"iDoctor – Medical Blog"

• Content Type Journal Article
• Pages 1-9
• DOI 10.1007/s10465-011-9114-6
• Authors
  • Azucena Guzmán-García, Institute for Ageing and Health, Newcastle University, Campus for Ageing and Vitality, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE4 5PL UK
  • Leif Johannsen, Behavioural Brain Sciences Centre, School of Psychology, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, B15 2TT UK
  • Alan M. Wing, Behavioural Brain Sciences Centre, School of Psychology, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, B15 2TT UK

• Journal American Journal of Dance Therapy
• Online ISSN 1573-3262
• Print ISSN 0146-3721

The Egg and the Spiral

• Content Type Journal Article
• Category Narratives
• Pages 1-5
• DOI 10.1007/s10465-011-9115-5
• Authors
  • Riitta Parvia, Suvantotie 10-14 A 2, 81700 Lieksa, Finland

• Journal American Journal of Dance Therapy
• Online ISSN 1573-3262
• Print ISSN 0146-3721

• Content Type Journal Article
• Pages 1-17
• DOI 10.1007/s10465-011-9113-7
• Authors
  • Maria João Padrão, Faculty of Psychology and Education, University of Porto, Rua do Dr. Manuel Pereira da Silva, 4200-392 Porto, Portugal
  • Joaquim Luís Coimbra, Faculty of Psychology and Education, University of Porto, Rua do Dr. Manuel Pereira da Silva, 4200-392 Porto, Portugal

• Journal American Journal of Dance Therapy
• Online ISSN 1573-3262
• Print ISSN 0146-3721

• Content Type Journal Article
• Pages 1-14
• DOI 10.1007/s10465-011-9117-3
• Authors
  • Alexandria B. Callahan, Chicago, IL, USA

• Journal American Journal of Dance Therapy
• Online ISSN 1573-3262
• Print ISSN 0146-3721

• Content Type Journal Article
• Pages 1-20
• DOI 10.1007/s10465-011-9112-8
• Authors
  • Rebecca R. Burrill, 115C Sisson Rd., Harwich Port, MA 02646, USA

• Journal American Journal of Dance Therapy
• Online ISSN 1573-3262
• Print ISSN 0146-3721

• Content Type Journal Article
• Pages 1-13
• DOI 10.1007/s10465-011-9116-4
• Authors
  • Kimberly Schmidt, 109 High Street, Waltham, MA 02453, USA

• Journal American Journal of Dance Therapy
• Online ISSN 1573-3262
• Print ISSN 0146-3721

Publication year: 2011
Source: Urologic Oncology: Seminars and Original Investigations, Available online 16 September 2011

Cosimo De Nunzio, Simone Albisinni, Stephen J. Freedland, Lucio Miano, Luca Cindolo, …

ObjectiveTo evaluate the association between abdominal obesity and prostate cancer (CaP) diagnosis and grade in patients undergoing prostate biopsy.Materials and methodsBetween 2008 and 2011, we prospectively enrolled patients referred to 3 clinics in Italy who were scheduled for transrectal ultrasound (TRUS) guided prostate biopsy. Before biopsy, digital rectal examination (DRE), prostate specific antigen (PSA), body mass index (BMI), and waist circumference (WC) were measured. Men were categorized in 4 groups of body habitus, according to BMI and waist circumference values. Crude and adjusted logistic regressions were performed to assess the association of BMI (continuous), waist circumference (continuous), body habitus (categorical), and CaP diagnosis and grade.ResultsSix hundred sixty-eight patients were enrolled. CaP was detected in 246 patients (38%), of whom 136 had low-grade (Gleason score ≤ 6) and 110 high-grade cancer (Gleason score ≥ 7). Logistic regression multivariate analysis showed that BMI (OR 1.05 per unit, CI 95% 1.00–1.10P= 0.033) and waist circumference (OR 1.02 per cm, CI 95% 1.00–1.04P= 0.026) were significant predictors of CaP diagnosis. BMI (OR 1.11 95% CI 1.04–1.18P= 0.001) and WC (OR 1.04 95% CI 1.02–1.06P= 0.001) were also associated with high-grade CaP. Furthermore, obesity with central adiposity (BMI ≥ 30kg/mand WC ≥ 102 cm) was significantly associated with CaP diagnosis (OR 1.66, CI 95% 1.05–2.63,P= 0.03) and high-grade disease (OR 2.56, CI 95% 1.38–4.76,P= 0.003).ConclusionsObesity defined by BMI and WC seems to be associated with CaP and, more specifically, with high-grade disease at the time of biopsy. The relationship between obesity and CaP is complex and remains to be further addressed.

