Clinicopathological and Molecular Characterization of Metastatic Gastrointestinal Stromal Tumors with Prolonged Benefit to Frontline Imatinib.

Background: Oncogenic KIT/PDGFRA signaling inhibition with imatinib achieves disease control in most patients with advanced/metastatic gastrointestinal stromal tumor (GIST), but resistance eventually develops after 20-24 months. Notably, a small subset of these patients obtain durable benefit from imatinib therapy.

Methods: We analyzed clinical, pathological, and molecular characteristics and long-term outcomes in patients with metastatic GIST treated with continuous daily dosing of frontline imatinib in a cohort of patients benefiting for ≥5 years.

Visual Information Fusion through Bayesian Inference for Adaptive Probability-Oriented Feature Matching.

This work presents a visual information fusion approach for robust probability-oriented feature matching. It is sustained by omnidirectional imaging, and it is tested in a visual localization framework, in mobile robotics. General visual localization methods have been extensively studied and optimized in terms of performance.

Photoinduced Synthesis of Dibenzofurans: Intramolecular and Intermolecular Comparative Methodologies.

The S1 reaction has been used as a powerful tool for the synthesis of heterocycles, and only a few studies about photoinduced intramolecular cyclization to generate a new C-O bond by a radical pathway have been reported. This work introduces two strategies for the synthesis of substituted dibenzofurans by electron transfer (eT) reactions. The first one is a three-step process that comprises bromination of o-arylphenols, Suzuki-Miyaura cross-coupling and photoinduced cyclization in order to obtain the above-mentioned products.

PoC, LGBTQ, and gender: The intersectionality of America Chavez.

The Life and Times of America Chavez was a comic book series eventually published in trade form. Written by Gabby Rivera, queer Latinx young adult literature author, this iteration of Marvel Comic's Miss America (America Chavez) possesses an awareness and authenticity of Latinx culture and lesbian identity that was nothing less than revolutionary. Joe Quinones's artwork, rich in color, spirit, and pride, underscored the need for Latinx voices (both visual and verbal) to tell our stories.

Impact of Weight Regain on the Evolution of Non-alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease After Roux-en-Y Gastric Bypass: a 3-Year Follow-up.

Background: The influence of post-surgical weight regain on the course of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is unclear.

Objective: To evaluate the influence of weight regain on the NAFLD assessed by means of a non-invasive score after Roux-en-gastric bypass (RYGB) over a 3-year period.

Methods: This is a prospective observational cohort study which evaluated individuals who underwent RYGB.

Local tuning biases in mouse primary visual cortex.

Neurons in primary visual cortex are selective to the orientation and spatial frequency of sinusoidal gratings. In the classic model of cortical organization, a population of neurons responding to the same region of the visual field but tuned to all possible feature combinations provides a detailed representation of the local image. Such a functional module is assumed to be replicated across primary visual cortex to provide a uniform representation of the image across the entire visual field.

Correction: Safety and vaccine-induced HIV-1 immune responses in healthy volunteers following a late MVA-B boost 4 years after the last immunization.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.

Characterization of broadly neutralizing antibody responses to HIV-1 in a cohort of long term non-progressors.

Background: Only a small fraction of HIV-1-infected patients develop broadly neutralizing antibodies (bNAbs), a process generally associated to chronic antigen stimulation. It has been described that rare aviremic HIV-1-infected patients can generate bNAbs but this issue remains controversial. To address this matter we have assessed bNAb responses in a large cohort of long-term non-progressors (LTNPs) with low or undetectable viremia.

Yeast quiescence exit swiftness is influenced by cell volume and chronological age.

Quiescence exit swiftness is crucial not only for micro-organisms in competition for an environmental niche, such as yeast, but also for the maintenance of tissue homeostasis in multicellular species. Here we explore the effect of replicative and chronological age on quiescence exit efficiency. Our study reveals that this step strongly relies on the cell volume in quiescence but is not influenced by cell replicative age, at least for cells that have undergone less than 10 divisions.

Attentional influences on memory formation: A tale of a not-so-simple story.

Is there a learning mechanism triggered by mere expectation violation? Is there some form of memory enhancement inherent to an event mismatching our predictions? Across seven experiments, we explore this issue by means of a validity paradigm. Although our manipulation clearly succeeded in generating an expectation and breaking it, the memory consequences of that expectation mismatch are not so obvious. We report here evidence of a null effect of expectation on memory formation.

Is Serum Methylmalonic Acid a Reliable Biomarker of Vitamin B12 Status in Children with Short Bowel Syndrome: A Case Series.

We describe 3 patients with short bowel syndrome who had persistently elevated serum methylmalonic acid (MMA) levels while being treated for vitamin B12 deficiency. Following treatment for presumed small bowel bacterial overgrowth, MMA levels normalized. Among patients with short bowel syndrome, MMA levels may have limited specificity for vitamin B12 deficiency.

Epigenetically mediated inhibition of S-adenosylhomocysteine hydrolase and the associated dysregulation of 1-carbon metabolism in nonalcoholic steatohepatitis and hepatocellular carcinoma.

