Survivin antiapoptotic gene expression as a prognostic factor in non-small cell lung cancer: in situ hybridization study.

Survivin is an inhibitor of apoptosis that plays a significant role in cell cycle regulation and is important for survival prognosis in many neoplasms. Survivin expression was assessed by in situ hybridization (ISH) in 60 consecutive patients (54 males and 4 females) with NSCLC treated between 1993 and 1997. The examined patients had IIB and IIIA stage according to TNM system. In all cases the chemotherapy with cisplatin and etoposide (2 cycles) was administered prior the surgery; in patients responding to the therapy one more cycle was applied. Survivin gene overexpression was observed in 35 patients (58.3%). There was no correlation between survivin mRNA level and histological type of tumor, stage of cell differentiation, stage of disease according to TNM classification, performance status according to WHO and number of chemotherapy regimens administered (p > 0.05). However, the correlation between survivin gene expression and response to the chemotherapy was statistically significant (p = 0.04). Statistical analysis showed that median survival in patients with survivin gene overexpression was shorter (14.0 months) as compared to patients with no expression (60.0 months; p = 0.00002). In survival assessment by means of Kaplan-Meier test, 14.3% of five-year survival was achieved in the former group versus 60% in the latter (p = 0.00003). Univariate analysis (log-rank test) showed that significant independent prognostic factors in NSCLC included: stage of the disease according to TNM classification (p = 0.006), response to chemotherapy (p = 0.005) and pattern of survivin gene expression (p = 0.00003). Multivariate analysis utilizing Cox's model showed that for survival assessment the stage according to TNM, response to the chemotherapy and survivin expression estimated by means of ISH are of statistical significance (p=0.00001). The calculated predictive values showed that ISH technique was quite accurate in assessment of five-year survival. Our data show that survivin expression may be used as a prognostic factor and a target for therapy

Diagnostic accuracy of fine needle aspiration cytology versus concurrent core needle biopsy in evaluation of intrathoracic lesions: A retrospective comparative study

Background: Transthoracic fine needle aspiration (FNA) cytology and core needle biopsy (CNB) are two commonly used approaches for the diagnosis of suspected neoplastic intrathoracic lesions. This study compared the diagnostic accuracy of FNA cytology and concurrent CNB in the evaluation of intrathoracic lesions. Materials and Methods: We studied FNA cytology and concurrent CNB specimens of 127 patients retrospectively, using hematoxylin and eosin (H&E), immunohistochemistry, and, on certain occasions cytochemistry. Information regarding additional tissue tests was derived from the electronic archives of the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine as well as patient records. Diagnostic accuracy was calculated for each test. Results: Of 127 cases, 22 were inconclusive and excluded from the study. The remaining 105 were categorized into 73 (69.5) malignant lesions and 32 (30.5) benign lesions. FNA and CNB findings were in complete agreement in 63 cases (60). The accuracy and confidence intervals (CIs) of FNA and CNB for malignant tumors were 86.3 (CI: 79.3-90.7) and 93.2 (CI: 87.3-96.0) respectively. For epithelial malignant neoplasms, a definitive diagnosis was made in 44.8 of cases by FNA and 80.6 by CNB. The diagnostic accuracy of CNB for nonepithelial malignant neoplasms was 83.3 compared with 50 for FNA. Of the 32 benign cases, we made specific diagnoses in 16 with diagnostic accuracy of 81.3 and 6.3 for CNB and FNA, respectively. Conclusions: Our findings suggest that FNA is comparable to CNB in the diagnosis of malignant epithelial lesions whereas diagnostic accuracy of CNB for nonepithlial malignant neoplasms is superior to that for FNA. Further, for histological typing of tumors and examining tumor origin, immunohistochemical work up plays an important role

Pregabalin-Induced Myopathy in a Double Lung Transplant Recipient

Pregabalin is a gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) derivative that was commercially approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 2004. It is commonly used in the treatment of diabetic neuropathy, peripheral neuropathy, and spinal cord injury. We present the case of a 36-year-old Caucasian male double lung transplant recipient who presented with an 18-month history of fatigue and muscle weakness. He had elevated creatinine kinase level and his muscle biopsy showed evidence of drug-induced myopathy that improved after the cessation of pregabalin. We present a case of drug-induced myopathy as a rare complication of pregabalin therapy in a double lung transplant recipient

Toothpick perforation of the caecum

A 61-year-old male was admitted to the Emergency department with a history of increasing abdominal pain for 7 days. On physical exam pain and tenderness in the right lower quadrant were evident while laboratory examination revealed slightly elevated neutrophil count. Abdominal ultrasound was unremarkable probably due to artifacts induced by gas in caecum

Evaluating genetic traceability methods for captive bred marine fish and their applications in fisheries management and wildlife forensics

Growing demands for marine fish products is leading to increased pressure on already depleted wild populations and a rise in the aquaculture production. Consequently, more captive bred fish are released into the wild through accidental escape or deliberate restocking, stock enhancement and sea ranching programs. The increased mixing of captive bred fish with wild conspecifics may affect the ecological and/or genetic integrity of wild fish populations. From a fisheries management perspective unambiguous identification tools for captive bred fish will be highly valuable to manage risks. Additionally there is great potential to use these tools in wildlife forensics (i.e. tracing back escapees to their origin and determining mislabelling of seafood products). Using SNP data from captive bred and wild populations of Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua L.) and sole (Solea solea L.), we explored the efficiency of population and parentage assignment techniques for the identification and tracing of captive bred fish. Simulated and empirical data were used to correct for stochastic genetic effects. Overall, parentage assignment performed well when a large effective population size characterizes the broodstock and escapees originate from early generations of captive breeding. Consequently, parentage assignments are particularly useful from a fisheries management perspective to monitor the effects of deliberate releases of captive bred fish on wild populations. Population assignment proved to be more efficient after several generations of captive breeding, which makes it a useful method in forensic applications for well-established aquaculture species. We suggest the implementation of a case by case strategy when choosing the best method

