Search

Background: A new edition of the TNM was recently released that includes modifications for the staging system of kidney cancers. Specifically, T2 cancers were subclassified into T2a and T2b ( 10 cm), tumors with renal vein involvement or perinephric fat involvement were classified as T3a cancers, and those with adrenal involvement were classified as T4 cancers. Objective: Our aim was to validate the recently released edition of the TNM staging system for primary tumor classification in kidney cancer. Design, setting, and participants: Our multicenter retrospective study consisted of 5339 patients treated in 16 academic Italian centers. Intervention: Patients underwent either radical or partial nephrectomy. Measurements: Univariable and multivariable Cox regression models addressed cancer-specific survival (CSS) after surgery. Results and limitations: In the study, 1897 patients (35.5%) were classified as pT1a, 1453 (27%) as pT1b, 437 (8%) as pT2a, 153 (3%) as pT2b, 1059 (20%) as pT3a, 117 (2%) as pT3b, 26 (0.5%) as pT3c, and 197 (4%) as pT4. At a median follow-up of 42 mo, 786 (15%) had died of disease. In univariable analysis, patients with pT2b and pT3a tumors had similar CSS, as did patients with pT3c and pT4 tumors. Moreover, both pT3a and pT3b stages included patients with heterogeneous outcomes. In multivariable analysis, the novel classification of the primary tumor was a powerful independent predictor of CSS (p for trend < 0.0001). However, the substratification of pT1 tumors did not retain an independent predictive role. The major limitations of the study are retrospective design, lack of central pathologic review, and the small number of patients included in some substages. Conclusions: The recently released seventh edition of the primary tumor staging system for kidney tumors is a powerful predictor of CSS. However, some of the substages identified by the classification have overlapping prognoses, and other substages include patients with heterogeneous outcomes. The few modifications included in this edition may have not resolved the most critical issues in the previous version. (C) 2010 European Association of Urology. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

This paper provides new data on strontium isotope stratigraphy applied to the Miocene heterozoan shelfal carbonates of the S. Marino Fm. (Marecchia Valley, northern Apennines). Sr isotopic analyses were carried out on oyster shells, bryozoans and bulk-rocks from the lower-middle carbonate portion of the section. In the upper part of the succession that shows evidence of detrital influx,87Sr/86Sr analyses were performed on foraminifera tests, separating planktonic and benthic forms. Results were compared with calcareous nannofossil biostratigraphic data from the same levels, in order to test the reliability of Sr dating in mixed carbonate-siliciclastic sediments. Mean ages obtained from oysters range between 16.9 Ma and 16.3 Ma. Very similar results are obtained using bryozoans (16.5 Ma to 16.1 Ma) and bulk-rocks (16.8 Ma to 16.2 Ma). These results allow to better constrain the age of the massive carbonate shelf, referable to the upper Burdigalian. In the upper carbonate-siliciclastic portion of the shelf, numerical ages obtained from planktonic and benthic foraminifera are in good agreement with nannofossil biozones (mean ages respectively around 15.3 Ma and 14.5 Ma) although they display wide confidence intervals. These wide age uncertainties depend on the slow rate of change of marine 87Sr/86Sr through time that characterizes the interval between ~15 and ~13.5 Ma., Rivista Italiana di Paleontologia e Stratigrafia (Research In Paleontology and Stratigraphy), V. 123, N. 1 (2017)

Este trabalho teve como objetivo principal, caracterizar a fenologia da cobertura vegetal, com base em séries temporais de NDVI do sensor MODIS e relacioná-las com regiões homogênias, na Reserva do Niassa ? Moçambique. Made available in DSpace on 2018-04-05T00:37:20Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 CaracterizacaoNhongoetal2017.pdf: 5778752 bytes, checksum: a7fda91a20bc9ca4ec452c3731f5ec24 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2018-04-04 Título equivalente em inglês: Phenological characterization of vegetation cover based on time series of NDVI / MODIS, in Niassa Reserve-Mozambique.

