Association between pretreatment haemoglobin levels and morphometric characteristics of the tumour, response to neoadjuvant treatment and long-term outcomes in patients with locally advanced rectal cancers

Aim The study was carried out to investigate whether pretreatment haemoglobin (Hb) levels act as a biomar- ker in the management of patients with locally advanced rectal cancer. Method\ud We prospectively collected data on all patients within our cancer network with localized low rectal cancer treated with preoperative radiotherapy/chemora- diotherapy at Mount Vernon Centre for Cancer Treat- ment between March 1994 and July 2008. Pretreatment Hb level was assessed as an independent variable for the whole study sample and dichotomised at a value of 12 g/dl. A multivariate analysis of covariance (MANCOVA) was conducted on parameters that had significant association on univariate analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) and cor- relational (Kendall tau/Pearson) analyses. Kaplan – Meier survival analysis and Cox proportional hazard models were used to determine significant prognostic markers. Statistical significance was set at 0.05. Results 463 patients (male/female 2:1; median age = 66 years, interquartile range = 56.5 – 73.0) were included in the analysis. There was significant tumour response of T stage ( P < 0.001) and N stage ( P < 0.001), with 17.6% of patients achieving a pathological complete response. Pretreatment Hb value was inversely related to the craniocaudal vertical tumour length ( P = 0.02) and pretreatment T stage of the tumour ( P = 0.01). Patients with Hb levels of < 12 g/dl and moderately differenti- ated adenocarcinoma were less responsive. Local recur- rence was more common in patients with a pretreatment Hb of < 12 g/dl (hazard ratio = 1.78) over a median follow up of 24 months, but this was not statistically significant ( P = 0.08). Conclusion The pretreatment Hb level might be used as a biomarker of rectal tumour morphology, response to neoadjuvant chemoradiation and risk of local recur- renc

Glucose adulteration in Saudi honey with visible and near infrared spectroscopy

This article reports on the implementation of visible and near infrared spectroscopy for the detection of glucose concentration in a mixture of Saudi and imported honey samples adulterated by glucose syrup of five concentrations: 0, 5, 12, 19, and 33 g/100 g. Honey samples were scanned in trans-reflectance mode with an AgroSpec mobile, fibre type, visible and near infrared spectrophotometer (tec5 Technology for Spectroscopy, Germany), with a measurement range of 305–2200 nm. The entire data set of 345 spectra was randomly divided into calibration (70%) and prediction (30%) sets. The first group was subjected to a partial least squares regression analysis with a leave-one-out cross-validation to establish a calibration model for the prediction of glucose concentration, whereas the second group was used to validate the partial least squares model. For the cross-validation, the values for root mean square error of prediction, coefficient of determination, and ratio of prediction deviation, which is the standard deviation divided by root mean square error of prediction were 4.52 g/100 g, 0.85, and 2.53, respectively. A slightly lower range of accuracy was obtained in the prediction set, with root mean square error of prediction, coefficient of determination, and ratio of prediction deviation values of 5.56 g/100 g, 0.78 and 2.06, respectively. The results achieved suggest that the visible and near infrared spectroscopy is a powerful technique for the quantification of glucose adulteration in Saudi honey

Characterization of Volatile and Metabolite Compounds Produced by \u3ci\u3eLactococcus lactis\u3c/i\u3e in Low-Fat and Full-Fat Cheddar Cheese Extract

This study was conducted to compare and contrast potential aroma compounds in the headspace and small molecule metabolites produced as a result of starter culture metabolism in a full-fat and low-fat cheddar cheese model system. Past studies have indicated differences in the headspace flavor compound profiles between full-fat and low-fat Cheddar cheeses with no indication as to what compounds were produced as a result of starter culture metabolism. Starter cultures were incubated in a Cheddar cheese extract environment that was made up of the water-soluble portion of Cheddar cheese with environmental conditions mimicking full-fat and low-fat Cheddar cheese by altering the levels of salt and milk fat globular membrane in the system. Incubation times were up to 14 days at 30°C and samples were taken at days 0, 1, 7, and 14. Headspace analysis was accomplished using solid phase micro-extraction coupled with GC-MS and small metabolites were monitored using metabolomic methods coupled with GC-MS. Results indicate that the starter culture was responsible for an increase in the concentration of propan-2-one, heptan-2-one, 3-methylbutanal, heptanal, benzaldehyde, 2-ethylhexanal, and dimethyl trisulfide in both the full-fat and low-fat medias when compared to their respective controls. While heptanal was present at a higher concentration in the full-fat treatments compared to the low-fat treatments and 2- ethylhexan-1-ol and isothiocyanato cyclohexane were present at higher concentrations in the low-fat treatments compared to the full-fat treatments. Principal component analysis for the headspace compounds showed a clear separation of the treatments with heptanal, p-cymene, nonan-2-one, and undecan-2-one contributing the most to the variation between the full-fat and low-fat samples, while 3- methylbutanal, heptan-2-one, benzaldehyde, 2-ethylhexan-1-ol, 2,6-dimethylheptan-4-ol, and 3-methylbutanol contributed the most to the variation between the controls and treatments. The metabolomics data for both the bacteria and Cheddar cheese extract did not provide a clear separation between the full-fat and low-fat samples

