Nevin Manimala

Rev Esp Med Nucl Imagen Mol (Engl Ed). 2024 Dec 20:500080. doi: 10.1016/j.remnie.2024.500080. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE: Overexpression of Human Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor 2 (HER2) is thought to be more aggressive in gastric cancer. This study aimed to evaluate the predictability of HER2 status and other prognostic pathologic parameters using [¹⁸F]FDG PET/CT and to investigate its impact on survival.

METHODS: Pretreatment metabolic parameters measured by [¹⁸F]FDG PET/CT as a prognostic factor were retrospectively evaluated in 117 HER2-analysed patients. The relationship between pathological data, tumor metabolic characteristics, and distant metastases was examined, and the effect on survival was investigated.

RESULTS: Among the 117 patients, 17.1% were HER2-positive (HER2+), and 82.9% were HER2-negative (HER2-). There was no significant association between PET/CT parameters in the HER2+ and HER2- patient groups. HER2+ patients had higher 1- and 3-year survival expectations than HER2- patients (80%-%37.9; %47.5-%20; respectively). There was no statistically significant difference in overall survival. In Cox-regression analysis, while the presence of vascular invasion, local invasion, and distant metastasis were poor prognostic factors, HER2 was not a prognostic factor. Vascular invasion and local invasion (T3/T4) were also associated with higher SUVmax values. Patients with distant metastases had significantly higher SUVmax, SUVmean, and TLG.

CONCLUSION: This study showed no association between HER2 expression and [¹⁸F]FDG PET/CT metabolic parameters. However, regardless of HER2 status, the results indicated distant metastasis, local invasion, and vascular invasion could be associated with primary tumor metabolism. PET/CT parameters predict tumor aggressiveness and disease prognosis better than HER2 status.

PMID:39710040 | DOI:10.1016/j.remnie.2024.500080

Forensic Sci Int. 2024 Dec 18;367:112352. doi: 10.1016/j.forsciint.2024.112352. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: An increasing number of countries have legalised cannabis for medicinal purposes in recent years leading to tensions with other regulatory frameworks. Some countries grant a medical defence according to their drug driving legislations. This may lead to specific medico-legal assessments relating to the participation of cannabis patients in road traffic. In Germany, these enquiries for expert opinions are opposed by incomplete statistics on medicinal cannabis patients, which limits the assessment of individual cases.

METHODS: A cross-sectional, anonymous patient survey was carried out nationwide in the first quarter of 2022 using an online questionnaire. The overall collective (n = 1030) was analysed with regard to application patterns of cannabis-based medicines. In particular, a detailed evaluation of the cannabis flower sub-collective was carried out.

RESULTS: Taking into account patients with health insurance prescription and, for the first time, self-payers, a high proportion of cannabis flower patients was observed (89.9 %). On average, the intake of cannabis flowers is associated with substantially higher daily THC doses (336 mg) compared to the usage of other cannabis-based medicines (≤ 17 mg). In addition, 16.2 % of patients reported complex usage patterns consisting of combinations of different types of cannabis-based medicines. Over a quarter (28.4 %) of respondents stated a smoking intake of cannabis flowers which is not recommended from a medicinal point of view.

CONCLUSIONS: Descriptive information on individual application patterns of cannabis-based medicines provide a valuable source of information for medico-legal expert statements as well as a basis for further research projects.

PMID:39709741 | DOI:10.1016/j.forsciint.2024.112352

Pest Manag Sci. 2024 Dec 22. doi: 10.1002/ps.8600. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: While the mother knows best/preference performance hypothesis has been well tested in natural ecosystems, how these ecological principles differ in agroecosystems is less explored. In this study, we investigated the ovipositional preference and offspring performance of fall armyworm (FAW) across vegetative and reproductive stages of soybean.

