Surgical Management of Patients With GI Tuberculosis.

BACKGROUND: The Philippines ranks 10th in tuberculosis prevalence worldwide. Aside from pulmonary tuberculosis, GI tuberculosis remains an important cause of morbidity and mortality, particularly in endemic areas. OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to describe the clinicopathologic profile and surgical outcomes of patients with GI tuberculosis. DESIGN: Retrospective descriptive study. SETTING: Department of Surgery at the Philippine General Hospital, Manila, Philippines. PATIENTS: This study included all newly diagnosed cases of GI tuberculosis from January 1, 2009, to December 31, 2019. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Clinical response to surgery. RESULTS: A total of 241 confirmed new cases were managed during an 11-year period. Of these, 208 patients (86.30%) underwent outright surgery, whereas the remaining patients (13.69%) received antituberculous therapy. Fifteen medically managed patients eventually required surgery, bringing the total surgically managed patients to 223. The patients' age ranged from 19 to 72 years, with a 1.9:1 male to female ratio. The most common complaint was abdominal pain. Intestinal obstruction was the most common indication for surgery. A right hemicolectomy was the most often performed procedure, with the ileocecal area as the most frequently involved segment. The most common histopathologic findings were epithelioid granuloma and caseation necrosis. Postoperative length of stay ranged from 0 to 59 days (mean, 7 days). Morbidity rate was 5.38% and mortality rate was 3.14%. Four deaths were operative and resulted from septic shock because of hollow viscus perforation. LIMITATIONS: This study was limited to histopathologic basis for diagnosis. CONCLUSION: The recommended initial therapy for all forms of extrapulmonary tuberculosis is a 6-month regimen of antituberculous therapy unless the organisms are known or suspected to be resistant to first-line drugs. Surgery is reserved for complications of intra-abdominal tuberculosis: obstruction, perforation, or severe bleeding. Timely surgical intervention, coupled with medical management led to the best outcomes for these patients. See Video Abstract at http://links.lww.com/DCR/C56. MANEJO QUIRRGICO DE PACIENTES CON TUBERCULOSIS GASTROINTESTINAL: ANTECEDENTES:Las Filipinas ocupa el décimo lugar en prevalencia de tuberculosis en todo el mundo. Aparte de la tuberculosis pulmonar, la tuberculosis gastrointestinal sigue siendo una causa importante de morbilidad y mortalidad, especialmente en las zonas endémicas.OBJETIVO:Este estudio tuvo como objetivo describir el perfil clinicopatológico y los resultados quirúrgicos de pacientes con tuberculosis gastrointestinal.DISEÑO:Estudio descriptivo retrospectivo.AJUSTE:Departamento de Cirugía del Hospital General de Filipinas, Manila, Filipinas.PACIENTES:Todos los casos de tuberculosis gastrointestinal recién diagnosticados desde el 1 de Enero del 2009 hasta el 31 de Diciembre del 2019.MEDIDAS DE RESULTADO PRINCIPAL:Respuesta clínica a la cirugía.RESULTADOS:Se manejaron un total de 241 casos nuevos confirmados durante un período de 11 años. De estos, 208 (86,30%) pacientes fueron intervenidos directamente quirúrgicamente mientras que el resto recibió tratamiento antituberculoso (13,69%). Quince pacientes manejados médicamente finalmente requirieron cirugía, lo que elevó el total de pacientes manejados quirúrgicamente a 223. Las edades de los pacientes oscilaron entre 19 y 72 años, con una proporción de 1,9: 1 entre hombres y mujeres. La queja más común fue el dolor abdominal. La obstrucción intestinal fue la indicación más frecuente para cirugía. La hemicolectomía derecha fue el procedimiento más realizado, siendo la zona ileocecal el segmento más afectado. Los hallazgos histopatológicos más comunes fueron granuloma epitelioide y necrosis caseosa. La estancia postoperatoria varió de 0 a 59 días (media, 7 días). Las tasas de morbilidad y mortalidad fueron 5,38% y 3,14%, respectivamente. Cuatro fueron muertes operatorias por choque séptico debido a perforación de víscera.LIMITACIONES:Este estudio se limitó a la base histopatológica para el diagnóstico.CONCLUSIÓN:La terapia inicial recomendada para todas las formas de tuberculosis extrapulmonar es un régimen de 6 meses de terapia antituberculosa a menos que se sepa o se sospeche que los organismos son resistentes a los medicamentos de primera línea. La cirugía se reserva para las complicaciones de la tuberculosis intraabdominal, es decir, obstrucción, perforación o hemorragia grave. La intervención quirúrgica oportuna, junto con el manejo médico, condujo a mejores resultados para estos pacientes. Consulte el Resumen del Video en http://links.lww.com/DCR/C56. (Traducción- Dr. Yesenia Rojas-Khalil).

