TGFB2 Expression and Methylation Predict Overall Survival in Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma Patients.

Transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-β) exhibits dual roles in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC), acting as a tumor suppressor in early stages and a tumor promoter in later disease. Among the three isoforms, TGFB2 is particularly associated with poor prognosis and aggressive phenotypes. This study evaluated the prognostic significance of TGFB2 mRNA and methylation levels in PDAC, with an emphasis on age-dependent effects.

Gene Methylation in Tumors with Low CD8 T-Cell Infiltration Drives Positive Prognostic Overall Survival Responses in Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma.

Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) typically exhibits asymptomatic clinical features, with most patients diagnosed at an advanced metastatic stage. Current treatment options are limited to cytotoxic standard therapies, primarily FOLFIRINOX or modified FOLFIRINOX regimens. This highlights a critical need for targeted therapies to improve efficacy and reduce toxicity.

Positive Prognostic Overall Survival Impacts of Methylated and in Adult Glioblastoma Patients.

(1) Background: Glioblastoma (GBM) is the most aggressive and common primary malignant brain tumor in adults, constituting 45.6% of tumors. We explored the impact of gene methylation of the O-6-Methylguanine-DNA Methyltransferase () and the Transforming Growth Factor Beta ( gene complex using the TCGA dataset for GBM patients.

Reactive Extrusion Printing of Zeolitic Imidazolate Framework Films.

An outstanding challenge for the field of metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) is structuring to form forms with greater useability. Reactive extrusion printing (REP) is a technique for the direct formation of films from their molecular components on-demand and on-location. Here we apply REP for the first time to zeolitic imidazolate frameworks (ZIFs) and study the interplay of solvent and molarity ratio on the phase distribution between ZIF-8 and ZIF-L in reactive printed films.

Neuroscience and Brain Death Controversies: The Elephant in the Room.

The conception and the determination of brain death continue to raise scientific, legal, philosophical, and religious controversies. While both the President's Commission for the Study of Ethical Problems in Medicine and Biomedical and Behavioral Research in 1981 and the President's Council on Bioethics in 2008 committed to a biological definition of death as the basis for the whole-brain death criteria, contemporary neuroscientific findings augment the concerns about the validity of this biological definition. Neuroscientific evidentiary findings, however, have not yet permeated discussions about brain death.

Safety and efficacy of combined immunosuppression and orbital radiotherapy in thyroid-related restrictive myopathy: two-center experience.

Purpose: To evaluate the safety and efficacy of oral steroids when combined with long-term oral azathioprine (AZA) and orbital radiotherapy in patients with active thyroid-related restrictive myopathy.

Methods: A total of 88 patients from adnexal outpatient clinics of Bristol Eye Hospital, UK, and 2nd Department of Ophthalmology at Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece, were enrolled in a retrospective, twin-center study. All patients were diagnosed with active thyroid eye disease and concomitant restrictive myopathy.

The ethics of limiting informed debate: censorship of select medical publications in the interest of organ transplantation.

Recently, several articles in the scholarly literature on medical ethics proclaim the need for "responsible scholarship" in the debate over the proper criteria for death, in which "responsible scholarship" is defined in terms of support for current neurological criteria for death. In a recent article, James M. DuBois is concerned that academic critiques of current death criteria create unnecessary doubt about the moral acceptability of organ donation, which may affect the public's willingness to donate.

Infant heart transplantation after cardiac death: ethical and legal problems.

The donation of organs after cardiac death in infants is not morally justified and should not be continued.

Normative consent and presumed consent for organ donation: a critique.

Ben Saunders claims that actual consent is not necessary for organ donation due to 'normative consent', a concept he borrows from David Estlund. Combining normative consent with Peter Singer's 'greater moral evil principle', Saunders argues that it is immoral for an individual to refuse consent to donate his or her organs. If a presumed consent policy were thus adopted, it would be morally legitimate to remove organs from individuals whose wishes concerning donation are not known.

Integration strategies for using virtual patients in clinical clerkships.

Purpose: To explore students' perceptions of virtual patient use in the clinical clerkship and develop a framework to evaluate effects of different integration strategies on students' satisfaction and perceptions of learning effectiveness with this innovation.

Method: A prospective, multiinstitutional study was conducted at six schools' pediatric clerkships to assess the impact of integrating Web-based virtual patient cases on students' perceptions of their learning during 2004-2005 and 2005-2006. Integration strategies were designed to meet the needs of each school, and integration was scored for components of virtual patient use and elimination of other teaching methodologies.

Parosteal osteosarcoma of the orbit.

A 60-year-old woman was referred to Bristol Eye Hospital because of a progressive, painless, right proptosis. CT revealed a well-defined, hyperdense lesion adjacent to the lateral orbital wall. A marginal excision was performed.

Truthfulness in transplantation: non-heart-beating organ donation.

The current practice of organ transplantation has been criticized on several fronts. The philosophical and scientific foundations for brain death criteria have been crumbling. In addition, donation after cardiac death, or non-heartbeating-organ donation (NHBD) has been attacked on grounds that it mistreats the dying patient and uses that patient only as a means to an end for someone else's benefit.