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Melanocytic skin tumours have been rarely described in pet rabbits, and exposure to UV light in sparsely haired areas has been hypothesised to play a cancerogenic role. Here, we describe a case of cutaneous malignant melanoma arising from the skin of the scrotum in an 8-year-old male wild rabbit, with testicular metastases as an unusual metastatic site for melanoma reported in humans to date. The tumour was nearly 5 cm in size, firm, and highly pigmented, with multifocal superficial ulcerations and large areas of intratumoural necrosis. The adjacent testis was 1.5 cm, multinodular, and black, obscuring tissue morphology. Histologically, the dermis was expanded by an infiltrative, densely cellular neoplasm composed of nests and sheets of polygonal to spindle neoplastic melanocytes, supported by scant fibrovascular stroma. Neoplastic cells showed intermediate N/C ratio, moderate basophilic cytoplasm, often obscured by abundant brownish granular pigment, and eccentric nuclei with prominent nucleoli. Cellular pleomorphism and nuclear atypia were severe, and high mitotic activity was observed. Diffuse dermal lymphovascular invasion was also observed. The testis was delimited by a thin tunica albuginea, and the parenchyma was largely obscured in its morphology by densely packed neoplastic cells. Seminiferous tubules, lined with a thin basement membrane and containing neoplastic and scattered spermatogenic cells, were occasionally observed. Neoplastic cells within the skin and the testis were positive for HMB-45, Melan-A, and S-100. The growing popularity of rabbits as pets allows for a greater ability to accumulate data on the spontaneous occurrence of tumours in these animals. Furthermore, descriptions of the biological aspects of spontaneously occurring tumours may serve to improve current knowledge in animal species and humans in which the same neoplasm may occur.

Four dogs were presented with thoracic limb deformity. After clinical and radiographic examinations, a diagnosis of congenital malformations was performed for each of them. In one case, a deformity involving both the radial and ulnar side of the distal limb was observed. Based on clinical and radiological evaluations, a diagnosis of postaxial terminal longitudinal ulnar hemimelia was performed. The term ectrodactyly was used to refer different malformations characterized by skin and soft tissue separation of the distal forelimb observed in two dogs. Simple complete uncomplicated syndactyly of the right forelimb, and complex incomplete uncomplicated syndactyly of the left forelimb were diagnosed in the fourth case. To the authors’ knowledge, ectrodactyly and simple complete uncomplicated syndactyly are very uncommon anomalies in companion animals and have been rarely documented. Moreover, postaxial terminal longitudinal ulnar hemimelia has still not been reported in dogs.

Purpose to comprehensively and hierarchically assess risk factors for recurrence requiring reoperation (RrR) in chronic subdural hematoma (cSDH) in the era of middle meningeal artery embolization (MMAE). Methods Patients treated for a cSDH from January 2019 to October 2024 at Fondazione Gemelli research hospital were considered for inclusion. Clinical, coagulation, radiological, and treatment factors were recorded. MMAE was performed systematically from October 2022, using polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) particles injected directly from the main trunk of MMA. The dataset comprised 45 quantitative and qualitative variables for each cSDH. Variables showing statistical significance (p-value < 0.05) were selected as covariates in two supervised learning frameworks to predict the RrR (outcome, Y ): ( i ) Classification and Regression Tree (CART) and ( ii ) Random Forest (RF) classifier. Results 500 patients were eligible and 233 were included, resulting in 283 treated cSDHs (mean follow-up: 119 days); 129 underwent adjuvant MMAE. 50 cSDH had a RrR (mean time to recurrence: 47 days), of which 41 (82%) in the non-embolized group and 9 (18%) in the embolized group (p-value < 0.001). Adjuvant embolization was the strongest factor associated with RrR, significantly reducing the risk for reintervention. Markwalder grading scale, preoperative cSDH volume, and platelet count (PLT) are strong predictors in non-embolized patients. A critical PLT cut-off of 229 × 10 9 /L strongly impacts RrR risk for substantial cSDH volumes. Conclusions The present results support the routine use of MMAE and the correction of PLT in relation to cSDH volume.

The prevalence of vaping, also known as using e-cigarettes, vapes and vape pens, has prompted a demand for reliable, evidence-based research. However, published literature on the topic of vaping often raises concerns, characterized by serious flaws and a failure to adhere to accepted scientific methodologies. In this narrative review, we analyze popular vaping studies published in medical journals that purport to evaluate the association of vaping and smoking cessation, smoking initiation or health outcomes. We analyzed 24 included studies to identify the questions they claimed to address, stated methods, manner of implementation, discussions, and stated conclusions. After critical appraisal, we noted a multiplicity of flaws in these studies, and identified patterns as to the nature of such flaws. Many studies lacked a clear hypothesis statement: to the extent that a hypothesis could be inferred, the methods were not tailored to address the question of interest. Moreover, main outcome measures were poorly identified, and data analysis was further complicated by failure to control for confounding factors. The body of literature on “gateway” theory for the initiation of smoking was particularly unreliable. Overall, the results and discussion contained numerous unreliable assertions due to poor methods, including data collection that lacked relevance, and assertions that were unfounded. Many researchers claimed to find a causal association while not supporting such findings with meaningful data: the discussions and conclusions of such studies were, therefore, misleading. Herein, we identify the common flaws in the study design, methodology, and implementation found in published vaping studies. We present our summary recommendations for future vaping research. Our aim is to prompt future researchers to adhere to scientific methods to produce more reliable findings and conclusions in the field of vaping research.

Background In preparation for the 2021 revision of the European Union Tobacco Products Directive, the Scientific Committee on Health, Environmental and Emerging Risks (SCHEER) has posted its Preliminary Opinion on Electronic Cigarettes . They concluded that e-cigarettes only achieve a sub-optimal level of protection of human health. In this paper, we provide evidence that the Opinion’s conclusions are not adequately backed up by scientific evidence and did not discuss the potential health benefits of using alternative combustion-free nicotine-containing products as substitute for tobacco cigarettes. Methods Searches for articles were conducted in PubMed and by citation chasing in Google Scholar. Articles were also retrieved with a review of references in major publications. Primary data from World Health Organization surveys, the conclusions of reviews, and peer-reviewed non-industry studies were cited to address errors and omissions identified in the Opinion . Results The Opinion omitted reporting on the individual and population health benefits of the substitution of e-cigarettes (ENDS) for cigarette smoking. Alternative hypotheses to the gateway theory were not evaluated. Its assessment of cardiovascular risk is contradicted by numerous reviews. It cites ever-use data that do not represent current patterns of use. It did not report non-nicotine use. It presented erroneous statements on trends in ENDS prevalence. It over-emphasized the role of flavours in youth ENDS initiation. It did not discuss cessation in sufficient length. Conclusions For the delivery of a robust and comprehensive final report, the members of the Working Group of the Scientific Committee on Health, Environmental and Emerging Risks will need to consider (1) the potential health benefits of ENDS substitution for cigarette smoking, (2) alternative hypotheses and contradictory studies on the gateway effect, (3) its assessment of cardiovascular risk, (4) the measurements of frequency of use, (5) non-nicotine use, (6) the role of flavours, and (7) a fulsome discussion of cessation.