Graves-Basedow ophthalmopathy surgical approaches: Open vs Endoscopic.

Graves-Basedow's disease (GBD) is an autoimmune pathology that affects the thyroid and is characterized by the presence of goiter, hyperthyroidism, ophthalmopathy, and dermopathy. Graves-Basedow ophthalmopathy (GBO) is a set of inflammatory and infiltrative alterations of the orbital tissue that affects 40-90% of subjects suffering from GBD. Our study aims to investigate the differences in the clinical outcomes of patients treated with two different techniques: the classic open and the more modern endoscopic.

SMAS flap for extracapsular dissection of parotid gland tumors: is it necessary?

Objective: The aim of this retrospective article is to evaluate postoperative outcomes after extracapsular dissection for small benign superficial parotid neoplasms (<3 cm) in patients who received Superficial Musculoaponeurotic System (SMAS) flap and in patients who did not receive it.

Methods: Two groups were created and statistically compared regarding Frey's syndrome and aesthetic satisfaction by data collected through the POI-8 validated questionnaire and through an aesthetic satisfaction scale ranging from 1 to 10. The difference between these two groups was the utilization of SMAS flap.

Assessing REALTER simulator: analysis of ocular movements in simulated low-vision conditions with extended reality technology.

Immersive technology, such as extended reality, holds promise as a tool for educating ophthalmologists about the effects of low vision and for enhancing visual rehabilitation protocols. However, immersive simulators have not been evaluated for their ability to induce changes in the oculomotor system, which is crucial for understanding the visual experiences of visually impaired individuals. This study aimed to assess the REALTER (Wearable Egocentric Altered Reality Simulator) system's capacity to induce specific alterations in healthy individuals' oculomotor systems under simulated low-vision conditions.

A rare histopathological spiradenocylindroma: a case report.

Background: Spiradenocylindroma is an extremely rare entity composed by two distinct neoplasms in one lesion: spiradenoma and cylindroma. It may arose solitary or multiple, sporadic or familial and often affect the scalp. Surgical removal is curative and histopathological examination is mandatory for diagnosis.

Multiple synchronous bilateral neoplasms of the parotid glands.

In this paper we report the rare case of a patient who came to our attention with three synchronous Warthin tumours affecting both the right and left parotid glands. The patient was a 68-year-old female, heavy smoker, with a seven-year history of painless growing nodules in both pre-auricular areas. Left-sided subtotal parotidectomy and contralateral superficial parotidectomy were performed at two differ-ent surgical times.

Long-term Follow-up after Extracapsular Dissection of Parotid Pleomorphic Adenomas - A Retrospective Study.

Introduction: Parotid pleomorphic adenoma (PPA) is the most common benign salivary gland neoplasm. Extracapsular dissection (ED) arose as a conservative surgical technique alternative to superficial parotidectomy to reduce complications.

Materials And Methods: Patients who underwent ED for superficial, <3 cm, mobile parotid lumps (Quer I) between 2004 and 2008 were retrospectively analysed focusing on those with histological diagnosis of pleomorphic adenoma.

Advantages of temporal muscle flap with no fascia in oral reconstruction after tumor removal.

Temporalis Muscle Flap is known to be a first choice rotational flap for oral reconstruction even though a few postoperative complications were reported in Literature. Among these, fascia necrosis may prolong recovery, increase discomfort and elevate sanitary cost. The aim of the study is to report the advantages of temporalis muscle flap without deep fascia in the reconstruction of the maxilla.

An audio-visual motor training improves audio spatial localization skills in individuals with scotomas due to retinal degenerative diseases.

Several studies have shown that impairments in a sensory modality can induce perceptual deficits in tasks involving the remaining senses. For example, people with retinal degenerative diseases like Macular Degeneration (MD) and with central scotoma show biased auditory localization abilities towards the visual field's scotoma area. This result indicates an auditory spatial reorganization of cross-modal processing in people with scotoma when the visual information is impaired.

Synchronous Ipsilateral Pleomorphic Adenomas of Parotid and Submandibular Glands: An Unusual Finding.

