PROTEUS Study: A Prospective Randomized Controlled Trial Evaluating the Use of Artificial Intelligence in Stress Echocardiography.

Background: Stress echocardiography (SE) is one of the most commonly used diagnostic imaging tests for coronary artery disease (CAD) but requires clinicians to visually assess scans to identify patients who may benefit from invasive investigation and treatment. EchoGo Pro provides an automated interpretation of SE based on artificial intelligence (AI) image analysis. In reader studies, use of EchoGo Pro when making clinical decisions improves diagnostic accuracy and confidence.

Soluble guanylate cyclase signalling mediates etoposide resistance in progressing small cell lung cancer.

Small cell lung cancer (SCLC) has a 5-year survival rate of <7%. Rapid emergence of acquired resistance to standard platinum-etoposide chemotherapy is common and improved therapies are required for this recalcitrant tumour. We exploit six paired pre-treatment and post-chemotherapy circulating tumour cell patient-derived explant (CDX) models from donors with extensive stage SCLC to investigate changes at disease progression after chemotherapy.

TIAM1-RAC1 promote small-cell lung cancer cell survival through antagonizing Nur77-induced BCL2 conformational change.

Small-cell lung cancer (SCLC), an aggressive neuroendocrine malignancy, has limited treatment options beyond platinum-based chemotherapy, whereafter acquired resistance is rapid and common. By analyzing expression data from SCLC tumors, patient-derived models, and established cell lines, we show that the expression of TIAM1, an activator of the small GTPase RAC1, is associated with a neuroendocrine gene program. TIAM1 depletion or RAC1 inhibition reduces viability and tumorigenicity of SCLC cells by increasing apoptosis associated with conversion of BCL2 from its pro-survival to pro-apoptotic function via BH3 domain exposure.

Ventricular Changes in Patients with Acute COVID-19 Infection: Follow-up of the World Alliance Societies of Echocardiography (WASE-COVID) Study.

Background: COVID-19 infection is known to cause a wide array of clinical chronic sequelae, but little is known regarding the long-term cardiac complications. We aim to report echocardiographic follow-up findings and describe the changes in left (LV) and right ventricular (RV) function that occur following acute infection.

Methods: Patients enrolled in the World Alliance Societies of Echocardiography-COVID study with acute COVID-19 infection were asked to return for a follow-up transthoracic echocardiogram.

Echocardiographic Correlates of In-Hospital Death in Patients with Acute COVID-19 Infection: The World Alliance Societies of Echocardiography (WASE-COVID) Study.

Background: The novel severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 virus, which has led to the global coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) pandemic is known to adversely affect the cardiovascular system through multiple mechanisms. In this international, multicenter study conducted by the World Alliance Societies of Echocardiography, we aim to determine the clinical and echocardiographic phenotype of acute cardiac disease in COVID-19 patients, to explore phenotypic differences in different geographic regions across the world, and to identify parameters associated with in-hospital mortality.

Methods: We studied 870 patients with acute COVID-19 infection from 13 medical centers in four world regions (Asia, Europe, United States, Latin America) who had undergone transthoracic echocardiograms.

Effect of oxaliplatin plus 5-fluorouracil or capecitabine on circulating and imaging biomarkers in patients with metastatic colorectal cancer: a prospective biomarker study.

Background: Patients with metastatic colorectal cancer are treated with cytotoxic chemotherapy supplemented by molecularly targeted therapies. There is a critical need to define biomarkers that can optimise the use of these therapies to maximise efficacy and avoid unnecessary toxicity. However, it is important to first define the changes in potential biomarkers following cytotoxic chemotherapy alone.

Influence of abiraterone and enzalutamide on body composition in patients with metastatic castration resistant prostate cancer.

Introduction: Loss of skeletal muscle (SM) and gain of subcutaneous fat (SCF) are known side-effects of androgen-deprivation in treatment of prostate cancer. Scarce data is available concerning the effects of abiraterone/pred (ABI) on body composition and no published data regarding enzalutamide (ENZA). Our objective was to analyse the effects of ENZA on SM/SCF and to compare the results with ABI in patients with metastatic castration-resistant prostate-cancer (mCRPC).

