The role of the pathologist in tissue banking: European Consensus Expert Group Report.

Human tissue biobanking encompasses a wide range of activities and study designs and is critical for application of a wide range of new technologies (-"omics") to the discovery of molecular patterns of disease and for implementation of novel biomarkers into clinical trials. Pathology is the cornerstone of hospital-based tissue biobanking. Pathologists not only provide essential information identifying the specimen but also make decisions on what should be biobanked, making sure that the timing of all operations is consistent with both the requirements of clinical diagnosis and the optimal preservation of biological products. This document summarizes the conclusions of a Pathology Expert Group Meeting within the European Biological and Biomolecular Research Infrastructure (BBMRI) Program. These recommendations are aimed at providing guidance for pathologists as well as for institutions hosting biobanks on how to better integrate and support pathological activities within the framework of biobanks that fulfill international standards.

Alterações no perfil de frações nitrogenadas em calos de cana-de-açúcar induzidas por deficit hídrico

O objetivo deste trabalho foi avaliar o uso de marcadores bioquímicos e fisiológicos, na caracterização do estresse hídrico em calos de cultivares de cana-de-açúcar (Sacharum sp.), RB 72 454 (sensível) e SP 813250 (resistente), contrastantes quanto à resistência à seca em campo. O delineamento experimental foi o inteiramente casualizado, em esquema fatorial de 2x5 [cultivar x doses de polietilenoglicol (PEG)], com dez tratamentos e três repetições. Os calos foram submetidos a concentrações de PEG correspondentes aos potenciais osmóticos de 0, -0,3, -0,6, -0,9 e -1,2 MPa, por 120 horas. A variação no conteúdo relativo de água e na umidade não foi significativamente diferente entre as cultivares. Entretanto, foi observada a tendência de aumento no vazamento de eletrólitos, em conseqüência da diminuição do potencial osmótico na cultivar tolerante. Na cultivar sensível, observou-se tendência de aumento de prolina e, na resistente, diminuição, embora os níveis não tenham sido afetados pelo deficit hídrico. As concentrações de aminoácidos livres foram maiores na sensível. Houve queda nas concentrações de amônia, em ambas cultivares. Os níveis de proteínas não foram afetados pelo PEG. O perfil protéico por SDS-PAGE não mostrou aumento induzido por PEG, na intensidade das bandas correspondentes aos peptídeos entre 14 e 66 kDa. Os marcadores bioquímicos e fisiológicos não foram relacionados ao grau diferencial de resistência observado nas cultivares em condições de campo.

Qualidade de goiaba-serrana em resposta à temperatura de armazenamento e ao tratamento com 1-metilciclopropeno

Os objetivos deste trabalho foram caracterizar a fisiologia e avaliar os efeitos da temperatura e da aplicação de 1-metilciclopropeno (1-MCP) na qualidade pós-colheita de frutos de goiaba-serrana (Acca selowiana), em acessos do banco ativo de germoplasma da Empresa de Pesquisa Agropecuária e Extensão Rural de Santa Catarina. Os frutos foram colhidos na maturação comercial. Os genótipos Brasil (acesso 387) e Uruguai (acesso 454) foram avaliados quanto ao comportamento respiratório e de produção de etileno a 20ºC, e taxas respiratórias e alterações na cor da casca a 0, 5, 10, 20 e 30ºC. O genótipo Brasil (acesso 242) foi avaliado quanto ao amadurecimento a 4ºC, após tratamento com 1-MCP (0, 500 e 1.500 ppb). Os genótipos Brasil (acesso 387) e Uruguai (acesso 454) apresentaram comportamento climatérico, com picos de produção de etileno e de taxa respiratória aos 8 e 12 dias de armazenamento a 20ºC, respectivamente. Não houve diferença significativa entre as taxas respiratórias e de produção de etileno entre os genótipos, nessa temperatura. Houve aumento substancial na taxa respiratória em ambos os genótipos, com o aumento de 0 para 30ºC, com coeficiente metabólico de 3,5 aproximadamente. Com o aumento na temperatura, houve maior alteração na cor verde da epiderme, em frutos do tipo Brasil, e maior escurecimento da epiderme, em frutos do tipo Uruguai. Frutos do genótipo Brasil (acesso 242), tratados com 1-MCP e armazenados a 4ºC, apresentaram retardamento no amadurecimento.

Place du pathologiste dans la prise en charge néoadjuvante des cancers du sein [Neoadjuvant treatment of breast cancer: implications for the pathologist].

