Perceptions of Hong Kong Chinese women toward influenza vaccination during pregnancy

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Mindfulness-based interventions in epilepsy: a systematic review

Mindfulness based interventions (MBIs) are increasingly used to help patients cope with physical and mental long-term conditions (LTCs). Epilepsy is associated with a range of mental and physical comorbidities that have a detrimental effect on quality of life (QOL), but it is not clear whether MBIs can help. We systematically reviewed the literature to determine the effectiveness of MBIs in people with epilepsy. Medline, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, EMBASE, CINAHL, Allied and Complimentary Medicine Database, and PsychInfo were searched in March 2016. These databases were searched using a combination of subject headings where available and keywords in the title and abstracts. We also searched the reference lists of related reviews. Study quality was assessed using the Cochrane Collaboration risk of bias tool. Three randomised controlled trials (RCTs) with a total of 231 participants were included. The interventions were tested in the USA (n = 171) and China (Hong Kong) (n = 60). Significant improvements were reported in depression symptoms, quality of life, anxiety, and depression knowledge and skills. Two of the included studies were assessed as being at unclear/high risk of bias - with randomisation and allocation procedures, as well as adverse events and reasons for drop-outs poorly reported. There was no reporting on intervention costs/benefits or how they affected health service utilisation. This systematic review found limited evidence for the effectiveness of MBIs in epilepsy, however preliminary evidence suggests it may lead to some improvement in anxiety, depression and quality of life. Further trials with larger sample sizes, active control groups and longer follow-ups are needed before the evidence for MBIs in epilepsy can be conclusively determined

Selected Adnexal Cystic Masses in Postmenopausal Women Can be Safely Managed by Laparoscopy

The aim of this study was to assess the efficacy and safety of laparoscopic treatment for adnexal cystic masses that were predicted to be benign in postmenopausal women. Postmenopausal women found to have an adnexal cystic mass were retrospectively evaluated with transvaginal ultrasonography, and serum CA-125 levels. The selection criteria were adnexal cystic masses greater than 3 cm but less than 10 cm, the masses were in the benign range (4-8) of Sassone's scoring system for transvaginal ultrasonography, and the patients had serum CA-125 levels less than 65 IU/mL. Two hundred nineteen women fulfilled the criteria and underwent operative laparoscopy. Almost all the masses (99.5%) were accurately predicted to be benign except for one borderline ovarian tumor. Two hundreds thirteen (97.3%) women were successfully managed by operative laparoscopy and six (2.7%) required laparotomy. For the patients managed by laparoscopy, the mean operative time was 51.3 min; the mean hospital stay was 2.5 days. There was no significant morbidity and surgery-related mortality. The combination of the Sassone's scoring system for transvaginal ultrasonography and serum CA-125 level can accurately predict benign cystic masses, and operative laparoscopy is technically feasible and safe for the management of adnexal mass in postmenopausal women

α-Fetoprotein and human chorionic gonadotrophin-β as prognostic markers in neuroendocrine tumour patients

Serum chromogranin A is the most useful general and prognostic tumour marker available for neuroendocrine tumour (NET) patients. The role of other tumour markers is less clear. In order to determine the diagnostic and prognostic value of serum α-fetoprotein (AFP) and human chorionic gonadotrophin-β (hCGβ) in NETs, a database containing biochemical, histological, and survival data on 360 NET patients was constructed. This data was statistically assessed, using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences, to determine the utility of commonly measured tumour markers with particular emphasis on AFP and hCGβ. α-Fetoprotein and hCGβ were raised in 9.5 and 12.3% of patients respectively and jointly raised in 9.1% of patients in whom it was measured. α-Fetoprotein levels associated strongly and positively with tumour grade, serum CgA and hCGβ levels, and worse survival. Human chorionic gonadotrophin-β levels also associated strongly and positively with serum CgA and AFP levels, and worsening survival. α-Fetoprotein and hCGβ are elevated in high-grade NETs, with a rapidly progressive course and poorer survival. They also correlate with chromogranin-A, which is known to be a marker of tumour burden and to have prognostic value. Thus AFP and hCGβ are clinically important in NETs and when elevated are poor prognostic markers

