Comparative Study of Donepezil-Loaded Formulations for the Treatment of Alzheimer's Disease by Nasal Administration.

Alzheimer's disease is characterized by a progressive deterioration of neurons resulting in a steady loss of cognitive functions and memory. Many treatments encounter the challenge of overcoming the blood-brain barrier, thus the intranasal route is a non-invasive effective alternative that enhances the drug delivery in the target organ-the brain-and reduces the side effects associated with systemic administration. This study aimed at developing intranasal gels of donepezil as an approach to Alzheimer's disease.

Deepening the knowledge on the removal of Cr(VI) by L. minuta Kunth: removal efficiency and mechanisms, lipid signaling pathways, antioxidant response, and toxic effects.

Lemna minuta Kunth was used to remove Cr(VI) from aqueous solutions, and some of the mechanisms involved in this process were analyzed. In addition, the cellular signaling mediated by phospholipase D activity as well as antioxidant responses was also evaluated during the process. Cr(VI) removal efficiencies were 40% for 0.

CR(VI) phytoremediation by hairy roots of Brassica napus: assessing efficiency, mechanisms involved, and post-removal toxicity.

Industrial activities such as leather tanning involve the use of highly toxic inorganic pollutants, like Chromium (Cr). This work evaluated Cr(VI) remediation by hairy roots (HR) of Brassica napus, paying close attention to the mechanisms involved and the toxicity of post-removal solutions. Results showed that these roots were capable of tolerating concentrations of up to 10 mg L Cr(VI), while higher concentrations were toxic for HR development.

Laboratory and field microcosms as useful experimental systems to study the bioaugmentation treatment of tannery effluents.

Tannery effluents require effective treatment prior to their final disposal, and the use of native bacterial consortia could be an appropriate strategy for this purpose. In the present work, consortium SFC 500-1 was found to be highly tolerant to different metals, metalloids and aromatic compounds like phenols. It was also able to remove the black dye commonly used in tanneries.

Assessment of cryopreserved donor skin viability: the experience of the regional tissue bank of Siena.

Skin allografts from cadaver donors are an important resource for treating extensive burns, slow-healing wounds and chronic ulcers. A high level of cell viability of cryopreserved allografts is often required, especially in burn surgery, in Italy. Thus, we aimed to determine which conditions enable procurement of highly viable skin in our Regional Skin Bank of Siena.

Influence of Ambient Stressors and Time Constraints on Diagnostic Accuracy of Borderline Pigmented Skin Lesions.

Background: Health professionals are required to make complex decisions in dynamic contexts involving many variables and factors. Decisions are more difficult in the presence of uncertainty, urgency and high risk.

Objective: To evaluate the effect of ambient stressors and time constraints on decision making by expert dermatologists faced with borderline pigmented skin lesions (PSL) (early melanoma vs.

Dermoscopic patterns of cutaneous melanoma metastases.

In 2-8% of patients with melanoma, the first clinical manifestation of the disease may be skin metastasis. In these cases, differential diagnosis with the primary melanoma, benign melanocytic lesions, and other malignant and benign skin growths is particularly challenging. For this reason, the dermatologist's approach to cutaneous metastases of malignant melanoma calls for knowledge of the great morphological variety of these lesions.

Reflectance imaging of the human retina at 810 nm does not suffice to optimize the parameters of hydrodynamic rebalancing laser treatment.

The hydrodynamic rebalancing laser (HRL) procedure is an ophthalmic therapy based on the administration of subthreshold infrared (810 nm) laser light to selected areas on the retina to treat various retina diseases. Heterogeneities of tissue response are observed, including undesired retinal damages. Variations of tissue absorbance were hypothesized to cause this uneven response.

Objective follow-up of atypical melanocytic skin lesions: a retrospective study.

Various authors have suggested that information from longitudinal observation (follow-up) of dynamic changes in atypical melanocytic pigmented skin lesions (MPSL) could enable identification of early malignant melanoma escaping initial observation due to an absence of specific clinical and dermoscopic features. The aim of our retrospective study was to determine the existence of numerical variables regarding changes in MPSL that could be useful to differentiate early melanomas and atypical nevi. The study was carried out in two Italian dermatology Centres.

Dimensional contour stability of acrylic resin bases for complete dentures before and after water sorption.

Purpose: To evaluate the dimensional contour variations of acrylic resin denture bases before and after storage in water.

Materials And Methods: The fit of 40 bases was evaluated by measuring the thickness of a layer made with silicone placed between the bases and the casts. The measurements were repeated on a new set of silicone layers after having stored the bases in water for 42 days.

Melanoma computer-aided diagnosis: reliability and feasibility study.

Background: Differential diagnosis of melanoma from melanocytic nevi is often not straightforward. Thus, a growing interest has developed in the last decade in the automated analysis of digitized images obtained by epiluminescence microscopy techniques to assist clinicians in differentiating early melanoma from benign skin lesions.

Purpose: The aim of this study was to evaluate diagnostic accuracy provided by different statistical classifiers on a large set of pigmented skin lesions grabbed by four digital analyzers located in two different dermatological units.

