Do Patients with Bronchiectasis Have an Increased Risk of Developing Lung Cancer? A Systematic Review

Background: Initial evidence supports the hypothesis that patients with non-cystic fibrosis bronchiectasis (NCFB) have a higher risk of lung cancer. We systematically reviewed the available literature to define the characteristics of lung malignancies in patients with bronchiectasis and the characteristics of patients who develop bronchiectasis-associated lung cancer. Method: This study was performed based on the PRISMA guidelines. The review protocol was registered in PROSPERO. Results: The frequency rates of lung cancer in patients with NCFB ranged from 0.93% to 8.0%. The incidence rate was 3.96. Cancer more frequently occurred in the elderly and males. Three studies found an overall higher risk of developing lung cancer in the NCFB population compared to the non-bronchiectasis one, and adenocarcinoma was the most frequently reported histological type. The effect of the co-existence of NCFB and COPD was unclear. Conclusions: NCFB is associated with a higher risk of developing lung cancer than individuals without NCFB. This risk is higher for males, the elderly, and smokers, whereas concomitant COPD’s effect is unclear

Endoscopic Technologies for Peripheral Pulmonary Lesions: From Diagnosis to Therapy

Peripheral pulmonary lesions (PPLs) are frequent incidental findings in subjects when performing chest radiographs or chest computed tomography (CT) scans. When a PPL is identified, it is necessary to proceed with a risk stratification based on the patient profile and the characteristics found on chest CT. In order to proceed with a diagnostic procedure, the first-line examination is often a bronchoscopy with tissue sampling. Many guidance technologies have recently been developed to facilitate PPLs sampling. Through bronchoscopy, it is currently possible to ascertain the PPL’s benign or malignant nature, delaying the therapy’s second phase with radical, supportive, or palliative intent. In this review, we describe all the new tools available: from the innovation of bronchoscopic instrumentation (e.g., ultrathin bronchoscopy and robotic bronchoscopy) to the advances in navigation technology (e.g., radial-probe endobronchial ultrasound, virtual navigation, electromagnetic navigation, shape-sensing navigation, cone-beam computed tomography). In addition, we summarize all the PPLs ablation techniques currently under experimentation. Interventional pulmonology may be a discipline aiming at adopting increasingly innovative and disruptive technologies

Perfluorooctanoic acid exposure assessment on common carp liver through image and ultrastructural investigation

Perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) poses particular concern as an emerging pollutant in both surface and ground waters. Fish, as a natural inhabitant of these waters and being highly representative of vertebrates, represents an ideal animal model to assess the toxic effects of PFOA. Hereby, liver microscopic texture was comparatively evaluated in individuals of common carp subchronically exposed to PFOA using grayscale differential box counting, a fractal analysis method. Furthermore, liver cytoplasmic glycogen areas and ultrastructure were also evaluated and compared to the image analysis findings. Redundancy Analysis was performed to assess, in summary, how much the variation of fractal dimension and lacunarity was explained by the concentration of PFOA in liver, the mass of liver and the number of proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA)-immunoreactive nuclei. Treatment group ordination was better determined by fractal dimension than lacunarity. Interestingly, a significant complexity increase was associated with the modification of liver microscopic texture due to PFOA exposure. This complexity increase was related to “cloudy swelling”, possibly representing a primarily adaptive strategy against PFOA challenge, rather than a slight, reversible form of degeneration as traditionally proposed. The occurrence of endoplasmic reticulum stress, unfolded protein reaction and hormetic response was proposed and discussed

Adattamenti ematologici, ematochimici e funzionali nel cavallo in corso di addestramento

Seven horses were submitted to conventional drilling sessions, during two consecutive weeks. Blood samples were drawn before and after drilling sessions. Compared to basal values, horses submitted to drilling sessions during 2 weeks showed lower glucose levels post exercise at the 3 rd day, and higher lactate levels post exercise both after the 1st and 2nd week of drilling. Compared to basal values, Hgb and Hct showed higher levels post exercise at the 1st day of 1st week; Plt and Pct showed higher levels post exercise at the 2nd and 3rd day of both 1st and 2nd week. HR, RR, RT showed a trend to increase in all postexercise sampling times. No significant differences were observed between the 2 drilling week sessions on hematological, hematochemical and functional values

Desempenho produtivo de ovinos mantidos em pastagens de capim Tifton 85 recebendo doses crescentes de concentrado.

