Metastatic tumors to the stomach: clinical and endoscopic features.

AIM: To evaluate the clinical and endoscopic patterns in a large series of patients with metastatic tumors in the stomach. METHODS: A total of 64 patients with gastric metastases from solid malignant tumors were retrospectively examined between 1990 and 2005. The clinicopathological findings were reviewed along with tumor characteristics such as endoscopic pattern, location, size and origin of the primary sites. RESULTS: Common indications for endoscopy were anemia, bleeding and epigastric pain. Metastases presented as solitary (62.5%) or multiple (37.5%) tumors were mainly located in the middle or upper third of stomach. The main primary metastatic tumors were from breast and lung cancer and malignant melanoma. CONCLUSION: As the prognosis of cancer patients has been improving gradually, gastrointestinal (GI) metastases will be encountered more often. Endoscopic examinations should be conducted carefully in patients with malignancies, and endoscopic biopsies and information on the patient's clinical history are useful for correct diagnosis of gastric metastases

Proteomic study of muscle sarcoplasmic proteins using AUT-PAGE/SDS-PAGE as two-dimensional gel electrophoresis

The conversion of muscle to meat in pig involves mainly proteolysis of myofibrillar proteins, which undergo notable changes since early stage of rigor mortis, even after 48 h post mortem. The tenderness of meat has been thoroughly investigated to understand the biochemical mechanisms, which influence texture and flavour development as well as the technological parameters and hence meat quality. Cytoplasmic proteolytic calcium dependent enzymes, named -and m-calpains, which act in the early stages of rigor mortis, significantly contribute to tenderization weakening myofibrils. These enzymes, however, act for fewdays because they are specifically inhibited by calpastatin and by pH lowering. However, when pH falls to about 5.0, proteolytic activity on muscle proteins is continued by longer acting lysosomal proteinase, cathepsins [3,7–9]. Post mortem proteolysis also causes relevant changes in sarcoplamic protein fraction, which represent the water soluble fraction (quantitatively about 30–35%) of meat total protein, and the involved proteins has already been identified by proteomic-based studies. Recent investigations have demonstrated that the most commonly found Lactobacillus species in dry fermented meats are able to hydrolyse myofibrillar and sarcoplasmic muscle proteins in vitro.The most abundant sarcoplasmic proteins, as mixture of basic polypeptides with a narrow spread range of molecular masses, represented an excellent model to test our analytical technique and to delineate its capabilities. In the present study, we compared 2D AUT-PAGE/SDSPAGE maps of water-soluble proteins extracted from fresh meat and from dry-cured ham, a non fermented product, from “Naples-type” salami, a microbiologically fermented product, and from “Coppa”, a typical semi-fermented product. Electrophoretically separated proteins have been identified by MALDI-ToF mass fingerprinting

COVID-19 and lung cancer: risks, mechanisms and treatment interactions.

Cases of the 2019 novel coronavirus also known as severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) continue to rise worldwide. To date, there is no effective treatment. Clinical management is largely symptomatic, with organ support in intensive care for critically ill patients. The first phase I trial to test the efficacy of a vaccine has recently begun, but in the meantime there is an urgent need to decrease the morbidity and mortality of severe cases. It is known that patients with cancer are more susceptible to infection than individuals without cancer because of their systemic immunosuppressive state caused by the malignancy and anticancer treatments. Therefore, these patients might be at increased risk of pulmonary complications from COVID-19. The SARS-CoV-2 could in some case induce excessive and aberrant non-effective host immune responses that are associated with potentially fatal severe lung injury and patients can develop acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). Cytokine release syndrome and viral ARDS result from uncontrolled severe acute inflammation. Acute lung injury results from inflammatory monocyte and macrophage activation in the pulmonary luminal epithelium which lead to a release of proinflammatory cytokines including interleukin (IL)-6, IL-1 and tumor necrosis factor-α. These cytokines play a crucial role in immune-related pneumonitis, and could represent a promising target when the infiltration is T cell predominant or there are indirect signs of high IL-6-related inflammation, such as elevated C-reactive protein. A monoclonal anti-IL-6 receptor antibody, tocilizumab has been administered in a number of cases in China and Italy. Positive clinical and radiological outcomes have been reported. These early findings have led to an ongoing randomized controlled clinical trial in China and Italy. While data from those trials are eagerly awaited, patients' management will continue to rely for the vast majority on local guidelines. Among many other aspects, this crisis has proven that different specialists must join forces to deliver the best possible care to patients

Cigarette smoking habit does not reduce the benefit from first line trastuzumab-based treatment in advanced breast cancer patients

