Clinical characteristics and outcome of central nervous system tumors harboring NTRK gene fusions.

Purpose: TRK fusions are detected in less than 2% of central nervous system tumors. There are limited data on the clinical course of affected patients.

Experimental Design: We conducted an international retrospective cohort study of patients with TRK fusion-driven CNS tumors.

Genomic insights and biocontrol potential of ten bacterial strains from the tomato core microbiome.

Introduction: Despite their adverse environmental effects, modern agriculture relies heavily on agrochemicals to manage diseases and pests and enhance plant growth and productivity. Some of these functions could instead be fulfilled by endophytes from the plant microbiota, which have diverse activities beneficial for plant growth and health.

Methods: We therefore used a microbiome-guided top-down approach to select ten bacterial strains from different taxa in the core microbiome of tomato plants in the production chain for evaluation as potential bioinoculants.

REThinking the role of the RET oncogene in breast cancer.

The REarranged during Transfection (RET) receptor tyrosine kinase plays a crucial role in the development of various anatomical structures during embryogenesis and it is involved in many physiological cellular processes. This protein is also associated with the initiation of various cancer types, such as thyroid cancer, non-small cell lung cancer, and multiple endocrine neoplasms. In breast cancer, and especially in the estrogen receptor-positive (ER+) subtype, the activity of RET is of notable importance.

Foreign patients and multicultural challenges in pediatric oncology: The experience of the Istituto Nazionale dei Tumori in Milan.

This paper describes the complexity of the clinical management of foreign minors suffering from cancer, through the clinical experience of an Italian referral center. The study includes 50 patients less than 18 years (22% of the patients admitted to the unit in 2023), 32 foreigners who were Italian resident and 18 who had come to Italy specifically to receive cancer treatment. Patients who migrate for healthcare reasons often arrive at the referral center with advanced disease or relapse.

Compromised cardiac autonomic function in non-diabetic subjects with 1 h post-load hyperglycemia: a cross-sectional study.

Background: A compromised cardiac autonomic function has been found in subjects with insulin resistance related disorders such as obesity, impaired glucose tolerance (IGT) and type 2 diabetes and confers an increased risk of adverse cardiovascular outcomes. Growing evidence indicate that 1 h plasma glucose levels (1hPG) during an oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) ≥ 155 mg/dl identify amongst subjects with normal glucose tolerance (NGT) a new category of prediabetes (NGT 1 h-high), harboring an increased risk of cardiovascular organ damage. In this study we explored the relationship between 1 h post-load hyperglycemia and cardiac autonomic dysfunction.

Comments and Controversies in Oncology: The Tribulations of Trials Developing ONC201.

Our international team highlights issues with efficacy reports in several studies on DMG with the new drug ONC201.

Prediction of and Variants with Conflicting Clinical Interpretation in a Cohort of Breast Cancer Patients.

Germline alteration has been linked to an increased risk of hereditary breast and ovarian cancer syndromes. As a result, genetic testing, based on NGS, allows us to identify a high number of variants of uncertain significance (VUS) or conflicting interpretation of pathogenicity (CIP) variants. The identification of CIP/VUS is often considered inconclusive and clinically not actionable for the patients' and unaffected carriers' management.

Soil Microbial Communities in Lemon Orchards Affected by Citrus Mal Secco Disease.

Mal secco is a vascular disease of citrus caused by the mitosporic fungus . Soil containing infected plant material constitutes an inoculum source for root infections. In this study, the soil bacterial and fungal communities of five lemon orchards located in Syracuse Province (Sicily, Italy) affected by mal secco were analyzed.

Biocontrol efficacy of Pseudomonas mediterranea PVCT 3C against Plenodomus tracheiphilus: In vitro and in planta mechanisms at early disease stages.

In this study, we investigated the biocontrol activity of the P. mediterranea strain PVCT 3C against Mal secco, a severe disease of citrus caused by the vascular fungus Plenodomus tracheiphilus. In vitro, bacterial diffusible compounds, volatile organic compounds and culture filtrates produced by PVCT 3C reduced the mycelial growth and conidial germination of P.

