Analysis of phenanthrene degradation by Ascomycota fungi isolated from contaminated soil from Reynosa, Mexico.

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are organic compounds generated mainly by anthropogenic sources. They are considered toxic to mammals, since they have carcinogenic, mutagenic and genotoxic properties, among others. Although mycoremediation is an efficient, economical and eco-friendly technique for degrading PAHs, the fungal degradation potential of the phylum Ascomycota has not been widely studied. In this work, we evaluated different fungal strains from the polluted soil of 'La Escondida' lagoon in Reynosa, Mexico to know their potential to degrade phenanthrene (PHE). Forty-three soil isolates with the capacity to grow in the presence of PHE (0·1% w/v) were obtained. The fungi Aspergillus oryzae MF13 and Aspergillus flavipes QCS12 had the best potential to degrade PHE. Both fungi germinated and grew at PHE concentrations of up to 5000 mg l-1 and degraded 235 mg l-1 of PHE in 28 days, with and without an additional carbon source. These characteristics indicate that A. oryzae MF13 and A. flavipes QCS12 could be promising organisms for the remediation of sites contaminated with PAHs and detoxification of recalcitrant xenobiotics.

Multiscale Assessment of Agricultural Consumptive Water Use in California's Central Valley.

Spatial estimates of crop evapotranspiration with high accuracy from the field to watershed scale have become increasingly important for water management, particularly over irrigated agriculture in semiarid regions. Here, we provide a comprehensive assessment on patterns of annual agricultural water use over California's Central Valley, using 30-m daily evapotranspiration estimates based on Landsat satellite data. A semiempirical Priestley-Taylor approach was locally optimized and cross-validated with available field measurements for major crops including alfalfa, almond, citrus, corn, pasture, and rice. The evapotranspiration estimates explained >70% variance in daily measurements from independent sites with an RMSE of 0.88 mm day-1. When aggregated over the Valley, we estimated an average evapotranspiration of 820 ± 290 mm yr-1 in 2014. Agricultural water use varied significantly across and within crop types, with a coefficient of variation ranging from 8% for Rice (1,110 ± 85 mm yr-1) to 59% for Pistachio (592 ± 352 mm yr-1). Total water uses in 2016 increased by 9.6%, as compared to 2014, mostly because of land-use conversion from fallow/idle land to cropland. Analysis across 134 Groundwater Sustainability Agencies (GSAs) further showed a large variation of agricultural evapotranspiration among and within GSAs, especially for tree crops, e.g., almond evapotranspiration ranging from 339 ± 80 mm yr-1 in Tracy to 1,240 ± 136 mm yr-1 in Tri-County Water Authority. Continuous monitoring and assessment of the dynamics and spatial heterogeneity of agricultural evapotranspiration provide data-driven guidance for more effective land use and water planning across scales.

Prevalence and virulence of Vibrio species isolated from raw shrimp from retail markets in Reynosa, Mexico.

In this study, the prevalence of Vibrio cholerae, Vibrio parahaemolyticus, Vibrio mimicus, Vibrio vulnificus and Vibrio spp. in shrimp from retail markets in Reynosa, Mexico was determined. A total of 765 isolates, identified as Vibrio spp. (59·1%), V. cholerae (17·8%), V. mimicus (6·7%) and V. parahaemolyticus (4·6%), were obtained; V. vulnificus was not detected. Most of the strains were isolated from supermarkets (48·1%), followed by street vendors (37·3%) and retail stores (14·6%). Moreover, several virulence genes were identified in V. cholerae: toxR (100%), OmpU (76·5%), hlyA (76·5%), VPI (19·9%) and tcpA (5·1%); in V. mimicus: vmh (100%), wzb (74·5%), pilF (54·9%), VPI (43·1%), OmpU (29·4%) and tdh (9·8%); and in V. parahaemolyticus: toxR (100%), tlh (100%), VP1680 (51·4%) and VPI (11·4%). These results show the low safety of this food and the potential risk to consumers' health, since this product in Mexican cuisine is sometimes served raw or semi-cooked. SIGNIFICANCE AND IMPACT OF THE STUDY: This study shows the prevalence of pathogenic Vibrio cholerae, Vibrio mimicus and Vibrio parahaemolyticus isolated from shrimp that is commercialized in Reynosa city. This could represent a risk to consumers' health, since outbreaks related to shrimp contaminated with Vibrio have been previously reported. Additionally, shrimp fishing has a major role in Mexico's economy.

