Recurrent desmoplastic small round cell tumor responding to an mTOR inhibitor containing regimen.

Desmoplastic small round cell tumor (DSRCT) is a rare mesenchymal tumor that typically presents with multiple abdominal masses. Initial treatment is multimodal in nature. Patients with relapsed DSRCT have a poor prognosis, and there are no standard therapies.

Executive summary of the 2017 KDIGO Chronic Kidney Disease-Mineral and Bone Disorder (CKD-MBD) Guideline Update: what's changed and why it matters.

The KDIGO 2017 Clinical Practice Guideline Update for the Diagnosis, Evaluation, Prevention, and Treatment of CKD-MBD represents a selective update of the prior CKD-MBD Guideline published in 2009. This update, along with the 2009 publication, is intended to assist the practitioner caring for adults and children with chronic kidney disease (CKD), those on chronic dialysis therapy, or individuals with a kidney transplant. This review highlights key aspects of the 2017 CKD-MBD Guideline Update, with an emphasis on the rationale for the changes made to the original guideline document.

Vitreous Seeds in Retinoblastoma: Clinicopathologic Classification and Correlation.

Purpose: A recent classification scheme for retinoblastoma vitreous seeds has shown promise in predicting treatment response. For the first time, we correlate this clinical classification scheme with its histopathologic features.

Design: Retrospective review.

Migration of aluminum from food contact materials to food-a health risk for consumers? Part I of III: exposure to aluminum, release of aluminum, tolerable weekly intake (TWI), toxicological effects of aluminum, study design, and methods.

Background: In spite of the prevalence of aluminum in nature, no organism has been found to date which requires this element for its biological functions. The possible health risks to human beings resulting from uptake of aluminum include detrimental effects to the hemopoietic system, the nervous system and bones. Aluminum is used in many fields and occurs in numerous foodstuffs.

Migration of aluminum from food contact materials to food-a health risk for consumers? Part II of III: migration of aluminum from drinking bottles and moka pots made of aluminum to beverages.

Background: Drinking bottles and stove-top moka pots made of aluminum have become very popular. Storing drinks in bottles and preparing coffee in a moka pot may result in the migration of aluminum to the beverage.

Results/conclusions: In a systematic study of aluminum drinking bottles, it has been shown that drinking a mixture of apple juice and mineral water in an aluminum bottle may reach 86.

Migration of aluminum from food contact materials to food-a health risk for consumers? Part III of III: migration of aluminum to food from camping dishes and utensils made of aluminum.

Background: When cooking on a barbecue grill, consumers often use aluminum grill pans. For one, the pan catches the fats and oils that would drip into the embers causing the formation of potentially noxious smoke, and the pan also protects the food from being burned by direct heat from the coals. In addition, new aluminum products for use in ovens and grills are becoming increasingly popular.

Clinical genomic profiling to identify actionable alterations for investigational therapies in patients with diverse sarcomas.

Background: There are currently no United States Food and Drug Administration approved molecularly matched therapies for sarcomas except gastrointestinal stromal tumors. Complicating this is the extreme diversity, heterogeneity, and rarity of these neoplasms. Few therapeutic options exist for relapsed and refractory sarcomas.

Arch-width changes in extraction vs nonextraction treatments in matched Class I borderline malocclusions.

Introduction: The aims of this study were to identify a sample of borderline Class I extraction and nonextraction patients and to investigate posttreatment changes in arch-width and perimeter measurements.

Methods: A parent sample of 580 Class I patients was subjected to discriminant analysis, and a borderline subsample of 62 patients, 31 treated with extraction of 4 first premolars and 31 treated without extractions, was obtained. The patients' plaster casts were digitally scanned, and the maxillary and mandibular intercanine and intermolar widths and perimeters were assessed.

Glomangiomatosis of the sciatic nerve: a case report and review of the literature.

Glomus tumors are hamartomas, which tend to occur in sites rich in glomus bodies, such as the subungual regions of digits or the deep dermis of the palm, wrist, forearm, and foot. Very rarely, they may involve peripheral nerves. We describe a patient, who, following surgical resection of a solitary glomus tumor of the left distal sciatic nerve in his teens, had recurrence with development of multiple tumors in the course of the nerve over several years.

Trends in Discharge Claims for Acute Myocardial Infarction among Patients on Dialysis.

Analysis of a contemporary cohort of patients on dialysis revealed that mortality from acute myocardial infarction (AMI) has decreased, whereas the prevalence of AMI has increased markedly, particularly among patients with non-ST elevation myocardial infarction (NSTEMI). Using inpatient discharge diagnosis codes (1993-2008), we determined that proportions of AMI claims decreased in the primary position (from 65% to 52%) but increased in the secondary position (from 35% to 48%). Proportions of NSTEMI codes increased remarkably in both the primary and secondary positions.

Fibulin-6 regulates pro-fibrotic TGF-β responses in neonatal mouse ventricular cardiac fibroblasts.

Fibulin-6, an essential component of extracellular matrix determines the architecture of cellular junctions in tissues undergoing strain. Increased expression and deposition of fibulin-6 facilitates fibroblast migration in response to TGF-β, following myocardial infarction in mouse heart. The underlying mechanism still remains elusive.

