Purpose
Evidence of an increased diagnostic pressure on thyroid has emerged over the past decades. This study aimed to provide estimates of a wide spectrum of surveillance indicators for thyroid ...dysfunctions and diseases in Italy.
Methods
A population-based study was conducted in North-eastern Italy, including 11.7 million residents (20% of the total Italian population). Prescriptions for TSH testing, neck ultrasound or thyroid fine needle aspiration (FNA), surgical procedures, and drugs for hypo- or hyperthyroidism were extracted from regional health databases. Proportions and rates of selected examinations were calculated from 2010 to 2017, overall and by sex, calendar years, age, and region
.
Results
Between 2010 and 2017 in North-eastern Italy, 24.5% of women and 9.8% of men received at least one TSH test yearly. In 2017, 7.1% of women and 1.5% of men were prescribed drugs for thyroid dysfunction, 94.6% of whom for hypothyroidism. Neck ultrasound examinations were performed yearly in 6.9% of women and 4.6% of men, with a nearly two-fold variation between areas. Thyroid FNA and thyroidectomies were three-fold more frequent in women (394 and 85 per 100,000) than in men (128 and 29 per 100,000) with a marked variation between areas. Both procedures decreased consistently after 2013.
Conclusions
The results of this population-based study describe recent variations over time and between surrounding areas of indicators of ‘diagnostic pressure’ on thyroid in North-eastern Italy. These results emphasize the need to harmonize practices and to reduce some procedures (e.g., neck ultrasound and total thyroidectomies) in certain areas.
Understanding how Nep-like proteins (NLPs) behave during the cell cycle and disease progression of plant pathogenic oomycetes, fungi and bacteria is crucial in light of compelling evidence that these ...proteins play a role in Witches` Broom Disease (WBD) of Theobroma cacao, one of the most important phytopathological problems to afflict the Southern Hemisphere. The crystal structure of MpNep2, a member of the NLP family and the causal agent of WBD, revealed the key elements for its activity. This protein has the ability to refold after heating and was believed to act as a monomer in solution, in contrast to the related homologs MpNep1 and NPP from the oomyceteous fungus Phytophthora parasitica. Here, we identify and characterize a metastable MpNep2 dimer upon over-expression in Escherichia coli using different biochemical and structural approaches. We found using ultra-fast liquid chromatography that the MpNep2 dimer can be dissociated by heating but not by dilution, oxidation or high ionic strength. Small-angle X-ray scattering revealed a possible tail-to-tail interaction between monomers, and nuclear magnetic resonance measurements identified perturbed residues involved in the putative interface of interaction. We also explored the ability of the MpNep2 monomer to refold after heating or chemical denaturation. We observed that MpNep2 has a low stability and cooperative fold that could be an explanation for its structure and activity recovery after stress. These results can provide new insights into the mechanism for MpNep2's action in dicot plants during the progression of WBD and may open new avenues for the involvement of NLP- oligomeric species in phytopathological disorders.
The occurrence of asymptomatic bacteriuria concomitant to urolithiasis is an issue for patients undergoing renal stone treatment. Disposing of a preoperative urine culture is essential to reduce the ...risk of septic events. The endpoint of the study is to report which characteristics of candidates for renal stone treatment are frequently associated with positive urine culture. 2605 patients were retrospectively enrolled from 14 centers; inclusion criteria were age > 18 and presence of a single renal stone 1–2 cm in size. The variables collected included age, gender, previous renal surgery, comorbidities, skin-to-stone distance, stone size, location, density, presence of hydronephrosis. After a descriptive analysis, the association between continuous and categorical variables and the presence of positive urine culture was assessed using a logistic regression model. Overall, 240/2605 patients (9%) had preoperative bacteriuria. Positive urine culture was more frequent in females, patients with previous renal interventions, chronic kidney disease, congenital anomalies, larger stones, increased density. Multivariate analysis demonstrated that previous renal interventions (OR 2.6; 95% CI 1.9–3.4;
p
< 0.001), renal-related comorbidities (OR 1.31; 95% CI 1.19–1.4;
p
< 0.001), higher stone size (OR 1.06; 95% CI 1.02–1.1;
p
= 0.01) and density (OR 1.00; 95% CI 1.0–1.00;
p
= 0.02) were associated with bacteriuria; male gender and lower caliceal location were inversely related to it. Beyond expected risk factors, such as female gender, other parameters are seemingly favoring the presence of positive urine culture. The awareness of variables associated with bacteriuria allows to assess which individuals are at increased risk of presenting bacteriuria and reduce the rate of septic complications.
