Vigorous Physical Activity Is Associated with Lower Risk of Metastatic-Lethal Progression in Prostate Cancer and Hypomethylation in the Gene.

Background: There is preliminary evidence linking physical activity to better prostate cancer outcomes, though the molecular mechanisms underlying this association are not clear.

Methods: In a Seattle-based cohort of patients diagnosed with clinically localized prostate cancer and prospective follow-up for outcomes ( = 1,354), we studied the association between self-reported vigorous physical activity and prostate cancer progression to a metastatic-lethal phenotype. A subset of patients had prostate cancer tissue samples available for investigating DNA methylation (Infinium HumanMethylation450 BeadChip array) and exercise ( = 524).

Pathologic Nodal Involvement in Patients With Penile Cancer With Cavernosal Versus Spongiosal Involvement.

Background: The American Joint Committee on Cancer recently proposed new TNM staging for penile cancer, with proposed T2 as spongiosal invasion and T3 as cavernosal invasion. We sought to validate the proposed staging system for predicting pathologic nodal involvement using the National Cancer Data Base.

Patients And Methods: Invasive penile cancer cases from 2010 to 2012 were identified.

REBa[SiONC]:Eu ( RE = Lu, Y): Green-Yellow Emitting Oxonitridocarbidosilicates with a Highly Condensed Network Structure Unraveled through Synchrotron Microdiffraction.

The oxonitridocarbidosilicates REBa[SiONC]:Eu ( RE = Lu, Y) were synthesized by carbothermal reactions starting from REO, graphite, BaSiN, Si(NH), and EuO. The crystal structure of LuBa[SiONC]:Eu was elucidated on a submicron-sized single crystal by a combination of transmission electron microscopy and microfocused synchrotron radiation. The compound crystallizes in trigonal space group P3 (no.

Nitrogen excretion during marsupial development in the terrestrial isopod Armadillidium vulgare.

Marsupial embryos of Armadillidium vulgare (Isopoda: Oniscidea) were collected at different stages of development and assayed for products of nitrogen excretion. Stages were classified as early stage one, late stage one (clear embryo and somite differentiation), early stage two (chorion shed, prior to blastokinesis), late stage two (following blastokinesis), and mancae (vitelline membrane shed; second embryonic molt). Stage one and stage two embryos were primarily ammonotelic.

Intersexual conflict over seed size is stronger in more outcrossed populations of a mixed-mating plant.

In polyandrous species, fathers benefit from attracting greater maternal investment toward their offspring at the expense of the offspring of other males, while mothers should usually allocate resources equally among offspring. This conflict can lead to an evolutionary arms race between the sexes, manifested through antagonistic genes whose expression in offspring depends upon the parent of origin. The arms race may involve an increase in the strength of maternally versus paternally derived alleles engaged in a "tug of war" over maternal provisioning or repeated "recognition-avoidance" coevolution where growth-enhancing paternally derived alleles evolve to escape recognition by maternal genes targeted to suppress their effect.

Divergent Biological Response to Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy in Muscle-invasive Bladder Cancer.

Purpose: After cisplatin-based neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC), 60% of patients with muscle-invasive bladder cancer (MIBC) still have residual invasive disease at radical cystectomy. The NAC-induced biological alterations in these cisplatin-resistant tumors remain largely unstudied.

Experimental Design: Radical cystectomy samples were available for gene expression analysis from 133 patients with residual invasive disease after cisplatin-based NAC, of whom 116 had matched pre-NAC samples.

Differential allocation of parental investment and the trade-off between size and number of offspring.

When parents decide how much to invest in current versus future offspring and how many offspring to divide their current investments between, the optimal decision can be affected by the quality of their partner. This differential allocation (DA) is highly dependent on exactly how partner quality affects reproductive costs and offspring benefits. We present a stochastic dynamic model of DA in which females care for a series of clutches when mated with males of different quality.

Accurate Prediction of Congenital Heart Surgical Length of Stay Incorporating a Procedure-Based Categorical Variable.

Objectives: There is increasing demand for the limited resource of Cardiac ICU care. In this setting, there is an expectation to optimize hospital resource use without restricting care delivery. We developed methodology to predict extended cardiac ICU length of stay following surgery for congenital heart disease.

Life-history evolution under fluctuating density-dependent selection and the adaptive alignment of pace-of-life syndromes.

We present a novel perspective on life-history evolution that combines recent theoretical advances in fluctuating density-dependent selection with the notion of pace-of-life syndromes (POLSs) in behavioural ecology. These ideas posit phenotypic co-variation in life-history, physiological, morphological and behavioural traits as a continuum from the highly fecund, short-lived, bold, aggressive and highly dispersive 'fast' types at one end of the POLS to the less fecund, long-lived, cautious, shy, plastic and socially responsive 'slow' types at the other. We propose that such variation in life histories and the associated individual differences in behaviour can be explained through their eco-evolutionary dynamics with population density - a single and ubiquitous selective factor that is present in all biological systems.

Leaf anatomical traits determine the O enrichment of leaf water in coastal halophytes.

Anatomical adaptations to high-salinity environments in mangrove leaves may be recorded in leaf water isotopes. Recent studies observed lower O enrichment (Δ ) of leaf water with respect to source water in three mangrove species relative to adjacent freshwater trees, but the factors that govern this phenomenon remain unclear. To resolve this issue, we investigated leaf traits and Δ in 15 species of true mangrove plants, 14 species of adjacent freshwater trees, and 4 species of semi-mangrove plants at five study sites along south-eastern coast of China.

A five-CpG DNA methylation score to predict metastatic-lethal outcomes in men treated with radical prostatectomy for localized prostate cancer.

