Practical consensus recommendations on ovarian suppression in early breast cancer (adjuvant).

Substantial survival benefits exist for patients with early-stage breast cancer who undergo treatment with single-modality ovarian suppression, but its value is uncertain. Expert oncologist discussed to determine whether additional benefits exist with ovarian suppression plus multiple adjuvant therapy which provides a new treatment option that reduces the risk of recurrence in early breast cancer. This expert group used data from published literature, practical experience and opinion of a large group of academic oncologists to arrive at this practical consensus recommendations for the benefit of community oncologists.

Practical consensus recommendations for neo-adjuvant chemotherapy in triple negative breast cancer.

This manuscript provides a practical and easy to use consensus recommendation to community oncologists on how to use neoadjuvant chemotherapy in triple negative breast cancer patients.

Adaptive dynamics of cuticular hydrocarbons in Drosophila.

Cuticular hydrocarbons (CHCs) are hydrophobic compounds deposited on the arthropod cuticle that are of functional significance with respect to stress tolerance, social interactions and mating dynamics. We characterized CHC profiles in natural populations of Drosophila melanogaster at five levels: across a latitudinal transect in the eastern United States, as a function of developmental temperature during culture, across seasonal time in replicate years, and as a function of rapid evolution in experimental mesocosms in the field. Furthermore, we also characterized spatial and temporal changes in allele frequencies for SNPs in genes that are associated with the production and chemical profile of CHCs. Our data demonstrate a striking degree of parallelism for clinal and seasonal variation in CHCs in this taxon; CHC profiles also demonstrate significant plasticity in response to rearing temperature, and the observed patterns of plasticity parallel the spatiotemporal patterns observed in nature. We find that these congruent shifts in CHC profiles across time and space are also mirrored by predictable shifts in allele frequencies at SNPs associated with CHC chain length. Finally, we observed rapid and predictable evolution of CHC profiles in experimental mesocosms in the field. Together, these data strongly suggest that CHC profiles respond rapidly and adaptively to environmental parameters that covary with latitude and season, and that this response reflects the process of local adaptation in natural populations of D. melanogaster.

A study of recurrent stone formers with special reference to renal tubular acidosis.

Forty-five patients with recurrent renal stone were examined for distal renal tubular acidosis (dRTA) defects by acid challenge test (150 mg ammonium chloride/kg body weight). Their 24-h urine samples were analysed for creatinine, calcium, oxalic acid, inorganic phosphorus, uric acid, magnesium and citric acid. One-hour urine samples before acid load and hourly samples for the 7 h following acid challenge test were collected and analysed for creatinine, calcium, citric acid, inorganic phosphorus, titratable acidity, and ammonium. The incidence of distal RTA defect was 22.2% in the patients examined. The major biochemical characteristics in RTA patients compared with patients without RTA were: (a) significantly higher urinary pH, (b) significantly lower excretion of citric acid, (c) no significant difference in calcium excretion and (d) a tendency toward lower titratable acidity and ammonium excretion.