Monitoring System of the Mar Menor Coastal Lagoon (Spain) and Its Watershed Basin Using the Integration of Massive Heterogeneous Data.

The tool created aims at the environmental monitoring of the Mar Menor coastal lagoon (Spain) and the monitoring of the land use of its watershed. It integrates heterogeneous data sources ranging from ecological data obtained from a multiparametric oceanographic sonde to agro-meteorological data from IMIDA's network of stations or hydrological data from the SAIH network as multispectral satellite images from Sentinel and Landsat space missions. The system is based on free and open source software and has been designed to guarantee maximum levels of flexibility and scalability and minimum coupling so that the incorporation of new components does not affect the existing ones. The platform is designed to handle a data volume of more than 12 million records, experiencing exponential growth in the last six months. The tool allows the transformation of a large volume of data into information, offering them through microservices with optimal response times. As practical applications, the platform created allows us to know the ecological state of the Mar Menor with a very high level of detail, both at biophysical and nutrient levels, being able to detect periods of oxygen deficit and delimit the affected area. In addition, it facilitates the detailed monitoring of the cultivated areas of the watershed, detecting the agricultural use and crop cycles at the plot level. It also makes it possible to calculate the amount of water precipitated on the watershed and to monitor the runoff produced and the amount of water entering the Mar Menor in extreme events. The information is offered in different ways depending on the user profile, offering a very high level of detail for research or data analysis profiles, concrete and direct information to support decision-making for users with managerial profiles and validated and concise information for citizens. It is an integrated and distributed system that will provide data and services for the Mar Menor Observatory.

Estudio mutacional de EGFR y PIK3CA y de hipermetilación del promotor del gen BRCA1 en cáncer de mama tipo «triple negativo» / Study of the EGFR and PIK3CA mutations and BRCA1 promoter hypermethylation in «triple-negative» breast cancer

Introducción. El cáncer de mama es una enfermedad muy heterogénea a nivel clínico, morfológico y biológico, que se clasifica en diferentes subgrupos. El tipo «triple negativo» representa el 10-20% de todos los cánceres de mama, frecuentemente muestra expresión de marcadores basales, afecta a mujeres jóvenes y tiene mal pronóstico, sin una terapia dirigida. Material y método. Estudio retrospectivo de análisis de tres alteraciones moleculares (mutación de EGFR y PIK3CA e hipermetilación del promotor del gen BRCA1), mediante la técnica de pirosecuenciación, en 60 casos de cáncer de mama «triple negativo». Resultados. Un 28,33% de las pacientes fueron diagnosticadas con 50 o menos años, y el 16,67% progresaron por diseminación vía hematógena con metástasis viscerales y murieron (menos una) en un intervalo de entre 1-5 años desde el diagnóstico. En 5 de los 16 casos estudiados se encontró una mutación patogénica de BRCA. Inmunohistoquímicamente la mayoría eran tumores con alto índice proliferativo de Ki67 y un 73,33% eran «basal-like» por expresión de CK5/6 y/o EGFR. A nivel molecular, no se encontraron mutaciones activadoras de EGFR, aunque el 53,33% de los casos mostraron sobreexpresión inmunohistoquímica de EGFR. La mutación de PIK3CA se detectó en un 10% de casos, con predominio en exón20 y con coexpresión de receptores de andrógenos en la mitad de los casos. La hipermetilación de la región promotora del gen BRCA1 estaba presente en un 25% de los casos, coexistiendo en un caso con hipermetilación del estroma no tumoral y en dos con mutación patogénica del gen BRCA1. Conclusiones. El hallazgo de alguna alteración molecular específica, aunque sea infrecuente, puede plantear una posible diana terapéutica dirigida (AU)

Introduction. Breast cancer is a clinically, morphologically and biologically heterogeneous disease. It is classified in distinct subtypes. Triple-negative breast cancers represent approximately 10-20% of all breast cancers and often express basal markers. This type preferentially affects young women and has no specific therapy. Material and method. We conducted a retrospective study of three molecular alterations (the EGFR and PIK3CA mutations and BRCA1 promoter hypermethylation) by pyrosequencing in a series of 60 patients with a diagnosis of triple-negative breast cancer. Results. A total of 28.33% of patients were diagnosed at age 50 years or younger. Only 16.67% of patients had clinical progression due to haematological dissemination with visceral metastasis and all of them, except one, died from breast cancer between 1 and 5 years after diagnosis. The BRCA1 mutation was studied in 16 patients and a known pathogenic mutation was found in 5. Immunohistochemical study showed a high Ki67 proliferative index and 73.33% of carcinomas were basal-like due to CK5/6 and/or EGFR expression. Although we found no EGFR-activating mutations, EGFR overexpression was present in 53.33% of patients. The PIK3CA mutation was identified in 10% of patients, predominantly in exon 20 and with androgen receptor expression in half of these patients. BRCA1 promoter hypermethylation was observed in 25% of the patients. Only one of these patients exhibited BRCA1 hypermethylation of non-tumoural stroma and two showed a pathogenic mutation of the BRCA1 gene. Conclusion. The finding of specific molecular alterations, although infrequent, could suggest a possible directed therapeutic target (AU)

Shear-wave elastography and immunohistochemical profiles in invasive breast cancer: evaluation of maximum and mean elasticity values.

