Head-to-head comparison of three experimental methods of quantifying competitive fitness in C. elegans.

Organismal fitness is relevant in many contexts in biology. The most meaningful experimental measure of fitness is competitive fitness, when two or more entities (e.g.

Phase III randomized trial of induction chemotherapy in patients with N2 or N3 locally advanced head and neck cancer.

Purpose: Induction chemotherapy (IC) before radiotherapy lowers distant failure (DF) rates in locally advanced squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck (SCCHN). The goal of this phase III trial was to determine whether IC before chemoradiotherapy (CRT) further improves survival compared with CRT alone in patients with N2 or N3 disease.

Patients And Methods: Treatment-naive patients with nonmetastatic N2 or N3 SCCHN were randomly assigned to CRT alone (CRT arm; docetaxel, fluorouracil, and hydroxyurea plus radiotherapy 0.

A randomized validation study comparing embedded versus extracted FACT Head and Neck Symptom Index scores.

Objective: To evaluate the impact of administration context (embedded versus stand-alone) on the reliability and validity of the FACT Head and Neck Symptom Index (FHNSI).

Methods: Ninety-eight patients with head and neck cancer were randomized to one of two assessment conditions to evaluate the FHNSI's context (items administered embedded within the FACT-H&N or as stand-alone scale) and order of administration in the battery.

Results: Planned comparisons on the item and scale levels revealed no systematic order or context differences.