Usability testing of MySkinSelfie: a mobile phone application for skin self-monitoring

Teledermatology generally involves doctors taking images of patients; however, patients increasingly want to own or have easy access to their health data. MySkinSelfie ( http://myskinselfie.com) is a mobile phone application (app) designed to improve the quality, consistency and accessibility of patient-held photos, and was developed to give patients the ability to generate and hold their own skin images to help guide their skin care. This study assessed the usability of this app in a cohort of patients attending a National Health Service Dermatology clinic. Patients were asked to use the app but were not given specific tasks to achieve. Of the 102 patients recruited, 32 downloaded the app and registered an account, 21 took at least one photo (median 5, range 1-103) and 19 completed the usability questionnaire. The majority of questionnaire respondents found the app easy to use but were more neutral on whether it really helped them to manage their skin problem. MySkinSelfie has been shown to be easy to use. Self-monitoring of skin problems may be useful for a subset of patients, and this is likely to depend on diagnosis, age and other patient factors.

Abstract P6-18-27: Withdrawn

This abstract was withdrawn by the authors.

Citation Format: Odom D, Mitra D, Hollis K, Richardson D, Kaye JA, McRoy L. Withdrawn [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 2018 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium; 2018 Dec 4-8; San Antonio, TX. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2019;79(4 Suppl):Abstract nr P6-18-27.

Experimental data for extrusion processing and tensile properties of poly(hydroxybutyrate-co-hydroxyvalerate) (PHBV) polymer and wood fibre reinforced PHBV biocomposites

This article features a large database on different extrusion processing conditions and the resulting tensile properties of poly(hydroxybutyrate-co-hydroxyvalerate) (PHBV) and wood fibre reinforced biocomposites. The data presented here corresponds to a comprehensive design of experiments conducted separately for both neat PHBV polymer and wood–PHBV composites, in which the effects of temperature profile, screw speed, feeding rate, feeding method, screw configuration, and wood contents (wood–PHBV composites only) of 10, 20, 30, and 40 wt% wood content were examined. For each processing condition, 5 specimens were tested under uniaxial tensile loading. Here we provide the complete set of extrusion parameters, including the observed screw torque, residence time and material output. Individual stress–strain curves for each specimens are provided, along with their calculated elastic modulus, strength, and strain at maximum load. The data is also provided as support material for the research article: “Extrusion of wood fibre reinforced Poly(hydroxybutyrate-co-hydroxyvalerate) (PHBV) biocomposites: statistical analysis of the effect of processing conditions on mechanical performance” (Vandi et al., 2018).

FAANG, establishing metadata standards, validation and best practices for the farmed and companion animal community

The Functional Annotation of ANimal Genomes (FAANG) project aims, through a coordinated international effort, to provide high quality functional annotation of animal genomes with an initial focus on farmed and companion animals. A key goal of the initiative is to ensure high quality and rich supporting metadata to describe the project's animals, specimens, cell cultures and experimental assays. By defining rich sample and experimental metadata standards and promoting best practices in data descriptions, deposition and openness, FAANG champions higher quality and reusability of published datasets. FAANG has established a Data Coordination Centre, which sits at the heart of the Metadata and Data Sharing Committee. It continues to evolve the metadata standards, support submissions and, crucially, create powerful and accessible tools to support deposition and validation of metadata. FAANG conforms to the findable, accessible, interoperable, and reusable (FAIR) data principles, with high quality, open access and functionally interlinked data. In addition to data generated by FAANG members and specific FAANG projects, existing datasets that meet the main—or more permissive legacy—standards are incorporated into a central, focused, functional data resource portal for the entire farmed and companion animal community. Through clear and effective metadata standards, validation and conversion software, combined with promotion of best practices in metadata implementation, FAANG aims to maximise effectiveness and inter‐comparability of assay data. This supports the community to create a rich genome‐to‐phenotype resource and promotes continuing improvements in animal data standards as a whole.

Wood-PHA Composites: Mapping Opportunities

Polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) biopolymers are emerging as attractive new sustainable polymers due to their true biodegradability and highly tuneable mechanical properties. However, despite significant investments, commercialisation barriers are hindering the capacity growth of PHA. In this work, we investigated the market potential for wood plastic composites (WPCs) based on PHAs. We considered the latest global production capacity of PHAs, estimated at 66,000 tonnes/year, and examined the implications of using PHAs for WPC production on the WPC market. Results indicate that a hypothetical usage of the current global PHA production for WPC manufacture would only represent the equivalent of 4.4% of the global WPC market, which is currently experiencing a 10.5% compounded annual growth rate. An economic assessment revealed that a wood-PHA composite as a drop-in alternative WPC product could cost as little as 37% of the cost of its neat PHA counterpart. Thus, WPCs with PHA offer a means to access benefits of PHA in engineering applications at reduced costs; however, further developments are required to improve strain at failure. The successful adoption of wood-PHA composites into the market is furthermore reliant on support from public sector to encourage biodegradable products where recycling is not a ready solution.

