Differentiated Thyroid Cancer with Extrathyroidal Extension: Prognosis and the Role of External Beam Radiotherapy

A study was performed to identify variables that affected cause-specific survival (CSS) and local relapse-free rate (LRFR) in patients with differentiated thyroid cancer (DTC) and extrathyroid extension (ETE) and to examine the role of external beam radiotherapy (XRT). Prognostic factors were similar to those found in studies of all patients with DTC. In patients with postoperative gross residual disease treated with radiotherapy, 10-year CSS and LRFR were 48% and 90%. For patients with no residual or microscopic disease, 10-year CSS and LRFR were 92% and 93%. In patients older than 60 years with T3 ETE but no gross residual disease postoperatively there was an improved LRFR at 5 years of 96%, compared to 87.5% without XRT (P = .02). Patients with gross ETE benefit from XRT and there may be a potential benefit in reducing locoregional failure in patients over 60 years with minimal extrathyroidal extension (T3)

Radiation Safety in the Treatment of Patients with Thyroid Diseases by Radioiodine 131I: Practice Recommendations of the American Thyroid Association

Background: Radiation safety is an essential component in the treatment of patients with thyroid diseases by 131I. The American Thyroid Association created a task force to develop recommendations that would inform medical professionals about attainment of radiation safety for patients, family members, and the public. The task force was constituted so as to obtain advice, experience, and methods from relevant medical specialties and disciplines. Methods: Reviews of Nuclear Regulatory Commission regulations and International Commission on Radiological Protection recommendations formed the basic structure of recommendations. Members of the task force contributed both ideas and methods that are used at their respective institutions to aid groups responsible for treatments and that instruct patients and caregivers in the attainment of radiation safety. There are insufficient data on long-term outcomes to create evidence-based guidelines. Results: The information was used to compile delineations of radiation safety. Factors and situations that govern implementation of safety practices are cited and discussed. Examples of the development of tables to ascertain the number of hours or days (24-hour cycles) of radiation precaution appropriate for individual patients treated with 131I for hyperthyroidism and thyroid cancer have been provided. Reminders in the form of a checklist are presented to assist in assessing patients while taking into account individual circumstances that would bear on radiation safety. Information is presented to supplement the treating physician's advice to patients and caregivers on precautions to be adopted within and outside the home. Conclusion: Recommendations, complying with Nuclear Regulatory Commission regulations and consistent with guidelines promulgated by the National Council on Radiation Protection and Measurement (NCRP-155), can help physicians and patients maintain radiation safety after treatment with 131I of patients with thyroid diseases. Both treating physicians and patients must be informed if radiation safety, an integral part of therapy with 131I, is to be attained. Based on current regulations and understanding of radiation exposures, recommendations have been made to guide physicians and patients in safe practices after treatment with radioactive iodine.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/90492/1/thy-2E2010-2E0403.pd

The Paranormal is (Still) Normal: The Sociological Implications of a Survey of Paranormal Experiences in Great Britain

Historically, there has been limited sociological interest in the paranormal and no systematic study of reported paranormal experiences. There are also few medium-to-large-scale survey results with nationally representative populations focusing on paranormal experiences. This paper provides details of an exploratory survey conducted in 2009 with a nationally representative sample of 4,096 adults aged 16 years and over across Great Britain. Our findings show that 37% of British adults report at least one paranormal experience and that women, those who are middle-aged or individuals resident in the South West are more likely to report such experiences. These results establish incidence levels of reported paranormal experiences in contemporary Britain. We argue also that they merit a more sustained sociological consideration of the paranormal. In this respect we renew and update the robust justification and call for serious research positioning the paranormal as a social phenomenon, originally proposed well over thirty years ago by Greeley (1975)

Decision aid on radioactive iodine treatment for early stage papillary thyroid cancer - a randomized controlled trial

Abstract Background Patients with early stage papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC), are faced with the decision to either to accept or reject adjuvant radioactive iodine (RAI) treatment after thryroidectomy. This decision is often difficult because of conflicting reports of RAI treatment benefit and medical evidence uncertainty due to the lack of long-term randomized controlled trials. Methods We report the protocol for a parallel, 2-arm, randomized trial comparing an intervention group exposed to a computerized decision aid (DA) relative to a control group receiving usual care. The DA explains the options of adjuvant radioactive iodine or no adjuvant radioactive iodine, as well as associated potential benefits, risks, and follow-up implications. Potentially eligible adult PTC patient participants will include: English-speaking individuals who have had recent thyroidectomy, and whose primary tumor was 1 to 4 cm in diameter, with no known metastases to lymph nodes or distant sites, with no other worrisome features, and who have not received RAI treatment for thyroid cancer. We will measure the effect of the DA on the following patient outcomes: a) knowledge about PTC and RAI treatment, b) decisional conflict, c) decisional regret, d) client satisfaction with information received about RAI treatment, and e) the final decision to accept or reject adjuvant RAI treatment and rationale. Discussion This trial will provide evidence of feasibility and efficacy of the use of a computerized DA in explaining complex issues relating to decision making about adjuvant RAI treatment in early stage PTC. Trial registration Clinical Trials.gov Identifier: NCT0108355

Prognosis of Differentiated Thyroid Cancer in Relation to Serum Thyrotropin and Thyroglobulin Antibody Status at Time of Diagnosis

