A Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) Multivariate Analysis of the Association of Vital Parameter Variation With the Lunar Cycle in Patients Hospitalized With COVID-19.

Introduction: Over the last three years, the world has been battling a long-drawn pandemic resulting from the coronavirus outbreak. Despite the safety measures, there have been multiple pandemic waves happening throughout the world. Therefore, it is necessary to understand the fundamental characteristics of COVID-19 transmission and pathogenesis to overcome the threat of the pandemic.

The role of vision-related problems in fatal road accidents in Finland.

Purpose: To evaluate the significance of vision-related problems in fatal motor vehicle accidents (FMVAs) based on a systematic investigation process by multidisciplinary road accident investigation teams (RAITs).

Methods: Retrospective registry-based study of all FMVAs during the years 2012-2016 in Finland in which driver causing the accident had a valid Finnish driving licence and the operated motor vehicle required having a driving licence.

Results: There were a total of 968 FMVAs.

Information Needs Expressed During Patient-Oriented Oncology Consultations: Quantity, Variation, and Barriers.

High-quality oncology consultation includes patient-oriented communication tailored to patients' individualized needs. Common methods used in studies to increase question-asking are prompt lists and coaching pre-consultations. However, our patients were encouraged to ask questions by the physician during their visit.

Routine bladder cancer treatment dictates divergence from trial-derived regimens: Results of treatment at 44 radiotherapy centers.

Purpose: To assess characteristics and outcome of patients treated with radiotherapy for muscle-invasive bladder cancer at 44 community-based radiotherapy centers and compare these to those on clinical trials.

Materials And Methods: We reviewed 155 patients who had been treated from 2010 to 2014. Overall survival and progression-free survival were estimated using the Kaplan-Meier method.

Androgen Deprivation Therapy Use in the Setting of High-dose Radiation Therapy and the Risk of Prostate Cancer-Specific Mortality Stratified by the Extent of Competing Mortality.

Purpose: The addition of androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) to radiation therapy (RT) is the standard of care for men with intermediate- and high-risk prostate cancer (PC). However, whether competing mortality (CM) affects the ability of ADT to improve, survival remains unanswered.

Methods And Materials: We calculated a CM risk score using a Fine-Gray semiparametric model that included age and cardiometabolic comorbidities from a cohort of 17,669 men treated with high-dose RT with or without supplemental ADT for nonmetastatic PC.

Whole Pelvis Versus Prostate-Only Radiotherapy With or Without Short-Course Androgen Deprivation Therapy and Mortality Risk.

Background: The purpose of the study was to determine whether the extent of prostate radiotherapy (ie, whole-pelvic radiotherapy [WPRT] vs. prostate and seminal vesicle radiotherapy [PSVRT]) is associated with all-cause mortality (ACM) in men treated with or without androgen deprivation therapy (ADT).

Patients And Methods: A multiple-institution cohort of 3709 prostate cancer patients was prospectively assembled from 1991 to 2006.

Combining immunotherapy and radiation for prostate cancer.

Radiotherapy has conventionally been viewed as immunosuppressive, which has precluded its use in combination with immunotherapy for prostate and other cancers. However, the relationship between ionizing radiation and immune reactivity is now known to be more complex than was previously thought, and data on the use of radiotherapy and immunotherapy are accumulating. Herein, we review this topic in the light of recently available data in the prostate cancer setting.

Identification of comorbidities that place men at highest risk of death from androgen deprivation therapy before brachytherapy for prostate cancer.

Purpose: To determine which specific comorbidities predispose men to excess mortality by androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) given before and during brachytherapy for prostate cancer.

Methods And Materials: We analyzed 5972 men with T1c-T3b prostate cancer treated with brachytherapy-based radiation with or without neoadjuvant ADT. Cox multivariable analysis with propensity scoring was used to determine if ADT was associated with increased all-cause mortality (ACM) in men divided into groups stratified by cardiac comorbidities.

Neoadjuvant hormonal therapy use and the risk of death in men with prostate cancer treated with brachytherapy who have no or at least a single risk factor for coronary artery disease.

Background: Neoadjuvant hormone therapy (NHT) use is associated with an increased risk of all-cause mortality (ACM) in men with a history of coronary artery disease (CAD)-induced congestive heart failure (CHF) or myocardial infarction (MI). However, its effect in men with no or at least a single risk factor for CAD stratified by prostate cancer (PCa) aggressiveness is unknown.

Objective: To assess whether NHT use affects the risk of ACM in men with low-, intermediate-, and high-risk PCa treated with brachytherapy who have no or at least a single risk factor for CAD.

Radical prostatectomy vs radiation therapy and androgen-suppression therapy in high-risk prostate cancer.

Unlabelled: What's known on the subject? and What does the study add? Prostate cancer is generally considered to be high risk when the prostate-specific antigen (PSA) concentration is >20 ng/mL, the Gleason score is ≥8 or the American Joint Commission on Cancer (AJCC) tumour (T) category is ≥2c. There is no consensus on the best treatment for men with prostate cancer that includes these high-risk features. Options include external beam radiation therapy (EBRT) with androgen suppression therapy (AST), treatment with a combination of brachytherapy, EBRT and AST termed combined-modality therapy (CMT) or radical prostatectomy (RP) followed by adjuvant RT in cases where there are unfavourable pathological features, e.

