Social evolution of toxic metal bioremediation in Pseudomonas aeruginosa.

Bacteria are often iron-limited, and hence produce extracellular iron-scavenging siderophores. A crucial feature of siderophore production is that it can be an altruistic behaviour (individually costly but benefitting neighbouring cells), thus siderophore producers can be invaded by non-producing social 'cheats'. Recent studies have shown that siderophores can also bind other heavy metals (such as Cu and Zn), but in this case siderophore chelation actually reduces metal uptake by bacteria.

Breast cancer detection among young survivors of pediatric Hodgkin lymphoma with screening magnetic resonance imaging.

Background: Female survivors of pediatric Hodgkin lymphoma (HL) who have received chest radiotherapy are at increased risk of breast cancer. Guidelines for early breast cancer screening among these survivors are based on little data regarding clinical outcomes. This study reports outcomes of breast cancer screening with MRI and mammography (MMG) after childhood HL.

Phosphate analogues in the dissection of mechanism.

Phosphoryl group transfer is central to genetic replication, cellular signalling and many metabolic processes. Understanding the mechanisms of phosphorylation and phosphate ester and anhydride cleavage is key to efforts towards biotechnological and biomedical exploitation of phosphate-handling enzymes. Analogues of phosphate esters and anhydrides are indispensable tools, alongside protein mutagenesis and computational methods, for the dissection of phosphoryl transfer mechanisms.

Anti-Müllerian hormone screening to assess ovarian reserve among female survivors of childhood cancer.

Purpose: Anti-Müllerian hormone (AMH) is an indicator of oocyte reserve in healthy females. The role of AMH testing in oncology remains investigational, although its sensitivity and stability over the menstrual cycle make it an attractive screening test for fertility assessment among female cancer survivors. We measured AMH level in survivors of childhood cancer and evaluated its association with treatment and patient factors.

Active breathing control for patients receiving mediastinal radiation therapy for lymphoma: Impact on normal tissue dose.

Purpose: Active breathing control (ABC) is emerging as a tool to reduce heart and lung dose for lymphoma patients receiving mediastinal radiation therapy (RT). The objective of this study was to report our early institutional experience with this technique, with emphasis on quantifying the changes in normal tissue dose and exploring factors that could be used to select patients with the greatest benefit.

Methods And Materials: Patients receiving mediastinal involved-field RT (IFRT) for lymphoma were eligible.

Dosimetric advantages of a "butterfly" technique for intensity-modulated radiation therapy for young female patients with mediastinal Hodgkin's lymphoma.

Purpose: High cure rates for Hodgkin's lymphoma must be balanced with long-term treatment-related toxicity. Here we report an intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) technique that achieves adequate target coverage for mediastinal disease while minimizing high- and low-dose exposure of critical organs.

Methods And Materials: Treatment plans for IMRT and conventional anteroposterior-posteroanterior (AP-PA) techniques, with comparable coverage of the planning target volume (PTV), were generated for 9 female patients with mediastinal Hodgkin's lymphoma assuming use of inclined positioning, daily breath-hold, and CT-on-rails verification.

A single institution experience of extranodal natural killer/T cell lymphoma of nasal type.

Extranodal natural killer/T cell lymphoma (ENKTL) nasal type is a rare form of non-Hodgkin lymphoma that is more commonly seen in Asia and Latin America than in North America or Europe. The purpose of this study was to determine the treatment outcomes with a combined modality approach and whether treatment outcomes varied according to ethnicity in patients with ENKTL, nasal type in Toronto, Canada. Patients presenting with ENKTL, nasal type, between 1994 and 2011 were retrospectively reviewed.

ACR Appropriateness Criteria Pediatric Hodgkin Lymphoma.

Pediatric Hodgkin lymphoma is a highly curable malignancy and potential long-term effects of therapy need to be considered in optimizing clinical care. An expert panel was convened to reach consensus on the most appropriate approach to evaluation and treatment of pediatric Hodgkin lymphoma. The American College of Radiology Appropriateness Criteria are evidence-based guidelines for specific clinical conditions that are reviewed every 2 years by a multidisciplinary expert panel.

