Search Our Scientific Publications & Authors

Mar Pollut Bull 2018 Dec 4;137:9-11. Epub 2018 Oct 4.

Systems Environmental Health and Energy Research Center, The Persian Gulf Biomedical Sciences Research Institute, Bushehr University of Medical Sciences, Bushehr, Iran.

This work is the first study on the spatial and temporal distribution of metals in zooplankton collected along the Persian Gulf. The rank order distribution of metals in terms of their overall average concentration in the zooplankton was observed to be Fe > Zn > Cu > Cd > Ni > Cr > Pb > Co > V. No clear pattern and no statistical differences were detected among the areas and the sampling stations. Read More

Mar Pollut Bull 2018 Dec 5;137:56-60. Epub 2018 Oct 5.

Laboratório de Química Orgânica Marinha, Instituto Oceanográfico, Universidade de São Paulo, 05508-120 São Paulo, SP, Brazil.

In the French West Indies (Caribbean), the insecticide Chlordecone (CLD) has been extensively used to reduce banana weevil (Cosmopolites sordidus) infestations in banana plantations. Previous studies have shown high CLD concentrations in freshwater and coastal communities of the region. CLD concentrations, however, have not yet been assessed in marine top predators. Read More

Bioanalysis 2018 Nov 29. Epub 2018 Nov 29.

F Hoffmann-La Roche, Basel, Switzerland.

The 2018 12 Workshop on Recent Issues in Bioanalysis took place in Philadelphia, PA, USA on April 9-13, 2018 with an attendance of over 900 representatives from pharmaceutical/biopharmaceutical companies, biotechnology companies, contract research organizations and regulatory agencies worldwide. WRIB was once again a 5-day, week-long event - a full immersion week of bioanalysis, biomarkers and immunogenicity. As usual, it was specifically designed to facilitate sharing, reviewing, discussing and agreeing on approaches to address the most current issues of interest including both small- and large-molecule bioanalysis involving LCMS, hybrid LBA/LCMS and LBA/cell-based assays approaches. Read More

Dermatol Pract Concept 2018 Oct 31;8(4):320-321. Epub 2018 Oct 31.

Department of Dermatology, Hospital Clínico San Carlos, Madrid, Spain.

Ecotoxicol Environ Saf 2018 Nov 22;169:496-506. Epub 2018 Nov 22.

Department of Environmental Health Engineering, School of Public Health, Bushehr University of Medical Sciences, Bushehr, Iran; Systems Environmental Health and Energy Research Center, The Persian Gulf Biomedical Sciences Research Institute, Bushehr University of Medical Sciences, Bushehr, Iran; The Persian Gulf Marine Biotechnology Research Center, The Persian Gulf Biomedical Sciences Research Institute, Bushehr University of Medical Sciences, Boostan 19 Alley, Imam Khomeini Street, Bushehr, Iran. Electronic address:

Phthalate acid esters (PAEs) are widely used as plasticizers in various plastic products and have aroused considerable concern over their ubiquitous presence and potentially hazardous effects on the environment. This research provides the first data on PAEs distribution in the sediments of northern part of the Persian Gulf. To determine the concentration of 16 PAEs, 26 samples of sediments were collected from industrial stations (IS), urban stations (US), agricultural stations (AGS), and natural field stations (NS) from Asalouyeh Harbor coasts from Nov 2016 to Jan 2017. Read More

Br J Dermatol 2018 Nov 22. Epub 2018 Nov 22.

Harvard Medical School.

Background: Spitzoid proliferations range from Spitz nevi to melanomas, and there are few studies describing clinical features and outcomes in the pediatric population.

Objectives: Determine clinical features and outcomes of a large pediatric cohort with histopathologically-confirmed Spitz tumors.

