Decline in Smartphone-Assessed Physical Activity Level is Associated With Clinical Outcomes in Phase I/II Clinical Cancer Trials.

Background: A decline in physical function may be an early predictor for complications of cancer treatment. This study examined whether repeated objective smartphone measurements of physical activity and exercise capacity in patients with cancer are feasible during early-phase clinical trials (EPCTs) and whether a decline in physical function is associated with clinical outcomes.

Methods: Physical activity (steps/day) and exercise capacity (6-minute walk test [6MWT]) were measured with a smartphone before EPCT start (T0) and after 4 weeks (T1) and 8 weeks (T2).

Hepatic arterial infusion pump chemotherapy combined with systemic chemotherapy for borderline resectable and unresectable colorectal liver metastases: phase II feasibility study.

Background: Hepatic arterial infusion pump chemotherapy combined with systemic chemotherapy (HAIP-SYS) for liver-only colorectal liver metastases (CRLMs) has shown promising results but has not been adopted worldwide. This study evaluated the feasibility of HAIP-SYS in the Netherlands.

Methods: This was a single-arm phase II study of patients with CRLMs who received HAIP-SYS consisting of floxuridine with concomitant systemic FOLFOX or FOLFIRI.

Physics-assisted machine learning for THz time-domain spectroscopy: sensing leaf wetness.

Signal processing techniques are of vital importance to bring THz spectroscopy to a maturity level to reach practical applications. In this work, we illustrate the use of machine learning techniques for THz time-domain spectroscopy assisted by domain knowledge based on light-matter interactions. We aim at the potential agriculture application to determine the amount of free water on plant leaves, so-called leaf wetness.

Effect of an 18-Month Walking Intervention on the Rest-Activity Rhythm of Older Adults With Mild-Moderate Dementia.

The objective of this 18-month walking intervention was to evaluate the effect on rest-activity rhythm (RAR) for older adults with mild-to-moderate dementia (65.8% female; aged M = 82.4 [SD = 6.

Observing videos of mastication in dementia: Results of a clustered randomised controlled trial.

Objectives: The aim of this study was to examine effects of the observation of video-recorded chewing in a daily setting on mixing ability, cognition, activities of daily living, depressive symptoms and quality of life of older adults with dementia.

Methods: A clustered randomised controlled trial was carried out with residents from 14 residential care facilities. n = 56 participants' data were analysed.

Is Higher Docetaxel Clearance in Prostate Cancer Patients Explained by Higher CYP3A? An In Vivo Phenotyping Study with Midazolam.

Patients with prostate cancer (PCa) have a lower docetaxel exposure for both intravenous (1.8-fold) and oral administration (2.4-fold) than patients with other solid cancers, which could influence efficacy and toxicity.

Sustainability and Justice: Challenges and Opportunities for an Open STEM Education.

Open educational resources, or OER, are teaching materials that reside in the public domain and are available under an open license. While the creation of high-quality materials and cyberinfrastructure to share these resources is important, OER are much more than static resource repositories. Vibrant OER communities function as collaboration hubs and often include librarians, instructional technologists, instructors, education researchers, funders, open-source software developers, and college administrators.

Effects of sublethal single, simultaneous and sequential abiotic stresses on phenotypic traits of .

Plant responses to abiotic stresses are complex and dynamic, and involve changes in different traits, either as the direct consequence of the stress, or as an active acclimatory response. Abiotic stresses frequently occur simultaneously or in succession, rather than in isolation. Despite this, most studies have focused on a single stress and single or few plant traits.

Definitions, signs, and symptoms of constipation in people with severe or profound intellectual disabilities: A systematic review.

Background: It is difficult to diagnose constipation for people with severe or profound intellectual disabilities. Definitions for this are ambiguous, and the symptoms and signs are often unnoticed. The aim of this study is to identify clear definitions of constipation for people with different levels of intellectual disabilities and to identify signs and symptoms.

Patient participation in electronic nursing documentation: An interview study among home-care patients.

Background: Patients are increasingly expected to take an active role in their own care. Participation in nursing documentation can support patients to take this active role since it provides opportunities to express care needs and preferences. Yet, patient participation in electronic nursing documentation is not self-evident.

Development of a national quality framework for palliative care in a mixed generalist and specialist care model: A whole-sector approach and a modified Delphi technique.

In a predominantly biomedical healthcare model focused on cure, providing optimal, person-centred palliative care is challenging. The general public, patients, and healthcare professionals are often unaware of palliative care's benefits. Poor interdisciplinary teamwork and limited communication combined with a lack of early identification of patients with palliative care needs contribute to sub-optimal palliative care provision.

Plant defence to sequential attack is adapted to prevalent herbivores.

Plants have evolved plastic defence strategies to deal with the uncertainty of when, by which species and in which order attack by herbivores will take place. However, the responses to current herbivore attack may come with a cost of compromising resistance to other, later arriving herbivores. Due to antagonistic cross-talk between physiological regulation of plant resistance to phloem-feeding and leaf-chewing herbivores, the feeding guild of the initial herbivore is considered to be the primary factor determining whether resistance to subsequent attack is compromised.

Clinical Predictors of Early Trial Discontinuation for Patients Participating in Phase I Clinical Trials in Oncology.

Despite stringent eligibility criteria for trial participation, early discontinuation often occurs in phase I trials. To better identify patients unlikely to benefit from phase I trials, we investigated predictors for early trial discontinuation. Data from 415 patients with solid tumors who participated in 66 trials were pooled for the current analysis.

