Unexpected Long Survival in Primary Malignant Melanoma of the Male Urethra

A case of primary malignant melanoma of the urethra in a 60-year-old male is presented. Despite multiple adverse prognostic factors and against expectations, after a follow-up of 5.5 years he is still alive

The Role of 11C-Choline-PET/CT-Guided Secondary Lymphadenectomy in Patients with PSA Failure after Radical Prostatectomy: Lessons Learned from Eight Cases

Introduction. 11C-choline-PET/CT is a promising technique for detection/restaging of patients with biochemical failure (BF) after curative therapy for prostate cancer (PCA). The aim of this paper was to evaluate the PSA response in patients with BF after radical prostatectomy (RP) who underwent secondary lymphadenectomy (LAD) due to 11C-choline-PET/CT findings. Material and Methods. Eight patients with BF and positive lymph nodes in 11C-choline-PET/CT after RP were retrospectively included in the study. Extended LAD until the common iliac arteries was performed in all patients. Results. Six of 8 patients had histologically proven lymph node metastases. Four patients showed an initial PSA reduction after LAD, and in 4 patients the PSA increased. Two of the latter had no histological lymph node metastases. Conclusions. Because 50% of our patients showed an initial PSA response, our data suggest that positive 11C-choline-PET/CT after RP and BF could help to select patients that could benefit from secondary LAD

IMPACT OF PHYSICAL EXERCISE ON PSYCHOLOGICAL WELL-BEING AND PSYCHIATRIC DISORDERS

Background: Physical exercise is one of the major features of human health, as it is involved in several physiological processes and related to major benefits in reducing body fat, myocardial infarction, hypertension and insulin resistance risk. Physical exercise also plays a positive role in achieving psychological well-being that can be defined as a state of happiness and serenity, with low levels of distress, overall good physical and mental health and outlook and a good quality of life. Aim of the paper: To review the positive effects of physical activity on psychological well-being and its possible neurobiological underpinnings, as well as its impact on several neuropsychiatric disorders, such as depression, anxiety, eating disorders, obsessive-compulsive disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, autism spectrum disorders, schizophrenia and some neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease. Methods: The PubMed, Scopus, Embase, PsycINFO and Google Scholar databases were searched for full text articles published in the latest thirty years on the benefits that physical activity exerts on psychological well-being. Objectives: This study aims to identify the common and differential elements of the DLD (SLI) and LD through a quantitative and qualitative analysis. Results: An impressive amount of data support the positive role of physical activity on psychological well-being and a large amount of research has focused on its beneficial effects in improving the symptoms of the main neuropsychiatric disorders, while highlighting its usefulness as an adjuvant option to psychopharmacological treatments and psychotherapy. In particular, exercise would deeply affect CNS morphology and function, through heterogeneous mechanisms including, amongst the others, the production of hormones, neurotransmitters and neurotrophins, the promotion of angiogenesis and neuroplasticity, and the regulation of gene expression. Conclusion: Literature indicates that the promotion of physical activity may work like an adjunctive and/or augmentation strategy to enhance drugs or psychological treatments, or even as an alternative option in major depression

