Primary tumor side is associated with prognosis of colorectal cancer patients with brain metastases.

BACKGROUND: Brain metastases (BM) are a rare complication in colorectal cancer (CRC) patients and associated with an unfavorable survival prognosis. Primary tumor side (PTS) was shown to act as a prognostic and predictive biomarker in several trials including metastatic CRC (mCRC) patients. Here, we aim to investigate whether PTS is also associated with the outcome of CRC patients with BM. METHODS: Patients treated for CRC BM between 1988 and 2017 at an academic care center were included. Right-sided CRC was defined as located in the appendix, cecum and ascending colon and left-sided CRC was defined as located in the descending colon, sigma and rectum. RESULTS: Two hundred and eighty-one CRC BM patients were available for this analysis with 239/281 patients (85.1%) presenting with a left-sided and 42/281 patients (14.9%) with a right-sided primary CRC. BM-free survival (BMFS) was significantly longer in left-sided compared with right-sided CRC patients (33 versus 20 months, P = 0.009). Overall survival from CRC diagnosis as well as from diagnosis of BM was significantly longer in patients with a left-sided primary (42 versus 25 months, P = 0.002 and 5 versus 4 months, P = 0.005, respectively). In a multivariate analysis including graded prognostic assessment, PTS remained significantly associated with prognosis after BM (hazard ratio 0.65; 95% confidence interval: 0.46-0.92 months, P = 0.0016). CONCLUSIONS: PTS was associated with survival times after the rare event of BM development in CRC patients. Therefore, its prognostic value remains significant even thereafter.

The course of quality of life and neurocognition in newly diagnosed patients with glioblastoma.

BACKGROUND: The importance of QoL and neurocognitive functions in patients with glioblastoma (GB) is above controversy by now. We followed newly diagnosed GB patients treated with radio-chemotherapy during their course of disease by continuously evaluating their quality of life (QoL) and cognitive functions. METHODS: We included consecutive patients with newly diagnosed GB from 2010 to 2013 at the Medical University of Vienna. To assess QoL the EORTC QLQ C30 and BN20 questionnaire were used. Neurocognition was measured with the NeuroCog FX. The evaluations were done 6 times every three months, beginning at the beginning of radio-chemotherapy. RESULTS: 42 patients participated in this study. We also recorded QoL and neurocognition in 23 patients after the first disease progression. Patients maintained their cognitive summary score until relapse. Patients with left-sided tumors showed significant lower scores in the subscale verbal fluency than patients with right-sided tumors. The global health score of QoL decreased after the fifth evaluation (13months after diagnosis) whereas a peak of fatigue symptoms was obtained at the third evaluation. Furthermore, fatigue symptoms increased strongly 7months after diagnosis and patients' financial difficulties were mentioned more frequently by younger patients and in patients with lower education levels. CONCLUSIONS: QoL and cognitive long-term assessments are feasible also in some patients with GB after a symptomatic progression. Our study demonstrates maintenance of QoL and cognitive summary scales before tumor progression. Moreover, it highlights subgroups according to tumor location and socioeconomic factors.

[Analysis of aromatic hydrocarbon catabolic genes in strains isolated from soil in Patagonia]. / Análisis de genes catabólicos de hidrocarburos aromáticos en cepas aisladas de suelos de la Patagonia.

Seven strains belonging to genus Pseudomonas were isolated from an enrichment with hydrocarbon mixtures. Tests for enzyme activities showed that five strains used predominantly the catabolic meta-pathway for aromatic hydrocarbon degradation. Furthermore, the xylE gene which encodes a catechol 2,3-dioxygenase was amplified by PCR, and in two strains the nahAc gene, a key enzyme for naphthalene catabolism, was also found. The xylE gene might be a good marker to identify aromatic hydrocarbon degrading bacteria in soils from Patagonia.

Análisis de genes catabólicos de hidrocarburos aromáticos en cepas aisladas de suelos de la Patagonia / Analysis of aromatic hydrocarbon catabolic genes in strains isolated from soil in Patagonia

Seven strains belonging to genus Pseudomonas were isolated from an enrichment with hydrocarbon mixtures. Tests for enzyme activities showed that five strains used predominantly the catabolic meta-pathway for aromatic hydrocarbon degradation. Furthermore, the xylE gene which encodes a catechol 2,3-dioxygenase was amplified by PCR, and in two strains the nahAc gene, a key enzyme for naphthalene catabolism, was also found. The xylE gene might be a good marker to identify aromatic hydrocarbon degrading bacteria in soils from Patagonia.

