Pediatric stroke: clinical findings and radiological approach.

This paper focuses on radiological approach in pediatric stroke including both ischemic stroke (Arterial Ischemic Stroke and Cerebral Sinovenous Thrombosis) and hemorrhagic stroke. Etiopathology and main clinical findings are examined as well. Magnetic Resonance Imaging could be considered as the first-choice diagnostic exam, offering a complete diagnostic set of information both in the discrimination between ischemic/hemorrhagic stroke and in the identification of underlying causes.

Neuronal basis of haedonic appraisal in early onset schizophrenia: FMRI investigation.

The most important symptoms associated with schizophrenia are affective flattening, decreased expression of emotions, anhedonia and social isolation. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the neural response to disgusting and pleasant visual stimuli in healthy subjects and in patients with first-episode schizophrenia. Twelve subjects in the first episode of schizophrenia (DSM-IV-R, APA, 2000) with a normal IQ and 12 healthy volunteers selected for age and education underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) during observation of pleasant and disgusting visual stimuli.

Intensive chemotherapy of metastatic colorectal cancer: weighing between safety and clinical efficacy: Evaluation of Masi G, Loupakis F, Salvatore L, et al. Bevacizumab with FOLFOXIRI (irinotecan, oxaliplatin, fluorouracil, and folinate) as first-line treatment for metastatic colorectal cancer: a phase 2 trial. Lancet Oncol 2010;11:845-52.

This paper evaluates a recent study whereby a four-drug combination regimen adding bevacizumab to triplet fluorouracil, oxaliplatin and irinotecan chemotherapy is described for the first-line treatment of metastatic colorectal cancer. It extends the use of intensive medical treatments combining chemotherapy and the VEGF inhibitor bevacizumab, opening new perspectives for the design of four-drug intensive regimen-associating chemotherapy and targeted agents. In the future, these four-drug intensive regimens should be further improved for efficacy:toxicity ratio and verification in randomized trials.

A feasibility study of percutaneous Radiofrequency Ablation followed by Radiotherapy in the management of painful osteolytic bone metastases.

Objectives: To determine whether Radiofrequency Ablation (RFA) followed by Radiotherapy (RT) (RFA-RT) produces better palliation in terms of pain than RT alone in patients with osteolytic bone metastases.

Methods: Patients with solitary bone metastases and a pain score of least 5 or more on the VAS scale were selected. Fifteen patients were treated with RFA-RT (20 Gy delivered in 5 fractions of 4 Gy over 1 week) and were compared with a matched group (30 subjects) treated by RT.

Automatic adjustment of stimulation output in resynchronization therapy: impact and effectiveness in clinical practice.

Background: Algorithms for automatic pacing output adjustment have been implemented in pacemakers and implantable defibrillators (ICD) and recently in cardiac resynchronization therapy defibrillators (CRT-D). We assessed the impact and effectiveness of these automatic features.

Method And Results: We prospectively enrolled patients successfully implanted with the following Medtronic CRT-Ds: Concerto [with automatic left ventricular (LV) output management algorithm], Consulta [automatic management of atrial, right ventricular (RV) and LV voltage], and Sentry (only manual voltage adjustments).

Change in regional cerebral function in l'aquila earthquake survivors with post-traumatic stress disorder: preliminary findings.

Subjects with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) present a diminished or blunted emotional response, sometimes called "emotional numbing" (EN), that constitutes one of the central symptoms in PTSD. Symptoms of EN include diminished interest in activities, feeling detached or estranged from others, and restricted range of affect (American Psychiatric Association, 2000). The present work studied the emotional components in individuals with PTSD with the principal aim of investigating subjects' functional alteration in the limbic regions, insula and frontal cortex during an emotional task compared with healthy subjects.

Platelet activation in patients with the Raynaud phenomenon.

Background: The Raynaud phenomenon (RP) is an exaggerated and reversible vasospasm of small arteries triggered by cold or emotional stress. Primary RP (PRP) term is used when the underlying condition is unknown. An altered regulation in vascular tone and/or release of soluble mediators from activated platelets plays a role in PRP through an increased oxidative stress.

