Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Genetic Susceptibility To Hepatocellular Carcinoma In Chromosome 22q13.31, Findings Of A Genome-Wide Association Study., Zhanwei Wang, Anuradha S Budhu, Yi Shen, Linda Lou Wong, Brenda Y Hernandez, Maarit Tiirikainen, Xiaomei Ma, Melinda L Irwin, Lingeng Lu, Hongyu Zhao, Joseph K Lim, Tamar Taddei, Lopa Mishra, Karen Pawlish, Antoinette Stroup, Robert Brown, Mindie H Nguyen, Jill Koshiol, Maria O Hernandez, Marshonna Forgues, Hwai-I Yang, Mei-Hsuan Lee, Yu-Han Huang, Motoki Iwasaki, Atsushi Goto, Shiori Suzuki, Koichi Matsuda, Chizu Tanikawa, Yoichiro Kamatani, Dean Mann, Maria Guarnera, Kirti Shetty, Claire E Thomas, Jian-Min Yuan, Chiea Chuen Khor, Woon-Puay Koh, Harvey Risch, Xin Wei Wang, Herbert Yu

Surgery Faculty Publications

Background and Aim: Chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection, long-term alcohol use, cigarette smoking, and obesity are the major risk factors for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) in the United States, but the disease risk varies substantially among individuals with these factors, suggesting host susceptibility to and gene-environment interactions in HCC. To address genetic susceptibility to HCC, we conducted a genome-wide association study (GWAS).

Methods: Two case-control studies on HCC were conducted in the United States. DNA samples were genotyped using the Illumian microarray chip with over 710 000 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). We compared these SNPs between 705 HCC cases and …

Mortality Risk Stratification In Isolated Severe Traumatic Brain Injury Using The Revised Cardiac Risk Index., Maximilian Peter Forssten, Gary Alan Bass, Kai-Michael Scheufler, Ahmad Mohammad Ismail, Yang Cao, Niels Douglas Martin, Babak Sarani, Shahin Mohseni

Surgery Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

The Virtual Mock Oral Examination: A Multi-Institutional Study Of Resident And Faculty Receptiveness., Joseph F. Goodman, Prashant Saini, Alexander J. Straughan, Christopher D. Badger, Punam Thakkar, Philip E. Zapanta

Surgery Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Ultrasound-Guided Introital Drainage Of Pyometrocolpos, I Kim, Ranjith Vellody, Hans G. Pohl, Karun Sharma, Kabir Yadav

Radiology Faculty Publications

Pyometrocolpos can be caused by congenital malformations such as distal vaginal atresia and imperforate hymen. Patients usually present with obstructive urinary tract infections, acute kidney injury, or sepsis. Percutaneous drainage of the infected fluid can help treat the patient; however, recurrence is of concern. In this case report, we present a case of a child with recurrent pyometrocolpos due to distal vaginal atresia despite initial percutaneous drainage. To our knowledge, this is the first report of ultrasound-guided introital drainage of pyometrocolpos with relief of symptoms obviating the need for repeat drainage or immediate surgery. © 2017

The Synergistic Effects Of Saxagliptin And Metformin On Cd34+ Endothelial Progenitor Cells In Early Type 2 Diabetes Patients: A Randomized Clinical Trial., Fiona J Dore, Cleyton C Domingues, Neeki Ahmadi, Nabanita Kundu, Yana Kropotova, Sara Houston, Carol Rouphael, Aytan Mammadova, Linda Witkin, Anamil Khiyami, Richard L Amdur, Sabyasachi Sen

Surgery Faculty Publications

AIMS: Type 2 diabetes is associated with endothelial dysfunction leading to cardiovascular disease. CD34+ endothelial Progenitor Cells (EPCs) are responsible for endothelial repair and neo-angiogenesis and can be used as a cardiovascular disease risk biomarker. This study investigated whether the addition of saxagliptin, a DPP-IV inhibitor, to metformin, may reduce cardiovascular disease risk in addition to improving glycemic control in Type 2 diabetes patients.

METHODS: In 12 week, double-blind, randomized placebo-controlled trial, 42 subjects already taking metformin 1-2 grams/day were randomized to placebo or saxagliptin 5 mg. Subjects aged 40-70 years with diabetes for < 10 years, with no known cardiovascular disease, BMI 25-39.9, HbA1C 6-9% were included. We evaluated EPCs number, function, surface markers and gene expression, in addition to arterial stiffness, blood biochemistries, resting energy expenditure, and body composition parameters. A mixed model regression to examine saxagliptin vs placebo, accounting for within-subject autocorrelation, was done with SAS (p < 0.05).

