Increased Myocardial MAO-A, Atrogin-1, and IL-1β Expression in Transgenic Mice with Pancreatic Carcinoma-Benefit of MAO-A Inhibition for Cardiac Cachexia.

Cancer cachexia (CC) continues to challenge clinicians by massively impairing patients' prognosis, mobility, and quality of life through skeletal muscle wasting. CC also includes cardiac cachexia as characterized by atrophy, compromised metabolism, innervation and function of the myocardium through factors awaiting clarification for therapeutic targeting. Because monoamine oxidase-A (MAO-A) is a myocardial source of HO and implicated in myofibrillar protein catabolism and heart failure, we presently studied myocardial MAO-A expression, inflammatory cells, and capillarization together with transcripts of pro-inflammatory, -angiogenic, -apoptotic, and -proteolytic signals (by qRT-PCR) in a 3x-transgenic (LSL-Kras; LSL-TrP53; Pdx1-Cre) mouse model of orthotopic pancreatic ductal adenoarcinoma (PDAC) compared to wild-type (WT) mice.

Optimizing Outcomes in the Management of the Burned Hand.

Burns of the hand are prevalent and must be managed aggressively in the acute phase to prevent deformity and disability. Proper early wound management, achieving durable soft tissue coverage, and appropriate positioning in the acute period offer substantial benefits to patients long-term. When contractures occur, secondary procedures are often indicated, and they range from laser therapy to local/regional flap coverage; rarely free flaps are used.

Volume-based Feeds: A Quality Improvement Project for Better Nutrition.

This quality improvement project at a single institution aimed to increase the proportion of prescribed tube feeds delivered to adult patients in the burn population with greater than 20% affected TBSA. A retrospective chart review was performed on all adult patients with burns from January 2018 to July 2022 with greater than 20% TBSA burns to compare quantitative measures such as length of stay, change in weight, and mean tube feeds delivered over hospitalization. Prospective data collection began in August 2022, when the first intervention was implemented, and continued until July 2023 in the same patient population to serve as a postintervention cohort.

Pancreatic cancer screening is effective in individuals at risk with predisposing germline gene variants, but not in gene variant-negative familial pancreatic cancer families.

Objective: To evaluate the diagnostic yield of pancreatic cancer screening in individuals at risk (IAR) from familial pancreatic cancer (FPC) families with respect to the presence or absence of pathogenic germline variants predisposing to pancreatic adenocarcinoma (PDAC).

Design: In a 20 years period, IAR from FPC families were enrolled in a prospective screening program of the national case collection for FPC of Germany, including magnet resonance imaging (MRI) and endoscopic ultrasound (EUS). The diagnostic yield was analyzed regarding significant pancreatic lesions such as PDAC, high-grade pancreatic-intraepithelial-neoplasia (PanIN3) and intraductal-papillary-mucinous-neoplasia (IPMN) with high-grade dysplasia.

Post-mastectomy Breast Reconstruction With Gas vs Saline Tissue Expanders: Does the Fill Type Matter?

The most common reconstruction technique following mastectomy is a 2-stage technique that involves tissue expansion followed by definitive implant-based reconstruction (IBR). Tissue expanders (TEs) have classically used saline for initial fill; however, TEs with an initial gas fill (GTE)-including the CO2-based AeroForm (AirXpanders, San Francisco, CA) TE and TEs initially filled with atmospheric air-have been increasingly used in the past decade. We aimed to compare the outcomes in breast reconstruction for tissue expanders initially filled with saline vs gas.

Mesenteric fibrosis in patients with small intestinal neuroendocrine tumors is associated with enrichment of alpha-smooth muscle actin-positive fibrosis and COMP-expressing stromal cells.

Neuroendocrine tumors of the small intestine (SI-NETs) often develop lymph node metastasis (LNM)-induced mesenteric fibrosis (MF). MF can cause intestinal obstruction as well as ischemia and render surgical resection technically challenging. The underlying pathomechanisms of MF are still not well understood.

Joint Linkage and Association Analysis Using GENEHUNTER-MODSCORE with an Application to Familial Pancreatic Cancer.

Introduction: Joint linkage and association (JLA) analysis combines two disease gene mapping strategies: linkage information contained in families and association information contained in populations. Such a JLA analysis can increase mapping power, especially when the evidence for both linkage and association is low to moderate. Similarly, an association analysis based on haplotypes instead of single markers can increase mapping power when the association pattern is complex.

Addressing Current Deficits in Patient Education Materials Through Crowdsourcing.

Background: Patient education materials are commonly reported to be difficult to understand.

Objectives: We aimed to use crowdsourcing to improve patient education materials at our institution.

Methods: This was a department-wide quality improvement project to increase organizational health literacy.

Scaling up Surgical Capacity in Kenya: The Kenya Hospital Assessment Tool (K-HAT).

