Impact of Age on Disease Progression and Microenvironment in Oral Cancer.

Despite the recognized link between aging and cancer, most preclinical studies in experimental tumor models are conducted with 6- to 8-wk-old rodents. The goal of the present study was to examine the impact of age on tumor incidence, growth, and microenvironmental characteristics in mouse models of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC). Experimental studies were conducted with the 4-nitroquinoline-oxide (4NQO) oral carcinogenesis model and orthotopic FaDu HNSCC xenografts, established in young (7 to 12 wk of age) and old (65 to 70 wk of age) female C57BL/6 mice ( n = 44; 4NQO model) and severe combined immunodeficient mice ( n = 13; HNSCC xenografts). Noninvasive whole body magnetic resonance imaging revealed increased subcutaneous and visceral fat in aging animals of both strains. On histologic examination, a higher incidence ( P < 0.001) of severe dysplasia/invasive squamous cell carcinoma was observed in old mice (92%) as compared with young mice (69%). Old C57BL/6 mice exposed to 4NQO exhibited increased incidence of oral and extraoral (peritoneal masses) neoplasms (42%) versus their young counterparts ( P < 0.05). The incidence of extraoral neoplasms was significantly lower (16%) in the younger cohort. Interestingly, no difference in growth rate and oxygen saturation was observed between orthotopic FaDu xenografts established in old and young severe combined immunodeficient mice. Our observations suggest that host age may have an impact on the growth kinetics and progression of HNSCC in the immunocompetent 4NQO model. Further investigation into the impact of aging on tumor response to preventive and therapeutic intervention is warranted.

Reliability of scar assessments performed with an integrated skin testing device - the DermaLab Combo(®).

BACKGROUND: The DermaLab Combo(®) is a device with potential to make objective measurements of key scar components - pigmentation, vascularity, pliability and thickness. This study assessed the inter-rater and test-retest reliability of these measurements. METHOD: Three raters performed scar assessments on thirty patients with burn scars using the DermaLab Combo(®). Measurements of pigmentation, vascularity, pliability and thickness were made and intra-class correlation coefficients (ICC) were derived for inter-rater and test-retest reliability. RESULTS: Inter-rater reliability was found to be "excellent" in the 'best' and 'worst' areas of the index scar and normal skin for pigmentation (ICC: 0.94-0.98) and thickness (ICC: 0.86-0.96). Test-retest reliability was also "excellent" for pigmentation (ICC: 0.87-0.89) and thickness (ICC: 0.92-0.97) in all areas. Vascularity showed "good" to "excellent" inter-rater reliability (ICC: 0.66-0.84) in all areas however test-retest reliability was "low" (ICC: 0.29-0.42). Test-retest reliability was "excellent" for pliability (ICC: 0.76-0.91). Technical limitations were encountered making measurements in some scars for thickness, and in particular, pliability. CONCLUSION: The DermaLab Combo(®) measured pigmentation, thickness and pliability with "excellent" reliability. If future studies provide protocols to improve test-retest reliability of vascularity measurements and obtain pliability measurements more successfully, the DermaLab Combo(®) will be valuable device for scar assessment.

Social perception in people with eating disorders.

OBJECTIVE: Social perception is a key aspect of social cognition which has so far not been investigated in eating disorders (ED). This study aimed to investigate social perception in individuals with anorexia nervosa (AN) and bulimia nervosa (BN). METHODS: Outpatients with AN (restricting subtype [AN-R]: n=51; binge-purge subtype [AN-BP]: n=26) or BN (n=57) and 50 healthy control (HC) participants completed the Interpersonal Perception Task (IPT-15). This is an ecologically valid task, which consists of 15 video clips, depicting complex social situations relating to intimacy, status, kinship, competition and deception. The participants have to assess relationships between protagonists' based on non-verbal cues. RESULTS: Overall, there was no difference between groups on the IPT total score and subscale scores. Group differences on the Intimacy subscale approached significance so post hoc comparisons were carried out. HCs performed significantly better than AN-R participants in determining the degree of intimacy between others. CONCLUSIONS: Social perception is largely preserved in ED patients. Individuals with AN-R show impairments in identifying intimacy in social situations, this may be due to the lack of relationship experience. Further research into different aspects of social cognition is required to establish the link between interpersonal difficulties and ED psychopathology.

A modified Vancouver Scar Scale linked with TBSA (mVSS-TBSA): Inter-rater reliability of an innovative burn scar assessment method.

BACKGROUND: Current scar assessment methods do not capture variation in scar outcome across the burn scar surface area. A new method (mVSS-TBSA) using a modified Vancouver Scar Scale (mVSS) linked with %TBSA was devised and inter-rater reliability was assessed. METHOD: Three raters performed scar assessments on thirty patients with burn scars using the mVSS-TBSA. Scoring on pigmentation, vascularity, pliability and height was undertaken for the 'best' and 'worst' areas of each scar. Raters allocated the total body surface area of the scar (%TBSA) to three mVSS categories (<5, 5-10, >10). Intra-class correlation coefficient (ICC) and weighted kappa statistic (kw) were used to assess inter-rater reliability. The data were also analysed for clinically relevant misclassifications between pairs of raters. RESULTS: Total mVSS scores showed 'fair to good' agreement (ICC 0.65-0.73) in the 'best' area of the scar while there was 'excellent' agreement in the 'worst' scar area (ICC 0.85-0.88). The kw of the individual mVSS components ranged from 0.44 to 0.84 and 0.02 to 0.86 for 'best' and 'worst' scar areas, respectively. Determination of scar %TBSA had 'excellent' reliability (ICC 0.91-0.96). Allocation of scar %TBSA to severity category <5 mVSS demonstrated 'good to excellent' reliability (ICC 0.63-0.80) and 'fair to good' reliability (ICC 0.42-0.74) for 5-10 mVSS category. However, misclassifications were observed for the total mVSS score in the 'worst' scar area and the allocation of scar %TBSA in the <5 mVSS category. CONCLUSION: Inter-rater reliability of mVSS scores depends on the severity of the scar area being assessed. The mVSS-TBSA method of allocation of scar %TBSA to two broad mVSS categories, namely <5 and ≥5 mVSS, has 'good to excellent' reliability. The mVSS-TBSA has demonstrated utility for both clinical and research purposes; however, there is potential to misclassify scar outcome in some cases.

Social cognition in bulimia nervosa: a systematic review.

OBJECTIVE: Clinical accounts and previous evidence suggest that socio-emotional impairments may be present in people with bulimia nervosa (BN). The aim of this paper was to systematically review studies of social cognition, and to evaluate whether social cognitive deficits exist in BN. METHOD: Keywords were identified using an existing model of social cognition (Green et al., 2007) [16], and used to search for relevant papers in three online databases. Records were then screened according to a priori inclusion/exclusion criteria. RESULTS: Five papers reporting seven social cognition tasks were identified as pertinent to the review. All involved either theory of mind ability or emotional processing skills. Participants with BN had impaired performance on the Levels of Emotional Awareness Scale and showed greater attentional bias than controls on an emotional Stroop task. There were no overall group differences for any other tasks, although there were small differences for some specific test items. CONCLUSIONS: Basic social cognition does not appear to be impaired in people with BN. Future research should make use of more complex, ecologically valid measures, and consider the relationship between task performance and everyday social functioning.