These past few years, neoadjuvant strategy has taken an increasing place in the management of breast cancer patients. This strategy is mainly indicated to obtain a tumour bulk regression allowing a breast conserving surgery in patients that otherwise would have undergone mastectomy. Of note, development of new chemotherapy agents and targeted therapies has critically helped in the progress of neoadjuvant strategy as it is currently associated with better pathological response rates. In this context, the pathologist is at the crossroad of this multidisciplinary process. First, he provides on the initial core needle biopsy the tumour pathological characteristics that are critical for the choice of treatment strategy, i.e. histological type, histological grade, proliferative activity (mitotic count and Ki67/MIB1 index labeling), hormone receptor status (oestrogen receptor and progesterone receptor) and HER2 status. Secondly, the pathologist evaluates the pathological response and the status of surgical margins with regards to the residual tumour on the surgical specimen after neoadjuvant treatment. These parameters are important for the management of the patient, since it has been shown that complete pathological response is associated with improved disease free survival. Several grading systems are used to assess the pathological response in breast and axillary lymph nodes. The most frequently used in France are currently the systems described by Sataloff et al. and Chevallier et al. In this review, we detail the different steps involving the pathologist in neoadjuvant setting, with special regards to the quality process and future perspectives such as emerging predictive biomarkers.

Effects of zoledronate versus placebo on spine bone mineral density and microarchitecture assessed by the trabecular bone score in postmenopausal women with osteoporosis: A three-year study.

The trabecular bone score (TBS) is an index of bone microarchitectural texture calculated from anteroposterior dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) scans of the lumbar spine (LS) that predicts fracture risk, independent of bone mineral density (BMD). The aim of this study was to compare the effects of yearly intravenous zoledronate (ZOL) versus placebo (PLB) on LS BMD and TBS in postmenopausal women with osteoporosis. Changes in TBS were assessed in the subset of 107 patients recruited at the Department of Osteoporosis of the University Hospital of Berne, Switzerland, who were included in the HORIZON trial. All subjects received adequate calcium and vitamin D3. In these patients randomly assigned to either ZOL (n = 54) or PLB (n = 53) for 3 years, BMD was measured by DXA and TBS assessed by TBS iNsight (v1.9) at baseline and 6, 12, 24, and 36 months after treatment initiation. Baseline characteristics (mean ± SD) were similar between groups in terms of age, 76.8 ± 5.0 years; body mass index (BMI), 24.5 ± 3.6 kg/m(2) ; TBS, 1.178 ± 0.1 but for LS T-score (ZOL-2.9 ± 1.5 versus PLB-2.1 ± 1.5). Changes in LS BMD were significantly greater with ZOL than with PLB at all time points (p < 0.0001 for all), reaching +9.58% versus +1.38% at month 36. Change in TBS was significantly greater with ZOL than with PLB as of month 24, reaching +1.41 versus-0.49% at month 36; p = 0.031, respectively. LS BMD and TBS were weakly correlated (r = 0.20) and there were no correlations between changes in BMD and TBS from baseline at any visit. In postmenopausal women with osteoporosis, once-yearly intravenous ZOL therapy significantly increased LS BMD relative to PLB over 3 years and TBS as of 2 years. © 2013 American Society for Bone and Mineral Research.

Characterization of thirty two microsatellite loci for three Atlanto-Mediterranean echinoderm species

Thirty two microsatellites were optimized from 454 pyrosequencing libraries for three Atlanto-Mediterranean echinoderms: Coscinasterias tenuispina, Echinaster sepositus and Arbacia lixula. We observed different frequency of microsatellite types (di-, tri-, tetra- and pentanucleotide) throughout the genome of the species, but no significant differences were observed in allele richness among different microsatellite repeats. No loci showed linkage disequilibrium. Heterozygosity deficit and departure from Hardy Weinberg equilibrium were observed for some loci, in two species, probably due to high levels of inbreeding. Heterozygosity excess observed in C. tenuispina could be explained by selection against homozygotes and/or outcrossing.

Learning in the working place: the educational potential of a multihead microscope in pathology postgraduate training.

Training future pathologists is an important mission of many hospital anatomic pathology departments. Apprenticeship-a process in which learning and teaching tightly intertwine with daily work, is one of the main educational methods in use in postgraduate medical training. However, patient care, including pathological diagnosis, often comes first, diagnostic priorities prevailing over educational ones. Recognition of the unique educational opportunities is a prerequisite for enhancing the postgraduate learning experience. The aim of this paper is to draw attention of senior pathologists with a role as supervisor in postgraduate training on the potential educational value of a multihead microscope, a common setting in pathology departments. After reporting on an informal observation of senior and junior pathologists' meetings around the multihead microscope in our department, we review the literature on current theories of learning to provide support to the high potential educational value of these meetings for postgraduate training in pathology. We also draw from the literature on learner-centered teaching some recommendations to better support learning in this particular context. Finally, we propose clues for further studies and effective instruction during meetings around a multihead microscope.

