Isolated Late Metastasis of a Renal Cell Cancer Treated by Radical Distal Pancreatectomy

A 53–year-old man underwent right nephrectomy for a locally advanced renal cell carcinoma with concomitant resection of a solitary metastasis in the right lung. Ten years later, he presented with haematochezia caused by a tumour in the tail of pancreas, invading the transverse colon and the greater curvature of the stomach. The tumour was radically resected, and histological examination revealed a solitary metastasis of the previous renal cell carcinoma. This case illustrates a rare indication for pancreatic resection because of pancreatic metastasis

Isolated Gallbladder Rupture Due to Blunt Abdominal Trauma

Traumatic injury to the extrahepatic biliary system is rare and usually diagnosed at laparotomy when it is associated with other visceral injuries. Isolated gallbladder rupture due to blunt abdominal trauma is even rarer. The clinical presentation of gallbladder injury is variable, resulting in a delay in diagnosis and treatment. Awareness to the possibilty of trauma to the extrahepatic biliary system enables early surgical intervention and eliminates the high morbidity associated with delated diagnosis

OURCOAST, A European initiative to support exchange of experiences and best practices in coastal management

OURCOAST is a three-year initiative commissioned by the General Directorate (DG) Environment of the European Commission to support and ensure the exchange of experiences and best practices in coastal management. This initiative was made possible thanks to the European Parliament that voted a dedicated resource for this purpose into the EU budget in 2008. The European Commission has intensively worked on developing and promoting Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICZM) principles. More recently, an evaluation on ICZM in Europe concluded that although there is still great willingness of Authorities at national, regional and locals levels to implement ICZM, there is still a number of fundamental obstacles that need to be overcome. Some of these constraints are reflected in the lack of proper means for exchange of experiences and access to outstanding studies and best practices being produced in Coastal Member States, at different authority levels. The overall goal of OURCOAST is to create an information base and groundwork that will further support and promote the implementation of ICZM in coastal areas by the establishment of long-lasting information mechanisms that will promote the sharing of experiences and practices and the accomplishments of the project. The project will produce numerous studies of public interest, such as, a comparative analysis of ICZM and marine planning experiences, a state-of-the-art report on EU policies and legislation for ICZM and marine planning. Guidance for future integrated and marine planning projects, and policy recommendations will be formulated for future development of ICZM in Europe. The final results will be presented at an international stakeholders conference in Autumn 2011. The OURCOAST initiative aims to establish a multi-lingual database of Europe-wide ICZM practices in the form of case studies that will be freely accessible through the EUROPA ­ European Commission official web-site to the broad coastal and marine communities and to provide practical guidance to all those who are seeking sustainable solutions to their coastal management practices. Following these challenges, this paper aims to provide more insight and details about the progress activities and various components of the OURCOAST initiative, which is being implemented by a consortium led by ARCADIS and it's subcontractor the Coastal & Marine Union (EUCC). The implementation has started in January 2009 and will end in December 2011. The data collection, website development as well as the analysis are currently being carried out

Use of H19 Gene Regulatory Sequences in DNA-Based Therapy for Pancreatic Cancer

Pancreatic cancer is the eighth most common cause of death from cancer in the world, for which palliative treatments are not effective and frequently accompanied by severe side effects. We propose a DNA-based therapy for pancreatic cancer using a nonviral vector, expressing the diphtheria toxin A chain under the control of the H19 gene regulatory sequences. The H19 gene is an oncofetal RNA expressed during embryo development and in several types of cancer. We tested the expression of H19 gene in patients, and found that 65% of human pancreatic tumors analyzed showed moderated to strong expression of the gene. In vitro experiments showed that the vector was effective in reducing Luciferase protein activity on pancreatic carcinoma cell lines. In vivo experiment results revealed tumor growth arrest in different animal models for pancreatic cancer. Differences in tumor size between control and treated groups reached a 75% in the heterotopic model (P = .037) and 50% in the orthotopic model (P = .007). In addition, no visible metastases were found in the treated group of the orthotopic model. These results indicate that the treatment with the vector DTA-H19 might be a viable new therapeutic option for patients with unresectable pancreatic cancer

Evidence for the impact of the 8.2-kyBP climate event on Near Eastern early farmers.

The 8.2-thousand years B.P. event is evident in multiple proxy records across the globe, showing generally dry and cold conditions for ca. 160 years. Environmental changes around the event are mainly detected using geochemical or palynological analyses of ice cores, lacustrine, marine, and other sediments often distant from human settlements. The Late Neolithic excavated area of the archaeological site of Çatalhöyük East [Team Poznań (TP) area] was occupied for four centuries in the ninth and eighth millennia B.P., thus encompassing the 8.2-thousand years B.P. climatic event. A Bayesian analysis of 56 radiocarbon dates yielded a high-resolution chronological model comprising six building phases, with dates ranging from before 8325-8205 to 7925-7815 calibrated years (cal) B.P. Here, we correlate an onsite paleoclimate record constructed from δ2H values of lipid biomarkers preserved in pottery vessels recovered from these buildings with changes in architectural, archaeozoological, and consumption records from well-documented archaeological contexts. The overall sequence shows major changes in husbandry and consumption practices at ca. 8.2 thousand years B.P., synchronous with variations in the δ2H values of the animal fat residues. Changes in paleoclimate and archaeological records seem connected with the patterns of atmospheric precipitation during the occupation of the TP area predicted by climate modeling. Our multiproxy approach uses records derived directly from documented archaeological contexts. Through this, we provide compelling evidence for the specific impacts of the 8.2-thousand years B.P. climatic event on the economic and domestic activities of pioneer Neolithic farmers, influencing decisions relating to settlement planning and food procurement strategies

