Faces from colonial times: the collection of facial casts at the Sapienza University of Rome (Museum of Anthropology "G. Sergi")).

Founded in 1894, the Museum "G. Sergi" houses a variety of osteological materials and other collections, including several plaster facial casts from different human populations. This paper investigates this collection, which has been acquired (at least in part) in the framework of Italian colonialism, focusing on expeditions respectively led by Lidio Cipriani and Corrado Gini during the fascist regime.

Malignant Pleural Mesothelioma: Preliminary Toxicity Results of Adjuvant Radiotherapy Hypofractionation in a Prospective Trial (MESO-RT).

Malignant Pleural Mesothelioma (MPM) is a rare malignancy with an overall poor prognosis. The standard therapeutic strategy in early-stage disease is trimodality therapy. In this publication, we report the preliminary toxicity results of the first 20 patients treated with accelerated hypofractionated radiotherapy.

Reconstructed SPECT images of Lu homogeneous cylindrical phantom used for calibration and texture analysis.

In a clinical contest, it is common to use dedicated phantoms to perform quality assurance test to check the performance of a SPECT system. Some of these phantoms are also used to calibrate the system for dosimetric evaluation of patients undergoing radiometabolic cancer therapy. In this work, a 3D-OSEM reconstructed Lu SPECT dataset of a homogeneous cylindrical phantom is described.

Alpha-Emitter Radiopharmaceuticals and External Beam Radiotherapy: A Radiobiological Model for the Combined Treatment.

Previously published studies combined external beam radiotherapy (EBRT) treatments with different activities of Ra. The data of two-year overall survival (2y-OS) and neutropenia (TOX) incidence when combining EBRT and Ra are not homogeneous in literature. We adapted the linear-quadratic model (LQ) to Ra therapy using brachytherapy formalism for a mixture of radionuclides, considering the contribution of all daughter isotopes in the decay chain.

Dosimetric Approaches for Radioimmunotherapy of Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma in Myeloablative Setting.

Radioimmunotherapy (RIT) is a safe and active treatment available for non-Hodgkin lymphomas (NHLs). In particular, two monoclonal antibodies raised against CD20, that is Zevalin (Y-ibritumomab-tiuxetan) and Bexxar (I-tositumomab) received FDA approval for the treatment of relapsing/refractory indolent or transformed NHLs. RIT is likely the most effective and least toxic anticancer agent in NHLs.

Exploratory Analysis of F-3'-deoxy-3'-fluorothymidine (F-FLT) PET/CT-Based Radiomics for the Early Evaluation of Response to Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy in Patients With Locally Advanced Breast Cancer.

Purpose: The objective of this study was to evaluate a set of radiomics-based advanced textural features extracted from F-FLT-PET/CT images to predict tumor response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NCT) in patients with locally advanced breast cancer (BC).

Materials And Methods: Patients with operable (T2-T3, N0-N2, M0) or locally advanced (T4, N0-N2, M0) BC were enrolled. All patients underwent chemotherapy (six cycles every 3 weeks).

Targeted Alpha Therapy in mCRPC (Metastatic Castration-Resistant Prostate Cancer) Patients: Predictive Dosimetry and Toxicity Modeling of Ac-PSMA (Prostate-Specific Membrane Antigen).

Radioligand therapy is a type of internal radiotherapy combining a short-range radioisotope labeled to a carrier with a high affinity for a specific receptor expressed on tumor cells. Targeted alpha therapy (TAT) combines a high-linear energy transfer (LET) emitter (Ac) with a prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA) carrier, specifically binding tumor cells in patients with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer. Although the antitumor activity of Ac-PSMA is well-documented, this treatment is nowadays only used as salvage therapy because the high incidence of xerostomia limits the therapeutic window.

The reliability of bone marrow cytology as response criterion in metastatic neuroblastoma.

Background: The quantitative assessment of neuroblastoma cell content in bone marrow aspirates for response evaluation has been introduced recently. Data on the concordance of interobserver reports are lacking so far.

Methods: Investigators of seven European countries representing national reference or large oncological centers convened in 2016.

Dosimetry and safety of Lu PSMA-617 along with polyglutamate parotid gland protector: preliminary results in metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer patients.

Purpose: Radioligand therapy (RLT) with Lu-PSMA-617 is a promising option for patients with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC). The present study was designed to define the safety and initial response to a minimal effective injected activity/cycle of Lu-PSMA-617 in mCRPC patients. New protective agents for salivary glands and kidney were co-administered and dosimetry was carried out.

