Two florigens and a florigen-like protein form a triple regulatory module at the shoot apical meristem to promote reproductive transitions in rice.

Many plant species monitor and respond to changes in day length (photoperiod) for aligning reproduction with a favourable season. Day length is measured in leaves and, when appropriate, leads to the production of floral stimuli called florigens that are transmitted to the shoot apical meristem to initiate inflorescence development. Rice possesses two florigens encoded by HEADING DATE 3a (Hd3a) and RICE FLOWERING LOCUS T 1 (RFT1).

EUS-guided tissue acquisition in chronic pancreatitis: Differential diagnosis between pancreatic cancer and pseudotumoral masses using EUS-FNA or core biopsy.

Background And Objective: EUS-FNA sensitivity for malignancy in parenchymal masses of patients with concurrent chronic pancreatitis (CP) has been reported to be unsatisfactory. The aim of the present study was to directly compare the diagnostic accuracy of EUS-FNA and EUS-fine-needle biopsy (FNB) in differentiating between inflammatory masses and malignancies in the setting of CP.

Methods: We performed a retrospective analysis of prospective, multicentric databases of all patients with pancreatic masses and clinico-radiological-endosonographic features of CP who underwent EUS-FNA or FNB.

Creation of a rectal cancer registry in Italy by the Advanced International Mini-Invasive Surgery (AIMS) academy clinical research network.

The management of rectal cancer is multimodal and involves a multidisciplinary team of cancer specialists with expertise in medical oncology, surgical oncology, radiation oncology and radiology. It is crucial for highly specialized centers to collaborate via networks that aim to maintain uniformity in every aspect of treatment and rigorously gather patients' data, from the first clinical evaluation to the last follow-up visit. The Advanced International Mini-Invasive Surgery (AIMS) academy clinical research network aims to create a rectal cancer registry.

Prognostic factors associated with survival in a large cohort of gastric cancer patients resected over a decade at a single Italian center: the Cremona experience.

Background: Incidence of gastric cancer (GC) shows different distribution in Italy, with higher incidence in the north and center. We retrospectively analyzed the clinical data of patients resected at the Hospital of Cremona between January 2007 and December 2016. Available clinical variables were linked with survival to identify possible prognostic factors.

Compliance to Adjuvant Chemotherapy of Patients Who Underwent Surgery for Rectal Cancer: Report from a Multi-institutional Research Network.

Introduction: Adjuvant chemotherapy for locally advanced rectal cancer is associated with improved overall survival. However, recent evidence from randomized trials showed a compliance rate of 43 to 73%, which may affect efficacy. The aim of this multicenter retrospective analysis was to investigate the compliance rate to adjuvant treatment for patients who underwent rectal surgery for cancer.

First-line dose-dense chemotherapy with docetaxel, cisplatin, folinic acid and 5-fluorouracil (DCF) plus panitumumab in patients with locally advanced or metastatic cancer of the stomach or gastroesophageal junction: final results and biomarker analysis from an Italian oncology group for clinical research (GOIRC) phase II study.

Background: Survival for patients with advanced gastroesophageal cancer (AGC) using standard treatment regimens is poor. EGFR overexpression is common in AGC and associated with poor prognosis. We hypothesized that increasing the dose intensity of chemotherapy and adding panitumumab could improve efficacy.

Reliability and validity assessment of administrative databases in measuring the quality of rectal cancer management.

Purpose: Measurement and monitoring of the quality of care using a core set of quality measures are increasing in health service research. Although administrative databases include limited clinical data, they offer an attractive source for quality measurement. The purpose of this study, therefore, was to evaluate the completeness of different administrative data sources compared to a clinical survey in evaluating rectal cancer cases.

Microsatellite Instability in Medullary Carcinoma of the Colon.

Medullary carcinoma (MC) of the large intestine is a relatively new histological type of adenocarcinoma characterized by poor glandular differentiation and an intraepithelial lymphocytic infiltrate. MC can be associated to a defective mechanism for DNA mismatch repair, caused by the so-called microsatellite instability (MSI). We present the case of a 44 years old Caucasian woman, who referred to the Emergency Room with symptoms mimicking an acute appendicitis.

Non-variceal upper gastrointestinal bleeding: Rescue treatment with a modified cyanoacrylate.

Aim: To evaluate the safety and efficacy of a modified cyanoacrylate [N-butyl-2-cyanoacrylate associated with methacryloxysulfolane (NBCA + MS)] to treat non-variceal upper gastrointestinal bleeding (NV-UGIB).

