Publications by authors named "Andy Ni"

Background: Millions experience inadequately managed acute pain each year. Opioids are an important tool for managing pain; however, recent reductions in opioid prescriptions have exacerbated preexisting challenges in pain management. Moreover, patient expectations and desires for pain management may drive additional opioid use.

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Background: The optimal adjuvant endocrine therapy (ET) in hormone receptor positive (HR+) and human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 positive (HER2+) premenopausal breast cancer (BC) remains unclear. Moreover, the benefit and clinical indications of ovarian suppression (OS) is poorly elucidated. We described real-world patterns surrounding choice of ET and clinicopathologic features which predicted treatment with OS in a contemporary cohort of premenopausal women with HR+/HER2+ BC.

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Introduction: Most pain studies have been based on a postsurgical, third molar model using ibuprofen (IBU)/acetaminophen (APAP). Studies have found quicker onset of pain relief with a newer formulation of IBU - ibuprofen sodium dihydrate (ISD). The purpose of this study was to compare pain reduction of ISD/APAP to ISD in an acute endodontic pain model of untreated patients experiencing moderate to severe pain with symptomatic apical periodontitis.

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Statement Of Problem: Implementation of fabrication trueness analysis by using a recently introduced nonmetrology-grade freeware program may help clinicians and dental laboratory technicians in their routine practice. However, knowledge of the performance of this freeware program when compared with the International Organization for Standardization recommended metrology-grade analysis software program is limited.

Purpose: The purpose of this in vitro study was to evaluate the effect of an analysis software program on measured deviations in the complete arch, implant-supported framework scans.

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Purpose: Although metastatic breast cancer (MBC) is treatable, it is not curable and most patients remain on treatment indefinitely. While oncologists commonly prescribe the recommended starting dose (RSD) from the FDA-approved label, patient tolerance may differ from that seen in clinical trials. We report on a survey of medical oncologists' perspectives about treatment-related toxicity and willingness to discuss flexible dosing with patients.

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Article Synopsis
  • Treatment with anti-CD20 monoclonal antibodies improves outcomes in B-cell malignancies but increases the risk of hypogammaglobulinemia (HG).
  • In a study of 380 follicular lymphoma patients, increased exposure to anti-CD20 mAb led to significant differences in serum immunoglobulin levels and the prevalence of HG.
  • The findings suggest that monitoring serum immunoglobulins is important for all follicular lymphoma patients, even those not receiving active treatment, as tumor burden may also influence Ig levels.
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Introduction: Somatic mutations occur in 25% of patients with NSCLC. Treatment with MEK inhibitor monotherapy has not been successful in clinical trials to date. Compensatory activation of FGFR1 was identified as a mechanism of trametinib resistance in KRAS-mutant NSCLC, and combination therapy with trametinib and ponatinib was synergistic in in vitro and in vivo models.

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Objectives: Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is a common condition that can result in significant illness when untreated. Only 10%-20% of individuals with OSA are believed to be properly diagnosed. Consequently, dentists are encouraged to identify patients at high risk for OSA.

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  • The study explored the effectiveness of Invisalign compared to traditional fixed braces in treating severe deep overbites in 50 adult patients.
  • Cephalometric analysis revealed significant differences between the two treatments, specifically in certain measured variables, but no major differences in overall treatment duration or peer assessments were found.
  • While both methods were effective, Invisalign may be preferable for patients with high angles and deep overbites, though the retrospective nature of the study calls for careful interpretation of the results.
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Introduction: The purpose of this study was to determine if written rehearsal of informed consent improved 6-month recall and comprehension compared with the current best practices.

Methods: A consultation was provided and subjects read the modified informed consent document. They were randomized to group A (received the core and up to 4 custom elements of treatment, wrote what each image displayed) or group B (presentation of the 18 elements with core elements chunked at the end followed by up to 4 custom elements).

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  • - This study compared the effectiveness of two generations of Invisalign trays (previous material vs. SmartTrack) in improving dental alignment, measured by the Peer Assessment Rating (PAR) score for patients in a graduate orthodontic clinic.
  • - Forty-five patients used the previous Invisalign material while 49 patients used SmartTrack; both groups were analyzed for changes in their PAR scores before and after treatment, considering factors like age and treatment time.
  • - The results showed no significant differences in PAR score reductions between the two generations of aligners, indicating that both types were similarly effective in reducing malocclusion. However, the provider should also consider the patient-centric benefits of SmartTrack aligners.
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  • - The study compares the outcomes of immediate therapy versus observation in patients with advanced follicular lymphoma (FL), highlighting that overall survival (OS) benefits are hard to show but time to second treatment (TT2T) might be a better measure.
  • - Among 584 patients analyzed, those who were initially observed (248 patients) experienced a median time to first treatment of 3.3 years and a TT2T of 12.1 years, with 82% surviving after 10 years.
  • - TT2T shows a strong correlation with OS for both observed and treated patients, suggesting it could serve as a useful indicator of survival, especially in identifying high-risk patients for early intervention trials.
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Background: The risk of BIA-ALCL for patients with textured breast implants has been estimated between 1/2832 and 1/30,000 women. Existing studies estimating the numbers exposed and at risk, may have under reported cases, and/or lacked comprehensive follow-up. Our objective is to determine the risk of BIA-ALCL in a defined cohort of patients reconstructed with macro-textured breast implants and consistently followed long-term.