Diagnostic and neural analysis of skin cancer (DANAOS). A multicentre study for collection and computer-aided analysis of data from pigmented skin lesions using digital dermoscopy.

Background: Early detection of melanomas by means of diverse screening campaigns is an important step towards a reduction in mortality. Computer-aided analysis of digital images obtained by dermoscopy has been reported to be an accurate, practical and time-saving tool for the evaluation of pigmented skin lesions (PSLs). A prototype for the computer-aided diagnosis of PSLs using artificial neural networks (NNs) has recently been developed: diagnostic and neural analysis of skin cancer (DANAOS).

Dermoscopy of pigmented skin lesions: results of a consensus meeting via the Internet.

Background: There is a need for better standardization of the dermoscopic terminology in assessing pigmented skin lesions.

Objective: The virtual Consensus Net Meeting on Dermoscopy was organized to investigate reproducibility and validity of the various features and diagnostic algorithms.

Methods: Dermoscopic images of 108 lesions were evaluated via the Internet by 40 experienced dermoscopists using a 2-step diagnostic procedure.

The 'common mole' from the point of view of digital dermoscopy analysis: subjective vs. objective evaluation of easy pigmented skin lesions.

Background: The term 'common mole', often used to describe a subset of benign pigmented skin lesions, is traditionally defined on the basis of morpho-chromatic features. In recent years, certain research groups have developed equipment and methods, such as digital dermoscopy analysis, that enable objective evaluation of pigmented skin lesions.

Objective: In this study we use a digital dermoscopy analyser trained for the recognition of pigmented skin lesions to compare the subjective definition of 'common' and the mathematical concept of 'close to the mean of measurements'.

Skin allograft in the treatment of toxic epidermal necrolysis (TEN).

Background: TEN is a severe form of exfoliative dermatitis. Its course is acute and its outcome fatal in 40% of cases. Wound cover to prevent fluid/protein loss and infections and to control pain, is the first step, as for burns.

Automated diagnosis of pigmented skin lesions.

Since advanced melanoma remains practically incurable, early detection is an important step toward a reduction in mortality. High expectations are entertained for a technique known as dermoscopy or epiluminescence light microscopy; however, evaluation of pigmented skin lesions by this method is often extremely complex and subjective. To obviate the problem of qualitative interpretation, methods based on mathematical analysis of pigmented skin lesions, such as digital dermoscopy analysis, have been developed.

Digital dermoscopy analysis and artificial neural network for the differentiation of clinically atypical pigmented skin lesions: a retrospective study.

Noninvasive diagnostic methods such as dermoscopy or epiluminescence light microscopy have been developed in an attempt to improve diagnostic accuracy of pigmented skin lesions. The evaluation of the many morphologic characteristics of pigmented skin lesions observable by epiluminescence light microscopy, however, is often extremely complex and subjective. With the aim of obviating these problems of qualitative interpretation, methods based on mathematical analysis of pigmented skin lesions have recently been designed.

Corpus callosum agenesis, multiple cysts, skin defects, and subtle ocular abnormalities with a de novo mutation [45,XX,der(5), t(5;;14) (pter;q11.2)].

We report on a 2-year-old girl with a de novo mutation [45,XX,der(5),t(5;14) (pter;q11.2)] with corpus callosum agenesis, multiple cysts (cerebral and cardiac), subtle eye abnormalities, and at least two different skin defects, strongly indicating neuroectodermal involvement, as a neuromuscular choristoma (hamartoma) and an eccrine hamartoma. Fluorescent in situ hybridization with different single-locus probes showed that chromosome 5 has a very small deletion, confined to a region composed of repetitive sequences.

Differentiation between pigmented Spitz naevus and melanoma by digital dermoscopy and stepwise logistic discriminant analysis.

Epiluminescence light microscopy (ELM) has proven useful in the diagnosis of pigmented skin lesions (PSLs). However, in some cases this technique does not sufficiently increase the diagnostic accuracy in distinguishing pigmented Spitz naevi (PSNs) from melanoma. With the aim of obviating these problems of qualitative interpretation, methods based on the mathematical analysis of PSLs, such as digital dermoscopy analysis (DDA), have recently been developed.

Detection of telomerase activity and correlation with mitotic and apoptotic indices, Ki-67 and expression of cyclins D1 and A in cutaneous melanoma.

Telomerase plays a key role in carcinogenesis. It is activated in most immortal cell lines and human cancers, including cutaneous melanoma (CM). Increased cell proliferation and deregulation of the cell cycle occur in human cancers.

Digital dermoscopy analysis for the differentiation of atypical nevi and early melanoma: a new quantitative semiology.

Objectives: To use a digital dermoscopy analyzer with a series of "borderline" pigmentary skin lesions (ie, clinically atypical nevi and early melanoma) to find correlation between the studied variables and to determine their discriminating power with respect to histological diagnosis.

Design: A total of 147 pigmentary skin lesions were histologically examined by 3 experienced dermatopathologists and identified as nevi (n = 90) and melanomas (n = 57). The system evaluated 36 variables to be studied as possible discriminant variables, grouped into 4 categories: geometries, colors, textures, and islands of color.