Tumor biobanks have become critical components of the cancer research infrastructure. Consideration of how to place appropriate values on tumor biobanks is important for all stakeholders. At the ...level of individual biobanks, value is important in determining how to contribute to, utilize, and fund biobanks. At the level of the research system, value is important in determining how to evaluate, rationalize, and sustain or modify the investments in this infrastructure. This review considers approaches and indicators for evaluation of a biobank with a particular focus on utilization, as one important indicator of value, from the perspective of the researcher and funder. The patterns of utilization and the influence of different phases and approaches of research, and types of biobank are described, as well as strategies for biobanks to increase utilization and therefore their value to research.
The Prostate Health Index is validated for prostate cancer detection but has not been well validated for Gleason grade group 2-5 prostate cancer detection in Black men. We hypothesize that the ...Prostate Health Index has greater accuracy than prostate specific antigen for detection of Gleason grade group 2-5 prostate cancer. We estimated probability of overall and Gleason grade group 2-5 prostate cancer across previously established Prostate Health Index ranges and identified Prostate Health Index cutoffs that maximize specificity for Gleason grade group 2-5 prostate cancer with sensitivity >90%.
We recruited a "cancer-free" Black control cohort (135 patients) and a cohort of biopsy naïve Black men (158) biopsied for elevated prostate specific antigen. Descriptive statistics compared the prostate cancer cases and controls and the frequency of Gleason grade group 2-5 prostate cancer across Prostate Health Index scores. Receiver operating characteristics compared the discrimination of prostate specific antigen, Prostate Health Index and other prostate specific antigen related biomarkers. Sensitivity and specificity for Gleason grade group 2-5 prostate cancer detection were assessed at prostate specific antigen and Prostate Health Index thresholds alone and in series.
Of biopsied subjects 32.9% had Gleason grade group 2-5 prostate cancer. In Blacks with prostate specific antigen from 4.0-10.0 ng/ml, Prostate Health Index and prostate specific antigen had similar discrimination for Gleason grade group 2-5 prostate cancer (0.63 vs 0.57, p=0.27). In Blacks with prostate specific antigen ≤10.0, a threshold of prostate specific antigen ≥4.0 had 90.4% sensitivity for Gleason grade group 2-5 prostate cancer; a threshold of prostate specific antigen ≥4.0 with Prostate Health Index ≥35.0 in series avoided unnecessary biopsy in 33.0% of men but missed 17.3% of Gleason grade group 2-5 prostate cancer. Prostate specific antigen ≥4.0 with Prostate Health Index ≥28.0 in series spared biopsy in 17.9%, while maintaining 90.4% sensitivity of Gleason grade group 2-5 prostate cancer.
The Prostate Health Index has moderate accuracy in detecting Gleason grade group 2-5 prostate cancer in Blacks, but Prostate Health Index ≥28.0 can be safely used to avoid some unnecessary biopsies in Blacks.
Ipsilateral breast tumor recurrence (IBTR) can occur in 5-20% of women with early-stage breast cancer treated with breast-conserving therapy. Two entities of IBTR have been described: true recurrence ...(TR), suggested to be regrowth of disease at the tumor bed, and new primary (NP), distinct from the index lesion in histology and location. This study compared survival outcomes between two patient cohorts classified clinically as having either TR or NP.
Between 1989 and 1999, 6,020 women were referred to the BC Cancer Agency with newly diagnosed pT1-2, N0-1, M0 invasive breast cancer, treated with breast-conserving surgery. Of these, 289 patients had pathologically confirmed IBTR. Retrospective analysis was performed, and a set of decision rules was applied to classify cases as TR or NP based on change in histology, grade, hormone receptor status, and tumor location. Of 289 patients, 129 (45%) were classified as having TR and 139 (48%) as having NP; 21 (7%) were unclassified.
The distributions of age at diagnosis, age at recurrence, and histopathologic factors were similar in the TR and NP cohorts (all p > 0.05). The mean time to recurrence was shorter in TR patients than in NP patients (4.8 years vs. 6.3 years, p = 0.001). Treatment of the IBTR did not differ between the two groups. In the TR and NP cohorts, breast cancer-specific survival was 55.7% vs. 61.3% (p = 0.93), and overall survival was 43.7% vs. 54.8% (p = 0.53).