Plant-feeding may explain why the generalist predator Euseius stipulatus does better on less defended citrus plants but Tetranychus-specialists Neoseiulus californicus and Phytoseiulus persimilis do not.

The generalist predator Euseius stipulatus (Athias-Henriot) and the Tetranychidae-specialist predators Neoseiulus californicus (McGregor) and Phytoseiulus persimilis Athias-Henriot play a key role in the regulation of Tetranychus urticae Koch in Spanish citrus orchards. Previous studies have shown that sour orange (Citrus aurantium L.) and Cleopatra mandarin (Citrus reshni hort. ex Tan.) display extreme resistance and susceptibility to T. urticae, respectively. When offered a choice between these two genotypes infested by T. urticae, E. stipulatus preferred Cleopatra mandarin, whereas the specialists did not show any preference. The present study was undertaken to check whether these preferences could be related to the feeding of E. stipulatus on the host plant and/or to differences in prey feeding on the two plants. Our results demonstrate that E. stipulatus is a zoophytophagous mite, which can engage in direct plant feeding in sour orange and Cleopatra mandarin, whereas neither N. californicus nor P. persimilis do so. Whereas Cleopatra mandarin provided a higher-quality prey/feeding substrate for E. stipulatus, which may be related to its phytophagy, no differences were observed for the two specialists. As higher constitutive and faster inducible defense against T. urticae in sour orange relative to Cleopatra mandarin plants result in sour orange supporting lower T. urticae densities and plant damage, our results demonstrate that pest regulation by specialist natural enemies may be more effective when prey feed on better defended plants.

Molecular characterization of Cardinium, Rickettsia, Spiroplasma and Wolbachia in mite species from citrus orchards.

Tetranychidae spider mites are considered key citrus pests in some production areas, especially Tetranychus urticae Koch. Over the past decades, pesticide overuse seems to have promoted T. urticae population selection in citrus orchards. However, the microbiota has also been pointed out as a plausible explanation for population structure or plant host specialisation observed in several arthropod species. In this work, we have determined the incidence of Cardinium, Rickettsia, Spiroplasma and Wolbachia as representatives of major distorter bacteria genera in Aplonobia histricina (Berlese), Eutetranychus banksi (McGregor), Eutetranychus orientalis (Klein), Panonychus citri (McGregor), Tetranychus evansi Baker and Pritchard, Tetranychus turkestani Ugarov and Nikolskii, and T. urticae populations from Spanish citrus orchards. Only Wolbachia was detected by PCR. The multilocus alignment approach and phylogenetic inference indicated that all detected Wolbachia belong to supergroup B. The deep analysis of each 16S rDNA, ftsZ and wsp gene sequences allowed identifying several phylogenetically different Wolbachia sequences. It probably indicates the presence of several different races or strains, all of them belonging to supergroup B. The wsp sequence typing analysis unveiled the presence of the two already identified alleles (61 and 370) and allowed to contribute with five new alleles, supporting the presence of different but related B-races in the studied mite populations. The results are discussed and related to T. urticae population structure, previously observed in Spanish citrus orchards.

Adherens junction protein nectin-4 is the epithelial receptor for measles virus.

