Cancer-associated fibroblasts in colorectal cancer

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is one of the leading causes of mortality among cancers. Many aspects of this cancer are under investigation to find established markers of diagnosis, prognosis, and also potential drug targets. In this review article, we are going to discuss the possible solution to all these aims by investigating the literature about cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs) involved in CRC. Moreover, we are going to review their interaction with the tumor microenvironment (TME) and vitamin D and their role in tumorigenesis and metastasis. Moreover, we are going to expand more on some markers produced by them or related to them including FAP, a-SMA, CXCL12, TGF- β, POSTN, and β1-Integrin. Some signaling pathways related to CAFs are as follows: FAK, AKT, activin A, and YAP/TAZ. Some genes related to the CAFs which are found to be possible therapeutic targets include COL3A1, JAM3, AEBP1 and, CAF-derived TGFB3, WNT2, and WNT54.

O-139 Complete removal of uterine septum tissue as a wedge, an alternative method for patients suffering from recurrent pregnancy loss or infertility, a retrospective cohort study

Study question

Is hysteroscopic wedge septectomy (HWS) an effective and safe method for reducing the risk of miscarriage and improving the reproductive outcome in patients with recurrent pregnancy loss or infertility history?

Summary answer

HWS is a safe and effective method for RPL and infertility cases with statistically significant improvement in pregnancy chances and reproductive outcomes.

What is known already

With regard to the persisting uncertainty around the effectiveness of septum resection in recurrent miscarriage and infertility cases, there may be alternative methods to better address the pathophysiology of septum. There are different explanations for the poor reproductive performance with uterine septum: poor vascularisation of a highly fibrous implantation site, low sensitivity of endometrial receptors covering the septa, its “myoma-like” composition, and finally higher uterine vascular resistance. Complete removal of this abnormal tissue rather than just incising it may not only enhance challenging the pathogenesis but also expand the endometrial volume, an objective parameter by which to predict endometrial receptivity.

Study design, size, duration

In this retrospective cohort study, 214 consecutive patients, aged 33.3±4.8, diagnosed with a septate uterus based on ESHRE classification who had been under HWS between April 2017 and January 2020 due to recurrent miscarriage or at least one failed embryo transfer, met the enrollment criteria. With 11 to 36 months follow up, gathering of follow up data was managed between August till the end of Nov 2020, when the last new information was included.

Participants/materials, setting, methods

Patients with a history of RPL or at least one failed ET who were diagnosed as septate uterus by 2D, 3D, or hysteroscopy have been under HWS in a tertiary infertility and recurrent abortion treatment/educational setting. Those with BMI≥32, day 3 FSH≥13 mIU/mL, acquired or hereditary thrombophilia, thyroid disease, and myomatous uterus were excluded. HWS’s goal was to remove the septum as a wedge, cutting with 7Fr scissors, in its entirety as much as possible.

Main results and the role of chance

39 patients who experienced 1 to 8 failed ET and 175 with 2 to 10 miscarriages, were enrolled in the study. The average septum size based on the depth of the removed wedge was 1.73±0.86 cm. There was an increase of 1.68±0.9 cm in uterine depth and 2.28±0.6 ml in uterine capacity measured by uterine sound and inflation of 8F Folley catheter balloon inside the cavity, respectively. The procedure took 35.75±8.7 minutes. Intraoperative, postoperative, or late complications during the next pregnancies were not reported. 7 patients (17.9%) in failed ET group, conceived spontaneously, before another embryo transfer attempt. Embryo transfer in the remaining 32 cases resulted in 25 (78.1%) clinical pregnancies. 2 miscarried (6.2%), 5(15.6%) are ongoing after 20 weeks of gestation and 25 (78.1%) have resulted in live births. Among 126 clinical pregnancies in RPL group, 16 patients (12.6%) experienced another miscarriage; 6%, 11.3%, and 25% in patients with a previous history of 2, 3, and 4 or more miscarriages, respectively. There was a significant drop in odds of post-procedure miscarriage from 22.7% to 6% (p:0.005) and from 27.8% to 11.3% (p:0.27) with 2 and 3 miscarriage history, respectively. This reduction was not significant with more than 3 losses.

Limitations, reasons for caution

We acknowledge the inherent limitations of this retrospective observational study, confining direct inferences. Our goal is to encourage future prospective studies to compare the effectiveness of different methods of hysteroscopy with or without involving the removal of septal tissue. An RCT comparing metroplasty vs expectant management seems infeasible, though.

Wider implications of the findings

Our findings suggest that timely removal of the uterine septal tissue with hysteroscopy will result in favorable reproductive outcomes in patients with RPL and/or infertility. Also, a history of a normal term pregnancy before subsequent successive losses does not rule out the uterine septum and calls for a thorough assessment.

Trial registration number

not applicable

Influencing factors on the functional level of haemophilic patients assessed by FISH

Joint destruction in early adulthood brings the patients to the orthopaedic clinics. If a haemophilic patient becomes disabled, it shows a number of factors such as timely diagnosis, availability of appropriate treatment depending on the country, access and affordability to treatments and equally importantly the responsibility of the patient in managing self care by remaining compliant by prescribed treatment regimen. We assessed the functional level by functional independence score in haemophilia (FISH). Overall, 104 patients with haemophilia A and 29 with haemophilia B were evaluated. We assessed the function of the patients by FISH. We divided the sum scores into weak (FISH score 8-16), moderate (17-24), and good (25-32). For evaluating the level of functional deficit in a 2 × 2 table, we categorized the weak and moderate levels into Disordered Group and the good level into Not-Disordered Group. The average age was 26.9 ± 14.24. Each 1 year increase in age can increase 1.07 fold the possibility of being placed in Disordered Function Group. Severe haemophilia can increase 7.34 fold, presence of inhibitor can increase 9.75 fold and home self-care increases 3.89 fold the possibility of being placed in Disordered Function Group. To decrease the burden of the cost on patient, family and the government, education plays the most important role. We suggest that we send a trained team of physician and nurses to the deprived villages and cities instead of waiting for the patient to refer to our Care Center.

