Excess of weight: is it a modifiable predictive and prognostic factor in locally advanced rectal cancer?

To evaluate the relationship between body mass index (BMI) and rates of treatment tolerance and clinical outcomes in patients with locally advanced rectal cancer treated with a multimodality approach. PATIENTS AND METHODS: This study was conducted on 56 patients with histologically proven rectal adenocarcinoma, staged T3-4, and/or node-positive tumor, which underwent intensified radiochemotherapy (RT-CHT) treatment before surgery. We calculated adiposity indices and analyzed their influence on treatment tolerance and clinical outcomes. RESULTS: Distribution of the 56 patients according to BMI was BMI < 25 kg/m2 (n = 19; 33.9%), BMI 25-29 kg/m2 (n = 29; 51.8%) and BMI ≥ 30 kg/m2 (n = 8; 14.3%). BMI had no significant influence on neo-adjuvant treatment-related toxicity. With a median follow-up of 23 months (range 11-47), the 2-year survival was 85.7%. We did not observe any significant difference among the three BMI categories for any of the outcomes. CONCLUSIONS: This study suggested no evident links between overweight and survival in patients with locally advanced rectal carcinoma treated with neo-adjuvant RT-CHT. Overweight patients tolerate treatment as normal-weight patients

Familiarity and liking of vegetables: Is it important for vegetable consumption?

The results presented in this paper are part of the early findings from a large European study, VeggiEAT involving the UK, Denmark, France and Italy with the aim of improving vegetable consumption in young people and older people. The results presented here are from UK young people (aged 12–14) focusing on familiarity and liking of vegetables and looking at their vegetable consumption and awareness of what constitutes a healthy diet. The study adds to the literature on vegetable familiarity, liking and consumption in this age group. Early exposure of young children to a variety of vegetables is very important and parents/carers and school nurses need to understand the importance of this in terms of the foods offered and available early within a child`s life and the potential influence of this on vegetable consumption over their lifetime

Da qualche parte in Africa

Si può definire come il primo romanzo "postcoloniale" portoghese; l'autore riesce nell'intento di smontare il colonialismo dall'interno, ricostruendo la genealogia di una famiglia: mischiando la storia del Portogallo dell'ultimo impero africano con quella della sua stessa famiglia, Helder Macedo accompagna il lettore in un viaggio appassionante, che, sospeso tra realtà e finzione, parte dall'Africa per scoprire le radici del Portogallo contemporaneo

La norma tecnica UNI 11695:2017: opportunità e sfide per la professione di sociologo

L’articolo, a partire dalla descrizione della situazione in cui attualmente versa la professione del sociologo, si propone di delineare le opportunità offerte dalla norma tecnica UNI 11695 del 2017. Dopo aver delineato il quadro nell’ambito del quale si è realizzata la costruzione della suddetta norma, saranno esaminate le opportunità offerte – ai professionisti e alle associazioni – dalla certificazione professionale e sarà sottolineato il ruolo che dovranno assumere l’aggiornamento e la formazione professionale nel suo ambito

Data from: Can hot temperatures limit disease transmission? a test of mechanisms in a zooplankton-fungus system

1. Thermal ecology theory predicts that transmission of infectious diseases should respond unimodally to temperature, i.e., be maximized at intermediate temperatures and constrained at extreme low and high temperatures. However, empirical evidence linking hot temperatures to decreased transmission in nature remains limited.2. We tested the hypothesis that hot temperatures constrain transmission in a zooplankton-fungus (Daphnia dentifera-Metschnikowia bicuspidata) disease system where autumnal epidemics typically start after lakes cool from their peak summer temperatures. This pattern suggested that maximally hot summer temperatures could be inhibiting disease spread. 3. Using a series of lab experiments, we examined the effects of high temperatures on five mechanistic components of transmission. We found that (1) high temperatures increased exposure to parasites by speeding up foraging rate but (2) did not alter infection success post-exposure. (3) High temperatures lowered parasite production (due to faster host death and an inferred delay in parasite growth). (4) Parasites made in hot conditions were less infectious to the next host (instilling a parasite ‘rearing’ or 'trans-host' effect of temperature during the prior infection). (5) High temperatures in the free-living stage also reduce parasite infectivity, either by killing or harming parasites. 4. We then assembled the five mechanisms into an index of disease spread. The resulting unimodal thermal response was most strongly driven by the rearing effect. Transmission peaked at intermediate-hot temperatures (25-26°C) and then decreased at maximally hot temperatures (30-32°C). However, transmission at these maximally hot temperatures only trended slightly lower than the baseline control (20°C), which easily sustains epidemics in laboratory conditions and in nature. Overall, we conclude that while exposure to hot epilimnetic temperatures does somewhat constrain disease, we lack evidence that this effect fully explains the lack of summer epidemics in this natural system. This work demonstrates the importance of experimentally testing hypothesized mechanisms of thermal constraints on disease transmission. Furthermore, it cautions against drawing conclusions based on field patterns and theory alone

Solitary rib metastasis of nasopharyngeal carcinoma

We report a case of a 49-year-old man who developed solitary rib metastasis of nasopharyngeal cancer. Patient had been treated for primary carcinoma with radiation therapy and concomitant chemotherapy. The bone metastasis presented as bulky, solid, painful mass in the posterior arch of 10th rib, within nine months the end of treatment. Biopsy of the solitary lesion presented the same histological characteristics as those of primary lesion. Although there are reported in literature series of nasopharyngeal cancer metastasizing to bone, we did not find previously published report of a nasopharyngeal carcinoma metastasizing only to a rib

Familiarity and liking of vegetables: Is it important for vegetable consumption?

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