Immunotherapy in head and neck cancer: evidence and perspectives.

Head and neck squamous cell carcinomas evade immune response through multiple immunologic resistance mechanisms. Two of the most commonly involved checkpoint inhibitory mechanisms are CTLA-4 and PD-1/PD-L1, which act at earlier and later stages of immune response to tumors. Pembrolizumab and nivolumab are PD-1 antibodies that interrupt the immunosuppressive pathway of inhibitory checkpoints, which are used by tumor cells to prevent immune reaction.

Effectiveness of educational and lifestyle interventions to prevent paediatric obesity: systematic review and meta-analyses of randomized and non-randomized controlled trials.

Objective: This review and meta-analysis aim at updating a previous meta-analysis carried out by Waters . on the efficacy of interventions aimed at preventing childhood obesity and at identifying predictors of outcome.

Methods: Using an search string, PubMed database was searched for studies assessing body mass index reduction associated with programmes lasting ≥12 weeks in overweight and obese children aged 2-18 years.

Anger and depressive ruminations as predictors of dysregulated behaviours in borderline personality disorder.

Background: Anger and depressive ruminations have recently received empirical attention as processes related to borderline personality disorder (BPD). The Emotional Cascade Model (Selby, Anestis, & Joiner, 2008) suggests that negative affect (such as anger and sadness) may trigger rumination, which in turn may increase the duration and extent of negative affect, leading to dysregulated behaviours aimed at reducing such intense and unpleasant emotions.

Aim: The aim of this study is to explore the relationships between emotional dysregulation, anger and depressive ruminations, and their role in predicting dysregulated behaviours (such as aggression and self-harm) in a clinical sample of patients with BPD.

The microtubule-associated molecular pathways may be genetically disrupted in patients with Bipolar Disorder. Insights from the molecular cascades.

Bipolar Disorder is a severe disease characterized by pathological mood swings from major depressive episodes to manic ones and vice versa. The biological underpinnings of Bipolar Disorder have yet to be defined. As a consequence, pharmacological treatments are suboptimal.

Changes in the gene expression of co-cultured human fibroblast cells and osteosarcoma cells: the role of microenvironment.

Background: The progression of malignant tumors does not depend exclusively on the autonomous properties of cancer cells; it is also influenced by tumor stroma reactivity and is under strict microenvironmental control. By themselves, stromal cells are not malignant, and they maintain normal tissue structure and function. However, through intercellular interactions or by paracrine secretions from cancer cells, normal stromal cells acquire abnormal phenotypes that sustain cancer cell growth and tumor progression.