Epithelial ovarian cancer relapsing as isolated lymph node disease: natural history and clinical outcome

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Several evidences suggested that ovarian cancer (OC) patients showing isolated lymph node recurrence (ILNR) have an indolent evolution. The aim of the study was to retrospectively review ILNR observed in our Institution over the past 11 years in order to investigate: the pattern of disease progression after the first diagnosis of ILNR, and their clinical outcome.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Between September 1995 and September 2006, 523 epithelial OC were diagnosed in our centers, and 301 of these relapsed. Cases with a diagnosis of ILNR, and at least 12 months of follow up after the diagnosis of ILNR were included. Post-relapse survival (PRS) was recorded from the date of the diagnosis of ILNR to the date of death or date last seen. Survival probabilities were estimated according to the method of Kaplan and Meier and compared by the log rank test. Cox's regression model with stepwise variable selection was used to analyse the role of clinico-pathological parameters as prognostic factors for PRS.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Thirty-two cases were identified as ILNR (10.6% of the recurrences, and 6.1% of the OC population). Most of the patients continued to exhibit the same pattern of progression during follow up, with 75% of the patients free from peritoneal disease after 2 years from the diagnosis of ILNR. Median Post-Relapse Survival (PRS) was 37 months, and median Overall Survival (OS) was 109 months, with all patients surviving more than 2 years after the initial diagnosis. In multivariate analysis only Platinum-Free Interval (PFI) retained a prognostic role for PRS (p value = 0.033).</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>ILNR represents a less aggressive pattern of OC relapse which keeps progressing in the lymph nodes in a relatively high percentage of cases. On the other hand, the occurrence of peritoneal spreading after ILNR is associated with a rapidly fatal outcome.</p

Response to Therapeutic Sleep Deprivation: A Naturalistic Study of Clinical and Genetic Factors and Post-treatment Depressive Symptom Trajectory

Research has shown that therapeutic sleep deprivation (SD) has rapid antidepressant effects in the majority of depressed patients. Investigation of factors preceding and accompanying these effects may facilitate the identification of the underlying biological mechanisms. This exploratory study aimed to examine clinical and genetic factors predicting response to SD and determine the impact of SD on illness course. Mood during SD was also assessed via visual analogue scale. Depressed inpatients (n = 78) and healthy controls (n = 15) underwent ~36 h of SD. Response to SD was defined as a score of ≤ 2 on the Clinical Global Impression Scale for Global Improvement. Depressive symptom trajectories were evaluated for up to a month using self/expert ratings. Impact of genetic burden was calculated using polygenic risk scores for major depressive disorder. In total, 72% of patients responded to SD. Responders and non-responders did not differ in baseline self/expert depression symptom ratings, but mood differed. Response was associated with lower age (p = 0.007) and later age at life-time disease onset (p = 0.003). Higher genetic burden of depression was observed in non-responders than healthy controls. Up to a month post SD, depressive symptoms decreased in both patients groups, but more in responders, in whom effects were sustained. The present findings suggest that re-examining SD with a greater focus on biological mechanisms will lead to better understanding of mechanisms of depression

Bone invading NSCLC cells produce IL-7: mice model and human histologic data

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Bone metastases are a common and dismal consequence of lung cancer that is a leading cause of death. The role of IL-7 in promoting bone metastases has been previously investigated in NSCLC, but many aspects remain to be disclosed. To further study IL-7 function in bone metastasis, we developed a human-in-mice model of bone aggression by NSCLC and analyzed human bone metastasis biopsies.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We used NOD/SCID mice implanted with human bone. After bone engraftment, two groups of mice were injected subcutaneously with A549, a human NSCLC cell line, either close or at the contralateral flank to the human bone implant, while a third control group did not receive cancer cells. Tumor and bone vitality and IL-7 expression were assessed in implanted bone, affected or not by A549. Serum IL-7 levels were evaluated by ELISA. IL-7 immunohistochemistry was performed on 10 human bone NSCLC metastasis biopsies for comparison.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>At 12 weeks after bone implant, we observed osteogenic activity and neovascularization, confirming bone vitality. Tumor aggressive cells implanted close to human bone invaded the bone tissue. The bone-aggressive cancer cells were positive for IL-7 staining both in the mice model and in human biopsies. Higher IL-7 serum levels were found in mice injected with A549 cells close to the bone implant compared to mice injected with A549 cells in the flank opposite to the bone implant.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>We demonstrated that bone-invading cells express and produce IL-7, which is known to promote osteoclast activation and osteolytic lesions. Tumor-bone interaction increases IL-7 production, with an increase in IL-7 serum levels. The presented mice model of bone invasion by contiguous tumor is suitable to study bone-tumor cell interaction. IL-7 plays a role in the first steps of metastatic process.</p

Predictors of Upper Extremity Discomfort: A Longitudinal Study of Industrial and Clerical Workers

Upper extremity discomfort associated with work activity is common with a prevalence of over 50% in many settings. This study followed a cohort of 501 active workers for an average of 5.4 years. Cases were defined as workers who were asymptomatic or had a low discomfort score of 1 or 2 at baseline testing and went on to report a discomfort score of 4 or above on a 10-point visual analog scale. This change is considered clinically significant. Controls had a low baseline discomfort score and continued to have a low discomfort rating throughout the study. The risk factors found to have the highest predictive value for identifying a person who is likely to develop a significant upper extremity discomfort rating included age over 40, a BMI over 28, a complaint of baseline discomfort, the severity of the baseline discomfort rating and a job that had a high hand activity level (based upon hand repetition and force). The risk profile identified both ergonomic and personal health factors as risks and both factors may be amenable to prevention strategies.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/45012/1/10926_2005_Article_871.pd

