Characteristics of contralateral carcinomas in patients with differentiated thyroid cancer larger than 1 cm

Purpose: Traditionally, total thyroidectomy has been advocated for patients with tumors larger than 1 cm. However, according to the ATA and NCCN guidelines (2015, USA), patients with tumors up to 4 cm are now eligible for lobectomy. A rationale for adhering to total thyroidectomy might be the presence of contralateral carcinomas. The purpose of this study was to describe the characteristics of contralateral carcinomas in patients with differentiated thyroid cancer (DTC) larger than 1 cm. Methods: A retrospective study was performed including patients from 17 centers in 5 countries. Adults diagnosed with DTC stage T1b-T3 N0-1a M0 who all underwent a total thyroidectomy were included. The primary endpoint was the presence of a contralateral carcinoma. Results: A total of 1

Morphology of the pituitary gland in ferrets (Mustela putorius furo) with hyperadrenocorticism

Contains fulltext : 57395.pdf (publisher's version ) (Closed access)Pituitary tumours are the cause of hyperadrenocorticism in a variety of species, but the role of the pituitary gland in hyperadrenocorticism in ferrets is not known. In this species, the disease is mediated by the action of excess gonadotrophins on the adrenal cortex and is characterized by an excessive secretion of sex steroids. In this study, the pituitary gland of four healthy control ferrets, intact or neutered, and 10 neutered ferrets with hyperadrenocorticism was examined histologically following immunohistochemical labelling for adrenocorticotrophic hormone, alpha-melanocyte-stimulating hormone, growth hormone, thyroid-stimulating hormone, luteinizing hormone, follicle-stimulating hormone, and prolactin. Immunohistochemistry revealed that somatotrophs, thyrotrophs and lactotrophs were the most abundant cell types of the pars distalis of the pituitary gland in the healthy ferrets. The distribution of corticotrophs was similar to that in the dog and man. In ferrets, as in dogs, the melanotrophic cell was almost the only cell type of the pars intermedia. Gonadotrophs were found in the pars distalis of neutered, but not intact ferrets. All the ferrets with hyperadrenocorticism had unilateral or bilateral alterations of the adrenal gland. In addition, in the pituitary gland of two of these ferrets a tumour was detected. These tumours were not immunolabelled by antibodies against any of the pituitary hormones, and had characteristics of the clinically non-functional gonadotroph tumours seen in man. In some of the other ferrets low pituitary immunoreactivity for gonadotrophic hormones was detected, which may have been due to the feedback of autonomous steroid secretion by the neoplastic transformation of the adrenal cortex. It is concluded that initially high concentrations of gonadotrophins resulting from castration may initiate hyperactivity of the adrenal cortex. The low incidence of pituitary tumours and the low density of gonadotrophin-positive cells in non-affected pituitary tissue in this study suggest that persistent hyperadrenocorticism is not dependent on persistent gonadotrophic stimulation. (C) 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved

Sheep do not have a major role in bovine herpesvirus 1 transmission

With regard to BHV1 eradication programs in cattle it is important to know whether sheep can he a reservoir of BHV1. We therefore performed an experiment that consisted of three phases. In phase 1, 10 sheep were inoculated with high doses of BHV1 and kept in close contact with 5 sheep and 5 calves. All inoculated sheep excreted BHV1 between 8 and 15 days post inoculation and seroconverted. Although BHV1 was isolated from the nasal mucosa of 3 out of 5 sentinel sheep, none of the sentinel sheep produced antibodies against BHV1. One sentinel calf excreted BHV1 through days 12-17; the remaining 4 calves excreted BHV1 between days 18 and 24, suggesting that the first calf was infected by sheep and the remaining 4 sentinel calves were infected by that calf and not by sheep. The bacic reproduction ratio (R0) of BHV1 between sheep and calves was estimated at 0.1, and among calves it was estimated at ≤ 9. In phase 2, all inoculated sheep were treated with dexamethasone and kept in close contact with 5 sheep and 5 calves. All dexamethasone treated sheep re-excreted BHV1 over a 6- to 9-day period. None of the sentinel animals seroconverted. In phase 3, the sentinel sheep and calves of phase 1 were kept in two groups and were treated with dexamethasone. None of the sentinel sheep re-excreted BHV1, whereas 3 out of 5 sentinel calves did. It is concluded that while BHV1 infection in sheep is possible, BHV1 does not spread from sheep easily to cattle

Exploring and dissecting genome-wide gene expression responses of Penicillium chrysogenum to phenylacetic acid consumption and penicillinG production

OA Fund TU Delft Background Since the discovery of the antibacterial activity of penicillin by Fleming 80 years ago, improvements of penicillin titer were essentially achieved by classical strain improvement through mutagenesis and screening. The recent sequencing of Penicillium chrysogenum strain Wisconsin1255-54 and the availability of genomics tools such as DNA-microarray offer new perspective. Results In studies on ?-lactam production by P. chrysogenum, addition and omission of a side-chain precursor is commonly used to generate producing and non-producing scenarios. To dissect effects of penicillinG production and of its side-chain precursor phenylacetic acid (PAA), a derivative of a penicillinG high-producing strain without a functional penicillin-biosynthesis gene cluster was constructed. In glucose-limited chemostat cultures of the high-producing and cluster-free strains, PAA addition caused a small reduction of the biomass yield, consistent with PAA acting as a weak-organic-acid uncoupler. Microarray-based analysis on chemostat cultures of the high-producing and cluster-free strains, grown in the presence and absence of PAA, showed that: (i) Absence of a penicillin gene cluster resulted in transcriptional upregulation of a gene cluster putatively involved in production of the secondary metabolite aristolochene and its derivatives, (ii) The homogentisate pathway for PAA catabolism is strongly transcriptionally upregulated in PAA-supplemented cultures (iii) Several genes involved in nitrogen and sulfur metabolism were transcriptionally upregulated under penicillinG producing conditions only, suggesting a drain of amino-acid precursor pools. Furthermore, the number of candidate genes for penicillin transporters was strongly reduced, thus enabling a focusing of functional analysis studies. Conclusion This study demonstrates the usefulness of combinatorial transcriptome analysis in chemostat cultures to dissect effects of biological and process parameters on gene expression regulation. This study provides for the first time clear-cut target genes for metabolic engineering, beyond the three genes of the ?-lactam pathway.BiotechnologyApplied Science

An inactivated gE-negative marker vaccine and an experimental gD-subunit vaccine reduce the incidence of bovine herpesvirus 1 infections in the field.

An inactivated glycoprotein E-negative vaccine and an experimental glycoprotein D-subunit vaccine against bovine herpesvirus 1 (V1) were examined for their effectiveness in a randomized, double-bline, placebo-controlled field trial comprising 130 dairy farms. The use of these marker vaccines enabled us to monitor the incidence of infections in vaccinated populations. The aims of this trial were to evaluate whether these vaccines: (1) reduce the proportion of outbreaks in dairy herds; and (2) reduced virus transmission within dairy herds and to what extent. Vaccination with either of the two vaccines significantly reduced the proportion of herds wherein an outbreak occurred as well as the virus transmission within herds, as compared to placebo-treated herds. The estimated number of secondary cases caused by one infectious animal, expressed as the reproduction ratio R, was for both vaccines significantly >1. This indicates that when BHV1 is introduced into vaccinated herds, major outbreaks may still occu