Amalgam Strength Resistance to Various Contaminants

Purpose:

The purpose of this study was to quantify the relative strength tolerance of 1-day and 30-day amalgam following saturation contamination with water, saliva, blood, and handpiece lubricant oil during condensation.

Methods and Materials:

Valiant PhD XT amalgam was tested with 300 shear-strength (N=15) and 120 compressive-strength (N=6) specimens, divided into 1-day and 30-day groups, each with control, water, saliva, blood, and lubricant oil contamination samples. Shear specimens were condensed in 4 × 4-mm anchor wells inundated with contaminant fluids before adding a ring mold with 3.5-mm-diameter central hole adapted immediately to the top for continued condensation under contaminant-submerged conditions. Compressive specimen samples were condensed while completely inundated by each contaminant using the American Dental Association Specification No. 1 amalgam mold apparatus. All specimens were tested with the Instron E3000 and E10000 at 0.5 mm/min, with data statistically evaluated using the Kruskal-Wallis procedure with IBM SPSS v25 and Wilcoxon signed ranks test.

Results:

Shear test values (mean±SD) following intracapsular and extracapsular contamination after 30 days under 100% humidity at 37°C were as follows: control, 30.97±5.41 MPa; water, 30.63 ±4.41 MPa; saliva, 27.54 ±4.56 MPa; blood, 24.92 ±3.48 MPa; lubricant oil, 26.06 ±4.06 MPa. Compressive strengths (±SD) of similarly contaminated samples were as follows: control, 447.7 ±76.3 MPa; water, 343.6 ±70.1 MPa; saliva, 307.7 ±24.0 MPa; blood, 281.6 ±35.2 MPa; lubricant oil, 227.8 ±16.9 MPa.

Conclusions:

Saliva, blood, and handpiece oil diminish compressive strength significantly, but water shows no statistically significant effect (p>0.05). Amalgam 30-day shear strength is significantly altered by contamination with water, blood, or handpiece lubricant oil (p<0.05). Remaining amalgam strength after extensive contamination may still be clinically functional relative to a previous ADA recommendation and when compared with resin-based direct restorative materials.

Abstract P3-06-18: Comprehensive genomic profiling of carcinosarcomas of the breast

Background:

Carcinosarcomas of the breast (BCSC) are exceptionally rare and the underlying genomic drivers are still being elucidated. Comprehensive genomic profiling (CGP) determines the tumor mutation burden (TMB) and identifies all four classes of genomic alterations (GA) that have potential to direct personalized treatment strategies.

Methods:

CGP by hybridization capture of exons from up to 315 cancer-related genes and select introns of 28 genes commonly rearranged in cancer was applied to ≥ 50ng of DNA extracted from 9 consecutive BCSC and sequenced to high, uniform median coverage (>500X). Tumor mutational burden (TMB) was determined on 1.1 Mbp of sequenced DNA and microsatellite instability (MSI) was determined by principal components analysis of optimized loci.

Results:

The 9 BCSC patients had a median age of 57 yrs (range 49-78 yrs). CGP was performed on the primary BCSC in 4 cases and on metastasis biopsies in 5 cases (4 lung and 1 lymph node). The mean GA/tumor was 6.6 and clinically relevant GA (CRGA)/tumor was 1.3. The most frequent non-CRGA were in TP53 (89%), MYC (56%) and LYN (40%). The most frequent CRGA were in PIK3CA (33%), and NF1, BRCA1, PTEN, RICTOR, FGFR1, AKT2 and STK11 (all at 11%). The median TMB for all BCSC was 2.4 mut/Mb with 1 (11%) tumor with a TMB > 20 mut/Mb and 8 BCSC (88%) with TMB < 5 mut/Mb. Five of 5 BCSC (100%) that were available for MSI status testing were microsatellite stable.

Conclusions:

On CGP, BCSC feature a high frequency of GA, but only a modest frequency of CRGA and high TMB. However, when the CRGA and TMB positive cases are combined (77.8% overall in this series), the opportunity for personalized targeted and immunotherapies are significant. Thus, further investigation of precision therapies for BCSC in the clinical trial setting appear warranted.