RESULTS: We examined trichomes, volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and assessed electroantennogram (EAG) measurements to understand how olfactory responses are affected by volatiles at different phenological stages during photoperiodism (photophase and scotophase). We found that gravid FAW preferred the vegetative compared to reproductive stage of soybean. Although VOC and EAG responses was not statistically different (P > 0.05) between photophase and scotophase, but vegetative stage exhibited significantly (P ≤ 0.05) higher emissions and responses than the reproductive stage during both photophase and scotophase. Additionally, reproductive stage had lower trichomes compared to the vegetative stage. Interestingly, no significant difference was observed in offspring performance between the vegetative and reproductive stages of soybean. This suggests that oviposition preference does not necessarily correlate with offspring performance, which was confirmed through offspring mass and mass gain studies. Olfactory and sensory cues from soybean at reproductive stage reduced oviposition by mother FAW.

CONCLUSION: Collectively, we show that while mother knows best may not fit FAW-Soybean interaction, muffled volatile emission in reproductive stages can have positive consequences for host success. The results from this study will enhance our understanding of FAW behavior across different phenological stages of host plants, that can be used to develop alternative and sustainable management strategies. © 2024 The Author(s). Pest Management Science published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Society of Chemical Industry. This article has been contributed to by U.S. Government employees and their work is in the public domain in the USA.

PMID:39710863 | DOI:10.1002/ps.8600

Anim Genet. 2025 Feb;56(1):e13497. doi: 10.1111/age.13497.

ABSTRACT

The feralization of domestic chicken makes the conservation and management of red jungle fowl (Gallus gallus) more complicated and challenging. We collected two Sulawesi feral chickens, located east of the Wallace Line, for whole-genome sequencing and de novo genome assembly. Phylogenetic and f4-statistics analyses indicated that the Sulawesi feralized domestic chickens (G. g. domesticus) received gene flow from G. g. gallus. We integrated ~45× ultra-long Oxford Nanopore Technology reads and ~28× PacBio HiFi reads to generate a de novo genome assembly of a female Sulawesi feral chicken (GGsula) with a contig N50 of 19.88 Mbp. We characterized structural variations in GGsula, and found some were related to nervous system. Our study provides the first genome assembly of feral chickens, which is a unique genomic resource to explore the process of chicken domestication and feralization.

PMID:39710860 | DOI:10.1111/age.13497

Hinyokika Kiyo. 2024 Nov;70(11):361-366. doi: 10.14989/ActaUrolJap_70_11_361.

ABSTRACT

In 2021, Enfortumab Vedotin (EV) was approved for the treatment of locally advanced and metastatic urothelial carcinoma (UC) in Japan. Some patients require withdrawal or dose reduction due to cutaneous symptoms associated with EV treatment. Currently, the only reported associations of EV with cutaneous symptoms are pre-treatment performance status (PS) and body weight. However, no report has focused on the association between hematological factors and cutaneous symptoms. We retrospectively examined the occurrence of cutaneous symptoms and associated factors in patients who had been treated with EV for UC at Nagasaki University Hospital between February 2022 and June 2023. We evaluated the six patients with bladder cancer and three cases of upper urinary tract cancer. The median age was 73 [57-85] years. Seven patients had cutaneous reactions with EV treatment, and the median date of onset of the cutaneous symptoms was seven [4 -28] days. PS was better inthe group with skinsymptoms compared with the group without (median : 1.0 vs 3.0), and in those with a higher incidence of eosinophilia or cutaneous symptoms on the previous regimen (71. 4% vs 0%). We suggested that the presence of eosinophilia or cutaneous symptoms at the time of pre-EV regimen administration may be a predictor of the appearance of cutaneous symptoms at the time of EV treatment. The limitation is that it is a single-center, small-case series, which does not allow for a rigorous statistical study.

PMID:39710840 | DOI:10.14989/ActaUrolJap_70_11_361

Bioinformatics. 2024 Dec 23:btae744. doi: 10.1093/bioinformatics/btae744. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

MOTIVATION: Nanopore sequencing represents a significant advancement in genomics, enabling direct long-read DNA sequencing at the single-molecule level. Accurate simulation of nanopore sequencing signals from nucleotide sequences is crucial for method development and for complementing experimental data. Most existing approaches rely on predefined statistical models, which may not adequately capture the properties of experimental signal data. Furthermore, these simulators were developed for earlier versions of nanopore chemistry, which limits their applicability and adaptability to the latest flow cell data.

