Exploring machine learning tools in a retrospective case-study of patients with metastatic non-small cell lung cancer treated with first-line immunotherapy: A feasibility single-centre experience.

Background: Artificial intelligence (AI) models are emerging as promising tools to identify predictive features among data coming from health records. Their application in clinical routine is still challenging, due to technical limits and to explainability issues in this specific setting. Response to standard first-line immunotherapy (ICI) in metastatic Non-Small-Cell Lung Cancer (NSCLC) is an interesting population for machine learning (ML), since up to 30% of patients do not benefit.

Sex-related differences in the presentation, management and response to treatment of eosinophilic esophagitis: Cross sectional analysis of EoE CONNECT registry.

Background: Eosinophilic esophagitis (EoE) predominantly affects males across all ages; however, little is known about sex differences for other aspects of EoE.

Objective: To investigate associations between sex and clinical presentation, endoscopic features, treatment choice and response in EoE patients in real-world practice.

Methods: Cross-sectional analysis of the multicenter EoE CONNECT registry.

"Novel chemo-enzymatic synthesis, structural elucidation and first antiprotozoal activity profiling of the atropoisomeric dimers of trans-8-Hydroxycalamenene".

Leishmaniasis and malaria are two debilitating protozoan diseases affecting millions globally, particularly in tropical and subtropical regions. Current therapeutic options face significant challenges due to emerging drug-resistant strains, necessitating the discovery of novel antiprotozoal agents. This study explores, for the first time, the antiprotozoal potential of calamenenes and their dimers, naturally occurring sesquiterpenes found in essential oils, through a novel chemo-enzymatic synthesis approach.

Body composition derangements in lung cancer patients treated with first-line pembrolizumab: A multicentre observational study.

Background: While immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) are increasingly reshaping the therapeutic landscape of non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC), only a limited proportion of patients achieve a relevant and long-lasting benefit with these treatments, calling for the identification of clinical and, ideally modifiable, predictors of efficacy. Body composition phenotypes may reflect aspects of patients' immunology and thereby their ability to respond to ICIs. This study aims to explore the possible association between pre-treatment body composition phenotypes, tumour response, and clinical outcomes in patients receiving first-line pembrolizumab monotherapy for advanced NSCLC.

Assessing a measure for Quality of Life in patients with severe Alopecia Areata: a multicentric Italian study.

Objective: The prevalence of anxiety and depression in patients diagnosed with Alopecia Areata (AA) is very high and this significant burden of psychological symptoms threatens the Health-Related Quality of Life (HRQoL) of affected patients. Indeed, AA often does not produce significant physical symptoms, but it nonetheless disrupts many areas of mental health. Clinical assessment of disease severity may not reliably predict patient's HRQoL, nor may it predict the patient's perception of illness.

Electronic Structure and Surface Chemistry of BaZrS Perovskite Powder and Sputtered Thin Film.

Chalcogenide perovskites exhibit optoelectronic properties that position them as potential materials in the field of photovoltaics. We report a detailed investigation into the electronic structure and chemical properties of polycrystalline BaZrS perovskite powder by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, complemented by an analysis of its long- and short-range geometric structures using X-ray diffraction and X-ray absorption spectroscopy. The results obtained for the powdered BaZrS are compared to similar measurements on a sputtered polycrystalline BaZrS thin film prepared through rapid thermal processing.

Solvation Forces Near Hydrophobic Surfaces: A Classical Density Functional Theory Study.

We use classical density functional theory (DFT) to model solvation interactions between hydrophobic surfaces, which we show to be characterized by depletion attraction at small surface to surface separations and a slowly decaying bipower law interaction at large separations. The solvation interaction originates from van der Waals (vdW) and Coulombic interactions between molecules in the polar solvent, e.g.

Novel SCN5A gene mutation in a patient affected by multifocal ectopic premature Purkinje-related contractions syndrome.

We report the case of a 36-year-old woman who presented to the emergency department complaining of palpitations and asthenia. Investigations showed frequent ventricular ectopy and severe left ventricular ejection fraction impairment. She was diagnosed with a peculiar condition defined multifocal ectopic premature Purkinje-related contractions syndrome, which in some cases can be associated with a dilated cardiomyopathy phenotype.

Biphasic Porous Bijel-Like Structures with Hydrogel Domains as Controlled Drug Delivery Systems.

Bijels are a peculiar type of Pickering emulsion that have a bicontinuous morphology and are stabilised by a jammed layer of nanoparticles (NPs). Due to their double nature, their usage has increased in recent years in various fields, such as biological and food applications. In fact, they can release both hydrophilic and hydrophobic compounds simultaneously.

Composition dependence of X-ray stability and degradation mechanisms at lead halide perovskite single crystal surfaces.