Measles virus is an aerosol-transmitted virus that affects more than 10 million children each year and accounts for approximately 120,000 deaths. Although it was long believed to replicate in the respiratory epithelium before disseminating, it was recently shown to infect initially macrophages and dendritic cells of the airways using signalling lymphocytic activation molecule family member 1 (SLAMF1; also called CD150) as a receptor. These cells then cross the respiratory epithelium and transport the infection to lymphatic organs where measles virus replicates vigorously. How and where the virus crosses back into the airways has remained unknown. On the basis of functional analyses of surface proteins preferentially expressed on virus-permissive human epithelial cell lines, here we identify nectin-4 (ref. 8; also called poliovirus-receptor-like-4 (PVRL4)) as a candidate host exit receptor. This adherens junction protein of the immunoglobulin superfamily interacts with the viral attachment protein with high affinity through its membrane-distal domain. Nectin-4 sustains measles virus entry and non-cytopathic lateral spread in well-differentiated primary human airway epithelial sheets infected basolaterally. It is downregulated in infected epithelial cells, including those of macaque tracheae. Although other viruses use receptors to enter hosts or transit through their epithelial barriers, we suggest that measles virus targets nectin-4 to emerge in the airways. Nectin-4 is a cellular marker of several types of cancer, which has implications for ongoing measles-virus-based clinical trials of oncolysis.

Stromal Expression of MARCKS Protein in Ovarian Carcinomas Has Unfavorable Prognostic Value.

Epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) is the most lethal gynecological cancer. Identification of new therapeutic targets is crucial. MARCKS, myristoylated alanine-rich C-kinase substrate, has been implicated in aggressiveness of several cancers and MARCKS inhibitors are in development. Using immunohistochemistry (IHC), we retrospectively assessed MARCKS expression in epithelial and stromal cells of 118 pre-chemotherapy EOC samples and 40 normal ovarian samples from patients treated at Salah Azaiez Institute. We compared MARCKS expression in normal versus cancer samples, and searched for correlations with clinicopathological features, including overall survival (OS). Seventy-five percent of normal samples showed positive epithelial MARCKS staining versus 50% of tumor samples (p = 6.02 × 10-3). By contrast, stromal MARCKS expression was more frequent in tumor samples (77%) than in normal samples (22%; p = 1.41 × 10-9). There was no correlation between epithelial and stromal IHC MARCKS statutes and prognostic clinicopathological features. Stromal MARCKS expression was correlated with shorter poor OS in uni- and multivariate analyses. Stromal MARCKS overexpression in tumors might contribute to cancer-associated fibroblasts activation and to the poor prognosis of EOC, suggesting a potential therapeutic interest of MARCKS inhibition for targeting the cooperative tumor stroma.

Identification of a naturally processed HLA-A*02:01-restricted CTL epitope from the human tumor-associated antigen Nectin-4.

Nectin-4 is a tumor antigen present on the surface of breast, ovarian and lung carcinoma cells. It is rarely present in normal adult tissues and is therefore a candidate target for cancer immunotherapy. Here, we identified a Nectin-4 antigenic peptide that is naturally presented to T cells by HLA-A2 molecules. We first screened the 502 nonamer peptides of Nectin-4 (510 amino acids) for binding to and off-rate from eight different HLA class I molecules. We then combined biochemical, cellular and algorithmic assays to select 5 Nectin-4 peptides that bound to HLA-A*02:01 molecules. Cytolytic T lymphocytes were obtained from healthy donors, that specifically lyzed HLA-A2(+) cells pulsed with 2 out of the 5 peptides, indicating the presence of anti-Nectin-4 CD8(+) T lymphocytes in the human T cell repertoire. Finally, an HLA-A2-restricted cytolytic T cell clone derived from a breast cancer patient recognized peptide Nectin-4145-153 (VLVPPLPSL) and lyzed HLA-A2(+) Nectin-4(+) breast carcinoma cells. These results indicate that peptide Nectin-4145-153 is naturally processed for recognition by T cells on HLA-A2 molecules. It could be used to monitor antitumor T cell responses or to immunize breast cancer patients.

Different roles of the three loops forming the adhesive interface of nectin-4 in measles virus binding and cell entry, nectin-4 homodimerization, and heterodimerization with nectin-1.