To better understand the structure and variability of the 45S rDNA cistron and its evolutionary dynamics in grasshoppers, we performed a detailed analysis combining classical and molecular ...cytogenetic data with whole-genome sequencing in
Abracris flavolienata
, which shows extraordinary variability in the chromosomal distribution for this element. We found astonishing variability in the number and size of rDNA clusters at intra- and inter-population levels. Interestingly, FISH using distinct parts of 45S rDNA cistron (18S rDNA, 28S rDNA, and ITS1) as probes revealed a distinct number of clusters, suggesting independent mobility and amplification of the 45S rDNA components. This hypothesis is consistent with the higher genomic coverage of almost the entire cistron of 45S rDNA observed in
A. flavolineata
compared to other grasshoppers, besides coverage variability along the 45S rDNA cistron in the species. In addition, these differences in coverage for distinct components of the 45S rDNA cistron indicate emergence of pseudogenes evidenced by existence of truncated sequences, demonstrating the rDNA dynamics in the species. Although the chromosomal distribution of 18S rDNA was highly variable, the chromosomes 1, 3, 6, and 9 harbored rDNA clusters in all individuals with the occurrence of NOR activity in pair 9, suggesting ancestry or selective pressures to prevent pseudogenization of rDNA sequences in this chromosome pair. Additionally, small NORs and cryptic rDNA loci were observed. Finally, there was no evidence of enrichment and association of transposable elements, at least, inside or nearby rDNA cistron. These findings broaden our knowledge of rDNA dynamics, revealing an independent movement and amplification of segments of 45S rDNA cistron, which in
A. flavolineata
could be attributed to ectopic recombination.
The aim of this study was the evaluation of the impact of service screening programmes on breast cancer mortality in five regions of Italy. We conducted a matched case-control study with four ...controls for each case. Cases were defined as breast cancer deaths occurred not later than 31 December 2002. Controls were sampled from the local municipality list and matched by date of birth. Screening histories were assessed by the local, computerised, screening database and subjects were classified as either invited or not-yet-invited and as either screened or unscreened. There were a total of 1750 breast cancer deaths within the 50 to 74-year-old breast cancer cases and a total of 7000 controls. The logistic conditional estimate of the cumulative odds ratios comparing invited with not-yet-invited women was 0.75 (95% CI: 0.62-0.92). Restricting the analyses to invited women, the odds ratio of screened to never-respondent women corrected for self-selection bias was 0.55 (95% CI: 0.36-0.85). The introduction of breast cancer screening programmes in Italy is associated with a reduction in breast cancer mortality attributable to the additional impact of service screening over and above the background access to mammography.
