Successful Treatment of a Mixed Neuroendocrine-Nonneuroendocrine Neoplasm of the Colon with Metastases to the Thyroid Gland and Liver

Patients with mixed neuroendocrine-nonneuroendocrine neoplasms (MiNENs) of the colon have poor prognosis. Herein, we report a patient with MiNEN of the colon with metastases to the liver and the thyroid gland, with long-term survival. A 45-year-old man presented with anterior neck swelling. Histopathological examination of the thyroid tumor revealed neuroendocrine carcinoma (NEC), suggesting that a primary NEC in another organ had metastasized to the thyroid gland. Computed tomography to identify a primary NEC revealed two tumors: one in the liver and one in the transverse colon. A biopsy revealed that the histopathology of the liver and colon tumors was NEC and adenocarcinoma, respectively. Thereafter, the patient underwent surgical resection of the colon tumor and was finally diagnosed as colon MiNEN with metastases to the thyroid and liver. The surgical resection of the metastatic liver tumor was performed after several courses of systemic chemotherapy, and the patient survives presently without any recurrence for approximately seven years after the diagnosis. Surgical resection of each metastatic lesion combined with systematic chemotherapy apparently improved the prognosis of MiNEN of the colon with distant metastases

Clinicopathological study on pIgR expression and tumor progression in advanced colorectal cancer

This study is aimed at investigating the relationship between the polymeric immunoglobulin receptor （pIgR） expression and clinicopathological factors in advanced colorectal cancer （CRC） patients. The study involved 47 advanced CRC patients who were surgically resected and underwent KRAS gene test. The pIgR expression was analyzed by immunohistochemistry, and the patients were classified into high and low （pIgR-H and pIgR-L, respectively） groups based on the staining intensity and range. A total of 13 cases was classified under the pIgR-H group, and the remaining 34 were classified under the pIgR-L group. Results suggest no significant differences in most clinicopathological factors between the pIgR-H and pIgR-L groups, although the pIgR-L group had a significantly higher frequency of venous invasion than the pIgR-H group, whereas the frequency of KRAS gene mutation was significantly higher in the pIgR-H group than that in the pIgR-L group. The findings in this study showed little significant correlation between the pIgR expression and clinicopathological factors in advanced CRC patients. Further research on the biological behavior of pIgR as a drug treatment option for KRAS-mutated advanced CRCs is also warranted

Validation of Two MODIS Aerosols Algorithms with SKYNET and Prospects for Future Climate Satellites Such as the GCOM-C/SGLI

Potential improvements of aerosols algorithms for future climate-oriented satellites such as the coming Global Change Observation Mission Climate/Second generation Global Imager (GCOM-C/SGLI) are discussed based on a validation study of three years’ (2008–2010) daily aerosols properties, that is, the aerosol optical thickness (AOT) and the Ångström exponent (AE) retrieved from two MODIS algorithms. The ground-truth data used for this validation study are aerosols measurements from 3 SKYNET ground sites. The results obtained show a good agreement between the ground-truth data AOT and that of one of the satellites’ algorithms, then a systematic overestimation (around 0.2) by the other satellites’ algorithm. The examination of the AE shows a clear underestimation (by around 0.2–0.3) by both satellites’ algorithms. The uncertainties explaining these ground-satellites’ algorithms discrepancies are examined: the cloud contamination affects differently the aerosols properties (AOT and AE) of both satellites’ algorithms due to the retrieval scale differences between these algorithms. The deviation of the real part of the refractive index values assumed by the satellites’ algorithms from that of the ground tends to decrease the accuracy of the AOT of both satellites’ algorithms. The asymmetry factor (AF) of the ground tends to increase the AE ground-satellites discrepancies as well

A multicenter prospective registry of Borden type I dural arteriovenous fistula: results of a 3-year follow-up study

PURPOSE: Although intracranial dural arteriovenous fistula (DAVF) without retrograde leptomeningeal venous drainage (Borden type I) is reported to have a benign nature, no study has prospectively determined its clinical course. Here, we report a 3-year prospective observational study of Borden type I DAVF. METHODS: From April 2013 to March 2016, consecutive patients with DAVF were screened at 13 study institutions. We collected data on baseline characteristics, clinical symptoms, angiography, and neuroimaging. Patients with Borden type I DAVF received conservative care while palliative intervention was considered when the neurological symptoms were intolerable, and were followed at 6, 12, 24, and 36 months after inclusion. RESULTS: During the study period, 110 patients with intracranial DAVF were screened and 28 patients with Borden type I DAVF were prospectively followed. None of the patients had conversion to higher type of Borden classification or intracranial hemorrhage during follow-up. Five patients showed spontaneous improvement or disappearance of neurological symptoms (5/28, 17.9%), and 5 patients showed a spontaneous decrease or disappearance of shunt flow on imaging during follow-up (5/28, 17.9%). Stenosis or occlusion of the draining sinuses on initial angiography was significantly associated with shunt flow reduction during follow-up (80.0% vs 21.7%, p = 0.02). CONCLUSION: In this 3-year prospective study, patients with Borden type I DAVF showed benign clinical course; none of these patients experienced conversion to higher type of Borden classification or intracranial hemorrhage. The restrictive changes of the draining sinuses at initial diagnosis might be an imaging biomarker for future shunt flow reduction

Quantitative analysis of β1,6GlcNAc-branched N-glycans on β4 integrin in cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma

α6β4 integrin plays pivotal roles in cancer progression in several types of cancers. Our previous study using N-glycan-manipulated cell lines demonstrated that defects in N-glycans or decreased β1,6GlcNAc-branched N-glycans on β4 integrin suppress β4 integrin-mediated cancer cell adhesion, migration, invasion, and tumorigenesis. Furthermore, immunohistochemical analysis has shown that colocalization of β1,6GlcNAc-branched N-glycans with β4 integrin was observed in cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) tissue. However, until now there has been no direct evidence that β1,6GlcNAc-branched N-glycans are upregulated on β4 integrin in cutaneous SCC. In the present study, we performed an ELISA analysis of β1,6GlcNAc-branched N-glycans on β4 integrins as well as β4 integrins in cell lysates from human normal skin and cutaneous SCC tissues. The SCC samples showed a 4.9- to 7.4-fold increase in the ratio of β1,6GlcNAc-branched N-glycans to β4 integrin compared with normal skin samples. These findings suggest that the addition of β1,6GlcNAc-branched N-glycans onto β4 integrin was markedly elevated in cutaneous SCC tissue compared to normal skin tissue. The value of β1,6GlcNAc-branched N-glycans on β4 integrin may be useful as a diagnostic marker associated with cutaneous SCC tumor progression