Beyond Longer Intervals: Advocating for Regular Treatment of Neovascular AMD.

Personalizing the management of neovascular age-related macular degeneration (nAMD) poses significant challenges for practicing retina specialists and their patients. This commentary addresses some of these complexities, particularly those that arise in the context of an expanding array of intravitreal agents targeting vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and related retinal disease targets. Many of these newer agents approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the treatment of nAMD have labeling that indicates that they can provide non-inferior visual outcomes when compared head-to-head with previously available treatments and can be used at significantly extended dosing intervals in some patients.

Assessing tolerability with the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy item GP5: psychometric evidence from LIBRETTO-531, a phase 3 trial of selpercatinib in medullary thyroid cancer.

Background: This psychometric analysis generated evidence to support the use of the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy item GP5 (GP5) as a measure of tolerability and confirms the appropriateness of categorizing "high side-effect burden" using a rating of 3 or 4 (score ranges 0-4) in patients with advanced/metastatic RET-mutant medullary thyroid cancer (MTC).

Methodology: Blinded, pooled interim data from the safety population (n=290) enrolled in the phase 3 LIBRETTO-531 trial (NCT04211337) were used. Intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC) were calculated for test-retest reliability using data from cycles 1-2 post-baseline.

Association of Atrial Fibrillation with Insomnia in the Elderly Population.

Introduction/objectives: Insomnia is a common sleep disorders that affects most individuals in the United States, and worldwide. Insomnia is linked with an increased risk of atrial fibrillation (AF) in adults, although the strengths of association were weak, especially in the elderly population. AF is estimated to affect approximately 3 to 6 million people in the United States.

Patient-reported outcomes with selpercatinib treatment in patients with RET-driven cancers in the phase I/II LIBRETTO-001 trial.

Background: This post-hoc retrospective study describes long-term patient-reported outcomes (PROs) for REarranged during Transfection (RET)-altered non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC), medullary thyroid cancer (MTC), non-MTC thyroid cancer (TC), and tumor agnostic (TA) patients (Data cut-off: January 2023) from the LIBRETTO-001 trial.

Patients And Methods: Patients completed the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) Quality of Life Questionnaire-Core 30 (QLQ-C30). Patients with MTC also completed a modified version of the Systemic Therapy-Induced Diarrhea Assessment Tool (mSTIDAT).

Breast Cancer Knowledge Among Amish and Mennonite Women.

Breast cancer is the most common cancer diagnosis for women in the USA and ranks second in cancer-related deaths. Disproportionately higher breast cancer rates can be found in rural and Appalachian regions due to several social drivers of health, including poverty, access to healthcare, and lack of culturally sensitive health education. Amish and Mennonite communities, religious groups with distinct cultural practices and beliefs, experience lower mammography screening and higher breast cancer mortality rates (among Amish women).

Association of Risk Factors and Comorbidities With Chronic Pain in the Elderly Population.

Introduction/objective: Chronic pain disorders affect about 20% of adults in the United States, and it disproportionately affects individuals living in the neighborhoods of extreme socioeconomic disadvantage. In many instances, chronic pain has been noted to arise from an aggregation of multiple risk factors and events. Therefore, it is of importance to recognize the modifiable risk factors.

Integrated budget impact model to estimate the impact of introducing selpercatinib as a tumor-agnostic treatment option for patients with -altered solid tumors in the US.

Objective: To estimate the potential budget impact on US third party payers (commercial or Medicare) associated with addition of selpercatinib as a tumor-agnostic treatment for patients with Rearranged during Transfection ()-altered solid tumors.

Methods: An budget impact model (iBIM) with 3-year (Y) time horizon was developed for 19 -altered tumors. It is referred to as an model because it is a single model that integrated results across multiple tumor types (as opposed to tumor-specific models developed traditionally).

Enhancing NIR-to-visible upconversion in a rigidly coupled tetracene dimer: approaching statistical limits for triplet-triplet annihilation using intramolecular multiexciton states.