Identification of the VAl-ON defect complex in AlN single crystals

In this Rapid Communication, we report positron annihilation results on in-grown and proton irradiation-induced vacancies and their decoration in aluminium nitride (AlN) single crystals. By combining positron lifetime and coincidence Doppler measurements with ab initio calculations, we identify in-grown VAl−ON complexes in the concentration range 10 exp 18 cm exp −3 as the dominant form of VAl in the AlN single crystals, while isolated VAl were introduced by irradiation. Further, we identify the UV absorption feature at around 360 nm that involves VAl.Peer reviewe

Measuring impairments of functioning and health in patients with axial spondyloarthritis by using the ASAS Health Index and the Environmental Item Set : translation and cross-cultural adaptation into 15 languages

Introduction: The Assessments of SpondyloArthritis international society Health Index (ASAS HI) measures functioning and health in patients with spondyloarthritis (SpA) across 17 aspects of health and 9 environmental factors (EF). The objective was to translate and adapt the original English version of the ASAS HI, including the EF Item Set, cross-culturally into 15 languages. Methods: Translation and cross-cultural adaptation has been carried out following the forward-backward procedure. In the cognitive debriefing, 10 patients/country across a broad spectrum of sociodemographic background, were included. Results: The ASAS HI and the EF Item Set were translated into Arabic, Chinese, Croatian, Dutch, French, German, Greek, Hungarian, Italian, Korean, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Thai and Turkish. Some difficulties were experienced with translation of the contextual factors indicating that these concepts may be more culturally-dependent. A total of 215 patients with axial SpA across 23 countries (62.3% men, mean (SD) age 42.4 (13.9) years) participated in the field test. Cognitive debriefing showed that items of the ASAS HI and EF Item Set are clear, relevant and comprehensive. All versions were accepted with minor modifications with respect to item wording and response option. The wording of three items had to be adapted to improve clarity. As a result of cognitive debriefing, a new response option 'not applicable' was added to two items of the ASAS HI to improve appropriateness. Discussion: This study showed that the items of the ASAS HI including the EFs were readily adaptable throughout all countries, indicating that the concepts covered were comprehensive, clear and meaningful in different cultures

Ballistic spin-polarized transport and Rashba spin precession in semiconductor nanowires

We present numerical calculations of the ballistic spin-transport properties of quasi-one-dimensional wires in the presence of the spin-orbit (Rashba) interaction. A tight-binding analog of the Rashba Hamiltonian which models the Rashba effect is used. By varying the robustness of the Rashba coupling and the width of the wire, weak and strong coupling regimes are identified. Perfect electron spin-modulation is found for the former regime, regardless of the incident Fermi energy and mode number. In the latter however, the spin-conductance has a strong energy dependence due to a nontrivial subband intermixing induced by the strong Rashba coupling. This would imply a strong suppression of the spin-modulation at higher temperatures and source-drain voltages. The results may be of relevance for the implementation of quasi-one-dimensional spin transistor devices.Comment: 19 pages (incl. 9 figures). To be published in PR

Identification of substitutional Li in n-type ZnO and its role as an acceptor

Monocrystalline n-type zinc oxide (ZnO) samples prepared by different techniques and containing various amounts of lithium (Li) have been studied by positron annihilation spectroscopy (PAS) and secondary ion mass spectrometry. A distinct PAS signature of negatively charged Li atoms occupying a Zn-site (Li−Zn), so-called substitutional Li, is identified and thus enables a quantitative determination of the content of LiZn. In hydrothermally grown samples with a total Li concentration of ~2×10 exp 17 cm exp −3,LiZn is found to prevail strongly, with only minor influence, by other possible configurations of Li. Also in melt grown samples doped with Li to a total concentration as high as 1.5×10 exp 19 cm exp −3, a considerable fraction of the Li atoms (at least 20%) is shown to reside on the Zn-site, but despite the corresponding absolute acceptor concentration of ⩾(2–3)×10 exp 18 cm exp −3, the samples did not exhibit any detectable p-type conductivity. The presence of LiZn is demonstrated to account for the systematic difference in positron lifetime of 10–15 ps between Li-rich and Li-lean ZnO materials as found in the literature, but further work is needed to fully elucidate the role of residual hydrogen impurities and intrinsic open volume defects.Peer reviewe

Crossed Andreev reflection at ferromagnetic domain walls

We investigate several factors controlling the physics of hybrid structures involving ferromagnetic domain walls (DWs) and superconducting (S) metals. We discuss the role of non collinear magnetizations in S/DW junctions in a spin $\otimes$ Nambu $\otimes$ Keldysh formalism. We discuss transport in S/DW/N and S/DW/S junctions in the presence of inelastic scattering in the domain wall. In this case transport properties are similar for the S/DW/S and S/DW/N junctions and are controlled by sequential tunneling of spatially separated Cooper pairs across the domain wall. In the absence of inelastic scattering we find that a Josephson current circulates only if the size of the ferromagnetic region is smaller than the elastic mean free path meaning that the Josephson effect associated to crossed Andreev reflection cannot be observed under usual experimental conditions. Nevertheless a finite dc current can circulate across the S/DW/S junction due to crossed Andreev reflection associated to sequential tunneling.Comment: 18 pages, 8 figures, references added at the end of the introductio