Skin diseases among the tribal population of Kerala: the challenges and way forward.

Background: Kerala has a history of achievements in health through acting on the distal social determinants, but certain communities like tribals were pushed back from the stream of social development and health achievements. Subsequently, the lifestyle and the poor living conditions of tribes make them more prone to several diseases including skin diseases. However, neither the burden nor the situation of the same in the tribal population in several parts including Kerala is seldom assessed.

Noncommunicable disease risk behaviors and protective factors among children in Samoa: Retrospective trend analysis of global school-based health surveys in 2011 and 2017.

Pacific Island countries experience a high prevalence of noncommunicable diseases (NCDs), which may be prevented by reducing risk behaviors and strengthening protective factors in childhood and adolescence. To better inform preventative interventions, our objective was to use publicly available data from the Global School-based Student Health Survey (GSHS), to provide cross-sectional and trend estimates for the prevalence of NCD risk and protective factors among school-aged children in 2011 and 2017 in Samoa. Two waves of cross-sectional data included 4,373 children (51.

Dermoscopy as a Tool for Identifying Potentially Metastatic Thin Melanoma: A Clinical-Dermoscopic and Histopathological Case-Control Study.

Despite being early-stage tumors, thin cutaneous melanomas contribute significantly to mortality and have a rising incidence. A retrospective case-control study was performed to identify clinical-dermoscopic and histopathological variables linked to local and distant metastases in melanomas ≤0.8 mm.

Perineural invasion score system and clinical outcomes in resected pancreatic cancer patients.

Background/objectives: Perineural invasion (PNI), classified according to its presence or absence in tumor specimens, is recognized as a poor prognostic factor in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) patients. Herein, we identified five histological features of PNI and investigated their impact on survival outcomes of PDAC resected patients.

Methods: Five histopathological features of PNI (diameter, number, site, sheath involvement, and mitotic figures within perineural invasion) were combined in an additional final score (ranging from 0 to 8), and clinical data of PDAC patients were retrospectively analyzed.

Cutaneous and Visceral Leishmaniasis Caused by the Same Zymodeme of Leishmania donovani in Kerala, India.

The tribal population in and around the Western Ghats region of India is affected by both cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) and visceral leishmaniasis (VL) with typical clinical symptoms. In this study, we recorded and analyzed seven CL and three VL cases from this emerging belt. All the cases were found as autochthonous transmission.

Spatial Proximity and Relative Distribution of Tumor-Infiltrating Lymphocytes and Macrophages Predict Survival in Melanoma.

Tumor microenvironment plays a crucial role in primary cutaneous melanoma (CM) progression. Although the role of tumor-infiltrating lymphocyte (TIL) density has been known for a long time, its spatial distribution and impact with or without tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs) remain controversial. Herein, we investigated spatial proximity between tumor cells and immune cells in 113 primary CM and its correlation with disease-free (DFS) and overall survival (OS).

Tumor-Infiltrating Lymphocyte Recognition in Primary Melanoma by Deep Learning Convolutional Neural Network.

The presence of tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) is associated with a favorable prognosis of primary melanoma (PM). Recently, artificial intelligence (AI)-based approach in digital pathology was proposed for the standardized assessment of TILs on hematoxylin and eosin-stained whole slide images (WSIs). Herein, the study applied a new convolution neural network (CNN) analysis of PM WSIs to automatically assess the infiltration of TILs and extract a TIL score.

Impact of second opinion pathology review in the diagnosis and management of atypical melanocytic lesions: A prospective study of the Italian Melanoma Intergroup (IMI) and EORTC Melanoma Group.

Background: The clinical value of an expert pathological review in patients with an atypical melanocytic lesion diagnosis remains unclear. Herein, we evaluate its impact in a prospective clinical study.

Methods: Patients with newly diagnosed or suspected atypical melanocytic proliferations and challenging skin tumours were reviewed prospectively by a specialised dermatopathologist through the nationwide 'Second Opinion Platform' of the Italian Melanoma Intergroup (IMI) network.

Clinical, histopathological and molecular features of dedifferentiated melanomas: An EORTC Melanoma Group Retrospective Analysis.

Purpose: Dedifferentiated melanoma (DedM) poses significant diagnostic challenges. We aimed to investigate the clinical, histopathological and molecular features of DedM. Methylation signature (MS) and copy number profiling (CNP) were carried out in a subgroup of cases.

Melatonin integrates multidimensional regulation of Na/K-ATPase in ionocytes and promotes stress and ease response in hypoxia-induced air-breathing fish: lessons from integrative approach.

As circadian regulator, melatonin is involved in many physiological processes including ionosmotic regulation in fishes. Na/K-ATPase (NKA), an ubiquitous Na/K transporter in ionocyte epithelia that drives electrochemical Na gradients and systemic osmotic integration, is a target of stress in fish. However, it is not certain how melatonin regulates NKA functions in ionocyte epithelia and how it modulates the adaptive response such as stress and ease response in fish particularly in hypoxia condition.

Digital Quantification of Intratumoral CD8+ T-Cells Predicts Relapse and Unfavorable Outcome in Uveal Melanoma.

Although it is a disease that occurs mainly in the Caucasian population, uveal melanoma (UM) is the most common primary intraocular tumor in adults. Here, we used digital pathology and image analysis for the diagnosis of UM and the prediction of the prognosis. Our retrospective study included a total of 404 histopathological slides from 101 patients.

Bright-Field Multiplex Immunohistochemistry Assay for Tumor Microenvironment Evaluation in Melanoma Tissues.

