Ferritin nanoconjugates guide trastuzumab brain delivery to promote an antitumor response in murine HER2 + breast cancer brain metastasis.

Brain metastasis (BM) represents a clinical challenge for patients with advanced HER2 + breast cancer (BC). The monoclonal anti-HER2 antibody trastuzumab (TZ) improves survival of BC patients, but it has low central nervous system penetrance, being ineffective in treating BM. Previous studies showed that ferritin nanoparticles (HFn) may cross the blood brain barrier (BBB) through binding to the transferrin receptor 1 (TfR1).

Case Report: Ileo-Ileal Intussusception Secondary to Inflammatory Fibroid Polyp: A Rare Cause of Intestinal Obstruction.

Introduction: Intussusception is a telescoping of a bowel segment into another and it can be a surgical urgency. Most adult intussusceptions arise from a lead point which can be benign or malignant. For this reason, intussusception in adults should undergo surgery.

Neuroinflammation, body temperature and behavioural changes in CD1 male mice undergoing acute restraint stress: An exploratory study.

Background: Animal models used to study pathologies requiring rehabilitation therapy, such as cardiovascular and neurologic disorders or oncologic disease, must be as refined and translationally relevant as possible. Sometimes, however, experimental procedures such as those involving restraint may generate undesired effects which may act as a source of bias. However, the extent to which potentially confounding effects derive from such routine procedures is currently unknown.

SARS-CoV-2 in the knee joint: a cadaver study.

Objectives: Despite the considerable research efforts being made to learn more about COVID-19, little is known about the presence of SARS-CoV-2 genetic material in biological fluids other than respiratory droplets, blood, and feces. The aim of this post-mortem study was to assess the presence of SARS-CoV-2 RNA in the knee synovial fluid, synovial tissue, and bone tissue of COVID-19 patients in order to discover whether the joint is a possible route of transmission during orthopaedic surgical procedures, and clarify the possible role of SARS-CoV-2 as a directly arthritogenic virus.

Methods: Post-mortem synovial fluid, synovial tissue and bone tissue samples were collected from the knees of five patients who died of COVID-19 in our hospital between September and October 2020, and analysed for the presence of SARS-CoV-2 using a commercial real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) panel.

Atypical primary hyperparathyroidism due to parathyroid lipoadenoma: a case report.

Parathyroid lipoadenoma is a very rare cause of primary hyperparathyroidism. Preoperative imaging techniques often fail to detect such lesions, and even during surgery they can be misinterpreted just as fat tissue. A 62-year-old woman clinically monitored for primary hyperparathyroidism, with hypertension and a left nephrectomy for hydrouretheronephrosis caused by recurrent kidney stones.

Thyroid metastasis from adenoid cystic carcinoma of the lung: a case report and literature review.

Both adenoid cystic carcinoma (ACC) and thyroid metastasis are quite peculiar clinical presentations. ACC is a malignant salivary gland-type tumour mostly found in the head and neck district, but that can arise from different organs. Due to its rarity, it can pose problems in the diagnostic and therapeutic management.

Anti-MAdCAM-1-Conjugated Nanocarriers Delivering Quantum Dots Enable Specific Imaging of Inflammatory Bowel Disease.

Purpose: Assessment of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) currently relies on aspecific clinical signs of bowel inflammation. Specific imaging of the diseased bowel regions is still lacking. Here, we investigate mucosal addressin cell adhesion molecule 1 (MAdCAM-1) as a reliable and specific endothelial target for engineered nanoparticles delivering imaging agents to obtain an exact mapping of diseased bowel foci.

Liver histopathology in severe COVID 19 respiratory failure is suggestive of vascular alterations.

SARS2-CoV-2 breakout in Italy caused a huge number of severely ill patients with a serious increase in mortality. Although lungs seem to be the main target of the infection, very few information are available about liver involvement, possibly evocating a systemic disease. Post-mortem wedge liver biopsies from 48 patients died from severe pulmonary COVID-19 disease with respiratory failure were collected from two main hospitals in northern Italy.

Co-administration of H-ferritin-doxorubicin and Trastuzumab in neoadjuvant setting improves efficacy and prevents cardiotoxicity in HER2 + murine breast cancer model.

Neoadjuvant chemotherapy has been established as the standard of care for HER2-positive breast cancer since it allows cancer down-staging, up to pathological complete response. The standard of care in the neoadjuvant setting for HER2-positive breast cancer is a combination of highly cytotoxic drugs such as anthracyclines and the anti-HER2 monoclonal antibody. Despite this cocktail allows a pathological complete response in up to 50%, their co-administration is strongly limited by intrinsic cardiotoxicity.

Pulmonary post-mortem findings in a series of COVID-19 cases from northern Italy: a two-centre descriptive study.

Background: COVID-19 is characterised by respiratory symptoms, which deteriorate into respiratory failure in a substantial proportion of cases, requiring intensive care in up to a third of patients admitted to hospital. Analysis of the pathological features in the lung tissues of patients who have died with COVID-19 could help us to understand the disease pathogenesis and clinical outcomes.

