Incidental detection of multiple endocrine neoplasia and medullary thyroid carcinoma before starting GLP-1 agonist: A case report.

A man, in his 30s, with a history of obesity and hypothyroidism planned to begin taking a new Glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) agonist for weight loss. As these medications have been associated with C-cell hyperplasia, a calcitonin level was checked as evaluation prior to starting the drug. This returned at 131 pg/mL (upper limit of normal<10 pg/mL), and a subsequent carcinoembryonic antigen was 5.

Health System Integration and Cancer Center Access for Rural Hospitals.

Background: Cancer centers provide superior care but are less accessible to rural populations. Health systems that integrate a cancer center may provide broader access to quality surgical care, but penetration to rural hospitals is unknown.

Methods: Cancer center data were linked to health system data to describe health systems based on whether they included at least one accredited cancer center.

Unique Usages of Dehydrated Human Amnion Chorion Membrane Allografts in Dermatology.

Dehydrated human amnion chorion membrane (dHACM) allografts are synthetic skin substitutes derived from placental tissue. dHACM allografts are used for replacing lost or damaged dermal tissue, as they contain many of the components found within the extracellular matrix that are beneficial in wound healing. Common uses of dHACM allografts include the healing of diabetic and non-diabetic foot and leg ulcers, decubitus ulcers, and wounds following debridement.

Effect of Perioperative Antithrombotics on Postoperative Transfusion and Hematoma in Head and Neck Free Flaps.

Objective: To explore if antiplatelet or anticoagulant therapy increases the risk of transfusion requirement or postoperative hematoma formation in patients undergoing microvascular reconstruction for head and neck defects.

Study Design: Retrospective cohort study.

Setting: Departments of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, the University of Colorado, and the University of California Irvine.

Do Socioeconomic Status and Race Impact the Safety and Efficacy of Breast Reconstruction?

Introduction: Immediate breast reconstruction after mastectomy has increased in recent years when compared with delayed reconstruction. Despite this encouraging trend, racial and socioeconomic disparities in the receipt of postmastectomy breast reconstruction have been well documented. We sought to assess the effect of race, socioeconomic status, and patient comorbidities on muscle sparing transverse rectus abdominis myocutaneous outcomes at our safety net hospital institution in the southeast.

Long-duration pain block for postoperative anesthesia after endoscopic sinus surgery.

A long-duration pain block did not decrease postoperative pain or opioid consumption. Extended sinus procedures do not lead to additional postoperative pain or opioid consumption.

Incidence and Risk Factors for Incidental Cancer on Melanoma Wide Excisions.

Introduction: Cancer patients and survivors have a high risk of developing additional malignancies. Patients who undergo melanoma excision often have sun-damaged skin and are predisposed to concurrent and subsequent skin cancers. The unexpected finding of an incidental cancer on melanoma wide excisions can require further surgery and delays adjuvant treatment.

Burden of Care for Patients With In-Transit Melanoma.

Introduction: Patient burden of cancer care can be significant, especially for cancers like melanoma where patients are living longer, even with advanced disease. The purpose of this study is to compare the burden of treatment of melanoma patients with in-transit metastases (ITM). There are multiple treatment options for ITM, but no standard due to lack of large cohort comparative studies; thus, the anticipated burden of care may influence therapy choice.

Novel pain management therapies for patients with pemphigus.

Pemphigus is a class of rare autoimmune diseases that causes incredibly painful blistering of the skin and significantly impacts patients' day-to-day lives and well-being. Many strides have been made in treating pemphigus; however, no comprehensive literature exists on how to treat the pain that accompanies the disease. It is important to remember that treating pemphigus involves a two-fold treatment plan assessing both the underlying autoimmune disease and the pain involved with the lesions.

Optimizing Hydroxyl Radical Footprinting Analysis of Biotherapeutics Using Internal Standard Dosimetry.

Hydroxyl radical footprinting-mass spectrometry (HRF-MS) is a powerful technique for measuring protein structure by quantitating the solvent accessibility of amino acid side-chains; and when used in comparative analysis, HRF-MS data can provide detailed information on changes in protein structure. However, consistently controlling the amount of hydroxyl radical labeling of a protein requires the precise understanding of both the amount of radicals generated and half-life of the radicals in solution. The latter is particularly important for applications such as protein-protein and protein-ligand interactions, which may have different characteristics such as intrinsic reactivity and buffer components, and can cause differences in radical scavenging (herein termed "scavenging potential") between samples.

