Cytokine Signaling in Pediatric Kidney Tumor Cell Lines WT-CLS1, WT-3ab and G-401.

Renal tumors comprise ~7% of all malignant pediatric tumors. Approximately 90% of pediatric kidney tumors comprise Wilms tumors, and the remaining 10% include clear cell sarcoma of the kidney, malignant rhabdoid tumor of the kidney, renal cell carcinoma and other rare renal tumors. Over the last 30 years, the role of cytokines and their receptors has been considerably investigated in both cancer progression and anti-cancer therapy.

Reflecting the human lip in vitro: Cleft lip skin and mucosa keratinocytes keep their identities.

Objectives: Cell models have shown great promise as tools for research, potentially providing intriguing alternatives to animal models. However, the original tissue characteristics must be maintained in culture, a fact that is often assumed, but seldom assessed. We aimed to follow the retention of the original tissue identities of cleft lip-derived skin and mucosa keratinocytes in vitro.

Long-term pulmonary outcome of children with congenital diaphragmatic hernia: functional lung MRI using matrix-pencil decomposition enables side-specific assessment of lung function.

Objectives: In patients with congenital diaphragmatic hernia (CDH) the exact functional outcome of the affected lung side is still unknown, mainly due to the lack of spatially resolved diagnostic tools. Functional matrix-pencil decomposition (MP-) lung MRI fills this gap as it measures side-specific ventilation and perfusion. We aimed to assess the overall and side-specific pulmonary long-term outcomes of patients with CDH using lung function tests and MP-MRI.

The First Two Years of the Association of Pediatric Surgery Training Program Directors (APSTPD) Transition to Fellowship Course: Lessons Learned and Future Directions.

Objective: The first transition to fellowship course for incoming pediatric surgery fellows was held in the US in 2018 and the second in 2019. The course aimed to facilitate a successful transition in to fellowship by introduction of the professional, patient care, and technical aspects unique to pediatric surgery training. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the feasibility and effectiveness of the first two years of this course in the US and discuss subsequent evolution of this endeavor.

The antibacterial substance taurolidine exhibits anti-neoplastic action based on a mixed type of programmed cell death.

The antibacterial amino-acid derivative taurolidine (TAU) has been recently shown to exhibit anti-neoplastic activity based on a mechanism, which is still unknown in detail. Cytotoxicity and clonogenic assays were performed and the impact of apoptosis modulators, a radical scavenger, autophagy inhibitors, silencing of apoptosis inducing actor (AIF) and cytochrome-c (Cyt-C) by siRNA, and knockdown of autophagy related genes were evaluated in vitro. The intracellular ATP-content, release of AIF and Cyt-C, and DNA-laddering were investigated.