Frontal processes as drivers of floating marine debris in coastal areas.

The influence of floating marine debris (FMD) on coastal and marine communities and ecosystems is undeniable, and attention is increasingly focused on ecologically and biologically important coastal areas. To protect marine life and valuable resources from FMD pollution, identifying FMD accumulation zones is recognized as a priority. One of the coastal ocean processes found governing the distribution of FMD is water convergence (frontal zones).

High expression of Trop2 is associated with aggressive localized prostate cancer and is a candidate urinary biomarker.

Distinguishing indolent from clinically significant localized prostate cancer is a major clinical challenge and influences clinical decision-making between treatment and active surveillance. The development of novel predictive biomarkers will help with risk stratification, and clinical decision-making, leading to a decrease in over or under-treatment of patients with prostate cancer. Here, we report that Trop2 is a prognostic tissue biomarker for clinically significant prostate cancer by utilizing the Canary Prostate Cancer Tissue Microarray (CPCTA) cohort composed of over 1100 patients from a multi-institutional study.

Relationship between floating marine debris accumulation and coastal fronts in the Northeast coast of the USA.

Floating marine debris (FMD) is one of the world's most concerning issues due to its potential impact on biodiversity, communities, and ecosystem services. FMD transport and concentrations are driven by fronts, generated by oceanographic processes, and the accumulation of FMD has been reported in gyres, eddies, tidal fronts, salinity fronts, and coastal fronts. This study explores the relationship between fronts and FMD accumulation in the Gulf of Maine (GoM) and the surrounding coastal areas (USA).

Artificial Intelligence-Based PTEN Loss Assessment as an Early Predictor of Prostate Cancer Metastasis After Surgery: A Multicenter Retrospective Study.

Phosphatase and tensin homolog (PTEN) loss is associated with adverse outcomes in prostate cancer and can be measured via immunohistochemistry. The purpose of the study was to establish the clinical application of an in-house developed artificial intelligence (AI) image analysis workflow for automated detection of PTEN loss on digital images for identifying patients at risk of early recurrence and metastasis. Postsurgical tissue microarray sections from the Canary Foundation (n = 1264) stained with anti-PTEN antibody were evaluated independently by pathologist conventional visual scoring (cPTEN) and an automated AI-based image analysis pipeline (AI-PTEN).

Zebrafish smarcc1a mutants reveal requirements for BAF chromatin remodeling complexes in distinguishing the atrioventricular canal from the cardiac chambers.

Background: Essential patterning processes transform the heart tube into a compartmentalized organ with distinct chambers separated by an atrioventricular canal (AVC). This transition involves the refinement of expression of genes that are first found broadly throughout the heart tube and then become restricted to the AVC. Despite the importance of cardiac patterning, we do not fully understand the mechanisms that limit gene expression to the AVC.

Development and validation of a quantitative reactive stroma biomarker (qRS) for prostate cancer prognosis.

To develop and validate a new tissue-based biomarker that improves prediction of outcomes in localized prostate cancer by quantifying the host response to tumor. We use digital image analysis and machine learning to develop a biomarker of the prostate stroma called quantitative reactive stroma (qRS). qRS is a measure of percentage tumor area with a distinct, reactive stromal architecture.

Analysis of separate training and validation radical prostatectomy cohorts identifies 0.25 mm diameter as an optimal definition for "large" cribriform prostatic adenocarcinoma.

Cribriform growth pattern is well-established as an adverse pathologic feature in prostate cancer. The literature suggests "large" cribriform glands associate with aggressive behavior; however, published studies use varying definitions for "large". We aimed to identify an outcome-based quantitative cut-off for "large" vs "small" cribriform glands.

MUC1 Expression by Immunohistochemistry Is Associated with Adverse Pathologic Features in Prostate Cancer: A Multi-Institutional Study.

Background: The uncertainties inherent in clinical measures of prostate cancer (CaP) aggressiveness endorse the investigation of clinically validated tissue biomarkers. MUC1 expression has been previously reported to independently predict aggressive localized prostate cancer. We used a large cohort to validate whether MUC1 protein levels measured by immunohistochemistry (IHC) predict aggressive cancer, recurrence and survival outcomes after radical prostatectomy independent of clinical and pathological parameters.

