Diabetes has detrimental effects on many organs, including the kidneys, heart, and the central nervous system, with ophthalmic involvement and Diabetic Retinopathy (DR), specifically, being among the most severe and prominent consequences. Diabetic Retinopathy and especially advanced stages of the disease, have a crucial impact on patients’ quality of life and emotional status. In this context, emotional imbalance, psychological side effects and comorbidities, like anxiety disorders, could emerge, deteriorating the patients’ condition further. A number of questionnaires can be employed in the evaluation of the potential impact of Diabetic Retinopathy on patients’ quality of life, including the Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI) and The National Eye Institute Visual Function Questionnaire-25 (NEI VFQ-25). Purpose: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the association of Diabetic Retinopathy (DR) and diabetic macular edema with vision-related quality of life, as well as the potential association between the disease’s severity, emotional status of patients and the manifestation of anxiety and psychological features. Results: Patients with fundoscopic findings had significantly lower scores in all VFQ-25 subscales, indicating worse quality of life in comparison to patients without DR. Severity of DR, greater levels of anxiety, daily sitting time, unemployment and lower education level, were all found to be significantly, negatively associated with a worse quality of life. Regarding emotional status, more years of suffering from diabetes, treatment with insulin and the hours being idle per day were associated with an increased burden of anxiety. In addition, the presence of a concomitant disease, findings in fundoscopy, diabetic macular edema and treatment with anti-VEFG injections, as well as the number of doses, were significantly associated with greater anxiety. Multivariate analysis showed that having Severe Non-Proliferative Diabetic Retinopathy or having Proliferative Diabetic Retinopathy and receiving insulin therapy (alone or in combination with another treatment), were significantly associated with higher levels of anxiety. Conclusion: The well-established impact of DR on the patients’ well-being, quality of life and emotional status render DR and CME prevention, stabilization or delaying progression as a necessity in order to protect patients from developing psychiatric symptoms. On the other hand, the speculated bi-directional association between emotional problems and DR progression highlights the importance of acknowledging and dealing with psychological issues with the aim of delaying DR progression.

Oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) is considered an aggressive malignancy, mainly due to its increased propensity to provide local and distant lymph node metastases. Gross chromosome instability (CI; polysomy/aneuploidy/monosomy), combined or not with specific gene alterations, is implicated in the development and progression of solid malignancies, including OSCC. In order to further study the relationship between these genetic alterations and the aggressive biological behavior of OSCCs, we investigated the frequency and impact of chromosome 9 numerical imbalances in these tumors. Fifty (n = 50) formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded primary OSCC tissue sections were used. Chromogenic in situ hybridization (CISH) was implemented for detecting chromosome 9 (CEN—centromere enumeration) numerical alterations. Concerning the screening process in CISH slides, a novel, real-time reference and calibration grid platform was implemented. Chromosome 9 polysomy was observed in 8/50 (16%) tissue sections, whereas the rest of them demonstrated a normal, diploid pattern (42/50; 84%). Chromosome 9 polysomy was associated with the grade of differentiation of the examined tumors (p = 0.036). Chromosome 9 numerical imbalances (polysomy) were observed in sub-groups of OSCCs correlating with a progressive dedifferentiation of the malignant tissues. Concerning the implementation of the proposed grid-based platform as described above on CISH slides, it provides a novel, fast, and accurate screening mapping mechanism for detecting chromosome numerical imbalances.

Background/Aim: Concerning primary central nervous system neoplasms, meningiomas demonstrate the most common type in adults worldwide. Deregulation of apoptotic pathways in malignancies, including meningiomas, is correlated with chemoresistance and poor prognosis. Caspases represent crucial proteins that induce cell apoptosis. This study aimed to correlate caspase 3 protein expression levels to meningioma clinic-pathological features. Materials and Methods: A set of fifty (n=50) meningioma lesions was included in the current analysis including a broad spectrum of histopathological subtypes (meningotheliomatous, psammomatus, transitional, fibrous, angiomatous, microcystic, atypical and anaplastic). Immunohistochemistry was implemented on tissue microarray cores of selected paraffin blocks by applying an anti-caspase 3 antibody. Additionally, an image analysis protocol was also performed in the corresponding immunostained slides. Results: Caspase 3 protein over-expression was detected in 17/50 (34%) cases, whereas the remaining 33 cases (66%) were characterized by medium to low levels of the molecule. Caspase 3 expression was statistically significantly associated with the grade of the analyzed tumors and the mitotic index (p=0.002, p=0.001, respectively). Caspase 3 expression status was also correlated with the histotype of the selected meningiomas (p=0.016). Conclusion: Caspase 3 demonstrated low expression levels in a significant subset of the examined meningiomas correlated with differentiation grade, mitotic activity, and partially with specific histotypes. Agents that could enhance caspase 3 expression – inducing its apoptotic activity – represent a very promising area in oncology for developing novel treatment regimens.

Background: Caspases (cysteine-aspartic proteases) represent a family of enzymes that critically influence cell homeostasis by being involved in inflammation and apoptosis mechanisms. Meningiomas demonstrate the most common intracranial primary central nervous system tumors in adults worldwide. Aim: Our purpose was to explore the role of caspase 8 expression in meningiomas’ pathological features. Materials and methods: A total of 50 meningioma cases were included in the study, comprising a broad spectrum of histopathological sub-types. An immunohistochemistry assay was applied on tissue microarray cores followed by digital image analysis. Results: Overexpression of caspase 8 protein was observed in 21/50 (42%) cases, whereas the rest of them (29/50, 58%) demonstrated moderate to low levels of the molecule. Caspase 8 overall expression was statistically significantly correlated to grade of the examined tumors and to mitotic index (p=0.001, p=0.002, respectively). Conclusions: Caspase 8 aberrant expression is observed in meningiomas associated with their differentiation grade and mitotic activity. Targeted therapeutic strategies focused on enhancing caspase 8 expression and also inducing the overall apoptotic activity should be a very promising approach in rationally handling sub-groups of meningioma patients.

Background and Aims: Clinical remission, as measured by commonly used rating scales, although considered as a successful treatment outcome, does |