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  • The study focuses on germline mutations in the BAP1 gene, which are linked to specific cancers like mesothelioma, atypical spitz nevi, and uveal melanoma, but little is known about BAP1 carriers in a general population.
  • Blood samples and clinical data were collected from 183 patients, and DNA sequencing was performed to identify pathogenic BAP1 mutations, with screening criteria developed to identify potential carriers.
  • Results showed that only 5 out of 180 patients had pathogenic BAP1 mutations, indicating a low prevalence of these mutations in mesothelioma patients, while the proposed screening criteria effectively identified all those with the mutations, suggesting a need for further validation and exploration of other genetic factors.
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  • The study examined 404 patients with mantle cell lymphoma (MCL) treated at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center from 2000 to 2014 to analyze outcomes after multiple treatment regimens.* -
  • Findings showed that median overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS) decreased with each subsequent therapy, with first-line treatment yielding 9.7 years OS and 4.0 years PFS.* -
  • Additionally, younger patients (<65 years) receiving stem cell transplant-based treatments had significantly better survival outcomes compared to those on other regimens, and early failure in treatment was linked to poorer long-term survival.*
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Background: Whole-body imaging is the current standard of care for staging all patients presenting with skin lesions of B-cell lymphomas (BCLs), regardless of skin disease extent; however, supporting data are lacking.

Objective: To determine the clinical utility of imaging in the detection of systemic involvement in low-grade cutaneous BCLs in the skin.

Methods: Retrospective cohort analysis of patients presenting with cutaneous lesions of BCLs at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and Stanford University during 1997-2016.

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Background: Liquid biopsy for plasma circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) next-generation sequencing (NGS) is commercially available and increasingly adopted in clinical practice despite a paucity of prospective data to support its use.

Methods: Patients with advanced lung cancers who had no known oncogenic driver or developed resistance to current targeted therapy (n = 210) underwent plasma NGS, targeting 21 genes. A subset of patients had concurrent tissue NGS testing using a 468-gene panel (n = 106).

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Purpose: Treatment with programmed cell death-1 or programmed death ligand 1 (PD-(L)1) inhibitors is now standard therapy for patients with lung cancer. The immunosuppressive effect of corticosteroids may reduce efficacy of PD-(L)1 blockade. On-treatment corticosteroids for treatment of immune-related adverse events do not seem to affect efficacy, but the potential impact of baseline corticosteroids at the time of treatment initiation is unknown.

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Purpose: Tumor mutation burden (TMB) is a biomarker of response to immune checkpoint blockade (ICB). The impact of TMB on outcomes with targeted therapies has not been explored.

Experimental Design: We identified all patients with metastatic exon19del or L858R-mutant lung cancers treated with first/second-generation EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) with pretreatment next-generation sequencing data (MSK-IMPACT assay).

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Considering retreatment following recovery from an immune-related adverse event (irAE) is a common clinical scenario, but the safety and benefit of retreatment is unknown. We identified patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) treated with anti-PD-(L)1 who had treatment held due to irAEs and divided them into two groups: those retreated with anti-PD-(L)1 (retreatment cohort) or those who had treatment stopped (discontinuation cohort). Out of 482 NSCLC patients treated with anti-PD-(L)1, 68 (14%) developed a serious irAE requiring treatment interruption.

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Primary mediastinal (thymic) large B cell lymphoma is a subtype of diffuse large B cell lymphoma with distinct clinical, molecular, and genetic features, many of which overlap with Hodgkin lymphoma. Increasingly, initial therapy for these patients has used dose-dense chemotherapy with or without radiation with excellent results. In patients with relapsed and primary refractory disease, outcomes of second-line therapy followed by consolidation with high-dose therapy and autologous stem cell transplantation remains largely undefined.

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Identification of prognostic factors for patients with relapsed/refractory Hodgkin lymphoma (HL) is essential for optimizing therapy with risk-adapted approaches. In our phase 2 study of positron emission tomography (PET)-adapted salvage therapy with brentuximab vedotin (BV) and augmented ifosfamide, carboplatin, and etoposide (augICE), we assessed clinical factors, quantitative PET assessments, and cytokine and chemokine values. Transplant-eligible patients with relapsed/refractory HL received 2 (cohort 1) or 3 (cohort 2) cycles of weekly BV; PET-negative patients (Deauville score ≤2) proceeded to autologous stem cell transplantation (ASCT) whereas PET-positive patients received augICE before ASCT.

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Tumor genetic testing is standard of care for patients with advanced lung adenocarcinoma, but the fraction of patients who derive clinical benefit remains undefined. Here, we report the experience of 860 patients with metastatic lung adenocarcinoma analyzed prospectively for mutations in >300 cancer-associated genes. Potentially actionable genetic events were stratified into one of four levels based upon published clinical or laboratory evidence that the mutation in question confers increased sensitivity to standard or investigational therapies.

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Small cell lung cancer is initially highly responsive to cisplatin and etoposide but in almost every case becomes rapidly chemoresistant, leading to death within 1 year. We modeled acquired chemoresistance in vivo using a series of patient-derived xenografts to generate paired chemosensitive and chemoresistant cancers. Multiple chemoresistant models demonstrated suppression of SLFN11, a factor implicated in DNA-damage repair deficiency.

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