Quality-of-Life Assessment in Patients Undergoing Mastectomy and Breast Reconstruction for Moderate-Penetrance Gene-Related Breast Cancer.

. Breast cancer remains a leading cause of cancer-related death among women, with genetic mutations playing a key role. While high-penetrance mutations are well-studied, moderate-to-low-penetrance mutations, which present challenges in clinical decision-making and patient outcomes, are less understood.

Hypoalbuminemia as an unusual presentation of undiagnosed atypical celiac disease in an 84-year-old woman.

Celiac disease is a chronic, immune-mediated enteropathy that is precipitated by dietary gluten in genetically predisposed individuals. Classical form of the disease is characterized by gastrointestinal symptoms and signs of malabsorption, while patients with nonclassical celiac disease lack significant gastrointestinal symptoms. We report an uncommon case of celiac disease in an 84 -year-old oligosymptomatic female with a recently treated colon tumor, diagnosed during the investigation of profound hypoproteinemia and hypoalbuminemia.

Chemisorption and physisorption of alcohols on iron(III) oxide-terminated surfaces from nonpolar solvents.

Hypothesis: The adsorption isotherm of alkanols at the haematite|hydrocarbon interface should reflect both chemisorption (chemically bonded fraction) and physisorption (hydrogen bonded fraction).

Experiments And Model: Quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) have been used for characterization of FeO|hydrocarbon interfaces with absorbed alcohol. A range of FeO-terminated surfaces, alkanols, hydrocarbons and temperatures have been investigated.

RAFT Dispersion Polymerization of 2-Hydroxyethyl Methacrylate in Non-polar Media.

We report the reversible addition-fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) dispersion polymerization of 2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate (HEMA) in -dodecane using a poly(lauryl methacrylate) (PLMA) precursor at 90 °C. This formulation is an example of polymerization-induced self-assembly (PISA), which leads to the formation of a colloidal dispersion of spherical PLMA-PHEMA nanoparticles at 10-20% w/w solids. PISA syntheses involving polar monomers in non-polar media have been previously reported but this particular system offers some unexpected and interesting challenges in terms of both synthesis and characterization.