Publications by authors named "Helen Ross"

Article Synopsis
  • A study was conducted to evaluate the impact of atezolizumab before and after chemoradiation therapy (CRT) in patients with unresectable stage III non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), showing promise in enhancing treatment outcomes.
  • The trial involved 62 patients who received four cycles of atezolizumab, followed by CRT, with the primary measure being the disease control rate at 12 weeks.
  • Results indicated improved disease control and safety patterns, suggesting pre-emptive use of atezolizumab could enhance patient responses to treatment.
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Food choice has long been recognized as an interaction between psychological, social, cultural, economic, and biological forces through life course events and experiences. Adolescence is a particularly sensitive life stage during which personal and external environments influence food decisions and attitudes that can have long-term implications. Young people represent future households, yet little is understood about their perspectives on, and experiences of, their foodscape.

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Although much in the lives of members of the Caiçara small-scale fishing communities of Lázaro and Saco da Ribeira in Ubatuba, southeastern Brazil would suggest hardship, that population expresses a surprising degree of satisfaction with life. In this paper, we use a social wellbeing lens as applied through an ethnographic, mixed methods approach to reflect on this overall sense that lives rooted in small-scale fishing are well worth living despite their many challenges. We see the classic maritime anthropology theme of identity at the heart of meaning and life satisfaction.

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Aim: To determine the prevalence of nutrition risk using the validated, Nutrition Screening Tool for Every Pre-schooler (NutriSTEP) among pre-school children in New Zealand (NZ) and to identify socio-demographic factors associated with nutrition risk.

Methods: Parents/caregivers of NZ pre-school children (aged 2-5 years) completed an online survey including NutriSTEP, both parent and child height and weight, as well as socio-demographic characteristics. The 17-item NutriSTEP responses were scored between 0 and 4; where item scores ≥2 indicate risk, and the maximum score is 68.

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ECOG-ACRIN EA5181 is a current prospective, randomized trial that is investigating whether the addition of concomitant durvalumab to standard chemo/radiation followed by 1 year of consolidative durvalumab results in an overall survival benefit over standard chemo/radiation alone followed by 1 year of consolidative durvalumab in patients with locally advanced, unresectable non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Because multiple phase I/II trials have shown the relative safety of adding immunotherapy to chemo/radiation and due to the known synergism between chemotherapy and immunotherapy, it is hoped that concomitant durvalumab can reduce the relatively high incidence of local failure (38%-46%) as seen in recent prospective, randomized trials of standard chemo/radiation in this patient population. We will review the history of radiation for LA-NSCLC and discuss the role of induction, concurrent and consolidative chemotherapy as well as the concerns for late cardiac and pulmonary toxicities associated with treatment.

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Introduction: Patients with small-cell lung cancer (SCLC) have a very poor prognosis. However, a subset of SCLC achieves long-term survival. The objective of this study was to investigate factors and pattern of long-term survival in patients with limited-stage small cell lung cancer (LS-SCLC) who achieved a complete response (CR) after chemoradiotherapy.

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Social capital is considered important for resilience across social levels, including communities, yet insights are scattered across disciplines. This meta-synthesis of 187 studies examines conceptual and empirical understandings of how social capital relates to resilience, identifying implications for community resilience and climate change practice. Different conceptualisations are highlighted, yet also limited focus on underlying dimensions of social capital and proactive types of resilience for engaging with the complex climate change challenge.

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Evidence supports the benefits of exercise-based rehabilitation in promoting recovery in myeloma patients following autologous stem-cell transplantation (ASCT). However, 'prehabilitation' has never been evaluated prior to ASCT, despite evidence of effectiveness in other cancers. Utilising a mixed method approach the authors investigated the feasibility of a mixed strength and cardiovascular exercise intervention pre-ASCT.

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Through our involvement in KEYNOTE-059, we unexpectedly observed durable responses in two patients with metastatic gastroesophageal adenocarcinoma (mGEA) who received ramucirumab (anti-VEGFR-2)/paclitaxel after immune checkpoint inhibition (ICI). To assess the reproducibility of this observation, we piloted an approach to administer ramucirumab/paclitaxel after ICI in more patients, and explored changes in the immune microenvironment. Nineteen consecutive patients with mGEA received ICI followed by ramucirumab/paclitaxel.

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The past two decades have seen an accumulation of theoretical and empirical evidence for the interlinkages between human health and well-being, biodiversity and ecosystem services, and agriculture. The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the devastating impacts that an emerging pathogen, of animal origin, can have on human societies and economies. A number of scholars have called for the wider adoption of " integrated approaches" to better prevent, and respond to, the threats of emerging zoonotic diseases.

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Purpose: Intensity modulated proton beam radiation therapy (IMPT) has a clinically significant dosimetric advantage over intensity modulated photon radiation therapy (IMRT) for the treatment of patients with esophageal cancer, particularly for sparing the heart and lungs. We compared acute radiation therapy-related toxicities and short-term clinical outcomes of patients with esophageal cancer who received treatment with IMPT or IMRT.