Fluorescent Microangiography Is a Novel and Widely Applicable Technique for Delineating the Renal Microvasculature

Rarefaction of the renal microvasculature correlates with declining kidney function. However, current technologies commonly used for its evaluation are limited by their reliance on endothelial cell antigen expression and assessment in two dimensions. We set out to establish a widely applicable and unbiased optical sectioning method to enable three dimensional imaging and reconstruction of the renal microvessels based on their luminal filling. The kidneys of subtotally nephrectomized (SNx) rats and their sham-operated counterparts were subjected to either routine two-dimensional immunohistochemistry or the novel technique of fluorescent microangiography (FMA). The latter was achieved by perfusion of the kidney with an agarose suspension of fluorescent polystyrene microspheres followed by optical sectioning of 200 µm thick cross-sections using a confocal microscope. The fluorescent microangiography method enabled the three-dimensional reconstruction of virtual microvascular casts and confirmed a reduction in both glomerular and peritubular capillary density in the kidneys of SNx rats, despite an overall increase in glomerular volume. FMA is an uncomplicated technique for evaluating the renal microvasculature that circumvents many of the limitations imposed by conventional analysis of two-dimensional tissue sections

Rapid Analysis of Saccharomyces cerevisiae Genome Rearrangements by Multiplex Ligation–Dependent Probe Amplification

Aneuploidy and gross chromosomal rearrangements (GCRs) can lead to genetic diseases and the development of cancer. We previously demonstrated that introduction of the repetitive retrotransposon Ty912 onto a nonessential chromosome arm of Saccharomyces cerevisiae led to increased genome instability predominantly due to increased rates of formation of monocentric nonreciprocal translocations. In this study, we adapted Multiplex Ligation–dependent Probe Amplification (MLPA) to analyze a large numbers of these GCRs. Using MLPA, we found that the distribution of translocations induced by the presence of Ty912 in a wild-type strain was nonrandom and that the majority of these translocations were mediated by only six translocation targets on four different chromosomes, even though there were 254 potential Ty-related translocation targets in the S. cerevisiae genome. While the majority of Ty912-mediated translocations resulted from RAD52-dependent recombination, we observed a number of nonreciprocal translocations mediated by RAD52-independent recombination between Ty1 elements. The formation of these RAD52-independent translocations did not require the Rad51 or Rad59 homologous pairing proteins or the Rad1–Rad10 endonuclease complex that processes branched DNAs during recombination. Finally, we found that defects in ASF1-RTT109–dependent acetylation of histone H3 lysine residue 56 (H3K56) resulted in increased accumulation of both GCRs and whole-chromosome duplications, and resulted in aneuploidy that tended to occur simultaneously with GCRs. Overall, we found that MLPA is a versatile technique for the rapid analysis of GCRs and can facilitate the genetic analysis of the pathways that prevent and promote GCRs and aneuploidy

Lung development in laminin γ2 deficiency: abnormal tracheal hemidesmosomes with normal branching morphogenesis and epithelial differentiation

BACKGROUND: Laminin γ2 (Lamc2), one of the polypeptides in laminin-332 (laminin-5), is prominent in the basement membrane of alveolar walls and airways of developing and adult lung. Laminins are important for lung morphogenesis and based on its localization, a function for laminin γ2 in lung development has been hypothesized. Targeted deletion of the laminin γ2 gene in mice results in skin blistering and neonatal death at 3–5 days after birth due to failure to thrive. METHODS: Examination of lung development in Lamc2-/- mice through 1–2 days postnatal was accomplished by morphometric analysis, lung bud culture, electron microscopy, immunohistochemical and immunofluorescence staining. RESULTS: Compared to littermate controls, Lamc2-/- lungs were similar in morphology during embryonic life. At post-natal day 1–2, distal saccules were mildly dilated by chord length measurements. Epithelial differentiation as evaluated by immunohistochemical staining for markers of ciliated cells, Clara cells, alveolar type I cells and alveolar type II cells did not reveal a difference between Lamc2-/- and littermate control lungs. Likewise, vascular development, smooth muscle cell differentiation, and elastic fiber formation looked similar, as did airway basement membrane ultrastructure. Branching morphogenesis by lung bud culture was similar in Lamc2-/- and littermate control lungs. Since laminin-332 is important for hemidesmosome formation, we examined the structure of tracheal hemidesmosomes by transmission electron microscopy. Compared to littermate controls, Lamc2-/- tracheal hemidesmosomes were less organized and lacked the increased electron density associated with the basement membrane abutting the hemidesmosome. CONCLUSION: These findings indicate that laminin γ2 and laminin-332, despite their prominence in the lung, have a minimal role in lung development through the saccular stage

