Prognostic value of [18F]FDG PET radiomics to detect peritoneal and distant metastases in locally advanced gastric cancer: a side study of the prospective multicentre PLASTIC study

Aim: To improve identification of peritoneal and distant metastases in locally advanced gastric cancer using [18F]FDG-PET radiomics. Methods: [18F]FDG-PET scans of 206 patients acquired in 16 different Dutch hospitals in the prospective multicentre PLASTIC-study were analysed. Tumours were delineated and 105 radiomic features were extracted. Three classification models were developed to identify peritoneal and distant metastases (incidence: 21%): a model with clinical variables, a model with radiomic features, and a clinicoradiomic model, combining clinical variables and radiomic features. A least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) regression classifier was trained and evaluated in a 100-times repeated random split, stratified for the presence of peritoneal and distant metastases. To exclude features with high mutual correlations, redundancy filtering of the Pearson correlation matrix was performed (r = 0.9). Model performances were expressed by the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC). In addition, subgroup analyses based on Lauren classification were performed. Results: None of the models could identify metastases with low AUCs of 0.59, 0.51, and 0.56, for the clinical, radiomic, and clinicoradiomic model, respectively. Subgroup analysis of intestinal and mixed-type tumours resulted in low AUCs of 0.67 and 0.60 for the clinical and radiomic models, and a moderate AUC of 0.71 in the clinicoradiomic model. Subgroup analysis of diffuse-type tumours did not improve the classification performance. Conclusion: Overall, [18F]FDG-PET-based radiomics did not contribute to the preoperative identification of peritoneal and distant metastases in patients with locally advanced gastric carcinoma. In intestinal and mixed-type tumours, the classification performance of the clinical model slightly improved with the addition of radiomic features, but this slight improvement does not outweigh the laborious radiomic analysis. </p

Impact of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and dyspnoea on clinical outcomes in ticagrelor treated patients undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention in the randomized GLOBAL LEADERS trial

AIMS: To evaluate long-term safety and efficacy of ticagrelor monotherapy in patients undergoing percutaneous coronary interventions (PCIs) in relation to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) at baseline and the occurrence of dyspnoea reported as adverse event (AE) that may lead to treatment non-adherence. METHODS AND RESULTS: This is a non-prespecified, post hoc analysis of the randomized GLOBAL LEADERS trial (n = 15 991), comparing the experimental strategy of 23-month ticagrelor monotherapy following 1-mo

Detecção de Staphylococcus aureus utilizando a técnica de REP-PCR no monitoramento da qualidade do leite de cabra Detection of Staphylococcus aureus using the REP-PCR technique to monitor goat milk quality

Este estudo foi realizado com o objetivo de aplicar a técnica de REP-PCR no monitoramento da qualidade do leite de cabra por meio da detecção de Staphylococcus aureus em amostras de mãos de ordenhador, tetos das cabras, leite, ordenhadeira e água para estabelecimento e implantação do sistema de Análise de Perigos e Pontos Críticos de Controle (APPCC). Verificaram-se vários fingerprints de todos os isolados coletados das diferentes fontes estudadas (mãos de ordenhador, tetos das cabras, leite, ordenhadeira e água). Observaram-se comportamentos muito similares das bandas, o que indica que os isolados podem ser relatados como clones epidemiológicos. As mãos do ordenhador caracterizaram-se como ponto crítico de controle, pois se destacaram como iniciador de contaminação nas amostras Staphylococcus aureus. A técnica demonstrou ser eficiente para a análise da similaridade entre indivíduos da espécie Staphylococcus aureus e, portanto, constitui ferramenta útil para investigação de falhas no manejo e na busca de controle mais eficiente para evitar ou reduzir a disseminação de microrganismos patogênicos causadores de sérias enfermidades em humanos e animais, que muitas vezes podem ser transmitidas por produtos como o leite e seus derivados.<br>The objective of the present study was to apply REP-PCR sequences in the monitoring goat milk quality, by detecting Staphylococcus aureus, in samples of from milker hands, goat teats, milk, milking machine and water, for the future establishment and implantation of the system of Hazard Analysis Critical Control Points (HACCP). Several fingerprints were verified of all the isolates collected from the different sources studied (milker hands, goat teats, milk, milking machine and water). Very similar band behaviors were observed that indicated that the isolates can be reported as epidemic clones. Milker´s hands were was characterized as a critical control point (CCP), because it stands out as an initial point of contaminationin the Staphylococcus aureus samples. The technique was shown to be efficient for the similarity analysis among individuals of the Staphylococcus aureus species, and is therefore a useful tool for investigation of management faults and consequently, in the search for more efficient control to prevent or minimize the spread of pathogenic microorganisms that cause serious illnesses in humans and animals that can be transmitted through products such as milk and its products

Prognostic Value of [(18)F]FDG PET Radiomics to Detect Peritoneal and Distant Metastases in Locally Advanced Gastric Cancer-A Side Study of the Prospective Multicentre PLASTIC Study.

