The Spanish Expression of Catholicism

The official religion of Spain is Roman Catholicism. To say Spaniard is to say Catholic. Why, then, should we have to talk about the practice of this religion specifically in Spain, when there are other countries where it stands as the majority faith? In reality, not all national communities live the same religious belief in the same manner. It may be identical in its dogma and structure, but its emphasis and external form will be determined by the particular national traits of the people

Cover, Introduction, Table of Contents

During the past few years, the University of Dayton Review has, on several occasions, published issues dedicated to the Nobel Prize winning German author Heinrich Böll under the able editorship of Professor Robert Conard. On this occasion, the present issue of the UDR concerns itself with an aspect of the literature of Spain. When called upon to act as editor for this issue, it was my feeling that, on the one hand, to dedicate it principally to one author in particular would be too limiting, whereas to open it up to include all of Spanish literature would be excessively broad. I have chosen, therefore, given the fundamental nature of the University of Dayton as a Marianist institution, to group the articles around the general topic of The Religious Theme in Spanish Literature

Clinical Features, Cardiovascular Risk Profile, and Therapeutic Trajectories of Patients with Type 2 Diabetes Candidate for Oral Semaglutide Therapy in the Italian Specialist Care

Introduction: This study aimed to address therapeutic inertia in the management of type 2 diabetes (T2D) by investigating the potential of early treatment with oral semaglutide. Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted between October 2021 and April 2022 among specialists treating individuals with T2D. A scientific committee designed a data collection form covering demographics, cardiovascular risk, glucose control metrics, ongoing therapies, and physician judgments on treatment appropriateness. Participants completed anonymous patient questionnaires reflecting routine clinical encounters. The preferred therapeutic regimen for each patient was also identified. Results: The analysis was conducted on 4449 patients initiating oral semaglutide. The population had a relatively short disease duration (42%  60% of patients, and more often than sitagliptin or empagliflozin. Conclusion: The study supports the potential of early implementation of oral semaglutide as a strategy to overcome therapeutic inertia and enhance T2D management

MicroRNA expression profiling of thymic epithelial tumors

Background: Thymic epithelial tumors (TET) are the most frequent human primary mediastinal tumors in adults. A deep biological characterization of the processes at the basis of the transformed phenotype could strongly improve our understanding of the morphological and clinical heterogeneity of these diseases. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are non-coding RNAs involved in post-transcriptional regulation and their altered expression accounts for the pathogenesis of several tumors. Objectives: The aim of this study was to identify the miRNAs that are differentially expressed in tumor vs normal thymic tissues or among the different tumor histotypes and that could impact on the biology of TET. Materials and methods: microRNAs expression profiling was performed by microarray analysis of formalin-fixed paraffin embedded (FFPE) tissue from 54 thymic tumor samples and 12 normal counterparts, derived from two patient cohorts. Results and conclusion: We identified groups of miRNAs differentially expressed between: (i) TET and normal thymic tissues, (ii) thymomas and thymic carcinomas, (iii) histotype groups. Moreover, we identified putative molecular pathways targeted by these differentially expressed miRNAs that could be involved in thymic carcinogenesis and in the maintenance and spreading of this tumor. © 2014 Elsevier Ireland Ltd

IGFBP-6 Alters Mesenchymal Stromal Cell Phenotype Driving Dasatinib Resistance in Chronic Myeloid Leukemia

