UK trial of pressurised intraperitoneal aerosolised chemotherapy (PIPAC) with oxaliplatin for colorectal cancer peritoneal metastases (NCT03868228).

Objectives: This is the first UK trial of pressurised intraperitoneal aerosolised chemotherapy (PIPAC) for colorectal cancer peritoneal metastases. This trial aimed to assess the impact of PIPAC in combination with standard of care systemic treatment on: progression free survival (PFS); quality of life (QoL); and short-term complications. In addition, this trial set out to demonstrate that PIPAC can be performed safely in operating theatres within a National Health Service (NHS) setting.

Tracking cancer patients during COVID-19 using structured outcomes and keywords.

For the duration of COVID-19, cancer pathways will be affected by the significant loss of elective capacity and increased risk of COVID-19-related morbidity and mortality for cancer patients. Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust (ICHT) has developed a simple, effective MDT recording process, using keywords, to support the tracking of patients who require treatment prioritisation, repeated clinical/MDT reviews and/or need adjustments to their treatment. Following implementation in April, the percentage of MDT outcomes with keywords recorded was 79% in June and 77% for the first two weeks of July.

Affective Touch Reduces Electrically Induced Itch Experience.

Itch is a common symptom in dermatologic and other diseases and can have a severe impact on quality of life and mental health. As a proportion of patients with itch-symptoms is resistant to commonly used anti-histamine treatments, development of new treatments is desirable. Past research on pain, itch and affective touch (i.

Diagnostic accuracy of whole-body MRI versus standard imaging pathways for metastatic disease in newly diagnosed colorectal cancer: the prospective Streamline C trial.

Background: Whole-body MRI (WB-MRI) could be an alternative to multimodality staging of colorectal cancer, but its diagnostic accuracy, effect on staging times, number of tests needed, cost, and effect on treatment decisions are unknown. We aimed to prospectively compare the diagnostic accuracy and efficiency of WB-MRI-based staging pathways with standard pathways in colorectal cancer.

Methods: The Streamline C trial was a prospective, multicentre trial done in 16 hospitals in England.

Subfertility: What the Radiologist Needs to Know.

The role of imaging in subfertility is well established but is changing. In addition to traditional fertility assessments, there is an emerging role for the radiologist. The role of imaging in fertility-restoring procedures in benign disease and congenital malformations is evolving, and there is a growing need for accurate identification of young candidates suitable for fertility-preserving surgery in the oncologic setting.

Arabidopsis chlorophyll biosynthesis: an essential balance between the methylerythritol phosphate and tetrapyrrole pathways.

Chlorophyll, essential for photosynthesis, is composed of a chlorin ring and a geranylgeranyl diphosphate (GGPP)-derived isoprenoid, which are generated by the tetrapyrrole and methylerythritol phosphate (MEP) biosynthesis pathways, respectively. Although a functional MEP pathway is essential for plant viability, the underlying basis of the requirement has been unclear. We hypothesized that MEP pathway inhibition is lethal because a reduction in GGPP availability results in a stoichiometric imbalance in tetrapyrrolic chlorophyll precursors, which can cause deadly photooxidative stress.

Assessing the relation between bone marrow signal intensity and apparent diffusion coefficient in diffusion-weighted MRI.

Objective: The purposes of this study were to observe the relation between signal intensity (SI) on MR images with a high b value and the apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) of bone marrow on body diffusion-weighted MR images, to determine cutoff values that enable separation of malignant and normal bone marrow, and to identify the upper ADC values of untreated multiple myeloma lesions and bone metastatic lesions of breast cancer.

Materials And Methods: Retrospective evaluations of 16 patients without bone disease, 21 patients with untreated metastases of breast cancer, and 12 patients with myeloma undergoing body diffusion-weighted MRI were performed (b values, 50 s/mm(2) and 800 or 900 s/mm(2)). Normal yellow and red bone marrow regions were compared with metastatic breast and myeloma bone marrow lesions (one to five regions of interest per patient).

The imaging features of small bowel tumours.

Objective: Small bowel tumours account for only 2-5 % of gastrointestinal neoplasms but are an important source of morbidity and mortality. This article presents the features demonstrated by a wide range of small bowel tumours across different imaging modalities.

Conclusion: Early and accurate diagnosis via radiological means is an important factor in overall survival for malignant tumours and a thorough understanding of the common features is essential for all radiologists.

Nitric oxide accumulation in Arabidopsis is independent of NOA1 in the presence of sucrose.

Nitric oxide signals diverse responses in animals and plants. Whereas nitric oxide synthesis mechanisms in animals are well understood, how nitric oxide is synthesized and regulated in plants remains controversial. NOA1 is a circularly permuted GTPase that is important for chloroplast function and is implicated in nitric oxide synthesis.

Mutagenesis of the L, M, and N subunits of Complex I from Escherichia coli indicates a common role in function.

Background: The membrane arm of Complex I (NADH:ubiquinone oxidoreductase) contains three large, and closely related subunits, which are called L, M, and N in E. coli. These subunits are homologous to components of multi-subunit Na(+)/H(+) antiporters, and so are implicated in proton translocation.

Oxidative inactivation of lactonase activity of purified human paraoxonase 1 (PON1).

Paraoxonase1 (PON1), one of HDL-associated antioxidant proteins, is known to lose its activity in vivo systems under oxidative stress. Here, we examined the effect of various oxidants on lactonase activity of PON1, and tried to protect the lactonase activity from oxidative inactivation. Among the oxidative systems tested, the ascorbate/Cu(2+) system was the most potent in inactivating the lactonase activity of purified PON1; in contrast to a limited role of Fe(2+), Cu(2+) (0.