Time to recurrence is significantly shorter in patients with IBTR classified as true recurrence compared to new primary. Non-statistically significant trends for less favorable survival were observed for patients with TR. Further investigation of the hypothesis that TR and NP tumors are distinct entities with different survival prognoses will require standardized pathology review and molecular analyses.
Over the course of the 20th century, fossil fuels became the dominant energy input to most of the world's fisheries. Although various analyses have quantified fuel inputs to individual fisheries, to ...date, no attempt has been made to quantify the global scale and to map the distribution of fuel consumed by fisheries. By integrating data representing more than 250 fisheries from around the world with spatially resolved catch statistics for 2000, we calculate that globally, fisheries burned almost 50 billion L of fuel in the process of landing just over 80 million t of marine fish and invertebrates for an average rate of 620 L t−1. Consequently, fisheries account for about 1.2% of global oil consumption, an amount equivalent to that burned by the Netherlands, the 18th-ranked oil consuming country globally, and directly emit more than 130 million t of CO2 into the atmosphere. From an efficiency perspective, the energy content of the fuel burned by global fisheries is 12.5 times greater than the edible-protein energy content of the resulting catch.
Abstract
Protein glycosylation, the attachment of carbohydrates onto proteins, is a fundamental process that alters the biological activity of proteins. Changes to glycosylation states are associated ...with many forms of cancer including breast cancer. Through immunohistological analysis of breast cancer patient tumors, we have discovered the expression of an atypical glycan—polysialic acid (polySia)—in breast cancer. Notably, we have identified polySia expression in not only tumor cells but also on tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) and our study reveals ST8Sia4 as the predominant polysialyltransferase expressed. Evaluation of ST8Sia4 expression in tumor cells identified an association between high expression levels and poor patient outcomes whereas ST8Sia4 expression in infiltrating stromal cells was associated with good patient outcomes. Investigation into CD56, a protein known to be polysialylated, found CD56 and polySia expression on breast tumor cells and TILs. CD56 expression did not positively correlate with polySia expression except in patient tumors which expressed HER2. In these HER2 expressing tumors, CD56 expression was significantly associated with HER2 expression score. Evaluation of CD56 tumor cell expression identified a significant association between CD56 expression and poor patient outcomes. By contrast, CD56 expression on TILs was significantly associated with good clinical outcomes. Tumors with CD56+ TILs were also consistently polySia TIL positive. Interestingly, in tumors where TILs were CD56 low-to-negative, a polySia+ lymphocyte population was still identified and the presence of these lymphocytes was a poor prognostic indicator. Overall, this study provides the first detailed report of polySia and CD56 in breast cancer and demonstrates that the prognostic significance is dependent on the cell type expression within the tumor.
Early introduction of dietary peanut in high-risk infants with severe eczema, egg allergy, or both prevented peanut allergy at 5 years of age in the Learning Early About Peanut Allergy (LEAP) study. ...The protective effect persisted after 12 months of avoiding peanuts in the 12-month extension of the LEAP study (LEAP-On). It is unclear whether this benefit is allergen and allergic disease specific.
We sought to assess the effect of early introduction of peanut on the development of allergic disease, food sensitization, and aeroallergen sensitization.
Asthma, eczema, and rhinoconjunctivitis were diagnosed based on clinical assessment. Reported allergic reactions and consumption of tree nuts and sesame were recorded by questionnaire. Sensitization to food allergens and aeroallergens was determined by means of skin prick testing and specific IgE measurement.
A high and increasing burden of food allergen and aeroallergen sensitization and allergic disease was noted across study time points; 76% of LEAP participants had at least 1 allergic disease at 60 months of age. There were no differences in allergic disease between LEAP groups. There were small differences in sensitization and reported allergic reactions for select tree nuts, with levels being higher in the LEAP consumption group. Significant resolution of eczema and sensitization to egg and milk occurred in LEAP participants and was not affected by peanut consumption.
Early consumption of peanut in infants at high risk of peanut allergy is allergen specific and does not prevent the development of other allergic disease, sensitization to other food allergens and aeroallergens, or reported allergic reactions to tree nuts and sesame. Furthermore, peanut consumption does not hasten the resolution of eczema or egg allergy.
