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Abstract In low- and middle-income countries, the substantial costs associated with traditional data collection pose an obstacle to facilitating decision-making in the field of public health. Satellite imagery offers a potential solution, but the image extraction and analysis can be costly and requires specialized expertise. We introduce SatelliteBench, a scalable framework for satellite image extraction and vector embeddings generation. We also propose a novel multimodal fusion pipeline that utilizes a series of satellite imagery and metadata. The framework was evaluated generating a dataset with a collection of 12,636 images and embeddings accompanied by comprehensive metadata, from 81 municipalities in Colombia between 2016 and 2018. The dataset was then evaluated in 3 tasks: including dengue case prediction, poverty assessment, and access to education. The performance showcases the versatility and practicality of SatelliteBench, offering a reproducible, accessible and open tool to enhance decision-making in public health.

Abstract Background Ovarian cancer (OC) is the most lethal gynecological cancer due to the recurrence of drug-resistance. Cancer initiating cells (CICs) are proposed to be responsible for the aggressiveness of OC. The rarity and difficulty of in vitro long-term cultivation of CICs challenge the development of CIC-targeting therapeutics. Reprogramming cancer cells into induced cancer initiating cell (iCICs) could be an approach to solve these. Several inducible CICs have been acquired by activating the expression of stemness genes in different cancer cells. However, few reports have demonstrated the feasibility in OC. Methods Patients with primary OC receiving surgery were enrolled. Tumor tissue were collected, and OCT4, SOX2, and NANOG expressions were assessed by immunohistochemistry (IHC) staining to investigate the association of stemness markers with overall survival (OS). An high-grade serous ovarian cancer (HGSOC) cell line, OVCAR-3 was reprogrammed by transducing Yamanaka four factors OCT4, SOX2, KLF4 and MYC (OSKM) to establish an iOCIC model, iOVCAR-3-OSKM. CIC characteristics of iOVCAR-3-OSKM were evaluated by RT-PCR, sphere formation assay and animal experiments. Drug-resistance and migration ability were accessed by dye-efflux activity assay, MTT assay and migration assay. Gene profile was presented through RNA-sequencing. Lineage differentiation ability and organoid culture were determined by in vitro differentiation assays. Results In OC patients, the co-expression of multiple stem-related transcription factors (OCT4, SOX2, and NANOG) was associated with worse OS. iOVCAR-3-OSKM cells generated by reprogramming successfully exhibited stemness characteristics with strong sphere-forming and tumorigenesis ability. iOVCAR-3-OSKM cells also showed malignant potential with higher drug resistance to chemodrug, Paclitaxel (PTX) and migration ability. iOVCAR-3-OSKM was maintainable and expandable on feeder-dependent culture condition, it also preserved ovarian lineage differentiation abilities, which could well differentiate into OC cells with CK-7 and CA125 expressions and develop into an organoid mimic poor prognostic OC histological feature. Conclusions The establishment of iOVCAR-3-OSKM not only allows us to fill the gap in the information on induced CICs in OC but also provides a potential strategy to develop personalized CICs and organoid models for treating OC in the near future.

Abstract In this study, the Superparameterized Community Atmosphere Model (SPCAM) is used to simulate tropical cyclones (TCs) using the hindcast approach. Three hindcast experiments are conducted with 32‐km (D32), 128‐km (D128), and 1,024‐km (D1024) horizontal scales in the sub‐grid cloud‐resolving models (CRMs). The results show that D1024 produces reasonable TCs compared with the reanalysis data. It is 3.42 TCs per 10 days for the reanalysis data, while there are 8.07, 4.88, and 3.73 for D32, D128, and D1024. The bias of overestimating TC numbers grows with decreasing CRM scale. The D32 experiment also produces stronger TCs with a higher precipitation rate and wind speed. The bias is highly related to the efficiency of adjusting convective instability in CRMs. The D32 exhibits higher column‐integrated water vapor under warm conditions compared with D1024, indicating its inefficiency in removing water vapor by the weaker convective mass fluxes in the small CRM scale. That is, the vertical transport of convection in a smaller horizontal scale will be restricted by stronger subsidence because CRM columns for compensating are limited. The distribution of accumulated convective instability is broader and more frequent in D32. As a result, large‐scale precipitating systems tend to develop in D32, leading to a higher probability of TC genesis. This study highlights the importance of sub‐grid configuration when estimating TC activities using SPCAM.