Publication year: 2011
Source: Urologic Oncology: Seminars and Original Investigations, Available online 15 September 2011

Dan Leibovici, Yaniv Shilo, Orit Raz, Kobi Stav, Judith Sandbank, …

ObjectivesTo determine the effect of prostate volume on the diagnostic yield of prostate biopsies.Materials and methods155 consecutive patients underwent 12-core transrectal ultrasound guided needle biopsies. Data were collected prospectively on age, serum PSA, digital rectal examination (DRE), previous prostate biopsies, prostate volume and pathologic result. Univariate and multivariate logistic regressions were undertaken to determine the effect of prostate volume on the risk for a positive biopsy.Results45 patients (29%) were diagnosed with cancer. The median patient age was 63 (range 48–82) years, the median PSA level was 6.7 ng/ml (0.5–156 ng/ml), and the median prostate volume was 57 ml (16–273 ml). 42 patients (27%) had an abnormal DRE and 51 (33%) had undergone previous prostate biopsies. Positive biopsy rates were 39%, 33%, and 14% for prostate volume below 46 ml, between 45 and 73 ml, and above 72 ml, respectively. Univariate analysis showed that age, serum PSA, DRE and prostate volume were all associated with a positive biopsy. Multivariate analysis adjusted for age, PSA and DRE showed a significant risk increase for a positive biopsy in smaller prostates. (OR = 5.6 95% CI 1.75–17.89; and 8.86 95% CI 2.72–28.82, for prostate volume between 45 and 72 ml and below 45 ml, respectively).ConclusionThe diagnostic yield of prostate biopsies is significantly lower in large prostates. As the result the standard 12-core biopsy may be insufficient for the diagnosis of cancer in large prostates.

Publication year: 2011
Source: Urologic Oncology: Seminars and Original Investigations, Available online 15 September 2011

Xiaojun Shi, Xinji Zhang, Jinlong Li, Fangfang Guo, Zhiming Hu, …

ObjectivesMany strategies are pursued to enhance tumor vaccine immune response, including the utilization of cytokines. We have developed a novel protein-anchor technology to immobilize cytokines on tumor cell surface. Here we reported the preparation of tumor cell vaccines by immobilizing GM-CSF or IL-2 on MB49 bladder cancer cells and evaluated their antitumor efficacy (administrated alone or sequentially) in a metastatic mouse model.Materials and methodsSA-mGM-CSF or SA-hIL-2 surface-modified MB49 cells were prepared as vaccine. Mice were treated with MB49 cell vaccines (administrated alone or sequentially). Survival time, tumor growth, flow cytometry, immunohistochemistry, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), and cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTL) assay were used to evaluate the antitumor efficiency of the vaccines in the pulmonary metastatic model of bladder cancer.ResultsGM-CSF vaccine induced more mature dendritic cells in the mice spleen. Combination with subsequent IL-2 vaccine significantly increased CD4, CD8, and IFN-γCD8T but not CD4Foxp3T cell population and induced the highest production of IFN-γ, IL-12, but not IL-10. Furthermore, the splenocytes from the sequentially combined vaccines group showed the most potent cytotoxicity on MB49 cells. Finally, the sequentially combined vaccines evidently extended the survival time of mice (the median survival time of PBS, ethanol-fixed, anchored GM-CSF, anchored IL-2, and anchored GM-CSF + anchored IL-2 groups were 34, 37, 45, 47, and 59 days, respectively) and effectively protected the mice against a second MB49 cells but not RM-1 cells challenge.ConclusionsThis study demonstrated that sequential administration of GM-CSF and IL-2 surface-modified MB49 cells vaccines could effectively induce specific antitumor immune response.

Publication year: 2011
Source: Urologic Oncology: Seminars and Original Investigations, Available online 15 September 2011

David J. DeGraff, Justin M. Cates, Joshua R. Mauney, Peter E. Clark, Robert J. Matusik, …

Differentiation is defined as the ability of a cell to acquire full functional behavior. For instance, the function of bladder urothelium is to act as a barrier to the diffusion of solutes into or out of the urine after excretion by the kidney. The urothelium also serves to protect the detrusor muscle from toxins present in stored urine. A major event in the initiation and progression of bladder cancer is loss of urothelial differentiation. This is important because less differentiated urothelial tumors (higher histologic tumor grade) are typically associated with increased biologic and clinical aggressiveness. The differentiation status of urothelial carcinomas can be assessed by histopathologic examination and is reflected in the assignment of a histologic grade (low-grade or high-grade). Although typically limited to morphologic evaluation in most routine diagnostic practices, tumor grade can also be assessed using biochemical markers. Indeed, current pathological analysis of tumor specimens is increasingly reliant on molecular phenotyping. Thus, high priorities for bladder cancer research include identification of (1) biomarkers that will enable the identification of high grade T1 tumors that pose the most threat and require the most aggressive treatment; (2) biomarkers that predict the likelihood that a low grade, American Joint Committee on Cancer stage pTa bladder tumor will progress into an invasive carcinoma with metastatic potential; (3) biomarkers that indicate which pTa tumors are most likely to recur, thus enabling clinicians to prospectively identify patients who require aggressive treatment; and (4) how these markers might contribute to biological processes that underlie tumor progression and metastasis, potentially through loss of terminal differentiation. This review will discuss the proteins associated with urothelial cell differentiation, with a focus on those implicated in bladder cancer, and other proteins that may be involved in neoplastic progression. It is hoped that ongoing discoveries associated with the study of these differentiation-promoting proteins can be translated into the clinic to positively impact patient care.