The Oncocytic Variant of Poorly Differentiated Thyroid Carcinoma Shows a Specific Immune-Related Gene Expression Profile.

Background: Poorly differentiated thyroid cancer (PDTC) is a rare, follicular cell-derived neoplasm with an unfavorable prognosis. The oncocytic variant of PDTC may be associated with even more adverse outcome than classical PDTC cases, but its specific molecular features are largely unknown. Our aim was to explore the immune-related gene expression profile of oncocytic and classical PDTC, in correlation with clinical and pathological characteristics (including programmed death ligand 1 [PD-L1] expression) and outcome, and in comparison with a control group of well-differentiated follicular carcinomas (WDFCs), including conventional follicular carcinomas (FTCs) and Hürthle cell carcinomas (HCCs).

A ligand-based system for receptor-specific delivery of proteins.

Gene delivery using vector or viral-based methods is often limited by technical and safety barriers. A promising alternative that circumvents these shortcomings is the direct delivery of proteins into cells. Here we introduce a non-viral, ligand-mediated protein delivery system capable of selectively targeting primary skin cells in-vivo.

Ergot Alkaloids in Wheat and Rye Derived Products in Italy.

Genus is a plant pathogen able to produce a group of toxins, ergot alkaloids (EAs), whose effects have been known since the Middle Ages (ergotism). is the most important representative specie, known to infect more than 400 monocotyledonous plants including economically important cereal grains (e.g.

Questionnaire on Attitude towards Research and Care (QuARC): a survey of patients with psychosis.

The patients' appraisal, satisfaction and attitude toward research is crucial to obtain reliable information, in psychiatry frequently not objective. We operationalised the information derived from studies on satisfaction and attitude towards research and developed a standardized measure, whose internal consistency and factor structure was investigated. The Questionnaire on Attitude towards Research and health Care (QuARC) is a 10-item self-report scale, administered to 116 patients with psychotic disorders participating in research protocols.

Prognostic Characterization of Higher-Grade Meningiomas: A Histopathological Score to Predict Progression and Outcome.

Higher-grade meningiomas (WHO grade II and III) represent a diagnostic and prognostic challenge. We assessed the pathological and molecular characteristics of 94 higher-grade meningiomas (85 grade II, 9 grade III) to identify novel prognostic parameters. Higher mitotic count (p = 0.

[TNM Classification of malignant tumours - Eighth edition: which news?].

The eighth edition of TNM classification of malignant tumours has been published by the Union for International Cancer Control in January 2017. As for the previous editions - from the third on - it has been translated into Italian and recently published in our Country. This article explains the main changes from the previous edition: new classifications, some major revisions of cancer staging rules, the introduction of a grid of prognostic factors for each neoplasia and the addition of two chapters.

Is Ovarian Cancer Being Managed According to Clinical Guidelines? Evidence From a Population-Based Clinical Audit.

Background: In the northwestern Italian region of Piedmont, current statistics on hospitalizations show that surgical treatment for ovarian cancer (OC) is taking place in many small hospitals, as opposed to a more centralized approach. A population-based clinical audit was promoted to investigate whether OC is being managed according to clinical guidelines, identify determinants of lack of adherence to guidelines, and evaluate the association between adherence to guidelines and survival.

Patients And Methods: Residents diagnosed with OC in 2009 were identified in the regional hospital discharge records database.

Human mesangial cells resist glycoxidative stress through an antioxidant response.

The generation of advanced glycation end-products (AGE), the interaction with their receptors, the generation of reactive oxygen species, and the modulation of intracellular redox equilibrium are believed to be the main factors causing alterations of mesangial cell physiology leading to diabetic nephropathy. Normal human primary mesangial cells were exposed to glycoxidative stress by culture in high glucose (HG) or treatment with AGE for up to 6 days. In both cases only a moderate generation of reactive oxygen species and production of HNE-protein adducts were induced while protein nitrotyrosination was not affected.

[TNM classification of malignant tumours, VII edition 2009. Changes and practical effects on cancer epidemiology].

