Favourable outcome of coronavirus disease 2019 in a patient with anaplastic lymphoma kinase-positive non-small-cell lung cancer receiving alectinib

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Identification of relationship between housing difficulty and property values in urban areas

The objective of the present work is to use statistical data to identify territorial zones characterized by the correlation between urban access to services and quality of housing and the value of property ownership. While poverty is widely accepted to be an inherently multi-dimensional concept, it has proved very difficult to develop measures that both capture this multidimensionality and make comparisons over time and space easy. With this in mind, we attempt to apply a Total Fuzzy and Relative (TFR) approach, based on a fuzzy measure of the degree of association of an individual to the totality of the poor and an approach of semantic distance (Munda, 1995), based on the definition of a “fuzzy distance” as a discriminating reference to rank the availability to property in real estate market, as complement of urban poverty, in a specific case (the Italian City of Bari)

Resectable IIIA-N2 non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC): In search for the proper treatment

Locally advanced non-small cell lung cancer accounts for one third of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) at the time of initial diagnosis and presents with a wide range of clinical and pathological heterogeneity. To date, the combined multimodality approach involving both local and systemic control is the gold standard for these patients, since occult distant micrometastatic disease should always be suspected. With the rapid increase in treatment options, the need for an interdisciplinary discussion involving oncologists, surgeons, radiation oncologists and radiologists has become essential. Surgery should be recommended to patients with non-bulky, discrete, or single-level N2 involvement and be included in the multimodality treatment. Resectable stage IIIA patients have been the subject of a number of clinical trials and retrospective analysis, discussing the efficiency and survival benefits on patients treated with the available therapeutic approaches. However, most of them have some limitations due to their retrospective nature, lack of exact pretreatment staging, and the involvement of heterogeneous populations leading to the awareness that each patient should undergo a tailored therapy in light of the nature of his tumor, its extension and his performance status

Intermittent vertebral flow in asymptomatic progression of aortic dissection.

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Exploring the role of respiratory microbiome in lung cancer: A systematic review

Giving the potential contribute in cancer initiation and progression, lung microbiota represents a promising topic in cancer research, although still unexplored. We performed a systematic literature search to identify clinical studies evaluating lung microbiota composition, its correlation with lung cancer patients’ clinico-pathological features and prognosis. Of the identified 370 studies, 21 were eligible and included. Although studies were heterogeneous, lung cancer resulted to be enriched in peculiar microbial communities, with differences in composition and diversity according to clinico-pathological parameters. Few studies explored how lung microbiota influences cancer outcome. In light of these findings and borrowing the suggestions coming from gut microbiota, we speculate that respiratory microbiome may influence pathogenesis, progression and outcome of lung cancer. Taking advantage of the experience of chronical lung diseases, prospective studies should be designed to evaluate lung microbiota changes throughout any phase of lung cancer course, particularly with the advent of immunotherapy as pivotal treatment

Distributional impacts of carbon pricing in developing Asia

Understanding who would be affected in which way by carbon pricing is pivotal for effective and socially equitable policy design, addressing climate change and reducing inequality. This paper focuses on eight key countries in developing Asia (Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Pakistan, Philippines, Thailand, Turkey and Vietnam). By combining national household surveys with input-output data, we compare the distributional effects of four carbon pricing design options, including a globally harmonized carbon price, a national carbon price and sectoral carbon prices in the power and transport sectors, respectively. Our analysis reveals a substantial degree of variation regarding who would be affected across policy designs and countries. Looking into national carbon pricing as the most favourable policy option from an economic point of view, we find that differences in distributional outcomes are generally more pronounced within income groups than across income groups. These differences are mainly driven by households' energy use patterns, which vary across countries. Equally recycling revenues back to all citizens would overcompensate the burden of a carbon price for the poorest households in all countries. Carbon pricing can alter income distribution. With a focus on Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Pakistan, Philippines, Thailand, Turkey and Vietnam, this study compares four types of carbon pricing schemes and finds substantial variation in distributional effects across policy designs and countries.Industrial Ecolog

Gastrointestinal stromal tumor of the anal canal: an unusual presentation

BACKGROUND: Gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GIST) of the stomach are the most frequent followed by those of the intestinal tract, while colon and rectum represent rare sites. GIST of the anal canal are extremely rare. They have been studied along with GIST of the rectum, as a single entity, and along with them they represent 5% of GIST. GIST arising from the anal canal account for only 2%–8% of the anorectal GIST. Thus anal GIST must be considered an exceptional case. CASE PRESENTATION: A 78-year-old man was referred to our Institution for an anal mass, in absence of any symptom. The patient was treated by local excision. An histological diagnosis of a low grade GIST was made. No further treatment was necessary. No local recurrence of distant metastases were found at follow-up. CONCLUSION: At the moment, only ten cases of c-kit positive anal GIST are reported in the literature. These few data are not sufficient to establish a widely accepted approach for this neoplasia. We recommend to perform an initial local excision, to define the risk of aggressive behavior and the resection margins and proceed to a more aggressive treatment, if the GIST belongs to high or very high risk group. The role of adjuvant therapy is still uncertain. Although inhibitors of tyrosine-kinase receptor needs further studies before their routine use, their role in case of distant or local recurrence has been accepted. Patients' close follow up is mandatory to disclose as soon as possible local recurrences or metastases