A rare case of synchronous ipsilateral pleomorphic adenomas (PA) of the left parotid and submandibular glands is reported. Simultaneous multiple PA in major salivary glands are a very rare entity, and merely few cases of ipsilateral synchronous PA involving parotid and submandibular glands are reported in the literature. The case of a 40-year-old female with a six-year history of asymptomatic growing lesion in both left parotid and left submandibular regions is presented.

The Sound of Scotoma: Audio Space Representation Reorganization in Individuals With Macular Degeneration.

Blindness is an ideal condition to study the role of visual input on the development of spatial representation, as studies have shown how audio space representation reorganizes in blindness. However, how spatial reorganization works is still unclear. A limitation of the study on blindness is that it is a "stable" system and it does not allow for studying the mechanisms that subtend the progress of this reorganization.

Na+/K+-ATPase alpha subunits as new targets in anticancer therapy.

Background: The sodium pump (Na(+)/K(+)-ATPase) could be a target for the development of anticancer drugs as it serves as a signal transducer, it is a player in cell adhesion and its aberrant expression and activity are implicated in the development and progression of different cancers. Cardiotonic steroids (CS) are the natural ligands and inhibitors of the sodium pump and this supports the possibility of their development as anticancer agents targeting overexpressed Na(+)/K(+)-ATPase alpha subunits.

Objectives: To highlight and further develop the concept of using Na(+)/K(+)-ATPase alpha1 and alpha3 subunits as targets in anticancer therapy and to address the question of the actual usefulness of further developing CS as anticancer agents.

Nucleolus and c-Myc: potential targets of cardenolide-mediated antitumor activity.

The use of cardenolides like ouabain, digitoxin, or oleandrin has been reported previously many times as a means of potentially combating human refractory prostate cancer by inducing apoptosis through an increase in intracellular calcium concentrations. The aims of the current study were to investigate if part of the antitumor effects mediated by cardenolides concerned disorganization of nucleolar structure and whether this was further associated with a marked decrease in c-Myc expression. Accordingly, the antitumor activity of a novel hemisynthetic cardenolide [1R,3aS,3bR,5aS,6aR,7aS,9R,12aR,13aR,15aR]-3a,11a-dihydroxy-13a-(hydroxymethyl)-9,15a-dimethyl-1-(5-oxo-2,5-dihydrofuran-3-yl)icosahydro-1H,4'H-spiro[cyclopenta [7,8]phenanthro[2,3-b]pyrano[3,2-e][1,4]dioxine-11,2'-[1,3]thiazolidin]-4'-one (UNBS1450)] was compared with that of classic cardenolides and reference anticancer agents in prostate cancer cell lines in vitro and in vivo following s.

Proautophagic drugs: a novel means to combat apoptosis-resistant cancers, with a special emphasis on glioblastomas.

The therapeutic goal of cancer treatment has been to trigger tumor-selective cell death. Although cell death can be achieved not only by apoptosis (type I programmed cell death) but also by necrosis, mitotic catastrophe, and autophagy, drugs inducing apoptosis remain the main chemotherapeutic agents in medical oncology. However, cancer cells in their relentless drive to survive, hijack cell processes, resulting in apoptosis resistance, which underlies not only tumorigenesis but also the inherent resistance of certain cancers to radiotherapy and chemotherapy.

The alpha1 subunit of the sodium pump could represent a novel target to combat non-small cell lung cancers.

With an overall 5 year survival rate as low as 15% for non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), even with surgical intervention and the use of newer molecules in adjuvant chemotherapy, there is an urgent need for new biological targets and associated novel anti-cancer agents. The present study was undertaken to evaluate the potential of the Na(+)/K(+)-ATPase alpha1 subunit as a novel target in NSCLC and revealed that alpha1 expression is markedly higher in a significant proportion of NSCLC clinical samples compared to normal lung tissue. Furthermore, reduction in alpha1 expression in A549 NSCLC cells by anti-alpha1 siRNA resulted in markedly impaired proliferation and migration of these cancer cells.

Genotype distribution of estrogen receptor-alpha gene polymorphisms in Italian women with surgical uterine leiomyomas.

Objective: To explore a possible association between estrogen receptor-alpha (ER-alpha) gene polymorphisms and development of uterine leiomyomas.