Isolation and identification of Vibrio species in the Rio Bravo/Grande and water bodies from Reynosa, Tamaulipas.

The Rio Bravo (Rio Grande) adjoins various states in the Mexican region and has a great importance in water distribution in the northeast Tamaulipas (Mexico). In this work 161 strains were isolated, identified and characterized from the water samples taken from the flow of the Rio Bravo and the two inner canals that cover Reynosa city. The strains were identified as Vibrio cholerae (74·5%), Vibrio spp. (1·2%) and Vibrio mimicus (0·6%). Furthermore, the detected virulence genes in the V. cholerae strains, were the hlyA, ompU, tcpA, toxR genes in 78·3, 62·5, 15·8 and 90·8% respectively. Only the ompU and vmh genes were detected in the V. mimicus strain. These results indicate the presence of multi-toxigenic V. cholerae strains in the Rio Bravo/Grande and in the water bodies from Reynosa city, which could represent a risk for the exposed population. SIGNIFICANCE AND IMPACT OF THE STUDY: Water quality is associated with public health, as it plays an important role in the transmission and epidemiology of pathogens such as Vibrio, since this species have been responsible for human diseases around the world. This study demonstrated the presence of toxigenic Vibrio species in water bodies in Reynosa surroundings, indicating that water bodies may be a source of public health risk.

The ATHENA HPV study underrepresents "other" high-risk HPV genotypes when compared with a diverse New York City population.

OBJECTIVE: Persistent infection with oncogenic high risk HPV (hrHPV) types causes virtually all cases of cervical cancer. HPV 16 and 18 have been targeted for individual genotyping and vaccination because of their presence in 71% of invasive cervical cancers worldwide. Montefiore Medical Center, Bronx, New York serves a population known for ethnic and racial diversity. Given this diversity it is possible that HPV genotypes not individually detected by current testing are causing significant disease. METHODS: We conducted a retrospective analysis of liquid based cervicovaginal cytology and Cobas HPV results reported between October 5, 2015 and March 30, 2016. This included 20 483 samples from patients aged 16-95 (average age 42), with racial distribution including: African-American 32.4%, Other (includes denied, unknown, mixed, Hispanic) 52.1%, Caucasian 14.5%, Asian 0.7%, American Indian/Alaskan Native 0.3%. In all, 14 938 samples (72.9%) were submitted for clinically requested COBAS 4800 HPV testing, which separately reports HPV 16, 18 and a pool of 12 other hrHPV. RESULTS: A total of 3180 (21.5%) tested hrHPV positive. The percentage of patients with cytologic diagnosis of HSIL (high-grade squamous intraepithelial lesion) that were positive only for HPV 16 was 19.4% vs 1.8% for all cytologic diagnoses. However, only one of the HSIL cases was HPV 18 positive along with other hrHPV (OHR). Surprisingly, a majority (64.5%) was positive for only OHR. CONCLUSIONS: Further evaluation is needed to determine if this pool of other hrHPV includes individual genotypes that in our population carry a higher risk of persistence and progression to cancer.

Late-Time Mixing Sensitivity to Initial Broadband Surface Roughness in High-Energy-Density Shear Layers.

