Impact of Transoral Robotic Surgery Versus Radiation on Swallowing Function in Oropharyngeal Cancer Patients: A Sub-Study From a Randomized Trial.

Background: This ORATOR sub-study evaluated swallowing physiology in patients treated with transoral robotic surgery (TORS) versus radiotherapy (RT) for early-stage oropharynx cancer.

Methods: Swallowing physiology was evaluated using videofluoroscopy and outcomes were compared across treatment arms and correlated with MDADI scores.

Results: Of the 68 patients in the ORATOR trial, 21 participated in this sub-study (30.

Radiotherapy Versus Transoral Robotic Surgery for Oropharyngeal Squamous Cell Carcinoma: Final Results of the ORATOR Randomized Trial.

Radiotherapy (RT) and transoral robotic surgery (TORS) are both curative-intent treatment options for oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma (OPSCC). Herein, we report the final outcomes of the ORATOR trial comparing these modalities, 5 years after enrollment completion. We randomly assigned 68 patients with T1-2N0-2 OPSCC to RT (with chemotherapy if node-positive) versus TORS plus neck dissection (± adjuvant RT/chemoradiation).

Recent Developments in the Role of Protein Tyrosine Phosphatase 1B (PTP1B) as a Regulator of Immune Cell Signalling in Health and Disease.

Protein tyrosine phosphatase 1B (PTP1B) is a non-receptor tyrosine phosphatase best known for its role in regulating insulin and leptin signalling. Recently, knowledge on the role of PTP1B as a major regulator of multiple signalling pathways involved in cell growth, proliferation, viability and metabolism has expanded, and PTP1B is recognised as a therapeutic target in several human disorders, including diabetes, obesity, cardiovascular diseases and hematopoietic malignancies. The function of PTP1B in the immune system was largely overlooked until it was discovered that PTP1B negatively regulates the Janus kinase-a signal transducer and activator of the transcription (JAK/STAT) signalling pathway, which plays a significant role in modulating immune responses.

Characterizing the microbial metagenome of calcareous stromatolite formations in the San Felipe Creek in the Anza Borrego Desert.

We describe the metagenome composition, community functional annotation, and prokaryote diversity in calcareous stromatolites from a dry stream bed of the San Felipe Creek in the Anza Borrego Desert. Analyses show a community capable of nitrogen fixation, assimilatory nitrate reduction, biofilm formation, quorum sensing, and potential thick-walled akinete formation for desiccation resistance.

Obstructive sleep apnoea-hypopnoea syndrome.

Obstructive sleep apnoea-hypopnoea syndrome (OSAHS) is a common disorder characterised by repetitive episodes of the complete or partial collapse of the pharyngeal airway during sleep. This results in cessation (apnoea) or reduction (hypopnoea) of airflow, leading to oxygen desaturation and sleep fragmentation. An individual's disposition to develop OSAHS depends on the collapsibility of a segment of the upper airway.

Case Report: Prolonged remission of metastatic cisplatin-refractory nasopharyngeal carcinoma with Pembrolizumab.

Background: Epstein-Barr virus (EBV)-related nasopharyngeal cancer (NPC) is a common type of cancer in certain areas of the world such as southeast Asia, but is uncommon in Canada. There is currently no reliably effective standard treatment for incurable metastatic EBV-related NPC that progresses after first-line therapy with gemcitabine/cisplatin.

Methods: With his consent, the health records of a patient with relapsed metastatic EBV-related NPC treated with pembrolizumab immunotherapy were retrospectively reviewed and reported.

The Study of Ketamine for Youth Depression (SKY-D): study protocol for a randomised controlled trial of low-dose ketamine for young people with major depressive disorder.

Background: Existing treatments for young people with severe depression have limited effectiveness. The aim of the Study of Ketamine for Youth Depression (SKY-D) trial is to determine whether a 4-week course of low-dose subcutaneous ketamine is an effective adjunct to treatment-as-usual in young people with major depressive disorder (MDD).

Methods: SKY-D is a double-masked, randomised controlled trial funded by the Australian Government's National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC).

Generation of LexA enhancer-trap lines in Drosophila by an international scholastic network.