Abstract A165: Novel thiosemicarbazone, Dp44mT, promotes NDRG1 to downregulate oncogenic signaling pathways in cancer

Introduction: The novel thiosemicarbazone, Dp44mT, has shown potent anticancer activity against various cancer types. The activity of this agent is, at least in part, mediated by its ability to upregulate the growth and metastasis suppressor, N-myc Downstream Regulated Gene 1 (NDRG1). NDRG1 inhibits cell proliferation, migration, and invasion by negatively regulating numerous oncogenic signaling pathways. However, the mechanisms by which NDRG1 modulates all these pathways remain to be elucidated. To examine how NDRG1 and Dp44mT affect multiple signalling pathways, we assessed their effects on the ErbB-family of receptor tyrosine kinases, namely epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), human epidermal growth factor 2 (HER2) and human epidermal growth factor receptor 3 (HER3), as these molecules are key regulators of downstream oncogenic signaling. Methods: PANC1 pancreatic and HT-29 colon human cancer cells were utilized to examine the effects of NDRG1 and Dp44mT on EGFR, HER2, and HER3 levels, localization, and phosphorylation in vitro. PANC1 xenografts were also utilized to examine the effects of Dp44mT on these molecules in vivo. Results: For the first time, we demonstrate that NDRG1 and Dp44mT markedly inhibit the expression, localization, and activation of EGFR, HER2, and HER3. NDRG1 also reduced activation of the MAPK-signalling pathway, which is downstream of the ErbB family of receptors. Further, the anticancer agent, Dp44mT, significantly reduced expression of EGFR, HER2, and HER3 in vivo. Conclusions: This study demonstrates for the first time that the novel thiosemicarbazone, Dp44mT, inhibits the ErbB family of proteins through its upregulation of NDRG1, providing an interesting insight into the mechanisms behind its compelling anticancer activity.

Citation Format: Sharleen V. Menezes, Zaklina Kovacevic, Des Richardson. Novel thiosemicarbazone, Dp44mT, promotes NDRG1 to downregulate oncogenic signaling pathways in cancer [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the AACR-NCI-EORTC International Conference: Molecular Targets and Cancer Therapeutics; 2017 Oct 26-30; Philadelphia, PA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Mol Cancer Ther 2018;17(1 Suppl):Abstract nr A165.

Abstract B143: The formation of redox active complexes is important for the induction of the UPR by Dp44mT

Activation of the unfolded protein response (UPR) has been demonstrated in several cancer types. This has been attributed to two main factors, namely: (1) intrinsic factors (e.g., hyperactivation of oncogenes) and (2) extrinsic factors (i.e., the hostile microenvironment of tumors). This activation of the UPR has been linked to oncogenic transformation and cancer development. Considering the UPR has been identified as an adverse marker for prognosis, a better understanding of the role of the UPR in the outcome of cancer therapeutics will offer new opportunities to improve existing treatment strategies. Notably, the anticancer agent, di-2-pyridylketone 4,4-dimethyl-3-thiosemicarbazones (Dp44mT), has been shown to activate the UPR, specifically PERK, IRE1α, and ATF6. This agent has been demonstrated to possess potent and selective antitumor and antimetastatic activity. In fact, this class of agents is currently in clinical trials for the treatment of advanced solid tumors (NCT02688101). Hence, the role of the UPR in the anticancer activity of Dp44mT and the importance of the formation of redox active complexes by Dp44mT was assessed. Studies have demonstrated that Dp44mT activates the main arms of the UPR, namely PERK, IRE1α, and ATF6, inducing proapoptotic pathways (e.g., CHOP, caspase 3), while inhibiting the prosurvival signals, i.e., XBP1s, p58IPK. Considering this and the induction of ROS by Dp44mT, experiments assessed the role of the formation of redox active complexes by Dp44mT in inducing UPR activation using the glutathione synthesis inhibitor, buthionine sulfoximine (BSO), and the antioxidant, N-acetyl-L-cysteine (NAC), that potentiates and inhibits oxidative stress, respectively, in human SK-N-MC neuroepithelioma cells. Importantly, Western blot analysis demonstrated that BSO or NAC alone did not significantly induce or alter the expression of the UPR mediators, p-eIF2α, p-IRE1α, cleaved ATF6, and p-CaMKII. Incubation of cells with Dp44mT and BSO potentiated Dp44mT-mediated activation of the UPR, increasing levels of p-eIF2α, p-IRE1α, cleaved ATF6, and p-CaMKII relative to the control. In contrast, NAC and Dp44mT treatment reduced the expression of these UPR mediators in comparison to cells treated with Dp44mT alone. Hence, BSO enhanced the activation of the UPR pathways by Dp44mT, while the antioxidant NAC inhibited this process. This suggested that the formation of ROS is important for Dp44mT-mediated UPR activation. MTT studies were also performed to determine the role of the main UPR arms, PERK or IRE1α, in the antiproliferative activity of Dp44mT. PERK or IRE1α silencing increased the effectiveness of Dp44mT by significantly (p<0.01) reducing its IC50, suggesting these proteins are important for cell survival and are indicators of therapeutic outcomes. In conclusion, the formation of redox active complexes is important for the induction of the UPR by Dp44mT. Additionally, PERK and IRE1α are important mediators that enhance cell survival and silencing these proteins increases the antiproliferative activity of Dp44mT. This may be related to their role in autophagy. Considering the activation of the UPR in cancers, it is crucial to continue to characterize the effect of the UPR on cancer therapeutics to better predict clinical outcomes and the subpopulations of patients that will greatly benefit from this type of therapy.