Using a large volume high-energy-density fluid shear experiment (8.5 cm^{3}) at the National Ignition Facility, we have demonstrated for the first time the ability to significantly alter the evolution of a supersonic sheared mixing layer by controlling the initial conditions of that layer. By altering the initial surface roughness of the tracer foil, we demonstrate the ability to transition the shear mixing layer from a highly ordered system of coherent structures to a randomly ordered system with a faster growing mix layer, indicative of strong mixing in the layer at a temperature of several tens of electron volts and at near solid density. Simulations using a turbulent-mix model show good agreement with the experimental results and poor agreement without turbulent mix.

[Infrequent etiology inguinal tumor: Nuck channel cyst]. / Tumoración inguinal de etiología excepcional: quiste del canal de Nuck.

BACKGROUND: Cyst of Nuck is an infrequent disease originated in the inadequate obliteration of the processus vaginalis during the embrionary life of the woman. Clinically usually appears as a slowly growth inguinal tumor, painless, smooth, soft, fluctuant and irreducible. Differential diagnosis must include inguinal hernia and other etiologies of inguinal tumor, for which echography is the main diagnostic test. Treatment consists on surgical extirpation and local reparation. It is exposed a case of a patient with cyst of Nuck clinically typical. CLINICAL CASE: It is made a review of clinical, diagnostic and therapeutic approach of this disease.

The HLA-A*68:23 allele in the Chilean population.

HLA-A*68:23, first described in 2002, has not been widely reported. The studies reported here were performed for support of a collaborative hematopoietic stem cell transplantation program at Luis Calvo Mackenna Hospital for which St. Jude Children's Research Hospital provided human leukocyte antigen (HLA) typing. Family studies performed between 2000 and 2011 included 197 patients and their immediate family members. In a total of 559 individuals, A*68:23 was confirmed by DNA sequencing in eight individuals with no known relationship to each other. A*68:23 positive individuals included six patients, along with one of their parents, and two parents whose children did not inherit A*68:23. The frequency of A*68:23 in this Chilean population is >0.0125. This HLA-A allele appears to fit the description of a well-documented allele in this population studied in Santiago, Chile.

Effects of ornamentation and phylogeny on the evolution of wing shape in stalk-eyed flies (Diopsidae).

Exaggerated male ornaments are predicted to be costly to their bearers, but these negative effects may be offset by the correlated evolution of compensatory traits. However, when locomotor systems, such as wings in flying species, evolve to decrease such costs, it remains unclear whether functional changes across related species are achieved via the same morphological route or via alternate changes that have similar function. We conducted a comparative analysis of wing shape in relation to eye-stalk elongation across 24 species of stalk-eyed flies, using geometric morphometrics to determine how species with increased eye span, a sexually selected trait, have modified wing morphology as a compensatory mechanism. Using traditional and phylogenetically informed multivariate analyses of shape in combination with phenotypic trajectory analysis, we found a strong phylogenetic signal in wing shape. However, dimorphic species possessed shifted wing veins with the result of lengthening and narrowing wings compared to monomorphic species. Dimorphic species also had changes that seem unrelated to wing size, but instead may govern wing flexion. Nevertheless, the lack of a uniform, compensatory pattern suggests that stalk-eyed flies used alternative modifications in wing structure to increase wing area and aspect ratio, thus taking divergent morphological routes to compensate for exaggerated eye stalks.

Entamoeba histolytica: the over expression of a mutated EhRabB protein produces a decrease of in vitro and in vivo virulence.

Vesicular trafficking, which is implicated in secretion of cytolytic molecules as well as in phagocytosis, plays an important role in the pathogenic mechanism of Entamoeba histolytica, the protozoan parasite causative of human amoebiasis. Thus, Rab GTPases, that are key regulators of vesicle trafficking, should be considered as molecules involved in the parasite virulence. EhRabB is a Rab protein located in cytoplasmic vesicles that are translocated to phagocytic mouths during ingestion of target cells, suggesting that this Rab protein is involved in phagocytosis. To prove this hypothesis, we over expressed the wild type EhrabB gene and a mutant gene encoding for a protein (RabBN118I) unable to bind guanine nucleotides and therefore constitutively inactive. The over expression of the mutated protein in E. histolytica trophozoites provoked a dominant negative effect, reflected in a significant decrease of both phagocytosis and cytopathic effect as well as in a failure to produce hepatic abscesses in hamsters. These results confirm that EhRabB is involved in phagocytosis and virulence of E. histolytica.

