Conceptual Framework for Cancer Care During a Pandemic Incorporating Evidence From the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Purpose: With successive infection waves and the spread of more infectious variants, the COVID-19 pandemic continues to have major impacts on health care. To achieve best outcomes for patients with cancer during a pandemic, efforts to minimize the increased risk of severe pandemic infection must be carefully balanced against unintended adverse impacts of the pandemic on cancer care, with consideration to available health system capacity. Cancer Australia's conceptual framework for cancer care during a pandemic provides a planning resource for health services and policy-makers that can be broadly applied globally and to similar pandemics.

Photoinduced Terminal Hydride of [FeFe]-Hydrogenase Biomimetic Complexes.

The active site of the [FeFe]-hydrogenase ([FeFe]-Hase) has a bridging carbonyl ligand and a terminal hydride in the key H-cluster intermediate H. However, nearly all of the synthetic mimics reported, so far, prefer a hydride bridging the two irons, and only few mimics with a terminal hydride were achieved by tuning the steric effects of bulky diphosphine ligands. Moreover, although intermediates with either a terminal hydride or a protonated bridging thiolate ligand were proposed to exist during protonation processes or hydrogen exchange in the [FeFe]-Hase mimic, [Fe(μ-pdt)(μ-H)(CO)PMe)] (), only bridging hydrides were observed by time-resolved IR spectroscopy.

A critical evaluation of bioimpedance spectroscopy analysis in estimating body composition during GH treatment: comparison with bromide dilution and dual X-ray absorptiometry.

Objective: To compare estimates by bioimpedance spectroscopy analysis (BIS) of extracellular water (ECW), fat mass (FM), and fat-free mass (FFM) against standard techniques of bromide dilution and dual energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) during intervention that causes significant changes in water compartments and body composition.

Methods: Body composition analysis using BIS, bromide dilution, and DXA was performed in 71 healthy recreational athletes (43 men, 28 women; aged 18-40 years; BMI 24 ± 0.4 kg/m(2)) who participated in a double-blinded, randomized, placebo-controlled study of GH and testosterone treatment.

Growth hormone in sports: detecting the doped or duped.

Background: Doping with growth hormone (GH) is banned; however, there is anecdotal evidence that it is widely abused. GH is reportedly often used in combination with anabolic steroids at high doses for several months. Development of a robust test for detecting GH has been challenging since recombinant human 22-kDa GH used in doping is indistinguishable analytically from endogenous GH and there are wide physiological fluctuations in circulating GH concentrations.

Australian women's perceptions of breast cancer risk factors and the risk of developing breast cancer.

Background: Numerous studies have shown that the majority of women overestimate both their own risk and the populations' risk of developing breast cancer. A number of factors have been found to correlate with perceived risk.

Methods: This paper reports on a telephone survey of a nationally representative sample of approximately 3,000 Australian women aged 30 to 69 years, conducted in 2007, and compares the findings with those of a similar survey conducted in 2003.

Reducing time to diagnosis does not improve outcomes for women with symptomatic ovarian cancer: a report from the Australian Ovarian Cancer Study Group.

Purpose: To determine if time to diagnosis is associated with stage of disease at diagnosis or survival among women with symptomatic ovarian cancer.

Methods: A representative sample of Australian women (n = 1,463) with ovarian cancer diagnosed between 2002 and 2005 who participated in a population-based case-control study were interviewed regarding the events leading to their diagnosis and were observed for mortality for 5 years.

Results: Of the 1,318 women (90%) who presented to a medical practitioner with symptoms, 55% presented within 1 month, 70% in less than 2 months, and 92% within 6 months of symptom onset.

Growth hormone and physical performance.

There has been limited research and evidence that GH enhances physical performance in healthy adults or in trained athletes. Even so, human growth hormone (GH) is widely abused by athletes. In healthy adults, GH increases lean body mass, although it is possible that fluid retention contributes to this effect.

Pathways to the diagnosis of epithelial ovarian cancer in Australia.

Objective: To describe the diagnostic pathways experienced by a large, representative group of Australian women with ovarian cancer, and to document the time between first presentation to a medical professional and clinical diagnosis.

