Contemporary management of small renal masses: does practice environment matter?

Introduction: Population based studies imply underutilization of renal preservation for managing small renal mass (SRMs). Limited information is available regarding the impact of practice environment on SRM treatment. We evaluated practice patterns for SRMs in the context of a urologist's practice environment.

Alternative splicing of the Anopheles gambiae Dscam gene in diverse Plasmodium falciparum infections.

Background: In insects, including Anopheles mosquitoes, Dscam (Down syndrome cell adhesion molecule) appears to be involved in phagocytosis of pathogens, and shows pathogen-specific splice-form expression between divergent pathogen (or parasite) types (e.g. between bacteria and Plasmodium or between Plasmodium berghei and Plasmodium falciparum).

Are urology residents adequately exposed to conservative therapies for managing small renal masses?

Purpose: Increasing diagnosis of small renal masses (SRMs) necessitates trainees to be familiar with available therapies. We hypothesized that involvement in conservative treatments (ablation and/or active surveillance) occurs infrequently. Therefore, we evaluated resident exposure and participation in treatments as well as proposed management for SRMs.

Expression of cutaneous fatty acid-binding protein (C-FABP) in prostate cancer: potential prognostic marker and target for tumourigenicity-suppression.

C-FABP or E-FABP is a metastasis inducing gene over expressed in human prostate carcinomas. To study its prognostic significance, an archival set of prostate tissues was analysed immunohistochemically. Levels of both nuclear and cytoplasmic C-FABP expression in carcinoma cells were significantly higher than those in normal and BPH tissues and the increased C-FABP was significantly associated with a reduced patient survival time.

Increased Id-1 expression is significantly associated with poor survival of patients with prostate cancer.

The levels of Id-1 (inhibitor of DNA binding or inhibitor of cell differentiation) expression in a series of prostate cell lines and in an archival set of prostate tissues were examined. Western blot analysis showed that the level of Id-1 expressed in the androgen sensitive cell line LNCaP was 1.2 +/- 0.

Risk ranking of LANL nuclear material storage containers for repackaging prioritization.

Safe handling and storage of nuclear material at U.S. Department of Energy facilities relies on the use of robust containers to prevent container breaches and subsequent worker contamination and uptake.

Prognostic significance of osteopontin expression in human prostate cancer.

To test the hypothesis that expression of osteopontin (OPN), an integrin-binding glycoprotein, can independently predict the potential aggressiveness of prostate cancer, the status of OPN expression in benign and malignant prostate cancer cell lines and tissues was analysed by Western blot and immunohistochemistry. Amongst the four prostate cell lines analysed, the level of OPN expressed in the benign PNT-2 cells was set at 1, the relative level of OPN expressed in the weakly malignant cell line LNCaP was increased to 1.5.

Amplification and overexpression of E2F3 in human bladder cancer.

We demonstrate that, in human bladder cancer, amplification of the E2F3 gene, located at 6p22, is associated with overexpression of its encoded mRNA transcripts and high levels of expression of E2F3 protein. Immunohistochemical analyses of E2F3 protein levels have established that around one-third (33/101) of primary transitional cell carcinomas of the bladder overexpress nuclear E2F3 protein, with the proportion of tumours containing overexpressed nuclear E2F3 increasing with tumour stage and grade. When considered together with the established role of E2F3 in cell cycle progression, these results suggest that the E2F3 gene represents a candidate bladder cancer oncogene that is activated by DNA amplification and overexpression.

Declining estrogen receptor-beta expression defines malignant progression of human breast neoplasia.

It has been shown that the risk of breast cancer developing in certain morphologically identifiable benign breast lesions correlates with expression of estrogen receptor alpha (ER-alpha). Although ER-alpha and ER-beta genes share a large degree of homology, it is generally thought that their distribution and functions are substantially different in many tissues. Recent development of reliable antibodies to ER-beta has provided this first opportunity to test the hypothesis that the likelihood of malignant transformation in morphologically benign breast lesions can be accurately defined by the distribution and level of ER-beta expression relative to that of ER-alpha.

High-level expression of cutaneous fatty acid-binding protein in prostatic carcinomas and its effect on tumorigenicity.

The expression of cutaneous fatty acid-binding protein (C-FABP) in prostate tissues was examined by immunohistochemistry. Among the 76 cases, all seven (100%) normal tissues were unstained. Of the 35 benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH), 25 (71.