General principles of chemotherapy.

Background And Objective: Over the last 50 years, medical treatment of solid cancers gained major advances in terms of effectiveness through breakthrough knowledge of cancer biology, technology development and identification of fundamental active drugs.

State Of The Art: We conventionally discriminate between medical treatment of the advanced or metastatic disease and of the early disease, namely adjuvant and neoadjuvant or primary treatment, if administered after or before surgery. New drugs or treatment associations can be sequentially introduced in medical treatment of cancer patients in phase I, II and III clinical trials.

High safety profile and activity of oral vinorelbine in an elderly patient with metastatic breast cancer.

Visceral metastases of breast cancer have been commonly treated with "aggressive" anthracyclines/taxanes-based chemotherapy. In contrast, this case report concerns an elderly patient with advanced breast cancer (pleural effusion, peritoneal carcinosis, and bone metastases) who firmly declined intravenous chemotherapy and was treated for a long time (28 months) with oral vinorelbine. The oral formulation of this drug had activity and a high safety profile, enabling the patient's wishes to be respected.

HLA-G 14-bp insertion/deletion polymorphism in kidney transplant patients with metabolic complications.

HLA-G, a nonclassical HLA molecule with limited polymorphism has immunomodulating/tolerogenic properties. The most common polymorphism of HLA-G is a deletion/insertion of 14 bp, located at the 3'UTR region of the gene (exon 8). This polymorphism is associated with modifications of mRNA stability that can lead to variations of membrane versus soluble HLA-G expression.

Hypofractionated radical radiotherapy in elderly patients with medically inoperable stage I-II non-small-cell lung cancer.

We described the results of a hypofractionated regimen (HFRT) in a cohort of elderly patients (36 subjects) with stage I-II non-small-cell-lung cancer (NSCLC), tumor size> or =3 cm and ineligible for surgery. HFRT was delivered in 20 daily fractions of 3 Gy per fraction with a total dose of 60 Gy. The median PTV was 145 cm(3).

Neurodegenerative diseases.

This article outlines the changes seen using various imaging modalities in the normally aging brain and then discusses in detail the changes seen with various pathologic conditions. Entities discussed include primary degenerative dementias, extrapyramidal system diseases, and vascular dementias.

Weekly paclitaxel in elderly patients (aged > or = 70 years) with advanced non-small-cell lung cancer: an alternative choice? Results of a phase II study.

Purpose: Paclitaxel and platinum-based chemotherapy is considered to be a standard approach for locally advanced and metastatic non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC). In recent years, weekly paclitaxel has been widely used for its safety profile, especially in breast and ovarian cancer. Otherwise, only a few studies are available in NSCLC.

Neoadjuvant chemotherapy with low dose of pegylated liposomal doxorubicin plus weekly paclitaxel in operable and locally advanced breast cancer.

To determine the activity and safety of a schedule with a low dose of pegylated liposomal doxorubicin (PLD) and weekly paclitaxel in operable and locally advanced breast cancer patients. Thirty-five patients with histologically confirmed, operable, and locally advanced breast cancer entered the study. The median age was 59 years (range 31-74 years).

Safety profile and activity of lower capecitabine dose in patients with metastatic breast cancer.

Purpose: Capecitabine is an orally administered precursor of 5'-deoxy-5-fluorouridine that was rationally designed to generate 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) preferentially in tumor tissue. The drug enables chronic dosing that mimics continuous infusion of 5-FU. Phase II trials of capecitabine at 1250 mg/m2 twice daily for 14 days followed by 7 days of rest, is active in anthracycline- and taxane-pretreated patients; the main toxicity is palmar-plantar erythrodysesthesia, diarrhea, and nausea.

Are bilateral cavernous hemangiomas of the orbit rare entities? The role of MRI in a retrospective study.

Cavernous hemangioma is a benign orbital extraocular vascular lesion consisting of large dilated venous channels with fibrous, well-delineated capsule and hemosiderin deposition. Cavernous hemangioma is considered to be almost always unilateral and bilateral cases have been rarely described. The aim of our study is to evaluate imaging characteristics of cavernous hemangioma and evaluate the prevalence of bilateral cases.