RESULTS: Although there was no significant …

Precision Medicine For Crc Patients In The Veteran Population: State-Of-The-Art, Challenges And Research Directions., Shyam S Mohapatra, Surinder K Batra, Srinivas Bharadwaj, Michael Bouvet, Bard Cosman, Ajay Goel, Wilma Jogunoori, Michael J Kelley, Lopa Mishra, Bibhuti Mishra, Subhra Mohapatra, Bhaumik Patel, Joseph R Pisegna, Jean-Pierre Raufman, Shuyun Rao, Hemant Roy, Maren Scheuner, Satish Singh, Gitanjali Vidyarthi, Jon White

Surgery Faculty Publications

Colorectal cancer (CRC) accounts for ~9% of all cancers in the Veteran population, a fact which has focused a great deal of the attention of the VA's research and development efforts. A field-based meeting of CRC experts was convened to discuss both challenges and opportunities in precision medicine for CRC. This group, designated as the VA Colorectal Cancer Cell-genomics Consortium (VA4C), discussed advances in CRC biology, biomarkers, and imaging for early detection and prevention. There was also a discussion of precision treatment involving fluorescence-guided surgery, targeted chemotherapies and immunotherapies, and personalized cancer treatment approaches. The overarching goal was to identify …

The Tempo Trial At 5 Years: Transoral Fundoplication (Tif 2.0) Is Safe, Durable, And Cost-Effective., Karim S Trad, William E Barnes, Elizabeth R Prevou, Gilbert Simoni, Jennifer A Steffen, Ahmad B Shughoury, Mamoon Raza, Jeffrey A Heise, Mark A Fox, Peter G Mavrelis

Surgery Faculty Publications

BACKGROUND: Questions remain about the therapeutic durability of transoral incisionless fundoplication (TIF). In this study, clinical outcomes were evaluated at 5 years post-TIF 2.0.

METHODS: A total of 63 chronic gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) sufferers with troublesome symptoms refractory to proton pump inhibitor (PPI) therapy, absent or ≤2 cm hiatal hernia, and abnormal esophageal acid exposure were randomized to the TIF group or PPI group. Following the 6-month evaluation, all patients in the PPI group elected for crossover to TIF; therefore, all 63 patients underwent TIF 2.0 with EsophyX

RESULTS: Of 63 patients, 60 were available at 1 year, 52 …

Tumorigenic Proteins Upregulated In The Mycn-Amplified Imr-32 Human Neuroblastoma Cells Promote Proliferation And Migration., Hayat Zaatiti, Jad Abdallah, Zeina Nasr, George Khazen, Anthony Sandler, Tamara J Abou-Antoun

Surgery Faculty Publications

Childhood neuroblastoma is one of the most common types of extra-cranial cancer affecting children with a clinical spectrum ranging from spontaneous regression to malignant and fatal progression. In order to improve the clinical outcomes of children with high-risk neuroblastoma, it is crucial to understand the tumorigenic mechanisms that govern its malignant behaviors. MYCN proto-oncogene, bHLH transcription factor (MYCN) amplification has been implicated in the malignant, treatment-evasive nature of aggressive, high-risk neuroblastoma. In this study, we used a SILAC approach to compare the proteomic signatures of MYCN-amplified IMR-32 and non-MYCN-amplified SK-N-SH human neuroblastoma cells. Tumorigenic proteins, including fatty-acid binding protein 5 …

Review Of Risk Assessment Tools To Predict Morbidity And Mortality In Elderly Surgical Patients Brief Title: Review Of Surgical Risk Assessment Tools, Gilgamesh Eamer, Mohamed Al-Amoodi, Jayna Holroyd-Leduc, Darryl Rolfson, Lindsey Warkentin, Rachel Khadaroo

School of Medicine and Health Sciences Student Works

Background

Informed surgical consent requires accurate estimation of risks and benefits. Multiple risk assessment tools are available; however, most are not widely used or are specific to certain interventions. Assessing surgical risk is especially challenging in elderly patients because of their range of comorbidities, level of frailty, or severity of illness and a number of available surgical interventions.

Data sources

We searched MEDLINE from January 2014 to July 2017 for studies that used risk assessment tools in studies on elderly surgical patients. We then sought the original articles describing each assessment tool and subsequent validation studies.

