Heat shock protein expression in canine malignant mammary tumours.

Background Abnormal levels of Heat Shock Proteins (HSPs) have been observed in many human neoplasms including breast cancer and it has been demonstrated that they have both prognostic and therapeutic implications. In this study, we evaluated immunohistochemical expression of HSPs in normal and neoplastic canine mammary glands and confronted these results with overall survival (OS), in order to understand the role of HSPs in carcinogenesis and to establish their potential prognostic and/or therapeutic value. Methods Immunohistochemical expression of Hsp27, Hsp72, Hsp73 and Hsp90 was evaluated in 3 normal canine mammary glands and 30 malignant mammary tumours (10 in situ carcinomas, 10 invasive carcinomas limited to local structures without identifiable invasion of blood or lymphatic vessels, 10 carcinomas with invasion of blood or lymphatic vessels and/or metastases to regional lymph nodes). A semi-quantitative method was used for the analysis of the results. Results Widespread constitutive expression of Hsp73 and Hsp90 was detected in normal tissue, Hsp72 appeared to be focally distributed and Hsp27 showed a negative to rare weak immunostaining. In mammary tumours, a significant increase in Hsp27 (P < 0.01), Hsp72 (P < 0.05) and Hsp90 (P < 0.01) expression was observed as well as a significant reduction in Hsp73 (P < 0.01) immunoreactivity compared to normal mammary gland tissue. Hsp27 demonstrated a strong positivity in infiltrating tumour cells and metaplastic squamous elements of invasive groups. High Hsp27 expression also appeared to be significantly correlated to a shorter OS (P = 0.00087). Intense immunolabelling of Hsp72 and Hsp73 was frequently detected in infiltrative or inflammatory tumour areas. Hsp90 expression was high in all tumours and, like Hsp73, it also showed an intense positivity in lymphatic emboli. Conclusion These results suggest that Hsp27, Hsp72 and Hsp90 are involved in canine mammary gland carcinogenesis. In addition, Hsp27 appears to be implicated in tumour invasiveness and its high immunodetection in invasive tumours is indicative of a poorer clinical outcome

The role of new technologies to prevent suicide in adolescence. a systematic review of the literature

Background and objectives: Suicide in adolescents represents a major public health concern. To date, a growing number of suicide preventive strategies based on the use of new technologies are emerging. We aimed to provide an overview of the present literature on the use of new technologies in adolescent suicide prevention. Materials and methods: An electronic search was run using the following keywords: Technology OR Technologies OR APP OR Application OR mobile application) AND (Adolescent OR youth OR puberty) AND (Suicid* OR Self-harm OR self-destruction). Inclusion criteria were: English language, published in a peer-reviewed journal, suicide prevention with the use of new technologies among adolescents. Results: Our search strategy yielded a total of 12 studies on the use of telemedicine, 7 on mobile applications, and 3 on language detection. We also found heterogeneity regarding the study design: 3 are randomized controlled trials (RCT), 13 are open-label single group trials, 2 are randomized studies, and 1 is a cross-sectional study. Telemedicine was the most adopted tool, especially web-based approaches. Mobile applications mostly focused on screening of depressive symptoms and suicidal ideation, and for clinical monitoring through the use of text messages. Although telepsychiatry and mobile applications can provide a fast and safe tool, supporting and preceding a face-to-face clinical assessment, only a few studies demonstrated efficacy in preventing suicide among adolescents through the use of these interventions. Some studies suggested algorithms able to recognize people at risk of suicide from the exploration of the language on social media posts. Conclusions: New technologies were found to be well accepted and tolerated supports for suicide prevention in adolescents. However, to date, few data support the use of such interventions in clinical practice and preventive strategies. Further studies are needed to test their efficacy in suicide prevention among adolescents and young adults

