Review of diagnostic,prognostic, and predictive biomarkers in melanoma

Melanoma is an aggressive cutaneous malignancy with rapidly rising incidence. Diagnosis of controversial melanocytic lesions, correct prognostication of patients, selection of appropriate adjuvant and systemic therapies, and prediction of response to a given therapy remain very real challenges. Despite these challenges, multiple high throughput, nucleic-acid based biomarkers have been developed that can be assayed from histologic tissue specimens. FISH, CGH, Decision-Dx, and other multi-marker assays have been combined to improve overall predictability. This review discusses some of the most promising nucleic acid based assays that can be obtained from tissue specimens to assist with diagnosis, prognostication, and prediction of treatment response.     

Monkey Bites among US Military Members, Afghanistan, 2011

Bites from Macaca mulatta monkeys, native to Afghanistan, can cause serious infections. To determine risk for US military members in Afghanistan, we reviewed records for September–December 2011. Among 126 animal bites and exposures, 10 were monkey bites. Command emphasis is vital for preventing monkey bites; provider training and bite reporting promote postexposure treatment.     

The Role of Impulsivity, Sensation Seeking, Coping, and Year of Study in Student Gambling: A Pilot Study

Students are among the most prevalent gamblers with the highest incidence of problem gambling. Furthermore, research into gambling has noted certain personality traits and coping mechanisms to be highly predictive of gambling in student populations. The present study examined the role of impulsivity, sensation seeking, coping strategies, and year of study in predicting gambling frequency in students. An opportunity sample of 109 university students (53 first year students and 56 final year students) were administered a survey including the Arnett Inventory of Sensation Seeking, the Barrett Impulsiveness Scale, and the Student Coping Scale. The results indicated that impulsivity and being in the first year of study were significantly predictive of gambling frequency. The findings suggest the importance of personality traits, the year of study, and specific coping mechanisms in understanding motivations to gamble. The findings particularly suggest the importance of providing gambling educational awareness among first year students.     

Reproduction, social behavior, and aging trajectories in honeybee workers

While a negative correlation between reproduction and life span is commonly observed, specialized reproductive individuals outlive their non-reproductive nestmates in all eusocial species, including the honeybee, Apis mellifera (L). The consequences of reproduction for individual life expectancy can be studied directly by comparing reproductive and non-reproductive workers. We quantified the life span consequences of reproduction in honeybee workers by removal of the queen to trigger worker reproduction. Furthermore, we observed the social behavior of large cohorts of workers under experimental and control conditions to test for associations with individual life expectancy. Worker life expectancy was moderately increased by queen removal. Queenless colonies contained a few long-lived workers, and oviposition behavior was associated with a strong reduction in mortality risk, indicating that a reproductive role confers a significant survival advantage. This finding is further substantiated by an association between brood care behavior and worker longevity that depends on the social environment. In contrast, other in-hive activities, such as fanning, trophallaxis, and allogrooming did not consistently affect worker life expectancy. The influence of foraging varied among replicates. An earlier age of transitioning from in-hive tasks to outside foraging was always associated with shorter life spans, in accordance with previous studies. In sum, our studies quantify how individual mortality is affected by particular social roles and colony environments and demonstrate interactions between the two. The exceptional, positive association between reproduction and longevity in honeybees extends to within-caste plasticity, which may be exploited for mechanistic studies.     

Beta-adrenergic receptor activation primes microglia cytokine production

Exaggerated pro-inflammatory cytokine production by primed microglia is thought to mediate pathology during stress, aging, and neurodegeneration. Recently, it was demonstrated that beta-adrenergic receptor (β-AR) antagonism prevents priming of microglia in mice exposed to chronic stress. To determine if β-AR stimulation is sufficient to prime microglia, rats were intra-cerebroventricularly administered isoproterenol (β-AR agonist) or vehicle and 24 h later hippocampal microglia were placed in culture with media or LPS. Prior isoproterenol treatment significantly enhanced IL-1β and IL-6, but not TNF-α production following LPS stimulation. These data suggest that central β-AR stimulation is sufficient to prime microglia cytokine responses.