Methylation levels of the "long interspersed nucleotide element-1" repetitive sequences predict survival of melanoma patients.

Background: The prognosis of cutaneous melanoma (CM) differs for patients with identical clinico-pathological stage, and no molecular markers discriminating the prognosis of stage III individuals have been established. Genome-wide alterations in DNA methylation are a common event in cancer. This study aimed to define the prognostic value of genomic DNA methylation levels in stage III CM patients.

Renormalization-group computation of the critical exponents of hierarchical spin glasses: large-scale behavior and divergence of the correlation length.

In a recent work [M. Castellana and G. Parisi, Phys.

Transarterial chemoembolization in very early and early-stage hepatocellular carcinoma patients excluded from curative treatment: a prospective cohort study.

Aim: To assess clinical outcome of transarterial chemoembolization (TACE) in a series of patients with early-stage hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), within Milan criteria, but clinically unfit for liver transplantation (OLT).

Methods: From January 2006 to May 2009, 67 patients (43 males, mean age 70 ± 7.6 years) with very early or early-stage unresectable HCC, within Milan selection criteria but clinically unfit for OLT, underwent TACE.

The biology of cancer testis antigens: putative function, regulation and therapeutic potential.

Cancer testis antigens (CTA) are a large family of tumor-associated antigens expressed in human tumors of different histological origin, but not in normal tissues except for testis and placenta. This tumor-restricted pattern of expression, together with their strong in vivo immunogenicity, identified CTA as ideal targets for tumor-specific immunotherapeutic approaches, and prompted the development of several clinical trials of CTA-based vaccine therapy. Driven by this practical clinical interest, a more detailed characterization of CTA biology has been recently undertaken.

Trans-Chalcone prevents VEGF expression and retinal neovascularization in the ischemic retina.

Retinal neovascularization (RNV) is a critical pathological event and a major cause of blindness. Vascular inflammation and oxidative stress have been shown to play a key role in the induction and progression of RNV. Trans-Chalcone-derived flavonoids have been previously shown to be negative modulators of oxidative stress and inflammatory responses as well as tumor angiogenesis.

Gastric dysmotility after liquid bolus ingestion in systemic sclerosis: an ultrasonographic study.

Gastric involvement appears quite commonly in systemic sclerosis (SSc). The aim of this study was to evaluate gastric wall motility using ultrasonography, a noninvasive method able to track both filling and emptying of fundus and antrum. The study was performed in 20 SSc patients and 20 healthy control subjects.

Static versus dynamic heterogeneities in the D = 3 Edwards-Anderson-Ising spin glass.

We numerically study the aging properties of the dynamical heterogeneities in the Ising spin glass. We find that a phase transition takes place during the aging process. Statics-dynamics correspondence implies that systems of finite size in equilibrium have static heterogeneities that obey finite-size scaling, thus signaling an analogous phase transition in the thermodynamical limit.

Renormalization group computation of the critical exponents of hierarchical spin glasses.

The large scale behavior of the simplest non-mean-field spin-glass system is analyzed, and the critical exponent related to the divergence of the correlation length is computed at two loops within the ε-expansion technique with two independent methods. The techniques presented show how the underlying ideas of the renormalization group apply also in this disordered model, in such a way that an ε-expansion can be consistently set up. By pushing such calculation to high orders in ε, a consistent non-mean-field theory for such disordered system could be established, giving a substantial contribution the development of a predictive theory for real spin glasses.

Mutations in two putative phosphorylation motifs in the tomato pollen receptor kinase LePRK2 show antagonistic effects on pollen tube length.

The tip-growing pollen tube is a useful model for studying polarized cell growth in plants. We previously characterized LePRK2, a pollen-specific receptor-like kinase from tomato (1). Here, we showed that LePRK2 is present as multiple phosphorylated isoforms in mature pollen membranes.

Characterization of a nitric oxide synthase from the plant kingdom: NO generation from the green alga Ostreococcus tauri is light irradiance and growth phase dependent.

The search for a nitric oxide synthase (NOS) sequence in the plant kingdom yielded two sequences from the recently published genomes of two green algae species of the Ostreococcus genus, O. tauri and O. lucimarinus.

PCDB: a database of protein conformational diversity.

PCDB (http://www.pcdb.unq.

Endotics system vs colonoscopy for the detection of polyps.

Aim: To compare the endotics system (ES), a set of new medical equipment for diagnostic colonoscopy, with video-colonoscopy in the detection of polyps.

Methods: Patients with clinical or familial risk of colonic polyps/carcinomas were eligible for this study. After a standard colonic cleaning, detection of polyps by the ES and by video-colonoscopy was performed in each patient on the same day.

Phase-separation perspective on dynamic heterogeneities in glass-forming liquids.

We study dynamic heterogeneities in a model glass former whose overlap with a reference configuration is constrained to a fixed value. We find that the system phase separates into regions of small and large overlap, indicating that a nonzero surface tension plays an important role in the formation of dynamical heterogeneities. We calculate an appropriate thermodynamic potential and find evidence of a Maxwell construction consistent with a spinodal decomposition of two phases.

