Background: Increased mammographic density (MD) is a strong and independent risk factor for breast cancer. Lifetime oestrogenic exposure is associated with increased MD, however androgenic effects on MD have not been widely investigated. Methods: We studied the effect of 17 β -oestradiol (E2) alone or in combination with an androgen receptor (AR) agonist ( 5 α -dihydrotestosterone [DHT]) or a selective AR modulator (Enobosarm), in modulating MD as measured via single-sided Portable NMR in a patient-derived explant (PDE) model of normal human mammary tissue. Results: We observed an upward trend in explants treated with E2 alone in 3/6 cases, an effect which appeared to be somewhat influenced by menopausal status. Co-treatment of E2 with the AR agonists DHT or Enobosarm however effected a downward trend in regards to MD. E2 significantly upregulated the ER regulated genes (ERGs) CELSR2 and AR , and the AR regulated genes SEC14L2 and GRPC5A , whereas E2 in combination with AR agonist Enobosarm downregulated ERGs SERPINA3, ATP6V1B1 , TFF1 and PR regulated gene RANK . Only GREB1 and CLIC6 were upregulated by E2 and downregulated by the combination of E2 with Enobosarm. DHT + E2 exhibited no significant difference in expression of ER, AR or PR genes examined, compared with the effect of E2 alone. A negative trend was observed between ER protein levels and MD increase in PDEs. Since ER protein gets degraded upon hormone activation, this observation supports active ER signalling in the promotion of MD. Conclusions: Collectively, these findings supports the utility of single-sided Portable NMR for the measurement of MD in explanted human mammary tissue to detect MD change in response to exogenous hormone treatments. A mechanism through which activation of AR may reduce MD as a potential mechanism for reducing breast cancer risk associated to high MD is discussed. Keywords Mammographic density , oestrogen , androgen , single-sided portable NMR , patient-derived explants , , culture
In view of the global pandemic that started in 2020, caused by COVID-19, the importance of the existence of fast, reliable, cheap diagnostic techniques capable of detecting the virus even in the first days of infection became evident. This review discusses studies involving the use of spectroscopic techniques in the detection of viruses in clinical samples. Techniques based on mid-infrared, near-infrared, Raman, and molecular fluorescence are explained and it was demonstrated how they can be used in conjunction with computational tools of multivariate analysis to build models capable of detecting viruses. Studies that used real clinical samples from 2011 to 2021 were analyzed. The results demonstrate the potential of the techniques in detecting viruses. Spectroscopic techniques, as well as chemometric techniques, were also explained. Viral diagnosis based on spectroscopy has interesting advantages compared to standard techniques such as: fast results, no need for reagents, non-destructiveness for the sample, no need for sample preparation, relatively low cost, among others. Several studies have corroborated the real possibility that, in the near future, we may have spectroscopic tools being successfully applied in viral diagnosis.
When light is illuminated using a broad spectrum and detected without physical contact between source and detector the method is often referred as diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (DRS). Combined with newest computational algorithms, DRS may reach high performance in near future in tissue characterization and pathology. In this study, we show that DRS can be used to automatically differentiate untreated fresh liver tissue from heat-induced and chemically induced tissue denaturation in bovine liver ex vivo. For this, we used a thresholding algorithm that was developed and tested using 10-fold cross validation. Our results indicate that DRS has potential to detect pathological tissue processes that result in tissue injury and ultimately tissue necrosis. The detection of necrosis is important for many medical applications, not least for tissue sampling by biopsy needle, where additional guidance to commonly used ultrasound would be welcome. Furthermore, cancer tissue is prone to necrosis as a result of tissue hypoxia and due to cancer treatments.
The COVID-19 pandemic had devastating effects on the lives of populations across the world.The scientific community and their work was not immune from its harmful effects.Many scientists died from COVID-19 infection, including young and senior scientists.To prevent the spread of the virus, restrictions and lockdowns were introduced.Universities and research laboratories were shut down.This prevented researchers from carrying out laboratory experiments.It is, therefore, not surprising that a decline in scientific productivity has been reported [1][2][3][4][5].One size does not fit all, and not all researchers were affected equally by the COVID-19 pandemic.For example, women, parents of young children and people from certain racial groups were most affected [1-5].It is not surprising that mental health of researchers were affected due to the diverse impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.The author of this article lost close relatives and friends due to COVID-19 infection in the United Kingdom and other parts of the world.It created fear and uncertainty that disturbed the normal pattern of life we took for granted, at least in those parts of the world unaffected by war, famine or other disasters.The field of spectroscopy, which is the key focus of this journal, showed a decline in the number of publications in 2022 (see Fig. 1).The number of publications in the field of spectroscopy has been progressively increasing year by year and the decline in 2022 can be attributed to the COVID-19 pandemic.Spectroscopic measurements require access to instruments in laboratories which were closed during the pandemic, preventing generation of new data.Travel restrictions prevented scientists from visiting other countries and working with their collaborators.Access to specialised equipment such as synchrotron, X-ray and other techniques were not possible.Furthermore, the negative impacts of the COVID-19 on the lives of spectroscopists, including their mental health, have played a role in reducing their productivity [1][2][3][4][5].It is hard to say anything positive about the COVID-19 pandemic considering its devastating effect on human lives.However, one cannot ignore the fact it did have some positive impacts for science.This includes the development of novel vaccines and anti-virals.It also triggered scientific research and clinical trials on natural products including traditional medicines for their potential anti-viral effects.
Background: Increased mammographic density (MD) is a strong and independent risk factor for breast cancer. Lifetime oestrogenic exposure is associated with increased MD, however androgenic effects on MD have not been widely investigated. Methods: We studied the effect of 17 β-oestradiol (E2) alone or in combination with an androgen receptor (AR) agonist ( 5 α-dihydrotestosterone [DHT]) or a selective AR modulator (Enobosarm), in modulating MD as measured via single-sided Portable NMR in a patient-derived explant (PDE) model of normal human mammary tissue. Results: We observed an upward trend in explants treated with E2 alone in 3/6 cases, an effect which appeared to be somewhat influenced by menopausal status. Co-treatment of E2 with the AR agonists DHT or Enobosarm however effected a downward trend in regards to MD. E2 significantly upregulated the ER regulated genes (ERGs) CELSR2 and AR, and the AR regulated genes SEC14L2 and GRPC5A, whereas E2 in combination with AR agonist Enobosarm downregulated ERGs SERPINA3, ATP6V1B1, TFF1 and PR regulated gene RANK. Only GREB1 and CLIC6 were upregulated by E2 and downregulated by the combination of E2 with Enobosarm. DHT + E2 exhibited no significant difference in expression of ER, AR or PR genes examined, compared with the effect of E2 alone. A negative trend was observed between ER protein levels and MD increase in PDEs. Since ER protein gets degraded upon hormone activation, this observation supports active ER signalling in the promotion of MD. Conclusions: Collectively, these findings supports the utility of single-sided Portable NMR for the measurement of MD in explanted human mammary tissue to detect MD change in response to exogenous hormone treatments. A mechanism through which activation of AR may reduce MD as a potential mechanism for reducing breast cancer risk associated to high MD is discussed.