High performances III-Nitride Quantum Dot infrared photodetector operating at room temperature

In this paper we present a novel long wave length infrared quantum dot photodetector. A cubic shaped 6nm GaN quantum dot (QD) within a large 18 nm Al(0.2)Ga(0.8)N QD (capping layer) embedded in Al(0.8)Ga(0.2)N has been considered as the unit cell of the active layer of the device. Single band effective mass approximation has been applied in order to calculate the QD electronic structure. The temperature dependent behavior of the responsivity and dark current were presented and discussed for different applied electric fields. The capping layer has been proposed to improve upon the dark current of the detector. The proposed device has demonstrated exceptionally low dark current, therefore low noise, and high detectivity. Excellent specific detectivity (D*) up to approximately 3 x 10(8)CmHz(1/ 2)/W is achieved at room temperature.

A Y/15 translocation in a 45,X male with Prader-Willi syndrome

We report a male neonate with a 45 X karyotype; the long arm of a chromosome 15 was translocated onto the proximal long arm of the Y chromosome. Breakpoints were identified by in situ fluorescence hybridization (FISH) on the proximal 15q13 and Yq11.2. The derivative chromosome has no primary centromere. Clinical features were compatible with Prader-Willi syndrome. This is the first report case ofmonosomy 15q and Yq deletion with Prader-Willi syndrome.

Epidemiology of current treatment for sexual dysfunction in spinal cord injured men in the USA model spinal cord injury centers

This study is a prospective multicenter cooperative survey of the evaluation and treatment of erectile dysfunction in men with spinal cord injury (SCI). Uniform database questionnaires were completed prospectively by patients seeking therapy for erectile dysfunction. Eighty-five SCI men aged 17-68 years (mean age = 26 +/- 17) were enrolled. Mean duration of traumatic SCI was 3 +/- 3.2 years (Range = 0.3-18 years). The level of injury was cervical in 20 patients, thoracic in 31, lumbar in 29 and sacral in five. Patients were fully evaluated and then counseled as to their therapeutic options. Twenty-eight chose to use a vacuum erection device (VED), 26 preferred pharmacological penile injection and five used both intracorporeal therapy and VED. The remainder were managed with marriage and sexual counseling in 10 patients, three underwent penile prosthesis placement and two used topical pharmacotherapy. Four patients used other forms of treatment and in nine no therapy was recommended. Of the patients that used pharmacologic injection only, 74 percent used papaverine as a single agent, 20 percent used papaverine with phentolamine, five percent used prostaglandin E (PGE1) alone and one percent used a mixture. Patients using injection therapy report sexual intercourse a mean of 3 +/- 3.4 times per month as compared with 5 +/- 3.2 times per month in those using VED. Five intracorporeal injection patients developed priapism while two patients using the VED developed subcutaneous bleeding and one developed penile ischemia. We conclude that although a spectrum of erectile dysfunction treatment is present among SCI centers, VED and pharmacological penile injection are by far the two most popular methods of treatment and papaverine is the most common drug. The incidence of complications is small in the model centers.

Management of sphincter dyssynergia using the sphincter stent prosthesis in chronically catheterized SCI men

This effort represents a subset analysis of the long-term Multicenter North American Trial of the UroLume sphincter stent prosthesis to determine the effect of the sphincter stent prosthesis in SCI men afflicted with detrusor-external sphincter dyssynergia (DESD) and chronically managed with an indwelling urinary catheter. Forty-one of 153 male patients in this study were evaluated urodynamically before and after placement of the sphincter stent prosthesis. Of the 41 patients, 34 (81 percent) suffered cervical-level injury while 10 patients (25 percent) had been treated previously with external sphincterotomy. Forty patients (98 percent) were troubled with recurrent urinary tract infections (UTI), with a mean of 4.6 +/- 3 episodes of UTI per year. Seven patients (17 percent) demonstrated hydronephrosis prior to stent placement. Follow-up ranged from six to 44 months. Voiding pressures decreased from a mean of 77 +/- 23 cmH2O preoperatively to 35 +/- 18 cmH2O at 12 months (n = 34) and 33 +/- 20 cmH2O at 24 months (n = 22) after stent insertion (p = 0.001). Post-void residual urinary volume decreased from 202 +/- 187 ml preinsertion to 64 +/- 69 ml at 24 months (p = 0.001) postinsertion. Maximum cystometric capacity remained constant at 201 +/- 144 ml preinsertion to 203 +/- 79 ml at 24 months (p = 0.75) postinsertion. No significant changes in any of the urodynamic parameters occurred after 24 months of follow-up between patients with (n = 10) and without (n = 31) previous external sphincterotomy. Neither hemorrhage requiring blood transfusion, obstructive hyperplastic epithelial overgrowth, stent encrustation or stone formation, nor soft tissue erosion occurred in any patient.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)