Metabolomic profiling of Fiore Sardo cheese: Investigation of the influence of thermal treatment and ripening time using univariate and multivariate classification techniques.

The effect of different sub-pasteurization heat treatments and different ripening times was investigated in this work. The metabolite profiles of 95 cheese samples were analyzed using GC-MS in order to determine the effects of thermal treatment (raw milk, 57 °C and 68 °C milk thermization) and ripening time (105 and 180 days). ANOVA test on GC-MS peaks complemented with false discovery rate correction was employed to identify the compounds whose levels significantly varied over different ripening times and thermal treatments. The univariate t-test classifier and Partial Least Square Discriminant Analysis (PLS-DA) provided acceptable classification results, with an overall accuracy in cross-validation of 76% for the univariate model and 72% from the PLS-DA. The metabolites that mostly changed with ripening time were amino acids and one endocannabinoid (i.e., arachidonoyl amide), while compounds belonging to the classes of biogenic amines and saccharides resulted in being strongly affected by the thermization process.

Sentinel lymph node biopsy in breast cancer: ten-year results of a randomized controlled study.

OBJECTIVE: Sentinel node biopsy (SNB) is widely used to stage the axilla in breast cancer. We present 10-year follow-up of our single-institute trial designed to compare outcomes in patients who received no axillary dissection if the sentinel node was negative, with patients who received complete axillary dissection. METHODS: From March 1998 to December 1999, 516 patients with primary breast cancer up to 2 cm in pathologic diameter were randomized either to SNB plus complete axillary dissection (AD arm) or to SNB with axillary dissection only if the sentinel node contained metastases (SN arm). RESULTS: The 2 arms were well-balanced for number of sentinel nodes found, proportion of positive sentinel nodes, and all other tumor and patient characteristics. About 8 patients in the AD arm had false-negative SNs on histologic analysis: a similar number (8, 95% CI: 3-15) of patients with axillary involvement was expected in SN arm patients who did not receive axillary dissection; but only 2 cases of overt axillary metastasis occurred. There were 23 breast cancer-related events in the SN arm and 26 in the AD arm (log-rank, P = 0.52), while overall survival was greater in the SN arm (log-rank, P = 0.15). CONCLUSIONS: Preservation of healthy lymph nodes may have beneficial consequences. Axillary dissection should not be performed in breast cancer patients without first examining the sentinel node.

Pregnancy care in two adolescents perinatally infected with HIV.

We describe the main issues encountered in pregnancy care in two perinatally infected adolescents with HIV. Despite the young maternal age, both mothers complied well with visits and treatment during pregnancy and delivered at week 38 through elective caesarean section. Both, however, missed the regular gynaecological and the routine HIV visits scheduled after pregnancy. Both infants following HIV exposure were confirmed HIV-negative at the end of tests performed in the first year of life. A growing number of similar cases is expected as perinatally infected children enter adolescence and become sexually active. These two cases indicate the feasibility of an adequate pregnancy care in very young HIV-positive women, but suggest that potential difficulties may be encountered in this population in maintaining optimal care after delivery. Such objectives might be better obtained with a timely transition of adolescents with HIV from paediatric clinics to a multiservice care setting which includes infectious diseases clinics, obstetric and gynaecologic departments and, particularly, counselling and educational services.