Possible cytokine biomarkers in pediatric acute appendicitis.

Background: Diagnosis of acute appendicitis (AA) and decisions about its treatment remain among the most common dilemmas of pediatric surgical teams. Monitoring of immune response may be of importance for this purpose. Our aim was to measure and analyze serum and peritoneal fluid cytokines, in children who had undergone surgery for suspected AA.

Efficacy and safety of long-acting pasireotide or everolimus alone or in combination in patients with advanced carcinoids of the lung and thymus (LUNA): an open-label, multicentre, randomised, phase 2 trial.

Background: There are no data from prospective studies focused exclusively on patients with advanced lung and thymic carcinoids. We aimed to assess the efficacy and safety of long-acting pasireotide and everolimus, administered alone or in combination, in patients with advanced carcinoids of the lung or thymus.

Methods: LUNA was a prospective, multicentre, randomised, open-label, phase 2 trial of adult patients (aged >18 years) with advanced (unresectable or metastatic), well differentiated carcinoid tumours of the lung or thymus, with radiological progression within 12 months before randomisation, and a WHO performance status of 0-2.