Increasing access to fertility preservation for women with breast cancer: protocol for a stepped-wedge cluster randomized trial in France.

Background: With the increase in the number of long-term survivors, interest is shifting from cancer survival to life and quality of life after cancer. These include consequences of long-term side effects of treatment, such as gonadotoxicity. Fertility preservation is becoming increasingly important in cancer management.

[Development and assessment of a MOOC about delirium in geriatric oncology].

Introduction: Among the themes to be addressed by a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) on geriatric oncology, one of the priorities was delirium, due to its frequency, complications and difficulties encountered by healthcare professionals in diagnosing and managing delirium. Our study aims to evaluate professional practices in the area of education, regarding the evaluation of the content of a MOOC module about delirium syndrome in geriatric oncology.

Methods: We created a multidisciplinary group to define the scientific content, the pedagogical objectives, the scriptwriting and the development of a training module.

Spreading geriatric oncology culture through professional caregivers: Results of a French massive open online course (MOOC).

Geriatric oncology is based on the synergy between several professionals whose common goal is to improve care for older patients with cancer. This requires sharing a common core of knowledge to facilitate collaboration between them. To date, training in geriatric oncology has been limited in scope and difficult to access for caregivers, particularly nurses and healthcare aides.

The Presence of an In Situ Component on Pre-Treatment Biopsy Is Not Associated with Response to Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy for Breast Cancer.

A ductal in situ (DCIS) component is often associated with invasive breast carcinoma (BC), and its effect on response to treatment is unknown. We assessed the predictive value of the DCIS component for pathologic complete response (pCR) after neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC). We analyzed a cohort of 1148 T1-3NxM0 breast cancer (BC) patients treated by NAC at Institut Curie between 2002 and 2012.

Renal sympathetic nerve denervation using intraluminal ultrasound within a cooling balloon preserves the arterial wall and reduces sympathetic nerve activity.

Aims: Circumferential ablation of renal sympathetic nerves using catheter-based ultrasound energy was studied in a preclinical in vivo model. The aim was to investigate the benefit of cooling the arterial wall and the extent of renal nerve injury based on histopathology, and to correlate the injury with kidney norepinephrine levels.

Methods And Results: Computer simulations of the ultrasound transducer within the cooling balloon demonstrated a circumferentially uniform heating profile.

Fluconazole prophylaxis is associated with a decreased rate of coagulase-negative Staphylococcal infections in a subset of extremely low birth weight neonates.

Fluconazole prophylaxis is being used efficaciously in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) for fungal prophylaxis in very low birth weight and extremely low birth weight (ELBW) neonates. Little is known about the effect of fluconazole prophylaxis on bacterial infections. The purpose of this study was to examine that issue in a subset of ELBW, those weighing ≤900 g at birth.

Concomitant intravenous nitroglycerin with intracoronary delivery of AAV1.SERCA2a enhances gene transfer in porcine hearts.

SERCA2a gene therapy improves contractile and energetic function of failing hearts and has been shown to be associated with benefits in clinical outcomes, symptoms, functional status, biomarkers, and cardiac structure in a phase 2 clinical trial. In an effort to enhance the efficiency and homogeneity of gene uptake in cardiac tissue, we examined the effects of nitroglycerin (NTG) in a porcine model following AAV1.SERCA2a gene delivery.

Gene delivery of sarcoplasmic reticulum calcium ATPase inhibits ventricular remodeling in ischemic mitral regurgitation.

Background: Mitral regurgitation (MR) doubles mortality after myocardial infarction (MI). We have demonstrated that MR worsens remodeling after MI and that early correction reverses remodeling. Sarcoplasmic reticulum Ca(+2)-ATPase (SERCA2a) is downregulated in this process.

KChIP2 attenuates cardiac hypertrophy through regulation of Ito and intracellular calcium signaling.

Recent evidence shows that the auxiliary subunit KChIP2, which assembles with pore-forming Kv4-subunits, represents a new potential regulator of the cardiac calcium-independent transient outward potassium current (I(to)) density. In hypertrophy and heart failure, KChIP2 expression has been found to be significantly decreased. Our aim was to examine the role of KChIP2 in cardiac hypertrophy and the effect of restoring its expression on electrical remodeling and cardiac mechanical function using a combination of molecular, biochemical and gene targeting approaches.

The Schizosaccharomyces pombe checkpoint kinases Chk1 and Cds1 are important for cell survival in response to cisplatin.

Background: DNA damage checkpoints insure that the integrity of genomic DNA is faithfully maintained throughout the eukaryotic cell cycle. In the presence of damaged DNA, checkpoints are triggered to delay cell cycle progression to allow for DNA repair. In fission yeast, the kinases Chk1 and Cds1 are major components of these DNA damage checkpoint pathways.

Mechanical work and energetic analysis of eccentric cardiac remodeling in a volume overload heart failure in rats.

Eccentric cardiac remodeling seen in dilated cardiomyopathy or regurgitant valvular disease is a well-known process of heart failure progression, but its mechanoenergetic profile has not been yet established. We made a volume overload (VO) heart failure model in rats and for the first time investigated left ventricular (LV) mechanical work and energetics in cross-circulated whole heart preparations. Laparotomy was performed in 14 Wistar male rats, and abdominal aortic-inferior vena caval shunt was created in seven rats (VO group).