Background: Prognostic biomarkers for localized prostate cancer (PCa) could improve personalized medicine. Our group previously identified a panel of differentially methylated CpGs in primary tumor tissue that predict disease aggressiveness, and here we further validate these biomarkers.

Methods: Pyrosequencing was used to assess CpG methylation of eight biomarkers previously identified using the HumanMethylation450 array; CpGs with strongly correlated (r >0.

Slipped Capital Femoral Epiphysis: The European Perspective.

Treatment of slipped capital femoral epiphysis remains a contentious and debated issue. The opinion for the correct method of treatment can differ not only between different continents and nations, but also between units and surgeons within individual units. We aim to review the European perspective on the treatment of slipped capital femoral epiphysis and consider the trends for treatment among the European orthopaedic surgical community.

PSA screening, prostate biopsy, and treatment of prostate cancer in the years surrounding the USPSTF recommendation against prostate cancer screening.

Background: The 2012 United States Preventive Services Task Force recommendation against screening for prostate cancer has impacted rates of prostate-specific antigen (PSA) screening and appears to be associated with declining prostate cancer incidence. Our objective was to characterize health care utilization that may explain these observed trends.

Methods: MarketScan claims, which capture >30 million privately insured patients in the United States, were queried for all men aged 40-64 years for the years 2008-2014.

Deciphering mineralogical changes and carbonation development during hydration and ageing of a consolidated ternary blended cement paste.

To understand the main properties of cement, a ubiquitous material, a sound description of its chemistry and mineralogy, including its reactivity in aggressive environments and its mechanical properties, is vital. In particular, the porosity distribution and associated sample carbonation, both of which affect cement's properties and durability, should be quantified accurately, and their kinetics and mechanisms of formation known both in detail and . However, traditional methods of cement mineralogy analysis ( chemical mapping) involve sample preparation ( slicing) that can be destructive and/or expose cement to the atmosphere, leading to preparation artefacts ( dehydration).

The ash dieback invasion of Europe was founded by two genetically divergent individuals.

Accelerating international trade and climate change make pathogen spread an increasing concern. Hymenoscyphus fraxineus, the causal agent of ash dieback, is a fungal pathogen that has been moving across continents and hosts from Asian to European ash. Most European common ash trees (Fraxinus excelsior) are highly susceptible to H.

Mechanistic target of rapamycin (MTOR) protein expression in the tumor and its microenvironment correlates with more aggressive pathology at cystectomy.

Background: The mechanistic target of rapamycin (mTOR) has been implicated in driving tumor biology in multiple malignancies, including urothelial carcinoma (UC). We investigate how mTOR and phosphorylated mTOR (pmTOR) protein expression correlate with chemoresponsiveness in the tumor and its microenvironment at final pathologic staging after neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC).

Methods: A single-institution retrospective analysis was performed on 62 patients with cT2-4Nany UC undergoing NAC followed by radical cystectomy.

Disparities in Access and Regionalization of Care in Testicular Cancer.

Introduction: Timely mobilization of specialized resources are needed to achieve optimal outcomes in testicular cancer. We used the National Cancer Database to investigate the hospital and demographic features driving disparity.

Patients And Methods: We identified adult men with testicular tumors diagnosed from 2004 to 2013.

Rocks, skulls and materialism: geology and phrenology in late-Georgian Belfast.

Recent years have seen the development of a more nuanced understanding of the emergence of scientific naturalism in the nineteenth century. It has become apparent that scientific naturalism did not emerge in the years following the publication of Charles Darwin's (1859), but was present, if only in incipient form, much earlier in the century. Building on recent scholarship, this article adopts a geographically focused approach and explores debates about geology and phrenology-two of the diverse forms of knowledge that contributed to scientific naturalism-in late-Georgian Belfast.

Strong grain neighbour effects in polycrystals.

Anisotropy in single-crystal properties of polycrystals controls both the overall response of the aggregates and patterning of local stress/strain distributions, the extremes of which govern failure processes. Improving the understanding of grain-grain interactions has important consequences for in-service performance limits. Three-dimensional synchrotron X-ray diffraction was used to study the evolution of grain-resolved stresses over many contiguous grains in Zr and Ti polycrystals deformed in situ.

Is there a benefit to adjuvant radiation in stage III penile cancer after lymph node dissection? Findings from the National Cancer Database.

Objective: The role of adjuvant radiation in advanced penile cancer (PC) is unknown. We used the National Cancer Database (NCDB) to determine factors associated with receiving adjuvant radiation (aXRT) and their influence on prognosis in men who underwent inguinal lymph node dissection (ILND) for stage III disease.

Materials And Methods: We queried the NCDB from 1998-2012 for all men with PC who had pathologic nodal status and aXRT data available.

The impact of readmission hospital on failure-to-rescue rates following major urologic cancer surgery.

Purpose: Patients readmitted to secondary hospitals rather than the primary hospital where their surgery took place may be at risk for poorer outcomes. We sought to evaluate the effect of site of readmission on failure-to-rescue complication rates following urologic cancer surgery.

Materials And Methods: Retrospective review of major urologic cancer surgeries in the Washington State Comprehensive Hospital Abstract Reporting System between 1998 and 2013.

loss is associated with prostate cancer recurrence and alterations in tumor DNA methylation profiles.

Background: Prostate cancer (PCa) with loss of the tumor suppressor gene has an unfavorable prognosis. DNA methylation profiles associated with loss may provide further insights into the mechanisms underlying these more aggressive, clinically relevant tumors.

Methods: The cohort included patients with clinically localized PCa.