Trends in Reporting Procedural Integrity: A Comparison.

Procedural integrity refers to the extent to which an independent variable is implemented as described. Measuring procedural integrity is one important factor when considering internal and external validity of experiments. Experimental articles in behavior-analytic journals have rarely reported procedural-integrity data. The purpose of this study was to update previous reviews of whether articles published in the Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis reported procedural integrity, spanning a period from 1980 to 2020, and compare reporting in JABA to recent reviews of studies published in Behavior Analysis in Practice (2008-2019) and the Journal of Organizational Behavior Management (2000-2020). Procedural integrity continues to be underreported across all three journals, but an increasing trend in reporting procedural integrity is evident in the Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis and Behavior Analysis in Practice. In addition to our recommendations and implications for research and practice, we provide examples and resources to assist researchers and practitioners with recording and reporting integrity data.

High levels of truncated RHAMM cooperate with dysfunctional p53 to accelerate the progression of pancreatic cancer.

Pancreatic cancer has the lowest survival rate out of all types of cancer. Pancreatic cancer patients are often diagnosed at advanced stages, hence an urgent need for a better therapeutic development of this devastating disease. Receptor for hyaluronan-mediated motility (RHAMM), not expressed in adult normal pancreas, has been suggested as a prognostic factor and a potential therapeutic target for pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) and pancreatic neuroendocrine tumor (PNET). In this study, we initially sought to determine whether genetic deletion of RHAMM would slow down pancreatic cancer progression using Rhamm-/- mice. However, we found that Rhamm-/- mice expressed a truncated HMMRΔexon8-16 protein at higher abundance levels than wild-type RHAMM. While HMMRΔexon8-16 did not enable malignant progression of pancreatic intraepithelial neoplasia in p48-Cre; LSL-KRASG12D mice, it accelerated the formation of invasive PDAC and shortened the survival of p48-Cre; LSL-KRASG12D mice with heterozygous p53 knockout. KrasG12D PDAC mice with homozygous p53 knockout mice died around 10 weeks, and the effect of HMMRΔexon8-16 was not apparent in these short lifespan mice. In addition, HMMRΔexon8-16 shortened the survival of PNET-bearing RIP-Tag mice, which had inactivated p53. In our analysis of TCGA dataset, pancreatic cancer patients with mutant TP53 or loss of one copy of TP53 had higher RHAMM expression, which, combined, predicted worse outcomes. Taken together, by collaborating with dysfunctional p53, high levels of HMMRΔexon8-16 , which lacks the centrosome targeting domain and degrons for interaction with the Anaphase-Promoting Complex (APC), accelerated pancreatic cancer progression.

Dynamic facial asymmetry in patients with repaired cleft lip using 4D imaging (video stereophotogrammetry).

BACKGROUND: Unilateral cleft lip is a profoundly asymmetrical condition affecting all hard and soft tissue layers from the nose to the upper lip. Although the asymmetry is minimized through cleft lip repair, a degree of asymmetry inevitably persists. Studies investigating asymmetry in patients with cleft lip have used facial measurements, and static 2D and 3D photography. The nose/lip/mouth area, however, is rarely static in our day to day social interactions. METHODS: Non-syndromic patients with cleft lip and palate, and a control group without orofacial clefts underwent 50 frames per second 4D imaging while generating facial expressions including smiling and pouting. Key landmarks were tracked throughout the expression, corrected for head movement and a motion path of each landmark was generated. Asymmetry was assessed for both extent of displacement, using Euclidean distances between frames, and the shape of the motion path using Procrustes analysis. RESULTS: Twelve patients were compared in each group with an age range from 8 to 18. Comparing the motion path of key landmarks in the upper lip demonstrated statistically significant differences in both the magnitude and shape of motion during smiling and pouting between cleft and non-cleft groups. CONCLUSION: Video stereophotogrammetry of the repaired cleft lip demonstrates asymmetry of both the magnitude of motion as well as asymmetry of the path of the motion itself. This may be due to the effect of the scar tissue from the repair, from the abnormal anatomy involved with cleft lip or a combination of the two.

Preferential lymphatic growth in bronchus-associated lymphoid tissue in sustained lung inflammation.

Lymphatics proliferate, become enlarged, or regress in multiple inflammatory lung diseases in humans. Lymphatic growth and remodeling is known to occur in the mouse trachea in sustained inflammation, but whether intrapulmonary lymphatics exhibit similar plasticity is unknown. We examined the time course, distribution, and dependence on vascular endothelial growth factor receptor (VEGFR)-2/VEGFR-3 signaling of lung lymphatics in sustained inflammation. Lymphatics in mouse lungs were examined under baseline conditions and 3 to 28 days after Mycoplasma pulmonis infection, using prospero heomeobox 1-enhanced green fluorescence protein and VEGFR-3 as markers. Sprouting lymphangiogenesis was evident at 7 days. Lymphatic growth was restricted to regions of bronchus-associated lymphoid tissue (BALT), where VEGF-C-producing cells were scattered in T-cell zones. Expansion of lung lymphatics after infection was reduced 68% by blocking VEGFR-2, 83% by blocking VEGFR-3, and 99% by blocking both receptors. Inhibition of VEGFR-2/VEGFR-3 did not prevent the formation of BALT. Treatment of established infection with oxytetracycline caused BALT, but not the lymphatics, to regress. We conclude that robust lymphangiogenesis occurs in mouse lungs after M. pulmonis infection through a mechanism involving signaling of both VEGFR-2 and VEGFR-3. Expansion of the lymphatic network is restricted to regions of BALT, but lymphatics do not regress when BALT regresses after antibiotic treatment. The lung lymphatic network can thus expand in sustained inflammation, but the expansion is not as reversible as the accompanying inflammation.

