Intensified Total Neoadjuvant Therapy in Patients With Locally Advanced Rectal Cancer: Long-term Results of a Prospective Phase II Study.

Aims: To analyze the long-term results of a prospective phase II trial testing intensified total neoadjuvant therapy (TNT) in patients with locally advanced rectal cancer (LARC).

Materials And Methods: Patients with histologically confirmed LARC adenocarcinoma were enrolled. Intensified TNT consisted of targeted agent (bevacizumab or panitumumab/cetuximab) plus FOLFOXIRI (5-fluorouracil, leucovorin, oxaliplatin and irinotecan) induction chemotherapy followed by intensified (oxaliplatin and 5-fluorouracil) chemoradiotherapy (CRT) and surgical resection.

Breast metastasis and lung large-cell neuroendocrine carcinoma: first clinical observation.

Background And Aims: The lung large-cell neuroendocrine carcinoma (LCNEC) is a very rare aggressive neuroendocrine tumor with a high propensity to metastasize and very poor prognosis. We report an atypical presentation of lung LCNEC was diagnosed from a metastatic nodule on the breast.

Methods: Our patient is a 59-years-old woman that presented in March 2014 nonproductive cough.

Old Tyrosine Kinase Inhibitors and Newcomers in Gastrointestinal Cancer Treatment.

Gastrointestinal cancer treatment is based more on molecular biology that has provided increasing knowledge about cancer pathogenesis on which targeted therapy is being developed. Precisely, targeted therapy is defined as a "type of treatment that uses drugs, such as monoclonal antibodies or tyrosine kinase inhibitors, to identify and attack specific cancer cells". Nowadays, the United States Food and Drug Administration has approved many targeted therapies for gastrointestinal cancer treatment, as many are in various phases of development as well.

First trimester termination of pregnancy: methods in comparison between two European university hospitals.

Purpose Of Investigation: To compare methods, epidemiological features, and legislations of first trimester termination of pregnancy in two European Union University Hospital: Szeged, Hungary, (UHS) and Rome, Italy (UHR).

Materials And Methods: The study included 195 women in UHS and 197 women in UHR undergoing a termination of pregnancy, The method used in UHR was electric vacuum aspiration, while in UHS it is chosen according to the patients' features.

Results: Mean gestational week at the time of interruption was 8.

Triple-negative breast cancer: new perspectives for targeted therapies.

Breast cancer is a heterogeneous disease, encompassing a large number of entities showing different morphological features and having clinical behaviors. It has became apparent that this diversity may be justified by distinct patterns of genetic, epigenetic, and transcriptomic aberrations. The identification of gene-expression microarray-based characteristics has led to the identification of at least five breast cancer subgroups: luminal A, luminal B, normal breast-like, human epidermal growth factor receptor 2, and basal-like.

The Combined therapy myo-inositol plus D-Chiro-inositol, in a physiological ratio, reduces the cardiovascular risk by improving the lipid profile in PCOS patients.

Background: Women with Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS) present several factors that increase the cardiovascular risk, such as insulin resistance and dyslipidemia. Myo-inositol and D-chiro-inositol have been shown to improve insulin resistance, hyperandrogenism and to induce ovulation in PCOS women. However, their effects on dyslipidemia are less clear.

Optimization of two-photon wave function in parametric down conversion by adaptive optics control of the pump radiation.

We present an efficient method for optimizing the spatial profile of entangled-photon wave function produced in a spontaneous parametric down conversion process. A deformable mirror that modifies a wavefront of a 404 nm CW diode laser pump interacting with a nonlinear β-barium borate type-I crystal effectively controls the profile of the joint biphoton function. The use of a feedback signal extracted from the biphoton coincidence rate is used to achieve the optimal wavefront shape.

Hereditary haemorragic teleangectasia and pregnancy: case report.

We report an uncommon case of a 38-years-old pregnant woman affected by HHT (Hereditary haemorrhagic telangiectasia; Osler-Weber-Rendu syndrome) who underwent to a caesarean section (CS) without any complication. The patient at 36th weeks+1 day pregnancy referred to the Emergency Obstetric Unit due to a intercostals pain on left side. On third day after admission the woman started travailing and physicians decided to perform the CS.

