Roles of ASIC3, TRPV1, and NaV1.8 in the transition from acute to chronic pain in a mouse model of fibromyalgia.

Background: Tissue acidosis is effective in causing chronic muscle pain. However, how muscle nociceptors contribute to the transition from acute to chronic pain is largely unknown.

Results: Here we showed that a single intramuscular acid injection induced a priming effect on muscle nociceptors of mice.

POLE exonuclease domain mutation predicts long progression-free survival in grade 3 endometrioid carcinoma of the endometrium.

Objective: POLE exonuclease domain mutations were recently found to occur in a subset of endometrial carcinomas and result in defective proof-reading function during DNA replication. The aim of this study is to further characterize the clinical and pathologic significance of POLE exonuclease domain mutations in high-grade endometrial carcinomas.

Methods: We assessed for mutations in the exonuclease domain of POLE by Sanger sequencing in 53 grade 3 endometrioid, 25 serous, 16 clear cell and 5 dedifferentiated carcinomas.

Pigtail catheters versus traditional chest tubes for pneumothoraces in premature infants treated in a neonatal intensive care unit.

Background: Pneumothorax is more frequent in the neonatal period, especially among premature infants. Pigtail catheters have been shown to be as effective as and less invasive than traditional chest tubes in adults; however, data regarding premature infants are limited. We aimed to compare the efficacy, safety, and complications associated with the placement of traditional chest tubes versus pigtail catheters in premature infants with pneumothoraces.

Incidence and risk of venous thromboembolism among Taiwan osteoporotic fracture population under osteoporosis pharmacological treatments.

Context: There was no clear evidence for the association between oral bisphosphonates or raloxifene and venous thromboembolism (VTE). There might also be ethnic differences in VTE risk.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to compare the incidence and risk of VTEs for different classes of osteoporosis drugs in the Taiwanese osteoporotic fracture population.

Stretching DNA by electric field and flow field in microfluidic devices: An experimental validation to the devices designed with computer simulations.

We examined the performance of three microfluidic devices for stretching DNA. The first device is a microchannel with a contraction, and the remaining two are the modifications to the first. The modified designs were made with the help of computer simulations [C.

Changes in right ventricular free wall strain in patients with coronary artery disease involving the right coronary artery.

Background: Chronic ischemia related occult systolic dysfunction of the right ventricle is difficult to detect using traditional echocardiography. The aim of this study was to verify the diagnostic value of speckle-tracking echocardiography in proximal right coronary artery (pRCA) lesion-induced right ventricular (RV) occult dysfunction.

Methods: One hundred forty-two patients undergoing elective coronary angiography for suspected coronary artery disease were divided into two groups according to involvement of the right coronary artery.

Acute aortic regurgitation caused by spontaneous aortic valve rupture.

We report a rare case that manifested as severe aortic regurgitation (AR) resulting from spontaneous aortic valve (AV) rupture caused by valvular myxomatous transformation in a middle-aged woman. Before operation, 1 ruptured hole on the left coronary cusp (LLC) was clearly visualized with transesophageal echocardiography (TEE). There were no clinical findings of vegetations or sinus Valsalva aneurysms.

Correlations between pulmonary function and childhood asthma control test results in 5-11-year-old children with asthma.

Objectives: We examined correlations between the two asthma assessment tools, pulmonary function tests, and Childhood Asthma Control Test (C-ACT) scores, in 5-11-year-old children with asthma to determine if the C-ACT scores could predict pulmonary function test results.

Materials And Methods: A total of 172 children with asthma aged 5-11 years completed C-ACT questionnaires and underwent pulmonary function testing. Correlations between these test results were examined.

PIK3CA missense mutation is associated with unfavorable outcome in grade 3 endometrioid carcinoma but not in serous endometrial carcinoma.

Objective: To evaluate the outcome association of PIK3CA mutational status within histological types of rigorously classified high-grade endometrial carcinomas.

Methods: We assessed PIK3CA mutational status in exon 9 and exon 20 hot spots by Sanger sequencing of DNA derived from formalin fixed paraffin embedded tissue of 57 grade 3 endometrioid, 26 serous, 11 clear cell and 5 dedifferentiated carcinomas. We correlated PIK3CA mutation status with clinicopathological and other molecular parameters.

