The 2019–2020 coronavirus pandemic in Italy: immunologic and cultural hurdles on the road to a cure

Currently, Italy is the country most seriously affected in the world by the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). As of 30 March 2020, our Government certified that 31% of the worldwide deaths were from Italy (11,591 out of 36,500 cases) with the highest mortality rate (11.4%) compared the global rate of 4.7%. Over the last weeks, several Italian hospitals adhered to international experimental investigations on off-label drugs, such as tocilizumab, an anti-IL-6 receptor monoclonal antibody and remdesivir, a nucleotide analog originally used against Ebola virus disease, and artificial active immunization (vaccines creation). To our great surprise, in our country, minimal medical and community attention has been riveted on passive immunity (immunoglobulin therapy)

Commentary on "a case of paratesticular leiomyosarcoma successfully treated with orchiectomy and chemotherapy"

We have read with great interest the article written by Ko and colleagues on a particularly rare type of malignant mesenchymal tumor that is paratesticular leiomyosarcoma and we did appreciate the argumentation on the utility of adjuvant chemotherapy as treatment of stage III disease. As for our experience, we would like to shed light on a very rare and little-known aspect surrounding this neoplasm, which is the capability of dedifferentiation exerted in order to recur or metastasize

Elementi di carpenteria navale dai relitti del porto di Olbia

La necessità di costruire un sottopasso nel porto di Olbia, per snellire il traffico verso gli imbarchi dei traghetti, ha consentito all’archeologia sarda di arricchirsi di nuove pagine di storia dell’Isola in età romana. L’area indagata ha restituito infatti una notevole quantità di resti di navi affondate in porto

Cervical esophagotomy for removal of an ingested clam shell: a very uncommon foreign body ingestion

OBJECTIVE: To report the removal of an ingested clam shell that was firmly impacted in the esophagus. CLINICAL PRESENTATION AND INTERVENTION: A 77-year-old man presented at our hospital with acute dysphagia after eating a seafood risotto. An urgent dedicated examination (noncontrast helical multislice computed tomography scan of the neck and flexible esophagoscopy) detected a clam shell lodged in the upper esophagus. After several unsuccessful endoscopic attempts, a lifesaving cervical esophagotomy was performed and the foreign body was retrieved. CONCLUSION: This patient who ingested clam shell recovered well following the retrieval of the foreign body by performing a lifesaving cervical esophagotomy

Significato clinico-patologico e valore prognostico dell’analisi citopatologica del lavaggio gastrico in 80 pazienti affetti da adenocarcinoma dello stomaco

Sebbene la sua incidenza stia diminuendo negli ultimi anni, il cancro dello stomaco rappresenta tuttora il quinto tumore più diffuso al mondo (dopo polmone, seno, prostata e colon-retto) e la terza causa di morte per tumore dopo il cancro del polmone e del fegato.1 Il successo registrato in Giappone nel campo della diagnosi precoce del cancro gastrico (early gastric cancer, EGC) viaggia purtroppo su binari molto differenti rispetto a quelli dei Paesi Occidentali nei quali questo tumore viene spesso riscontrato ancora nei suoi stadi più avanzati.2,3 Tale neoplasia è gravata da una prognosi piuttosto infausta dal momento che il tasso di sopravvivenza globale a 5 anni si aggira intorno al 20%. Infatti, anche dopo una resezione chirurgica curativa, dove il campione operatorio ha margini indenni da infiltrazione neoplastica, circa il 50% dei pazienti muore per recidiva locale di malattia che si manifesta in genere entro 2 anni di follow-up.4-7 Il tasso di sopravvivenza globale a 5 anni è fortemente correlato alla stadiazione determinata al momento della diagnosi. Sebbene molti parametri patobiologici classificativi e stadiativi siano ben studiati e universalmente riconosciuti riguardo al loro significato clinico e prognostico, esistono ancora molte ombre circa la capacità di prevedere esattamente come tale tumore possa evolvere nella sua storia naturale per un dato e noto stadio tra i vari pazienti affetti. A tutt’oggi, per esempio, mentre per alcuni tumori sono stati identificati determinati marcatori tumorali sierici (ormoni antigenici) utili allo screening, diagnosi o prognosi degli stessi (in particolare l’alfa-fetoproteina per l’epatocarcinoma, il Ca 19.9 per l’adenocarcinoma pancreatico o il colangiocarcinoma, il CEA per l’identificazione di malattia colo-rettale recidiva o metastatica), per l’adenocarcinoma gastrico nessun marcatore ha raggiunto elevati livelli di sensibilità né di specificità per gli scopi sovra descritti.8-16 Quanto alla citopatologia, negli ultimi anni diversi lavori hanno ormai consolidato il ruolo dell’analisi citopatologia del lavaggio peritoneale: il riscontro di cellule cancerose in questo materiale biologico ha, infatti, una sicura valenza prognostica (in termini negativi) per questo tipo di pazienti.17-19 Nasce quindi dalle considerazioni summenzionate l’intento di questo studio: analizzare il lavaggio gastrico dei pazienti affetto da adenocarcinoma gastrico esaminando la presenza (o l’assenza) delle cellule cancerose in esso esfoliate al fine di cercare di identificare un ulteriore possibile parametro utile alla classificazione, prognosi, terapia e monitoraggio. Di interesse, come si evince dalla letteratura scientifica mondiale, prima del nostro gruppo di ricerca nessuno ha condotto questa linea di studio in quanto, per quanto riguarda il cancro dello stomaco, finora l’analisi citopatologica del lavaggio gastrico è stata eseguita con il solo intento diagnostico

Effects of dance therapy on balance, gait and neuro-psychological performances in patients with Parkinson's disease and postural instability

