A Flower and Pod Staging System for Soybean

Flower and pod abscission limit soybean yield. A system forquantifying flower and pod development based on the morphologicalappearance of the flower prior to and following anthesis hasbeen developed to aid in studies of pod abscission. Changesin the appearance of the corolla, primarily the banner petal,are used to distinguish the different stages of the system.External pistil dimensions have been correlated with internalfeatures for each stage of development. From anthesis to podset, pistil length and weight increase almost two- and fivefold,respectively, and ovule development progresses from unfertilizedegg cells to embryos surrounded by cellular endosperm. Pod determinedare correlated with ovule length and width and embryo cell number.Flower and pod stages can be determined in situ, thus permittingnon-destructive observation and experimental manipulation offlowers or pods without necessarily impeding their development.Stages have been identified that indicate precisely when podset occurs and when young pods cease growing and ultimatelyabscise. This system of flower and pod staging is useful instudies designed to assess effects of abiotic or biotic stressand genetic factors on pod set and abortion. Abscission, anthesis, Glycine max (L.) Merr, embryo development, pod set     

Staging breast cancer: role of bone scanning.

Bone scans using technetium-99m phosphate complexes and a rectilinear scanner were carried out on 192 women with primary operable breast cancer four to six weeks after operation. The lymph node status of all these patients was assessed histologically from triple node biopsy specimens. Only nine patients had positive scans, although 94 patients had histological evidence that the tumour had already spread beyond the confines of the breast. Bone scanning, although accurate as a prognostic guide, is helpful only in a very few cases, and serves mainly to confirm prognostic information obtained more simply and less extensively by histological examination of lymph node biopsy specimens.     

TLTF in Cerebrospinal Fluid for Detection and Staging of T. b. gambiense Infection

Background

Trypanosome-derived lymphocyte triggering factor (TLTF) is a molecule released by African trypanosomes that interacts with the host immune system, resulting in increased levels of IFN-γ production.

Methodology/Principal findings

TLTF and anti-TLTF antibodies were assessed in sera and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) from patients infected with Trypanosoma brucei gambiense (T. b. gambiense) in an attempt to identify alternative markers for diagnosis and stage determination of human African trypanosomiasis or sleeping sickness. Seventy-four serum and sixty-one CSF samples from patients with parasitologically confirmed infection and known disease stage along with 13 sera and CSF from uninfected controls were tested. In serum the levels of anti-TLTF antibodies were unrelated to the disease stage. In contrast, levels of anti-TLTF antibodies in CSF were higher in intermediate/late stages than in early stage disease patients. Specificity of the detected antibodies was assessed by inhibition of TLTF bioactivity as represented by its ability to induce IFN-γ production. Additionally, TLTF was detected in CSF from late stage patients by Western blotting with the anti-TLTF specific monoclonal antibody MO3.

Conclusions/Significance

These findings suggest a new possibility for disease diagnosis with focus on involvement of the CNS through detection of TLTF and anti-TLTF antibodies in the CSF.     

The Integration of Macroscopic Tumor Invasion of Adjacent Organs into TNM Staging System for Colorectal Cancer

Objective

In addition to pathological TNM (pTNM) staging, the macroscopic staging (surgical TNM, sTNM) is another method used to stage and assess tumors, and it also potentially influences patient treatment guidelines. However, for the same patient, surgeons and pathologists might assess tumor depth differently. We aimed to evaluate the prognosis of patients who exhibit unconformity of intraoperative and postoperative results and propose a revised pT category (r-pT category) to predict survival in colorectal cancer.