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To examine the prognostic significance of lumican and decorin, two abundant small leucine-rich proteoglycans in breast tissue stroma.
Lumican and decorin expression was examined in a cohort of 140 ...invasive breast carcinomas by Western blot analysis. All cases were axillary lymph node-negative and treated by adjuvant endocrine therapy.
Lumican and decorin expression was highly correlated (r = 0.45, P < 0.0001), but although low levels of lumican were associated with large tumor size (P = 0.0496), negative estrogen receptor (P = 0.0024) and progesterone receptor status (P = 0.0116), and increased host inflammatory response (P = 0.0077), low decorin levels were associated only with large tumor size (P = 0.0496). However, using univariate analysis, low levels of lumican and decorin were both associated with a shorter time to progression (P = 0.0013 and 0.0262) and poorer survival (P = 0.001 and 0.0076). In multivariate analysis using the Cox regression model, low decorin was also shown to be an independent predictive factor for recurrence (hazard ratio 2.25: 95% confidence interval 1-5, P = 0.047) and survival (hazard ratio 3.39: 95% confidence interval 1.2-9.6, P = 0.021).
These results suggest that low levels of small leucine-rich proteoglycans in breast tumors may be associated with a worse prognosis in lymph node-negative invasive breast carcinomas and warrant further study with larger patient cohorts.
Movements by animals can serve different functions and occur over a variety of spatial and temporal scales. Routine movement types, such as residency (localized movements) and migration, have been ...well studied. However, nonroutine movement types, such as dispersal, prospecting, and nomadism, are less well understood. Documenting these rarely detected events requires tracking large numbers of individuals across all age classes. We studied >500 golden eagles (Aquila chrysaetos) tracked by telemetry over a 10‐year period in western North America, of which 160 engaged in nonroutine, long‐distance (>300 km) movements. We identified spatial and temporal correlates of those movements at both small and large scales, and we quantified movement timing and direction. We further tested which age and sex classes of eagles were more likely to engage in these movements. Our analysis of 88,093 daily tracks suggested that distances traveled by eagles were responsive to the updraft potential of the spatial and temporal landscape they encountered. Tracks covered longer distances at locations and times of higher updraft potential, and older birds traveled farther than younger birds. By contrast, after decomposing daily tracks into 563 nonroutine, long‐distance movements measured at a multiday scale, only the duration of travel was responsive to environmental conditions encountered by eagles. Multiday trips that were longer were those initiated in open and warm landscapes and those that ended in mountainous regions. Finally, long‐distance movements were more frequently made in seasons other than winter, in north–south directions, and by young birds. We documented clear correlates of nonroutine, long‐distance movements by golden eagles at small, local scales but found little evidence of such correlates at larger, regional scales. Most long‐distance movements we documented fit patterns associated with traditional definitions of prospecting and nomadism but not migration. Our study is the first to describe these movement types by golden eagles, and as such provides a foundation for subsequent study into the movement ecology of other species.
Background: Anal intra‐epithelial neoplasia (AIN) is believed to be a precursor to squamous cell carcinoma of the anus. The risk of developing anal cancer in patients with AIN, although known to ...occur, has been thought to be relatively low. This study reviews our experience with AIN, reviewing the incidence and risk factors for development of invasive malignancy and the outcome of present management strategies.
Methods: This study examined a cohort of 72 patients identified from a prospective database with AIN from a single institution between January 1996 and December 2004. A single pathologist examined all pathological specimens.
Results: There were 72 patients (52 women) and the median age was 49 years (range, 18–81 years). We identified progression of AIN to invasive malignancy in eight patients despite undergoing surveillance. Regression following treatment or biopsy was seen in 25 patients. Four patients required stomas for incontinence following treatment.
Conclusion: This study has shown a high rate of progression to invasive malignancy (11%) with AIN despite surveillance. The patients at risk of developing squamous cell carcinoma were the immunocompromised and those with genital intra‐epithelial field change. Treatment of AIN has significant complications and despite treatment, invasive cancers do occur. Decisions made for treatment of AIN can affect treatment choices if invasive malignancy develops.
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