Purpose: The excision of the renal tumor with a substantial margin of healthy parenchyma is considered the gold standard technique for partial nephrectomy. However, simple enucleation showed excellent results in some retrospective series. We compared the oncologic outcomes after standard partial nephrectomy and simple enucleation. Materials and Methods: We retrospectively analyzed 982 patients who underwent standard partial nephrectomy and 537 who had simple enucleation for localized renal cell carcinoma at 16 academic centers between 1997 and 2007. Local recurrence, cancer specific survival and progression-free survival were the main outcomes of this study. The Kaplan-Meier method was used to calculate survival functions and differences were assessed with the log rank statistic. Univariable and multivariable Cox regression models addressed progression-free survival and cancer specific survival. Results: Median followup of the patients undergoing traditional partial nephrectomy and simple enucleation was 51 +/- 37.8 and 54.4 +/- 36 months, respectively (p = 0.08). The 5 and 10-year progression-free survival estimates were 88.9 and 82% after standard partial nephrectomy, and 91.4% and 90.8% after simple enucleation (p = 0.09). The 5 and 10-year cancer specific survival estimates were 93.9% and 91.6% after standard partial nephrectomy, and 94.3% and 93.2% after simple enucleation (p = 0.94). On multivariable analysis the adopted nephron sparing surgery technique was not an independent predictor of progression-free survival (HR 0.8, p = 0.55) and cancer specific survival (HR 0.7, p = 0.53) when adjusted for the effect of the other covariates. Conclusions: To our knowledge this is the first multicenter, comparative study showing oncologic equivalence of standard partial nephrectomy and simple enucleation.

ALK is a tyrosine kinase receptor involved in a broad range of solid and haematological tumors. It has been shown that about 70-80% of ALK+ Anaplastic Large Cell Lymphoma (ALCL) cases, an aggressive Non Hodgkin T-cell lymphoma, are characterized by the traslocation t(2;5), originating the functional, aberrant oncogenic fusion protein NPM-ALK. Crizotinib was the first clinically relevant ALK inhibitor, now approved for the treatment of late stage and metastatic cases of lung cancer. Several patients soon developed Crizotinib resistance, mainly due to the appearance of new point mutations located in ALK kinase domain. Currently, other ALK inhibitors are available and already in clinical trial, hopefully representing the second line therapy able to overcome Crizotinib resistance. In this work we focused our attention on the more potent phase I/II dual ALK/EGFR inhibitor AP26113 (Ariad Pharm.), able to overcome the Crizotinib-resistant gatekeeper mutation L1196M. Two NPM-ALK+ human cell lines, KARPAS-299 and SUP-M2, were grown in four independent flasks in the presence of increasing doses of AP26113, so that eight cell lines able to grow in the presence of high AP26113 doses were selected. All cell lines show an AP26113 50% inhibitory concentration (IC50) value substantially higher than the one observed in parental cells, with a 130 to 1000-fold increase. All KARPAS-299 populations resistant to AP26113 show NPM-ALK overexpression, due to oncogene amplification, as the main cause of resistance, while SUP-M2 cells proliferating in the presence of the drug harbour several point mutations spanning the entire ALK kinase domain. In particular, we identified the following aminoacid substitutions: L1122V, , L1196M, S1206C and a double F1174V+L1198F mutation. The knowledge of the possible appearance of new clinically relevant mechanisms of drug resistance is a useful tool for the management of new TKI resistant cases