Odorant binding proteins of the red imported fire ant, Solenopsis invicta: an example of the problems facing the analysis of widely divergent proteins.

We describe the odorant binding proteins (OBPs) of the red imported fire ant, Solenopsis invicta, obtained from analyses of an EST library and separate 454 sequencing runs of two normalized cDNA libraries. We identified a total of 18 putative functional OBPs in this ant. A third of the fire ant OBPs are orthologs to honey bee OBPs. Another third of the OBPs belong to a lineage-specific expansion, which is a common feature of insect OBP evolution. Like other OBPs, the different fire ant OBPs share little sequence similarity (∼ 20%), rendering evolutionary analyses difficult. We discuss the resulting problems with sequence alignment, phylogenetic analysis, and tests of selection. As previously suggested, our results underscore the importance for careful exploration of the sensitivity to the effects of alignment methods for data comprising widely divergent sequences.

[Archives de la Parole]. , Marina : No no sabes tù / Emilio Arrieta, comp. ; Florencio Constantino, ténor. La Dolorès : Estratto del duetto di 3e atto / Tomás Bretón, comp. ; Florencio Constantino, ténor

Espagnol

Prostate cancer: F-18-fluorocholine PET-CT utility. [Cancer de la prostate : utilité de la TEP-TDM à la 18F-fluorocholine.]

In oncology, positron emission computed tomography (PET/CT) has become an essential tool for initial staging, response evaluation and follow-up of cancer patients. Most of the frequent tumors (lung, breast, esophagus, and lymphomas) are highly avid for (18)F-fluorodeoxyglucose ((18)FDG), but prostate cancer has not demonstrated significant uptake of FDG. The development of new tracers labeled with (18)F such as choline analogs allowed already to obtain interesting results particularly in patients with biological relapse and inconclusive conventional imaging workup. The impact of (18)F-flurocholine PET/CT on patient management needs to be validated in large studies, but many centers use already this examination in order to guide further management, including radiotherapy planning. (C) 2011 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.

Neuromonitorage après coma aigu aux soins intensifs [Multimodal neuromonitoring for the critical care management of acute coma].

Management of neurocritical care patients is focused on the prevention and treatment of secondary brain injury, i.e. the number of pathophysiological intracerebral (edema, ischemia, energy dysfunction, seizures) and systemic (hyperthermia, disorders of glucose homeostasis) events that occur following the initial insult (stroke, hemorrhage, head trauma, brain anoxia) that may aggravate patient outcome. The current therapeutic paradigm is based on multimodal neuromonitoring, including invasive (intracranial pressure, brain oxygen, cerebral microdialysis) and non-invasive (transcranial doppler, near-infrared spectroscopy, EEG) tools that allows targeted individualized management of acute coma in the early phase. The aim of this review is to describe the utility of multimodal neuromonitoring for the critical care management of acute coma.

Les Comptes régionaux des branches industrielles en 1979 et 1980 / Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques ; [par] Laurent Bisault et Jean-Paul Blandinières

Collection : Les Collections de L'INSEE ; 454, 54

Produção e certificação de mudas de videira na França 1: situação Atual da Produção

A França é o principal país produtor de mudas de videira, enxertando anualmente 270 milhões de mudas. Neste país, o programa de certificação de mudas alcança mais de 90% do material produzido, e, para tanto, a área utilizada de matrizes de porta-enxertos e produtoras atinge 3.454 ha. As principais cultivares multiplicadas, em ordem decrescente, são Merlot Noir, Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah, Chardonnay, e os principais porta-enxertos o SO4, 110 Richter, 3309 Couderc, 41 B e 140 Ruggieri. Os percentuais atuais de pegamento da enxertia situam-se em torno de 58% (ano de 1999), oscilando de 45,2% para a variedade Pinot Noir até 58% para o Cabernet Sauvignon. Do total das mudas enxertadas, 90% são produzidas diretamente em canteiros para comercialização sob a forma de raiz nua, e os 10% restantes em vasos biodegradáveis. A quantidade de mudas enxertadas atingiu 270,4 milhões no ano de 2000, ultrapassando todos os valores produzidos na década de 90, e é considerada como limite para absorção do mercado. As exportações de mudas pela França atingiram o montante de 19,2 milhões de mudas, sendo Itália, Espanha, Portugal, Alemanha e Argentina os principais importadores.