Locally advanced squamous cervical carcinoma (M0): management and emerging therapeutic options in the precision radiotherapy era

Squamous cervical carcinoma (SCC) requires particular attention in diagnostic and clinical management. New diagnostic tools, such as (positron emission tomography-magnetic resonance imaging) PET-MRI, consent to ameliorate clinical staging accuracy. The availability of new technologies in radiation therapy permits to deliver higher dose lowering toxicities. In this clinical scenario, new surgical concepts could aid in general management. Lastly, new targeted therapies and immunotherapy will have more room in this setting. The aim of this narrative review is to focus both on clinical management and new therapies in the precision radiotherapy era.

SANS investigation of water adsorption in tunable cyclodextrin-based polymeric hydrogels

A quantitative law for the hydration-dependence of pore size in cyclodextrin-based hydrogels is provided by SANS experiments.

Guest-matrix interactions affect the solvation of cyclodextrin-based polymeric hydrogels: a UV Raman scattering study

The focus of the present work is to shed light on possible modifications of the molecular properties of polysaccharide hydrogels induced by the establishment of specific non-covalent interactions during the loading of a guest compound inside the gel phase. With this aim, a case study of the encapsulation of caffeine (Caf) inside cyclodextrin-based hydrogels, namely, cyclodextrin nanosponges (NS), is systematically investigated here by using UV Raman scattering experiments. The UV Raman spectra of the hydrogels, analysed as a function of temperature, concentration of the guest molecule loaded in the gel phase and pH, prove particularly informative both on the structural rearrangements of the hydrophobic/hydrophilic groups of the polymeric network and on the breaking/formation of specific guest-matrix interactions. Analysis of the temperature dependence of dynamical parameters, i.e., the dephasing time associated with specific vibrational modes of the polymer backbone, enables the proposal of a molecular picture in which the loading of Caf in NS hydrogels tends to favour access of the water solvent to the more hydrophobic portions of the polymer matrix, which is in turn reflected in a marked increase in the solvation of the whole system. The achievements of this work appear of interest with respect to the design of new possible strategies for controlling the diffusion/release of bioactive molecules inside hydrogel networks, besides corroborating the potential of UV Raman scattering experiments to give new molecular insights into complex phenomena affecting hydrogel phases.

Vibrational signatures of the water behaviour upon confinement in nanoporous hydrogels

Vibrational spectroscopy is used to investigate how the hydrogen-bond dynamics of water is influenced by nano-confinement and hydrophobic/hydrophilic solvation effects.

Nanospheres based on PLGA/amphiphilic cyclodextrin assemblies as potential enhancers of Methylene Blue neuroprotective effect

Nanospheres of amphiphilic cyclodextrin and PLGA entrapping Methylene Blue are proposed as potential enhancers of drug neuroprotective effect on neuroblastoma cells.

Water and polymer dynamics in a model polysaccharide hydrogel: the role of hydrophobic/hydrophilic balance

The role of hydrophobicity/hydrophilicity balance in the gelation phenomena in water-swollen polymers is explored in a model polysaccharide hydrogel.

Combining Raman and infrared spectroscopy as a powerful tool for the structural elucidation of cyclodextrin-based polymeric hydrogels

UV Raman spectroscopy and infrared spectroscopy have been efficiently implemented for the structural and dynamic elucidation of cyclodextrin-based polymeric hydrogels.

Physico-chemical characterization of an amphiphilic cyclodextrin/genistein complex

Specific recognition of cell-targeting systems as host-carriers modified with receptor targeting groups, is a major ambition in the application of supramolecular science to medicine and life science. Genistein (Gen), an isoflavone belonging to the class of phytoestrogens, is of great interest because it has been considered as potential remedy for many kinds of disease. In this work, genistein in aqueous medium and in the presence of an host nanocarrier as amphiphilic cyclodextrin (CyD) modified in the upper rim with oligoethylene hydroxyl groups [(2-oligo(ethyleneoxide)-6-hexylthio)-beta-CyD, SC6OH] at 1:1 molar ratio, has been firstly investigated by UV-vis measurements coupled with circular dichroism data, in order to characterize the drug/macrocycle binding affinity through the formation of the complex. Furthermore, FTIR-ATR technique has been used to detect the complex formation in solid phase and to characterize the functional groups responsible of the solid Gen/SC6OH complex stability. The infrared absorbance spectra of the complex, collected in a wide range of wavenumber and around the physiological temperature, have been analysed and compared with the spectra of the pure compounds and their physical mixture. By monitoring the most significant changes in the shape and position of the absorbance bands of the Gen functional groups, we showed that the formation and/or modification of polar bonds play the main role in the interaction of the drug with the amphiphilic CyD. From the results, Gen is shown to be entangled in SC6OH nanoaggregates, establishing hydrogen bonding with the hydrophilic PEG chains.

