Association of Common Genetic Polymorphisms with Melanoma Patient IL-12p40 Blood Levels, Risk, and Outcomes.

Recent investigation has identified association of IL-12p40 blood levels with melanoma recurrence and patient survival. No studies have investigated associations of single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) with melanoma patient IL-12p40 blood levels or their potential contributions to melanoma susceptibility or patient outcome. In the current study, 818,237 SNPs were available for 1,804 melanoma cases and 1,026 controls.

C-reactive protein as a marker of melanoma progression.

Purpose: To investigate the association between blood levels of C-reactive protein (CRP) in patients with melanoma and overall survival (OS), melanoma-specific survival (MSS), and disease-free survival.

Patients And Methods: Two independent sets of plasma samples from a total of 1,144 patients with melanoma (587 initial and 557 confirmatory) were available for CRP determination. Kaplan-Meier method and Cox regression were used to evaluate the relationship between CRP and clinical outcome.

The relationship between blood IL-12p40 level and melanoma progression.

Cytokines such as Interleukin (IL)-12p70 ("IL-12") and IL-23 can influence tumor progression. We tested the hypothesis that blood levels of IL-12p40, the common subunit of both cytokines, are associated with melanoma progression. Blood from 2,048 white melanoma patients were collected at a single institution between March 1998 and March 2011.

The expression of p-STAT3 in stage IV melanoma: risk of CNS metastasis and survival.

Purpose: The signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (STAT3) is a key molecular hub of tumorigenesis and immune suppression. The expression of phosphorylated STAT3 (p-STAT3) has been shown to be higher in melanoma metastasis to the central nervous system (CNS) relative to distant metastasis in the rest of the body (systemic). We sought to determine whether the increased expression of p-STAT3 in non-CNS systemic melanoma metastasis is associated with an increased risk of developing CNS metastasis and is a negative prognostic factor for overall survival time.

A novel and accurate computer model of melanoma prognosis for patients staged by sentinel lymph node biopsy: comparison with the American Joint Committee on Cancer model.

Background: We found that a computer model developed by the American Joint Committee on Cancer (AJCC) melanoma staging committee had limitations for predicting prognosis of patients staged by sentinel lymph node (SLN) biopsy. We sought to develop a model that more accurately predicts prognosis in this population.

Study Design: Using a data set obtained from a prospective multi-institutional study of 2,507 patients with clinically node-negative melanomas ≥1.

Genome-wide association study identifies novel loci predisposing to cutaneous melanoma.

We performed a multistage genome-wide association study of melanoma. In a discovery cohort of 1804 melanoma cases and 1026 controls, we identified loci at chromosomes 15q13.1 (HERC2/OCA2 region) and 16q24.

Microscopic tumor burden in sentinel lymph nodes predicts synchronous nonsentinel lymph node involvement in patients with melanoma.

Purpose: We and others have demonstrated that additional positive lymph nodes (LNs) are identified in only 8% to 33% of patients with melanoma who have positive sentinel LNs (SLNs) and undergo complete therapeutic LN dissection (cTLND). We sought to determine predictors of additional regional LN involvement in patients with positive SLNs.

Patients And Methods: Patients with clinically node-negative melanoma who underwent SLN biopsy (1991 to 2003) and had positive SLNs were identified.

Melanoma adrenal metastasis: natural history and surgical management.

Background: Few data exist regarding melanoma metastasis to the adrenal gland. We reviewed our experience to determine the natural history of this condition and the appropriate role for surgical intervention.

Methods: A retrospective review of melanoma patients with adrenal metastasis was performed.

Utility of computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging staging before completion lymphadenectomy in patients with sentinel lymph node-positive melanoma.

Purpose: Although melanoma patients with regional nodal metastases are frequently imaged with computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans, the efficacy of routine radiologic staging in asymptomatic patients with microscopic nodal involvement has not been established. To determine the utility of this approach, we analyzed the incidence of synchronous distant metastases (SDM) detected by CT or MRI of the head, chest, and abdomen in a large group of patients with sentinel lymph node (SLN) -positive melanoma.

Patients And Methods: Positive SLNs were identified in 314 (16.

Predictors and natural history of in-transit melanoma after sentinel lymphadenectomy.

Background: In-transit recurrence is a unique and uncommon pattern of treatment failure in patients with melanoma. Little information exists concerning the incidence, predictors, and natural history of in-transit disease since the introduction of sentinel lymph node biopsy (SLNB).

Methods: Between 1991 and 2001, 1395 patients with primary melanoma underwent SLNB.

Implications of lymphatic drainage to unusual sentinel lymph node sites in patients with primary cutaneous melanoma.

Background: Sentinel lymphadenectomy reliably identifies the first site(s) of regional lymphatic drainage and, therefore, the most likely lymph nodes to contain occult metastasis in patients with primary cutaneous melanoma. Although in most patients lymphatic drainage from the primary melanoma first reaches a standard lymph node basin, a sentinel lymph node (SLN) may be identified in an unusual location. The objective of this study was to determine the frequency and significance of unusual sentinel lymph node drainage patterns in a large cohort of patients with primary melanoma.

[Anaplastic astrocytomas of the medulla oblongata. A rare differential diagnosis in orthostatic hypotension].

