Influence of stromal neural crest progenitor cells on neuroblastoma radioresistance.

Purpose: A substantial proportion of children with high risk Neuroblastoma die within the first 5 years post-diagnosis despite the complex treatment applied. In the recent years, tumor environment has been revealed as key factor for cancer treatment efficacy. In this sense, non-tumorigenic Neural Crest progenitor cells from high risk patients, have been described as part of Neuroblastoma stroma, promoting tumor growth and contributing to mesenchyme formation.

A Six-Gene Prognostic and Predictive Radiotherapy-Based Signature for Early and Locally Advanced Stages in Non-Small-Cell Lung Cancer.

Non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is the leading cause of cancer death worldwide, generating an enormous economic and social impact that has not stopped growing in recent years. Cancer treatment for this neoplasm usually includes surgery, chemotherapy, molecular targeted treatments, and ionizing radiation. The prognosis in terms of overall survival (OS) and the disparate therapeutic responses among patients can be explained, to a great extent, by the existence of widely heterogeneous molecular profiles.

A three-dimensional printed customized bolus: adapting to the shape of the outer ear.

Background: The skin-sparing effect of megavoltage-photon beams in radiotherapy (RT) reduces the target coverage of superficial tumours. Consequently, a bolus is widely used to enhance the target coverage for superficial targets. This study evaluates a three-dimensional (3D)-printed customized bolus for a very irregular surface, the outer ear.

Multiple myeloma and SARS-CoV-2 infection: clinical characteristics and prognostic factors of inpatient mortality.

There is limited information on the characteristics, prognostic factors, and outcomes of patients with multiple myeloma (MM) hospitalized with COVID-19. This retrospective case series investigated 167 patients reported from 73 hospitals within the Spanish Myeloma Collaborative Group network in March and April, 2020. Outcomes were compared with 167 randomly selected, contemporary, age-/sex-matched noncancer patients with COVID-19 admitted at six participating hospitals.

A NKp80-Based Identification Strategy Reveals that CD56 NK Cells Are Not Completely Dysfunctional in Health and Disease.

Natural killer (NK) cells are usually identified by the absence of other lineage markers, due to the lack of cell-surface-specific receptors. CD56 NK cells, classically identified as CD56CD16+, are very scarce in the peripheral blood of healthy people but they expand in some pathological conditions. However, studies on CD56 NK cells had revealed different results regarding the phenotype and functionality.

In-flow protein immobilization monitored by magnetic resonance imaging.

Protein immobilization is a key enabling technology for flow biocatalysis. For this purpose, many different immobilization protocols and characterization techniques have been developed in recent decades. However, examples where proteins are directly immobilized on ready-to-use reactors are scarce, likely due to the lack of analytical tools to monitor in-flow protein immobilization in a non-invasive manner.

Pacemaker Implants in Children and Adolescents with Chagas Disease in Brazil: 18-Year Incidence.

Background:: Chagas disease continues to be a serious public health problem, and accounts for 25-30% of the indications for cardiac stimulation in Brazil.

Objective:: To assess clinical and epidemiological characteristics of patients with Chagas disease, younger than 18 years, who had undergone pacemaker implantation in Brazil between 1994 and 2011, and its temporal trend.

Methods:: This was a cross-sectional analysis of data from the Brazilian Pacemaker Registry database.

Investigation of the influence of calibration practices on cytogenetic laboratory performance for dose estimation.

Purpose: In the frame of the QA program of RENEB, an inter-laboratory comparison (ILC) of calibration sources used in biological dosimetry was achieved to investigate the influence of calibration practices and protocols on the results of the dose estimation performance as a first step to harmonization and standardization of dosimetry and irradiation practices in the European biological dosimetry network.

Materials And Methods: Delivered doses by irradiation facilities used by RENEB partners were determined with EPR/alanine dosimetry system. Dosimeters were irradiated in the same conditions as blood samples.

Simplified method for esophagus protection during radiofrequency catheter ablation of atrial fibrillation--prospective study of 704 cases.

Introduction: Although rare, the atrioesophageal fistula is one of the most feared complications in radiofrequency catheter ablation of atrial fibrillation due to the high risk of mortality.

