Broadly sampled assessment reduces ethnicity-related differences in clinical grades.

Context: Ethnicity-related differences in clinical grades exist. Broad sampling in assessment of clinical competencies involves multiple assessments used by multiple assessors across multiple moments. Broad sampling in assessment potentially reduces irrelevant variances and may therefore mitigate ethnic disparities in clinical grades.

Paolo Boccone and the visual communication of pre-Linnean botany. A comparison between his Leiden herbarium, Paris autoprint and published Icones (1674).

This article addresses the development of visual practices in early modern Botany by focusing on the diverse strategies of graphic representation of plant species. Naturalis Biodiversity Center holds a historic herbarium of 169 sheets with specimens of Mediterranean plants collected by the Sicilian Botanist Paolo Boccone (1633-1704). Part of Boccone's dried specimens served as model for the etchings published in his Icones et descriptiones rariorum plantarum (1674) and part of them were used as matrix for at least one album of botanical autoprints kept in Paris.

Immediate treatment vs. active-surveillance in very-low-risk prostate cancer: the role of patient-, tumour-, and hospital-related factors.

Background: To provide insight in the treatment variation of very-low-risk prostate cancer patients and to assess the role of hospital-related factors.

Methods: All patients diagnosed with very-low-risk prostate cancer (cT1c-cT2a, PSA < 10 ng/ml, Gleason score <7 and <3 positive cores) in 2015 and 2016 were identified through the population-based Netherlands Cancer Registry. Multilevel logistic regression analyses were performed to examine the crude and case-mix adjusted probability of immediate treatment vs.

Multimodal nocturnal seizure detection in a residential care setting: A long-term prospective trial.

Objective: To develop and prospectively evaluate a method of epileptic seizure detection combining heart rate and movement.

Methods: In this multicenter, in-home, prospective, video-controlled cohort study, nocturnal seizures were detected by heart rate (photoplethysmography) or movement (3-D accelerometry) in persons with epilepsy and intellectual disability. Participants with >1 monthly major seizure wore a bracelet (Nightwatch) on the upper arm at night for 2 to 3 months.

Review of Chromatographic Bioanalytical Assays for the Quantitative Determination of Marine-Derived Drugs for Cancer Treatment.

The discovery of marine-derived compounds for the treatment of cancer has seen a vast increase over the last few decades. Bioanalytical assays are pivotal for the quantification of drug levels in various matrices to construct pharmacokinetic profiles and to link drug concentrations to clinical outcomes. This review outlines the different analytical methods that have been described for marine-derived drugs in cancer treatment hitherto.

Metabolite profiling of the novel anti-cancer agent, plitidepsin, in urine and faeces in cancer patients after administration of C-plitidepsin.

Purpose: Plitidepsin absorption, distribution, metabolism and excretion characteristics were investigated in a mass balance study, in which six patients received a 3-h intravenous infusion containing 7 mg C-plitidepsin with a maximum radioactivity of 100 µCi.

Methods: Blood samples were drawn and excreta were collected until less than 1% of the administered radioactivity was excreted per matrix for two consecutive days. Samples were pooled within-patients and between-patients and samples were screened for metabolites.

Sustainability issues of commercial non-timber forest product extraction in West Suriname.

Background: Non-timber forest products (NTFPs) have been traded for millennia by indigenous communities. Current increased demands driven by globalisation, however, put more pressure on local harvesters and their surrounding ecosystems. The safeguarding of indigenous access rights to harvesting grounds is needed, either through communal land titles or collaborative management agreements, both to secure prior indigenous rights and to minimise further negative ecological impacts.

Development and validation of a liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry assay for the quantification of lurbinectedin in human plasma and urine.

Lurbinectedin is a novel highly selective inhibitor of RNA polymerase II triggering caspase-dependent apoptosis of cancerous cells. This article describes the development and validation of a liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) assay to quantify lurbinectedin in human plasma and urine. Plasma samples were pre-treated with 1 M aqueous ammonia after which they were brought onto supported liquid extraction (SLE) columns.

Literary evidence for taro in the ancient Mediterranean: A chronology of names and uses in a multilingual world.

Taro, Colocasia esculenta (L.) Schott, is a vegetable and starchy root crop cultivated in Asia, Oceania, the Americas, Africa, and the Mediterranean. Very little is known about its early history in the Mediterranean, which previous authors have sought to trace through Classical (Greek and Latin) texts that record the name colocasia (including cognates) from the 3rd century BC onwards.

Ethnobotany of the Sierra Nevada del Cocuy-Güicán: climate change and conservation strategies in the Colombian Andes.

Background: The Sierra Nevada del Cocuy-Güicán in the Colombian Andes is protected as a National Natural Park since 1977 because of its fragile páramo ecosystems, extraordinary biodiversity, high plant endemism, and function as water reservoir. The vegetation on this mountain is threatened by expanding agriculture, deforestation, tourism, and climate change. We present an ethnobotanical inventory among local farmer communities and discuss the effects of vegetation change on the availability of useful plants.

Quantitative market survey of non-woody plants sold at Kariakoo Market in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.

Ethnopharmacological Relevance: In Tanzania, traditional medicine plays a significant role in health care and local economies based on the harvesting, trade and sale of medicinal plant products. The majority of this plant material is said to originate from wild sources, and both traditional healers and vendors are concerned about the increasing scarcity of certain species.

Aim Of The Study: A market survey of non-powdered, non-woody medicinal plants was conducted at Kariakoo Market in Dar es Salaam, the major hub for medicinal plant trade in Tanzania, to assess sustainability of traded herbal medicine.

Herbal bathing: an analysis of variation in plant use among Saramaccan and Aucan Maroons in Suriname.