Abstract In East Asia, the breast cancer incidence rate among women aged

The present study explores the effects of convection-SST interactions on the onset of the South China Sea Summer Monsoon simulated by the superparameterized Community Atmosphere Model (SPCAM). The SPCAM is a global multi-scale modeling framework that embeds a 2-D cloud-resolving model in each grid column to replace the conventional convective parameterization. Two experiments are performed: CTRL uses prescribed sea surface temperature climatology, and CPL is coupled to a slab ocean model (SOM). The bias of excessive seasonal mean precipitation over Asia during boreal summer in CTRL is reduced in CPL. In the South China Sea, the seasonal evolution of precipitation and 850 hPa winds is more realistic in the coupled simulation. During the pre-onset stage, the mean pattern of synoptic flow and precipitation, as well as the land-ocean diurnal cycle contrast is also improved in CPL. The coupling to SOM does not change the sensitivity of precipitation to column moisture in the SPCAM. The improvements in CPL can be partly attributed to the lower SST in response to air-sea interactions, and also partly to the suppression of heavy precipitation under high SST regime likely associated with a different atmospheric meridional circulation. Our current results demonstrated that the SPCAM coupled with SOM could be a potential tool to study the interactions among convection, SST, and large-scale atmospheric circulation from seasonal to sub-seasonal time scales.

AimTo retrospectively investigate the pre-operative clinical factors and ultrasonographic features that influence the accuracy of the intraoperative frozen section (IFS) of ovarian tumors.Patients and methodsWomen with ovarian tumors that underwent IFS in one tertiary medical center were recruited from January 2010 to December 2018. Demographic and clinical data of these women were retrieved from medical records in the hospital’s centralized database.ResultsA total of 903 ovarian tumors were enrolled, including 237 (26.2%) benign, 150 (16.6%) borderline tumor, and 516 (57.2%) malignant. The overall accuracy of IFS among all specimens was 89.9%. The sensitivities of IFS in diagnosing borderline tumors (82.0%) and malignant tumors (88.2%) were lower than in diagnosing benign tumors (98.7%, p

Accurate detection of anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibodies provides a more accurate estimation of incident cases, epidemic dynamics, and risk of community transmission. We conducted a cross-sectional seroprevalence study specifically targeting different populations to examine the performance of pandemic control in Taiwan: symptomatic patients with epidemiological risk and negative qRT-PCR test (Group P), frontline healthcare workers (Group H), healthy adult citizens (Group C), and participants with prior virologically-confirmed severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) infection in 2003 (Group S). The presence of anti−SARS−CoV−2 total and IgG antibodies in all participants were determined by Roche Elecsys® Anti−SARS−CoV−2 test and Abbott SARS-CoV-2 IgG assay, respectively. Sera that showed positive results by the two chemiluminescent immunoassays were further tested by three anti-SARS-CoV-2 lateral flow immunoassays and line immunoassay (MIKROGEN recomLine SARS-CoV-2 IgG). Between June 29 and July 25, 2020, sera of 2,115 participates, including 499 Group P participants, 464 Group H participants, 1,142 Group C participants, and 10 Group S participants, were tested. After excluding six false-positive samples, SARS-CoV-2 seroprevalence were 0.4, 0, and 0% in Groups P, H, and C, respectively. Cross-reactivity with SARS-CoV-2 antibodies was observed in 80.0% of recovered SARS participants. Our study showed that rigorous exclusion of false-positive testing results is imperative for an accurate estimate of seroprevalence in countries with previous SARS outbreak and low COVID-19 prevalence. The overall SARS-CoV-2 seroprevalence was extremely low among populations of different exposure risk of contracting SARS-CoV-2 in Taiwan, supporting the importance of integrated countermeasures in containing the spread of SARS-CoV-2 before effective COVID-19 vaccines available.

