Neighborhood-level deprivation and survival in lung cancer.

Background: Despite recent advances in lung cancer therapeutics and improving overall survival, disparities persist among socially disadvantaged populations. This study aims to determine the effects of neighborhood deprivation indices (NDI) on lung cancer mortality. This is a multicenter retrospective cohort study assessing the relationship between NDI and overall survival adjusted for age, disease stage, and DNA methylation among biopsy-proven lung cancer patients.

A Cost-Effective and Non-Invasive pfeRNA-Based Test Differentiates Benign and Suspicious Pulmonary Nodules from Malignant Ones.

The ability to differentiate between benign, suspicious, and malignant pulmonary nodules is imperative for definitive intervention in patients with early stage lung cancers. Here, we report that plasma protein functional effector sncRNAs (pfeRNAs) serve as non-invasive biomarkers for determining both the existence and the nature of pulmonary nodules in a three-stage study that included the healthy group, patients with benign pulmonary nodules, patients with suspicious nodules, and patients with malignant nodules. Following the standards required for a clinical laboratory improvement amendments (CLIA)-compliant laboratory-developed test (LDT), we identified a pfeRNA classifier containing 8 pfeRNAs in 108 biospecimens from 60 patients by sncRNA deep sequencing, deduced prediction rules using a separate training cohort of 198 plasma specimens, and then applied the prediction rules to another 230 plasma specimens in an independent validation cohort.

Clinical Significance of Plasma CD9-Positive Exosomes in HIV Seronegative and Seropositive Lung Cancer Patients.

Recently, the role of exosomes in the progression of both cancer and HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) has been described. This study investigates the clinical significance of CD9-positive plasma exosomes in lung cancer patients, healthy individuals, and HIV-positive patients with or without lung cancer. Using a verified with transmission electron microscopy double-sandwich ELISA technique, plasma-derived exosomes were isolated and quantified from 210 lung cancer patients (including 44 metastatic patients with progressive disease after chemotherapy), 49 healthy controls, 20 patients with pulmonary granulomas, 19 HIV+ patients with lung cancer, 31 HIV+ patients without cancer, and 3 HIV+ patients with pulmonary granulomas.

Longitudinal Trends of Financial Toxicity in Patients With Lung Cancer: A Prospective Cohort Study.

Background: Cancer therapy is associated with severe financial burden. However, the magnitude and longitudinal patient relationship with financial toxicity (FT) in the initial course of therapy is unclear.

Methods: Patients with stage II-IV lung cancer were recruited in a prospective longitudinal study between July 2018 and March 2020.

Microwave Thermolysis Reduces Generalized and Social Anxiety in Young Adults With Axillary Hyperhidrosis.

Background And Objective: Hyperhidrosis (HH) is associated with impairments in quality of life (QOL) and elevated anxiety. Microwave thermolysis is a newer treatment that reduces sweating, yet effects on QOL and emotional symptoms have not been examined. Two treatment sessions are recommended to achieve 80% amelioration of clinical HH.

Epigenetic therapy inhibits metastases by disrupting premetastatic niches.

Cancer recurrence after surgery remains an unresolved clinical problem. Myeloid cells derived from bone marrow contribute to the formation of the premetastatic microenvironment, which is required for disseminating tumour cells to engraft distant sites. There are currently no effective interventions that prevent the formation of the premetastatic microenvironment.

Satiety and memory enhancing effects of a high-protein meal depend on the source of protein.

Objective: High- protein diets have become increasingly popular with various touted benefits. However, the extent to which protein quantity and source affects cognitive functioning through altering postprandial amino acid profiles has not been investigated. Further, whether all protein sources are similarly anorexigenic is uncertain.

Early Detection of Lung Cancer Using DNA Promoter Hypermethylation in Plasma and Sputum.

CT screening can reduce death from lung cancer. We sought to improve the diagnostic accuracy of lung cancer screening using ultrasensitive methods and a lung cancer-specific gene panel to detect DNA methylation in sputum and plasma. This is a case-control study of subjects with suspicious nodules on CT imaging.

Prospective CT screening for lung cancer in a high-risk population: HIV-positive smokers.

Background: Epidemiological evidence suggests that HIV-infected individuals are at increased risk of lung cancer, but no data exist because large computed tomography (CT) screening trials routinely exclude HIV-infected participants.

Methods: From 2006 to 2013, we conducted the world's first lung cancer screening trial of 224 HIV-infected current/former smokers to assess the CT detection rates of lung cancer. We also used 130 HIV-infected patients with known lung cancer to determine radiographic markers of lung cancer risk using multivariate analysis.

Combination epigenetic therapy has efficacy in patients with refractory advanced non-small cell lung cancer.

