Melanoma Prevention: Comparison of Different Screening Methods for the Selection of a High Risk Population.

BACKGROUND: Guidelines recommend limiting melanoma screening in a population with known risk factors, but none indicates methods for efficient recruitment. The purpose of this study is to compare three different methods of recruiting subjects to be screened for melanoma to detect which, if any, is the most efficient. METHODS: From 2010 to 2019, subjects were recruited as follows: (1) regular skin examinations (RS), mainly conducted through the Associazione Contro il Melanoma network; (2) occasional melanoma screening (OS), during annual public campaigns; (3) and selective screening (SS), where people were invited to undergo a skin check after filling in a risk evaluation questionnaire, in cases where the assigned outcome was intermediate/high risk. Melanoma risk factors were compared across different screening methods. Generalized Linear Mixed Models were used for multivariable analysis. RESULTS: A total of 2238 subjects (62.7% women) were recruited, median age 44 years (2-85), and 1094 (48.9 %) records were collected through RS, 826 (36.9 %) through OS, and 318 (14.2 %) through SS. A total of 131 suspicious non-melanoma skin cancers were clinically diagnosed, 20 pathologically confirmed, and 2 melanomas detected. SS performed significantly better at selecting subjects with a family history of melanoma and I-II phototypes compared to OS. CONCLUSIONS: Prior evaluation of melanoma known risk factors allowed for effective selection of a population to screen at higher risk of developing a melanoma.

Vitamin D3-enriched diet correlates with a decrease of amyloid plaques in the brain of AßPP transgenic mice.

In addition to its function in calcium and bone metabolism, vitamin D is neuroprotective and important for mitigating inflammation. Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder of the central nervous system, characterized by neuronal loss in many areas of the brain, and the formation of senile (neuritic) plaques, which increase in number and size over time. The goal of this project was to investigate whether vitamin D3 supplementation would affect amyloid plaque formation in amyloid-ß protein precursor (AßPP) transgenic mice that spontaneously develop amyloid plaques within 3-4 months of birth. AßPP mice were fed control, vitamin D3-deficient or vitamin D3-enriched diets for five months, starting immediately after weaning. At the end of the study, the animals were subjected to behavioral studies, sacrificed, and examined for bone changes and brain amyloid load, amyloid-ß (Aß) peptide levels, inflammatory changes, and nerve growth factor (NGF) content. The results obtained indicate that a vitamin D3-enriched diet correlates with a decrease in the number of amyloid plaques, a decrease in Aß peptides, a decrease in inflammation, and an increase in NGF in the brains of AßPP mice. These observations suggest that a vitamin D3-enriched diet may benefit AD patients.