In Sicilia, come del resto in gran parte del Mediterraneo, l’impatto millenario delle attività antropiche ha profondamente modificato la struttura e la funzione degli ecosistemi naturali, con evidenti ripercussioni sulla stabilità dei suoli e sull’andamento diffuso dei processi erosivi. L’accresciuta consapevolezza di que-sto rapporto causa-effetto ha posto sempre più in risalto la necessità di mettere in atto adeguati interventi di recupero e di ripristino ambientale, in particolare a favo-re di ecosistemi più esposti e vulnerabili, perlopiù concentrati in corrispondenza delle aree costiere e umide, spesso profondamente trasformati a seguito dell'azione combinata di diversi tipi di disturbo antropico. Gli interventi di ricostituzione degli habitat e di rinaturalizzazione sono complessi dal punto di vista tecnico, in quanto non possono prescindere da un’analisi dettagliata di tutti gli aspetti biotici, abiotici ed antropici che caratterizzano il territorio coinvolto. In funzione dei caratteri eda-fo-climatici stazionali è di fondamentale importanza individuare le specie idonee per il ripristino della struttura e della funzione delle comunità locali. Tale scelta condiziona tutte le operazioni successive, in quanto deve favorire meccanismi in grado di costituire sistemi naturali complessi e stabili nel tempo. Non è sufficiente individuare le specie chiave, che caratterizzano strutturalmente e fisio-nomicamente le comunità vegetali, ma occorre prestare particolare attenzione all’origine del materiale vegetale di propagazione da utilizzare negli interventi. Utilizzando specie autoctone, soprattutto ecotipi autoctoni e pertanto meglio adat-tati alle condizioni pedo-climatiche locali, è possibile contribuire alla conservazione delle risorse genetiche del territorio, aspetto spesso trascurato o comunque sottovalutato nelle attività di ripristino ambientale. Le modalità, le tecniche ed anche la durata degli interventi previsti devono essere opportunamente modulati in funzione del grado di alterazione del sistema e quindi degli input necessari. Lo scopo principale dell’intervento non è quello di riportare un ecosistema allo stato originale, quanto piuttosto di ripristinare le dinamiche evolutive naturali, eliminando le cause che hanno determinato la situazione attuale, e cercando di ristabilire le relazioni funzionali tra le componenti biotiche ed abiotiche del sistema, fino al raggiungimento di una nuova condizione di equilibrio dinamico. Su questi principi si basa la restoration ecology, una branca ormai autonoma dell’ecologia che si occupa del recupero e del ripristino degli ecosistemi danneggiati, semplificati o distrutti dall’azione antropica (Young, 2000). Questa filosofia di intervento ha guidato le azioni compiute nell’ambito del progetto LIFE04 NAT/IT/000182 “MacaLife, Conservazione degli habitat delle Macalube di Aragona”.

Despite the recent identification of recurrent SETBP1 mutations in atypical chronic myeloid leukemia (aCML), a complete description of the somatic lesions responsible for the onset of this disorder is still lacking. To find additional somatic abnormalities in aCML, we performed whole-exome sequencing on 15 aCML cases. In 2 cases (13.3%), we identified somatic missense mutations in the ETNK1 gene. Targeted resequencing on 515 hematological clonal disorders revealed the presence of ETNK1 variants in 6 (8.8%) of 68 aCML and 2 (2.6%) of 77 chronic myelomonocytic leukemia samples. These mutations clustered in a small region of the kinase domain, encoding for H243Y and N244S (1/8 H243Y; 7/8 N244S). They were all heterozygous and present in the dominant clone. The intracellular phosphoethanolamine/phosphocholine ratio was, on average, 5.2-fold lower in ETNK1-mutated samples ( P < .05). Similar results were obtained using myeloid TF1 cells transduced with ETNK1 wild type, ETNK1-N244S, and ETNK1-H243Y, where the intracellular phosphoethanolamine/phosphocholine ratio was significantly lower in ETNK1-N244S (0.76 ± 0.07) and ETNK1-H243Y (0.37 ± 0.02) than in ETNK1-WT (1.37 ± 0.32; P = .01 and P = .0008, respectively), suggesting that ETNK1 mutations may inhibit the catalytic activity of the enzyme. In summary, our study shows for the first time the evidence of recurrent somatic ETNK1 mutations in the context of myeloproliferative/myelodysplastic disorders. © 2015 by The American Society of Hematology.