Methods: Retrospective cohort study of Boston Children's Hospital patients younger than 20 years with a histopathologic diagnosis of spitzoid proliferation from 1/1/1994 - 10/23/2012. Read More

J Clin Orthod 2018 Nov;52(11):621-628

Private Practice of Orthodontics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Psychiatr Danub 2018 Nov;30(Suppl 7):426-430

Via Chiesa san Grisogono, 20, 24068 Seriate, Bergamo, Italy,

The importance of maternal care for a harmonious development of the child has been at the center of the interest of child psychology since the second half of the twentieth century. Great scholars such as Lorenz, Harlow, Spitz and Bowlby have asserted that love for mum does not have its roots in satisfying the need for food, but in the need for protection and if there is a lack of care the consequences are extremely negatives. Nowadays, epigenetics is finding the biological basis of the effects of maternal care, if they are present and affectionate, and even if they are lacking or absent. Read More

J Neuropsychiatry Clin Neurosci 2018 Nov 8:appineuropsych18010015. Epub 2018 Nov 8.

From the Monash Institute of Cognitive and Clinical Neurosciences, School of Psychological Sciences, Monash University, Melbourne, Australia (CMR, GS, MM, JLP); the Monash-Epworth Rehabilitation Research Centre, Melbourne, Australia (CMR, GS, JLP); and Epworth Healthcare, Melbourne, Australia (JLP).

The overwhelming focus of research on memory following traumatic brain injury (TBI) has been on anterograde amnesia, and very little attention has been paid to retrograde amnesia. There is evidence to suggest that retrograde autobiographical memory deficits exist after severe TBI, although there have been no prospective studies of autobiographical memory in a representative sample of moderate to severe cases recruited from hospital admissions. The purpose of the present study was to report changes in autobiographical memory performance among a group of patients soon after emergence from posttraumatic amnesia (PTA) and at the 6-month follow-up compared with a healthy control (HC) group. Read More

Pediatr Dermatol 2018 Nov;35(6):821-822

Development 2018 Dec 5;145(23). Epub 2018 Dec 5.

Center for Reproductive Sciences, Departments of Anatomy and OB/GYN-RS, University of California, San Francisco, CA 94143-0452, USA

Adult stem cell niche boundaries must be precisely maintained to facilitate the segregation of stem cell and daughter cell fates. However, the mechanisms that govern this process in epithelial tissues are not fully understood. In this study, we investigated the relationship between two signals, Wnt and EGFR, that are necessary for self-renewal of the epithelial follicle stem cells (FSCs) in the ovary, but must be downregulated in cells that have exited the niche to allow for differentiation. Read More

PLoS Biol 2018 Oct 31;16(10):e3000027. Epub 2018 Oct 31.

The Francis Crick Institute, London, United Kingdom.

Extensive apoptosis is often seen in patterning mutants, suggesting that tissues can detect and eliminate potentially harmful mis-specified cells. Here, we show that the pattern of apoptosis in the embryonic epidermis of Drosophila is not a response to fate mis-specification but can instead be explained by the limiting availability of prosurvival signaling molecules released from locations determined by patterning information. In wild-type embryos, the segmentation cascade elicits the segmental production of several epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) ligands, including the transforming growth factor Spitz (TGFα), and the neuregulin, Vein. Read More

Open Forum Infect Dis 2018 Oct 20;5(10):ofy242. Epub 2018 Oct 20.

University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Background: Broadly neutralizing monoclonal antibodies (bnMAbs) may promote clearance of HIV-1-expressing cells through antibody-dependent cell-mediated cytotoxicity. We evaluated the effect of the CD4-binding site bnMAb, VRC01, on measures of HIV-1 persistence in chronically infected individuals.

Methods: A5342 was a phase 1, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, parallel-arm study. Read More

J Craniofac Surg 2018 Oct 24. Epub 2018 Oct 24.

Division of Plastic, Reconstructive, and Cosmetic Surgery, University of Illinois Hospital and Health Science System.

It is common for patients diagnosed with severe traumatic brain injury or intracranial tumors to undergo multiple craniotomy and cranioplasty procedures. In the setting of infection, these patients can develop scalp wounds with no local options. A reverse flow anterolateral thigh (ALT) flap for coverage of a complex multifocal scalp wound in a patient with exposed cranioplasty mesh and multiple prior operations without necessitating vein grafts was presented. Read More

Am J Cancer Res 2018 1;8(9):1775-1787. Epub 2018 Sep 1.

Dan L. Duncan Comprehensive Cancer Center, Baylor College of Medicine Houston, TX 77030, USA.

