Development of a Novel Protocol for Germline Testing in Pancreatic Cancer.

Background: Guidelines now recommend universal germline genetic testing (GGT) for all pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) patients. Testing provides information on actionable pathogenic variants and guides management of patients and family. Since traditional genetic counseling (GC) models are time-intensive and GC resources are sparse, new approaches are needed to comply with guidelines without overwhelming available resources.

Ki-67 Testing in Breast Cancer: Assessing Variability With Scoring Methods and Specimen Types and the Potential Subsequent Impact on Therapy Eligibility.

Abemaciclib was originally FDA approved for patients with ER-positive/HER2-negative breast cancer with Ki-67 expression ≥20%. However, there were no guidelines provided on which specimen to test or which scoring method to use. We performed a comprehensive study evaluating the variation in Ki-67 expression in breast specimens from 50 consecutive patients who could have been eligible for abemaciclib therapy.

Phase I Safety and Feasibility Pilot of Hepatic Artery Infusion Chemotherapy in a Rural Catchment Area Using The Codman Vascular Catheter with The Medtronic SynchroMed II Pump for Intrahepatic Cancers.

Background: Discontinuation of the Codman 3000 pump in 2018 left no Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved hepatic artery infusion (HAI) device for unresectable colorectal liver metastases (uCLM) and intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (uIHC). Historically, HAI has been performed at academic medical centers in large metropolitan areas, which are often inaccessible to rural patients. Consequently, feasibility of dissemination of HAI to rural populations is unknown.

Autobiographical memory specificity and restrained eating: examining the influence of priming with images of healthy and unhealthy foods.

Background: Dietary restraint has been linked to deficits in the ability to recall detailed memories of personally experienced events (referred to as autobiographical memory specificity). As priming with healthy foods increases the salience of restraint it would be expected to lead to greater deficits in memory specificity.

Objective: To determine if priming word cues with images of healthy or unhealthy foods would influence the specificity of memory retrieval, and if deficits in memory specificity would be more evident in those reporting higher levels of dietary restraint, or currently dieting.

New Cancer-Related Symptoms Predict Recurrence in CA19-9 Non-Expressers After Resection of Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma.

Introduction: CA19-9 elevation has been reported to predict recurrence after resection of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC), although only two-thirds of patients are expressers. Preoperatively, cancer-related symptoms predict outcome; however, it is unknown whether symptoms predict recurrence during surveillance, particularly for CA19-9 non-expressers.

Methods: Patients undergoing resection of PDAC at our institution from 2012 to 21 (n = 165) were retrospectively reviewed for CA19-9 and symptoms, which were correlated with recurrence-free survival (RFS).

Knowledge before belief in the history of philosophy.

I add support to Phillips et al.'s thesis that representations of knowledge are more basic than representations of belief through a historical account of the development of philosophical theories of knowledge and belief. On the basis of Aristotle's criticisms of his Presocratic predecessors, I argue that Western philosophy developed theories of knowledge long before it developed theories of belief.

Behavioral Immunity Suppresses an Epizootic in Caribbean Spiny Lobsters.

Sociality has evolved in a wide range of animal taxa but infectious diseases spread rapidly in populations of aggregated individuals, potentially negating the advantages of their social interactions. To disengage from the coevolutionary struggle with pathogens, some hosts have evolved various forms of "behavioral immunity"; yet, the effectiveness of such behaviors in controlling epizootics in the wild is untested. Here we show how one form of behavioral immunity (i.

Metastatic angiosarcoma and kasabach-merritt syndrome.

Angiosarcomas are exceedingly rare tumors that are often difficult to diagnose. Exceptionally unusual is the presentation of these tumors with Kasabach-Merritt Syndrome, a curious form of intratumoral coagulation that can be impossible to distinguish from intravascular coagulation, which is more common. Instant recognition of this clinical association can help making a prompt diagnosis and timely initiation of therapy.

Impact of adding the multikinase inhibitor sorafenib to endocrine therapy in metastatic estrogen receptor-positive breast cancer.

Background: Targeting growth factor and survival pathways may delay endocrine-resistance in estrogen receptor-positive breast cancer.

Materials & Methods: A pilot Phase II study adding sorafenib to endocrine therapy in 11 patients with metastatic estrogen receptor-positive breast cancer was conducted. Primary end point was response by RECIST after 3 months of sorafenib.

Distribution, prevalence, and genetic analysis of Panulirus argus virus 1 (PaV1) from the Caribbean Sea.

The pathogenic virus Panulirus argus virus 1 (PaV1) was first discovered in Caribbean spiny lobsters Panulirus argus from the Florida Keys (USA) in 1999 and has since been reported in Belize, Mexico, and Cuba; its distribution in the wider Caribbean is unknown. We collected tissue samples from adult spiny lobsters from 30 locations in 14 countries bordering the Caribbean Sea and used molecular diagnostics to assay for the presence of PaV1. PaV1 occurred primarily in the northern areas of the Caribbean, where its prevalence was highest.

Review of Panulirus argus virus 1--a decade after its discovery.

In 2000, a pathogenic virus was discovered in juvenile Caribbean spiny lobsters Panulirus argus from the Florida Keys, U.S.A.

GENETIC VARIATION AMONG STRAINS OF PSEUDOPFIESTERIA SHUMWAYAE AND PFIESTERIA PISCICIDA (DINOPHYCEAE)(1).

The putatively toxic dinoflagellates Pseudopfiesteria shumwayae (Glasgow et J. M. Burkh.

Description of Perkinsus beihaiensis n. sp., a new Perkinsus sp. parasite in oysters of Southern China.

Oysters were collected from coastal locations in China from 1999-2006 for parasite analyses by molecular, culture, and histological techniques. Polymerase chain reaction-based assays targeting the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region of the ribosomal RNA gene complex were performed to detect the presence of Perkinsus species. Sequencing and phylogenetic analysis of amplified Perkinsus sp.

Continuous culture of Perkinsus mediterraneus, a parasite of the European flat oyster Ostrea edulis, and characterization of its morphology, propagation, and extracellular proteins in vitro.

Continuous in vitro cultures of Perkinsus mediterraneus were established from tissues of infected European flat oysters, Ostrea edulis. The parasite proliferated in protein-free medium and divided by schizogony in vitro. Cell morphology was similar to that observed for P.

Perkinsus olseni in vitro isolates from the New Zealand clam Austrovenus stutchburyi.

Perkinsus olseni infections are reported at 10%-84% prevalences among Austrovenus stutchburyi clams (cockles) in northern New Zealand coastal waters. However, P. olseni has not yet been propagated in vitro from New Zealand clams.

Functional analysis of fibronectin isoforms in chondrogenesis: Full-length recombinant mesenchymal fibronectin reduces spreading and promotes condensation and chondrogenesis of limb mesenchymal cells.

Fibronectin (FN), a large dimeric glycoprotein, functions primarily as a connecting molecule in the extracellular matrices of tissues by mediating both cell-matrix and matrix-matrix interactions. All members of the FN family are products of a single FN gene; heterogeneity arises from the alternative splicing of at least three regions (IIIB, IIIA, and V) during processing of a common primary transcript. During chick embryonic limb chondrogenesis, FN structure changes from B+A+ in precartilage mesenchyme to B+A- in differentiated cartilage, and exon IIIA has been shown to be necessary for the process of mesenchymal cellular condensation, a requisite event that precedes overt expression of chondrocyte phenotype.