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OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to correlate computed tomography (CT) findings with pathology in gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GISTs). METHODS: A retrospective evaluation of CT images of 44 patients with GISTs was performed. Computed tomography findings analyzed were location, size, margins, degree and pattern of contrast enhancement, angiogenesis, necrosis, signs of invasion, peritoneal effusion, peritoneal implants, surface ulceration, and calcifications.Associations between CT features and mitotic rate, Miettinen classes of risk, lesions size, and among CT features were investigated. χ Test and Fisher test were performed. RESULTS: Mitotic rate was associated with margins (P = 0.016) and with adjacent organ invasion (P = 0.043). Pattern of contrast enhancement (P = 0.002), angiogenesis (P = 0.006), necrosis (P = 0.006), invasion of adjacent organs (P = 0.011), and margins (P = 0.006) were associated with classes of risk. Several associations (P < 0.05) between lesion size and CT features and among all the investigated CT features were found. CONCLUSIONS: Computed tomography features could reflect GIST biology being associated with the mitotic rate and with classes of risk.
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Neoplasias Gastrointestinales/diagnóstico por imagen , Neoplasias Gastrointestinales/patología , Tumores del Estroma Gastrointestinal/diagnóstico por imagen , Tumores del Estroma Gastrointestinal/patología , Tomografía Computarizada por Rayos X/métodos , Adulto , Anciano , Anciano de 80 o más Años , Femenino , Tracto Gastrointestinal/diagnóstico por imagen , Tracto Gastrointestinal/patología , Humanos , Masculino , Persona de Mediana Edad , Pronóstico , Estudios Retrospectivos , Medición de RiesgoRESUMEN
Wildlife may represent an important source of infectious diseases for humans and other wild and domestic animals. Wild ruminants can harbour and transmit Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) to humans, and some strains even carry important antimicrobial resistance. In this study, 289 livers of wild roe deer, fallow deer, red deer and chamois collected in Liguria, north-west Italy, from 2019 to 2023 were analysed. Overall, 44 STEC strains were isolated from 28 samples. The characterisation of serogroups showed the presence of O104, O113, O145 and O146 serogroups, although for 28 colonies, the serogroup could not be determined. The most prevalent Shiga toxin gene in isolated strains was Stx2, and more specifically the subtype Stx2b. The other retrieved subtypes were Stx1a, Stx1c, Stx1d and Stx2g. The isolated strains generally proved to be susceptible to the tested antimicrobials. However, multi-drug resistances against highly critical antimicrobials were found in one strain isolated from a roe deer. This study highlights the importance of wildlife monitoring in the context of a "One Health" approach.
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UNSTRUCTURED: Cardiovascular diseases are leading causes of death and morbidity worldwide. CPR and early defibrillation significantly enhance survival rates. Serious Games (SG) improve learning through entertainment. Current strategies target Cardiopulmonary resuscitation for communities and schoolchildren, but none have been validated for children in low-to-middle-income settings. The SG Children Save Hearts, developed in Brazil, teaches the five resuscitation steps according to International Liaison Committee on Resuscitation 2020 guidelines and requires formal usability assessment. The study aimed to evaluate the usability of SG Children Save Hearts among IT and healthcare professionals using the System Usability Scale (SUS). The usability test was conducted in August 2022 in the university's IT department. The game was developed targeting schoolchildren aged 7 to 17. Categorical variables as absolute and relative frequencies, while continuous variables were presented as median with interquartile range (IQR). Normality was assessed using the Shapiro-Wilk test. Comparisons between IT and healthcare professionals were made using the independent t-test for normal distributions or the Mann-Whitney U test for non-normal distributions. We included 17 volunteers with a mean age of 22 years (IQR 20-26). All participants played the game and completed a 10-question survey on its usability using a Likert-type scale. The final grade was converted to a 0 to 100 scale, with a grade above 70 considered acceptable for a minimum viable product. The mean SUS score was 75 (IQR 72.5-87.5). Healthcare professionals gave higher grades to all five domains compared to IT professionals. The average time spent playing the game was 3.2 minutes. Novel technologies have shown promising results for CPR teaching using active teaching methods, but face challenges in developing countries, such as language barriers, device acquisition, cultural differences, and technical support. To our knowledge, this is the first SG developed in portuguese for brazilian schoolchidren. Despite some usability issues, the SG Children Save Hearts is considered adequate for teaching CPR to schoolchildren in Brazil.