[Malignant pleuric mesothelioma in Sicily. Epidemiologic observations during the time 1998-2005]

Pleural malign mesothelioma is the only one to which we can straight attribute to an exposition, in professional and ambient ambit, to a good identified agent and, precisely, to the fibres of asbestos. Objective of our work has been to verify the incidence of the pleural malign mesothelioma in Sicily and in particular in the Messina's area, during the period 1988-2005. We have examined the epidemiologic data of the period 1988-1997 and 1998-2005 through the consultation of the Mesothelioma Sicilian Register; Mesothelioma Italian Register and of the available documentation in the Health Superior Institute. The study showed that the pleural malign mesothelioma in sicily and in Messina's area is reduced for the elimination of the asbestos and for the low use of asbestos in the sicilian industry.

UV–vis and FTIR–ATR spectroscopic techniques to study the inclusion complexes of genistein with β-cyclodextrins

The effect of beta-cyclodextrin (beta-CyD), (2-hydroxypropyl)-beta-cyclodextrin (HP-beta-CyD) and methyl-beta-cyclodextrin (Me-beta-CyD) complexation on the UV absorption of genistein (Gen) was studied in pure water. A phase solubility study was performed, according to the method reported by Higuchi and Connors, to evaluate the changes of isoflavone in the complexation state and the obtained diagrams suggested that it forms complexes with a stoichiometry of 1:1. Then, the solid complexes of genistein with these macrocycles in 1:1 molar ratio were prepared by the co-precipitation method and characterized by FTIR absorption spectroscopy in ATR geometry. The host-guest interactions have been evidenced by monitoring, in the FTIR-ATR spectra, the changes in some guest molecule bands relative to those observed in the spectra of the 1:1 physical mixtures and complexes. In particular, for the high-frequency O-H stretching band, a quantitative vibrational assignment of the observed sub-bands has been made. From the results, the inclusion phenomena have been discussed.

Elastic neutron scattering study of water dynamics in ion-exchanged type-A zeolites

With the aim to investigate, by means of elastic neutron scattering, the effects produced by the cation substitution on the dynamics of water in zeolites, we measured, using a neutron backscattering spectrometer, the temperature dependence of mean-square atomic displacements [u2] derived from window integrated quasielastic spectra of fully and partially hydrated Na-A and Mg50-A zeolites. The results, collected in the 20-273 K temperature range, reveal that, at low temperature, the [u2] shows a harmonic trend independent of hydration and cation substitution, and, at higher temperatures, the onset of a non-Gaussian dynamics of the elastic intensity. This latter takes place at T approximately 200 K and approximately 150 K for fully and partially hydrated samples, respectively. This behavior has been interpreted in terms of reorientational jumps of H atoms described by two-site processes within an asymmetric double-minimum potential. In spite of its simplicity, the model seems to reproduce the rearrangement of the hydrogen bond network of zeolitic water. The fit results indicate a reduced proton mobility by diminishing the water content and by the induced Na+-->Mg2+ ion exchange, in agreement with previous incoherent quasielastic neutron scattering results at higher temperatures.

A FT-IR absorption analysis of vibrational properties of water encaged in NaA zeolites: evidence of a "structure maker" role of zeolitic surface

We performed, in the O-H stretching region, Fourier-transform Infrared (FT-IR) Absorption measurements for investigating the vibrational dynamics on water confined in NaA zeolite, vs. temperature and for different hydration percentages. The spectral substructure of the O-H stretching band is explained postulating the existence of three major components centred at approximately 3290 cm(-1) (omega(1)), approximately 3470 cm(-1) (omega(2)), approximately 3590 cm(-1) (omega(3)), with different dynamical properties traced over the full T-range investigated.

FT-IR spectroscopy: a powerful tool in pharmacology

In the present work we report a Fourier Transform Infrared (FT-IR) analysis performed on rat encephalon samples in the CH-OH vibrational stretching region (2400-3800) cm(-1), in order to reveal the presence of a very diffuse commercial benzodiazepine: VALIUM. The comparison between the spectral features of normal brain and the ones of samples with administrated substance has unambiguously showed that the CH stretching region seems not to suffer from any change for the pharmacological treatment, instead the OH band is strongly modified probably due to the presence of a new spectral contribution characteristic of diazepam molecule.