O estudo foi conduzido com o objetivo de avaliar o desempenho produtivo de ovinos mantidos em pastagens irrigadas de Tifton 85 recebendo doses crescentes de suplemento concentrado. Foram utilizados 24 ovinos, machos, castrados, com peso médio inicial de 20 kg como animais testadores. As doses de concentrado avaliadas foram 0; 0,66; 1,33 e 2,0% de matéria seca de suplemento em relação ao peso corporal dos animais. O delineamento experimental foi o inteiramente casualizado com seis repetições por tratamento. Foram observados maiores (P<0,05) ganhos médios diários e ganhos de pesos totais para os animais que receberam 2% de concentrado. Os animais que não receberam suplementação apresentaram os menores (P<0,05) ganhos médios diários e ganhos de pesos totais. O aumento nas doses de concentrado para ovinos mantidos em pastagens de Tifton 85 melhorou o desempenho produtivo dos animais

Composição química da carne de cabritos Saanen arraçoados com diferentes proporções de concentrado e volumoso.

O objetivo do presente estudo foi avaliar a composição química da carne de cabritos da raça Saanen submetidos a quatro relações de concentrado e volumoso (C:V) (80:20; 60:40; 40:60 e 20:80% de C:V) na matéria seca de rações, tendo o capim Elefante in natura picado como volumoso base. Foram utilizados 28 caprinos, machos, distribuídos em quatro grupos, em baias coletivas, sendo que, cada baia continha sete animais. O delineamento experimental adotado foi o inteiramente casualizado com sete repetições por tratamento. As variáveis analisadas foram os teores de matéria seca, proteína bruta, extrato etéreo e cinzas. Foram observados maiores teores de matéria seca (P0,05) pelas doses de concentrado. Assim, o incremento na proporção de concentrado nas rações elevou os teores de matéria seca da carne caprina

Tyrosol-Enriched Tomatoes by Diffusion across the Fruit Peel from a Chitosan Coating: A Proposal of Functional Food

Chitosan is receiving increasing attention from the food industry for being a biodegradable, non-toxic, antimicrobial biopolymer able to extend the shelf life of, and preserve the quality of, fresh food. However, few studies have investigated the ability of chitosan-based coatings to allow the diffusion of bioactive compounds into the food matrix to improve its nutraceutical quality. This research is aimed at testing whether a hydrophilic molecule (tyrosol) could diffuse from the chitosan-tyrosol coating and cross the tomato peel. To this end, in vitro permeation tests using excised tomato peel and an in vivo application of chitosan-tyrosol coating on tomato fruit, followed by tyrosol quantification in intact fruit, peel and flesh during a seven-day storage at room temperature, were performed. Both approaches demonstrated the ability of tyrosol to permeate across the fruit peel. Along with a decreased tyrosol content in the peel, its concentration within the flesh was increased, indicating an active transfer of tyrosol into this tissue. This finding, together with the maintenance of constant tyrosol levels during the seven-day storage period, is very promising for the use of chitosan formulations to produce functional tomato fruit

PSNCBAM-1 analogs: Structural evolutions and allosteric properties at cannabinoid CB1 receptor

Allosteric modulation of the CB1Rs could represent an alternative strategy for the treatment of diseases in which these receptors are involved, without the undesirable effects associated with their orthosteric stimulation. PSNCBAM-1 is a reference diaryl urea derivative that positively affects the binding affinity of orthosteric ligands (PAM) and negatively affects the functional activity of orthosteric ligands (NAM) at CB1Rs. In this work we reported the design, synthesis and biological evaluation of three different series of compounds, derived from structural modifications of PSNCBAM-1 and its analogs reported in the recent literature. Almost all the new compounds increased the percentage of binding affinity of CP55940 at CB1Rs, showing a PAM profile. When tested alone in the [35S]GTPγS functional assay, only a few derivatives lacked detectable activity, so were tested in the same functional assay in the presence of CP55940. Among these, compounds 11 and 18 proved to be functional NAMs at CB1Rs, dampening the orthosteric agonist-induced receptor functionality by approximately 30%. The structural features presented in this work provide new CB1R-allosteric modulators (with a profile similar to the reference compound PSNCBAM-1) and an extension of the structure-activity relationships for this type of molecule at CB1Rs