Publications by authors named "Alger E"

Unlabelled: Early phase dose-finding (EPDF) trials are key in the development of novel therapies, with their findings directly informing subsequent clinical development phases and providing valuable insights for reverse translation. Comprehensive and transparent reporting of these studies is critical for their accurate and critical interpretation, which may improve and expedite therapeutic development. However, quality of reporting of design characteristics and results from EPDF trials is often variable and incomplete.

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  • Early phase clinical trials focus on evaluating the safety and tolerability of new therapies, primarily using investigator and lab results rather than patient feedback.
  • A recent expert roundtable brought together 22 stakeholders to discuss the need for a universal patient-reported outcomes (PRO) model in early phase trials and how to effectively incorporate PROs to assess tolerability and guide treatment decisions.
  • The discussions yielded key recommendations and identified priority areas for further research on integrating patient feedback into early trials to improve safety and symptom management.
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Fertilization is a fundamental process that triggers seed and fruit development, but the molecular mechanisms underlying fertilization-induced seed development are poorly understood. Previous research has established AGamous-Like62 (AGL62) activation and auxin biosynthesis in the endosperm as key events following fertilization in Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) and wild strawberry (Fragaria vesca). To test the hypothesis that epigenetic mechanisms are critical in mediating the effect of fertilization on the activation of AGL62 and auxin biosynthesis in the endosperm, we first identified and analyzed imprinted genes from the endosperm of wild strawberries.

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Background: Determining the maximum tolerated dose (MTD) remains the primary objective for the majority of dose-finding oncology trials. Whilst MTD determination often relies upon clinicians to identify dose-limiting toxicities (DLTs) experienced by patients during the trial, research suggests that clinicians may underreport patient's adverse events. Therefore, contemporary practice may be exposed to recommending intolerable doses to patients for further investigation in subsequent trials.

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  • The FDA's Project Optimus is encouraging the use of Patient-reported Outcome (PRO) data to better assess how tolerable new cancer therapies are in early clinical trials, moving beyond just clinician evaluations of side effects.
  • A virtual session engaged various experts and patient advocates to discuss how to effectively incorporate PROs in trial designs, highlighting the value of patient input in this process.
  • While there is support for using PROs, participants expressed concerns that it might lead to lower recommended doses and hesitation among patients to accurately report symptom severity.
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Dose-finding oncology trials (DFOTs) provide early access to novel compounds of potential therapeutic benefit in addition to providing critical safety and dosing information. While access to trials for which a patient is eligible remains the largest barrier to enrollment on clinical trials, additional direct and indirect barriers unique to enrollment on DFOTs are often overlooked but worthy of consideration. Direct barriers including financial costs of care, travel and time investments, and logical challenges including correlative study designs are important to bear in mind when developing strategies to facilitate the patient experience on DFOTs.

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  • * This experiment produced 2.05 MJ of laser energy, resulting in 3.1 MJ of total fusion yield, which exceeds the Lawson criterion for ignition, demonstrating a key milestone in fusion research.
  • * The report details the advancements in target design, laser technology, and experimental methods that contributed to this historic achievement, validating over five decades of research in laboratory fusion.
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Disease resistance genes in livestock provide health benefits to animals and opportunities for farmers to meet the growing demand for affordable, high-quality protein. Previously, researchers used gene editing to modify the porcine CD163 gene and demonstrated resistance to a harmful virus that causes porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome (PRRS). To maximize potential benefits, this disease resistance trait needs to be present in commercially relevant breeding populations for multiplication and distribution of pigs.

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Domestication of cranberry and blueberry began in the United States in the early 1800s and 1900s, respectively, and in part owing to their flavors and health-promoting benefits are now cultivated and consumed worldwide. The industry continues to face a wide variety of production challenges (e.g.

