Impact of age on risk of complications after gastric bypass: A cohort study from the Scandinavian Obesity Surgery Registry (SOReg)

Background

An increasing number of older patients undergo bariatric surgery.

Loss of heterozygosity in human ductal breast tumors indicates a recessive mutation on chromosome 13.

The genotypes at chromosomal loci defined by recombinant DNA probes revealing restriction fragment length polymorphisms were determined in constitutional and tumor tissue from 10 cases of ductal breast cancer: eight premenopausal females and two males. Somatic loss of constitutional heterozygosity was observed at loci on chromosome 13 in primary tumor tissue from three females and one male. In two cases, specific loss of heterozygosity at three distinct genetic loci along the length of the chromosome was observed. In another case, concurrent loss of alleles at loci on chromosomes 2, 13, 14, and 20 was detected, whereas a fourth case showed loss of heterozygosity for chromosomes 5 and 13. In each instance, the data were consistent with loss of one of the homologous chromosomes by mitotic nondisjunction. Analysis of loci on several other chromosomes showed retention of constitutional heterozygosity suggesting the relative specificity of the events. In contrast, similar analyses of other breast cancers, including comedocarcinoma, medullary carcinoma, and juvenile secretory carcinoma, showed no loss of alleles at loci on chromosome 13. These data indicate that the pathogenesis of ductal breast cancer may, in a substantial proportion of cases, involve unmasking of a recessive locus on chromosome 13 and suggest the involvement of such a locus in heritable forms of this disease.     

Two decades after legislation on identifiable donors in Sweden: are recipient couples ready to be open about using gamete donation?

BACKGROUND Two decades after the introduction of Swedish legislation that allows children born as a result of gamete donation access to identifying information about the donor, a nationwide multicentre study on the psychosocial consequences of this legislation for recipients and donors of gametes was initiated in 2005. The aim of the present study was to investigate recipient couples' attitudes and behaviour regarding disclosure to offspring and others, attitudes towards genetic parenthood and perceptions of information regarding parenthood after donation. METHODS The present study is part of the prospective longitudinal 'Swedish study on gamete donation', including all fertility clinics performing donation treatment in Sweden. A consecutive cohort of 152 heterosexual recipient couples of donated oocytes (72% response) and 127 heterosexual recipient couples of donated sperm (81% response) accepted participation in the study. In connection with the donation treatment, male and female participants individually completed two questionnaires with study-specific instruments concerning disclosure, genetic parenthood and informational aspects. RESULTS About 90% of participants (in couples receiving anonymous donated gametes) supported disclosure and openness to the offspring concerning his/her genetic origin. Only 6% of all participants had not told other people about their donation treatment. Between 26 and 40% of participants wanted additional information/support about parenthood following donation treatment. CONCLUSIONS Two decades after the Swedish legislation of identifiable gamete donors, recipient couples of anonymously donated sperm and oocytes are relatively open about their treatment and support disclosure to offspring. Recipient couples may benefit from more information and support regarding parenthood after gamete donation. Further studies are required to follow-up on the future parents' actual disclosure behaviour directed to offspring.     

Performance and clinical utility of a novel fully automated quantitative HCV-core antigen assay