Stratification of treatment intensity in relapsed pediatric Hodgkin lymphoma.

Risk-adapted, response-based therapies for pediatric Hodgkin lymphoma have resulted in 5-year survival exceeding 90%. Although high-dose chemotherapy and autologous hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (AHSCT) are considered standard for most patients with relapsed or refractory Hodgkin lymphoma, a subset of children with low risk relapse do not require AHSCT for cure. Currently there are no widely accepted criteria defining who should receive standard dose chemotherapy and/or radiotherapy, nor is there a standardized treatment regimen.

Smartphones in ecology and evolution: a guide for the app-rehensive.

Smartphones and their apps (application software) are now used by millions of people worldwide and represent a powerful combination of sensors, information transfer, and computing power that deserves better exploitation by ecological and evolutionary researchers. We outline the development process for research apps, provide contrasting case studies for two new research apps, and scan the research horizon to suggest how apps can contribute to the rapid collection, interpretation, and dissemination of data in ecology and evolutionary biology. We emphasize that the usefulness of an app relies heavily on the development process, recommend that app developers are engaged with the process at the earliest possible stage, and commend efforts to create open-source software scaffolds on which customized apps can be built by nonexperts.

Generation and electrophile trapping of N-Boc-2-lithio-2-azetine: synthesis of 2-substituted 2-azetines.

s-BuLi-induced α-lithiation-elimination of LiOMe from N-Boc-3-methoxyazetidine and further in situ α-lithiation generates N-Boc-2-lithio-2-azetine which can be trapped with electrophiles, either directly (carbonyl or heteroatom electrophiles) or after transmetalation to copper (allowing allylations and propargylations), providing a concise access to 2-substituted 2-azetines.

5'-deoxy-5'-hydrazinylguanosine as an initiator of T7 Rna polymerase-catalyzed transcriptions for the preparation of labeling-ready RNAs.

5'-deoxy-5'-hydrazinylguanosine was incorporated into the 5'-termini of RNA transcripts using T7 RNA polymerase. Transcriptions provided 5'-hydrazinyl-RNA that was readily labeled and purified. The use of fluorophore-labeled material was validated in an endoribonuclease activity assay.

An unbiased method for clustering bacterial effectors using host cellular phenotypes.

We present a novel method implementing unbiased high-content morphometric cell analysis to classify bacterial effector phenotypes. This clustering methodology represents a significant advance over more qualitative visual approaches and can also be used to classify, and therefore predict the likely function of, unknown effector genes from any microbial genome. As a proof of concept, we use this approach to investigate 23 genetic regions predicted to encode antimacrophage effectors located across the genome of the insect and human pathogen Photorhabdus asymbiotica.

Partnership for health-2, a web-based versus print smoking cessation intervention for childhood and young adult cancer survivors: randomized comparative effectiveness study.

Background: Smoking among cancer survivors increases the risk of late effects and second cancers. This article reports on Partnership for Health-2 (PFH-2)-an effort to develop an effective and scalable version of Partnership for Health (PFH), which was a previously tested peer-delivered telephone counseling program that doubled smoking cessation rates among childhood cancer survivors who smoke.

Objective: This paper presents results from a randomized controlled trial evaluating the effectiveness of PFH-2 in targeted and tailored Web-based versus print formats.

Environmental conditions during breeding modify the strength of mass-dependent carry-over effects in a migratory bird.

In many animals, processes occurring in one season carry over to influence reproductive success and survival in future seasons. The strength of such carry-over effects is unlikely to be uniform across years, yet our understanding of the processes that are capable of modifying their strength remains limited. Here we show that female light-bellied Brent geese with higher body mass prior to spring migration successfully reared more offspring during breeding, but only in years where environmental conditions during breeding were favourable.

