A single WNT enhancer drives specification and regeneration of the Drosophila wing.

Wings have provided an evolutionary advantage to insects and have allowed them to diversify. Here, we have identified in Drosophila a highly robust regulatory mechanism that ensures the specification and growth of the wing not only during normal development but also under stress conditions. We present evidence that a single wing-specific enhancer in the wingless gene is used in two consecutive developmental stages to first drive wing specification and then contribute to mediating the remarkable regenerative capacity of the developing wing upon injury.

Different Pathological Complete Response Rates According to PAM50 Subtype in HER2+ Breast Cancer Patients Treated With Neoadjuvant Pertuzumab/Trastuzumab vs. Trastuzumab Plus Standard Chemotherapy: An Analysis of Real-World Data.

Double blockade with pertuzumab and trastuzumab combined with chemotherapy is the standard neoadjuvant treatment for HER2-positive early breast cancer. Data derived from clinical trials indicates that the response rates differ among intrinsic subtypes of breast cancer. The aim of this study is to determine if these results are valid in real-world patients.

Resolution of Ring Tourniquet with a High-speed Dental Drill in a Remote Pacific Island Clinic.

Ring tourniquet syndrome is a strangulation injury, usually at the proximal finger or toe, caused by a rigid circular metal object. The resulting ischemia can lead to necrosis, permanent nerve and/or tissue damage, and amputation of the digit. There are numerous non-cutting methods for removing the ring; however, edema, fractures, or arthrosis of the site can occasionally make these techniques difficult or impossible.

Ask1 and Akt act synergistically to promote ROS-dependent regeneration in Drosophila.

How cells communicate to initiate a regenerative response after damage has captivated scientists during the last few decades. It is known that one of the main signals emanating from injured cells is the Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS), which propagate to the surrounding tissue to trigger the replacement of the missing cells. However, the link between ROS production and the activation of regenerative signaling pathways is not yet fully understood.

Epigenetic prediction of response to anti-PD-1 treatment in non-small-cell lung cancer: a multicentre, retrospective analysis.

Background: Anti-programmed death-1 (PD-1) treatment for advanced non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) has improved the survival of patients. However, a substantial percentage of patients do not respond to this treatment. We examined the use of DNA methylation profiles to determine the efficacy of anti-PD-1 treatment in patients recruited with current stage IV NSCLC.

Diagnostic Performance of Transvaginal Ultrasound for Detecting Cervical Invasion In Women With Endometrial Carcinoma: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.

Objectives: To evaluate the role of transvaginal ultrasound (TVUS) for diagnosing cervical invasion in the preoperative assessment of endometrial carcinoma.

Methods: A search for studies evaluating the role of TVUS for assessing cervical invasion in endometrial carcinoma from January 1990 to December 2016 was performed in the PubMed/MEDLINE, Web of Science, www.ClinicalTrials.

Expression and Prognostic Value of Oestrogen Receptor Beta in Colorectal Cancer.

Differences between men and women in the incidence and biological mechanisms of colorectal cancer (CRC) suggest that estrogens may play a role in the pathogenesis of this disease. The identification of the human estrogen receptor beta (ERβ) and its expression in the intestinal mucosa led to further studies that revealed that estrogens have a protective function against CRC mediated by the activation of ERβ. However, ERβ expression and its role in CRC is controversial.

A model of myeloproliferative neoplasm reveals a feed-forward loop in the JAK pathway mediated by p38 MAPK signalling.

Myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPNs) of the Philadelphia-negative class comprise polycythaemia vera, essential thrombocythaemia and primary myelofibrosis (PMF). They are associated with aberrant numbers of myeloid lineage cells in the blood, and in the case of overt PMF, with development of myelofibrosis in the bone marrow and failure to produce normal blood cells. These diseases are usually caused by gain-of-function mutations in the kinase JAK2.

Gene Dosage Imbalance Contributes to Chromosomal Instability-Induced Tumorigenesis.

