Margin involvement at prostatectomy for clinically localized prostate cancer: does a low-risk group exist?

Purpose: To determine whether additional pathology details may provide risk stratification for patients with involved surgical margins at radical prostatectomy (RP).

Methods And Materials: Eligible patients underwent RP between 2003 and 2010. Patients with preoperative prostate-specific antigen (PSA) ≥20, follow-up <12 months, lymph node or seminal vesicle involvement, or who received radiation therapy or hormone therapy prior to PSA relapse were excluded.

Iodide transport: implications for health and disease.

Disorders of the thyroid gland are among the most common conditions diagnosed and managed by pediatric endocrinologists. Thyroid hormone synthesis depends on normal iodide transport and knowledge of its regulation is fundamental to understand the etiology and management of congenital and acquired thyroid conditions such as hypothyroidism and hyperthyroidism. The ability of the thyroid to concentrate iodine is also widely used as a tool for the diagnosis of thyroid diseases and in the management and follow up of the most common type of endocrine cancers: papillary and follicular thyroid cancer.

Percutaneous pedicle screw fixation for thoracolumbar fractures.

The application of percutaneous techniques for the management of thoracolumbar fractures is gaining popularity. Short-segment or long-segment percutaneous pedicle screw fixation can be used to treat a wide variety of thoracolumbar fractures in patients who are neurologically normal. This approach provides internal fixation, allowing the fracture to heal and sparing the motion segments above and below the fracture, as the instrumentation can be removed later.

Lower stroke risk with lower blood pressure in hemodynamic cerebral ischemia.

Objective: To determine whether strict blood pressure (BP) control is the best medical management for patients with symptomatic carotid artery occlusion and hemodynamic cerebral ischemia.

Methods: In this prospective observational cohort study, we analyzed data from 91 participants in the nonsurgical group of the Carotid Occlusion Surgery Study (COSS) who had recent symptomatic internal carotid artery occlusion and hemodynamic cerebral ischemia manifested by ipsilateral increased oxygen extraction fraction. The target BP goal in COSS was ≤130/85 mm Hg.

Individual genetic and genomic research results and the tradition of informed consent: exploring US review board guidance.

Background: Genomic research is challenging the tradition of informed consent. Genomic researchers in the USA, Canada and parts of Europe are encouraged to use informed consent to address the prospect of disclosing individual research results (IRRs) to study participants. In the USA, no national policy exists to direct this use of informed consent, and it is unclear how local institutional review boards (IRBs) may want researchers to respond.

Resolution of refractory macular edema because of branch retinal vein occlusion after ozurdex implantation.

Purpose: To report a case of a woman with a branch vein occlusion and macular edema refractory to grid laser, intravitreal bevacizumab, pars plana vitrectomy with sheathotomy of the arteriovenous branch site, and intravitreal triamcinolone, who had complete resolution of fluid after injection of a dexamethasone intravitreal implant (DEX implant, Ozurdex; Allergan, Inc, Irvine, CA).

Methods: A 75-year-old woman with a branch vein occlusion and macular edema was treated with grid laser, intravitreal bevacizumab, pars plana vitrectomy with sheathotomy, and intravitreal triamcinolone. Neither edema nor vision improved.

Outcomes after trochleoplasty.

Trochlear dysplasia is a risk factor for patellofemoral instability. Trochleoplasty involves reshaping the trochlear groove to provide increased patellofemoral stability. We obtained post-operative radiographs, MRI, and outcome scores in 6 patients who underwent this procedure.

Uveitis following intravitreal bevacizumab: a non-infectious cluster.

Background And Objective: In this retrospective case series, the authors report seven cases of bevacizumab-related uveitis that occurred within a 4-month period.

Patients And Methods: Seven eyes of six patients developed non-infectious uveitis following bevacizumab intravitreal injections in a cohort of 978 consecutive bevacizumab injections.

Results: The mean age of patients was 74.

Burn injuries in eastern Zambia: impact of multidisciplinary teaching teams.

The American Burn Association/Children's Burn Foundation (ABA/CBF) sponsors teams who offer burn education to healthcare providers in Zambia, a sub-Saharan country. The goals of this study are 1) to acquire burn-patient demographics for the Eastern Province, Zambia and 2) to assess the early impact of the ABA/CBF-sponsored burn teams. This is a retrospective chart review of burn patients admitted in one mission hospital in Katete, Zambia, July 2002 to June 2009.

Diagnosis and grading of papilledema in patients with raised intracranial pressure using optical coherence tomography vs clinical expert assessment using a clinical staging scale.

Objectives: To compare and contrast 2 methods of quantitating papilledema, namely, optical coherence tomography (OCT) and Modified Frisén Scale (MFS).

Methods: Digital optic disc photographs and OCT fast retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) thickness, fast RNFL map, total retinal thickness, and fast disc images were obtained in 36 patients with papilledema. Digital optic disc photographs were randomized and graded by 4 masked expert reviewers using the MFS.

Identification of migR, a regulatory element of the Francisella tularensis live vaccine strain iglABCD virulence operon required for normal replication and trafficking in macrophages.

