Balancing fundamental principles of the EU and the primacy of UN law: in search of a multilateral approach to the protection of human rights

Which model should be applied to regulate the interaction between the UN and EU legal systems in the particular field of human rights, when international peace and security are at stake in the fight against terrorism? And how to reach a viable multilateral approach to the protection of said human rights? Starting from these questions this research focuses on the complex relationship between UN and EU law, particularly, with regard to individual counter-terrorism measures established by the UN Security Council and their implementation by the EU; a relationship that very much depends on the particular nature of the European Union as an international organisation, and the unique structure of its legal system. While a number of conflicts have aroused over the years between the two legal orders, the most relevant ones are related to the level of protection afforded to human rights and fundamental freedoms, regarded as ‘constitutional’ values of the EU. In fact, the most severe conflicts were sparked by the UN blacklisting system, aimed at preventing and combating the financing of transnational terrorism, and by the measures adopted at the EU level to give effect to such system. Solutions to these problems provided by a number of scholars and institutions failed to achieve a long-term balance between EU fundamental principles and the primacy of UN law, preventing the development of a multilateral and shared approach to the protection of human rights, while safeguarding international peace and security. Starting from the analysis of the well-known Kadi I case before the General Court and the Court of Justice, this research outlines the inadequacy of the monistic and dualistic approaches to settle the conflicts between UN and EU law in this particular field, proposing a more nuanced solution, based on a rigorous interpretation of the EU Treaties and of the UN Charter. In order to ground this approach, the second part of this research addresses Article 103 of the UN Charter, to maintain that it shouldn’t be interpreted as a rule of hierarchy, but rather as a particular kind of conflict avoidance clause. The final part of this work takes the diachronic evolution of UN counter-terrorism blacklists and their implementation by the EU as a case-study, to test the proposed solution and maintain that promoting the globalisation of EU fundamental values while safeguarding the primacy of UN law is – in fact – possible through the action and common attitude that EU Member States are bound to adopt at the UN level

Current take on systemic sclerosis patients’ vaccination recommendations

Systemic sclerosis (SSc) is a rare autoimmune inflammatory rheumatic disease. The prevalence of SSc ranges from 7 to 700 cases per million worldwide. Due to multiple organ involvement and constant inflammatory state, this group of patients presents an increased risk of infectious diseases. This paper aimed to gather the up-to-date evidence on vaccination strategies for patients with SSc and to be a useful tool for the prevention and management of infectious diseases. The authors conducted a scoping review in which each paragraph presents data on a specific vaccine’s safety, immuno-genicity, and efficacy. The work deals with the following topics: SARS-CoV-2, seasonal influenza, S. pneumoniae, HAV, HBV, HZV, N. meningitidis, H. influenzae, HPV, and diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis

Modulation of epidermal growth factor receptor status by chemotherapy in patients with locally advanced non-small-cell lung cancer is rare

PURPOSE: To determine whether epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) expression in non\u2013small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is modulated by chemotherapy and to assess the agreement of EGFR status between mediastinal nodes and the primary tumor after chemotherapy. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Patients with NSCLC stage IIIa/b pN2/3 confirmed by mediastinoscopy or mediastinostomy were treated with at least three cycles of chemotherapy before undergoing surgery. EGFR expression was evaluated on mediastinal nodes at the time of initial diagnosis and on both the primary tumor and residual metastatic nodes after treatment. RESULTS: EGFR expression determined on 138 of 164 patients who underwent mediastinoscopy or mediastinostomy was 0 (22 patients), 1+ (27 patients), 2+ (28 patients), and 3+ (61 patients). Fifty-four patients of 164 received chemotherapy followed by surgery. Of the 89 of 138 patients with EGFR score of 2+/3+ at the time of diagnosis, 34 patients underwent surgery after induction chemotherapy. None changed to zero EGFR immunoreactivity, with 29 patients (88%) maintaining a score of 2+/3+. Of the 22 of 138 patients with no EGFR expression at the time of diagnosis, six underwent surgical resection after induction chemotherapy. Of these six patients, four changed their EGFR expression from an EGFR score of 0 to 2+/3+. After treatment, the agreement of EGFR status between tumor and nodes in the subgroup of patients with EGFR score 2+/3+ was 89% to 92%. CONCLUSION: Our data suggest a very good agreement of EGFR status before and after chemotherapy in EGFR-positive NSCLC. Induction chemotherapy can induce EGFR expression in occasional EGFR-negative tumors

