Radiation dose mapping and anastomotic complications after trimodality therapy for esophageal cancers.

Background And Purpose: There is conflicting evidence with respect to the correlation between neoadjuvant chemoradiation and anastomotic complications following trimodality therapy in patients with esophageal cancer. We aimed to analyze the relationship between their dosimetry and any resulting anastomotic complications.

Materials And Methods: The medical records of 51 consecutive patients who underwent trimodality therapy between 2007 and 2014 were retrospectively reviewed.

Retinoic acid signaling is essential for formation of the heart tube in Xenopus.

Retinoic acid is clearly important for the development of the heart. In this paper, we provide evidence that retinoic acid is essential for multiple aspects of cardiogenesis in Xenopus by examining embryos that have been exposed to retinoic acid receptor antagonists. Early in cardiogenesis, retinoic acid alters the expression of key genes in the lateral plate mesoderm including Nkx2.

Expression of muscle LIM protein during early development in Xenopus laevis.

We have isolated the Xenopus homologue of Muscle LIM protein (MLP, CRP3) and examined its expression during early embryonic development. MLP is only expressed in the differentiated heart during early development and is expressed in a subset of other striated muscles during later stages. There is no MLP expression during primary myogenesis in the somites, although it is found in adult skeletal muscle.