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Carlsson Bateman posted an update 6 months ago
Agricultural workers often produce considerable excess heat due to the physically demanding nature of their activities, increasing their risk of thermal stress in even moderately warm conditions. Few studies have examined the physiological responses to heat load in agriculture. We aimed to assess the heat strain experienced by vineyard workers during canopy management in dry field conditions, and to disentangle the effects of the heat produced by the body and the thermal environment. Thirty workers from five Bordeaux vineyards of southern France were monitored during vine-lifting and trellising (June 2012). The mean heart rate, net cardiac cost, relative cardiac cost, and cardiac workload score were assessed during field activity. As the workers were nested within vineyards, multilevel linear regression models were used for correct inference. Skin temperature increased by an average of 1.0°C. Cardiac indices showed marked differences between individuals. The workload was evaluated as ‘heavy’ or ‘very heavy’ for more than one-third of the workers, of whom one experienced heat exhaustion. Above some individual characteristics, we highlighted a contextual effect (air temperature) for the mean heart rate (P = 0.03), the relative cardiac cost (P = 0.01) and, to a lesser extent, a cardiac workload score (P = 0.07). Canopy management by hand in vineyards causes considerable cardiac and thermoregulatory strain. Appropriate instruments should be developed to simultaneously evaluate work intensity, work quality, and productivity at the vineyard level to raise the awareness of both managers and employees about taking preventive measures.Lysophosphatidic acid (LPA) and its G-protein-coupled receptors (Lpar1-Lpar6) mediate a plethora of activities associated with cancer growth and progression. However, there is no systematic study about whether and how LPA promotes esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC). Here, we show that autotaxin (ATX), a primary LPA-producing enzyme, is highly expressed in ESCC, and overexpressed ATX is associated with the poor outcome of ESCC patients. Meanwhile, the expression of Lpar1 was much higher in ESCC cells compared with Het-1a (human esophagus normal epithelial cells). Functional experiments showed that LPA remarkably increased the proliferation and migration of ESCC cells. Furthermore, Lpar1 knockdown abolished the effect of LPA on ESCC cell proliferation and migration. Mechanistic studies revealed that LPA promoted ESCC cell lines proliferation and migration through PI3K/Akt pathway. Treatment of KYSE30 cell xenografts with Lpar1 inhibitor BMS-986020 significantly repressed tumor growth. Our results shed light on the important role of LPA in ESCC, and Lpar1 might be a potential treatment target for ESCC.
Evaluating morbidity and survival of patients operated on for a second primary non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC).
Retrospective collection of data from patients operated on for a second NSCLC between 2009 and 2018.
Fifty-two patients met the inclusion criteria. At the time of second pulmonary resection, the median time between the 2 surgeries was 25 months (5-44.5 months). Patients’ median age was 65 years (61-68 years). Median tumour size was 16 mm (10-22 mm). Thoracoscopy was used in 75% of cases. The resection was a pneumonectomy (n = 1), bilobectomy (n = 1), lobectomy (n = 15), segmentectomy (n = 32) or wedge resection (n = 3). The length of stay was 7 days (5-9 days). Mortality was null and morbidity was 36.5%, mainly from grade I-II complications according to the Clavien-Dindo classification. The median follow-up was 28 months (13-50 months). The median overall survival was 67 months (95% confidence interval 60.8-73.1 months). Survival at 5 years and specific survival were 71.1% and 67.7%, respectively.
A second surgical resection of either synchronous or metachronous NSCLC has a morbidity that is not superior to the morbidity of the first operation. CA-074 methyl ester research buy The new tumour is usually diagnosed at an early stage. An anatomical sublobar resection is most likely the best compromise. It might also be considered for the first operation when there is a suspicious synchronous lesion that may require surgery at a later stage.
A second surgical resection of either synchronous or metachronous NSCLC has a morbidity that is not superior to the morbidity of the first operation. The new tumour is usually diagnosed at an early stage. An anatomical sublobar resection is most likely the best compromise. It might also be considered for the first operation when there is a suspicious synchronous lesion that may require surgery at a later stage.
DNA methylation patterns in a cell are associated with gene expression and the phenotype of a cell, including disease states. Bisulphite PCR sequencing is commonly used to assess the methylation profile of genomic regions between different cells. Here we have developed MethPanel, a computational pipeline with an interactive graphical interface to rapidly analyse multiplex bisulphite PCR sequencing data. MethPanel comprises a complete analysis workflow from genomic alignment to DNA methylation calling and supports an unlimited number of PCR amplicons and input samples. MethPanel offers important and unique features, such as calculation of a epipolymorphism score and bisulphite PCR bias correction capabilities, and is designed so that the methylation data from all samples can be processed in parallel. The outputs are automatically forwarded to a shinyApp for convenient display, visualisation and remotely sharing data with collaborators and clinicians.
MethPanel is freely available at https//github.com/thinhong/MethPanel.
Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.
Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.The primary cause of morbidity and mortality in patients with multiple myeloma (MM) is an infection. Therefore, there is great concern about susceptibility to the outcome of COVID-19-infected patients with MM. This retrospective study describes the baseline characteristics and outcome data of COVID-19 infection in 650 patients with plasma cell disorders, collected by the International Myeloma Society to understand the initial challenges faced by myeloma patients during the COVID-19 pandemic. Analyses were performed for hospitalized MM patients. Among hospitalized patients, the median age was 69 years, and nearly all patients (96%) had MM. Approximately 36% were recently diagnosed (2019-2020), and 54% of patients were receiving first-line therapy. Thirty-three percent of patients have died, with significant geographic variability, ranging from 27% to 57% of hospitalized patients. Univariate analysis identified age, International Staging System stage 3 (ISS3), high-risk disease, renal disease, suboptimal myeloma control (active or progressive disease), and 1 or more comorbidities as risk factors for higher rates of death.