Breast cancer incidence is actually the highest one among all cancers. Overall breast cancer management is associated with challenges considering risk assessment and predictive diagnostics, targeted prevention of metastatic disease, appropriate treatment options, and cost-effectiveness of approaches applied. Accumulated research evidence indicates promising anti-cancer effects of phytochemicals protecting cells against malignant transformation, inhibiting carcinogenesis and metastatic spread, supporting immune system and increasing effectiveness of conventional anti-cancer therapies, among others. Molecular and sub-/cellular mechanisms are highly complex affecting several pathways considered potent targets for advanced diagnostics and cost-effective treatments. Demonstrated anti-cancer affects, therefore, are clinically relevant for improving individual outcomes and might be applicable to the primary (protection against initial cancer development), secondary (protection against potential metastatic disease development), and tertiary (towards cascading complications) care. However, a detailed data analysis is essential to adapt treatment algorithms to individuals’ and patients’ needs. Consequently, advanced concepts of patient stratification, predictive diagnostics, targeted prevention, and treatments tailored to the individualized patient profile are instrumental for the cost-effective application of natural anti-cancer substances to improve overall breast cancer management benefiting affected individuals and the society at large.

Poland syndrome is a rare congenital anomaly described by Sir Alfred Poland over 170 years ago. Combination of unilateral aplasia of the sternocostal head of musculus pectoralis major, and an ipsilateral hypoplastic hand with simple syndactyly and short fingers is typical for this condition. It occurs more frequent among males, and is usually situated on the right hemithorax in the unilateral form. The pathogenesis of Poland syndrome is not clear. Most of the authors assume that the etiologic insult is vascular in nature. During the sixth week of gestation, not only the pectoral mass splits (future muscles of the thorax) and intervening tissue between the finger rays of hands starts to disappear but also the vascular differentiation from six aortic arches begins. In our paper we report two cases of children with Poland syndrome, who underwent surgical procedure in the Department of Pediatric Surgery, Comenius University in Bratislava, Slovakia. Our case reports are focused on pre-operatively and also post-operatively imaging (RTG, CT, and 3D CT imaging) of the affected thorax and arm, as well as the operative reconstruction technique of abnormal ribs. We also discussed the possible embryonic backgrounds of this anomaly as well as the importance of plastic surgery resulting in patients' normal life.

Natural substances of plant origin exert health beneficiary efficacy due to the content of various phytochemicals. Significant anticancer abilities of natural compounds are mediated via various processes such as regulation of a cell’s epigenome. The potential antineoplastic activity of plant natural substances mediated by their action on posttranslational histone modifications (PHMs) is currently a highly evaluated area of cancer research. PHMs play an important role in maintaining chromatin structure and regulating gene expression. Aberrations in PHMs are directly linked to the process of carcinogenesis in cancer such as breast (BC), prostate (PC), and colorectal (CRC) cancer, common malignant diseases in terms of incidence and mortality among both men and women. This review summarizes the effects of plant phytochemicals (isolated or mixtures) on cancer-associated PHMs (mainly modulation of acetylation and methylation) resulting in alterations of chromatin structure that are related to the regulation of transcription activity of specific oncogenes, which are crucial in the development of BC, PC, and CRC. Significant effectiveness of natural compounds in the modulation of aberrant PHMs were confirmed by a number of in vitro or in vivo studies in preclinical cancer research. However, evidence concerning PHMs-modulating abilities of plant-based natural substances in clinical trials is insufficient.

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To understand fundamental defense mechanisms of an individual and to perceive organization and functioning of the human immune system, it is inevitable to sum up its phylogenic development. Lymphoid organs are crucial in regulation of physiological lymphocytes development and subsequently play a significant role in appropriate immunological responses to foreign pathogens. Throughout the evolutionary tree, the primary lymphoid organs have emerged earlier than the secondary lymphoid organs. Considering the sites for cell populations’ development responsible for adaptive immunity, B lymphocytes differentiation and maturation have considerably differed during phylogeny as well as ontogeny. On the contrary, T lymphocytes development is defined exclusively in the thymus. From the evolutionary point of view, location of primary lymphoid organs must have been sophistically pre-programmed in terms of their function. Need for thymus evolving from the foregut supports the fact of emerging diverse repertoire of antigen receptors. The thymus represents the very first lymphoid organ evolved in Vertebrata to deal with potentially autoreactive, somatically heterogeneous T lymphocyte receptors. The necessity of maintaining an immunological integrity was the most crucial stimulus for evolution. Thymus as a primary lymphoid organ constitutes an eminent structure that markedly differentiates the higher Vertebrata from the rest of the animal phyla. The present paper is meant to provide a profound evolutionary insight into the lymphoid organs with the emphasis on the thymus morphology through the phylogenesis.

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