Design, Setting And Participants: 1463 women with epithelial ovarian cancer from an Australia-wide population-based study (2002-2005) completed a telephone interview in which they described the events that led to the diagnosis of their cancer.

Main Outcome Measures: Number and type of doctors consulted, investigations performed, referral patterns and the time from first presentation to diagnosis.

The effects of growth hormone on body composition and physical performance in recreational athletes: a randomized trial.

Background: Growth hormone is widely abused by athletes, frequently with androgenic steroids. Its effects on performance are unclear.

Objective: To determine the effect of growth hormone alone or with testosterone on body composition and measures of performance.

Growth hormone administration: is it safe and effective for athletic performance.

Human growth hormone (GH) is widely abused by athletes; however, there is little evidence that GH improves physical performance. Replacement of GH in GH deficiency improves some aspects of exercise capacity. There is evidence for a protein anabolic effect of GH in healthy adults and for increased lean body mass following GH, although fluid retention likely contributes to this increase.

Detection of growth hormone doping by gene expression profiling of peripheral blood.

Context: GH abuse is a significant problem in many sports, and there is currently no robust test that allows detection of doping beyond a short window after administration.

Objective: Our objective was to evaluate gene expression profiling in peripheral blood leukocytes in-vivo as a test for GH doping in humans.

Design: Seven men and thirteen women were administered GH, 2 mg/d sc for 8 wk.

Population screening and early detection of ovarian cancer in asymptomatic women.

The National Breast and Ovarian Cancer Centre position statement: 'Population screening and early detection of ovarian cancer in asymptomatic women', was developed and agreed following a Forum in February 2009 attended by key Australian stakeholders. The final position statement and supporting background information have been endorsed by key Australian colleges and agencies. Position statement on population screening and early detection of ovarian cancer in asymptomatic women: 1) There is currently no evidence that any test, including pelvic examination, CA125 or other biomarkers, ultrasound (including transvaginal ultrasound), or combination of tests, results in reduced mortality from ovarian cancer.

Proteomic profiling of growth hormone-responsive proteins in human peripheral blood leukocytes.

Context: GH is a known modulator of the immune system, but the effect of exogenous GH administration on white blood cell proteins has not been investigated. Surface-enhanced laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (SELDI-TOF MS) is a powerful platform for the study of GH effects on immune system proteins.

Objective: Our objective was to explore a novel approach for the detection of GH-responsive proteins in human leukocytes by proteomic analysis using SELDI-TOF MS.

Demographic factors influencing the GH system: Implications for the detection of GH doping in sport.

Application of methods for detecting GH doping depend on being able to discriminate between abnormal levels due to doping and normal physiological levels of circulating proteins that change in response to exogenous administration. Constituents of the IGF and collagen systems have been shown to be promising markers of GH abuse. Their ultimate utility, however, depends on identification of the factors that regulate their concentrations in blood.

Accuracy of combined protein gene product 9.5 and parafibromin markers for immunohistochemical diagnosis of parathyroid carcinoma.

Context: Parafibromin, encoded by HRPT2, is the first marker with significant benefit in the diagnosis of parathyroid carcinoma. However, because parafibromin is only involved in up to 70% of parathyroid carcinomas and loss of parafibromin immunoreactivity may not be observed in all cases of HRPT2 mutation, a complementary marker is needed.

Objective: We sought to determine the efficacy of increased expression of protein gene product 9.

Within-subject variability and analytic imprecision of insulinlike growth factor axis and collagen markers: implications for clinical diagnosis and doping tests.

Background: The utility of insulinlike growth factor (IGF) axis and collagen markers for a growth hormone (GH) doping test in sport depends on their stability and reproducibility. We sought to determine short-term within-subject variability of these markers in a large cohort of healthy individuals.

Methods: We measured IGF-I, IGF binding protein 3 (IGFBP-3), acid labile subunit (ALS), and the collagen markers N-terminal propeptide of type I procollagen (PINP), C-terminal telopeptide of type I collagen (ICTP), and N-terminal propeptide of type III procollagen (PIIINP) in serum samples obtained on multiple occasions (median 3 per participant) over a 2- to 3-week period from 1103 elite athletes (699 men, 404 women) ages 22.