Objectives: The composition and structure of site-specific microbiota have been investigated as potential biomarkers for a variety of chronic inflammatory diseases and cancers. While many studies have focused on the changes in the airway microbiota using respiratory specimens from patients with various respiratory diseases, more research is needed to explore the microbial profiles within the distal lung parenchyma in smokers with lung cancer and/or emphysema.

Materials And Methods: To describe and contrast lung tissue-associated microbial signatures in smokers with lung cancer and/or emphysema, we employed culture-independent pyrosequencing of 16S rRNA gene hypervariable V4 region and compositional analysis in non-malignant lung tissue samples obtained from 40 heavy smokers, including 10 emphysema-only, 11 lung cancer-only, and 19 with both lung cancer and emphysema. Read More

Redox Biol 2018 Sep 27;20:98-106. Epub 2018 Sep 27.

Division of Pediatric Nephrology, Dialysis and Transplantation, Stead Family Department of Pediatrics, The University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA, 52242, United States. Electronic address:

Severe and recurrent cisplatin-induced acute kidney injury (AKI) as part of standard cancer therapy is a known risk factor for development of chronic kidney disease (CKD). The specific role of superoxide (O)-mediated disruption of mitochondrial oxidative metabolism in CKD after cisplatin treatment is unexplored. Cisplatin is typically administered in weekly or tri-weekly cycles as part of standard cancer therapy. Read More

Br J Hosp Med (Lond) 2018 Oct;79(10):588-589

Physician, Department of Medicine, Kettering Medical Center, Kettering, Ohio, United States.

Clin Gastroenterol Hepatol 2018 Sep 26. Epub 2018 Sep 26.

Department of Gastroenterology, Infectious Diseases and Rheumatology, Campus Benjamin Franklin, Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin and Berlin Institute of Health, Berlin, Germany. Electronic address:

Background & Aims: Point of care tests (POCTs) might be used to identify patients with undiagnosed celiac disease who require further evaluation. We performed a large multicenter study to determine the performance of a POCT for celiac disease and assessed celiac disease prevalence in endoscopy centers.

Methods: We performed a prospective study of 1055 patients (888 adults; median age, 48 yrs and 167 children; median age, 10 yrs) referred to 8 endoscopy centers in Germany, for various indications, from January 2016 through June 2017. Read More

Cancer Res 2018 Sep 25. Epub 2018 Sep 25.

Surgery, The University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine

Chemoradiation therapy is the mainstay for treatment of locally advanced, borderline resectable pancreatic cancer. Pharmacological ascorbate (P-AscH-, i.e. Read More

Dev Cell 2018 10 20;47(2):161-174.e4. Epub 2018 Sep 20.

Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB Barcelona), The Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology, Baldiri Reixac 10-12, Barcelona 08028, Spain; Institució Catalana de Recerca i Estudis Avançats (ICREA), Passeig Lluís Companys 23, Barcelona 08010, Spain. Electronic address:

Most sporadic carcinomas with high metastatic activity show an increased rate of changes in chromosome structure and number, known as chromosomal instability (CIN). However, the role of CIN in driving invasiveness remains unclear. Using an epithelial model in Drosophila, we present evidence that CIN promotes a rapid and general invasive behavior. Read More

Acta Neurol Belg 2018 Sep 20. Epub 2018 Sep 20.

Department of Neurology, Hospital Federal dos Servidores do Estado, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Appl Immunohistochem Mol Morphol 2018 Sep 12. Epub 2018 Sep 12.

Department of Surgical and Transplant Physiopathology, University of Milan, Fondazione IRCCS Ca' Granda - Policlinico Hospital.

Spindle or epithelioid melanocytic (Spitz) nevi usually affect children or adolescents and growth in the face or the lower extremities. Histologically, they may show cytoarchitectural atypia and mitotic figures that could represent diagnostic pitfalls with malignant melanoma. Atypical spitzoid tumors (AST) indicate lesions that microscopically show intermediate characteristics between benign nevi and malignant melanoma. Read More

JAMA Dermatol 2018 Nov;154(11):1353-1354

Dermatology Unit, University of Campania, Naples, Italy.

J Int Neuropsychol Soc 2018 Nov 10;24(10):1064-1072. Epub 2018 Sep 10.

1Monash Institute of Cognitive and Clinical Neurosciences,School of Psychological Sciences,Monash University,Melbourne,Australia.