Study Type - Outcomes (cohort) Level of Evidence 2b What's known on the subject? and What does the study add? About 80% of RCCs have clear cell histology, and consistent data are available about the clinical and histological characteristics of this histological subtype. Conversely, less attention has been dedicated to the study of non-clear cell renal tumours Specifically, published data show that chromophobe RCC (ChRCC) have often favourable pathological stages and better nuclear grades as well as a lower risk of metastasizing compared with clear cell RCC (ccRCC). Patients with ChRCC were shown to have significantly higher cancer-specific survival (CSS) probabilities compared with ccRCC. However, an independent prognostic role of RCC histotype was not confirmed in some large multicenter series and only a few studies have focused on the oncological outcomes of ChRCC. The present study is one of the few to evaluate cancer-related outcomes of ChRCC and represents to our knowledge the largest series of ChRCCs. Consequently, the present findings may assist in elucidating the natural history of surgically treated ChRCC. The present study confirms that ChRCCs have good prognosis and a low tendency to progress and metastasize. Only 1.3% of patients presented with distant metastases at diagnosis, and the 5- and 10-year CSS were 93% and 88.9%, respectively. However, although ChRCCs are generally characterised by an excellent prognosis, we observed that patients with locally advanced or metastatic cancers as well as those with sarcomatoid differentiation have a poor outcome. The study also investigated prognostic factors for recurrence-free survival (RFS) and CSS for this RCC histotype. The definition of outcome predictors can be useful for patient counselling, planning of follow-up strategies, and patient selection for clinical trials. In the present study, gender, clinical T stage, pathological T stage, and presence of sarcomatoid differentiation were significantly associated with RFS and CSS at multivariable analysis. We also identified N/M stage as an independent predictor of CSS. Notably, as Fuhrman grade was not an independent predictor of cancer-related outcomes, the present study confirms that this histological variable is not a reliable prognostic factor for ChRCC. OBJECTIVES: To investigate cancer-related outcomes of chromophobe renal cell carcinoma (ChRCC) in a large multicentre dataset. To determine prognostic factors for recurrence-free survival (RFS) and cancer-specific survival (CSS) for this RCC histological type. PATIENTS AND METHODS: In all, 291 patients with ChRCC were identified from a multi-institutional retrospective database including 5463 patients who were surgically treated for RCC at 16 Italian academic centres between 1995 and 2007. Univariable and multivariable Cox regression models were used to identify prognostic factors predictive of RFS and CSS after surgery for ChRCC. RESULTS: At a median follow-up of 44 months, 25 patients (8.6%) had disease recurrence and 18 patients (6.2%) died from disease. The 5-year RFS and CSS rates were 89.3% and 93%, respectively. Gender (P= 0.014), clinical T stage (P= 0.017), pathological T stage (P= 0.003), and sarcomatoid differentiation (P= 0.032) were independent predictors of RFS at multivariable analysis. For CSS, there was an independent prognostic role for gender (P= 0.032) and T stage (P= 0.019) among the clinical variables and for T stage (P= 0.016), N/M stage (P= 0.023), and sarcomatoid differentiation (P= 0.015) among the pathological variables. CONCLUSIONS: Patients with ChRCC have a low risk of tumour progression, metastasis, and cancer-specific death. Patient gender, clinical and pathological tumour stage, and sarcomatoid differentiation are significant predictors of RFS and CSS for ChRCC.