A robust test for growth hormone doping--present status and future prospects.

Although doping with growth hormone (GH) is banned, there is anecdotal evidence that it is widely abused. GH is reportedly used often in combination with anabolic steroids at high doses for several months. Development of a robust test for GH has been challenging because recombinant human 22 kDa (22K) GH used in doping is indistinguishable analytically from endogenous GH and there are wide physiological fluctuations in circulating GH concentrations.

Pharmacodynamics of growth hormone abuse biomarkers and the influence of gender and testosterone: a randomized double-blind placebo-controlled study in young recreational athletes.

Context: IGF axis proteins and collagen peptides are promising markers of GH abuse.

Objective: Our objective was to investigate whether responses of serum IGF axis and collagen markers to GH differ between men and women, and are influenced by testosterone (T).

Design: This was a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study of 8-wk treatment followed by 6-wk washout.

Bone as a source of FGF23: regulation by phosphate?

The identification of FGF23 as a factor involved in several disorders of phosphate regulation and of PHEX as the gene mutated in X-linked Hypophosphatemic Rickets indicates that both these genes may be involved in phosphate homeostasis, although their physiological roles are unclear. In this study, FGF23 mRNA expression was analyzed by real-time RT-PCR and found to be higher in normal human bone than in kidney, liver, thyroid, or parathyroid tissue, while expression in oncogenic osteomalacia tumor tissue was several hundred-fold higher than in bone. Expression of FGF23 mRNA in human osteoblast-like bone cells, quantitated by real-time RT-PCR, increased with increasing extracellular phosphate and was 2-fold higher in cells treated with 2 mM extracellular phosphate compared to 0 mM phosphate treatment.

Gene expression of parathyroid tumors: molecular subclassification and identification of the potential malignant phenotype.

Parathyroid tumors are heterogeneous, and diagnosis is often difficult using histologic and clinical features. We have undertaken expression profiling of 53 hereditary and sporadic parathyroid tumors to better define the molecular genetics of parathyroid tumors. A class discovery approach identified three distinct groups: (1) predominantly hyperplasia cluster, (2) HRPT2/carcinoma cluster consisting of sporadic carcinomas and benign and malignant tumors from Hyperparathyroidism-Jaw Tumor Syndrome patients, and (3) adenoma cluster consisting mainly of primary adenoma and MEN 1 tumors.

Clinical case seminar: Fibroblast growth factor 23: a new clinical marker for oncogenic osteomalacia.

The phosphate-wasting condition, oncogenic osteomalacia, is problematic to diagnose and manage clinically due to difficulty in locating the causative tumor. Fibroblast growth factor 23 (FGF23) has recently been implicated in the pathogenesis of oncogenic osteomalacia. In this case the patient presented with clinical features typical of oncogenic osteomalacia.

Independent genetic events associated with the development of multiple parathyroid tumors in patients with primary hyperparathyroidism.

Multiple parathyroid tumors, as opposed to hyperplasia, have been reported in a subset of patients with sporadic primary hyperparathyroidism (PHPT). It is not clear whether these multiple tumors are representative of a neoplastic process or whether they merely represent hyperplasia that has affected the parathyroid glands differentially and resulted in asynchronous growth. The molecular genetic techniques of comparative genomic hybridization (CGH), loss of heterozygosity (LOH), and MEN1 mutation analysis were performed on a series of five patients with multiglandular PHPT, each of which had two parathyroid tumors removed.

Bioactivity of PTH/PTHrP analogs lacking the 1-14 N-terminal domain.

The N-terminal regions of 1-34 parathyroid hormone (PTH) and 1-34 parathyroid hormone related protein (PTHrP) are thought to be required for full agonist activity of these molecules and for signal transduction by cyclic AMP (cAMP). The C-terminal regions are thought to be involved in receptor binding and protein kinase C activation. In this study, two analogs of PTH/PTHrP lacking the segment 1-14 exhibited agonist activity in opossum kidney (OK) 3B2 cells.