Conclusions

We identified risk …

The Role Of Tgf-Β/Smad4 Signaling In Cancer, M Zhao, Lopa Mishra, C Deng

Surgery Faculty Publications

Transforming growth factor β (TGF-β) signaling pathway plays important roles in many biological processes, including cell growth, differentiation, apoptosis, migration, as well as cancer initiation and progression. SMAD4, which serves as the central mediator of TGF-β signaling, is specifically inactivated in over half of pancreatic duct adenocarcinoma, and varying degrees in many other types of cancers. In the past two decades, multiple studies have revealed that SMAD4 loss on its own does not initiate tumor formation, but can promote tumor progression initiated by other genes, such as KRAS activation in pancreatic duct adenocarcinoma and APC inactivation in colorectal cancer. In …

Surgical Management Of Symptomatic Intraluminal Duodenal Diverticulum In An Adolescent, Vivian Lam Saavedra, Timothy D. Kane, Stefany Garrity

Surgery Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

A Primer On The Acute Management Of Intravenous Extravasation Injuries For The Plastic Surgeon, Connor Maly, Kenneth Fan, Gary F. Rogers, Benjamin Mitchell, June Amling, Kara Johnson, Laura Welch, Albert K. Oh, Jerry Chao

Surgery Faculty Publications

Intravenous therapy is a common practice among many specialties. Intravenous therapy extravasation is a potential complication to such therapy. Hospitals without a dedicated wound care team trained in these interventions will often default to plastic surgical consultation, making an understanding of available interventions essential to the initial evaluation and management of these injuries. The goal of this article was to provide plastic surgeons and health care providers with a general overview of the acute management of intravenous infiltration and extravasation injuries. Though the decision for surgical versus nonsurgical management is often a clear one for plastic surgeons, local interventions, and …

A Case Report Of Successful Management Of Clostridium Difficile Colitis With Antegrade Fidaxomicin Through A Mucous Fistula Obviating The Need For Subtotal Colectomy., Suzanne Arnott, Matthew Skancke, Sheena Chen, Bruce Abell

Surgery Faculty Publications

Introduction

Clostridium difficile is the most common cause of healthcare-associated infections and can have devastating morbidity and mortality. Traditional treatment algorithms involve intravenous metronidazole and enteric metronidazole or vancomycin. Fidaxomicin (DificidR) targets “switch regions” within RNA polymerases and effectively kills clostridium difficile bacteria and is typically administered orally primarily or through a naso/oro-gastric conduit.

Presentation of case

55-year-old with a recent elective surgical procedure was hospitalized with multifocal pneumonia and subsequently developed clostridium difficile colitis. This patient failed the standard medical therapy for clostridium difficile colitis, decompensated and required surgical exploration, partial colectomy and mucous fistula creation. Following her surgery, …

Transcriptional Alterations In Hereditary And Sporadic Nonfunctioning Pancreatic Neuroendocrine Tumors According To Genotype., Xavier M Keutgen, Suresh Kumar, Sudheer Gara, Myriem Boufraqech, Sunita Agarwal, Ralph H Hruban, Naris Nilubol, Martha Quezado, Richard Finney, Maggie Cam, Electron Kebebew

Surgery Faculty Publications

BACKGROUND

Nonfunctioning pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors (NFPanNETs) may be sporadic or inherited because of germline mutations associated with von Hippel-Lindau disease (VHL) or multiple endocrine neoplasia type 1 (MEN1). The clinical behavior of NFPanNETs is difficult to predict, even in tumors of the same stage and grade. The authors analyzed genotype-specific patterns of transcriptional messenger RNA (mRNA) levels of NFPanNETs to understand the molecular features that determine PanNET phenotype.

