In the spring of 1656, an epidemic of bubonic plague suddenly fell on Naples, the capital of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies. The epidemic had put a strain on the government authorities, forcing them to take sometimes drastic measures but, in most cases, scarcely decisive. The current health emergency caused by Covid-19 disease has many similarities with the epidemics of the past. Here we report the parallelism among plague and Covid-19 in several respects. Taking as a paradigm the plague epidemic of Naples of 1656, we can easily understand how history, showing us how past epidemics were managed and overcome, even with the intrinsic differences due to the limits of time and scientific progress, can still give us a useful lesson to face the present. 相似文献
PIRC rats (F344/NTac‐Apc am1137) mutated in the Apc gene spontaneously develop colon tumors thus mimicking familial adenomatous polyposis (FAP) and sporadic colorectal cancer (CRC) more closely than Apc‐based rodent models developing tumors mostly in the small intestine. To understand whether microscopic dysplastic lesions precede the development of macroscopic tumors, PIRC rat colon was examined for the presence of mucin depleted foci (MDF), microadenomas of the rodent and human colon. Few MDF (about 4/animal) were already present in 1‐month‐old rats and their number rapidly increases to about 250 in 8‐month‐old rats. These lesions showed Wnt signaling activation (nuclear β‐catenin accumulation) and were dramatically decreased by sulindac (320 ppm), a drug with chemopreventive activity (MDF/rat at 4 months: 156 ± 8 and 38 ± 6 in controls and sulindac‐treated rats, respectively, means ± SE, p < 0.001). Since altered proliferation and apoptosis could underlie the early phases of carcinogenesis, we studied these processes in the apparently normal colon mucosa (NM) of 1‐month‐old PIRC and wt rats. Colon proliferation (PCNA expression) was significantly higher in PIRC rats. Notably, PIRC rat NM showed resistance to apoptosis since it sustained proliferation and had lower apoptosis after a cytotoxic insult with 1,2 dimethylhydrazine. Gene expression of Myc, p21, Birc5, Ogg1, Apex1 and Sod2 were significantly up‐regulated in the NM of PIRC rat. The overall results put forward PIRC rat as useful model of colon carcinogenesis, either to study the process itself or to test in vivo chemopreventive agents in both short‐ and long‐term studies. 相似文献
Purpose: Ionizing radiation-induced foci (IRIF) known also as DNA repair foci represent the most sensitive and specific assay for assessing DNA double-strand break (DSB). IRIF are usually visualized and enumerated with the aid of fluorescence microscopy using antibodies to phosphorylated γH2AX and 53BP1. Although several approaches and software packages were developed for quantification of IRIF, not one of them was commonly accepted and inter-laboratory variability in the outputs was reported. In this study, JCountPro software was validated for IRIF enumeration in two independent laboratories.
Materials and methods: Human lymphocytes were γ-irradiated at doses of 0, 2, 5, 10 and 50 cGy. The cells were fixed, permeabilized and IRIF were immunostained using appropriate antibodies. Cell images were acquired with automatic Metafer system. Endogenous and radiation-induced γH2AX and 53BP1 foci were enumerated using JCountPro. This analysis was performed from the same cell galleries by the researchers from two laboratories. Yield of foci was analyzed by either arithmetic mean (AM) value (foci/cell) or principal average (PA) derived from the approximation of foci distribution with Poisson statistics. Statistical analysis was performed using factorial ANOVA.
Results: Enumeration of 53BP1, γH2AX and co-localized 53BP1/γH2AX foci by JCountPro was essentially the same between laboratories. IRIF were detected at all doses and linear dose response was obtained in the studied dose range. PA values from Poisson distribution fitted the data better as compared to AM values and were more powerful and sensitive for IRIF analysis than the AM values. All JCountPro data were confirmed by visual focus enumeration.
Conclusions: We concluded that the JCountPro software was efficient in objectively enumerating IRIF regardless of an individual researcher’s bias and has a potential for usage in clinics and molecular epidemiology. 相似文献
Coronary artery fistula is an abnormal connection between a coronary artery and a cardiac chamber, a great artery or the vena cava. Although coronary artery fistulas are known to be congenital malformations they might occur due to infection, trauma or may be iatrogenic. We present a case with acquired coronary microfistula, without any history of interventional procedure. 相似文献