Methods: We systematically analysed lung tissue samples from 38 patients who died from COVID-19 in two hospitals in northern Italy between Feb 29 and March 24, 2020.

Clinical relevance of the left brachiocephalic vein anatomy for vascular access in dialysis patients.

Introduction: Most hemodialysis patients start renal replacement therapy with a central venous catheter (CVC). The left internal jugular vein (LIJV) is the second-choice vein for CVC positioning, after the right IJV. However, to reach the right atrium, the CVC must pass through the left brachiocephalic vein (LBV), which also drains blood from the left arm through the subclavian vein.

Impaired testicular signaling of vitamin A and vitamin K contributes to the aberrant composition of the extracellular matrix in idiopathic germ cell aplasia.

Objective: To study pathogenic features of the somatic testicular microenvironment associated with idiopathic germ cell aplasia.

Design: Cross-sectional study.

Setting: Tertiary referral center for reproductive medicine.

Leiomyomatosis peritonealis disseminata: A case report of recurrent presentation and literature review.

Introduction: Leiomyomatosis peritonealis disseminata (LPD) is an uncommon disease featured by the presence of multiple nodules of smooth muscle cells scattered in the abdominal cavity. To date only about 150 cases have been reported in literature. We report a case of recurrent LPD after laparotomy.

Inhibition of Fibroblast Activation Protein Restores a Balanced Extracellular Matrix and Reduces Fibrosis in Crohn's Disease Strictures Ex Vivo.

Background: Crohn's disease (CD) is a chronic bowel inflammation that ultimately leads to fibrosis, for which medical therapy is currently unavailable. Fibrotic strictures in CD are characterized by excessive extracellular matrix (ECM) deposition, altered balance between matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) and their tissue inhibitors (TIMPs), and overexpression of fibroblast activation protein (FAP), a marker of active fibroblasts. Here we investigated the role of FAP-targeted therapy in ECM remodeling in CD strictures ex vivo.

Anti-Mullerian Hormone-to-Testosterone Ratio is Predictive of Positive Sperm Retrieval in Men with Idiopathic Non-Obstructive Azoospermia.

The lack of clinically-reliable biomarkers makes impossible to predict sperm retrieval outcomes at testicular sperm extraction (TESE) in men with non-obstructive azoospermia (NOA), resulting in up to 50% of unnecessary surgical interventions. Clinical data, hormonal profile and histological classification of testis parenchyma from 47 white-Caucasian idiopathic NOA (iNOA) men submitted to microdissection TESE (microTESE) were analyzed. Logistic regression analyses tested potential clinical predictors of positive sperm retrieval.

Remitting infections due to community-acquired Panton-Valentine leukocidin-producing Staphylococcus aureus in the Milan area.

One of the most important Staphylococcus aureus virulence factors is Panton-Valentine leukocidin (PVL). We describe an outbreak of recurrent cutaneous PVL infections in different members of three family clusters. Molecular investigations were performed to confirm the presence of the mecA and PVL genes and to assign the SCCmec type, sequence type (ST) and clonal relatedness.

Nano-targeting of mucosal addressin cell adhesion molecule-1 identifies bowel inflammation foci in murine model.

Aim: We investigate MAdCAM-1 as a reliable target to detect active bowel inflammation for selective noninvasive nanodiagnostics.

Materials & Methods: We coupled anti-MAdCAM-1 antibodies to manganese oxide nanoparticles, and analyzed nanoconjugate biodistribution and safety in murine model of inflammatory bowel disease by imaging and histology.

Results: Nanoparticles were stable and nontoxic.

Linearized texture of three-dimensional extracellular matrix is mandatory for bladder cancer cell invasion.

In the fields of biomaterials and tissue engineering simulating the native microenvironment is of utmost importance. As a major component of the microenvironment, the extracellular matrix (ECM) contributes to tissue homeostasis, whereas modifications of native features are associated with pathological conditions. Furthermore, three-dimensional (3D) geometry is an important feature of synthetic scaffolds favoring cell stemness, maintenance and differentiation.

Insight On Colorectal Carcinoma Infiltration by Studying Perilesional Extracellular Matrix.

The extracellular matrix (ECM) from perilesional and colorectal carcinoma (CRC), but not healthy colon, sustains proliferation and invasion of tumor cells. We investigated the biochemical and physical diversity of ECM in pair-wised comparisons of healthy, perilesional and CRC specimens. Progressive linearization and degree of organization of fibrils was observed from healthy to perilesional and CRC ECM, and was associated with a steady increase of stiffness and collagen crosslinking.

A geometric approach to aortic root surgical anatomy.

Objectives: The aim of this study was the analysis of the geometrical relationships between the different structures constituting the aortic root, with particular attention to interleaflet triangles, haemodynamic ventriculo-arterial junction and functional aortic annulus in normal subjects.

Methods: Sixteen formol-fixed human hearts with normal aortic roots were studied. The aortic root was isolated, sectioned at the midpoint of the non-coronary sinus, spread apart and photographed by a high-resolution digital camera.