Smallrivers4431

BACKGROUND Retinoids and alfa-hydroxy acids are commonly used topically as anti-aging substances. Current medical devices contain retinoic acid (0.02%) and glycolic acid (4%) in a polyvinyl gel vehicle (R-G gel). There is still no clinical data nor objective evaluation of the anti-ageing effect this product has in the short-term. STUDY AIM To assess in a prospective 1-month, non-comparative, primary outcome assessor-blinded proof-of-concept trial the clinical efficacy, tolerability and the skin cells modification (evaluated through Reflectance Confocal Microscopy; RCM), of R-G gel in skin aging treatment. SUBJECTS AND METHODS Twelve women with moderate-severe skin aging (Glogau score ≥3) were enrolled. The product was applied on the face three times a week for 4 weeks. Study visits were performed at baseline and after 2 and 4 weeks. RCM evaluation was performed openly at each visit using Viva Scope 1500 to evaluate the left cheek (5 mm below the zygomatic process). RESULTS Eleven subjects concluded the trial. At baseline, the Glogau score was 3.4±0.5 and decreased significantly at week 4 (p=0.0001; ANOVA test) to 2.7±0.6. Significant reductions of dark spots (-40%) and severity of wrinkles (-12%) were observed at week 4 compared to baseline. The RCM score improved significantly at week 4 with the recovery of the polygonal keratinocytes pattern as the central aspect observed. CONCLUSION The gel containing retinoic acid and glycolic acid showed significant improvements of the clinical signs of severe skin aging with a concomitant improvement of epidermal and dermal structures evaluated via RCM. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.Staging of testicular germ cell tumours is essential for treatment planning and prognosis[1]. Lymphovascular invasion (LVI) is one key parameter that establishes pT2 in pathologic staging and Prognostic Stage Group IB for both seminoma and mixed germ cell tumours otherwise limited to the testis [1]. While current practice guidelines [2] consider surveillance preferred for Stage I pure seminomas given the high rate of cure by orchiectomy alone, single agent carboplatin or radiotherapy remain considerations. For mixed germ cell tumours, LVI is considered a risk factor, raising consideration of retroperitoneal lymph node dissection or multiagent adjuvant chemotherapy [2]. Thus, LVI assessment and reporting has been emphasized, including consideration of immunohistochemical (IHC) markers as adjuncts [1]. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.Tauroursodeoxycholic acid (TUDCA), an endogenous bile acid, was used to protect liver function through anti-apoptosis or reducing endoplasmic reticulum stress (ER stress). Previous studies showed that ER stress was modulated by HSV-1 infection to facilitate viral replication. Here, we investigated the effect of TUDCA on HSV-1 infection of HEC-1-A cells and showed that both replication and multiplication of the virus were inhibited by TUDCA in a dose dependent manner. Unfolded protein response (UPR) was induced in order to deliver stress signals from ER to nucleus. We found that TUDCA alleviated ATF6 branch inhibition, partially enhanced PERK pathway activation and repressed IRE1α arm activation significantly in infected cells. The findings of this study suggest that TUDCA inhibits HSV-1 replication through ER stress pathway, which may provide a potential therapeutic strategy for HSV-1 infection. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.Carcinoma precursor lesion caused by persistent infection of human papillomavirus (HPV) types 16 and 18 is known as a principal inducer of cervical cancer. Therefore, rapid and effective detection of HPV-16 and HPV-18 infection at early stage is an important strategy for preventing such disease. In this study, a novel duplex nanoparticle-assisted polymerase chain reaction (nanoPCR) assay was developed to detect both of the two genotypes simultaneously. Two pairs of primers for nanoPCR were designed based on the conserved region within the early 6 (E6) gene of HPV-16 and HPV-18, respectively. After optimizing reaction conditions, the nanoPCR assay displayed 10-fold more sensitive than that of conventional PCR and showed high specificity. The detection limit of nanoPCR was 1.7 × 101  copies/μL for HPV-16, 1.2 × 102  copies/μL for HPV-18, and no cross-reaction was detected after using other viruses or HPV subtypes as templates. Of 209 clinical samples collected from patients, as also confirmed by sequencing, the nanoPCR method gave consistent results with conventional PCR assay 7 positives for HPV-16, 4 positives for HPV-18, and no co-infection. Here is the first report to introduce a reproducible nanoPCR assay for detecting HPV DNA with high sensitivity and specificity, which may point out a useful diagnostic tool for potential clinical application. © 2020 Wiley Periodicals LLC.We report final results of a phase II trial addressing efficacy and feasibility of lenalidomide maintenance in patients with chemosensitive relapse of diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) not eligible for or failed after autologous stem cell transplantation (ASCT). Patients with relapsed DLBCL who achieved at least a partial response to salvage chemoimmunotherapy were enrolled and treated with lenalidomide 25 mg/day for 21 of 28 days for 2 years or until progression or unacceptable toxicity. Primary endpoint was 1-year PFS. Forty-six of 48 enrolled patients were assessable. Most patients had IPI ≥2, advanced stage and extranodal disease before the salvage treatment that led to trial registration; 28 (61%) patients were older than 70 years. Lenalidomide was well tolerated. With the exception of neutropenia, grade-4 toxicities occurred in less then 1% of courses. Three patients died of complications during maintenance and three died due to second cancers at 32 to 64 months. There were 13 SAEs recorded in 12 pnance in these high-risk patients are warranted. © 2020 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.Recent efforts have focused on screening methods to identify children at risk for dyslexia as early as preschool/kindergarten. Unfortunately, while low sensitivity leads to under-identification of at-risk children, low specificity can lead to over-identification, resulting in inaccurate allocation of limited educational resources. The present study focused on children identified as at-risk in kindergarten who do not subsequently develop poor reading skills to specify factors associated with better reading outcomes among at-risk children. selleck chemicals llc Early screening was conducted in kindergarten and a subset of children was tracked longitudinally until second grade. Potential protective factors were evaluated at cognitive-linguistic, environmental, and neural levels. Relative to at-risk kindergarteners with subsequent poor reading, those with typical reading outcomes were characterized by significantly higher socioeconomic status (SES), speech production accuracy, and structural organization of the posterior right-hemispheric superior longitudinal fasciculus (SLF).