The aim of the study is to observe retrospectively the correlation between Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma (OSCC) and risk factors; including tobacco, alcohol and Family History of Cancer (FHC). A total of 478 patients were included retrospectively from the database of the Department of Oral Sciences and Maxillofacial Surgery, Sapienza University of Rome. A Test Group (TG) consisted of 239 patients with a confirmed diagnosis of OSCC. A Control Group (CG) consisted of 239 patients without history and/or diagnosis of oral cancer. The logistic regression models were used to calculate the adjusted Odd Ratios (ORs) associated with alcohol, tobacco and FHC; including the General Family History of Cancer (GFHC) and Family History of Head and Neck Cancer (FHHNC) and their 95% Confidence Intervals (CI). The high rate of tobacco consumption was associated with an OR of 1.035 (95% CI 1.001–1.070) and a statistical significance (p = 0.041). Drinker patients showed a significant risk of developing OSCC (p = 0.05) and the OR was 1.035 (95% CI 1.010–1.061). The GFHC was associated with a marginal risk of OSCC with an OR of 1.095 (95% CI 0.953–1.259), without significance (p = 0.199). The FHHNC showed a notable risk increase with an OR of 1.871 (95% CI 0.902–3.882), without significance (p = 0.092). Alcohol and tobacco may be associated with an increase in the risk of OSCC.

Conventional/targeted chemotherapies and ionizing radiation (IR) are being used both as monotherapies and in combination for the treatment of epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC). Several studies show that these therapies might favor oncogenic signaling and impede anti-tumor responses. MiR-200c is considered a master regulator of EOC-related oncogenes. In this study, we sought to investigate if chemotherapy and IR could influence the expression of miR-200c-3p and its target genes, like the immune checkpoint PD-L1 and other oncogenes in a cohort of EOC patients’ biopsies. Indeed, PD-L1 expression was induced, while miR-200c-3p was significantly reduced in these biopsies post-therapy. The effect of miR-200c-3p target genes was assessed in miR-200c transfected SKOV3 cells untreated and treated with olaparib and IR alone. Under all experimental conditions, miR-200c-3p concomitantly reduced PD-L1, c-Myc and β-catenin expression and sensitized ovarian cancer cells to olaparib and irradiation. In silico analyses further confirmed the anti-correlation between miR-200c-3p with c-Myc and β-catenin in 46 OC cell lines and showed that a higher miR-200c-3p expression associates with a less tumorigenic microenvironment. These findings provide new insights into how miR-200c-3p could be used to hold in check the adverse effects of conventional chemotherapy, targeted therapy and radiation therapy, and offer a novel therapeutic strategy for EOC.

Ultrasmall superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles with a size <5 nm are emerging nanomaterials for their excellent biocompatibility, chemical stability, and tunable surface modifications. The applications explored include dual-modal or multi-modal imaging, drug delivery, theranostics and, more recently, magnetic resonance angiography. Good biocompatibility and biosafety are regarded as the preliminary requirements for their biomedical applications and further exploration in this field is still required. We previously synthesized and characterized ultrafine (average core size of 3 nm) silica-coated superparamagnetic iron oxide fluorescent nanoparticles, named sub-5 SIO-Fl, uniform in size, shape, chemical properties and composition. The cellular uptake and in vitro biocompatibility of the as-synthesized nanoparticles were demonstrated in a human colon cancer cellular model. Here, we investigated the biocompatibility of sub-5 SIO-Fl nanoparticles in human Amniotic Mesenchymal Stromal/Stem Cells (hAMSCs). Kinetic analysis of cellular uptake showed a quick nanoparticle internalization in the first hour, increasing over time and after long exposure (48 h), the uptake rate gradually slowed down. We demonstrated that after internalization, sub-5 SIO-Fl nanoparticles neither affect hAMSC growth, viability, morphology, cytoskeletal organization, cell cycle progression, immunophenotype, and the expression of pro-angiogenic and immunoregulatory paracrine factors nor the osteogenic and myogenic differentiation markers. Furthermore, sub-5 SIO-Fl nanoparticles were intravenously injected into mice to investigate the in vivo biodistribution and toxicity profile for a time period of 7 weeks. Our findings showed an immediate transient accumulation of nanoparticles in the kidney, followed by the liver and lungs, where iron contents increased over a 7-week period. Histopathology, hematology, serum pro-inflammatory response, body weight and mortality studies demonstrated a short- and long-term biocompatibility and biosafety profile with no apparent acute and chronic toxicity caused by these nanoparticles in mice. Overall, these results suggest the feasibility of using sub-5 SIO-Fl nanoparticles as a promising agent for stem cell magnetic targeting as well as for diagnostic and therapeutic applications in oncology.