Conditional gene regulation in Drosophila through binary expression systems like the LexA-LexAop system provides a superb tool for investigating gene and tissue function. To increase the availability of defined LexA enhancer trap insertions, we present molecular, genetic, and tissue expression studies of 301 novel Stan-X LexA enhancer traps derived from mobilization of the index SX4 line. This includes insertions into distinct loci on the X, II, and III chromosomes that were not previously associated with enhancer traps or targeted LexA constructs, an insertion into ptc, and seventeen insertions into natural transposons.

Proof of Single-Replica Equivalence in Short-Range Spin Glasses.

We consider short-range Ising spin glasses in equilibrium at infinite system size, and prove that, for fixed bond realization and a given Gibbs state drawn from a suitable metastate, each translation and locally invariant function (for example, self-overlaps) of a single pure state in the decomposition of the Gibbs state takes the same value for all the pure states in that Gibbs state. We describe several significant applications to spin glasses.

Risk Factors for Poor Survival Outcomes in Parotid Metastatic Cutaneous Squamous Cell Carcinoma.

Objective: We aimed to analyze risk factors associated with poor survival outcomes for metastatic cutaneous head-and-neck SCC to the parotid.

Methods: All patients undergoing surgery for metastatic cutaneous SCC to the parotid with curative intent between 2011 and 2018, were reviewed. Demographic and clinical characteristics were evaluated.

Measuring the knot of non-Hermitian degeneracies and non-commuting braids.

Any system of coupled oscillators may be characterized by its spectrum of resonance frequencies (or eigenfrequencies), which can be tuned by varying the system's parameters. The relationship between control parameters and the eigenfrequency spectrum is central to a range of applications. However, fundamental aspects of this relationship remain poorly understood.

Complexity as information in spin-glass Gibbs states and metastates: Upper bounds at nonzero temperature and long-range models.

In classical finite-range spin systems, especially those with disorder such as spin glasses, a low-temperature Gibbs state may be a mixture of a number of pure or ordered states; the complexity of the Gibbs state has been defined in the past roughly as the logarithm of this number, assuming the question is meaningful in a finite system. As nontrivial pure-state structure is lost in finite size, in a recent paper [Phys. Rev.

Genome of a novel Sediminibacterium discovered in association with two species of freshwater cyanobacteria from streams in Southern California.

Here, we report the discovery of a novel Sediminibacterium sequenced from laboratory cultures of freshwater stream cyanobacteria from sites in Southern California, grown in BG11 medium. Our genome-wide analyses reveal a highly contiguous and complete genome (97% BUSCO) that is placed within sediminibacterial clades in phylogenomic analyses. Functional annotation indicates the presence of genes that could be involved in mutualistic/commensal relationship with associated cyanobacterial hosts.

Assessment of Toxic Effects and Survival in Treatment Deescalation With Radiotherapy vs Transoral Surgery for HPV-Associated Oropharyngeal Squamous Cell Carcinoma: The ORATOR2 Phase 2 Randomized Clinical Trial.

Importance: The optimal approach for treatment deescalation in human papillomavirus (HPV)-related oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinomas (OPSCCs) is unknown.

Objective: To assess a primary radiotherapy (RT) approach vs a primary transoral surgical (TOS) approach in treatment deescalation for HPV-related OPSCC.

Design, Setting, And Participants: This international, multicenter, open-label parallel-group phase 2 randomized clinical trial was conducted at 9 tertiary academic cancer centers in Canada and Australia and enrolled patients with T1-T2N0-2 p16-positive OPSCC between February 13, 2018, and November 17, 2020.

Ca Signalling Differentially Regulates Germ-Tube Formation and Cell Fusion in .

is an important plant pathogen and an emerging opportunistic human pathogen. Germination of conidial spores and their fusion via conidial anastomosis tubes (CATs) are significant events during colony establishment in culture and on host plants and, hence, very likely on human epithelia. CAT fusion exhibited by conidial germlings of Fusarium species has been postulated to facilitate mitotic recombination, leading to heterokaryon formation and strains with varied genotypes and potentially increased virulence.

Randomized Trial of Radiotherapy Versus Transoral Robotic Surgery for Oropharyngeal Squamous Cell Carcinoma: Long-Term Results of the ORATOR Trial.