Background: Intravascular leiomyomatosis (IVL) is relatively rare. The optimal surgical method and long-term outcomes are not completely understood. Methods: Medical records between 2007 and 2017 in our hospital were analyzed to identify IVL cases with surgical intervention. Their medical records, operative details, and follow-up were collected by chart review and telephone communication. Results: Eight patients with IVL were included in the study, accounting for 0.26% of all uterine leiomyoma cases. Primary IVL was confined to pelvic cavity in three patients, extended to the inferior vena cava (IVC) below renal vein in one, reached IVC and right atrium in three, and reached main pulmonary artery in one. One-stage operation was performed for seven patients. Cardiopulmonary bypass was done in four patients, and aortic cross-clamp and temporary circulatory arrest was performed in two patients. None of the four patients with intrapulmonary tumors received concomitant pulmonary tumor resection. There was no operative mortality and four morbidities, including ureter injury (2), bladder injury (1), and femoral vein thrombosis (1). During follow-up, two patients exhibited local recurrence of the tumor in the pelvis, and one patient had rapidly growing intrapulmonary tumor three months post-operatively. Intrapulmonary tumors in the other three patients remained stationary at 6, 84, and 120 months post-operatively. Conclusion: One-stage operation to completely remove IVL is feasible and with good long-term outcomes, which is recommended if the patient can tolerate the operation. Concomitant intrapulmonary tumors can be followed up watchfully except when associated with pleural effusion or the pathology indicating trend of increasing malignancy. Keywords: Intravascular leiomyomatosis, Intracardiac leiomyomatosis, Cardiac tumor, Surgery, Cardiopulmonary bypass, Follow-up

Background/Purpose: Surgery followed by radioiodine is a mainstay of treatment for thyroid cancers of follicular origins. However, about 5% of the thyroid cancers are non-operable and/or radioiodine-refractory diseases, which are either locally advanced or metastatic and result in a survival of less than 5 years. How to treat this population of thyroid cancer patients becomes a critical issue requiring further understanding of the tumor's genetic information. Methods: We used formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded specimens of 22 fatal thyroid cancers and their corresponding non-tumor parts, if available, to yield genomic DNA, and applied the Ion Torrent™ Personal Genome Machine (IT-PGM) System (Life Technologies), a next generation sequencing technology, to interrogate 740 mutational hotspots in 46 oncogenes. We further validated the results by conventional direct sequencing. Results: We confirmed 21 mutations of 11 oncogenes in the 22 fatal thyroid cancer samples. Among them, the MET p.N375S and MLH1 p.V384D mutations, each was detected in two cases, and has rarely been found to be involved in thyroid cancer pathogenesis before. We also identified homozygous PDGFRA p.V824V mutation in eight out of the 22 cases, while the non-tumor counterparts carried heterozygous PDGFRA p.V824V mutation. We noted that the Ion Torrent technique unfortunately showed high false positive rates for detecting EGFR mutations in thyroid cancers. Conclusion: The extensive genetic studies provide new insights to future targeted therapy in these patients. IT-PGM proved to be valuable for comprehensively searching genetic mutations in potentially fatal thyroid cancers. Keywords: Fatal thyroid cancer, Genetics, MET, MLH1, PDGFRA

