Publications by authors named "L Bower"
Malaria is a major public health problem, but many of the factors underlying the pathogenesis of this disease are not well understood, including protection from the development of febrile symptoms, which is observed in individuals residing in areas with moderate-to-high transmission by early adolescence. Here, we demonstrate that susceptibility to febrile malaria following Plasmodium falciparum infection is associated with the composition of the gut microbiome prior to the malaria season in 10-year-old Malian children, but not in younger children. Gnotobiotic mice colonized with the fecal samples of malaria-susceptible children were shown to have a significantly higher parasite burden following Plasmodium infection compared to gnotobiotic mice colonized with the fecal samples of malaria-resistant children.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground And Objective: The use and duration of androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) with postoperative radiotherapy (RT) have been uncertain. RADICALS-HD compared adding no ("None"), 6-months ("Short"), or 24-mo ("Long") ADT to study efficacy in the long term.
Methods: Participants with prostate cancer were indicated for postoperative RT and agreed randomisation between all durations.
Article Synopsis
- A clinical trial called RADICALS-HD studied the effects of adding short-course androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) to postoperative radiotherapy in patients with localized prostate cancer after surgery.
- It involved 1480 patients, examining how ADT impacts metastasis-free survival compared to radiotherapy alone, and measured outcomes like distant metastasis and overall survival.
- The trial aimed to see if combining ADT with radiotherapy could improve the 10-year metastasis-free survival rate, potentially increasing it from 80% to 86%.
Article Synopsis
- The study investigates the effectiveness and optimal duration of androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) combined with postoperative radiotherapy for patients with localized prostate cancer following radical prostatectomy.
- A randomised controlled trial, RADICALS-HD, compared short-course ADT (6 months) to long-course ADT (24 months) among participants who met specific criteria, including PSA levels and absence of metastatic disease.
- The primary outcome measured was metastasis-free survival, with the trial aiming to determine if longer ADT duration leads to better survival rates, involving over 1,500 patients from 2008 to 2015.
Article Synopsis
- Exagamglogene autotemcel (exa-cel) is a nonviral cell therapy utilizing CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing to increase fetal hemoglobin production in patients with sickle cell disease.
- A phase 3 study involved 44 patients aged 12 to 35 with a history of severe vaso-occlusive crises; patients received edited stem cells after myeloablative conditioning.
- Results showed 97% of patients were free from vaso-occlusive crises and 100% avoided hospitalization for over 12 months, with a safety profile similar to standard treatments.