Adherence to Mediterranean diet and prostate cancer risk in Sicily: population-based case-control study.

Prostate cancer (PCa) is the second most frequently diagnosed cancer and the sixth leading cause of death from cancer worldwide. Countries following a Mediterranean-type dietary pattern, has been reported to have lower PCa incidence and mortality compared with other European regions. A population-based case-control study has been conducted from January 2015 to December 2016 in a single institution of the municipality of Catania, southern Italy.

The Predictive Role of Biomarkers for the Detection of Acute Kidney Injury After Partial or Radical Nephrectomy: A Systematic Review of the Literature.

Context: Postoperative acute kidney injury (AKI) is a serious complication after kidney surgery, associated with prolonged hospital stay, high morbidity, and mortality. Biomarkers represent a tool of increasing importance to identify renal impairment after partial nephrectomy (PN) or radical nephrectomy (RN) in order to optimize and anticipate the diagnosis of AKI.

Objective: The goal of this systematic review is to investigate current insights on the role of biomarkers in predicting renal impairment in patients undergoing PN or RN.

Sildenafil 25 mg ODT + Collagenase Clostridium hystoliticum vs Collagenase Clostridium hystoliticum Alone for the Management of Peyronie's Disease: A Matched-Pair Comparison Analysis.

Introduction: The effectiveness of phosphodiesterase type 5 (PDE5) inhibitors over the conservative management of Peyronie's disease (PD) has been widely questioned.

Aim: To determine the role of sildenafil 25 mg film formulation twice a day (S25 b.i.

Ipsilateral somatosensory responses in humans: the tonic activity of SII and posterior insular cortex.

In the present study, we mapped the spatio-temporal dynamics of cortical responses to ipsilateral median nerve stimulation using intracerebral recordings (stereo-EEG) in 38 drug-resistant epileptic patients. Furthermore, we compared the pattern of responsiveness obtained in the same leads across ipsilateral and contralateral stimulations. Ipsilateral responses were found mostly confined to SII and posterior insula, while no activity was found in ipsilateral SI.

Clinical Efficacy of Injection and Mechanical Therapy for Peyronie's Disease: A Systematic Review of the Literature.

Context: Conservative therapies for Peyronie's disease (PD) aim to treat early-stage disease by improving clinical outcomes such as penile curvature, penile length erectile dysfunction, and pain.

Objective: To summarise the available evidence regarding injection and mechanical therapies for PD treatment.

Evidence Acquisition: An extensive search of Medline, Embase, and Scopus databases retrieved English-language articles up to 15 May 2018.

A smart and operator independent system to delineate tumours in Positron Emission Tomography scans.

Positron Emission Tomography (PET) imaging has an enormous potential to improve radiation therapy treatment planning offering complementary functional information with respect to other anatomical imaging approaches. The aim of this study is to develop an operator independent, reliable, and clinically feasible system for biological tumour volume delineation from PET images. Under this design hypothesis, we combine several known approaches in an original way to deploy a system with a high level of automation.

Treatment of juxta-anastomotic stenoses for failing distal radiocephalic arteriovenous fistulas: Drug-coated balloons versus angioplasty.

The aim of our study is to report the results of two types (type A, type B) paclitaxel drug-coated balloon compared with standard percutaneous transluminal angioplasty in the treatment of juxta-anastomotic stenoses of mature but failing distal radiocephalic hemodialysis arteriovenous fistulas. Two groups of 26 and 44 patients treated with two different drug-coated balloon are compared with a control group of 86 treated with standard percutaneous transluminal angioplasty. A color Doppler ultrasound was performed to evaluate stenosis and for treatment planning.

Motor and emotional behaviours elicited by electrical stimulation of the human cingulate cortex.

The cingulate cortex is a mosaic of different anatomical fields, whose functional characterization is still a matter of debate. In humans, one method that may provide useful insights on the role of the different cingulate regions, and to tackle the issue of the functional differences between its anterior, middle and posterior subsectors, is intracortical electrical stimulation. While previous reports showed that a variety of integrated behaviours could be elicited by stimulating the midcingulate cortex, little is known about the effects of the electrical stimulation of anterior and posterior cingulate regions.

Surgery in patients with childhood-onset epilepsy: analysis of complications and predictive risk factors for a severely complicated course.

Object: To compare the occurrence of surgery-related complications in patients with childhood-onset focal epilepsy operated on in the paediatric or in the adult age. To investigate risk factors for surgery-related complications in the whole cohort, with special attention to age at surgery and severe morbidity.