Objectives: Anecdotal reports suggest that following traumatic brain injury (TBI) retrograde memories are initially impaired and recover in order of remoteness. However, there has been limited empirical research investigating whether a negative gradient in retrograde amnesia-relative preservation of remote over recent memory-exists during post-traumatic amnesia (PTA) compared with the acute phase post-emergence. This study used a repeated-measures design to examine the pattern of personal semantic (PS) memory performance during PTA and within two weeks of emergence to improve understanding of the nature of the memory deficit during PTA and its relationship with recovery. Read More

Ecol Appl 2018 Dec 1;28(8):2082-2091. Epub 2018 Oct 1.

Department of Fisheries and Wildlife, Oregon State University, Corvallis, Oregon, 97331, USA.

Recurrent environmental changes often prompt animals to alter their behavior leading to predictable patterns across a range of temporal scales. The nested nature of circadian and seasonal behavior complicates tests for effects of rarer disturbance events like fire. Fire can dramatically alter plant community structure, with important knock-on effects at higher trophic levels, but the strength and timing of fire's effects on herbivores remain unclear. Read More

J Clin Invest 2018 08 31;128(9):3682-3691. Epub 2018 Aug 31.

Department of Radiation Oncology, Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, Chicago, Illinois, USA.

Mammalian cells use a complex network of redox-dependent processes necessary to maintain cellular integrity during oxidative metabolism, as well as to protect against and/or adapt to stress. The disruption of these redox-dependent processes, including those in the mitochondria, creates a cellular environment permissive for progression to a malignant phenotype and the development of resistance to commonly used anticancer agents. An extension of this paradigm is that when these mitochondrial functions are altered by the events leading to transformation and ensuing downstream metabolic processes, they can be used as molecular biomarkers or targets in the development of new therapeutic interventions to selectively kill and/or sensitize cancer versus normal cells. Read More

Transl Pediatr 2018 Jul;7(3):203-210

Department of Pediatrics, The University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA.

Background: The diagnosis and management of pediatric melanomas is challenging given the presence of both melanomas and histologically aggressive Spitz tumors of undetermined biological significance (S-UBS) in this age group. Study objectives were to examine: factors leading to diagnostic delays, therapy side effects and patient outcomes in these diagnostic groups.

Methods: A retrospective case review was performed using The University of Michigan's pediatric oncology database over a 13-year timespan. Read More

Pediatr Surg Int 2018 Oct 11;34(10):1019-1026. Epub 2018 Aug 11.

Department of Pediatric Surgery, Shizuoka Children's Hospital, 860 Urushiyama, Aoi-ku, Shizuoka, 420-8660, Japan.

Purpose: The aim of this study was to investigate the risk factors for in hospital mortality in infants with esophageal atresia (EA) without critical chromosome abnormality disorders and develop a new prognostic classification to assess the influence of external risk factors on the prognosis of EA, which could provide more effective treatment strategies in clinical practice.

Methods: A retrospective chart review of all consecutive patients between January 1994 and December 2017, which included 65 EA infants who were admitted to Shizuoka Children's Hospital, was conducted. Based on multivariate analysis data and ROC analysis, the discrimination of the new prognostic classification was quantified and compared with that of the Spitz classification using the area under the ROC curve (AUC). Read More

Melanoma Res 2018 Dec;28(6):510-520

Department of Pathology, GROW-School for Oncology and Developmental Biology, Maastricht University Medical Center.

The molecular properties of benign melanocytic lesions are poorly understood. Only a few studies have been carried out on specific nevi subtypes, including common nevocellular nevi (NCN) or Spitz nevi (SN). Genomic alterations in melanoma-associated oncogenes are typically absent in SN. Read More

J Clin Pathol 2018 Oct 3;71(10):853-858. Epub 2018 Aug 3.

Department of Anatomical Pathology, Laboratory Medicine Program, University Health Network and University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

The gene belongs to family of genes and is made up of four members: p16 , p15 , p18 and p19 , all of which share biological properties, namely, inhibition of cell growth and tumour suppression. After , is the second most common tumour suppressor gene. It has been regarded as the familial melanoma gene. Read More

Ann Transl Med 2018 Jun;6(12):249

First Department of Pathology, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Medical School, Athens, Greece.