The number of high-risk factors and the risk of prostate cancer-specific mortality after brachytherapy: implications for treatment selection.

Purpose: To determine whether an increasing number of high-risk factors is associated with higher prostate cancer-specific mortality (PCSM) among men treated with brachytherapy (BT)-based treatment, and whether supplemental therapy has an impact on this risk.

Methods And Materials: We analyzed the cases of 2234 men with localized prostate cancer treated between 1991 and 2007 with low-dose rate BT monotherapy (n = 457) or BT with supplemental external-beam radiotherapy (EBRT, n = 229), androgen suppression therapy (AST, n = 424), or both (n = 1124). All men had at least one high-risk factor (prostate-specific antigen >20 ng/mL, biopsy Gleason score 8-10, or clinical stage ≥T2c).

Diabetes mellitus, race and the odds of high grade prostate cancer in men treated with radiation therapy.

Purpose: Black men present more frequently with high grade prostate cancer and are more likely to have diabetes mellitus. We evaluated whether there is an independent association between diabetes mellitus and the risk of high grade prostate cancer in men diagnosed with prostate cancer and treated with radiation therapy.

Materials And Methods: A polychotomous logistic regression analysis was performed to evaluate whether a diagnosis of diabetes mellitus was associated with the odds of Gleason score 7 or 8-10 prostate cancer in a cohort of 16,286 men, adjusting for black race, advancing age, prostate specific antigen and digital rectal examination findings.

Type of diabetes mellitus and the odds of Gleason score 8 to 10 prostate cancer.

Purpose: It has been recently shown that diabetes mellitus (DM) is significantly associated with the likelihood of presenting with high-grade prostate cancer (PCa) or Gleason score (GS) 8 to 10; however, whether this association holds for both Type 1 and 2 DM is unknown. In this study we evaluated whether DM Type 1, 2, or both are associated with high-grade PCa after adjusting for known predictors of high-grade disease.

Methods And Materials: Between 1991 and 2010, a total of 15,330 men diagnosed with PCa and treated with radiation therapy were analyzed.

Psychopathic traits in Finnish homicide offenders with schizophrenia.

There is a paucity of studies examining psychopathy in comparable samples of violent individuals with and without psychotic illness. The main goal of the study was to assess the prevalence and nature of psychopathic traits as measured by PCL-R among Finnish homicide offenders with schizophrenia. Further, the impact of co-morbid psychopathy on the homicidal incidents, as well as the associations of psychopathy and offender background factors, among offenders with schizophrenia was investigated.

Coronary artery revascularization and the risk of death in men with prostate cancer.

Purpose: We investigated whether the decrease in death from cardiovascular disease, a major competing risk, explains the observed increase in prostate cancer specific mortality before 1992.

Materials And Methods: Between 1991 and 2006, 1,880 men with known cardiovascular disease underwent radiation therapy for prostate cancer and were followed until July 2008. Cox regression multivariable analysis was performed to assess whether known prostate cancer prognostic factors, history of coronary artery revascularization for cardiovascular disease, age, Charlson comorbidity score and prostate cancer treatment were associated with the risk of death.

Influence of androgen deprivation therapy on all-cause mortality in men with high-risk prostate cancer and a history of congestive heart failure or myocardial infarction.

Purpose: It is unknown whether the excess risk of all-cause mortality (ACM) observed when androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) is added to radiation for men with prostate cancer and a history of congestive heart failure (CHF) or myocardial infarction (MI) also applies to those with high-risk disease.

Methods And Materials: Of 14,594 men with cT1c-T3aN0M0 prostate cancer treated with brachytherapy-based radiation from 1991 through 2006, 1,378 (9.4%) with a history of CHF or MI comprised the study cohort.

Race and survival following brachytherapy-based treatment for men with localized or locally advanced adenocarcinoma of the prostate.

Purpose: We investigated whether race was associated with risk of death following brachytherapy-based treatment for localized prostate cancer, adjusting for age, cardiovascular comorbidity, treatment, and established prostate cancer prognostic factors.

Methods: The study cohort was composed of 5,360 men with clinical stage T1-3N0M0 prostate cancer who underwent brachytherapy-based treatment at 20 centers within the 21st Century Oncology consortium. Cox regression multivariable analysis was used to evaluate the risk of death in African-American and Hispanic men compared to that in Caucasian men, adjusting for age, pretreatment prostate-specific antigen (PSA) level, Gleason score, clinical T stage, year and type of treatment, median income, and cardiovascular comorbidities.

Coronary revascularization and mortality in men with congestive heart failure or prior myocardial infarction who receive androgen deprivation.

