Low prevalence of human papillomavirus infection in the healthy oral mucosa of a Northern Italian population.

BACKGROUND: Oral cancer is the sixth most common malignancy in developed countries, representing almost 3% of malignant tumors. Tobacco use and alcohol consumption are well-established risk factors. However, the observation that most patients with oral cancer have not been exposed to these risk factors suggests that additional causes may promote oral carcinogenesis. A link has been suggested between human papillomavirus (HPV) and oral cavity cancer but the significance of HPV contribution to oral carcinogenesis as well as the prevalence of HPV infection in normal oral cavity mucosa remains debated. METHODS: In this study, the prevalence of oral HPV infection was evaluated in 81 randomly selected Northern Italian subjects with clinically normal oral mucosa using a nested PCR on DNA extracted by oral smears. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS: No HPV-related lesions were detectable in any of the smears analyzed by cytological approach. nPCR identified HPV DNA in only one (1.2%) of the specimens obtained from clinically healthy oral mucosa and subsequent characterization assigned the positive case to HPV type 90. These data suggest that the incidence of HPV infection in the healthy population might be very low and that other risk factors are likely responsible to promote oral carcinogenesis.

Oxidative stability and dietary treatment with vitamin E, oleic acid and copper of fresh and cooked pork chops.

Research has been conducted on the effects of feed supplementation with vitamin E, oleic acid (sunflower oil) and copper on some quality characteristics of pork chops. The study was based on the measurement of pH 45' and 24 hr post mortem, proximate composition, colour both objective and sensory, colour stability after packing in oxygen permeable film and protective atmosphere, copper and iron contents, vitamin E content in fresh and cooked chops, peroxide and TBARS value in raw and cooked meat, total cholesterol, cholesterol oxides and aldehydes in cooked meat, sensory evaluation of the eating quality of cooked chops and iodine number of subcutaneous fat. Vitamin E content was significantly higher with oil and vitamin supplementation. No variation has been observed in copper and iron contents. A higher stability of the colour of meat packed under modified atmosphere has been observed with increasing vitamin E content, but the same did not apply with meat packed in oxygen permeable film. No differences have been observed on fatty acid oxidative stability of fresh m. longissimus dorsi and cooked chops (peroxide and TBARS values), on cholesterol oxidation and aldehydes production of cooked chops with increasing vitamin E content. Iodine number in supplemented animals reached levels normally considered at risk for fat firmness.

[Description of a rare case of Castleman's lymphoma. Critical review of the literature]. / Descrizione di un caso raro di linfoma di Castleman. Revisione critica della letteratura.

A rare case of Castleman's lymphoma, examined recently, has been taken as the starting point to review the literature and make some clinical remarks on it.

Studies of genetic effects in the D7 strain of Saccharomyces cerevisiae under different conditions of pH.

The genetic effects of variation in pH in culture media and in suspension tests were examined in a diploid strain (D7) of the yeast, Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Deviation from the normal pH of 6.24 in the liquid culture medium, has a significant effect on cellular growth and on mitotic gene conversion at the trp5 locus. Frequencies of reversion at the ilv I-92 locus and of mitotic crossing-over at the ade2 locus are not significantly influenced. Suspension tests, performed using phosphate buffer (pH 5.8), strongly confirm the original results. Our data suggest that the increase in mitotic gene conversion under various conditions of pH is due to a specific effect of pH itself on the cells of S. cerevisiae. In fact, increases were obtained using the same pH in both cellular growth and non-growth conditions. The maximum effect detected with both procedures was obtained at pH 5.8; in the growth test, at this pH, gene conversion frequency appeared to be most pronounced, being about 10 times higher than that of the control. These results suggest that pH exerts its specific action both on growing and non-growing yeast cells, and the difference in induction of genetic effect between these two conditions is probably due to a time factor.