Citation Format: Gay LM, Elvin JA, Vergilio J-A, Killian JK, Ramkissoon S, Severson E, Daniel S, Hammerich A, Sokol E, Frampton G, Chung J, Trabucco S, Ali S, Reddy P, Schrock AB, Miller VA, Ross JS. Comprehensive genomic profiling of carcinosarcomas of the breast [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 P3-06-18.

Abstract P3-10-05: BRCA1/2 alterations are present at significant rates across breast cancer subtypes and are associated with a high genome-wide loss of heterozygosity signature

Background

The recent approval of PARP inhibitor, olaparib, in HER2-negative breast cancer expands the therapeutic options for patients with germline BRCA1/2 alterations. The role of somatic BRCA alteration as a predictive biomarker in breast cancer is currently unclear. NCCN guidelines call for germline testing in all young patients (<46 yrs) and patients with triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) (< 61 yrs) with a personal history of breast cancer. Here we examined the landscape of BRCA mutations to assess whether additional populations may have potential benefit from PARP inhibitors.

Methods

Hybrid-capture based comprehensive genomic profiling of 395 cancer-related genes using the FoundationOne assay (Foundation Medicine, MA) was performed on 12,508 breast carcinomas. Somatic/germline/zygosity status for BRCA1/2 variants was analyzed as described in Sun, 2018 (PMID: 29415044). High genome-wide loss-of-heterozygosity (gLOH) was classified as ≥16% LOH. Subgroups were analyzed on histological {Invasive Ductal Carcinoma (IDC), Invasive Lobular Carcinoma (ILC)} and molecular subtypes [ER-positive (ER+), HER2-amplified (HER2+), TNBC], patient age [≤45, 46-60, 61+], and gender.

Results

Consistent with previous reports, the frequency of BRCA1/2 alterations was highest in young patients (<46; 15%), TNBC (10%), and male breast cancer (14%); BRCA1/2 alterations were also identified in HER2+, ILC, and ER+ tumors (5.3%, 6.5%, 8.3%). Overall, BRCA1 was more frequently mutated in TNBC and young patients (67%), whereas BRCA2 was more frequently mutated in ER+, HER2+, ILC, and male breast cancer (63%, 57%, 79%, 100%).

The fraction of somatic BRCA mutations (sBRCA) was 38%, with the lowest fraction of sBRCA in TNBC and young patients (30%, 30% overall, 36%, 42% for BRCA1) and highest in HER2+, ILC, and older patients (46%, 52%, 51%); the absolute frequency of sBRCA is approximately 3.5%. In tumors with ESR1 mutations, we detected concurrent BRCA mutation in 6.4% (85/1319), with 48% predicted somatic.

Almost all tumors with BRCA mutations had biallelic inactivation, with LOH of the second allele irrespective of predicted germline status (90% of gBRCA and 86% of sBRCA under LOH). gLOH score was used as a phenotypic measure of homologous recombination deficiency (HRD): patients harboring biallelic BRCA alterations had elevated rates of gLOH with 89% of gBRCA and 84% of sBRCA tumors harboring a high gLOH score, vs 47% with heterozygous BRCA, 34% with no BRCA alteration, and 80% for patients with BRCA deletion.

Conclusions

Thirty-eight percent of deleterious BRCA alterations in breast are predicted somatic, including 36% of BRCA1 alterations in TNBC. Germline testing would miss these alterations even though they are frequently under LOH and are associated with high gLOH, a biomarker with predictive value in ovarian cancer. While patients with ER+ and HER2+ tumors have low rates of gBRCA alterations, the overall BRCA mutation rate, including somatic alterations, is appreciable at 8.3% and 5.3%. Our findings demonstrate that sBRCA alterations are associated with a comparable HRD phenotype to gBRCA altertions and suggests that PARP inhibitors may have potential value for a wider range of breast cancer patients.

Citation Format: Sokol ES, Frampton GM, Ross J, Ali S, Chung J, Oesterreich S. BRCA1/2 alterations are present at significant rates across breast cancer subtypes and are associated with a high genome-wide loss of heterozygosity signature [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 P3-10-05.

