Biography:

Christian Munzenmayer has completed his Doctorate from the University of Koblenz-Landau in 2006. Since 2000, he is with the Fraunhofer Institute for Integrated Circuits IIS, Germany. His primary research interests center on image and texture analysis, automated microscopy and digital pathology. He is the Head of the research group Medical Image Processing and Manager of the business field Digital Pathology and Laboratory Diagnostics. He is the author and co-author of over 60 publications in scientific journals and proceeding volumes and has been Reviewer for Medical Engineering and Physics.

Abstract:

The morphological differentiation of cells is a challenging task for which experience and continuous qualification over many years is needed. In the field of diagnostics of variations in blood and hematopoietic organs the qualification of health personnel is of particular importance. For this reason an interactively usable knowledge and qualification platform for professionals in hematology in the area of cell morphology has been developed. The HemaWeb platform covers significant aspects of knowledge transfer, knowledge development and knowledge assurance and provides professional exchange with tutorial support and certified examinations. Fundamental information about cell morphology is contained in a case database and in a cell dictionary. Interactive test assignments provide the opportunity to check this basic knowledge. Knowledge Transfer from experts to platform users is supported by interactive discussion of clinical cases in webinars and case conferences through a discussion platform. The core element of the platform is a module for internal and external quality control (inter-laboratory tests) by means of virtual microscopy. Digitized samples are pre-annotated by a clinical expert as supervisor of the test. Participating laboratories can access and navigate slides, enter their annotations and receive automated reports on their performance. The platform has been evaluated in a several pilot studies with hematology laboratories in Germany. It provides access to high-quality slides and flexible, extra-occupational education without the obligation to be present. Improved education and training possibilities can be realized and cost-efficient execution of inter-laboratory tests with a higher grade of comparability are possible.

Biography:

K H Ramesh a native of Bangalore, and an alumnus of Bangalore University & Kidwai Memorial Institute of Oncology, obtained his Doctoral Degree in Human Cancer Cytogenetics under the guidance of Professors M Krishna Bhargava, MD and B. N. Chowdaiah, Ph.D. He moved to the US in 1986 and completed his Clinical Cytogenetics training under the guidance of world renowned geneticist Avery Sandberg, MD at Roswell Park Cancer Institute, Buffalo, NY.  At present he is the Director of Cancer CytoGenomics and Associate Professor of Pathology at Montefiore Medical Center & Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, NY.  He is also Adjunct Associate Professor at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. He is a Board Certified Clinical Cytogeneticist and a Diplomate of the American Board of Medical Genetics & Genomics, and Fellow of the American College of Medical Genetics & Genomics. His expertise is in genetic testing of leukemia, lymphoma, myeloma and soft and solid tumors. His interests include global education, football, and music.

Abstract:

Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) accounts for up to 80% of all lung cancers with an overall 5 year survival rate of about 10 to 15%.  it is the leading cause of cancer-related mortality worldwide; and is responsible for 27% and 19.4% cancer deaths in the US and worldwide respectively.  EGFR, KRAS, BRAF and ALK-EML4 anomalies are some of the driver mutations that have treatment and prognostic implications in NSCLC. The ALK-EML4 rearrangement has been identified in about 3 to 5% of NSCLC, with the large majority in adenocarcinoma and young patients who were light or nonsmokers. Recent studies have shown that lung cancers harboring the ALK-EML4 rearrangement are resistant to epidermal growth factor receptor tyrosine kinase inhibitors, but may be highly sensitive to ALK inhibitors, such as Crizotinib (Xalkori).

Fluorescence In Situ Hybridization (FISH) analysis using the ALK DNA probe to determine if the tumor cells have the EML4-ALK rearrangement plays a vital role in establishing a rapid cytogenetic diagnosis.  It is also helpful in monitoring the progression of the disease after treatment.  However, a majority (>90%) of the patients with NSCLC show polysomy (multiple copies) of the ALK gene without the rearrangement. Little is known about the behavior of tumors showing polysomy, and the disease progression in patients with such tumors. At Montefiore we have been offering FISH testing (FDA approved) for ALK rearrangement since 2011.

