Rural Community Input to School District Strategic Planning: An Action Research Model Using Focus Groups

A rural superintendent used action research principles in conducting a series of focus groups with community members, students, and staff. The focus group data informed strategic planning. At the end of a carefully designed process, district administrators found more agreement among residents than they had expected. Community members were grateful for the opportunity to participate, and the district’s strategic plan contained important goals that would not have been recognized without community input. Administrators believed conducting the focus groups themselves brought more benefit than if they had hired a consultant, because of the interaction with community members. The result was a model that could be used by other rural superintendents

"The leading role of pathology in assessing the somatic molecular alterations of cancer:Position Paper of the European Society of Pathology": letter to the Editor

Contains fulltext : 232005.pdf (Publisher’s version ) (Open Access

Mismatch repair and treatment resistance in ovarian cancer

BACKGROUND: The treatment of ovarian cancer is hindered by intrinsic or acquired resistance to platinum-based chemotherapy. The aim of this study is to determine the frequency of mismatch repair (MMR) inactivation in ovarian cancer and its association with resistance to platinum-based chemotherapy. METHODS: We determined, microsatellite instability (MSI) as a marker for MMR inactivation (analysis of BAT25 and BAT26), MLH1 promoter methylation status (methylation specific PCR on bisulfite treated DNA) and mRNA expression of MLH1, MSH2, MSH3, MSH6 and PMS2 (quantitative RT-PCR) in 75 ovarian carcinomas and eight ovarian cancer cell lines RESULTS: MSI was detected in three of the eight cell lines i.e. A2780 (no MLH1 mRNA expression due to promoter methylation), SKOV3 (no MLH1 mRNA expression) and 2774 (no altered expression of MMR genes). Overall, there was no association between cisplatin response and MMR status in these eight cell lines. Seven of the 75 ovarian carcinomas showed MLH1 promoter methylation, however, none of these showed MSI. Forty-six of these patients received platinum-based chemotherapy (11 non-responders, 34 responders, one unknown response). The resistance seen in the eleven non-responders was not related to MSI and therefore also not to MMR inactivation. CONCLUSION: No MMR inactivation was detected in 75 ovarian carcinoma specimens and no association was seen between MMR inactivation and resistance in the ovarian cancer cell lines as well as the ovarian carcinomas. In the discussion, the results were compared to that of twenty similar studies in the literature including in total 1315 ovarian cancer patients. Although no association between response and MMR status was seen in the primary tumor the possible role of MMR inactivation in acquired resistance deserves further investigation

Pattern of p53 protein expression is predictive for survival in chemoradiotherapy-naive esophageal adenocarcinoma

Introduction: TP53 mutations are considered to be the driving factor in the initiation of esophageal adenocarcinoma (EAC). However, the impact of this gene and its encoded protein as a prognostic marker has not been definitely established yet. Methods: In total, 204 chemoradiotherapy (CRT)-naive patients with EAC were included for p53 protein expression evaluation by immunohistochemistry (IHC) on the resection specimens, categorized as overexpression, heterogeneous or loss of expression, and correlated with disease free survival (DFS) and overall survival (OS) using multivariable Cox regression analysis. In a subset representing all three IHC subgroups mutatio

The clonal relation of primary upper urinary tract urothelial carcinoma and paired urothelial carcinoma of the bladder

The risk of developing urothelial carcinoma of the bladder (UCB) in patients treated by radical nephroureterectomy (RNU) for an upper urinary tract urothelial carcinoma (UTUC) is 22% to 47% in the 2 years after surgery. Subject of debate remains whether UTUC and the subsequent UCB are clonally related or represent separate origins. To investigate the clonal relationship between both entities, we performed targeted DNA sequencing of a panel of 41 genes on matched normal and tumor tissue of 15 primary UTUC patients treated by RNU who later developed 19 UCBs. Based on the detected tumor-specific DNA aberrations, the paired UTUC and UCB(s) of 11 patients (73.3%) showed a clonal relation, whereas in four patients the molecular results did not indicate a clear clonal relationship. Our results support the hypothesis that UCBs following a primary surgically resected UTUC are predominantly clonally derived recurrences and not separate entities

In-depth molecular analysis of combined and co-primary pulmonary large cell neuroendocrine carcinoma and adenocarcinoma

Up to 14% of large cell neuroendocrine carcinomas (LCNECs) are diagnosed in continuity with nonsmall cell lung carcinoma. In addition to these combined lesions, 1% to 7% of lung tumors present as co-primary tumors with multiple synchronous lesions. We evaluated molecular and clinicopathological characteristics of combined and co-primary LCNEC-adenocarcinoma (ADC) tumors. Ten patients with LCNEC-ADC (combined) and five patients with multiple synchronous ipsilateral LCNEC and ADC tumors (co-primary) were included. DNA was isolated from distinct tumor parts, and 65 cancer genes were analyzed by next generation sequencing. Immunohistochemistry was performed including neuroendocrine markers, pRb, Ascl1 and Rest. Pure ADC (N = 37) and LCNEC (N = 17) cases were used for reference. At least 1 shared mutation, indicating tumor clonality, was found in LCNEC- and ADC-parts of 10/10 combined tumors but only in 1/5 co-primary tumors. A range of identical mutations was observed in both parts of combined tumors: 8/10 contained ADC-related (EGFR/KRAS/STK11 and/or KEAP1), 4/10 RB1 and 9/10 TP53 mutations. Loss of pRb IHC was observed in 6/10 LCNEC- and 4/10 ADC-parts. The number and intensity of expression of Ascl1 and neuroendocrine markers increased from pure ADC (low) to combined ADC (intermediate) and combined and pure LCNEC (high). The opposite was true for Rest expression. In conclusion, all combined LCNEC-ADC tumors were clonally related indicating a common origin. A relatively high frequency of pRb inactivation was observed in both LCNEC- and ADC-parts, suggesting an underlying role in LCNEC-ADC development. Furthermore, neuroendocrine differentiation might be modulated by Ascl1(+) and Rest(-) expression

Passion in the Workplace: Empirical Insights from Team Sport Organisations

Although sport management scholars have focused on a fairly wide number of psychologically-related constructs in the workplace, passion has not been part of this research agenda. The present study is the first attempt to fill this gap by exploring employees’ passion in the workplace setting of sport organisations. It does so by applying for the first time the dualistic model of passion developed by Vallerand et al. (2003), which measures two distinct types of passion: harmonious and obsessive. Online survey data were gathered from administrative employees in the United Kingdom’s football industry, responsible for either business-related functions or the clubs’ social agenda (N=236) in order to measure the passion experienced by individuals guided by different institutional logics. The particular instrument has two components: harmonious and obsessive passion towards the job. Besides the passion scales, the survey contained measures related to demographic variables (e.g., age, gender and education), to employment position in the organisation and to previous job experience. Data were statistically analysed in Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) and analysis of variance, using SPSS and Amos 18.0. To determine the effect of contextual variables on the passion for the job, t-test and ANOVA were also used. Both groups of employees are passionate about their job. They remain harmoniously passionate throughout their career and show low level of obsessive passion. The type of work activities influences both levels of harmonious and obsessive passion experienced by personnel within sport organisations with employees responsible for the social agenda being slightly more harmoniously and obsessively passionate compared to those responsible for the business agenda. Vallerand et al.’s (2003) dualistic model of passion has been adapted to measure passion at workplace within sport organisations. The particular working environment that forms these organisations attracts and/or facilitates employees to experience a positive work–life balance