Renal function during rofecoxib therapy in patients with metastatic cancer: retrospective analysis of a prospective phase II trial

German Clinical Trials Register DRKS: DRKS0000011

Breast phyllodes tumor : A review of literature and a single center retrospective series analysis

PURPOSE: Complete surgical resection is the standard treatment for localized breast phyllodes tumors. Post-surgical treatments are still a matter of debate. We carried out an overview of the literature to investigate the clinical outcome of patients with phyllodes tumor. A retrospective analysis of mono-institutional series has been included as well. METHODS: We reviewed all the retrospective series reported from 1951 until April 2012. We analyzed cases treated at our institution from 1999 to 2010. RESULTS: Eighty-three articles (5530 patients; 1956 malignant tumors) were reviewed. Local recurrences were independent of histology. Distant recurrences were more frequent in the malignant tumors (22%). A total of 172 phyllodes tumors were included in the retrospective analysis. DISCUSSION: Prognosis of phyllodes tumors is excellent. There are no convincing data to recommend any adjuvant treatment after surgery. Molecular characterization may well provide new clues to permit identification of active treatments for the rare poor prognosis cases

HER2 expression as a potential marker for response to therapy targeted to the EGFR

Since human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) is known to participate with the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) in mitogenic signalling, we hypothesised that HER2 overexpression might indicate responsiveness to EGFR targeted therapies. MCF7 breast cancer cells transfected with the HER2 gene were subcloned to establish a set of genetically related cell lines expressing graded levels of HER2 by immunoblot analysis. The subcloned cell lines and parental MCF7 cells were characterised by their growth characteristics, and cell by cell patterns of EGFR, HER2 and HER3 expression as well as levels of phosphorylated mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) and AKT by laser scanning cytometry (LSC). Growth inhibition assays were used to characterise response to EGFR targeted therapy, and to determine the relationship between therapeutic response and levels of tyrosine kinase expression. The levels of growth inhibition of AG1478 and of the AG1478-trastuzumab combinations were correlated with levels of HER2 expression among the different cell lines. Among EGFR, HER2 and HER3, HER2 overexpression was the best single predictive marker, but combinations of two markers provided additional predictive information

Il segreto della libertà

Lungo tutto il suo sviluppo la ricerca del teologo milanese Sergio Ubbiali si è caratterizzata per l’interesse di tipo fondamentale, declinato nell’ambito dell’antropologia, della sacramentaria, dell’escatologia, con un chiaro rimando alla postura fenomenologica. Il volume Il segreto della libertà omaggia tale percorso, con saggi filosofici e teologici, offerti da colleghi, amici e discepoli, provenienti dall’ambito di ricerca italiano, francese e tedesco

Flu and pneumococcal vaccine coverage in scleroderma patients still need to be prompted: A systematic review

Systemic sclerosis (scleroderma, SSc) is an autoimmune connective tissue disease characterized by excessive production of collagen and multiorgan involvement. Scleroderma patients are at increased risk of influenza complications and pneumonia; thus, vaccinations are recommended. This systematic review evaluated the influenza and pneumococcus vaccination coverage for SSc patients. We included all studies from Pubmed reporting on influenza and pneumococcal vaccination rate in Scleroderma patients up to May 2021. The 14 studies thus selected identified a suboptimal vaccination rate in autoimmune and SSc patients, ranging from 28 to 59% for the flu vaccine, and from 11 to 58% for the pneumo vaccine in absence of specific vaccination campaigns, variously considering also other variables such as age, gender, vaccination settings, and possible vaccination campaigns. We also considered the reasons for low coverage and the approaches that might increase the vaccination rates. A lack of knowledge about the importance of vaccination in these patients and their doctors underlined the need to increase the awareness for vaccination in this patients\u2019 category. Cur-rent guidelines recommend vaccination in elderly people and people affected by particular conditions that widely overlap with SSc, yet autoimmune diseases are not always clearly mentioned. Improving this suboptimal vaccination rate with clear guidelines is crucial for SSc patients and for clinicians to immunize these categories based principally on the pathology, prior to the age. Recommendations by the immunologist and the direct link to the vaccine providers can highly improve the vaccine coverage