Pandemic Response Requires Research Samples: A U.S. Safety-Net Hospital's Experience and Call for National Action.

Biorepositories provide a critical resource for gaining knowledge of emerging infectious diseases and offer a mechanism to rapidly respond to outbreaks; the emergence of the novel coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, has proved their importance. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the absence of centralized, national biorepository efforts meant that the onus fell on individual institutions to establish sample repositories. As a safety-net hospital, Boston Medical Center (BMC) recognized the importance of creating a COVID-19 biorepository to both support critical science at BMC and ensure representation in research for its urban patient population, most of whom are from underserved communities. This article offers a realistic overview of the authors' experience in establishing this biorepository at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic during the height of the first surge of cases in Boston, Massachusetts, with the hope that the challenges and solutions described are useful to other institutions. Going forward, funders, policymakers, and infectious disease and public health communities must support biorepository implementation as an essential element of future pandemic preparedness.

Diagnosis and Management of Parathyroid Carcinoma.

Parathyroid carcinoma (PC) is a rare malignancy, often characterized by the unregulated secretion of parathyroid hormone. The sequelae of severe hypercalcemia together with direct complications from tumor dissemination in patients with advanced disease are usually fatal. Due to its rarity, formal studies to guide the diagnosis and management of parathyroid carcinoma are lacking. However, recent data from case reports, case series, and registry studies suggest the emergence of new and effective treatment approaches for this understudied disease. We reviewed existing literature on the diagnosis and management of parathyroid carcinoma. Our findings suggest that traditional approaches such as surgical resection for both localized and metastatic diseases continue to play an important role in patient management. For patients with unresectable disease, newer systemic treatment approaches, including the use of temozolomide and tyrosine kinase inhibitors, may offer clinical benefit.

Subcutaneous metastases from early stage esophageal adenocarcinoma case report.

The identification of subcutaneous metastatic lesions from primary visceral malignancies has increased over time, probably due to an increase in the awareness of their presentation and an increase in cancer survival times. Although the rate of subcutaneous metastases from breast,lung and colon cancer is more significant, the incidence of subcutaneous metastases from esophageal carcinomas is very low. These metastatic lesions usually present metachronously and may signify advanced disease and poor prognosis. We report three cases with early stage esophageal adenocarcinoma treated with surgery with curative intent presenting with subcutaneous metastases two months, two years and three years after their esophagectomy.