Chronic myeloid leukemia (CML), BCR-ABL1-positive, is classified as a myeloproliferative characterized by Philadelphia chromosome/translocation t(9;22) and proliferating granulocytes. Despite the clinical success of tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKi) agents in the treatment of CML, most patients have minimal residual disease contained in the bone marrow microenvironment, within which stromal cells assume a pro-inflammatory phenotype that determines their transformation in cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAF) which, in turn can play a fundamental role in resistance to therapy. Insulin-like Growth Factor Binding Protein-6 (IGFBP-6) is expressed during tumor development, and is involved in immune-escape and inflammation as well, providing a potential additional target for CML therapy. Here, we aimed at investigating the role of IGFBP-6/SHH/TLR4 axis in TKi response. We used a CML cell line, LAMA84-s, and healthy bone marrow stromal cells, HS-5, in mono- or co-culture. The two cell lines were treated with Dasatinib and/or IGFBP-6, and the expression of inflammatory markers was tested by qRT-PCR; furthermore, expression of IGFBP-6, TLR4 and Gli1 were evaluated by Western blot analysis and immumocytochemistry. The results showed that both co-culture and Dasatinib exposure induce inflammation in stromal and cancer cells so that they modulate the expression of TLR4, and these effects were more marked following IGFBP-6 pre-treatment suggesting that this molecule may confer resistance through the inflammatory processes. This phenomenon was coupled with sonic hedgehog (SHH) signaling. Indeed, our data also demonstrate that HS-5 treatment with PMO (an inducer of SHH) induces significant modulation of TLR4 and overexpression of IGFPB-6 suggesting that the two pathways are interconnected with each other and with the TLR-4 pathway. Finally, we demonstrated that pretreatment with IGFBP-6 and/or PMO restored LAMA-84 cell viability after treatment with Dasatinib, suggesting that both IGFBP-6 and SHH are involved in the resistance mechanisms induced by the modulation of TLR-4, thus indicating that the two pathways may be considered as potential therapeutic targets

IGFBP-6 Alters Mesenchymal Stromal Cell Phenotype Driving Dasatinib Resistance in Chronic Myeloid Leukemia

Chronic myeloid leukemia (CML), BCR-ABL1-positive, is classified as a myeloproliferative characterized by Philadelphia chromosome/translocation t(9;22) and proliferating granulocytes. Despite the clinical success of tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKi) agents in the treatment of CML, most patients have minimal residual disease contained in the bone marrow microenvironment, within which stromal cells assume a pro-inflammatory phenotype that determines their transformation in cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAF) which, in turn can play a fundamental role in resistance to therapy. Insulin-like Growth Factor Binding Protein-6 (IGFBP-6) is expressed during tumor development, and is involved in immune-escape and inflammation as well, providing a potential additional target for CML therapy. Here, we aimed at investigating the role of IGFBP-6/SHH/TLR4 axis in TKi response. We used a CML cell line, LAMA84-s, and healthy bone marrow stromal cells, HS-5, in mono- or co-culture. The two cell lines were treated with Dasatinib and/or IGFBP-6, and the expression of inflammatory markers was tested by qRT-PCR; furthermore, expression of IGFBP-6, TLR4 and Gli1 were evaluated by Western blot analysis and immumocytochemistry. The results showed that both co-culture and Dasatinib exposure induce inflammation in stromal and cancer cells so that they modulate the expression of TLR4, and these effects were more marked following IGFBP-6 pre-treatment suggesting that this molecule may confer resistance through the inflammatory processes. This phenomenon was coupled with sonic hedgehog (SHH) signaling. Indeed, our data also demonstrate that HS-5 treatment with PMO (an inducer of SHH) induces significant modulation of TLR4 and overexpression of IGFPB-6 suggesting that the two pathways are interconnected with each other and with the TLR-4 pathway. Finally, we demonstrated that pretreatment with IGFBP-6 and/or PMO restored LAMA-84 cell viability after treatment with Dasatinib, suggesting that both IGFBP-6 and SHH are involved in the resistance mechanisms induced by the modulation of TLR-4, thus indicating that the two pathways may be considered as potential therapeutic targets

VegItaly: Technical features, crucial issues and some solutions

VegItaly is at present the largest Italian vegetation database. It is the result of a collaborative project aspiring to represent a major reference for the Italian vegetation scientists. The paper emphasizes its benefits for phytosociological data management and describes the solutions adopted to solve several technical problems, like the treatment of different vegetation stratification systems, the conversion of vegetation cover values, taxonomic and syntaxonomic issues, data import and access. The structure of the taxonomic list produced to support the storing of data is described. It allows an easy management of synonymic relationships and is constantly updated according to new publications and revisions. Issues related to data import from different formats have been solved by developing assistant software VegImport and TabImport, which are based on the most used formats in vegetation plot archiving. Bibliographic sources are managed according to the LISY standard and include descriptive geographic information, bibliographic and syntaxonomic reference. Distinct data access regimes can be selected by VegItaly's users: visible, partly visible, invisible. Compared with the original project outline, many fundamental parts of the database structure have been fully built up, although several utilities still have to be developed or improved. \ua9 Italian Society for Vegetation Science