Managing lower urinary tract symptoms in primary care: qualitative study of GPs' and patients' experiences.

Background: Lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) are common in males aged ≥40 years and have a considerable impact on quality of life. Management can be complex, and although most LUTS could be treated effectively in primary care, referrals to urology outpatients are increasing.

Aim: To explore GPs' experiences of managing LUTS together with patients' experiences of and preferences for treatment in primary care.

Conducting invasive urodynamics in primary care: qualitative interview study examining experiences of patients and healthcare professionals.

Background: Invasive urodynamics is used to investigate the causes of lower urinary tract symptoms; a procedure usually conducted in secondary care by specialist practitioners. No study has yet investigated the feasibility of carrying out this procedure in a non-specialist setting. Therefore, the aim of this study was to explore, using qualitative methodology, the feasibility and acceptability of conducting invasive urodynamic testing in primary care.

Association of distant recurrence-free survival with algorithmically extracted MRI characteristics in breast cancer.

Background: While important in diagnosis of breast cancer, the scientific assessment of the role of imaging in prognosis of outcomes and treatment planning is limited.

Purpose: To evaluate the potential of using quantitative imaging variables for stratifying risk of distant recurrence in breast cancer patients.

Study Type: Retrospective.

Multivariate machine learning models for prediction of pathologic response to neoadjuvant therapy in breast cancer using MRI features: a study using an independent validation set.

Purpose: To determine whether a multivariate machine learning-based model using computer-extracted features of pre-treatment dynamic contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (DCE-MRI) can predict pathologic complete response (pCR) to neoadjuvant therapy (NAT) in breast cancer patients.

Methods: Institutional review board approval was obtained for this retrospective study of 288 breast cancer patients at our institution who received NAT and had a pre-treatment breast MRI. A comprehensive set of 529 radiomic features was extracted from each patient's pre-treatment MRI.

Intra-tumor molecular heterogeneity in breast cancer: definitions of measures and association with distant recurrence-free survival.

Purpose: The purpose of the study was to define quantitative measures of intra-tumor heterogeneity in breast cancer based on histopathology data gathered from multiple samples on individual patients and determine their association with distant recurrence-free survival (DRFS).

Methods: We collected data from 971 invasive breast cancers, from 1st January 2000 to 23rd March 2014, that underwent repeat tumor sampling at our institution. We defined and calculated 31 measures of intra-tumor heterogeneity including ER, PR, and HER2 immunohistochemistry (IHC), proliferation, EGFR IHC, grade, and histology.

Dissecting the regulation of bile-induced biofilm formation in Staphylococcus aureus.

Aspiration of bile into the cystic fibrosis (CF) lung has emerged as a prognostic factor for reduced microbial lung biodiversity and the establishment of often fatal, chronic pathogen infections. Staphylococcus aureus is one of the earliest pathogens detected in the lungs of children with CF, and once established as a chronic infection, strategies for its eradication become limited. Several lung pathogens are stimulated to produce biofilms in vitro in the presence of bile.

Three distinct clades of cultured heterocystous cyanobacteria constitute the dominant N2-fixing members of biological soil crusts of the Colorado Plateau, USA.

The identity of the numerically dominant N(2)-fixing bacteria in biological soil crusts of the Colorado Plateau region and two outlying areas was determined using multiple approaches, to link the environmental diversity of nifH gene sequences to cultured bacterial isolates from the regions. Of the nifH sequence-types detected in soil crusts of the Colorado Plateau, 89% (421/473) were most closely related to nifH signature sequences from cyanobacteria of the order Nostocales. N(2)-fixing cyanobacterial strains were cultured from crusts and their morphotypes, 16S rRNA gene and nifH gene sequences were characterized.

Acidobacteria phylum sequences in uranium-contaminated subsurface sediments greatly expand the known diversity within the phylum.

The abundance and composition of bacteria of the phylum Acidobacteria were surveyed in subsurface sediments from uranium-contaminated sites using amplification of 16S rRNA genes followed by clone/sequence analysis. Analysis of sequences from this study and public databases produced a revised and greatly expanded phylogeny of the Acidobacteria phylum consisting of 26 subgroups.