(C) 2011 American Institute of Physics. [doi:10.1063/1.3536796]“
“Purpose: To evaluate the effectiveness, cost, and cost-effectiveness of using renal mass biopsy to guide treatment decisions for small incidentally detected renal tumors.
Materials and Methods: A decision-analytic Markov model was developed to estimate LEE011 research buy life expectancy and lifetime costs for patients with small (<= 4-cm) renal tumors. Two strategies were compared: renal mass biopsy to triage patients to surgery or imaging surveillance and empiric nephron-sparing surgery. The model incorporated biopsy performance, the probability of track
seeding with malignant cells, the prevalence and growth of benign and malignant tumors, treatment effectiveness and costs, and patient outcomes. An incremental cost-effectiveness
analysis was performed to identify strategy preference under a willingness-to-pay threshold of $75 000 per quality-adjusted life-year (QALY). Effects of changes in key parameters on strategy preference were evaluated in sensitivity analysis.
Results: Under base-case assumptions, the biopsy strategy yielded a minimally greater quality-adjusted life expectancy (4 days) than did empiric surgery at a lower lifetime cost ($3466), dominating surgery from a cost-effectiveness perspective. Over the majority of parameter ranges tested in one-way sensitivity RGFP966 manufacturer analysis, the 3-MA in vitro biopsy strategy dominated surgery or was cost-effective relative to surgery based on a $75 000-per-QALY willingness-to-pay threshold. In two-way sensitivity analysis, surgery yielded greater life expectancy when the prevalence of malignancy and propensity for biopsy-negative cancers to metastasize were both higher than expected or when the sensitivity and specificity of biopsy were both lower than expected.
Conclusion: The use of biopsy to guide treatment
decisions for small incidentally detected renal tumors is cost-effective and can prevent unnecessary surgery in many cases. (C) RSNA, 2010″
“G protein-coupled receptor 119 (GPR119) is predominantly expressed in beta cells and intestinal L cells. In this study, we investigated whether oleoylethanolamide (OEA), a GPR119 endogenous ligand, and PSN632408, a GPR119 synthetic agonist, can stimulate beta-cell replication in vitro and in vivo and improve islet graft function in diabetic mice. We found that OEA and PSN632408 significantly increased numbers of insulin(+)/5-bromo-2′-deoxyuridine (BrdU)(+) beta cells in cultured mouse islets in a dose-dependent manner. All diabetic recipient mice, given marginal syngeneic islet transplants with OEA or PSN632408 or vehicle, achieved normoglycemia at 4 weeks after transplantation. However, normoglycemia was achieved significantly faster in OEA- or PSN632408-treated diabetic mice than in vehicle-treated diabetic mice (P < 0.05).