Search Results (119)

We report the first case of pleural mesothelioma (PM) occurring in a child affected by NF2-related schwannomatosis (NF2-SWN) and without any history of environmental exposure to asbestos. Mesothelioma is a rare secondary tumor in brain cancer patients and the association with NF2-SWN has been described only in a few anecdotal cases and never in the pediatric field. NF2-SWN is an autosomal dominant disease caused by inactivating germline mutations of the NF2 tumor suppressor gene, one of the most common mutations associated with human primary mesothelioma too. By MLPA assay, array-CGH analysis, and NGS on blood and tumor DNA, we determined the mutation profile of this rare NF2-driven PM and we identified several atypical chromosomal aberrations in tumor cells, suggesting a different genomic signature between pediatric and adult mesothelioma. Full article

Increased CT-derived fat tissue radiodensity has been indicated as a poor prognostic factor in oncological settings, although the reasons are not clear. One hypothesis is that increased radiodensity may reflect the loss of fat droplets within adipocytes, being a proxy of recent weight loss. This study aims to test this hypothesis by evaluating the association between longitudinal variations in fat tissue radiodensity and area in a cohort of COVID-19 patients. Baseline and 2–3-month follow-up chest CT scans of severe COVID-19 pneumonia survivors were retrospectively reviewed to measure subcutaneous, visceral, and intermuscular adipose tissue (SAT, VAT, and IMAT) areas and densities at the T7–T8 vertebrae, and longitudinal variations were computed for each variable. The associations between each compartment area and radiodensity variations (standardized values) were evaluated in univariate linear models and models adjusted by age and sex. A total of 196 COVID-19 survivors with suitable baseline and follow-up CT scans were included (mean age 65 ± 11 years, 62 (31.6%) females, 25% with diabetes and 2.6% with morbid obesity). Longitudinal variation in SAT area was inversely associated with longitudinal variation in SAT radiodensity in univariate models (coeff −0.91, 95%CI = −1.70/−0.12, p = 0.02) and after adjustment by age and sex (coeff −0.89, 95%CI = −1.7/−0.09, p = 0.03). The effect was similar and stronger for IMAT (coeff −2.1, 95%CI = −3.06/−1.19, p < 0.01 in adjusted models), and absent for VAT. Longitudinal variations in subcutaneous and intermuscular adipose tissue areas and densities are inversely associated. Higher adipose tissue radiodensity may be due to decrease in fat area (i.e., weight loss), explaining the poor prognostic effect found in cancer patients. Full article

The decommissioning of offshore oil rigs presents complex environmental challenges and opportunities, particularly in the context of energy transition goals and marine ecosystem protection. This study applies a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) approach to evaluate the energy and environmental impacts associated with two different decommissioning approaches: full removal and partial removal. The analysis considers greenhouse gas emissions, energy consumption, material recovery, and long-term waste management. The study demonstrates important energy savings through the recovery and recycling of steel, which offsets energy-intensive operations such as cutting and marine transport. In addition, the analysis underscores the potential of integrating decommissioned infrastructure into offshore renewable energy systems, highlighting synergies with circular economy principles and the decarbonization of offshore operations. The findings highlight the importance of site-specific assessments and integrated policy frameworks to guide environmentally sound decommissioning decisions in offshore energy infrastructure. The analysis shows that full removal results in 14,300 kg CO₂ eq emissions during cutting and transport, compared to 3090 kg CO₂ eq for partial removal. Meanwhile, steel recycling generates environmental benefits of −3.80 × 10⁶ kg CO₂ eq for full removal and −1.17 × 10⁶ kg CO₂ eq for partial removal. Full article