Methods: A cohort of 1282 patients operated on for childhood-onset focal epilepsy was retrospectively analysed.

Validation of Neutrophil-to-lymphocyte Ratio in a Multi-institutional Cohort of Patients With T1G3 Non-muscle-invasive Bladder Cancer.

Introduction: The aim of this multicenter study was to investigate the prognostic role of neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) and to validate the NLR cutoff of 3 in a large multi-institutional cohort of patients with primary T1 HG/G3 non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC).

Patients And Methods: The study period was from January 2002 through December 2012. A total of 1046 patients with primary T1 HG/G3 who had NMIBC on re-transurethral bladder resection (TURB) who received adjuvant intravesical bacillus Calmette-Guérin therapy with maintenance from 13 academic institutions were included.

Association between dietary flavonoids intake and prostate cancer risk: A case-control study in Sicily.

Objectives: The aim of this study is to test the association between dietary flavonoids intake and prostate cancer (PCa) in a sample of southern Italian individuals.

Design: A population-based case-control study on the association between PCa and dietary factors was conducted from January 2015 to December 2016, in a single institution.

Setting: Patients with elevated PSA (Prostate Specific Antigen) and/or suspicion of PCa underwent transperineal prostate biopsy (≥12 cores).

Complication Rate After Antibiotic Prophylaxis with Fosfomycin Versus Fluorochinolones or β-lactam Antibiotics in Patients Undergoing Prostate Biopsy: A Propensity Score-adjusted Analysis.

Background: Transrectal ultrasound-guided prostate biopsy (TRBx) or transperineal Bx (TPBx) are considered alternative approaches for the diagnosis of prostate cancer (PCa). However, urinary tract infection (UTI) or other complications could be more frequent in the TRBx approach.

Objective: To determine the complication rate following different antimicrobial prophylaxis (AMP; fosfomycin trometamol [FT] vs ß-lactame or fluorochinolones [FQ]) in patients undergoing TRBx or TPBx.

An increased body mass index is associated with a worse prognosis in patients administered BCG immunotherapy for T1 bladder cancer.

Purpose: The body mass index (BMI) may be associated with an increased incidence and aggressiveness of urological cancers. In this study, we aimed to evaluate the impact of the BMI on survival in patients with T1G3 non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC).

Methods: A total of 1155 T1G3 NMIBC patients from 13 academic institutions were retrospectively reviewed and patients administered adjuvant intravesical Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) immunotherapy with maintenance were included.

High-Grade T1 on Re-Transurethral Resection after Initial High-Grade T1 Confers Worse Oncological Outcomes: Results of a Multi-Institutional Study.

Introduction: The aim of this multicenter study was to investigate the prognostic impact of residual T1 high-grade (HG)/G3 tumors at re-transurethral resection (TUR of bladder tumor) in a large multi-institutional cohort of patients with primary T1 HG/G3 bladder cancer (BC).

Patients And Methods: The study period was from January 2002 to -December 2012. A total of 1,046 patients with primary T1 HG/G3 and who had non-muscle invasive BC (NMIBC) on re-TUR followed by adjuvant intravesical Bacillus Calmette-Guerin (BCG) therapy with maintenance were included.

Comparison Between Cu-PSMA-617 PET/CT and F-Choline PET/CT Imaging in Early Diagnosis of Prostate Cancer Biochemical Recurrence.

Purpose: To evaluate the diagnostic performance of Cu-PSMA-617 positron emission tomography (PET) with computed tomography (CT) for restaging prostate cancer after biochemical recurrence (BCR) and to compare it with F-choline PET/CT in a per-patient analysis.

Patients And Methods: An observational study was performed of 43 patients with BCR after laparoscopic radical prostatectomy who underwent Cu-PSMA-617 PET/CT and subsequently F-choline PET/CT for restaging. The detection rates (DR) of Cu-PSMA-617 PET/CT and of F-choline PET/CT were calculated by standardized maximum uptake value (SUV) at 4 hours and SUV at 1 hour as reference, respectively.

Transurethral Resection of Bladder Tumors: Next-generation Virtual Reality Training for Surgeons.

Background: The number of virtual reality (VR) simulators is increasing. The aim of this prospective trial was to determine the benefit of VR cystoscopy (UC) and transurethral bladder tumor resection (TURBT) training in students.

Design, Setting, And Participants: Medical students without endoscopic experience (n=51, median age=25 yr, median 4th academic year) were prospectively randomized into groups A and B.

