Risk-Adapted Treatment Strategies with Pre-Irradiation Chemotherapy in Pediatric Medulloblastoma: Outcomes from the Polish Pediatric Neuro-Oncology Group.

Craniospinal irradiation (CSI) has been a major component of the standard of care treatment backbone for childhood medulloblastoma. However, chemotherapy regimens have varied based on protocol, patient age, and molecular subtyping. In one of the largest studies to date, we analyzed treatment outcomes in children with newly-diagnosed medulloblastoma treated with pre-irradiation chemotherapy followed by risk-adapted radiotherapy and maintenance chemotherapy.

Characteristics of children ≤36 months of age with DIPG: A report from the international DIPG registry.

Background: Children ≤36 months with diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma (DIPG) have increased long-term survival (LTS, overall survival (OS) ≥24 months). Understanding distinguishing characteristics in this population is critical to improving outcomes.

Methods: Patients ≤36 months at diagnosis enrolled on the International DIPG Registry (IDIPGR) with central imaging confirmation were included.

Recovery of threatened plant species and their habitats in the biodiversity hotspot of the Southwest Australian Floristic Region.

The Southwest Australian Floristic Region (SWAFR) is a global biodiversity hotspot with high plant diversity and endemism and a broad range of threatening processes. An outcome of this is a high proportion of rare and threatened plant species. Ongoing discovery and taxonomic description of new species, many of which are rare, increases the challenges for recovery of threatened species and prioritisation of conservation actions.

A research agenda for seed-trait functional ecology.

Trait-based approaches have improved our understanding of plant evolution, community assembly and ecosystem functioning. A major challenge for the upcoming decades is to understand the functions and evolution of early life-history traits, across levels of organization and ecological strategies. Although a variety of seed traits are critical for dispersal, persistence, germination timing and seedling establishment, only seed mass has been considered systematically.

Long-term follow-up of endocrine function among young children with newly diagnosed malignant central nervous system tumors treated with irradiation-avoiding regimens.

Background: The adverse effects of irradiation on endocrine function among patients with pediatric brain tumor are well documented. Intensive induction chemotherapy followed by marrow-ablative chemotherapy with autologous hematopoietic cell rescue (AuHCR) without central nervous system (CNS) irradiation has demonstrated efficacy in a proportion of very young children with some malignant CNS tumors. This study assessed the long-term endocrine function of young children following chemotherapy-only treatment regimens.