Among the components of a healthy life, sexuality is an essential part, contributing not only to psychophysical well-being, but also to the social well-being of women and, consequently to their quality of life. A poorly investigated standpoint is the acceptability of a contraceptive method, not only in terms of tolerability and metabolic neutrality, but also concerning the impact that it can have on sexual life. In this context, we will provide an overview of the different methods of contraception and their effects on female sexuality from the biological changes, to organic, social, and psychological factors, which can all shape sexuality.A MEDLINE/PUBMED review of the literature between 2010 and 2021 was conducted using the following key words/phrases: hormonal contraception, contraceptives, female sexual function, libido, sexual arousal and desire, and sexual pain. Recent studies have supported the effects of contraceptives on women’s sexuality, describing a variety of positive and negative events on several domains of the sexual function (desire, arous-al, orgasm, pain, enjoyment). However, satisfaction with sexual activity depends on factors that extend beyond sexual functioning alone. A more holistic approach is needed to better under-stand the multitude of factors linked to women’s sexuality and contraception. Contraceptive counselling must necessarily consider these important elements since they are closely related to good compliance.

Liquid biopsy via isolation of circulating tumour cells (CTCs) represents a promising diagnostic tool capable of supplementing state-of-the-art for prostate cancer (PC) prognosis. Unfortunately, most of CTC technologies, such as AdnaTest or Cellsearch, critically rely on the Epithelial-Cell-Adhesion-Molecule (EpCAM) marker, limiting the possibility of detecting stem-like cells (CSCs) and mesenchymal-like cells (EMT-CTCs) that are present during PC progression. In this tontext, dielectrophoresis (DEP) is an epCAM independent, label-free, enrichment system, separating rare cells simply on the basis of their specific electrical properties. As compared to other technollgies, DEP represents a superior technique in terms of running costs, cells yield and specificity, but due to its higher complexity, requires still further technical as well as clinical development. Interestingly, DEP can be improved by the use of microfluid, nanostructured materials and fluoroimaging in order to increase its potential applications. In the context of PC, the utility of DEP can be translated in its capacity to detect CTC in the bloodstream in their epithelial, mesenchymal, or epithelial-mesenchymal phenotypes, which should be taken into account when choosing CTC enrichment and analysis methods for PC prognosis and early diagnosis.

Staphylococcus aureus is a Gram-positive bacterium causing a range of mild to life-threatening infections including bone infections such as osteomyelitis. S. aureus is able to invade and persist within non-professional phagocytic cells such as osteoblasts. In the present study four different S. aureus strains, 2SA-ST239-III, 5SA-ST5-II, 10SA-ST228-I, and 14SA-ST22-IVh were tested for their ability to modulate cell viability in MG-63 osteoblast-like cells following a successful invasion and persistence. Methicillin-sensitive S. aureus (MSSA) ATCC-12598-ST30 was used as control. Despite the demonstrated similar abilities of internalization and persistence of ATCC-12598-ST30, 2SA-ST239-III, and 14SA-ST22-IVh strains in MG-63 osteoblast-like cells under our experimental conditions, we demonstrated that the decrease in cell viability was due to the different behavior of the considered strains, with the number of intracellular bacteria playing a limited role. We focused our attention on different cellular biochemical functions related to inflammation, cell metabolism, and oxidative stress during osteoblast infections. We were able to show that: 1) ATCC-12598-ST30 and 2SA-ST239-III were the only two clones able to persist and maintain their number into the cellular hostile environment during the entire period of infection; 2) 2SA-ST239-III was the only clone able to significantly increase the gene expression (3 and 24 h) and protein secretion (24 h) of both interleukin-6 (IL-6) and tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) in MG-63 osteoblast-like cells; 3) the same clone determined a significant up-regulation of transforming growth factor-β1 (TGF-β1) and the metabolic marker glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH) mRNAs at 24 h post infection; 3) neither the MSSA nor the four MRSA strains induced oxidative stress phenomena in MG-63 cells, although a very different expression pattern towards nuclear factor E2-related factor 2 (Nrf2) and its downstream gene heme oxygenase 1 (HO-1) activation was observed among the different clones. Our results can open a new way of considering therapies, going in the direction of an individualized therapeutic strategy that should take into account the difference existing between MSSA and MRSA as well as the distinctive features of the different clones. Not only, therefore, a different antibiotic approach but also a starting point for considering different host factors, i.e. the modulation of specific cytokines such as IL-6, TNF-α, and TGF-β1.

Phagosomal escape and intracellular survival, often accompanied by Small Colony Variants (SCVs) formation, are typical features of infections caused by S. aureus. The survival in macro-phages favours S. aureus dissemination and complicates treatment. RAW 264.7 murine macro-phages infected with S. aureus USA300 and treated with erythromycin and 20mM carnosine, alone and in combination, were used as experimental model. SCVs were isolated from all treat-ment conditions, but only those undergoing the pressure of combined erythromycin and carnosine for 48 hours were stable for at least six passages on blood agar. Nucleic acid extraction was car-ried out for S. aureus USA300 wild-type and stable SCVs. Whole Genome Sequencing (WGS) was performed using Illumina DNA Prep and Illumina MiSeq, and quantitative reverse transcription PCR was performed. WGS analysis did not yield mutations pointing to differences between S. au-reus USA300 and stable SCVs, therefore the focus was shifted to evaluating gene expression vari-ations. Genes such as zur, mntR, uhpt, fur, sdrE were shown to be significantly up-regulated in SCVs compared to S. aureus USA300 wild-type, suggesting a global change that allows adapta-tion to intracellular persistence, including protection from inflammatory response and evasion of the immune system.

A single paragraph of about 200 words maximum. For research articles, abstracts should give a pertinent overview of the work. We strongly encourage authors to use the following style of structured abstracts, but without headings: (1) Background: Place the question addressed in a broad context and highlight the purpose of the study; (2) Methods: briefly describe the main methods or treatments applied; (3) Results: summarize the article’s main findings; (4) Conclusions: indicate the main conclusions or interpretations. The abstract should be an objective representation of the article and it must not contain results that are not presented and substantiated in the main text and should not exaggerate the main conclusions.