Structure of the Acetobacter methanolicus MB 129 capsular polysaccharide, and of oligosaccharides resulting from degradation by bacteriophage Acm7.

The capsular polysaccharide of Acetobacter methanolicus MB 129 consists of D-Glc, D-Gal, L-Rha, and L-glyceric acid in the molar ratios 1:1:1:0.3. Periodate oxidation, methylation analysis, solvolysis with HF, and detailed 1H and 13C NMR analysis resulted in the structure of the repeating unit shown below. [formula: see text] Bacteriophage Acm7-associated end-alpha-L-rhamnopyranoside hydrolase depolymerizes the CPS even in the presence of the O-acyl group, to give the respective hexa-, nona-, and dodeca-saccharides.

Structure of the capsular polysaccharide and the O-side-chain of the lipopolysaccharide from Acetobacter methanolicus MB 70, and of oligosaccharides resulting from their degradation by the bacteriophage Acm6.

Acetobacter methanolicus MB 70 was shown to be related to the type strain of this species MB 58/4 (IMET 10945) having the same galactan-->2)-beta-D-Gal f-(1-->3)-beta-D-Gal p-(1-->as the capsular polysaccharide (CPS) and the O-side-chain of the lipopolysaccharide (LPS). Additionally, a glucan built up of the disaccharide repeating unit-->6)-alpha-D-Glc p-(1-->2)-alpha-D-Glc p-(1-->was identified in strain MB 70. In the CPS, the polymers were present in the ratio approximately 1:1, whereas the glucan preponderated in the LPS. Bacteriophage Acm6 specific to A. methanolicus MB 70 hydrolysed selectively the glucan component of both CPS and LPS. Structural elucidation of the resulting oligosaccharides led to the identification of the phage-associated depolymerase as an endo-alpha-(1-->6)-D-glucopyranoside hydrolase.

Phage Acm1-mediated transduction in the facultatively methanol-utilizing Acetobacter methanolicus MB 58/4.

Phage Acm1, generally virulent for the acidophilic facultatively methanol-utilizing strain of Acetobacter methanolicus MB 58/4, is also capable of lysogenizing its host strain at a low rate. Using amino acid-auxotrophic mutants of A. methanolicus MB 58/4 as recipient strains, transduction of His, Leu and Tyr markers could be demonstrated in this system. The ability to prepare transducing lysates by propagation of phage Acm1 on the prototrophic donor strain A. methanolicus MB 58/4, the transduction of three different markers as well as the efficiency of transduction, and the occurrence of permutations in the phage genome indicate that phage Acm1 mediates generalized transduction. Phage Acm1 might be a useful tool in genetic studies of methylotrophic A. methanolicus.

[Lysogeny and lysogenic conversion in methylotrophic bacteria. II. Lysogenic conversion in facultative methanol-assimilating Acetobacter strains]. / Lysogenie und lysogene Konversion bei methylotrophen Bakterien. II. Lysogene Konversion bei fakultativ methanolassimilierenden Acetobacter-Stämmen.

The lysogenic state of the methylotrophic strain Acetobacter MB 58/1 is completely demonstrated by curing and lysogenization experiments. During these investigations we found that some phenotypic characteristics are modified by the presence or loss of the prophage MO 1. It could be shown that changes of the serological behaviour, the adsorption of the phages and the sensitivity against oxytetracycline are caused by lysogenic conversion. The phenotypic alterations of the bacterial cells induced by the phage genome are the result of modifications of the lipopolysaccharide structures on the cell surface. In the case of oxytetracycline resistance, interactions between the modified lipopolysaccharide structures and specific transport proteins of the cell membranes must be assumed.

[Growth rate of pulmonary metastases (author's transl)]. / Die Wachstumsgeschwindigkeit von Lungenmetastasen.

The growth of 148 untreated metastases to the lung was determined in 47 patients. Pulmonary metastases of squamous-cell carcinomas, sarcomas and malignant melanomas exhibited exponential growth, the doubling times were distributed log-normally, the geometric mean amounted to six weeks. The growth rate of adenocarcinomas decreased with increasing tumor size approximately in accordance with a Gompertzian function.