The use of positron emission tomography with [18F] 2-fluoro-D-2-deoxyglucose (FDG-PET) in Hodgkin and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.

Positron emission tomography (PET) has obtained a place in the management of patients with hematologic disease particularly those with lymphoproliferative disorders. In the staging and monitoring of cancer, the use of PET in combination with fluorine-18 fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) has already demonstrated its benefit when compared with conventional imaging modalities. One such area which has already profited from the use of PET is Hodgkin's disease (HD) and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL). Computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging are equivalent in staging and monitoring disease, while gallium-67 imaging is more useful in HD and high grade NHL for studies of response to therapy.Paul et al. in 1987 were the first to describe PET imaging in patients with lymphoma; since this time a number of studies have demonstrated that PET technique is superior to 67 Ga imaging in staging lymphoma before therapy and is useful in the evaluation and the prediction of relapse after high dose therapy with stem cell transplantation.PET is based on the utilisation of positron emitting radiopharmaceuticals and the detection in coincidence of the two nearly collinear 511-keV photons emitted following positron annihilation with an electron in vivo. By surrounding the patients with detectors, a large number of acquired coincident events can lead to the construction of an image of the in vivo radioisotope distribution

Rappresentazione di sé e creatività nella prima adolescenza: uno studio sulle differenze di genere

La ricerca fornisce un contributo agli studi inerenti la relazione tra rappresentazione di sé e creatività nella prima adolescenza. Hanno partecipato alla ricerca 160 soggetti (età media =13 anni) frequentanti l’ultimo anno di scuole medie inferiori della Campania. Sono stati utilizzati due strumenti self-report per la valutazione delle dimensioni della rappresentazione di sé (SPP, Harter 1998) e della creatività (TPC, Williams, 1993). I risultati emersi forniscono un tassello interessante alla comprensione delle relazioni tra le dimensioni considerate. Da un punto di vista generale, sembra che il valore personale globale, cui corrisponde una valutazione positiva della propria persona, oltre che al sentirsi accettati e apprezzati dagli altri, sia legato a caratteristiche personali inerenti le dimensioni della creatività prese in esame

Theoretical Perspectives of Hands-On Educational Practices — From a Review of Psychological Theories to Block Magic and INF@NZIA DIGI.Tales 3.6 Projects

In this chapter, the main theories related to cognitive development are discussed, starting from psychological discussion up to theories application to training, pedagogical and formation sciences issues

Exploring New Technological Tools for Education: Some Prototypes and Their Pragmatical Classification

The aim of this chapter is to introduce at exploring the potential of games in educational sector. More in depth, in this chapter we’ll describe: two European projects (Proactive11 and T31) with a specific focus on use of technology in formative sector; and a platform (Eutopia) experimented in both the projects with which educators can create virtual scenarios where students play a role and simulate a specific situation. Both Proactive and T3 projects have used an experimental approach in which trainings were implemented in order to test the efficacy of the formation planned. Preliminary results of the projects will be presented and discussed. The evidence supports the utility of using new technology in non-ordinary contexts, in order to foster learning process

