Spatial and temporal changes of social vulnerability of cities to natural hazards in Zhejiang province, China.

Understanding how social dynamics interact with natural hazards is one of the main challenges at global and local scales in the world for studying social vulnerability to natural hazards. In this study, we explore the spatial and temporal changes of social vulnerability of cities in Zhejiang province to natural hazards in China for the last decade. Based on the Zhejiang province's census data and the demographics and socioeconomic data during the period from 2009 to 2018, we have characterized social vulnerability through the Social Vulnerability Index (SoVI) for 11 cities throughout the province during 2009-2018 and examined spatial changes in social vulnerability using equal interval method.

Outcomes of Antineoplastic Immunotherapy at a Large Healthcare Organization: Impact of Provider, Race and Socioeconomic Status.

Purpose: Disparities in cancer care delivery remain a pressing health-care crisis within the United States (US). The use of immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) and their management may be a disparity generator that impacts survival. This retrospective study assessed disparities in a cohort of patients with a variety of solid tumors treated with ICIs within a single health-care organization focusing on the impact of race, socioeconomic status (SES) and site of care delivery on survival and the development of severe immune-related adverse events (irAEs).

Survival in elderly patients with breast cancer with and without autoimmune disease.

Background: Patients with certain autoimmune conditions are at a reduced risk of developing breast cancer compared to the general population. Despite this, little is known about outcomes in patients with breast cancer who have a concurrent autoimmune diagnosis.

Methods: This study compared differences in outcomes between women with breast cancer who had or did not have an autoimmune diagnosis.

GMLM-CNN: A Hybrid Solution to SWIR-VIS Face Verification with Limited Imagery.

Cross-spectral face verification between short-wave infrared (SWIR) and visible light (VIS) face images poses a challenge, which is motivated by various real-world applications such as surveillance at night time or in harsh environments. This paper proposes a hybrid solution that takes advantage of both traditional feature engineering and modern deep learning techniques to overcome the issue of as encountered in the SWIR band. Firstly, the paper revisits the theory of measurement levels.

Comparing Survival in Patients With Lung Cancer With and Without a History of Common Autoimmune Disease.

Introduction: Autoimmune disease has both a predisposing and a protective effect toward malignancy. Though studies have investigated the risk of malignancy in patients with autoimmune disease, there is limited research on how autoimmunity affects survival.

Methods: This study compared survival in patients with lung cancer with and without autoimmune disease.

Risk factors for cardiovascular events and mortality in patients diagnosed with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma and treated with anthracyclines.

There is an increased risk of congestive heart failure (CHF) following anthracycline-based chemotherapy in patients with Diffuse Large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL). Little is known about risk factors of CHF, other cardiovascular events (CVE), and CVE effect on outcomes. We conducted a retrospective review of 463 newly diagnosed DLBCL patients treated between 2002 and 2016 with anthracycline containing regimens.

Repositioning Fenofibrate to Reactivate p53 and Reprogram the Tumor-Immune Microenvironment in HPV+ Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma.

Human papillomavirus-associated head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HPV+ HNSCC) is recognized as a distinct disease with unique etiology and clinical features. Current standard of care therapeutic modalities are identical for HPV+ and HPV- HNSCC and thus, there remains an opportunity to develop innovative pharmacologic approaches to exploit the inherent vulnerabilities of HPV+ HNSCC. In this study, using an inducible HPVE6E7 knockdown system, we found that HPV+ HNSCC cells are addicted to HPVE6E7, such that loss of these viral oncogenes impaired tumorigenicity in vitro and in vivo.

Adding Base-Excision Repair Inhibitor TRC102 to Standard Pemetrexed-Platinum-Radiation in Patients with Advanced Nonsquamous Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer: Results of a Phase I Trial.

Purpose: TRC102, a small-molecule base-excision repair inhibitor, potentiates the cytotoxicity of pemetrexed and reverses resistance by binding to chemotherapy-induced abasic sites in DNA. We conducted a phase I clinical trial combining pemetrexed and TRC102 with cisplatin-radiation in stage III nonsquamous non-small cell lung cancer (NS-NSCLC).

Patients And Methods: Fifteen patients were enrolled from 2015 to 2019.

A randomized controlled trial of structured palliative care versus standard supportive care for patients enrolled in phase 1 clinical trials.

Purpose: Patients enrolled in Phase 1 clinical trials have typically exhausted standard therapies and often are choosing between a clinical trial and hospice care. Significant symptom burden can result in early trial discontinuation and confound trial outcomes. This study aimed to examine differences in study duration, symptom burden, adverse events (AE), and quality of life (QOL) between those receiving structured palliative care versus usual supportive care.

Physical Activity and Sleep Measures Using a Fitness Tracking Device during Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation: A Pilot Study.

Patients undergoing hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT) experience decline in their physical activity during their transplant admission. There is limited experience with prospective monitoring of transplant recipients. We therefore measured physical activity and sleep patterns of subjects undergoing autologous and allogeneic HCT.

Socioeconomic Factors and Survival of Multiple Myeloma Patients.

Background: Outcome of Multiple Myeloma (MM) patients has improved as the result of the introduction of novel medications and use of autologous hematopoietic cell transplantation. However, this improvement comes at the expense of increased financial burden. It is largely unknown if socioeconomic factors influence MM survival.