Chromosomal instability (CIN) is thought to be a source of mutability in cancer. However, CIN often results in aneuploidy, which compromises cell fitness. Here, we used the dosage compensation mechanism (DCM) of Drosophila to demonstrate that chromosome-wide gene dosage imbalance contributes to the deleterious effects of CIN-induced aneuploidy and its pro-tumorigenic action.

ROS-Induced JNK and p38 Signaling Is Required for Unpaired Cytokine Activation during Drosophila Regeneration.

Upon apoptotic stimuli, epithelial cells compensate the gaps left by dead cells by activating proliferation. This has led to the proposal that dying cells signal to surrounding living cells to maintain homeostasis. Although the nature of these signals is not clear, reactive oxygen species (ROS) could act as a signaling mechanism as they can trigger pro-inflammatory responses to protect epithelia from environmental insults.

Mei-P26 mediates tissue-specific responses to the Brat tumor suppressor and the dMyc proto-oncogene in Drosophila.

TRIM-NHL proteins are a family of translational regulators that control cell growth, proliferation, and differentiation during development. Drosophila Brat and Mei-P26 TRIM-NHL proteins serve as tumor suppressors in stem cell lineages and have been proposed to exert this action, in part, via the repression of the protooncogene dMyc. Here we analyze the role of Brat, Mei-P26, and dMyc in regulating growth in Drosophila imaginal discs.

Regulation of atrophin by both strands of the mir-8 precursor.

In Drosophila melanogaster, miR-8-3p regulates mRNA levels of atrophin, a factor involved in neuromotor coordination, and we found that Blattella germanica with suppressed atrophin showed motor problems. Bionformatic predictions and luciferase-reporter tests indicated that B. germanica atrophin mRNA contains target sites for miR-8-3p and miR-8-5p.

Community-based participatory research and the challenges of qualitative analysis enacted by lay, nurse, and academic researchers.

There are multiple challenges in adhering to the principles of community-based participatory research (CBPR), especially when there is a wide range of academic preparation within the research team. This is particularly evident in the analysis phase of qualitative research. We describe the process of conducting qualitative analysis of data on community perceptions of public maternity care in the Dominican Republic, in a cross-cultural, CBPR study.

Enhancer-PRE communication contributes to the expansion of gene expression domains in proliferating primordia.

Trithorax-group and Polycomb-group proteins interact with chromosomal elements, termed PRE/TREs, to ensure stable heritable maintenance of the transcriptional state of nearby genes. Regulatory elements that bind both groups of proteins are termed maintenance elements (MEs). Some of these MEs maintain the initial activated transcriptional state of a nearby reporter gene through several rounds of mitosis during development.

Expression and distribution of dopamine transporter in cardiac tissues of the guinea pig.

Dopamine transporter (DAT) is a membrane protein that it is a marker for dopaminergic neurons. In the present work, throught Western blot and autoradiographic studies with a selective ligand for DAT ([(3)H] WIN-35428) and noradrenaline transporter (NET) ([(3)H] Nisoxetine), we search the expression and distribution of DAT in comparison with NET, in cardiac tissue of guinea pig in order to support the presence of dopaminergic nerve cells into the heart. Expression of DAT, and NET were evidenced by a bands of 75 and 54 kDa, respectively in the heart.

Vascular endothelial growth factor and vascular endothelial growth factor receptor-2 tumor expression in patients with advanced laryngeal cancer after induction chemotherapy for organ preservation.

Background: Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) expression seems to be associated with worse overall survival in patients with head and neck squamous cell carcinoma. The purposes of this study were to assess the prognostic values of the immunohistochemical expression of VEGF and vascular endothelial growth factor receptor-2 (VEGFR-2) in a cohort of patients with operable advanced laryngeal cancer who had been treated with induction chemotherapy.

Methods: VEGF and VEGFR-2 expression in the malignant cells was quantified by an enzyme immunosorbent assay in a retrospective series.

The miRNA machinery targets Mei-P26 and regulates Myc protein levels in the Drosophila wing.