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The increasing number of food frauds, mainly targeting high quality products, is a rising concern among producers and authorities appointed to food controls. Therefore, the development or implementation of methods to reveal frauds is desired. The genetic traceability of traditional or high-quality dairy products (i.e., products of protected designation of origin, PDO) represents a challenging issue due to the technical problems that arise. The aim of the study was to set up a genetic tool for the origin traceability of dairy products. We investigated the use of Short Tandem Repeats (STRs) to assign milk and cheese to the corresponding producer. Two farms were included in the study, and the blood of the cows, bulk milk, and derived cheese were sampled monthly for one year. Twenty STRs were selected and Polymerase Chain Reactions for each locus were carried out. The results showed that bulk milk and derived cheese express an STR profile composed of a subset of STRs of the lactating animals. A bioinformatics tool was used for the exclusion analysis. The study allowed the identification of a panel of 20 markers useful for the traceability of milk and cheeses, and its effectiveness in the traceability of dairy products obtained from small producers was demonstrated.
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Canine Soft Tissue Sarcoma (STS) cell line A-72 has been largely employed for antiviral and antiproliferative studies. However, there are few information on their characteristics. Our aim was to evaluate A-72 expression level of genes and proteins involved in the innate immune response and cell cycle, their ability to respond to infective stressors and their possible use as a cellular model for anti-cancer studies in human and animal medicine. For this purpose, we evaluated the basal expression of immune-related, cell cycle and DNA repair genes on this cell line and tumoral tissues. A-72 ability to respond to a wild-type strain of Salmonella typhimurium was assessed. S. typhimurium showed ability to penetrate A-72 causing pro-inflammatory response accompanied by a decrease of cell viability. IL10 and IL18 genes were not expressed in A-72 while CXCL8, NOS2, CXCR4 and PTEN were highly expressed in all samples and TP53 was slightly expressed, as shown in human STS. Our results outline the ability of A-72 to respond to a bacterial agent by modifying the expression of important genes involved in innate immune response and provide a useful model for in vitro evaluation of new therapeutic approaches that could be translated into the human oncology.
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Enfermedades de los Perros , Sarcoma , Animales , Perros , Humanos , Sarcoma/genética , Sarcoma/veterinaria , Sarcoma/microbiología , Línea Celular , Salmonella typhimurium/genética , Modelos Animales , Inmunidad Innata/genéticaRESUMEN
Salmonella spp. is an important zoonotic agent. Wild boars might host this pathogen in the intestinal tract and might represent a risk for Salmonella spp. transmission to humans. Wild boars are widely spread in Liguria, due to the environmental characteristics of the region. The aim of the study was the isolation, typing, and investigation of antimicrobial susceptibility of the isolated strains of Salmonella spp. During the 2013-2017 hunting seasons, 4335 livers of wild boars were collected and analyzed for the presence of Salmonella spp. A total of 260 strains of Salmonella spp. were isolated and characterized, with a prevalence of 6%. The isolated strains belonged to all six Salmonella enterica subspecies. Most of them were identified as Salmonella enterica subs. enterica of which 31 different serotypes were identified. The dominating serotype identified was S. Enteritidis. The antimicrobial resistance profiles of the isolated strains were analyzed against sixteen molecules. Of the isolated strains, 94.6% were resistant to at least one of the tested antimicrobials. This study showed the circulation of resistant Salmonella spp. strains in the wild boar population living in this area of Italy, underling the potential risk for these animals to disseminate this pathogen and its antimicrobial resistances.