Important applications of photon upconversion through triplet-triplet annihilation require conversion of near-IR photons to visible light. Generally, however, efficiencies in this spectral region lag behind bluer analogues. Herein we consider potential benefits from a conformationally well-defined covalent dimer annihilator TIPS-BTX in studies that systematically compare function to a related monomer model TIPS-tetracene (TIPS-Tc).

Comparative Effectiveness of First-Line Selpercatinib versus Standard Therapies in Patients with RET-Activated Cancers: An Exploratory Interpatient Analysis of LIBRETTO-001.

Selpercatinib is indicated for locally advanced/metastatic -activated solid tumors after progression or following prior systemic therapies. Until the recently published data from LIBRETTO-431 and LIBRETTO-531, there were limited effectiveness data comparing selpercatinib with other first-line treatments in -activated non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), medullary thyroid cancer (MTC), and thyroid cancer (TC). This study analyzed patient data from LIBRETTO-001 and compared the outcomes (time to treatment discontinuation {TTD}, time to next treatment or death {TTNT-D}, time to progression {TTP}, and the objective response rate {ORR}) of first-line selpercatinib (selpercatinib arm) use with the outcomes of first-line standard therapies in patients who then received selpercatinib in later lines of treatment (comparator arm).

Comparison of Automated Spike Detection Software in Detecting Epileptiform Abnormalities on Scalp-EEG of Genetic Generalized Epilepsy Patients.

Purpose: Despite availability of commercial EEG software for automated epileptiform detection, validation on real-world EEG datasets is lacking. Performance evaluation of two software packages on a large EEG dataset of patients with genetic generalized epilepsy was performed.

Methods: Three epileptologists labelled IEDs manually of EEGs from three centres.

Early anticoagulation in patients with stroke and atrial fibrillation is associated with fewer ischaemic lesions at 1 month: the ATTUNE study.

Background: The optimal time to commence anticoagulation in patients with atrial fibrillation (AF) after ischaemic stroke or transient ischaemic attack (TIA) is unclear, with guidelines differing in recommendations. A limitation of previous studies is the focus on clinically overt stroke, rather than radiologically obvious diffusion-weighted imaging ischaemic lesions. We aimed to quantify silent ischaemic lesions and haemorrhages on MRI at 1 month in patients commenced on early (<4 days) vs late (≥4 days) anticoagulation.

Comorbidities and Risk Factors Associated With Insomnia in the Elderly Population.

Introduction/objectives: Sleep disorders affect around 50 to 70 million Americans, with chronic insomnia being the most common, especially in the elderly population. With an 11-fold increase in the US office visits due to insomnia, from 0.8 to 9.

Automated Interictal Epileptiform Discharge Detection from Scalp EEG Using Scalable Time-series Classification Approaches.

Deep learning for automated interictal epileptiform discharge (IED) detection has been topical with many published papers in recent years. All existing works viewed EEG signals as time-series and developed specific models for IED classification; however, general time-series classification (TSC) methods were not considered. Moreover, none of these methods were evaluated on any public datasets, making direct comparisons challenging.

Deep learning for automated epileptiform discharge detection from scalp EEG: A systematic review.

Automated interictal epileptiform discharge (IED) detection has been widely studied, with machine learning methods at the forefront in recent years. As computational resources become more accessible, researchers have applied deep learning (DL) to IED detection with promising results. This systematic review aims to provide an overview of the current DL approaches to automated IED detection from scalp electroencephalography (EEG) and establish recommendations for the clinical research community.

Moving the field forward: detection of epileptiform abnormalities on scalp electroencephalography using deep learning-clinical application perspectives.

The application of deep learning approaches for the detection of interictal epileptiform discharges is a nascent field, with most studies published in the past 5 years. Although many recent models have been published demonstrating promising results, deficiencies in descriptions of data sets, unstandardized methods, variation in performance evaluation and lack of demonstrable generalizability have made it difficult for these algorithms to be compared and progress to clinical validity. A few recent publications have provided a detailed breakdown of data sets and relevant performance metrics to exemplify the potential of deep learning in epileptiform discharge detection.

