Prostatic-specific antigen density behavior according to multiparametric magnetic resonance imaging result

OBJECTIVE

To analyze prostatic-specific antigen density (PSAD) according to the Prostate Imaging Reporting and Data System (PIRADSv.2) score, in order to determine how it should be used.

METHODS

This correlative series considered 952 men with prostatic-specific antigen >3 ng/ml and/or abnormal digital rectal examination who were subjected to prostatic biopsy (PB) between 2016 and 2017. Of these men, 768 had no previous 5-α-reductase inhibitor use or history of prostate cancer (CaP) and had previously undergone 3-T multiparametric magnetic resonance imaging (mpMRI). In this sample, 549 men were biopsy-naïve and 219 had at least 1 previous negative PB. A 12-core transrectal ultrasound-guided PB was performed in all participants, as well as at least 2-core targeted biopsies of every detected lesion with a PIRADSv.2 score ≥3. Significant CaP (sCaP) was defined as an International Society of Uropathologist grade >1 or tumor length >4 mm.

RESULTS

The overall CaP detection was 41.7%, with sCaP detected in 37.4%. sCaP was detected in 4.3% of PIRADSv.2 <3, 21.5% of PIRADSv.2 =3, 56.6% of PIRADSv.2 =4, and 78.5% of PIRADSv.2 =5, (P < 0.001). Insignificant CaP detection ranged from 6.5% to 1.5% respectively (P = 0.099). PSAD was an independent predictor of sCaP (odds ratios 1.971, 95% confidence interval [1.633, 2.378], P <0.001) and mpMRI (OR 3.179, 95%CI [2.593, 4.950], P < 0.001). Age (P = 0.013), family history of CaP (P = 0.021), and the type of PB (initial vs. repeated, P < 0.001) were also independent predictors of sCaP. PSAD was determined by PIRADSv.2 (P = 0.013) and the presence of sCaP (P < 0.001). PSAD increased with PIRADSv.2 score, even in men with CaP (P < 0.001) and slightly in men without CaP (P = 0.019). The area under the curve for mpMRI increased from 0.830 to 0.869 when PSAD was associated, (P < 0.001). The area under the curve of PSAD decreased from 0.727 in men with a PIRADSv.2 score <3 to 0.706 in those with a score of 5.

CONCLUSIONS

The efficacy of PSAD to detect sCaP decreases with PIRADSv.2. Predictors other than mpMRI and PSAD exist. Considering these conditions, independent predictors should be integrated in a nomogram and risk-calculator to personalize PB recommendation.

Effect of a gradually increasing temperature on the behavioural and physiological response of juvenile Hippocampus erectus: Thermal preference, tolerance, energy balance and growth

The physiological and behavioural responses of ectotherms to temperature is strongly dependent on the individuals' previous thermal history. Laboratory based studies investigating the mechanisms of thermoregulation in marine ectotherms, however, rarely consider key temporal elements of thermal exposure, such as the rate at which temperature changes. We tested the hypothesis that juvenile seahorses, Hippocampus erectus, from a tropical coastal lagoon in Yucatan, Mexico, would exhibit variations in physiological and behavioural descriptors of thermoregulation when submitted to contrasting regimes during 30 days: temperature constant at 25 °C (C 25); gradually increasing 1 °C every 5 days from 25 to 30 °C (GI 25-30); and constant at 30 °C (C 30). Immediately after exposure, critical maximum temperature, thermal preference, oxygen consumption, partial energy balance, growth rate and survival of seahorses were measured. Seahorses exposed to GI 25-30 showed a significantly higher critical thermal maxima (37.8 ± 0.9 °C), preference (28.7 ± 0.4 °C), growth (1.10 ± 0.49%) and survival (97.6%) than those exposed to C 30 (36.5 ± 1, 29.4 ± 0.3 °C, 0.48 ± 0.32%, 73.8%, respectively). Both high temperature regimes induced metabolic depression, but ramping resulted in a greater amount of energy assimilated (278.9 ± 175.4 J g^-1 day^-1) and higher energy efficiency for growth (89.8%) than constant exposure to 30 °C (115.4 ± 63.4 J g^-1 day^-1, 65.3%, respectively). Gradually increasing temperature allowed physiological mechanisms of thermal adjustment to take place, reflecting the capacity of juvenile H. erectus to respond to environmental change. Despite its advantage, this capacity is limited in time, since the cumulative effect of thermal exposure affected metabolic performance, eventually compromising survival. The study of seahorse response to thermal variations in the context of ocean warming needs to consider the temporal elements of thermal exposure to foresee its vulnerability under future scenarios.

