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The aim of this study was to determine the effect of different dietary fatty acid profiles on the main fat depots of broiler chickens: skin including s.c. fat (SK) and abdominal fat pad (AF). One hundred forty-four female broiler chickens were fed a low-fat diet (B; 0.5% of added fat) or diets supplemented with 10% of tallow (T), sunflower oil rich in oleic acid (SOO), sunflower oil rich in linoleic acid (SOL), linseed oil rich in linolenic acid (LO), or a mix of fats (M: 55% of T + 35% of LO + 10% SOL) that contained one-third each of saturated fatty acids, monounsaturated fatty acids, and polyunsaturated fatty acids. The animals were housed in 36 cages and were randomly distributed into 6 dietary treatments with 6 replicates each. Experimental diets were evaluated for apparent total fatty acid availability and AME. On d 42, birds were slaughtered to determine the weight of AF and SK and fatty acid profile. Regarding the diets containing 10% added fat, the highest saturated diet (1) resulted in the lowest values of apparent total fatty acid availability and percentage of AME. Animals fed the most polyunsaturated diet (LO) had a lower SK deposition than those fed the saturated diet, on both an absolute (LO: 145 vs. T: 159 and M: 168 g; P < 0.001) and a relative basis (LO: 6.94 vs. T: 7.39 and M: 7.52 g/100 g of BW; P < 0.001). Furthermore, the lowest AF depot was observed in the LO diet (LO: 26.3 g vs. T: 37.6 and M: 39.9 g; P < 0.001). The added fat treatments caused significant but similar changes in fatty acid profile of both studied tissues. In conclusion, feeding broiler chickens polyunsaturated fatty acids, in comparison to dietary saturated fatty acids, reduced the amount of both AF and SK by approximately 30 and 9%, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Emergency Heart Failure Mortality Risk Grade (EHMRG) can predict short-term mortality in patients admitted for acute heart failure (AHF) in the emergency department (ED). This paper aimed to evaluate if TAPSE/PASp, an echocardiographic marker of ventricular desynchronization, can improve in-hospital death prediction in patients at moderate-to-high risk, according to EHMRG score classification. From 1 January 2018 to 30 December 2019, we retrospectively enrolled all the consecutive subjects admitted to our Internal Medicine Department for AHF from the ED. We performed bedside echocardiography within the first 24 h of admission. We evaluated EHMRG and NYHA in the ED, days of admission in Internal Medicine, and in-hospital mortality. We assessed cutoffs with ROC curve analysis and survival with Kaplan-Meier and Cox regression. We obtained a cohort of 439 subjects; 10.3% underwent in-hospital death. Patients with normal TAPSE/PASp in EHMRG Classes 4, 5a, and 5b had higher survival rates (100%, 100%, and 94.3%, respectively), while subjects with pathologic TAPSE/PASp had lower survival rates (81.8%, 78.3%, and 43.4%, respectively) ( p < 0.0001, log-rank test). TAPSE/PASp, an echocardiographic marker of ventricular desynchronization, can further stratify the risk of in-hospital death evaluated by EHMRG.

Background: Inflammation plays an important role in pathogenesis, development and progression of lung cancer. The aim of the study is to assess the prognostic role of Systemic Immune-Inflammation Index (SII), obtained by analyzing the neutrophil, lymphocyte and platelet counts, and to design prognostic models for patients receiving first-line chemo- or targeted therapy for advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC)., Methods: We conducted an analysis on 311 patients with advanced NSCLC, treated with first line chemo- or targeted therapy till June 2015 at our Institution. Patients were stratified in two groups with SII ≥1,270 (Group A) vs. SII <1,270 (Group B). Progression free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) were estimated using Kaplan-Meier method. The best SII cutoff was identified by X-tiles program. A Cox regression model was carried out for univariate and multivariate analyses., Results: At baseline, 179 patients had SII ≥1,270 (Group A), whilst 132 had lower SII (Group B). The median OS was 12.4 months in Group A and 21.7 months in Group B (P<0.001), whilst the median PFS was 3.3 and 5.2 months, respectively (P=0.029). At multivariate analysis, male gender, ECOG-PS ≥2 and SII >1,270 were predictors of worst OS, whilst IV tumor stage was only slightly significant (P=0.08). Otherwise, only wild-type EGFR status and SII ≥1,270 were independent prognostic factors for worst PFS., Conclusions: Pre-treatment SII is an independent prognostic factor for patients with advanced NSCLC treated with first-line therapies., Competing Interests: Conflicts of Interest: The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare., (2019 Annals of Translational Medicine. All rights reserved.)