Performance of CMS muon reconstruction in pp collision events at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV

The performance of muon reconstruction, identification, and triggering in CMS has been studied using 40 inverse picobarns of data collected in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV at the LHC in 2010. A few benchmark sets of selection criteria covering a wide range of physics analysis needs have been examined. For all considered selections, the efficiency to reconstruct and identify a muon with a transverse momentum pT larger than a few GeV is above 95% over the whole region of pseudorapidity covered by the CMS muon system, abs(eta) < 2.4, while the probability to misidentify a hadron as a muon is well below 1%. The efficiency to trigger on single muons with pT above a few GeV is higher than 90% over the full eta range, and typically substantially better. The overall momentum scale is measured to a precision of 0.2% with muons from Z decays. The transverse momentum resolution varies from 1% to 6% depending on pseudorapidity for muons with pT below 100 GeV and, using cosmic rays, it is shown to be better than 10% in the central region up to pT = 1 TeV. Observed distributions of all quantities are well reproduced by the Monte Carlo simulation.Comment: Replaced with published version. Added journal reference and DO

Performance of CMS muon reconstruction in pp collision events at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV

The performance of muon reconstruction, identification, and triggering in CMS has been studied using 40 inverse picobarns of data collected in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV at the LHC in 2010. A few benchmark sets of selection criteria covering a wide range of physics analysis needs have been examined. For all considered selections, the efficiency to reconstruct and identify a muon with a transverse momentum pT larger than a few GeV is above 95% over the whole region of pseudorapidity covered by the CMS muon system, abs(eta) < 2.4, while the probability to misidentify a hadron as a muon is well below 1%. The efficiency to trigger on single muons with pT above a few GeV is higher than 90% over the full eta range, and typically substantially better. The overall momentum scale is measured to a precision of 0.2% with muons from Z decays. The transverse momentum resolution varies from 1% to 6% depending on pseudorapidity for muons with pT below 100 GeV and, using cosmic rays, it is shown to be better than 10% in the central region up to pT = 1 TeV. Observed distributions of all quantities are well reproduced by the Monte Carlo simulation.Comment: Replaced with published version. Added journal reference and DO

Precise measurement of the W-boson mass with the CDF II detector

We have measured the W-boson mass MW using data corresponding to 2.2/fb of integrated luminosity collected in proton-antiproton collisions at 1.96 TeV with the CDF II detector at the Fermilab Tevatron collider. Samples consisting of 470126 W->enu candidates and 624708 W->munu candidates yield the measurement MW = 80387 +- 12 (stat) +- 15 (syst) = 80387 +- 19 MeV. This is the most precise measurement of the W-boson mass to date and significantly exceeds the precision of all previous measurements combined

X-ray emission from the Sombrero galaxy: discrete sources

We present a study of discrete X-ray sources in and around the bulge-dominated, massive Sa galaxy, Sombrero (M104), based on new and archival Chandra observations with a total exposure of ~200 ks. With a detection limit of L_X = 1E37 erg/s and a field of view covering a galactocentric radius of ~30 kpc (11.5 arcminute), 383 sources are detected. Cross-correlation with Spitler et al.'s catalogue of Sombrero globular clusters (GCs) identified from HST/ACS observations reveals 41 X-rays sources in GCs, presumably low-mass X-ray binaries (LMXBs). We quantify the differential luminosity functions (LFs) for both the detected GC and field LMXBs, whose power-low indices (~1.1 for the GC-LF and ~1.6 for field-LF) are consistent with previous studies for elliptical galaxies. With precise sky positions of the GCs without a detected X-ray source, we further quantify, through a fluctuation analysis, the GC LF at fainter luminosities down to 1E35 erg/s. The derived index rules out a faint-end slope flatter than 1.1 at a 2 sigma significance, contrary to recent findings in several elliptical galaxies and the bulge of M31. On the other hand, the 2-6 keV unresolved emission places a tight constraint on the field LF, implying a flattened index of ~1.0 below 1E37 erg/s. We also detect 101 sources in the halo of Sombrero. The presence of these sources cannot be interpreted as galactic LMXBs whose spatial distribution empirically follows the starlight. Their number is also higher than the expected number of cosmic AGNs (52+/-11 [1 sigma]) whose surface density is constrained by deep X-ray surveys. We suggest that either the cosmic X-ray background is unusually high in the direction of Sombrero, or a distinct population of X-ray sources is present in the halo of Sombrero.Comment: 11 figures, 5 tables, ApJ in pres

Azimuthal anisotropy of charged particles at high transverse momenta in PbPb collisions at sqrt(s[NN]) = 2.76 TeV

The azimuthal anisotropy of charged particles in PbPb collisions at nucleon-nucleon center-of-mass energy of 2.76 TeV is measured with the CMS detector at the LHC over an extended transverse momentum (pt) range up to approximately 60 GeV. The data cover both the low-pt region associated with hydrodynamic flow phenomena and the high-pt region where the anisotropies may reflect the path-length dependence of parton energy loss in the created medium. The anisotropy parameter (v2) of the particles is extracted by correlating charged tracks with respect to the event-plane reconstructed by using the energy deposited in forward-angle calorimeters. For the six bins of collision centrality studied, spanning the range of 0-60% most-central events, the observed v2 values are found to first increase with pt, reaching a maximum around pt = 3 GeV, and then to gradually decrease to almost zero, with the decline persisting up to at least pt = 40 GeV over the full centrality range measured.Comment: Replaced with published version. Added journal reference and DO