Background/Objectives: Hypersensitivity reactions (HSRs) to iodinated contrast media (ICM), both immediate and non-immediate, pose clinical challenges despite using low-osmolality agents. This review aims to summarize current diagnostic approaches, cross-reactivity patterns, and the debated role of premedication. Methods: A narrative review was conducted using PubMed (2014–2024), selecting studies on ICM-related HSRs, focusing on skin and in vitro testing, drug provocation tests (DPTs), cross-reactivity, and premedication. Results: Skin tests show limited sensitivity, especially for non-immediate reactions. Cross-reactivity among ICMs is common but unpredictable. DPTs are the diagnostic gold standard but lack standardized protocols. Premedication is frequently used, though its efficacy remains uncertain. Conclusions: The management of ICM hypersensitivity is limited by diagnostic gaps and insufficient evidence on premedication. Standardized protocols and prospective studies are needed to improve patient safety and guide clinical decisions. Full article

Background and purpose: Perforator stroke (PS) is a subtype of perinatal arterial ischemic stroke (PAIS), in which injuries occur in the territory of the perforator branches of the main cerebral arteries. This study aims to explore the incidence, timing, risk factors, and clinical presentation of PS in both preterm and full-term neonates. Material and methods: We retrospectively analyzed data about all the neonatal brain MRIs carried out in our hospital from March 2012 to March 2023. Criterium of inclusion was the radiologically confirmed diagnosis of perforator stroke involving one or more arterial districts. Results: A total of 1928 patients underwent brain MRIs during the period considered. PAIS was present in 50 patients, of which 19 had PS (38%). Among the patients with PS, nine were preterm babies (47%), and six suffered from perinatal asphyxia (31.5%). PS cUS diagnosis preceded MRI diagnosis in 88% of preterm babies. The mean age at cUS diagnosis was 20 ± 7 days. Preterm babies were often asymptomatic, whereas term babies showed neurological symptoms (mainly seizures). The outcome was favorable as long as PS was isolated. Conclusions: PS is surprisingly frequent among PAIS. It represents the most common form of PAIS in preterm babies and in babies suffering from birth asphyxia. Prenatal and perinatal factors suggesting a possible thromboembolic etiology leading to PAIS are rare in our population of preterm babies, in which the diagnosis was always preceded by negative cUS. These assumptions suggest a postnatal development of PS in premature babies more than a perinatal one. Full article

Background: Prebiotics are non-digestible dietary compounds, defined as substrates that are utilised by host microorganisms conferring a health benefit. Although fructo-oligosaccharides (FOSs) and galacto-oligosaccharides (GOSs) are among the most studied prebiotics and support intestinal normobiosis, comprehensive data on their content in foods remain limited. Objectives: The objective was to quantify the content of FOSs (kestose, nystose, and 1 F-β-fructofuranosylnystose) and GOSs (raffinose and stachyose) in 35 foods, including fruit and nuts, legumes, and cereals. We also estimated the intakes of prebiotics in an Italian population. Methods: We analysed the prebiotic content in foods using high-performance anion-exchange chromatography with pulsed amperometric detection (HPAEC-PAD). We estimated the prebiotic intake of 100 healthy controls from a case-control study on colorectal cancer conducted in Italy between 2017 and 2019. We used dietary information collected through a food frequency questionnaire and the prebiotic data quantified in this and a previous study. Results: FOSs were mostly detected in cereal products, with wheat bran and whole-meal rye flour containing the highest amount (around 0.7 g/100 g each). GOSs were most abundant in legumes, especially in dried soy products (around 4.0 g/100 g each). Mean daily intake was 0.236 g for total FOSs and 0.371 g for total GOSs. Wheat bran, raspberries, chestnuts, walnuts, raisins, soy milk, and soy yoghurt overall accounted for 3.9% of kestose, 1.2% of nystose, 0% of 1F-β-fructofuranosylnystose, 15.5% of raffinose, and 8.3% of stachyose total intakes. Conclusions: The present study enables the development of a comprehensive database on prebiotic content in foods through a consistent analytical method. This makes prebiotic intake assessments more accurate than previously available data and facilitates future epidemiological studies investigating their potential effects on health. Full article

