Macrofaunal communities in the Gioia Canyon (Southern Tyrrhenian Sea, Italy)

Submarine canyons play pivotal roles in the physical, biological and ecological processes of coastal areas, especially in closed or semi-closed basins as the Mediterranean Sea, influencing the biodiversity and the abundance of the benthic fauna. On February 2013, during the Tyrrhenian Gravity Flows (TyGraF) campaign, samples have been collected along the Gioia Canyon Basin (Italy) with the aim to describe the taxonomical composition and the abundances of the macrobenthic assemblages, filling the gap of knowledge in this area. A total of 93 taxa were identified, and the Annelida was the phylum with the highest number of specimens and most diversified (46 taxa). The polychaetes Sternaspis scutata, Prionospio cirrifera and Monticellina sp., the bivalves Thyasira sp.1 and Saccella commutata and the amphipods belonging to the genera Ampelisca and Harpinia showed the highest densities in the studied area; however, results suggest low values of the abundances of the macrobenthos if compared with those generally reported for other canyons, both inside and outside the Mediterranean Sea. The marine biotic index (AMBI) highlights that the canyon system and the surrounded area were slightly disturbed and characterized by a high percentage of tolerant taxa. This study is the first baseline for future analyses of the macrobenthic communities of this area

The quest for improving treatment of cancer of unknown primary (CUP) through molecularly-driven treatments: a systematic review

Background: Carcinomas of unknown primary (CUP) account for 3-5% of all malignancy and, despite a reduction in incidence, the overall survival has not improved over the last decade. Chemotherapy regimens have not provided encouraging results. New diagnostic technologies, such as next generation sequencing (NGS), could represent a chance to identify potentially targetable genomic alterations in order to personalize treatment of CUP and provide insights into tumor biology. Methods: A systematic review of studies of patients with CUP, whose tumor specimen was evaluated through a NGS panel, has been performed on June 10th, 2019 according to PRISMA criteria from PubMed, ASCO meeting library and Clinicaltrial.gov. We have identified potentially targetable alterations for which approved/off-label/in clinical trials drugs are available. Moreover, we have included case reports about CUP patients treated with targeted therapies driven by NGS results in order to explore the clinical role of NGS in this setting. Results: We have evaluated 15 publications of which eleven studies (9 full-text articles and 2 abstracts) have analyzed the genomic profiling of CUPs through NGS technology, with different platforms and with different patients cohorts, ranging from 16 to 1,806 patients. Among all these studies, 85% of patients demonstrated at least one molecular alteration, the most frequent involving TP53 (41.88%), KRAS (18.81%), CDKN2A (8.8%), and PIK3CA (9.3%). A mean of 47.3% of patients harbored a potentially targetable alteration for which approved/off-label/in clinical trials drugs were available. Furthermore, we have identified 4 case reports in order to evaluate the clinical relevance of a specific targeted therapy identified through NGS. Conclusions: NGS may represent a tool to improve diagnosis and treatment of CUP by identifying therapeutically actionable alterations and providing insights into tumor biology

UN REPORT DI MICROBIOLOGIA PER INIZIARE IL PERCORSO DEL CONTROLLO DELLE INFEZIONI OSPEDALIERE

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Resistome and virulome diversity of foodborne pathogens isolated from artisanal food production chain of animal origin in the Mediterranean region

The aim of the present study was to investigate the resistome and irulome diversity of 43 isolates of Listeria monocytogenes, Salmonella enterica and S. aureus collected from artisanal fermented meat and dairy products and their production environments in Portugal, Spain, Italy and Morocco. After DNA extraction, genomes were sequenced, and de novo assembled. Genetic relationships among genomes were investigated by SNP calling and in silico 7- loci MLST. Genomes of the same species belonged to different ST-types demonstrating the circulation of different clones in in the same artisanal production plant. One specific clone included genomes of S. Paratyphi B belonging to ST43 and repeatedly isolated for more than a year in an artisanal sausage production plant. No genomes but three (belonging to Salmonella enterica), were predicted as multiresistant to different antimicrobials classes. Regarding virulence, genomes of L. monocytogenes belonging to ST1, ST3 and ST489, as well as genomes of S.enterica enterica (ST43, ST33, ST314, ST3667, ST1818, ST198) and ST121 S. aureus were predicted as virulent and hypervirulent. The occurrence of virulent and hypervirulent L. monocytogenes, Salmonella enterica and S. aureus strains in artisanal fermented meat and dairy productions as well as in their finished products suggests the need for a specific focus on prevention and control measures able to reduce the risk of these biological hazards in artisanal food productions

Where Is More Important Than How in Coastal and Marine Ecosystems Restoration

Restoration is considered an effective strategy to accelerate the recovery of biological communities at local scale. However, the effects of restoration actions in the marine ecosystems are still unpredictable. We performed a global analysis of published literature to identify the factors increasing the probability of restoration success in coastal and marine systems. Our results confirm that the majority of active restoration initiatives are still concentrated in the northern hemisphere and that most of information gathered from restoration efforts derives from a relatively small subset of species. The analysis also indicates that many studies are still experimental in nature, covering small spatial and temporal scales. Despite the limits of assessing restoration effectiveness in absence of a standardized definition of success, the context (degree of human impact, ecosystem type, habitat) of where the restoration activity is undertaken is of greater relevance to a successful outcome than how (method) the restoration is carried out. Contrary to expectations, we found that restoration is not necessarily more successful closer to protected areas (PA) and in areas of moderate human impact. This result can be motivated by the limits in assessing the success of interventions and by the tendency of selecting areas in more obvious need of restoration, where the potential of actively restoring a degraded site is more evident. Restoration sites prioritization considering human uses and conservation status present in the region is of vital importance to obtain the intended outcomes and galvanize further actions

Pemetrexed single agent chemotherapy in previously treated patients with locally advanced or metastatic non-small cell lung cancer

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The main objective of this study was to evaluate the safety of second-line pemetrexed in Stage IIIB or IV NSCLC.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Overall, 95 patients received pemetrexed 500 mg/m²i.v. over Day 1 of a 21-day cycle. Patients also received oral dexamethasone, oral folic acid and i.m. vitamin B12 supplementation to reduce toxicity. NCI CTC 2.0 was used to rate toxicity. All the adverse events were graded in terms of severity and relation to study treatment. Dose was reduced in case of toxicity and treatment was delayed for up to 42 days from Day 1 of any cycle to allow recovering from study drug-related toxicities. Tumor response was measured using the RECIST criteria.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Patients received a median number of 4 cycles and 97.8% of the planned dose. Overall, 75 patients (78.9% of treated) reported at least one adverse event: 34 (35.8%) had grade 3 as worst grade and only 5 (5.2%) had grade 4. Drug-related events occurred in 57.9% of patients. Neutropenia (8.4%) and leukopenia (6.3 %) were the most common grade 3/4 hematological toxicities. Grade 3 anemia and thrombocytopenia were reported in 3.2% and 2.1% of patients, respectively. Diarrhea (6.3%), fatigue (3.2%) and dyspnea (3.2%) were the most common grade 3/4 non-hematological toxicities. The most common drug-related toxicities (any grade) were pyrexia (11.6%), vomiting, nausea, diarrhea and asthenia (9.5%) and fatigue (8.4%). Tumor Response Rate (CR/PR) in treated patients was 9.2%. The survival at 4.5 months (median follow-up) was 79% and the median PFS was 3.1 months. Twenty patients (21.1%) died mainly because of disease progression.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Patients with locally advanced or metastatic NSCLC could benefit from second-line pemetrexed, with a low incidence of hematological and non-hematological toxicities.</p