Neoadjuvant treatment and survival outcomes by pathologic complete response in HER2-negative early breast cancers.

The benefit of pathologic complete response (pCR) in early breast cancer (eBC) is not well described in the real-world setting. This study used the nationwide Flatiron Health electronic health record-derived deidentified database to describe treatment patterns and survival outcomes by pCR status after neoadjuvant therapy (NAT) in women with triple-negative or HR/HER2 eBC. Observational cohort study analyzing women with eBC who started NAT between 2011 and 2018.

Use of scenario tree modelling to plan freedom from infection surveillance: Mycoplasma bovis in New Zealand.

Since mid-2018, the New Zealand (NZ) Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) has been operating an eradication program for an incursion of Mycoplasma bovis. Although NZ is still delimiting the outbreak, consideration is being given to how freedom from M. bovis will be demonstrated.

Toward International Harmonization of Breast Implant Registries: International Collaboration of Breast Registry Activities Global Common Data Set.

Background: The Poly Implant Prothèse incident and breast implant-associated anaplastic large cell lymphoma have pointed to the need for uniform registries for breast implants as key features to monitoring the outcomes of breast implant surgeries internationally. The purpose of this study was to identify and harmonize common data elements collected by breast implant registries across the International Collaboration of Breast Registry Activities (ICOBRA) global consortium.

Methods: The authors convened an international group of surgeons, consumers, nurses, registry experts, and regulators to review the data points.

When does diet matter? The roles of larval and adult nutrition in regulating adult size traits in Drosophila melanogaster.

Adult body size is determined by the quality and quantity of nutrients available to animals. In insects, nutrition affects adult size primarily during the nymphal or larval stages. However, measures of adult size like body weight are likely to also change with adult nutrition.

The Impact of Neighborhood Economic and Racial Inequalities on the Spatial Variation of Breast Cancer Survival in New Jersey.

Background: Mapping breast cancer survival can help cancer control programs prioritize efforts with limited resources. We used Bayesian spatial models to identify whether breast cancer survival among patients in New Jersey (NJ) varies spatially after adjusting for key individual (age, stage at diagnosis, molecular subtype, race/ethnicity, marital status, and insurance) and neighborhood measures of poverty and economic inequality [index of concentration at the extremes (ICE)].

Methods: Survival time was calculated for all NJ women diagnosed with invasive breast cancer between 2010 and 2014 and followed to December 31, 2015 ( = 27,078).

Overview of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Case Investigation of Cervical Cancer Study.

Despite advances in cervical cancer screening, a significant number of women in the United States have not received adequate screening. Studies have suggested that approximately half of the women who developed cervical cancer were not adequately screened. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Case Investigation of Cervical Cancer (CICC) Study took a unique approach to reconstruct the time before a woman's cervical cancer diagnosis and understand the facilitators and barriers to screening and care.

Trends in colorectal cancer incidence among younger adults-Disparities by age, sex, race, ethnicity, and subsite.

Millennials (ages 18-35) are now the largest living generation in the US, making it important to understand and characterize the rising trend of colorectal cancer incidence in this population, as well as other younger generations of Americans. Data from the New Jersey State Cancer Registry (n = 181 909) and Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results program (n = 448 714) were used to analyze invasive CRC incidence trends from 1979 to 2014. Age, sex, race, ethnicity, subsite, and stage differences between younger adults (20-49) and screening age adults (≥50) in New Jersey (NJ) were examined using chi-square; and, we compared secular trends in NJ to the United States (US).

A UK medical devices regulator's perspective on registries.

Registries are powerful tools to support manufacturers in the fulfilment of their obligations to perform post-market surveillance and post-market clinical follow-up of implantable medical devices. They are also a valuable resource for regulators in support of regulatory action as well as in providing information around the safety of new and innovative technologies. Registries can provide valuable information on the relative performance of both generic types and manufacturer's individual products and they complement other sources of information about device performance such as post-market clinical studies and adverse incident reporting.

The effect of physical training in children with asthma on pulmonary function, aerobic capacity and health-related quality of life: a systematic review of randomized control trials.

Objective: Asthma is a leading cause of chronic illness in children, impacting heavily on their daily life and participation in physical activity. The purpose of this systematic review was to investigate the evidence for the use of physical therapy to improve pulmonary function and aerobic capacity in children with asthma. Furthermore, the review aims to update previous literature on the effect of exercise on health related quality of life.

Increased pre-operative platelet counts are a possible predictor for reduced sensitivity to heparin.

We investigated a possible relationship between pre-operative platelet count and reduced sensitivity to heparin in 87 patients undergoing cardiac surgery with cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB). Sensitivity to heparin was determined by measuring the slope of the heparin dose response (HDR) before surgery. Pre-operative platelet counts were measured as part of routine analysis of the patients' coagulation status.

The action of diaspirin cross-linked haemoglobin blood substitute on human arterial bypass conduits.

Background: Immediately available blood substitutes could transform medicine. In coronary artery surgery, vasoconstriction induced by some of these agents could have serious implications. We have examined some of the vasoactive effects of one of these blood substitute, diaspirin cross-linked haemoglobin (DCLHb), on isolated rings of human arterial conduits.