Actions for improving water quality are critical and include the remediation of polluted groundwater. The effectiveness of the remediation strategy to remove contamination by chlorinated solvents may be increased by combining physicochemical treatments (i.e., adsorption) and biological degradation (i.e., biological reductive dechlorination (BRD)). Recent studies have shown the potentialities of bio-based materials for bioremediation purposes, including polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB), a biodegradable microbial polyester tested as a fermentable source of slow-release electron donors. Further, a low-cost biochar derived from the pyrolysis of pinewood waste (PWB), used as sorbent material, has recently been proposed to accelerate reductive microbial dehalogenation. Here, we propose a coupled adsorption and biodegradation (CAB) process for trichloroethylene (TCE) removal in a mini pilot-scale reactor composed of two reactive zones, the first one filled with PHB and the second one with PWB. This work aimed to evaluate the performance of the CAB process with particular regard to the effectiveness of the PWB in sustaining the biofilm, mostly enriched by Dehalococcoides mccartyi. The main results showed the CAB system treated around 1300 L of contaminated water, removing 102 mg TCE per day. Combining PHB and PWB had a positive effect on the growth of the dechlorinating community with a high abundance of Dhc cells. Full article

Background: The lengthening of the lifespan led to an increase in breast cancer (BC) diagnosed in very old age, but the treatment recommendations in this patient group usually lack evidence-based practice. We conducted a prospective observational monocentric study specifically targeting patients diagnosed with invasive BC at 80 years of age or older. Methods: We enrolled 88 patients consecutively observed for a new BC diagnosis at 80 years or older. The aim was to investigate progression-free (PFS) and overall survival (OS), with a long follow-up period, along with clinico-pathological characteristics of the population. Results: At the end of the 5-year follow-up, the estimated OS and PFS probabilities were 82.9% (95% CI: 71.3–95.3%) and 64.0% (95% CI: 51.7–79.2%), respectively. After 8.5 years from the BC diagnosis, 48.9% died. The cause of death was BC in 32.6% of patients, different from BC in 13.9%, and unknown in the remaining. Surgery was performed in 69.3% of the cases and was associated with improved 12-month PFS (p < 0.001). Adjuvant systemic therapy and radiotherapy were omitted in 32% and 93% of eligible patients, respectively. A higher rate of metastatic disease at the diagnosis was observed in comparison with data described in younger people, as well as a significantly high rate of drop-out (27.3%). Conclusions: Ultra-old patients have a not negligible life expectancy; therefore, the oncologic treatment should be optimal and should adequately fight BC, always considering the quality of life of these frail patients. Future research should focus on developing personalized treatment protocols that incorporate comprehensive geriatric assessments and quality-of-life metrics. Additionally, larger, multicentric studies are needed to validate our findings and explore the role of emerging therapies in this age group. Full article

Background: Mating disruption (MD) is a worthwhile technique for the control of Lobesia botrana and Eupoecilia ambiguella in central Europe and Mediterranean areas. MD efficacy is affected by the pheromone release (PR), which in turn is influenced by environmental conditions. Methods: The effect of weather conditions on PR was evaluated under four different fields in northern Italy. The PR of two commercial types of MD passive dispensers was correlated with different variables. Results: For both dispensers, the temperature and vapor pressure deficit explained PR in vineyards with diverse weather conditions better than time. The effect of temperature was not linear, and any temperature increase at high temperatures accelerated the PRR more than proportionally. One dispenser type showed a non-linear release trend of the pheromone emission in field conditions with respect to the considered variables; further, the stepwise regression pointed out the importance of the dichotomous variable associated with the vineyard for increasing the goodness-of-fit. Conclusions: The equations developed in this work are dispenser-dependent and can provide information on the PR during the season for each dispenser type, as influenced by weather conditions. These equations could serve as an input for a pheromone concentration model to predict concentrations based on meteorological conditions. Full article

