The Conundrum of Cancer-Associated Thrombosis: Lesson Learned from Two Intriguing Cases and Literature Review.

The correlation between cancer and venous thromboembolism (VTE) is solid, whereas the knowledge about cancer-related arterial thromboembolism (ATE) still needs a deeper investigation to clarify its pathogenesis. We describe two cases that represent useful hints for a comprehensive review of the thrombotic issue. A 75-year-old man with advanced rectal cancer treated with fluoropyrimidines suffered two catheter-related VTE events managed according to current guidelines.

Docetaxel and prednisone with or without enzalutamide as first-line treatment in patients with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer: CHEIRON, a randomised phase II trial.

Background: Pre-clinical data suggest that docetaxel and enzalutamide interfere with androgen receptor translocation and signalling. The aim of this study is to assess the efficacy of their concurrent administration in the first-line treatment for metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC).

Methods: In this open-label, randomised, phase II trial, previously untreated mCRPC patients were randomised 1:1 to receive eight 21-d courses of docetaxel 75 mg/m, oral prednisone 5 mg twice daily and oral enzalutamide 160 mg/d (arm DE), or the same treatment without enzalutamide (arm D).

Pain predicts overall survival in men with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer treated with radium-223.

Background: Radium-223 dichloride is an alpha emitter approved for metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC). Unfortunately, little data are available on the prognostic factors during radium-223-based therapy.

Patients And Methods: Patients with histologically confirmed progressive CRPC with two or more bone metastases and symptomatic disease were eligible.

Dickkopf-3 Causes Neuroprotection by Inducing Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor.

Dickkopf-3 (Dkk3) is an atypical member of the Dkk family of Wnt inhibitors, which has been implicated in the pathophysiology of neurodegenerative disorders. However, the role of Dkk3 in mechanisms of cell degeneration and protection is unknown. We used Dkk3 knockout mice to examine how endogenous Dkk3 influences ischemic brain damage.

Lenvatinib for the treatment of renal cell carcinoma.

Introduction: Renal cell carcinoma (RCC) accounts for 2-3% of all solid tumors. Expression of the receptor for the vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) is one of the most common features of RCC.

Areas Covered: Lenvatinib is a novel multi-kinase inhibitor that has been studied in several solid tumors.

Uncommon frame-shift exon 19 EGFR mutations are sensitive to EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitors in non-small cell lung carcinoma.

Exons 19-21 EGFR activating mutations are predictive biomarkers of response to EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). However, uncommon exon 19 EGFR mutations, due to their low frequency, have an uncertain biological and clinical significance and very little is known about their TKI sensitivity. This study was designed to describe the TKI sensitivity of a small cohort of lung adenocarcinomas bearing uncommon exon 19 mutations and to evaluate in silico the correlation between frame-shift exon 19 mutations and EGFR sequence/structure modification.

A small dose of apomorphine counteracts the deleterious effects of middle cerebral artery occlusion in different models.

The present manuscript investigates in two animal species by using two different experimental models of middle cerebral artery occlusion (permanent and transient), the neuroprotective effects of the dopamine receptor agonist apomorphine. These effects were evaluated by measuring the infarct volume and by counting muscle strength at different time points following the ischemic insult. Apomorphine at the dose of 3 mg/Kg when adminsitered at two hours following the occlusion of the middle cerebral artery was able to reduce significantly the infarct volume in the cortex of mice and the ischemic volume of the basal ganglia perfused by the perforant branches of the middle cerebral artery in the rat.

Molecular characterization and prognostic significance of circulating tumor cells in patients with non-small cell lung cancer.

Circulating tumor cells (CTCs) are rare epithelial cells that can be found in the peripheral blood of cancer patients. A growing body of evidence indicates that CTCs may play a role in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) for diagnosis, therapy monitoring and prognostic purposes. CTCs evaluation could be particularly relevant in this clinical setting, considering that physicians often have difficulty in obtaining an adequate tumor tissue and that patients are not always suitable to receive a re-biopsy.

Infant Massage and Quality of Early Mother-Infant Interactions: Are There Associations with Maternal Psychological Wellbeing, Marital Quality, and Social Support?

Infant massage programs have proved to be effective in enhancing post-natal development of highly risk infants, such as preterm newborns and drug or HIV exposed children. Less studies have focused on the role of infant massage in supporting the co-construction of early adult-child relationships. In line with this lack of literature, the present paper reports on a pilot study aimed at investigating longitudinally the quality of mother-child interactions, with specific reference to emotional availability (EA), in a group of mother-child pairs involved in infant massage classes.

