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Aims. We aimed to summarize available evidence about intraoperative and postoperative donors' and recipients' outcomes following stone surgery in renal grafts from living donors performed either before donation or as ex vivo bench surgery at the time of living-donor nephrectomy. Methods. A systematic review of PubMed, ISI Web of Knowledge, and Scopus databases was performed in September 2020. We included full papers that met the following criteria: original research, English language, human studies, and describing the results of stone surgery in renal grafts from living donors performed either before transplantation or as ex vivo bench surgery. Results. We identified 11 studies involving 106 patients aged between 22 and 72 years. Predonation and bench stone surgery was performed in 9 (8.5%) and 96 (90.6%) patients, respectively. Predonation stone surgery involved extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy, retrograde intrarenal surgery, and percutaneous nephrolithotomy in 8, 1, and 1 patient, respectively. The overall success rate of predonation stone surgery was 78%, and the complication rate was 0%. Bench stone surgery involved ureteroscopy, pyelolithotomy, or a combination of both in 79 (82.3%), 10 (10.4%), and 7 (7.3%) cases, respectively, with an overall success rate of 95.8% and an overall complication rate of 9.37%. Conclusions. Predonation and bench stone surgery in grafts from living donors represents efficacious and safe procedures. Further studies on wider series with a longer follow-up are required. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims. We aimed to summarize available lines of evidence about intraoperative and postoperative donor outcomes following robotic-assisted laparoscopic donor nephrectomy (RALDN) as well as outcomes of graft and recipients. Methods. A systematic review of PubMed/Medline, ISI Web of Knowledge, and Scopus databases was performed in May 2018. The following search terms were combined: nephrectomy, robotic, and living donor. We included full papers that met the following criteria: original research; English language; human studies; enrolling patients undergoing RALDN. Results. Eighteen studies involving 910 patients were included in the final analysis. Mean overall operative and warm ischemia times ranged from 139 to 306 minutes and from 1.5 to 5.8 minutes, respectively. Mean estimated blood loss varied from 30 to 146 mL and the incidence of intraoperative complications ranged from 0% to 6.7%. Conversion rate varied from 0% to 5%. The mean hospital length of stay varied from 1 to 5.8 days and incidence of early postoperative complications varied from 0% to 15.7%. No donor mortality was observed. The incidence of delayed graft function was reported in 7 cases. The one- and 10-year graft loss rates were 1% and 22%, respectively. Conclusions. Based on preliminary data, RALDN appears as a safe and effective procedure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background. Colorectal cancer (CRC) is one of the most spread neoplasia types all around the world, especially in western areas. It evolves from precancerous lesions and adenomatous polyps, through successive genetic and epigenetic mutations. Numerous risk factors intervene in its development and they are either environmental or genetic. Aim of the Review. Alongside common screening techniques, such as fecal screening tests, endoscopic evaluation, and CT-colonography, we have identified the most important and useful biomarkers and we have analyzed their role in the diagnosis, prevention, and prognosis of CRC. Conclusion. Biomarkers can become an important tool in the diagnostic and therapeutic process for CRC. But further studies are needed to identify a noninvasive, cost-effective, and highly sensible and specific screening test for their detection and to standardize their use in clinical practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction. Gastric cancer is the fifth most common cancer and the third cause of cancer death. The clinical outcomes of the patients are still not encouraging with a low rate of 5 years’ survival. Often the disease is diagnosed at advanced stages and this obviously negatively affects patients outcomes. A deep understanding of molecular basis of gastric cancer can lead to the identification of diagnostic, predictive, prognostic, and therapeutic biomarkers. Main Body. This paper aims to give a global view on the molecular classification and mechanisms involved in the development of the tumour and on the biomarkers for gastric cancer. We discuss the role of E-cadherin, HER2, fibroblast growth factor receptor (FGFR), MET, human epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), hepatocyte growth factor receptor (HGFR), mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR), microsatellite instability (MSI), PD-L1, and TP53. We have also considered in this manuscript new emerging biomarkers as matrix metalloproteases (MMPs), microRNAs, and long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs). Conclusions. Identifying and validating diagnostic, prognostic, predictive, and therapeutic biomarkers will have a huge impact on patients outcomes as they will allow early detection of tumours and also guide the choice of a targeted therapy based on specific molecular features of the cancer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background. Laparoscopic adjustable gastric banding (LAGB) results in significant lasting weight loss and improved metabolism in obese patients. To evaluate whether epigenetic factors could concur to these benefits, we investigated the subcutaneous adipose tissue (SAT) microRNA (miRNA) profile before (T0) and three years (T1) after LAGB in three morbidly obese women. Case Reports. SAT miRNA profiling, evaluated by TaqMan Array, showed four downexpressed (miR-519d, miR-299-5p, miR-212, and miR-671-3p) and two upexpressed (miR-370 and miR-487a) miRNAs at T1 versus T0. Bioinformatics predicted that these miRNAs regulate genes belonging to pathways associated with the cytoskeleton, inflammation, and metabolism. Western blot analysis showed that PPAR-alpha, which is the target gene of miR-519d, increased after LAGB, thereby suggesting an improvement in SAT lipid metabolism. Accordingly, the number and diameter of adipocytes were significantly higher and lower, respectively, at T1 versus T0. Bioinformatics predicted that the decreased levels of miR-212, miR-299-5p, and miR-671-3p at T1 concur in reducing SAT inflammation. Conclusion. We show that the miRNA profile changes after LAGB. This finding, although obtained in only three cases, suggests that this epigenetic mechanism, by regulating the expression of genes involved in inflammation and lipid metabolism, could concur to improve SAT functionality in postoperative obese patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]