Extracellular Matrix Molecules Facilitating Vascular Biointegration

All vascular implants, including stents, heart valves and graft materials exhibit suboptimal biocompatibility that significantly reduces their clinical efficacy. A range of biomolecules in the subendothelial space have been shown to play critical roles in local regulation of thrombosis, endothelial growth and smooth muscle cell proliferation, making these attractive candidates for modulation of vascular device biointegration. However, classically used biomaterial coatings, such as fibronectin and laminin, modulate only one of these components; enhancing endothelial cell attachment, but also activating platelets and triggering thrombosis. This review examines a subset of extracellular matrix molecules that have demonstrated multi-faceted vascular compatibility and accordingly are promising candidates to improve the biointegration of vascular biomaterials

U.S. Forces in Afghanistan

As interest in troop level deployments continues, there remains an increase of U.S. forces in Afghanistan. This report provides official Department of Defense (DOD) statistical information on U.S. forces now serving in Afghanistan with comparisons to earlier force levels. It also provides brief official information on the military units extended or schedule for the next rotation of duty into Afghanistan

National Guard Personnel and Deployments: Fact Sheet

The National Guard plays a major role in the defense and security of the United States under the federal component of its mission. A January 2008 report by the congressionally chartered independent Commission on the National Guard and Reserves has found that the U.S. military's lack of "sufficiently trained, ready forces available" to respond to possible domestic attacks "is an appalling gap that places the nation and its citizens at greater risk." The report estimated that fewer than 88% of Army National Guard units are "combat-ready." This report presents statistical information on the National Guard's federal role in defense and security, including its deployments in support of the Global War on Terrorism (GWOT), Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF), and Operation Jump Start

U.S. Forces in Afghanistan

As interest in troop level deployments continues, there remains an increase of U.S. forces in Afghanistan. This report provides official Department of Defense (DOD) statistical information on U.S. forces now serving in Afghanistan with comparisons to earlier force levels. It also provides brief official information on the military units extended or schedule for the next rotation of duty into Afghanistan

U.S. Forces in Iraq

Varying media estimates of military forces in Iraq have raised concerns about the actual number of troops deployed in Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF). Last year, a major announcement on a surge in troop deployments to Iraq by President Bush included a planned gradual increase of more than 20,000 U.S. troops on the ground in Baghdad and Anbar province over several months. Since the "new strategy for Iraq" speech by the President in January 2007, troop deployments gradually increased during the months of February through October 2007 but decreased beginning in November 2007. This report provides solely Department of Defense (DOD) statistical information on U.S. forces serving in Iraq. It also provides brief official information on the military units schedule for the next rotation of duty into Iraq

Simultaneous detection of controlled substances in waste water

This study presents a method of simultaneous detection of both traditional and newly emerged drugs of abuse in wastewater. The method is based on solid phase extraction and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry analysis. This analytical method separates 25 drugs from different classes including amphetamines, cathinones, tropane alkaloids, piperazines plus ketamine, amitriptyline, diazepam and morphine. In addition, newer compounds (methcathinone, mephedrone, butylone), and isomers (1-(2-methoxyphenyl) piperazine, 1-(4-methoxyphenyl) piperazine; 1-(2-flurophenyl) piperazine, 1-(4-flurophenyl) piperazine; 1-(3-trifluoromethylphenyl) piperazine, 1-(4-trifluoromethylphenyl) piperazine) have been separated, with greater sensitivity (×100 order of magnitude). This work reports the detection of butylone, mephedrone, 1-(4-methoxyphenyl) piperazine, 1-(2-flurophenyl) piperazine and 1-methyl-4-benzylpiperazine for the first time in waste water. This suggests that with changes in drug use patterns, constant monitoring of waste water entering treatment plants should be carried out and treatment processes need to be put in place for their removal

ISbrowser: an extension of ISfinder for visualizing insertion sequences in prokaryotic genomes

Insertion sequences (ISs) are among the smallest and simplest autonomous transposable elements. ISfinder (http://www-is.biotoul.fr/) is a dedicated IS database which assigns names to individual ISs to maintain a coherent nomenclature, an IS repository including >3000 individual ISs from both bacteria and archaea and provides a basis for IS classification. Each IS is indexed in ISfinder with various associated pieces of information (the complete nucleotide sequence, the sequence of the ends and target sites, potential open reading frames, strain of origin, distribution in other strains and available bibliography) and classified into a group or family to provide some insight into its phylogeny. ISfinder also includes extensive background information on ISs and transposons in general. Online tools are gradually being added. At present, it is difficult to visualize the global distribution of ISs in a given bacterial genome. Such information would facilitate understanding of the impact of these small transposable elements on shaping their host genome. Here we describe ISbrowser (http://www-genome.biotoul.fr/ISbrowser.php), an extension to the ISfinder platform and a tool which permits visualization of the position, orientation and distribution of complete and partial ISs in individual prokaryotic genomes