Frequent expression of KIT in endometrial stromal sarcoma with YWHAE genetic rearrangement.

Endometrial stromal sarcomas with the YWHAE-NUTM2A/B genetic fusion characteristically contain high-grade round to epithelioid cell component that is strongly and diffusely cyclin D1-positive and it may or may not show an associated low-grade fibroblastic/myxoid cell component. They are clinically more aggressive than endometrial stromal sarcomas with the JAZF1-SUZ12 genetic fusion and frequently demonstrate extrauterine extension at initial clinical presentation. In this setting, the tumor may be misdiagnosed as gastrointestinal stromal tumor.

Uterine adenosarcomas: a dual-institution update on staging, prognosis and survival.

Objective: Uterine adenosarcomas (AS) are rare tumors thought to have a favorable prognosis. The aim of this study was to evaluate clinicopathological characteristics and treatment outcome in women with uterine AS.

Methods: Patients with uterine AS were identified from the institutional databases at two regional cancer centers, Princess Margaret Hospital, Toronto and Vancouver General Hospital.

Immunohistochemical characterization of prototypical endometrial clear cell carcinoma--diagnostic utility of HNF-1β and oestrogen receptor.

Aims: The great majority of ovarian clear cell carcinomas have a hepatocyte nuclear factor 1 homeobox B (HNF-1β)-positive and oestrogen receptor (ER)-negative immunoprofile. However, the pattern of HNF-1β and ER immunostaining in clear cell carcinomas of the endometrium and the usefulness of this panel in distinguishing clear cell carcinoma from other histological types of endometrial carcinoma have yet to be well defined.

Methods And Results: We examined the immunostaining patterns of HNF-1β, ER and p53 in 15 morphologically classic pure endometrial clear cell carcinomas, and compared these patterns with 15 endometrioid and 15 serous carcinomas of the endometrium.

Histotype-genotype correlation in 36 high-grade endometrial carcinomas.

Endometrioid, serous, and clear cell carcinomas are the major types of endometrial carcinoma. Histologic distinction between these different tumor types can be difficult in high-grade cases, in which significant interobserver diagnostic disagreement exists. Endometrioid and clear cell carcinomas frequently harbor ARID1A and/or PTEN mutations.

A two-case series of entrapment of a ruptured balloon in the coronary artery: Avoidable complications and nonsurgical management.

The entrapment of a ruptured catheter balloon during percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) is rare, but it can lead to life-threatening complications, such as myocardial infarction (MI) and lethal arrhythmias. Ruptured balloon entrapment usually occurs in either tortuous, calcified, or angulated coronary lesions without adequate balloon deflation. The avoidance of drastic balloon pull-out and the use of appropriate catheter-based retrieval techniques could prevent surgical intervention.

Ovarian and endometrial endometrioid carcinomas have distinct CTNNB1 and PTEN mutation profiles.

Ovarian endometrioid carcinomas and endometrial endometrioid carcinomas share many histological and molecular alterations. These similarities are likely due to a common endometrial epithelial precursor cell of origin, with most ovarian endometrioid carcinomas arising from endometriosis. To directly compare the mutation profiles of two morphologically similar tumor types, endometrial endometrioid carcinomas (n=307) and ovarian endometrioid carcinomas (n=33), we performed select exon capture sequencing on a panel of genes: ARID1A, PTEN, PIK3CA, KRAS, CTNNB1, PPP2R1A, TP53.

Oral ibuprofen versus intravenous indomethacin for closure of patent ductus arteriosus in very low birth weight infants.

Background: The purpose of this study is to compare the effects and complications of pharmacologic closure of patent ductus arteriosus (PDA) by intravenous indomethacin or oral ibuprofen in neonates weighing <1500 g at birth [very low birth weight (VLBW) infants].

