Endoscopic ultrasonography for surveillance of individuals at high risk for pancreatic cancer

Pancreatic cancer is a highly lethal disease with a genetic susceptibility and familial aggregation found in 3%-16% of patients. Early diagnosis remains the only hope for curative treatment and improvement of prognosis. This can be reached by the implementation of an intensive screening program, actually recommended for individuals at high-risk for pancreatic cancer development. The aim of this strategy is to identify pre-malignant precursors or asymptomatic pancreatic cancer lesions, curable by surgery. Endoscopic ultrasound (EUS) with or without fine needle aspiration (FNA) seems to be the most promising technique for early detection of pancreatic cancer. It has been described as a highly sensitive and accurate tool, especially for small and cystic lesions. Pancreatic intraepithelial neoplasia, a precursor lesion which is highly represented in high-risk individuals, seems to have characteristics chronic pancreatitis-like changes well detected by EUS. Many screening protocols have demonstrated high diagnostic yields for pancreatic pre-malignant lesions, allowing prophylactic pancreatectomies. However, it shows a high interobserver variety even among experienced endosonographers and a low sensitivity in case of chronic pancreatitis. Some new techniques such as contrast-enhanced harmonic EUS, computer-aided diagnostic techniques, confocal laser endomicroscopy miniprobe and the detection of DNA abnormalities or protein markers by FNA, promise improvement of the diagnostic yield of EUS. As the resolution of imaging improves and as our knowledge of precursor lesions grows, we believe that EUS could become the most suitable method to detect curable pancreatic neoplasms in correctly identified asymptomatic at-risk patients

Cyclic fatigue resistance, torsional resistance, and metallurgical characteristics of M3 Rotary and M3 Pro Gold NiTi files

Objectives: To evaluate the mechanical properties and metallurgical characteristics of the M3 Rotary and M3 Pro Gold files (United Dental). Materials and Methods: One hundred and sixty new M3 Rotary and M3 Pro Gold files (sizes 20/0.04 and 25/0.04) were used. Torque and angle of rotation at failure (n = 20) were measured according to ISO 3630-1. Cyclic fatigue resistance was tested by measuring the number of cycles to failure in an artificial stainless steel canal (60° angle of curvature and a 5-mm radius). The metallurgical characteristics were investigated by differential scanning calorimetry. Data were analyzed using analysis of variance and the Student-Newman-Keuls test. Results: Comparing the same size of the 2 different instruments, cyclic fatigue resistance was significantly higher in the M3 Pro Gold files than in the M3 Rotary files (p < 0.001). No significant difference was observed between the files in the maximum torque load, while a significantly higher angular rotation to fracture was observed for M3 Pro Gold (p < 0.05). In the DSC analysis, the M3 Pro Gold files showed one prominent peak on the heating curve and 2 prominent peaks on the cooling curve. In contrast, the M3 Rotary files showed 1 small peak on the heating curve and 1 small peak on the cooling curve. Conclusions: The M3 Pro Gold files showed greater flexibility and angular rotation than the M3 Rotary files, without decrement of their torque resistance. The superior flexibility of M3 Pro Gold files can be attributed to their martensite phase

Giovanni Amendola e la difesa della democrazia

Estratto da: Rassegna di politica e di storia, n.76 (febbraio 1961

Dal Cattolicesimo Liberale alla Democrazia Cristiana del secondo dopoguerra

Storia dei partiti e dei movimenti politici di ispirazione cattolica in Italia dal secondo dopoguerra.- Sommario #4- 1. Il movimento cattolico dal non expedit all'accettazione storica dello Stato liberale #5- 2. La dottrina sociale cristiana e le origini del partito popolare #10- 3. Le scelte del secondo dopoguerra. Necessità di una "rivisitazione" dell'esperienza economica fascista #18- 4. Gli uomini del Codice di Camaldoli e l'IRI, laboratorio di una nuo-va politica economica #23- 5. La mediazione di De Gasperi fra la visione di Sturzo e le tradizioni del solidarismo cristiano #25- 6. La DC dalla Ricostruzione alla crisi attuale del Paese #34- 7. Il populismo contemporaneo: "quarta cultura" della società italiana? #4

How do oil price shocks affect economic activity ?

This work seeks to analyse how the economic cycle changes in relation at oil price flucuations, arriving at the conclusion that there are too many things inside the cluster and it's difficult to arrive at a univocal result. The findings stem from the SVAR approach show that there is stationarity in the impulse response function of gdp related to oil price shoc

Development and validation of a new analytical method based on UV-visible spectroscopy for quantification of ceftaroline fosamil in powder for injection

Quantification of drugs is an essential part for ensuring quality, safety and efficacy of pharmaceutical formulations. For this, validated methods must be used in order to guarantee analytical reliability during monitoring in clinical studies and quality control. In the present study, we aim to develop a reliable, accurate, accessible and rapid UV-VIS spectrophotometry method for quantification of ceftaroline fosamil in powder for intravenous administration. Each analyzed solution was prepared individually and the only reagent used was Milli-Q water, as a solvent, making the method eco-friendly. The absorbances were measured at 242 nm, the peak absorbance found for the drug. The developed method was validated according to ICH and ANVISA guidelines, proving to be specific and demonstrating good linearity in the concentration range of 5 μg.mL-1 to 15 μg.mL-1, with determination (r2) and correlation coefficients (r) equal to 0.9999. The limits of detection and quantification found were acceptable (0.51 μg.mL-1 and 1.55 μg.mL-1, respectively).  The method exhibited excellent intermediate precision and repeatability, with relative standard deviation values of 0.87% and 0.98%, respectively. Furthermore, the method’s accuracy was confirmed, showing a mean recovery of 100 ± 2.67%. Additionally, the robustness was assayed and confirmed using Plackett-Burmann design. In conclusion, the method can easily be applied for routine quality control analysis

The Biology of Malaria Gametocytes

Gametocytes are sexual precursor cells of the malaria parasite that mediate the transmission of the parasite from its mammalian host to the Anopheles mosquito. Unlike the asexual blood stages, which are responsible for the clinical outcome of malaria, gametocytes cause no clinical manifestations. However, they are very crucial for the transmission of the disease thus represent key targets for transmission-blocking interventions. Despite their essential role in malaria transmission, only in the last decade gametocytes became a hot topic of research and their biology is not well understood. This chapter provides a detailed review on the biology of the human malaria gametocytes with emphasis on aspects such as gametocyte commitment, gametocyte maturation (gametocytogenesis), gametocyte metabolism and gametogenesis. Proper understanding of these processes will deepen our knowledge on the gametocyte biology and therefore open up more avenues for the development of malaria transmission-blocking intervention strategies