Water quality is threatened by numerous pollutants, among which antibiotics are of great concern due to their widespread use and unaltered excretion, leading to water contamination and fostering antibiotic resistance. To comprehensively address sustainable water remediation, herein, the susceptibility to non-thermal plasma degradation of two veterinary antibiotics (Oxytetracycline (OTC) and Lincomycin (LNC)) are compared in an integral approach, including computational analyses, plasma irradiation assays, and a byproduct toxicity assessment. The computational assessment was performed by evaluating the ionization potential (IP) obtained from Density Functional Theory calculations and determining the antibiotics’ susceptible sites for radical attack. Plasma irradiation achieved nearly complete degradation (~100%) of both compounds with the initial concentration of 1 mg L⁻¹, while 60% degradation was observed when the starting concentration was 10 mg L⁻¹. The mineralization rates were 21% and 31% for OTC and LNC, respectively. The degradation profiles followed similar trends, as expected from their comparable IP values. After treatment, the solution exhibited lower biotoxicity compared to the original antibiotics. Therefore, this work represents a step forward in addressing one of the key environmental challenges of our time and encourages further extending the analysis towards the remediation of water polluted with many other organic compounds. Full article

Natural products are thoroughly studied as valuable alternatives to synthetic insecticides. Heracleum persicum Desf. ex Fisch. (Apiaceae), commonly known as Golpar, is an Iranian medicinal plant largely employed as a spice, which has previously revealed insecticidal potential. The chemical composition of H. persicum essential oil (EO) was investigated by GC-MS and was mainly dominated by hexyl butyrate (36.1%) and octyl acetate (23.7%). The EO and its main esters were tested on three mosquito species. Aedes aegypti (L.) larvae were the most sensitive to all tested products. Lethal concentrations (LC₅₀) of 59.09, 53.59, and 47.05 ppm were recorded for the EO, hexyl butyrate, and octyl acetate, respectively. Aedes albopictus (Skuse) and Anopheles gambiae Giles demonstrated comparable sensitivity to the EO, with LC₅₀ values of 102.97 and 97.91 ppm, respectively, whereas the isolated constituents appeared more active on An. gambiae (LC₅₀ of hexyl butyrate and octyl acetate of 70.97 and 60.71 ppm, respectively) with respect to Ae. albopictus (LC₅₀ of hexyl butyrate and octyl acetate of 85.40 and 91.38 ppm, respectively). Low toxicity was registered for both EO and single components against human embryonic kidney (HEK293) cells. Overall, the H. persicum EO, hexyl butyrate, and octyl acetate could be further considered for larvicide development. Full article

Background/Objectives: A low-FODMAPs Diet (LFD) is considered a “second line” dietary strategy for irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) but, after a period of strict restriction of all FODMAP foods, it has to be adapted and tailored to each patient (AdLFD). Fibromyalgia often coexists with IBS in up to 65% of cases. Our aims were to evaluate if comorbid fibromyalgia influenced the long-term clinical outcomes and adherence to an AdLFD in IBS patients. Methods: IBS patients with or without fibromyalgia who had started an AdLFD were enrolled. Patients had been evaluated before starting the LFD (T0). After a mean follow-up of 62.5 ± 22.7 months (T1), they were re-evaluated using questionnaires on disease severity, bowel habits, psychological status, and adherence to AdLFD. Results: In total, 51 IBS patients entered the study. Nineteen of them had comorbid fibromyalgia. Thirty patients reported a reduction in symptom severity at T1 in comparison with T0. Despite some slight differences in single IBS Symptom Severity Score items, comorbid fibromyalgia did not influence the IBS-SSS total score at T1. Patients with comorbid fibromyalgia showed a higher Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) score at baseline. A total of 44 patients showed good long-term adherence to the AdLFD. All patients improved their HADS score and had long-term adherence to the AdLFD. Conclusions: Comorbid fibromyalgia showed only a slight influence on long-term outcomes of an AdLFD on IBS symptoms, without affecting the relief of global symptoms. No influence on long-term adherence to AdLFD was detected. Hence, this approach can be taken into account in fibromyalgia patients for a nonpharmacological management of IBS symptoms. However, multicentric studies on larger samples would be welcome in the future. Full article