[Cognitive performance of preschoolers with Congenital Hypothyroidism enrolled in a follow-up program]. / Desempeño cognitivo en preescolares con Hipotiroidismo Congénito incorporados en un programa de seguimiento.

The age at treatment initiation is decisive for limiting the neurological sequelae of Congenital Hypothyroidism (CH). Incorporating children into follow-up programs could be very helpful. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the cognitive performance of preschool children with CH incorporated into a follow- up program. PATIENTS AND METHOD: Prospective study of 93 patients with a confirmed diagnosis of CH. Intelligence quotient (IQ) was assessed using the Wechsler Preschool and Primary Intelligence Scale (WPPSI) at 4 and 5 years, and the WISC-R at 6 years of age. Full-Scale IQ (FSIQ), Verbal IQ (VIQ), and Performance IQ (PIQ) scores were analyzed. RESULTS: The study sample was 80 children. The average age at starting hormonal treatment was 42 ± 18 days; treatment started early in 25 patients (24 ± 6 days) and late in 55 patients (50 ± 16 days). The mean initial dose of Levothyroxine was 13.5 ± 1.5µg/kg/day. Children with athyrosis and late initiation of treatment had lower scores on the VIQ (85 ± 14), the PIQ (89 ± 12), and the FSIQ (86 ± 13) scales at 4 years of age, in comparison with patients with early initiation of treatment. These patients scored within the cut-off point for the normal IQ classification (90-109 points). IQ comparison at 6 years of age revealed differences up to 14 points in the PIQ and 11 points in the FSIQ between children with athyrosis and early initiation of treatment, with and without regular attendance to the follow-up program. DISCUSSION: These results support the importance of early initiation of treatment and the incorporation of children in follow-up programs and early stimulation. The etiology of hypothyroidism and the age at initiation of treatment were the most significant factors that affected cognitive performance.

Genetic diversity of wild grapevine populations in Spain and their genetic relationships with cultivated grapevines.

The wild grapevine, Vitis vinifera L. ssp. sylvestris (Gmelin) Hegi, considered as the ancestor of the cultivated grapevine, is native from Eurasia. In Spain, natural populations of V. vinifera ssp. sylvestris can still be found along river banks. In this work, we have performed a wide search of wild grapevine populations in Spain and characterized the amount and distribution of their genetic diversity using 25 nuclear SSR loci. We have also analysed the possible coexistence in the natural habitat of wild grapevines with naturalized grapevine cultivars and rootstocks. In this way, phenotypic and genetic analyses identified 19% of the collected samples as derived from cultivated genotypes, being either naturalized cultivars or hybrid genotypes derived from spontaneous crosses between wild and cultivated grapevines. The genetic diversity of wild grapevine populations was similar than that observed in the cultivated group. The molecular analysis showed that cultivated germplasm and wild germplasm are genetically divergent with low level of introgression. Using a model-based approach implemented in the software structure, we identified four genetic groups, with two of them fundamentally represented among cultivated genotypes and two among wild accessions. The analyses of genetic relationships between wild and cultivated grapevines could suggest a genetic contribution of wild accessions from Spain to current Western cultivars.

The percentage of CD39+ monocytes is higher in pregnant COVID-19+ patients than in nonpregnant COVID-19+ patients.

