Publications by authors named "Teklu Legesse"

Importance: African American men experience greater prostate cancer incidence and mortality than White men. Growing literature supports associations of neighborhood disadvantage, which disproportionately affects African American men, with aggressive prostate cancer; chronic stress and downstream biological impacts (eg, increased inflammation) may contribute to these associations.

Objective: To examine whether several neighborhood disadvantage metrics are associated with prostate tumor RNA expression of stress-related genes.

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Although uterine leiomyosarcoma (ULMS) is a rare disease, it accounts for a significant proportion uterine cancer-related deaths due to frequent metastasis and chemoresistance. The WHO currently recognizes the conventional (spindle), myxoid, and epithelioid variants of ULMS, the latter of which is the rarest, least understood, and cited as clinically more aggressive than the other variants. Descriptions of the histologic features of epithelioid ULMS are extremely limited, and are absent from the cytology literature which has only published descriptions of conventional ULMS or epithelioid variants of other LMS primaries.

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Background: Prostate biopsy (Bx) sampling-based diagnosis of prostate cancer (PCa) has well-described inaccuracy when compared against whole gland analysis upon prostatectomy. Although upgrading of PCa Grade Group (GG) is often described, the occurrence and prognostic implications of downgrading PCa GG at the time of radical prostatectomy (RP) is less understood. Our objective was to evaluate whether downgrading PCa GG at the time of RP was associated with future tumor behavior.

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A 57-year-old man developed a mesothelial proliferation in the peritoneum, several months after he was diagnosed with biopsy-proven epithelioid mesothelioma of the pleura and having undergone several treatments with checkpoint inhibitor immunotherapy. The differential diagnosis was metastatic mesothelioma from the lung primary, versus a reactive process. A diagnosis of atypical mesothelial proliferation was made.

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Purpose Of Review: The aim of the review is to provide an update on the current and evolving approaches to diagnosing the challenging clinical entity of renal oncocytoma.

Recent Findings: Renal oncocytoma is being increasingly recognized among patients with renal masses, and it can be found in up to 50% of benign small renal masses (SRMs) less than 4 cm. Renal oncocytomas have benign clinical biology but distinguishing them from some of the other renal masses with more malignant potential can be challenging due to overlapping imaging, histologic, and immunophenotypic characteristics.

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Sarcomatoid mesotheliomas can be challenging to diagnose on small biopsy specimens, where limited material may preclude definitive assessment of invasion and lesional cells can have relatively bland cytology with no mesothelial marker expression. We report a case of a patient who presented with a pleural effusion and had subsequent pleural biopsy that showed a bland, uniform spindle cell proliferation in a mildly myxoid background. There was little if any collagen; no chest wall, soft tissue, or fat; and mesothelial markers were negative.

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Immune checkpoint inhibitors such as nivolumab increase the T-cell destruction of malignancies but can also trigger a broad variety of immune-related adverse events (irAEs). Colitis as an irAE is well-documented, but upper gastrointestinal tract involvement is primarily unrecognized. We present a patient who developed gastritis as an irAE after multiple cycles of nivolumab and initially responded well to steroid therapy but then developed superimposed cytomegalovirus infection.

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Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV)-related Opportunistic Infections (OI), including pneumonia (PCP), have become much less commonplace with anti-retroviral therapy (ART). Despite this, OIs are still common and it is important to remain vigilant for their presence and be aware of how ART and OI chemoprophylaxis may lead to atypical disease presentations. We present the case of a 51-year-old woman with HIV and CD4+ T helper lymphocytes cell count > 200 cells/ul on both ART and trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole prophylaxis who presented with cavitating lung masses, mediastinal lymphadenopathy and pleural effusions.

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Objectives: The nested variant of urothelial carcinoma (NVUC) is a rare bladder tumor that may possess a luminal molecular phenotype. We sought to determine whether a small immunohistochemical (IHC) panel using common surrogates for molecular phenotypes would reliably classify a cohort of pure NVUC cases.

