In vitro antimicrobial activity, total polyphenols and flavonoids contents of Nopalea cochenillifera (L.) Salm-Dyck (Cactaceae)

This study evaluated the antimicrobial activity in vitro qualitative and quantitative methods, and made the determination of total polyphenols and flavonoids in the ethanol extract of Nopalea cochenillifera. The assessment determined the antimicrobial minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) against Escherichia coli, Salmonella typhi, Micrococcus, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Staphylococcus aureus, Candida albicans, Candida glabrata, Prototheca zopffi, Cryptococcus neoformans, Saccharomyces cervisiae e Malassezia furfur. The determination of total polyphenols and flavonoids were significant when compared respectively to the standards of gallic acid and rutin

Proteasome Particle-Rich Structures Are Widely Present in Human Epithelial Neoplasms: Correlative Light, Confocal and Electron Microscopy Study

A novel cytoplasmic structure has been recently characterized by confocal and electron microscopy in H. pylori-infected human gastric epithelium, as an accumulation of barrel-like proteasome reactive particles colocalized with polyubiquitinated proteins, H. pylori toxins and the NOD1 receptor. This proteasome particle-rich cytoplasmic structure (PaCS), a sort of focal proteasome hyperplasia, was also detected in dysplastic cells and was found to be enriched in SHP2 and ERK proteins, known to play a role in H. pylori-mediated gastric carcinogenesis. However, no information is available on its occurrence in neoplastic growths. In this study, surgical specimens of gastric cancer and various other human epithelial neoplasms have been investigated for PaCSs by light, confocal and electron microscopy including correlative confocal and electron microscopy (CCEM). PaCSs were detected in gastric cohesive, pulmonary large cell and bronchioloalveolar, thyroid papillary, parotid gland, hepatocellular, ovarian serous papillary, uterine cervix and colon adenocarcinomas, as well as in pancreatic serous microcystic adenoma. H. pylori bodies, their virulence factors (VacA, CagA, urease, and outer membrane proteins) and the NOD1 bacterial proteoglycan receptor were selectively concentrated inside gastric cancer PaCSs, but not in PaCSs from other neoplasms which did, however, retain proteasome and polyubiquitinated proteins reactivity. No evidence of actual microbial infection was obtained in most PaCS-positive neoplasms, except for H. pylori in gastric cancer and capsulated bacteria in a colon cancer case. Particle lysis and loss of proteasome distinctive immunoreactivities were seen in some tumour cell PaCSs, possibly ending in sequestosomes or autophagic bodies. It is concluded that PaCSs are widely represented in human neoplasms and that both non-infectious and infectious factors activating the ubiquitin-proteasome system are likely to be involved in their origin. PaCS detection might help clarify the role of the ubiquitin-proteasome system in carcinogenesis

Gas Analysis and Monitoring Systems for the RPC Detector of CMS at LHC

The Resistive Plate Chambers (RPC) detector of the CMS experiment at the LHC proton collider (CERN, Switzerland) will employ an online gas analysis and monitoring system of the freon-based gas mixture used. We give an overview of the CMS RPC gas system, describe the project parameters and first results on gas-chromatograph analysis. Finally, we report on preliminary results for a set of monitor RPC.Comment: 9 pages, 8 figures. Presented by Stefano Bianco (Laboratori Nazionali di Frascati dell'INFN) at the IEEE NSS, San Diego (USA), October 200

Secondary malignancies after high-dose chemotherapy in germ cell tumor patients: A 34-year retrospective study of the European Society for Blood and Marrow Transplantation (EBMT)

We aimed to assess the incidence and risk factors of secondary malignancy (SM) in the young adult patients who received high-dose chemotherapy (HDCT) for germ cell tumors (GCT). The EBMT database was interrogated. Criteria for patient selection included adult male GCT and HDCT administered in any line of therapy. Cumulative incidence methods were used to estimate the time-to-SM diagnosis. Univariable Fine and Gray proportional hazard regression evaluated risk factors of SM occurrence. From 1981 to 2015, 9153 autografts were identified. Among 5295 patients, 59 cases of SM, developed after a median follow-up of 3.8 years, were registered. Of these patients, 23 (39%) developed hematologic SM, 34 (57.6%) solid SM (two patients had uncoded SM). Twenty-year cumulative incidence of solid versus hematologic SM was 4.17% (95% CI: 1.78-6.57) versus 1.37% (95% CI: 0.47-2.27). Median overall survival after SM was significantly shorter for patients who developed hematologic SM versus solid SM (8.6 versus 34.4 months, p = 0.003). Age older than 40 years at the time of HDCT was significantly associated with hematologic, but not solid, SM development (p = 0.004 versus p = 0.234). SM occurrence post-HDCT showed different patterns of incidence and mortality in GCT. These data may be important to optimize patient selection, counseling and follow-up after HDCT

