Urologic complications of composite resection following combined modality treatment of colorectal cancer.

Background: It is a common perception that preoperative radiation increases the incidence of urologic complications following composite resection, but there is little evidence to support or refute this claim.

Methods: Patients who underwent ureteric reconstruction as a component of en bloc resection for locally advanced or recurrent colorectal cancer were identified from a multicenter institutional database (1982-2007). Charts were reviewed to determine the incidence, nature, management, and predictors of serious urologic complications.

Anorectal malignant melanoma: treatment with surgery or radiation therapy, or both.

Introduction: Anorectal malignant tumours are increasing in frequency for unknown reasons. Surgery is the principal treatment, and the role of adjuvant therapy has not been defined. We therefore decided to review the experience of the Princess Margaret Hospital in Toronto, a large tertiary care cancer hospital, with respect to the surgical management of anorectal melanoma.

Slow progression of periampullary neoplasia in familial adenomatous polyposis.

Variable endoscopic surveillance protocols and treatment strategies have been proposed for periampullary neoplasia in familial adenomatous polyposis (FAP), primarily because of the lack of long-term, prospective natural history data. A total of 115 patients with FAP were followed prospectively for 10 years with periodic side-viewing upper gastrointestinal endoscopy by a single surgeon. The appearance of the duodenum was classified as stages 1 to 5.

Role of interdomain salt bridges in the pore-forming ability of the Bacillus thuringiensis toxins Cry1Aa and Cry1Ac.

The four salt bridges (Asp(222)-Arg(281), Arg(233)-Glu(288), Arg(234)-Glu(274), and Asp(242)-Arg(265)) linking domains I and II in Cry1Aa were abolished individually in alpha-helix 7 mutants D222A, R233A, R234A, and D242A. Two additional mutants targeting the fourth salt bridge (R265A) and the double mutant (D242A/R265A) were rapidly degraded during trypsin activation. Mutations were also introduced in the corresponding Cry1Ac salt bridge (D242E, D242K, D242N, and D242P), but only D242N and D242P could be produced.

A cellular stress model for the differential expression of glial lysosomal cathepsins in the aging nervous system.

Activation of the endosomal-lysosomal system and altered expression of various lysosomal hydrolases have been implicated in several senescence-dependent neurodegenerative disorders and occurs, to a lesser extent, in the course of normal brain aging. The progressive accumulation of autofluorescent, peroxidase-positive astrocytic granules represents a highly consistent biomarker of aging in the vertebrate CNS. The sulfhydryl agent cysteamine greatly accelerates the accumulation of these glial inclusions in situ and in primary brain cell cultures.