The broiler industry has incurred significant economic losses due to two muscle myopathies, white striping (WS) and wooden breast (WB), affecting the Pectoralis major (P. major) of commercial broilers. The present study documented macroscopic changes occurring with age/growth in the P. major and P. minor muscles of commercial broilers from day 2 through day 46 (n = 27/day). Distinct myopathic aberrations observed in both breast muscles corresponded to the onset of WB. These distinct morphological changes were used as determinants in developing a ranking system, defining the ontogeny of WB as the following four stages: (1) WS, (2) petechial epimysium haemorrhages, (3) intramuscular haemorrhages and (4) ischaemia. A cumulative logit proportional odds model was used to relate the rank probabilities with the following growth parameters: body weight, P. major and P. minor weight/yield/length/width/depth. The best-fit model included P. major length/width/depth, P. minor width, P. major and P. minor yield as predictors for rank. Increasing P. major depth, P. minor width and P. major yield increased the odds of falling into higher ranks (more severe myopathy). Conversely, increasing P. major length, P. major width and P. minor yield increased the odds of falling into smaller ranks (less severe myopathy). This study describes the macroscopic changes associated with WB ontogeny in the development of a ranking system and the contribution of growth parameters in the determination of rank (WB severity). Results suggest that physical measurements inherent to selection for high-yielding broiler genotypes are contributing to the occurrence and severity of WS and WB.

No abstract

BackgroundUntil recently there were no genome-directed therapies (GDTs) requiring next-generation sequencing (NGS) in prostate cancer. We examined whether the US approval of poly-(ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP) inhibitors in May 2020 influenced the actionability and utilization of NGS in patients with prostate cancer.MethodsThis was a single-center, retrospective study including men with prostate cancer who received NGS testing from a single lab between 7/11/2018-7/6/2021. Clinical and testing data were derived from the electronic medical record.ResultsThere were 346 patients with prostate cancer and qualifying NGS testing during the study period. Overall, 55 patients (15.9%) had qualifying homologous recombination repair (HRR) alterations for PARP inhibitor treatment. A greater proportion of alterations were actionable post-approval compared to pre-approval (22.7% vs 0%, Chi-squared p<0.001). 9 patients received olaparib during the study period. Patients receiving NGS testing after the PARP inhibitor approval were more likely to have metastatic disease than patients sequenced before the approval (74.2% vs. 41.1% Chi-squared p<0.001). Only 10.4% of patients with metastatic prostate cancer received NGS testing within 30 days of diagnosis. NGS testing was performed after a median of 1 prior line of systemic therapy. The median number of days between metastatic diagnosis and NGS testing was 196 (Q1-Q3: 54-832). The median time from NGS testing to the next treatment was 255 days (95% CI 151-300). These characteristics were not significantly different before or after the PARP inhibitor approval.ConclusionIn this single-center cohort, the approval of PARP inhibitors for later-line treatment of metastatic prostate cancer increased the actionability of NGS findings but did not lead to earlier use of NGS testing.

There are numerous factors that can significantly influence embryonic development in poultry and thus make simple days of incubation (chronological age) a less than perfect metric for studying embryonic physiology. The developmental fast skeletal muscle myosin (MyHC), the predominant protein in the Pectoralis major (PM), is temporally expressed as a cadre of highly specific developmental isoforms. In the study described herein, a novel molecular technology (NanoString) was used to characterize the myosin isoform transcriptional patterns in the PM of Single Comb White Leghorn (SCWL) embryos. NanoString technology is based on quantitative analysis of the transcriptome through digital detection and quantification of target mRNA transcripts. Total RNA was isolated and gene transcription quantified using NanoString in embryonic muscle samples collected daily from 6 through 19 days of incubation. Data were analyzed using the LOESS smoothing function at a 95% confidence level. The temporal transcription of MyHC isoforms obtained in this study was consistent with the literature at higher specificity and resolution, thus validating NanoString for use in gene transcription analyses. The results support a hypothesis that the transcription patterns of the embryonic MyHC isoforms may be used as molecular clocks to further investigate the developmental relationships underlying embryonic fast skeletal muscle growth and development.

112 Background: Next-generation sequencing (NGS) is increasingly common in clinical practice, but its clinical utility may depend on the availability of sequencing-directed therapies (SDT). There were no FDA-approved SDTs in prostate cancer (PCa) until 2020, when PARP inhibitors olaparib and rucaparib were approved for tumors bearing alterations in certain homologous recombination repair (HRR) genes. We assessed the clinical utility of NGS in PCa before and after the approval of these agents in a single academic medical center. Methods: This was a retrospective single-center study including all PCa patients seen at Mount Sinai Hospital (New York, NY) between 2018–2021 who received NGS via the 161-gene Sema4 Signal Solid Tumor Panel. Clinical data were extracted from the Mount Sinai electronic medical record using a proprietary automated pipeline with limited manual curation (Sema4 PRODB). The primary outcome was clinical utility in metastatic PCa, defined as the proportion of metastatic PCa patients who received SDT. Secondary outcomes included time-to-next-treatment (TTNT, defined as time from SDT start to the start of next systemic therapy) and the proportion of patients with clinically actionable (as of 9/2021) alterations, defined as either Tier 1 (associated with FDA-approved treatments in prostate cancer) or Tier 2 (associated with either off-label or investigational agents). Results: The cohort consisted of 332 PCa patients; 51% (N = 170) were sequenced in 2020 or later. The median age at diagnosis was 65 (IQR 12). The most advanced stage documented was localized for 39% (N = 129) and metastatic for 61% (N = 203). Overall, 167 actionable alterations were identified in 125 patients (38% of cohort). Of the actionable alterations, 31% (N = 51) were Tier 1 and 69% (N = 116) were Tier 2. Of the 44 patients with Tier 1 alterations, 8 (18%) received SDT (all received olaparib). The proportion of metastatic patients receiving olaparib increased from 1% (2/145) before 2020 to 10% (6/58) during or after 2020 (p = 0.008). Of the 36 patients not receiving olaparib: 20 were sequenced before FDA approval and were treated with an alternative systemic therapy; 8 had localized disease and were not eligible; 8 had limited follow-up or unknown treatment status. For those who received olaparib, median TTNT was 5 months. Conclusions: In this single-center retrospective cohort, clinical utility of NGS was linked to treatment landscape. Increases in NGS test volume and olaparib use coincided with the approval of PARP inhibitors for patients with HRR-mutated prostate cancers. Notably, NGS was used to match patients to off-label/ investigational olaparib before its FDA approval.[Table: see text]