METHODS

Thirty-two samples were included for genome-wide mRNA gene expression analysis (9 VHL-associated, 10 MEN1-associated, and 9 sporadic NFPanNETs and 4 purified normal islet cell [NIC] samples). Validation of genes was performed …

Thyroid Cancer: Is It All In The Genes?, Electron Kebebew

Surgery Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Robust Head Ct Image Registration Pipeline For Craniosynostosis Skull Correction Surgery, Shusil Dangi, Hina Shah, Antonio Porras, Beatriz Paniagua, Cristian Linte, Marius George Linguraru, Andinent Enquobahrie

Radiology Faculty Publications

Craniosynostosis is a congenital malformation of the infant skull typically treated via corrective surgery. To accurately quantify the extent of deformation and identify the optimal correction strategy, the patient-specific skull model extracted from a pre-surgical computed tomography (CT) image needs to be registered to an atlas of head CT images representative of normal subjects. Here, the authors present a robust multi-stage, multi-resolution registration pipeline to map a patient-specific CT image to the atlas space of normal CT images. The proposed registration pipeline first performs an initial optimisation at very low resolution to yield a good initial alignment that is subsequently …

The Strong Cell-Based Hydrogen Peroxide Generation Triggered By Cold Atmospheric Plasma., Dayun Yan, Haitao Cui, Wei Zhu, Annie Talbot, Lijie Grace Zhang, Jonathan H Sherman, Michael Keidar

Surgery Faculty Publications

Hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) is an important signaling molecule in cancer cells. However, the significant secretion of H2O2 by cancer cells have been rarely observed. Cold atmospheric plasma (CAP) is a near room temperature ionized gas composed of neutral particles, charged particles, reactive species, and electrons. Here, we first demonstrated that breast cancer cells and pancreatic adenocarcinoma cells generated micromolar level H2O2 during just 1 min of direct CAP treatment on these cells. The cell-based H2O2 generation is affected by the medium volume, the cell confluence, as well as the discharge voltage. The application of cold atmospheric plasma (CAP) in cancer …

The World Database For Pediatric And Congenital Heart Surgery: The Dawn Of A New Era Of Global Communication And Quality Improvement In Congenital Heart Disease., James D St Louis, Hiromi Kurosawa, Richard A Jonas, Nestor Sandoval, Jorge Cervantes, Christo I Tchervenkov, Jeffery P Jacobs, Kisaburo Sakamoto, Giovanni Stellin, James K Kirklin

Surgery Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Somatic Vhl Mutation In A Patient With Men1-Associated Metastatic Pancreatic Neuroendocrine Tumor Responding To Sunitinib Treatment: A Case Report., Jasmine Shell, Dhaval Patel, Astin Powers, Martha Quezado, Keith Killian, Paul Meltzer, Jack Zhu, Apostolos Gaitanidis, Fatima Karzai, Vladimir Neychev, Patience Green, Electron Kebebew

Surgery Faculty Publications

Multiple endocrine neoplasia type 1 (MEN1) and von Hippel-Lindau (VHL) are autosomal-dominant diseases caused by germline mutations in tumor-suppressor genes. A patient with a germline MEN1 mutation and a somatic VHL mutation in the tumor has not been reported. Herein, we report on a patient with MEN1 and a metastatic nonfunctioning pancreatic neuroendocrine tumor (PNET) with a somatic VHL mutation. This patient underwent a pancreaticoduodenectomy for a grade 2 PNET obstructing her pancreatic duct. The patient developed liver and regional lymph node metastases as well as growth of a PNET in the remnant pancreas. As part of a clinical trial …

Microstructural Alterations And Oligodendrocyte Dysmaturation In White Matter After Cardiopulmonary Bypass In A Juvenile Porcine Model., Gary R Stinnett, Stephen Lin, Alexandru V Korotcov, Ludmila Korotcova, Paul D Morton, Shruti D Ramachandra, Angeline Pham, Sonali Kumar, Kota Agematsu, David Zurakowski, Paul C Wang, Richard A Jonas, Nobuyuki Ishibashi

Surgery Faculty Publications

BACKGROUND: Newly developed white matter (WM) injury is common after cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) in severe/complex congenital heart disease. Fractional anisotropy (FA) allows measurement of macroscopic organization of WM pathology but has rarely been applied after CPB. The aims of our animal study were to define CPB-induced FA alterations and to determine correlations between these changes and cellular events after congenital heart disease surgery.

