The Association Between Trajectories of Physical Activity and All-Cause and Cause-Specific Mortality

Background: The benefits of physical activity (PA) for health have primarily been evaluated during midlife. Whether patterns of change in late-life PA associate with overall and cause-specific mortality remains unclear. Methods: We examined the association between PA trajectories and subsequent mortality among 3,767 men aged ≥ 65 years. Men self-reported PA using the Physical Activity Scale for the Elderly scale (PASE) at up to 4 time points from 2000 through 2009 (Year 7); mortality was assessed over an average of 7.1 years after the Year 7 contact. Group-based trajectory modeling identified patterns of PA change. Cox proportional hazards models described associations between patterns of change in PA, Year 7 PA, and subsequent mortality risk. Results: Three discrete PA patterns were identified, all with declining PA. Compared to low-activity declining men, moderate (HR = 0.78; 95% CI: 0.70, 0.88) and high-activity (HR = 0.69, 95% CI: 0.57, 0.83) declining groups were associated with lower risk of all-cause mortality. Among models with a single time-point, the last time point (Year 7 PA score) was a strong predictor of mortality with HR = 0.85 (95% CI: 0.78, 0.93) per SD increase in PASE score. PA patterns were not a risk factor for mortality after adjustment for the Year 7 PA score. Conclusions: Recent PA levels are a stronger indicator of subsequent mortality risk than PA patterns reported over the prior 7 years or prior PA level, suggesting that current PA rather than history of PA is the most relevant parameter in clinical settings

Genomic analysis of spermatocytic tumors demonstrates recurrent molecular alterations in cases with malignant clinical behavior

: Spermatocytic tumor (ST) is a rare type of germ cell tumor that occurs exclusively in the postpubertal testis and typically affects elderly men. Most STs are benign, but rare cases exhibit aggressive clinical behavior, often in association with transition to sarcomatoid histology. Limited molecular analyses have been performed on STs; therefore, their genomic and epigenomic features remain incompletely described. Twenty-seven samples from 25 individual patients were analyzed with a combination of DNA sequencing panels, genomic methylation profiling, SNP array, isochromosome (12p) [i(12p)] FISH, and immunohistochemistry. The series included five metastasizing tumors (three with sarcomatoid transformation, one anaplastic, and one conventional) and 20 non-metastasizing tumors (14 anaplastic and six conventional). Anaplastic tumors comprised a monomorphic population of intermediate-sized neoplastic cells, as previously described. Multiomic analyses demonstrated that there were two genomic subgroups of STs: one with diploid genomes and hotspot RAS/RAF variants and the other with global ploidy shift and absence of recurrent mutations. Relative gain of chromosome 9 was a consistent finding in both subgroups. A comparison of metastasizing and non-metastasizing cases demonstrated that aggressive behavior was associated with the acquisition of pathogenic TP53 mutations and/or relative gains of 12p/i(12p). In cases with sarcomatoid transformation, TP53 mutations seem to underlie the transition to sarcomatoid histology. Genomic methylation analysis demonstrated that aggressive cases with gains of 12p cluster closer to pure seminomas than to STs without gains of 12p. In conclusion, STs include two genomic subgroups, characterized by global ploidy shifts without recurrent mutations and diploid genomes with RAS/RAF hotspot mutations, respectively. Biologic progression was associated with relative gains of 12p and TP53 mutations. The findings in STs with relative gains of 12p suggest that they may exhibit biologic characteristics akin to those seen in germ cell neoplasia in situ-related germ cell tumors rather than non-germ cell neoplasia in situ-derived STs. © 2023 The Authors. The Journal of Pathology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of The Pathological Society of Great Britain and Ireland

Clinicopathologic Spectrum of Secondary Solid Tumors of the Prostate of Nonurothelial Origin: Multi-institutional Evaluation of 85 Cases

Secondary involvement of the prostate by urothelial or hematolymphoid neoplasms is relatively common and well-described. In contrast, less is known about the clinicopathologic spectrum of secondary solid tumors of the prostate of nonurothelial origin. This study evaluated a series of secondary nonurothelial solid tumors of the prostate diagnosed at 21 institutions. Eighty-five patients with a median age at diagnosis of 64 years were included. Sixty-two patients had clinically manifest disease (62/85, 73%), 10 were diagnosed incidentally (10/85, 12%), and 13 (13/85, 15%) had no detailed clinical data available about symptomatology at presentation. Among patients with clinically manifest disease, the most common symptoms and signs were lower urinary tract symptoms (either obstructive of irritative; 36/62, 58%), abdominal or pelvic pain or discomfort (16/62, 26%), and hematuria (12/62, 19%). Metastasis and direct invasion occurred at roughly similar frequencies (47% vs. 42%) in this series, and in 11% of the cases, the mechanism of spread to the prostate was unclear/uncertain. Overall, among tumors with confirmed sites of origin, the most common primary sites were gastrointestinal tract (53/85, 62%), lung (9/85, 11%), skin (6/85, 7%), and testis (4/85, 5%). Among metastases, the most common tumor types were lung carcinomas (9/40, 23%), colorectal adenocarcinomas (7/40, 18%), melanoma (6/40, 15%), and germ cell tumors (6/40, 15%). This study demonstrated that secondary involvement of the prostate by solid tumors of nonurothelial origin is commonly symptomatic and that the most frequent sites of origin are the gastrointestinal tract, lung, skin, and testis. These findings are worth considering when lesions with unusual cytomorphology and/or architecture are encountered in prostate specimens

The epilepsy bioinformatics study for anti-epileptogenic therapy (EpiBioS4Rx) clinical biomarker: Study design and protocol.

The Epilepsy Bioinformatics Study for Anti-epileptogenic Therapy (EpiBioS4Rx) is a longitudinal prospective observational study funded by the National Institute of Health (NIH) to discover and validate observational biomarkers of epileptogenesis after traumatic brain injury (TBI). A multidisciplinary approach has been incorporated to investigate acute electrical, neuroanatomical, and blood biomarkers after TBI that may predict the development of post-traumatic epilepsy (PTE). We plan to enroll 300 moderate-severe TBI patients with a frontal and/or temporal lobe hemorrhagic contusion. Acute evaluation with blood, imaging and electroencephalographic monitoring will be performed and then patients will be tracked for 2 years to determine the incidence of PTE. Validation of selected biomarkers that are discovered in planned animal models will be a principal feature of this work. Specific hypotheses regarding the discovery of biomarkers have been set forth in this study. An international cohort of 13 centers spanning 2 continents will be developed to facilitate this study, and for future interventional studies

The epilepsy bioinformatics study for anti-epileptogenic therapy (EpiBioS4Rx) clinical biomarker: Study design and protocol

The Epilepsy Bioinformatics Study for Anti-epileptogenic Therapy (EpiBioS4Rx) is a longitudinal prospective observational study funded by the National Institute of Health (NIH) to discover and validate observational biomarkers of epileptogenesis after traumatic brain injury (TBI). A multidisciplinary approach has been incorporated to investigate acute electrical, neuroanatomical, and blood biomarkers after TBI that may predict the development of post-traumatic epilepsy (PTE). We plan to enroll 300 moderate-severe TBI patients with a frontal and/or temporal lobe hemorrhagic contusion. Acute evaluation with blood, imaging and electroencephalographic monitoring will be performed and then patients will be tracked for 2 years to determine the incidence of PTE. Validation of selected biomarkers that are discovered in planned animal models will be a principal feature of this work. Specific hypotheses regarding the discovery of biomarkers have been set forth in this study. An international cohort of 13 centers spanning 2 continents will be developed to facilitate this study, and for future interventional studies