Sphenopalatine Ganglion Stimulation to Augment Cerebral Blood Flow

Background and Purpose—

Many patients with acute ischemic stroke are not eligible for thrombolysis or mechanical reperfusion therapies due to contraindications, inaccessible vascular occlusions, late presentation, or large infarct core. Sphenopalatine ganglion (SPG) stimulation to enhance collateral flow and stabilize the blood-brain barrier offers an alternative, potentially more widely deliverable, therapy.

Methods—

In a randomized, sham-controlled, double-masked trial at 41 centers in 7 countries, patients with anterior circulation ischemic stroke not treated with reperfusion therapies within 24 hours of onset were randomly allocated to active SPG stimulation or sham control. The primary efficacy outcome was improvement beyond expectations on the modified Rankin Scale of global disability at 90 days (sliding dichotomy), assessed in the modified intention-to-treat population. The initial planned sample size was 660 patients, but the trial was stopped early when technical improvements in device placement occurred, so that analysis of accumulated experience could be conducted to inform a successor trial.

Results—

Among 303 enrolled patients, 253 received at least one active SPG or sham stimulation, constituting the modified intention-to-treat population (153 SPG stimulation and 100 sham control). Age was median 73 years (interquartile range, 64–79), 52.6% were female, deficit severity on the National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale was median 11 (interquartile range, 9–15), and time from last known well median 18.6 hours (interquartile range, 14.5–22.5). For the primary outcome, improved 3-month disability beyond expectations, rates in the SPG versus sham treatment groups were 49.7% versus 40.0%; odds ratio, 1.48 (95% CI, 0.89–2.47); P =0.13. A significant treatment interaction with stroke location (cortical versus noncortical) was noted, P =0.04. In the 87 patients with confirmed cortical involvement, rates of improvement beyond expectations were 50.0% versus 27.0%; odds ratio, 2.70 (95% CI, 1.08–6.73); P =0.03. Similar response patterns were observed for all prespecified secondary efficacy outcomes. No differences in mortality or serious adverse event safety end points were observed.

Conclusions—

SPG stimulation within 24 hours of onset is safe in acute ischemic stroke. SPG stimulation was not shown to statistically significantly improve 3-month disability above expectations, though favorable outcomes were nominally higher with SPG stimulation. Beneficial effects may distinctively be conferred in patients with confirmed cortical involvement. The results of this study need to be confirmed in a larger pivotal study.

Clinical Trial Registration—

URL: https://www.clinicaltrials.gov . Unique identifier: NCT03767192.

Social Data: Biases, Methodological Pitfalls, and Ethical Boundaries

Social data in digital form-including user-generated content, expressed or implicit relations between people, and behavioral traces-are at the core of popular applications and platforms, driving the research agenda of many researchers. The promises of social data are many, including understanding "what the world thinks" about a social issue, brand, celebrity, or other entity, as well as enabling better decision-making in a variety of fields including public policy, healthcare, and economics. Many academics and practitioners have warned against the naïve usage of social data. There are biases and inaccuracies occurring at the source of the data, but also introduced during processing. There are methodological limitations and pitfalls, as well as ethical boundaries and unexpected consequences that are often overlooked. This paper recognizes the rigor with which these issues are addressed by different researchers varies across a wide range. We identify a variety of menaces in the practices around social data use, and organize them in a framework that helps to identify them. "For your own sanity, you have to remember that not all problems can be solved. Not all problems can be solved, but all problems can be illuminated." -Ursula Franklin.

Positive selection at sites of chemosensory genes is associated with the recent divergence and local ecological adaptation in cactophilic Drosophila

Background

Adaptation to new hosts in phytophagous insects often involves mechanisms of host recognition by genes of sensory pathways. Most often the molecular evolution of sensory genes has been explained in the context of the birth-and-death model. The role of positive selection is less understood, especially associated with host adaptation and specialization. Here we aim to contribute evidence for this latter hypothesis by considering the case of Drosophila mojavensis, a species with an evolutionary history shaped by multiple host shifts in a relatively short time scale, and its generalist sister species, D. arizonae.

