Maternal haemoglobin concentrations before and during pregnancy and stillbirth risk: a population-based case-control study.

Background: Results of previous studies on the association between maternal haemoglobin concentration during pregnancy and stillbirth risk are inconclusive. It is not clear if haemoglobin concentration before pregnancy has a role. Using prospectively collected information from pre-pregnancy and antenatal visits, we investigated associations of maternal haemoglobin concentrations before and during pregnancy and haemoglobin dilution with stillbirth risk.

Multiple sclerosis relapses are associated with increased fatigue and reduced health-related quality of life - A post hoc analysis of the TEMSO and TOWER studies.

Background: Two pivotal phase 3 teriflunomide studies provided data on relapses, fatigue, and health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in patients with relapsing forms of multiple sclerosis (MS).

Objectives: Using pooled data from the TEMSO (NCT00134563) and TOWER (NCT00751881) studies, we investigated the association between relapse severity, and changes from baseline to Week 108 in fatigue and HRQoL outcomes.

Methods: Four definitions of relapse severity were applied in this analysis: sequelae post-relapse; relapse leading to hospitalization; relapse requiring intravenous corticosteroids; and intense relapse.

Establishing a Proteomics-Based Monocyte Assay To Assess Differential Innate Immune Activation Responses.

Innate immune cells are complex systems that can be simultaneously activated in a variety of ways. Common methods currently used to estimate the response of innate immune cells to stimuli are usually biased toward a single mode of activation. The aim of this study was to assess the possibility of designing an assay based on unbiased proteome analysis that would be capable of predicting the complex response of the innate immune system to various challenges.

Noninvasive In Vivo Imaging and Biologic Characterization of Thyroid Tumors by ImmunoPET Targeting of Galectin-3.

The high prevalence of thyroid nodules in the adult population and the relatively low incidence of thyroid cancer make the preoperative identification of malignant lesions challenging. The β-galactoside-binding protein galectin-3 is widely expressed in well-differentiated thyroid carcinomas, but not in normal thyrocytes and benign thyroid nodules. This molecule offers a candidate biomarker to improve thyroid cancer diagnosis.

Does Modern Management of Malignant Extracranial Disease Prolong Survival in Patients with ≥3 Brain Metastases?

Objective: To assess if modern management of extracranial malignant diseases has prolonged the survival times for patients with more than 2 brain metastases (BM).

Methods: Data from 2385 patients treated with Gamma Knife surgery (GKS) for ≥3 BM between 1982 and 2011 were retrospectively analyzed. The patients were divided into 6 groups based on the treatment year and the median and 10% survival times were compared with the median and mean treatment dates in each group.

Mutation in ADORA1 identified as likely cause of early-onset parkinsonism and cognitive dysfunction.

Background: We aimed to identify the genetic cause of neurological disease in an Iranian family whose manifestations include symptoms of parkinsonism and cognitive dysfunction.

Methods: Clinical data on the patients were gathered by interviews with parents, neurological examinations, and laboratory tests. Genetic analysis was performed by genome-wide single-nucleotide polymorphism homozygosity mapping and exome sequencing.

No Evidence for Disease History as a Risk Factor for Narcolepsy after A(H1N1)pdm09 Vaccination.

Objectives: To investigate disease history before A(H1N1)pdm09 vaccination as a risk factor for narcolepsy.

Methods: Case-control study in Sweden. Cases included persons referred for a Multiple Sleep Latency Test between 2009 and 2010, identified through diagnostic sleep centres and confirmed through independent review of medical charts.

Registry-based assessment of the status of cervical screening in Sweden.

Objectives: Comprehensive nationwide monitoring and evaluation of screening through registry-based review of key indicators is necessary for programme optimization, especially as new tests and strategies are introduced. We aimed to investigate and report on the use of these key indicators in the Swedish programme.

Setting And Methods: Organized population-based cervical screening targeting women aged 23-50 and 51-60 every three and five years, respectively, is regionally implemented in Sweden.

Management of bleeding complications in patients with cancer on DOACs.

There has been a concern that major bleeding events (MBE) on direct-acting oral anticoagulants (DOACs) will be more difficult to manage than on vitamin K antagonists. Patients with cancer and DOAC-associated bleeding may be even more of a challenge to manage. We therefore reviewed the literature on bleeding in patients with cancer on DOACs.

Pleomorphic adenoma in the nasal cavity: a clinicopathological study of ten cases in Finland.

The objective of the study was to investigate the nationwide occurrence of sinonasal pleomorphic adenoma in Finland. A retrospective study was conducted at The Departments of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, and Pathology at the five university hospitals in Finland. Data were obtained by searching for sinonasal pleomorphic adenoma cases in the clinical and histopathological registries at these institutions for the past two to four decades.

