Monocarboxylate Transporter 1 (MCT1) is an independent prognostic biomarker in endometrial cancer.

Background: Endometrial cancer (EC) is a major health concern due to its rising incidence. Whilst early stage disease is generally cured by surgery, advanced EC has a poor prognosis with limited treatment options. Altered energy metabolism is a hallmark of malignancy.

PO-51 - Expression of proteins of the tissue factor thrombin pathway is upregulated in the stroma and epithelium of colorectal cancer.

Introduction: Colorectal cancer expression of Tissue Factor (TF), PAR1 and PAR2 is associated with a poor prognosis. Their stromal, rather than epithelial, expression has prognostic significance in other cancers, this has not been explored in colorectal cancer.

Aim: We aimed to determine the expression patterns of Tissue Factor (TF), PAR1 and PAR2 and thrombin in colorectal cancer and normal tissue.

Monocytes and macrophages, implications for breast cancer migration and stem cell-like activity and treatment.

Macrophages are a major cellular constituent of the tumour stroma and contribute to breast cancer prognosis. The precise role and treatment strategies to target macrophages remain elusive. As macrophage infiltration is associated with poor prognosis and high grade tumours we used the THP-1 cell line to model monocyte-macrophage differentiation in co-culture with four breast cancer cell lines (MCF7, T47D, MDA-MB-231, MDA-MB-468) to model in vivo cellular interactions.

The influence of training status, age, and muscle fiber type on cycling efficiency and endurance performance.

The purpose of this study was to assess the influence of age, training status, and muscle fiber-type distribution on cycling efficiency. Forty men were recruited into one of four groups: young and old trained cyclists, and young and old untrained individuals. All participants completed an incremental ramp test to measure their peak O2 uptake, maximal heart rate, and maximal minute power output; a submaximal test of cycling gross efficiency (GE) at a series of absolute and relative work rates; and, in trained participants only, a 1-h cycling time trial.

Contrasting hypoxic effects on breast cancer stem cell hierarchy is dependent on ER-α status.

Tumor hypoxia is often linked to decreased survival in patients with breast cancer and current therapeutic strategies aim to target the hypoxic response. One way in which this is done is by blocking hypoxia-induced angiogenesis. Antiangiogenic therapies show some therapeutic potential with increased disease-free survival, but these initial promising results are short lived and followed by tumor progression.

Echocardiographic abnormalities in patients on kidney transplant waiting list.

Background: Echocardiographic abnormalities are well described in chronic kidney disease (CKD), and associated with increased cardiovascular events (CVEs) and mortality. Little is known regarding progression of these abnormalities in patients awaiting kidney transplantation.

Methods: We assessed the progression of echocardiographic variables in patients awaiting kidney transplantation and determined predictors of CVEs and mortality.

A novel form of chondrocyte stress is triggered by a COMP mutation causing pseudoachondroplasia.

Pseudoachondroplasia (PSACH) results from mutations in cartilage oligomeric matrix protein (COMP) and the p.D469del mutation within the type III repeats of COMP accounts for approximately 30% of PSACH. To determine disease mechanisms of PSACH in vivo, we introduced the Comp D469del mutation into the mouse genome.

Reducing surgical site infection following caesarean section.

Aim: To set up a surgical site infection (SSI) benchmark rate for caesarean sections and improve infection rates by monitoring and implementing compliance with the guidelines produced by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE).

Method: A total of 2382 patients who had undergone caesarean section at Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust were monitored at two obstetric sites over a two-year period. A proactive infection surveillance system was used during the patients' hospital stay.

Reliability of cycling gross efficiency using the Douglas bag method.

Purpose: The aim of this study was to establish the reliability of gross efficiency (GE) measurement (the ratio of mechanical power input to metabolic power output, expressed as a percentage) using the Douglas bag method.

Methods: The experiment was conducted in two parts. Part 1 examined the potential for errors in the Douglas bag method arising from gas concentration analysis, bag residual volume, and bag leakage or gas diffusion rates.

Cohesin mediates chromatin interactions that regulate mammalian β-globin expression.

The β-globin locus undergoes dynamic chromatin interaction changes in differentiating erythroid cells that are thought to be important for proper globin gene expression. However, the underlying mechanisms are unclear. The CCCTC-binding factor, CTCF, binds to the insulator elements at the 5' and 3' boundaries of the locus, but these sites were shown to be dispensable for globin gene activation.

Specific loss of histone H3 lysine 9 trimethylation and HP1gamma/cohesin binding at D4Z4 repeats is associated with facioscapulohumeral dystrophy (FSHD).

Facioscapulohumeral dystrophy (FSHD) is an autosomal dominant muscular dystrophy in which no mutation of pathogenic gene(s) has been identified. Instead, the disease is, in most cases, genetically linked to a contraction in the number of 3.3 kb D4Z4 repeats on chromosome 4q.

The diagnostic and prognostic value of tissue Doppler imaging during dobutamine stress echocardiography in end-stage renal disease.

Objective: To determine whether a quantitative measurement of peak systolic velocity (PSV) during dobutamine stress echocardiography (DSE) detects severe coronary artery disease (CAD) and predicts mortality in patients with end-stage renal disease.

