Learning curve and proficiency assessment for gynecological brachytherapy amongst radiation oncology trainees in India: Results from a prospective study.

Purpose: The quality of cervical cancer intracavitary brachytherapy (ICBT) depends on the training and experience of the radiation oncologist (RO). The present study was performed to establish primary learning curve for ICBT.

Materials And Methods: Forty-three skill parameters were identified for performing ICBT and were included for Brachytherapy Proficiency Assessment and Scoring System (Brachy-PASS) questionnaire.

Risk of cardiovascular disease following degarelix versus gonadotropin-releasing hormone agonists in patients with prostate cancer: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Background: Prostate cancer treatment involves hormonal therapies that may carry cardiovascular risks, particularly for long-term use. Gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) antagonists, such as degarelix, may offer advantages over agonists, but comprehensive comparative cardiovascular outcomes are not well established. This study aimed to systematically review and analyze the cardiovascular safety profiles of degarelix compared to those of traditional GnRH agonists, providing critical insights for optimizing treatment strategies.

Assessing the Risk of Sexually Transmitted Infections among Men who have Sex with Men in San Francisco during COVID-19: A Socio-ecological Analysis.

Background: Men who have sex with men (MSM) are disproportionately affected by sexually transmitted infections, a disparity that has only worsened in recent years. During the COVID-19 pandemic, an overall increasing trend remained.

Methods: We utilized data from the MSM cycle of the National HIV Behavioral Surveillance (NHBS) study in San Francisco, California, conducted from June 2021 through December 2021, to identify socio-ecological disruptions during the COVID-19 pandemic that were associated with sexually transmitted infections.

Bivalent SMAC mimetic APG-1387 reduces HIV reservoirs and limits viral rebound in humanized mice.

Latent viral reservoirs (VRs) represent a main barrier to HIV cure. Thus, developing new approaches that can purge and eliminate VRs paves the path toward achieving an HIV-1 cure. APG-1387, a bivalent SMAC mimetic (SM), efficiently reactivates latent HIV expression in T cell line models and enhances active caspase 3 expression, a condition that typically leads to apoptosis.

Splitting of the Girvin-MacDonald-Platzman Density Wave and the Nature of Chiral Gravitons in the Fractional Quantum Hall Effect.

A fundamental manifestation of the nontrivial correlations of an incompressible fractional quantum Hall (FQH) state is that an electron added to it disintegrates into more elementary particles, namely fractionally-charged composite fermions (CFs). We show here that the Girvin-MacDonald-Platzman (GMP) density-wave excitation of the ν=n/(2pn±1) FQH states also splits into more elementary single CF excitons. In particular, the GMP graviton, which refers to the recently observed spin-2 neutral excitation in the vanishing wave vector limit [Liang et al.