The seventh edition of TNM classification of malignant tumours has been published by the International Union against Cancer in late 2009 and it is now available also in Italian language. This new edition introduces some major revisions and several updates of cancer staging rules. New criteria based on pathological details, biological assessment of lesions and new prognostic groupings have been established.

Cancer incidence in people with AIDS in Italy.

People with HIV/AIDS (PWHA) have increased risk of some cancers. The introduction of highly active antiretroviral therapies (HAART) has improved their life expectancy, exposing them to the combined consequences of aging and of a prolonged exposure to cancer risk factors. The aim of this study was to estimate incidence rates (IR) in PWHA in Italy, before and after the introduction of HAART, after adjusting for sex and age through direct standardization.

Whey proteins influence hepatic glutathione after CCl4 intoxication.

Whey proteins (WP) are known to contain more cysteine than casein (CAS), so it is suggested that they should ameliorate the oxidative equilibrium in the organisms. To evaluate the influence of a WP-based diet on liver glutathione (GSH) content, male Sprague-Dawley rats were fed for 3 weeks a balanced liquid diet containing either WP or CAS as main source of protein. Liver GSH content was evaluated at the end of the treatment by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), both in basal conditions and after oxidative stress induced by CCl4 acute intoxication.

Misclassification of breast cancer as cause of death in a service screening area.

Objective: The aim of this study was to assess the misclassification of cause of death for breast cancer cases, and to evaluate the differential misclassification between cases detected in an organized screening program and cases found in current clinical practice.

Methods: All deaths occurring between 1999 and 2002 within breast cancer cases were linked to hospital discharge records. Death certificates and latest available hospital discharge notes were classified into various categories.

GSH loss per se does not affect neuroblastoma survival and is not genotoxic.

Depletion of glutathione (GSH) by buthionine sulfoximine (BSO) has been reported to be toxic against some cancer cells and to sensitize many tumours including neuroblastoma (NB) to anticancer drugs. The balance between the production rate of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and the function of GSH affects the intracellular reduction-oxidation status, which is crucial for the regulation of several cellular physiological functions. To assess the role of glutathione in neuroblastoma therapy, the effect of sublethal concentrations of BSO was studied in a panel of neuroblastoma cell lines characterized by different MYCN status.

Mechanisms of BSO (L-buthionine-S,R-sulfoximine)-induced cytotoxic effects in neuroblastoma.

Glutathione (GSH) depletion is widely used to sensitize cells to anticancer treatment inducing the progression of programmed cell death and overcoming chemoresistance. It has been reported that neuroblastoma cells with MYCN amplification are unable to start TRAIL-dependent death and MYCN, in concert with cytotoxic drugs, efficiently induces the mitochondrial pathway of apoptosis through oxidative mechanisms. In this study, we show that GSH loss induced by L-buthionine-S,R-sulfoximine (BSO), an inhibitor of GSH biosynthesis, leads to overproduction of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and triggers apoptosis of MYCN-amplified neuroblastoma cells.

Oxidative stress and antioxidant defence in a healthy nonagenarian population.

Results on oxidative markers during ageing are not consistent throughout the scientific literature; however, successful ageing may depend on better ability to cope with oxidative stress. A previous study of ours showed that successful ageing could actually be related to enhanced response to oxidatively modified proteins. In this study, a healthy nonagenarian population (OVER-90) was examined for various blood oxidative biomarkers and compared with a healthy population of blood donors (age range, 23-66 years).

Heme oxygenase 1 expression in rat liver during ageing and ethanol intoxication.

Heme oxygenase 1 (HO-1) expression is recognized as a marker of cellular response to oxidative stress; since ageing is believed to be related to oxidative "wear and tear", HO-1 may represent a candidate biomarker of ageing. In our study, the hepatic expression of HO-1 mRNA, evaluated by RT-PCR in 2.5-24 month-old rats, was higher at 6 months than at 2.

The increased activity of BACE1 correlates with oxidative stress in Alzheimer's disease.