PURPOSE: To evaluate the correlations of maximum stiffness (Emax) and mean stiffness (Emean) of invasive carcinomas on shear-wave elastography (SWE) with St. Gallen consensus tumor phenotypes. METHODS: We used an ultrasound system with SWE capabilities to prospectively study 190 women with 216 histologically confirmed invasive breast cancers. We obtained one elastogram for each lesion. We correlated Emax and Emean with tumor size, histologic type and grade, estrogen and progesterone receptors, HER2 expression, the Ki67 proliferation index, and the five St. Gallen molecular subtypes: luminal A, luminal B without HER2 overexpression (luminal B HER2-), luminal B with HER2 overexpression (luminal B HER2+), HER2, and triple negative. RESULTS: Lesions larger than 20 mm had significantly higher Emax (148.04 kPa) and Emean (118.32 kPa) (P=0.005) than smaller lesions. We found no statistically significant correlations between elasticity parameters and histologic type and grade or molecular subtypes, although tumors with HER2 overexpression regardless whether they expressed hormone receptors (luminal B HER2+ and HER2 phenotypes) and triple-negative tumors had lower Emax and Emean than the others. We assessed the B-mode ultrasound findings of the lesions with some of the Emax or Emean values less than or equal to 80 kPa; only four of these had ultrasound findings suggestive of a benign lesion (two with luminal A phenotype and two with HER2 phenotype). CONCLUSIONS: We were unable to demonstrate statistically significant differences among the subtypes of invasive tumors, although there appears to be a trend toward lower Emax and Emean in the aggressive phenotypes.

High corn oil and extra virgin olive oil diets and experimental mammary carcinogenesis: clinicopathological and immunohistochemical p21Ha-Ras expression study.

Dietary lipids have a role in the aetiology of breast cancer, acting at several cellular levels. We investigated the effects of a high corn oil and a high extra virgin olive oil diet on the clinical and histopathological characteristics of rat dimethylbenz(α)anthracene-induced mammary carcinogenesis and on the expression of p21Ha-Ras, detected by immunohistochemistry, in one experimental series including a low-fat corn oil diet (LFCO) and two high-fat diet groups: HFCO(P), rich in corn oil, and HFOO(P), rich in extra virgin olive oil. Whereas the high corn oil diet tended to reduce latency time, to raise tumour incidence and to increase total tumour yield, the high extra virgin olive oil diet led to a latency time similar to that of LFCO and to a lower tumour incidence than HFCO(P) and lower total tumour yield, even than LFCO. HFCO(P) tumours displayed a higher histological grade and profile than LFCO tumours, while adenocarcinomas in HFOO(P) were similar to LFCO ones. Although no significant differences in p21Ha-Ras expression among dietary groups was found, we detected a significant p21Ha-Ras decreasing expression as grade increased, in groups LFCO and HFCO(P). HFOO(P) tumours exhibited a higher staining in high-grade carcinomas compared to the similar malignant tumours of the two other dietary groups. These data suggest that dietary lipids influence the clinical behaviour and the morphological malignancy of the experimental mammary carcinogenesis, according to the type of fat, without altering p21Ha-Ras expression. Nevertheless, this expression could be affected by the malignancy of tumours, probably through a post-translational event.

Breast core biopsy reporting categories--An internal validation in a series of 3054 consecutive lesions.

We reviewed 3226 consecutive core biopsies (CBs) of 3054 mammographically detected breast lesions performed at our Centre from November 1993 to June 2003. CB diagnoses, classified according to the Non-operative Diagnosis Subgroup of the British National Health Service Breast Cancer Screening Programme (NHSBSP), were B5 (37.1%), B4 (0.5%), B3 (7.6%), B2 (50.9%) and B1 (3.9%). It was necessary to repeat the procedure in 172 cases (5.3%). The values for absolute sensitivity and specificity are 90.8% and 83.8%, respectively. The positive predictive value for categories B4 and B5 is 100%, with no false-positives. The positive predictive value for category B3 is 16.3%. The negative predictive value for B2 category is 97.2%, with a false-negative rate of 3.5%. In conclusion, this system of analysis has enabled us to confirm that our CB results surpass the minimum recommended standards proposed by the NHSBSP.