Network Meta-Analysis of Once Weekly Selinexor-Bortezomib-Dexamethasone in Previously Treated Multiple Myeloma.

Despite the availability of new treatments, multiple myeloma (MM) is an incurable cancer with nearly all patients relapsing and undergoing multiple lines of treatment. Performing head-to-head comparisons of all treatment options is not feasible. Thus, network meta-analyses play an important role in allowing health-care decision makers to compare the effectiveness of treatment options.

Health-related quality of life and pain with selinexor in patients with advanced dedifferentiated liposarcoma.

Compare health-related quality of life (HRQoL) of selinexor versus placebo in patients with dedifferentiated liposarcoma. HRQoL was assessed at baseline and day 1 of each cycle using the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer 30-item core quality of life questionnaire. Results were reported from baseline to day 169 (where exposure to treatment was maximized while maintaining adequate sample size).

Development of a Prognostic Factor Index Among Women With HR/HER2 Metastatic Breast Cancer in a Community Oncology Setting.

Background: This study explored the impact of multiple prognostic factors on patient overall survival (OS) and real-world progression-free survival (rwPFS) for patients with hormone receptor-positive (HR)/human epidermal growth factor 2 negative (HER2) metastatic breast cancer (MBC).

Materials And Methods: This retrospective study used electronic health record data of patients in the United States from community oncology practices from January 1, 2008 to April 30, 2017. Eligibility included HR/HER2 MBC diagnosis in 2008 or later and prior systemic therapy for MBC.

Schizasterid Heart Urchins Host Microorganisms in a Digestive Symbiosis of Mesozoic Origin.

Because of their lifestyles, abundance, and feeding habits, infaunal marine deposit feeders have a significant impact on the ocean floor. As these animals also ingest microorganisms associated with their sediment and seawater diet, their digestive tract usually contains a diverse array of bacteria. However, while most of these microorganisms are transients, some may become part of a resident gut microbiome, in particular when sheltered from the main flow of digesta in specialized gut compartments.

Ixekizumab treatment patterns and healthcare utilization and costs for patients with psoriasis.

To describe ixekizumab treatment patterns, all-cause healthcare utilization, and costs among psoriasis patients. Adults diagnosed with psoriasis having ≥1 ixekizumab claim were selected from MarketScan databases between March 01, 2016 and July 31, 2017. Patients were continuously enrolled for ≥6 months prior and ≥3 months after the index date (first ixekizumab claim) and followed until inpatient death, end of enrollment, or end of data.

Using Structurally Well-Defined Norbornyl-Bridged Acene Dimers to Map a Mechanistic Landscape for Correlated Triplet Formation in Singlet Fission.

Structurally well-defined TIPS-acetylene substituted tetracene (TIPS-BT1') and pentacene (TIPS-BP1') dimers utilizing a [2.2.1] bicyclic norbornyl bridge have been studied-primarily using time-resolved spectroscopic methods-to uncover mechanistic details about primary steps in singlet fission leading to formation of the biexcitonic TT state as well as decay pathways to the ground state.

Health Economics and Outcomes Research of Wound Care: Overview of Methodology.

To provide an overview of comparative effectiveness research (CER) methodology and discuss the challenges of health economics and outcomes research (HEOR) in wound care. Narrative description of HEOR methodology with supporting references. With the increasing costs of clinical trials, the use of observational studies in a real-world setting will be essential.

Comparison of stroke- and bleed-related healthcare resource utilization and costs among patients with newly diagnosed non-valvular atrial fibrillation and newly treated with dabigatran, rivaroxaban, or warfarin.

Background: This is one of the first head-to-head real-world evidence studies comparing stroke-related and bleed-related healthcare and resource utilization (HCRU) and costs among non-valvular atrial fibrillation (NVAF) patients initiating oral anticoagulants.

Methods: Adult NVAF patients newly diagnosed and treated with dabigatran, rivaroxaban, or warfarin between 10/01/2010 and 12/31/2014 were identified using MarketScan Commercial and Medicare Supplemental databases. Per-patient-per-month stroke and bleed-related HCRU and costs were reported.