Multipolar Spindle Pole Coalescence Is a Major Source of Kinetochore Mis-Attachment and Chromosome Mis-Segregation in Cancer Cells

Many cancer cells display a CIN (Chromosome Instability) phenotype, by which they exhibit high rates of chromosome loss or gain at each cell cycle. Over the years, a number of different mechanisms, including mitotic spindle multipolarity, cytokinesis failure, and merotelic kinetochore orientation, have been proposed as causes of CIN. However, a comprehensive theory of how CIN is perpetuated is still lacking. We used CIN colorectal cancer cells as a model system to investigate the possible cellular mechanism(s) underlying CIN. We found that CIN cells frequently assembled multipolar spindles in early mitosis. However, multipolar anaphase cells were very rare, and live-cell experiments showed that almost all CIN cells divided in a bipolar fashion. Moreover, fixed-cell analysis showed high frequencies of merotelically attached lagging chromosomes in bipolar anaphase CIN cells, and higher frequencies of merotelic attachments in multipolar vs. bipolar prometaphases. Finally, we found that multipolar CIN prometaphases typically possessed γ-tubulin at all spindle poles, and that a significant fraction of bipolar metaphase/early anaphase CIN cells possessed more than one centrosome at a single spindle pole. Taken together, our data suggest a model by which merotelic kinetochore attachments can easily be established in multipolar prometaphases. Most of these multipolar prometaphase cells would then bi-polarize before anaphase onset, and the residual merotelic attachments would produce chromosome mis-segregation due to anaphase lagging chromosomes. We propose this spindle pole coalescence mechanism as a major contributor to chromosome instability in cancer cells

Microarray analysis of genes associated with cell surface NIS protein levels in breast cancer

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Na⁺/I^-symporter (NIS)-mediated iodide uptake allows radioiodine therapy for thyroid cancer. NIS is also expressed in breast tumors, raising potential for radionuclide therapy of breast cancer. However, NIS expression in most breast cancers is low and may not be sufficient for radionuclide therapy. We aimed to identify biomarkers associated with NIS expression such that mechanisms underlying NIS modulation in human breast tumors may be elucidated.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Published oligonucleotide microarray data within the National Center for Biotechnology Information Gene Expression Omnibus database were analyzed to identify gene expression tightly correlated with NIS mRNA level among human breast tumors. NIS immunostaining was performed in a tissue microarray composed of 28 human breast tumors which had corresponding oligonucleotide microarray data available for each tumor such that gene expression associated <it>w</it>ith cell surface NIS protein level could be identified.</p> <p>Results and Discussion</p> <p>NIS mRNA levels do not vary among breast tumors or when compared to normal breast tissues when detected by Affymetrix oligonucleotide microarray platforms. Cell surface NIS protein levels are much more variable than their corresponding NIS mRNA levels. Despite a limited number of breast tumors examined, our analysis identified cysteinyl-tRNA synthetase as a biomarker that is highly associated with cell surface NIS protein levels in the ER-positive breast cancer subtype.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Further investigation on genes associated with cell surface NIS protein levels within each breast cancer molecular subtype may lead to novel targets for selectively increasing NIS expression/function in a subset of breast cancers patients.</p