Combination of baseline LDH, performance status and age as integrated algorithm to identify solid tumor patients with higher probability of response to anti PD-1 and PD-l1 monoclonal antibodies

Predictive biomarkers of response to immune-checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) are an urgent clinical need. The aim of this study is to identify manageable parameters to use in clinical practice to select patients with higher probability of response to ICIs. Two-hundred-and-seventy-one consecutive metastatic solid tumor patients, treated from 2013 until 2017 with anti-Programmed death-ligand 1 (PD-L1)/programmed cell death protein 1 (PD-1) ICIs, were evaluated for baseline lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) serum level, performance status (PS), age, neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio, type of immunotherapy, number of metastatic sites, histology, and sex. A training and validation set were used to build and test models, respectively. The variables\u2019 effects were assessed through odds ratio estimates (OR) and area under the receive operating characteristic curves (AUC), from univariate and multivariate logistic regression models. A final multivariate model with LDH, age and PS showed significant ORs and an AUC of 0.771. Results were statistically validated and used to devise an Excel algorithm to calculate the patient\u2019s response probabilities. We implemented an interactive Excel algorithm based on three variables (baseline LDH serum level, age and PS) which is able to provide a higher performance in response prediction to ICIs compared with LDH alone. This tool could be used in a real-life setting to identify ICIs in responding patients

The CMS RPC gas gain monitoring system: an overview and preliminary results

The status of the CMS RPC Gas Gain Monitoring (GGM) system developed at the Frascati Laboratory of INFN (Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare) is reported on. The GGM system is a cosmic ray telescope based on small RPC detectors operated with the same gas mixture used by the CMS RPC system. The GGM gain and efficiency are continuously monitored on-line, thus providing a fast and accurate determination of any shift in working point conditions. The construction details and the first result of GGM commissioning are described.Comment: 8 pages, 9 figures, uses lnfprepCMS.sty, presented by L. Benussi at RPC07, Mumbai, INDIA 200

Predictors of CD34+ cell mobilization and collection in adult men with germ cell tumors: implications for the salvage treatment strategy

BACKGROUND: High-dose chemotherapy with tandem or triple carboplatin and etoposide course is currently the first curative choice for relapsing GCT. The collection of an adequate amount of hematopoietic (CD34(+)) stem cells is a priority. PATIENTS AND METHODS: We analyzed data of patients who underwent HDCT at 2 referral institutions. Chemotherapy followed by myeloid growth factors was applied in all cases. Uni- and multivariable models were used to evaluate the association between 2 prespecified variables and mobilization parameters. Analyses included only the first mobilizing course of chemotherapy and mobilization failures. RESULTS: A total of 116 consecutive patients underwent a mobilization attempt from December 1995 to November 2012. Mobilizing regimens included cyclophosphamide (CTX) 7 gr/m(2) (n = 39), cisplatin, etoposide, and ifosfamide (PEI) (n = 42), paclitaxel, cisplatin, and gemcitabine (TPG) (n = 11), and mixed regimens (n = 24). Thirty-seven percent were treated in first-line, 50% (n = 58) in second-line, 9.5% (n = 11) and 3.4% (n = 4) in third- and fourth-line settings, respectively. Six patients did not undergo HDCT because they were poor mobilizers, 2 in first- and second-line (1.9%), and 4 beyond the second-line (26.7%). In the multivariable model, third-line or later setting was associated with a lower CD34(+) cell peak/μL (P = .028) and a lower total CD34(+)/kg collected (P = .008). The latter was also influenced by the type of mobilizing regimen (P < .001). CONCLUSION: A decline in significant mobilization parameters was found, primarily depending on the pretreatment load. Results lend support to the role of CD34(+) cell mobilization in the therapeutic algorithm of relapsing GCT, for whom multiple HDCT courses are still an option, and potentially a cure