Purpose: To evaluate the cost utility of a 9-month supervised exercise program for patients with metastatic breast cancer (mBC), compared with control (usual care, supplemented with general activity advice and an activity tracker). Evidence on the cost-effectiveness of exercise for patients with mBC is essential for implementation in clinical practice and is currently lacking.
Methods: A cost-utility analysis was performed alongside the multinational PREFERABLE-EFFECT randomized controlled trial, conducted in 8 centers across Europe and Australia.
Physical exercise is a promising intervention to improve brain white matter integrity. In the PAM study, exercise intervention effects on white matter integrity were investigated in breast cancer patients. Chemotherapy-treated breast cancer patients with cognitive problems were randomized 2-4 years post-diagnosis to an exercise (n = 91) or control group (n = 90).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Multiple studies have suggested that gut microbiome may influence immune checkpoint inhibitor (ICI) efficacy, but its association with immune-related adverse events (irAEs) is less well studied. In this prospective cohort study, we assessed whether gut microbiome composition at start, or changes during ICI, are associated with severe irAEs.
Methods: Stool samples of cancer patients treated with anti-PD-1 ± anti-CTLA-4 were analyzed using 16S rRNA gene sequencing and metagenomic shotgun sequencing.
Background And Objectives: The Chordate System administers kinetic oscillation stimulation (K.O.S) into the nasal cavity thereby potentially modulating the activity of trigemino-autonomic reflex.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPurpose: Patients with metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC) undergoing systemic treatment often experience toxicities. Although exercise may improve physical fitness and quality of life and counteract treatment toxicity, knowledge in patients with mCRC is limited. The ongoing randomized controlled AMICO trial evaluates the effects of supervised exercise on clinical outcomes.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFHigh-energy nuclear collisions create a quark-gluon plasma, whose initial condition and subsequent expansion vary from event to event, impacting the distribution of the eventwise average transverse momentum [P([p_{T}])]. Disentangling the contributions from fluctuations in the nuclear overlap size (geometrical component) and other sources at a fixed size (intrinsic component) remains a challenge. This problem is addressed by measuring the mean, variance, and skewness of P([p_{T}]) in ^{208}Pb+^{208}Pb and ^{129}Xe+^{129}Xe collisions at sqrt[s_{NN}]=5.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Wide QRS complex tachycardia (WCT) differentiation into ventricular tachycardia (VT) and supraventricular wide complex tachycardia (SWCT) remains challenging despite numerous 12-lead electrocardiogram (ECG) criteria and algorithms. Automated solutions leveraging computerized ECG interpretation (CEI) measurements and engineered features offer practical ways to improve diagnostic accuracy. We propose automated algorithms based on (i) WCT QRS polarity direction (WCT Polarity Code [WCT-PC]) and (ii) QRS polarity shifts between WCT and baseline ECGs (QRS Polarity Shift [QRS-PS]).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFImpactful learning through simulation-based education involves effective planning and design. This can be a complex process requiring educators to master a varied toolkit of analysis tools, learning methodologies, and evaluative strategies; all to ensure engagement of learners in a meaningful and impactful way. Where there is a lack of thoughtful design, simulation-based education programmes may be inefficiently deployed at best, and completely ineffective or even harmful to learning and learners at worst.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBulk macroautophagy/autophagy, typically induced by starvation, is generally thought to isolate cytosolic components for degradation in a non-selective manner. Despite the fundamental nature of the eukaryotic degradation pathway, the question of what cargo is isolated by autophagy has remained unaddressed for over 30 years. We recently employed mass spectrometry to analyze the contents of isolated autophagic bodies.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMany animals alternate between different media, such as air and water, thanks to specific adaptations. Among birds, penguins (Sphenisciformes) have the most extreme morphological, physiological, and behavioural adaptations to their amphibious lifestyle. Their auditory perception of sound, potentially matching different impedances in air and under water, is largely unknown particularly in terms of whether their underwater adaptations may have affected their in-air hearing capacity.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFRationale: The positive reinforcing effects of alcohol (ethanol) drive repetitive use and contribute to alcohol use disorder (AUD). Ethanol alters the expression of glutamate AMPA receptor (AMPAR) subunits in reward-related brain regions, but the extent to which this effect regulates ethanol's reinforcing properties is unclear.