The aim of our study was to assess the survival difference in NSCLC patients without a history of tobacco use with ALK polysomy or the fusion oncogene. Using the Clinical Looking Glass database at  Montefiore Medical Center in New York, we retrospectively identified four cases of ALK-EML4 gene rearrangement and 108 cases of ALK polysomy by FISH analysis from 2011-2014. Amongst the two groups, there were no significant differences in age (p=0.47) and there was a higher percentage of female patients in the rearrangement group than in the polysomy group (3/4 Vs.54/54). Using log-rank statistical analysis, there were no significant differences in survival from the date of NSCLC diagnosis between the polysomy and rearrangement groups (p=0.37).

In conclusion, the lack of statistical significance in survival between the two groups may suggest that the oncogenicity of polysomy of ALK and the ALK-EML4 gene rearrangement in NSCLC patients works by similar mechanisms. However, the small sample size and single center study preclude any definitive conclusions in the survival differences. With clear knowledge of mortality in the two groups with a larger cohort of patients, molecular targets can be identified or the formulation of drugs that can prolong survival. As of 2016 we have added another 65 cases to the cohort of 112 cases, and are analyzing the extended data to determine if our conclusion will differ or remain the same.

Biography:

Elizabeth C M de Lange has obtained her PhD from Leiden University in 1993 and was tenured in 2004. She is the Head of the Translational Pharmacology Group at Leiden Academic Center for Drug Research (LACDR). Her ultimate aim is to aid in the prediction of the dose-response relationship of CNS drugs in the clinical setting, on the basis of preclinical data (translational research). Her research involves the identification and characterization of the rate and extent of key factors in the dose-response relationship of CNS drugs in health and CNS disorders. It involves the use of advanced preclinical research (e.g.m including microdialysis, EEG monitoring, PET scanning) and advanced pharmacometrics (Systems Pharmacology). She has published more than 100 papers and book chapters and she is a frequently invited lecturer. Furthermore, she is a Member of the Editorial Board of FBCNS, co-founded and (co-) chaired several of the International Symposia on Microdialysis in Drug R&D. She is an AAPS Fellow since 2013. Her company In Focus provides courses, training and advice on microdialysis, pharmacokinetics, BBB transport and CNS target site distribution and effects and systems pharmacology.

Abstract:

Changes in blood-brain barrier (BBB) functionality have been implicated in Parkinson's disease. This study aimed to investigate BBB transport of L-DOPA transport in conjunction with its intra-brain conversion, in both control and diseased cerebral hemispheres in the unilateral rat rotenone model of Parkinson's disease. In Lewis rats, at 14 days after unilateral infusion of rotenone into the medial forebrain bundle, L-DOPA was administered intravenously (10, 25 or 50 mg/kg). Serial blood samples and brain striatal microdialysates were analyzed for L-DOPA and the dopamine metabolites DOPAC and HVA. Ex vivo brain tissue was analyzed for changes in tyrosine hydroxylase staining as a biomarker for Parkinson's disease severity. Data were analyzed by population pharmacokinetic analysis (NONMEM) to compare BBB transport of L-DOPA in conjunction with the conversion of L-DOPA into DOPAC and HVA, in control and diseased cerebral hemisphere. Plasma pharmacokinetics of L-DOPA could be described by a 3-compartmental model. In rotenone responders (71%), no difference in L-DOPA BBB transport was found between diseased and control cerebral hemisphere. However, in the diseased compared with the control side, basal microdialysate levels of DOPAC and HVA were substantially lower, whereas following L-DOPA administration their elimination rates were higher. Parkinson's disease-like pathology indicated by a huge reduction of tyrosine hydroxylase as well as by substantially reduced levels and higher elimination rates of DOPAC and HVA, does not result in changes in BBB transport of L-DOPA. Taking the results of this study and that of previous ones, it can be concluded that changes in BBB functionality are not a specific characteristic of Parkinson's disease and cannot account for the decreased benefit of L-DOPA at later stages of Parkinson's disease.

Biography:

Anurag Singh is a PhD Research Scholar in the Department of Electronics and Electrical Engineering, IIT Guwahati, India. He has received his BTech (2009) from IET Rohilkhand University, Bareilly and MTech (Dec 2011) from Indian Institute of Information Technology, Design & Manufacturing Jabalpur in Electronics and Communication Engineering. His research interests include biomedical signal processing, multirate signal processing, compressed sensing and sparse representation.

