Kylylahti actinolite skarns

Abstract. Kylylahti is a Cu-Zn-Ni-(Co)-Au deposit found in year 1984 by Outokumpu Company and exploited by Altona Mining and Boliden in years 2012–2020. It locates in Polvijärvi, Eastern Finland, 20 kilometres northeast of the famous Outokumpu deposit with which it shares its main geological features. One of the main rock types in Kylylahti host rock assemblage is tremolite skarns, but also other types of rocks traditionally reported as skarns are present, such as actinolite skarns and cummingtonite skarns. In older mapping and core logging, actinolite skarn was the category in which all dark, amphibole bearing host/wall rocks were classified. Boliden felt it was necessary to improve the understanding and classification of the skarn types, especially in terms how the actinolite skarns differ from tremolite skarns. Drill cores of 10 holes in one profile that crosscuts the whole Kylylahti deposit were chosen to be completely re-logged. All darker, amphibole bearing rocks, customarily logged as skarns, were classified into four groups based on their mineralogical and textural features, and with the help of pXRF, their geochemical signatures. Three to five representative samples from each group were studied with polarizing microscope, FESEM, EDS and analysed for their whole rock geochemistry. Three of the groups comprised of hydrothermally altered refractory peridotites of the ophiolitic Kylylahti massif. One group was from carbonate±amphibole interlayers in the enveloping metasedimentary Upper Kaleva rocks. As expected, the 4 groups turned out to be both geochemically and mineralogically distinct from each other. Remarkably, in terms of the past naming convention, only one sample contained one crystal of actual actinolite. Dark amphiboles were mostly tremolites that were pigmented dark or completely black by fine sulphides, graphite and some unknown matter that could be graphite or sulphides but in so fine size that it was not recognizable in this study. Therefore, actinolite skarn is not a correct name for any of these rocks and should not be used. They are just tremolite skarns or carbonate-containing rocks that have some tremolite as accessory mineral

Nanoparticle-aided glycovariant assays to bridge biomarker performance and ctDNA results

AbstractNumerous immunoassay based cancer biomarkers established in the 1970 and 1980'ies are widely used in clinical routine. Initial expectations of biomarkers such as CEA, CA125, CA19-9, AFP to provide decisive help in the diagnosis of early stage, pre-symptomatic cancers have not been realized. Thus, they are primarily used for monitoring disease progression and occasionally being useful as prognostic indicators. This limitation is due to the marker also being measurable in healthy individuals and frequently at elevated concentrations in common benign conditions. Most conventional tumor markers are glycosylated and interestingly specific alterations of the glycostructure part can often be seen early in the cancerous process. Conventional double monoclonal immunoassays are however blind to such changes as they are based on peptide epitope recognition. Wide selections of carbohydrate recognizing macromolecules, lectins, but also glycan structure recognizing antibodies are potentially useful for detecting such changes. Despite numerous attempts generating proof-of-principle evidence for this, such assays have generally not been successfully introduced into clinical routine. The affinity constants of lectin and glycan specific antibodies for their corresponding carbohydrate structures may be up to several orders too low to provide the detection limits and robustness expected from routine tumor markers. In this review, we describe an approach based on the use of highly fluorescent Eu3+--chelate dyed nanoparticles onto which lectins or glycan specific antibodies are coated to provide the necessary binding strength and signal amplification to provide low detection limits, while maintaining the original glycan-structure specificity. This concept applied to three markers, PSA, CA125 and CA15-3 provide glycoform assays of greatly enhanced cancer specificity using sample volumes similar or lower than corresponding traditional ELISAs. For ovarian cancer, we show that this new approach when applied to ovarian cyst fluid samples provide results similar to the performance obtained with ctDNA determinations of a set of 17 driver mutations and greatly superior compared to corresponding conventional immunoassays. Based on our results, we predict that the nanoparticle-lectin concept will enable a new generation of simple, low-cost biomarker assays of highly improved cancer specificity. Such tools should ideally be evaluated together with determination of ctDNA to establish early detection schemes for cancers e.g. ovarian, pancreas, lung where the detection rate of early stage disease is presently unacceptably low.</div

Listening to new voices in the career development field

This is an editorial for an issue of the Journal of the National Institute for Career Education and Counselling focusing on new and early career researchers, particularly those associated with the ECADOC programme.N/

Cancer-associated Changes in the Expression of TMPRSS2-ERG, PCA3, and SPINK1 in Histologically Benign Tissue From Cancerous vs Noncancerous Prostatectomy Specimens.