Dissecting the role of the MS-ring protein FliF in Bacillus cereus flagella-related functions.

The flagellar MS-ring, uniquely constituted by FliF, is essential for flagellar biogenesis and functionality in several bacteria. The aim of this study was to dissect the role of FliF in the Gram-positive and peritrichously flagellated Bacillus cereus. We demonstrate that fliF forms an operon with the upstream gene fliE.

Anti-staphylococcal activity of a polyphenol-rich citrus extract: synergy with β-lactams and low proficiency to induce resistance.

Introduction: Antibiotic resistance represents one of the most significant threats to public health in the 21st century. Polyphenols, natural molecules with antibacterial activity produced by plants, are being considered as alternative antimicrobial strategies to manage infections caused by drug-resistant bacteria. In this study, we investigated the antibacterial activity of a polyphenol mixture extracted from citrus fruits, against both antibiotic-susceptible and resistant strains of and .

Antonio Grossich, the doctor and the irredentist.

The routine use of iodine tincture in medicine represents a turning point in the history of surgical procedures. It was the Istrian doctor Antonio Grossich (1849-1926) who first defined and applied the best formula and demonstrated to the world its superiority over other antiseptics. Although his was a life guided by medicine and the steadfast translation of his political ideals into practice, Grossich's achievements were somewhat obscured by his active involvement in the Istrian irredentism of the first decades of the wentieth century.

Impact of a Regional Pediatric Hematology/Oncology Fellowship Program in Guatemala.

Purpose: This study aimed to describe and assess the regional experience of a pediatric hematology/oncology fellowship program based in Guatemala.

Methods: The Unidad Nacional de Oncología Pediátrica (UNOP) in Guatemala City, Guatemala, is the only hospital in Central America dedicated exclusively to childhood and adolescent cancer. To address the regional need for specialists, a fellowship program in pediatric hematology/oncology was launched in 2003.

Molecular profiling of pediatric and young adult colorectal cancer reveals a distinct genomic landscapes and potential therapeutic avenues.

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is a global health concern, and the incidence of early onset (EO) CRC, has an upward trend. This study delves into the genomic landscape of EO-CRC, specifically focusing on pediatric (PED) and young adult (YA) patients, comparing them with adult (AD) CRC. In this retrospective monocentric investigation, we performed targeted next-generation sequencing to compare the mutational profile of 38 EO-CRCs patients (eight PED and 30 YA) to those of a 'control group' consisting of 56 AD-CRCs.

Concordance between CDKN2A homozygous deletion and MTAP immunohistochemical loss in fluoroedenite-induced pleural mesothelioma: An immunohistochemical and molecular study on a single-institution series.

Fluoroedenite-induced pleural mesothelioma (FE-induced-PM) is a rare and small subset of PM that shares with its asbestos-induced counterpart the same aggressive biological behavior and poor prognosis, but that differs from it from a pathogenetic point of view as it is associated with exposure to fluoroedenite, a carcinogenic agent that shows similarities with tremolite amphibolic asbestos fibers. Although it has been demonstrated that asbestos-induced PMs frequently harbor CDKN2A homozygous deletion and that the immunohistochemical loss of MTAP may represent a cheap and reliable surrogate marker for this molecular alteration, little is known about the molecular landscape and the reliability of MTAP immunohistochemistry in this peculiar subset of PM. The study herein presented investigated the prevalence of CDKN2A homozygous deletion and its concordance with MTAP immunohistochemical status on a cohort of 10 cases of FE-induced-PM from patients with environmental exposure to FE fibers, who were residents in the small town of Biancavilla (Sicily, Italy) or nearby areas.

Caring for children with cancer evacuated from Ukraine: The patients' perception.

