A solitary chest wall metastasis from unknown primary hepatocellular carcinoma

We report a 61-year-old male smoker who was admitted to our hospital for treatment of a moderately growing tumour on the right anterolateral chest wall causing chest pain during coughing. Chest computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging showed a 55 x 50 mm inhomogeneous mass around the 4th rib but not penetrating the subcutis and lung. Neither a preoperative technetium scintigraphy nor a needle biopsy revealed the primary nature of the tumour. The patient was treated with en bloc resection and partial resection of the adjacent 3rd and 4th rib. The frozen section diagnosis confirmed a metastasis from a primary hepatocellular carcinoma.     

The glycine neurotransmitter transporter GLYT1 is an organic osmolyte transporter regulating cell volume in cleavage-stage embryos

Cells subjected to sustained high osmolarity almost universally respond by accumulating compatible organic osmolytes that, in contrast to inorganic ions, are not deleterious even at high intracellular concentrations. Their accumulation from the external environment by known organic osmolyte transporters, such as the four identified in mammals, occurs only slowly in response to sustained high osmolarity, by synthesis of new transporter proteins. Most cells, however, are not subject to high or varying osmolarity, and it is not clear whether organic osmolytes are generally required at normal osmolarities or how they are regulated. The fertilized egg of the mouse is protected in the oviduct from perturbations in osmolarity. However, deleterious effects of osmotic stress were evident in vitro even at normal oviductal osmolarity. Glycine was found to protect development, indicating that early mouse embryos may use glycine as an organic osmolyte at physiological osmolarity. We have now found that GLYT1, a glycine transporter of the neurotransmitter transporter gene family, functions as the organic osmolyte transporter that mediates the osmotically regulated accumulation of glycine and regulates cell volume in early embryos. Furthermore, osmotic stimulation of GLYT1 transport was immediate, without a requirement for protein synthesis, implying regulation different from known organic osmolyte transporters. Thus, GLYT1 appears to have a previously unidentified role as an organic osmolyte transporter that functions in acute organic osmolyte and volume homeostasis near normal osmolarity.     

A set of microsatellite markers for the threatened Murray hardyhead,Craterocephalus fluviatilis (Pisces: Atherinidae) from the southern Murray–Darling Basin

A new set of 16 microsatellite markers was isolated and characterized for the threatened Australian freshwater fish Murray hardyhead Craterocephalus fluviatilis (Atherinidae) using a next generation sequencing approach. Seventy-eight fish from wild and captive populations were genotyped at all markers. All markers were polymorphic, with average allelic diversity of 5.7 and heterozygosity of 0.46. These markers will benefit substantially the ongoing conservation program of a critically endangered lineage of C. fluviatilis that includes captive breeding, relatedness and paternity analyses, reintroduction, and landscape genetics.     

Does the microbiome play a causal role in spondyloarthritis?

The purpose of this study is to review the potential causal role of the microbiome in the pathogenesis of spondyloarthritis. The method used for the study is literature review. The microbiome plays a major role in educating the immune response. The microbiome is strongly implicated in inflammatory bowel disease which has clinical and genetic overlap with spondyloarthritis. The microbiome also plays a causal role in bowel and joint disease in HLA B27/human beta 2 microglobulin transgenic rats. The mechanism(s) by which HLA B27 could influence the microbiome is unknown but theories include an immune response gene selectivity, an effect on dendritic cell function, or a mucosal immunodeficiency. Bacteria are strongly implicated in the pathogenesis of spondyloarthritis. Studies to understand how HLA B27 affects bacterial ecosystems should be encouraged.     

Early life adversity and depressive symptoms predict cortisol in pregnancy

Archives of Women's Mental Health - Evidence suggests that exposure to early life adversity (ELA) programs the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis to influence responses to later...     

Medically Assisted Dying and Suicide: How Are They Different,and How Are They Similar?

The practice of medically assisted dying has long been contentious, and the question of what to call it has become increasingly contentious as well. Particularly among U.S. proponents of legalizing the practice, there has been a growing push away from calling it “physician-assisted suicide,” with assertions that medically assisted dying is fundamentally different from suicide. Digging deeper into this claim about difference leads to an examination of the difference between two kinds of suffering—suffering from physical conditions and suffering from psychological conditions—and therefore leads also toward an examination of whether requests for medical assistance in dying by those suffering from psychological conditions and those suffering from physical conditions should be painted with the same brush. In this article, I aim both to illuminate some of the considerations that ought to be included in discussions related to medically assisted dying and to shed light on what the indirect effects of such discussions can be. I consider some of the reasons commonly given for holding that suicide and medically assisted dying differ fundamentally and then whether the conclusion that medically assisted dying should not be called “suicide” follows from the premises. I ask what else might justify the conclusion that the two acts ought to be called by different names, and I examine possible justifications for accepting this premise, as well as what justifications might exist for emphasizing how the acts are alike. Finally, I argue that we should be cautious before concluding that medically assisted dying should not be called “suicide.” We need more evidence either that the two acts are fundamentally different or that emphasizing differences between them is not likely to do more harm than good.     

Application of the “risk of ambulatory disability” (RoAD) score in a “real‐world” single‐center multiple sclerosis cohort

Survival analysis of reaching EDSS ≥4.0 based on RoAD score ≥4 (dashed line) and <4 (solid line) by Cox regression analysis. (A) Unadjusted regression analysis. (B) Regression controlled for sex and immunotherapy groups, and the trajectory of treatment changes during follow‐up.