Search

Copyright of British Journal of Surgery is the property of Oxford University Press / USA and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Objective: Clinical experience suggests a high prevalence of emotional distress in patients with desmoid tumor (DT). We examine longitudinal Distress Assessment and Response Tool (DART) scores to estimate prevalence and persistence of distress, and compare cross-sectional data between DT and malignant sarcoma cohorts, to identify predictors of distress., Methods: Patients with DT completed DART at: T1-diagnosis, T2-during, T3-<6 months, and T4-≥6 months, post-treatment. DART includes patient-reported outcome measures of physical symptoms (ESAS-r), depression (PHQ-9), anxiety (GAD-7), and social difficulties (SDI-21). Descriptive prevalence and persistence of anxiety, depression, and wellbeing are reported, and mixed model regression analyses determine predictors of distress., Results: Between 2012 and 2018, a total of 152 DART screens from 94 patients with DT were completed (T1: n = 44, T2: n = 31, T3: n = 22, T4: n = 55). Patients had a mean age 40 years, 78% were female and DT locations were abdominal wall (48%), extremity (30%), and mesentery (22%). Moderate to severe ESAS-r scores (≥4) persisted at T4 for anxiety (20%), depression (13%), and poor wellbeing (31%). Compared to 402 patients with malignant sarcoma, patients with abdominal wall sited DT reported severe PHQ-9 and GAD-7 scores twice as frequently. Abdominal wall location, female sex, history of mood problems, and psychosocial concerns were significant predictors of anxiety, depression, and poor wellbeing in DT., Conclusions: Adults with DT experience persistently high emotional distress compared to patients with malignant sarcoma. Women with abdominal wall DT, prior mood, and current psychosocial concerns need early attention within multidisciplinary treatment settings to reduce persistent distress., (© 2019 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.)

Juvenile hormones (JHs) are key regulators of both metamorphosis and adult reproductive processes. Farnesoic acid O-methyltransferase (FAMeT) is thought to be an important enzyme in the JH biosynthetic pathway, catalyzing methylation of farnesoic acid (FA) to methyl farnesoate (MF). Previous evidence in other insects suggested that FAMeT is rate limiting and regulated by a neuropeptide family, the allatostatins. A full-length cDNA encoding a 296 amino acid putative FAMeT has been isolated. A recombinant (r)FAMeT was cloned, expressed and a specific antiserum generated. rFAMeT was assayed for enzymatic activity using a radiochemical assay. In this assay, no activity was detected either with rFAMeT alone or when added to a corpus allatum CA extract. Immunohistochemical analysis was used to confirm the presence of FAMeT in the CA of Drosophila melanogaster ring gland. Analysis of MF, JHIII and JHB3 release in wild type and mutant stocks in the presence and absence of Drome AST (PISCF-type) suggest that Drosophila FAMeT has little if any effect on sesquiterpenoid biosynthesis. Drome AST appears to have a select effect on JH bisepoxide biosynthesis and not MF or JHIII. Additional analysis of MF, JHIII and JHB3 release in strains with a deficiency or decrease of FAMeT compared to wild type shows no significant decrease in MF, JHIII or JH bisepoxide synthesis. Deficiency strains that reduce the level of FAMeT showed reduced longevity relative to wildtype but this result may be due to other genetic influences.