Radiotherapy-induced diffuse myocardial fibrosis in early-stage breast cancer patients - multimodality imaging study with six-year follow-up.

Background: Breast radiotherapy (RT) induces diffuse myocardial changes, which may increase the incidence of heart failure with preserved ejection fraction. This study aimed to evaluate the early signs of diffuse fibrosis after RT and their evolution during a six-year follow-up.

Methods: Thirty patients with early-stage left-sided breast cancer were studied with echocardiography and electrocardiography (ECG) at baseline, after RT, and at three-year and six-year follow-up visits.

Sex differences in COVID-19 mortality risk in patients on kidney function replacement therapy.

In the general population with COVID-19, the male sex is an established risk factor for mortality, in part due to a more robust immune response to COVID-19 in women. Because patients on kidney function replacement therapy (KFRT) have an impaired immune response, especially kidney transplant recipients due to their use of immunosuppressants, we examined whether the male sex is still a risk factor for mortality among patients on KFRT with COVID-19. From the European Renal Association COVID-19 Database (ERACODA), we examined patients on KFRT with COVID-19 who presented between February 1st, 2020, and April 30th, 2021.

A Higher Mean Heart Radiation Dose Induces Higher Frequency of Multiple Cardiac Changes.

Background/aim: Radiotherapy (RT) induces late changes in all cardiac structures. Most studies of early changes focus on individual parameters.

Patients And Methods: Data from eighty early-stage breast cancer patients at baseline, post-RT and three-year follow-up visit were assessed prospectively.

Dynamic Integrated Backscatter Detects Radiotherapy-induced Cardiac Changes Better than Strain Analysis - A Prospective Three-year Study.

Background/aim: Radiotherapy (RT) related myocardial changes were analyzed by deformation imaging echocardiography in this study.

Patients And Methods: Ninety-nine breast cancer patients were studied at baseline, after chemotherapy, after RT, and three years after RT (3Y). Eighty patients received RT only, and twenty patients had right-sided breast cancer.

Screening of hydrocephalus in infants using either WHO or population-based head circumference reference charts.

Aim: The aim was to compare the performances of the World Health Organization (WHO) and population-based (PB) references in the screening for hydrocephalus in infants aged <2 years.

Methods: We collected 341 longitudinal head circumference (HC) measurements of hydrocephalic infants and 120 181 measurements of 15 145 healthy infants from primary care. The measurements were converted into z-scores, and a new screening parameter, change in HC standard deviation score (SDS) over time (ΔHC SDS), was calculated.

Left Ventricular Speckle Tracking Echocardiography Changes Among Early-stage Breast Cancer Patients Three Years After Radiotherapy.

Background/aim: Chest radiotherapy (RT) doubles late cardiac mortality. This study aimed to evaluate the evolution of cardiac changes in speckle tracking echocardiography during a three-year follow-up.

Materials And Methods: This prospective study included 81 chemotherapy-naïve early-stage breast cancer patients who were evaluated at baseline, immediately after RT and three years after RT.

Associations between ECG changes and echocardiographic findings in patients with acute non-ST elevation myocardial infarction.

Background: ST segment depression (STD) and T wave inversion (TWI) are typical electrocardiographic (ECG) findings in non-ST elevation myocardial infarction (NSTEMI). In ST elevation myocardial infarction, ST changes represent transmural ischemia. The pathophysiological mechanisms of the ECG changes in NSTEMI are unclear.

Microbiological Etiology and Treatment of Complicated Skin and Skin Structure Infections in Diabetic and Nondiabetic Patients in a Population-Based Study.

Background: Diabetes is a major risk factor for skin and skin structure infection (SSSI), and the global burden of diabetics with SSSI is enormous. The more complex microbiology of diabetic foot infection (DFI) is well established, but it is not known whether microbiological etiology differs between diabetics and nondiabetics in other disease entities under the umbrella of complicated SSSI (cSSSI).

Methods: This retrospective, population-based study included patients with cSSSI, and it was conducted in 2 Nordic cities with a low prevalence of antimicrobial resistance.

Osteocyte Protein Expression Is Altered in Low-Turnover Osteoporosis Caused by Mutations in WNT1 and PLS3.

Context: Osteocytes express proteins that regulate bone remodeling and mineralization.

Objective: To evaluate the relationship between osteocyte-specific protein expression and bone histology in patients with monogenic osteoporosis due to wingless integration site 1 (WNT1) or plastin 3 (PLS3) mutations.

Design And Setting: Cross-sectional cohort study at a university hospital.

Teriparatide Treatment in Patients With WNT1 or PLS3 Mutation-Related Early-Onset Osteoporosis: A Pilot Study.

Context: We previously identified 2 Finnish families with dominantly inherited, low-turnover osteoporosis caused by mutations in WNT1 or PLS3.

Objective, Design, And Setting: This prospective, longitudinal, uncontrolled study was undertaken to evaluate whether these patients respond to teriparatide.

Patients And Intervention: We recruited 6 adults (median age, 54 years); 3 with a WNT1 missense mutation, c.

Improved Treatment of Breast Cancer with Anti-HER2 Therapy Requires Interleukin-21 Signaling in CD8+ T Cells.

