Multidimensional screening of pancreatic cancer spheroids reveals vulnerabilities in mitotic and cell-matrix adhesion signaling that associate with metastatic progression and decreased patient survival.

Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is a highly aggressive malignancy, with a median survival of less than 12 months and a 5-year survival of less than 10 %. Here, we have established an image-based screening pipeline for quantifying single PDAC spheroid dynamics in genetically and phenotypically diverse PDAC cell models. Wild-type KRas PDAC cells formed tight/compact spheroids - compaction of these structures was completely blocked by cytoplasmic dynein and focal adhesion kinase (FAK) inhibitors.

The effect of universal leukoreduction on postoperative infections and length of hospital stay in elective orthopedic and cardiac surgery.

Background: A before and after study was undertaken to investigate the effect of universal leukoreduction (ULR) in the UK on postoperative length of hospital stay (LOS) and infections.

Study Design And Methods: Consecutive patients undergoing elective coronary artery bypass grafting or total hip and/or knee replacement in 11 hospitals received non-WBC-reduced RBCs before implementation of ULR (T1, n=997) or WBC-reduced RBCs after implementation of ULR (T2, n=1098).

Results: Patients in T1 and T2 were comparable except patients in T2 received on average more units of RBCs but had lower discharge Hct levels.

Endoscopic use of human thrombin in bleeding gastric varices.

Objective: The management of gastric variceal hemorrhage remains a clinical challenge. Bovine thrombin has been reported to be effective in two small series. We report our experience with human thrombin in the treatment of bleeding gastric varices.