Histologic Grading of Prostatic Adenocarcinoma Can Be Further Optimized: Analysis of the Relative Prognostic Strength of Individual Architectural Patterns in 1275 Patients From the Canary Retrospective Cohort.

Histologic grading remains the gold standard for prognosis in prostate cancer, and assessment of Gleason score plays a critical role in active surveillance management. We sought to optimize the prognostic stratification of grading and developed a method of recording and studying individual architectural patterns by light microscopic evaluation that is independent of standard Gleason grade. Some of the evaluated patterns are not assessed by current Gleason grading (eg, reactive stromal response).

Loss of Expression of AZGP1 Is Associated With Worse Clinical Outcomes in a Multi-Institutional Radical Prostatectomy Cohort.

Background: Given the uncertainties inherent in clinical measures of prostate cancer aggressiveness, clinically validated tissue biomarkers are needed. We tested whether Alpha-2-Glycoprotein 1, Zinc-Binding (AZGP1) protein levels, measured by immunohistochemistry, and RNA expression, by RNA in situ hybridization (RISH), predict recurrence after radical prostatectomy independent of clinical and pathological parameters.

Methods: AZGP1 IHC and RISH were performed on a large multi-institutional tissue microarray resource including 1,275 men with 5 year median follow-up.

Evaluation of ERG and SPINK1 by Immunohistochemical Staining and Clinicopathological Outcomes in a Multi-Institutional Radical Prostatectomy Cohort of 1067 Patients.

Distinguishing between patients with early stage, screen detected prostate cancer who must be treated from those that can be safely watched has become a major issue in prostate cancer care. Identification of molecular subtypes of prostate cancer has opened the opportunity for testing whether biomarkers that characterize these subtypes can be used as biomarkers of prognosis. Two established molecular subtypes are identified by high expression of the ERG oncoprotein, due to structural DNA alterations that encode for fusion transcripts in approximately ½ of prostate cancers, and over-expression of SPINK1, which is purportedly found only in ERG-negative tumors.

Pro-surfactant protein B as a biomarker for lung cancer prediction.

Purpose: Preliminary studies have identified pro-surfactant protein B (pro-SFTPB) to be a promising blood biomarker for non-small-cell lung cancer. We conducted a study to determine the independent predictive potential of pro-SFTPB in identifying individuals who are subsequently diagnosed with lung cancer.

Patients And Methods: Pro-SFTPB levels were measured in 2,485 individuals, who enrolled onto the Pan-Canadian Early Detection of Lung Cancer Study by using plasma sample collected at the baseline visit.

Functional modulation of cardiac form through regionally confined cell shape changes.

Developing organs acquire a specific three-dimensional form that ensures their normal function. Cardiac function, for example, depends upon properly shaped chambers that emerge from a primitive heart tube. The cellular mechanisms that control chamber shape are not yet understood.

Analysis of transcription factor AP-2 expression and function during mouse preimplantation development.

The activating protein 2 (AP-2) transcription factor family is required for multiple aspects of mouse postimplantation development, but much less is known about the expression and possible function of these genes during the preimplantation period. In the present study, we have examined the expression of all five members of the mouse AP-2 gene family in the unfertilized oocyte and from zygote formation to the blastocyst stage of development. Four AP-2 genes are differentially expressed during the preimplantation period,Tcfap2a, Tcfap2b, Tcfap2c, and Tcfap2e.

Vertebrate organogenesis: getting the heart into shape.

Recent mutant analysis in zebrafish points to an important role for oriented cell division in cardiac chamber formation and reveals its molecular control by a novel signal from the heart's interior.

Transcription factor AP-2gamma is essential in the extra-embryonic lineages for early postimplantation development.

The members of the AP-2 family of transcription factors play important roles during mammalian development and morphogenesis. AP-2gamma (Tcfap2c - Mouse Genome Informatics) is a retinoic acid-responsive gene implicated in placental development and the progression of human breast cancer. We show that AP-2gamma is present in all cells of preimplantation embryos and becomes restricted to the extra-embryonic lineages at the time of implantation.