UNLABELLED: Many viruses utilize cell adhesion molecules of the immunoglobulin superfamily as receptors. In particular, viruses of different classes exploit nectins. The large DNA viruses, herpes simplex and pseudorabies viruses, use ubiquitous nectins 1 and 2. The negative-strand RNA virus measles virus (MeV) uses tissue-specific nectin-4, and the positive-strand RNA virus poliovirus uses nectin-like 5 (necl-5), also known as poliovirus receptor. These viruses contact the BC, C'C", and FG loops on the upper tip of their receptor's most membrane-distal domain. This location corresponds to the newly defined canonical adhesive interface of nectins, but how viruses utilize this interface has remained unclear. Here we show that the same key residues in the BC and FG loops of nectin-4 govern binding to the MeV attachment protein hemagglutinin (H) and cell entry, nectin-4 homodimerization, and heterodimerization with nectin-1. On the other hand, residues in the C'C" loop necessary for homo- and heterotypic interactions are dispensable for MeV-induced fusion and cell entry. Remarkably, the C'C" loop governs dissociation of the nectin-4 and H ectodomains. We provide formal proof that H can interfere with the formation of stable nectin-1/nectin-4 heterodimers. Finally, while developing an alternative model to study MeV spread, we observed that polarized primary pig airway epithelial sheets cannot be infected. We show that a single amino acid variant in the BC loop of pig nectin-4 fully accounts for restricted MeV entry. Thus, the three loops forming the adhesive interface of nectin-4 have different roles in supporting MeV H association and dissociation and MeV-induced fusion. IMPORTANCE: Different viruses utilize nectins as receptors. Nectins are immunoglobulin superfamily glycoproteins that mediate cell-cell adhesion in vertebrate tissues. They interact through an adhesive interface located at the top of their membrane-distal domain. How viruses utilize the three loops forming this interface has remained unclear. We demonstrate that while nectin-nectin interactions require residues in all three loops, the association of nectin-4 with the measles virus hemagglutinin requires only the BC and FG loops. However, we discovered that residues in the C'C" loop modulate the dissociation of nectin-4 from the viral hemagglutinin. Analogous mechanisms may support cell entry of other viruses that utilize nectins or other cell adhesion molecules of the immunoglobulin superfamily as receptors.

Mutations in PVRL4, encoding cell adhesion molecule nectin-4, cause ectodermal dysplasia-syndactyly syndrome.

Ectodermal dysplasias form a large disease family with more than 200 members. The combination of hair and tooth abnormalities, alopecia, and cutaneous syndactyly is characteristic of ectodermal dysplasia-syndactyly syndrome (EDSS). We used a homozygosity mapping approach to map the EDSS locus to 1q23 in a consanguineous Algerian family. By candidate gene analysis, we identified a homozygous mutation in the PVRL4 gene that not only evoked an amino acid change but also led to exon skipping. In an Italian family with two siblings affected by EDSS, we further detected a missense and a frameshift mutation. PVRL4 encodes for nectin-4, a cell adhesion molecule mainly implicated in the formation of cadherin-based adherens junctions. We demonstrated high nectin-4 expression in hair follicle structures, as well as in the separating digits of murine embryos, the tissues mainly affected by the EDSS phenotype. In patient keratinocytes, mutated nectin-4 lost its capability to bind nectin-1. Additionally, in discrete structures of the hair follicle, we found alterations of the membrane localization of nectin-afadin and cadherin-catenin complexes, which are essential for adherens junction formation, and we found reorganization of actin cytoskeleton. Together with cleft lip and/or palate ectodermal dysplasia (CLPED1, or Zlotogora-Ogur syndrome) due to an impaired function of nectin-1, EDSS is the second known "nectinopathy" caused by mutations in a nectin adhesion molecule.

Nephrocolocutaneous fistula from a staghorn calculus.