Scale-free correlations in starling flocks.

From bird flocks to fish schools, animal groups often seem to react to environmental perturbations as if of one mind. Most studies in collective animal behavior have aimed to understand how a globally ordered state may emerge from simple behavioral rules. Less effort has been devoted to understanding the origin of collective response, namely the way the group as a whole reacts to its environment.

Epigenetics of human cutaneous melanoma: setting the stage for new therapeutic strategies.

Cutaneous melanoma is a very aggressive neoplasia of melanocytic origin with constantly growing incidence and mortality rates world-wide. Epigenetic modifications (i.e.

Computational approaches for protein function prediction: a combined strategy from multiple sequence alignment to molecular docking-based virtual screening.

The functional characterization of proteins represents a daily challenge for biochemical, medical and computational sciences. Although finally proved on the bench, the function of a protein can be successfully predicted by computational approaches that drive the further experimental assays. Current methods for comparative modeling allow the construction of accurate 3D models for proteins of unknown structure, provided that a crystal structure of a homologous protein is available.

Hierarchical random energy model of a spin glass.

We introduce a random energy model on a hierarchical lattice where the interaction strength between variables is a decreasing function of their mutual hierarchical distance, making it a non-mean-field model. Through small coupling series expansion and a direct numerical solution of the model, we provide evidence for a spin-glass condensation transition similar to the one occurring in the usual mean-field random energy model. At variance with the mean field, the high temperature branch of the free-energy is nonanalytic at the transition point.

Ising spin-glass transition in a magnetic field outside the limit of validity of mean-field theory.

The spin-glass transition in a magnetic field is studied both in and out of the limit of validity of mean-field theory on a diluted one dimensional chain of Ising spins where exchange bonds occur with a probability decaying as the inverse power of the distance. Varying the power in this long-range model corresponds, in a one-to-one relationship, to changing the dimension in spin-glass short-range models. Evidence for a spin-glass transition in a magnetic field is found also for systems whose equivalent dimension is below the upper critical dimension in a zero magnetic field.

Epidermal growth factor receptor overexpressed malignant fibrous histiocytoma associated with recurrent meningothelial meningioma.

A 71-year-old woman presented with a rare case of malignant fibrous histiocytoma (MFH) associated with recurrent meningothelial meningioma. The neuroimaging findings were consistent with a diagnosis of recurrent meningioma. Surgical removal was performed.

Therapeutic options for breast cancer treatment in patients previously irradiated for Hodgkin's disease: radical mastectomy or conservative surgery followed by reirradiation?

Patients undergoing radiotherapy for the treatment of Hodgkin' disease (HD) occurred at young age present a higher risk to develop second cancer compared to general population. Among the possible second tumours, breast cancer is the most frequent and the age at presentation is younger than the "classic" form. Patients at risk for second cancer undergo a strict follow-up permitting often to diagnose breast cancer at early stages (I-II).

Structure of correlations in three dimensional spin glasses.

We investigate the low temperature phase of the three dimensional Edward-Anderson model with Bernoulli random couplings. We show that, at a fixed value Q of the overlap, the model fulfills the clustering property: The connected correlation functions between two local overlaps have power law decay. Our findings are in agreement with the replica symmetry breaking theory and show that the overlap is a good order parameter.

Development and validation of a new questionnaire for the evaluation of upper gastrointestinal symptoms in the elderly population: a multicenter study.

Background: Several diagnostic questionnaires for evaluating upper gastrointestinal symptoms have been described; none of these, however, has been validated in older individuals. Objectives To develop and validate a diagnostic tool for evaluating upper gastrointestinal symptoms in older patients.

Methods: A cohort of 206 older patients who underwent a upper gastrointestinal endoscopy (development cohort) was used for developing a 15-item upper gastrointestinal symptom questionnaire for the elderly population (UGISQUE), including five symptom clusters: (a) abdominal pain syndrome, (b) reflux syndrome, (c) indigestion syndrome, (d) bleeding, and (e) nonspecific symptoms.

Theory of amorphous packings of binary mixtures of hard spheres.

We extend our theory of amorphous packings of hard spheres to binary mixtures and more generally to multicomponent systems. The theory is based on the assumption that amorphous packings produced by typical experimental or numerical protocols can be identified with the infinite pressure limit of long-lived metastable glassy states. We test this assumption against numerical and experimental data and show that the theory correctly reproduces the variation with mixture composition of structural observables, such as the total packing fraction and the partial coordination numbers.

Epidemic multidrug-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii related to European clonal types I and II in Rome (Italy).

The molecular epidemiology and the genetic basis of antibiotic resistance in 88 multidrug-resistant (MDR) Acinetobacter baumannii strains isolated during 18 months from infected patients in seven intensive care units (ICUs) in Rome were investigated. Random amplified polymorphic DNA and macrorestriction analysis identified two predominant clonal types, genetically related to the European epidemic clones I (type 2) and II (type 1), accounting for 98.9% of A.