Iron Homeostasis in Rice: Deficit and Excess

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, India Section B: Biological Sciences - Rice is the major food crop grown in all over the world mitigating 60–70% requirement of calories....     

Catheter‐directed thrombolysis for submassive pulmonary embolism in children: A case series

Incidence of venous thromboembolism, including pulmonary embolism (PE), continues to rise in children. Optimum management of submassive PE is unclear. The principal objective of this retrospective study was to investigate the radiological and clinical outcomes in children with submassive PE treated with catheter‐directed thrombolysis (CDT). Five patients underwent six episodes of CDT. No patient developed major/clinically relevant non‐major bleeding. Most patients had complete radiological thrombus resolution and no patient had evidence of chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension. There is an urgent need for larger prospective cohort studies/randomized controlled trials to investigate the role of CDT in pediatric PE.     

Prognostic and predictive significance of nuclear HIF1α expression in locally advanced HNSCC patients treated with chemoradiation with or without nimotuzumab

Background Anti-EGFR-based therapies have limited success in HNSCC patients. Predictive biomarkers are greatly needed to identify the patients likely to be benefited from these targeted therapies. Here, we present the prognostic and predictive association of biomarkers in HPV-negative locally advanced (LA) HNSCC patients.Methods Treatment-naive tumour tissue samples of 404 patients, a subset of randomised Phase 3 trial comparing cisplatin radiation (CRT) versus nimotuzumab plus cisplatin radiation (NCRT) were analysed to evaluate the expression of HIF1α, EGFR and pEGFR by immunohistochemistry and EGFR gene copy change by FISH. Progression-free survival (PFS), locoregional control (LRC) and overall survival (OS) were estimated by Kaplan–Meier method. Hazard ratios were estimated by Cox proportional hazard models.Results Baseline characteristics of the patients were balanced between two treatment groups (CRT vs NCRT) and were representative of the trial cohort. The median follow-up was of 39.13 months. Low HIF1α was associated with better PFS [HR (95% CI) = 0.62 (0.42–0.93)], LRC [HR (95% CI) = 0.56 (0.37–0.86)] and OS [HR (95% CI) = 0.63 (0.43–0.93)] in the CRT group. Multivariable analysis revealed HIF1α as an independent negative prognostic biomarker. For patients with high HIF1α, NCRT significantly improved the outcomes [PFS:HR (95% CI) = 0.55 (0.37–0.82), LRC:HR (95% CI) = 0.55 (0.36–0.85) and OS:HR (95% CI) = 0.54 (0.36–0.81)] compared to CRT. While in patients with low HIF1α, no difference in the clinical outcomes was observed between treatments. Interaction test suggested a predictive value of HIF1α for OS (P = 0.008).Conclusions High HIF1α expression is a predictor of poor clinical response to CRT in HPV-negative LA-HNSCC patients. These patients with high HIF1α significantly benefited with the addition of nimotuzumab to CRT.Clinical trial registration Registered with the Clinical Trial Registry of India (Trial registration identifier—CTRI/2014/09/004980).Subject terms: Tumour biomarkers, Head and neck cancer, Tumour biomarkers, Head and neck cancer, Predictive markers     

Synchronous Jejunal Metastasis Presenting as Intussusception in a Case of Advanced RCC: a Rare Presentation

Renal cell carcinoma (RCC) may metastasize to almost any organ, but metastasis to the small bowel is very rare. Factors responsible for a resistant behavior of small bowel wall are still not clear. Small bowel metastasis from RCC may cause obstruction, bleeding, and perforation. RCC metastasis to the small bowel presenting as intussusception is extremely rare. Only 20 cases of small bowel intussusceptions caused by metastatic RCC have been reported worldwide. Here, we are reporting this rare case of RCC with simultaneous solitary metastasis in jejunum which presented as intussusceptions and which was treated with simultaneous radical nephrectomy, jejunal resection, and anastomosis.