Modulation of renal sympathetic nerve activity during pneumoperitoneum in rats.

To examine neural control of renal function during pneumoperitoneum, renal sympathetic nerve activity (RSNA) was measured in pentobarbital-anesthetized rats that had their entire nervous system intact or that had undergone lower thoracic dorsal rhizotomy or abdominal vagotomy. During pneumoperitoneum with intraabdominal pressure (IAP) of 10 mmHg, the mean arterial pressure did not change, but central venous pressure increased by 10 mmHg in all groups. In intact rats, the RSNA increased to 285 +/- 22% during pneumoperitoneum and gradually recovered after release of the insufflation.

Scleredema adultorum associated with a monoclonal gammopathy and generalized hyperpigmentation.

Scleredema associated with a monoclonal gammopathy and generalized skin pigmentation is described in a 56-year-old man with hyperlipoproteinemia and cardiovascular disease. The patient had IgG-lambda paraproteinemia, without any evidence of multiple myeloma or immunoglobulin deposition in affected skin. Ultrastructural studies of pigmented lesional skin showed increased transfer of melanosomes to basal keratinocytes and dermal melanophages containing complex melanosomes.

Erythrokeratodermia variabilis: immunohistochemical and ultrastructural studies of the epidermis.

Immunohistochemical and ultrastructural study of the epidermis was performed in a 53-year-old female with erythrokeratodermia variabilis (EKV) before and after treatment with the aromatic retinoid Etretinate (RO 10-9359). Aberrant expression of cytokeratin PKK2 (Labsystems, Helsinki, Finland) in lesional EKV stratum corneum was observed; this feature disappeared after Etretinate therapy. A normal distribution of DR-positive dendritic Langerhans' cells was seen in diseased, control and post-treatment skin specimens.

The influence of different fixatives and a tumor promoter, 12-0-tetradecanoyl-phorbol-13-acetate (TPA), on the induction of so-called dark cells in mouse epidermis. A light microscopical study.

Epidermal "dark cells" (DC) are believed to play a specific role in the so-called promotion phase of experimental skin carcinogenesis. They are recognized by their morphological features both at the light and the electron microscopical level. The possible effects of fixation on the morphology of epidermal cells and hence on the number of DC have not yet been thoroughly studied.

Intranuclear inclusions containing melanosomes observed after PUVA therapy: a study of five psoriatic patients.

Skin biopsies were obtained before and after PUVA therapy from five psoriatic patients and epidermal melanocytes surveyed for the presence of intranuclear melanosome-like bodies and nuclear bodies. Intranuclear melanosome-like bodies were observed after PUVA therapy whereas none were found before therapy. Nuclear bodies were found to increase in frequency after PUVA therapy.

Increased size of stage II and III melanosomes during PUVA therapy.

Four different theories have been presented to show how early melanosomes are formed and at what stage in melanosome formation melanization starts. In the present investigation the perikaryon of melanocytes have been studied and the longitudinal and the transverse diameter of stage I-IV melanosomes estimated before and after PUVA therapy in 5 patients. An increase in the longitudinal diameter of stage II and III melanosomes was found, whereas no increase in stage I and IV melanosomes was detected.

Ultrastructural changes in the nucleus of a human epithelial cell line exposed to cytotoxic agents. The effect of PUVA and cadmium.

An established human epithelial cell line was exposed to cytotoxic doses of photo-activated 8-methoxy psoralen (PUVA) and to cadmium (Cd++) and the cells' nuclear ultrastructure were compared with controls. PUVA and Cd++ have some common biological features. Both substances induced nuclear indentations and cytoplasmic invaginations, while only PUVA caused an increase in nuclear bodies.

Reduction of Langerhans cells in human epidermis during PUVA therapy: a morphometric study.

Skin biopsies were obtained before and after PUVA therapy from the normal skin of 5 psoriatic patients. By electron microscopic morphometric techniques the pretreatment volume density of Langerhans cells within the epidermis was estimated to be approximately 1%. This density was reduced in all 5 patients after therapy.

Morphology and frequency of heterochromatic nuclear sheets in normal circulating human leucocytes and after PUVA therapy.

'Heterochromatic nuclear sheets' are structures that extend out from the nucleus into the cytoplasm where they are limited on both sides by the nuclear envelope. A uniform terminology regarding these structures has not been agreed upon and an attempt has been made in the present study to clarify the nomenclature. The frequency of nuclear sheets in circulating leucocytes has been established for the first time and found to be 4-8% for granulocytes and 1-2% for agranulocytes.

Ultrastructural studies on the effect of photoactivated 8-methoxy psoralen. Nuclear changes in a human epithelial cell line.

An established human epithelial cell line was exposed to photoactivated 8-methyoxy psoralen (PUVA); the cells were fixed and processed for electron microscopy 2 hours, 3 days and 6 days thereafter, and the nuclear morphology compared to controls. In the light microscope the cells fixed 3 and 6 days after PUVA exposure showed an increase in the number of multinucleated cells. At the ultrastructural level an increased number of cells with nuclear indentations, cytoplasmic invaginations, pseudoinclusions, nuclear bodies and multiple nucleoli were seen.

Characterization of a human epithelial cell line with special reference to its ultrastructure.

A commercially available cell line (NCTC 2544) originating from presumably normal human skin was chosen as an in vitro model system for subsequent studies of the effects of different agents on human epithelial cells. The cell line, therefore, was ultrastructurally and otherwise characterized at intervals by techniques which allow standardized controls of the model. The cell line was classified as epithelial both by phase contrast microscopy and transmission electron microscopy.