Rowland Payne syndrome in a neonate as a consequence of birth trauma

Background: The syndrome of Rowland Payne is a rare triad of unilateral Horner syndrome, ipsilateral vocal cord paralysis, and ipsilateral paralysis of the hemidiaphragm. Case: A healthy newborn was noted to have right ptosis, a weak hoarse cry, and stridor immediately following delivery with forceps. Pupillary miosis on the same side as the ptosis was observed. Chest X-ray showed elevation of the right diaphragmatic dome. A diagnosis of Rowland Payne syndrome was made. Neuroimaging did not reveal any structural mass lesions. The hoarseness and stridor resolved within 1 month without intervention. The Horner syndrome improved but did not disappear completely. Conclusion: In the few reported cases in the literature, the cause of Rowland Payne syndrome has been a malignant lesion of the anterior neck disrupting the oculosympathetic nerve, the vagus nerve, and the phrenic nerve. This is the first report of Rowland Payne syndrome in a neonate. We did not find any malignancy or compressive lesion to account for his symptoms and signs. We suggest that shearing forces at the lower neck at the level of the clavicle caused stretching and mechanical injury to these motor nerves or their branches. In this report of Roland Payne syndrome related to birth trauma, the prognosis was favorable

The role of postoperative chemotherapy in patients who undergoing surgery following chemoradiotherapy of initially unresectable rectal cancer

Introduction. Preoperative chemoradiotherapy (preCRT) improves local control of rectal cancer and such is parti­cularly merited for treating locoregionally advanced tumors. Nevertheless, the role of postoperative chemotherapy (postCT) in such patients is currently disputed. Materials. Subjects were 75 patients with unresectable cT3–4 and/or N+ tumors who underwent radical surgery following preCRT between January 2003 and December 2012 at the Oncology Centre in Bydgoszcz. PostCT was subsequently used in 32 (43%) of these patients. Results. There were 20 abdominoperineal resections (APR), 50 anterior resections (AR) and 5 Hartmann’s procedures (HART) performed in the patient group, where respectively 30%, 46% and 60%, received systemic treatment. Based on postoperative histopathological assessment, disease staging was assigned as follows: stage III for 32 (43%), patient­s,stage II for 22 (29%) and stage I for 15 (20%). Pathologic complete pathological response (pCR) was seen in 6 cases (8%). In the postCT+ group, disease stage III was observed in 13 (41%) patients. A three-year survival was observed in 43 patients; 25 (58%) and 18 (56%) of patients respectively undergoing either postCT– or postCT+. A five-year survival was noted in 26 patients; 19 (44%) and 7 (22%) in both groups, respectively. Conclusion. Together with the most recent reports, our study demonstrates that postoperative chemotherapy has no significant effect on the outcomes of oncological treatment in those patients having undergone preoperative chemoradiotherapy for locoregionally advanced rectal cancer

Local excision of rectal cancer afterchemoradiation: feasibility depends on the primary stage

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Adjuvant chemotherapy in the patients with rectal cancer after neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy and radical resection — YES

At the moment there are some scientific data supporting the use of adjuvant chemotherapy in patients with rectal cancer after neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy and surgical treatment. The paper below presents some arguments for the use of adjuvant chemotherapy in the above clinical situation. The majority of deaths in patients with rectal cancer are caused by the presence of distant metastases, therefore there are significant grounds for the use of adjuvant che­motherapy in this group of patients. Summarising, there is no clear or scientific evidence against the use of adjuvant chemotherapy in patients with rectal cancer after preoperative chemoradiotherapy. In order to make a conclusive statement about the lack of any benefits from adjuvant therapy, it is necessary to carry out randomised studies on a homogeneous and standardised group of patients. Therefore, it seems appropriate to apply this therapy especially for patients with the N (+) features (with a tumour location between 10 cm and 15 cm), similar to colon cancer cases

Guidelines for responding to requests for accommodations or adjustments in colleges

Bibliographie

Assessment of lactic acid bacteria sensitivity to terpenoids with the Biolog methodology

International audienceTerpenoids are plant metabolites which can be found in traces in the milk of animals fed with fresh forages. To these compounds, many biological properties, including antimicrobial activity, have been recognized. However, no information about the sensitivity of lactic acid bacteria (naturally occurring in milk and dairy products) to terpenoids are currently available. The Biolog methodology, which is traditionally used for the metabolic characterization of microorganisms, has also been found suitable for the evaluation of the activity exerted by plant components against bacterial consortia, allowing to establish the duration of antimicrobial activity (if present) and its resulting effect on microorganisms viability. In the present work, this approach was employed to study the effect of six oxygenated terpenoids (geraniol, linalool, alpha-terpineol, terpinen-4-ol, carvone, and menthone), which can be found in dairy products, towards 27 lactic acid bacterial strains (thermophilic or mesophilic, homo- or hetero-fermenting cocci), previously isolated from raw goat milk. Results showed that microorganisms were variously affected by the selected molecules. In some cases, terpenoids seemed to have a stimulating action; while in others, a transient antimicrobial activity was highlighted, without evident relationship with the metabolic/physiologic groups to which the tested bacterial strains belonged