Mission Design and Optimal Asteroid Deflection for Planetary Defense

Planetary defense is a topic of increasing interest for many reasons, which has been mentioned in "Vision and Voyages for Planetary Science in the Decade 2013-2022''. However, perhaps one of the most significant rationales for asteroid studies is the number of close approaches that have been documented recently. A space mission with a planetary defense objective aims to deflect the threatening body as far as possible from Earth. The design of a mission that optimally deflects an asteroid has different challenges: speed, precision, and system trade-off. This work addresses such issues and develops a fast transcription of the problem that can be implemented into an optimization tool, which allows for a broader trade study of different mission concepts with a medium fidelity. Such work is suitable for a mission?s preliminary study. It is shown, using the fictitious asteroid impact scenario 2017 PDC, that the complete tool is able to account for the orbit sensitivity to small perturbations and quickly optimize a deflection trajectory. The speed in which the tool operates allows for a trade study between the available hardware. As a result, key deflection dates and mission strategies are identified for the 2017 PDC

The safety of care focused on patient identity: an observational study

BACKGROUND AND AIM: Healthcare organizations, in order to reduce errors and extend the number of safe practices, are looking for possible solutions to enhance the clients' health quality care and trying to spread the culture of safety healthcare. Although in the literature the field of research "patient safety" is very debated, there are few empirical studies that investigate about the strategies undertaken by nursing students for the patients identification process during their care pathway. The aim of this study is to investigate the knowledge of the Ministerial Recommendation No. 3/2008 among nursing students, a specific Italian directive that aims to guarantee the safety of cares. METHODS: A four-weeks single-center observational study was conducted, involving a convenient sample of 112 students of the 2nd and 3rd&nbsp; year of the Nursing Course Degree of the University of Parma. The survey was conducted using an ad-hoc questionnaire. RESULTS: The use of the identification wristband is considered one of the most important strategy to make sure the patient identification; unfortunately it is in practice used just in few occasions and only when performed specific procedures; it is furthermore noted that patients are not enough informed about the use and finalities of the identification wristband. CONCLUSIONS: Considering the importance of the patient identification process to guarantee the &nbsp;safety of cares, the results produced, suggest that this investigation field deserves further insights in order to collect more substantial data and expand knowledge on the specific subject, so as to fill&nbsp; knowledge gaps and sensitize nursing students to the correct use of the identification wristband

Take a picture! The role of visual methods in understanding psychiatric patient's everyday life

BACKGROUND AND AIM: Understanding the patient's experience of mental illness can foster better support for this population and greater partnership with healthcare professionals. This study aims to explore the application of visual methods in the psychiatric field and, in particular, the experience of people suffering from psychotic disorders because it is still an open question that has not been only partially empirically examined. METHODS: This qualitative study was conducted using two visual methods (auto-photography and photo-elicitation) associated with the narrative that emerged from an unstructured interview, in a clinical setting of adult Mental Health in Italy, between October 2019 and February 2020. A total of 5 patients and 5 corresponding referring healthcare professionals were identified and enrolled.&nbsp; Patients were asked to produce photographs following 4 thematic areas: "Fun", "Time", "Something indispensable", "Place where I feel good". RESULTS: A total of 85 photographs were produced. Visual methods have proved to be a useful technique in qualitative research in the area of adult psychiatry. From the interviews, it emerged that visual methods have allowed psychotic patients to use a new language to be able to communicate their emotions. CONCLUSIONS: The healthcare professionals involved also confirm the potential of this tool which, when combined with the traditional interview, is able to deepen the patient's knowledge by overcoming the verbal barriers that often make it difficult to reconstruct the individual experience of illness

P-Glycoprotein and Breast Cancer Resistance Protein in Canine Inflammatory and Noninflammatory Grade III Mammary Carcinomas