The HER2/ErbB2 monoclonal antibody (mAb) trastuzumab is combined with chemotherapy as a standard-of-care for newly diagnosed HER2(+) breast cancer patients, but some patients treated with this combination therapy experience early relapse. Our analysis of data from a clinical trial evaluating the efficacy of chemotherapy plus/minus trastuzumab suggested that the magnitude of trastuzumab benefit on distant disease-free survival was higher for increasing expression of the IL21 receptor (IL21R). Therefore, we investigated a possible role for IL21 signaling in promoting HER2 mAb therapeutic efficacy.

Integrative proteomic and gene expression analysis identify potential biomarkers for adjuvant trastuzumab resistance: analysis from the Fin-her phase III randomized trial.

Trastuzumab is a remarkably effective therapy for patients with human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2)--positive breast cancer (BC). However, not all women with high levels of HER2 benefit from trastuzumab. By integrating mRNA and protein expression data from Reverse-Phase Protein Array Analysis (RPPA) in HER2-positive BC, we developed gene expression metagenes that reflect pathway activation levels.

Assessment of indications for percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy--development of a predictive model.

Objective: Percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy (PEG) is used for long-term enteral nutrition in neurological patients with dysphagia (NEUR), in head and neck cancer patients prior to chemoradiation therapy (head and neck malignancy group [HNM]), or in cases of oropharyngeal or esophageal tumor obstruction or stricture (OBSTR). Considerable morbidity and overall mortality is reported. Aim was to analyze the complication rates and mortality with PEG and to identify subgroups with poor outcomes.

Etiology of facial fractures in elderly Finns during 2006-2007.

Objective: The purpose of the present study was to clarify the trauma mechanisms and resulting facial fractures in geriatric patients and to compare them with those of younger adults.

Study Design: A cohort of 117 geriatric patients was compared with 136 patients aged 20 to 50 years. The statistical significance of differences between the age groups was evaluated with χ(2) tests.

Hsa-miR-31-3p expression is linked to progression-free survival in patients with KRAS wild-type metastatic colorectal cancer treated with anti-EGFR therapy.

Purpose: To identify microRNAs (miRNA) that predict response to anti-EGFR antibodies in patients with wild-type KRAS metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC).

Experimental Design: miRNA profiling was performed in a training set of 87 patients with mCRC refractory to chemotherapy treated with anti-EGFR antibodies. This included 33 fresh-frozen (FF) and 35 formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded (FFPE) samples retrospectively collected and 19 prospectively collected FF samples.

Expression of human chorionic gonadotropin in testicular germ cell tumors.

Background: We have shown that most patients with seminomas have elevated serum concentrations of the free β subunit of human chorionic gonadotropin (hCGβ) and that in nonseminomatous testicular cancer, most of the hCG in the serum is hyperglycosylated (hCG-h). However, the tissue expression of hCG-h or hCGβ in germ cell tumors (GCTs) has not been reported. Our objective was to study the expression and diagnostic value of hCG-h and hCGβ in testicular GCTs.

Statin therapy worsens insulin sensitivity in women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS): a prospective, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study.

Context: Statins have been shown to improve hyperandrogenism in women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS). However, their use has also been associated with impairment of glucose metabolism and an increased risk of type 2 diabetes mellitus. Because women with PCOS are prone to disturbances in glucose metabolism, statin therapy could also have negative effects.

Long-term outcomes after surgery on pediatric patients with Crohn disease.

Objective: Of pediatric patients with Crohn disease, 20% to 30% undergo surgery within 10 years. Although disease relapses and reoperations are common, long-term functional outcomes and quality of life (QoL) are unclear.

Methods: In 2010, we reviewed the hospital records of all pediatric patients with CD who had undergone intestinal resections during childhood in 2 major tertiary care hospitals between 1985 and 2008 and mailed out questionnaires that asked about health outcomes and QoL.

Beneficial effect of interleukin 1 inhibition with anakinra in adult-onset Still's disease. An open, randomized, multicenter study.

Objective: To study the efficacy of anakinra versus disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARD) in refractory adult-onset Still's disease (AOSD).

Methods: In a 24-week study, 22 patients with AOSD taking prednisolone ≥ 10 mg/day received anakinra (n = 12) or DMARD (n = 10). The primary endpoint was achievement of remission.

Prevention of multiple pregnancies in infertility treatment.

The most important outcome of infertility treatment is a birth of a healthy baby. In many countries, in-vitro fertilisation treatments carry a high risk of twin pregnancy, which brings a higher risk to the mother and child than singleton pregnancies. Preterm delivery and low birth weight are the main factors accounting for the excess in neonatal morbidity.

Practical management of tyrosine kinase inhibitor-associated side effects in GIST.

Patients diagnosed with advanced gastrointestinal stromal tumor (GIST) are currently treated with oral tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs). Imatinib mesylate is the standard first-line treatment, and sunitinib malate is administered second-line for patients who are intolerant or progress on imatinib. Imatinib has recently been approved for adjuvant treatment of GIST patients who have a significant risk for relapse.