La classificazione della ceramica da scavo prevede l’attribuzione di una tinta ad ogni coccio rinvenuto, ma l’uso regolare di un sistema per la specificazione del colore è ad oggi un problema aperto. Gli archeologi prediligono le Munsell Soil Color Chart ma la classificazione che ne deriva, oltre che della soggettività insita in tale sistema, soffre di un’ulteriore variabile legata alla difficile realizzazione sui siti di scavo delle condizioni di illuminazione controllata necessarie per il confronto tra le tavole e i cocci. Il colore della ceramica è inoltre fortemente dipendente dalle condizioni di cottura per cui anche manufatti realizzati con le stesse materie prime possono presentare elevate variazioni cromatiche. È in questo contesto che si inserisce il progetto di ricerca nell’ambito del quale è stato realizzato il lavoro qui presentato che nasce a Caltagirone, uno dei principali centri di produzione della ceramica in Sicilia fin dai tempi antichi. Il progetto nasce dall’esigenza degli artigiani, che si tramandano tale tradizione da padre in figlio, di individuare la relazione tra i processi di cottura e il colore dei loro manufatti; tale progetto coinvolge l’Istituto Statale d’Arte per la Ceramica di Caltagirone e il laboratorio PH3DRA del Dipartimento di Fisica e Astronomia dell’Università di Catania. In questa occasione vengono presentati i risultati relativi alla specificazione del colore delle due tipologie di impasto che caratterizzano la produzione calatina utilizzate dai ceramisti per ottenere, rispettivamente, ceramiche di uso comune e manufatti più pregiati. La preparazione degli impasti, nella quale ha avuto un ruolo fondamentale l’esperienza degli artigiani, è stata realizzata impiegando le argille provenienti dalle principali cave di importanza storica, oggi in disuso, individuate grazie ad un’importante ricerca storico-archivistica. Sono stati così ottenuti i set di provini rappresentativi delle due tipologie di produzione, che sono stati quindi sottoposti a cottura variando la temperatura massima tra 400 °C e 1200 °C. Tali limiti sono stati stabiliti per simulare, come richiesto dai ceramisti, anche gli “errori di cottura” abituali negli atelier e che ne rappresentano gli scarti di lavorazione. Le terrecotte realizzate sono state sottoposte a misure di colore con il metodo spettrofotometrico registrando, per ognuno dei campioni, l’andamento del fattore di riflettanza spettrale e le terne colorimetriche nello spazio CIELAB. Le variazioni cromatiche tra i campioni sottoposti ai diversi valori di temperatura sono state valutate considerando come riferimento il campione prima della cottura, definito “crudo”. Tale obiettivo è stato raggiunto, per entrambi i set, attraverso il confronto degli andamenti dei fattori di riflessione spettrale e la rappresentazione delle coordinate cromatiche L*C*h in funzione della temperatura.

Different treatments (consolidation and water-repellent) were applied on samples of marble and granite from the Front stage of the Roman Theatre of Merida (Spain). The main goal is to study the effects of these treatments on archaeological stone material, by analyzing the surface changes. X-Ray Fluorescence and Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy techniques, as well as Nuclear Magnetic Resonance have been used in order to study changes in the surface properties of the material, comparing treated and untreated specimens. The results confirm that silicon (Si) marker tracking allows the detection of applied treatments, increasing the peak signal in treated specimens. Furthermore, it is also possible to prove changes both within the pore system of the materialand in the distribution of surface water, resulting from the application of these products

The overall goal of the project is the study of effects of conservation treatments applied on stone material from archaeological sites, i n terms of superficial changes, effectiveness and durability. In this sense, one of the first premises is characterize the surface of the treated and untreated material in order to determine changes in physical and chemical properties.

The Upper Cretaceous Helminthoid Flysch (HF) of the Northern Apennines consists of thick and regionally widespread deep-water carbonate turbidite successions, deposited during the initial stages of Alpine collision. The HF spans the time from Turonian to Early Eocene and is mainly composed of intrabasinal carbonate ooze mixed with clay; siliciclastic terrigenous beds are also present, but they are a volumetrically minor component of the successions. Petrographic and sedimentological signatures indicate that the HF was deposited in distinct basins located below the carbonate compensation depth. Bulk composition and heavy minerals of terrigenous beds indicate provenance from different crustal levels of the European and Adria plates. The petrographic and palaeobathymetric characteristics of these turbidites indicate the coexistence of an active-margin tectonic setting, a palaeogeographical position suitable for carbonate ooze production and storage, and limited supply of terrigenous detritus into the basin. Palaeotectonic reconstructions and stratigraphic data suggest that Adria represented a vast repository of penecon-temporaneous carbonate mud; the presumably intense seismic activity related to the pre-collisional Alpine orogeny promoted large-scale failures of shelf and/or slope biogenic muddy sediments, resulting in the deposition of a large volume of carbonate turbidites. Only occasionally, turbidity currents probably linked to exceptional fluvial floods generated pure terrigenous beds with different petrographic signatures for each HF succession.