Stereotactic ablative body radiotherapy for primary kidney cancer (TROG 15.03 FASTRACK II): a non-randomised phase 2 trial.

Background: Stereotactic ablative body radiotherapy (SABR) is a novel non-invasive alternative for patients with primary renal cell cancer who do not undergo surgical resection. The FASTRACK II clinical trial investigated the efficacy of SABR for primary renal cell cancer in a phase 2 trial.

Methods: This international, non-randomised, phase 2 study was conducted in seven centres in Australia and one centre in the Netherlands.

Draft Genome Sequence of the Yeast Torulaspora quercuum Strain UCD657, Isolated from Soil in Ireland.

Torulaspora quercuum is an ascomycete yeast first isolated in 2009. Here, we present the genome sequence of T. quercuum isolate UCD657, which was isolated from soil in Ireland.

Bidirectional Ventricular Tachycardia in a Patient With Fulminant Myocarditis Secondary to Cardiac Sarcoidosis Mimicking Giant Cell Myocarditis.

Differentiating between sarcoidosis and giant cell myocarditis (GCM) based on clinical presentation is difficult. We present the case of a 57-year-old woman who was initially diagnosed with GCM based on endomyocardial biopsy. The patient was refractory to standard management for GCM and went on to develop bidirectional ventricular tachycardia, a finding suggestive of sarcoidosis.

Efficacy of Normalisation of Advance Care Planning (NACP) for people with chronic diseases in hospital and community settings: a quasi-experimental study.

Background: Advance Care Planning (ACP) has emerged to improve end-of-life processes and experiences. However, the available evidence presents the gloomy picture of increasing number of older people living with chronic diseases and the mismatch between their preferences for and the actual place of death. The study aimed to investigate the efficacy of normalisation of an Advance Care Planning (NACP) service delivered by specially trained Registered Nurses (RNs) in hospital and community settings.

Prevalence of advance care planning practices among people with chronic diseases in hospital and community settings: a retrospective medical record audit.

Background: Advance Care Planning (ACP) enables healthcare professionals to embrace the important process where patients think about their values in life and goals for health care, and discuss their future health care preferences with family members for a time when they are not able to make health care decisions. Despite the promotion of ACP last two decades, and well-known benefits of ACP and a written Advance Care Directive (ACD), they are still underutilised in Australia and across the world. Previous studies have provided some insights, however, an uptake of ACP and prevalence of ACDs in community settings is rarely reported.

Canadian Cardiovascular Society/Canadian Cardiac Transplant Network Position Statement on Heart Transplantation: Patient Eligibility, Selection, and Post-Transplantation Care.

Significant practice-changing developments have occurred in the care of heart transplantation candidates and recipients over the past decade. This Canadian Cardiovascular Society/Canadian Cardiac Transplant Network Position Statement provides evidence-based, expert panel recommendations with values and preferences, and practical tips on: (1) patient selection criteria; (2) selected patient populations; and (3) post transplantation surveillance. The recommendations were developed through systematic review of the literature and using the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development, and Evaluation (GRADE) system.

Stroke risk and atrial mechanical dysfunction in cardiac amyloidosis.

Amyloidosis is associated with poor prognosis, and patients with cardiac involvement have especially poor outcomes. Cardiac amyloidosis leads to higher rates of atrial arrhythmia and an increased risk of intracardiac thrombus formation. However, atrial mechanical dysfunction due to protein deposition in amyloidosis may lead to thrombus formation in the absence of atrial arrhythmia.

Study protocol to investigate the efficacy of normalisation of Advance Care Planning (ACP) for people with chronic diseases in acute and community settings: a quasi-experimental design.

Background: Advanced care planning (ACP) is a process that involves thinking about what medical care one would like should individuals be seriously ill and cannot communicate decisions about treatment for themselves. The literature indicates that ACP leads to increased satisfaction from both patients and healthcare professionals. Despite the well-known benefits of ACP, it is still underutilised in Australia.

Association between cytokines and functional, hemodynamic parameters, and clinical outcomes in pulmonary arterial hypertension.

To assess the relationship of cytokines with functional and clinical outcomes in pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH). Endothelial dysfunction and vascular inflammation are characteristic of PAH. We investigated whether markers of angiogenesis and inflammation associated with functional, hemodynamic parameters, and clinical outcomes in PAH.