METHODS AND RESULTS: Normal porcine WM development was first assessed between 3 and 7 weeks of age: 3-week-old piglets were randomly assigned to 1 of 3 CPB-induced insults. FA was analyzed in 31 WM structures. WM oligodendrocytes, …

Managing Renal Cell Carcinoma Associated Paraneoplastic Syndrome With Nephron-Sparing Surgery In A Patient With Von Hippel-Lindau., John M Dibianco, Julie Y An, Sally Tanakchi, Zachary Stanik, Aidan Mcgowan, Mahir Maruf, Abhinav Sidana, Amit Lodha Jain, Akhil Muthigi, Arvin K George, Christopher Bayne, W Marston Linehan, Shawna L Boyle, Adam R Metwalli

Urology Faculty Publications

A patient with germline von Hippel-Lindau (VHL) gene alteration and history of multiple tumors present with classical paraneoplastic syndrome (PNS) associated with renal cell carcinoma (RCC). She underwent open nephron sparing surgery with resolution of symptoms. She remained without recurrence of RCC for the initial 2 years of her follow-up. To the best of our knowledge, this case represents the first in which PNS was specifically resolved using a partial nephrectomy in a patient with VHL. This case report provides initial evidence for the potential role of nephron sparing surgery in the management of paraneoplastic symptoms associated with hereditary RCC.

Transforming Growth Factor-Β In Liver Cancer Stem Cells And Regeneration, Shuyun Rao, Jaideep Banerjee, Sobia Zaidi, Wilma Jogunoori, Raul Sebastian, Bao-Ngoc Nguyen, Richard L. Amdur, +Several Additional Authors

Surgery Faculty Publications

Cancer stem cells have established mechanisms that contribute to tumor heterogeneity as well as resistance to therapy. Over 40% of hepatocellular carcinomas (HCCs) are considered to be clonal and arise from a stem-like/cancer stem cell. Moreover, HCC is the second leading cause of cancer death worldwide, and an improved understanding of cancer stem cells and targeting these in this cancer are urgently needed. Multiple studies have revealed etiological patterns and multiple genes/pathways signifying initiation and progression of HCC; however, unlike the transforming growth factor β (TGF-β) pathway, loss of p53 and/or activation of β-catenin do not spontaneously drive HCC in …

Enhancement Of Fracture Healing In The Rat, Modulated By Compounds That Stimulate Inducible Nitric Oxide Synthase: Acceleration Of Fracture Healing Via Inducible Nitric Oxide Synthase., R A Rajfer, A Kilic, Andrew S Neviaser, L M Schulte, S M Hlaing, J Landeros, M G Ferrini, E Ebramzadeh, S-H Park

Orthopaedic Surgery Faculty Publications

OBJECTIVES: We investigated the effects on fracture healing of two up-regulators of inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) in a rat model of an open femoral osteotomy: tadalafil, a phosphodiesterase inhibitor, and the recently reported nutraceutical, COMB-4 (consisting of L-citrulline, Paullinia cupana, ginger and muira puama), given orally for either 14 or 42 days.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: Unilateral femoral osteotomies were created in 58 male rats and fixed with an intramedullary compression nail. Rats were treated daily either with vehicle, tadalafil or COMB-4. Biomechanical testing of the healed fracture was performed on day 42. The volume, mineral content and bone density …

Hic1 (Hypermethylated In Cancer 1) Sumoylation Is Dispensable For Dna Repair But Is Essential For The Apoptotic Dna Damage Response (Ddr) To Irreparable Dna Double-Strand Breaks (Dsbs)., Sonia Paget, Marion Dubuissez, Vanessa Dehennaut, Joe Nassour, Brennan T Harmon, Nathalie Spruyt, Ingrid Loison, Corinne Abbadie, Brian R Rood, Dominique Leprince

Surgery Faculty Publications

The tumor suppressor gene HIC1 (Hypermethylated In Cancer 1) encodes a transcriptional repressor mediating the p53-dependent apoptotic response to irreparable DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs) through direct transcriptional repression of SIRT1. HIC1 is also essential for DSB repair as silencing of endogenous HIC1 in BJ-hTERT fibroblasts significantly delays DNA repair in functional Comet assays. HIC1 SUMOylation favours its interaction with MTA1, a component of NuRD complexes. In contrast with irreparable DSBs induced by 16-hours of etoposide treatment, we show that repairable DSBs induced by 1 h etoposide treatment do not increase HIC1 SUMOylation or its interaction with MTA1. Furthermore, HIC1 SUMOylation …

Neurosurgery Concepts: Key Perspectives On Endoscopic Versus Microscopic Resection For Pituitary Adenomas, Surgical Decision-Making In Tuberculum Sellae Meningiomas, Optic Nerve Mobilization During Resection Of Craniopharyngiomas, And Evaluation Of Headache And Quality Of Life After Endoscopic Transphenoidal Surgery For Pituitary Adenomas, Anand Germanwala, Ryan Hofler, Carlito Lagman, Lawrence Chang, Alexander Khaleesi, Jonathan H. Sherman, +Several Additional Authors