Development of Photocrosslinking Probes Based on Huwentoxin-IV to Map the Site of Interaction on Nav1.7.

Voltage-gated sodium (Nav) channels respond to changes in the membrane potential of excitable cells through the concerted action of four voltage-sensor domains (VSDs). Subtype Nav1.7 plays an important role in the propagation of signals in pain-sensing neurons and is a target for the clinical development of novel analgesics.

Managing the risk of intimacy: accounts of disclosure and responsiveness among people with HIV and intimate partners of people with HIV.

It is well known that concerns about sexual risk tend to decline among people in intimate relationships where there is established commitment and trust. In the context of relationships at increased risk for HIV transmission, interactions involving disclosure and partner responsiveness are key to maintaining intimacy and physical safety. This paper explores concepts of risk and sexual intimacy articulated by a community sample of 30 people living with HIV and their intimate relationship partners.

Structural basis for dual-mode inhibition of the ABC transporter MsbA.

The movement of core-lipopolysaccharide across the inner membrane of Gram-negative bacteria is catalysed by an essential ATP-binding cassette transporter, MsbA. Recent structures of MsbA and related transporters have provided insights into the molecular basis of active lipid transport; however, structural information about their pharmacological modulation remains limited. Here we report the 2.

Monoclonal antibody targeting the β-barrel assembly machine of is bactericidal.

The folding and insertion of integral β-barrel membrane proteins into the outer membrane of Gram-negative bacteria is required for viability and bacterial pathogenesis. Unfortunately, the lack of selective and potent modulators to dissect β-barrel folding in vivo has hampered our understanding of this fundamental biological process. Here, we characterize a monoclonal antibody that selectively inhibits an essential component of the β-barrel assembly machine, BamA.

Computational design of trimeric influenza-neutralizing proteins targeting the hemagglutinin receptor binding site.

Many viral surface glycoproteins and cell surface receptors are homo-oligomers, and thus can potentially be targeted by geometrically matched homo-oligomers that engage all subunits simultaneously to attain high avidity and/or lock subunits together. The adaptive immune system cannot generally employ this strategy since the individual antibody binding sites are not arranged with appropriate geometry to simultaneously engage multiple sites in a single target homo-oligomer. We describe a general strategy for the computational design of homo-oligomeric protein assemblies with binding functionality precisely matched to homo-oligomeric target sites.

Dynamic Viral Glycoprotein Machines: Approaches for Probing Transient States That Drive Membrane Fusion.

The fusion glycoproteins that decorate the surface of enveloped viruses undergo dramatic conformational changes in the course of engaging with target cells through receptor interactions and during cell entry. These refolding events ultimately drive the fusion of viral and cellular membranes leading to delivery of the genetic cargo. While well-established methods for structure determination such as X-ray crystallography have provided detailed structures of fusion proteins in the pre- and post-fusion fusion states, to understand mechanistically how these fusion glycoproteins perform their structural calisthenics and drive membrane fusion requires new analytical approaches that enable dynamic intermediate states to be probed.

Animal, but not human, faces engage the distributed face network in adolescents with autism.

Multiple hypotheses have been offered to explain the impaired face-processing behavior and the accompanying underlying disruptions in neural circuitry among individuals with autism. We explored the specificity of atypical face-processing activation and potential alterations to fusiform gyrus (FG) morphology as potential underlying mechanisms. Adolescents with high functioning autism (HFA) and age-matched typically developing (TD) adolescents were scanned with sMRI and fMRI as they observed human and animal faces.

Dynamic changes during acid-induced activation of influenza hemagglutinin.

Influenza hemagglutinin (HA) mediates virus attachment to host cells and fusion of the viral and endosomal membranes during entry. While high-resolution structures are available for the pre-fusion HA ectodomain and the post-fusion HA2 subunit, the sequence of conformational changes during HA activation has eluded structural characterization. Here, we apply hydrogen-deuterium exchange with mass spectrometry to examine changes in structural dynamics of the HA ectodomain at various stages of activation, and compare the soluble ectodomain with intact HA on virions.