Subharmonic and Endoscopic Contrast Imaging of Pancreatic Masses: A Pilot Study.

OBJECTIVES: To use subharmonic imaging (SHI) to depict the vascularity of pancreatic masses compared to contrast-enhanced endoscopic ultrasound (EUS) and pathologic results. METHODS: Sixteen patients scheduled for biopsy of a pancreatic mass were enrolled in an Institutional Review Board-approved study. Pulse-inversion SHI (transmitting/receiving at 2.5/1.25 MHz) was performed on a LOGIQ 9 system (GE Healthcare, Milwaukee, WI) with a 4C transducer, whereas contrast harmonic EUS (transmitting/receiving at 4.7/9.4 MHz) was performed with a radial endoscope (GF-UTC180; Olympus Corporation, Tokyo, Japan) connected to a ProSound SSD α-10 scanner (Hitachi Aloka, Tokyo, Japan). Two injections of the contrast agent Definity (Lantheus Medical Imaging, North Billerica, MA) were administrated (0.3-0.4 and 0.6-0.8 mL for EUS and SHI, respectively). Contrast-to-tissue ratios (CTRs) in the mass and an adjacent vessel were calculated. Four physicians independently scored the images (benign to malignant) for diagnostic accuracy and inter-reader agreement. RESULTS: One patient dropped out before imaging, leaving 11 adenocarcinomas, 1 gastrointestinal stromal tumor with pancreatic infiltration, and 3 benign masses. Marked subharmonic signals were obtained in all patients, with intratumoral blood flow clearly visualized with SHI. Significantly greater CTRs were obtained in the masses with SHI than with EUS (mean ± SD, 1.71 ± 1.63 versus 0.63 ± 0.89; P = .016). There were no differences in the CTR in the surrounding vessels or when grouped by pathologic results (P \u3e .60). The accuracies for contrast EUS and SHI were low (\u3c53%), albeit with a greater κ value for SHI (0.34) than for EUS (0.13). CONCLUSIONS: Diagnostic accuracy of contrast EUS and transabdominal SHI for assessment of pancreatic masses was quite low in this pilot study. However, SHI had improved tumoral CTRs relative to contrast EUS

Community-associated Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus Isolates and Healthcare-Associated Infections1

MRSA isolates phenotypically similar to community-associated strains have become the predominant isolates associated with healthcare-associated MRSA in our hospital

Energy-Related Indicators and Breast Cancer Risk among White and Black Women

Energy-related indicators, including physical activity, energy intake, body mass index (BMI) and adult weight change, have been linked to breast cancer risk. Very few studies of these associations have been conducted among black women, therefore we used the Nashville Breast Health Study (NBHS) to determine whether similar effects were seen in black and white women. The NBHS is a population-based case-control study of breast cancer among women age 25 to 75 years conducted between 2001 and 2010 in and around the Nashville Metropolitan area. Telephone interviews and self-administered food frequency questionnaires were completed with 2,614 incident breast cancer cases ascertained through hospitals and the statewide cancer registry, and 2,306 controls selected using random digit dialing. Among premenopausal white and black women, there was little effect of adult exercise or other energy-related indicators on breast cancer risk, regardless of tumor estrogen receptor (ER) status. The beneficial effect of adult exercise on postmenopausal breast cancer appeared to be comparable between white and black women (highest tertile relative to none - white odds ratio [OR] 0.8, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.6-1.0, p for trend=0.05; black OR 0.7, 95% CI 0.4-1.1, p for trend=0.07); however, among black women the reduction was limited to those with ER-positive disease. White and black women should be encouraged to engage in more physical activity to reduce their risk of postmenopausal breast cancer

Muskellunge and Northern Pike Ecology and Management: Important Issues and Research Needs

Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/141909/1/fsh0258.pd

A New GTSeq Resource to Facilitate Multijurisdictional Research and Management of Walleye Sander Vitreus

Conservation and management professionals often work across jurisdictional boundaries to identify broad ecological patterns. These collaborations help to protect populations whose distributions span political borders. One common limitation to multijurisdictional collaboration is consistency in data recording and reporting. This limitation can impact genetic research, which relies on data about specific markers in an organism\u27s genome. Incomplete overlap of markers between separate studies can prevent direct comparisons of results. Standardized marker panels can reduce the impact of this issue and provide a common starting place for new research. Genotyping-in-thousands (GTSeq) is one approach used to create standardized marker panels for nonmodel organisms. Here, we describe the development, optimization, and early assessments of a new GTSeq panel for use with walleye (Sander vitreus) from the Great Lakes region of North America. High genome-coverage sequencing conducted using RAD capture provided genotypes for thousands of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). From these markers, SNP and microhaplotype markers were chosen, which were informative for genetic stock identification (GSI) and kinship analysis. The final GTSeq panel contained 500 markers, including 197 microhaplotypes and 303 SNPs. Leave-one-out GSI simulations indicated that GSI accuracy should be greater than 80% in most jurisdictions. The false-positive rates of parent-offspring and full-sibling kinship identification were found to be low. Finally, genotypes could be consistently scored among separate sequencing runs \u3e94% of the time. Results indicate that the GTSeq panel that we developed should perform well for multijurisdictional walleye research throughout the Great Lakes region

What\u27s New in Plant Pathology

Changes to the Disease Management Section of the 2017 Guide for Weed, Disease, and Insect Management in Nebraska Bacterial Leaf Streak of Corn—An Emerging Disease in Nebraska and First Report in the United States Pest and Plant Diagnostic Clinic Position Change New Products … Ethos XB … Majestene Table 1. Foliar products for disease control that were updated in the 2017 Guide for Weed, Disease, and Insect Management in Nebraska Table 2. Seed treatment products for disease control that were updated in the 2017 Guide for Weed, Disease, and Insect Management in Nebraska Table 3. Biological products that were updated in the 2017 Guide for Weed, Disease, and Insect Management in Nebrask