Radiotherapy toxicities: mechanisms, management, and future directions.

For over a century, radiotherapy has revolutionised cancer treatment. Technological advancements aim to deliver high doses to tumours with increased precision while minimising off-target effects to organs at risk. Despite advancements such as image-guided, high-precision radiotherapy delivery, long-term toxic effects on healthy tissues remain a great clinical challenge.

Strong Association Between HIV Incidence and Herpes Simplex Virus Type 2 in Zambia and South Africa: Prospective Data From the HPTN 071 (PopART) Trial.

Background: Herpes simplex virus type 2 (HSV2) is an important cofactor for HIV acquisition and transmission. Associations between the infections are reexamined in longitudinal data from an HIV prevention trial.

Methods: The HPTN 071 (PopART) trial evaluated a combination prevention intervention in 21 urban communities in Zambia and South Africa.

Organizational factors impacting the implementation of a digital mental health tool in Alberta's mental health care of youth and young adults.

With mental health concerns on the rise among youth and young adults (age 12-24), increased mental health options include virtual care, apps and online tools, self-management and tracking tools, and digitally-enabled coordination of care. These tools may function as alternatives or adjuncts to face-to-face models of care. Innovative solutions in the form of digital mental health (dMH) services not only provide support, resources and care, but also decrease wait times and waitlists, increase access, and empower youth.

Superstable lipid vacuoles endow cartilage with its shape and biomechanics.

Conventionally, the size, shape, and biomechanics of cartilages are determined by their voluminous extracellular matrix. By contrast, we found that multiple murine cartilages consist of lipid-filled cells called lipochondrocytes. Despite resembling adipocytes, lipochondrocytes were molecularly distinct and produced lipids exclusively through de novo lipogenesis.

The promises and perils of circulating tumor DNA for monitoring immunotherapy response in non-small cell lung cancer.

There has been a rapid expansion of immunotherapy options for non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) over the past two decades, particularly with the advent of immune checkpoint inhibitors. Despite the emerging role of immunotherapy in adjuvant and neoadjuvant settings though, relatively few patients will respond to immunotherapy which can be problematic due to expense and toxicity; thus, the development of biomarkers capable of predicting immunotherapeutic response is imperative. Due to the promise of a noninvasive, personalized approach capable of providing comprehensive, real-time monitoring of tumor heterogeneity and evolution, there has been wide interest in the concept of using circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) to predict treatment response.