HLA Haplotype Mismatch Transplants and Posttransplant Cyclophosphamide

The use of high dose posttransplant cyclophosphamide (PT-CY) introduced by the Baltimore group approximately 10 years ago has been rapidly adopted worldwide and is becoming a standard for patients undergoing unmanipulated haploidentical (HAPLO) transplants. PT-CY has been used following nonmyeloablative as well as myeloablative conditioning regimens, for bone marrow or peripheral blood grafts, for patients with malignant and nonmalignant disorders. Retrospective comparisons of HAPLO grafts with conventional sibling and unrelated donor grafts have been published and suggest comparable outcome. The current questions to be answered include the use of PT-CY for sibling and unrelated donors transplant, possibly in the context of prospective randomized trial. HLA Haplotypes and Haploidentical Transplants The short arm of chromosome 6 is home to the human major histocompatibility complex (MHC) genes, which code for human leukocyte antigens (HLA): during meiosis, the MHC region does not undergo "crossing over" (except for rare events), and we inherit one HLA haplotype from the father and one from the mother. Biology of HAPLO Transplants The double problem of a HAPLO transplant is rejection of the graft, or host versus graft (HvG), and rejection of the host, or graft versus host disease (GvHD), and this double problem was the cause of failure of initial attempts. The first successful haplotype mismatch transplants were carried out in the early 1980s in severe combined immunodeficiency (SCID) patients, in whom the risk of rejection is minimal [2]: GvHD was prevented using T cell depletion (TCD) in the absence of any additional posttransplant GvHD prophylaxis Unmanipulated Marrow Grafts following a Nonmyeloablative Conditioning Regimen (NMA) and PT-CY The John Hopkins group hypothesized 40 years ago that high dose cyclophosphamide (CY), given 3 days after infusion of mismatched grafts, would protect rats from graft versus host disease (GvHD) Unmanipulated Marrow Grafts following a Myeloablative (MA) Conditioning Regimen A study using PT-CY and myeloablative conditioning (MAC) regimens has shown a low incidence of graft failure (<5%), a low incidence of acute grades II-IV GvHD (18%), a very low rate of severe grades III-IV acute GvHD (3%), and relapse as expected with a conventional CyA+MTX GvHD prophylaxis [10]. Unmanipulated Peripheral Blood Grafts and PT-CY Several centers have elected to use exclusively peripheral blood (PB) as a stem cell source in place of bone marrow (BM), based on donor preference, inability to secure operating room hours, and outcome considerations. These centers are unwilling to use BM and have thus adopted the Baltimore protocol using unmanipulated PB instead of BM. Results have been unexpectedly encouraging: this is clear when PB is given after the original Baltimore NMA conditioning regimen. In a recent paper, unmanipulated BM and PB have been compared in the NMA setting: incidence of acute and chronic GvHD, nonrelapse mortality, relapse, and survival were quite comparabl

Нові тенденції розвитку термінознавства : здобутки міжнародної наукової групи Р. Теммерман

Комплексно проаналізовано здобутки міжнародної наукової групи під керівництвом Р. Теммерман: розглянуто основні положення соціокогнітивного термінознавства, питання сутності терміна, фахової мови, фахової комунікації, динаміки терміна, розуміння терміна людиною за різних умов фахового спілкування, оперування великими масивами термінологічних даних, терміноонтографії й терміноонтології, інженерії знань та галузевих онтологій.The paper comprehensively analyses the achievements of the international research group led by R. Temmerman: it examines the main thesis of sociocognitive terminology, questions of the essence of a term, professional language, professional communication, dynamics of a term, understanding of a term by person under various conditions of professional communication, handling large corpora of terminological data, terminoontography and terminoontology, knowledge engineering and specialized ontologies

Contributo alla validazione della versione italiana della scala del Social Support di Susan Harter

Scopo del presente lavoro è proporre una versione italiana della Social Support Scale for adolescents di Susan Harter (1985) e di testarne le proprietà psicometriche. La scala permette di valutare il grado di supporto sociale percepito dal soggetto e la considerazione che sente di riceve da parte di altri significativi. La versione italiana è stata somministrata, in fase di pre-test, a 80 soggetti. I rilievi emersi hanno condotto ad alcuni adattamenti; la versione così ottenuta è stata somministrata ad un campione di 1203 soggetti (11-18 anni). Le analisi statistiche hanno consentito di verificare la consistenza interna e la struttura fattoriale della scala. Tali analisi hanno confermato l’attendibilità e la validità della versione italiana rispetto allo strumento originario. È stato inoltre realizzato un modello di Equazioni Strutturali, al fine di verificare la presenza di una struttura fattoriale sovrapponibile a quella originaria proposta dalla Harter. I rilievi emersi sembrano indicare che anche la versione italiana della scala proposta rappresenta un utile strumento per la comprensione e lo studio del supporto che l’adolescente percepisce di ricevere da parte di altri significativi. SUMMARY. In this paper we aim to propose an Italian version of the Social Support Scale for adolescents of Susan Harter (1985) and to explore its psychometric properties. The Social Support Scale allows to estimate the subject degree of perceived social support and the consideration from significant others. The Italian version was administered, in pre-test phase to 80 subjects. The results lead to some adaptations and this version was administered to a sample of 1203 subjects (11-18 years). The statistical analyses verified the internal consistency and the factorial structure of the Italian version with respect to the structure of the original scale. It was performed a Structural Equations modelling, to assess the properties of factorial structure. These results seem to indicate proposed Italian version of Social Support Scale can be a useful instrument to study the support that the adolescent perceives to receive from significant others