Methods: In our retrospective study we took into account 579 out of 1177 patients receiving endoscopic treatment for NV-UGIB admitted to our institution from 2008 to 2015; the remaining 598 patients were treated with other treatments. Initial hemostasis was not achieved in 45 of 579 patients; early rebleeding occurred in 12 of 579 patients.

Safety and efficacy of dose-dense chemotherapy with TCF regimen in elderly patients with locally advanced or metastatic gastric cancer.

Purpose: To evaluate the efficacy and safety of dose-dense TCF in elderly (≥65 years) compared to younger patients.

Methods: Safety and efficacy data relative to 119 consecutive patients with locally advanced or metastatic gastric cancer treated at our institution and enrolled in different phase II trials were retrospectively collected. All patients were treatment-naive and received docetaxel 70 mg/m2 day 1, cisplatin 60 mg/m2 day 1, l-folinic acid 100 mg/m2 days 1-2, followed by 5-fluorouracil 400 mg/m2 bolus days 1-2, and then 600 mg/m2 as a 22-hour continuous infusion days 1-2, every 14 days, plus pegfilgrastim 6 mg on day 3.

Surgical management of advanced gastric cancer: An evolving issue.

Worldwide, gastric cancer represents the fifth most common cancer and the third leading cause of cancer deaths. Although the overall 5-year survival for resectable disease was more than 70% in Japan due to the implementation of screening programs resulting in detection of disease at earlier stages, in Western countries more than two thirds of gastric cancers are usually diagnosed in advanced stages reporting a 5-year survival rate of only 25.7%.

Neoadjuvant Treatment Approach: The Rosetta Stone for Breast Cancer?

Breast cancer represents a heterogeneous group of diseases with varied biological features, behavior, and response to therapy; thus, management of breast cancer relies on the availability of robust predictive and prognostic factors to support therapy decision-making. Traditionally, neoadjuvant treatment for breast cancer was preserved for locally advanced, converting an inoperable to a surgical resectable cancer. Neoadjuvant trials, additionally, offer: 1) the opportunity to evaluate new treatment options in a faster way and with fewer patients than large adjuvant trials; 2) to identify and validate the prognostic and predictive value of a marker with its association with clinical outcome in relation to the administered treatment.

Combination of letrozole, metronomic cyclophosphamide and sorafenib is well-tolerated and shows activity in patients with primary breast cancer.

Purpose: To assess whether the combination of letrozole, metronomic cyclophosphamide and sorafenib (LCS) is well tolerated and shows activity in primary breast cancer (BC).

Methods: Thirteen oestrogen receptor-positive, postmenopausal, T2-4, N0-1 BC patients received the LCS combination for 6 months. In these patients we examined the pharmacokinetics of sorafenib and cyclophosphamide, toxicity of the regimen, the clinical response to therapy and changes in the levels of biologically relevant biomarkers.

COX-2 expression is predictive for early relapse and aromatase inhibitor resistance in patients with ductal carcinoma in situ of the breast, and is a target for treatment.

Background: Stratification of patients for treatment of ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) is suboptimal, with high systemic overtreatment rates.

Methods: A training set of 95 tumours from women with pure DCIS were immunostained for proteins involved in cell survival, hypoxia, growth factor and hormone signalling. A generalised linear regression with regularisation and variable selection was applied to a multiple covariate Cox survival analysis with recurrence-free survival 10-fold cross-validation and leave-one-out iterative approach were used to build and test the model that was validated using an independent cohort of 58 patients with pure DCIS.

Prospective neoadjuvant analysis of PET imaging and mechanisms of resistance to Trastuzumab shows role of HIF1 and autophagy.

Background: Although Trastuzumab has improved survival of HER2+ breast cancer patients, resistance to the agent pre-exists or develops through the course of therapy. Here we show that a specific metabolism and autophagy-related cancer cell phenotype relates to resistance of HER2+ breast cancer to Trastuzumab and chemotherapy.

Methods: Twenty-eight patients with locally advanced primary breast cancer were prospectively scheduled to received one cycle of Trastuzumab followed by a new biopsy on day 21, followed by taxol/Trastuzumab chemotherapy for four cycles before surgery.

Pilot double-blinded study to assess efficacy and tolerability of morphine sulphate oral solution (Oramorph®) given preoperatively as add-on therapy within a multimodal postoperative pain approach in patients undergoing laparoscopic cholecystectomy.

Background: This study aims at investigating the effect of a single pre-operative oral administration of morphine sulphate (Oramorph®) on pain after laparoscopic cholecystectomy (LC).

Methods: Forty-one ASA I-III patients, aged 18-65 years, undergoing LC were randomly, double-blindly allocated to treatment (N.=20, 30mg Oramorph®, group M) or placebo (N.

