Body Composition at Diagnosis and Early Response in Pediatric Hodgkin Lymphoma.

Background: The association between skeletal muscle and adipose tissue (body composition) and early response using positron emission tomography (PET) in pediatric Hodgkin lymphoma (HL) remains unstudied.

Methods: Patients enrolled on Children's Oncology Group studies AHOD0031 (intermediate-risk HL) and AHOD0831 (high-risk HL) with digital abdominal computed tomography (CT) scans at diagnosis and PET scans after 2 cycles (PET2) were included. Two consecutive slices at the third lumbar vertebra were identified and skeletal muscle index (SMI, in cm2/m2) and total adipose tissue index (TATI, in cm2/m2) were calculated using sliceOmatic (Magog, Canada) and height at diagnosis.

Characterization and comparison of hypoxia inducing factors on tumor growth and metastasis between two- and three-dimensional cancer models.

The monocarboxylic acid transporter 4 (Mct-4), a downstream biomarker of hypoxia inducing factor (HIF)-1α, is involved in the cellular response to hypoxia, as indicated by the hypoxic response element in its promoter region. Using a tumorsphere assay as an in vitro 3-dimensional (3D) model generated using 384-well ultra-low attachment (ULA) plates for cell proliferation analysis using a plate-based image cytometer, we identify a hypoxic response in the tumorsphere model that is distinct from that of cells grown under 2-dimensional (2D) normoxic conditions and demonstrate a key role for Mct-4 in enabling 3D growth. The tumorsphere model yields evidence of an essential role for Mct-4 in multiple cell lines, which were genetically modified to underexpress and overexpress Mct-4, evidence not apparent in a standard 2D model of growth in the same cell lines.

Management of vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus faecium in Dutch healthcare institutes: a nationwide survey.

Background: Vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus faecium (VRE) is an opportunistic pathogen, which can cause outbreaks in hospitals. In the Netherlands, several national guidelines and guidance documents on different aspects of VRE management are available. Most available guidelines are written towards the hospital setting and only few on long-term care facilities (LTCFs).

Directed conservation of the world's reef sharks and rays.

Many shark populations are in decline around the world, with severe ecological and economic consequences. Fisheries management and marine protected areas (MPAs) have both been heralded as solutions. However, the effectiveness of MPAs alone is questionable, particularly for globally threatened sharks and rays ('elasmobranchs'), with little known about how fisheries management and MPAs interact to conserve these species.

Late Cardiac Toxic Effects Associated With Treatment Protocols for Hodgkin Lymphoma in Children.

Importance: Contemporary North American trials for children with Hodgkin lymphoma (HL) have decreased radiation therapy (RT) use and increased pharmacologic cardioprotection but also increased the cumulative doxorubicin dose, making overall treatment consequences for late cardiac toxic effects uncertain.

Objective: To estimate the risk of cardiac toxic effects associated with treatments used in modern pediatric HL clinical trials.

Design, Setting, And Participants: For this cohort study, Fine and Gray models were fitted using survivors in the Childhood Cancer Survivor Study who were diagnosed with HL between January 1, 1970, and December 31, 1999, and were followed for a median of 23.