Chemerin regulates NK cell accumulation and endothelial cell morphogenesis in the decidua during early pregnancy.

Context: Although decidual natural killer (NK) cell accumulation and vascular remodeling are critical steps to ensure successful pregnancy, the molecular mechanisms controlling these events are poorly defined.

Objective: Herein we analyzed whether chemerin, a recently identified chemoattractant involved in many pathophysiological processes, could be expressed in the uterine compartment and could regulate events relevant for the good outcome of pregnancy.

Design: Chemerin expression in human primary culture of stromal (ST) cells, extravillous trophoblast cells, and decidual endothelial cells (DEC) was analyzed by RT-PCR, ELISA, and Western blot.

A novel approach to the investigation of passive molecular permeation through lipid bilayers from atomistic simulations.

Predicting the permeability coefficient (P) of drugs permeating through the cell membrane is of paramount importance in drug discovery. We here propose an approach for calculating P based on bias-exchange metadynamics. The approach allows constructing from atomistic simulations a model of permeation taking explicitly into account not only the "trivial" reaction coordinate, the position of the drug along the direction normal to the lipid membrane plane, but also other degrees of freedom, for example, the torsional angles of the permeating molecule, or variables describing its solvation/desolvation.

Permeation through the cell membrane of a boron-based β-lactamase inhibitor.

Bacteria express beta-lactamases to counteract the beneficial action of antibiotics. Benzo[b]-thiophene-2-boronic acid (BZB) derivatives are β-lactamase inhibitors and, as such, promising compounds to be associated with β-lactam antibacterial therapies. The uncharged form of BZB, in particular, is suggested to diffuse through the outer membrane of gram negative bacteria.

Clinical validation of a new algorithm for computerized dosing of vitamin K antagonist therapy: a retrospective simulation study.

The number of patients on oral anticoagulant therapy has increased in recent years, and this trend is expected to continue. The increased workload for physicians has led to the development of computerized systems to make organizational workflow more efficient. These programs may include algorithms to propose a weekly dosage and timing for the following visit.

The effect of a combination therapy with myo-inositol and a combined oral contraceptive pill versus a combined oral contraceptive pill alone on metabolic, endocrine, and clinical parameters in polycystic ovary syndrome.

Aim: Compare the effects of a combined contraceptive pill (OCP) in combination with myo-inositol (MI) on endocrine, metabolic, and clinical parameters in patients with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS).

Methods: One hundred fifty-five patients with PCOS were enrolled in this prospective, open-label clinical study. Patients were assigned to receive oral treatment with OCP alone (estradiol (EE) 30 μg/gestodene 75 μg) or in combination with myo-inositol 4 g/die, for 12 months.

Effective analysis of rotundone at below-threshold levels in red and white wines using solid-phase microextraction gas chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry.

Rotundone is an oxygenated sesquiterpene belonging to the family of guaianes, giving the 'peppery' aroma to white and black pepper and to red wines. Here we describe a novel, convenient protocol for the synthesis of rotundone, starting from a commercially available compound and requiring only two reaction steps, and an improved, faster method of GC separation (30 min) with selective quantisation of rotundone using tandem mass spectrometry in multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) mode with d(5)-rotundone as internal standard. With limits of detection (LODs) of 1.

An insight into the radical thiol/yne coupling: the emergence of arylalkyne-tagged sugars for the direct photoinduced glycosylation of cysteine-containing peptides.

An explorative study of the Thiol-Yne Coupling (TYC) reaction has been carried out using an aliphatic (1-octyne) and an aromatic alkyne (phenylacetylene) and two alkanethiols (methyl thioglycolate and N-acetyl-L-cysteine methyl ester). The outcomes of the TYC reactions strongly depend on the experimental conditions (e.g.

Current approach in the treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma.

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the most common malignant hepatobiliary disease; it is responsible for about 1 million deaths per year. Risk factors include hepatitis B and C, hepatic cirrhosis, including alcohol related hepatitis, metabolic and nutritional hepatic damage. The main modality of diffusion is intrahepatic in the natural course of the disease.

Radical allylations by reaction of azides with allylindium dichloride.