Objective: This study investigates whether ethanol self-administration changes AMPAR subunit expression and synaptic activity in the nucleus accumbens core (AcbC) to regulate ethanol's reinforcing effects in male C57BL/6 J mice.
A major challenge in the stem cell biology field is the ability to produce fully functional cells from induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) that are a valuable resource for cell therapy, drug screening, and disease modelling. Here, we developed a novel inducible CRISPR-mediated activation strategy (iCRISPRa) to drive the expression of multiple endogenous transcription factors (TFs) important for in vitro cell fate and differentiation of iPSCs to haematopoietic progenitor cells. This work has identified a key role for IGFBP2 in developing haematopoietic progenitors.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF(HNVs), a genus within the family, includes the highly virulent Nipah and Hendra viruses that cause yearly reoccurring outbreaks of deadly disease. Recent discoveries of several new species, including the zoonotic Langya virus, have revealed much higher antigenic diversity than currently characterized. Here, to explore the limits of structural and antigenic variation in HNVs, we construct an expanded, antigenically diverse panel of HNV fusion (F) and attachment (G) glycoproteins from 56 unique HNV strains that better reflects global HNV diversity.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPurpose: We aimed to identify metastatic breast cancer (MBC) patients' preferences for exercise programs and identify patients' characteristics associated with these preferences, to facilitate implementation of exercise programs for MBC patients.
Methods: We used data from a multinational cross-sectional survey conducted among MBC patients. Patients reported their preferred exercise frequency, intensity, type, session duration, and supervision mode.
Background: In-feed antibiotic growth promoters (AGPs) have been a cornerstone in the livestock industry due to their role in enhancing growth and feed efficiency. However, concerns over antibiotic resistance have driven a shift away from AGPs toward natural alternatives. Despite the widespread use, the exact mechanisms of AGPs and alternatives are not fully understood.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: RECIST may not be optimal for assessing treatment response with current systemic regimens. We evaluated RECIST, morphologic, and pathologically documented response (pathological response) in patients with initially unresectable colorectal cancer liver-only metastases (CRLM).
Patients And Methods: Four hundred and eighty-nine patients from the phase III CAIRO5 trial were included who were treated with FOLFOX/FOLFIRI/FOLFOXIRI and bevacizumab or panitumumab.
Purpose: The nationwide Dietary Intake After Diagnosis and Colorectal Cancer Outcomes (PROTECT) study is a prospective cohort study investigating how lifestyle-related factors including dietary intake and physical activity are associated with health-related quality of life (HRQoL), recurrence, and survival after a colorectal cancer (CRC) diagnosis.
Methods: Patients participating in the Prospective Dutch Colorectal Cancer (PLCRC) cohort with newly diagnosed stage I to IV colorectal cancer were recruited for PROTECT shortly after diagnosis, between 2015 and 2022. While patient-reported quality of life, physical activity, and sedentary behavior, as well as body composition data are available from PLCRC, patient-reported measurements in PROTECT included anthropometrics, dietary intake, dietary supplement use, and taste and smell alterations.
Acta Neurochir (Wien)
December 2024
Background: Intraventricular tumors present significant surgical challenges due to their deep location and proximity to critical neuroanatomical structures. Surgical strategies include the transtemporal, interhemispheric and transparietal approaches, each carrying specific risks. Recently, a paramedian transparietal approach to a lateral ventricle meningioma in the dominant hemisphere was described.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjectives: To investigate changes in quality of life (QoL) up to 8 years after radical cystectomy (RC) and compare QoL after RC with a gender- and age-matched Dutch normative population. Furthermore, we aimed to identify patient characteristics associated with QoL and QoL trajectories after RC.
Patients And Methods: Patients with bladder cancer were invited to complete QoL questionnaires at 3-month intervals in the first year and yearly thereafter.