Deepening Cisplatin sensitivity on Oral Squamous cell Carcinoma cell lines after PON2 knockdown: A FTIRM investigation.

Cisplatin is a platinum-based chemotherapy drug with antimicrobial and antitumoral activity, largely used for a long time in the treatment of several cancers, including the Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma (OSCC), which is one of the most frequent neoplasms of the oral cavity. Due to its aggressiveness and metastatic invasion, OSCC is characterized by poor outcome, often related also to chemoresistance mechanisms. The intracellular enzyme paraoxonase-2 (PON2) normally acts defending cells from the damages induced by Reactive Oxygen Species.

Nrf2 Signaling in Renal Cell Carcinoma: A Potential Candidate for the Development of Novel Therapeutic Strategies.

Renal cell carcinoma (RCC) is the most common type of kidney cancer arising from renal tubular epithelial cells and is characterized by a high aggressive behavior and invasiveness that lead to poor prognosis and high mortality rate. Diagnosis of RCC is generally incidental and occurs when the stage is advanced and the disease is already metastatic. The management of RCC is further complicated by an intrinsic resistance of this malignancy to chemotherapy and radiotherapy, which aggravates the prognosis.

Efficacy and safety of intra-articular botulinum toxin injection therapy for joint pain: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

Background: Studies conducted in various animal models of joint pain showed an anti-nociceptive effect of intra-articular botulinum toxin type A (BoNT-A). Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) in humans suggest a potential effect but results are disparate.

Objectives: To assess the efficacy and safety of intra-articular BoNT-A for the treatment of joint pain.

The Multifaceted Role of the Polyphenol Curcumin: A Focus on Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus.

Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus (T2DM) is a chronic metabolic disorder characterized by chronic hyperglycemia, which often co-exists with other metabolic impairments. This condition can damage various tissues and organs, resulting in the development of severe complications, both microvascular, such as retinopathy, nephropathy, and neuropathy, and macrovascular, responsible for an increased risk of cardiovascular diseases. Curcumin is the main bioactive molecule found in the rhizomes of turmeric.

Archived HIV-1 Drug Resistance Mutations: Role of Proviral HIV-1 DNA Genotype for the Management of Virological Responder People Living with HIV.

Despite its effectiveness in controlling plasma viremia, antiretroviral therapy (ART) cannot target proviral DNA, which remains an obstacle to HIV-1 eradication. When treatment is interrupted, the reservoirs can act as a source of viral rebound, highlighting the value of proviral DNA as an additional source of information on an individual's overall resistance burden. In cases where the viral load is too low for successful HIV-1 RNA genotyping, HIV-1 DNA can help identify resistance mutations in treated individuals.

The Multifaceted Role of Endothelial Sirt1 in Vascular Aging: An Update.

NAD-dependent deacetylase sirtuin-1 (Sirt1) belongs to the sirtuins family, known to be longevity regulators, and exerts a key role in the prevention of vascular aging. By aging, the expression levels of Sirt1 decline with a severe impact on vascular function, such as the rise of endothelial dysfunction, which in turn promotes the development of cardiovascular diseases. In this context, the impact of Sirt1 activity in preventing endothelial senescence is particularly important.

In Vitro Study of the Proliferation of MG63 Cells Cultured on Five Different Titanium Surfaces.

Unlabelled: The use of dental implants for prosthetic rehabilitation in dentistry is based on the concept of osteointegration. This concept enables the clinical stability of the implants and a total absence of inflammatory tissue between the implant surface and the bone tissue. For this reason, it is essential to understand the role of the titanium surface in promoting and maintaining or not maintaining contact between the bone matrix and the surface of the titanium implant.

Curcumin and its Analogues in Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma: State-of-the-art and Therapeutic Potential.

Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma (OSCC) is the most common cancer arising from squamous epithelium in the oral cavity and is characterized by high aggressiveness and metastatic potential, which together with a late diagnosis results in a 5-year survival rate of only 50% of patients. The therapeutic options for OSCC management are limited and largely influenced by the cancer stage. While radical surgery can be curative in early stage of disease, most cases require adjuvant therapies, including chemotherapy and radiotherapy which, however, often achieve poor curative rates and are associated with important negative effects.

Sequence analysis of respiratory syncytial virus cases reveals a novel subgroup -B strain circulating in north-central Italy after pandemic restrictions.

Background: Following the pandemic restrictions, the epidemiology of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) has changed, leading to intense hospitalization peaks.

Objectives: This study, conducted at multiple sites in Italy, aimed to describe the temporal dynamics of two post-COVID-19 RSV epidemics. Additionally, the circulating RSV-A and -B lineages were characterized and compared to those found in 2018 and 2019.

ATTR Gene Variants in HCM.

Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy is the most common inherited cardiomyopathy, with a prevalence of 1:200 to 1:500. Cardiac amyloidosis, another cardiomyopathy caused by myocardial deposition of abnormally folded TTR protein, can be acquired or hereditary. The presence of pathogenic TTR gene variants in patients with phenotypic HCM is an underrecognized and clinically important entity.

Knockdown of nicotinamide N-methyltransferase suppresses proliferation, migration, and chemoresistance of Merkel cell carcinoma cells in vitro.

Merkel cell carcinoma (MCC) is an aggressive skin cancer, with a propensity for early metastasis. Therefore, early diagnosis and the identification of novel targets become fundamental. The enzyme nicotinamide N-methyltransferase (NNMT) catalyzes the reaction of N-methylation of nicotinamide and other analogous compounds.

