Integrated Approach to Evaluate the Association between Exposure to Pesticides and Idiopathic Premature Thelarche in Girls: The PEACH Project.

Several pesticides are recognized as endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs) since they can interfere with the dysregulation of sexual, thyroid and neuro-endocrine hormones. Children are particularly vulnerable to the adverse effects of EDCs due to their developmental stage, peculiar lifestyle and dietary habits. In this context, the exposure to pesticides represents an important risk factor associated with early development.

Brain tumor stem cell dancing.

Background: Issues regarding cancer stem cell (CSC) movement are important in neurosphere biology as cell-cell or cell-environment interactions may have significant impacts on CSC differentiation and contribute to the heterogeneity of the neurosphere.

Aims: Despite the growing body of literature data on the biology of brain tumor stem cells, floating CSC-derived neurospheres have been scarcely characterized from a morphological and ultrastructural point of view.

Results: Here we report a morphological and ultrastructural characterization performed by live imaging and scanning electron microscopy.