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According to studies, people who have a personal history of breast cancer are more likely to acquire second breast cancer due to breast tissue features that are detectable on MRI. The study’s results were published in the Radiological Society of North America journal Radiology (RSNA). Breast cancer is the most common form of the disease and the main reason why women die from cancer globally. While more women are surviving breast cancer because to improvements in therapy and early identification, these women also have a higher chance of developing a second breast cancer.

Thick Breasts and Cancer

A second malignancy is even more likely to strike breast cancer survivors with thick breasts. The term “fibroglandular tissue” refers to the portions of glandular and fibrous connective tissue that make up the majority of breast tissue. Less fatty tissue and more fibroglandular tissue are seen in women with thick breasts. This is a standalone risk factor for breast cancer and can mask abnormalities on mammography.

Women who have a personal history of breast cancer are increasingly using breast MRI as their imaging technique of choice. Breast MRI has a greater cancer detection rate than mammography, according to earlier research.

According to the American College of Radiology’s annual recommendation for women with dense breasts or those diagnosed with breast cancer before age 50, postoperative surveillance breast MRI is increasingly being done, according to study lead author Su Hyun Lee, M.D., Ph.D., from the Department of Radiology at Seoul National University Hospital in Seoul, Korea.

Background parenchymal enhancement (BPE) at surveillance breast MRI was investigated by Dr. Lee and colleagues in relation to the chance of developing a second malignancy. After the injection of a contrast agent, BPE is the term used to describe the brightening or enhancement of background tissue on an MRI. BPE severity might differ between and within women. It is believed to be connected to changes in the breast tissue’s permeability and blood supply, both of which are influenced by hormonal state.

The BPE in the treated breast can potentially change as a result of breast cancer treatment, including radiation therapy, chemotherapy, and endocrine therapy.

Breast cancer risk is known to increase with BPE on contrast-enhanced breast MRI. The associations between BPE at surveillance breast MRI and the risk of second breast cancer are less well understood.

At a median follow-up of 5.8 years, 109 of the 2,668 research participants acquired a second case of breast cancer. In comparison to little BPE, mild, moderate, or significant BPE at surveillance breast MRI was independently linked to a higher chance of developing second breast cancer in the future.

The findings imply that BPE at postoperative surveillance breast MRI may be a predictor of the reduced risk of second breast cancer after treatment in women with a personal history of breast cancer and may signal the responsiveness to breast cancer treatment, according to Dr. Lee.

According to Dr. Lee, the study’s findings suggest that BPE assessments can help to improve the screening procedures for women who have had breast cancer in the past.

The researcher stated that the findings of the study “may assist to stratify the risk of second breast cancer in women with a personal history of breast cancer and to construct individualised imaging surveillance strategies in terms of imaging modality and monitoring interval selection.”

“For instance, if other risk indicators are missing, women with little BPE at surveillance breast MRI may no longer need to undergo contrast-enhanced breast MRI every year.”

These additional risk factors include earlier ages at diagnosis, the existence of breast cancer-related genetic abnormalities, and the expression of hormone receptors in the original breast cancer.

Future research should focus on the relationship between BPE alterations found during screening, preoperative, and postoperative breast MRIs and the emergence of secondary breast cancer.

Also Read: Patients in critical cardiac care units are found to utilise illicit substances: Study

Dr. Lee anticipates that in the future, risk models will incorporate MRI, ultrasound, and mammography data. According to her, this strategy will result in more specialised surveillance plans for women who have a history of breast cancer.

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One of the leading causes of mortality worldwide—also known as a myocardial infarction—heart attacks account for 18 million deaths annually. According to a study, COVID-19 will cause these numbers to increase in the upcoming years.

Researchers at the University of Notre Dame investigated how using human tissue models outside of the body might help in detection and treatment of heart attacks. The journal Biophysics Reviews reported the study’s findings.

Myocardial infarction happens when plaque in a significant coronary artery slows and obstructs blood flow to the heart, depriving it of oxygen, killing cells, and causing substantial tissue damage. Death may result from this, or some areas of the heart may develop scar tissue, making them harder to beat in the future.

Medication for Heart attacks

Animal models are typically used in laboratories to study current treatments and medications for heart attacks and many other illnesses, including cancer. However, only one out of every ten therapies that are effective in animal testing prove to be effective in human clinical settings. Additionally, there are sporadic but significant negative effects in people that are not seen in animals.