DNA damage response (DDR) is important for maintaining genomic integrity of the cell. Aberrant DDR pathways lead to accumulation of DNA damage, genomic instability and malignant transformations. Gene mutations have been proven to be associated with epithelial ovarian cancer, and the majority of the literature has focused on BRCA. In this study, we investigated the somatic mutation of DNA damage response genes in epithelial ovarian cancer patients using a multiple-gene panel with next-generation sequencing. In all, 69 serous, 39 endometrioid and 64 clear cell carcinoma patients were enrolled. Serous carcinoma patients (69.6%) had higher percentages of DDR gene mutations compared with patients with endometrioid (33.3%) and clear cell carcinoma (26.6%) (p < 0.001, chi-squared test). The percentages of DDR gene mutations in patients with recurrence (53.9 vs. 32.9% p = 0.006, chi-squared test) or cancer-related death (59.2 vs. 34.4% p = 0.001, chi-squared test) were higher than those without recurrence or living patients. In endometrioid carcinoma, patients with ≥2 DDR gene mutations had shorter PFS (p = 0.0035, log-rank test) and OS (p = 0.015, log-rank test) than those with one mutation or none. In clear cell carcinoma, patients with ≥2 DDR gene mutations had significantly shorter PFS (p = 0.0056, log-rank test) and OS (p = 0.0046, log-rank test) than those with 1 DDR mutation or none. In the EOC patients, somatic DDR gene mutations were associated with advanced-stage tumor recurrence and tumor-related death. Type I EOC patients with DDR mutations had an unfavorable prognosis, especially for clear cell carcinoma.

RBFOX3/NeuN is a neuronal splicing regulator involved in neural circuitry balance, as well as neurogenesis and synaptogenesis. Rbfox3 is expressed in neurons; however, in the retina, expression is restricted to cells in the ganglion cell layer and some cells of the inner nuclear layer. Rbfox3 is expressed in a layer-specific manner in the retina, which implies a functional role, however, the role of RBFOX3 in the retina is unknown. Rbfox3 homozygous knockout (Rbfox3-/-) mice exhibit deficits in visual learning; therefore, understanding the role of RBFOX3 in the retina is critical for interpreting behavioral results. We found Rbfox3 expression was developmentally regulated in the retina and specifically expressed in ganglion cells, amacrine cells and horizontal cells of the retina. We demonstrate deletion of Rbfox3 resulted in a reduction in the thickness of the inner plexiform layer of the retina, where synapses are formed. Number of ganglion cells and amacrine cells is normal with loss of Rbfox3. Innervation of retinal ganglion cells into their targeted brain regions is normal in Rbfox3-/- mice. Importantly, Rbfox3-/- mice displayed normal non-image and image forming functions. Taken together, our results suggest RBFOX3 is dispensable for visual function.

A rapid surge of female breast cancer has been observed in young women in several East Asian countries. The BIM deletion polymorphism, which confers cell resistance to apoptosis, was recently found exclusively in East Asian people with prevalence rate of 12%. We aimed to evaluate the possible role of this genetic alteration in carcinogenesis of breast cancer in East Asians.Female healthy volunteers (n = 307), patients in one consecutive stage I-III breast cancer cohort (n = 692) and one metastatic breast cancer cohort (n = 189) were evaluated. BIM wild-type and deletion alleles were separately genotyped in genomic DNAs.Both cancer cohorts consistently showed inverse associations between the BIM deletion polymorphism and patient age (≤35 y vs. 36-50 y vs. >50 y: 29% vs. 22% vs. 15%, P = 0.006 in the consecutive cohort, and 40% vs. 23% vs. 13%, P = 0.023 in the metastatic cohort). In healthy volunteers, the frequencies of the BIM deletion polymorphism were similar (13%-14%) in all age groups. Further analyses indicated that the BIM deletion polymorphism was not associated with specific clinicopathologic features, but it was associated with poor overall survival (adjusted hazard ratio 1.71) in the consecutive cohort.BIM deletion polymorphism may be involved in the tumorigenesis of the early-onset breast cancer among East Asians.

