Chromogranin A (CgA) as Poor Prognostic Factor in Patients with Small Cell Carcinoma of the Cervix: Results of a Retrospective Study of 293 Patients

BACKGROUND: Small cell carcinoma of the cervix (SCCC) is a very rare tumor. Due to its rarity and the long time period, there is a paucity of information pertaining to prognostic factors associated with survival. The objective of this study was to determine whether clinicopathologic finings or immunohistochemical presence of molecular markers predictive of clinical outcome in patients with SCCC. METHODOLOGY AND FINDINGS: We retrospectively reviewed a total of 293 patients with SCCC (47 patients from Cancer Center of Sun Yat-sen University in china, 71 patients from case report of china journal, 175 patients from case report in PubMed database). Of those 293 patients with SCCC, the median survival time is 23 months. The 3-year overall survival rates (OS) and 3-year disease-free survival rates (DFS) for all patients were 34.5% and 31.1%, respectively. Univariate and multivariate analysis showed that FIGO stage (IIb-IV VS I-IIa, Hazard Ratio (HR) = 3.08, 95% confidence interval (CI) of ratio = [2.05, 4.63], P<0.001), tumor mass size (≥ 4 cm VS <4 cm, HR = 2.37, 95% CI = [1.28, 4.36], P = 0.006) and chromogranin A (CgA) (Positive VS Negative, HR = 1.81, 95% CI = [1.12, 2.91], P = 0.015) were predictive of poor prognosis. CgA stained positive was found to be highly predictive of death in early-stage (FIGO I-IIa) patient specifically. CONCLUSIONS: Patients with SCCC have poor prognosis. FIGO stage, tumor mass size and CgA stained positive may act as a surrogate for factors prognostic of survival. CgA may serve as a useful marker in prognostic evaluation for early-stage patients with SCCC

Re-imagining the future:repetition decreases hippocampal involvement in future simulation

Imagining or simulating future events has been shown to activate the anterior right hippocampus (RHC) more than remembering past events does. One fundamental difference between simulation and memory is that imagining future scenarios requires a more extensive constructive process than remembering past experiences does. Indeed, studies in which this constructive element is reduced or eliminated by “pre-imagining” events in a prior session do not report differential RHC activity during simulation. In this fMRI study, we examined the effects of repeatedly simulating an event on neural activity. During scanning, participants imagined 60 future events; each event was simulated three times. Activation in the RHC showed a significant linear decrease across repetitions, as did other neural regions typically associated with simulation. Importantly, such decreases in activation could not be explained by non-specific linear time-dependent effects, with no reductions in activity evident for the control task across similar time intervals. Moreover, the anterior RHC exhibited significant functional connectivity with the whole-brain network during the first, but not second and third simulations of future events. There was also evidence of a linear increase in activity across repetitions in right ventral precuneus, right posterior cingulate and left anterior prefrontal cortex, which may reflect source recognition and retrieval of internally generated contextual details. Overall, our findings demonstrate that repeatedly imagining future events has a decremental effect on activation of the hippocampus and many other regions engaged by the initial construction of the simulation, possibly reflecting the decreasing novelty of simulations across repetitions, and therefore is an important consideration in the design of future studies examining simulation

Turf and landscape research, 1971

Using newer grasses / R. W. Miller -- Soil testing to determine fertilizer needs / R. W. Miller -- Turf renovation / M. H. Niehaus and G. B. Triplett, Jr. -- Pre-emergence control of annual grasses / R. W. Miller -- Chemical control of fusarium blight of merion Kentucky bluegrass / R. R. Muse -- Thatch regulation / R. W. Miller -- Effect of temperature on the germination and seedling development of turfgrasses / P. R. Henderlong -- Residential landscape design / P. C. Kozel -- Landscape plants for use in wet areas / E. M. Smith -- Taxus in the landscape / E. M. Smith -- Pruning hedges / F. K. Buscher -- Pruning taxus and juniper / F. K. Buscher -- Practical procedures for chemical pruning of woody ornamental plants / P. C. Kozel and K. W. Reisch -- Management of woody ornamentals in propagating benches / H. A. J. Hoitink, D. G. Nielsen and C. C. Powell -- Evaluating the lasting quality of burlap and containers / E. M. Smith -- Watering newly planted ornamental plants / J. L. Caldwell -- The use of anti-desiccants to prevent winter injury / E. M. Smith -- Borer control in woody ornamentals / D. G. Nielsen and C. P. Balderston -- Shade tree evaluation research and tree inventory / K. W. Reisch -- The oaks / P. C. Kozel and K. W. Reisch -- Fertilizing trees / K. W. Reisch -- Shrub roses for the landscape / F. K. Buscher -- Ornamental flowers and their problems / R. E. Partyka -- Care of iris in the home landscape / J. L. Caldwell -- Propagation of rhododendron cuttings / M. Kawase and H. A. J. Hoitink -- Practical procedures for increasing flower bud initiation on rhododendrons / S. P. Myers and P. C. Kozel -- Air pollution and our environment / T. C. Weidensau