According to author Pinar Zorlutuna, “Although animal models offer an overall systemic perspective of how an organism might respond to a sick situation, it is not the exact response that a human tissue would produce.” “If you use both an animal model and a human model, you have a better chance of identifying disparities between the two early on, before moving through with a clinical trial and failing there.”

Researchers may explore the effects of heart attacks and the management of fibrotic tissue outside the body using in vitro human models. They imitate natural development, structural organisation, regeneration, and disease progression using organoids, three-dimensional multicellular models that resemble organs. Organoids are produced from stem cells.

Meanwhile, bioprinting enables the layer-by-layer construction of cardiac tissue, while microfluidic devices manage cell positioning and fluid flow to function as the heart on a chip.

Zorlutuna stated that “these models are crucial to advance what we are doing in preclinical research.” “They can aid in the quicker, safer, and more effective delivery of treatments to more patients.”

Also Read: Study: Breast MRI reveals rising chance of acquiring second breast cancer

Because the human heart is such a complicated organ, there are still certain difficulties in developing in vitro cardiac tissue models, according to author Gozde Basara. The next stage would be to create larger constructions employing mature cardiac cells and rapid production techniques.

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Researchers report that a pilot clinical trial involving two patients with loss-of-control binge eating disorder (BED) has demonstrated the potential of a small device that detects brain activity associated with food cravings in a critical brain region and responds by electrically stimulating that region.

The research, which is detailed in an article that publishes today in Nature Medicine, followed the two patients for six months as an implanted device of the kind often used to treat drug-resistant epilepsy tracked activity in the nucleus accumbens, a part of the brain.

The processing of pleasure and reward occurs in the nucleus accumbens, which has also been linked to addiction. The gadget automatically stimulated the nucleus accumbens whenever it detected signals that had previously been shown to predict food cravings. This disrupted the signals that were associated with cravings. The patients reported significantly fewer binge episodes and weight loss after six months of therapy.

The study’s senior author, Casey Halpern, MD, an associate professor of neurosurgery and director of stereotactic and functional neurosurgery at Penn Medicine and the Corporal Michael J. Crescenz Veterans Affairs Medical Center, said, “This was an early feasibility study in which we were primarily assessing safety, but certainly the robust clinical benefits these patients reported to us are really impressive and exciting.”

At least a couple million Americans are thought to be affected by BED, which is regarded as the most prevalent eating disorder in the country. It frequently involves binge-eating episodes without the bulimia-like purging, and is frequently linked to obesity. The person who is bingeing feels as though they are losing control over their food, so they eat past when they normally feel full.

Cravings for certain preferred meals occur before BED episodes. In a 2018 study using mouse and human studies, Halpern and colleagues discovered evidence that specific low-frequency electrical activity in the nucleus accumbens emerges only prior to these cravings—but not prior to regular, non-binge eating.

In order to stop this craving-related activity whenever it happened, the researchers activated the nucleus accumbens in mice. They discovered that the mice consumed substantially less of a delectable, high-calorie diet than they otherwise would have.

The scientists employed a gadget that is marketed and licenced for treating drug-resistant epilepsy to record signals from the mice’s brain and stimulate them. Wires connecting it to the nucleus accumbens in either hemisphere of the brain are surgically implanted beneath the scalp.

The new study served as a pilot experiment using humans to evaluate the same tool and tactic. The brain-stimulation devices were installed to each of the two BED patients who were extremely obese by Halpern’s team, and the devices’ signals were monitored for six months.

Fast food and candy were frequent items on the buffets served to the patients in the laboratory, but for the most part, they were at home going about their daily lives. When the patients were at home, they self-reported the times of their episodes, and the researchers were able to record the patients’ binge-eating episodes in the lab. The researchers found that, similar to their earlier research, the nucleus accumbens produced a characteristic low-frequency signal just before to the patients’ initial bites of their binge meals.

In the following phase of the trial, anytime the low-frequency signals associated with desire occurred, the brain stimulation devices automatically provided high-frequency electrical stimulation to the nucleus accumbens.

The patients saw significant decreases in their sensations of being out of control and the frequency of their bingeing episodes throughout this six-month period. They also each shed more than 11 pounds. One of the individuals made such significant progress that she ceased to meet the criteria for binge-eating disorder. There didn’t seem to be any noticeable negative side effects.