68 Flux analysis of aerobic glycolysis in bovine blastocysts and CT1 cells

Embryo quality and maternal recognition are crucial for successful initiation of bovine pregnancy. Previous studies have proposed that better quality embryos use aerobic glycolysis to meet a high demand for biomass components. While hexoses are the principal carbon sources that provide energy to glycolysis, little is known about partitioning of hexoses into metabolic pathways or alteration of partitioning when different hexoses are simultaneously available. Specific metabolic utilisation of 13C-labelled substrates can be quantified by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry, an excellent noninvasive approach for studying cellular metabolism. To assess hexose flux through central metabolism, bovine blastocysts and CT1 cells (a bovine trophectoderm cell line) were cultured in SOF-based media supplemented with combinations of 50% uniformly labelled (U) and 50% naturally abundant (NA) glucose (Glc) or fructose (Fru) (U−13C Glc+NA Glc, U−13C Fru+NA Fru, U−13C Glc+NA Fru, and U−13C Fru+NA Glc), such that total hexose concentration was 1.5mM. Metabolites in spent media from 24-h cultures of single or 5 blastocysts (40-μL drops; 5% CO2, 5% O2, 90% N2) and 1-, 2-, 3-, 6-, 8-, and 24-h incubations of CT1 cells (150 μL; ~3×104 cells per well; 5% CO2, 95% air) were extracted with a MeOH-CHCl3 reagent, derivatized, and analysed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. Measurement of mass isotopomer distributions of metabolites, chiefly pyruvate, lactate, and amino acids, followed by correction for natural abundances and metabolic modelling, revealed several insights. For instance, five Day 7 or Day 8 blastocysts (Day 0=fertilization) supplied with U−13C Glc+NA Fru displayed 13C enrichments of 80.3%±1.4% for pyruvate and 71.6%±2.8% for lactate, whereas when supplied with U−13C Fru+NA Glc, they displayed lower 13C enrichments of 5.7%±2.4% for pyruvate and 2.8%±0.4% lactate (mean±standard deviation, n=3 to 4). Metabolic modelling revealed that when Glc and Fru are simultaneously available, the blastocysts used 2.5±0.2 moles of Fru per 100 moles of Glc used. Furthermore, 13C enrichment of pyruvate was 42.0±0.6% when U−13C Glc+NA Glc was supplied and 37.8±2.7% when U−13C Fru+NA Fru was supplied. Lactate enrichments followed a similar trend. This indicates that, individually, Glc and Fru were utilised majorly through aerobic glycolysis with some involvement of the pentose phosphate pathway. Alanine was negligibly labelled in all of the experiments, suggesting either a low TCA flux or that alanine is diluted by extra- or intracellular amino or fatty acids. Single blastocysts and CT1 cells showed a similar labelling pattern when hexoses were available. Following Glc depletion at 8h in CT1 cultures, the 13C enrichments of alanine and citrate in the media increased, suggesting a sharp alteration of metabolic state. These findings demonstrate that metabolic flux can be comprehensively analysed for single bovine blastocysts and CT1 cell metabolism models that of the blastocyst. This project was supported by Agriculture and Food Research Initiative Competitive Grant no. 2015-67015-23237 from the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture.

Considerations of the q-profile control in KSTAR for advanced tokamak operation scenarios

The q-profile control is essential for tokamaks exploring the advanced tokamak scenarios, which is expected to be able to provide a possible route toward a steady-state high performance operation in a fully non-inductive current drive state. This is because the pressure and current profiles must remain optimal for the scenario during the injection of large amounts of heating and current drive. Here, essential tools for the q-profile control are the motional Stark effect diagnostic for measuring the radial magnetic pitch angle profile and a state-of-the-art plasma control system. The pulse duration of the H-mode discharge at KSTAR has been extended year by year with improved control performance, and the experiment of internal transport barrier (ITB) formation in a weakly reversed q-profile with a marginal neutral beam injection majority heating successfully demonstrated that the ITB is an alternative candidate to achieve a high performance regime in KSTAR. These recent achievements are attributed to reliable profile measurement, which means that profile feedback control has become a necessary step to ensure a robust and reliable approach to advanced scenarios as the next step of research in KSTAR. In this paper, we discuss the technical and conceptual requirements for q-profile control according to the upgrade plan for heating and current drive systems in the coming years.

Neuroinvasive West Nile Virus Post-Heart Transplantation: A Case Report

First described in the United States in the late 1990s, West Nile virus (WNV) infection following solid organ transplantation is a rare but life-threatening complication. The many ways in which WNV may be acquired, patient specific risk factors, and variability in clinical severity present challenges to health care providers caring for these patients.