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Background/Objectives:: Cancer cachexia is a syndrome characterized by weight loss (WL) and sarcopenia. Aim of the study was to assess the impact of cachexia on head and neck changes during definitive cisplatin and image-guided volumetric-modulated arc radiation therapy in a series of locally advanced oropharyngeal cancer. Subjects/Methods:: Volume variations of sternocleidomastoid muscle (SCM) were considered as surrogate of muscle changes related to sarcopenia. Two head and neck diameters, encompassing the cranial limits of II and III nodal levels (defined as ‘head diameter’ and ‘neck diameter’, respectively), were measured. All parameters were defined retrospectively by means of on-board cone beam computed tomography images at 1-8th to 15–22th and at last fraction (fx) of radiotherapy (RT). Cachexia was defined as WL >5% during treatment. Analysis was conducted correlating the parameter changes with three WL ranges: <5, 5–9 and>10%. Results:: Thirty patients were evaluated. One hundred and fifty contoured SCMs and three hundred diameters were collected. Median WL was 6.5% (range, 0–16%). The most significant SCM shrinkage was recorded at 15th fx (mean 1.6 cc) related to WL 5–9% and WL >10% (P0.001). For ‘head diameter’, the peak reduction was recorded at the 15th fx (mean 8?mm), statistically correlated to WL >10% (P0.001). The peak reduction in ‘neck diameter’ was registered at the 22th fx (mean 6?mm), with a gradual reduction until the end of treatment for WL >5%. Conclusions:: In a homogeneous cohort of patients, present study quantified the impact of cachexia on head and neck changes. Present data could provide adaptive RT implications for further investigations.

Describir la evolución de la técnica quirúrgica para el manejo de las masas renales en un centro español e identificar los factores asociados con la decisión de nefrectomía parcial (NP).

Abstract: Nisyros is a totally volcanic island located at the eastern limit of the quaternary calc-alkaline island arc system of the South Aegean Sea. Its age is rather young since K/Ar dating has given an age of 0.2 m.y. B.P. for one of the oldest outcropping products of this volcano. The volcanological evolution of Nisyros has tentatively been reconstructed as follows:

In this study lipid and apolipoprotein patterns were investigated at birth and compared with those of adults. In cord sera, cholesterol, triglycerides, low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol and high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol were 38.2, 46.2, 50.5, and 31.9%, respectively, of adult values. Apolipoprotein AII, B and CIII were 48.6, 30.6 and 44.5% of adult values, while apo AI, apo CII and apo E showed values approaching those of adults (63.4, 73.3 and 89.7%, respectively). Also cholesterol/HDL cholesterol and LDL cholesterol/HDL cholesterol ratios were lower in newborns. In cord sera, lipids were correlated with various apolipoproteins in a surprisingly different way from adult sera. HDL cholesterol was not inversely correlated with triglycerides, and showed a highly positive correlation with apo E, apo CII and apo CIII, which did not correlate with HDL cholesterol in adults. These data supported the presence of significant differences in plasma concentrations and composition of lipoproteins at birth. Therefore HDL, apo CII, and apo E seem to play a different and more important metabolic role in neonatal lipid metabolism.

Using a combination of immunohistochemistry and planimetric observation we report the density and distribution of Langerhans cells (LCs) in epithelium from the normal ectocervix and from the normal transformation zone (TZ). The density of LCs increased towards the basement membrane. Dendritic LCs aspect was more prominent in the superficial layers.

Prednisone glucose tolerance tests were carried out in 339 women who had been treated with various estrogens in order to study the alterations in carbohydrate metabolism caused by the medications. The estrogens were given to 202 young women as components of oral contraceptives, and to 137 climacteric women to relieve deprivation symptoms. The prednisone glucose tolerance test was carried out before the beginning of treatment and then at 3month intervals for a period of 30months, in a sufficient number of cases. Only in one group receiving Mestranol did an increase in the percentage of abnormal tests occur, especially between the first and third months. This alteration decreased progressively until the ninth month when it had entirely disappeared and thereafter values remained normal throughout the whole 30months of observation. The organism posesses an adaptation mechanism whose interpretation and possible consequences are discussed.