A Whole Body Dosimetry Protocol for Peptide-Receptor Radionuclide Therapy (PRRT): 2D Planar Image and Hybrid 2D+3D SPECT/CT Image Methods.

Peptide-receptor-radionuclide-therapy (PPRT) is a targeted therapy that combines a short-range energy radionuclide with a substrate with high specificity for cancer cell receptors. After injection, the radiotracer is distributed throughout the entire body, with a higher uptake in tissues where targeted receptors are overexpressed. The use of beta/gamma radionuclide emitters enables therapy imaging (beta-emission) and post-therapy imaging (gamma-emission) to be performed at the same time.

Transcriptome analysis defines myocardium gene signatures in children with ToF and ASD and reveals disease-specific molecular reprogramming in response to surgery with cardiopulmonary bypass.

Background: Tetralogy of Fallot (ToF) and Atrial Septal Defects (ASD) are the most common types of congenital heart diseases and a major cause of childhood morbidity and mortality. Cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) is used during corrective cardiac surgery to support circulation and heart stabilization. However, this procedure triggers systemic inflammatory and stress response and consequent increased risk of postoperative complications.

Texture analysis in 177Lu SPECT phantom images: Statistical assessment of uniformity requirements using texture features.

The purpose of this study was to apply texture analysis (TA) to evaluate the uniformity of SPECT images reconstructed with the 3D Ordered Subsets Expectation Maximization (3D-OSEM) algorithm. For this purpose, a cylindrical homogeneous phantom filled with 177Lu was used and a total of 24 spherical volumes of interest (VOIs) were considered inside the phantom. The location of the VOIs was chosen in order to define two different configurations, i.

Dosimetry of Lu-PSMA-617 after Mannitol Infusion and Glutamate Tablet Administration: Preliminary Results of EUDRACT/RSO 2016-002732-32 IRST Protocol.

Radio-ligand therapy (RLT) withLu-PSMA-617 is a promising option for patients with metastatic castration-resistant prostate-cancer (mCRPC). A prospective phase-II study (EUDRACT/RSO,2016-002732-32) on mCRPC is ongoing at IRST (Meldola, Italy). A total of 9 patients (median age: 68 y, range: 53⁻85) were enrolled for dosimetry evaluation of parotid glands (PGs), kidneys, red marrow (RM) and whole body (WB).

Altered erythropoiesis and decreased number of erythrocytes in children with neuroblastoma.

Neuroblastoma (NB) is a pediatric tumor presenting at diagnosis either as localized or metastatic disease, which mainly involves the bone marrow (BM). The physical occupancy of BM space by metastatic NB cells has been held responsible for impairment of BM function. Here, we investigated whether localized or metastatic NB may alter hematopoietic lineages' maturation and release of mature cells in the periphery, through gene expression profiling, analysis of BM smears, cell blood count and flow cytometry analysis.

A Comparative Evaluation of 3 Different Free-Form Deformable Image Registration and Contour Propagation Methods for Head and Neck MRI: The Case of Parotid Changes During Radiotherapy.

Purpose: To validate and compare the deformable image registration and parotid contour propagation process for head and neck magnetic resonance imaging in patients treated with radiotherapy using 3 different approaches-the commercial MIM, the open-source Elastix software, and an optimized version of it.

Materials And Methods: Twelve patients with head and neck cancer previously treated with radiotherapy were considered. Deformable image registration and parotid contour propagation were evaluated by considering the magnetic resonance images acquired before and after the end of the treatment.

Analysis of serial CT images for studying the RT effects in head-neck cancer patients.

Images taken during and after RT for head and neck cancer have the potential to quantitatively assess xerostomia. Image information may be used as biomarkers of RT effects on parotid glands with significant potential to support adaptive treatment strategies. We investigated the possibility to extract information based on in-room CT images (kVCT, MVCT), acquired for daily image-guided radiotherapy treatment of head-and-neck cancer patients, in order to predict individual response in terms of toxicity.

Second Tumor Induction Risk in IMRT for Prostate Cancer: An Unbalanced Comparison Between Surgery and Radiotherapy?

The aim of this study was to evaluate the risk of second tumor induction for prostate patients treated with volumetric modulated arc therapy in age classes 50-70. Based on both age-dependent models and doses to critical organs, the risk of second tumor induction was evaluated simulating the small field (prostate and seminal vesicles) and large field (whole pelvis) for Helical Tomotherapy and Rapid Arc. The doses to the organs closest to the treatment volume were derived from treatment planning system data.

Early volume variation of positive lymph nodes assessed by in-room mega voltage CT images predicts risk of loco-regional relapses in head and neck cancer patients treated with intensity-modulated radiotherapy.