Evaluation of an epigenetic assay for predicting repeat prostate biopsy outcome in African American men

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate an epigenetic assay performed on tissue from negative prostate biopsies in a group of African American (AA) men undergoing repeat biopsy, and to compare accuracy for predicting repeat biopsy outcome to prior studies conducted in predominantly Caucasian populations. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The study population consisted of 211 AA men from 7 urology centers across the United States; all of whom were undergoing 12-core transrectal ultrasound-guided repeat biopsy within 30 months from a negative index biopsy. All biopsy cores from the negative index biopsy were profiled for the epigenetic biomarkers GSTP1, APC, and RASSF1 using ConfirmMDx for Prostate Cancer (MDxHealth, Irvine, CA). RESULTS: Upon repeat biopsy, 130 of 211 subjects (62%) had no prostate cancer (PCa) detected and 81 of 211 (38%) were diagnosed with PCa. Of the subjects with PCa, 54 (67%) were diagnosed with Gleason score (GS) = 7 disease. For detection of PCa at repeat biopsy, ConfirmMDx sensitivity was 74.1% and specificity was 60.0%, equivalent to prior studies (P = .235 and .697, respectively). For detection of GS >= 7 PCa, sensitivity was 78% and specificity was 53%. The negative predictive values for detection of all PCa and GS >= 7 PCa were 78.8% and 94.2%, respectively. CONCLUSION: In this group of AA men, we successfully validated an epigenetic assay to assess the need for repeat biopsy. Results were consistent with previous studies from predominantly Caucasian populations. Therefore, the ConfirmMDx assay is a useful tool for risk stratification of AA men who had an initial negative biopsy

Molecular testing for the clinical diagnosis of fibrolamellar carcinoma.

Fibrolamellar carcinoma has a distinctive morphology and immunophenotype, including cytokeratin 7 and CD68 co-expression. Despite the distinct findings, accurate diagnosis of fibrolamellar carcinoma continues to be a challenge. Recently, fibrolamellar carcinomas were found to harbor a characteristic somatic gene fusion, DNAJB1-PRKACA. A break-apart fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) assay was designed to detect this fusion event and to examine its diagnostic performance in a large, multicenter, multinational study. Cases initially classified as fibrolamellar carcinoma based on histological features were reviewed from 124 patients. Upon central review, 104 of the 124 cases were classified histologically as typical of fibrolamellar carcinoma, 12 cases as 'possible fibrolamellar carcinoma' and 8 cases as 'unlikely to be fibrolamellar carcinoma'. PRKACA FISH was positive for rearrangement in 102 of 103 (99%) typical fibrolamellar carcinomas, 9 of 12 'possible fibrolamellar carcinomas' and 0 of 8 cases 'unlikely to be fibrolamellar carcinomas'. Within the morphologically typical group of fibrolamellar carcinomas, two tumors with unusual FISH patterns were also identified. Both cases had the fusion gene DNAJB1-PRKACA, but one also had amplification of the fusion gene and one had heterozygous deletion of the normal PRKACA locus. In addition, 88 conventional hepatocellular carcinomas were evaluated with PRKACA FISH and all were negative. These findings demonstrate that FISH for the PRKACA rearrangement is a clinically useful tool to confirm the diagnosis of fibrolamellar carcinoma, with high sensitivity and specificity. A diagnosis of fibrolamellar carcinoma is more accurate when based on morphology plus confirmatory testing than when based on morphology alone

Role of habit in treatment adherence among adults with cystic fibrosis

Among adults with cystic fibrosis (CF), medication adherence is low and reasons for low adherence are poorly understood. Our previous exploratory study showed that stronger 'habit' (ie, automatically experiencing an urge to use a nebuliser) was associated with higher nebuliser adherence. We performed a secondary analysis of pilot trial data (n=61) to replicate the earlier study and determine whether habit-adherence association exists in other cohorts of adults with CF. In this study, high adherers also reported stronger habit compared with low adherers. Habit may be a promising target for self-management interventions. ACtiF pilot, ISRCTN13076797. [Abstract copyright: © Article author(s) (or their employer(s) unless otherwise stated in the text of the article) 2018. All rights reserved. No commercial use is permitted unless otherwise expressly granted.