Steroid-resistant lymphatic remodeling in chronically inflamed mouse airways.

Angiogenesis and lymphangiogenesis participate in many inflammatory diseases, and their reversal is thought to be beneficial. However, the extent of reversibility of vessel remodeling is poorly understood. We exploited the potent anti-inflammatory effects of the corticosteroid dexamethasone to test the preventability and reversibility of vessel remodeling in Mycoplasma pulmonis-infected mice using immunohistochemistry and quantitative RT-PCR. In this model robust immune responses drive rapid and sustained changes in blood vessels and lymphatics. In infected mice not treated with dexamethasone, capillaries enlarged into venules expressing leukocyte adhesion molecules, sprouting angiogenesis and lymphangiogenesis occurred, and the inflammatory cytokines tumor necrosis factor and interleukin-1 increased. Concurrent dexamethasone treatment largely prevented the remodeling of blood vessels and lymphatics. Dexamethasone also significantly reduced cytokine expression, bacterial burden, and leukocyte influx into airways and lungs over 4 weeks of infection. In contrast, when infection was allowed to proceed untreated for 2 weeks and then was treated with dexamethasone for 4 weeks, most blood vessel changes reversed but lymphangiogenesis did not, suggesting that different survival mechanisms apply. Furthermore, dexamethasone significantly reduced the bacterial burden and influx of lymphocytes but not of neutrophils or macrophages or cytokine expression. These findings show that lymphatic remodeling is more resistant than blood vessel remodeling to corticosteroid-induced reversal. We suggest that lymphatic remodeling that persists after the initial inflammatory response has resolved may influence subsequent inflammatory episodes in clinical situations.

TNF-alpha drives remodeling of blood vessels and lymphatics in sustained airway inflammation in mice.

Inflammation is associated with blood vessel and lymphatic vessel proliferation and remodeling. The microvasculature of the mouse trachea provides an ideal opportunity to study this process, as Mycoplasma pulmonis infection of mouse airways induces widespread and sustained vessel remodeling, including enlargement of capillaries into venules and lymphangiogenesis. Although the mediators responsible for these vascular changes in mice have not been identified, VEGF-A is known not to be involved. Here, we sought to determine whether TNF-alpha drives the changes in blood vessels and lymphatics in M. pulmonis-infected mice. The endothelial cells, but not pericytes, of blood vessels, but not lymphatics, were immunoreactive for TNF receptor 1 (TNF-R1) and lymphotoxin B receptors. Most TNF-R2 immunoreactivity was on leukocytes. Infection resulted in a large and sustained increase in TNF-alpha expression, as measured by real-time quantitative RT-PCR, and smaller increases in lymphotoxins and TNF receptors that preceded vessel remodeling. Substantially less vessel remodeling and lymphangiogenesis occurred when TNF-alpha signaling was inhibited by a blocking antibody or was silenced in Tnfr1-/- mice. When administered after infection was established, the TNF-alpha-specific antibody slowed but did not reverse blood vessel remodeling and lymphangiogenesis. The action of TNF-alpha on blood vessels is probably mediated through direct effects on endothelial cells, but its effects on lymphangiogenesis may require inflammatory mediators from recruited leukocytes. We conclude that TNF-alpha is a strong candidate for a mediator that drives blood vessel remodeling and lymphangiogenesis in inflammation.

Lumpectomy and partial breast irradiation for early-stage breast cancer following mantle irradiation for Hodgkin's lymphoma.

BACKGROUND: A 57-year-old woman who received treatment with mantle irradiation and systemic chemotherapy for Hodgkin's lymphoma diagnosed at the age of 42 underwent screening mammography, which revealed abnormal density at the upper outer quadrant of the left breast. INVESTIGATIONS: Left breast ultrasound and MRI, ultrasound-guided biopsy, immunohistochemistry, chest X-ray. DIAGNOSIS: Stage T1bN0M0 left breast cancer. MANAGEMENT: Lumpectomy, sentinel lymph-node biopsy and fractionated partial breast irradiation using 3-dimensional conformal technique.

Dosimetric comparison of proton and photon three-dimensional, conformal, external beam accelerated partial breast irradiation techniques.

PURPOSE: To compare the dosimetry of proton and photon-electron three-dimensional, conformal, external beam accelerated partial breast irradiation (3D-CPBI). METHODS AND MATERIALS: Twenty-four patients with fully excised, Stage I breast cancer treated with adjuvant proton 3D-CPBI had treatment plans generated using the mixed-modality, photon-electron 3D-CPBI technique. To facilitate dosimetric comparisons, planning target volumes (PTVs; lumpectomy site plus 1.5-2.0 cm margin) and prescribed dose (32 Gy) were held constant. Plans were optimized for PTV coverage and normal tissue sparing. RESULTS: Proton and mixed-modality plans both provided acceptable PTV coverage with 95% of the PTV receiving 90% of the prescribed dose in all cases. Both techniques also provided excellent dose homogeneity with a dose maximum exceeding 110% of the prescribed dose in only one case. Proton 3D-CPBI reduced the volume of nontarget breast tissue receiving 50% of the prescribed dose by an average of 36%. Statistically significant reductions in the volume of total ipsilateral breast receiving 100%, 75%, 50%, and 25% of the prescribed dose were also observed. The use of protons resulted in small, but statistically significant, reductions in the radiation dose delivered to 5%, 10%, and 20% of ipsilateral and contralateral lung and heart. The nontarget breast tissue dosimetric advantages of proton 3D-CPBI were not dependent on tumor location, breast size, PTV size, or the ratio of PTV to breast volume. CONCLUSIONS: Compared to photon-electron 3D-CPBI, proton 3D-CPBI significantly reduces the volume of irradiated nontarget breast tissue. Both approaches to accelerated partial breast irradiation offer exceptional lung and heart sparing.