Circulating cell-free DNA variables as marker of ovarian cancer patients: A pilot study.

Background: Minimal invasive blood-based molecular markers are evaluated as promising biomarkers in malignant diseases these days.

Objective: In this pilot study, we investigated the potential of cell-free DNA (cfDNA) concentration and cell-free DNA Integrity (cfDI) as blood-based diagnostic markers for ovarian cancer patients in a retrospective study cohort.

Methods: cfDNA concentration and cfDI were determined in the plasma of 37 ovarian cancer patients and 28 healthy controls, by measuring ALU and LINE1 repetitive DNA elements using quantitative real-time PCR.

Management of brain metastasis in a patient with advanced epithelial ovarian carcinoma by gamma-knife radiosurgery.

Introduction: Brain metastases from epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) are rare events. We present a rare case of single ovarian cancer metastasis to the brain treated with gamma-knife radiosurgery (GKRS).

Case Outline: A 65-year-old woman with advanced EOC presented with severe neurologic symptoms.

Parasitism of Trombidium brevimanum larvae on agrobiont linyphiid spiders from Germany.

An experiment on three differently-managed agricultural fields in Ahlum, Germany, which aimed at establishing the impact of different management systems on the biodiversity of predators and decomposers, yielded a significant number of spiders parasitized by larvae of Trombidium brevimanum (Actinotrichida, Parasitengona, Trombidiidae). Spider data from the whole sampling period (September 2010-July 2012), indicated that ectoparasitic larvae were recorded only on spiders in pitfall traps in the period of June-July 2011. In this period, only eight species of Linyphiidae--out of 42 species assigned to nine spider families recorded from the study area--were parasitized by mites; considerable levels of parasitism were recorded on Erigone atra, E.

Regional tritrophic relationship patterns of five aphid parasitoid species (Hymenoptera: Braconidae: Aphidiinae) in agroecosystem-dominated landscapes of southeastern Europe.

A regional survey of the complex tritrophic associations (parasitoid-aphid-plant) of aphid parasitoids (Hymenoptera: Braconidae: Aphidiinae) was carried out to determine and explore the patterns of those associations in various types of environments. Here, we present trophic relationship patterns of the five aphid parasitoid species in crop and noncrop habitats in southeastern Europe, and we contrast them in a regional (Mediterranean [MED] versus continental [CNT]) context. In total, 79 aphid host taxa were identified in this survey.