An experimental study was conducted to evaluate the dynamic behavior of a free-standing frame equipped with a movable base system using cast iron and mortar as the bearing materials. The preliminary friction test indicated that a graphite layer developed on the interface and exhibited stable friction behavior. The friction coefficient ranged from 0.33 to 0.36 when the applied normal compression stress ranged from 2.6 to 5.2 MPa. The effect of the variation of normal compression stress would be small. Shaking table tests on the free-standing frame showed that rock, slide, and rock-slide responses occurred. The cumulative slide distance reached 381 mm under JMA Kobe wave excitation; however, only a few cyclic slides occurred at the same locations along the moving track. Most surfaces sustained single slides. Similar results can be observed in other shaking conditions. The insufficient cyclic sliding and significant rocking resulted in a few graphite layers on the mortar surfaces. Friction coefficients were generally similar to those obtained in the preliminary friction tests; however, the values fluctuated when the rocking became significant. The collisions due to rocking caused strong horizontal acceleration responses and resulted in high friction coefficient. In addition, the strong horizontal acceleration responses caused by the collisions made the free-standing specimen unable to reduce the input horizontal acceleration notably, even when slippage occurred. Compared with the counterpart fixed-base specimen, the specimen equipped with the iron-mortar base could reduce the horizontal acceleration amplification response and the structural deformation, whereas the vertical acceleration response was doubled due to collisions from rocking. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, the mechanism for precipitation hotspots (PHs) of locally developed afternoon thunderstorms in the Taipei Basin is investigated using a three-dimensional Vector Vorticity equation cloud-resolving Model (VVM) with an idealized topography and surface properties. A 500 m horizontal grid resolution is used in all experiments. The results show that the local circulation is a key for PHs at the south of the Taipei Basin. The two valleys guide background southwesterly (SW) flow along with the sea breezes to penetrate into the basin. The urban heat island (UHI) effect enhances the sea breeze convergence at the south of the basin and produces strong convection there. The interactions between cold pools generated by the convection and the sea breezes produce northward propagating new convective cells. Besides, the background wind direction is important in determining the location of sea breeze convergence. If the background wind direction changes from westerly (W) to west-northwesterly (WNW), there might be no precipitation at all in the basin. This study suggests that the idealized experiments also provide a useful framework for studying the impacts of future climate changes on the PHs in the Taipei Basin by applying the pseudo-global warming approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

