Knowledge and quality of life in cancer patients receiving immunotherapy for the first time. A cross-sectional study about being informed.

Purpose: Patients receiving immunotherapy need to have a good understanding of how immunology works and which toxicities they can expect. This study aimed to assess patients' knowledge on their immunotherapies and their quality of life before and after receiving immunotherapy for the first time in a cancer centre.

Methods: From July 2018 to September 2020, all patients treated at the cancer centre receiving first-time immunotherapy were invited to participate in a cross-sectional descriptive study.

Sex-biased parental investment and female wealth accumulation in ancient California.

Objectives: The mortuary record at Middle Period site Kalawwasa Rummeytak (CA-SCL-134) (2600-1225 cal BP) in California's southern Santa Clara Valley shows pronounced wealth inequality; Olivella shell bead wealth, as well as other grave goods, are concentrated in the burials of several older adult females. The concentration of wealth among women, along with regional strontium isotopic evidence of male-biased residential shifts in early adulthood, suggests a matrilineal kinship system that practiced matrilocal post-marital residence patterns. We suggest local resource enhancement effects incentivized keeping women in their natal communities and investing more in female offspring.

Ancient and modern genomics of the Ohlone Indigenous population of California.

SignificanceCalifornia supports a high cultural and linguistic diversity of Indigenous peoples. In a partnership of researchers with the Muwekma Ohlone tribe, we studied genomes of eight present-day tribal members and 12 ancient individuals from two archaeological sites in the San Francisco Bay Area, spanning ∼2,000 y. We find that compared to genomes of Indigenous individuals from throughout the Americas, the 12 ancient individuals are most genetically similar to ancient individuals from Southern California, and that despite spanning a large time period, they share distinctive ancestry.

A comparison of proteomic, genomic, and osteological methods of archaeological sex estimation.

Sex estimation of skeletons is fundamental to many archaeological studies. Currently, three approaches are available to estimate sex-osteology, genomics, or proteomics, but little is known about the relative reliability of these methods in applied settings. We present matching osteological, shotgun-genomic, and proteomic data to estimate the sex of 55 individuals, each with an independent radiocarbon date between 2,440 and 100 cal BP, from two ancestral Ohlone sites in Central California.

Oral misoprostol for the management of incomplete abortion in Ecuador.

Objective: To assess the feasibility of introducing misoprostol for the treatment of incomplete abortion in Quito, Ecuador.

Methods: In a randomized prospective study conducted at a large tertiary-level maternity hospital and a private secondary-level clinic between November 2006 and November 2007, women with incomplete abortion were treated with either 600 μg of oral misoprostol (n=122) or manual vacuum aspiration (MVA) (n=120). All participants were requested to return for follow-up care on day 7 to determine the success of the treatment and to document their satisfaction with the method and the adverse effects experienced.