The substantial rise in the prevalence of nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), an advanced form of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, and the strong association between NASH and the development of hepatocellular carcinoma indicate the urgent need for a better understanding of the underlying mechanisms. In the present study, by using the Stelic animal model of NASH and NASH-derived liver carcinogenesis, we investigated the role of the folate-dependent 1-carbon metabolism in the pathogenesis of NASH. We demonstrated that advanced NASH and NASH-related liver carcinogenesis are characterized by a significant dysregulation of 1-carbon homeostasis, with diminished expression of key 1-carbon metabolism genes, especially a marked inhibition of the S-adenosylhomocysteine hydrolase ( Ahcy) gene and an increased level of S-adenosyl-l-homocysteine (SAH).

Safety and vaccine-induced HIV-1 immune responses in healthy volunteers following a late MVA-B boost 4 years after the last immunization.

Background: We have previously shown that an HIV vaccine regimen including three doses of HIV-modified vaccinia virus Ankara vector expressing HIV-1 antigens from clade B (MVA-B) was safe and elicited moderate and durable (1 year) T-cell and antibody responses in 75% and 95% of HIV-negative volunteers (n = 24), respectively (RISVAC02 study). Here, we describe the long-term durability of vaccine-induced responses and the safety and immunogenicity of an additional MVA-B boost.

Methods: 13 volunteers from the RISVAC02 trial were recruited to receive a fourth dose of MVA-B 4 years after the last immunization.

Rapid Enrichment and Sensitive Detection of Multiple Metal Ions Enabled by Macroporous Graphene Foam.

Nanomaterials have shown great promise in advancing biomedical and environmental analysis because of the unique properties originated from their ultrafine dimensions. In general, nanomaterials are separately applied to either enhance detection by producing strong signals upon target recognition or to specifically extract analytes taking advantage of their high specific surface area. Herein, we report a dual-functional nanomaterial-based platform that can simultaneously enrich and enable sensitive detection of multiple metal ions.

Extraction of microRNAs from biological matrices with titanium dioxide nanofibers.

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small RNAs that bind to mRNA targets and regulate their translation. A functional study of miRNAs and exploration of their utility as disease markers require miRNA extraction from biological samples, which contain large amounts of interfering compounds for downstream RNA identification and quantification. The most common extraction methods employ silica columns or the TRIzol reagent but give out low recovery for small RNAs probably due to their short strand lengths.

Real-Time PCR Detection of in Pharmaceutical Products Contaminated with Low Levels of Bacterial Contamination.

A real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) assay was developed to detect in pharmaceutical products contaminated with low levels of bacteria. Different pharmaceutical suspensions were artificially contaminated with , , , and After a 24 h incubation in trypticase soy broth with Tween 20, samples were streaked on mannitol salt, phenyl ethyl alcohol, eosin methylene blue, MacConkey, and pseudomonas isolation agar. Microbial DNA was extracted from each sample by using a Tris-EDTA, proteinase K, Tween 20 buffer.

Predictable invasion dynamics in North American populations of the Eurasian collared dove .

Species invasions represent a significant dimension of global change yet the dynamics of invasions remain poorly understood and are considered rather unpredictable. We explored interannual dynamics of the invasion process in the Eurasian collared dove () and tested whether the advance of the invasion front of the species in North America relates to centrality (versus peripherality) within its estimated fundamental ecological niche. We used ecological niche modelling approaches to estimate the dimensions of the fundamental ecological niche on the Old World distribution of the species, and then transferred that model to the New World as measures of centrality versus peripherality within the niche for the species.

Validation Testing Demonstrates Efficacy of a 7-Day Fluid Record to Estimate Daily Water Intake in Adult Men and Women When Compared with Total Body Water Turnover Measurement.

Mean daily water intake from fluids (WATER-FL) has proven to be difficult to measure because of a range of nonvalidated data collection techniques. Few questionnaires have been validated to estimate WATER-FL against self-reported diaries or urinary hydration markers, which may limit their objectivity. The goals of this investigation were ) to assess the validity of a 7-d fluid record (7dFLR) to measure WATER-FL (WATER-FL-7dFLR) through comparison with WATER-FL as calculated by measuring deuterium oxide (DO) disappearance (WATER-FL-DO), and ) to evaluate the reliability of the 7dFLR in measuring WATER-FL.

Performances of different protocols for exocellular polysaccharides extraction from milk acid gels: Application to yogurt.

Dextran or xanthan were used as model exocellular polysaccharides (EPS) to compare the extraction efficiency of EPS from skim milk acid gels using three different protocols. Extraction yields, residual protein concentrations and the macromolecular properties of extracted EPS were determined. For both model EPS, the highest extraction yield (∼80%) was obtained when samples were heated in acidic conditions at the first step of extraction (Protocol 1).

Climate change and Saharan dust drive recent cladoceran and primary production changes in remote alpine lakes of Sierra Nevada, Spain.

Recent anthropogenic climate change and the exponential increase over the past few decades of Saharan dust deposition, containing ecologically important inputs of phosphorus (P) and calcium (Ca), are potentially affecting remote aquatic ecosystems. In this study, we examine changes in cladoceran assemblage composition and chlorophyll-a concentrations over the past ~150 years from high-resolution, well-dated sediment cores retrieved from six remote high mountain lakes in the Sierra Nevada Mountains of Southern Spain, a region affected by Saharan dust deposition. In each lake, marked shifts in cladoceran assemblages and chlorophyll-a concentrations in recent decades indicate a regional-scale response to climate and Saharan dust deposition.