Fistula formation between the kidney, colon and the skin is an extremely rare complication arising from renal infections secondary to renal stone formation. During the 1980s, reports of nephrocolic fistulas, with or without involvement of the skin, were commonly caused by genitourinary tuberculosis. Due to improvements in diagnosis and specifically the development of anti-Koch's therapy, the incidence of nephrocolic or nephrocolocutaneous fistulas has become uncommon especially in developed countries.We report a case of a patient residing in a developing country, presenting with a 20-year history of a left flank lesion extruding minimal purulent output daily. He was seen at the emergency department due to weakness and was managed as a case of urosepsis. Contrast-enhanced CT scan and fistulogram showed a staghorn calculus in the left kidney with connections to the descending colon and skin. The patient eventually underwent a left hemicolectomy with en bloc excision of the kidney and fistula tract.

Outcomes of surgical management of buschke-lowenstein tumor in a Philippine tertiary hospital.

Buschke-Lowenstein tumor (BLT) is a sexually transmitted infection (STI) caused by the human papillomavirus. This study investigated the profile, management, and outcomes of patients who underwent surgery for BLT from 2015 to 2019 at the Philippine General Hospital. Seven patients underwent surgery for BLT. All were male, with ages ranging from 21 to 41 years. Presenting symptoms were anal mass, foul-smelling discharge, pain, bleeding, and pruritus. All were positive for human immunodeficiency virus. All admitted to having engaged in both insertive and receptive anal intercourse, with multiple partners. All underwent excision with healing by secondary intention. Two had recurrence of warts. Four had an anal stricture. Of these, 3 underwent anal dilatation, while 1 had to undergo proximal bowel diversion. One had intraepithelial carcinoma without dermal invasion on histopathologic analysis. BLT is a rare STI characterized by local aggressiveness but with low malignant potential. Wide excision remains to be the mainstay of treatment.

Perianal basal cell carcinoma managed with wide excision and random flap reconstruction.

Basal cell carcinoma (BCC) is a common skin malignancy and usually occurs in sun-exposed areas like the head and neck. Occurrence in the perianal area is rare, accounting for only 0.08% of all BCC, and 0.2% of anorectal malignancies.We present a case of a hypertensive woman in her 60s who had a 1-year history of a gradually enlarging mass on the left perianal region. Initial biopsy revealed a carcinoma with basaloid features and was confirmed on immunohistochemistry to be nodular BCC. Proctoscopy showed no intraluminal involvement. Contrast-enhanced chest and abdominal CT scans revealed no nodal or distant metastasis. MRI showed a 7.5 mm fat plane between the mass and the external sphincter muscles, projecting adequate surgical margins.A wide excision with at least 4 mm margins was performed. Reconstruction of the resulting defect was performed with a local random cutaneous flap.

Neorectum prolapse after rectal cancer surgery corrected with perineal stapled prolapse resection.

A 61-year-old woman developed neorectal prolapse after laparoscopic low anterior resection, total mesorectal excision with partial intersphincteric resection and handsewn coloanal anastomosis for rectal cancer. She presented with a 3 cm full thickness reducible prolapse, with associated anal pain and bleeding. A perineal stapled prolapse resection was performed to address the rectal prolapse, with satisfactory results.

McKittrick-Wheelock Syndrome: A Case Series.

McKittrick-Wheelock syndrome is a rare and life-threatening disease characterized by the triad of (1) chronic mucous diarrhea, (2) renal function impairment with hydroelectrolyte imbalance, and (3) a giant colorectal tumor. Often, the tumor is a rectal adenoma. With the mortality being certain, if left untreated, it is important to raise awareness on the presentation, diagnosis, and management of this disease entity. Here, we presented 3 cases of McKittrick-Wheelock syndrome that were successfully managed with surgical resection at the Philippine General Hospital from August 2018 to May 2019. Resolution of their symptoms, reversal of their renal impairment, and correction of their electrolyte depletion were noted after removal of the tumor with a sphincter-saving operation.

Overcoming Resistance to Anti-Nectin-4 Antibody-Drug Conjugate.