Genetic diversity of native and cultivated Ugandan Robusta coffee (Coffea canephora Pierre ex A. Froehner): Climate influences, breeding potential and diversity conservation.

Wild genetic resources and their ability to adapt to environmental change are critically important in light of the projected climate change, while constituting the foundation of agricultural sustainability. To address the expected negative effects of climate change on Robusta coffee trees (Coffea canephora), collecting missions were conducted to explore its current native distribution in Uganda over a broad climatic range. Wild material from seven forests could thus be collected.

Commodity risk assessment of oak logs with bark from the US for the oak wilt pathogen under an integrated systems approach.

The European Commission submitted to the EFSA Panel on Plant Health a Dossier by USDA proposing a systems approach to mitigate the risk of entry of to the EU when trading oak logs with bark from the USA. Due to the forthcoming ban of methyl bromide (MB), the Dossier indicates sulfuryl fluoride (SF) as the substitute fumigant for this commodity. After collecting additional evidence from USDA,EU NPPOs, external experts and the published literature, the Panel performed a quantitative assessment on the likelihood of pest freedom for at the point of entry in the EU, comparing the proposed systems approach with those already implemented by Commission Decision 2005/359/EC.

Smartphone measurements of physical activity and fitness are associated with early trial discontinuation of patients in (hemato)oncology phase I/II clinical trials.

Background: Patients, who discontinue early, do not benefit from phase I/II clinical trials (early-phase clinical trials (EPCT)). In this study, associations between objective smartphone measurements of physical activity and fitness and early trial discontinuation in patients with cancer participating in EPCT were investigated.

Methods: Before start of treatment, physical activity (steps/day) and physical fitness (meters walked in 6 min) were measured with a smartphone, and patient-reported physical function (PRO-PF) was assessed (EORTC QLQ-C30-PF).

Modelling for risk and biosecurity related to forest health.

Modelling the invasion and emergence of forest pests and pathogens (PnPs) is necessary to quantify the risk levels for forest health and provide key information for policy makers. Here, we make a short review of the models used to quantify the invasion risk of exotic species and the emergence risk of native species. Regarding the invasion process, models tackle each invasion phase, e.

Substantial differences occur between canopy and ambient climate: Quantification of interactions in a greenhouse-canopy system.

Organ temperature and variation therein plays a key role in plant functioning and its responses to e.g. climate change.

Generalized AIC and chi-squared statistics for path models consistent with directed acyclic graphs.

We explain how to obtain a generalized maximum-likelihood chi-square statistic, , and a full-model Akaike Information Criterion (AIC) statistic for piecewise structural equation modeling (SEM); that is, structural equations without latent variables whose causal topology can be represented as a directed acyclic graph (DAG). The full piecewise SEM is decomposed into submodels as a Markov network, each of which can have different distributional assumptions or functional links and that can be modeled by any method that produces maximum-likelihood parameter estimates. The generalized is a function of the difference in the maximum likelihoods of the model and its saturated equivalent and the full-model AIC is calculated by summing the AIC statistics of each of the submodels.

Physical activity in patients with cancer: self-report versus accelerometer assessments.

Purpose: The level of daily physical activity in patients with cancer is frequently assessed by questionnaires, such as the Physical Activity Scale for the Elderly (PASE). Objective assessments, with for example accelerometers, may be a good alternative. The aim of this study was to investigate the agreement between the PASE questionnaire and accelerometer-assessed physical activity in a large group of patients with different types of cancer.

Demographic, clinical and lifestyle-related correlates of accelerometer assessed physical activity and fitness in newly diagnosed patients with head and neck cancer.

Objective measurements of levels of physical activity and fitness in patients with head and neck cancer (HNC) are lacking. Furthermore, demographic, clinical and lifestyle-related correlates of low levels of physical activity and fitness in patients with HNC are unknown. This study aims to investigate the levels of accelerometer that assessed physical activity and fitness in patients with HNC and to identify their demographical, clinical and lifestyle-related correlates.

Variation in plastic responses to light results from selection in different competitive environments-A game theoretical approach using virtual plants.

Phenotypic plasticity is a vital strategy for plants to deal with changing conditions by inducing phenotypes favourable in different environments. Understanding how natural selection acts on variation in phenotypic plasticity in plants is therefore a central question in ecology, but is often ignored in modelling studies. Here we present a new modelling approach that allows for the analysis of selection for variation in phenotypic plasticity as a response strategy.

No evidence of flowering synchronization upon floral volatiles for a short lived annual plant species: revisiting an appealing hypothesis.

Background: Self-incompatible plants require simultaneous flowering mates for crosspollination and reproduction. Though the presence of flowering conspecifics and pollination agents are important for reproductive success, so far no cues that signal the flowering state of potential mates have been identified. Here, we empirically tested the hypothesis that plant floral volatiles induce flowering synchrony among self-incompatible conspecifics by acceleration of flowering and flower opening rate of non-flowering conspecifics.

What makes a volatile organic compound a reliable indicator of insect herbivory?

Plants that are subject to insect herbivory emit a blend of so-called herbivore-induced plant volatiles (HIPVs), of which only a few serve as cues for the carnivorous enemies to locate their host. We lack understanding which HIPVs are reliable indicators of insect herbivory. Here, we take a modelling approach to elucidate which physicochemical and physiological properties contribute to the information value of a HIPV.