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Malignant melanoma accounts for around 80% of all skin cancer-related deaths and its incidence continues to increase worldwide.[1] Identification of patients at high risk of tumour progression is currently critical for melanoma management. Intratumoral miRNAs are involved in melanoma tumour progression and are able to predict melanoma survival.[2] Recently, circulating cell-free miRNAs (cfmiRNAs) have shown to have utility as non-invasive biomarkers in cancer, including melanoma.[[3], [5]] G1 comparison, miR-182-5p was downregulated and miR-199a-5p, miR-877-3p, miR-1228-3p and miR-3613-5p upregulated in stage III in comparison with stage IA melanoma patients (Table a). [Extracted from the article]

Summary: Background: A variety of genodermatoses with multiple cutaneous tumours and germline genetic alterations, such as PTCH1 mutations, have been described. Other cutaneous syndromes have been associated with somatic gene mutations, such as FGFR3 in familial seborrhoeic keratosis. Objectives: To describe the clinical, dermoscopic and histopathological features of multiple cutaneous lesions, mostly infundibulocystic basal cell carcinomas (ICBCCs) and pure reticulated acanthomas, present in a family affected by familial seborrhoeic keratosis. In addition, we tested for possible germline alterations in FGFR3 and PTCH1. Methods: Ten members of one family were clinically examined and 92 skin biopsy specimens were evaluated. Blood samples from six individuals were analysed for FGFR3 and PTCH1 germline alterations. We reviewed the literature concerning genetic FGFR3 alterations in seborrhoeic keratosis. Results: Individuals of all generations affected by familial seborrhoeic keratosis also presented other skin tumours that corresponded histologically to reticulated acanthomas without apocrine or sebaceous differentiation, as well as ICBCCs. In addition, two novel germline variants, p.Pro449Ser (c.1345C>T) in FGFR3 and p.Pro725Ser (c.2173C>T) in exon 14 of PTCH1 were identified in five participants. Conclusions: We characterize for the first time the clinical, dermoscopic and histopathological features of multiple reticulated acanthomas without apocrine or sebaceous differentiation, for which we propose the term ‘pure reticulated acanthoma’, and ICBCCs associated with familial seborrhoeic keratosis. We identified FGFR3 and PTCH1 germline polymorphisms whose influence in the development of reticulated acanthomas is unknown. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Schistosomiasis is one of the most prevalent Neglected Tropical Disease, affecting approximately 250 million people worldwide. Schistosoma mansoni is the most important species causing human intestinal schistosomiasis. Despite significant efforts in recent decades, the global disease burden of schistosomiasis remains extremely high. This could partly be attributed to the absence of accurate diagnostic tools, primarily in endemic areas. Loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) is increasingly used in molecular diagnostics as a field-friendly alternative to many other complex molecular methods and it has been proposed as an ideal candidate for revolutionizing point-of-care molecular diagnostics. In a previous work, a LAMP-based method to detect S. mansoni DNA (SmMIT-LAMP) was developed by our research group for early diagnosis of active schistosomiasis in an experimental infection murine model. The SmMIT-LAMP has been further successfully evaluated in both human stool and snail samples and, recently, in human urine samples. In this study, we developed an important improvement for SmMIT-LAMP molecular assay, transforming it into a cold maintenance dry format suitable for potentially manufacturing as kit for ready-to-use for schistosomiasis diagnosis. This procedure could be applied to create dry LAMP kits for a laboratory setting and for diagnostic applications for other neglected tropical diseases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]