Current medical guidelines consider pregnant women with COVID-19 to be a high-risk group. Since physiological gestation downregulates the immunological response to maintain "maternal-fetal tolerance", SARS-CoV-2 infection may constitute a potentially threatening condition to both the mother and the fetus. To establish the immune profile in pregnant COVID-19+ patients, a cross-sectional study was conducted. Pregnant women with COVID-19 (P-COVID-19+; n = 15) were analyzed and compared with nonpregnant women with COVID-19 (NP-COVID-19+; n = 15) or those with physiological pregnancy (P-COVID-19-; n = 13). Serological cytokine and chemokine concentrations, leucocyte immunophenotypes, and mononuclear leucocyte responses to polyclonal stimuli were analyzed in all groups. Higher concentrations of serological TNF-α, IL-6, MIP1b and IL-4 were observed within the P-COVID-19+ group, while cytokines and chemokines secreted by peripheral leucocytes in response to LPS, IL-6 or PMA-ionomicin were similar among the groups. Immunophenotype analysis showed a lower percentage of HLA-DR+ monocytes in P-COVID-19+ than in P-COVID-19- and a higher percentage of CD39+ monocytes in P-COVID-19+ than in NP-COVID-19+. After whole blood polyclonal stimulation, similar percentages of T cells and TNF+ monocytes between groups were observed. Our results suggest that P-COVID-19+ elicits a strong inflammatory response similar to NP-COVID19+ but also displays an anti-inflammatory response that controls the ATP/adenosine balance and prevents hyperinflammatory damage in COVID-19.

[Comparative analysis between breath test, serological immunoassay and rapid-urease test for detection of Helicobacter pylori infection in Mexican patients with non-investigated dyspepsia]. / Un análisis comparativo entre prueba de aliento, serología y prueba de ureasa rápida para la detección de infección por Helicobacter pylori en pacientes mexicanos con dispepsia no investigada.

INTRODUCTION: There are multiple Helicobacter pylori (Hp) detection tests, some are invasive and other noninvasive. The diagnostic accuracy of these methods varies according to the prevalence of the disease. OBJECTIVE: To determine the diagnostic accuracy of the breath test, serology and rapid urease test, considering gastric biopsy with Giemsa stain as the gold standard in Hp-infected subjects with uninvestigated dyspepsia. METHODS: Eighty four subjects (64 women, mean age 45 years) who were referred for dyspeptic symptoms were evaluated. Also, 20 healthy volunteers (12 men, average age 38 years) were evaluated. All the subjects underwent hystological analysis with Giemsa stain, breath test (Heliprobe®), rapid urease test (CLOtest®) and serological immunoassay (Hexagon®). RESULTS: Overall, Hp infection was diagnosed by histological analysis in 59 subjects (49 patients and 10 healthy subjects). Positivity to breath test, rapid urease test and serology were 56%, 46% and 44% respectively. Agreement with the histological analysis was 0.902 for the breath test, 0.620 for rapid urease test and 0.45 for serology. The area under the curve for the breath test was 0.95, for the rapid urease test was 0.82 and for serological test was 0.74. CONCLUSIONS: In our population, the breath test shown to have a diagnostic accuracy equivalent to histological analysis by Giemsa in subjects with uninvestigated dyspepsia.

[Cutaneous leiomyomas: a clinicpathological and epidemiological review].

BACKGROUND: Cutaneous, superficial and or suprafascial leiomyoma are divided into three variants: piloleiomyomas (PL), angioleiomyomas (AL) and genital leiomyomas (GL) that include the vulvar, scrotal and areolar forms. This study set out to establish the clinical and histological characteristics and incidence of each variant, and any likely associations with internal neoplasms. METHODS: A review was carried out of 255 cases of cutaneous leiomyomas diagnosed between 1982 and 2018 at the Pathology departments of three hospitals (Navarra and Alicante). Demographic, clinical, histological and immunohistochemical variables were described and compared. RESULTS: The incidence of PL in Navarra was 4.3 cases per million inhabitants a year, with another 20 cases of AL and 1.4 cases of GL. Cutaneous forms make up approximately 3.5% of the total leiomyomas. The population with PL suffered more frequently from breast cancer (OR?=?4.8; CI 95%: 1.3-17.4; p?=?0.006). Nipple leiomyomas are small, accompanied by localised pain, and are predominantly fascicular or solid, with very infrequent effect on the subcutaneous cellular tissue and scarce atypia. This makes for a contrast with the other GLs, which are medium sized and infrequently painful, predominantly nodular, and frequent effect on the subcutaneous tissue and atypia. CONCLUSIONS: The information provided here about the clinical and histological characteristics of the different varieties of leiomyomas indicate that there is a need to reconsider the classification of nipple leiomyomas outside the group of GLs. An association between PL and breast carcinoma was detected, which needs to be confirmed in future studies so as to determine if this leiomyoma is a risk marker for breast cancer.

