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Presents a letter to the editor about an article on tension pneumothorax related to acupuncture.

Acupuncture was used to treat a 60-year old woman with unexplained sweating associated with inoperable lung cancer that prevented her from sharing a bed with her husband. Other measures failed to improve her sweating, but she responded well to a course of acupuncture allowing her to continue sharing the marital bed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Stevens-Johnson syndrome and toxic epidermal necrolysis (SJS/TEN) are potentially life-threatening, immune-mediated adverse reactions characterized by widespread erythema, epidermal necrosis, and detachment of skin and mucosa. Efforts to grow and develop functional international collaborations and a multidisciplinary interactive network focusing on SJS/TEN as an uncommon but high burden disease will be necessary to improve efforts in prevention, early diagnosis and improved acute and long-term management. SJS/TEN 2019: From Science to Translation was a 1.5-day scientific program held April 26-27, 2019, in Vancouver, Canada. The meeting successfully engaged clinicians, researchers, and patients and conducted many productive discussions on research and patient care needs., (Crown Copyright © 2020. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Objectives: A request to report laboratory values to a specific number of decimal places represents a delicate balance between clinical interpretation of a true analytical change versus laboratory understanding of analytical imprecision and significant figures. Prostate specific antigen (PSA) was used as an example to determine if an immunoassay routinely reported to the hundredths decimal place based on significant figure assessment in our laboratory was capable of providing analytically meaningful results when reported to the thousandths places when requested by clinicians., Design and Methods: Results of imprecision studies of a representative PSA assay (Roche MODULAR E170) employing two methods of statistical analysis are reported. Sample pools were generated with target values of 0.01 and 0.20 μg/L PSA as determined by the E170. Intra-assay imprecision studies were conducted and the resultant data were analyzed using two independent statistical methods to evaluate reporting limits., Results: These statistical methods indicated reporting results to the thousandths place at the two assessed concentrations was an appropriate reflection of the measurement imprecision for the representative assay. This approach used two independent statistical tests to determine the ability of an analytical system to support a desired reporting level. Importantly, data were generated during a routine intra-assay imprecision study, thus this approach does not require extra data collection by the laboratory., Conclusions: Independent statistical analysis must be used to determine appropriate significant figure limitations for clinically relevant analytes. Establishing these limits is the responsibility of the laboratory and should be determined prior to providing clinical results.

We present an investigation into the influence of carrier gas on the thermodynamics governing a capillary gas chromatographic separation. Thermodynamic parameters are estimated for a series of alkanes and alcohols on three common stationary phases using helium, hydrogen, and nitrogen carrier gases. It is shown that the substitution of carrier gases for one another results in a change in the thermodynamic parameters governing the separation. The effect of the carrier gas on the thermodynamic parameters is large enough to compromise the accuracy of the retention time calculations based on thermodynamic parameters collected in a carrier gas other than the one actually in use in a specific gas chromatographic system. A possible kinetic explanation for these observations is also investigated., (Copyright © 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Evidence is provided to show that two secondary cell-signaling pathways, Ca2+ mobilization and the activation of protein kinase C (PKC), are involved in the induction of spontaneous metastasis in mouse adenocarcinoma cell line SP1. Unlike the parental cells, which were found to be tumorigenic but unable to metastasize from a s.c. site, SP1 cells treated with ionophore A23187 (to mobilize Ca2+) or phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate (to activate PKC) were able to metastasize spontaneously. Analysis of SP1 cells treated with either agent separately or with both agents simultaneously revealed that both pathways contributed to the final response in a separate and nonsynergistic way. The induced metastatic phenotype in most cases appeared to be heritable. Examination of Ca2+ sources during cell activation by ionophore A23187 suggested that internal Ca2+ was sufficient for the process of induction. Examination of PKC activity and its intracellular distribution during and after treatment of SP1 cells with ionophore A23187 and phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate were also evaluated. The results suggested that the basal levels of PKC and the activation of the enzyme appear to be involved in the induction of spontaneous metastasis. Taken together, these observations are consistent with the hypothesis that cell-signaling pathways exist which can induce the metastatic phenotype and that this may be related to phosphatidylinositol turnover.