Developmental exposure to low levels of ethinylestradiol affects social play in juvenile male rats.

Juvenile social play contributes to the development of adult social and emotional skills in humans and non-human animals and is therefore a useful endpoint to study the effects of endocrine disrupters on behavior in animal models. Ethinylestradiol (EE), a widely produced, powerful synthetic estrogen is widespread in the environment mainly because it is a component of the contraceptive pill. To understand whether clinical or environmental exposure to EE during critical perinatal periods can affect male social play, we exposed 72 male Sprague-Dawley rats to EE or vehicle either during gestation (from gestation day (GD) 5 through 20) or during lactation (from postnatal day (PND) 1 through 21).

Nano-delivery systems for encapsulation of dietary polyphenols: An experimental approach for neurodegenerative diseases and brain tumors.

Neurodegenerative diseases (NDs) and brain tumors are severe, disabling, and incurable disorders that represent a critical problem regarding human suffering and the economic burden on the healthcare system. Because of the lack of effective therapies to treat NDs and brain tumors, the challenge for physicians is to discover new drugs to improve their patients' quality of life. In addition to risk factors such as genetics and environmental influences, increased cellular oxidative stress has been reported as one of the potential common etiologies in both disorders.

Huntingtin protein: A new option for fixing the Huntington's disease countdown clock.

Huntington's disease is a dreadful, incurable disorder. It springs from the autosomal dominant mutation in the first exon of the HTT gene, which encodes for the huntingtin protein (HTT) and results in progressive neurodegeneration. Thus far, all the attempted approaches to tackle the mutant HTT-induced toxicity causing this disease have failed.

Developmental Exposure to Low Levels of Ethinylestradiol Affects Play Behavior in Juvenile Female Rats.

Juvenile social play contributes to the development of adult social and emotional skills in humans and non-human animals, and is therefore a useful endpoint to study the effects of endocrine disrupters on behavior in animal models. Ethinylestradiol (EE) is a widely produced, powerful synthetic estrogen that is widespread in the environment mainly because is a component of the contraceptive pill. In addition, fetuses may be exposed to EE2 when pregnancy is undetected during contraceptive treatment.

Adult-onset brain tumors and neurodegeneration: Are polyphenols protective?

Aging is a primary risk factor for both neurodegenerative disorders (NDs) and tumors such as adult-onset brain tumors. Since NDs and tumors are severe, disabling, progressive and often incurable conditions, they represent a pressing problem in terms of human suffering and economic costs to the healthcare systems. The current challenge for physicians and researchers is to develop new therapeutic strategies in both areas to improve the patients' quality of life.

Editor's Choice - Carotid Stenosis Treatment: Variation in International Practice Patterns.

Objectives: The aim was to determine current practice for the treatment of carotid stenosis among 12 countries participating in the International Consortium of Vascular Registries (ICVR).

Methods: Data from the United States Vascular Quality Initiative (VQI) and the Vascunet registry collaboration (including 10 registries in Europe and Australasia) were used. Variation in treatment modality of asymptomatic versus symptomatic patients was analysed between countries and among centres within each country.

Self-assembling nanoparticles encapsulating zoledronic acid revert multidrug resistance in cancer cells.

The overexpression of ATP binding cassette (ABC) transporters makes tumor cells simultaneously resistant to several cytotoxic drugs. Impairing the energy metabolism of multidrug resistant (MDR) cells is a promising chemosensitizing strategy, but many metabolic modifiers are too toxic in vivo. We previously observed that the aminobisphosphonate zoledronic acid inhibits the activity of hypoxia inducible factor-1a (HIF-1a), a master regulator of cancer cell metabolism.

Reinterventions in vascular and endovascular carotid surgery.

In recent years the number of carotid revascularization has increased steadily. This increased has inevitably resulted in an increase (relative) in complications, both after carotid endarterectomy (CEA) and carotid stenting (CAS), despite the technical evolutions of new available materials and the expertise of the operators. So, complications which may potentially require operative intervention, although not very frequent, are possible.

Common diagnostic flowcharts in vascular and endovascular surgery.

Vascular and endovascular procedures are typically very "clean" procedures, with a very low infection rate. However, these complications, although rare, are unfortunately associated with a high rate of morbidity and mortality. The first rule to effectively treat the infection is always prevention, but when the infection has been established the only solution is given by an early diagnosis and proper medical care and often surgical treatment.

Endovascular first as "preliminary approach" for critical limb ischemia and diabetic foot.

The treatment of the critical limb ischemia (CLI) and diabetic foot (DB) is still object of discussion and the gold standard for revascularization has not yet been identified. In these two decades the introduction of endovascular procedures had a large impact on the surgical revascularization and were added to the practice of vascular surgeons in patients who cannot be candidates for a bypass. This may be due to significant comorbidities, a reduced life expectancy, infection or gangrene in the possible sites of distal anastomoses, the unavailability of suitable veins, or the absence of an adequate "landing zone" for the distal part of the bypass.

Expansion of an iliac aneurysm after treatment with multilayer stent: an unusual case.

A 62 year old man, suffering from arterial hypertension and no other significant comorbidities come to our attention for the presence of an asymptomatic 29 mm left common iliac artery (CIA) aneurysm and bladder cancer. Given the young age of the patient, we opted for endovascular treatment that would allow to maintain the patency of the hypogastric artery. In June 2011, the patient underwent an endovascular exclusion of the left iliac artery aneurysm corrected by multilayer stent placement (Cardiatis 16x120mm) and post-dilatation with 14x40 mm balloon (Medtronic Reliant).