disturbances, making this biological element suitable for assessing the status and management of lake ecosystems. In practice, to set up assessment systems based on invertebrates, we need to distiguish community changes that are related to human pressures from those that are inherent natural variability. This task is complicated by the fact that invertebrate communities inhabiting the littoral and the profundal zones of lakes are constrained by different factors and respond unevenly to distinct human disturbances. For example it is not clear yet how the invertebrates assemblages respond to watershed and shoreline alterations, nor the relative importance of spatial and temporal factors on assemblage dynamics and relative bioindicator values of taxa, the habitat constraints on species traits and other taxonomic and methodological limitations. The current lack of knowledge of basic features of invertebrate temporal and spatial variations is limiting the fulfillment of the EU-wide intercalibration of lake ecological quality assessment systems in Europe, and thus compromising the basis for setting the environmental objectives as required by the WFD. The aim of this deliverable is to provide a contribution towards the understanding of basic sources of spatial and temporal variation of lake invertebrate assemblages. The report is structured around selected case studies, manly involving the analysis of existing datasets collated within WISER. The case studies come from different European lake types in the Northern, Central, Alpine and Mediterranean regions. All chapters have an obvious applied objective and our aim is to provide to those dealing with WFD implementation at various levels useful information to consider when designing monitoring programs and / or invertebrate-based classification systems

Association between the multidimensional prognostic index and mortality during 15 Years of Follow-up in the InCHIANTI Study

Background: Multidimensional Prognostic Index (MPI) is recognized as a prognostic tool in hospitalized patients, but data on the value of MPI in community-dwelling older persons are limited. Using data from a representative cohort of community-dwelling persons, we tested the hypothesis that MPI explains mortality during 15 years of follow-up. Methods: A standardized comprehensive geriatric assessment was used to calculate the MPI and to categorize participants in low-, moderate-, and high-risk classes. The results were reported as hazard ratios (HRs) and the accuracy was evaluated with the area under the curve (AUC), with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) and the C-index. We also reported the median survival time by standard age groups. Results: All 1453 participants (mean age 68.9 years, women = 55.8%) enrolled in the InCHIANTI study at baseline were included. Compared to low-risk group, participants in moderate (HR = 2.10; 95% CI: 1.73-2.55) and high-risk MPI group (HR = 4.94; 95% CI: 3.91-6.24) had significantly higher mortality risk. The C-index of the model containing age, sex, and MPI was 82.1, indicating a very good accuracy of this model in explaining mortality. Additionally, the time-dependent AUC indicated that the accuracy of the model incorporating MPI to age and sex was excellent (>85.0) during the whole follow-up period. Compared to participants in the low-risk MPI group across different age groups, those in moderate- and high-risk groups survived 2.9-7.0 years less and 4.3-8.9 years less, respectively. Conclusions: In community-dwelling individuals, higher MPI values are associated with higher risk of all-cause mortality with a dose-response effect. © 2020 The Author(s) 2020

Accuracy of screening tools for Pap smears in general practice

Background: Data extraction tools (DETs) are increasingly being used for research and audit of general practice, despite their limitations. Objective: This study explores the accuracy of Pap smear rates obtained with a DET compared to that of the Pap smear rate obtained with a manual file audit. Method: A widely available DET was used to establish the rate of Pap smears in a large multi-general practice (multi-GP) in regional New South Wales followed by a manual audit of patient files. The main outcome measure was identification of possible discrepancies between the rates established. Results: The DET used significantly underestimated the level of cervical screening compared to the manual audit. In some instances, the patient file contained phone/specialist record of Pap smear conducted elsewhere, which accounted for the failure of the DET to detect some smears. Those patients who had Pap smears whose pathology codes differed between time intervals, i.e. from different pathology providers or from within the same provider but using a different code, were less likely to have had their most recent Pap smear detected by the DET (p \u3c 0.001). Conclusion: Data obtained from DETs should be used with caution as they may not accurately reflect the rate of Pap smears from electronic medical records

The Severe Heart Failure Questionnaire: Italian translation and linguistic validation

Introduction. The quality of life (QoL) is an important outcome indicator for heart failure management. As the use of a validate questionnaire in a different cultural context can affect data interpretation our main objective is the Italian translation and linguistic validation of the Severe Heart Failure Questionnaire (SHF) and its comparison with the MLHF (Minnesota Living with Heart Failure) Questionnaire. Methods. The SHF and ?The Minnesota Living with Heart Failure Questionnaire? were translated. A consensus involving parallel back-translations was established among a group of cardiologists, psychologists and biostatisticians. SHF and MLHF were both administrated to a sample of 50 patients Results. The patients? median age was 63 years. Ace inhibitors therapy was administered in 88% of cases and betablockers in 56% of cases. Finally the Italian version of SHF correlates well with MLHF for all domains, except life satisfaction SHF domain. Discussion: The Italian version of the SHF correlates well with MLHF for almost all domains and it represents a valid alterna- tive for quality of life assessment in heart failure patients