AIM: To improve identification of peritoneal and distant metastases in locally advanced gastric cancer using [(18)F]FDG-PET radiomics. METHODS: [(18)F]FDG-PET scans of 206 patients acquired in 16 different Dutch hospitals in the prospective multicentre PLASTIC-study were analysed. Tumours were delineated and 105 radiomic features were extracted. Three classification models were developed to identify peritoneal and distant metastases (incidence: 21%): a model with clinical variables, a model with radiomic features, and a clinicoradiomic model, combining clinical variables and radiomic features. A least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) regression classifier was trained and evaluated in a 100-times repeated random split, stratified for the presence of peritoneal and distant metastases. To exclude features with high mutual correlations, redundancy filtering of the Pearson correlation matrix was performed (r = 0.9). Model performances were expressed by the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC). In addition, subgroup analyses based on Lauren classification were performed. RESULTS: None of the models could identify metastases with low AUCs of 0.59, 0.51, and 0.56, for the clinical, radiomic, and clinicoradiomic model, respectively. Subgroup analysis of intestinal and mixed-type tumours resulted in low AUCs of 0.67 and 0.60 for the clinical and radiomic models, and a moderate AUC of 0.71 in the clinicoradiomic model. Subgroup analysis of diffuse-type tumours did not improve the classification performance. CONCLUSION: Overall, [(18)F]FDG-PET-based radiomics did not contribute to the preoperative identification of peritoneal and distant metastases in patients with locally advanced gastric carcinoma. In intestinal and mixed-type tumours, the classification performance of the clinical model slightly improved with the addition of radiomic features, but this slight improvement does not outweigh the laborious radiomic analysis

Diversity of Burkholderia isolates from woodland rhizosphere environments

Aims: Determination of genetic diversity among UK Burkholderia cepacia isolates from various environmental niches, principally woodland tree rhizospheres and onions. Methods and Results: Genus determination was made using polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification and fatty acid methyl ester profiling. Genetic diversity was investigated by repetitive sequence genetic PCR fingerprinting. Several onion isolates were similar to clinical isolates but others were diverse. Some environmental isolates were possibly synonymous with B. cepacia and B. gladioli but most from woodland rhizospheres were distinct and clustered together. The 16S rRNA genes of representatives from these clusters were PCR amplified, sequenced and phylogenetically compared with all known Burkholderia and related species. This revealed that the rhizospheric isolates had closest affinity with Burkholderia spp. with known bioremediative and biocontrol capabilities and were unrelated to taxa comprising plant or human pathogenic strains. Conclusions: All of the analyses investigated revealed that environmental and onion isolates of B. cepacia complex bacteria are genetically diverse but that woodland rhizospheric isolates are related to each other and unrelated to plant or human pathogenic strains. Significance and Impact of the Study: Woodland rhizospheric isolates of B. cepacia are potentially good candidates for use in bioremediation and biocontrol, as they appear distinct from plant or human pathogenic strains.Peer reviewe

Impact of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and dyspnoea on clinical outcomes in ticagrelor treated patients undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention in the randomized GLOBAL LEADERS trial

Contains fulltext : 225457.pdf (Publisher’s version ) (Closed access)AIMS: To evaluate long-term safety and efficacy of ticagrelor monotherapy in patients undergoing percutaneous coronary interventions (PCIs) in relation to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) at baseline and the occurrence of dyspnoea reported as adverse event (AE) that may lead to treatment non-adherence. METHODS AND RESULTS: This is a non-prespecified, post hoc analysis of the randomized GLOBAL LEADERS trial (n = 15 991), comparing the experimental strategy of 23-month ticagrelor monotherapy following 1-month dual antiplatelet therapy (DAPT) after PCI with the reference strategy of 12-month DAPT followed by 12-month aspirin monotherapy. Impact of COPD and dyspnoea AE (as a time-dependent covariate) on clinical outcomes was evaluated up to 2 years. The primary endpoint was a 2-year all-cause mortality or non-fatal, centrally adjudicated, new Q-wave myocardial infarction. The presence of COPD (n = 832) was the strongest clinical predictor of 2-year all-cause mortality after PCI [hazard ratio (HR) 2.84; 95% confidence interval (CI) 2.21-3.66; P adjusted = 0.001] in this cohort (n = 15 991). No differential treatment effects on 2-year clinical outcomes were found in patients with and without COPD (primary endpoint: HR 0.88; 95% CI 0.58-1.35; P = 0.562; P int = 0.952). Overall, at 2 years dyspnoea was reported as an AE in 2101 patients, more frequently among COPD patients, irrespective of treatment allocation (27.2% in experimental arm vs. 14.5% in reference arm, P = 0.001). Its occurrence was not associated with a higher rate of the primary endpoint (P adjusted = 0.640) in the experimental vs. the reference arm. CONCLUSION: In this exploratory analysis, COPD negatively impacted long-term prognosis after PCI. Despite higher incidence of dyspnoea in the experimental arm, in particular among COPD patients, the safety of the experimental treatment strategy appeared not to be affected. CLINICAL TRIAL REGISTRATION UNIQUE IDENTIFIER: NCT01813435