Postural Instability (PI) is a core feature of Parkinson’s Disease (PD) and a major cause of falls and disabilities. Impairment of executive functions has been called as an aggravating factor on motor performances. Dance therapy has been shown effective for improving gait and has been suggested as an alternative rehabilitative method. To evaluate gait performance, spatial-temporal (S-T) gait parameters and cognitive performances in a cohort of patients with PD and PI modifications in balance after a cycle of dance therapy

INTEGRATING SENSORY ANALYSIS AND HEDONIC EVALUATION FOR APPLE QUALITY ASSESSMENT

Apple cultivars were subjected to a consumer test in order to appreciate individual preferences and set up a protocol for a practical hedonic-sensory evaluation. Cultivars subjected to the test were "Golden Delicious,""Modi,""Pink Lady" and "Fuji" of two different origins. Apples had the sensory profile defined by a trained panel and were evaluated by 154 consumers. According to their preferences, consumer population could be divided in six clusters. Consumer preference responses clearly associated the two "Fuji" and showed "Modi" and "Pink Lady" to have appeal on the same consumers groups. Besides expressing hedonic judgment, consumers were requested to indicate the positive sensory attributes determining their choice. Consumers appreciated "Golden Delicious" and "Fuji" on the basis of sweetness and aroma, while preferences for "Pink Lady" and "Modi" were expressed by consumers appreciating crispness, juiciness and a certain degree of acidity. The involvement of consumers in defining attributes driving preferences provides details useful for weighing up the consistency between consumers' response and sensory panel profile

A 3D Real-Scale, Biomimetic, and Biohybrid Model of the Blood-Brain Barrier Fabricated through Two-Photon Lithography

The investigation of the crossing of exogenous substances through the blood-brain barrier (BBB) is object of intensive research in biomedicine, and one of the main obstacles for reliable in vitro evaluations is represented by the difficulties at the base of developing realistic models of the barrier, which could resemble as most accurately as possible the in vivo environment. Here, for the first time, a 1:1 scale, biomimetic, and biohybrid BBB model is proposed. Microtubes inspired to the brain capillaries were fabricated through two-photon lithography and used as scaffolds for the co-culturing of endothelial-like bEnd.3 and U87 glioblastoma cells. The constructs show the maturation of tight junctions, good performances in terms of hindering dextran diffusion through the barrier, and a satisfactory trans-endothelial electrical resistance. Moreover, a mathematical model is developed, which assists in both the design of the 3D microfluidic chip and its characterization. Overall, these results show the effective formation of a bioinspired cellular barrier based on microtubes reproducing brain microcapillaries to scale. This system will be exploited as a realistic in vitro model for the investigation of BBB crossing of nanomaterials and drugs, envisaging therapeutic and diagnostic applications for several brain pathologies, including brain cancer

Prognostic role of intragastric cytopathology and microbiota in surgical patients with stomach cancer

In the last decade, analysis of malignant cells and flora in gastric lavage (GL) has provided interesting data on pathogenesis of gastric cancer (GC). For this study, combining such two aspects into one cyto-microbiologic category, we tested the prognostic role of the presence/absence of cancer cells (GL1/GL0) and bacterial microbiota (MB1/MB0) in our GC population. Material and Methods: Between April 2012 and August 2019, 79 surgical patients with GC were prospectively investigated with the determination of GL MB. Results: Compared with GL1 MB0, GL1 MB1 strongly correlated with advanced GC, portended poorer overall survival (OS) (45.8 months vs 20.5 months, P = 0.049), and resulted a significant (P = 0.008) and an independent (P = 0.013) prognostic factor unfavorable for OS. Conclusion: In the light of our results, the cyto-microbiologic parameter of GL MB should be used to gain a better prognosis of GC patients. Administration of antimicrobial treatment for MB1 subjects should be entertained because it could reduce the risk of oncogenesis

The Holocaust Is a Significant and Independent Risk Factor of Late-Onset Cancers: A Systematic Review of the Literature and Original Data on Jewish Israeli, Jewish Non-Israeli and Non-Jewish Non-Israeli Survivors.

BACKGROUND/AIM: Seventy-six years after Auschwitz Liberation, the Holocaust keeps on persecuting its surviving victims. As witnessed by the psychiatric and medical literature in the last decades, in fact, the Holocaust survivors (HS) appear to suffer from several Shoah-related late-onset diseases impacting their survival, such as internal illnesses and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Cancer represents a further severe pathology which seems to be connected with the Holocaust experience. Our aim was to review the existing knowledge of Holocaust-related cancer in HS in order to assess its real incidence and clinicoprognostic significance. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We systematically reviewed the literature dealing with Israeli Jewish and non-Jewish non-Israeli HS developing cancer. We also reviewed and analyzed the cancer data of noted Jewish HS not resident or having resided in Israel available as public information. RESULTS: We found 16 and 15 studies on Israeli Jews and non-Jewish non-Israeli survivors, respectively. A statistically significant association between the Holocaust and development of late-onset cancer in HS was seen in most studies with cancer adversely impacting the survival. We also selected 330 noted Jewish non-Israeli HS: genocide-related late-onset cancer resulted to be a significant and independent risk factor of poor prognosis (p<0.0001) imparting shorter survival in affected versus non-cancer subjects (57 versus 64 years, respectively, p=0.0001). CONCLUSION: Although 76 years have passed, our review shows how the Holocaust keeps on burdening its survivors. Moreover, we offered the first analysis of Jewish HS not resident or having resided in Israel in terms of genocide-related late-onset diseases focusing on cancer. Further studies on Jewish non-Israeli HS are needed in order to corroborate our findings on late-onset cancer occurring in this targeted population