Recombinant human thyrotropin in thyroid cancer and hypopituitarism due to sella metastasis

We present a patient with thyroid cancer and hypopituitarism who required recombinant human thyrotropin (rhTSH) for I-131 Scanning with respect to subsequent therapy. The thyroid cancer had been unknown until central neurological symptoms developed, leading to the diagnosis of a huge metastasis to the sella that was the only manifestation of metastatic spread. The failure to generate endogenous thyrotropin (TSH) was overcome by the use of rhTSH for performing a I-131 test. Unfortunately, the I-131 uptake was not sufficient for therapy. This subject is the first reported case who required the application of rhTSH due to a single thyroid cancer metastasis in the sella region with secondary failure to generate endogenous TSH

Measurement of the Bottom-Strange Meson Mixing Phase in the Full CDF Data Set

We report a measurement of the bottom-strange meson mixing phase \beta_s using the time evolution of B0_s -> J/\psi (->\mu+\mu-) \phi (-> K+ K-) decays in which the quark-flavor content of the bottom-strange meson is identified at production. This measurement uses the full data set of proton-antiproton collisions at sqrt(s)= 1.96 TeV collected by the Collider Detector experiment at the Fermilab Tevatron, corresponding to 9.6 fb-1 of integrated luminosity. We report confidence regions in the two-dimensional space of \beta_s and the B0_s decay-width difference \Delta\Gamma_s, and measure \beta_s in [-\pi/2, -1.51] U [-0.06, 0.30] U [1.26, \pi/2] at the 68% confidence level, in agreement with the standard model expectation. Assuming the standard model value of \beta_s, we also determine \Delta\Gamma_s = 0.068 +- 0.026 (stat) +- 0.009 (syst) ps-1 and the mean B0_s lifetime, \tau_s = 1.528 +- 0.019 (stat) +- 0.009 (syst) ps, which are consistent and competitive with determinations by other experiments.Comment: 8 pages, 2 figures, Phys. Rev. Lett 109, 171802 (2012

The HER2 phenotype of circulating tumor cells in HER2-positive early breast cancer: A translational research project of a prospective randomized phase III trial

Background: HER2 is one of the predominant therapeutic targets in breast cancer. The metastatic selection process may lead to discrepancies between the HER2 status of the primary tumor and circulating tumor cells (CTCs). This study analyzed the HER2 status of CTCs in patients with HER2-positive primary breast cancer at the time of diagnosis. Aim of the study was to assess potential discordance of HER2 status between primary tumor and CTCs, as this may have important implications for the use of HER2-targeted therapy. Methods: The number and HER2 status of CTCs out of 30ml peripheral blood were assessed in 642 patients using the CellSearch System (Janssen Diagnostics, USA). The cutoff for CTC positivity was the presence of at least 1 CTC, and the cutoff for HER2 positivity of CTCs was the presence of at least 1 CTC with a strong HER2 staining. Results 258 (40.2%) of the 642 patients were positive for CTCs (median 2;range 1-1,689). 149 (57.8%) of these 258 patients had at least 1 CTC with strong HER2 staining. The presence of HER2-positive CTCs was not associated with tumor size (p = 0.335), histopathological grading (p = 0.976), hormone receptor status (ER: p = 0.626, PR: p = 0.263) or axillary lymph node involvement (p = 0.430). Overall, 83 (32.2%) of the CTC-positive patients exclusively had CTCs with strong HER2 staining, whereas 31 (12.0%) had only CTCs with negative HER2 staining. Within-sample variation in the HER2 status of CTCs was found in 86 (57.8%) of the 149 patients with more than 1 CTC. Conclusion: This study demonstrated that discordance between the HER2 expression of CTCs and that of the primary tumor frequently occurs in early breast cancer. Future follow-up evaluation will assess whether this discrepancy may contribute to trastuzumab resistance

Three-dimensional single-particle tracking in live cells: news from the third dimension

Single-particle tracking (SPT) is of growing importance in the biophysical community. It is used to investigate processes such as drug and gene delivery, viral uptake, intracellular trafficking or membrane-bound protein mobility. Traditionally, SPT is performed in two dimensions (2D) because of its technical simplicity. However, life occurs in three dimensions (3D) and many methods have been recently developed to track particles in 3D. Now, is the third dimension worth the effort? Here we investigate the differences between the 2D and 3D analyses of intracellular transport with the 3D development of a time-resolved mean square displacement (MSD) analysis introduced previously. The 3D trajectories, and the 2D projections, of fluorescent nanoparticles were obtained with an orbital tracking microscope in two different cell types: in Dictyostelium discoideum ameba and in adherent, more flattened HuH-7 human cells. As expected from the different 3D organization of both cells' cytoskeletons, a third of the active transport was lost upon projection in the ameba whereas the identification of the active phases was barely affected in the HuH-7 cells. In both cell types, we found intracellular diffusion to be anisotropic and the diffusion coefficient values derived from the 2D analysis were therefore biased

Anforderungen an die Lebensgestaltung älter werdender Menschen mit geistiger Behinderung in unterstützten Wohnformen. Ergebnis einer Literaturanalyse und Expertenbefragung

Der vorliegende Bericht dokumentiert den Fortgang des Forschungsprojektes „Lebensqualität inklusiv(e): Innovative Konzepte unterstützten Wohnens älter werdender Menschen mit Behinderung“, das die Abteilung Münster der Katholischen Hochschule NRW in Kooperation mit dem Landschaftsverband Westfalen-Lippe und gefördert durch das Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung im Projektzeitraum Juli 2009 bis Juni 2012 durchführt. Ein erster Zwischenbericht beinhaltet die Ergebnisse des ersten größeren Arbeitspaketes in diesem Projekt, die Vorausschätzung der demografischen Entwicklung im Blick auf Menschen mit geistiger und mehrfacher Behinderung (vgl. Dieckmann et al. 2010). Ziel des zweiten Arbeitspaketes, dessen Ergebnisse in diesem Bericht dargestellt werden, ist eine differenzierte Analyse der Lebenssituation älter werdender und alter Menschen mit geistiger und mehrfacher Behinderung. Es galt, diejenigen Probleme zu identifizieren, denen älter werdende Menschen mit geistiger Behinderung in ihrer Lebensführung vermehrt begegnen. Vier methodische Zugänge wurden gewählt: - eine Analyse empirischer Studien, - eine Analyse theoretischer bzw. handlungsorientierter Fachliteratur, - Interviews mit Expert_innen sowie - die Entwicklung von möglichen Szenarien der Lebensführung im Alter und der daraus resultierenden Anforderungen und Unterstützungsbedarfe

Vorausschätzung der Altersentwicklung von Erwachsenen mit geistiger Behinderung in Westfalen-Lippe

Das Forschungsprojekt „Lebensqualität inklusiv(e) – LEQUI“ beschäftigt sich mit der Entwicklung und Evaluation von Wohn- und Unterstützungsarrangements für älter werdende Menschen mit geistiger Behinderung in Deutschland. Sein Ziel ist es, innovative Handlungskonzepte für ein unterstütztes Leben und Wohnen im Alter zu formulieren