RESULTS: To enhance the quality of artificial signals, we introduce seq2squiggle, a novel transformer-based, non-autoregressive model designed to generate nanopore sequencing signals from nucleotide sequences. Unlike existing simulators that rely on static k-mer models, our approach learns sequential contextual information from segmented signal data. We benchmark seq2squiggle against state-of-the-art simulators on real experimental R9.4.1 and R10.4.1 data, evaluating signal similarity, basecalling accuracy, and variant detection rates. Seq2squiggle consistently outperforms existing tools across multiple datasets, demonstrating superior similarity to real data and offering a robust solution for simulating nanopore sequencing signals with the latest flow cell generation.

AVAILABILITY: seq2squiggle is freely available on GitHub at: github.com/ZKI-PH-ImageAnalysis/seq2squiggle.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.

PMID:39710838 | DOI:10.1093/bioinformatics/btae744

J Environ Manage. 2024 Dec 21;373:123569. doi: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2024.123569. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

Monitoring nuclear reactor operations is vital for nuclear safeguards as it ensures that reactors are in compliance with international legal agreements. Validating nuclear facilities and activities, including potential clandestine activities, is currently accomplished by using remotely sensed data from satellites and aircrafts and on-site sampling. However, these techniques are temporally-limited as sampling and interpretation of environmental releases frequently involve labor-intensive, on-site collections. Here, we investigate whether remotely sensed data from eddy-covariance ecosystem monitoring networks, such as AmeriFlux, can be used to detect waste heat generated from four U.S.-based nuclear reactors, two pressurized water reactors (Callaway Nuclear Generating Station and Seabrook Nuclear Power Plant), and two boiling water reactors (Columbia Nuclear Generating Station and Enrico Fermi Nuclear Generating Station). Though both pressurized and boiling water reactors release latent and sensible heat into the environment in a similar way, we evaluated whether different signatures exist among the two types of nuclear facilities. Additionally, we evaluated whether different signatures exist among those reactors that release waste heat into the atmosphere via latent heat or into the ocean via sensible heat. To do this, we used logistic generalized additive models to investigate whether reactor operational status (i.e., on versus off) can be estimated from two environmental heat fluxes, latent and sensible heat. We also evaluated whether wind direction, seasonality and vegetation type influences potential latent and sensible heat signatures from reactors. Using a Dirichlet Process Means clustering analysis, we investigated whether certain weather conditions are more conducive to detecting reactor status. Our results suggest that eddy-covariance towers can detect waste heat flux signatures from nuclear reactors, particularly latent heat. Our results also suggest that weather conditions most conducive to detecting changes in latent and sensible heat as a result of reactor status are present on relatively dry, calm, cloudless days. These results contribute to a growing body of literature utilizing new methodologies in remotely monitoring nuclear reactor operations.

PMID:39709659 | DOI:10.1016/j.jenvman.2024.123569

Cancer Treat Rev. 2024 Dec 19;132:102865. doi: 10.1016/j.ctrv.2024.102865. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

INTRODUCTION: Antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) trastuzumab-deruxtecan (T-DXd) and sacituzumab-govitecan (SG) provided significant progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) improvements over chemotherapy (CT) in pretreated hormone receptor-positive (HR+) and triple-negative (TN)/HER2-low metastatic breast cancer (MBC). However, no direct comparison between the two exists, nor with the more recent datopotamab-deruxtecan (Dato-DXd).

METHODS: We conducted a network meta-analysis (NMA) to compare efficacy and safety of T-DXd and SG in CT-pretreated HR+ and TN/HER2-low MBC and assess their benefit over standard CT, exploring also a comparison with Dato-DXd. Hazard ratios (HRs) with 95 % confidence intervals (CI) were calculated for PFS/OS. P-score was used for treatment ranking.