Significant progress in the molecular pathology of melanocytic tumors have revealed that benign neoplasms, so-called nevi, are initiated by gain-of-function mutations in one of several primary oncogenes, such as in acquired melanocytic nevi, in congenital nevi or / in blue nevi, with consequent MAPK and PI3K/AKT/mTOR activation. Secondary genetic alterations overcome tumor suppressive mechanisms and allow the progression to intermediate lesions characterized by TERT-p mutation or to invasive melanomas displaying disruption of tumor suppressor genes. Currently, melanoma is molecularly regarded as four different diseases, namely , , and the "triple wild type" subtypes, which are associated with particular clinicopathological features. Read More

Hum Mol Genet 2018 Nov;27(21):3801-3812

Channing Division of Network Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America.

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), one of the leading causes of death worldwide, is substantially influenced by genetic factors. Alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency demonstrates that rare coding variants of large effect can influence COPD susceptibility. To identify additional rare coding variants in patients with severe COPD, we conducted whole exome sequencing analysis in 2543 subjects from two family-based studies (Boston Early-Onset COPD Study and International COPD Genetics Network) and one case-control study (COPDGene). Read More

Am J Surg Pathol 2018 Nov;42(11):1456-1465

Departments of Pathology.

PRAME (PReferentially expressed Antigen in MElanoma) is a melanoma-associated antigen that was isolated by autologous T cells in a melanoma patient. While frequent PRAME mRNA expression is well documented in cutaneous and ocular melanomas, little is known about PRAME protein expression in melanocytic tumors. In this study we examined the immunohistochemical expression of PRAME in 400 melanocytic tumors, including 155 primary and 100 metastatic melanomas, and 145 melanocytic nevi. Read More

JMIR Med Educ 2018 Jul 19;4(2):e17. Epub 2018 Jul 19.

Equipe de psychologie de la santé de Metz, EA 4360 APEMAC, Université de Lorraine, Metz, France.

Background: Although most physicians in medical settings have to deliver bad news, the skills of delivering bad news to patients have been given insufficient attention. Delivering bad news is a complex communication task that includes verbal and nonverbal skills, the ability to recognize and respond to patients' emotions and the importance of considering the patient's environment such as culture and social status. How bad news is delivered can have consequences that may affect patients, sometimes over the long term. Read More

Skin Res Technol 2018 Jul 18. Epub 2018 Jul 18.

Department of Dermatology, Hospital de Santa Maria, Lisboa, Portugal.

Juvenile xanthogranuloma is the most common type of non-Langerhans cell histiocytosis. It appears primarily in infancy, where its differential diagnosis includes Spitz nevus, dermal nevus and molluscum contagiosum. We report the case of a 2-year-old boy with juvenile xanthogranuloma, as diagnosed using real-time, in vivo reflectance confocal microscopy. Read More

Front Physiol 2018 3;9:815. Epub 2018 Jul 3.

Institute of Applied Synthetic Chemistry, Institute of Chemical Technologies and Analytics, Institute of Chemical, Environmental and Bioscience Engineering, Vienna University of Technology, Vienna, Austria.

Knowledge on the availability of dissolved oxygen inside microfluidic cell culture systems is vital for recreating physiological-relevant microenvironments and for providing reliable and reproducible measurement conditions. It is important to highlight that cells experience a diverse range of oxygen tensions depending on the resident tissue type, which can also be recreated using specialized cell culture instruments that regulate external oxygen concentrations. While cell-culture conditions can be readily adjusted using state-of-the-art incubators, the control of physiological-relevant microenvironments within the microfluidic chip, however, requires the integration of oxygen sensors. Read More

Bioengineering (Basel) 2018 Jul 10;5(3). Epub 2018 Jul 10.

Department of Physics, College of Arts and Sciences, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH 45221, USA.

Gel dosimeters are attractive detectors for radiation therapy, with properties similar to biological tissue and the potential to visualize volumetric dose distributions. Radio-fluorogenesis is the yield of fluorescent chemical products in response to energy deposition from ionizing radiation. This report shares the development of a novel radio-fluorogenic gel (RFG) dosimeter, gelatin infused with coumarin-3-carboxlyic acid (C3CA), for the quantification of imparted energy. Read More

J Clin Exp Neuropsychol 2018 Jul 9:1-9. Epub 2018 Jul 9.

a Monash Institute of Cognitive and Clinical Neurosciences, School of Psychological Sciences , Monash University , Clayton , VIC , Australia.