Association of BMI-1 and p16 as prognostic factors for head and neck carcinomas.

Conclusions: BMI-1 is an upstream repressor of tumor suppressor p16 and their inverse expression patterns have been linked with patient survival in OPSCC. In this material only p16 remained a relevant prognostic marker in OPSCC.

Objectives: HNSCC tumors carry variable phenotypes and clinical outcomes depending on their anatomical location.

End-of-life care for hospitalized patients with metastatic melanoma in France: a nationwide, register-based study.

Background: Although the aggressiveness of end-of-life cancer care has come under great scrutiny over the past two decades, little is known about the intensity of care and treatments in the last months of life of patients with metastatic melanoma.

Objectives: To measure the prevalence of aggressive cancer care use, and to assess the frequency of palliative care referral over the course of the last 3 months of life of hospitalized patients who died from metastatic melanoma.

Methods: A nationwide register-based study in France was carried out, including all hospitalized adults aged ≥ 20 years who died from metastatic melanoma in metropolitan France between 2010 and 2013.

Meta-analysis of association between Helicobacter pylori infection and multiple sclerosis.

Despite recent research focus on the association between Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) infection and multiple sclerosis (MS) there is no consensus about the findings. To obtain a more comprehensive estimate of the association we conducted a meta-analysis to determine the prevalence of H.

Anti-leukaemic effects induced by APR-246 are dependent on induction of oxidative stress and the NFE2L2/HMOX1 axis that can be targeted by PI3K and mTOR inhibitors in acute myeloid leukaemia cells.

The small molecule APR-246 (PRIMA-1(MET) ) is a novel drug that restores the activity of mutated and unfolded TP53 protein. However, the mechanisms of action and potential off-target effects are not fully understood. Gene expression profiling in TP53 mutant KMB3 acute myeloid leukaemia (AML) cells showed that genes which protected cells from oxidative stress to be the most up-regulated.

Vitamin D levels and atopic eczema in infancy and early childhood in Norway: a cohort study.

Background: Epidemiological data and the effect of sun exposure on atopic eczema (AE) suggest that vitamin D (vitD) may be involved in the pathogenesis.

Objectives: To investigate if vitD levels were associated with the presence or severity of AE in the first 2 years of life in children living in south-east Norway.

Methods: Infants, recruited to a clinical trial on acute bronchiolitis (n = 404) and from the general population (n = 240), were examined at 1-13 months (first visit) and at 2 years of age (second visit).

Mapping brain morphological and functional conversion patterns in predementia late-onset bvFTD.

Purpose: The diagnosis of behavioural variant frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD) is challenging during the predementia stage when symptoms are subtle and confounding. Morphological and functional neuroimaging can be particularly helpful during this stage but few data are available.

Methods: We retrospectively selected 25 patients with late-onset probable bvFTD.

The Long-term Disease-specific Mortality of Low-risk Localized Prostate Cancer: A Prospective Population-based Register Study Over Two Decades.

Objective: To identify prognostic factors, and to estimate the long-term disease-specific and annual disease-specific mortality rates of low-risk prostate cancer patients from the early prostate-specific antigen (PSA) era.

Patients And Methods: We studied data extracted from the Southeast Region Prostate Cancer Register in Sweden, on1300 patients with clinically localized low-risk tumors, T1-2, PSA level ≤10 µg/L and Gleason scores 2-6 or World Health Organization Grade 1, diagnosed 1992-2003. The Cox multivariate regression model was used to evaluate factors predicting survival.

Cochlear implants in the etiopathogenesis of glioblastoma--an interesting observation or independent finding?

Various risk factors have been implicated in the pathogenesis of glioblastomas including ionizing radiation. Recent evidence has suggested a possible association between exposure to nonionizing radiofrequency electromagnetic fields (RF-EMF) generated from mobile phones and wireless devices to cause malignant transformation of the neuroglial cells, albeit this is widely debated. In this report, we discuss the development of glioblastoma in two geopolitically unrelated patients, an elderly male from the United States and a middle-aged woman from Sweden, with long-standing cochlear implants (CI).

Pooled safety and tolerability data from four placebo-controlled teriflunomide studies and extensions.

Background: Teriflunomide, a once-daily oral immunomodulator for the treatment of relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis, has demonstrated consistent efficacy on clinical and MRI parameters in clinical trials.

Objective: To summarize the safety and tolerability profile of teriflunomide based on data from four placebo-controlled trials.

Methods: Safety and tolerability were assessed using two teriflunomide clinical program data pools.