BACKGROUND: Serum thyrotropin (TSH) concentration and thyroid autoimmunity may be of prognostic importance in differentiated thyroid cancer (DTC). Preoperative serum TSH level has been associated with higher DTC stage in cross-sectional studies; data are contradictory on the significance of thyroid autoimmunity at the time of diagnosis. OBJECTIVE: We sought to assess whether preoperative serum TSH and perioperative antithyroglobulin antibodies (TgAb) were associated with thyroid cancer stage and outcome in DTC patients followed by the National Thyroid Cancer Treatment Cooperative Study, a large multicenter thyroid cancer registry. METHODS: Patients registered after 1996 with available preoperative serum TSH (n=617; the TSH cohort) or perioperative TgAb status (n=1770; the TgAb cohort) were analyzed for tumor stage, persistent disease, recurrence, and overall survival (OS; median follow-up, 5.5 years). Parametric tests assessed log-transformed TSH, and categorical variables were tested with chi square. Disease-free survival (DFS) and OS was assessed with Cox models. RESULTS: Geometric mean serum TSH levels were higher in patients with higher-stage disease (Stage III/IV=1.48 vs. 1.02 mU/L for Stages I/II; p=0.006). The relationship persisted in those aged ≥45 years after adjusting for sex (p=0.01). Gross extrathyroidal extension (p=0.03) and presence of cervical lymph node metastases (p=0.003) were also significantly associated with higher serum TSH. Disease recurrence and all-cause mortality occurred in 37 and 38 TSH cohort patients respectively, which limited the power for survival analysis. Positive TgAb was associated with lower stage on univariate analysis (positive TgAb in 23.4% vs. 17.8% of Stage I/II vs. III/IV patients, respectively; p=0.01), although the relationship lost significance when adjusting for age and sex (p=0.34). Perioperative TgAb was not an independent predictor of DFS (hazard ratio=1.12 [95% confidence interval=0.74-1.69]) or OS (hazard ratio=0.98 [95% confidence interval=0.56-1.72]). CONCLUSIONS: Preoperative serum TSH level is associated with higher DTC stage, gross extrathyroidal extension, and neck node metastases. Perioperative TgAb is not an independent predictor of DTC prognosis. A larger cohort is required to assess whether preoperative serum TSH level predicts recurrence or mortality

Indicators of river system hydromorphological character and dynamics: understanding current conditions and guiding sustainable river management

The work leading to this paper received funding from the EU’s FP7 programme under Grant Agreement No. 282656 (REFORM). The Indicators were developed within the context of REFORM deliverable D2.1, therefore all partners involved in this deliverable contributed to some extent to their discussion and development

The effects of benzofury (5-APB) on the dopamine transporter and 5-HT2-dependent vasoconstriction in the rat

5-APB, commonly marketed as ‘benzofury’ is a new psychoactive substance and erstwhile ‘legal high’ which has been implicated in 10 recent drug-related deaths in the UK. This drug was available on the internet and in ‘head shops’ and was one of the most commonly sold legal highs up until its recent UK temporary ban (UK Home Office). Despite its prominence, very little is known about its pharmacology. This study was undertaken to examine the pharmacology of 5-APB in vitro. We hypothesized that 5-APB would activate the dopamine and 5-HT systems which may underlie its putative stimulant and hallucinogenic effects. Autoradiographic studies showed that 5-APB displaced both [125I]RTI-121 and [3H]ketanserin from rat brain tissue suggesting affinity at the dopamine transporter and 5-HT2 receptor sites respectively. Voltammetric studies in rat accumbens brain slices revealed that 5-APB slowed dopamine reuptake, and at high concentrations caused reverse transport of dopamine. 5-APB also caused vasoconstriction of rat aorta, an effect antagonized by the 5-HT2A receptor antagonist ketanserin, and caused contraction of rat stomach fundus, which was reversed by the 5-HT2B receptor antagonist RS-127445. These data show that 5-APB interacts with the dopamine transporter and is an agonist at the 5-HT2A and 5-HT2B receptors in the rat. Thus 5-APB’s pharmacology is consistent with it having both stimulant and hallucinogenic properties. In addition, 5-APB’s activity at the 5-HT2B receptor may cause cardiotoxicity

The IASLC Lung Cancer Staging Project: A Renewed Call to Participation

Over the past two decades, the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer (IASLC) Staging Project has been a steady source of evidence-based recommendations for the TNM classification for lung cancer published by the Union for International Cancer Control and the American Joint Committee on Cancer. The Staging and Prognostic Factors Committee of the IASLC is now issuing a call for participation in the next phase of the project, which is designed to inform the ninth edition of the TNM classification for lung cancer. Following the case recruitment model for the eighth edition database, volunteer site participants are asked to submit data on patients whose lung cancer was diagnosed between January 1, 2011, and December 31, 2019, to the project by means of a secure, electronic data capture system provided by Cancer Research And Biostatistics in Seattle, Washington. Alternatively, participants may transfer existing data sets. The continued success of the IASLC Staging Project in achieving its objectives will depend on the extent of international participation, the degree to which cases are entered directly into the electronic data capture system, and how closely externally submitted cases conform to the data elements for the project

Calmodulin is responsible for Ca2+-dependent regulation of TRPA1 channels

TRPA1 is a Ca2+-permeable ion channel involved in many sensory disorders such as pain, itch and neuropathy. Notably, the function of TRPA1 depends on Ca2+, with low Ca2+ potentiating and high Ca2+ inactivating TRPA1. However, it remains unknown how Ca2+ exerts such contrasting effects. Here, we show that Ca2+ regulates TRPA1 through calmodulin, which binds to TRPA1 in a Ca2+-dependent manner. Calmodulin binding enhanced TRPA1 sensitivity and Ca2+-evoked potentiation of TRPA1 at low Ca2+, but inhibited TRPA1 sensitivity and promoted TRPA1 desensitization at high Ca2+. Ca2+-dependent potentiation and inactivation of TRPA1 were selectively prevented by disrupting the interaction of the carboxy-lobe of calmodulin with a calmodulin-binding domain in the C-terminus of TRPA1. Calmodulin is thus a critical Ca2+ sensor enabling TRPA1 to respond to diverse Ca2+ signals distinctly