P-glycoprotein (P-gp/ABCB1) and breast cancer resistance protein (BCRP/ABCG2) expression are frequently related to multidrug resistance (MDR) in neoplastic cells. Canine inflammatory and grade III noninflammatory mammary carcinomas (IMC and non-IMC) are aggressive tumors that could benefit from chemotherapy. This study describes the immunohistochemical detection of P-gp and BCRP in 20 IMCs and 18 non-IMCs from dogs that had not received chemotherapy. Our aim was to determine if P-gp and BCRP expression was related to the \u201cinflammatory\u201d phenotype, to establish a basis for future studies analyzing the response to chemotherapy in dogs with highly malignant mammary cancer. Immunolabeling was primarily membranous for P-gp with a more intense labeling in emboli, and immunolabeling was membranous and cytoplasmic for BCRP. P-gp was expressed in 17 of 20 (85%) IMCs compared to 7 of 18 (39%) non-IMCs (P = 0.006). BCRP was expressed within emboli in 15 of 19 (79%) emboli in IMC, 12 of 15 (80%) primary IMCs, and 12 of 18 (67%) non-IMCs, without statistically significant differences (P &gt;.05). All IMCs and 67% of non-IMCs expressed at least 1 of the 2 transporters, and 63% (12/19) of IMCs and 39% (7/18) of non-IMCs expressed both P-gp and BCRP. P-gp and BCRP evaluation might help select patients for chemotherapy. P-gp, expressed in a significantly higher percentage of IMCs vs non-IMCs, might play a specific role in the chemoresistance of IMC

"Growing through relationship" - the Engagement of the Health Professional Students in the Internship Experience: a Grounded Theory Research

BACKGROUND AND AIM: Little is known about the students' engagement in the training experience and how it is lived by the health professional students. We aim at building a theoretical model of the engagement process starting from their lived experiences with Grounded Theory approach. METHODS: In-depth qualitative interviews are conducted with 12 students from the Master Degree Courses in Nursing, Physiotherapy and Prevention Techniques in the environment and in the workplace, who had carried out and/or were doing internships in the same territory (2nd and 3rd year). Results The health professions' student engagement in the training program is developed in three main phases: initial phase, central phase and final phase, where emotions, behaviours, awareness contribute to the development of the entire engagement process with different relevance. The intertwining of these different components that develop along the stages of the experience gives life to the core category: growing through relationship, which expressed the crucial role of the relational network built during the internship experience in shaping students' engagement. CONCLUSIONS: The results of this study underline the crucial role of students' engagement in the internship experience in favouring both better learning outcomes and perspective professional success and wellbeing. (www.actabiomedica.it)

Strontium ranelate effect on bone mineral density is modified by previous bisphosphonate treatment