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) have been implicated in cell-cycle regulation and in some cases shown to have a role in tissue growth control. Depletion of miRNAs was found to have an effect on tissue growth rates in the wing primordium of Drosophila, a highly proliferative epithelium. Dicer-1 (Dcr-1) is a double-stranded RNAseIII essential for miRNA biogenesis.

Scarface, a secreted serine protease-like protein, regulates polarized localization of laminin A at the basement membrane of the Drosophila embryo.

Cell-matrix interactions brought about by the activity of integrins and laminins maintain the polarized architecture of epithelia and mediate morphogenetic interactions between apposing tissues. Although the polarized localization of laminins at the basement membrane is a crucial step in these processes, little is known about how this polarized distribution is achieved. Here, in Drosophila, we analyse the role of the secreted serine protease-like protein Scarface in germ-band retraction and dorsal closure-morphogenetic processes that rely on the activity of integrins and laminins.

A Wingless and Notch double-repression mechanism regulates G1-S transition in the Drosophila wing.

The control of tissue growth and patterning is orchestrated in various multicellular tissues by the coordinated activity of the signalling molecules Wnt/Wingless (Wg) and Notch, and mutations in these pathways can cause cancer. The role of these molecules in the control of cell proliferation and the crosstalk between their corresponding pathways remain poorly understood. Crosstalk between Notch and Wg has been proposed to organize pattern and growth in the Drosophila wing primordium.

Hedgehog restricts its expression domain in the Drosophila wing.

The stable subdivision of Drosophila limbs into anterior and posterior compartments is a consequence of asymmetrical signalling by Hedgehog (Hh), from the posterior to anterior cells. The activity of the homeodomain protein Engrailed in posterior cells helps to generate this asymmetry by inducing the expression of Hh in the posterior compartment and, at the same time, repressing the expression of the essential downstream component Cubitus interruptus (Ci). Therefore, only anterior cells that receive the Hh signal across the compartment boundary will respond by stabilizing Ci.

Relationships among physico-chemical and biological tests for a synthetic Hib-TT conjugate vaccine.

The relationships among physico-chemical and biological tests were evaluated in this study for Cuban Hib vaccine, a tetanus toxoid conjugated with a polysaccharide obtained from chemical synthesis, in order to estimate the biological significance of the relevant physico-chemical assays for lot released. In order to get samples with theoretical different potencies, Hib-TT samples were stored at -20, 4, 25, 37 and 70 degrees C for 5 weeks and after they were evaluated by HPLC and Orcinol methods and for immunogenicity and bactericidal activity. We found strong relationships between HPLC and free PRP level (r2=0.

Multinucleate cell angiohistiocytoma. Report of five cases.

Background: Multinucleate cell angiohistiocytoma is an infrequent and most likely non-neoplastic disorder usually seen in acral regions in elderly women. It presents clinically as asymptomatic red-to-brown tumors, with a tendency to confluence. It must be distinguished from other diverse cutaneous lesions, notably dermatofibroma, Kaposi sarcoma, and angiofibroma.

[Porphyria cutanea tarda in a dialyzed female patient].

Dermatological disorders are a frequent finding in patients with renal insufficiency. Porphyria cutanea tarda, pseudoporphyria, phototoxicity or concurrent bullous diseases may cause the appearance of lesions with liquid content in patients in dialysis. We describe the case of a female patient in dialysis who developed bullous lesions.

Elevated serum levels of vascular endothelial growth factor are associated with tumor-associated macrophages in primary breast cancer.

We analyzed serum and tumor samples from 133 patients with operable primary breast cancer to determine the possible relationship between presurgery and postsurgery circulating serum vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) levels and tumor-associated macrophage (TAM) numbers, tumor VEGF expression, and other immunohistochemical parameters. A significant positive correlation was observed between the number of TAM and postsurgery circulating VEGF values (P < .05).

Boundary formation in the Drosophila wing: functional dissection of Capricious and Tartan.

Cells in multicellular organisms often do not intermingle freely with each other. Differential cell affinities contribute to organizing cells into different tissues. Drosophila limbs and rhombomeres of the vertebrate hindbrain are subdivided into compartments.