CORUM: the comprehensive resource of mammalian protein complexes

Protein complexes are key molecular entities that integrate multiple gene products to perform cellular functions. The CORUM (http://mips.gsf.de/genre/proj/corum/index.html) database is a collection of experimentally verified mammalian protein complexes. Information is manually derived by critical reading of the scientific literature from expert annotators. Information about protein complexes includes protein complex names, subunits, literature references as well as the function of the complexes. For functional annotation, we use the FunCat catalogue that enables to organize the protein complex space into biologically meaningful subsets. The database contains more than 1750 protein complexes that are built from 2400 different genes, thus representing 12% of the protein-coding genes in human. A web-based system is available to query, view and download the data. CORUM provides a comprehensive dataset of protein complexes for discoveries in systems biology, analyses of protein networks and protein complex-associated diseases. Comparable to the MIPS reference dataset of protein complexes from yeast, CORUM intends to serve as a reference for mammalian protein complexes

Multiprofessional and intrahospital experience for diagnosis and treatment of pulmonary arterial hypertension.

Background. Referral centres for pulmonary hypertension will provide care by a multiprofessional team, which should as a minimum comprise: consultant physicians with a special interest in PH, clinical nurse specialist, radiologist, cardiologist with expertise in echocardiography. Aims. this study sought to determine whether the experience of the establishment of a clinic for pulmonary arterial hypertension, initially created only for the treatment and diagnosis of heart failure, may be considered positive. Methods. From 1 July 2008 to January 1, 2012 we evaluated 80 patients in our ambulatory dedicated to the diagnosis and treatment of PAH. All patients were performed to clinical evaluation, ECG, and echocardiography with estimation of the sPAP. Then we evaluated the functional capacity through cardiopulmonary exercise testing or six minute walking test (6MWT). RHC was required to confirm the diagnosis of pulmonary arterial hypertension. Results. 80 patients (mean age: 50.9 ± 18.68 years, 31 males) were evaluated in our center; the largest groups subjected to screening were thalassemia (21 subjects), rheumatologic patients (18 patients), respirators, suspected of "outof Proportion" (12 patients) and 4 patients with OSAS. 8 adult congenital heart patients. A diagnosis of PAH after right heart catheterization was possible in 25 cases. In particular, among patients with pulmonary arterial hypertension, 8 had a rheumatic etiology (systemic sclerosis), 2 postthromboembolic disease, 5 patients had congenital heart disease, 1 patient with HIV infection, 1 patient with thalassemia major, 1 chronic lymphocytic leukemia and 1 with myelodysplasia. Conclusions. The initial experience of our center and network within our hospital may be considered positive, because it permitted to patients easy access to hospital services, to undertake a comprehensive prognostic stratification and to recognize the early signs of worsening in subsequent tests

Consolidative thoracic radiation therapy for extensive-stage small cell lung cancer in the era of first-line chemoimmunotherapy: preclinical data and a retrospective study in Southern Italy

Background: Consolidative thoracic radiotherapy (TRT) has been commonly used in the management of extensive-stage small cell lung cancer (ES-SCLC). Nevertheless, phase III trials exploring first-line chemoimmunotherapy have excluded this treatment approach. However, there is a strong biological rationale to support the use of radiotherapy (RT) as a boost to sustain anti-tumor immune responses. Currently, the benefit of TRT after chemoimmunotherapy remains unclear. The present report describes the real-world experiences of 120 patients with ES-SCLC treated with different chemoimmunotherapy combinations. Preclinical data supporting the hypothesis of anti-tumor immune responses induced by RT are also presented. Methods: A total of 120 ES-SCLC patients treated with chemoimmunotherapy since 2019 in the South of Italy were retrospectively analyzed. None of the patients included in the analysis experienced disease progression after undergoing first-line chemoimmunotherapy. Of these, 59 patients underwent TRT after a multidisciplinary decision by the treatment team. Patient characteristics, chemoimmunotherapy schedule, and timing of TRT onset were assessed. Safety served as the primary endpoint, while efficacy measured in terms of overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS) was used as the secondary endpoint. Immune pathway activation induced by RT in SCLC cells was explored to investigate the biological rationale for combining RT and immunotherapy. Results: Preclinical data supported the activation of innate immune pathways, including the STimulator of INterferon pathway (STING), gamma-interferon-inducible protein (IFI-16), and mitochondrial antiviral-signaling protein (MAVS) related to DNA and RNA release. Clinical data showed that TRT was associated with a good safety profile. Of the 59 patients treated with TRT, only 10% experienced radiation toxicity, while no ≥ G3 radiation-induced adverse events occurred. The median time for TRT onset after cycles of chemoimmunotherapy was 62 days. Total radiation dose and fraction dose of TRT include from 30 Gy in 10 fractions, up to definitive dose in selected patients. Consolidative TRT was associated with a significantly longer PFS than systemic therapy alone (one-year PFS of 61% vs. 31%, p<0.001), with a trend toward improved OS (one-year OS of 80% vs. 61%, p=0.027). Conclusion: Multi-center data from establishments in the South of Italy provide a general confidence in using TRT as a consolidative strategy after chemoimmunotherapy. Considering the limits of a restrospective analysis, these preliminary results support the feasibility of the approach and encourage a prospective evaluation