Citation Format: Angelica Merlot, Nurul Shafie, Georgia Porter, Sumit Sahni, Des Richardson. The formation of redox active complexes is important for the induction of the UPR by Dp44mT [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the AACR-NCI-EORTC International Conference: Molecular Targets and Cancer Therapeutics; 2017 Oct 26-30; Philadelphia, PA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Mol Cancer Ther 2018;17(1 Suppl):Abstract nr B143.

Using routine blood test results to predict the risk of death for emergency medical admissions to hospital: an external model validation study

BACKGROUND

The Biochemistry and Haematology Outcome Model (BHOM) relies on the results from routine index blood tests to predict the patient risk of death. We aimed to externally validate the BHOM model.

METHOD

We considered all emergency adult medical patients who were discharged from Northern Lincolnshire and Goole (NLAG) hospital in 2014. We compared patient characteristics between NLAG (the validation sample) and the hospital where BHOM was developed. We evaluated the predictive performance, according to discriminative ability (with a concordance statistic, c), and calibration (agreement between observed and predicted risk).

RESULT

There were 29 834 emergency discharges of which 24 696 (83%) had complete data. In comparison with the development sample, the NLAG sample was similar in age, blood test results, but experienced a lower mortality (4.7 vs. 8.7%). When applied to NLAG, the BHOM model had good discrimination (c-statistic 0.83 [95% CI 0.823-0.842]). Calibration was good overall, although the BHOM model overpredicted for lowest (<5%, observed = 229, predicted = 286) and highest (≥50%, observed = 31, predicted = 49) risk groups, even after recalibrating for the differences in baseline risk of death.

CONCLUSION

Differences in patient case-mix profile and baseline risk of death need to be considered before the BHOM model can be used in another hospital. After re-calibrating for the baseline difference in risk the BHOM model had good discrimination but less adequate calibration.

Mycobacterium xenopi osteomyelitis in a patient on highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART)

Skeletal infections with atypical mycobacteria are a manifestation of advanced HIV disease, most patients having CD4 counts of less than 100 cells/mm3. We report a case of Mycobacterium xenopi vertebral osteomyelitis in a patient on HAART with a CD4 count of 490 cells/mm3 and viral load below the level of detection at the time of diagnosis.

Hepatitis B infection in an HIV-positive man treated with tenofovir: a case of re-infection or reactivation?

We report an HIV-positive man who re-acquires hepatitis B with evidence of serological protection which then resolves while on anti-retrovirals including tenofovir.

Persistent sexual arousal in a woman with associated cardiac defects and raised atrial natriuretic peptide

The persistent sexual arousal syndrome (PSAS) is a newly described entity where the woman becomes involuntarily genitally aroused for extended periods of time in the absence of sexual desire and is distressed by this situation. The cause of this sexual problem is not well understood. We describe such a case where the subjective feelings were confirmed by observing genital engorgement. In her case, PSAS came on after initiation of fludrocortisone given for hypotension and bradycardia that was associated with an atrial septal defect (ASD). We argue that the combined effect of the ASD and fludrocortisone may be associated with an increase in her levels of atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP). ANP causes profound vasodilation and vascular leakage. We postulate that the high serum levels of ANP in her case may be contributory to her PSAS.