Antibody-drug conjugates (ADC) represent a fast-growing drug class in oncology. However, ADCs are associated with resistance, and therapies able to overcome it are of utmost importance. Recently, enfortumab vedotin-ejfv (EV) was approved in nectin-4+ metastatic urothelial cancer. We previously described PVRL4/nectin-4 as a new therapeutic target in breast cancer and produced an efficient EV-like ADC comprising a human anti-nectin-4 mAb conjugated to monomethyl auristatin-E (MMAE) named N41mab-vcMMAE. To study the consequence of the long-term treatment with this ADC, we developed a preclinical breast cancer model in mice, and report a mechanism of resistance to N41mab-vcMMAE after 9-month treatment and a way to reverse it. RNA-sequencing pointed to an upregulation in resistant tumors of ABCB1 expression, encoding the multidrug resistance protein MDR-1/P-glycoprotein (P-gp), associated with focal gene amplification and high protein expression. Sensitivity to N41mab-vcMMAE of the resistant model was restored in vitro by P-gp pharmacologic inhibitors, like tariquidar. P-gp is expressed in a variety of normal tissues. By delivering the drug to the tumor more specifically than classical chemotherapy, we hypothesized that the combined use of ADC with P-gp inhibitors might reverse resistance in vivo without toxicity. Indeed, we showed that the tariquidar/N41mab-vcMMAE combination was well tolerated and induced a rapid regression of ADC-resistant tumors in mice. In contrast, the tariquidar/docetaxel combination was toxic and poorly efficient. These results show that ABC transporter inhibitors can be safely used with ADC to reverse ADC-induced resistance and open new opportunities in the fight against multidrug resistance.

Improved outcomes with implementation of an Enhanced Recovery After Surgery pathway for patients undergoing elective colorectal surgery in the Philippines.

PURPOSE: This study aims to evaluate surgical outcomes (i.e. length of stay [LOS], 30-day morbidity, mortality, reoperation, and readmission rates) with the use of the Enhanced Recovery After Surgery (ERAS) pathway, and determine its association with the rate of compliance to the different ERAS components. METHODS: This was a prospective cohort of patients, who underwent the following elective procedures: stoma reversal (SR), colon resection (CR), and rectal resection (RR). The primary endpoint was to determine the association of compliance to an ERAS pathway and surgical outcomes. These were then retrospectively compared to outcomes prior to the implementation of ERAS. RESULTS: A total of 267 patients were included in the study. The overall compliance to the ERAS component was 92.0% (SR, 91.8%; CR, 93.1%; RR, 90.7%). There was an associated decrease in morbidity rates across all types of surgery, as compliance to ERAS increased. The average total LOS decreased in all groups but was only found to have statistical significance in SR (12.1±6.7 days vs. 10.0±5.4 days, P=0.002) and RR (19.9±11.4 days vs. 16.9±10.5 days, P=0.04) groups. Decreased postoperative LOS was noted in all groups. Morbidity rates were significantly higher after ERAS implementation, but reoperation and mortality rates were found to be similar. CONCLUSION: Increased compliance to ERAS protocol is associated with a decrease in morbidity across all surgery types. The implementation of an ERAS protocol significantly decreased mean hospital LOS, without any increase in major surgical complications. Having your own hospital ERAS pathway improves documentation and accuracy of reporting surgical complications.

Serum lactate and acute mesenteric ischaemia: An observational, controlled multicentre study.

BACKGROUND: Early diagnosis and prompt management of acute mesenteric ischaemia (AMI) are key to survival but remain extremely difficult, due to vague and non-specific symptoms. Serum lactate (SL) is commonly presented as a useful biomarker for the diagnosis or prognosis of AMI. The aim of our study was test SL (1) as a diagnostic marker and (2) as a prognostic marker for AMI. STUDY DESIGN: This was an ancillary multicentre case-control study. Patients with AMI at intensive care unit (ICU) admission were included (AMI group) and matched to ICU patients without AMI (control group). SL was measured and compared on day 0 (D0) and day 1 (D1). Diagnosis and prognosis accuracy were assessed by receiver operating characteristic (ROC) and their area under the curve (AUC). RESULTS: Each group consisted of 137 matched ICU patients. There was no significant difference of SL between the two groups at D0 or at D1 (p = 0.26 and p = 0.29 respectively). SL was a poor marker of AMI: at D0 and D1, AUC were respectively 0.57 [0.51; 0.63] and 0.60 [0.53; 0.67]. SL at D0 and D1 correctly predicted ICU mortality, independently of AMI (AUC D0: 0.69 [0.59; 0.79] vs. 0.74 [0.65; 0.82]; p = 0.51 and D1: 0.74 [0.64; 0.84] vs. 0.76 [0.66; 0.87]; p = 0.77, respectively, for control and AMI groups]. CONCLUSIONS: SL has no specific link with AMI, both for diagnosis and prognosis. SL should not be used for the diagnosis of AMI but, despite its lack of specificity, it may help to assess severity.