Moths of the family Crambidae include a number of pests that cause economic losses to agricultural crops. Despite their economic importance, little is known about their genome architecture and ...chromosome evolution. Here, we characterized the chromosomes and repetitive DNA of the sugarcane borer
Diatraea saccharalis
using a combination of low-pass genome sequencing, bioinformatics, and cytogenetic methods, focusing on the sex chromosomes. Diploid chromosome numbers differed between the sexes, i.e., 2
n
= 33 in females and 2
n
= 34 in males. This difference was caused by the occurrence of a WZ
1
Z
2
trivalent in female meiosis, indicating a multiple sex-chromosome system WZ
1
Z
2
/Z
1
Z
1
Z
2
Z
2
. A strong interstitial telomeric signal was observed on the W chromosome, indicating a fusion of the ancestral W chromosome with an autosome. Among repetitive DNAs, transposable elements (TEs) accounted for 39.18% (males) to 41.35% (females), while satDNAs accounted for only 0.214% (males) and 0.215% (females) of the genome. FISH mapping revealed different chromosomal organization of satDNAs, such as single localized clusters, spread repeats, and non-clustered repeats. Two TEs mapped by FISH were scattered. Although we found a slight enrichment of some satDNAs in the female genome, they were not differentially enriched on the W chromosome. However, we found enriched FISH signals for TEs on the W chromosome, suggesting their involvement in W chromosome degeneration and differentiation. These data shed light on karyotype and repetitive DNA dynamics due to multiple chromosome fusions in
D. saccharalis
, contribute to the understanding of genome structure in Lepidoptera and are important for future genomic studies.
Satellite DNAs (satDNAs) and transposable elements (TEs) are among the main components of constitutive heterochromatin (
c-
heterochromatin) and are related to their functionality, dynamics, and ...evolution. A peculiar case regarding the quantity and distribution of
c
-heterochromatin is observed in the genus of bees,
Melipona
, with species having a low amount of heterochromatin and species with high amount occupying almost all chromosomes. By combining low-pass genome sequencing and chromosomal analysis, we characterized the satDNAs and TEs of
Melipona quadrifasciata
(low
c
-heterochromatin) and
Melipona scutellaris
(high low
c
-heterochromatin) to understand
c
-heterochromatin composition and evolution. We identified 15 satDNA families and 20 TEs for both species. Significant variations in the repeat landscapes were observed between the species. In
M. quadrifasciata
, the repetitive fraction corresponded to only 3.78% of the genome library studied, whereas in
M. scutellaris
, it represented 54.95%. Massive quantitative and qualitative changes contributed to the differential amplification of
c-
heterochromatin, mainly due to the amplification of exclusive repetitions in
M. scutellaris
, as the satDNA MscuSat01-195 and the TE LTR/Gypsy_1 that represent 38.20 and 14.4% of its genome, respectively. The amplification of these two repeats is evident at the chromosomal level, with observation of their occurrence on most
c
-heterochromatin. Moreover, we detected repeats shared between species, revealing that they experienced mainly quantitative variations and varied in the organization on chromosomes and evolutionary patterns. Together, our data allow the discussion of patterns of evolution of repetitive DNAs and
c-
heterochromatin that occurred in a short period of time, after separation of the
Michmelia
and
Melipona
subgenera.
Hemolytic-uremic syndrome, the main cause of acute renal failure in early childhood, is caused primarily by intestinal infections from some Escherichia coli strains that produce Shiga toxins. The ...toxins released in the gut are targeted to renal endothelium after binding to polymorphonuclear leukocytes. The presence of Shiga toxins in the feces and the circulating neutrophils of 20 children with hemolytic uremic syndrome was evaluated by the Vero cell cytotoxicity assay and flow cytometric analysis, respectively. The latter showed the presence of Shiga toxins on the polymorphonuclear leukocytes of 13 patients, 5 of whom had no other microbiologic or serologic evidence of infection by Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli. A positive relationship was observed between the amounts of Shiga toxins released in the intestinal lumen and those released in the bloodstream. The toxins were detectable on the neutrophils for a median period of 5 days after they were no longer detectable in stools. This investigation confirms that the immunodetection of Shiga toxins on neutrophils is a valuable tool for laboratory diagnosis of Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli infection in hemolytic-uremic syndrome and provides clues for further studies on the role of neutrophils in the pathogenesis of this syndrome.
Highlights • Growing difficulties in calculating the proportional incidence of interval breast cancers are emerging in screening programmes. • In an Italian regional programme, the proportional ...incidence of 1st- and 2nd-year interval cancers was 0.16 and 0.37 • Although these results are acceptable, their comparability with literature data and with standards is problematic • The criteria and methods used to estimate mammography sensitivity need to be revised and standardized
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