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Impaired control of chronic pathogen replication may be associated to alterations of NK-cell function. Whether mechanisms underlying this dysfunction involve perturbations of differentiating NK cells is still unknown. We studied an "in vitro" model of differentiation from CD34(+)Lin(-) precursors growing only myelomonocytes and maturing NK cells and where myelomonocytes could be suitably infected with HSV, HIV, or vaccinia. Cultures were evaluated by cytofluorometry and cytotoxicity assays for perturbations in differentiating NK cells. Increased expression of natural cytotoxicity receptors on maturing NK cells with increased cytolytic activity was observed with HSV-1 infection, and with vaccinia while no modulation of NK-cell phenotype nor cytotoxic activity were evident with an ssRNA lentivirus (HIV-1). In the presence of constant IL-12 and IL-15 concentrations, the observed effect did not require cell contact, involved IFN-alpha and was not reproduced by the addition of TLR9 agonist, nor blocked by TLR9 antagonists. Virus replication at sites of NK-cell precursor development may have different outcomes depending on the interaction between invading viruses and maturing NK cells. Thus, NK-cell precursors may be involved in the immune response to dsDNA viruses and possibly contribute to efficient control of virus infection.
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Diferenciación Celular/inmunología , Citotoxicidad Inmunológica/inmunología , Herpes Simple/inmunología , Interferón-alfa/inmunología , Células Asesinas Naturales/inmunología , Simplexvirus/inmunología , Diferenciación Celular/efectos de los fármacos , Células Cultivadas , Infecciones por VIH/inmunología , VIH-1/inmunología , Humanos , Interferón-alfa/antagonistas & inhibidores , Interleucina-12/inmunología , Interleucina-12/farmacología , Interleucina-15/inmunología , Interleucina-15/farmacología , Células Asesinas Naturales/efectos de los fármacos , Células Asesinas Naturales/virología , Monocitos/efectos de los fármacos , Monocitos/inmunología , Monocitos/virología , Vaccinia/inmunología , Virus Vaccinia/inmunologíaRESUMEN
Osteosarcoma (OSA) is a rare cancer both in human and dog although the incidence rate in dogs is 27 times higher than in human. Many studies employed D-17 as cell line for in vitro test to evaluate conventional anticancer therapies; however, little is known about D-17 cell line. The aim of our study was to evaluate the basal level of gene expression of pivotal molecules in the innate immune response and cell cycle regulation and to establish the ability of this cell line to react to Salmonella typhimurium (ST) infective stressor. IL15, IL10, iNOS, TLR5, CD14, PTEN and IL18 were expressed in an inconsistent manner among experiments. The other genes under study were expressed in all samples. ST showed ability to penetrate D-17 causing pro-inflammatory response. Our results outline the expression in D-17 of important genes involved in innate immune response. These results provide important data on D-17 basal gene expression profile useful for in vitro preliminary evaluation of new therapeutic approaches.
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In horses, squamous cell carcinomas (SCCs) are the most common malignant tumors developing on non-pigmented skin, muco-cutaneous areas, like external genitalia, and, less frequently, in the stomach. Growing evidence suggests Equus caballus papillomavirus type 2 (EcPV2) as causative agent of genital SCCs. Our case report describes a 20-year-old, female, mixed-breed pony with co-occurring vulvar papilloma and in situ carcinoma and gastric SCC. Both lesions were positive for the same EcPV2, as confirmed by DNA sequencing. E6 mRNA expression was observed both in vulvar lesions and gastric SCC, while L1 mRNA was expressed in the vulvar tumor. To the best of the Authors' knowledge, this is the first report of an association between EcPV2 and equine gastric squamous cell carcinoma, with co-occurring EcPV2-positive genital lesions. Further studies are required to assess the real prevalence and the possible role of this viral type in these equine tumors.