Methods: This is a retrospective study of infants treated with intravenous indomethacin (0.2 mg/kg initially followed by two doses at 24-hour intervals) or oral ibuprofen (10 mg/kg initially followed an interval of 24 hours by two doses of 5 mg/kg) for symptomatic PDA in a neonatal intensive care unit at a medical center in Taiwan during the period of January 2005 to December 2010.

Endometrial stromal sarcomas with sex cord differentiation are associated with PHF1 rearrangement.

Endometrial stromal tumors may pose diagnostic challenges particularly when they exhibit variant histologic appearances, involve extrauterine sites, or present as metastatic disease. In such cases, use of immunohistochemical markers and identification of specific nonrandom chromosomal rearrangements may be helpful. Over the last decade, fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) has been progressively incorporated as a diagnostic tool for the evaluation of endometrial stromal tumors.

YWHAE-FAM22 endometrial stromal sarcoma: diagnosis by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction in formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded tumor.

A subset of endometrial stromal sarcoma harbors t(10;17)(q23;p13), which results in the genetic fusion between YWHAE and 1 of 2 highly homologous FAM22 family members-FAM22A or FAM22B. In contrast to classic low-grade endometrial stromal sarcoma with JAZF1-SUZ12 fusions, YWHAE-FAM22 endometrial stromal sarcoma displays high-grade histologic features and is associated with more aggressive disease course. Ancillary fluorescence in situ hybridization assay demonstrating the presence of YWHAE rearrangement can be used to support the diagnosis, but the detection of fusion transcript would be the most definitive test.

Cyclin D1 as a diagnostic immunomarker for endometrial stromal sarcoma with YWHAE-FAM22 rearrangement.

Endometrial stromal sarcoma (ESS) characterized by YWHAE-FAM22 genetic fusion is histologically higher grade and clinically more aggressive than ESS with JAZF1-SUZ12 or equivalent genetic rearrangements, hence it is clinically important to recognize this subset of ESS. To identify diagnostic immunomarkers for this biologically defined ESS subset, we compared gene expression profiles between YWHAE-FAM22 ESS and JAZF1-rearranged ESS. These studies showed consistent upregulation of cyclin D1 in YWHAE-FAM22 ESS compared with JAZF1-SUZ12 ESS.

Endometrial sarcomas: an immunohistochemical and JAZF1 re-arrangement study in low-grade and undifferentiated tumors.

The current World Health Organization classification divides endometrial sarcomas into low-grade endometrial stromal sarcoma and undifferentiated endometrial sarcoma. Recent studies suggest undifferentiated endometrial sarcoma is a heterogeneous group and a subgroup with uniform nuclei is more akin to low-grade endometrial stromal sarcoma in terms of morphologic, immunohistochemical and genetic features. We classified endometrial sarcomas treated at our institution from 1998 to 2011 into low-grade endometrial stromal sarcoma and undifferentiated endometrial sarcoma, the latter being further categorized into a group with either uniform or pleomorphic nuclei.

Metastatic small cell osteosarcoma to the liver: a diagnostic pitfall for fine-needle aspiration cytology.

We report the fine-needle aspiration cytology of a case of metastatic small cell osteosarcoma to the liver with rosette formation, originating from distal femur, in a 36-year-old female. The aspirate of the liver metastases revealed a relatively monomorphic population of mitotically active small blue round cells arranged in clusters with prominent rosette formation simulating a neuroendocrine carcinoma or other rosette-forming small round cell tumors such as Ewing sarcoma. No extracellular mineralized matrix material was present.

The role of the fallopian tube in ovarian cancer.

High-grade serous carcinoma (HGSC) is the most common and lethal subtype of ovarian cancer. Research over the past decade has strongly suggested that "ovarian" HGSC arises in the epithelium of the distal fallopian tube, with serous tubal intraepithelial carcinomas (STICs) being detected in 5-10% of BRCA1/2 mutation carriers undergoing risk-reducing surgery and up to 60% of unselected women with pelvic HGSC. The natural history, clinical significance, and prevalence of STICs in the general population (ie, women without cancer and not at an increased genetic risk) are incompletely understood, but anecdotal evidence suggests that these lesions have the ability to shed cells with metastatic potential into the peritoneal cavity very early on.