The aorta is the largest elastic artery in the human body and is classically divided into two anatomical segments, the thoracic and the abdominal aorta, separated by the diaphragm. The thoracic aorta includes the aortic root, the ascending aorta, the arch, and the descending aorta. The aorta’s elastic properties depend on its wall structure, composed of three distinct histologic layers: intima, media, and adventitia. The different aortic segments show different embryological and anatomical features, which account for their different physiological properties and impact the occurrence and natural history of congenital and acquired diseases that develop herein. Diseases of the thoracic aorta may present either as a chronic, often asymptomatic disorder or as acute life-threatening conditions, i.e., acute aortic syndromes, and are usually associated with states that increase wall stress and alter the structure of the aortic wall. This review aims to provide an update on the disease of the thoracic aorta, focusing on the morphological substrates and clinicopathological correlations. Information on anatomy and embryology will also be provided.

Measurement of thyroglobulin (Tg) protein in the washout of the needle used for fine needle aspiration biopsy cytology (FNAB-C) has been shown to increase the sensitivity of FNAB-C in identifying cervical lymph node (CLN) metastasis from well-differentiated thyroid cancer (TC). In this study, we evaluated whether routine measurement of Tg protein (FNAB-Tgp), Tg mRNA (FNAB-Tgm) and calcitonin (CT) mRNA (FNAB-CTm) in the FNAB washout of CLN increases the accuracy of FNAB-C in the diagnosis of suspicious metastatic CLN.

The aim of the study is to review the literature to observe studies that evaluate the extent of the thermal effect of different laser wavelengths on the histological evaluation of oral soft tissue biopsies. An electronic search for published studies was performed on the PubMed and Scopus databases between July 2020 and November 2022. After the selection process, all the included studies were subjected to quality assessment and data extraction processes. A total of 28 studies met the eligibility criteria. The most studied laser was the carbon dioxide (CO₂) laser, followed by the diode laser 940 nm–980 nm. Six studies were focused on each of the Erbium-doped Yttrium Aluminium Garnet (Er:YAG), Neodymium-doped Yttrium Aluminum Garnet (Nd:YAG) lasers, and diode lasers of 808 nm and 445 nm. Three studies were for the Potassium Titanyl Phosphate (KTP) laser, and four studies were for the Erbium, Chromium-doped Yttrium, Scandium, Gallium, and Garnet (Er,Cr:YSGG) laser. The quality and bias assessment revealed that almost all the animal studies were at a low risk of bias (RoB) in the considered domains of the used assessment tool except the allocation concealment domain in the selection bias and the blinding domain in the performance bias, where these domains were awarded an unclear or high score in almost all the included animal studies. For clinical studies, the range of the total RoB score in the comparative studies was 14 to 23, while in the non-comparative studies, it was 11 to 15. Almost all the studies concluded that the thermal effect of different laser wavelengths did not hinder the histological diagnosis. This literature review showed some observations. The thermal effect occurred with different wavelengths and parameters and what should be done is to minimize it by better adjusting the laser parameters. The extension of margins during the collection of laser oral biopsies and the use of laser only in non-suspicious lesions are recommended because of the difficulty of the histopathologist to assess the extension and grade of dysplasia at the surgical margins. The comparison of the thermal effect between different studies was impossible due to the presence of methodological heterogeneity.