Introduction: Although substantial progress has been achieved to bring surgical care to the forefront of global health discussions, a number of low-and middle-income countries are still in the process of developing a National Surgical, Obstetric, and Anesthesia Plan (NSOAP). This paper describes the initial step toward the development of the NSOAP through the creation of the Kenya National Hospital Assessment Tool (K-HAT).

Methods: A study protocol was developed by a multisectoral collaborative group that represented the pillars of surgical capacity development in Kenya.

Complication Profiles of Smooth vs Textured Tissue Expanders in Breast Reconstruction: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

Background: Breast implant-associated anaplastic large cell lymphoma (BIA-ALCL) is a type of non-Hodgkin lymphoma first linked with breast implants in 2011. The correlation between BIA-ALCL and textured devices has led to increased use of smooth devices. However, much of the data surrounding smooth and textured devices investigates breast implants specifically and not tissue expanders.

Comparison of Patient Education Materials Generated by Chat Generative Pre-Trained Transformer Versus Experts: An Innovative Way to Increase Readability of Patient Education Materials.

Introduction: Improving patient education materials may improve patient outcomes. This study aims to explore the possibility of generating patient education materials with the assistance of a large language model, Chat Generative Pre-Trained Transformer (ChatGPT). In addition, we compare the accuracy and readability of ChatGPT-generated materials versus expert-generated materials.

Effects of Monoamino-Oxidase-A (MAO-A) Inhibition on Skeletal Muscle Inflammation and Wasting through Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma in Triple Transgenic Mice.

Cancer cachexia describes a syndrome of muscle wasting and lipolysis that is still largely untreatable and negatively impacts prognosis, mobility, and healthcare costs. Since upregulation of skeletal muscle monoamine-oxidase-A (MAO-A), a source of reactive oxygen species, may contribute to cachexia, we investigated the effects of the MAO-inhibitor harmine-hydrochloride (HH, intraperitoneal, 8 weeks) on muscle wasting in a triple-transgenic mouse model of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) and wild type (WT) mice. Gastrocnemius and soleus muscle cryo-cross-sections were analyzed for fiber type-specific cross-sectional area (CSA), fraction and capillarization using ATPase- and lectin-stainings.

Validating HONO as an Intermediate Tracer of the External Cycling of Reactive Nitrogen in the Background Atmosphere.

In the urban atmosphere, nitrogen oxide (NO═NO + NO)-related reactions dominate the formation of nitrous acid (HONO). Here, we validated an external cycling route of HONO and NO, i.e.

Characteristics of familial pancreatic cancer families with additional colorectal carcinoma.

Familial pancreatic cancer (FPC) is a rare hereditary tumor entity with broad phenotypic heterogeneity, including colorectal carcinoma (CRC) in some families. The underlying factors for this co-occurrence are still not well evaluated. FPC families in the National Case Collection of Familial Pancreatic Cancer with an additional occurrence of CRC were analyzed regarding the phenotype, genotype and recommendation for a clinical screening program.

Proteomics biomarker discovery for individualized prevention of familial pancreatic cancer using statistical learning.

Background: The low five-year survival rate of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) and the low diagnostic rate of early-stage PDAC via imaging highlight the need to discover novel biomarkers and improve the current screening procedures for early diagnosis. Familial pancreatic cancer (FPC) describes the cases of PDAC that are present in two or more individuals within a circle of first-degree relatives. Using innovative high-throughput proteomics, we were able to quantify the protein profiles of individuals at risk from FPC families in different potential pre-cancer stages.

Congenital cardiac liver cirrhosis with combined hepatocellular-cholangiocarcinoma-a case report.

Background: Cardiac liver cirrhosis secondary to Fontan procedure has been associated with hepatocellular carcinoma at a younger age. However, Fontan associated liver disease and combined hepatocellular-cholangiocarcinoma has not been previously reported. Combined hepatocellular-cholangiocarcinoma is a rare cancer that accounts for 2-5% of primary liver tumors and poses significant diagnostic and treatment challenges.

Dissecting the role of toll-like receptor 7 in pancreatic cancer.

Background: Toll-like receptors (TLRs) are gaining attention for their potential to influence tumor biology both on the level of the tumor cells as well as on the level of the surrounding inflammatory stroma. Previous studies resulted in partly conflicting data on the expression of TLR7 in healthy and neoplastic pancreatic tissues as well as its role in pancreatic tumor biology.

Methods: We used qRT-PCR and immunohistochemistry to asses TLR7 expression in primary patient material and cell lines.

Pre-service teachers' use of ICT to collaborate to complete assessment tasks.

This research explored the use of ICT products by  = 123 pre-service teachers to complete collaborative assessments. Students responded to a questionnaire relating to the use, benefits and limitations, and what would better enable the use of ICT for collaborative assessment purposes. The ICT products favoured by students did not support some key elements necessary for online collaboration, through either student use or product functionality.