Antihypertensive medications and risk of death and hospitalizations in US hemodialysis patients: Evidence from a cohort study to inform hypertension treatment practices.

Antihypertensive medications are commonly prescribed to hemodialysis patients but the optimal regimens to prevent morbidity and mortality are unknown. The goal of our study was to compare the association of routinely prescribed antihypertensive regimens with outcomes in US hemodialysis patients.We used 2 datasets for our analysis.

Laboratory Setup for Scanning-Free Grazing Emission X-ray Fluorescence.

Grazing incidence and grazing emission X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy (GI/GE-XRF) are techniques that enable nondestructive, quantitative analysis of elemental depth profiles with a resolution in the nanometer regime. A laboratory setup for soft X-ray GEXRF measurements is presented. Reasonable measurement times could be achieved by combining a highly brilliant laser produced plasma (LPP) source with a scanning-free GEXRF setup, providing a large solid angle of detection.

Hierarchical filters determine community assembly of urban species pools.

The majority of humanity now lives in cities or towns, with this proportion expected to continue increasing for the foreseeable future. As novel ecosystems, urban areas offer an ideal opportunity to examine multi-scalar processes involved in community assembly as well as the role of human activities in modulating environmental drivers of biodiversity. Although ecologists have made great strides in recent decades at documenting ecological relationships in urban areas, much remains unknown, and we still need to identify the major ecological factors, aside from habitat loss, behind the persistence or extinction of species and guilds of species in cities.

Hemoglobin of 12 g/dl and above is not associated with increased cardiovascular morbidity in children on hemodialysis.

In adults on chronic hemodialysis, achieving a hemoglobin concentration of 12g/dl and above with erythropoiesis stimulating agents leads to increased cardiovascular events and mortality, but this may not be true in children. Therefore, we conducted a retrospective cohort study of pediatric patients (under 18) from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services End Stage Renal Disease (ESRD) Clinical Performance Measures (CPM) project (2000 to 2008) merged with the United States Renal Data System. Hemoglobin was determined from the Clinical Performance Measures data, and beginning annually on January 1st of the next year, patients were followed for up to 1 year.

Interpreting Cardiac Biomarkers in the Setting of Chronic Kidney Disease.

Background: Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is common, particularly in those of advanced age. Because patients with CKD frequently have cardiac comorbidities and acute or chronic symptoms that may represent heart failure or an acute myocardial infarction (AMI), testing for concentrations of cardiac troponins and natriuretic peptides is frequent. Interpretation of these biomarkers can be challenging when differentiating acute from chronic processes, potentially resulting in missed opportunities to direct appropriate treatment.

Single-Dose Hepatitis A Immunization: 7.5-Year Observational Pilot Study in Nicaraguan Children to Assess Protective Effectiveness and Humoral Immune Memory Response.

Background: Universal 2-dose hepatitis A virus (HAV) vaccination of toddlers effectively controls hepatitis A. High vaccine costs, however, impede implementation in endemic countries. To test single-dose vaccination as a possible alternative, we initiated an observational, longitudinal study in Nicaragua, to assess protective effectiveness and-through challenge vaccination-humoral immune memory response.

T-Wave Alternans, Heart Rate Turbulence, and Ventricular Ectopy in Standard versus Daily Hemodialysis: Results from the FHN Daily Trial.

Background: Hemodialysis (HD) patients are at high risk of sudden cardiac death (SCD). HD 6-times/week (6x/wk) may reduce SCD risk compared to usual 3-times/week HD (3x/wk) by mechanisms unknown. T-wave alternans (TWA), heart rate turbulence (HRT), and ventricular ectopy (VE) are elevated in HD patients, but their response to 6x/wk HD has not been assessed.

[On-site detection of bioterrorism-relevant agents : Rapid detection methods for viruses, bacteria and toxins - capabilities and limitations].

In Europe, besides the threat of terrorist attacks involving conventional methods such as explosive devices and automatic weapons, there is also a potential threat of terrorist groups using non-conventional material like biological agents in the scope of future attacks. Consequently, rapid and reliable detection systems for biological agents are being developed and tested continuously to inform crisis management. For environmental detection, a broad spectrum of different laboratory-based techniques has been developed for relevant biological agents.

Evaluation of Novel Targeted Therapies in Aggressive Biology Sarcoma Patients after progression from US FDA approved Therapies.

Prognosis of patients with advanced sarcoma after progression from FDA approved therapies remains grim. In this study, clinical outcomes of 100 patients with advanced sarcoma who received treatment on novel targeted therapy trials were evaluated. Outcomes of interest included best response, clinical benefit rate, progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS).

Ewing sarcoma family of tumors in children younger than 10 years of age.

Aim: Few data exist regarding the clinical characteristics and outcome of young children with Ewing sarcoma family of tumors (ESFT).

Methods: We reviewed the records of ESFT patients at our institution younger than 10 years of age at diagnosis.

Results: Forty-two patients were identified.