Results

We used a phylogenetic and population genetic analysis framework to test for positive selection in a subset of four chemoreceptor genes, one gustatory receptor (Gr) and three odorant receptors (Or), for which their expression has been previously associated with host shifts. We found strong evidence of positive selection at several amino acid sites in all genes investigated, most of which exhibited changes predicted to cause functional effects in these transmembrane proteins. A significant portion of the sites identified as evolving positively were largely found in the cytoplasmic region, although a few were also present in the extracellular domains.

Conclusions

The pattern of substitution observed suggests that some of these changes likely had an effect on signal transduction as well as odorant recognition and protein-protein interactions. These findings support the role of positive selection in shaping the pattern of variation at chemosensory receptors, both during the specialization onto one or a few related hosts, but as well as during the evolution and adaptation of generalist species into utilizing several hosts.

Electronic supplementary material

The online version of this article (10.1186/s12862-018-1250-x) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Chimeric yellow fever 17D-Zika virus (ChimeriVax-Zika) as a live-attenuated Zika virus vaccine

Zika virus (ZIKV) is an emerging mosquito-borne pathogen representing a global health concern. It has been linked to fetal microcephaly and other birth defects and neurological disorders in adults. Sanofi Pasteur has engaged in the development of an inactivated ZIKV vaccine, as well as a live chimeric vaccine candidate ChimeriVax-Zika (CYZ) that could become a preferred vaccine depending on future ZIKV epidemiology. This report focuses on the CYZ candidate that was constructed by replacing the pre-membrane and envelope (prM-E) genes in the genome of live attenuated yellow fever 17D vaccine virus (YF 17D) with those from ZIKV yielding a viable CYZ chimeric virus. The replication rate of CYZ in the Vero cell substrate was increased by using a hybrid YF 17D-ZIKV signal sequence for the prM protein. CYZ was highly attenuated both in mice and in human in vitro models (human neuroblastoma and neuronal progenitor cells), without the need for additional attenuating modifications. It exhibited significantly reduced viral loads in organs compared to a wild-type ZIKV and a complete lack of neuroinvasion following inoculation of immunodeficient A129 mice. A single dose of CYZ elicited high titers of ZIKV-specific neutralizing antibodies in both immunocompetent and A129 mice and protected animals from ZIKV challenge. The data indicate that CYZ is a promising vaccine candidate against ZIKV.

Usefulness of PSA Density and PSA Excess in the Differential Diagnosis between Prostate Cancer and Benign Prostatic Hypertrophy

The usefulness of PSA density (PSAD) was evaluated in relation to the volume of the transitional zone (PSAT) and PSA excess. With this purpose we conducted a study including 27 patients diagnosed as having prostatic cancer (PC) and 46 patients with benign prostatic hypertrophy (BPH). In all of them, the PSA concentration in the serum was determined as well as the total prostatic volume and the transitional zone volume; digital rectal examination (DRE) was also performed. The major diagnostic efficacy was obtained with the excess of PSA (73%, cutoff = -13 ng/ml), followed by DRE (68%), PSAT (64%, cutoff = 0.5), PSAD (64%, cutoff = 0.2), and lastly PSA and ultrasonography (60%). Multivariate analysis (logistic regression) demonstrated PSA excess and DRE to be the best predictors. The model obtained by regression shows the best positive predictive value, and PSA excess the best negative predictive value. Consequently, PSA excess could be relevant in prostate cancer diagnosis.

Upconversion thermometry: a new tool to measure the thermal resistance of nanoparticles

The rapid evolution in luminescence thermometry in the last few years gradually shifted the research from the fabrication of more sensitive nanoarchitectures towards the use of the technique as a tool for thermal bioimaging and for the unveiling of properties of the thermometers themselves and of their local surroundings, for example to evaluate heat transport at unprecedented small scales. In this work, we demonstrated that KLu(WO4)2:Ho3+,Tm3+ nanoparticles are able to combine controllable heat release and upconversion thermometry permitting to estimate its thermal resistance (in air), a key parameter to model the heat transfer at the nanoscale.

