Lung metastasis 21 years after initial diagnosis of osteosarcoma: a case report

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Introduction</p> <p>To the best of our knowledge, this case report describes the longest disease-free interval between primary diagnosis and metastatic recurrence of an osteosarcoma.</p> <p>Case presentation</p> <p>A 35-year-old Caucasian American man presented with asymptomatic lung metastases 21 years after being diagnosed and treated for lower extremity osteosarcoma. He underwent curative lung resection, but 2 years thereafter developed metastatic disease in the scapula and tibia and, after resection and chemotherapy, is in remission 1 year later.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>This case highlights the importance of long follow-up periods and continued surveillance of osteosarcoma patients after initial curative treatment.</p

Parallel declines in species and genetic diversity driven by anthropogenic disturbance: a multispecies approach in a French Atlantic dune system.

Numerous studies assess the correlation between genetic and species diversities, but the processes underlying the observed patterns have only received limited attention. For instance, varying levels of habitat disturbance across a region may locally reduce both diversities due to extinctions, and increased genetic drift during population bottlenecks and founder events. We investigated the regional distribution of genetic and species diversities of a coastal sand dune plant community along 240 kilometers of coastline with the aim to test for a correlation between the two diversity levels. We further quantify and tease apart the respective contributions of natural and anthropogenic disturbance factors to the observed patterns. We detected significant positive correlation between both variables. We further revealed a negative impact of urbanization: Sites with a high amount of recreational infrastructure within 10 km coastline had significantly lowered genetic and species diversities. On the other hand, a measure of natural habitat disturbance had no effect. This study shows that parallel variation of genetic and species diversities across a region can be traced back to human landscape alteration, provides arguments for a more resolute dune protection, and may help to design priority conservation areas

BMJ Open

INTRODUCTION: The prevalence of postnatal depression (PND) is significant: reaching up to 20% in the general population. In mechanistic terms, the risk of PND lies in an interaction between a maternal psychophysiological vulnerability and a chronic environmental context of stress. On the one hand, repetition of stressor during pregnancy mimics a chronic stress model that is relevant to the study of the allostatic load and the adaptive mechanisms. On the other hand, vulnerability factors reflect a psychological profile mirroring mindfulness functioning (psychological quality that involves bringing one's complete and non-judgemental attention to the present experience on a moment-to-moment basis). This psychological resource is linked to protective and resilient psychic functioning. Thus, PND appears to be a relevant model for studying the mechanisms of chronic stress and vulnerability to psychopathologies.In this article, we present the protocol of an ongoing study (started in May 2017). METHODS AND ANALYSIS: The study is being carried out in five maternities and will involve 260 women. We aim to determine the predictive psychobiological factors for PND emergence and to provide a better insight into the mechanisms involved in chronic stress during pregnancy. We use a multidisciplinary approach that encompasses psychological resources and biophysiological and genetic profiles in order to detect relevant vulnerability biomarkers for chronic stress and the development of PND. To do so, each woman will be involved in the study from her first trimester of pregnancy until 12 months postdelivery. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: Ethics approval was obtained from the Ile de France III Ethics Committee, France (2016-A00887-44). We aim to disseminate the findings through international conferences and international peer-reviewed journals. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: NCT03088319; Pre-results

EORTC Early Clinical Studies Group early phase II trial of S-1 in patients with advanced or metastatic colorectal cancer

Cancer of the colon and rectum is one of the most frequent malignancies both in the US and Europe. Standard palliative therapy is based on 5-fluorouracil/folinic acid combinations, with or without oxaliplatin or irinotecan, given intravenously. Oral medication has the advantage of greater patient convenience and acceptance and potential cost savings. S-1 is a new oral fluorinated pyrimidine derivative. In a nonrandomized phase II study, patients with advanced/metastatic colorectal cancer were treated with S-1 at 40 mg m-2 b.i.d. for 28 consecutive days, repeated every 5 weeks, but by amendment the dose was reduced to 35 mg m-2 during the study because of a higher than expected number of severe adverse drug reactions. In total 47 patients with colorectal cancer were included. In the 37 evaluable patients there were nine partial responses (24%), 17 stable diseases (46%) and 11 patients had progressive disease (30%). Diarrhoea occurred frequently and was often severe: in the 40 and 35 mg m-2 group, respectively, 38 and 35% of the patients experienced grade 3-4 diarrhoea. The other toxicities were limited and manageable. S-1 is active in advanced colorectal cancer, but in order to establish a safer dose the drug should be subject to further investigations

Maspin expression in gastrointestinal stromal tumors

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>To investigate the role of maspin expression in the progression of gastrointestinal stromal tumors, and its value as a prognostic indicator.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>In the study 54 patients with GIST diagnosis were included in Uludag University of Faculty of Medicine, Department of Pathology between 1997-2007. The expression of maspin in 54 cases of gastrointestinal stromal tumor was detected by immunohistochemistry and compared with the clinicopathologic tumor parameters.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The positive expression rates for maspin in the GISTs were 66,6% (36 of 54 cases). Maspin overexpression was detected in 9 of 29 high risk tumors (31%) and was significantly higher in very low/low (78.6%) and intermediate-risk tumors (63.6%) than high-risk tumors.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Maspin expression might be an important factor in tumor progression and patient prognosis in GIST. In the future, larger series may be studied to examine the prognostic significance of maspin in GISTs and, of course, maspin expression may be studied in different mesenchymal tumors.</p

Pazopanib in advanced vascular sarcomas: an EORTC Soft Tissue and Bone Sarcoma Group (STBSG) retrospective analysis.

Background Pazopanib is a multitargeted tyrosine kinase inhibitor approved for the treatment of patients with selective subtypes of advanced soft tissue sarcoma (STS) who have previously received standard chemotherapy including anthracyclines. Data on the efficacy in vascular sarcomas are limited. The main objective of this study was to investigate the activity of pazopanib in vascular sarcomas.Patients and methods A retrospective study of patients with advanced vascular sarcomas, including angiosarcoma (AS), epithelioid hemangioendothelioma (HE) and intimal sarcoma (IS) treated with pazopanib in real life practice at EORTC centers as well as patients treated within the EORTC phase II and III clinical trials (62043/62072) was performed. Patient and tumor characteristics were collected. Response was assessed according to RECIST 1.1. and survival analysis was performed.Results Fifty-two patients were identified, 40 (76.9%), 10 (19.2%) and two (3.8%) with AS, HE and IS, respectively. The response rate was eight (20%), two (20%) and two (100%) in the AS, HE and IS subtypes, respectively. There was no significant difference in response rate between cutaneous and non-cutaneous AS and similarly between radiation-associated and non-radiation-associated AS. Median progression-free survival (PFS) and median overall survival (OS; from commencing pazopanib) were three months (95% CI 2.1-4.4) and 9.9 months (95% CI 6.5-11.3) in AS, respectively.Conclusion The activity of pazopanib in AS is comparable to its reported activity in other STS subtypes. In this study, the activity of pazopanib was similar in cutaneous/non-cutaneous and in radiation/non-radiation-associated AS. In addition, pazopanib showed promising activity in HE and IS, worthy of further evaluation