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of strontium ranelate (SrR) on bone mineral density (BMD) and boneturnover markers after 1 year of treatment. Additionally, theeffect of SrR in bisphosphonate-naïve patients (BP-naïve)compared to patients previously treated with bisphosphonates (BP-prior) was analyzed. This retrospective study included482 postmenopausal women treated with SrR (2 g/day) for 1year in ten Argentine centers; 41 patients were excludeddue to insufficient data, while 441 were included. Participants were divided according to previous bisphosphonatetreatment in two groups: BP-naïve (n = 87) and BP-prior (n = 350). Data are expressed as mean ± SEM. After 1 year oftreatment with SrR the bone formation markers total alkaline phosphatase and osteocalcin were increased (p < 0.0001),while the bone resorption marker s-CTX was decreased (p =0.0579). Also increases in BMD at the lumbar spine (LS,3.73%), femoral neck (FN, 2.00%) and total hip (TH, 1.54%) [p < 0.0001] were observed. These increments were significant(p < 0.0001) both among BP-naïve and BP-prior patients. Interestingly, the change in BMD after 1 year of SrR treatmentwas higher in BP-naïve patients: LS: BP-naïve = 4.58 ± 0.62%; BP-prior = 3.45 ± 0.28% (p = 0.078). FN: BP-naïve = 2.79 ±0.56%; BP-prior = 2.13 ± 0.29% (p = 0.161). TH: BP-naïve = 3.01± 0.55%; BP-prior = 1.22 ± 0.27% (p = 0.0006). SrR treatmentincreased BMD and bone formation markers and decreaseda bone resorption marker in the whole group, with betterresponse in BP-naïve patients.Fil: Brun, Lucas Ricardo Martín. Universidad Nacional de Rosario. Facultad de Ciencias Médicas. Laboratorio de Biología Ósea; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Galich, Ana M.. Hospital Italiano; ArgentinaFil: Vega, Eduardo. Instituto de la Mujer. Buenos Aires; ArgentinaFil: Salerni, Helena. Consultorios de Investigación Clínica Endocrinológica y del Metabolismo Óseo ; ArgentinaFil: Maffei, Laura. Consultorios Asociados de Endocrinología Dra. Laura Maffei; ArgentinaFil: Premrou, Valeria. Consultorios Asociados de Endocrinología Dra. Laura Maffei; ArgentinaFil: Costanzo, Paulo R. Consultorios de Investigación Clínica Endocrinológica y del Metabolismo Óseo ; ArgentinaFil: Sarli, Marcelo A. Instituto de Investigaciones Metabólicas Dr. Zanchetta; ArgentinaFil: Rey, Paula. Instituto de Investigaciones Metabólicas Dr. Zanchetta; ArgentinaFil: Larroudé, Maria S.. Hospital César Milstein; ArgentinaFil: Moggia, Maria S.. Centro Tiempo; ArgentinaFil: Brance, María Lorena. Universidad Nacional de Rosario. Facultad de Ciencias Médicas. Laboratorio de Biología Ósea; ArgentinaFil: Sánchez, Ariel. Centro de Endocrinología; ArgentinaFil: Grupo Argentino de Estudio del Ranelato de Estroncio. No especifica

Doxorubicin treatment modulates chemoresistance and affects the cell cycle in two canine mammary tumour cell lines

Background: Doxorubicin (DOX) is widely used in both human and veterinary oncology although the onset of multidrug resistance (MDR) in neoplastic cells often leads to chemotherapy failure. Better understanding of the cellular mechanisms that circumvent chemotherapy efficacy is paramount. The aim of this study was to investigate the response of two canine mammary tumour cell lines, CIPp from a primary tumour and CIPm, from its lymph node metastasis, to exposure to EC50(20h) DOX at 12, 24 and 48 h of treatment. We assessed the uptake and subcellular distribution of DOX, the expression and function of P-glycoprotein (P-gp) and Breast Cancer Resistance Protein (BCRP), two important MDR mediators. To better understand this phenomenon the effects of DOX on the cell cycle and Ki67 cell proliferation index and the expression of p53 and telomerase reverse transcriptase (TERT) were also evaluated by immunocytochemistry (ICC). Results: Both cell lines were able to uptake DOX within the nucleus at 3 h treatment while at 48 h DOX was absent from the intracellular compartment (assessed by fluorescence microscope) in all the surviving cells. CIPm, originated from the metastatic tumour, were more efficient in extruding P-gp substrates. By ICC and qRT-PCR an overall increase in both P-gp and BCRP were observed at 48 h of EC50(20h) DOX treatment in both cell lines and were associated with a striking increase in the percentage of p53 and TERT expressing cells by ICC. The cell proliferation fraction was decreased at 48 h in both cell lines and cell cycle analysis showed a DOX-induced arrest in the S phase for CIPp, while CIPm had an increase in cellular death without arrest. Both cells lines were therefore composed by a fraction of cells sensible to DOX that underwent apoptosis/necrosis. Conclusions: DOX administration results in interlinked modifications in the cellular population including a substantial effect on the cell cycle, in particular arrest in the S phase for CIPp and the selection of a subpopulation of neoplastic cells bearing MDR phenotype characterized by P-gp and BCRP expression, TERT activation, p53 accumulation and decrease in the proliferating fraction. Important information is given for understanding the dynamic and mechanisms of the onset of drug resistance in a neoplastic cell population