ACR Appropriateness Criteria: Localized nodal indolent lymphoma.

The present guidelines review epidemiology, pathology, presentation, workup, staging, prognostic factors, and treatment options for patients with localized nodal indolent lymphoma, with an emphasis on radiation guidelines, including radiation dose, field design, and radiation techniques. Following a discussion of the current literature and available data for treatment and outcomes of patients with indolent lymphoma, several different example cases are reviewed to help physicians make appropriate treatment decisions. The American College of Radiology Appropriateness Criteria are evidence-based guidelines for specific clinical conditions that are reviewed every 2 years by a multidisciplinary expert panel.

Predictive systems ecology.

Human societies, and their well-being, depend to a significant extent on the state of the ecosystems that surround them. These ecosystems are changing rapidly usually in response to anthropogenic changes in the environment. To determine the likely impact of environmental change on ecosystems and the best ways to manage them, it would be desirable to be able to predict their future states.

Stomach cancer risk after treatment for hodgkin lymphoma.

Purpose: Treatment-related stomach cancer is an important cause of morbidity and mortality among the growing number of Hodgkin lymphoma (HL) survivors, but risks associated with specific HL treatments are unclear.

Patients And Methods: We conducted an international case-control study of stomach cancer nested in a cohort of 19,882 HL survivors diagnosed from 1953 to 2003, including 89 cases and 190 matched controls. For each patient, we quantified cumulative doses of specific alkylating agents (AAs) and reconstructed radiation dose to the stomach tumor location.

Effects of oxygen insufflation rate, respiratory rate, and tidal volume on fraction of inspired oxygen in cadaveric canine heads attached to a lung model.

Objective: To assess the effects of oxygen insufflation rate, respiratory rate, and tidal volume on fraction of inspired oxygen (Fio2) in cadaveric canine heads attached to a lung model.

Sample: 16 heads of canine cadavers.

Procedures: Each cadaver head was instrumented with a nasal insufflation catheter through which oxygen was delivered.

An approach to hyperolactone C and analogues using late stage conjugate addition on an oxonium ylide-derived spirofuranone.

A stereocontrolled synthesis of norphenyl hyperolactone C together with its utility as a direct precursor to the anti-HIV agent hyperolactone C and analogues by addition of organolithiums, are described. Preliminary studies to access this key building block in a catalytic enantioselective manner are also reported.

Shedding light on moths: shorter wavelengths attract noctuids more than geometrids.

With moth declines reported across Europe, and parallel changes in the amount and spectra of street lighting, it is important to understand exactly how artificial lights affect moth populations. We therefore compared the relative attractiveness of shorter wavelength (SW) and longer wavelength (LW) lighting to macromoths. SW light attracted significantly more individuals and species of moth, either when used alone or in competition with LW lighting.

The interplay between microevolution and community structure in microbial populations.

The structure of microbial communities is key to their functionality. However, this structure is likely to be influenced by adaptive genetic change in members of the community, which can occur over a matter of days. Changes in community structure can in turn influence the evolutionary trajectories of species within the community, further altering community structure.

Aqueous synthesis of N,S-dialkylthiophosphoramidates: design, optimisation and application to library construction and antileishmanial testing.

We recently reported the use of PSCl3 for the thiophosphorylation of alkylamines where the resulting N-thiophosphoramidate ions could be readily S-alkylated (Chem. Commun., 2011, 47, 6156-6158.

Effects of inspired oxygen concentration on ventilation, ventilatory rhythm, and gas exchange in isoflurane-anesthetized horses.

Objective: To compare the effects of 2 fractions of inspired oxygen, 50% and > 95%, on ventilation, ventilatory rhythm, and gas exchange in isoflurane-anesthetized horses.

Animals: 8 healthy adult horses.

Procedures: In a crossover study design, horses were assigned to undergo each of 2 anesthetic sessions in random order, with 1 week separating the sessions.