Trophic ecology and food consumption of fishes in a hypersaline tropical lagoon.

This study evaluated the trophic ecology (diet composition, trophic strategy, similarities and overlap between species, feeding period and food consumption) of six benthivorous fish species in Araruama Lagoon, the largest hypersaline tropical lagoon on the east coast of South America, with an area of 210 km(2) and an average salinity of 52. The burrfish Chilomycterus spinosus fed on Anomalocardia flexuosa shell deposits, ingesting associated fauna. The caitipa mojarra Diapterus rhombeus differed from all other species, having not only the highest proportions of algae and Nematoda, but also feeding on polychaete tentacles. The two mojarras Eucinostomus spp. showed similar trophic strategies, feeding mostly on Polychaeta. The corocoro grunt Orthopristis ruber also fed mainly on Polychaeta, but differed from Eucinostomus spp. in secondary items. The whitemouth croacker Micropogonias furnieri fed mainly on small Crustacea at night, showing a high number of secondary prey items with low frequencies and high prey-specific abundance. The daily food consumption (g food g(-1) fish mass) for Eucinostomus argenteus was 0·012 and was 0·031 and 0·027 for M. furnieri in two different sampling events. The diet similarities between Araruama Lagoon and other brackish and marine environments indicate that hypersalinity is not a predominant factor shaping the trophic ecology of fishes in this lagoon. The stability of hypersaline conditions, without a pronounced gradient, may explain the presence of several euryhaline fishes and invertebrates well adapted to this condition, resulting in a complex food web.

Breast-conserving surgery after neoadjuvant chemotherapy in patients with locally advanced cancer. Preliminary results.

Neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NACT) in locally advanced breast tumors may allow an adequate control of the disease impossible with surgery alone. Moreover, NACT increases the chance of breast-conserving surgery. Between 2008 and 2012, we treated with NACT 83 patients with locally advanced breast cancer. We report the preliminary results evaluating the impact of NACT on the type of surgery.

[Pilonidal sinus. Outpatient treatment with local anesthesia]. / Sinus pilonidalis. Trattamento ambulatoriale in anestesia locale.

The authors describe their surgical technique for pilonidal sinus outpatient total excision with local anaesthesia and primary repair of surgical wound. The results for recurrences and off work short time are good. Fewer complications and recurrences are observed in comparison to patients treated with general anaesthesia. For decreasing recurrence rate, the Authors stress the importance of body weight control and correct local hygiene. Local anaesthesia is safe e cost-effectiveness for outpatient treatment of the pilonidal sinus.

Estradiol-antagonistic activity of phenolic compounds from leguminous plants.

Natural flavonoids are currently receiving much attention because of their estrogenic and antiestrogenic properties. Six isoflavones (isoprunetin, isoprunetin 7-O-beta-D-glucopyranoside, isoprunetin 4',7-di-O-beta-D-glucopyranoside, genistein, genistein 7-O-beta-D-glucopyranoside, daidzein), four flavones (luteolin, luteolin 7-O-beta-D-glucopyranoside, luteolin 4'-O-beta-D-glucopyranoside, licoflavone C), isolated from Genista morisii and G. ephedroides (two Leguminosae plants of the Mediterranean area) together with two structurally related pterocarpans, bitucarpin A and erybraedyn C, isolated from Bituminaria bituminosa (Leguminosae), were tested for the antagonist activity by a yeast based estrogen receptor assay (Saccharomyces cerevisiae RMY326 ER-ERE). Most compounds inhibited the estradiol-induced transcriptional activity in a concentration dependent manner. In particular, for the flavone luteolin 77% inhibition of the induced beta-galactosidase activity was observed. Interestingly, licoflavone C exhibited a dose-dependent antagonistic activity at concentrations up to 10(-4) M, but stimulated beta-galactosidase expression at higher concentrations resulting in a U-shaped-like dose-response curve.

Occurrence of estrogen-like substances in the marine environment of the Northern Mediterranean Sea.