A case of ruptured sinus of Valsalva aneurysm and reversible flow-induced pulmonary hypertension.

Pulmonary hypertension (PH) in adults with congenital heart disease (CHD) and significant systemic-to-pulmonary shunting is a significant cause of morbidity and mortality. Its pathophysiology is incompletely understood, but involves a flow-induced pulmonary arteriopathy characterized by endothelial cell dysfunction and vascular remodeling that alters pulmonary arterial vasoreactivity. There is a paucity of literature linking PH with left-to-right shunting due to ruptured sinus of Valsalva aneurysms (SOVA).

Transradial-Guided Percutaneous Transaxillary Intra-aortic Balloon Pump Insertion.

Axillary access for an intra-aortic balloon pump allows patients with advanced heart failure (HF) to sit upright and ambulate while waiting for destination therapy or bridging to heart transplantation. We describe the combination of radial access for positioning a 4F pigtail catheter to allow axillary angiography and provide a target for a micropuncture needle entry point in a fully anticoagulated patient with advanced HF.

Phosphodiesterase type 5 inhibitor to riociguat transition is associated with hemodynamic and symptomatic improvement in pulmonary hypertension.

Riociguat is a soluble guanylate cyclase stimulator approved for the treatment of pulmonary arterial hypertension and chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension. We studied the clinical and hemodynamics effects of transitioning 12 pulmonary hypertension patients from Phosphodiesterase type 5 inhibitor (PDE5i) to riociguat, and demonstrated a significant increase in cardiac index, fall in pulmonary vascular resistance, and improvement in functional class with this switch. Switch from PDE5i to riociguat appeared to be safe and fairly well tolerated in most patients.

Hemodynamic monitoring in heart failure and pulmonary hypertension: From analog tracings to the digital age.

Hemodynamic monitoring has long formed the cornerstone of heart failure (HF) and pulmonary hypertension diagnosis and management. We review the long history of invasive hemodynamic monitors initially using pulmonary artery (PA) pressure catheters in the hospital setting, to evaluating the utility of a number of implantable devices that can allow for ambulatory determination of intracardiac pressures. Although the use of indwelling PA catheters has fallen out of favor in a number of settings, implantable devices have afforded clinicians an opportunity for objective determination of a patient's volume status and pulmonary pressures.

Repair of UVB-induced DNA damage is reduced in melanoma due to low XPC and global genome repair.

UVB exposure leads to DNA damage, which when unrepaired induces C>T transitions. These mutations are found throughout the melanoma genome, particularly in non-transcribed regions. The global genome repair (GGR) branch of nucleotide excision repair (NER) is responsible for repairing UV-induced DNA damage across non-transcribed and silent regions of the genome.

Metastatic melanoma treatment: Combining old and new therapies.

Metastatic melanoma is an aggressive form of cancer characterised by poor prognosis and a complex etiology. Until 2010, the treatment options for metastatic melanoma were very limited. Largely ineffective dacarbazine, temozolamide or fotemustine were the only agents in use for 35 years.

Regulators of global genome repair do not respond to DNA damaging therapy but correlate with survival in melanoma.

Nucleotide excision repair (NER) orchestrates the repair of helix distorting DNA damage, induced by both ultraviolet radiation (UVR) and cisplatin. There is evidence that the global genome repair (GGR) arm of NER is dysfunctional in melanoma and it is known to have limited induction in melanoma cell lines after cisplatin treatment. The aims of this study were to examine mRNA transcript levels of regulators of GGR and to investigate the downstream effect on global transcript expression in melanoma cell lines after cisplatin treatment and in melanoma tumours.

Development of a gene-trap vector with a highly sensitive fluorescent protein reporter system for expression profiling.

Combining high-content screening (HCS) with random gene-trap mutagenesis could be a powerful tool to investigate transcriptional networks, cell signaling, chemical genetics, and developmental processes. However, a critical limitation has been poor quantification of reporter expression per cell. To overcome this hurdle, we generated a variety of Gtx-based expression cassettes and re-evaluated translational enhancement of arrayed Gtx segments in tandem by HCS.