Abstract:

Computational complexity and power consumption are prominent issues in wireless telemonitoring applications involving physiological signals. Compressed sensing (CS) has emerged as a promising framework to address these challenges because of its energy-efficient data reduction procedure. In this work, a CS-based approach is studied for joint compression/reconstruction of multichannel electrocardiogram (MECG) signals. Weighted mixed-norm minimization (WMNM)-based joint sparse recovery algorithm is proposed, which can successfully recover the signals from all the channels simultaneously by exploiting the inter-channel correlations. The proposed algorithm is based on a multi-scale weighting approach, which utilizes multi-scale signal information. Under this strategy, weights are designed based on the diagnostic information contents of each wavelet subband/scale. Such a weighting approach emphasizes wavelet subbands having high diagnostic importance during joint CS reconstruction. Coefficients in non-diagnostic subbands are deemphasized simultaneously, resulting in a sparser solution. The proposed method helps achieve superior reconstruction quality with a lower number of measurements. Reduction in the required number of measurements directly translates into higher compression efficiency, resulting in low energy consumption in CS-based remote ECG monitoring systems.

Biography:

Eman Kandeel has completed her MD in 2011 from NCI, Cairo University, Egypt. She has experience of Flow Cytometry from Roswell Park Cancer Institute, Buffalo, New York. She is a Lecturer at BMT lab Clinical Pathology Department from 2011 to till date.

Abstract:

Background: Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) outcome is inferior to acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Treatment failure is largely attributed to the persistence of leukemia stem cells (LSCs) which are less accessible and hence less responsive to chemo-therapeutics.

Aim: To demonstrate the impact of LSCs frequency at diagnosis and at follow up periods as compared to minimal residual disease (MRD) on overall survival (OS) and disease free survival (DFS).

Methods: The study was performed on 84 adult AML patients. Panels used CD38FITC/CD123PE/CD34ECD/CD45PE-PC5 and CD90FITC/CD133PE/CD45ECD/CD33PE-PC5 analyzed on Navios Flow cytometer. Cell populations with different surface markers were calculated using the prism function of the software. The study was performed according to Helsinki declaration for studies on human subjects and approved by the Institution Review Board (IRB) of the National Cancer Institute, Cairo University. An informed signed consent was obtained from all study subjects before enrollment.

Results: A higher CD 123% at diagnosis (p≤0.001) and at day (d) 14 (p=0.004 & p≤0.001 respectively) had an adverse impact on OS and DFS. A higher CD 133% at diagnosis and at d14 (P=0.006 & P≤0.001 and P≤0.001 & P≤0.001 respectively), had an adverse impact on OS and DFS. A higher [CD34-/CD38+/CD123+] percentage at diagnosis (P=0.025 and P≤0.001) had adverse impact on OS and DFS at d14 (P=0.029) had adverse impact only on DFS.

Conclusion: High frequency of LSCs reflects a higher percentage of chemotherapy resistant cells that will lead to the outgrowth of MRD, thereby affecting clinical outcome.

Biography:

Susan I Anderson has completed her PhD at the University of Nottingham in 2001 and has been working there since; initially as the Director of the Advanced Microscopy Facility and then as Academic Lead for Pathology before becoming the Director of Undergraduate Studies in the School of Medicine. She is also the Head of Education and Outreach for the Royal Microscopical Society, leading a successful schools science outreach program and professional diploma qualification as well as leading the public engagement activities of the society. She is also the Deputy Director of the BBSRC Doctoral Training Program at the University of Nottingham, UK. She has research interests in bone metabolism and medical education. She has introduced the use of virtual microscopy and pathology to over 1000 students at the University of Nottingham and is currently writing a textbook on Essential Clinical Histology.

Abstract:

The University of Nottingham has been using a virtual microscope for the delivery of pathology teaching on the medical, science and veterinary programs for several years. Evaluation of student feedback has revealed that the introduction of online, e-workbooks for tailored learning has been a key to the engagement and success of this technology in the Medical School. Student engagement and understanding has been improved and many students chose the histopathology specialist module in following years as a consequence. To further develop this as a method of e-learning, this teaching was incorporated into case studies for medical students, supported by a teaching development grant from the HEA. This has led to the development of an integrated teaching package linking normal histology and pathology to clinical scenarios and has engaged students in the production of these. Currently this format is being developed, in collaboration with Prof Emad Rakha and the Nottingham Breast Cancer group to prepare an open access, online training tool for histopathologists working in the field of breast cancer.

