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Purpose: Medical imaging applied to archaeological human remains represents a powerful tool for the study of specimens of exceptionally fragile nature. Here, the authors report a tomographic computerized investigation on the naturally mummified human remains from the Takarkori rock shelter (Libyan Sahara), dated to the Middle Pastoral Neolithic (ca. 6100-5600 uncal BP). The paper aims to discuss this issue. Design/methodology/approach: Medical radiological techniques allowed us to discriminate and isolate the tissues preserved thanks to their different electron density, driving us to detailed examinations of features of interest. Findings: With a focus on anatomy and taphonomy, the authors infer on post-depositional phenomena in a way that could not be achieved through traditional approaches. Originality/value: The investigation of digital data allows to acquire new sets of information with no risk for the original object. This case study is especially important considering that the human remains from Takarkori are currently not available to the scientific community due to political instability in Lybia.

Background Allergic rhinitis (AR) presents as the main and most invasive symptom in the blocking of the nose. This condition is almost always related to hypertrophy of the inferior turbinates. When the medical treatments are found to be insufficient to solve the obstructive symptom of the patient, the quality of life is considerably impaired and it is often necessary to submit the patient to a surgical approach. In the present study we aimed to establish the efficacy and safety of a new technique recently introduced for the shrinkage of hypertrophic turbinates using a specific device, based on a new radiofrequency energy that does not produce thermal mucosal damage, viz., quantic molecular resonance (QMR) in a group of patients with persistent moderate–severe allergic rhinitis, in addition to standard medical treatment (nasal steroid and oral antihistamine).Methods All patients were randomly assigned to two homogeneous groups (group A, control subjects; group B, treated patients); each group included 145 individuals. During the study, both groups received standard medications (ebastine, 10-mg tablet, and budesonide nasal spray at 100 micrograms/nostril per day) for 90 days. Before the medical treatment, patients in group B underwent inferior endoscopic turbinoplasty using QMR. All of the patients enrolled in this study were submitted to a complete otorhinolaryngologic evaluation with objective clinical examination (basal rhinomanometry, nasal provocation test rhinomanometry, and mucociliary transport time), endoscopy, and questionnaires (22-item Sino-Nasal Outcome Test and visual analog scale for nasal symptoms).Results Greater efficacy has been achieved using a combined approach with the association of medical and QMR treatment, compared with medical treatment alone, in the control of AR associated with hypertrophy of the inferior turbinates, in particular in the reduction of turbinate volume at rhinoendoscopy.Conclusion QMR inferior turbinoplasty, in conjunction with medical therapy, improves the nasal flow, without any thermal mucosal damage, more effectively when compared with medical treatment alone in persistent moderate-to-severe AR. In particular, local reactivity, as measured with nasal provocation test, was noticeably reduced.

Purpose TO report a case of a lymphoepithelioma-like carcinoma (LELC), which is a variant of carcinoma most commonly involving the nasopharynx and rarely occurring in a variety of sites outside its typical location.Methods We present the case of a 79-year-old Caucasian man with LELC of the lacrimal gland undergoing surgical resection of the mass.Results The patient had remained disease-free for 2 years, and then he developed homolateral metastases in latero-cervical and parotid lymph nodes, detected by computed tomography and confirmed by fine-needle aspiration biopsy. He did not receive any surgical treatment, radiotherapy, or chemotherapy because of the advanced stage of the disease and poor health condition.Conclusions This case report suggests that a diagnosis of lacrimal gland LELC makes combined early and radical therapy necessary.

p27^Kip1 is a cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor and is a potential tumor suppressor gene. Reduced expression of p27^Kip1 is a powerful negative prognostic marker in primary lung, breast, colon, bladder, and prostate carcinomas. In the current study, the prognostic value of p27^Kip1 in gastric cancer was evaluated and compared with other histopathologic parameters and p53 expression. p27^Kip1 and p53 protein expression were determined by immunohistochemistry in 96 gastric carcinomas. The tumors were from a low incidence population and were selected for the absence of lymph node involvement. Reduced expression of p27^Kip1 (≤ 50% positive cells) and nuclear p53 accumulation (> 30% positive cells) were observed in 67 (69.8%) and 9 (9%) tumors, respectively, and were not related to either the pT category or tumor histology. Kaplan–Meier analyses revealed a significant impact on survival by p27^Kip1 (P = 0.0001 by log rank test), p53 (P < 0.0001) expression, and the pT category (P < 0.0001). On multivariate analysis, reduced p27^Kip1 protein expression was the strongest independent predictor of reduced survival (P = 0.005; relative risk = 3.348) out weighing the pT category (P = 0.010; relative risk = 2.257) and p53 overexpression (P = 0.016; relative risk = 2.618). These data indicated that immunohistochemical detection of p27^Kip1 could help to identify gastric carcinoma patients who are at high risk of death, even in the absence of lymph node involvement, and who might benefit from an adjuvant treatment following surgery. Cancer 2000;89:2247–57. © 2000 American Cancer Society.

Granular cell tumor (GCT) is a relatively rare neoplasm, and almost always benign in its prognostic behavior. Location of this tumor in the breast presents serious problems for differential diagnosis, both from a clinical point of view and at gross pathological examination, because of its resemblance to carcinoma. Fine needle aspiration biopsy and intraoperative frozen section examination may not be of any further help. The histogenesis of these lesions has been widely debated in the past, but no universally accepted conclusion has been reached. Most GCTs appear to be derived from Schwann cells, but many different neoplastic and non-neoplastic lesions show granular cell changes. Therefore, GCT should not be considered as a single entity but as the result of a cytoplasmic change due to still unknown metabolic alterations that may occur in various cell types. No firm conclusions can be drawn regarding the suspected hormonal influence on the development of breast GCT.The authors describe three typical cases of breast GCT that occurred in patients of different ages, and discuss the most important questions concerning this lesion.

Aims and Background Gastric cancer (GC) represents one of the most Important causes of death by malignancy world wilde. Our retrospective study was carried out on surgical stomach specimens obtained from a series of 552 consecutive cases of GC observed in the Departments of Surgical Pathology of the Public Hospitals of L'Aquila and Atri which cover the 17 % of the entire population of the Italian Region Abruzzo. The aim of the study was to compare the anatomo-clinical characteristics of early GC (EGC) and advanced GC (AGC).Methods The diagnosis was achieved by the criteria of the Lauren's histopathological classification (intestinal and diffuse types). Our study also stratified the cases by sex, age, lymph node metastases and associated lesions such as chronic atrophic gastritis, intestinal metaplasia and dysplasia.Results On an average, patients affected by EGC were 8.1 years younger than those with AGC. This age gap could support the hypothesis that early lesions represent the first stage of AGC. However, when patients were subdivided according to Lauren's classification, the mean age of patients with EGC, diffuse type, was 12.2 years less than that of AGC patients of the corresponding histological type. Furthermore, the subset of patients with EGC, diffuse type, and lymph node metastases was 17.8 years younger than patients affected by AGC diffuse type, with lymph node metastases.Conclusions The present study offers an original survey on GC in a defined Italian population. As far as the intestinal histotype is concerned, the slight age difference between EGC and AGC suggests that these tumors are different steps of the same process. On the contrary, the age distribution suggests that EGC, diffuse type, has a different biological behaviour.