Analytical Performance of the New Siemens Affinity Chrome-Mediated Immunoassay Everolimus Assay and Its Interchangeability With the Thermo Quantitative Microsphere System for Routine Therapeutic Drug Monitoring of Patients After Solid Organ Transplantation.

Background: A new homogeneous affinity chrome-mediated immunoassay (ACMIA) "EVRO" from Siemens Healthcare was evaluated for therapeutic drug monitoring of everolimus (EVL) with automated sample pretreatment and compared with quantitative microsphere system (QMS) "EVER" from Thermo Fisher Scientific.

Methods: Imprecision, inaccuracy, and limit of quantitation (LoQ) of ACMIA/EVRO were verified using both hemolysate quality control (QC) samples and pooled whole blood specimens. The interchangeability of methods and the agreement of results were analyzed using 72 specimens (from 38, 30, and 4 kidney, liver, and lung transplant recipients, respectively).

Evaluation of the interchangeability between the new fully-automated affinity chrome-mediated immunoassay (ACMIA) and the Quantitative Microsphere System (QMS) with a CE-IVD-certified LC-MS/MS assay for therapeutic drug monitoring of everolimus after solid organ transplantation.

Objectives: This study aims to evaluate the interchangeability between the Siemens Healthineers' "EVRO" new affinity chrome-mediated immunoassay (ACMIA/EVRO) and Thermo Fisher Scientific's "EVER" Quantitative Microsphere System (QMS/EVER) with Chromsystems' CE-IVD-certified "MassTox" liquid-chromatography/tandem-mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) assay for the therapeutic drug monitoring of everolimus.

Methods: A single lot of reagent, calibrators and controls were used for each assay. A total of 67 whole blood samples (n=67) from patients receiving solid organ transplant were analyzed (n=31 with kidney transplant and n=36 with liver transplant); Passing-Bablok regression and Bland-Altman difference plot were used to evaluate bias and individual agreement; LC-MS/MS analysis was used to measure the actual concentrations of calibrators and controls compared to the assigned value.

The Italian validation of the Communicative Effectiveness Index Questionnaire: a multicentric study.

Introduction: Common assessment tools for aphasia evaluate single language impairments but not their functional impact on patient's communication skills in daily life. The lack of tools focused on ecological aspects might affect the choice of rehabilitative trainings. The Communicative Effectiveness Index (CETI) represents an attempt to assess the communicative abilities in "ecologic" context.

The primary occurrence of BRAF(V600E) is a rare clonal event in papillary thyroid carcinoma.

Context: BRAF(V600E) is considered a primary event, a negative prognostic marker, and a site for pharmacological intervention in papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC). We asked whether BRAF(V600E) can occur as a subclonal event in PTC and whether this and other oncogenes can coexist in the same tumor.

Study Design: We determined by pyrosequencing the percentage of mutant BRAF, NRAS, and KRAS alleles in a series of conventional PTC.

RET/PTC rearrangement in benign and malignant thyroid diseases: a clinical standpoint.

Cytological examination of fine needle aspiration biopsy is the primary means for distinguishing benign from malignant nodules. However, as inconclusive cytology is very frequent, the introduction of molecular markers in the preoperative diagnosis of thyroid nodules has been proposed in recent years. In this article, we review the clinical implications of preoperative detection of rearrangements of the RET gene (RET/papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC)) in thyroid nodules.

BRAF mutation in cytology samples as a diagnostic tool for papillary thyroid carcinoma.

Introduction: Thyroid cancer is a rare disease that needs to be differentiated from the more frequent benign nodular goiter. The current, primary technique for distinguishing between benign and malignant nodules is by a fine-needle biopsy (FNB) cytological examination. This type of examination, unfortunately, often provides inconclusive results, and in recent years the introduction of molecular markers for the preoperative diagnosis of thyroid nodules has been proposed.

High growth rate of benign thyroid nodules bearing RET/PTC rearrangements.

