Cytoreduction surgery (CRS) with hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy (HIPEC) as treatment choice of metastatic Urachal carcinoma.

Introduction: Urachal carcinoma accounts for approximately 0.01 % of all adult malignancies and 1 % of bladder cancers. Its prognosis remains poor, with a 5-year overall survival rate of less than 50 %.

Anti-Carbamylated Protein (Anti-CarP) Antibodies in Patients Evaluated for Suspected Rheumatoid Arthritis.

(1) Background: Anti-carbamylated protein (CarP) antibodies have been studied as novel markers to aid in the diagnosis and prognosis of rheumatoid arthritis. (2) Methods: A total of 265 samples were included in the evaluation, for which 98 had results for anti-cyclic citrullinated peptide (CCP), 86 for rheumatoid factor (RF), and 212 for 14-3-3 eta protein. Anti-CarP antibodies were measured using a fetal calf serum-based single-step assay (research use only, Inova Diagnostics, San Diego, CA).

Staged treatment for substantial bilateral calcium carbonate nephrolithiasis in vegan patient.

Calcium carbonate (CaCO3), or calcite, stones average 0.15% of annual nephrolithiasis cases. The authors report a 53 year old female, following a 15 year vegan diet, presenting with left flank pain and later found to have bilateral extensive staghorn renal calculi requiring multiple procedures over the course of months.

Shift Work, Chronotype, and Melatonin Rhythm in Nurses.

Background: Previous studies associated night-shift work with melatonin disruption, with mixed evidence regarding the modulating effects of chronotype (i.e., diurnal preference).

Automated Processing and Evaluation of Anti-Nuclear Antibody Indirect Immunofluorescence Testing.

Indirect immunofluorescence (IIF) is considered by the American College of Rheumatology (ACR) and the international consensus on ANA patterns (ICAP) the gold standard for the screening of anti-nuclear antibodies (ANA). As conventional IIF is labor intensive, time-consuming, subjective, and poorly standardized, there have been ongoing efforts to improve the standardization of reagents and to develop automated platforms for assay incubation, microscopy, and evaluation. In this study, the workflow and performance characteristics of a fully automated ANA IIF system (Sprinter XL, EUROPattern Suite, IFA 40: HEp-20-10 cells) were compared to a manual approach using visual microscopy with a filter device for single-well titration and to technologist reading.