Utilising accessible and reproducible neurological assessments in clinical studies: Insights from use of the Neurological Impairment Scale in the multi-centre COVID-CNS study.

Reproducible and standardised neurological assessment scales are important in quantifying research outcomes. These scales are often performed by non-neurologists and/or non-clinicians and must be robust, quantifiable, reproducible and comparable to a neurologist's assessment. COVID-CNS is a multi-centre study which utilised the Neurological Impairment Scale (NIS) as a core assessment tool in studying neurological outcomes following COVID-19 infection.

The phosphatidylserine targeting antibody bavituximab plus pembrolizumab in unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma: a phase 2 trial.

Immune checkpoint inhibitors targeting PD-1/L1 have modest efficacy in hepatocellular carcinoma as single agents. Targeting membranous phosphatidylserine may induce pro-inflammatory and -immune stimulating effects that enhance immunotherapy activity. This hypothesis was tested in a single-arm phase 2 trial evaluating frontline bavituximab, a phosphatidylserine targeting antibody, plus pembrolizumab (anti-PD-1) in patients with unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma (NCT03519997).

RNA Expression-Based Analysis to Predict Response in Patients with Metastatic Mismatch Repair Proficient Colorectal Cancer Treated with Regorafenib and Nivolumab.

Introduction: We previously conducted a phase I/Ib study (NCT03712943) with regorafenib and nivolumab in patients with refractory metastatic mismatch repair proficient (pMMR) colorectal cancer (CRC). This study aimed to investigate the role of Xerna™ TME Panel in predicting the treatment response.

Methods: Twenty-two archival pretreatment tumor samples were subjected to the Xerna™ TME Panel, a machine learning-based RNA-sequencing biomarker assay.

The Queen Square Encephalitis Multidisciplinary Team Meeting - experience over three years, pre and post the COVID-19 pandemic.

Background: Patients with suspected encephalitis continue to represent a diagnostic and therapeutic challenge, even in highly resourced centres. In February 2018, we set up a monthly in-person multidisciplinary team meeting (MDT). We describe the experience and outcomes of the MDT over three years.

Pathophysiology, diagnosis, and management of neuroinflammation in covid-19.

Although neurological complications of SARS-CoV-2 infection are relatively rare, their potential long term morbidity and mortality have a significant impact, given the large numbers of infected patients. Covid-19 is now in the differential diagnosis of a number of common neurological syndromes including encephalopathy, encephalitis, acute demyelinating encephalomyelitis, stroke, and Guillain-Barré syndrome. Physicians should be aware of the pathophysiology underlying these presentations to diagnose and treat patients rapidly and appropriately.

Xerna™ TME Panel is a machine learning-based transcriptomic biomarker designed to predict therapeutic response in multiple cancers.

Introduction: Most predictive biomarkers approved for clinical use measure single analytes such as genetic alteration or protein overexpression. We developed and validated a novel biomarker with the aim of achieving broad clinical utility. The Xerna™ TME Panel is a pan-tumor, RNA expression-based classifier, designed to predict response to multiple tumor microenvironment (TME)-targeted therapies, including immunotherapies and anti-angiogenic agents.

Genomic Loss and Epigenetic Silencing of the FOSL1 Tumor Suppressor Gene in Radiation-induced Neoplastic Transformation of Human CGL1 Cells Alters the Tumorigenic Phenotype In Vitro and In Vivo.

The CGL1 human hybrid cell system has been utilized for many decades as an excellent cellular tool for investigating neoplastic transformation. Substantial work has been done previously implicating genetic factors related to chromosome 11 to the alteration of tumorigenic phenotype in CGL1 cells. This includes candidate tumor suppressor gene FOSL1, a member of the AP-1 transcription factor complex which encodes for protein FRA1.

Trends and Clinical Characteristics of HIV and Cerebrovascular Disease in Low- and Middle-Income Countries (LMICs) Between 1990 and 2021.

Purpose Of The Review: To describe trends and clinical characteristics of HIV and cerebrovascular disease between 1990 and 2021 in LMICs and identify the gaps in our understanding.

Recent Findings: In the era of antiretroviral therapy (ART), people living with HIV (PLWH) live longer and risk excess cerebrovascular events due to ageing and HIV-driven factors. Despite the highest burden of HIV infection in low-to-middle income countries, there is underreporting in the literature of cerebrovascular events in this population.

Prognostic indicators and outcomes of hospitalised COVID-19 patients with neurological disease: An individual patient data meta-analysis.

Background: Neurological COVID-19 disease has been reported widely, but published studies often lack information on neurological outcomes and prognostic risk factors. We aimed to describe the spectrum of neurological disease in hospitalised COVID-19 patients; characterise clinical outcomes; and investigate factors associated with a poor outcome.

Methods: We conducted an individual patient data (IPD) meta-analysis of hospitalised patients with neurological COVID-19 disease, using standard case definitions.

Phase Ib Study of Navicixizumab Plus Paclitaxel in Patients With Platinum-Resistant Ovarian, Primary Peritoneal, or Fallopian Tube Cancer.

Purpose: This phase Ib study evaluated the safety and efficacy of paclitaxel plus navicixizumab, a bispecific antiangiogenic antibody to vascular endothelial growth factor and delta-like ligand 4, against platinum-resistant ovarian cancer.

Patients And Methods: This open-label, nonrandomized, dose-escalation and -expansion study included 44 patients with previously treated, recurrent, platinum-resistant grade 2/3 ovarian cancer. Treatment was intravenous navicixizumab (3 mg/kg or 4 mg/kg once every 2 weeks) plus paclitaxel (80 mg/m intravenously on days 0, 7, and 14 of 28-day cycles).

Antiphospholipid antibodies and neurological manifestations in acute COVID-19: A single-centre cross-sectional study.

Background: A high prevalence of antiphospholipid antibodies has been reported in case series of patients with neurological manifestations and COVID-19; however, the pathogenicity of antiphospholipid antibodies in COVID-19 neurology remains unclear.

Methods: This single-centre cross-sectional study included 106 adult patients: 30 hospitalised COVID-neurological cases, 47 non-neurological COVID-hospitalised controls, and 29 COVID-non-hospitalised controls, recruited between March and July 2020. We evaluated nine antiphospholipid antibodies: anticardiolipin antibodies [aCL] IgA, IgM, IgG; anti-beta-2 glycoprotein-1 [aβGPI] IgA, IgM, IgG; anti-phosphatidylserine/prothrombin [aPS/PT] IgM, IgG; and anti-domain I βGPI (aD1β2GPI) IgG.

Neurological deterioration in a patient with HIV-associated cryptococcal meningitis initially improving on antifungal treatment: a case report of coincidental racemose neurocysticercosis.

Background: Managing HIV-associated cryptococcal meningitis (CM) can become challenging in the presence of concurrent unusual central nervous system infections.

Case Presentation: A 58-year old HIV infected woman new ART starter, who was being treated effectively for cryptococcal meningitis, represented with worsening of neurological symptoms. Brain MRI revealed a multicystic lesion in the left temporal lobe.

Pre-clinical atherosclerosis is found at post-mortem, in the brains of men with HIV.

The aim of this study is to ascertain the burden of pre-clinical atherosclerotic changes in the brains of young adult males with HIV and explore the impact of anti-retroviral therapy (ART). The study design is case-control, cross-sectional. Histological sections from HIV-positive post-mortem brain samples, with no associated opportunistic infection, from the MRC Edinburgh brain bank were evaluated.