A phase II study of single-agent oral vinorelbine in patients with pretreated advanced non-small-cell lung cancer.

Purpose: Intravenous vinorelbine has demonstrated its efficacy and tolerability in advanced non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC). An oral formulation of vinorelbine has been developed, and a number of phase II studies have shown its activity in chemotherapy-naive NSCLC, even in elderly patients, but no study has been performed to test activity and toxicity of oral vinorelbine in pretreated patients. The aims of our study were to investigate the activity and toxicity of oral vinorelbine in patients with NSCLC as salvage treatment.

Reversible focal splenial lesions.

Reversible focal lesions in the splenium of the corpus callosum (SCC) have recently been reported. They are circumscribed and located in the median aspect of the SCC. On MRI, they are hyperintense on T2-W and iso-hypointense on T1-W sequences, with no contrast enhancement.

Degenerative disease of the spine.

Degenerative disease of the spine is a definition that includes a wide spectrum of degenerative abnormalities. Degeneration involves bony structures and the intervertebral disk, although many aspects of spine degeneration are strictly linked because the main common pathogenic factor is identified in chronic overload. During life the spine undergoes continuous changes as a response to physiologic axial load.

Spinal injury in sport.

Spinal injuries are very common among professional or amateur athletes. Spinal sport lesions can be classified in overuse and acute injuries. Overuse injuries can be found after years of repetitive spinal load during sport activity; however specific overuse injuries can also be found in adolescents.

Sciatica: treatment with intradiscal and intraforaminal injections of steroid and oxygen-ozone versus steroid only.

Purpose: To prospectively compare the clinical effectiveness of intraforaminal and intradiscal injections of a mixture of a steroid, a local anesthetic, and oxygen-ozone (O(2)-O(3)) (chemodiscolysis) versus intraforaminal and intradiscal injections of a steroid and an anesthetic in the management of radicular pain related to acute lumbar disk herniation.

Materials And Methods: Medical Ethical Committee approval and informed consent were obtained. One hundred fifty-nine patients (86 men, 73 women; age range, 18-71 years) were included and were randomly assigned to two groups.

Deficit of social cognition in subjects with surgically treated frontal lobe lesions and in subjects affected by schizophrenia.

The ability of humans to predict and explain other people's behaviour by attributing independent mental states such as desires and beliefs to them, is considered to be due to our ability to construct a "Theory of Mind". Recently, several neuroimaging studies have implicated the medial frontal lobes as playing a critical role in a dedicated "mentalizing" or "Theory of Mind" network in the human brain. In this study we compare the performance of patients with right and left medial prefrontal lobe lesions in theory of mind and in social cognition tasks, with the performance of people with schizophrenia.

High-grade gliomas: results in patients treated with adjuvant radiotherapy alone and with adjuvant radio-chemotherapy.

Background: Despite advances in the surgical, radiotherapeutic and chemotherapeutic fields, the outcome for patients with high-grade gliomas remains poor. Our experience of patients treated with and without chemotherapy is reported.

Materials And Methods: From April 1999 to July 2003, 30 patients with high-grade gliomas were treated: 13 received adjuvant radiotherapy (RT) alone whereas 17 received temozolomide 75 mg/m2/d during the irradiation time and 200 mg/m2 daily per 5 consecutive days, every 28 days for three to six cycles, starting 4 weeks after the end of radiotherapy.

The interhemispheric transcallosal-transversal approach to the lesions of the anterior and middle third ventricle: surgical validity and neuropsychological evaluation of the outcome.

Based on the observation of the course of callosal fibres and of their artero-venous support as appearing in a microanatomic study, the Authors propose a variant of standard callosotomy procedure by the introduction of the transverse section of callosal fibres. This technique would allow the surgeon to spare a larger number of callosal fibres by the combined effect of a lower direct mechanical traction on fibres and a lower impact on artero-venous microcircle. The neuropsychological outcome of the patients who underwent this kind of procedure was evaluated.