Allylindium dichloride is an effective reagent for carrying out photolytically initiated radical allylation reactions, as also proved by EPR experiments. In the presence of suitable azides that can give rise to electrophilic radicals, a homolytic chain reaction occurs with formation of allylated compounds. With delta-azido esters and chlorides generation of primary indiumaminyl radicals is followed by a very efficient 1,5-H shift process that gives rise to electrophilic carbon-centred radicals, whose subsequent allylation by the starting indium reagent, followed by aqueous workup, eventually affords allylated nitrogen heterocycles in good yields.

Stomatological approach to Sjögren's syndrome: diagnosis, management and therapeutical timing.

Sjögren's syndrome is a chronic multisystem autoimmune disease characterized by the exocrine glands inflammation, with subsequent hypofunction. More frequently lachrymal and salivary glands are interested with subsequent xerophthalmia and xerostomia. Sjögren's syndrome can be present in an idiopathic type or in association with other autoimmune diseases as rheumatoid arthritis, systemic lupus erythematosus, schlerodermia, etc.

From azides to nitrogen-centered radicals: applications of azide radical chemistry to organic synthesis.

Over the last thirty years organic azides have drawn a great deal of attention as radical traps for carbon- and heteroatom-centered radicals, both in intra- and in intermolecular processes. The resulting intermediates (nitrogen-centered radicals such as triazenyls, aminyls, or even iminyls) can be conveniently employed in the synthesis of a variety of cyclic and acyclic nitrogen-containing compounds.

Odontostomatological approach to the pregnant patient.

Pregnancy is a condition characterized by various physiological modifications (placentary and ovarian hormones release) that influence various organic districts, including the oral district. In this review were re-examined the rules about the execution of dental services with the relative indications and contraindications during the different phases of pregnancy, the use of the ionizing radiations and the pharmacologic therapy during pregnancy, considering the metabolic, anatomical haemodinamic modifications to which the gestant is exposed during this condition and considering the various parameters related to it: the pharmacokinetic modifications, the drug toxicity based on its teratogenic potential, indications, side effects and specific effects of drugs administrated, the toxicological aspects of dental amalgams and the use of the local anaesthetics during pregnancy. The authors conclude that pregnancy is not a contraindication for the dental treatment and existing an increase of oral diseases, the woman must be exposed to more frequent controls.

Treatment of hirsutism with myo-inositol: a prospective clinical study.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of myo-inositol treatment in hirsute women; changes in lipid pattern and insulin sensitivity were also considered. Forty-six hirsute women were enrolled at the first Institute of Obstetrics and Gynecology and evaluated at baseline and after receiving myo-inositol therapy for 6 months. Body mass index (BMI), hirsutism, serum concentrations of total cholesterol, high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol, triglycerides, apolipoprotein B, lipoprotein(a), serum adrenal and ovarian androgens, fasting glucose and insulin concentrations were evaluated.

Iminyl radicals from alpha-azido o-iodoanilides via 1,5-H transfer reactions of aryl radicals: new transformation of alpha-azido acids to decarboxylated nitriles.

The radical reaction of tributyltin hydride with o-iodo- N-methylanilides derived from alpha-azido acids provides an excellent access to alpha-(aminocarbonyl)iminyl radicals through 1,5-hydrogen transfer reaction of initially formed aryl radicals followed by beta-elimination of dinitrogen from ensuing alpha-azido-alpha-(aminocarbonyl)alkyl radicals. The outcoming iminyls display a peculiar tendency to form corresponding nitriles by beta-elimination of aminocarbonyl radicals.

The efficacy and safety of a single dose of polyhexamethylene biguanide gynaecologic solution versus a seven-dose regimen of vaginal clindamycin cream in patients with bacterial vaginosis.

Objective: At the present the clinical treatment of choice of bacterial vaginosis (BV) is the use of systemic or local metronidazole or clindamycin. Aim of the study was to evaluate the efficacy and tolerability of a single dose of gynaecologic solution, Polyhexamethylene Biguanide (PHMB), Monogin, in the treatment of BV in comparison to a 7-days treatment with clindamycin vaginal cream.

Study Design: This multicenter, randomized, single-blind, parallel-group study enrolled 740 patients with BV infections.