Objective: This is a prospective controlled study, performed during regular radiofrequency catheter ablation of atrial fibrillation, to test whether esophageal displacement by handling the transesophageal echocardiography transducer could be used for esophageal protection.

Methods: Seven hundred and four patients (158 F/546M [22.

MAP17 (PDZKIP1) as a novel prognostic biomarker for laryngeal cancer.

Larynx cancer organ preservation treatments with chemo and radiotherapy have substantially improved laryngoesophageal dysfunction-free survival. However, both of them lead to a high incidence of acute and chronic toxicities and a significant number of patients relapse. To date, there is no evidence available to establish the group of patients that may benefit from preservation approaches and clinical criteria such as primary tumor extension or pretreatment tracheotomy are not validated.

Monitoring lipase/esterase activity by stopped flow in a sequential injection analysis system using p-nitrophenyl butyrate.

Lipases and esterases are biocatalysts used at the laboratory and industrial level. To obtain the maximum yield in a bioprocess, it is important to measure key variables, such as enzymatic activity. The conventional method for monitoring hydrolytic activity is to take out a sample from the bioreactor to be analyzed off-line at the laboratory.

Comparison of electrophysiological parameters of septal and apical endocardial cardiac stimulation.

Background: The conventional right ventricle (RV) endocardial pacing leads QRS widening and desynchronization myocardial compromising ventricular function. With the need for stimulation less deleterious, RV septal pacing has been used more. Eventually have been reported higher thresholds and smaller R waves in the septal stimulation.

Antitumor activity against murine lymphoma L5178Y model of proteins from cacao (Theobroma cacao L.) seeds in relation with in vitro antioxidant activity.

Background: Recently, proteins and peptides have become an added value to foodstuffs due to new knowledge about its structural analyses as related to antioxidant and anticancer activity. Our goal was to evaluate if protein fractions from cacao seeds show antitumor activity on lymphoma murine L5178Y model. The antioxidant activity of these fractions was also evaluated with the aim of finding a correlation with the antitumor activity.

Production and characterization of esterase and lipase from Haloarcula marismortui.

The present study was conducted to investigate the capability of Haloarcula marismortui to synthesize esterases and lipases, and the effect of physicochemical conditions on the growth and the production of esterases and lipases. Finally, the effect of NaCl concentration and temperature on esterase and lipase activities was studied using intracellular crude extracts. In order to confirm the genomic prediction about the esterase and lipase synthesis, H.

Hypotensive and vasorelaxant effects of the procyanidin fraction from Guazuma ulmifolia bark in normotensive and hypertensive rats.

The Aim Of The Study: was to investigate the in vivo and in vitro cardiovascular activity of a procyanidin fraction (PCF) obtained from acetone extract of Guazuma ulmifolia bark which has traditionally been used as an antihypertensive agent.

Results: 10 mg/kg PCF doses orally administered to sugar-fed hypertensive rats decreased both the systolic arterial pressure and the heart rate, whereas the same doses intravenously administered induced arterial hypotension which was attenuated by NG-nitro-L-arginine methylester (L-NAME 31 mg/kg) pretreatment. In these experiments we employed carbachol as a positive control test.

Radiofrequency catheter ablation of atrial fibrillation guided by spectral mapping of atrial fibrillation nests in sinus rhythm.

Background: Two types of myocardia can be observed through the endocardial spectral mapping (SM) in sinus rhythm: the compact type with a smooth spectrum and the fibrillar type with a segmented spectrum (atrial fibrillation nests). During the atrial fibrillation (AF), the compact type has an organized activation and low frequency (passive), whereas the fibrillar type has a rather disorganized activation and high frequency (active/resonant), with both being activated by high-frequency sustained tachycardia--the background tachycardia (BT).

Objective: To describe the treatment of AF by the ablation of the AF nests and BT.

Bortezomib induces selective depletion of alloreactive T lymphocytes and decreases the production of Th1 cytokines.

We explored the ability of the proteasome inhibitor bortezomib, which prevents nuclear factor kappaB (NF-kappaB) activation, to block T-cell activation, proliferation, and survival within alloreactive compared with resting T cells. For this purpose, T cells were stimulated with PHA, alphaCD3/alphaCD28, or allogeneic dendritic cells or through mixed lymphocyte cultures. NF-kappaB expression increased in activated T lymphocytes compared with resting T cells.