BackgroundRecently, a novel quantitative HCVcoreAg immunoassay developed for commercialisation by Abbott has become available in Europe and Asia.ObjectivesWe evaluated the correlation of HCV-RNA and HCVcoreAg and investigated the stability of HCVcoreAg and HCV-RNA.Study designHCVcoreAg was quantified by a novel fully automated immunoassay (Architect HCVAg, Abbott, Germany). HCV-RNA quantification was performed either using the Cobas-TaqMan assay or Amplicor-HCV-Monitor (Roche-Diagnostics, Germany). Correlation of HCVcoreAg with HCV-RNA was studied cross-sectionally and longitudinally in untreated patients followed for up to 8 years. Stability of HCVcoreAg and HCV-RNA was evaluated in plasma and whole blood stored for up to 96 h at different conditions.ResultsHCVcoreAg showed good correlation with HCV-RNA in all 118 cross-sectional tested samples irrespective of the HCV genotype (r = 0.75). In the majority but not all of the 10 longitudinally studied patients HCVcoreAg also demonstrated a good correlation with HCV-RNA. HCVcoreAg was stable in plasma at 4, 20, and 37 °C for up to 96 h, whereas HCV-RNA significantly declined at 37 °C. In whole blood, HCVcoreAg and HCV-RNA levels declined at all conditions with exception of HCVcoreAg at 37 °C. HCVcoreAg was stable after 1–5 freezing/thawing cycles and not light-sensitive.ConclusionsHCVcoreAg represents a stable and reliable marker of viral replication showing a good correlation with HCV-RNA irrespective of the HCV genotype. HCVcoreAg determination can be used to confirm viral replication and monitor viral load or acquisition of HCV over time.     

18F-FDG-PET/CT to Select Patients with Peritoneal Carcinomatosis for Cytoreductive Surgery and Hyperthermic Intraperitoneal Chemotherapy

Background

Cytoreductive surgery followed by hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy (HIPEC) is associated with significantly longer survival in patients with peritoneal carcinomatosis (PC). So far, no morphological imaging method has proven to accurately assess the intra-abdominal tumor spread. This study was designed to predict tumor load in patients with PC using dual-modality ¹⁸FDG-PET/CT and to compare the results with those of PET and CT alone by correlating imaging findings with intraoperative staging.

Methods

Twenty-two patients with PC from gastrointestinal (n = 13), ovarian cancer (n = 8), and mesothelioma (n = 1) underwent contrast-enhanced ¹⁸FDG-PET/CT before surgery and HIPEC. In a retrospective analysis PET, CT, and fused PET/CT were separately and blindly reviewed for the extent of peritoneal involvement using the Peritoneal Cancer Index (PCI). Imaging results were correlated with the intraoperative PCI using Pearson’s correlation coefficient and linear regression analysis.

Results

There was a strong correlation between the PCI obtained with PET/CT and the surgical PCI with respect to the total score (r = 0.951) as well as in the regional analysis (small bowel, r = 0.838; other, r = 0.703). The correlation was slightly lower for CT alone (total score, r = 0.919; small bowel, r = 0.754; other, r = 0.666) and significantly lower (p = 0.002) for PET alone (total score, r = 0.793; small bowel, r = 0.553, other, 0.507).

Conclusions

Contrast-enhanced CT is superior compared with PET alone to predict the extent of PC. In our patient group, the combination of both modalities (contrast enhanced PET/CT) yielded the best results and proved to be a useful tool for selecting candidates for peritonectomy and HIPEC.     

Alcohol selectively reduces brain activity during the affective processing of negative information

BACKGROUND: Although it has frequently been suggested that alcohol influences emotions such as anxiety and fear through the modulation of affective information processing, few studies addressed this topic using objective measures. OBJECTIVES: The acute effects of alcohol on affective processing of pictorial stimuli were investigated using electrophysiological measures. METHODS: Event-related brain potentials (ERP) resulting from watching pleasant, unpleasant, and neutral pictures were investigated in a group of participants receiving a beverage containing a moderate dose of alcohol (n=26) and a group of participants receiving a nonalcoholic placebo beverage (n=24). Both early [early posterior negativity (EPN)] and late [late positive potential (LPP)] ERP components were employed as index of emotional processing. RESULTS: The results show that alcohol reduced brain activity during watching unpleasant information in a late stage (700-1000 ms). This suggests that alcohol selectively influences the processing of unpleasant information. CONCLUSIONS: The findings are in concordance with theories linking alcohol administration to decreased processing of affective information. The results are discussed in the context of the role of the effect of alcohol on affective information processing, and its relevance to alcoholism.