Unlabelled: Epigenetic alterations are strongly associated with the development of cancer. We conducted a phase I/II trial of combined epigenetic therapy with azacitidine and entinostat, inhibitors of DNA methylation and histone deacetylation, respectively, in extensively pretreated patients with recurrent metastatic non-small cell lung cancer. This therapy is well tolerated, and objective responses were observed, including a complete response and a partial response in a patient who remains alive and without disease progression approximately 2 years after completing protocol therapy.

Human immunodeficiency virus infection as a prognostic factor in surgical patients with non-small cell lung cancer.

Background: The purpose of this study was to assess the effect of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection on postoperative survival among non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients.

Methods: A retrospective cohort study compared 22 HIV-infected lung cancer patients to 2,430 lung cancer patients with HIV-unspecified status who underwent resection at Johns Hopkins Hospital from 1985 to 2009. Subcohort comparative analyses were performed using individual matching methods.

Rate of fall in blood glucose and recurrent hypoglycemia affect glucose dynamics and noradrenergic activation in the ventromedial hypothalamus.

Noradrenergic activity in the ventromedial hypothalamus (VMH) is increased and activates a sympathoadrenal response during hypoglycemia. How the rate at which hypoglycemia develops affects local glucose concentrations and norepinephrine (NE) release was evaluated by placing microdialysis probes into the VMH of male Sprague-Dawley rats receiving insulin (20 mU·kg(-1)·min(-1)) and variable glucose infusions. During a first episode of hypoglycemia, interstitial glucose concentrations in the VMH generally declined at the same rate as plasma glucose; however, the faster hypoglycemia developed, the greater the magnitude of the initial NE release in the VMH (r(2) = 0.

A murine xenograft model of spontaneous metastases of human lung adenocarcinoma.

Background: The flank is commonly used for primary xenografts in mice, but it is rare for these tumors to metastasize. Tail vein injection creates a pattern of metastases, but is artificial. We hypothesized that the liver is a convenient alternative xenograft site and that metastases would gradually proceed spontaneously.

Intracerebroventricular administration of soy protein hydrolysates reduces body weight without affecting food intake in rats.

Some studies suggest that increased consumption of soy protein hydrolysates may cause body weight loss but the mechanism of action is unknown. The objective of this investigation was to determine whether intracerebroventricular (i.c.

Orexin-induced feeding requires NMDA receptor activation in the perifornical region of the lateral hypothalamus.

Food intake is stimulated following administration of orexin-A into the perifornical region of the lateral hypothalamus (LH/PFA). Orexin neurons originating in the LH/PFA interact with a number of hypothalamic systems known to influence food intake, including glutamatergic neurons. Glutamatergic systems in the LH/PFA were demonstrated to initiate feeding through N-methyl-d-aspartic acid (NMDA) receptors.

Noradrenergic activity in the paraventricular nucleus and macronutrient choice during early dark onset by zinc deficient rats.

Carbohydrate is a preferred macronutrient of rats during the early dark phase and associated with an increase in norepinephrine (NE) and neuropeptide Y (NPY) in the paraventricular nucleus (PVN). Macronutrient choice is altered during zinc deficiency (ZD). The relationship between NE activity in the PVN and macronutrient choice during early dark was evaluated in rats fed zinc adequate (ZA) or ZD diet for 14 days.

Hypoglycemia-induced noradrenergic activation in the VMH is a result of decreased ambient glucose.

During insulin-induced hypoglycemia, there is an increase in extracellular norepinephrine (NE) in the ventromedial hypothalamus (VMH). This brain area is known to play an important role in integrated hormonal and behavioral responses to systemic hypoglycemia. Selective glucoprivation restricted to the VMH is both necessary and sufficient to initiate secretion of counterregulatory hormones.

Effect of the estrous cycle on water maze acquisition depends on the temperature of the water.

The literature on the effects of ovarian hormones on rodent learning and memory is mixed. In this study, the authors examined the role of task stressfulness. Female hooded rats were tested during proestrus or estrus on the hidden-platform water maze in warm (33 degrees C) or cold (19 degrees C) water.

Dissociation of hypothalamic noradrenergic activity and sympathoadrenal responses to recurrent hypoglycemia.

This study evaluated whether attenuation of sympathoadrenal responses to recurrent hypoglycemia is mediated by diminished noradrenergic activity in the hypothalamus. Male Sprague-Dawley rats received either once daily insulin (1.0 units/kg) injections or an equal administration of saline for 3 days.

Zinc status affects neurotransmitter activity in the paraventricular nucleus of rats.

Alterations in neurochemical activity in the paraventricular nucleus (PVN) of the hypothalamus may account for decreased intake of zinc-deficient diets. Male Sprague-Dawley rats were fed zinc-deficient (ZD) or zinc-adequate (ZA) diet for 14 d before samples of extracellular fluid in the PVN were collected by microdialysis or push-pull perfusion. A third set of rats was pair-fed (PF) an amount of ZA diet equal to the intake of ZD rats.