Clustering regional patterns of left ventricular longitudinal strain in systemic sclerosis-related pulmonary hypertension.

Background: Systemic sclerosis-related pulmonary hypertension (SSc-PH) is a heterogeneous disease, often complicated by concomitant left ventricular (LV) dysfunction. However, the contribution of heterogeneity in LV dysfunction is unclear. The objective in this study was to identify regional clusters of LV longitudinal strain via echocardiography to determine how subgroups of LV dysfunction contribute to mortality in SSc-PH.

Value of [F]FDG PET/CT parameters of the primary tumor in assessing overall survival in NSCLC patients with cN1-cN3 lymph nodes involvement.

Background: The aim of this retrospective study was to assess the value of F-fluoro-2-deoxy-D-glucose positron emission tomography/computed tomography ([F]FDG PET/CT parameters in cN1-cN3 non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients.

Materials And Methods: 59 consecutive patients (35 M, 24 F) with NSCLC who underwent pretreatment [F]FDG PET/CT were enrolled to this study. Several primary tumor PET parameters, including the maximum and mean standardized uptake value (SUV and SUV, the metabolic active tumor volume (MTV) and the total lesion glycolysis (TLG = MTVxSUV), were extracted and analysed.

The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on clinical staging, pathological staging and surgical management of breast cancer patients.

Background: This study analyzes the impact of the first six lockdown months during the COVID-19 pandemic on breast cancer (BC) patients at a regional cancer center in western Poland (Greater Poland region).

Materials And Methods: Patient age, clinical stage, pathological stage, surgical management, and use of neoadjuvant therapy (NT) for patients diagnosed with BC during the pandemic (March-August 2020, n = 290) were compared with pre-COVID-19 data (March-August 2019, n = 405).

Results: There were statistically significant differences in the average age (58.

The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on incidence gap in screen-detectable cancers: a cohort study in Greater Poland, Poland.

Background: The global COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on healthcare systems. This study aimed to assess the incidence gap in screening-detectable cancers in the Greater Poland (Poland) in 2020.

Materials And Methods: Data on breast, cervix uteri, and colorectal cancer cases diagnosed from 2010 to 2020 were obtained from the regional cancer registry.

ERG Regulates Lymphatic Vessel Specification Genes and Its Deficiency Impairs Wound Healing-Associated Lymphangiogenesis.

Objective: Rarefaction of blood and lymphatic vessels in the skin has been reported in systemic sclerosis (SSc) (scleroderma). E26 transformation-specific-related factor (ERG) and Friend leukemia virus-induced erythroleukemia 1 (FLI-1) are important regulators of angiogenesis, but their role in lymphatic vasculature is lesser known. The goal of this study was to determine the role of ERG and FLI-1 in postnatal lymphangiogenesis and SSc lymphatic system defects.

[F]fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography/computed tomography in combination with clinical data in predicting overall survival in non-small-cell lung cancer patients: A retrospective study.

Introduction: Positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) has an established role in evaluating patients with lung cancer. The aim of this work was to assess the predictive capability of [F]Fluorodeoxyglucose ([F]FDG) PET/CT parameters on overall survival (OS) in lung cancer patients using an artificial neural network (ANN) in parallel with conventional statistical analysis.

Methods: Retrospective analysis was performed on a group of 165 lung cancer patients (98M, 67F).

Decrease in the number of new cancer diagnoses during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic - cohort study of 3.5 million individuals in western Poland.

Introduction: The COVID-19 pandemic has considerably affected healthcare systems worldwide and is expected to influence cancer incidence, mortality, stage at diagnosis, and survival. This study aimed to assess COVID-19-related changes in cancer incidence observed in 2020 in the Greater Poland region.

Materials And Methods: Data from the Greater Poland Cancer Registry on cancer patients diagnosed between 2010 and 2020 were analysed.

Cannabis arteritis presenting with Raynaud's and digital ulcerations: a case-based review of a controversial thromboangiitis obliterans-like condition.

Thromboangiitis obliterans (TAO), or Buerger's disease, is a non-atherosclerotic inflammatory disease of the small and medium-sized arteries, veins, and nerves of the legs and arms, strongly associated with the use of tobacco products in young adults. Cannabis arteritis (CA), an entity with similar clinical and pathological features, has been described in marijuana users as a subtype of TAO. Distinction between TAO and CA is challenging, given that most patients use tobacco and marijuana products concomitantly.

Clinical characteristics and outcomes in pulmonary manifestations of systemic sclerosis: Contribution from pulmonary hypertension and interstitial lung disease severity.

