Fluctuation of intratumor biological variables as a function of menstrual timing of surgery for breast cancer in premenopausal patients

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Strengthening coherence between social protection and productive interventions – The case of Lesotho

Social protection has been recognized as a key strategy to address poverty, vulnerability and social exclusion in Lesotho. As a result, the Government, with support from UNICEF and the European Union, developed the Child Grants Programme (CGP), which provides unconditional cash transfers to poor and vulnerable households registered in the National Information System for Social Assistance (NISSA). The quantitative impact evaluation presented in this report seeks to document the welfare and economic impacts of CGP and SPRINGS on direct beneficiaries and assess whether combining the cash transfers with a package of rural development interventions can create positive synergies at both individual and household level, especially in relation to income generating activities and nutrition. This paper is being published in the context of a partnership between FAO, IFAD and the Universidad de los Andes (UNIANDES) and its Centro de Estudios en Desarrollo Económico (CEDE) based in Bogotá, Colombia

Estimating the costs of specialised care : updated analysis using data for 2009/10. Report to the Department of Health

Payment by Results is predicated on the assumption that patients allocated to the same Healthcare Resource Group (HRG) are equally costly to treat. This may be untrue for some patients, such as those who receive specialised care or who are transferred between hospitals. We assess whether and by how much such patients have higher costs than those allocated to the same HRG. Hospitals that treat such patients might be paid a top-up to the HRG tariff to reflect these higher costs

High level of telomerase RNA gene expression is associated with chromatin modification, the ALT phenotype and poor prognosis in liposarcoma

Telomere length is maintained by two known mechanisms, activation of telomerase or alternative lengthening of telomeres (ALT). The ALT pathway is more commonly activated in tumours of mesenchymal origin, although the mechanisms involved in the decision of a cell to activate either telomerase or ALT are unknown at present and no molecular markers exist to define the ALT phenotype. We have previously shown an association between chromatin remodelling, telomerase gene expression and ALT in cell line models. Here, we evaluate these findings and investigate their prognostic significance in a panel of liposarcoma tissue samples to understand the biology underlying the ALT phenotype. Liposarcoma samples were split into three groups: telomerase positive (Tel+); ALT positive; ALT−/Tel−. Differences in telomerase gene expression were evident between the groups with increased expression of hTR in ALT and Tel+ compared to ALT−/Tel− samples and increased hTERT in Tel+ samples only. Investigation of a small panel of chromatin modifications revealed significantly increased binding of acetyl H3 in association with hTR expression. We confirm that the presence of the ALT phenotype is associated with poor prognosis and in addition, for the first time, we show a direct association between hTR expression and poor prognosis in liposarcoma patients

Tailoring treatment of salivary duct carcinoma (SDC) by liquid biopsy: ARv7 expression in circulating tumor cells

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Dynamical fingerprints for probing individual relaxation processes in biomolecular dynamics with simulations and kinetic experiments

There is a gap between kinetic experiment and simulation in their views of the dynamics of complex biomolecular systems. Whereas experiments typically reveal only a few readily discernible exponential relaxations, simulations often indicate complex multistate behavior. Here, a theoretical framework is presented that reconciles these two approaches. The central concept is “dynamical fingerprints” which contain peaks at the time scales of the dynamical processes involved with amplitudes determined by the experimental observable. Fingerprints can be generated from both experimental and simulation data, and their comparison by matching peaks permits assignment of structural changes present in the simulation to experimentally observed relaxation processes. The approach is applied here to a test case interpreting single molecule fluorescence correlation spectroscopy experiments on a set of fluorescent peptides with molecular dynamics simulations. The peptides exhibit complex kinetics shown to be consistent with the apparent simplicity of the experimental data. Moreover, the fingerprint approach can be used to design new experiments with site-specific labels that optimally probe specific dynamical processes in the molecule under investigation

Behavior of four main dairy pathogenic bacteria during manufacturing and ripening of pecorino siciliano cheese

