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Summary: Intraoperative radiotherapy (IORT) is a technique in which a high, single-fraction radiation dose is delivered directly to the tumour bed during a surgical intervention, after the removal of a neoplastic mass. IORT has been recently used in early stage cancer as an exclusive radiation modality, rather than as a boost, especially for breast tumours, in particular at the European Institute of Oncology in Milan, where the technique has been called electron intraoperative therapy (ELIOT). Our studies on more than 1000 patients have demonstrated the feasibility of the technique and it is expected that its application will become more widespread in the immediate future. It is important to emphasise that ELIOT relies not only on new technological developments, but also on a multidisciplinary team with clear roles and responsibilities, the establishment of a programme of quality assurance with appropriate guidelines and a comprehensive staff development programme. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Cellular localization of nanoparticles (Np) represents an important target in the understanding of their distribution after endovenous injection. The need of suitable devices and methodologies capable to detect Np in tissues or in cellular districts can be satisfied by Np which have to be easily recognizable by simple methods. Conjugations of poly(D,L-lactide-co-glycolide) with fluorescein and biotin allow fluorescent and immuno-histochemically active Np to be obtained. The fluorescein Np are detectable using fluorescent microscopy whereas biotin Np can be detected by optical microscopy after streptavidin–biotin–peroxidase complexation. In vivo experiments confirm the ability of these particles to be easily detected in the brain parenchyma or in the liver cell population according to the infusion pathway. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The consumption of epigeous and hypogeous fungi by red squirrels Sciurus vulgaris in subalpine conifer forests in the Alps was studied by determining the presence and taxa (genus level) of fungal spores in fecal samples. Nearly all live-trapped squirrels in summer and autumn had eaten fruit bodies of hypogeous fungi, but only some animals had consumed epigeous fungi of the genus Boletus and/or Laccaria. From two (spring) up to nine (summer–autumn) genera of hypogeous fungi were eaten. The mean number of genera of fungi and the mean number of spores per mg fecal material differed between study areas and seasons. Fruit bodies of hypogeous, and to a lesser extent epigeous, fungi seem to present an important seasonal food resource for red squirrels in conifer forests of the Alps. We suggest that squirrels, having large home range size and dispersal distances, are likely to play a major role as spore dispersal agent for hypogeous fungi. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

A novel method of rehabilitation for ideomotor apraxia (IMA), using a modified version of the mirror box (MB), is proposed. The rationale is based on the theory that disrupted body representation occurs in IMA and that MB training may improve body representation. In the present MB training, patients observed and reproduced movements made by the experimenter in a mirror. The visual perspective gave the illusory sensation of seeing one's own affected hand in the mirror. Thirteen patients were included in the study; apraxia was measured four times: i) at baseline; ii) after a week of unspecific poststroke rehabilitation (rest); iii) after a week of imitation training for apraxia, used as a control; and iv) after a week of MB training. Imitation and mirror box training were presented in counterbalanced order between participants. The effect of the mirror box on a measure of body representation was also assessed. The results show that MB training improved apraxia when compared to the outcomes in both the imitation and rest conditions. The improvement correlates with the impact of the mirror box on the body representation (i.e., the degree of embodiment). MB training shows promising effects in promoting recovery from apraxia. The hypothesis is that the mirror box triggers a quickly generated sense of embodiment of the reflected moving arm into the observer's body representation. This embodiment of the visuomotor features of the observed movements would positively affect motor programming, promoting motor improvement. Crucially, this effect seems to extend to actions performed outside the mirror box setup, enhancing patients' performance on an apraxia test. • The body representation is implicated in ideomotor apraxia (IMA). • The mirror box (MB) impacts the body representation by means of embodiment. • A new method to rehabilitate IMA using the MB is proposed. • MB training improved IMA compared to imitation training or unspecific training. • The MB-induced improvement correlated with the MB-induced embodiment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose To analyze the radiation exposure of the medical staff from various interventional radiology procedures and to evaluate the RaySafe i2 real time dosimetric system. Methods A two-stage multicentric study was conducted for about six months and involved four hospital centers. Data were collected from the RaySafe i2 dosimetric system on radiation doses absorbed by medical interventionists, nurses and patients in interventions of coronary angiography, coronary angiography followed by percutaneous transluminal coronary (PTCA), PTCA, transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) and implantation or pacemaker replacement (PM). In the first phase of the study, the RaySafe system