RESULTS: Three RCTs (956 patients) were included in the primary analysis and 5 (1,445) in the exploratory NMA with Dato-DXd. In HR+/HER2-low, T-DXd showed no significant difference in PFS and OS when compared to SG. Similarly, in TN/HER2-low, PFS and OS did not differ significantly between the two ADCs. The P-score analysis favored T-DXd over SG in HR+/HER2-low in PFS (0.90 vs. 0.60) and OS (0.89 vs. 0.60). SG was favored over T-DXd in OS in TN/HER2-low (0.80 vs. 0.69). Similar results were obtained for HR+ MBC when including Dato-Dxd, which showed the worst performance, while T-DXd was the only ADC significantly outperforming CT in OS. The ADCs showed significantly better PFS and OS than CT in HR+/HER2-low and TN/HER2-low (all p < 0.001). SG had higher rates of neutropenia, diarrhea and alopecia vs. T-DXd, which showed more thrombocytopenia, fatigue and nausea. Pneumonitis and cardiotoxicity were typically T-DXd-related, and T-DXd showed more toxicity-related discontinuations.

CONCLUSIONS: Similar efficacy with T-DXd and SG in HER2-low MBC was observed, regardless of HR status. Safety profile, local drug-approval criteria and guidelines, patients’ preferences and overall quality of evidence should ultimately guide therapeutic decision-making. Dato-DXd role remains uncertain.

PMID:39709655 | DOI:10.1016/j.ctrv.2024.102865

Arch Clin Neuropsychol. 2024 Dec 22:acae117. doi: 10.1093/arclin/acae117. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE: Explore the tip-of-the-tongue (TOT) scores from the Children’s Auditory and Visual Naming Tests (cANT, cVNT) as embedded validity indicators (EVIs).

METHOD: A retrospective design of 98 consecutively referred youth aged 6-15 years (M = 11.28, SD = 2.80) that completed neuropsychological evaluation at a tertiary-care academic medical center.

RESULTS: Invalid performance (i.e., ≥2 failed PVTs) occurred in 12.2% of the sample, with base rates of failure on individual PVTs ranging from 1.0% to 30.6%. Area under the curve (AUC) showed statistical significance for the auditory (AUC = 0.811, p = .004) but not the visual TOT. Logistic regression indicated the combination of both TOT scores with other PVTs increased correct identification of invalid performance to 85.7% versus 75% without TOT scores.

CONCLUSION: The utility of the TOT as a language-based EVI is one of many potential advantages of the cANT and cVNT compared to other confrontation naming tests. To confirm this, future studies with more diverse populations are warranted.

PMID:39709637 | DOI:10.1093/arclin/acae117

Nat Prod Res. 2024 Dec 22:1-12. doi: 10.1080/14786419.2024.2438269. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

Cinnamon is a spice that is renowned for its several medicinal and cosmetic benefits. The research study examined the essential oil content, antioxidant, and anti-inflammatory properties of seven Cinnamomum species native to Sri Lanka. Cinnamon bark and leaf samples were used to extract essential oils, methanol, and hexane. Essential oil extracts underwent GC-MS analysis, while all extracts were subjected to antioxidant and anti-inflammatory assays. The bark of Sri Vijaya and C. rivulorum, along with the leaves of Sri Vijaya and C. sinharajaense, exhibited remarkable antioxidant properties. The cinnamaldehyde percentage of Sri Gemunu was the highest at 61.63%, while the bark of C. sinharajaense contained 59.19%. The leaves of Sri Gemunu had the highest eugenol content, determining at 91.45%. C. zeylanicum and its strains have been found to exhibit the highest antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. C. sinharajaense and C. rivulorum are two wild cinnamon species that show potential for potential medicinal uses. Thus, these species have great potential for further research on their biological properties and their possible applications in various fields, such as pharmaceuticals.

PMID:39709632 | DOI:10.1080/14786419.2024.2438269