Children/adolescents with cancer can develop adverse effects impacting gross motor function. There is a lack of gross motor function assessment tools that have been validated for this population. The aim of this multicenter cross-sectional study was to preliminary validate the 88-item Gross Motor Function Measure (GMFM-88) for use in children/adolescents with cancer, exploring internal consistency and floor/ceiling effect. Inclusion criteria regarded children/adolescents diagnosed with cancer on treatment or <1 year off therapy. The internal consistency was assessed using Cronbach’s α, and the floor–ceiling effects were calculated through percentage. This study involved 217 participants with heterogeneous neoplasm conditions. Internal consistency was good, with a Cronbach’s α of 0.989. Floor–ceiling effect analysis reveals that several items obtained a dichotomous scoring distribution in each of the five sub-scales of the GMFM-88. This can be explained by the heterogeneous clinical characteristics of the target population. The preliminary validation of GMFM-88 in a group of children/adolescents affected by cancer suggests that some items are not able to discriminate between different gross motor function levels, and therefore it does not represent an informative tool to measure gross motor function in children with cancer. Future research is needed to define which ones could be more useful for clinical practice. Full article

Objective: Interstitial fibrosis/tubular atrophy (IFTA) is a common, irreversible, and progressive form of chronic kidney allograft injury, and it is considered a critical predictor of kidney allograft outcomes. The extent of IFTA is estimated through a graft biopsy, while a non-invasive test is lacking. The aim of this study was to evaluate the feasibility and accuracy of an MRI radiomic-based machine learning (ML) algorithm to estimate the degree of IFTA in a cohort of transplanted patients. Approach: Patients who underwent MRI and renal biopsy within a 6-month interval from 1 January 2012 to 1 March 2021 were included. Stable MRI sequences were selected, and renal parenchyma, renal cortex and medulla were segmented. After image filtering and pre-processing, we computed radiomic features that were subsequently selected through a LASSO algorithm for their highest correlation with the outcome and lowest intercorrelation. Selected features and relevant patients’ clinical data were used to produce ML algorithms using 70% of the study cases for feature selection, model training and validation with a 10-fold cross-validation, and 30% for model testing. Performances were evaluated using AUC with 95% confidence interval. Main results: A total of 70 coupled tests (63 patients, 35.4% females, mean age 52.2 years) were included and subdivided into a wider cohort of 50 for training and a smaller cohort of 20 for testing. For IFTA ≥ 25%, the AUCs in test cohort were 0.60, 0.59, and 0.54 for radiomic features only, clinical variables only, and a combined radiomic–clinical model, respectively. For IFTA ≥ 50%, the AUCs in training cohort were 0.89, 0.84, and 0.96, and in the test cohort, they were 0.82, 0.83, and 0.86, for radiomic features only, clinical variables only, and the combined radiomic–clinical model, respectively. Significance: An ML-based MRI radiomic algorithm showed promising discrimination capacity for IFTA > 50%, especially when combined with clinical variables. These results need to be confirmed in larger cohorts. Full article

Dietary isoflavones have been associated with a lower risk of gastric cancer (GC), but the evidence for this association is still limited. We investigated the association between isoflavone intake and GC risk using data from a case–control study including 230 incident, histologically confirmed GC cases and 547 controls with acute, non-neoplastic conditions. Dietary information was collected through a validated food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) and isoflavone intake was estimated using ad hoc databases. We estimated the odds ratios (OR) and the corresponding 95% confidence intervals (CI) of GC using logistic regression models, including terms for total energy intake and other major confounders. The OR for the highest versus the lowest tertile of intake was 0.65 (95%CI = 0.44–0.97, p for trend = 0.04) for daidzein, 0.75 (95%CI = 0.54–1.11, p for trend = 0.15) for genistein, and 0.66 (95%CI = 0.45–0.99, p for trend = 0.05) for total isoflavones. Stratified analyses by sex, age, education, and smoking showed no heterogeneity. These findings indicate a favorable effect of dietary isoflavones on GC. Full article