Biography:

Daniel Racoceanu is the Professor at Sorbonne University, University Pierre and Marie Curie and is the Director of the Cancer Theranostics research team of the Bioimaging Lab (CNRS-French National Center for Scientific Research, INSERM-French National Institute of Health and Medical Research). He is a Member of the Executive Board of the University Institute of Health Engineering of the Sorbonne University, Paris. He has participated in creation of the International Research Unit IPAL (Image & Pervasive Access Lab) in Singapore, being the Director (from 2008 to 2014) of this joint research venture between the CNRS, NUS (National University of Singapore), A*STAR (Agency for Science, Technology and Research) and UPMC. Until 2015, he was an Adjunct Professor at NUS. He has published more than 30 papers in reputed journals and 100 conference papers and also serving as an Editorial Board Member of reputable journals in the area of biomedical imaging and medical informatics.

Abstract:

In line with recent advances in molecular imaging and genetics, keeping the microscopic modality at the core of future digital systems in pathology is fundamental to insure the acceptance of these new technologies, as well as a deeper systemic, structured comprehension of the pathologies. After all, at the scale of routine whole-slide imaging, the microscopic image represents a resolution at the scale of genomic information, enabling a naturally structured support for integrative digital pathology approaches. In order to accelerate and structure the integration of this heterogeneous information, a major effort is and will continue to be devoted to morphological micro-semiology (microscopic morphology semantics). The massive amount of visual data is challenging and represents an intrinsic characteristic to digital pathology. In parallel, progresses in cancer genomics, propelled by advances from Next Generation Sequencing, have enabled a very accurate molecular characterization of a patient’s tumor. Various large-scale projects (such as The Cancer Genome Atlas-TCGA or the International Cancer Genome Consortium) have initiated deepening the knowledge about the genomic landscape of alterations that can be linked to tumors. Indeed, the molecular characterization of a tumor has the potential to improve patient outcome in various ways. However, this information is mostly considered in an independent manner from the morphology of the population of tumor cells. Exploiting the richness conveyed by giving a spatial/morphological dimension together with the information on the molecular determinants of tumor growth could enable better-informed diagnostics. The scope of this insight is to support the emergence of an integrative framework able to leverage the morphological evidence coming from digital imaging, in order to guide the interpretation of omics data and the other way around, to help the pathologist performing its diagnostic on tumor grading after replacing it in its genetic/molecular context.

Biography:

Paul Holvoet is a Professor in Biomedicine at the Department of Cardiovascular Sciences at the Catholic University of Leuven. His research focuses on the interaction between oxidative stress and inflammation in the pathogenesis of metabolic and cardiovascular diseases. He is a Fellow of the European Society of Cardiology and the American Heart Association. He is first inventor on international patents related to oxidized LDL and gene signatures in monocytes and derived exosomes. He is also a Co-Founder of Tank™.

Abstract:

Obesity’s negative impact on health is well-documented. Health consequences are categorized as being the result of either increased fat mass (which leads to osteoarthritis, obstructive sleep apnea, social stigma) or an increased number of fat cells (which contributes diabetes, cancer, cardiovascular diseases). Disease processes increasing risk in association with obesity are subclinical chronic low-grade inflammation and oxidative stress which are also involved in development of cardiovascular diseases. For example, recent data suggest that increased oxidative stress in adipose tissue is an early instigator of metabolic syndrome. Given the number of symptoms and risk factors which characterize metabolic syndrome, the variability in combinations of three out of five its components, and the variability in treatments and patient responses to treatment of those symptoms, there remains a need in the art for identifying patients who are at risk for developing metabolic syndrome, T2D, and/or cardiovascular diseases. In this study we discovered RNA expression patterns related to mitochondrial dysfunction and oxidative stress in monocytes which were associated with metabolic syndrome and T2D, and identified an at-risk population for new cardiovascular events in CAD patients. For the first time, we showed that signatures in monocyte-specific micro-vesicles reflects these in monocytes and have similar predictive properties. We also found that identified gene signatures were related to obesity and atherosclerosis in mice and pigs.