Abstract: The volcanology and petrology of Linosa island are described. Linosa and Pantelleria are two quaternary volcanic islands located in the Sicily Channel, a NW-SE elongated continental rift structure of the southern Mediterranean Sea. Several hyaloclastitic rings mark the period of submarine explosive activity which formed Linosa. Lava flows and spatter cones, originated in a later period, prevented the complete destruction of this island by the sea. A typical (undersaturated) alkali basalt fractionation trend has been recognized at Linosa while Pantelleria is characterized by diflerentiation products originated from a mildly alkalic-transitional basaltic magma. These petrogenetic differences between Linosa and Pantelleria have tentatively been related to a different crustal thickness of the islands due to their tectonic location within the Sicily Channel: Linosa on a marginal area, Pantelleria just on the axis of a graben. The genesis and evolution of the Sicily Channel Rift Valley and of the associated basaltic magmatism are probably related to tensional stresses affecting the northwards migrating African plate, just behind its contact zone with the Eurasian plate.

Abstract: The Ethiopian Rift Valley, which cuts the uplifted Ethio-Somalian Plateau, is one of the most important structures of East Africa, and nevertheless it is still largely unknown. A preliminary 1/500,000 geological map as well as volcanological and petrological descriptions of an important part of this structure are presented. This part of the Ethiopian Rift Valley is marked by a set of NNE-SSW normal faults. « En échelon » arrangements, rift-in-rift structures, asymmetry and open tensional fissures are its most important tectonic features. The region has been affected by volcanism since Eocene in the neighbouring Plateaux and since probably Pliocene within the Rift, with fissure eruptions and growth of individual volcanoes. Non-volcanic rocks consist exclusively of lacustrine sediments. Magmatic products on both Plateaux are represented mainly by huge piles of basaltic lava flows, whilst within the Rift most of the volcanics are widespread ignimbritic units. The presence of such large amount of ignimbrites can easily explain some important volcano-tectonic collapses which produced large regional calderas. Although still insufficient, the available petrological data suggest that the Plateau basalts have more alkalic character than those within the Rift, which show a transitional nature between alkali basalts and tholeiites. Intermediate rocks seem to be scarce and most of the silicic products are monotonously represented by peralkaline rhyolites (mostly pantellerites). The genesis of the peralkaline silicic rocks might be related to the presence, along the Rift axis, of a huge basic igneous body recently discovered by a geophysical investigation. This could explain the presence of large volume of these rocks within the Rift, although the apparent scarcity of intermediate rocks remains unexplained.

Prednisone glucose tolerance (PGT) tests were carried out in 161 patients who had been submitted to various treatments with oral contraceptives in order to study the alterations in carbohydrate metabolism caused by the medications. The cases were divided into several groups in order to examine separately the effects of mestranol and chlormadinone (Group I); mestranol combined with norethisterone (Group III); norethisterone acetate (Group II); and ethinyl estradiol combined with norethisterone (Group IV). A prednisone glucose tolerance test was carried out before onset of treatment in the first, third, fifth, ninth, and twelfth months of investigation. In Group I the PGT test was abnormal in 45 per cent of the patients in the reproductive age group and in 60.7 per cent of patients in the climacteric. An abnormal prednisone glucose tolerance test was present during treatment in 8.7 per cent, 66.7 per cent, and 11.1 per cent of Groups II, III, and IV, respectively. Analysis of these treatment programs indicated that only those patients who received mestranol had a highly significant percentage of abnormal prednisone glucose tolerance tests.

Liver biopsies from two groups of women receiving oral contraceptives from 1 to 6 months and from 12 to 30 months, respectively, were examined by electron microscopy. The fine structure of the liver cells from the first group appeared normal, except for an increase in the amount of smooth endoplasmic reticulum. In the second group, however, there were many cases with striking changes—altered shape, increase in size, and presence of paracrystalline inclusions—in the mitochondria. No significant correlation between mitochondrial changes and alterations in liver function was detected.