The ESPON 2013 programme : the development of the islands – European islands and cohesion policy (EUROISLANDS)

The report was accepted by the ESPON Monitoring Committee as it demonstrates interesting outputs and observations on the situation and development of the European islands. The report raises awareness of the specificities and diversity of this specific type of territories and takes into consideration the current policy debate related to European Cohesion Policy. The revised version of the Final Report has been considered meeting the minimum demands in contractual terms. However, some case studies raised comments from individual stakeholders involved. Some improvements requested were not implemented to their entire satisfaction as part of the revision of the Final Report. It was felt that the case studies could have been better used and integrated in the analysis, making the report richer, more precise and evidence based, enhancing its narrative.peer-reviewe

Role of Imaging in the Staging and Response Assessment of Lymphoma:Consensus of the International Conference on Malignant Lymphomas Imaging Working Group

This article comprises the consensus reached to update guidance on the use of PET-CT for staging and response assessment for 18F FDG-avid lymphomas in clinical practice and late-phase trials

An antipsychotic drug exerts anti-prion effects by altering the localization of the cellular prion protein

<div><p>Prion diseases are neurodegenerative conditions characterized by the conformational conversion of the cellular prion protein (PrP^C), an endogenous membrane glycoprotein of uncertain function, into PrP^Sc, a pathological isoform that replicates by imposing its abnormal folding onto PrP^C molecules. A great deal of evidence supports the notion that PrP^C plays at least two roles in prion diseases, by acting as a substrate for PrP^Sc replication, and as a mediator of its toxicity. This conclusion was recently supported by data suggesting that PrP^C may transduce neurotoxic signals elicited by other disease-associated protein aggregates. Thus, PrP^C may represent a convenient pharmacological target for prion diseases, and possibly other neurodegenerative conditions. Here, we sought to characterize the activity of chlorpromazine (CPZ), an antipsychotic previously shown to inhibit prion replication by directly binding to PrP^C. By employing biochemical and biophysical techniques, we provide direct experimental evidence indicating that CPZ does not bind PrP^C at biologically relevant concentrations. Instead, the compound exerts anti-prion effects by inducing the relocalization of PrP^C from the plasma membrane. Consistent with these findings, CPZ also inhibits the cytotoxic effects delivered by a PrP mutant. Interestingly, we found that the different pharmacological effects of CPZ could be mimicked by two inhibitors of the GTPase activity of dynamins, a class of proteins involved in the scission of newly formed membrane vesicles, and recently reported as potential pharmacological targets of CPZ. Collectively, our results redefine the mechanism by which CPZ exerts anti-prion effects, and support a primary role for dynamins in the membrane recycling of PrP^C, as well as in the propagation of infectious prions.</p></div

The predictive role of interim Positron Emission Tomography on Hodgkin lymphoma treatment outcome is confirmed using the 5-point scale interpretation criteria

A retrospective, international, multicenter study was undertaken to assess: (i) the prognostic role of 'interim' positron emission tomography performed during treatment with doxorubicin, bleomycin, vinblastine and dacarbazine in patients with Hodgkin lymphoma; and (ii) the reproducibility of the Deauville five-point scale for the interpretation of interim positron emission tomography scan. Two hundred and sixty patients with newly diagnosed Hodgkin lymphoma were enrolled. Fifty-three patients with early unfavorable and 207 with advanced-stage disease were treated with doxorubicin, bleomycin, vinblastine and dacarbazine \ub1 involved-field or consolidation radiotherapy. Positron emission tomography scan was performed at baseline and after two cycles of chemotherapy. Treatment was not changed according to the results of the interim scan. An international panel of six expert reviewers independently reported the scans using the Deauville five-point scale, blinded to treatment outcome. Forty-five scans were scored as positive (17.3%) and 215 (82.7%) as negative. After a median follow up of 37.0 (2-110) months, 252 patients are alive and eight have died. The 3-year progression-free survival rate was 83% for the whole study population, 28% for patients with interim positive scans and 95% for patients with interim negative scans (P&lt;0.0001). The sensitivity, specificity, and negative and positive predictive values of interim positron emission tomography scans for predicting treatment outcome were 0.73, 0.94, 0.94 and 0.73, respectively. Binary concordance amongst reviewers was good (Cohen's kappa 0.69-0.84). In conclusion, the prognostic role and validity of the Deauville five-point scale for interpretation of interim positron emission tomography scans have been confirmed by the present study

CPZ is a weak ligand of PrP^C.

<p><b>A.</b> The interaction of CPZ with recombinant PrP^C was evaluated by SPR. Starting at time 0, the indicated concentrations of CPZ were injected for 130 sec over sensor chip surfaces (GL-H chip, Bio-Rad) on which 16.000 resonance units (RU) of full-length, mouse recombinant PrP^C had previously been captured by amine coupling. The chip was then washed with PBST buffer alone to monitor ligand dissociation. Sensorgrams show CPZ binding in RU. The data were obtained by subtracting the reference channels. No reliable fitting was obtained for any of the curves, a fact that undermined the calculation of the kinetic constants for the interaction. <b>B.</b> CPZ-PrP^C interaction by DMR. Different concentrations of CPZ were added to label-free microplate well surfaces (EnSpire-LFB HS microplate, Perkin Elmer) on which full-length human recombinant PrP^C or BSA had previously been immobilized. Measurements were performed before (baseline) and after (final) adding the compound. The response (pm) was obtained subtracting the baseline output to the final output signals. The output signal for each well was obtained by subtracting the signal of the protein-coated reference area to the signal of uncoated area. The CPZ signals (red dots) were fitted (black line) to a sigmoidal function using a 4 parameter logistic (4PL) non-linear regression model; <i>R</i>^<i>2</i> = 0.99; <i>p</i> = 0.00061.</p

Dynamin inhibitors abrogate the drug-hypersensitizing effect of ΔCR PrP.

<p><b>A.</b> The DBCA was employed to evaluate the anti-ΔCR PrP effects of the different dynamin inhibitors. The bar graph shows the quantification of the dose-dependent rescuing effect of each compound at the indicated concentrations. Mean values were obtained from a minimum of 4 independent experiments (n = 4), and expressed as percentage of cell viability rescue. Statistically-significant differences (*) between compound-treated and untreated cells were estimated by Student <i>t</i>-test: [Iminodyn-17, 10 μM], <i>p</i> = 0,00487; [Iminodyn-22, 10 μM], <i>p</i> = 0,00075.</p