MARCKS as a Potential Therapeutic Target in Inflammatory Breast Cancer.

Inflammatory breast cancer (IBC) is the most pro-metastatic form of breast cancer (BC). We previously demonstrated that protein overexpression of Myristoylated Alanine-Rich C Kinase Substrate (MARCKS) protein was associated with shorter survival in IBC patients. MARCKS has been associated with the PI3K/AKT pathway. MARCKS inhibitors are in development. Our objective was to investigate MARCKS, expressed preferentially in IBC that non-IBC (nIBC), as a novel potential therapeutic target for IBC. The biologic activity of MPS, a MARCKS peptide inhibitor, on cell proliferation, migration, invasion, and mammosphere formation was evaluated in IBC (SUM149 and SUM190) and nIBC (MDA-MB-231 and MCF7) cell lines, as well as its effects on protein expression in the PTEN/AKT and MAPK pathways. The prognostic relevance of MARCKS and phosphatase and tensin homolog (PTEN) protein expression as a surrogate marker of metastasis-free survival (MFS) was evaluated by immunohistochemistry (IHC) in a retrospective series of archival tumor samples derived from 180 IBC patients and 355 nIBC patients. In vitro MPS impaired cell proliferation, migration and invasion, and mammosphere formation in IBC cells. MARCKS inhibition upregulated PTEN and downregulated pAKT and pMAPK expression in IBC cells, but not in nIBC cells. By IHC, MARCKS expression and PTEN expression were negatively correlated in IBC samples and were associated with shorter MFS and longer MFS, respectively, in multivariate analysis. The combination of MARCKS-/PTEN+ protein status was associated with longer MFS in IBC patient only (p = 8.7 × 10-3), and mirrored the molecular profile (MARCKS-downregulated/PTEN-upregulated) of MPS-treated IBC cell lines. In conclusion, our results uncover a functional role of MARCKS implicated in IBC aggressiveness. Associated with the good-prognosis value of the MARCKS-/PTEN+ protein status that mirrors the molecular profile of MPS-treated IBC cell lines, our results suggest that MARCKS could be a potential therapeutic target in patients with MARCKS-positive IBC. Future preclinical studies using a larger panel of IBC cell lines, animal models and analysis of a larger series of clinical samples are warranted in order to validate our results.

Evaluation of MRI Denoising Methods Using Unsupervised Learning.

In this paper we evaluate two unsupervised approaches to denoise Magnetic Resonance Images (MRI) in the complex image space using the raw information that k-space holds. The first method is based on Stein's Unbiased Risk Estimator, while the second approach is based on a blindspot network, which limits the network's receptive field. Both methods are tested on two different datasets, one containing real knee MRI and the other consists of synthetic brain MRI. These datasets contain information about the complex image space which will be used for denoising purposes. Both networks are compared against a state-of-the-art algorithm, Non-Local Means (NLM) using quantitative and qualitative measures. For most given metrics and qualitative measures, both networks outperformed NLM, and they prove to be reliable denoising methods.

Appendiceal intussusception from endometriosis.

An asymptomatic 39-year-old woman was noted to have occult bleeding by faecal immunohistochemical test. Investigations showed a 3 cm×2 cm caecal lesion by colonoscopy that was consistent with abdominal CT scan findings of a 1.6 cm×1.9 cm×2.3 cm enhancing focus in the medial caecal wall. The patient underwent laparoscopic right hemicolectomy after diagnostic laparoscopy and intraoperative colonoscopy revealed an intussuscepted appendix. The final histopathology was an appendiceal intussusception secondary to endometriosis.