Advances in molecular pathology of Ewing sarcoma

Ewing sarcoma is a rare malignant small round cell mesenchymal neoplasm with a characteristic FET family-ETS family fusion gene, and is classified as undifferentiated small round cell sarcoma in the fifth revision of the WHO Classification of Tumors of Soft Tissue and Bone (2020）. Microscopically, Ewing sarcoma is composed of a monomorphic round cell population, accompanied by different degrees of neuroectodermal differentiation. Although surgery combined with chemotherapy has increased the 5-year survival rate of Ewing sarcoma to about 70%, the 5-year survival rate of patients with metastases at diagnosis is still less than 30%. With the rapid development of molecular pathology, the molecular mechanism of Ewing sarcoma has also become a focus of research. This article reviews the latest research progress on the unique pathological features, molecular mechanisms and genetic diagnostic criteria of Ewing sarcoma, in order to provide a new direction for the clinical diagnosis, treatment and prognosis of Ewing sarcoma

Effects of conservation tillage on organic carbon, nitrogen and enzyme activities in a hydragric anthrosol of Chongqing, China

AbstractPurple paddy (Hydragric Anthrosol in FAO soil classification) is one of important soil resources in Chongqing, China. Long-term conservation tillage may alter distribution of soil organic carbon, nitrogen, and enzyme activities. The objectives of this study were to investigate the impacts of different tillage systems (conventional tillage with rotation of rice and winter fallow (CT-r) system, no-till and ridge culture with rotation of rice and winter fallow (NT-r) system, no-till and ridge culture with rotation of rice and rape (NT-rr) system and conventional tillage with rotation of rice and rape (CT-rr) system) on the depth distribution of soil total organic carbon, nitrogen and enzyme activities (catalase, intverase, and urease activity) in a purple paddy soil after 18 years. Soil total organic carbon and labile organic carbon were significant increased in surface soil layer (0-10cm) under CT-r, NT-r, and NT-rr systems compared to that under CT-rr system. It indicated that conservation tillage practices can sequester soil organic carbon and reduced CO2/CH4 emission. Soil total nitrogen also significant increased in surface soil layer (0-10cm) under CT-r, NT-r, and NT-rr systems with the greatest under CT-r system (36%), followed by under NT-rr system (34%), and the least under NT-r system (20%) compared to CT-rr system. No-till, ridge culture, and rotation of rice and winter fallow were increased soil catalase and urease activities, but the greatest was not observed under NT-r system, under which the catalase activities was significant decreased. Soil invertase activities were significant increased under CT-r system compared to CT-rr systems and only a little increased in 0-20cm soil layer under NT-rr system. Conservation tillage could construct good soil biochemistry environment and maintain soil fertility, and promote agroecosystem sustainable development

Progress in pathological diagnosis of intraductal papillary mucinous neoplasm of the pancreas

Intraductal papillary mucinous neoplasm (IPMN) of the pancreas is an important precancerous lesion to pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma. Clinical decisions in the diagnosis and treatment of IPMN are foremost based on a profound understanding of the related pathology of IPMN. Systematic literature reviews were conducted around four aspects of macroscopic examination, microscopic examination, molecular detection and differential diagnosis of IPMN. This review provided updated perspectives on gross types, histological grades and differentiation subtypes, the composition pattern and histological classification of IPMN with invasive carcinoma, the molecular research of IPMN and important differential diagnosis. This analysis confirms the heterogeneity and heterochronous in IPMN, laying the foundation for finding new method to help clinicians developing appropriate diagnosis and treatment plans

Acquired cystic disease-associated renal cell carcinoma with PTCH1 mutation: a case report

Acquired cystic disease-associated renal cell carcinoma (ACD-RCC) is an extremely rare kidney tumor seen mainly in patients with end-stage renal disease. Currently, there are few reports on this type of tumor. We describe the case of a 58-year-old man who had been receiving peritoneal dialysis for more than nine years due to chronic renal insufficiency and uremia. One year after undergoing left renal clear cell renal cell carcinoma resection, a space-occupying lesion was found in the right kidney for which he underwent right nephrectomy. The histopathology of this tumor showed solid or tubular cell arrangements, with some areas of cyst formation. Vacuoles of varying sizes were present in the cytoplasm, and varying amounts of calcium oxalate crystals were found in the tumor cells or interstitium. The pathological diagnosis was ACD-RCC. Next-generation sequencing detected mutations in the PTCH1, MTOR, FAT1, SOS1, RECQL4, and CDC73 genes in the right renal tumor. This is a rare case of a patient with ACD-RCC in the right kidney and clear cell renal cell carcinoma in the left kidney. The findings suggest that mutations in PTCH1 associated with ACD-RCC may have acted as oncogenic drivers for the development of ACKD-RCC, together with providing insight into mechanisms underlying ACD-RCC development, as well as diagnostic and treatment options