Methods And Materials: We retrospectively reviewed the electronic health records of consecutive adult patients with esophageal cancer who underwent concurrent chemoradiotherapy with IMPT or IMRT in the definitive or neoadjuvant setting from January 1, 2014, through June 30, 2018, with additional follow-up data collected through January 31, 2019.

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Article Synopsis
  • - MEDI1873 is an experimental treatment targeting GITR in patients with advanced solid tumors, evaluated in a phase I study focusing on safety, tolerability, and preliminary efficacy.
  • - The trial involved 40 patients and tested various doses; while it was well tolerated at doses up to 500 mg, some experienced dose-limiting toxicities, with the most common side effects being headache, infusion reactions, and decreased appetite.
  • - Despite showing some pharmacodynamic activity and stable disease in a portion of patients, further development of MEDI1873 is not planned due to the lack of significant tumor response.
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The crisis facing the world's oceans from plastics is well documented, yet there is little knowledge of the perspectives, experiences and options of the coastal communities facing overwhelming quantities of plastics on their beaches and in their fishing waters. In emerging economies such as those in the Coral Triangle, the communities affected are among the poorest of their countries. To understand the consequences of ocean plastic pollution in coastal regions, through the eyes of local people, this study examines the knowledge, use, disposal and local consequences of single use plastics in remote island communities in two archipelagos of southern Sulawesi, Indonesia.

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Purpose: There are very little data available comparing outcomes of intensity-modulated proton therapy (IMPT) to intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) in patients with locally advanced NSCLC (LA-NSCLC).

Methods: Seventy-nine consecutively treated patients with LA-NSCLC underwent definitive IMPT ( = 33 [42%]) or IMRT ( = 46 [58%]) from 2016 to 2018 at our institution. Survival rates were calculated using the Kaplan-Meier method and compared with the log-rank test.

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Objective: Radiation therapy (RT) is the primary treatment of intracranial metastasis (ICM) from lung cancer (LC). Radiation necrosis (RN) has been reported post-RT with an incidence of 5% to 24%. We reviewed the spectrum of imaging changes in patients treated with RT for ICM from LC in an effort to identify potential risk factors for RN.

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The Irish Astronomical Tract is a 14th-15th century Gaelic document, based mainly on a Latin translation of the eighth-century Jewish astronomer Messahala. It contains a passage about the sun illusion-the apparent enlargement of celestial bodies when near the horizon compared to higher in the sky. This passage occurs in a chapter concerned with proving that the Earth is a globe rather than flat.

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Background: This analysis was performed to describe the outcome of very elderly (≥ 80 years) patients with small-cell lung cancer (SCLC) as there is no published data regarding these patients.

Materials And Methods: One hundred forty-six very elderly patients with SCLC were identified from the Institutional Lung Cancer Database ranging in age from 80 to 92 years (median, 82 years). Of these, 47 (32%) patients had limited-stage SCLC (L-SCLC), and 99 (68%) had extensive-stage SCLC (E-SCLC).

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Cancer transmission with organ donation has been previously reported with a variety of malignancies and organ transplants. The risk of transmission through organ transplantation from donors with a history of previously treated malignancies has been addressed by guidelines from transplant societies. Herein, we report a case of a patient who developed lung cancer confined to the liver after liver transplantation with no known history of malignancy in the donor.

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One Health (OH), EcoHealth (EH), and Planetary Health (PH) share an interest in transdisciplinary efforts that bring together scientists, citizens, government and private sectors to implement contextualized actions that promote adaptive health management across human, animal and ecosystem interfaces. A key operational element underlying these Integrated Approaches to Health (IAH) is use of Systems Thinking as a set of tools for integration. In this paper we discuss the origins and epistemology of systems thinking and argue that participatory modeling, informed by both systems theory and expertise in facilitating engagement and social learning, can help ground IAH theoretically and support its development.

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Checkpoint inhibitors targeted at programmed cell death-1 receptor (PD-1) and its ligand (PD-L1) can result in significant benefit to a small proportion of patients with cancer, including those with tumors of the stomach and gastroesophageal junction. These drugs are now approved for several solid tumors, including the recent accelerated approval of pembrolizumab for gastroesophageal adenocarcinomas in the third-line setting and beyond based on the KEYNOTE-059 phase II trial. Data are lacking on the efficacy of chemotherapy after progression on PD-1 blockade in metastatic gastroesophageal adenocarcinoma.

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Introduction: While myeloma is an incurable malignancy, developments in disease management have led to increased life expectancy in recent years. Treatment typically involves stem-cell transplantation. Increased survival rates equate to more patients living with the burden of both the disease and its treatment for increasing number of years, rendering myeloma a long-term condition.

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Background: Tumor-derived autophagosome vaccines (DRibbles) have the potential to broaden immune response to poorly immunogenic tumors.

Methods: Autologous vaccine generated from tumor cells harvested from pleural effusions was administered to patients with advanced NSCLC with the objectives of assessing safety and immune response. Four patients were vaccinated and evaluable for immune response; each received two to four doses of vaccine.

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