To investigate whether messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) expression of TMPRSS2-ERG fusion gene, a suggested prostate cancer (PCa) biomarker, was specific to cancerous lesions alone and to study the expression of SPINK1 and PCA3 mRNAs in the same cohort to also explore the proposed mutual exclusivity of TMPRSS2-ERG and SPINK1 expression

The Effect of Treating Bacterial Vaginosis on Preterm Labor

Objective: Multiple studies suggest that bacterial vaginosis (BV) causes preterm labor; yet its routine treatment remains controversial. In order to help to elucidate this controversy, we performed a thorough review of studies with levels of evidence ranging from I to II–II. Methods: We searched for all of the studies from the years 1994 to 2001 via Medline’s database, including MD Consult and Ovid Mednet. Results: Several trials discovered a decrease in the incidence of preterm labor when BV was treated, but most of those trials were performed on women with a history of preterm labor. However, the majority of trials reviewed advise against treatment of a general low-risk obstetric population, as there was no significant decrease in preterm labor. Conclusions: Therefore, based on the above studies and the current guidelines of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), treating pregnant women in high-risk populations who are diagnosed with BV provides the clinician with an opportunity to possibly prevent preterm labor in this population. In nulliparous women without a history of preterm birth, treatment is recommended if other risk factors are present (e.g. gonorrhea or chlamydia). However, in the general low-risk populations, routine screening is not indicated

Veterans Affairs Health System and Mental Health Treatment Retention among Patients with Serious Mental Illness: Evaluating Accessibility and Availability Barriers

We examine the impact of two dimensions of access—geographic accessibility and availability—on VA health system and mental health treatment retention among patients with serious mental illness (SMI). Methods . Among 156,631 patients in the Veterans Affairs (VA) health care system with schizophrenia or bipolar disorder in fiscal year 1998 (FY98), we used Cox proportional hazards regression to model time to first 12-month gap in health system utilization, and in mental health services utilization, by the end of FY02. Geographic accessibility was operationalized as straight-line distance to nearest VA service site or VA psychiatric service site, respectively. Service availability was assessed using county-level VA hospital beds and non-VA beds per 1,000 county residents. Patients who died without a prior gap in care were censored. Results . There were 32, 943 patients (21 percent) with a 12-month gap in health system utilization; 65,386 (42 percent) had a 12-month gap in mental health services utilization. Gaps in VA health system utilization were more likely if patients were younger, nonwhite, unmarried, homeless, nonservice-connected, if they had bipolar disorder, less medical morbidity, an inpatient stay in FY98, or if they lived farther from care or in a county with fewer VA inpatient beds. Similar relationships were observed for mental health, however being older, female, and having greater morbidity were associated with increased risks of gaps, and number of VA beds was not significant. Conclusions . Geographic accessibility and resource availability measures were associated with long-term continuity of care among patients with SMI. Increased distance from providers was associated with greater risks of 12-month gaps in health system and mental health services utilization. Lower VA inpatient bed availability was associated with increased risks of gaps in health system utilization. Study findings may inform efforts to improve treatment retention.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/73433/1/j.1475-6773.2006.00642.x.pd

Detection of Prostate Cancer Using Biparametric Prostate MRI, Radiomics, and Kallikreins : A Retrospective Multicenter Study of Men With a Clinical Suspicion of Prostate Cancer

Background Accurate detection of clinically significant prostate cancer (csPCa), Gleason Grade Group >= 2, remains a challenge. Prostate MRI radiomics and blood kallikreins have been proposed as tools to improve the performance of biparametric MRI (bpMRI). Purpose To develop and validate radiomics and kallikrein models for the detection of csPCa. Study Type Retrospective. Population A total of 543 men with a clinical suspicion of csPCa, 411 (76%, 411/543) had kallikreins available and 360 (88%, 360/411) did not take 5-alpha-reductase inhibitors. Two data splits into training, validation (split 1: single center, n = 72; split 2: random 50% of pooled datasets from all four centers), and testing (split 1: 4 centers, n = 288; split 2: remaining 50%) were evaluated. Field strength/Sequence A 3 T/1.5 T, TSE T2-weighted imaging, 3x SE DWI. Assessment In total, 20,363 radiomic features calculated from manually delineated whole gland (WG) and bpMRI suspicion lesion masks were evaluated in addition to clinical parameters, prostate-specific antigen, four kallikreins, MRI-based qualitative (PI-RADSv2.1/IMPROD bpMRI Likert) scores. Statistical Tests For the detection of csPCa, area under receiver operating curve (AUC) was calculated using the DeLong's method. A multivariate analysis was conducted to determine the predictive power of combining variables. The values of P-value < 0.05 were considered significant. Results The highest prediction performance was achieved by IMPROD bpMRI Likert and PI-RADSv2.1 score with AUC = 0.85 and 0.85 in split 1, 0.85 and 0.83 in split 2, respectively. bpMRI WG and/or kallikreins demonstrated AUCs ranging from 0.62 to 0.73 in split 1 and from 0.68 to 0.76 in split 2. AUC of bpMRI lesion-derived radiomics model was not statistically different to IMPROD bpMRI Likert score (split 1: AUC = 0.83, P-value = 0.306; split 2: AUC = 0.83, P-value = 0.488). Data Conclusion The use of radiomics and kallikreins failed to outperform PI-RADSv2.1/IMPROD bpMRI Likert and their combination did not lead to further performance gains. Level of Evidence 1 Technical Efficacy Stage 2Peer reviewe