DNA methylation plays an important role in regulating cell growth and disease development. Methylation profiles are examined by bisulfite conversion; however, the lack of markers for bisulfite conversion efficiency and appropriate internal control genes remains a major challenge. To address these issues, we utilized two bioinformatics approaches, coefficients of variances and resampling tests, to identify probes showing stable methylation levels from several independent microarray datasets. Mass spectrometry validated the consistently high methylation levels of the five probes (N4BP2, EGFL8, CTRB1, TSPAN3, and ZNF690) in 13 human tissue types from 24 cell lines. Linear associations between detected methylation levels and methyl concentrations of DNA samples were further demonstrated in three genes (N4BP2,EGFL8, and CTRB1). To summarize, we identified five genes which may serve as internal controls for methylation studies by analyzing large-scale microarray data, and three of them can be used as markers for evaluating the efficiency of bisulfite conversion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Periocular sebaceous carcinoma is an aggressive neoplasm with significant morbidity and mortality. Its pathogenesis is poorly understood. It is only rarely associated with Muir-Torre syndrome. Previous studies from Asian countries, have suggested that human papillomavirus (HPV) infection plays a role in the pathogenesis and overexpression of p16INK4a, a surrogate marker of HPV infection, have also been reported. However, data from western countries seem contradictory. In order to clarify and explore the molecular and epigenetic basis of HPV, CDKN2A status and role of microsatellite instability in the development of periocular sebaceous carcinoma, 24 cases of periocular sebaceous carcinoma were analyzed for the expression of p16INK4a and mismatch repair proteins (MLH1, MSH2, MSH6 and PMS2) via immunohistochemistry. Nested polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and genechip HPV typing were used to detect HPV infection and decide its genotype when present. PCR amplification using a consensus primer pair was also performed to detect ß-HPV. The methylation status of CDKN2A promoter region was studied by methylation-specific polymerase chain reaction. HPV-positivity was demonstrated in only one of our cases (HPV 16), while another case showed p16INK4a overexpression. All cases showed preserved expression of mismatch repair proteins. CDKN2A promoter hypermethylation was noted in nearly half of our cases (11/24) and was associated with younger patient age (P = .013). Our results showed that periocular sebaceous carcinoma is rarely associated with HPV and microsatellite instability. Higher frequency of CDKN2A promoter hypermethylation in younger patients implies a significant epigenetic role in tumor development in this age group. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims The ESR1 gene encodes for oestrogen receptor (ER) α, which plays a crucial role in mammary carcinogenesis and clinical outcome in patients with breast cancer. However, the clinical significance of the ESR1 gene copy number change for breast cancer has not been clarified. Methods ESR1 gene copy number was determined by fluorescence in situ hybridisation (FISH) on tissue sections. A minimum of 20 tumour cells were counted per section, and a FISH ratio of ESR1 gene to CEP6 ≥2.0 was considered ESR1 amplification. A ratio >1.2 but <2.0 was considered ESR1 gain. The ESR1 copy number was further measured by quantitative real-time PCR (Q-PCR) with ASXL2 as a reference. Results FISH revealed ESR1 amplification in six cases (4.0%) and ESR1 gain in 13 cases (8.7%) from a total of 150 cases. ESR1 gain and amplification were more common in older patients (p<0.001), and correlated well with ER protein expression ( p=0.03) measured by immunohistochemistry, and ESR1 copy number (p<0.001) measured by Q-PCR. Furthermore, the multivariate analysis revealed that ESR1 amplification was associated with a shorter disease-free survival (HR=5.56, p=0.03) and a shorter overall survival (HR=5.11, p=0.04). Conclusions In general, the frequency of ESR1 amplification in breast cancer is low when measured by FISH in large sections. ESR1 gain and amplification in breast cancer may be associated with older age and poorer outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Women aged ⩽35 years with breast cancer have a poor prognosis, but their prognostic factors have not been clearly defined. Aims To evaluate whether the molecular markers used in age-unspecified breast cancer could also be applied to women ⩽35 years. Methods Archival tumours from patients aged ⩽35 years with stage I-III breast cancer were collected. Oestrogen receptor (ER), progesterone receptor (PR), HER2, Ki67 and P53 protein expression profiles in paraffin-embedded tissue sections were determined by immunohistochemistry. Tumours with an HER2 score of 2+ were further evaluated by fluorescence in situ hybridisation. Mutational analysis of exons 4-9 of the TP53 gene and exons 9 and 20 of the PIK3CA gene was carried out using direct sequencing analysis. Results 116 patients with a median follow-up duration of 62.7 months were included. In addition to tumour size and axillary lymph node status, univariate analysis showed that high Ki67 expression, ER-negative, HER2 overexpression, and TP53 mutations were associated with shorter overall survival. Multivariate analysis showed that high Ki67 expression (HR=3.93, p=0.005), HER2 overexpression (HR=3.21, p=0.013) and TP53 mutations (HR=4.44, p=0.005) were associated with shorter overall survival. PR expression and PIK3CA mutations were not associated with survival. Conclusions For women ⩽35 years, TP53 mutations, Ki67 and HER2 expressions are strong prognostic factors. The limited prognostic value of hormone receptors suggests that the prognostic markers used in age-unspecified breast cancer may not be completely fit for this population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses a study which examines the molecular subtypes of female breast cancer in Taiwan, as a first step to investigate the etiology of the cancer. The study includes cancer patients diagnosed in the National Taiwan University Hospital in Taipei and analyzes estrogen receptor, progesterone receptor, epidermal growth factor and gene amplification. It concludes that the patients are characterized by a high prevalence of luminal A subtype and low prevalance of tumor subtype.