monitor was not in the interventionist radiology room, on the contrary, in the second phase. At the end of the study, a satisfaction questionnaire was provided to the medical staff. A descriptive statistic analysis of the individual doses and the sum of the doses (both normalized with respect to the patient's total Dose Area Product (DAP)) was carried out using the STATA software. Moreover, ANOVA test and Mann–Whitney–Wilcoxon test were performed to compare the various data samples. Results Concerning the radiation doses and the sum of the radiation doses (both normalized with respect to the patient's total DAP), Raysafe i2 doesn't led to a statistically significant reduction of the values for all evaluated operation types. Regarding the fiftieth percentile of dose samples, the variation ranges recorded between all centres are reported in Table 1. Conclusions The recorded differences between the two phases of this multicentric study aren't statistically significant, probably due to the reduced number of samples. However, the medical staff has positively evaluated RaySafe i2 in optimizing its way of working and provided useful suggestions on how to use the system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose The aim of this study was to measure, monitor and report effective dose in nuclear medicine and to assess current challenges in integrating these measures with CT. Methods In 2014 we connected a CT-PET to a dose tracking software and started to collect dose data from CT modality; in late 2015 the software was upgraded to a version which includes a nuclear medicine module for dose tracking. Data from the PET part of the scanner, in terms of administered activity and effective dose, were also collected. Results Data from 12000 CT doses and 3700 PET doses were collected, mostly from: Whole Body (WB) 18F-FDG (63.2%), WB 11C-Choline (12.8%), WB 68Ga-DOTATOC (5.5%), Head 11C-Methionine for a total of 18.4% of the whole activity of the scanner. CT mean DLP (mGy∗cm) data values were (range between brackets): WB 18F-FDG 1486.3 (76.1-7700.9), WB 11C-Choline 2451.9 (290.9-5023.1), WB 68Ga-DOTATOC 1183.8 (41.0-3728.4) and Head 11C-Methionine 766.7 (52.3-2326.9). Mean effective doses (mSv) were: WB 18F-FDG 15.3 ± 4.7, WB 11C-Choline 26.5 ± 5.6, WB 68Ga 13.4 ± 3.7 and Head 11C-Methionine 1.2 ± 0.7. Mean administered activities (MBq) and effective doses (mSv) for radiopharmaceuticals used in PET were: WB 18F-FDG 335.9-6.4, Head 11C-Methionine 294.6-2.5, WB 68Ga-DOTATOC 168.3-3.5 and WB 11C-Choline 322.2–1.5. The mean total effective doses (mSv) due to both modality were: WB 18F-FDG 21.7 ± 4.9, Head 11C-Methionine 3.7 ± 0.8, WB 11 C-Choline 27.9 ± 5.6 and WB 68Ga-DOTATOC 16.9 ± 2.8. Conclusions The implementation of a dose tracking system to nuclear medicine is of great value for accurate and regular recording, reporting and analysis of patient's effective doses. It can help to improve the evaluation of radiation exposures in the clinical practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dibutyryl chitin obtained by esterification with butyric anhydride and regenerated chitin obtained from dibutyryl chitin by saponification, both in the form of wet-spun fibres and non-wovens, were examined by infrared spectrometry and X-ray diffraction spectrometry. Chitin fibres and chitosan fibres were also studied for comparison, and found to maintain the XRD spectral features of the parent chitin and chitosan. On the opposite, DBC fibres and non-woven exhibited depressed crystallinity, the peak at 0.46–0.47 nm, typical of chitin, being hardly detectable, while the one usually at ca. 1.00 nm was present at ca. 1.20 nm. Both DBC fibres and non-woven were highly oriented. When exposed to porcine pancreatic lipase or wheat germ lipase, the DBC fibres gained improved crystallinity with peaks at 1.14–1.18 and 0.41 nm, due to partial regain of chitin structure as a consequence of partial enzymatic removal of butyryl groups, as confirmed by ATR-FTIR. The RC fibres exhibited broad XRD peaks at 0.96 and 0.36 nm; sharper peaks at 0.34, 0.46–0.49 and 0.96 were observed after exposure to lipases, due to removal of a disordered polymer fraction susceptible to the unspecific enzymatic depolymerization. In fact the RC fibres were found to have 8% lower degree of acetylation compared to parent chitin, as a consequence of the alkaline regeneration treatment. In conclusion, these modified chitins are scarcely susceptible to degradation by lipases (besides to lysozyme, as already reported in the literature); therefore their biochemical significance in wound management seems limited. They, however, appear to be the ideal textile materials for providing mechanical support to freeze-dried chitosan sponges having amply documented activity in wound healing, and for the preparation of specialty textiles. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The aim of this study is to formulate and characterize streptomycin-loaded apoferritin nanoparticles ( ApoStrep NPs ) for their potential therapeutic use in bacterial resistant infections (i.e. tuberculosis). ApoStrep NPs were prepared by disassembly/reassembly process via pH method and changing apoferritin/drug molar ratio, purified by dialyses process also associated with gel filtration chromatography and characterized in their chemico-physical and technological parameters as yield, size distribution, polidispersivity, morphology, internal structure, zeta potential and loading efficacy. The results showed that spherical reproducible NPs could be obtained by using apoferritin/drug molar ratio lower than 1:25 and purification based on the combination of dialysis and gel filtration chromatography. Photon correlation