Cigarette smoking and dental caries among professional truck drivers in Mexico.

BACKGROUND: Professional truck drivers are at high risk of chronic diseases. Further examination of tobacco use and its impact on oral health is warranted - both in terms of the direct association between tobacco use and poor oral health, and in terms of tobacco use being an indicator of poor health behaviors. OBJECTIVE: To estimate the possible association between smoking and dental caries experience in a population with high tobacco use. METHODS: Drivers' licenses are periodically re-issued by the Mexican government and as part of the licensing process a physical exam takes place. We administered a free, standardized questionnaire together with an oral examination (WHO criteria) included in the physical exam, targeting a random sample of applicants in Mexico City. RESULTS: A total of 824 dentate males (mean age 35.5 +/- 10 years) took part in the study, of whom 49.2% were current smokers and 23.2% were former smokers. Caries experience was mean DMFT 8.95 (+/- 6.05). Only 18.0% of participants had 'excellent' or 'good' oral hygiene. The prevalence of 'large' cavities increased as the number of cigarettes/day increased from 14.6% (1-3 cigarettes/day) to 33.3% (> or =10 cigarettes/day). Using multiple linear regressions, we found that older age, poorer oral hygiene, higher education, and greater tobacco exposure were significantly associated with higher caries experience (DMFT). An interaction was observed with oral hygiene and tobacco: drivers that smoked and had 'poor' oral hygiene showed the highest number of large cavities and missing teeth. Health promotion interventions are needed in this at-risk population group.

Equine mesenchymal stem cells derived from endometrial or adipose tissue share significant biological properties, but have distinctive pattern of surface markers and migration.

Adult stromal mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) have been postulated as responsible for cell renewal in highly and continuously regenerative tissues such as the endometrium. MSCs have been identified in the endometrium of many species including humans, rodents, pets and some farm animals, but not in horses. The objective of this work was to isolate such cells from the endometrium of mares and to compare their main biological attributes with horse adipose-derived MSCs. Here we successfully isolated and characterized endometrial MSCs (eMSCs) from mares. Said cells showed fibroblast-like morphology, grew on plastic, had doubling population times of 46.4 ± 3.38 h, underwent tri-lineage (osteo, chondro and adipogenic) differentiation after appropriate inductions, migrated toward the attraction of fetal calf serum and displayed a pattern of surface markers commonly accepted for horse MSCs. All these are properties of MSCs. Some of these attributes were shared with equine adipose-derived MSCs, but the migration pattern of eMSC at 12 and 24 h after stimulation was reduced in comparison with adipose MSCs. Also, expression of CD44, CD90 and MHCI surface markers were dramatically down-regulated in eMSCs. In conclusion, equine-derived endometrial MSC share biological attributes with adipose MSC of this species, but displayed a different surface marker phenotype and an impaired migration ability. Conceivably, this phenotype is distinctive for MSC of this origin.

Blast cell methotrexate-polyglutamate accumulation in vivo differs by lineage, ploidy, and methotrexate dose in acute lymphoblastic leukemia.

