Organoid forming potential as complementary parameter for accurate evaluation of breast cancer neoadjuvant therapeutic efficacy.

Background: 13-15% of breast cancer/BC patients diagnosed as pathological complete response/pCR after neoadjuvant systemic therapy/NST suffer from recurrence. This study aims to estimate the rationality of organoid forming potential/OFP for more accurate evaluation of NST efficacy.

Methods: OFPs of post-NST residual disease/RD were checked and compared with clinical approaches to estimate the recurrence risk.

A data-driven method for syndrome type identification and classification in traditional Chinese medicine.

The efficacy of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) treatments for Western medicine (WM) diseases relies heavily on the proper classification of patients into TCM syndrome types. The authors developed a data-driven method for solving the classification problem, where syndrome types were identified and quantified based on statistical patterns detected in unlabeled symptom survey data. The new method is a generalization of latent class analysis (LCA), which has been widely applied in WM research to solve a similar problem, i.

Identification of Chinese medicine syndromes in persistent insomnia associated with major depressive disorder: a latent tree analysis.

Background: Chinese medicine (CM) syndrome (zheng) differentiation is based on the co-occurrence of CM manifestation profiles, such as signs and symptoms, and pulse and tongue features. Insomnia is a symptom that frequently occurs in major depressive disorder despite adequate antidepressant treatment. This study aims to identify co-occurrence patterns in participants with persistent insomnia and major depressive disorder from clinical feature data using latent tree analysis, and to compare the latent variables with relevant CM syndromes.

Genome instability in blood cells of a BRCA1+ breast cancer family.

Background: BRCA1 plays an essential role in maintaining genome stability. Inherited BRCA1 germline mutation (BRCA1+) is a determined genetic predisposition leading to high risk of breast cancer. While BRCA1+ induces breast cancer by causing genome instability, most of the knowledge is known about somatic genome instability in breast cancer cells but not germline genome instability.

Outcome of patients undergoing right lobe living donor liver transplantation with small-for-size grafts.

Aim: To investigate the outcome of living donor liver transplantation (LDLT) recipients transplanted with small-for-size grafts (SFSGs).

Methods: Between November 2001 and December 2010, 196 patients underwent LDLT with right lobe liver grafts at our center. Recipients were divided into 2 treatment groups: group A with an actuarial graft-to-recipient weight ratio (aGRWR) < 0.

[Changes in peripheral hemogram among workers with short-term lead exposure].

Objective: To examine the effect of short-term occupational lead exposure on the inflammatory response system in blood among workers.

Methods: A total of 255 lead-exposed workers (length of service ≤1 year) at an electronics factory in Dongguan, China (exposure group), as well as 205 managers without any occupational exposure at another factory (control group), were included in the study. Occupational physical examination was done to get peripheral blood counts.

Therapy-related myeloid neoplasms after autologous hematopoietic stem cell transplantation in lymphoma patients.

Lymphoma patients treated with autologous transplantation (ASCT) live an increasingly long life with the recent advancement in therapeutic modalities. This has resulted in an increase in the incidence of therapy-related myeloid neoplasms (t-MN), which is one of the leading causes of non-relapse mortality. Several observational studies have linked the development of t-MN after ASCT with the intensity and frequency of chemotherapy, particularly alkylating agents, use of total body irradiation (TBI), and peripheral blood progenitor cells.

Denaturing high-performance liquid chromatography for mutation detection and genotyping.

Denaturing high-performance liquid chromatography (DHPLC) is an accurate and efficient screening technique used for detecting DNA sequence changes by heteroduplex analysis. It can also be used for genotyping of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). The high sensitivity of DHPLC has made this technique one of the most reliable approaches to mutation analysis and, therefore, used in various areas of genetics, both in the research and clinical arena.

Can unknown predisposition in familial breast cancer be family-specific?

Genetic predisposition plays a key role in the development of familial breast cancer. In spite of strong familial clustering of the disease and extensive efforts made during the past decade; however, progress has been slow in identifying genetic predisposition for the majority of familial breast cancer families. The question arises therefore as to whether current approaches are adequate in identifying the unknown genetic predisposition.

Preclinical discovery of candidate genes to guide pharmacogenetics during phase I development: the example of the novel anticancer agent ABT-751.

Objective: ABT-751, a novel orally available antitubulin agent, is mainly eliminated as inactive glucuronide (ABT-751G) and sulfate (ABT-751S) conjugates. We performed a pharmacogenetic investigation of ABT-751 pharmacokinetics using in-vitro data to guide the selection of genes for genotyping in a phase I trial of ABT-751.

Methods: UDP-glucuronosyltransferase (UGT) and sulfotransferase (SULT) enzymes were screened for ABT-751 metabolite formation in vitro.

Health-related quality of life of 256 recipients after liver transplantation.

Aim: To investigate health-related quality of life (HRQoL) and psychological outcomes in 256 adults who had undergone liver transplantation (LT).

Methods: A stratified random sampling method was used in this follow-up multicenter study to select a representative sample of recipients undergoing either living donor liver transplantation (LDLT) or deceased donor liver transplantation (DDLT). HRQoL was measured by using the Chinese version of Medical Outcome Study Short Form-36 (SF-36), and psychological outcomes by using the beck anxiety inventory (BAI) and the self-rating depression scale (SDS).

Health-related quality of life in living liver donors after transplantation.

Background: Living donor liver transplantation (LDLT) has recently emerged as an effective therapeutic alternative for patients with end-stage liver disease. In the meantime, the health-related quality of life (HRQoL) of the donors is becoming better appreciated. Here we aimed to review the current literature and summarize the effects of liver donation on the long-term HRQoL of living donors.

Denaturing high-performance liquid chromatography for mutation detection and genotyping.

Denaturing high-performance liquid chromatography (DHPLC) is an accurate and efficient screening technique used for detecting deoxyribonucleic acid sequence changes by heteroduplex analysis. It can also be used for genotyping of single-nucleotide polymorphisms. The high-sensitivity of DHPLC has made this technique one of the most reliable approaches to mutation analysis and is used in various areas of genetics, both in the research and clinical arena.

Genetic variants in the UDP-glucuronosyltransferase 1A1 gene predict the risk of severe neutropenia of irinotecan.

Purpose: Severe toxicity is commonly observed in cancer patients receiving irinotecan. UDP-glucuronosyltransferase 1A1 (UGT1A1) catalyzes the glucuronidation of the active metabolite SN-38. This study prospectively evaluated the association between the prevalence of severe toxicity and UGT1A1 genetic variation.