Background: Due to the low mutational testing rate in patients with Gastrointestinal Stromal Tumors (GIST), The Life Raft Group (LRG), a non-profit organization that provides support, advocacy and conducts research for patients with GIST, analyzed various factors that may have an impact on patients' ability to receive mutational testing.
Methods: A survey about mutational testing for patients with GIST or their caregivers, was conducted in June 2020. The survey, sent to 1004 GIST patients and caregivers through email, was promoted through social media with instructions to contact the LRG to participate. The survey was designed by the LRG Patient Registry Department. Members of the LRG, regardless of Patient Registry status, were eligible to participate.
Results: A total of 295 patients/caregivers participated in this study (response rate: 29.4%). The percentage of patients who indicated they had received mutational testing was much higher in this survey (80%) than in the general GIST community (26.7%). Several reasons were cited for having a test, including: "My doctor ordered/suggested that I have it done" (54%); "The Life Raft Group advised/suggested I have it done" (25%); "I asked my doctor to have it done" (22%); "I had it done as part of a clinical trial" (5%); "I am not sure" (3%) and "Other" (14%). Mutational testing resulted in a treatment change in 25% of cases. Patients were able to select more than one option when completing this question resulting in a percentage greater than 100.
Conclusions: The LRG membership is voluntary and proactive; patients who join are more likely to participate in surveys and mutational testing, as well as more likely to have a GIST specialist. Mutational testing can influence understanding of a patient's GIST and the treatment best suited to each case. These are extremely important findings, as it helps ensure that patients are on the proper treatment, which should lead to better outcomes.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12876-022-02548-8 | DOI Listing |
PLoS One
January 2025
Veterinary School, Federal University of Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil.
Salmonella Dublin is a serovar that causes severe infections and cattle. Despite the importance of this agent, research on achieving its elimination from dairy farms is limited, which complicates risk mitigation and control efforts. This study thus aimed to assess the prevalence of S.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPLoS Pathog
January 2025
Division of Microbiology and Immunology, Emory National Primate Research Center, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia, United States of America.
The continued evolution of SARS-CoV-2 variants capable of subverting vaccine and infection-induced immunity suggests the advantage of a broadly protective vaccine against betacoronaviruses (β-CoVs). Recent studies have isolated monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) from SARS-CoV-2 recovered-vaccinated donors capable of neutralizing many variants of SARS-CoV-2 and other β-CoVs. Many of these mAbs target the conserved S2 stem region of the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein, rather than the receptor binding domain contained within S1 primarily targeted by current SARS-CoV-2 vaccines.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFGenome Biol Evol
January 2025
Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, University of California-Merced, Merced, CA 95343.
Eukaryotic genome size varies considerably, even among closely related species. The causes of this variation are unclear, but weak selection against supposedly costly "extra" genomic sequences has been central to the debate for over 50 years. The mutational hazard hypothesis, which focuses on the increased mutation rate to null alleles in superfluous sequences, is particularly influential, though challenging to test.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFOsteoporos Int
January 2025
Hospital del Mar Research Institute, Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red de Fragilidad y Envejecimiento Saludable (CIBERFES), Barcelona, Spain.
A 29-year-old Spanish Caucasian man, without relevant family history, was attended in our unit due to an undiagnosed skeletal dysplasia associated with low bone mass and several fragility fractures throughout his childhood and adolescence. DXA exams throughout his life showed very low BMD values; currently, his spinal and femoral neck T-scores were - 4.3 and - 3.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMov Disord Clin Pract
January 2025
Sorbonne Université, Institut du Cerveau-Paris Brain Institute-ICM, Hôpital de la Salpêtrière, INSERM, CNRS, Paris, France.
Background: Parkinson's disease (PD) is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder characterized by motor and nonmotor symptoms, with a significant genetic component. Early-onset Parkinson's disease (EOPD), manifesting before age 45, is often linked to mutations in genes such as PARK2, PINK1, and PARK7, the latter coding for the protein DJ-1.
Objective: We present the first reported cases of EOPD carrying a previously undescribed homozygous PARK7 mutation, p.
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