Many ErbB2-positive cancers may show intrinsic resistance, and the frequent development of acquired resistance to ErbB-targeted agents represents a substantial clinical problem. The constitutive NF-κB activation in some HER-2/neu positive breast cancer may represent a potential cause of resistance to trastuzumab therapy. Preclinical data revealed that 4-(N-Methyl-N- nitrosamino)-1-(3-pyridyl)-1-butanone (NNK), the tobacco-specific nitrosamine is able to enhance NF-κB DNA binding activity and theoretically to increase the resistance to trastuzumab. Two hundred and forty-eight women with pathologically confirmed, uni- or bidimensionally measurable, HER-2-positive metastatic breast cancer (MBC) treated with trastuzumab-based therapy as first line combination for metastatic disease were considered eligible. For all included patients data on smoking habit were detectable from medical records. We retrospectively analysed the smoking habits of 248 MBC patients and correlated these habits with activity and efficacy of trastuzumab-based therapy. No statistically significant difference in terms of response rate (RR), time to progression (TTP) and overall survival (OS) was identified between smokers (former plus active smokers) and never smokers. Moreover, no statistically significant difference in terms of RR, TTP and OS was identified either comparing active smokers and former smokers. Moreover, we did not observed any significant statistical difference in terms of TTP and OS between smokers ≥10 cigarettes/day and ≤10 cigarettes/day. This study clearly showed lack of any correlation between cigarette smoking habit and both activity and efficacy of trastuzumab-based first line therapy in metastatic HER2/neu positive breast cancer patients. Copyright © 2011 Spandidos Publications Ltd. All rights reserved

A Consumer Perspective on Mobile Market Evolution

In 2007 (Mazzoni, Castaldi, Addeo) we performed a wide research on consumer behavior in the Italian mobile communication market. Using a multidimensional segmentation approach, we identified three consumer clusters according to lifestyles, mobile phone use motivations and product attributes. One of the most interesting finding was that two clusters out of three were characterized by a minor propensity to an integrated and service-oriented use of mobile communication. In other words, some consumers conceived mobile phone not only as a simple communication devices, but more like a technologically advanced multipurpose tool. In mid-2000s Italian mobile companies and operators tried to push mobile communication market toward an integrated use, mostly relying on videophone communication. Although videophone communication had a very low impact on mobile market, integrated and service oriented use of cellular phones are becoming more and more the pillars of mobile communication market. Considering that the mobile communication market changes quickly under the spur of many technological innovations, new challenges or opportunities stem from the exploitation of innovations in mobile devices. The service economy (Fuchs, 1968; Gustafsson & Johnson, 2003), that implies the shift of manufacturers from goods selling to services delivering, is one of those challenges for mobile industry. Mainly since 2007, with the iPhone introduction, the “servitization” (Vandermerwe & Rada, 1988) has been an extending trend (Neely, 2007) among the mobile phones suppliers as they try to mix in their offerings either good and service, integrating phone devices with increasing software and applications. In a supplier perspective, this shift has an important impact on economical aspects, in term of cash-flows growth, or additional revenues - those streaming from selling more complementary services for products. Nevertheless, servitization also brings implications in the operation management, in the innovation strategy and compels providers to revise their business model also. But what is happening in the consumer perspective? A mass-market product like the mobile phone becomes extremely customizable by the complementary services that can be integrated into it: software updating allows customers to entail the mobile phone functionality on their unique needs. Analyzing the consumer perspective through the adoption of a behavior model above outlined (Mazzoni, 1995) and already applied and tested into the exploration of mobile market (Mazzoni, Castaldi, Addeo, 2007), this chapter aims - through a literature review - to understand how changes in the offerings can affect the three dimensions: lifestyles, use motivations and product attributes. Particularly, if shifts in product attributes are clear and evident, the chapter aims to consider the impact in the way in which customer’s expectations, needs and use of mobile phones are transforming

Cellular Therapy in NSCLC: Between Myth and Reality.

In this paper, we review the current state and modalities of adoptive cell therapies (ACT) in non-small cell lung carcinoma (NSCLC). We also discuss the challenges hampering the use of ACT and the approaches to overcome these barriers. Several trials are ongoing investigating the three main modalities of T cell-based ACT: tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs), genetically engineered T-cell receptors (TCRs), and chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cells. The latter, in particular, has revolutionized the treatment of hematologic malignancies. However, the efficacy against solid tumor is still sparse. Major limitations include the following: severe toxicities, restricted infiltration and activation within the tumors, antigen escape and heterogeneity, and manufacturing issues. ACT is a promising tool to improve the outcome of metastatic NSCLC, but significant translational and clinical research is needed to improve its application and expand the use in NSCLC