spectroscopy, Uv–visible detection and electron microscopy showed the maintenance of the native apoferritin chemico-physical properties and structure. When formulated with apoferritin/drug 1:10 and 1:25 molar ratio, ApoStrep NPs showed remarkable encapsulation efficacy (35% and 28%, respectively) along with kinetic profile of drug delivery, approximately 15% at 37 °C in 72 h, as evidenced by “in vitro” release experiments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The reduction of Salmonella prevalence in broilers is a priority in European Union agricultural policies because treatment with antibiotics is forbidden by Regulation (EC) 2160/2003. Two trials were conducted to evaluate the efficacy of a microencapsulated blend of sorbic acid and nature-identical compounds (i.e., chemically synthesized botanicals; SAB) on the reduction of the cecal prevalence and contents of Salmonella enterica serovars Hadar and Enteritidis in experimentally infected chickens. In the first trial, 125 one-day-old Lohmann specific-pathogen-free chickens were assigned to one of the following treatments: negative control (not challenged and not treated), positive control (challenged and not treated), SAB0.3, SAB1, or SAB5 (challenged and treated with the microencapsulated blend included in the feed at 0.03, 0.1, or 0.5%, respectively). At 30 d of age, birds were infected with 106 cfu of Salmonella Hadar, and after 5, 10, or 20 d postinfection, 5, 10, and 10 birds per treatment, respectively, were killed and the cecal contents and liver and spleen samples were analyzed for Salmonella Hadar. In the second trial, 100 one-day-old Ross 708 chickens were assigned to 1 of 5 treatments: control (not treated), SAB0.3, SAB1, SAB2, or SAB5 (treated with the blend included in the feed at 0.03, 0.1, 0.2, or 0.5%, respectively). At 7 d of age, the birds were challenged with 105 cfu of Salmonella Enteritidis, and after 7, 14, or 24 d after challenge, 5, 5, and 10 birds per treatment, respectively, were killed and cecal contents were analyzed for Salmonella Enteritidis. Results showed that in the early stage of infection Salmonella prevalence was high in both studies, whereas at the end of the observation periods, the blends at 0.03, 0.1, and 0.5 in the challenge with Salmonella Hadar and at 0.2 and 0.5% in the challenge with Salmonella Enteritidis significantly reduced (by 2 log10 cfu) the cecal content of Salmonella. This study showed that intestinal delivery of microencapsulated sorbic acid and nature-identical compounds can result in a 100-fold reduction of Salmonella at the intestinal level in broilers at slaughter age. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Tree squirrels are arboreal granivores that harvest and consume tree seeds both prior to and after seed-dispersal. Inter- and intraspecific patterns of seed predation suggest that squirrels may exert strong selective pressure on cone morphology and patterns of cone production, and suggest coevolutionary interactions between squirrels and conifers. In some pine species (genus Pinus), mutualistic relationships have evolved between cone (seed) traits and seed-dispersal behaviour by birds and rodents. In other species, feeding by seed predators has selected for cone traits that decrease intensity of seed consumption. In mixed conifer forests, red squirrels (Sciurus vulgaris) feed intensively in some (target) trees but avoid others (nontarget trees). Here we explore defensive cone traits and seed traits correlated with tree selection for conifer species with different seed-dispersal strategies. No selection for cone traits existed in Pinus cembra, which has large wingless seeds, dispersed by birds and rodents. In Picea abies, the most favoured species, target trees had cones with more seeds per cone than nontarget trees, and number of seeds increased with cone length. Cone selection was most pronounced in Pinus sylvestris, where target trees had bigger cones with more seeds and higher total seed mass than nontarget trees. However, ratio of seed mass on cone mass did not differ among target and nontarget trees, suggesting that bigger cones also had more protective tissue, probably increasing difficulties for seed predators to gain access to seeds. Our results suggest that cone and seed traits of P. cembra facilitate seed consumption by squirrels, but that defensive cone traits of small-seeded conifers, in combination with annual differences in seed production (masting), might be the result of coevolution with seed-eating squirrels. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Water safety is an important quality objective, and special attention needs to be devoted to the pipes in which it runs. Rubber is one of the most widely used materials for drinking-water pipes. The various types of rubber are mixes often with vulcanising agents added to improve mechanical properties. The present study was conducted to evaluate and compare the behaviour of three currently used elastomer prototype mixes devised for use as water pipes before and after an artificial ageing procedure. Contact surface with the water was determined and “quality”-tested using SEM, AFM, FT-IR and biological (biocompatibility and bacterial adhesion) analyses. Differences in rubber composition between the native mixes were shown using FT-IR. Photo-ageing induced degradation of the surface film and in some cases gave rise to alkene derivatives with a small carbonyl component. Comparison of chemical, morphological and biological data before and after photo-ageing highlights the risk to which pipes are exposed over time even in the absence of specific chemico-physical insults. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]