According to Camarin Rolle, PhD, a postdoctoral researcher with Halpern’s team and the study’s co-lead author, “This was a great display of how translational science can function in the best of instances.”

Also Read: World Bank praises Indian government’s management of COVID-19

In addition to starting to sign up new patients for a larger study, the researchers followed the subjects for an additional six months. They point out that bulimia and other diseases connected to lack of control may, in theory, receive the same therapy.

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There are currently only two known mechanisms for polysaccharide export in Gram-negative bacteria, which include some of the most dangerous human pathogens. A third, completely undiscovered mechanism for the export of polysaccharides has now been discovered by a study team. These discoveries open the door to a thorough comprehension of the processes governing the defence, motility, and interaction of several bacterial pathogens.

In addition to using sugar as a source of carbon and energy, bacteria also generate and release a wide range of so-called polysaccharides. Strings of sugar called polysaccharides are the most prevalent biopolymers on the planet. The lengthy sugar chains are crucial to the survival of pathogenic, commensal, and free-living bacteria. They are also essential for protecting bacteria from environmental challenges such desiccation, immunological effectors, and predators by covering the cells.

Their structural and adhesive properties also aid in the colonisation of surfaces and the development of biofilms. They are crucial for the effective use of anti-bacterial vaccinations. They therefore possess the knowledge necessary to comprehend and manage both advantageous and harmful interactions between humans, animals, and plants and microbes. Last but not least, polysaccharides are employed in the food, drug, and healthcare sectors. Due to the huge size and chemical diversity of the molecules, polysaccharide export is a significant issue.

There are only two known methods for the export of polysaccharides in Gram-negative bacteria, which include some of the most dangerous human pathogens: an outer membrane OPX protein (in the so-called Wzx/Wzy- and ABC transporter-dependent pathways) and an outer membrane b-barrel protein (in the so-called synthase-dependent pathways). However, there are examples of paths that do not appear to adhere to these straightforward plans: For example, in Vibrio cholerae and Myxococcus xanthus, outer membrane b-barrel proteins were recognised to be critical for polysaccharide export, but the precise mechanism remained unknown.

Additionally, shorter OPX proteins without the component needed to integrate with the outer membrane are described in other investigations. It is unknown how these proteins may facilitate polysaccharide export in this situation.

These issues were clarified by a study team at the Max-Planck-Institute for Terrestrial Microbiology under the direction of Lotte Sogaard-Andersen. The researchers present evidence for a completely unique mechanism for how bacteria can export polysaccharides over the outer membrane using tests and computational structural biology. The study’s co-authors, Dr. Maria Perez-Burgos and graduate student Johannes Schwabe, state that they “began by closely examining the Wzx/Wzy-dependent pathway for the synthesis of a secreted polysaccharide termed EPS in M. xanthus.” EPS would, in accordance with current knowledge, be secreted over the outer membrane by an integrated OPX protein.

The team did discover that EpsX, an outer membrane b-barrel protein, is crucial for EPS export. Then, unexpectedly, we found a comparable periplasmic short OPX protein called EpsY that is deficient in the component needed to bridge the outer membrane. We also discovered, in collaboration with Dr. Timo Glatter, that EpsX and EpsY interact directly.

The researchers suggest that EpsX and EpsY represent a novel type of translocon for polysaccharide export across the outer membrane, where a b-barrel protein explicitly serves as the outer membrane-spanning part in a bipartite complex with an entirely periplasmic OPX protein. This hypothesis is based on their observations and computational structural biology.

According to Lotte Sogaard-Andersen, this in-depth understanding might lead to the development of brand-new strategies for limiting dangerous germs. She clarifies: “Using computational genomics, Marco Herfurth, a graduate student in my research group, discovered that comparable composite structures are prevalent in Gram-negative bacteria.

Also Read: Treatment of binge eating disorder by deep brain stimulation appears promising

For instance, the VPS polysaccharide, which is crucial for the development of biofilms and pathogenicity, is secreted by V. cholerae according to this new system. Therefore, our findings have deep implications for our understanding of polysaccharide export generally in Gram-negative bacteria as well as major implications for our understanding of polysaccharide export in M. xanthus specifically.”
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