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Focal therapy modalities achieved interest in the management of prostate cancer (PCa) over the last a few years. This systematic review was aimed to investigate erectile function after focal therapy for localized PCa. Twenty-six out of 1287 reports were identified through a database systematic search in MEDLINE, EMBASE, and Web of Science, supplemented with hand search, on June 1st, 2020, according to PRISMA guidelines. Focal therapy modalities investigated were cryotherapy, high-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU), photodynamic therapy (TOOKAD), irreversible electroporation (IRE), and focal radiotherapy (RT) (i.e. brachytherapy or stereotactic RT). Overall, reported sexual function outcomes after these treatment modalities were generally good, with many studies reporting a complete recovery of EF at 1-year follow-up. However, the quality of current evidence is affected both by the lack of well-conducted comparative studies and by a significant heterogeneity in terms of study design, study population, erectile and sexual function assessment modalities.

ObjectivesTo affirm technical success, clinical success and safety of fluoroscopically guided transurethral replacement of double-J (DJ) ureteral stents.MethodsFrom January 2005 to December 2015, in a follow-up period ranging from 9 to 73 months, we replaced 6167 DJ ureteral stents in 3221 procedures in 1168 patients. All the procedures were performed in the angiography suite under fluoroscopic control.ResultsTechnical success was achieved in 97.5% of the procedures. In eighty procedures, cystoscopic approach was necessary; time from previous procedure and side were significantly associated with technical success. Clinical success was reached in 95.7% of the procedures and was significantly lower in urological and gynaecological tumours (when compared to fibrosis and other causes) and in bilateral stents. No major complications were reported. In 90 cases, self-limiting transient minor haematuria occurred and in 160 procedures urinary tract infection responding to antibiotics were registered. Overall procedure time was 27 min. Mean fluoroscopic time was 6 min and 45 s. Mean radiation dose of the procedure was 38.40 Gy cm2.ConclusionsIn patients that need routine replacement of DJ ureteral stent, transurethral fluoroscopically guided method may be the first choice; only in few cases of technical failure, cystoscopy may be considered.

The High-Luminosity Large Hadron Collider (HL-LHC) project aims at extending the operability of the LHC by another decade and increasing by more than a factor of ten the integrated luminosity that the LHC will have collected by the end of Run 3. This will require doubling the beam intensity and reducing the transverse beam size compared to those of the LHC design. The higher beam brightness poses new challenges for machine safety, due to the large energy of 700 MJ stored in the beams, and for beam stability, mainly due to the collimator contribution to the total LHC beam coupling impedance. A rich research program was therefore started to identify suitable materials and collimator designs, not only fulfilling impedance reduction requirements but also granting adequate beam-cleaning and robustness against failures. The use of thin molybdenum coatings on a molybdenum–graphite substrate has been identified as the most promising solution to meet both collimation and impedance requirements, and it is now the baseline choice of the HL-LHC project. In this work we present the main results of the coating characterization, in particular addressing the impact of coating microstructure on the electrical resistivity with different techniques, from Direct Current (DC) to GHz frequency range.

Background In southern Europe, the risk of cancer in patients with end-stage kidney disease receiving dialysis has not been well quantified. The aim of this study was to assess the overall pattern of risk for de novo malignancies (DNMs) among dialysis patients in the Friuli Venezia Giulia region, north-eastern Italy. Methods A population-based cohort study among 3407 dialysis patients was conducted through a record linkage between local healthcare databases and the cancer registry (1998–2013). Person-years (PYs) were calculated from 30 days after the date of first dialysis to the date of DNM diagnosis, kidney transplant, death, last follow-up or December 31, 2013, whichever came first. The risk of DNM, as compared to the general population, was estimated using standardized incidence ratios (SIRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs). Results During 10,798 PYs, 357 DNMs were diagnosed in 330 dialysis patients. A higher than expected risk of 1.3-fold was found for all DNMs combined (95% CI: 1.15–1.43). The risk was particularly high in younger dialysis patients (SIR = 1.88, 95% CI: 1.42–2.45 for age 40–59 years), and it decreased with age. Moreover, significantly increased DNM risks emerged during the first 3 years since dialysis initiation, especially within the first year (SIR = 8.52, 95% CI: 6.89–10.41). Elevated excess risks were observed for kidney (SIR = 3.18; 95% CI: 2.06–4.69), skin non-melanoma (SIR = 1.81, 95% CI: 1.46–2.22), oral cavity (SIR = 2.42, 95% CI: 1.36–4.00), and Kaposi’s sarcoma (SIR = 10.29, 95% CI: 1.25–37.16). Conclusions The elevated risk for DNM herein documented suggest the need to implement a targeted approach to cancer prevention and control in dialysis patients.

The impact of de novo neoplasm on survival of liver transplant recipientsThe increased risk of de novo neoplasm (DNN) in liver transplant (LT) recipients has been well documented, while few studies have investigated the impact of DNN on survival. The aim of this study, recently published by the Italian Transplant & Cancer Cohort Study group, was to evaluate the impact of DNN on survival of LT recipients as compared to corresponding LT recipients without DNN.A nested case-control study was carried out in a cohort of 2818 LT recipients, transplanted in 9 Italian centers, between 1985 and 2014. 244 LT recipients who developed DNN were identified as cases: for each case, 2 controls, matched by sex, age and year of transplantation, were selected among LT recipients without DNN. Survival probabilities were estimated by means of the Kaplan-Meier method, while hazard ratios (HRs) of death and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) using Cox models.Cases showed a 4.7-fold higher risk of death than controls (HR=4.66; 95% CI: 3.17-6.85; 10-year survival: 43% in cases and 70% in controls). Elevated risks emerged for cases with lung cancer (HR=37.13; 95% CI: 4.98-276.74), non-Hodgkin lymphoma (HR=6.57; 95% CI: 2.15-20.01), head and neck tumors (HR=4.65; 95% CI: 1.81-11.95) or colon-rectum (HR=3.61; 95% CI: 1.08-12.07). The survival gap was observed for both short-term and long-term mortality, although the difference was greater in the first year after diagnosis.These findings indicate the need for close monitoring during the post-transplant follow-up to improve survival through early cancer detection.

The authors report a case of pineocytoma in a 44-year-old woman suffering from headache, vomiting and Parinaud syndrome. At histopathological examination the neoplasm showed a ill-defined lobulate pattern with some small pineocytomatous rosettes. The electron-microscopy revealed cells of moderate size and oval nuclei with smooth nuclear envelopes; well-developed organelles were found in the, abundant cytoplasm. The chromosome analysis revealed this kariotype: 58-59, XXX, -4, -5, -13, - 14, -15, + 19. This is the first report of a pineocytoma with ultrastructural and cytogenetic study; it confirms the literature findings of the electron-microscopy, whereas there is partial accordance with the previous cytogenetic studies.