Understanding the Barriers to Clinical Trial Referral and Enrollment Among Oncology Providers Within the Veterans Health Administration.

Introduction: Clinical trials are essential for advancing treatment options in oncology while providing cancer patients with innovative care; however, few cancer patients are referred to clinical trials. System-, provider-, and patient-level barriers to clinical trial participation have been described but have not been studied in the Veterans Health Administration (VHA). Although the VHA has engaged in several initiatives to improve Veteran's access to clinical trials, including the National Cancer Institute and VA Interagency Group to Accelerate Trials Enrollment program and VHA work on the White House Cancer Moonshot, further research is needed to understand the multifaceted challenges underlying limited enrollment for Veterans who receive care in the VHA system.

First principles modelling of the ion binding capacity of finger millet.

Finger millet, a cereal grain widely consumed in India and Africa, has gained more attention in recent years due to its high dietary fibre (arabinoxylan) and trace mineral content, and its climate resilience. The aim of this study was to understand the interactions between potassium (K), calcium (Ca) and zinc (Zn) ions and the arabinoxylan structure and determine its ion-binding capacity. Three variations of a proposed model of the arabinoxylan structure were constructed and first principles Density Functional Theory calculations were carried out to determine the cation-binding capacity of the arabinoxylan complexes.

Atomistic modelling and NMR studies reveal that gallium can target the ferric PQS uptake system in biofilms.

Intravenous gallium nitrate therapy is a novel therapeutic strategy deployed to combat chronic biofilm infections in the lungs of cystic fibrosis (CF) patients by interfering with iron (Fe) uptake. The therapy is a source of Ga, which competes with Fe for siderophore binding, subsequently disrupting iron metabolism and inhibiting biofilm proliferation . It was recently demonstrated that the quinolone signal (PQS) can chelate Fe to assist in bacterial iron uptake.

A DFT study of the gallium ion-binding capacity of mature Pseudomonas aeruginosa biofilm extracellular polysaccharide.

Intravenous gallium therapy is a non-antibiotic approach to limit Pseudomonas aeruginosa biofilm proliferation, by outcompeting iron for siderophore binding. Gallium therapy represents a viable therapeutic strategy for cystic fibrosis (CF) patients harbouring mucoid P. aeruginosa biofilm lung infections.