Francisella tularensis, the etiological agent of tularemia, is capable of infecting a wide range of animals and causes a severe, lethal disease in humans. The pathogen evades killing by cells of the innate immune system utilizing genes encoding a pathogenicity island, including iglABCD, and instead utilizes these cells as a niche for replication and dissemination to other organs within the host. Regulators of the igl genes (e.

Constitutive expression of IL-7 receptor alpha does not support increased expansion or prevent contraction of antigen-specific CD4 or CD8 T cells following Listeria monocytogenes infection.

Expression of IL-7Ralpha (CD127) has been suggested as a major determinant in the survival of memory T cell precursors. We investigated whether constitutive expression of IL-7Ralpha on T cells increased expansion and/or decreased contraction of endogenous Ag-specific CD4 and CD8 T cells following infection with Listeria monocytogenes. The results indicate that constitutive expression of IL-7Ralpha alone was not enough to impart an expansion or survival advantage to CD8 T cells responding to infection, and did not increase memory CD8 T cell numbers over those observed in wild-type controls.

Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium requires the Lpf, Pef, and Tafi fimbriae for biofilm formation on HEp-2 tissue culture cells and chicken intestinal epithelium.

Recent work has demonstrated that Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium forms biofilms on HEp-2 tissue culture cells in a type 1 fimbria-dependent manner. To investigate how biofilm growth of HEp-2 tissue culture cells affects gene expression in Salmonella, we compared global gene expression during planktonic growth and biofilm growth. Microarray results indicated that the transcription of approximately 100 genes was substantially altered by growth in a biofilm.

Exopolysaccharide sugars contribute to biofilm formation by Salmonella enterica serovar typhimurium on HEp-2 cells and chicken intestinal epithelium.

Recently, we demonstrated that Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium can form biofilm on HEp-2 cells in a type 1 fimbria-dependent manner. Previous work on Salmonella exopolysaccharide (EPS) in biofilm indicated that the EPS composition can vary based upon the substratum on which the bacterial biofilm forms. We have investigated the role of genes important in the production of colanic acid and cellulose, common components of EPS.

Phenotypic heterogeneity associated with a novel mutation (Gly112Glu) in the Norrie disease protein.

Purpose: To determine the molecular pathology and clinical severity of two pedigrees with a history of early retinal detachment and peripheral retinal vascular abnormalities.

Design: Longitudinal cohort study.

Methods: A longitudinal clinical study and DNA analysis was performed on 49 family members of two pedigrees.

The fimYZ genes regulate Salmonella enterica Serovar Typhimurium invasion in addition to type 1 fimbrial expression and bacterial motility.

An important step in Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium virulence is the ability to invade the intestinal epithelium. The invasion process requires a large number of genes encoded on Salmonella pathogenicity island 1 (SPI-1) at centisome 63 as well as genes located in other positions throughout the chromosome. Expression of the invasive phenotype is tightly regulated by environmental cues that are processed by a complex regulatory scheme.

Muscarinic (M) receptors in coronary circulation: gene-targeted mice define the role of M2 and M3 receptors in response to acetylcholine.

Objective: Determining the role of specific muscarinic (M) receptor subtypes mediating responses to acetylcholine (ACh) has been limited by the specificity of pharmacological agents. Deletion of the gene for M5 receptors abolished response to ACh in cerebral blood vessels but did not affect dilation of coronary arteries. The goal of this study was to determine the M receptors mediating responses to ACh in coronary circulation using mice deficient in M2 or M3 receptors (M2-/-, M3-/-, respectively).

Lon protease activity causes down-regulation of Salmonella pathogenicity island 1 invasion gene expression after infection of epithelial cells.

Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium causes self-limiting gastroenteritis in humans and a typhoid-like disease in mice that serves as a model for typhoid infections in humans. A critical step in Salmonella pathogenesis is the invasion of enterocytes and M cells of the small intestine via expression of a type III secretion system, encoded on Salmonella pathogenicity island 1 (SPI-1), that secretes effector proteins into host cells, leading to engulfment of the bacteria within large membrane ruffles. The in vitro regulation of invasion genes has been the subject of much scientific investigation.

Assessment of hepatic toxicity from treatment with 90Y-SMT 487 (OctreoTher(TM)) in patients with diffuse somatostatin receptor positive liver metastases.

The purpose of this study was to determine whether there is evidence for hepatocellular radiation injury following treatment with (90)Y-SMT487 ((90)Y-DOTA-tyr3-octreotide, OctreoTher(TM)) in patients with extensive liver metastases from neuroendocrine tumors. Patients reported in this study participated in a Phase II trial of efficacy and safety of (90)Y-SMT487. The trial design called for three treatment cycles of 120 mCi each (4400 MBq) of (90)Y-SMT487.

Digital mammography: a review of technical development and clinical applications.

For detecting and diagnosing breast cancer at its earliest stage, mammography is the most sensitive technique currently available and is therefore the method of choice. Screen-film mammography has been used successfully as a screening test for breast cancer for > 2 decades. However, conventional mammography has substantial limitations and, therefore, digital mammography systems have been developed to improve image quality and overcome the limitations of screen-film technique limitations.