Long-Term Oncological Efficacy of Retroperitoneoscopic Radical Nephrectomy of Localized Renal Cell Cancer pT1-3 (≤12 cm)

Investigation of oncological efficacy in retroperitoneoscopic radical nephrectomy (RRN) of patients with localized renal cell carcinoma (RCC). Consecutive patients undergoing RRN for localized stage pT1-3 RCC in 2 tertiary care centers in Switzerland were evaluated. Excellent long-term oncological efficacy was found. Our long-term follow-up validates the survival outcome from comparable literature after conventional open or laparoscopic radical nephrectomy

Gut microbiota-dependent metabolite trimethylamine N-oxide (TMAO) and cardiovascular risk in patients with suspected functionally relevant coronary artery disease (fCAD)

Trimethylamine N-oxide (TMAO) has been associated with cardiovascular outcomes. However, the diagnostic value of TMAO and its precursors have not been assessed for functionally relevant coronary artery disease (fCAD) and its prognostic potential in this setting needs to be evaluated.; Among 1726 patients with suspected fCAD serum TMAO, and its precursors betaine, choline and carnitine, were quantified using liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry. Diagnosis of fCAD was performed by myocardial perfusion single photon emission tomography (MPI-SPECT) and coronary angiography blinded to marker concentrations. Incident all-cause death, cardiovascular death (CVD) and myocardial infarction (MI) were assessed during 5-years follow-up.; Concentrations of TMAO, betaine, choline and carnitine were significantly higher in patients with fCAD versus those without (TMAO 5.33 μM vs 4.66 μM, p < 0.001); however, diagnostic accuracy was low (TMAO area under the receiver operating curve [AUC]: 0.56, 95% CI [0.53-0.59], p < 0.001). In prognostic analyses, TMAO, choline and carnitine above the median were associated with significantly (p < 0.001 for all) higher cumulative events for death and CVD during 5-years follow-up. TMAO remained a significant predictor for death and CVD even in full models adjusted for renal function (HR = 1.58 (1.16, 2.14), p = 0.003; HR = 1.66 [1.07, 2.59], p = 0.025). Prognostic discriminative accuracy for TMAO was good and robust for death and CVD (2-years AUC for CVD 0.73, 95% CI [0.65-0.80]).; TMAO and its precursors, betaine, choline and carnitine were significantly associated with fCAD, but with limited diagnostic value. TMAO was a strong predictor for incident death and CVD in patients with suspected fCAD.; NCT01838148

Mapping Cumulative Environmental Risks: Examples from The EU NoMiracle Project

We present examples of cumulative chemical risk mapping methods developed within the NoMiracle project. The different examples illustrate the application of the concentration addition (CA) approach to pesticides at different scale, the integration in space of cumulative risks to individual organisms under the CA assumption, and two techniques to (1) integrate risks using data-driven, parametric statistical methods, and (2) cluster together areas with similar occurrence of different risk factors, respectively. The examples are used to discuss some general issues, particularly on the conventional nature of cumulative risk maps, and may provide some suggestions for the practice of cumulative risk mapping

Completion of Hepatitis C Virus Replication Cycle in Heterokaryons Excludes Dominant Restrictions in Human Non-liver and Mouse Liver Cell Lines

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) is hepatotropic and only infects humans and chimpanzees. Consequently, an immunocompetent small animal model is lacking. The restricted tropism of HCV likely reflects specific host factor requirements. We investigated if dominant restriction factors expressed in non-liver or non-human cell lines inhibit HCV propagation thus rendering these cells non-permissive. To this end we explored if HCV completes its replication cycle in heterokaryons between human liver cell lines and non-permissive cell lines from human non-liver or mouse liver origin. Despite functional viral pattern recognition pathways and responsiveness to interferon, virus production was observed in all fused cells and was only ablated when cells were treated with exogenous interferon. These results exclude that constitutive or virus-induced expression of dominant restriction factors prevents propagation of HCV in these cell types, which has important implications for HCV tissue and species tropism. In turn, these data strongly advocate transgenic approaches of crucial human HCV cofactors to establish an immunocompetent small animal model

Metformin in chemotherapy-naive castration-resistant prostate cancer: a multicenter phase 2 trial (SAKK 08/09)

BACKGROUND There is evidence linking metformin to improved prostate cancer (PCa)-related outcomes. OBJECTIVE To evaluate treatment with metformin in patients with castration-resistant PCa (CRPC) and the effect of the treatment on progression-free survival (PFS) and PSA doubling time (PSA DT). DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS Forty-four men with progressive metastatic CRPC from 10 Swiss centers were included in this single-arm phase 2 trial between December 2010 and December 2011. INTERVENTION Patients received metformin 1000 mg twice daily until disease progression. OUTCOME MEASUREMENTS AND STATISTICAL ANALYSIS The primary end point was the absence of disease progression at 12 wk. Simon two-stage optimal design was applied. With a 5% significance level and 90% power, 44 patients were required to test PFS at 12 wk ≤ 15% (H0) compared with ≥ 35% (H1). RESULTS AND LIMITATIONS Thirty-six percent of patients were progression-free at 12 wk, 9.1% were progression-free at 24 wk, and in two patients a confirmed ≥ 50% prostate-specific antigen (PSA) decline was demonstrated. In 23 patients (52.3%) we observed a prolongation of PSA DT after starting metformin. The homeostatic model assessment index fell by 26% from baseline to 12 wk, indicating an improvement in insulin sensitivity. There was a significant change in insulin-like growth factor-1 and insulin-like growth factor binding protein 3 from baseline to 12 wk. Sample size and lack of a control arm are the limitations of this trial; analyses are therefore exploratory. CONCLUSIONS Treatment with metformin is safe in nondiabetic patients, and it yields objective PSA responses and may induce disease stabilization. The activity of metformin in PCa, along with its low cost, favorable toxicity profile, and positive effect on metabolic parameters, suggests that further investigation of metformin as therapy for patients with PCa is of interest. PATIENT SUMMARY In this trial we assessed the use of the diabetes mellitus drug metformin in patients with advanced prostate cancer. We found disease stabilization and prolongation of prostate-specific antigen doubling time in some patients as well as effects on metabolic parameters. TRIAL REGISTRATION This study is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov with the identifier NCT01243385. PREVIOUS PRESENTATION The study was presented at ESMO 2012 (abstract 1460)