Context: Benign thyroid nodules display a broad range of behaviors from a stationary size to a progressive growth. The RET/PTC oncogene has been documented in a fraction of benign thyroid nodules, besides papillary thyroid carcinomas, and it might therefore influence their growth.

Objective: The aim of the present work was to evaluate whether RET/PTC in benign thyroid nodules associates with a different nodular growth rate.

Prevalence of RET/PTC rearrangement in benign and malignant thyroid nodules and its clinical application.

Fine-needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) is the primary means to distinguish benign thyroid nodules from malignant ones. About 20% of FNAC yields indeterminate results leading to unnecessary or delayed surgery. Many studies of tissue samples, the majority of which are retrospective advocate testing for RET rearrangements as a diagnostic adjunctive tool in thyroid nodules with indeterminate cytological findings.

Growing thyroid nodules with benign histology and RET rearrangement.

Some benign thyroid nodules are stationary in size over time while others grow progressively, indicating that there is a broad individual variability within benign nodules. To date, it is very difficult to predict if a benign thyroid nodule will grow in size and which will be its trend over time. While BRAF(V600E) is a highly specific marker of thyroid cancer, RET rearrangements have been disclosed also in non malignant thyroid lesions and their biological significance is debated.

The Ca2+-calmodulin-dependent kinase II is activated in papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) and mediates cell proliferation stimulated by RET/PTC.

RET/papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC), TRK-T, or activating mutations of Ras and BRaf are frequent genetic alterations in PTC, all leading to the activation of the extracellular-regulated kinase (Erk) cascade. The aim of this study was to investigate the role of calmodulin-dependent kinase II (CaMKII) in the signal transduction leading to Erk activation in PTC cells. In normal thyroid cells, CaMKII and Erk were in the inactive form in the absence of stimulation.

Combined analysis of galectin-3 and BRAFV600E improves the accuracy of fine-needle aspiration biopsy with cytological findings suspicious for papillary thyroid carcinoma.

Ten to fifteen percent of fine-needle aspiration biopsy (FNAB) of thyroid nodules are indeterminate. Galectin-3 (Gal-3) and the oncogene BRAFV600E are markers of malignancy useful to improve FNAB accuracy. The objective of this study was to determine whether the combined analysis of Gal-3 and BRAFV600E expression in thyroid aspirates could improve the diagnosis in FNAB with suspicious cytological findings.

Detection of RET/PTC, TRK and BRAF mutations in preoperative diagnosis of thyroid nodules with indeterminate cytological findings.

Background: Fine-needle aspiration biopsy (FNAB) is the primary means to distinguish benign from malignant nodules and select patients for surgery. However, adjunctive diagnostic tests are needed because in 20-40% of cases the FNAB result is uncertain.

Objective: We investigated whether a search for the oncogenes RET/PTC, TRK and BRAF(V600E) in thyroid aspirates could refine an uncertain diagnosis.

Detection of BRAF mutation in thyroid papillary carcinomas by mutant allele-specific PCR amplification (MASA).

Objective: The somatic point mutation in the BRAF gene, which results in a valine-to-glutamate substitution at residue 600 (BRAF(V600E)), is an ideal hallmark of papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC). However, its prevalence is varyingly reported in different studies, and its expression in the follicular variant PTC is controversial, reducing its potential usefulness as diagnostic marker.

Design And Methods: We developed an assay based on mutant allele-specific PCR amplification (MASA) to detect BRAF mutation.

The Zona Pellucida domain containing proteins, CUT-1, CUT-3 and CUT-5, play essential roles in the development of the larval alae in Caenorhabditis elegans.

The alae, longitudinal ridges of the lateral cuticle, are the most visible specialization of the Caenorhabditis elegans surface. They are present only in L1 and dauer larvae and in adults. Little is known about the mechanisms through which at the appropriate stages secretion of cuticle components by the seam cells results in the formation of the alae.