SILAC-Based Quantitative Proteomic Analysis of Drosophila Embryos.

The fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster represents a classic genetic model organism that is amenable to a plethora of comprehensive analyses including proteomics. SILAC-based quantitative proteomics is a powerful method to investigate the translational and posttranslational regulation ongoing in cells, tissues, organs, and whole organisms. Here we describe a protocol for routine SILAC labeling of Drosophila adults within one generation to produce embryos with a labeling efficiency of over 92%.

SILAC-based quantitative proteomic analysis of gastrula stage embryos mutant for fibroblast growth factor signalling.

Quantitative proteomic analyses in combination with genetics provide powerful tools in developmental cell signalling research. is one of the most widely used genetic models for studying development and disease. Here we combined quantitative proteomics with genetic selection to determine changes in the proteome upon depletion of Heartless (Htl) Fibroblast-Growth Factor (FGF) receptor signalling in embryos at the gastrula stage.

Chir99021 and Valproic acid reduce the proliferative advantage of Apc mutant cells.

More than 90% of colorectal cancers carry mutations in Apc that drive tumourigenesis. A 'just-right' signalling model proposes that Apc mutations stimulate optimal, but not excessive Wnt signalling, resulting in a growth advantage of Apc mutant over wild-type cells. Reversal of this growth advantage constitutes a potential therapeutic approach.

Interkinetic nuclear migration and basal tethering facilitates post-mitotic daughter separation in intestinal organoids.

Homeostasis of renewing tissues requires balanced proliferation, differentiation and movement. This is particularly important in the intestinal epithelium where lineage tracing suggests that stochastic differentiation choices are intricately coupled to the position of a cell relative to a niche. To determine how position is achieved, we followed proliferating cells in intestinal organoids and discovered that the behaviour of mitotic sisters predicted long-term positioning.

Increased variability in Apc(Min)/+ intestinal tissue can be measured with microultrasound.

Altered tissue structure is a feature of many disease states and is usually measured by microscopic methods, limiting analysis to small areas. Means to rapidly and quantitatively measure the structure and organisation of large tissue areas would represent a major advance not just for research but also in the clinic. Here, changes in tissue organisation that result from heterozygosity in Apc, a precancerous situation, are comprehensively measured using microultrasound and three-dimensional high-resolution microscopy.

Paneth Cell-Rich Regions Separated by a Cluster of Lgr5+ Cells Initiate Crypt Fission in the Intestinal Stem Cell Niche.

The crypts of the intestinal epithelium house the stem cells that ensure the continual renewal of the epithelial cells that line the intestinal tract. Crypt number increases by a process called crypt fission, the division of a single crypt into two daughter crypts. Fission drives normal tissue growth and maintenance.

The Drosophila MAST kinase Drop out is required to initiate membrane compartmentalisation during cellularisation and regulates dynein-based transport.

Cellularisation of the Drosophila syncytial blastoderm embryo into the polarised blastoderm epithelium provides an excellent model with which to determine how cortical plasma membrane asymmetry is generated during development. Many components of the molecular machinery driving cellularisation have been identified, but cell signalling events acting at the onset of membrane asymmetry are poorly understood. Here we show that mutations in drop out (dop) disturb the segregation of membrane cortical compartments and the clustering of E-cadherin into basal adherens junctions in early cellularisation.

A retrospective audit of family history records in short-stay medical admissions.

Objective: To retrospectively review the frequency and adequacy of family histories recorded from patients admitted to a short-stay medical unit in a tertiary teaching hospital.

Design, Setting And Patients: A formal audit of the medical records of 300 randomly selected patients who were admitted to the Royal Perth Hospital short-stay medical unit between July and December 2007.

Main Outcome Measure: Proportion of patient records with family history documents.

Radiotherapy in the treatment of breast cancer: a personal retrospective.

Allan Langlands commenced training as a radiation oncologist in 1960 and has continued to treat patients with breast cancer for over 30 years. Moved to Westmead Hospital in Sydney he played a role in the development of radiation oncology in Australia. With an extensive research record (authoring over 200 peer-reviewed papers) this article reflects the changes in breast cancer treatment which have occurred over this period.

Survival effects of postmastectomy adjuvant radiation therapy using biologically equivalent doses: a clinical perspective.

Background: Postmastectomy radiation therapy reduces locoregional recurrence among women with operable breast cancer, but whether it improves survival has been controversial. We reanalyzed the results from 36 unconfounded trials (i.e.

Symptoms 2 weeks, 3 months and 12 months after treatment of early breast cancer: the patients' perspectives.

The physical symptoms and side-effects reported by patients treated for early breast cancer with surgery (S), (breast conservation or mastectomy), radiotherapy (R) and chemotherapy (C) are reported. As part of a large quality-of-life study, eligible patients were invited to complete a questionnaire at three and 12 months after treatment for early breast cancer. Symptoms 2 weeks after surgery were retrospectively collected at the 3-month questionnaire.

Delay in the clinical diagnosis of breast cancer: estimating its effect on prognosis, with particular reference to medical litigation.

Medical malpractice litigation is increasing. Delay in diagnosis is the commonest basis for litigation involving the treatment of breast cancer. When delay in diagnosis has occurred, any losses for which a plaintiff seeks compensation require estimates to be made of any change in prognosis over the period of the delay relative to the extent of disease found when treatment is finally undertaken.

Early stage breast cancer: costs and quality of life one year after treatment by mastectomy or conservative surgery and radiation therapy.

This paper reports a descriptive study of the costs and quality of life (QoL) outcome of treatments for early stage breast cancer in a cohort of Australian women, one year after initial surgical treatment. Mastectomy without breast reconstruction is compared to breast conserving surgery and radiotherapy (breast conservation). Of the 397 women eligible for the study, costing data were collected for 81% and quality of life data for 73%.

Management of high-risk node-positive breast cancer by standard-dose chemotherapy and loco-regional radiotherapy.

One-hundred, thirty-six women, aged up to 76 years, with high-risk breast cancer were treated with postoperative radiotherapy and 9 cycles of adjuvant chemotherapy in standard doses. Treatment-related toxicity was mild. At a median follow-up of 7.

Predictors of Mastectomy for Women with Breast Cancer in the Greater Western Region of Sydney.

This population-based study examined predictors of mastectomy for women with breast cancer in the greater western region of Sydney (GWRS) in New South Wales (NSW), Australia in 1992. Patients with a first diagnosis of breast cancer in 1992, the year prior to population-based mammographic screening in the region, were identified through the NSW state cancer registry. Data on stage, treatment, and demographic and health service characteristics were obtained from hospital records for patients treated within the region.