A multi-institutional phase II trial of bevacizumab for recurrent and refractory meningioma.

Background: Systemic therapies for refractory meningiomas are limited with no FDA-approved therapeutics. Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) is a signaling protein associated with neovascularization, peritumoral edema, and meningioma tumorigenesis.

Methods: This phase II study investigates the efficacy of bevacizumab (BEV), a VEGF binding monoclonal antibody, in patients with progressive Grade I (G1M), Grade II (G2M), Grade III (G3M) meningioma, and other non-parenchymal tumors including vestibular schwannoma ( = 4) and hemangiopericytoma ( = 4) with the primary endpoint of progression-free survival rate at 6-months (PFS-6).

Association of High miR-182 Levels with Low-Risk Prostate Cancer.

A subset of men with prostate cancer develops aggressive disease. We sought to determine whether miR-182, an miRNA with reported oncogenic functions in the prostate, is associated with biochemical recurrence and aggressive disease. Prostate epithelial miR-182 expression was quantified via in situ hybridization of two prostate tissue microarrays and by laser-capture microdissection of prostate epithelium.

Variation in tibial tuberosity lateralization and distance from the tibiofemoral joint line: An anatomic study.

Background: To describe variation in tibial tuberosity position in a normal adult population and inter-rater reliability of measurements of tibial tuberosity position.

Methods: Surface models of 161 proximal tibia specimens (83 female, 78 male; 80 black, 81 white; age 28.7years, SD 7.

Progesterone receptor antagonism inhibits progestogen-related carcinogenesis and suppresses tumor cell proliferation.

Purpose: Blockade of the progestogen-progesterone receptor (PR) axis is a novel but untested strategy for breast cancer prevention. We report preclinical data evaluating telapristone acetate (TPA), ulipristal acetate (UPA), and mifepristone.

Methods: Tumors were induced with medroxyprogesterone acetate (MPA) plus 7,12-dimethylbenz[a]anthracene (DMBA) in mice, and MPA or progesterone plus N-methyl-N-nitrosourea (MNU) in rats.

Structural Determinants of the Mechanical Stability of α-Catenin.

α-Catenin plays a crucial role in cadherin-mediated adhesion by binding to β-catenin, F-actin, and vinculin, and its dysfunction is linked to a variety of cancers and developmental disorders. As a mechanotransducer in the cadherin complex at intercellular adhesions, mechanical and force-sensing properties of α-catenin are critical to its proper function. Biochemical data suggest that α-catenin adopts an autoinhibitory conformation, in the absence of junctional tension, and biophysical studies have shown that α-catenin is activated in a tension-dependent manner that in turn results in the recruitment of vinculin to strengthen the cadherin complex/F-actin linkage.

Barriers to influenza vaccination among pregnant women.

Objective: Despite pregnant women's increased morbidity and mortality from influenza, vaccination rates remain low. This study intended to evaluate barriers to pregnant women's uptake of influenza vaccine.

Study Design: A survey was designed that assessed participant demographics, knowledge, beliefs, attitudes, and general experiences with seasonal and 2009 novel H1N1 influenza.

Regular screening mammography before the diagnosis of breast cancer reduces black:white breast cancer differences and modifies negative biological prognostic factors.

Black women present with later stage breast cancers compared to white women, and their cancers are more likely to be larger, receptor negative, and undifferentiated. This study evaluated black:white differences in the stage and biology of breast cancer among women who had a screening mammogram at one of two Chicago academic medical centers within two years of the breast cancer diagnosis (regularly screened) and compared them to the black:white differences in the stage and biology of breast cancer in women who had not received mammographic screening within two years of a breast cancer diagnosis (irregularly screened.) There were no significant black:white differences in the proportion of early breast cancers (black = 74 %; white = 69 %, p = NS) in the regularly screened population or in the irregularly screened group (black = 60 %; white = 68 %, p = NS.

A feud that wasn't: acetylcholine evokes dopamine release in the striatum.

In this issue of Neuron, Threlfell et al. (2012) report that synchronous activation of cholinergic interneurons evokes striatal dopamine release by activating presynaptic nicotinic acetylcholine receptors. These findings call for a fundamental reevaluation of the long-standing view that dopamine and acetylcholine "feud" over control of striatal circuitry.

Activin and estrogen crosstalk regulates transcription in human breast cancer cells.

Activin is a member of the transforming growth factor beta superfamily that regulates mammary cell function during development, lactation, and in cancer. Activin slows the growth of breast cancer cells by inducing G(0)/G(1) cell cycle arrest. Estrogen is a steroid hormone that stimulates the proliferation of mammary epithelial cells in development and oncogenesis.