Brief report on the clinical characteristics of patients whose samples generate small cell lung cancer circulating tumour cell derived explants.

Introduction: Small cell lung cancer (SCLC) has a dismal prognosis. Circulating tumour cells (CTCs) can be used to generate CTC derived explants (CDX) for the study of SCLC biology and the development of novel therapeutics. We investigated whether there are demographic or clinical predictors of the success of CDX generation, and whether CDX models are representative of the SCLC patient population.

Profiling of Circulating Free DNA Using Targeted and Genome-wide Sequencing in Patients with SCLC.

Introduction: SCLC accounts for approximately 250,000 deaths worldwide each year. Acquisition of adequate tumor biopsy samples is challenging, and liquid biopsies present an alternative option for patient stratification and response monitoring.

Methods: We applied whole genome next-generation sequencing to circulating free DNA (cfDNA) from 39 patients with limited-stage (LS) SCLC and 30 patients with extensive-stage SCLC to establish genome-wide copy number aberrations and also performed targeted mutation analysis of 110 SCLC associated genes.

Status and potential of bacterial genomics for public health practice: a scoping review.

Background: Next-generation sequencing (NGS) is increasingly being translated into routine public health practice, affecting the surveillance and control of many pathogens. The purpose of this scoping review is to identify and characterize the recent literature concerning the application of bacterial pathogen genomics for public health practice and to assess the added value, challenges, and needs related to its implementation from an epidemiologist's perspective.

Methods: In this scoping review, a systematic PubMed search with forward and backward snowballing was performed to identify manuscripts in English published between January 2015 and September 2018.

Analysis of circulating cell-free DNA identifies KRAS copy number gain and mutation as a novel prognostic marker in Pancreatic cancer.

Serial biopsy of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC), to chart tumour evolution presents a significant challenge. We examined the utility of circulating free DNA (cfDNA) as a minimally invasive approach across a cohort of 55 treatment-naïve patients with PDAC; 31 with metastatic and 24 with locally advanced disease. Somatic mutations in cfDNA were detected using next generation sequencing in 15/24 (62.

The genetic structure of the Belgian population.

Background: National and international efforts like the 1000 Genomes Project are leading to increasing insights in the genetic structure of populations worldwide. Variation between different populations necessitates access to population-based genetic reference datasets. These data, which are important not only in clinical settings but also to potentiate future transitions towards a more personalized public health approach, are currently not available for the Belgian population.

Multiple Locus Variable number of tandem repeat Analysis: A molecular genotyping tool for Paenibacillus larvae.

American Foulbrood, caused by Paenibacillus larvae, is the most severe bacterial disease of honey bees (Apis mellifera). To perform genotyping of P. larvae in an epidemiological context, there is a need of a fast and cheap method with a high resolution.

First detection of Paenibacillus larvae the causative agent of American Foulbrood in a Ugandan honeybee colony.

Paenibacillus larvae is a highly contagious and often lethal widely distributed pathogen of honeybees, Apis mellifera but has not been reported in eastern Africa to date. We investigated the presence of P. larvae in the eastern and western highland agro-ecological zones of Uganda by collecting brood and honey samples from 67 honeybee colonies in two sampling occasions and cultivated them for P.

Factors influencing the prevalence and infestation levels of Varroa destructor in honeybee colonies in two highland agro-ecological zones of Uganda.

Varroa mites are ecto-parasites of honeybees and are a threat to the beekeeping industry. We identified the haplotype of Varroa mites and evaluated potential factors that influence their prevalence and infestation levels in the eastern and western highland agro-ecological zones of Uganda. This was done by collecting samples of adult worker bees between December 2014 and September 2015 in two sampling moments.

Differential diagnosis of the honey bee trypanosomatids Crithidia mellificae and Lotmaria passim.

Trypanosomatids infecting honey bees have been poorly studied with molecular methods until recently. After the description of Crithidia mellificae (Langridge and McGhee, 1967) it took about forty years until molecular data for honey bee trypanosomatids became available and were used to identify and describe a new trypanosomatid species from honey bees, Lotmaria passim (Evans and Schwarz, 2014). However, an easy method to distinguish them without sequencing is not yet available.