Viral infections interfere with the microRNA (miRNA)-mediated regulation of gene expression, determining developmental defects. In tomato leaves, the accumulation levels of six miRNA species and ...their target transcripts corresponding to transcription factors with roles in plant development and leaf morphogenesis and two genes involved in the short RNA processing, DCL1 and AGO1, were significantly enhanced upon infection with the severe strain Cucumber mosaic virus (CMV)-Fny, while that of AGO4 was reduced. In plants harboring the infection of the mild strain CMV-LS, the effects on miRNA pathway were reduced, although AGO1, DCL1, and NAC1 also were shown to overaccumulate during infections exhibiting a mild phenotype. The use of the recombinant strain CMV-Fny(LS2b), in which the 3′-terminal region of CMV-Fny RNA 2, including the 2b coding sequence, was replaced with the corresponding region of CMV-LS RNA 2, provided evidence that the exchanged region was implicated in the perturbation of miRNA metabolism. In tomato plants infected with CMV-Fny supporting the ameliorative satellite (sat)RNA variant Tfn-satRNA, the symptomless phenotype correlated, with the exception of NAC1 upregulation, with the absence of effects on mitochondrial RNA and miRNA expression. Some of the aspects of miRNA pathway perturbation described were peculiar to CMV–tomato interactions and involved in the etiology of the disease phenotype elicited in this host.
Objective. This multicenter study aimed to investigate the role of preoperative lymphatic mapping and sentinel node biopsy (SNB) as well as the impact of negative SNB on loco-regional control and ...survival in vulvar melanoma patients with clinically negative nodes (cN0).
Methods. Patients who had a proven vulvar melanoma with a Breslow thickness of 1–4 mm, cN0 and underwent a preoperative lymphatic mapping followed by SNB between July 2013 and March 2021 were retrospectively included. Groin recurrence and mortality rate were calculated as absolute and relative frequency. Disease-free survival (DFS) and overall survival (OS) were assessed by the Kaplan-Meier method. We provided a systematic review, searching among PubMed/Medline and Embase libraries. A total of 6 studies were identified (48 patients).
Results. A total of 18 women were included. Preoperative planar images showed 51 SNs in 28 groins. Additional SPECT/CT images were acquired in 5/18 cases; SNs were identified pre- and intra-operatively in all cases. A total of 65 SNs were excised from 28 groins. A total of 13/18 (72.2%) patients (21/28 groins, 75%) had negative SNs with no groin recurrences and 12/13 (92.3%) were still alive at last follow-up. Five out of the 18 (27.8%) patients (7/28 groins, 25%) had positive SNs, 2/5 (40%) patients died of cancer after 26.2 and 33.8 months, respectively. The median DFS and OS for the entire cohort were 17.9 months (95% CI, 10.3–19.9) and 65.0 months (95% CI, 26.2-infinite), respectively. The probability of DFS and OS at 3 years were 15.5% (95% CI, 2.6–38.7) and 64.3% (95% CI, 15.5–90.2), respectively.
Conclusions. The use of preoperative lymphatic mapping followed by SNB permits a precise and minimally invasive surgical approach in cN0 vulvar melanoma patients. Negative SNB is associated with low risk of groin relapse and good survival.
•Lymphoscintigraphy and sentinel node biopsy allow a personalized surgical approach in cN0 vulvar melanoma patients.•This technique could be a valid alternative to radical surgery, thus avoiding post-operative complications.•A negative sentinel node biopsy is associated with low risk of groin relapse and good survival.
The knowledge regarding the control of breathing during wakefulness in patients affected by obstructive sleep apnea (OSAS) is still challenging. The aim of this study is firstly to analyze hypoxic ...and hypercapnic ventilatory response in OSA patients in comparison to controls and secondly, to investigate correlations between chemosensivity and both lung function tests, such as arterial blood gas analysis and spirometric parameters, and clinical characteristics, such as age and BMI.
Seventeen never treated OSA patients (16M; 53±13.2 years; BMI=34.5±8.1; AHI=45±14.7) underwent nocturnal cardiopulmonary monitoring test, complete lung function tests (spirometry, lung volumes and arterial blood gas analysis on room air). Read's rebreathing test was used to evaluate hypercapnic ventilatory response (HVRCO2); hypoxic ventilatory response (HVRO2) was studied through progressive and transient methods. The response was expressed in terms of slope of linear regression for HVRCO2 and of hyperbolic curve for HVRO2 between minute ventilation (VE) or mean inspiratory flow (VT/Ti) and PetCO2 or PetO2.
The OSA group showed increased transient, but not progressive, HVRO2 and a lower HVRCO2. A lower HVRCO2 was predicted by greater values of BMI (P<0.01). Progressive HVRO2 increased with age and lower FEV1/VC, while transient HVRO2 (P<0.05) was inversely correlated with the nocturnal lowest SaO2 (P<0.01).
Nocturnal intermittent hypoxic stimuli increases daytime glomic reactivity to transient hypoxia, while BMI is the main independent determinants of the bulbar response to hypercapnia in normocapnic OSAS patients.
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