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Enfermedades de los Caballos/patología , Papillomaviridae/aislamiento & purificación , Infecciones por Papillomavirus/veterinaria , Gastropatías/veterinaria , Enfermedades de la Vulva/veterinaria , Animales , Femenino , Enfermedades de los Caballos/virología , Caballos , Infecciones por Papillomavirus/patología , Infecciones por Papillomavirus/virología , Gastropatías/patología , Gastropatías/virología , Enfermedades de la Vulva/patología , Enfermedades de la Vulva/virologíaRESUMEN
PURPOSE: To compare CT and Texture features of liver metastases in Pancreatic Neuroendocrine Tumors (PNETs) and in Non-Pancreatic Neuroendocrine Tumors (NPNETs) according to tumor grading, overall survival (OS), time to progression (TTP) and Ki67 index. METHODS: 23 patients with PNETs and 25 patients with NPNETs affected by liver metastases were compared. The lesions were G1 and G2 according to WHO classification of tumors. Texture parameters (Mean, Standard Deviation, Entropy, Kurtosis, Skewness, Mean of Positive Pixel) at different spatial scale image filtration (SSF) were evaluated in both arterial and portal phase using a dedicated software for volumetric analysis. All CT images were acquired before the beginning of any medical treatment. RESULTS: The following significant results (Pâ¯<â¯0.05) were found: in the arterial phase for value of Skewness between PNETs G2 and NPNETs G2; in the portal phase between PNETs versus NPNETs, PNETs G1 versus NPNETs G1, PNETs G2 versus NPNETs G2; value of Mean in portal phase in PNETs vs NPNETs. Regarding PNETs, a Pâ¯<â¯0.05 was found in: inverse correlation between Entropy and TTP; direct correlation between Mean and OS; correlating Kurtosis and high risk of death; correlating Skewness and low risk of death. Regarding NPNETs, Pâ¯<â¯0.05 was found in: inverse correlation between Entropy and OS; correlating Entropy and high risk of dying. CONCLUSIONS: This study shows that CT texture features are significantly different in PNETs from NPNETs. Additionally, textural features such as Entropy, Kurtosis and Skewness, were found to have significant correlation with higher mortality risk.
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Neoplasias Hepáticas/secundario , Tumores Neuroendocrinos/patología , Neoplasias Pancreáticas/patología , Tomografía Computarizada por Rayos X/métodos , Adulto , Anciano , Progresión de la Enfermedad , Femenino , Humanos , Hígado/diagnóstico por imagen , Masculino , Persona de Mediana Edad , Clasificación del Tumor , Estudios Retrospectivos , Adulto JovenRESUMEN
PURPOSE: The aim is to determine the accuracy of magnetic resonance enterography (MRE) in evaluating Crohn's disease (CD) activity. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Seventy-seven patients with CD underwent MRE. The primary analysis was to determine associations between MRE findings, Harvey-Bradshaw Index, and C-reactive protein (CRP), then we have created a new MRE score that it was also correlated with clinical and laboratory data. RESULTS: MRE score for CD significantly correlates with CRP (P=.003). Significant associations were found between degree of contrast enhancement and CRP (P=.002) and between comb sign and CRP (P=.001). CONCLUSIONS: These results make MRE an important instrument for evaluation of CD activity.