Predisposing factors for bacterial vaginosis, treatment efficacy and pregnancy outcome among term deliveries; results from a preterm delivery study

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Bacterial vaginosis (BV) during pregnancy is associated with an increased risk of preterm delivery but little is known about factors that could predict BV. We have analyzed if it is possible to identify a category of pregnant women that should be screened for BV, and if BV would alter the pregnancy outcome at term; we have also studied the treatment efficacy of clindamycin.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Prospective BV screening and treatment study of 9025 women in a geographically defined region in southeast Sweden. BV was defined as a modified Nugent score of 6 and above. Data was collected from the Swedish Medical Birth Register. Women allocated to treatment were supplied with vaginal clindamycin cream. The main outcome goals were to identify factors that could predict BV.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Vaginal smears were consistent with BV criteria in 9.3%. Logistic regression indicates a significant correlation between smoking and BV (p < 0.001) and a greater prevalence of BV in the lower age groups (p < 0.001). We found no correlation between BV and history of preterm deliveries, previous miscarriages, extra-uterine pregnancies, infertility problems or reported history of urinary tract infections–factors that earlier have been associated with BV. Treatment with clindamycin cream showed a cure rate of 77%. Less than 1% of women with a normal vaginal smear in early pregnancy will develop BV during the pregnancy. There was no association between BV and the obstetric outcome among women who delivered at term. Women with BV, both treated patients and nontreated, had the same obstetric outcome at term as women with normal vaginal flora.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>BV is more than twice as common among smokers, and there is a higher prevalence in the younger age group. However these two markers for BV do not suffice as a tool for screening, and considering the lack of other risk factors associated with BV, screening of all pregnant women might be a strategy to follow in a program intended to reduce the number of preterm births.</p

Diffuse duodenal nodular lymphoid hyperplasia: a large cohort of patients etiologically related to Helicobacter pylori infection

Abstract Background Nodular lymphoid hyperplasia of gastrointestinal tract is a rare disorder, often associated with immunodeficiency syndromes. There are no published reports of its association with Helicobacter pylori infection. Methods From March 2005 till February 2010, we prospectively followed all patients with diffuse duodenal nodular lymphoid hyperplasia (DDNLH). Patients underwent esophagogastroduodenoscopy with targeted biopsies, colonoscopy, and small bowel video capsule endoscopy. Duodenal nodular lesions were graded from 0 to 4 based on their size and density. Patients were screened for celiac sprue (IgA endomysial antibody), immunoglobulin abnormalities (immunoglobulin levels & serum protein electrophoresis), small intestine bacterial overgrowth (lactulose hydrogen breath test), and Helicobacter pylori infection (rapid urease test, and histological examination of gastric biopsies). Patients infected with Helicobacter pylori received sequential antibiotic therapy and eradication of infection was evaluated by 14C urea breath test. Follow up duodenoscopies with biopsies were performed to ascertain resolution of nodular lesions. Results Forty patients (Males 23, females 17; mean age ± 1SD 35.6 ± 14.6 years) with DDNLH were studied. Patients presented with epigastric pain, vomiting, and weight loss. Esophagogastroduodenoscopy showed diffuse nodular lesions (size varying from 2 to 5 mm or more) of varying grades (mean score ± 1SD 2.70 ± 0.84) involving postbulbar duodenum. Video capsule endoscopies revealed nodular disease exclusively limited to duodenum. None of the patients had immunoglobulin deficiency or small intestine bacterial overgrowth or positive IgA endomysial antibodies. All patients were infected with Helicobacter pylori infection. Sequential antibiotic therapy eradicated Helicobacter pylori infection in 26 patients. Follow up duodenoscopies in these patients showed significant reduction of duodenal nodular lesions score (2.69 ± 0.79 to 1.50 ± 1.10; p Helicobacter pylori infection showed no significant reduction of nodular lesions score (2.71 ± 0.96 to 2.64 ± 1.15; p = 0.58). Nodules partially regressed in score in 2 patients, showed no interval change in 10 patients and progressed in 2 patients. Conclusions We report on a large cohort of patients with DDNLH, etiologically related to Helicobacter pylori infection.</p