Tumor-Induced Osteomalacia : A Systematic Clinical Review of 895 Cases

Tumor-induced osteomalacia (TIO) is a rare and largely underdiagnosed paraneoplastic condition. Previous reviews often reported incomplete data on clinical aspects, diagnosis or prognosis. The aim of this study was to present a systematic clinical review of all published cases of TIO. A search was conducted in Pubmed, Embase, Web of Science from inception until April 23rd, 2020. We selected case reports and case series of patients diagnosed with TIO, with information on tumor localization and serum phosphate concentration. Two reviewers independently extracted data on biochemical and clinical characteristics including bone involvement, tumor localization and treatment. 468 articles with 895 unique TIO cases were included. Median age was 46 years (range 9 months–90 years) and 58.3% were males. Hypophosphatemia and inappropriately low or normal 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D levels, characteristic for TIO, were present in 98% of cases. Median tumor size was 2.7 cm (range 0.5 to 25.0 cm). Serum fibroblast growth factor 23 was related to tumor size (r = 0.344, P < 0.001). In 32% of the cases the tumor was detected by physical examination. Data on bone phenotype confirmed skeletal involvement: 62% of cases with BMD data had a T-score of the lumbar spine ≤ − 2.5 (n = 61/99) and a fracture was reported in at least 39% of all cases (n = 346/895). Diagnostic delay was longer than 2 years in more than 80% of cases. 10% were reported to be malignant at histology. In conclusion, TIO is a debilitating disease characterized by a long diagnostic delay leading to metabolic disturbances and skeletal impairment. Increasing awareness of TIO should decrease its diagnostic delay and the clinical consequences

Malignant mesothelioma of tunica vaginalis testis: Report of a very rare case with review of the literature

Introduction: Mesothelioma of the tunica vaginalis testis is a extremely rare tumor and represents 0.3 to 0.5% of all malignant mesotheliomas. Exposure to asbestos often precedes illness. Because of its low incidence and nonspecific clinical presentation, it is mostly diagnosed accidentally during surgery for other reasons and the prognosis is usually poor. We present a case of a patient with a mesothelioma of tunica vaginalis testis, diagnosed secondarily during hydrocele surgery, with long-term survival after radical surgery. Materials and methods: a 40 years old patient was admitted to our department for routine surgery of a left hydrocele. During the operation a frozen section analysis was requested because of the unusual nodular thickening of the tunica vaginalis: the examination revealed a diffuse malignant mesothelioma with epithelioid structure and tubular-papillary proliferation. Therefore a left hemi-scrotectomy with left inguinal lymph node dissection was performed. Results: The definitive histology confirmed the previous report of diffuse malignant mesothelioma with angio-invasion but normal testicle findings and negative lymph nodes. No metastases were found on the CT-scan. For the first 2 years a CT was repeated every 4 months, for other 3 years every 6 months and then yearly. Six years after surgery the patient is classified as no evidence of disease. Conclusions: malignant mesothelioma of the tunica vaginalis testis is a rare entity, often initially thought to be a hydrocele or an epididymal cyst. An aggressive approach with hemiscrotectomy with or without inguinal and retroperitoneal lymphadenectomy can reduce the risk of recurrence

CONTREX: Design of embedded mixed-criticality CONTRol systems under consideration of EXtra-functional properties

The increasing processing power of today’s HW/SW platforms leads to the integration of more and more functions in a single device. Additional design challenges arise when these functions share computing resources and belong to different criticality levels. The paper presents the CONTREX European project and its preliminary results. CONTREX complements current activities in the area of predictable computing platforms and segregation mechanisms with techniques to consider the extra-functional properties, i.e., timing constraints, power, and temperature. CONTREX enables energy efficient and cost aware design through analysis and optimization of these properties with regard to application demands at different criticality levels

CONTREX: Design of embedded mixed-criticality CONTRol systems under consideration of EXtra-functional properties

The increasing processing power of today’s HW/SW platforms leads to the integration of more and more functions in a single device. Additional design challenges arise when these functions share computing resources and belong to different criticality levels. CONTREX complements current activities in the area of predictable computing platforms and segregation mechanisms with techniques to consider the extra-functional properties, i.e., timing constraints, power, and temperature. CONTREX enables energy efficient and cost aware design through analysis and optimization of these properties with regard to application demands at different criticality levels. This article presents an overview of the CONTREX European project, its main innovative technology (extension of a model based design approach, functional and extra-functional analysis with executable models and run-time management) and the final results of three industrial use-cases from different domain (avionics, automotive and telecommunication).The work leading to these results has received funding from the European Community’s Seventh Framework Programme FP7/2007-2011 under grant agreement no. 611146