Neurological Surgery Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Neurosurgery Concepts: Key Perspectives On Imaging Characteristics Of Spinal Metastases, Surgery For Low Back Pain, Anesthesia For Disc Surgery, And Laminectomy Versus Laminectomy And Fusion For Lumbar Spondylolisthesis., Carlito Lagman, Lawrance K Chung, Luke Macyszyn, Winward Choy, Zachary A Smith, Nader S Dahdaleh, Angela M Bohnen, Jin M Cho, Chaim B Colen, Edward Duckworth, Anand V Germanwala, Peter Kan, Alexander A Khalessi, Chae-Yong Kim, Sandi Lam, Gordon Li, Michael Lim, Jonathan H Sherman, Vincent Y Wang, Gabriel Zada, Isaac Yang

Neurological Surgery Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Near-Complete Humerus Reconstruction In The Pediatric Patient With Vascularized Free Fibula Transfer., John Shuck, Benjamin C Wood, Christopher Zarella, Albert K Oh, Robert M Henshaw, Gary F Rogers

Surgery Faculty Publications

Vascularized free fibula transfer remains the gold standard for reconstruction of large segmental diaphyseal defects of the upper extremity. In the pediatric patient, before skeletal maturity, free fibula transfer with the fibular head provides an active physis for growth and an articular interface for glenohumeral joint reconstruction. Clinical and cadaveric studies have demonstrated that the vascular supply to the fibular head originates, in most cases, from the anterior tibial system. However, anatomical variation exists, and we report a case in which a vascularized fibula autograft including the physis was transferred on the peroneal artery in a 5-year-old patient with Ewing's …

Clinical Factors Associated With The Non-Operative Airway Management Of Patients With Robin Sequence., Frank P Albino, Benjamin C. Wood, Kevin D Han, Sojung Yi, Mitchel Seruya, Gary F. Rogers, Albert K. Oh

Surgery Faculty Publications

BACKGROUND: The indications for surgical airway management in patients with Robin sequence (RS) and severe airway obstruction have not been well defined. While certain patients with RS clearly require surgical airway intervention and other patients just as clearly can be managed with conservative measures alone, a significant proportion of patients with RS present with a more confusing and ambiguous clinical course. The purpose of this study was to describe the clinical features and objective findings of patients with RS whose airways were successfully managed without surgical intervention.

METHODS: The authors retrospectively reviewed the medical charts of infants with RS evaluated …

Standardization Of Postoperative Transitions Of Care To The Pediatric Intensive Care Unit Enhances Efficiency And Handover Comprehensiveness, Anthony Sochet, Ashley Simms, Grace Ye, Nihal Godiwala, Lauren Hebert, Christine O. Corriveau

Pediatrics Faculty Publications

Introduction: To determine the impact of standardization of postoperative transitions of care to the pediatric intensive care unit on handover efficiency and the quality of healthcare data exchange.

Methods: This was a prospective, pre–post observational study after standardization of postoperative transitions in a 44-bed pediatric intensive care unit in a 313-bed tertiary care pediatric hospital from April to July 2015. Standardization was completed using a multidisciplinary handover checklist. Primary outcomes were efficiency expressed as mean handover duration and the comprehensiveness of healthcare data exchange.

Results: Forty-seven postoperative transitions were observed of which 23 were preintervention and 24 were postintervention. After …

Sulfatase 2 Facilitates Lymphangiogenesis In Breast Cancer By Regulating Vegf-D., Chenfang Zhu, Xiaoliang Qi, Xin Zhou, Xin Nie, Yan Gu

Surgery Faculty Publications

In our previous studies, sulfatase 2 (Sulf2) was found to upregulate vascular endothelial growth factor-D (VEGF-D) expression in breast cancer. As VEGF-D plays an important role in lymphangiogenesis, we hypothesized that Sulf2 facilitates lymphangiogenesis in breast cancer by regulating VEGF-D. To evaluate the functions of Sulf2 on lymphangiogenesis in breast cancer, proliferation, apoptosis, cell cycle, cell mobility and tube-formation of lymphatic endothelial cells (LECs) were measured in vitro. Lymphangiogenesis in nude mouse ears and breast cancer xenografts were examined in vivo. Furthermore, the expression levels of related signaling pathway genes were screened and verified in LECs. We found that Sulf2 …