Early diagnosis of myocardial infarction with point-of-care high-sensitivity cardiac troponin I

Background: Until now, high-sensitivity cardiac troponin (hs-cTn) assays were mainly developed for large central laboratory platforms. Objectives: This study aimed to assess the clinical performance of a point-of-care (POC)-hs-cTnI assay in patients with suspected myocardial infarction (MI). Methods: This study enrolled patients presenting to the emergency department with symptoms suggestive of MI. Two cardiologists centrally adjudicated the final diagnosis using all clinical data including cardiac imaging. The primary objective was to directly compare diagnostic accuracy of POC-hs-cTnI-TriageTrue versus best-validated central laboratory assays. Secondary objectives included the derivation and validation of a POC-hs-cTnI-TriageTrue–specific 0/1-h algorithm. Results: MI was the adjudicated final diagnosis in 178 of 1,261 patients (14%). The area under the curve (AUC) for POC-hs-cTnI-TriageTrue at presentation was 0.95 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.93 to 0.96) and was at least comparable to hs-cTnT-Elecsys (AUC: 0.94; 95% CI: 0.93 to 0.96; p = 0.213) and hs-cTnI-Architect (AUC: 0.92; 95% CI: 0.90 to 0.93; p < 0.001). A single cutoff concentration 60 ng/l identified patients at high risk with a positive predictive value (PPV) of 76.8% (95% CI: 68.9% to 83.6%). The 0/1-h algorithm ruled out 55% of patients (NPV: 100%; 95% CI: 98.8% to 100%), and ruled in 18% of patients (PPV: 76.8%; 95% CI: 67.2% to 84.7%). Ruled-out patients had cumulative event rates of 0% at 30 days and 1.6% at 2 years. This study confirmed these findings in a secondary analysis including hs-cTnI-Architect for central adjudication. Conclusions: The POC-hs-cTnI-TriageTrue assay provides high diagnostic accuracy in patients with suspected MI with a clinical performance that is at least comparable to that of best-validated central laboratory assays. (Advantageous Predictors of Acute Coronary Syndromes Evaluation Study [APACE]; NCT00470587

International Validation of the Canadian Syncope Risk Score: A Cohort Study

BACKGROUND: The Canadian Syncope Risk Score (CSRS) was developed to predict 30-day serious outcomes not evident during emergency department (ED) evaluation. OBJECTIVE: To externally validate the CSRS and compare it with another validated score, the Osservatorio Epidemiologico della Sincope nel Lazio (OESIL) score. DESIGN: Prospective cohort study. SETTING: Large, international, multicenter study recruiting patients in EDs in 8 countries on 3 continents. PARTICIPANTS: Patients with syncope aged 40 years or older presenting to the ED within 12 hours of syncope. MEASUREMENTS: Composite outcome of serious clinical plus procedural events (primary outcome) and the primary composite outcome excluding procedural interventions (secondary outcome). RESULTS: Among 2283 patients with a mean age of 68 years, the primary composite outcome occurred in 7.2%, and the composite outcome excluding procedural interventions occurred in 3.1% at 30 days. Prognostic performance of the CSRS was good for both 30-day composite outcomes and better compared with the OESIL score (area under the receiver-operating characteristic curve [AUC], 0.85 [95% CI, 0.83 to 0.88] vs. 0.74 [CI, 0.71 to 0.78] and 0.80 [CI, 0.75 to 0.84] vs. 0.69 [CI, 0.64 to 0.75], respectively). Safety of triage, as measured by the frequency of the primary composite outcome in the low-risk group, was higher using the CSRS (19 of 1388 [0.6%]) versus the OESIL score (17 of 1104 [1.5%]). A simplified model including only the clinician classification of syncope (cardiac syncope, vasovagal syncope, or other) variable at ED discharge-a component of the CSRS-achieved similar discrimination as the CSRS (AUC, 0.83 [CI, 0.80 to 0.87] for the primary composite outcome). LIMITATION: Unable to disentangle the influence of other CSRS components on clinician classification of syncope at ED discharge. CONCLUSION: This international external validation of the CSRS showed good performance in identifying patients at low risk for serious outcomes outside of Canada and superior performance compared with the OESIL score. However, clinician classification of syncope at ED discharge seems to explain much of the performance of the CSRS in this study. The clinical utility of the CSRS remains uncertain. PRIMARY FUNDING SOURCE: Swiss National Science Foundation & Swiss Heart Foundation