Background: We investigated the possibility to early identify non-responding patients based on FDG-PET positive lymph nodes (PNs) volume variation assessed with in-room images.

Material And Methods: Twenty-seven head and neck cancer patients with at least one pre-treatment PNs were retrospectively analyzed; they received 54 Gy, 66 Gy, 69 Gy in 30 fractions on precautionary lymph nodal (N), primary (T) and PET positive (BTV) planning target volumes (PTVs), respectively with Helical TomoTherapy (SIB approach). PNs volume changes during treatment were assessed based on megavoltage computed tomography (MVCT) used for image guidance as ratio between volumes at fractions 10/20/30 and at first fraction.

Characterization of volume and shape modifications of PET-positive nodes during Tomotherapy for head and neck cancer as assessed by MVCTs.

Purpose: Characterizing the changes of PET-positive lymphnodes (PNs) of head-neck cancer patients during image-guided Tomotherapy in order to verify if our clinical margin for PTV(boost) are adequate.

Material And Methods: Weekly MVCTs of 30 patients were matched with the planning kVCT (kVCT_pl) on bony anatomy: 42 visible PNs were contoured on kVCT_pl/MVCTs. Intra/inter-observer and inter-modality variability in contouring PNs was evaluated by blind re-delineation.

Likelihood-fuzzy analysis of parotid gland shrinkage in radiotherapy patients.

In head-and-neck radiotherapy, an early detection of patients who will undergo parotid glands shrinkage during the treatment is of primary importance, since this condition has been found to be associated with acute toxicity. In this work, a recently proposed approach, here named Likelihood-Fuzzy Analysis, based on both statistical learning and Fuzzy Logic, is proposed to support the identification of early predictors of parotid shrinkage from Computed Tomography images acquired during radiotherapy. For this purpose, a set of textural image parameters was extracted and considered as candidate of parotid shrinkage prediction; for all these parameters and combinations of maximum three of them, a fuzzy rule base was extracted, gaining very good results in terms of accuracy, sensitivity and specificity.

Early changes of parotid density and volume predict modifications at the end of therapy and intensity of acute xerostomia.

Purpose: To quantitatively assess the predictive power of early variations of parotid gland volume and density on final changes at the end of therapy and, possibly, on acute xerostomia during IMRT for head-neck cancer.

Materials And Methods: Data of 92 parotids (46 patients) were available. Kinetics of the changes during treatment were described by the daily rate of density (rΔρ) and volume (rΔvol) variation based on weekly diagnostic kVCT images.

The p53 codon 72 Pro/Pro genotype identifies poor-prognosis neuroblastoma patients: correlation with reduced apoptosis and enhanced senescence by the p53-72P isoform.

The p53 gene is rarely mutated in neuroblastoma, but codon 72 polymorphism that modulates its proapoptotic activity might influence cancer risk and clinical outcome. We investigated whether this polymorphism affects neuroblastoma risk and disease outcome and assessed the biologic effects of the p53-72R and p53-72P isoforms in p53-null cells. Comparison of 288 healthy subjects and 286 neuroblastoma patients revealed that the p53-72 polymorphism had no significant impact on the risk of developing neuroblastoma; however, patients with the Pro/Pro genotype had a shorter survival than those with the Arg/Arg or the Arg/Pro genotypes even in the stage 3 and 4 subgroup without MYCN amplification.

Density variation of parotid glands during IMRT for head-neck cancer: correlation with treatment and anatomical parameters.

Purpose: Measuring parotid density changes in patients treated with IMRT for head-neck cancer (HNC) and assessing correlation with treatment-related parameters.

Patients And Materials: Data of 84 patients treated with IMRT for different HNC were pooled from three institutions. Parotid deformation and average Hounsfield number changes (ΔHU) were evaluated through MVCT (with Helical Tomotherapy) or diagnostic kVCT images taken at the treatment start/end.

Burkholderia cepacia complex bacteria from clinical and environmental sources in Italy: genomovar status and distribution of traits related to virulence and transmissibility.

Sixty-eight Burkholderia cepacia complex isolates recovered from the sputum of 53 cystic fibrosis patients and 75 isolates collected from the maize rhizosphere were compared to each other to assess their genomovar status as well as some traits related to virulence such as antibiotic susceptibility, proteolytic and hemolytic activities, and transmissibility, in which transmissibility is determined by detection of the esmR and cblA genes. Among the clinical isolates, B. cepacia genomovar III comprised the majority of isolates examined and only a very few isolates were assigned to B.