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Background: Traditionally, within dose-finding clinical trials, treatment toxicity and tolerability are assessed by clinicians. Research has shown that clinician reporting may have inadequate inter-rater reliability, poor correlation with patient reported outcomes, and under capture the true toxicity burden. The introduction of patient-reported outcomes (PROs), where the patient can assess their own symptomatic adverse events or quality of life, has potential to complement current practice to aid dose optimisation.

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Domestication of cranberry and blueberry began in the United States in the early 1800s and 1900s, respectively, and in part owing to their flavors and health-promoting benefits are now cultivated and consumed worldwide. The industry continues to face a wide variety of production challenges (e.g.

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Background: This project aims to: (1) assess the completeness of information in flow diagrams of published early phase dose-finding (EPDF) trials based on CONSORT recommendations, and if additional features on dose (de-)escalation were presented; (2) propose new flow diagrams presenting how doses were (de-)escalated throughout the trial.

Methods: Flow diagrams were extracted from a random sample of 259 EPDF trials, published from 2011 to 2020 indexed in PubMed. Diagrams were scored out of 15 following CONSORT recommendations with an additional score for presence of (de-)escalation.

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  • * In inertially confined fusion, ignition allows the fusion process to spread into surrounding fuel, potentially leading to higher energy output.
  • * Recent experiments at the National Ignition Facility achieved capsule gains of 5.8 and approached ignition, even though "scientific breakeven" has not yet been fully realized.
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Allopolyploids, which are formed from the hybridization of two or more diploid progenitor species, often experience subgenome dominance, where one of the parental genomes (subgenomes) has higher levels of gene expression and ultimately greater gene retention compared to the other subgenomes. Low transposable element (TE) abundance near genes has been associated with the dominant subgenome in several allopolyploids, but TEs are unlikely to be the only causal factor responsible for subgenome expression dominance. In this review, we will examine the role of TEs in subgenome dominance as well as discuss how genetic incompatibilities among subgenomes likely contributes to the rapid emergence of subgenome dominance.

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In the version of this article originally published, author Joshua R. Puzey was incorrectly listed as having affiliation 7 (School of Plant Sciences, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA); affiliation 6 (Department of Biology, College of William and Mary, Williamsburg, VA, USA) is the correct affiliation. The error has been corrected in the HTML and PDF versions of the article.

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Cultivated strawberry emerged from the hybridization of two wild octoploid species, both descendants from the merger of four diploid progenitor species into a single nucleus more than 1 million years ago. Here we report a near-complete chromosome-scale assembly for cultivated octoploid strawberry (Fragaria × ananassa) and uncovered the origin and evolutionary processes that shaped this complex allopolyploid. We identified the extant relatives of each diploid progenitor species and provide support for the North American origin of octoploid strawberry.

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Background: Highbush blueberry (Vaccinium corymbosum) has long been consumed for its unique flavor and composition of health-promoting phytonutrients. However, breeding efforts to improve fruit quality in blueberry have been greatly hampered by the lack of adequate genomic resources and a limited understanding of the underlying genetics encoding key traits. The genome of highbush blueberry has been particularly challenging to assemble due, in large part, to its polyploid nature and genome size.

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Background: Although draft genomes are available for most agronomically important plant species, the majority are incomplete, highly fragmented, and often riddled with assembly and scaffolding errors. These assembly issues hinder advances in tool development for functional genomics and systems biology.

Findings: Here we utilized a robust, cost-effective approach to produce high-quality reference genomes.

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Ignition implosions on the National Ignition Facility [J. D. Lindl et al.

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We demonstrate the hohlraum radiation temperature and symmetry required for ignition-scale inertial confinement fusion capsule implosions. Cryogenic gas-filled hohlraums with 2.2 mm-diameter capsules are heated with unprecedented laser energies of 1.

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The process of networking has great potential for facilitating and accelerating global health development. This article presents some of the experiences of the Network of Community-Oriented Educational Institutions for Health Sciences. Three components are identified, each of which is illustrated by a specific Network activity: (1) tasks and projects, (2) information and communications technology, (3) people and institutions--the human factor.

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