The Relationship between Sport-Related Concussion and Sensation-Seeking

Sensation-seeking, or the need for novel and exciting experiences, is thought to play a role in sport-related concussion (SRC), yet much remains unknown regarding these relationships and, more importantly, how sensation-seeking influences SRC risk. The current study assessed sensation-seeking, sport contact level, and SRC history and incidence in a large sample of NCAA collegiate athletes. Data included a full study sample of 22,374 baseline evaluations and a sub-sample of 2037 incident SRC. Independent samples t-test, analysis of covariance, and hierarchical logistic regression were constructed to address study hypotheses. Results showed that (1) among participants without SRC, sensation-seeking scores were higher in athletes playing contact sports compared to those playing limited- or non-contact sports (p < 0.001, R2 = 0.007, η2p = 0.003); (2) in the full study sample, a one-point increase in sensation-seeking scores resulted in a 21% greater risk of prior SRC (OR = 1.212; 95% CI: 1.154–1.272), and in the incident SRC sub-sample, a 28% greater risk of prior SRC (OR = 1.278; 95% CI: 1.104–1.480); (3) a one-point increase in sensation-seeking scores resulted in a 12% greater risk of incident SRC among the full study sample; and (4) sensation-seeking did not vary as a function of incident SRC (p = 0.281, η2p = 0.000). Our findings demonstrate the potential usefulness of considering sensation-seeking in SRC management

Urine cell-based DNA methylation classifier for monitoring bladder cancer

Background: Current standard methods used to detect and monitor bladder cancer (BC) are invasive or have low sensitivity. This study aimed to develop a urine methylation biomarker classifier for BC monitoring and validate this classifier in patients in follow-up for bladder cancer (PFBC). Methods: Voided urine samples (N = 725) from BC patients, controls, and PFBC were prospectively collected in four centers. Finally, 626 urine samples were available for analysis. DNA was extracted from the urinary cells and bisulfite modificated, and methylation status was analyzed using pyrosequencing. Cytology was available from a subset of patients (N = 399). In the discovery phase, seven selected genes from the literature (CDH13, CFTR, NID2, SALL3, TMEFF2, TWIST1, and VIM2) were studied in 111 BC and 57 control samples. This training set was used to develop a gene classifier by logistic regression and was validated in 458 PFBC samples (173 with recurrence). Results: A three-gene methylation classifier containing CFTR, SALL3, and TWIST1 was developed in the training set (AUC 0.874). The classifier achieved an AUC of 0.741 in the validation series. Cytology results were available for 308 samples from the validation set. Cytology achieved AUC 0.696 whereas the classifier in this subset of patients reached an AUC 0.768. Combining the methylation classifier with cytology results achieved an AUC 0.86 in the validation set, with a sensitivity of 96%, a specificity of 40%, and a positive and negative predictive value of 56 and 92%, respectively. Conclusions: The combination of the three-gene methylation classifier and cytology results has high sensitivity and high negative predictive value in a real clinical scenario (PFBC). The proposed classifier is a useful test for predicting BC recurrence and decrease the number of cystoscopies in the follow-up of BC patients. If only patients with a positive combined classifier result would be cystoscopied, 36% of all cystoscopies can be prevented

Lobar and segmental liver atrophy associated with hilar cholangiocarcinoma and the impact of hilar biliary anatomical variants: a pictorial essay

The radiological features of lobar and segmental liver atrophy and compensatory hypertrophy associated with biliary obstruction are important to recognise for diagnostic and therapeutic reasons. Atrophied lobes/segments reduce in volume and usually contain crowded dilated bile ducts extending close to the liver surface. There is often a “step” in the liver contour between the atrophied and non-atrophied parts. Hypertrophied right lobe or segments enlarge and show a prominently convex or “bulbous” visceral surface. The atrophied liver parenchyma may show lower attenuation on pre-contrast computed tomography (CT) and CT intravenous cholangiography (CT-IVC) and lower signal intensity on T1-weighted magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Hilar biliary anatomical variants can have an impact on the patterns of lobar/segmental atrophy, as the cause of obstruction (e.g. cholangiocarcinoma) often commences in one branch, leading to atrophy in that drainage region before progressing to complete biliary obstruction and jaundice. Such variants are common and can result in unusual but explainable patterns of atrophy and hypertrophy. Examples of changes seen with and without hilar variants are presented that illustrate the radiological features of atrophy/hypertrophy