The tumor microenvironment (TME) plays a crucial role in melanoma development, progression and response to treatment. As many of the most relevant TME cell phenotypes are defined by the simultaneous detection of more than two markers, the bright-field (BF) multiplex immunohistochemistry (IHC) technique has been introduced for the quantitative assessment and evaluation of the relative spatial distances between immune cells and melanoma cells. In the current study, we aimed to validate BF multiplex IHC techniques in the Ventana Discovery Ultra Immunostainer to be applied to the evaluation of the TME in variably pigmented melanoma tissues.

NTRK Gene Fusion Detection in Atypical Spitz Tumors.

Atypical Spitz tumors (AST) deviate from stereotypical Spitz nevi for one or more atypical features and are now regarded as an intermediate category of melanocytic tumors with uncertain malignant potential. Activating fusions elicit oncogenic events in Spitz lesions and are targetable with kinase inhibitors. However, their prevalence among ASTs and the optimal approach for their detection is yet to be determined.

Overexpression of helper T cell type 2-related molecules in the skin of patients with eosinophilic dermatosis of hematologic malignancy.

Background: Eosinophilic dermatosis of hematologic malignancy (EDHM) is a rare dermatosis associated with blood tumors.

Objective: To characterize the expression of T-cell and B-cell markers and pruritogenic mediators in EDHM skin.

Methods: Immunohistochemical and immunofluorescence analysis were performed in 12 skin samples of EDHM, 11 samples of bullous pemphigoid (BP), and 5 samples from healthy controls (HC).

NGS-Based Analysis of Atypical Deep Penetrating Nevi.

Deep penetrating nevi (DPNs) are rare melanocytic neoplasms consisting of pigmented spindled or epithelioid melanocytes with a distinctive wedge-shaped configuration showing activation of the WNT pathway, with unusual cyto-architectural features. It is unclear whether they show a distinct genomic profile associated with a diverse metastatic potential. We describe herein a cohort of 21 atypical DPNs analyzed by next-generation sequencing using the Ion AmpliSeq™ Comprehensive Cancer Panel.

Digital Immunophenotyping Predicts Disease Free and Overall Survival in Early Stage Melanoma Patients.

Background: the prognostic significance of tumor infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) in intermediate/thick primary cutaneous melanoma (PCM) remains controversial, partially because conventional evaluation is not reliable, due to inter-observer variability and diverse scoring methods. We aimed to assess the prognostic impact of the density and spatial distribution of immune cells in early stage intermediate/thick PCM.

Materials And Methods: digital image acquisition and quantitative analysis of tissue immune biomarkers (CD3, CD4, CD8, CD68, PD-L1, CD163, FOX-P3, and PD-1) was carried out in a training cohort, which included patients with primary PCM ≥ 2 mm diagnosed, treated, and followed-up prospectively in three Italian centers.

Are childbirth location and mode of delivery associated with favorable early breastfeeding practices in hard to reach areas of Bangladesh?

Background: Early initiation of breastfeeding within one hour of birth (EIBF) and no prelacteal feeding are WHO recommended practices for improving maternal and newborn health outcomes. Globally, EIBF can avert around 22% of newborn death. In recent years, Bangladesh has experienced increasing facility delivery coverage and cesarean section rates.

TRPA1 Expression in Synovial Sarcoma May Support Neural Origin.

Synovial sarcoma (SS) is a malignant mesenchymal soft tissue neoplasm. Despite its name, the cells of origin are not synovial cells, but rather neural, myogenic, or multipotent mesenchymal stem cells have been proposed as possible cells originators. Unlike other sarcomas, an unusual presentation of long-term pain at the tumor site has been documented, but the exact mechanisms have not been fully clarified yet.

Recognition of Cutaneous Melanoma on Digitized Histopathological Slides Artificial Intelligence Algorithm.

Increasing incidence of skin cancer combined with a shortage of dermatopathologists has increased the workload of pathology departments worldwide. In addition, the high intraobserver and interobserver variability in the assessment of melanocytic skin lesions can result in underestimated or overestimated diagnosis of melanoma. Thus, the development of new techniques for skin tumor diagnosis is essential to assist pathologists to standardize diagnoses and plan accurate patient treatment.

Hypoxia Stress Modifies Na/K-ATPase, H/K-ATPase, [Formula: see text], and Isoform Expression in the Brain of Immune-Challenged Air-Breathing Fish.

Fishes are equipped to sense stressful stimuli and are able to respond to environmental stressor such as hypoxia with varying pattern of stress response. The functional attributes of brain to hypoxia stress in relation to ion transport and its interaction during immune challenge have not yet delineated in fish. We, therefore, explored the pattern of ion transporter functions and messenger RNA (mRNA) expression of α1-subunit isoforms of Na/K-ATPase (NKA) in the brain segments, namely, prosencephalon (PC), mesencephalon (MC), and metencephalon (MeC) in an obligate air-breathing fish exposed either to hypoxia stress (30 minutes forced immersion in water) or challenged with zymosan treatment (25-200 ng g for 24 hours) or both.

Efficacy and Safety of Extracranial Vein Angioplasty in Multiple Sclerosis: A Randomized Clinical Trial.

Importance: Chronic cerebrospinal venous insufficiency (CCSVI) is characterized by restricted venous outflow from the brain and spinal cord. Whether this condition is associated with multiple sclerosis (MS) and whether venous percutaneous transluminal angioplasty (PTA) is beneficial in persons with MS and CCSVI is controversial.

Objective: To determine the efficacy and safety of venous PTA in patients with MS and CCSVI.