Background And Aims: Since the beginning of the war in Ukraine on February 24, 2022, many pediatric oncology centers welcomed evacuated patients. To better understanding the needs of patients and families arriving at two Lombardy hospitals in the period March to November 2022, an anonymous questionnaire investigated the families' backgrounds, feelings, and impressions about hospitality and care.

Methods: Twenty questions investigated how patients had reached Italy, from whom they had received help (logistically/financially); the emotions regarding their status as war refugees; the knowledge, expectations, and opinions about Italy and Italians; the quality of medical care received and the relationships with the healthcare staff; lastly, suggestions to improve assistance.

Corrigendum: Pediatric CNS tumors and 2021 WHO classification: what do oncologists need from pathologists?

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.3389/fnmol.2024.

Proton Therapy in Non-Rhabdomyosarcoma Soft Tissue Sarcomas of Children and Adolescents.

This paper provides insights into the use of Proton Beam Therapy (PBT) in pediatric patients with non-rhabdomyosarcoma soft tissue sarcomas (NRSTS). NRSTS are a heterogeneous group of rare and aggressive mesenchymal extraskeletal tumors, presenting complex and challenging clinical management scenarios. The overall survival rate for patients with NRSTS is around 70%, but the outcome is strictly related to the presence of various variables, such as the histological subtype, grade of malignancy and tumor stage at diagnosis.

Designer TALEs enable discovery of cell death-inducer genes.

Transcription activator-like effectors (TALEs) in plant-pathogenic Xanthomonas bacteria activate expression of plant genes and support infection or cause a resistance response. PthA4AT is a TALE with a particularly short DNA-binding domain harboring only 7.5 repeats which triggers cell death in Nicotiana benthamiana; however, the genetic basis for this remains unknown.

Gliomatosis cerebri in children: A poor prognostic phenotype of diffuse gliomas with a distinct molecular profile.

Background: The term gliomatosis cerebri (GC), a radiology-defined highly infiltrating diffuse glioma, has been abandoned since molecular GC-associated features could not be established.

Methods: We conducted a multinational retrospective study of 104 children and adolescents with GC providing comprehensive clinical and (epi-)genetic characterization.

Results: Median overall survival (OS) was 15.

Sex-specific differences in myocardial glucose metabolic rate in non-diabetic, pre-diabetic and type 2 diabetic subjects.

Background: Evidence has shown that women with type 2 diabetes (T2DM) have a higher excess risk for cardiovascular disease (CVD) than men with T2DM. Subjects with either T2DM or prediabetes exhibit myocardial insulin resistance, but it is still unsettled whether sex-related differences in myocardial insulin resistance occur in diabetic and prediabetic subjects.

Methods: We aimed to evaluate sex-related differences in myocardial glucose metabolic rate (MRGlu), assessed using dynamic PET with F-FDG combined with euglycemic-hyperinsulinemic clamp, in subjects with normal glucose tolerance (NGT; n = 20), prediabetes (n = 11), and T2DM (n = 26).

Anti-Staphylococcal Biofilm Effects of a Liposome-Based Formulation Containing Citrus Polyphenols.

Biofilms are surface-associated microbial communities embedded in a matrix that is almost impenetrable to antibiotics, thus constituting a critical health threat. Biofilm formation on the cornea or ocular devices can lead to serious and difficult-to-treat infections. Nowadays, natural molecules with antimicrobial activity and liposome-based delivery systems are proposed as anti-biofilm candidates.

Clinical and biological landscape of constitutional mismatch-repair deficiency syndrome: an International Replication Repair Deficiency Consortium cohort study.

Background: Constitutional mismatch repair deficiency (CMMRD) syndrome is a rare and aggressive cancer predisposition syndrome. Because a scarcity of data on this condition contributes to management challenges and poor outcomes, we aimed to describe the clinical spectrum, cancer biology, and impact of genetics on patient survival in CMMRD.

Methods: In this cohort study, we collected cross-sectional and longitudinal data on all patients with CMMRD, with no age limits, registered with the International Replication Repair Deficiency Consortium (IRRDC) across more than 50 countries.