Predictors of treatment success after collagenase Clostridium histolyticum injection for Peyronie's disease: development of a nomogram from a multicentre single-arm, non-placebo controlled clinical study.

Objective: To build a nomogram able to predict treatment success after collagenase Clostridium histolyticum (CCH) for Peyronie's disease (PD).

Materials And Methods: Between November 2016 and November 2017, we enrolled 135 patients with PD into a multicentre single-arm prospective study. All patients enrolled received CCH treatment.

[18F]FDG and [18F]FLT PET for the evaluation of response to neo-adjuvant chemotherapy in a model of triple negative breast cancer.

Rationale: Pathological response to neo-adjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) represents a commonly used predictor of survival in triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) and the need to identify markers that predict response to NAC is constantly increasing. Aim of this study was to evaluate the potential usefulness of PET imaging with [18F]FDG and [18F]FLT for the discrimination of TNBC responders to Paclitaxel (PTX) therapy compared to the response assessed by an adapted Response Evaluation Criteria In Solid Tumors (RECIST) criteria based on tumor volume (Tumor Volume Response).

Methods: Nu/nu mice bearing TNBC lesions of different size were evaluated with [18F]FDG and [18F]FLT PET before and after PTX treatment.

Radiation Gene-expression Signatures in Primary Breast Cancer Cells.

Background/aim: In breast cancer (BC) care, radiation therapy (RT) is an efficient treatment to control localized tumor. Radiobiological research is needed to understand molecular differences that affect radiosensitivity of different tumor subtypes and the response variability. The aim of this study was to analyze gene expression profiling (GEP) in primary BC cells following irradiation with doses of 9 Gy and 23 Gy delivered by intraoperative electron radiation therapy (IOERT) in order to define gene signatures of response to high doses of ionizing radiation.

Predictive Factors of Patients' and Their Partners' Sexual Function Improvement After Collagenase Clostridium Histolyticum Injection for Peyronie's Disease: Results From a Multi-Center Single-Arm Study.

Background: Collagenase Clostridium histolyticum (CCH; Xiapex) injections represent the only licensed medical treatment for Peyronie's disease (PD).

Aim: To evaluate the efficacy and safety of CCH injections in men with stable PD, using a modified treatment protocol and to assess partners' bother improvement in a large cohort of White-European sexually active heterosexual men treated in a single tertiary-referral center.

Methods: All the 135 patients enrolled underwent a thorough assessment, which included history taking, physical examination, and pharmacologically induced artificial erection test (intra-cavernous injection) to assess the degree of penile curvature (PC) at baseline and after the completion of the treatment.

Active Surveillance for Low-risk Prostate Cancer: Are All Criteria Similar?

Background: Active Surveillance (AS) is a therapeutic strategy for early-stage Prostate Cancer (PCa) conceived to balance early detection of aggressive disease and overtreatment of indolent tumor. Several active surveillance protocols have been published over the years, however the risk of misclassification still exist. In this review, we revised the current criteria of AS and evaluated the characteristics of potential risk factors of misclassification or deferred treatment.

Cognitive versus Software-Assisted Registration: Development of a New Nomogram Predicting Prostate Cancer at MRI-Targeted Biopsies.

Introduction: Multiparametric magnetic resonance imaging (mpMRI) is gaining acceptance to guide targeted biopsy (TB) in prostate cancer (PC) diagnosis. We aimed to compare the detection rate of software-assisted fusion TB (SA-TB) versus cognitive fusion TB (COG-TB) for PC and to evaluate potential clinical features in detecting PC and clinically significant PC (csPC) at TB.

Patients And Methods: This was a retrospective cohort study of patients with rising and/or persistently elevated prostate-specific antigen (PSA) undergoing mpMRI followed by either transperineal SA-TB or transrectal COG-TB.

Radiation-Induced Gene Expression Changes in High and Low Grade Breast Cancer Cell Types.

Background: There is extensive scientific evidence that radiation therapy (RT) is a crucial treatment, either alone or in combination with other treatment modalities, for many types of cancer, including breast cancer (BC). BC is a heterogeneous disease at both clinical and molecular levels, presenting distinct subtypes linked to the hormone receptor (HR) status and associated with different clinical outcomes. The aim of this study was to assess the molecular changes induced by high doses of ionizing radiation (IR) on immortalized and primary BC cell lines grouped according to Human epidermal growth factor receptor (HER2), estrogen, and progesterone receptors, to study how HR status influences the radiation response.