Background: A study was undertaken to determine the impact of prior coronary revascularization (angioplasty, stent, or coronary artery bypass graft) on the risk of all-cause mortality after neoadjuvant hormonal therapy (HT) for prostate cancer (PC) in men with a history of coronary artery disease (CAD)-induced congestive heart failure (CHF) or myocardial infarction (MI).

Methods: Among 7839 men who received radiation with or without a median of 4 months of HT for PC from 1991 to 2006, 495 (6.3%) had CAD-induced CHF or MI and formed the study cohort.

A survey of clinical research coordinators in the cooperative group setting of the American College of Radiology Imaging Network (ACRIN).

Rationale And Objectives: As one of the newest cooperative groups funded by the National Cancer Institute in 1999, the American College of Radiology Imaging Network (ACRIN) is interested in conducting successful clinical research programs and pursuing quality research. The ACRIN Research Associate (RA) committee was formed in 2000 and felt it important to better understand the demographics, duties, needs, and concerns of ACRIN RAs. Therefore, in 2008, the committee conducted a survey of ACRIN RAs regarding these issues.

Risk of all-cause and prostate cancer-specific mortality after brachytherapy in men with small prostate size.

Background: Brachytherapy for prostate cancer can be technically challenging in men with small prostates (≤20 cc), but it is unknown whether their outcomes are different than those of men with larger prostates.

Methods And Materials: We studied 6,416 men treated with brachytherapy in one of 21 community-based practices. Cox regression and Fine and Gray's regression were used to determine whether volume ≤20 cc was associated with a higher risk of all-cause mortality (ACM) or prostate cancer-specific mortality (PCSM), respectively, after adjustment for other known prognostic factors.

The use of supplemental external beam radiotherapy in men with low-risk prostate cancer undergoing brachytherapy before and after the 1999 American Brachytherapy Society Guideline statement.

Purpose: In 1999, the American Brachytherapy Society (ABS) recommended brachy-monotherapy for men with low-risk prostate cancer because of the potential for increased toxicity with combined external beam radiotherapy (EBRT) and brachytherapy without the proof of increased efficacy. We investigated the patterns of care in the community in this patient population before and after the reporting of the ABS guideline.

Methods And Materials: The study cohort consisted of 4943 men (median age, 69.

Prostate cancer-specific mortality and the extent of therapy in healthy elderly men with high-risk prostate cancer.

Background: The risk of prostate cancer-specific mortality (PCSM) in healthy elderly men may depend on extent of treatment. The authors of this report compared the use of brachytherapy alone with combined brachytherapy, external-beam radiation to the prostate and seminal vesicles, and androgen-suppression therapy (CMT) in this population.

Methods: The study cohort comprised 764 men aged > or = 65 years with high-risk prostate cancer (T3 or T4N0M0, prostate-specific antigen >20 ng/mL, and/or Gleason score 8-10) who received either brachytherapy alone (n = 206) or CMT (n = 558) at the Chicago Prostate Cancer Center or at a 21st Century Oncology facility.

Androgen-suppression therapy for prostate cancer and the risk of death in men with a history of myocardial infarction or stroke.

Objective: To examine the effect of short-course androgen-suppression therapy (AST) before brachytherapy on all-cause mortality (ACM) rates, stratified by the presence or absence of a history of myocardial infarction (MI) or stroke. AST is used to reduce prostate size to enable men with favourable-risk prostate cancer to undergo brachytherapy, but no disease-specific benefit has been reported for this practice, and AST use has been associated with an increased risk of ACM in some men with pre-existing cardiovascular disease.

Patients And Methods: The study comprised 12792 men with favourable-risk disease, i.

Mortality in men with localized prostate cancer treated with brachytherapy with or without neoadjuvant hormone therapy.

Background: Discrepancies exist regarding the impact of neoadjuvant hormone therapy (NHT) on the risk of all-cause mortality (ACM) in men who receive brachytherapy for localized prostate cancer. Therefore, the objective of the current study was to examine the effect of NHT on the risk of ACM in men with prostate cancer who receive with brachytherapy.

Methods: The study cohort included 2474 men with localized prostate cancer who either received NHT (N = 1083) or did not receive NHT (N = 1391) and brachytherapy without supplemental external beam radiation between 1991 and 2005 at centers within the 21st Century Oncology Consortium.

Predictors of prostate cancer-specific mortality in elderly men with intermediate-risk prostate cancer treated with brachytherapy with or without external beam radiation therapy.

Purpose: To identify clinical factors associated with prostate cancer-specific mortality (PCSM), adjusting for comorbidity, in elderly men with intermediate-risk prostate cancer treated with brachytherapy alone or in conjunction with external beam radiation therapy.

Methods And Materials: The study cohort comprised 1,978 men of median age 71 (interquartile range, 66-75) years with intermediate-risk disease (Gleason score 7, prostate-specific antigen (PSA) 20 ng/mL or less, tumor category T2c or less). Fine and Gray's multivariable competing risks regression was used to assess whether prevalent cardiovascular disease (CVD), age, treatment, year of brachytherapy, PSA level, or tumor category was associated with the risk of PCSM.