Certificate Recitals

Recital presented at the UNT College of Music Voertman Hall in partial fulfillment of the Graduate Artist Certificate in Music Performance

TET (Ten-eleven translocation) family proteins: structure, biological functions and applications

Abstract Ten-eleven translocation (TET) family proteins (TETs), specifically, TET1, TET2 and TET3, can modify DNA by oxidizing 5-methylcytosine (5mC) iteratively to yield 5-hydroxymethylcytosine (5hmC), 5-formylcytosine (5fC), and 5-carboxycytosine (5caC), and then two of these intermediates (5fC and 5caC) can be excised and return to unmethylated cytosines by thymine-DNA glycosylase (TDG)-mediated base excision repair. Because DNA methylation and demethylation play an important role in numerous biological processes, including zygote formation, embryogenesis, spatial learning and immune homeostasis, the regulation of TETs functions is complicated, and dysregulation of their functions is implicated in many diseases such as myeloid malignancies. In addition, recent studies have demonstrated that TET2 is able to catalyze the hydroxymethylation of RNA to perform post-transcriptional regulation. Notably, catalytic-independent functions of TETs in certain biological contexts have been identified, further highlighting their multifunctional roles. Interestingly, by reactivating the expression of selected target genes, accumulated evidences support the potential therapeutic use of TETs-based DNA methylation editing tools in disorders associated with epigenetic silencing. In this review, we summarize recent key findings in TETs functions, activity regulators at various levels, technological advances in the detection of 5hmC, the main TETs oxidative product, and TETs emerging applications in epigenetic editing. Furthermore, we discuss existing challenges and future directions in this field

Ampullary adenocarcinoma: analysis of the clinicopathological features and prognostic factors

Objective: To evaluate the clinicopathologic features and prognosis of ampullary adenocarcinoma (AA). Methods: The proportion of AA in patients who underwent pancreaticoduodenectomy were calculated in Ruijin hospital from January 2017 to December 2019. The clinical data and pathological features were analyzed. According to the new histological classification standard in the fifth edition of the World Health Organization classification of digestive system tumors in 2019, AA was reclassified and the risk factors for poor prognosis were analyzed. Results: It revealed that AA account for 6.95%(101/1454) in patients undergone pancreaticoduodenectomies. The median age of onset was 64 years, and the male to female ratio was 46∶55. The proportion of histological sub-types were 19.80%(20/101) for intestinal-type adenocarcinoma, 43.56% (44/101) for pancreatobiliary-type adenocarcinoma and 36.63% (37/101) for tubular adenocarcinoma. Among these 101 patients, 26 patients were lost to follow-up, and the remaining 75 patients were followed up for 1-45 months, with a median postoperative follow-up period of 18 months. The 1-year survival rate of the patients was 78.58%, and the 2-year survival rate was 67.40%. Log-rank survival analysis showed difference in overall survival between the non-intestinal-type adenocarcinoma group (pancreaticobiliary-type adenocarcinoma and tubular adenocarcinoma) and the intestinal-type adenocarcinoma group (P=0.0415). There was also statistical difference in the overall survival between the CK7 positive group and the CK7 negative group of tumor cells (P=0.0425). Conclusions: AA occurres frequently in the elderly and there is no significant gender difference. Pancreatobiliary-type carcinoma and tubular adenocarcinoma are dominant histological types, and intestinal-type adenocarcinoma accounts for only a small portion. Non intestinal-type adenocarcinoma and CK7 positivity are risk factors for poor prognosis of AA

Modeling Spatial Pattern of Precipitation with GIS and Multivariate Geostatistical Methods in Chongqing Tobacco Planting Region, China

International audiencePrecipitation is important factor affecting vegetation and controlling key ecological processes. In order to quantify spatial patterns of precipitation in Chongqing tobacco planting region, China, under ArcGIS platform, three multivariate geostatistical methods including cokriging, small grid and regression kriging, coupled with auxiliary topographic factors extracted from a 1:100000 DEM were applied to predict spatial distribution of precipitation for January (the least month), June (the richest month) and the whole year. The results showed that cokriging was the best for prediction precipitation of January, which could explain 58% of the total variation. Small grid simulation with IDW interpolation exhibited higher accuracy for both June precipitation and annual precipitation, which explained 72% and 61% of the total variation respectively. Generally, multivariate geostatistics accounted for most of the spatial variability in mean precipitation and especially could exhibit great improvement for estimating precipitation in areas where topography has a major influence on the precipitation