Purpose: The incidence of oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma (OPSCC) has risen rapidly, because of an epidemic of human papillomavirus infection. The optimal management of early-stage OPSCC with surgery or radiation continues to be a clinical controversy. Long-term randomized data comparing these paradigms are lacking.

Chromosome segregation in Archaea: SegA- and SegB-DNA complex structures provide insights into segrosome assembly.

Genome segregation is a vital process in all organisms. Chromosome partitioning remains obscure in Archaea, the third domain of life. Here, we investigated the SegAB system from Sulfolobus solfataricus.

Nontrivial maturation metastate-average state in a one-dimensional long-range Ising spin glass: Above and below the upper critical range.

Understanding the low-temperature pure state structure of spin glasses remains an open problem in the field of statistical mechanics of disordered systems. Here we study Monte Carlo dynamics, performing simulations of the growth of correlations following a quench from infinite temperature to a temperature well below the spin-glass transition temperature T_{c} for a one-dimensional Ising spin-glass model with diluted long-range interactions. In this model, the probability P_{ij} that an edge {i,j} has nonvanishing interaction falls as a power law with chord distance, P_{ij}∝1/R_{ij}^{2σ}, and we study a range of values of σ with 1/2<σ<1.

Courtship Ritual of Male and Female Nuclei during Fertilization in Neurospora crassa.

Sexual reproduction is a key process influencing the evolution and adaptation of animals, plants, and many eukaryotic microorganisms, such as fungi. However, the sequential cell biology of fertilization and the associated nuclear dynamics after plasmogamy are poorly understood in filamentous fungi. Using histone-fluorescent parental isolates, we tracked male and female nuclei during fertilization in the model ascomycete Neurospora crassa using live-cell imaging.

Characterisation of Endocytic Trafficking within Airway Epithelial Cells Using High-Resolution Automated Quantitative Confocal Microscopy.

The precise characterization of the mechanisms modulating survival within airway epithelial cells has been impaired by the lack of live-cell imaging technologies and user-friendly quantification approaches. Here we described the use of an automated image analysis pipeline to estimate the proportion of spores taken up by airway epithelial cells, those contained within phagolysosomes or acidified phagosomes, along with the fungal factors contributing to these processes. Coupling the use of fluorescent strains and fluorescent epithelial probes targeting lysosomes, acidified compartments and cell membrane, we found that both the efficacy of lysosome recruitment to phagosomes and phagosome acidification determines the capacity of airway epithelial cells to contain growth.

Opioid therapy vs. multimodal analgesia in head and neck Cancer (OPTIMAL-HN): study protocol for a randomized clinical trial.

Background: Radiation-induced mucositis (RIM) pain confers substantial morbidity for head and neck cancer (HNC) patients undergoing radiotherapy alone (RT) or chemoradiotherapy (CRT), often reducing treatment compliance. However, no standard currently exists for the treatment of RIM, and high dose opioid therapy, with its associated side effects and increased risk for chronic opioid use, remains the cornerstone of HNC pain management. The goal of this randomized clinical trial is to compare multimodal analgesia using analgesic medications with different mechanisms of action, to the institutional standard of opioid analgesia alone, in order to ascertain the optimal analgesic regimen for the management of RIM pain in HNC patients.

Risk of Chronic Opioid Use After Radiation for Head and Neck Cancer: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

Purpose: Opioid addiction is a major public health concern. Chronic opioid use (COU) patterns after radiation for head and neck cancer (HNC) remain poorly understood. The aim of this study was to estimate the prevalence of COU and to identify its risk factors in patients with HNC undergoing curative-intent radiation therapy (RT) or chemoradiotherapy (CRT).

Attachment and antibiotic response of early-stage biofilms studied using resonant hyperspectral imaging.

Many bacterial species readily develop biofilms that act as a protective matrix against external challenge, e.g., from antimicrobial treatment.

Delay in diagnosis of patients with head-and-neck cancer in Canada: impact of patient and provider delay.

Background: Head-and-neck cancers (hncs) often present at an advanced stage, leading to poor outcomes. Late presentation might be attributable to patient delays (reluctance to seek treatment, for instance) or provider delays (misdiagnosis, prolonged wait time for consultation, for example). The objective of the present study was to examine the length and cause of such delays in a Canadian universal health care setting.