High-dose methotrexate (HDMTX) is a component of most treatment protocols for childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), yet recent studies of receptor-mediated transport and saturable polyglutamylation have questioned its rationale. To investigate this in vivo, methotrexate and its active polyglutamated metabolites (MTX-PG) were measured in bone marrow blasts obtained from 101 children randomized to single-agent therapy with either HDMTX (1 g/m2 per 24 h i.v., n = 47) or low-dose MTX (LDMTX, 30 mg/m2 by mouth every 6 h x 6, n = 54), before remission induction therapy. Blast concentrations of total MTX-PGs (median 460 vs 1380 pmol/10(9) cells) and of long-chain MTX-glu4-6 were both significantly higher after HDMTX (P < 0.001). With either treatment, MTX-PGs were significantly higher in B-lineage blasts than in T-lineage blasts (LDMTX P = 0.001, HDMTX P = 0.03). In a multiple regression analysis of B-lineage ALL, blast MTX-PG was significantly related to MTX dose (or plasma MTX concentration), lymphoblast ploidy (hyperdiploid > nonhyperdiploid), and percentage S-phase. This is the first evidence that HDMTX achieves higher MTX-PG concentrations in ALL blasts in vivo, establishing a rationale for HDMTX in the treatment of childhood ALL, especially T-lineage or nonhyperdiploid B-lineage ALL, disease characteristics associated with a poor prognosis on conventional therapy.

SurePath Specimens Versus ThinPrep Specimen Types on the COBAS 4800 Platform: High-Risk HPV Status and Cytology Correlation in an Ethnically Diverse Bronx Population.

OBJECTIVE: To compare the cytologic preparations of 130 cervical specimens (from women of various ethnicities at high risk for human papillomavirus [HPV] infection) using the SurePath (SP) collection system with specimens gathered using the ThinPrep (TP) system, as processed on the Cobas 4800 analyzer, to determine which collection method more accurately identifies HPV infection. METHODS: In our prospective study, specimens were collected from 130 women of various ethnicities residing in or near Bronx County, NY. The SP-collected specimen was first processed for cytologic findings; if clinical HPV testing was requested on that specimen, it was tested using Hybrid Capture II (HC2) methodology. We tested the remnant SP-collected cell concentrate using the Cobas analyzer. Then, the TP-collected and SP-collected specimens were tested in the same run on that analyzer, and the results were compared. We also compared the results with the concurrent cytologic findings. RESULTS: The results were concordant for overall HR-HPV status in 93.8% of cases. Also, a statistically significant lower cycle threshold value was observed with Cobas testing of specimen concentrates tested via the BD SurePath Pap Test (P = .001), suggesting higher sensitivity compared with specimens tested via the ThinPrep Pap Test. CONCLUSION: Cobas 4800 HPV testing of SP-collected specimen concentrates yields comparable results to TP-collected specimen concentrates. Based on the limited data that we derived, SP collection may be a more favorable methodology than TP collection for HPV testing of individuals at high risk in our ethnically diverse, urban patient population.

Overt testicular disease at diagnosis of childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia: lack of therapeutic role of local irradiation.

To assess the prognosis of overt testicular disease at diagnosis of acute lymphoblastic leukemia, and any therapeutic role of irradiation for this involvement, we reviewed the data of 811 boys treated on St Jude studies Total X--XI (early period) and Total XII-XIV (recent period). In all, 19 boys (2.3%) had testicular disease at diagnosis. In the early period, patients with testicular leukemia had a poorer overall survival (OS) (P=0.003), event-free survival (EFS) (P=0.064), and higher cumulative incidence of relapse (P=0.041) than did other patients. During the recent period, patients with and without overt testicular leukemia did not differ in OS (P=0.257), EFS (P=0.102), or cumulative incidence of relapse (P=0.51). In a multivariate analysis, OS was lower for patients with testicular disease than for those without the involvement in the early period (P=0.047) but not in the recent one (P=0.75). Both patients who received irradiation for residual testicular disease at the end of induction subsequently died of leukemia. Of the other 17 patients who did not receive irradiation, only one developed testicular relapse in combination with bone marrow relapse. In conclusion, the prognostic impact of overt testicular disease has diminished. Irradiation appears to provide no survival advantage to this patient population.