COVID-19 vaccination in cancer patients: Immune responses one year after the third dose.

Cancer patients (CPs), being immunosuppressed due to the treatment received or to the disease itself, are more susceptible to infections and their potential complications, showing therefore an increased risk of developing severe COVID-19 compared to the general population. We evaluated the immune responses to anti-SARS-CoV-2 vaccination in patients with solid tumors one year after the administration of the third dose and the effect of cancer treatment on vaccine immunogenicity was assessed. Healthy donors (HDs) were enrolled.

Targeting nicotinamide N-methyltransferase decreased aggressiveness of osteosarcoma cells.

Background: Osteosarcoma (OS) is a primary bone malignancy that mostly affects young people, characterized by high metastatic potential, and a marked chemoresistance that is responsible for disease relapse in most patients. Therefore, it is necessary to identify novel molecules to setup targeted strategies to improve the clinical outcome. The enzyme nicotinamide N-methyltransferase (NNMT) catalyses the N-methylation of nicotinamide and other analogs, playing a crucial role in the biotransformation of drugs and xenobiotics.

Contribution of the Paraoxonase-2 Enzyme to Cancer Cell Metabolism and Phenotypes.

Paraoxonase-2 (PON2) is a ubiquitously expressed intracellular protein that is localized in the perinuclear region, the endoplasmic reticulum (ER), and mitochondria, and is also associated with the plasma membrane. PON2 functions as an antioxidant enzyme by reducing the levels of reactive oxygen species (ROS) in the mitochondria and ER through different mechanisms, thus having an anti-apoptotic effect and preventing the formation of atherosclerotic lesions. While the antiatherogenic role played by this enzyme has been extensively explored within endothelial cells in association with vascular disorders, in the last decade, great efforts have been made to clarify its potential involvement in both blood and solid tumors, where PON2 was reported to be overexpressed.

Enzymes Dysregulation in Cancer: From Diagnosis to Therapeutical Approaches.

The metabolic reprogramming that occurs in cancer cells is a hallmark of cancer [...

What are essential laparoscopic skills these days? Results of the SAGES Fundamentals of Laparoscopic Surgery (FLS) Committee technical skills survey.

Introduction: The Fundamentals of Laparoscopic Surgery (FLS) program tests basic knowledge and skills required to perform laparoscopic surgery. Educational experiences in laparoscopic training and development of associated competencies have evolved since FLS inception, making it important to review the definition of fundamental laparoscopic skills. The Society of American Gastrointestinal and Endoscopic Surgeons (SAGES) assigned an FLS Technical Skills Working Group to characterize technical skills used in basic laparoscopic surgery in current practice contexts and their possible application to future FLS tests.

Recent Advances in the Management of Clear Cell Renal Cell Carcinoma: Novel Biomarkers and Targeted Therapies.

Renal cell carcinoma (RCC) belongs to a heterogenous cancer group arising from renal tubular epithelial cells. Among RCC subtypes, clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC) is the most common variant, characterized by high aggressiveness, invasiveness and metastatic potential, features that lead to poor prognosis and high mortality rate. In addition, diagnosis of kidney cancer is incidental in the majority of cases, and this results in a late diagnosis, when the stage of the disease is advanced and the tumor has already metastasized.

Paraoxonase-2 is upregulated in triple negative breast cancer and contributes to tumor progression and chemoresistance.

Triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) displays a high aggressive behavior, tendency to relapse and early metastasize, leading to poor prognosis. The lack of estrogen receptors, and human epidermal growth factor receptor 2, prevents the use of endocrine or molecular targeted therapy, being therapeutical options for TNBC managements mostly limited to surgery, radiotherapy and mainly chemotherapy. While an important number of TNBCs initially responds to chemotherapy, they are prone to develop chemoresistance over the time.

Clinical and epidemiologic features of persons accessing emergency departments for dog and cat bite injuries in California (2005-2019).

Objective: To describe the clinical and epidemiologic features of persons with dog and cat bite injuries who presented to emergency departments.

Sample: Records of 648,492 dog and cat bite-related emergency department visits in California from 2005 to 2019.

Procedures: Visits were selected by standardized International Classification of Diseases, Ninth or Tenth Revision, Clinical Modification codes that indicated a bite as an external cause of injury in the medical record.

NAD Homeostasis and NAD-Consuming Enzymes: Implications for Vascular Health.

Nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD) is a ubiquitous metabolite that takes part in many key redox reactions. NAD biosynthesis and NAD-consuming enzymes have been attracting markedly increasing interest since they have been demonstrated to be involved in several crucial biological pathways, impacting genes transcription, cellular signaling, and cell cycle regulation. As a consequence, many pathological conditions are associated with an impairment of intracellular NAD levels, directly or indirectly, which include cardiovascular diseases, obesity, neurodegenerative diseases, cancer, and aging.

SARS-CoV-2 infection predicts larger infarct volume in patients with acute ischemic stroke.

Background And Purpose: Acute ischemic stroke (AIS) is a fearful complication of Coronavirus Disease-2019 (COVID-19). Aims of this study were to compare clinical/radiological characteristics, endothelial and coagulation dysfunction between acute ischemic stroke (AIS) patients with and without COVID-19 and to investigate if and how the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein (SP) was implicated in triggering platelet activation.

Methods: We enrolled AIS patients with COVID-19 within 12 h from onset and compared them with an age- and sex-matched cohort of AIS controls without COVID-19.