Long Term Progression-Free Survival in a Patient with Locally Advanced Prostate Cancer under Low Dose Intermittent Androgen Deprivation Therapy with Bicalutamide Only

Androgen deprivation is a common treatment option in patients with locally advanced or metastatic prostate cancer. No case of long term treatment with an intermittent approach with only low dose bicalutamide (50 mg daily) has been described yet. We report a 60-year-old patient, initially presenting with a PSA elevation of 19.2 ng/mL in 1996. After diagnosis of well to moderately differentiated prostate cancer by transrectal biopsy, the patient underwent an open radical prostatectomy. Final diagnosis was adenocarcinoma of the prostate, classified as pT3a, pR1, pV0, and pL1. Adjuvant intermittent androgen deprivation therapy with flutamide 250 mg was applied, which was changed to bicalutamide 50 mg once daily when it became available in 2001. Six on-phases were performed and PSA values never exceeded 20 ng/mL. The patient did not experience any serious side effects. To date, there are no clinical or radiological signs of progression. Current PSA value is 3.5 ng/mL

Recurrent inversion polymorphisms in humans associate with genetic instability and genomic disorders.

Unlike copy number variants (CNVs), inversions remain an underexplored genetic variation class. By integrating multiple genomic technologies, we discover 729 inversions in 41 human genomes. Approximately 85% of inversionsretrotransposition; 80% of the larger inversions are balanced and affect twice as many nucleotides as CNVs. Balanced inversions show an excess of common variants, and 72% are flanked by segmental duplications (SDs) or retrotransposons. Since flanking repeats promote non-allelic homologous recombination, we developed complementary approaches to identify recurrent inversion formation. We describe 40 recurrent inversions encompassing 0.6% of the genome, showing inversion rates up to 2.7 × 1

Dairying, diseases and the evolution of lactase persistence in Europe

Update notice Author Correction: Dairying, diseases and the evolution of lactase persistence in Europe (Nature, (2022), 608, 7922, (336-345), 10.1038/s41586-022-05010-7) Nature, Volume 609, Issue 7927, Pages E9, 15 September 2022In European and many African, Middle Eastern and southern Asian populations, lactase persistence (LP) is the most strongly selected monogenic trait to have evolved over the past 10,000 years(1). Although the selection of LP and the consumption of prehistoric milk must be linked, considerable uncertainty remains concerning their spatiotemporal configuration and specific interactions(2,3). Here we provide detailed distributions of milk exploitation across Europe over the past 9,000 years using around 7,000 pottery fat residues from more than 550 archaeological sites. European milk use was widespread from the Neolithic period onwards but varied spatially and temporally in intensity. Notably, LP selection varying with levels of prehistoric milk exploitation is no better at explaining LP allele frequency trajectoriesthan uniform selection since the Neolithic period. In the UK Biobank(4,5) cohort of 500,000 contemporary Europeans, LP genotype was only weakly associated with milk consumption and did not show consistent associations with improved fitness or health indicators. This suggests that other reasons for the beneficial effects of LP should be considered for its rapid frequency increase. We propose that lactase non-persistent individuals consumed milk when it became available but, under conditions of famine and/or increased pathogen exposure, this was disadvantageous, driving LP selection in prehistoric Europe. Comparison of model likelihoods indicates that population fluctuations, settlement density and wild animal exploitation-proxies for these drivers-provide better explanations of LP selection than the extent of milk exploitation. These findings offer new perspectives on prehistoric milk exploitation and LP evolution.Peer reviewe

Regional Variation in Hemoglobin Distribution Among Individuals With CKD: the ISN International Network of CKD Cohorts

Despite recognized geographic and sex-based differences in hemoglobin in the general population, these factors are typically ignored in patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) in whom a single therapeutic range for hemoglobin is recommended. We sought to compare the distribution of hemoglobin across international nondialysis CKD populations and evaluate predictors of hemoglobin

Browserbasierte Programmierung und Interaktion mit Arduino-Aufbauten im Bereich Elektrotechnik

Aufgaben zur Programmierung eingebetteter Systeme (Mikrocontroller) lassen sich für Programmieranfänger im Bereich der Elektrotechnik nur schwer, teilweise bedingt durch den hohen organisatorischen Aufwand, integrieren. Im Rahmen einer Lehrveranstaltung Programmieren 1 mit Python, welche auf fachbezogene Beispiele während der Vorlesung und Übung setzt, wurde eine webbasierte Simulation von Einund Ausgängen eines Arduinos mit zusätzlichen Sensoren entwickelt. Arduino liefert ein einsteigerfreundliches Komplettpaket, bestehend aus Mikrocontroller, I/O-Board und entsprechender Software zur Ansteuerung. Die Besonderheit unserer Umsetzung ist die Interaktion mit der virtuellen Hardware, d. h., Veränderung von Schalterstellungen und regelbaren Sensorwerten. In diesem Paper möchten wir unsere Simulation und deren mögliche Einsatzszenarien vorstellen, welche Studierenden den ersten Kontakt mit der Hardware erleichtern und somit auch das Ausprobieren neuer Inhalte und Konzepte ermöglichen sollen

MOVPE-based in situ etching of In(GaAs)P/InP using tertiarybutylchloride

Tertiarybutylchloride (TBC) was used as a precursor for etching InP and InGaAsP layers in a MOVPE reactor. The effect of different process parameters on the etching rate and morphology was investigated. Similar results were obtained for the carrier gases hydrogen and nitrogen. TBC etching was successfully tested for underetching of mesa stripes, as required in BH-type lasers. Moreover, it proved to be an efficient method for in situ substrate cleaning