Methods: One hundred and forty renal transplant candidates had DSE and coronary angiography. DSE analysis was performed using conventional visual wall motion assessment, longitudinal PSV, and combining the two modalities.

Cohesins functionally associate with CTCF on mammalian chromosome arms.

Cohesins mediate sister chromatid cohesion, which is essential for chromosome segregation and postreplicative DNA repair. In addition, cohesins appear to regulate gene expression and enhancer-promoter interactions. These noncanonical functions remained unexplained because knowledge of cohesin-binding sites and functional interactors in metazoans was lacking.

Evaluation of ischaemia-modified albumin as a marker of myocardial ischaemia in end-stage renal disease.

The early diagnosis of myocardial ischaemia is problematic in patients with ESRD (end-stage renal disease). The aim of the present study was to determine whether IMA (ischaemia-modified albumin) increases during dobutamine stress and detects myocardial ischaemia in patients with ESRD. A total of 114 renal transplant candidates were studied prospectively, and all received DSE (dobutamine stress echocardiography).

Echocardiography-based score to predict outcome after renal transplantation.

Background: Given the high cardiac mortality of renal transplant recipients, identification of high-risk patients is important to offer appropriate treatment before transplantation.

Aim: To determine patients with high mortality after renal transplantation despite selection according to current criteria.

Methods: Preoperative parameters were collected from 203 renal transplant recipients over a follow-up time of 3.

Mitral annular calcification predicts mortality and coronary artery disease in end stage renal disease.

Background: We sought to determine whether mitral annular calcification (MAC) predicts mortality and cardiac disease in a group of renal transplant candidates.

Methods: Hundred and forty patients were prospectively studied. All had echocardiography and coronary angiography.

Mitral peak Doppler E-wave to peak mitral annulus velocity ratio is an accurate estimate of left ventricular filling pressure and predicts mortality in end-stage renal disease.

Objective: The study aimed to assess whether the mitral peak Doppler E-wave to peak mitral annulus velocity ratio (E/Ea) estimates left ventricular (LV) filling pressure (LVFP) and predicts mortality in end-stage renal disease.

Methods: In all, 125 candidates for renal transplant were prospectively studied. LV end-diastolic pressure of 15 mm Hg or greater at cardiac catheterization was defined as elevated LVFP.

Ischemia-modified albumin predicts mortality in ESRD.

Background: The primary study aim is to determine whether ischemia-modified albumin (IMA) levels predict mortality in patients with end-stage renal disease (ESRD). The secondary aim is to determine characteristics of patients with elevated IMA levels.

Methods: A prospective observational study of 114 renal transplantation candidates was performed.

Pulse pressure and inhibition of renin-angiotensin system in chronic kidney disease.

Background: Elevated pulse pressure (PP) is an indicator of poor outcome in hypertensives in the general population and on haemodialysis. The prognostic value of PP in pre-dialysis patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) stages 4/5 and its interaction with renin-angiotensin system (RAS) inhibitors is unknown.

Methods: This retrospective study of 349 patients from the pre-dialysis clinic analysed the effect association of PP and RAS inhibition on adverse outcomes in CKD stages 4/5.

Dynamic left ventricular obstruction: a potential cause of angina in end stage renal disease.

Background: Patients with end stage renal disease (ESRD) often have angina which cannot be explained by coronary artery disease (CAD) alone. Symptoms are often attributed to systolic and diastolic dysfunction, arrhythmia or microvascular disease. This study proposes another potential cause for angina in renal failure, namely dynamic left ventricular obstruction (LVO).

Cardiac structural and functional abnormalities in end stage renal disease patients with elevated cardiac troponin T.

Objectives: To identify in a prospective observational study the cardiac structural and functional abnormalities and mortality in patients with end stage renal disease (ESRD) with a raised cardiac troponin T (cTnT) concentration.

Methods: 126 renal transplant candidates were studied over a two year period. Clinical, biochemical, echocardiographic, coronary angiographic, and dobutamine stress echocardiographic (DSE) data were examined in comparison with cTnT concentrations dichotomised at cut off concentrations of < 0.

Dobutamine stress echocardiography and the resting but not exercise electrocardiograph predict severe coronary artery disease in renal transplant candidates.

Background: After renal transplantation half of all deaths are cardiac, so prior detection and treatment of severe coronary artery disease (CAD) is advocated. The aim of this study was to identify non-invasive predictors of severe CAD in a group of renal transplant candidates.

Methods: One hundred and twenty-five renal transplant candidates (mean age 52+/-12 years, 80 male, mean creatinine 608+/-272 micromol/l) were studied.

Localization of human SMC1 protein at kinetochores.

Proper cohesion of sister chromatids is prerequisite for correct segregation of chromosomes during cell division. The cohesin multiprotein complex, conserved in eukaryotes, is required for sister chromatid cohesion. Human cohesion is composed of a stable heterodimer of the structural maintenance of chromosomes (SMC) family proteins, hSMC1 and hSMC3, and non-SMC components, hRAD21 and SA1 (or SA2).