Design: Case-control study.

Setting: University teaching hospital.

Serum macrophage colony-stimulating factor (M-CSF) levels in patients with epithelial ovarian cancer.

The preoperative macrophage colony-stimulating factor (M-CSF) levels were measured in serum samples from 56 patients with epithelial ovarian cancer and 68 patients with benign ovarian disease who had undergone laparotomy. M-CSF values were significantly higher in the former (median, range: 2.18, 0.

Selective endothelin A receptor antagonists. 3. Discovery and structure-activity relationships of a series of 4-phenoxybutanoic acid derivatives.

The third in this series of papers describes our further progress into the discovery of a potent and selective endothelin A (ETA) receptor antagonist for the potential treatment of diseases in which a pathophysiological role for endothelin has been implicated. These include hypertension, ischemic diseases, and atherosclerosis. In earlier publications we have outlined the discovery and structure-activity relations of two moderately potent series of nonpeptide ETA receptor antagonists.

Treatment of obstetric and gynecologic infections with meropenem: comparison with imipenem/cilastatin.

The aim of this study was to compare the clinical and bacteriologic efficacy of meropenem with imipenem/cilastatin in the treatment of obstetric and gynecologic infections. This was a controlled, multicenter, randomized study with two parallel groups and a follow-up period of up to 4 weeks. A total of 105 hospital in-patients requiring antibacterial parenteral therapy were enrolled, 52 in the meropenem group and 53 in the imipenem/cilastatin group.

Serum levels of soluble receptors for tumor necrosis factor (p55 and p75 sTNFr) in patients with cervical cancer.

The pretreatment serum levels of the soluble receptors for tumor necrosis factor (p55 and p75 sTNFr) were retrospectively measured in 54 patients with cervical cancer and in 55 patients with benign uterine disease as controls. Serum mean (+/- standard deviation) concentrations of both p55 and p75 sTNFr were higher in patients with cervical cancer than in controls (2.6+/-1.

Serum levels of soluble receptors for tumor necrosis factor (p55 and p75 sTNFr) in endometrial cancer.

The pretreatment serum levels of the soluble receptors for tumor necrosis factor (p55 and p75 sTNFr) were retrospectively measured in 38 patients with endometrial cancer and 55 patients with benign uterine diseases as controls. Serum p55 and p75 sTNFr levels were significantly higher in patients with endometrial cancer (median = 2.4 ng/ml, range = 1.

Prothrombin fragment F1+2 and thrombin-antithrombin III complex (TAT) plasma levels in patients with gynecological cancer.

The pretreatment plasma levels of prothrombin fragment F1+2 and thrombin-antithrombin III complex (TAT) were measured in 56 consecutive patients with gynecological cancer and in 33 apparently healthy volunteer nonpregnant women as control. Prothrombin fragment F1+2 concentrations were significantly elevated in the 18 patients with ovarian cancer (median, 3.2 nmol/ liter; range, 0.

RP 64477: a potent inhibitor of acyl-coenzyme A:cholesterol O-acyltransferase with low systemic bioavailability.

RP 64477 (N-butyl-3-(p-decyloxybenzamido)-4-(methylthio)benzamide) has been shown to be a potent inhibitor of the cholesterol esterifying enzyme Acyl-coenzyme A:cholesterol O-acyltransferase (EC 2.3.1.

Preoperative evaluation of D-dimer and CA 125 levels in differentiating benign from malignant ovarian masses.

Plasma levels of D-dimer (DD) and CA 125 were measured preoperatively in 121 patients with ovarian masses submitted to laparotomy. DD and CA 125 levels were higher in the 56 patients with epithelial ovarian cancer than in the 65 patients with benign ovarian disease (P < 0.0001).

The measurement of plasma D-dimer (DD) levels in the follow-up of patients with ovarian cancer.

Peripheral blood samples for the measurement of DD and CA 125 were drawn from 39 patients with ovarian cancer at different times from first surgery. Both median DD and CA 125 levels were significantly higher in the 20 samples drawn from patients with clinically evident disease than in the 37 samples from patients without clinical evidence of disease (477 vs 300 ng/ml p = 0.006, and 66 vs 11 U/ml, p < 0.