Highly aggressive neuroendocrine neoplasm of the ascending colon: a wolf in sheep's clothing.

Neuroendocrine neoplasms represent a broad group of uncommon tumours, comprising neuroendocrine tumours, mixed neuroendocrine non-endocrine neoplasms and neuroendocrine carcinomas. While most neuroendocrine neoplasms are well differentiated and exhibit indolent disease biology with excellent treatment response, neuroendocrine carcinomas represent a rare subtype with much more aggressive tumour behaviour, minimal response to adjuvant therapy and extremely poor prognosis. Herein, we report the case of a 47-year-old man who presented with a phlegmonous ascending colonic mass and associated calcified ileocolic lymphadenopathy.

Effect of commercial cleansers on skin barrier permeability.

Background: Addition of hydrophobically modified polymers (HMPs) to cleansers can reduce the negative impact of surfactant-based cleansers. In this study, the effects of a cleanser containing HMPs, a gentle lotion cleanser (GLC), water, and 1% sodium lauryl sulfate (SLS) on barrier permeability, were evaluated in vitro in pig skin and in vivo in humans.

Methods: Skin stratum corneum (SC) barrier function was quantitated by imaging fluorescence intensity of the sulforhodamine B (SRB) in a pig skin model system using 2-photon and conventional fluorescence confocal microscopy.

Summary of the UPICT Protocol for 18F-FDG PET/CT Imaging in Oncology Clinical Trials.

The Uniform Protocols for Imaging in Clinical Trials (UPICT) (18)F-FDG PET/CT protocol is intended to guide the performance of whole-body FDG PET/CT studies within the context of single- and multiple-center clinical trials of oncologic therapies by providing acceptable (minimum), target, and ideal standards for all phases of imaging. The aim is to minimize variability in intra- and intersubject, intra- and interplatform, interexamination, and interinstitutional primary or derived data. The goal of this condensed version of the much larger document is to make readers aware of the general content and subject area.

NuMA promotes homologous recombination repair by regulating the accumulation of the ISWI ATPase SNF2h at DNA breaks.

Chromatin remodeling factors play an active role in the DNA damage response by shaping chromatin to facilitate the repair process. The spatiotemporal regulation of these factors is key to their function, yet poorly understood. We report that the structural nuclear protein NuMA accumulates at sites of DNA damage in a poly[ADP-ribose]ylation-dependent manner and functionally interacts with the ISWI ATPase SNF2h/SMARCA5, a chromatin remodeler that facilitates DNA repair.

Challenges to deep brain stimulation: a pragmatic response to ethical, fiscal, and regulatory concerns.

In response to the early success of deep brain stimulation, we offer some common-sense strategies to sustain the work, addressing the need to do so in a fiscally workable, ethically transparent, and scientifically informed manner. After delineating major threats, we will suggest reforms in both the legislative and regulatory spheres that might remediate these challenges. We will recommend (1) revisions to the Bayh-Dole Act of 1980, which governs intellectual property exchange resulting from federally funded research; (2) revisions to the Association of American Medical Colleges recommendations concerning the management of conflicts of interest when scientists with an intellectual property interest participate in clinical research in tandem; (3) revisions to the Food and Drug Administration's pre-market approval process for new devices, including a proposal for a mini-investigational device exemption; and (4) the establishment of a public-private partnership to build ethical and sustainable synergies between the scientific community, industry, and government that would foster discovery and innovation.