The epidermal growth factor receptors as biological targets in penile cancer.

Penile cancer is a rare disease, with an incidence that is higher in less developed countries and is in the range of 1 - 10 per 100000 men worldwide. Early diagnosis is essential for cure, as 5 year cancer-specific survival is 90 - 100 % in patients with intraepithelial neoplasms and in those with low-grade superficial tumors without lymphovascular invasion, but it drops to 30% in men with multiple mobile or bilateral inguinal lymph nodes. The EGFR family plays a major role in penile cancer biology, with distinct receptors being involved in HPV-positive and -negative tumors.

Role of ARF6, Rab11 and external Hsp90 in the trafficking and recycling of recombinant-soluble Neisseria meningitidis adhesin A (rNadA) in human epithelial cells.

Neisseria meningitidis adhesin A (NadA) is a meningococcus surface protein thought to assist in the adhesion of the bacterium to host cells. We have previously shown that NadA also promotes bacterial internalization in a heterologous expression system. Here we have used the soluble recombinant NadA (rNadA) lacking the membrane anchor region to characterize its internalization route in Chang epithelial cells.

Implementation of ultrasonic sensing for high resolution measurement of binary gas mixture fractions.

We describe an ultrasonic instrument for continuous real-time analysis of the fractional mixture of a binary gas system. The instrument is particularly well suited to measurement of leaks of a high molecular weight gas into a system that is nominally composed of a single gas. Sensitivity < 5 × 10(-5) is demonstrated to leaks of octaflouropropane (C3F8) coolant into nitrogen during a long duration (18 month) continuous study.

Long-term survival in small cell lung cancer: a case report and review of the literature.

Small cell lung cancer (SCLC) represents approximately 13% of all newly diagnosed lung cancers. SCLC is a very aggressive disease characterized by early locoregional and distant metastases. The median survival is 14-16 months for patients with limited disease and 8-11 months for those with extensive disease, with 20-40% of patients with limited disease and 5% of patients with extensive disease alive at 2 years.

Metabolic syndrome as a peculiar target for management of prostate cancer patients.

An interesting and reciprocal association between the metabolic syndrome and prostate cancer has been identified. Metabolic alterations, such as hyperinsulinemia, increased levels of insulin growth factor-1, and insulin resistance could be on the basis of development and progression of many tumors, including prostate cancer, and changes in body composition, in turn, can represent some side effects of androgen deprivation therapy and novel drugs, such as mammalian target of rapamycin inhibitors. This review evaluates this interrelation between metabolic syndrome and prostate tumor scanning in many clinical and preclinical epidemiological studies and describes possible pathogenetic biological mechanisms.

Human heat shock protein (Hsp) 90 interferes with Neisseria meningitidis adhesin A (NadA)-mediated adhesion and invasion.

NadA (N eisseria meningitidisadhesin A), a meningococcal surface protein, mediates adhesion to and invasion of human cells, an activity in which host membrane proteins have been implicated. While investigating these host factors in human epithelial cells by affinity chromatography, we discovered an unanticipated interaction of NadA with heat shock protein (Hsp) 90, a molecular chaperone. The specific in vitro interaction of recombinant soluble NadA and Hsp90 was confirmed by co-immunoprecipitations, dot and far-Western blot.

Application of the no-sampling linear sampling method to breast cancer detection.

In this paper, the no-sampling linear sampling method is applied to microwave imaging of cancerous tissues in realistic models of female breast obtained from magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). The adopted formulation is based on a modified version of the far-field equation, sensitive to anomalies with respect to the healthy breast. The healthy configuration is taken into account through the related Green's function, which is numerically computed.

Molecular determinants of the regioselectivity of toluene/o-xylene monooxygenase from Pseudomonas sp. strain OX1.

Bacterial multicomponent monooxygenases (BMMs) are a heterogeneous family of di-iron monooxygenases which share the very interesting ability to hydroxylate aliphatic and/or aromatic hydrocarbons. Each BMM possesses defined substrate specificity and regioselectivity which match the metabolic requirements of the strain from which it has been isolated. Pseudomonas sp.

Gender-dependent variability of signal-averaged electrocardiogram in acromegaly.

Ventricular late potentials are obtained by signal-averaged surface electrocardiography. Late potentials in normal subjects may be influenced by physiological elements such as gender, height and body mass index. Considering that growth hormone (GH) hypersecretion is able to markedly alter different anthropometric variables, we studied the relation between these elements and the late potentials of 22 acromegalic patients.