TARGETED THERAPIES FOR INFLAMMATORY BOWEL DISEASES AND COLORECTAL CANCER: AN INCREASING NEED FOR MICROBIOTA-INTESTINAL MUTUALISM

The involvement of intestinal microbiota and dysbiosis in the pathogenesis for inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and colorectal cancer (CRC) is a well-established factto be taken into real consideration when developing targeted therapies. This review aims to depict how advances in our understanding of the role of intestinal flora in the pathogenesis of IBD and CRC are shaping up the therapeutic protocols of their management. It is demonstrated of their management. It is demostrated that there is a circadian regulation of colocyte gene expression in response to microbiota. Dysbiosis leading to a decrease in microbiome biodiversity is also described in IBD patients in IBD patients whereby thic…

New technologies can support data collection on endangered shark species in the Mediterranean Sea

In the last 50 yr, shark populations showed steep declines in the Mediterranean Sea. The IUCN lists most Mediterranean species as threatened (55%), while considering 27.5% of them Data Deficient. Here, sharks are currently one of the rarest and more elusive groups of animals, and data from fisheries and scientific monitoring still insufficiently support robust abundance and distribution assessments. New technologies can fill this data gap by linking people and scientists through new monitoring strategies. SharkPulse, an international collaborative project, aims at creating a large world database of shark occurrence records by mining images on the web, social networks, and private archives. …

Identification of self(in)compatibility genotypes and microsatellite marker based fingerprinting of traditional italian sweet cherry accessions

Italy is one of the main European sweet cherry producers and it has a rich germplasm, including many minor local varieties that have not been well studied or used in breeding programmes. Sweet cherry is self-incompatible, with few exceptions; its incompatibility is controlled by a multi-allelic S locus, which is gametophytically expressed. The knowledge of S-alleles and cross-incompatibility groups of sweet cherry genotypes and cultivars is important for growers and breeders. In this work we analysed 48 traditional sweet cherry varieties and cultivars, mainly from Calabria and Emilia Romagna regions, together with eight Sicilian cultivars and the standard set of reference genotypes proposed…

LYCOPENE AND PROSTATE CANCER: AN OVERVIEW

Prostate cancer is one of the most common cancers in the world. Its pathogenesis is multifactorial and is linked to risk factors such as age, diet, cigarette smoking, family history and the onset of oxidative stress. In recent times, therefore, we are investigating the use of antioxidants as a primary and tertuary prevention of prostate cancer. Numerous studies in the literature focused on lycopene, a molecule belonging to the family of carotenoids that is commonly foud in tomatoes and products derived from it. The literature analyzed in the last two years shows how lycopene inhibits different mecchanism linked to carcinogenesis and tumor progression. However, there are still many points to…

CLINICAL COURSE OF SEVERE COLITIS: A COMPARISON BETWEEN CROHN'S DISEASE AND ULCERATIVE COLITIS.

Few data are available about the clinical course of severe colonic Crohn’s disease (CD). The aim of this study is to describe the clinical course of severe Crohn’s colitis in a patient cohort with isolated colonic or ileocolonic CD, and to compare it with the clinical course of patients with severe ulcerative colitis (UC). Thirty-four patients with severe Crohn’s colitis were prospectively identified in our cohort of 593 consecutive hospitalized patients through evaluation of the Crohn’s Disease Activity Index score and the Harvey-Bradshaw Index. One hundred sixty-nine patients with severe ulcerative colitis were prospectively identified in our cohort of 449 consecutive hospitalized patient…

ORAL LEUKOPLAKIA- TOPICAL ISOTRETINOIN TREATMENT