Patients with systemic sclerosis complicated by both pulmonary hypertension (SSc-PH) and interstitial lung disease (SSc-PH-ILD) have poor prognosis compared to those with SSc-PH or SSc-ILD alone. Little is known of how ILD severity affects outcomes in those with SSc-PH, or how PH severity affects outcomes in those with SSc-ILD. Herein, we aimed to delineate clinical features of patients with SSc-PH and SSc-ILD and determine to what degree PH and ILD severity contribute to mortality in patients with SSc.

Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Breast Cancer Stage at Diagnosis in a Regional Cancer Center in Poland between 2019 and 2021.

The COVID-19 pandemic had a negative effect on oncology healthcare services in Poland, with a reduction in the national breast cancer (BC) screening program coverage rates. This article analyzes the impact of the pandemic on BC stage at diagnosis in a regional cancer center in Poland. Records from BC multidisciplinary team (MDT) meetings that took place in the years 2019-2021 were gathered.

FLI1 and ERG protein degradation is regulated via Cathepsin B lysosomal pathway in human dermal microvascular endothelial cells.

Objectives: Friend leukemia integration 1 and erythroblast transformation-specific, important regulators of endothelial cell homeostasis, are reduced in microvascular endothelial cells in scleroderma patients, and their deficiency has been implicated in disease pathogenesis. The goal of this study was to identify the mechanisms involved in the protein turnover of friend leukemia integration 1 and erythroblast transformation-specific in microvascular endothelial cells.

Methods: The effects of lysosome and proteosome inhibitors on friend leukemia integration 1 and erythroblast transformation-specific levels were assessed by Western blotting and capillary morphogenesis.

The role of the oncostatin M/OSM receptor β axis in activating dermal microvascular endothelial cells in systemic sclerosis.

Background: Scleroderma (SSc) is a rare autoimmune disease characterized by vascular impairment and progressive fibrosis of the skin and other organs. Oncostatin M, a member of the IL-6 family, is elevated in SSc serum and was recognized as a significant player in various stages of fibrosis. The goal of this study was to assess the contribution of the OSM/OSMRβ pathway to endothelial cell (EC) injury and activation in SSc.

Living up to the job: Confessions of a Brigadier General on the lived experiences of becoming a leader in the Air Force Nurse Corps.

Today, nurse leadership positions are more and more common. However, there have been many exemplary Nurse Leaders in the past whose contributions and sacrifices enabled nursing to transform to the leadership position it is today but have not been documented. It is important to recover and record this history so that future generations of nurses can learn from past examples in a way they cannot learn with current nursing education alone.

Reducing dysphagia with palliative 2D high-dose-rate brachytherapy improves survival in esophageal cancer.

Purpose: The goal of this study was to assess the effectiveness of dysphagia relief and overall survival in patients with advanced esophageal cancer treated with palliative high-dose-rate (HDR) brachytherapy (BT) without computed tomography-based planning.

Material And Methods: Palliative 2D HDR-BT was used to treat 93 patients with advanced or incurable esophageal cancer in a regional cancer center from October 2010 to December 2016. Before the treatment patients presented the following grades of dysphagia: 0 - 0%, I - 57%, II - 33.

Birth seasonality of childhood central nervous system tumors: Analysis of primary data from 16 Southern-Eastern European population-based registries.

Season of birth, a surrogate of seasonal variation of environmental exposures, has been associated with increased risk of several cancers. In the context of a Southern-Eastern Europe (SEE) consortium, we explored the potential association of birth seasonality with childhood (0-14 years) central nervous system (CNS) tumors. Primary CNS tumor cases (n = 6,014) were retrieved from 16 population-based SEE registries (1983-2015).

and autoantibodies define scleroderma subtypes and risk in African and European Americans and suggest a role for molecular mimicry.

Systemic sclerosis (SSc) is a clinically heterogeneous autoimmune disease characterized by mutually exclusive autoantibodies directed against distinct nuclear antigens. We examined associations in SSc and its autoantibody subsets in a large, newly recruited African American (AA) cohort and among European Americans (EA). In the AA population, the African ancestry-predominant * and * alleles were associated with overall SSc risk, and the * allele was strongly associated with the severe antifibrillarin (AFA) antibody subset of SSc (odds ratio = 7.

Klotho expression and nodal involvement as predictive factors for large cell lung carcinoma.

Introduction: Klotho has been recently described as a carcinogenesis suppressor. Large cell neuroendocrine lung carcinoma (LCNEC) is a rare, highly malignant neoplasm. In the light of increasing incidence of neuroendocrine tumours, biomarkers predicting survival are needed.