Background: Herbal baths play an important role in the traditional health care of Maroons living in the interior of Suriname. However, little is known on the differences in plant ingredients used among and within the Maroon groups. We compared plant use in herbal baths documented for Saramaccan and Aucan Maroons, to see whether similarity in species was related to bath type, ethnic group, or geographical location.

Syndecan-1 promotes Wnt/β-catenin signaling in multiple myeloma by presenting Wnts and R-spondins.

Multiple myeloma (MM) is characterized by the expansion of malignant plasma cells in the bone marrow (BM). Most MMs display aberrant Wnt/β-catenin signaling, which drives proliferation; however, they lack oncogenic Wnt pathway mutations, suggesting activation by autocrine Wnt ligands and/or paracrine Wnts from the BM microenvironment. Expression of the heparan sulfate (HS) proteoglycan syndecan-1 is a hallmark of MM.

Correction to: Determination of the absolute oral bioavailability of niraparib by simultaneous administration of a C-microtracer and therapeutic dose in cancer patients.

The article ''Determination of the absolute oral bioavailability of niraparib by simultaneous administration of a C-microtracer and therapeutic dose in cancer patients'', written by L. van Andel, H. Rosing, Z.

Famine food of vegetal origin consumed in the Netherlands during World War II.

Background: Periods of extreme food shortages during war force people to eat food that they normally do not consider edible. The last time that countries in Western Europe experienced severe scarcities was during World War II. The so-called Dutch famine or Hunger Winter (1944-1945) made at least 25,000 victims.

Determination of the absolute oral bioavailability of niraparib by simultaneous administration of a C-microtracer and therapeutic dose in cancer patients.

Introduction: Niraparib (Zejula™) is a poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase inhibitor recently approved by the US Food and Drug Administration for the maintenance treatment of patients with recurrent platinum-sensitive epithelial ovarian, fallopian tube, or primary peritoneal cancer who are in a complete or partial response to platinum-based chemotherapy. The pivotal phase III clinical trial has shown improved progression-free survival in patients receiving niraparib compared with those receiving placebo.

Purpose: Since niraparib is administered orally, it is of interest to investigate the oral bioavailability (F ) of this novel compound, which is the aim of this study.

Recommended standards for conducting and reporting ethnopharmacological field studies.

Ethnopharmacological Relevance: What are the minimum methodological and conceptual requirements for an ethnopharmacological field study? How can the results of ethnopharmacological field studies be reported so that researchers with different backgrounds can draw on the results and develop new research questions and projects? And how should these field data be presented to get accepted in a scientific journal such as the Journal of Ethnopharmacology? The objective of this commentary is to create a reference that covers the basic standards necessary during planning, conducting and reporting of field research.

Materials And Methods: We focus on conducting and reporting ethnopharmacological field studies on medicinal plants or materia medica and associated knowledge of a specific people or region. The article highlights the most frequent problems and pitfalls, and draws on published literature, fieldwork experience, and extensive insights from peer-review of field studies.

Prevalence of Candidatus Mycoplasma haemolamae, bovine viral diarrhoea virus, and gastrointestinal parasitism in a sample of adult New Zealand alpaca (Vicugna pacos).

Aim: To determine the prevalence of infection with Candidatus Mycoplasma haemolamae (Mhl), antibodies to bovine viral diarrhoea virus (BVDV), and BVDV antigen, and the prevalence of animals with elevated faecal nematode egg counts (FEC) in a sample of adult New Zealand alpaca (Vicugna pacos).

Methods: Blood samples were obtained from 175 alpaca, collected from 15 farms around New Zealand, and from 31 samples sent to a diagnostic laboratory for routine haematology. Blood smears (n=170) were examined microscopically for the presence of haemoplasma, and DNA was extracted from whole blood (n=206) for real-time PCR testing for Mhl.

MET Signaling Mediates Intestinal Crypt-Villus Development, Regeneration, and Adenoma Formation and Is Promoted by Stem Cell CD44 Isoforms.

Background & Aims: Resistance of metastatic human colorectal cancer cells to drugs that block epidermal growth factor (EGF) receptor signaling could be caused by aberrant activity of other receptor tyrosine kinases, activating overlapping signaling pathways. One of these receptor tyrosine kinases could be MET, the receptor for hepatocyte growth factor (HGF). We investigated how MET signaling, and its interaction with CD44 (a putative MET coreceptor regulated by Wnt signaling and highly expressed by intestinal stem cells [ISCs] and adenomas) affects intestinal homeostasis, regeneration, and adenoma formation in mini-gut organoids and mice.

Liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry assay to quantify plitidepsin in human plasma, whole blood and urine.

Plitidepsin is an anti-cancer drug currently evaluated in phase I/II/III clinical trials. This article describes the development and validation of a bioanalytical assay to quantify plitidepsin in human plasma, urine and whole blood using HPLC-MS/MS. The analyte was extracted from the matrix by liquid-liquid extraction using tert-butyl methyl ether.

Human mass balance study and metabolite profiling of C-niraparib, a novel poly(ADP-Ribose) polymerase (PARP)-1 and PARP-2 inhibitor, in patients with advanced cancer.

Niraparib is an investigational oral, once daily, selective poly(ADP-Ribose) polymerase (PARP)-1 and PARP-2 inhibitor. In the pivotal Phase 3 NOVA/ENGOT/OV16 study, niraparib met its primary endpoint of improving progression-free survival (PFS) for adult patients with recurrent, platinum sensitive, ovarian, fallopian tube, or primary peritoneal cancer in complete or partial response to platinum-based chemotherapy. Significant improvements in PFS were seen in all patient cohorts regardless of biomarker status.