Introduction: Climate change is the greatest global health threat facing the world. It is also the greatest opportunity to leverage technology to take action and redefine the social and environmental determinants of health. Dengue, a climate-sensitive disease with a 30-fold increase in incidence over the past 50 years, represents significant problems for Colombia, affected by global warming, a surging population with disorderly urbanization, high migration rates, and growing socioeconomic gaps. Objective: We propose a double-way approach of policy advocacy ('top-down') and multi-stakeholder collaboration ('bottom-up') for data integration and novel modeling to inform Early Warning Systems. Materials and methods: Machine learning (ML), particularly, deep learning approaches, are presently used to analyze satellite images to support ecoepidemiological models of dengue. For accelerating the translation of safe, ethically responsible, and meaningful ML-based models in public health, we need engaged stakeholders and a systematic process from the problem formulation to the widespread deployment. Results: Our group has been actively working on establishing multidisciplinary collaborations, creating open datasets following the FAIR principle (findable, accessible, interoperable, and reusable), developing ML-based models, and conducting research on understanding barriers and facilitators to implementation. We will present our progress on an open data repository and a policy advocacy plan that encourages the integration of heterogeneous data sources from different Colombian entities. Conclusion: We would require a better understanding of the policy-making process for scaling-up and widespread implementation. We recommend using implementation strategies as a "datathon" model to support cross-disciplinary collaboration inviting academic circles, the public and private sectors, and the civil society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two chiral compounds 2(S)-benzyloxypropanol (1) and 2(S)-benzyloxypropanoic acid (2) were used as building blocks for the preparation of two series of liquid crystal materials. Some of them possess a phase sequence I-N*-SmA*-SmC*-Cr. The rigid terminal phenyl ring would not hinder the formation of liquid crystal phases including SmC* phase. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Extrapulmonary small cell carcinoma (EPSCC) is a heterogeneous group of cancers. The clinicopathological features of EPSCC remain poorly defined. Patients and Methods: Patients with the clinicopathological features of EPSCC, treated at three major medical centers in Taiwan, were included. Histologic and clinical diagnoses, smoking history, staging, clinical course and treatment outcome were reviewed and analyzed. Results: A total of 90 patients, treated between 1995 and 2005, were eligible for analysis. Forty-nine patients had limited disease and 41 extensive disease. Ten, 18, 17 and 45 patients received no treatment, local treatment, chemotherapy alone or combined modality treatment, respectively; the median survival for these four groups was 1.1, 13.8, 6.7 and 24.9 months. The origin of cancer was head and neck in 17, gastrointestinal in 27, genitourinary in 10, gynecologic in 27 and unknown in 9 patients; the median survival time was 34.2, 6.4, 9.1, 23.7 and 9.2 months, respectively. Ten out of 90 patients were long-term survivors, and 9 of them had tumors of head-and-neck and gynecologic origin. There was no statistically significant difference in survival between smokers and non-smokers. Factors associated with survival in univariate analysis included age ≤60, female gender, limited disease, head-and-neck and gynecologic origin, as well as combined modality treatment. However, in multivariate analysis, only female gender, limited disease and combined modality treatment were independent predictors of survival. Conclusions: Female gender, limited disease and combined modality treatment are favorable prognostic factors for patients with EPSCC. Prolonged survival is more likely in patients with tumors of head-and-neck and gynecologic origin. Copyright © 2007 S. Karger AG, Basel [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a case study of a patient who presented with squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) of the cervix and the histologic features of the papillary growth lesion. Topics include papillary growth lesion with non-keratinising squamous epithelium, epithelial maturation (condylomatous), and high-grade squamous intraepithelial lesions (HSIL).