Evidence has been presented that a number of environmental agents perturbs the function of the sex hormone signalling pathways in marine animals. In this work the estrogenic/antiestrogenic activity of coastal marine water samples from five sites of the Northern Mediterranean Sea was assayed using a recombinant Saccharomyces cerevisiae yeast strain (RMY326 ER-ERE) transfected with the human estrogen receptor alpha. Extraction of potential EDCs from seawater was performed in columns packed with XAD-2 resins. The estrogenic activity was calculated as percentage of the activity of 17beta-estradiol (10 nM) and it ranged from 4.8% and 59.03%, significantly depending on sampling site (p=0.0013) and season (p<0.05). Antagonistic activity of extracts was also detected and the percentage of inhibition of estradiol-dependent beta-galactosidase induction ranged to 52.8%. These results point the reliability of the yeast assay as a first level screening test to assess the quality of aquatic environments.

More targets, more pathways and more clues for mutant p53.

Mutations in the transcription factor p53 are among the most common genetic alterations in human cancer, and missense p53 mutations in cancer cells can lead to aggressive phenotypes. So far, only few studies investigated transcriptional reprogramming under mutant p53 expression as a means to identify deregulated targets and pathways. A review of the literature was carried out focusing on mutant p53-dependent transcriptome changes with the aims of (i) verifying whether different p53 mutations can be equivalent for their effects, or whether there is a mutation-specific transcriptional reprogramming of target genes, (ii) understanding what is the main mechanism at the basis of upregulation or downregulation of gene expression under the p53 mutant background, (iii) identifying novel candidate target genes of WT and/or mutant p53 and (iv) defining cellular pathways affected by the mutant p53-dependent gene expression reprogramming. Nearly 600 genes were consistently found upregulated or downregulated upon ectopic expression of mutant p53, regardless of the specific p53 mutation studied. Promoter analysis and the use of ChIP-seq data indicate that, for most genes, the expression changes could be ascribed to a loss both of WT p53 transcriptional activation and repressor functions. Pathway analysis indicated changes in the metabolism/catabolism of amino acids such as aspartate, glutamate, arginine and proline. Novel p53 candidate target genes were also identified, including ARID3B, ARNT2, CLMN, FADS1, FTH1, KPNA2, LPHN2, PARD6B, PDE4C, PIAS2, PRPF40A, PYGL and RHOBTB2, involved in the metabolism, xenobiotic responses and cell differentiation.

Assessment of estrogenic activity of flavonoids from Mediterranean plants using an in vitro short-term test.

Six isoflavones, daidzein (4',7,-dihydroxyisoflavone), genistein (4',5,7-trihydroxyisoflavone), genistin (genistein 7-O-beta-D-glucopyranoside), isoprunetin (4',7-dihydroxy, 5-metoxyisoflavone), isoprunetin 7-O-beta-D-glucopyranoside, isoprunetin 4',7-di-O-beta-D-glucopyranoside and four flavones, luteolin (3',4',5,7-tetrahydroxyflavone), luteolin 7-O-beta-D-glucopyranoside, luteolin 4'-O-beta-D-glucopyranoside, licoflavone C (4',5,7-trihydroxy,8-isoprenylflavone) were purified from Mediterranean plants (Genista morisii and Genista ephedroides) and their estrogenic activity was assessed by a yeast reporter gene assay (Saccharomyces cerevisiae RMY326 ER-ERE). Licoflavone C showed a powerful estrogenic activity at 10(-7) M (0.0338 microg/ml) and it was 47.45% than 10(-8) M 17beta-estradiol (0.00272 microg/ml). The estrogenicity of this flavone was found to be comparable to the activity showed by genistein at 10(-6) M (0.27 microg/ml). This study points out that a glucose substituent in flavones and isoflavones modulates the hormone-like activity in a different way. Isoflavone aglycones showed a more estrogenic activity than the corresponding glucosides. Conversely, the glucosidation made estrogenic the flavone luteolin and the position of substitution differently influenced the estrogenic activity of compounds.