The multiple applications of lead halide perovskite materials and the extensive use of X-ray based techniques to characterize them highlight a need to understand their stability under X-ray irradiation. Here, we present a study where the X-ray stability of five different lead halide perovskite compositions (MAPbI, MAPbCl, MAPbBr, FAPbBr, CsPbBr) was investigated using photoelectron spectroscopy. To exclude effects of thin film formation on the observed degradation behaviors, we studied clean surfaces of single crystals.

Confirmatory validation analysis of the PROFFIT questionnaire to assess financial toxicity in cancer patients.

Background: The Patient Reported Outcome for Fighting FInancial Toxicity (PROFFIT) questionnaire was developed to measure financial toxicity (FT) and identify its determinants. The aim of the present study was to confirm its validity in a prospective cohort of patients receiving anticancer treatment.

Patients And Methods: From March 2021 to July 2022, 221 patients were enrolled at 10 Italian centres.

Systematic review and meta-analysis of immune checkpoint inhibitors as single agent or in combination with chemotherapy in early-stage non-small cell lung cancer: Impact of clinicopathological factors and indirect comparison between treatment strategies.

Background: In non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), the immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICI) revolution is rapidly moving from metastatic to early-stage, however, the impact of clinicopathological variables and optimal treatment sequencing remain unclear.

Methods: Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) in patients with early-stage NSCLC treated with ICI as single agent or in combination with platinum-based chemotherapy (PCT) were included. Primary outcomes were pathological complete response (pCR), event free survival (EFS) (neoadjuvant/perioperative), and disease-free survival (DFS) (adjuvant).

Sex dimorphism and cancer immunotherapy: May pregnancy solve the puzzle?

In the immunoncology era, growing evidence has shown a clear sex dimorphism in antitumor immune response with a potential impact on outcomes upon immunecheckpoint blockade (ICI) in patients with cancer. Sex dimorphism could affect tumor microenvironment composition and systemic anticancer immunity; however, the modifications induced by sex are heterogeneous. From a clinical perspective, six metanalyses have explored the role of sex in cancer patients receiving ICI with conflicting results.

CATCH-UP: A High-Throughput Upstream-Pipeline for Bulk ATAC-Seq and ChIP-Seq Data.

Assay for transposase-accessible chromatin (ATAC) and chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP), coupled with next-generation sequencing (NGS), have revolutionized the study of gene regulation. A lack of standardization in the analysis of the highly dimensional datasets generated by these techniques has made reproducibility difficult to achieve, leading to discrepancies in the published, processed data. Part of this problem is due to the diverse range of bioinformatic tools available for the analysis of these types of data.

MAGNETO: Cell type marker panel generator from single-cell transcriptomic data.

Single-cell RNA sequencing experiments produce data useful to identify different cell types, including uncharacterized and rare ones. This enables us to study the specific functional roles of these cells in different microenvironments and contexts. After identifying a (novel) cell type of interest, it is essential to build succinct marker panels, composed of a few genes referring to cell surface proteins and clusters of differentiation molecules, able to discriminate the desired cells from the other cell populations.

Interface Energy Alignment between Lead Halide Perovskite Single Crystals and TIPS-Pentacene.

At present, there is a huge development in optoelectronic applications using lead halide perovskites. Considering that device performance is largely governed by the transport of charges across interfaces and, therefore, the interfacial electronic structure, fundamental investigations of perovskite interfaces are highly necessary. In this study, we use high-resolution soft X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy based on synchrotron radiation to explore the interfacial energetics for the molecular layer of TIPS-pentacene and lead halide perovskite single crystals.

Pulsed-field ablation of pulmonary vein and left atrial posterior wall combined with left atrial appendage occlusion as single procedure.

Pulmonary vein isolation and left atrial posterior wall ablation using the Farapulse system, followed by left atrial appendage occlusion, have been achieved as single combined procedure to treat long-standing persistent atrial fibrillation in a patient at high hemorrhagic risk.

MLL-AF4 cooperates with PAF1 and FACT to drive high-density enhancer interactions in leukemia.

Aberrant enhancer activation is a key mechanism driving oncogene expression in many cancers. While much is known about the regulation of larger chromosome domains in eukaryotes, the details of enhancer-promoter interactions remain poorly understood. Recent work suggests co-activators like BRD4 and Mediator have little impact on enhancer-promoter interactions.

Flora diversity survey and establishment of a plant DNA barcode database of Lomas ecosystems in Peru.

Lomas formations or "fog oases" are islands of vegetation in the desert belt of the west coast of South America, with a unique vegetation composition among the world's deserts. However, plant diversity and conservation studies have long been neglected, and there exists a severe gap in plant DNA sequence information. To address the lack of DNA information, we conducted field collections and laboratory DNA sequencing to establish a DNA barcode reference library of Lomas plants from Peru.