Intramuscular delivery of replication-defective herpes simplex virus gives antigen expression in muscle syncytia and improved protection against pathogenic HSV-2 strains

Herpes simplex virus 2 (HSV-2) is the leading cause of genital herpes and increases the risk of HIV infection, but there is no effective vaccine. A replication-defective HSV-2 mutant virus, dl5-29, is effective in animal models and has been in a phase I trial. Previous studies have shown that dl5-29 gives higher antibody responses and better protection when inoculated intramuscularly (IM) as compared with subcutaneously (SC). However, the basis for this effect has not been defined. We confirmed that IM inoculation of dl5-29 is more immunogenic and provides better protection than SC inoculation. IM inoculation of HSV-2 strains produced higher levels of a luciferase transgene than SC inoculation, as measured by intravital bioluminescence imaging. Intramuscular immunization also showed better protection against infection with a highly pathogenic African HSV-2, demonstrating that this single vaccine can be efficacious against HSV-2 strains from different geographic regions.

Accuracy and Mechanistic Details of Optical Printing of Single Au and Ag Nanoparticles

Optical printing is a powerful all-optical method that allows the incorporation of colloidal nanoparticles (NPs) onto substrates with nanometric precision. Here, we present a systematic study of the accuracy of optical printing of Au and Ag NPs, using different laser powers and wavelengths. When using light of wavelength tuned to the localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) of the NPs, the accuracy improves as the laser power is reduced, whereas for wavelengths off the LSPR, the accuracy is independent of the laser power. Complementary studies of the printing times of the NPs reveal the roles of Brownian and deterministic motion. Calculated trajectories of the NPs, taking into account the interplay between optical forces, electrostatic forces, and Brownian motion, allowed us to rationalize the experimental results and gain a detailed insight into the mechanism of the printing process. A clear framework is laid out for future optimizations of optical printing and optical manipulation of NPs near substrates.

Search Result Prefetching on Desktop and Mobile

Search result examination is an important part of searching. High page load latency for landing pages (clicked search results) can reduce the efficiency of the search process. Proactively prefetching landing pages in advance of clickthrough can save searchers valuable time. However, prefetching consumes resources (primarily bandwidth and battery) that are wasted unless the prefetched results are requested by searchers. Balancing the costs in prefetching particular results against the benefits in reduced latency to searchers represents the search result prefetching challenge. In this article, we introduce this challenge and present methods to address it in both desktop and mobile settings. Our methods leverage searchers’ cursor movements (on desktop) and viewport-based viewing behavior (on mobile) on search engine result pages (SERPs) in real time to dynamically estimate the result that searchers will request next. We demonstrate through large-scale log analysis that our approach significantly outperforms three strong baselines that prefetch results based on (i) the search engine result ranking (prefetch top-ranked results), (ii) past SERP clicks from all searchers for the query (prefetch popular results), or (iii) past SERP clicks from the current searcher for the query (prefetch results that the searcher prefers). Our promising findings have implications for the design of search support in desktop and mobile settings that makes the search process more efficient.

Production of immunogenic West Nile virus-like particles using a herpes simplex virus 1 recombinant vector

West Nile virus (WNV) is a flavivirus that swept rapidly across North America in 1999, declined in prevalence, and then resurged in 2012. To date, no vaccine is available to prevent infection in the human population. Herpes simplex virus (HSV) replication-defective vaccine vectors induce a durable immunity characterized by strong antibody and CD8(+) T cell responses even in HSV-immune animals. In this study, a WNV protein expression cassette was optimized for virus-like particle (VLP) production in transfection studies, and the cassette was recombined into an HSV-1 d106-WNV virus vector, which produced extracellular VLPs, as confirmed by immunoelectron microscopy. Immunization of mice with the d106-WNV recombinant vector elicited a specific anti-WNV IgG response. This study highlights the flavivirus coding sequences needed for efficient assembly of virus-like particles. This information will facilitate generation of additional vaccine vectors against other flaviviruses including the recently emerged Zika virus.

Report on the SIGIR 2015 Workshop on Reproducibility, Inexplicability, and Generalizability of Results (RIGOR)

The SIGIR 2015 Workshop on Reproducibility, Inexplicability, and Generalizability of Results (RIGOR) took place on Thursday, August 13, 2015 in Santiago, Chile. The goal of the workshop was two fold. The first to provide a venue for the publication and presentation of negative results. The second was to provide a venue through which the authors of open source search engines could compare performance of indexing and searching on the same collections and on the same machines - encouraging the sharing of ideas and discoveries in a like-to-like environment. In total three papers were presented and seven systems participated.