Methods: IHC staining with a panel composed of markers for basal subtypes (CK5/6, CK14) and luminal subtypes (FOXA1, GATA3) was performed on pure small NVUC cases (n = 23) and 5 large NVUC cases (n = 5).

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Nested variant of urothelial carcinoma is a rare variant of urothelial carcinoma morphologically characterized by infiltrative nests of cytologically bland urothelial cells. It is widely recognized that nested variant of urothelial carcinoma can closely mimic von Brunn nests. However, nested variant of urothelial carcinoma with tubule formation can also resemble nephrogenic adenoma, where immunohistochemical positivity for PAX8 has been used to establish the diagnosis of nephrogenic adenoma.

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The microtubule-stabilizing agent docetaxel in combination with gemcitabine represents one of the most effective regimens against the aggressive gynecologic tumor leiomyosarcoma (LMS). Upregulation of class III β-tubulin has previously been shown to confer taxane resistance in a variety of human cancers. Prostaglandin E receptor EP4 is linked to progression of a variety of human cancers and may represent a novel target for tumor inhibition in LMS.

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Background: Thyroid fine-needle aspiration (FNA) plays a key role in triaging thyroid nodules. Yet many cases are assigned to indeterminate categories. The new category "noninvasive follicular thyroid neoplasm with papillary-like features" (NIFTP) complicates thyroid cytology.

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Introduction: An international panel recently recommended reclassification of non-invasive follicular variant of papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) to non-invasive follicular thyroid neoplasm with papillary-like nuclear features (NIFTP). NIFTPs have little or no risk of recurrence and can be treated with lobectomy alone. Preoperative distinction of NIFTP from PTC will help avoid overtreatment.

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Background: Glioblastoma (GBM) is a difficult to treat brain cancer that nearly uniformly recurs, and recurrent tumors are largely therapy resistant. Our prior work has demonstrated an important role for the tumor necrosis factor-like weak inducer of apoptosis (TWEAK) receptor fibroblast growth factor-inducible 14 (Fn14) in GBM pathobiology. In this study, we investigated Fn14 expression in recurrent GBM and in the setting of temozolomide (TMZ) resistance.

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We report the case of a 49-year-old white man with a chromophobe renal cell carcinoma associated with sarcomatoid differentiation, an uncommon yet an aggressive form of dedifferentiated renal cell carcinoma. In opposite to the conventional renal cell carcinoma, which may not always demonstrate avid FDG activity, the sarcomatoid differentiated chromophobe renal cell carcinoma shows intense FDG uptake on PET. This case highlights the role of FDG PET/CT in staging and restaging this type of rare renal cell carcinoma.

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The TNF receptor superfamily member Fn14 is overexpressed by many solid tumor types, including glioblastoma (GBM), the most common and lethal form of adult brain cancer. GBM is notable for a highly infiltrative growth pattern and several groups have reported that high Fn14 expression levels can increase tumor cell invasiveness. We reported previously that the mesenchymal and proneural GBM transcriptomic subtypes expressed the highest and lowest levels of Fn14 mRNA, respectively.

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Background: Knowledge of topographic skin thickness is important to plastic surgery of the face as it may guide resection and restoration in oncologic, aesthetic, and reconstructive procedures.

Objective: The purpose of this study is to report the relative thickness of the face throughout 39 distinct subunits.

Methods: Full-thickness punch biopsy samples were obtained at 39 predetermined anatomic locations of the face from 10 human cadaveric heads.

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Context: Dermatologic diseases are extremely common among the Ethiopian population and are a significant cause of morbidity. However, few studies exist in the literature that describe the incidence and clinical and histologic features of biopsied cutaneous lesions.

Objectives: To categorize the cutaneous diseases observed in skin biopsies at the All African Leprosy Rehabilitation and Training Center (ALERT) in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, and to describe the clinical and histologic features of dermatopathologic diagnoses most frequently encountered in this practice setting.

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Background: Malignant melanoma is an aggressive tumor defined by some histopathologic variables which dictate its behavior and vary in different populations. To date, no data exist on these histopathologic characteristics in Ethiopian Patients.

Objective: To describe histopathologic features of primary cutaneous melanoma in Ethiopian patients.

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