Biography:

Alheli Delgado Hernandez has studied Medicine at Universidad Autonoma de Guadalajara as a Member of the 2005 generation. She has completed her Medical Residency of 4 years in Audiology Otoneurology and Speech Pathology in the Instituto Nacional de Rehabilitación in Mexico City. She is presently serving children and adults as Chief of Audiology at the Hospital General de Occidente "Hospital de Zoquipan". Her work area are the early deafness detection in newborns and timely adaption of hearing aids, also works with adults, coordinate speech therapy, medical consultation and other activities with disabled persons. She has two audiology articles published in a prestigious journal of Scientific Research.

Abstract:

Primary empty sella is a herniation of the sellar diaphragm into the pituitary space. It is an incidental finding and patients may manifest neurological, ophthalmological and/or endocrine disorders. Episodes of vertigo, dizziness and hearing loss have been reported.To determine the conditional probability, as well as the statistical dependency, through the Bayesian analysis in patients with primary empty sella and audio vestibular disorders. Individuals who attended the National Rehabilitation Institute from January 2010 to December 2011, diagnosed with primary empty sella and audiovestibular disorders. An analysis was performed on a sample of 18 patients with a diagnosis of primary empty sella confirmed with magnetic resonance studies and who had signs of vertigo, hearing loss and dizziness. Of the 18 patients studied, 3 (16.66%) had primary empty sella as the only clinical evidence. In 9 patients (50%) empty sella was associated with vertigo and 16 patients (88.88%) were diagnosed with hearing loss with sensorineural hearing loss being the most frequent (77.77%). The intersection between the proportions of primary empty sella with the presence and type of hearing loss was calculated. Thus for sensorineural hearing loss, the calculated ratio was P(AB)=0.6912 and for conductive and mixed hearing loss the value of P(AB)=0.0493 in both cases.

Conclusions: Bayesian analysis and conditional probability enables the dependence between two or more variables to be calculated. In this study both mathematical models were used to analyze comorbidities and audiovestibular disorders in patients diagnosed with primary empty sella.

Biography:

Abbas Yassin has completed his Bachelor’s degree in Medicine and Surgery in 2006 and completed Master degree in Pathology in 2012. He has then worked as Teaching Assistant in Histology for two years in Aden University, then worked in private histopathology lab for two years. He has worked as Health and Nutritional Officer in International Rescue Committee for 5 months and undertook training course for Biological Threats in Sandia Lab, USA for a month in 2012. He has also worked in Alwahda Hospital in Oncology Department in Histopathology section from 2015-2016 in Aden.

Abstract:

Pattern of breast diseases in Yemen is inadequately studied; we studied the histopathological breast diseases in order to find out the histopathological pattern in patients suffering from breast diseases in Modern Histology Lab, Aden, Yemen. We performed a retrospective and prospective study conducted at Private Modern Histology Lab, Aden, Yemen during the period from January 2005 to December 2008. The data were collected from the referral sheets. A total of 286 biopsies cases of breast diseases 275 (96.2%) were female and 11 (3.8%) were man. In female Benign breast tumor was the most common lesion found is comprising 32.4% in age group between 20-29 years, followed by fibrocystic changes 28.4%, inflammatory lesion 15.3% and accessory breast 4.3%, while malignant cases 19.6% with an incidence pike between 50-59 years (53.8%). Invasive ductal carcinoma 39 (72.1%) was the more common breast carcinoma founded, the tumor size between 2 to 5 cm (56.4%). 35.2% of female had metastasis in axillary nodes, in conclusion the female gender affected by breast diseases more than men with predominance of benign conditions over malignant lesions in both sex. To allocate a special budget for future researches in breast cancer including campaign against breast cancer and raising the awareness of the public about digital pathology breast cancer through mass media, the quality of the histopathological laboratories should be improved by introducing modern techniques for better assessment of surgical pathology specimen. It is important for pathologists, radiologists, to be aware of or try to detect or search for DCIS or LCIS in benign breast tumor.