Background: We aimed to assess the prognostic role of neutrophilia, lymphocytopenia and the neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR), and to design models to define the prognosis of patients receiving first-line chemo- or targeted therapy for advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC)., Materials and Methods: We retrospectively analysed 401 consecutive patients with advanced NSCLC treated with first line chemo- or targeted therapy. Patients were stratified into two groups with pre-treatment NLR ≥ 3.7 (Group A) vs. < 3.7 (Group B). The best NLR cut-off was identified by ROC curve analysis., Results: At baseline 264 patients had NLR≥3.7 (Group A), whilst 137 had lower NLR (Group B). Median OS was 10.8 months and 19.4 months in the two groups (p < 0.001), while median PFS was 3.6 months and 5.6 months, respectively (p = 0.012). At multivariate analysis, ECOG-PS≥2, stage IV cancer, non-adenocarcinoma histology, EGFR wild-type status and NLR were predictors of worse OS. Stage IV cancer, wild type EGFR status and NLR≥3.7 were independent prognostic factors for worse PFS. Patients were stratified according to the presence of 0-1 prognostic factors (8%), 2-3 factors (73%) and 4-5 factors (19%) and median OS in these groups was 33.7 months, 14.6 months and 6.6 months, respectively (p < 0.001). Similarly, patients were stratified for PFS based on the presence of 0-1 prognostic factor (15%), 2 factors (41%) and 3 factors (44%). The median PFS was 8.3 months, 4.6 months and 3.3 months respectively (p < 0.001)., Conclusions: Pre-treatment NLR is an independent prognostic factor for patients with advanced NSCLC treated with first-line therapies., Competing Interests: All authors disclose no financial and personal relationships with other people or organizations that could inappropriately influence their work. All authors declare that have not received fees for serving as a speakers or consultants and/or an advisory board members for any organizations. All authors have no received research funding from any organizations. No authors are employees of any organization. No authors own stocks and/or shares in organization. No authors own patent. All authors declare that they have no competing interests. All authors contributed to the editorial, read and approved the final manuscript. Disclose any potential conflicts of interest.

Aims and Background: Although worldwide use of asbestos has decreased, the incidence of malignant pleural mesothelioma (MPM) is expected to increase over the next few decades. A number of scoring systems has been proposed to assess clinicopathologic features and to predict the prognosis. We assessed the relationship between patients' features and disease evolution in order to choose the best treatment able to prolong overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS)., Methods: We retrospectively analyzed patients with locally advanced or metastatic MPM, treated at the Department of Medical Oncology, Università Politecnica Marche, Italy, from January 2003 to September 2013. Data on age, sex, smoking history, asbestos exposure, performance status, tumor stage, histology, type of treatment, and routine laboratory tests including complete blood count panel, date of death, or censored status were collected. The OS and PFS were estimated using Kaplan-Meier method and Cox analysis was performed to analyze the prognostic relevance of clinical parameters., Results: We enrolled a total of 62 patients. Univariate analysis showed that histologic type, performance status, response to first-line therapy, pretreatment hemoglobin levels, and plasmatic Ca125 were significant prognostic factors. Conversely, no significant correlation was found between age, sex, smoking history, reported exposure to asbestos, stages at diagnosis, treatments, and OS and PFS., Conclusions: Our results showed that anemia and increased Ca125 might be considered negative prognostic parameters in MPM patients and confirmed the prognostic role of histotype, performance status, and response to first-line chemotherapy.

Rectal cancer accounts for a relevant part of colorectal cancer cases, with a mortality of 4-10/100000 per year. The development of locoregional recurrences and the occurrence of distant metastases both influences the prognosis of these patients. In the last two decades, new multimodality strategies have improved the prognosis of locally advanced rectal cancer with a significant reduction of local relapse and an increase in terms of overall survival. Radical surgery still remains the principal curative treatment and the introduction of total mesorectal excision has significantly achieved a reduction in terms of local recurrence rates. The employment of neoadjuvant treatment, delivered before surgery, also achieved an improved local control and an increased sphincter preservation rate in low-lying tumors, with an acceptable acute and late toxicity. This review describes the multidisciplinary management of rectal cancer, focusing on the effectiveness of neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy and of post-operative adjuvant chemotherapy both in the standard combined modality treatment programs and in the ongoing research to improve these regimens.

The present note refers the results about the isolation of an Aspergillus fumigatus strain able to grow on an industrial cyanide waste as nitrogen source. The fungus was selected from an alkaline unpolluted soil in enrichment cultures in 50 ml of Minimal Medium added with 20 mmol glucose and supplemented initially with 0.1 mmol KCN and then with 70 μl of a waste solution from a jewelry industry containing free cyanide and cyanide complexes of heavy metal ions including copper, silver, nickel, and others. The cyanide content of the waste was 1,500 ppm. The fungal growth was monitored determining dry weight, protein content and glucose consumption. The fungus efficiently utilized the cyanide as evidenced by the decrease in the inoculated medium of the compound under detection limits within 24 h and the concomitant growth within 15 days during which periodical additions of the waste to the cultures were made. The amount of the cyanide in the biomass of the fungus grown in presence of the waste was very scarce and comparable to that in absence of the pollutant. Furthermore the fungus was able to sequestrate metals such Ag, Cu, and Ni as a resistance mechanism against heavy metals. In conclusion our results are of interest for biodegradation plans of electroplating industrial wastes containing cyanide based pollutants.

The Authors studied three techniques for the determination of HBsAg in 740 sera from blood donors and in 60 sera from patients with viral hepatitis with three different commercial tests based on the radioimmunoassay, on the micro-ELISA method and on the passive haemoagglutination. The micro-ELISA method showed a high sensibility comparable to that of the radioimmunoassay.