Background: Consumption of raw cheese may be associated with different diseases. This study aimed to evaluate behavior of four pathogenic bacteria during manufacture and ripening of Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) Pecorino Siciliano cheese. Methods: The experimental cheese groups were inoculated with pathogenic bacteria, including Escherichia coli O157, Listeria monocytogenes, Salmonella Enteritidis, and Staphylococcus aureus. The cheese making processes were monitored from milk curdling until 3 months ripened cheeses and the levels of Lactic Acid Bacteria (LAB) and the four dairy pathogens were evaluated by plate counts. Randomly Amplified Polymorphic DNA (RAPD)-Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) analysis was applied to confirm that the colonies isolated during the several steps of production were the same strains added in milk. Statistical analysis was done using XLStat software. Results: The levels of mesophilic and thermophilic coccus and rod LAB in curd were comparable in both trials and reached values between 8-9 log10 Colony Forming Unit (CFU)/g in cheeses at 90 days of ripening. The four pathogenic bacteria were found in experimental curd at levels higher than those inoculated in milk and completely disappeared after 60 days of ripening. The RAPD analysis clearly demonstrated the presence of the added strain during production and confirmed the results of plate counts. Conclusion: This work showed that the production conditions of PDO Pecorino Siciliano cheese decreased growth of E. coli O157, L. monocytogenes, S. Enteritidis, and S. aureus

Potential of the Oxidized Form of the Oleuropein Aglycon to Monitor the Oil Quality Evolution of Commercial Extra-Virgin Olive Oils

The quality of commercially available extra-virgin olive oils (VOOs) of different chemical compositions was evaluated as a function of storage (12 months), simulating market storage conditions, to find reliable and early markers of the virgin olive oil (VOOs) quality status in the market. By applying a D-optimal design using the Most Descriptive Compound (MDC) algorithm, 20 virgin olive oils were selected. The initial concentrations of oleic acid, hydrophilic phenols, and a-tocopherol in the 20 VOOs ranged from 58.2 to 80.5%, 186.7 to 1003.2 mg/kg, and 170.7-300.6 mg/kg, respectively. K-270, increment K, (E, E)-2.4-decadienal and (E)-2-decenal, and the oxidative form of the oleuropein aglycon (3,4-DHPEA-EA-OX) reflected the VOO quality status well, with 3,4-DHPEA-EA-OX being the most relevant and quick index for simple monitoring of the "extra-virgin" commercial shelf-life category. Its HPLC-DAD evaluation is easy because of the different wavelength absorbances of the oxidized and non-oxidized form (3,4-DHPEA-EA), respectively, at 347 and 278 nm

Infiltrating ductal and lobular breast carcinomas are characterised by different interrelationships among markers related to angiogenesis and hormone dependence

To obtain a more integrated understanding of the different breast cancer phenotypes and to investigate whether bio-molecular profiles can distinguish between specific histotypes, we explored the interrelations among several biologic variables indicative of, or related to, hormone dependence, proliferation and apoptosis control, and angiogenesis in ductal and lobular carcinomas, the most common histotypes. Oestrogen and progesterone receptors, tumour proliferative activity, the expression of cyclin A, p16ink4A, p27kip1, p21waf1, p53, bcl-2, and levels of vascular endothelial growth factor and hypoxia-inducible factor-1α (HIF-1α) were evaluated in 190 in ductal and 67 lobular carcinomas. Our findings support the hypothesis that in ductal and lobular carcinomas are two distinct, partially phenotypically unrelated entities, the latter being characterised by the presence of features indicative of differentiation such as oestrogen receptors, low proliferation and lack of p53 expression and associated with low vascular endothelial growth factor content compared to angiogenesis in ductal carcinomas. Conversely, no significant difference was found between lobular carcinomas and in ductal carcinomas considering the frequency distribution of PgR-positive cases, cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitors acting at the G1/S boundary, bcl-2 and HIF-1α protein expression. Although both generally defined as hormone responsive, in ductal and lobular carcinomas are also characterised by biologic patterns in which proteins related to hormone responsiveness, cell-cycle control, apoptosis and angiogenesis were differently associated. This finding suggests the need to refine breast cancer characterisation in order to provide detailed information about individual tumours, or subsets of tumours, that will help in defining optimal treatment approaches

Circulating tumor DNA and disease recurrence in early stage breast cancer: From a case-control study to a prospective longitudinal trial

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