Prospective monitoring of posttraumatic amnesia (PTA) status is recommended following traumatic brain injury (TBI). Use of patients' subjective reports is, however, still common and necessary in some circumstances. It is therefore important to understand how patients' self-reported first memories relate to prospective measures and how reliable these reports remain over time. Read More

Biomicrofluidics 2018 Jul 20;12(4):042216. Epub 2018 Jun 20.

Faculty of Technical Chemistry, Institute of Applied Synthetic Chemistry, Institute of Chemical Technologies and Analytics, Vienna University of Technology, 1060 Vienna, Austria.

Reengineering functional vascular networks remains an integral part in tissue engineering, since the incorporation of non-perfused tissues results in restricted nutrient supply and limited waste removal. Microfluidic devices are routinely used to mimic both physiological and pathological vascular microenvironments. Current procedures either involve the investigation of growth factor gradients and interstitial flow on endothelial cell sprouting alone or on the heterotypic cell-cell interactions between endothelial and mural cells. Read More

World Neurosurg 2018 Nov 6;119:402-415. Epub 2018 Jul 6.

Department of Neurological Surgery, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, USA.

Background: Rhabdoid meningiomas are rare World Health Organization grade 3 tumors that tend to follow an aggressive course, with an increased likelihood for local recurrence, remote metastasis, and cerebrospinal fluid dissemination. Genetic testing has found certain genes associated with reduced time to tumor recurrence. BAP1 (BRCA1-associated protein 1) is a tumor suppressor gene that is associated with multiple tumors, including rhabdoid meningiomas. Read More

J Thorac Oncol 2018 Oct 4;13(10):1483-1495. Epub 2018 Jul 4.

Dan L. Duncan Comprehensive Cancer Center, Department of Medicine, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas.

Background: Genome-wide association studies are widely used to map genomic regions contributing to lung cancer (LC) susceptibility, but they typically do not identify the precise disease-causing genes/variants. To unveil the inherited genetic variants that cause LC, we performed focused exome-sequencing analyses on genes located in 121 genome-wide association study-identified loci previously implicated in the risk of LC, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, pulmonary function level, and smoking behavior.

Methods: Germline DNA from 260 case patients with LC and 318 controls were sequenced by utilizing VCRome 2. Read More

Cell Metab 2018 Jul;28(1):69-86.e6

Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Hematology & Oncology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA. Electronic address:

Although breast cancer stem cells (BCSCs) display plasticity transitioning between quiescent mesenchymal-like (M) and proliferative epithelial-like (E) states, how this plasticity is regulated by metabolic or oxidative stress remains poorly understood. Here, we show that M- and E-BCSCs rely on distinct metabolic pathways and display markedly different sensitivities to inhibitors of glycolysis and redox metabolism. Metabolic or oxidative stress generated by 2DG, HO, or hypoxia promotes the transition of ROS M-BCSCs to a ROS E-state. Read More

PLoS One 2018 29;13(6):e0199992. Epub 2018 Jun 29.

Genoscoper Laboratories Oy, Helsinki, Finland.

Deducing the evolutionary histories of dog breeds can be challenging due to convergent traits and frequent admixture. In this report, we have explored the relationships of indigenous Finnish hunting spitz breeds among other northern Eurasian hunting breeds using commercially available SNP analysis (the MyDogDNA panel test). We find that Nordic hunting breeds Finnish Spitz, Nordic Spitz and the Karelian Bear Dog, as well as the reindeer herding Lapphund and Lapponian herder are all closely related and have common origins with the northeastern Eurasian Laika breeds, rather than with other Scandinavian Spitz breeds, such as Elkhounds and Swedish Vallhund. Read More

Qual Health Res 2018 Jun 1:1049732318783186. Epub 2018 Jun 1.