Pre-radiotherapy lymphocyte count and platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio may improve survival prediction beyond clinical factors in limited stage small cell lung cancer: model development and validation.

Background: Few small sample size studies have reported lymphocyte count was prognostic for survival in small-cell lung cancer (SCLC). This study aimed to validate this finding, to build prediction model for overall survival (OS) and to study whether novel models that combine lymphocyte-related variables can predict OS more accurately than a conventional model using clinical factors alone in a large cohort of limited-stage SCLC patients.

Methods: This study enrolled 544 limited-stage SCLC patients receiving definitive chemo-radiation with pre-radiotherapy lymphocyte-related variables including absolute lymphocyte count (ALC), platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio (P/L ratio), neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (N/L ratio), and lymphocyte-to-monocyte ratio (L/M ratio).

Efficacy and cost-benefit of filgrastim administered after early assessment bone marrow biopsy during induction therapy for acute myeloid leukemia.

The role of filgrastim during acute myeloid leukemia (AML) induction therapy remains controversial. At our institution, newly diagnosed AML patients from 2003 through 2019 were retrospectively evaluated. Patients were stratified on whether they received filgrastim within 5 days after early assessment bone marrow (BMBx) and divided into early GCSF group (eGCSF) and no-eGCSF group.

Barriers to Follow-Up Colonoscopy After Positive FIT or Multitarget Stool DNA Testing.

Background: Fecal immunochemical testing (FIT) and multi-target stool DNA testing (mt-sDNA) are recommended colorectal cancer screening options but require follow-up with colonoscopy to determine the source of a positive result. We performed a retrospective analysis in an academic health system to determine adherence to colonoscopy in these patients.

Methods: We identified all patients aged 40 years and older with at least 1 primary care visit who had a positive FIT or mt-sDNA between January 2016 and June 2018.

Next Generation Sequencing of Advanced Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer: Utilization Based on Race and Impact on Survival.

Background: Next generation sequencing (NGS) of tumor of patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is now a standard of care that informs the clinician on the best therapeutic approach for their patients. The purpose of our study was to investigate the overall impact of NGS testing on survival as well as potential racial differences in utilization, therapeutic decision, and genomic alterations.

Method: Using a large institutional database, 928 patients with stage IV NSCLC were identified.

Outcomes of Immune Thrombotic Thrombocytopenic Purpura (iTTP) With Upfront Cyclophosphamide vs. Rituximab.

Immune thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura (iTTP) is a rare, life-threatening disorder managed with plasma exchange (PLEX) and steroids. Addition of rituximab (RTX) to initial disease treatment has been shown to lower future relapse rates. Information as to whether upfront cyclophosphamide (CTX) treatment is helpful in reducing relapse is not known.

History of drug use in allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplant recipients.

Allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplant (HCT) is a curative therapy for malignant and non-malignant blood diseases. Drug use may be associated with adverse outcomes. We performed a retrospective analysis to assess non-relapse mortality (NRM) and overall survival (OS) in HCT patients with drug use.

Conditioning regimen intensity and low-dose azacitidine maintenance after allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation for acute myeloid leukemia.

Azacitidine (AZA) maintenance following allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT) for acute myeloid leukemia (AML) and myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) may reduce relapse risk and improve survival. Given logistic and toxicity-related challenges, identifying subgroups appropriate for this approach is an unmet need. Using data from two centers, we retrospectively compared event-free survival (EFS) and overall survival (OS) of AML and MDS patients who received AZA maintenance ( = 59) with historic controls ( = 90).

Aggressive lymphoma subtype is a risk factor for venous thrombosis. Development of lymphoma - specific venous thrombosis prediction models.

Venous thromboembolic events (VTE) are a frequent complication of lymphoma. We conducted a retrospective analysis to compare VTE risk in diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) and follicular lymphoma (FL). Subjects were randomly assigned to training and validation sets to identify risk factors of VTE and evaluate risk model performance, including the Khorana score.

K-Ras G-domain binding with signaling lipid phosphatidylinositol (4,5)-phosphate (PIP2): membrane association, protein orientation, and function.

Ras genes potently drive human cancers, with mutated () being the most abundant isoform. Targeted inhibition of oncogenic gene products is considered the "holy grail" of present-day cancer therapy, and recent discoveries of small-molecule KRas4B inhibitors were made thanks to a deeper understanding of the structure and dynamics of this GTPase. Because interactions with biological membranes are key for Ras function, Ras-lipid interactions have become a major focus, especially because such interactions evidently involve both the Ras C terminus for lipid anchoring and its G-protein domain.

A Metastable Contact and Structural Disorder in the Estrogen Receptor Transactivation Domain.

The N-terminal transactivation domain (NTD) of estrogen receptor alpha, a well-known member of the family of intrinsically disordered proteins, mediates the receptor's transactivation function. However, an accurate molecular dissection of NTD's structure-function relationships remains elusive. Here, we show that the NTD adopts a mostly disordered, unexpectedly compact conformation that undergoes structural expansion on chemical denaturation.

Neonatal intermittent hypoxemia events are associated with diagnosis of bronchopulmonary dysplasia at 36 weeks postmenstrual age.

Background: Bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD) is a chronic lung disease and major pulmonary complication after premature birth. We have previously shown that increased intermittent hypoxemia (IH) events have been correlated to adverse outcomes and mortality in extremely premature infants. We hypothesize that early IH patterns are associated with the development of BPD.