History And Physical Examination: A 39-year-old women was admitted for evaluation of dizziness and hypotension. During standing the blood pressure dropped from 130/80 to 80/40 mmHg. Ten weeks before admission she had recurrent cerebral convulsions.

First year after head and neck cancer: quality of life.

Purpose: Treatment regimens for head and neck cancer patients profoundly affect several quality-of-life domains. Rehabilitative needs have been identified through cross-sectional analyses; however, few studies have prospectively assessed quality of life, included assessment of psychosocial variables, and identified predictors of long-term follow-up.

Participants And Methods: The present study addresses these limitations through a prospective assessment of 105 patients with a newly diagnosed first primary squamous cell carcinoma of the oral cavity, pharynx, or larynx.

[Adult-onset Still's disease. Differential diagnosis in recurrent pharyngitis, fever of unknown original and excessive hyperferritinemia].

History And Physical Examination: Six weeks before admission a 43-year old previously healthy woman got right-sided pharyngitis, accompanied with Herpes labialis and oral candidiasis. Two weeks later she travelled to a holiday in the Caribbean. During the first week of holiday she developed pharyngitis again, this time accompanied with fever and arthralgies.

Smoking withdrawal and relapse in head and neck cancer patients.

Background: Smoking withdrawal and relapse were characterized among newly diagnosed head and neck cancer patients participating in a physician-delivered smoking cessation intervention.

Methods: Patients completed questionnaires at baseline, 1, 6, and 12 months following intervention delivery.

Results: Significant baseline predictors of smoking relapse included medical treatment (XRT versus surgical treatment), stage of change/readiness to quit (precontemplators), age of initiation (younger), and greater addiction (smoking View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Extracellular matrix structure after heart transplantation.

Following heart transplantation remodeling of the donor heart causes changes in the extracellular myocardial matrix. We investigated 20 right ventricular endomyocardial biopsies taken 17+/-4 days (group I, n=9) and 63+/-13 days (group II, n=11) after heart transplantation from 16 patients transplanted for end-stage cardiomyopathy (15 dilated/1 ischemic). Immunohistochemical staining for collagen I, collagen III, collagen IV, and fibronectin was used.

Variations of segmental endothelium-dependent and endothelium-independent vasomotor tone after cardiac transplantation (qualitative changes in endothelial function).

Endothelial dysfunction is a common phenomenon after cardiac transplantation. However, qualitative differences in endothelial vasoregulation at different coronary segments and at different postoperative times have rarely been explored. To uncover the functional variations of endothelium responses we infused the endothelium-dependent vasodilator acetyl-choline (50 micrograms) followed by the endothelium-independent vasodilator 3-morpholinosydnonimine (SIN-1) (1 mg; 16 patients) or nitroglycerin (0.

[Evaluation of the sympathetic nervous system in silent ischemia with 123I-metaiodobenzylguanidine (MIBG)].

Aim: Examination of the integrity of the sympathetic nervous system in patients with angiographically proven coronary artery disease and ECG documented asymptomatic ST-segment depression.

Method: Stress and rest myocardial perfusion scintigraphy using either Thallium-201 or 99mTc-isonitrile was performed in SPECT technique in order to localize ischemia or scar associated perfusion defects. 15 min and 4 h p.

Endothelium-dependent and endothelium-independent vasomotion in large coronary arteries and in the microcirculation after cardiac transplantation.

Endothelium-dependent and endothelium-independent vasodilation of the epicardial conduit vessels and the microcirculatory coronary vessels was investigated with cumulative doses of acetylcholine (ACh 50 micrograms and 100 micrograms i.c.), nitroglycerin (0.

[Improvement in myocardial function and perfusion after recanalizing a chronic coronary artery occlusion].

The purpose of the study was to evaluate the improvement of the left ventricular ejection fraction and myocardial perfusion after recanalization of chronic coronary artery occlusions. The patients were investigated by rest and exercise radionuclide ventriculography (25/31) and rest and exercise myocardial scintigraphy (22/31). The examinations were performed 3 +/- 1 days before and within 7 days and 4 months after recanalization.

[Chronic coronary artery occlusion--age, morphology and chance of reopening. An attempt to define indications].

In chronic coronary occlusions the rate of successful reopening seems to be improved with the help of new techniques; the chance of success can be judged by the age of occlusion. Frequently this age cannot be fixed exactly. The purpose of the study was therefore to find out, whether the chance of reopening can be judged by morphology.

Rapid (24h) neutralization assay for the detection of antibodies to human cytomegalovirus using a monoclonal antibody to an HCMV early nuclear protein.

Neutralizing antibodies to human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) may play an important role during the course of an HCMV infection but yet detection with conventional methods remains difficult and time consuming. A new neutralization test has been developed basically corresponding to the known microtitre technique. A monoclonal antibody to an HCMV early nuclear protein is utilized to detect HCMV (AD169) infected fibroblasts by biotin/streptavidin-enhanced immunoperoxidase staining.

Detection of cytomegalovirus in bronchial lavage and urine using a monoclonal antibody to an HCMV early nuclear protein.

Laboratory diagnosis of 24 cases of human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) infection in patients with the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome, renal transplant recipients and premature infants was achieved. These results were obtained by a rapid, sensitive and versatile HCMV-antigen detection method, which combined cell culture and immunoperoxidase staining with a monoclonal antibody to an HCMV "early" nuclear protein. The results were compared with HCMV isolation by the conventional cell culture method.