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Enfermedad de Crohn/diagnóstico , Endoscopía Gastrointestinal/métodos , Imagen por Resonancia Magnética/métodos , Adulto , Femenino , Humanos , Masculino , Persona de Mediana Edad , Curva ROC , Índice de Severidad de la EnfermedadRESUMEN
Highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) induces a persistent reduction of the plasmatic viremia, contributing to decrease mortality and morbidity of infected people with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). Thus, viral load (VL) is the reference method to evaluate therapy effectiveness. However, even in the presence of efficient HAART viral eradication was yet not achieved. In this study, we analyzed the presence of total HIV DNA (T-HIV DNA), non-integrated DNA with 2LTR (2LTR-HIV DNA) and HIV RNA in a group of 55 HIV-positive subjects from Rosario City, with different clinical stages, with and without HAART. All markers were evaluated by PCR assays optimized in our laboratory that included colorimetric detection in microplate. HIV RNA clinical sensitivity was compared with a reference test, bDNA, resulting in 74% and 64% respectively, with an 85% of agreement. Thus, our HIV RNA assay could be used to monitor patients under HAART and at risk of infection. The 2LTR-HIV DNA was 54% positive although it was absent in patients with high VL. This marker was considered a labile product therefore its presence was associated with recent infection. However, current evidences question its stability. Thus, its clinical significance should be reconsidered. The absence of 2LTR-HIV DNA in patients with detectable VL may relate to the heterogeneity of the sequence used for its detection. T-HIV DNA was present in 100% of the samples and could be a relevant remission marker when therapies that effectively eradicate the infection became available.
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Terapia Antirretroviral Altamente Activa , ADN Viral/sangre , Infecciones por VIH/virología , Duplicado del Terminal Largo de VIH , VIH-1/efectos de los fármacos , ARN Viral/sangre , Adulto , Fármacos Anti-VIH/uso terapéutico , Biomarcadores/sangre , Ensayo de Amplificación de Señal de ADN Ramificado , Femenino , Infecciones por VIH/sangre , Infecciones por VIH/tratamiento farmacológico , VIH-1/genética , Humanos , Masculino , Persona de Mediana Edad , Reacción en Cadena de la Polimerasa , Carga Viral , Replicación ViralRESUMEN
Covert human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) replication was ongoing during the first 3 years of aviremia in 22 patients, as determined by detection of DNA containing two long terminal repeats (2 LTR DNA). Although total HIV DNA was detected in 60 2 LTR DNA-negative samples, the absence of 2 LTR DNA in 90% of patients following 7 to 8 years of highly active antiretroviral therapy suggests suppression of cryptic viral replication.
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Terapia Antirretroviral Altamente Activa , ADN Viral/sangre , Duplicado del Terminal Largo de VIH/genética , VIH-1/genética , Viremia/tratamiento farmacológico , Integración Viral , ADN Viral/metabolismo , Infecciones por VIH/tratamiento farmacológico , VIH-1/fisiología , Humanos , Leucocitos Mononucleares/virología , Viremia/virología , Replicación Viral/efectos de los fármacosRESUMEN
La terapia antirretrovial de alta eficacia (TAAE) induce una reducción marcada y persisatente de la viremia plasmática, contribuvendo a disminuir la mortalidad de los pacientes HIV-positivos. Así, la carga viral (CV) es el método de referencia para evaluar la eficacia terapéutica. Sin embargo, aun en presencia de una TAAE eficiente no se ha logrado la erradicación viral. En este estudio analizamos la presencia del ADN total de HIV (ADN HIV-T), del ADN no integrado con 2LTR (ADN HIV-2LTR) y del ARN de HIV, en un grupo de 55 pacientes HIV-positivos en distintos estadios clínicos, con y sin TAAE, mediante ensayos de PCR con revelado colorimétrico en microplaca, optimizados en nuestro laboratorio. La sensibilidad clínica de ARN del HIV fue evaluada con el bDNA, resultando del 74% y del 64%, respectivamente, con una concordancia del 85%. Este ensayo podría utilizado en el seguimiento de pacientes bajo TAAE. EI ADN HIV-2LTR resultó positivo en el 54% aunque estuvo ausente en pacientes con elevada CV. Este marcador se considereba un producto lábil y su presencia se asociaba a infección reciente. Sin embargo, actuales evidencias ponen en discusión su estabilidad por lo que su significado clínico debe ser reconsiderado. La ausencia del ADN HIV-2LTR en pacientes con CV detectable puede relacionarse con la heterogeneidade de la secuencia utilizada para su detección. EI ADN HIV-T estuvo presente en el 100% de las muestras y resultaría relevante como marcador de remisión cuando se dispongan de terapias que efectivamente erradiquen la infección.