Efficacy and tolerability of chemotherapy with modified dose-dense TCF regimen (TCF-dd) in locally advanced or metastatic gastric cancer: final results of a phase II trial.

Background: We previously studied a dose-dense TCF (TCF-dd) regimen demonstrating its feasibility and an activity comparable to epirubicin-based chemotherapy and TCF q3w in terms of overall survival and time to progression (TTP). We report here the final results of a phase II study of chemotherapy with a modified TCF-dd regimen in locally advanced or metastatic gastric cancer (MGC).

Methods And Study Design: Patients with histologically confirmed measurable MGC, not previously treated for advanced disease, received docetaxel 70 mg/m(2) day 1, cisplatin 60 mg/m(2) day 1, l-folinic acid 100 mg/m(2) days 1 and 2, followed by 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) 400 mg/m(2) bolus days 1 and 2, and then 600 mg/m(2) as a 22-h continuous infusion days 1 and 2, every 14 days, plus pegfilgrastim 6 mg on day 3.

Monitoring environmental Aspergillus spp. contamination and meteorological factors in a haematological unit.

The opportunistic pathogens belonging to the Aspergillus genus are present in almost all seasons of the year, and their concentration is related to meteorological conditions. The high density of Aspergillus spp. conidia in a haematological hospital ward may be a significant risk factor for developing invasive fungal diseases in immunocompromised patients.

[How to biopsy only men with high grade prostate cancer].

Introduction: Fuzzy logic and Artificial Neural Networks (ANN) are complementary technologies that together generate neuro-fuzzy system. The aim of our study is to compare 2 models for predicting the presence of high-grade prostate cancer (Gleason score 7 or more).

Methods: We evaluated data from 1000 men with PSA less than 50 ng/mL, who underwent prostate biopsy.

Increased pathological complete response rate after a long-term neoadjuvant letrozole treatment in postmenopausal oestrogen and/or progesterone receptor-positive breast cancer.

Background: The objective of this study was to determine the optimal scheduling of 2.5 mg daily letrozole in neoadjuvant breast cancer patients to obtain pathological complete response (pathCR) and assess Ki-67 expression as an early predictor of response.

Patients And Methods: This single institution study comprised 120 oestrogen receptor (ER)-positive postmenopausal women with primary breast cancer (clinical stage ≥ T2, N0-1), from three sequential cohorts (cohort A of 40, cohort B of 40 and cohort C of 40 patients, respectively) based on different duration of the neoadjuvant letrozole.

Early exploratory intervention in scrotal trauma.

Introduction: The aim of our study is to assess the incidence of the surgical approach in scrotal trauma.

Materials And Methods: We retrospectively assessed both penetrating and blunt cases of scrotal trauma observed from 2002 to 2012. For each case we considered various parameters such as the age of the patient, whether the type of trauma was penetrating or blunt, whether or not a surgical approach was taken, whether or not there were polytrauma, whether or not an orchiectomy was performed, and how many days had elapsed since the first urological observation of the trauma.

Gene expression profiling in breast cancer: a clinical perspective.

Gene expression profiling tests are used in an attempt to determine the right treatment for the right person with early-stage breast cancer that may have spread to nearby lymph nodes but not to distant parts of the body. These new diagnostic approaches are designed to spare people who do not need additional treatment (adjuvant therapy) the side effects of unnecessary treatment, and allow people who may benefit from adjuvant therapy to receive it. In the present review we discuss in detail the major diagnostic tests available such as MammaPrint dx, Oncotype dx, PAM50, Mammostrat, IHC4, MapQuant DX, Theros-Breast Cancer Gene Expression Ratio Assay, and their potential clinical applications.

Merkel cell carcinoma: a retrospective study on 48 cases and review of literature.

Merkel cell carcinoma (MCC) is a rare and aggressive neuroendocrine tumor of the skin. Fourty-eight patients with MCC were observed at the Rare Hormonal Tumors Group of Cremona Hospital, 15 of these with unknown primary site. Due to rarity of Merkel cell carcinoma, clinical experience is generally limited.

Biosurfactants prevent in vitro Candida albicans biofilm formation on resins and silicon materials for prosthetic devices.

Objective: The aim of this study was to evaluate in vitro the preventive antiadhesion activity of biosurfactants against Candida albicans biofilm.

Study Design: Disks of silicon and acrylic resin for denture prostheses were precoated with increasing concentrations of biosurfactants obtained from endophyte biofilms selected from Robinia pseudoacacia and from Nerium oleander, and afterward infected with C. albicans cells.