2 University of Lorraine, EA 4360 APEMAC, Metz.

A systematic review of articles using qualitative methods to generate questionnaire items identified in MEDLINE and PsycINFO from 2000 to 2014 was carried out. Articles were analyzed for (a) year of publication and journal domain, (b) qualitative data collection methods, (c) method of data content analysis, (d) professional experts' input in item generation, and (e) debriefing of the newly developed items. In total, 371 articles were included and results showed (a) an acceleration of published articles, (b) individual interviews and focus groups were common ways of generating items and no emergent approach was identified, (c) the content analysis was usually not described (43% of articles), (d) experts were involved in eliciting concepts in less than a third of articles, (e) 61% of articles involved a step of further submission of newly developed items to the population of interest. Read More

Cogn Res Princ Implic 2018 Dec 11;3(1):16. Epub 2018 Jun 11.

1Department of Movement Sciences, Laboratory of Perception and Performance, Movement Control and Neuroplasticity Research Group, University of Leuven (KU Leuven), Tervuursevest 101, (box 1501), B - 3001, Leuven, Belgium.

There is an increasing trend in association football (soccer) to assist referees in their decision-making with video technology. For decisions such as whether a goal has been scored or which player actually committed a foul, video technology can provide more objective information and be valuable to increase decisional accuracy. It is unclear, however, to what extent video replays can aid referee decisions in the case of foul-play situations in which the decision is typically more ambiguous. Read More

Pediatr Dermatol 2018 Sep 26;35(5):e328-e329. Epub 2018 Jun 26.

Department of Dermatology, Seoul St. Mary's Hospital, College of Medicine, The Catholic University of Korea, Seoul, Republic of Korea.

Spitz nevus commonly appears as a solitary lesion. A 12-year-old male patient presented with a 6-month history of several pigmented lesions on his trunk and lower extremities. He had undergone chemoradiotherapy and unrelated umbilical cord blood transplantation against recurring acute lymphoblastic leukemia for 6 years. Read More

BMJ Open 2018 Jun 22;8(6):e019731. Epub 2018 Jun 22.

University of Lorraine, APEMAC EA 4360, Nancy, France.

Objective: To evaluate the feasibility of an innovative peer intervention promoting healthy eating and physical activity, which purposefully selected peer facilitators according to socioeconomic status to target less-advantaged overweight receivers.

Setting: Nine high schools, two middle schools.

Participants: One hundred and fifty-six adolescents were approached to become facilitators, of whom 18 were trained. Read More

Dev Med Child Neurol 2018 12 21;60(12):1256-1263. Epub 2018 Jun 21.

Département de Neuropédiatrie, CHU Gui de Chauliac, Montpellier, France.

Aim: Benign paroxysmal torticollis (BPT), benign paroxysmal vertigo (BPV), and benign tonic upward gaze (BTU) are characterized by transient and recurrent episodes of neurological manifestations. The purpose of this study was to analyse the clinical relationships between these syndromes, associated comorbidities, and genetic bases.

Method: In this cross-sectional study, clinical data of patients with BPT, BPV, or BTU were collected with a focus on developmental achievements, learning abilities, and rehabilitation. Read More

Am J Dermatopathol 2018 Jul;40(7):469-478

Chief Resident (A.L.J.D.), Associate Professor (J.M.G., S.C.S.), Assistant Professor (J.R.K.), Professor (W.B.), Department of Pathology, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, Little Rock, AR.

Recent studies have identified kinase fusions in Spitzoid melanocytic neoplasms, and approximately 10% of Spitzoid neoplasms harbor anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK) rearrangements and corresponding ALK immunoreactivity. Deep penetrating nevi (DPN), a subset of melanocytic neoplasms, have histologic and immunohistochemical overlap that have historically supported classification of DPN with blue/cellular blue nevi (CBN). However, HRAS mutations have rarely been detected in DPN, thereby also linking them to Spitz nevi. Read More

J Am Acad Dermatol 2018 Oct 18;79(4):728-735. Epub 2018 Jun 18.

Department of Medicine, University of Padua, Padua, Italy. Electronic address:

Background: ALK receptor tyrosine kinase gene (ALK) rearrangements have been described in spitzoid lesions with a plexiform growth pattern.

Objective: To investigate the prevalence of ALK alterations in a large series of spitzoid lesions.

Methods: ALK immunohistochemical and fluorescence in situ hybridization analyses of 78 spitzoid plexiform lesions including 41 Spitz nevi, 29 atypical Spitz tumors (ASTs), and 8 spitzoid melanomas. Read More