Inhibitory effects of glibenclamide on the contraction of human arterial conduits used in coronary artery bypass surgery.

Glibenclamide has been shown to inhibit prostanoid-induced contraction in a number of blood vessel types. In this study, the effects of glibenclamide on the contraction of human peripheral arteries in response to both prostanoid and non-prostanoid agonists were compared and possible mechanisms of action were investigated. Segments of left internal mammary artery (LIMA) and radial artery, taken from patients undergoing coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery, were mounted in organ baths containing physiological saline solution aerated with 95% O2/5% CO2 at 37 degrees C.

Cerebrovascular cytokine responses during coronary artery bypass surgery: specific production of interleukin-8 and its attenuation by hypothermic cardiopulmonary bypass.

Unlabelled: Brain dysfunction after cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) is common, and it has been hypothesized that this injury might be due partly to activation of inflammatory processes in the brain. We measured juguloarterial gradients for interleukin-1beta, interleukin-6, and interleukin-8 (IL-8) as indices of local proinflammatory cytokine production in the brain and studied the effect of temperature during CPB on these changes. Twelve patients undergoing coronary artery bypass graft surgery (normothermic CPB n = 6, hypothermic CPB n = 6) were studied.

BRCA1 gene testing for breast and ovarian cancer in one family.

Most breast cancer is multifactorial in origin, but dominantly inherited genes are implicated in the development of approximately 5-10% of breast cancer as a whole. The identification of the BRCA1 gene, thought to account for 2% of all breast cancer and be present in almost all families affected by breast and ovarian cancer, makes testing for susceptibility to breast and ovarian cancer possible for the few families in which researchers have identified a gene mutation. Genetic counselling, by medically qualified geneticists, is available for people with rare genetic conditions caused by gene mutations.

Presymptomatic testing for Huntington's disease by linkage and by direct mutation analysis: comparison of uptake of testing and characteristics of test applicants.

In Edinburgh, we have compared presymptomatic testing by linkage and by direct mutation analysis by investigating the demand for testing and characteristics of test applicants. Annual new requests for the direct test (DT) are now double the peak with the linkage test (LT) but only 6% individuals have requested re-testing. DT applicants were older with a smaller proportion having lived with an affected relative that LT applicants.

Some aspects of the pathophysiology of semicarbazide-sensitive amine oxidase enzymes.

The widespread distribution of enzymes classed as semicarbazide-sensitive amine oxidases (SSAO enzymes) throughout a very wide range of eukaryotic as well as prokaryotic organisms encourages the aspirations of those who wish to demonstrate physiological, pathological or pharmacological importance. Such enzymes are found in several tissues of mammals, both freely soluble, as in blood plasma, and membrane-bound, for example, in smooth muscle and adipose tissue. While they are capable of deaminating many amines with the production of an aldehyde and hydrogen peroxide, doubt still surrounds the identity of the most important endogenous substrates for these enzymes.

Predictive testing for Huntington disease: social characteristics and knowledge of applicants, attitudes to the test procedure and decisions made after testing.

An investigation has been made of the social characteristics and knowledge and experience of Huntington disease (HD) for the first 80 individuals considering presymptomatic testing (applicants) at the medical genetics centres in Edinburgh and Glasgow and of attitudes to the test procedure and decisions made after testing for those who received a result. Sixty-one percent of applicants were female and 31% were over 40 years old. Almost all had a symptomatic parent but 38% did not know HD was in their family until they were over 25 years old and 48% had never received genetic counselling.

Semicarbazide-sensitive amine oxidases in sheep plasma: interactions with some substrates and inhibitors.

The present study has examined the affinities of sheep plasma semicarbazide-sensitive amine oxidase (SSAO) enzymes for a range of aliphatic amines and also the effects of two inhibitory compounds, beta-aminopropionitrile (BAPN) and mexiletine. Two kinetically separable enzyme activities appeared to be responsible for the metabolism of amines containing 2-5 carbon atoms while the deamination of higher amines and methylamine and allylamine produced kinetic plots characteristic of only one enzyme activity. When benzylamine metabolism was used as an indication of enzyme activity, the two inhibitors had different effects.

Predictive testing for Huntington's disease with linked DNA markers.

Availability of new DNA markers, more tightly linked to the Huntington's disease (HD) locus than the original G8 (D4S10) probes, has improved predictive accuracy for both presymptomatic and prenatal exclusion testing. 50 predictive tests were carried out on high-risk individuals. 6 of these were on first-trimester chorionic villus biopsy specimens; in 2 cases the HD gene was not transmitted to the fetus while in 4 cases no exclusion could be made.

Presymptomatic testing for Huntington's disease. A case complicated by recombination within the D4S10 locus.

Presymptomatic testing for Huntington's disease (HD) is possible through the use of restriction fragment length polymorphisms (RFLPs) at the closely linked D4S10 locus. Recombination between the HD and D4S10 loci will occur in 4%-5% of meioses, and is a well-recognised complication of predictive testing. Recombination between RFLPs within the D4S10 locus is a rare event and can usually be ignored.