Differential Expression of VEGF-A Isoforms Is Critical for Development of Pulmonary Fibrosis.

Rationale: Fibrosis after lung injury is related to poor outcome, and idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) can be regarded as an exemplar. Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF)-A has been implicated in this context, but there are conflicting reports as to whether it is a contributory or protective factor. Differential splicing of the VEGF-A gene produces multiple functional isoforms including VEGF-Aa and VEGF-Ab, a member of the inhibitory family.

Circulating levels of anti-angiogenic VEGF-A isoform (VEGF-Axxxb) in colorectal cancer patients predicts tumour VEGF-A ratios.

Purpose: Bevacizumab as an adjunct to chemotherapy improves survival for some patients with metastatic colorectal cancer. Immunohistochemical staining of samples from the registration ECOG E3200 trial of bevacizumab with FOLFOX demonstrated that only patients with carcinomas expressing low levels of VEGF-A165b, an anti-angiogenic splice variant of the Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor family of proteins, benefited from bevacizumab treatment. To identify a more useful biomarker of response we tested the hypothesis that circulating VEGF-A165b levels correlate with immunohistochemical staining.

Multidisciplinary perspective on the management of appendiceal adenocarcinoma: case review of 10 patients from a university hospital and current considerations.

Background: Adenocarcinoma of the vermiform appendix is rare. It constitutes less than 0.5% of all gastrointestinal malignancies.

Impact of needle gauge on characterization of endobronchial ultrasound-guided transbronchial needle aspiration (EBUS-TBNA) histology samples.

Background And Objective: Endobronchial ultrasound-guided transbronchial needle aspiration (EBUS-TBNA) is a minimally invasive mediastinal node sampling technique used for lung cancer staging and diagnosis of mediastinal lesions. The four published studies assessing sampling with 21-G or 22-G needles conflict. The study objective is to evaluate the diagnostic utility of 21-G versus 22-G EBUS-TBNA needles, and the ability to subcharacterize both benign and malignant lesions using histopathological assessment only.

Nursing education and research rounds: evaluation of a webinar-based education strategy to engage nurses and support practice.

Nursing Education and Research Rounds (NEARR), a webinar-based series of continuing education presentations focused on nursing research, was developed to engage nurses in discussion about evidence-based practice. Evaluation of NEARR indicated a large majority of participants considered the information provided useful in their practice and planned to attend future NEARR sessions. Nursing professional development specialists can use this approach to support evidence-based practice.

The connective tissue changes of Crohn's disease.

Although the inflammatory pathology of Crohn's disease is manifestly its most important attribute, the connective tissue changes are important in the genesis of the more chronic features of the disease, and yet these have received little attention from clinicians, pathologists, and scientists. Fat-wrapping appears to be pathognomonic of Crohn's disease, and is an important marker of disease for surgeons. There is evidence of a complex interplay between the effector inflammatory cells of Crohn's disease and adipocytes, hyperplasia of which results in fat-wrapping.

Specificity of DOG1 (K9 clone) and protein kinase C theta (clone 27) as immunohistochemical markers of gastrointestinal stromal tumour.

Aims: DOG1 and protein kinase C (PKC) theta are both sensitive immunohistochemical markers of gastrointestinal stromal tumour (GIST). However, there are conflicting data regarding the specificity of the most commonly used PKC theta antibody (clone 27), and there are no existing data regarding the specificity of the only known commercially available DOG1 antibody (K9 clone) at the time of writing. This study's aim was to characterize the immunoreactivity patterns of both monoclonal antibodies amongst a wide range of neoplasm types including, in particular, histological mimics of GIST.