We evaluated expression, protein levels and activity of the Beta-site cleaving enzyme (BACE1) as well as the amount of products of lipid peroxidation in frontal cortex of three groups of cases: sporadic Alzheimer's disease (AD); control subjects (CTR); cognitively normal subjects with abundant amyloid plaques (NA). We found a significant increase of BACE1 activity and products of lipid peroxidation in brain tissue of AD cases, with normal gene expression, and non-significant elevation of protein levels. CTR and NA samples showed similar levels of BACE1 activity and oxidative products.

HNE-dependent molecular damage in diabetic nephropathy and its possible prevention by N-acetyl-cysteine and oxerutin.

Accumulation of Advanced Lipoxidation End-products (ALE), such as MDA- and HNE-protein adducts, and Advanced Glycation End-products, such as carboxymethyl-lysine (CML), are probably involved in the development of diabetic nephropathy. In this study the effect of some antioxidant treatments (oxerutin, N-acetylcysteine, taurine and N-acetylcysteine+taurine) on kidney lipoxidative damage has been evaluated by immunohistochemistry in streptozotocined rats. Diabetic rats showed marked glomerular positivity for ALE, while the samples from Control rats were negative.

Early diagnosis, not differential treatment, explains better survival in service screening.

Italian population-based breast cancer screening programmes with 2-year, high-quality mammography started in the cities of Florence and Turin in the early 1990s. Breast cancer cases from the local Tumour Registry were classified by method of detection and tumour characteristics (size, nodal-status and grade). Follow-up was at December 2001.

Supplementation with N-acetylcysteine and taurine failed to restore glutathione content in liver of streptozotocin-induced diabetics rats but protected from oxidative stress.

Rats were rendered diabetic with streptozotocin and supplemented or not with N-acetylcysteine (NAC) and taurine (TAU). The liver was examined for the quantity of glutathione (GSH), both total and oxidised (GSSG), by HPLC assay. Moreover, the liver expression of gamma-glutamyl-cysteine synthetase, cysteine dioxygenase and heme oxygenase 1 was evaluated.

Screen-detected vs clinical breast cancer: the advantage in the relative risk of lymph node metastases decreases with increasing tumour size.

Screen-detected (SD) breast cancers are smaller and biologically more indolent than clinically presenting cancers. An often debated question is: if left undiagnosed during their preclinical phase, would they become more aggressive or would they only increase in size? This study considered a registry-based series (1988-1999) of 3329 unifocal, pT1a-pT3 breast cancer cases aged 50-70 years, of which 994 were SD cases and 2335 clinical cases. The rationale was that (1) the average risk of lymph node involvement (N+) is lower for SD cases, (2) nodal status is the product of biological aggressiveness and chronological age of the disease, (3) for any breast cancer, tumour size is an indicator of chronological age, and (4) for SD cases, tumour size is specifically an indicator of the duration of the preclinical phase, that is, an inverse indicator of lead time.

Classic Kaposi's sarcoma in Italy, 1985-1998.

To evaluate incidence rates (IRs) of classic Kaposi's sarcoma (CKS) in Italy after the spread of AIDS, we distinguished CKS from AIDS-related KS (AKS) using an 'ad hoc' record linkage procedure between 15 Cancer Registries (CRs) (21% of the Italian population) and the national AIDS Registry. Between 1985 and 1998, 874 cases of CKS and 634 cases of AKS were diagnosed in the study areas. CKS accounted for 16 and 27% of KS cases below 55 years of age in men and women, respectively, but for 91 and 100% of those above age 55.

Malondialdehyde, a lipoperoxidation-derived aldehyde, can bring about secondary oxidative damage to proteins.

Lipoperoxidation-derived aldehydes, for example malondialdehyde (MDA), can damage proteins by generating covalent adducts whose accumulation probably participates in tissue damage during aging. However, the mechanisms of adduct formation and their stability are scarcely known. This article investigates whether oxidative steps are involved in the process.