Prevention of environment- and gene-dependent, teratogenic malfunctions ("Functional Teratogenesis")-- caused by abnormal hormone, neurotransmitter and cytokine concentrations during organization of the neuro-endocrine-immune system (NEIS) should be considered as a global challenge of outstanding relevance. By optimizing the natural and social environment and correcting in time abnormal concent...

The granin family (Chromogranin A (CgA), 4 Chromogranin B (CgB), Secretogranin (Sg) II, and the less well studied Secretogranins III-VII) comprises a group of acidic proteins that are present in the secretory granules of a wide variety of endocrine and neuro-endocrine cells [6, 22]. There is evidence that granins may be associated to the precursors of biologically active peptides [11, 12, 17]. ...

Congenital brain tumours are rare. They account for 0.5% to 1.9% of intracranial tumours in childhood and have an incidence of 0.34 per million live births. Most congenital brain tumours are neuro-ectodermal tumours and medulloblastomas; giant cell astrocytoma and other tuberous sclerosis-related tumours are rare. We report on a neonate who developed seizures that were refractory to medical tre...

Endocrine tumours of the pancreas, even in case of liver involvement, are generally characterized by a slower evolution and a better prognosis, if compared with ductal carcinoma. This fact gives reason to a radical surgical approach, whenever possible, and to the research of any effective adjuvant treatment. For this purpose, hepatic transarterial chemoembolization (TACE) has been proposed in r...

The proliferative activity of 16 tumour specimens from 13 patients with neuroendocrine tumours of the gastroenteropancreatic endocrine system was studied by DNA flow cytometry and immunohistology for the nuclear Ki67 proliferation antigen. Equivalent results were obtained with both methods, which showed the proliferative activity of gastroenteropancreatic neuroendocrine tumours to be heterogene...

Historically, in most organisms the nervous, immune, and the endocrine systems have been studied as independent components. However, during the last decades, growing evidence supports the notion that these are three parts of a unique system, the neuro-immune-endocrine system (Besedosky and Rey, 2007). Both clinical observations and experimental data obtained from animals reveal a close relation...

Little is known about patients with malignant digestive neuroendocrine tumours (MD-NETs). Although their incidence is increasing, MD-NETs remain a rare cancer, representing 1% of digestive cancers. Most MD-NETs are well-differentiated. MD-NET poorly differentiated carcinomas account for 20% of cases on average. Anatomical localisation of MD-NETs varied according to geographic region. Stage at d...

Oncology is facing rapid developments across most tumour entities which include targeted systemic therapy, the essence of treatment in medical oncology and various approaches of locally directed therapy including novel surgical as well as radio-oncological strategies. Head and neck tumours as well as brain tumours are paradigmatic for parallel innovative developments both in the area of local a...

BACKGROUND Mechanisms for potential effects of extremely low frequency (ELF) magnetic fields on carcinogenesis have not been identified. A potential pathway could be an interaction with the endocrine system. AIMS To analyse occupational exposure to ELF magnetic fields from welding, and tumours of the endocrine glands. METHODS This case-control study was based on a cohort with an increased p...