Methods and Results

In our study, 948 colorectal cancer patients were reviewed. We proposed a novel r-pT category in which surgical macroscopic T4b (sT4b) is incorporated into the pT category, namely, patients in the pT3 category with sT4b cancers are reclassified as being in the r-pT4a category; patients in the pT4a category with sT4b cancers are reclassified as being in the r-pT4b category. Cancer-specific survival according to the r-pT category was analyzed using Kaplan-Meier survival curves. A two-step multivariate analysis was used to determine correlations between the r-pT category and the prognosis. Harrell’s C statistic was utilized to test the predictive capacity. There were significant prognostic differences among the r-pT subcategories. We substituted the r-pT category for the pT category in current TNM staging in a 2-step multivariate analysis. The Harrell’s C statistical analysis results demonstrated that the r-pT category had superior predictive capacity compared to the pT category (Harrell’ C: 0.668 vs. 0.636; P = 0.002).

Conclusions

Patients in the pT3 category with sT4b cancers, and patients in the pT4a category with sT4b cancers, are potentially under-staged, reclassification into higher categories could potentially benefit these patients. The results indicate that the r-pT category we proposed is potentially superior to the pT category in the assessment of prognosis for colorectal cancer.     

Evaluation of Staging Systems for Colorectal Cancer

An alternative way to implement the Akaike Information Criterion (AIC) is proposed for the evaluation of staging systems for colorectal cancer.     

A Lymph Node Staging System for Gastric Cancer: A Hybrid Type Based on Topographic and Numeric Systems

Although changing a lymph node staging system from an anatomically based system to a numerically based system in gastric cancer offers better prognostic performance, several problems can arise: it does not offer information on the anatomical extent of disease and cannot represent the extent of lymph node dissection. The purpose of this study was to discover an alternative lymph node staging system for gastric cancer. Data from 6025 patients who underwent gastrectomy for primary gastric cancer between January 2000 and December 2010 were reviewed. The lymph node groups were reclassified into lesser-curvature, greater-curvature, and extra-perigastric groups. Presence of any metastatic lymph node in one group was considered positive. Lymph node groups were further stratified into four (new N0–new N3) according to the number of positive lymph node groups. Survival outcomes with this new N staging were compared with those of the current TNM system. For validation, two centers in Japan (large center, n = 3443; medium center, n = 560) were invited. Even among the same pN stages, the more advanced new N stage showed worse prognosis, indicating that the anatomical extent of metastatic lymph nodes is important. The prognostic performance of the new staging system was as good as that of the current TNM system for overall advanced gastric cancer as well as lymph node—positive gastric cancer (Harrell C-index was 0.799, 0.726, and 0.703 in current TNM and 0.799, 0.727, and 0.703 in new TNM stage). Validation sets supported these outcomes. The new N staging system demonstrated prognostic performance equal to that of the current TNM system and could thus be used as an alternative.     

Staging the Indian: The Politics of Representation

Staging the Indian: The Politics of Representation. The Tang Teaching Museum and Art Gallery at Skidmore College. February 2, 2002–June 2, 2002.     

Ratio of Metastatic to Examined Lymph Nodes,a Helpful Staging System and Independent Prognostic Factor of Esophagogastric Junction Cancer

Background

The incidence of the esophagogastric junction cancer is growing rapidly. The purpose of this study is to clarify the outcome of the ratio between metastatic and examined lymph nodes in esophagogastric junction cancer patients with or without 7 examined lymph nodes.

Methods

A total of 3,481 patients who underwent operation are identified from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results database. Different lymph nodes resected groups are analyzed to test the lymph nodes ratio factor.

Results

There are 2522 patients with 7 or more lymph nodes resected and 959 patients with less than 7 lymph nodes resected. Lymph nodes ratio and lymph node involvement are independent prognostic factors. But the lymph nodes ratio categories have a better prognostic value than the lymph node involvement categories. Compared with lymph node involvement categories, lymph nodes ratio categories represent patients with more homogeneous overall survival rate.

Conclusions

This study defines that the lymph nodes ratio is an independent prognostic factor for esophagogastric junction cancer. The lymph nodes ratio can prevent stage migration and may be a helpful system to predict the prognosis of esophagogastric junction cancer patients.