BKV infection and hemorrhagic cystitis after allogeneic bone marrow transplant.

Hemorrhagic cystitis (HC) is a well-known complication after allogeneic bone marrow transplant (BMT) and can be related to adenovirus or human polyomavirus BK (BKV) infections. In this study a group of 20 patients after allogeneic BMT has been examined. BMT urine samples were analysed for the presence of Adenovirus and BKV DNA by means of polymerase chain reaction (PCR). 5/20 BMT patients developed HC after BMT. The presence of BKV DNA in urine samples was evident in 3/15 patients without HC and in 5/5 patients with HC. In 2/5 HC-patients the BKV DNA was not found after therapy with Cidofovir and Ribavirin. The search for adenovirus DNA in all samples was negative. The analysis of BKV non-coding control region (NCCR) isolated from urine samples revealed a structure very similar to the archetype in all samples. The RFLP (Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphism assay) showed the presence of BKV subtypes I and IV, with the prevalence of subtype I (4/5). This study supports the hypothesis that HC is mainly related to BKV rather than to adenovirus infection in BMT patients. Moreover, since BKV subtype I was predominant, it is reasonable to hypothesize that a specific BKV subtype could be associated with the development of HC

Through-and-through femorofemoral wire retrograde technique for the E-nside precannulated inner branch thoracoabdominal stent graft

The E-nside multibranched stent graft (Jotec GmbH, Hechingen, Germany) is the first and only off-the-shelf thoracoabdominal prosthesis with precannulated inner branches. Usually, after the device deployment, target vessel stenting will be facilitated by antegrade inner branch cannulation to retrieve the precannulated guide. In the literature, the use of antegrade access has been associated with the potential risk of cerebral and systemic embolization. Therefore, other retrograde techniques have been described. We have reported a new retrograde approach using a precannulated through-and-through femorofemoral wire technique for target vessel catheterization

CAR-T CELL THERAPY IN B-CELL ACUTE LYMPHOBLASTIC LEUKEMIA

Treatment of refractory and relapsed (R/R) B acute lymphoblastic leukemia (B-ALL) is an unmet medical need in both children and adults. Studies carried out in the last two decades have shown that autologous T cells engineered to express a chimeric antigen receptor (CAR-T) represent an effective technique for treating these patients. Antigens expressed on B-cells, such as CD19, CD20, and CD22, represent targets suitable for treating patients with R/R B-ALL. CD19 CAR-T cells induce a high rate (80-90%) of complete remissions in both pediatric and adult R/R B-ALL patients. However, despite this impressive rate of responses, about half of responding patients relapse within 1-2 years after CAR-T cell therapy. Allo-HSCT after CAR-T cell therapy might consolidate the therapeutic efficacy of CAR-T and increase long-term outcomes; however, not all the studies that have adopted allo-HSCT as a consolidative treatment strategy have shown a benefit deriving from transplantation. For B-ALL patients who relapse early after allo-HSCT or those with insufficient T-cell numbers for an autologous approach, using T cells from the original stem cell donor offers the opportunity for the successful generation of CAR-T cells and for an effective therapeutic approach. Finally, recent studies have introduced allogeneic CAR-T cells generated from healthy donors or unmatched, which are opportunely manipulated with gene editing to reduce the risk of immunological incompatibility, with promising therapeutic effects. Keywords: CAR T; Acute Lymphoid Leukemia; Allogeneic CAR-T; Autologous CAR-T