A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Prognostic Nomograms After UTUC Surgery.

Background: Current guidelines recommend assessing the prognosis in high-risk upper tract urothelial carcinoma patients (UTUC) after surgery. However, no specific method is endorsed. Among the various prognostic models, nomograms represent an easy and accurate tool to predict the individual probability for a specific event.

Arab American Mothers' HPV Vaccination Knowledge and Beliefs.

Little is known of Arab Americans' human papilloma virus vaccination (HPVV) behaviors. We explored associations between US Arab immigrant mothers' beliefs regarding HPVV for their children with socioeconomic, medical, and religious/cultural factors. A cross-sectional survey was conducted in New York City (August 2019-April 2021) with 162 Arab American immigrant women who had at least one child aged 9 through 26 years.

COVID-19 complications in males and females: recent developments.

To provide a comprehensive understanding of the varying effects of SARS-CoV-2 infection based on sex. A PubMed search of 470 primary articles was performed, with inclusion based on relevance (sex differences discussed in the target COVID population) and redundancy. PubMed was queried based on title for the keywords "SEX" and "COVID" or "SARS" between 2020 and 2022.

Comparison of tumor assessments using RECIST 1.1 and irRECIST, and association with overall survival.

Background: Patients treated with immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) may experience pseudoprogression, which can be classified as progressive disease (PD) by Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors (RECIST) V.1.1 and could lead to inappropriate treatment discontinuation.

Eucommia, Cuscuta, and Drynaria Extracts Ameliorate Glucocorticoid-Induced Osteoporosis by Inhibiting Osteoclastogenesis Through PI3K/Akt Pathway.

Osteoporosis is one of the most common diseases in the world which resulted in heavy socioeconomic burden and a public health threat. Glucocorticoid-induced osteoporosis (GIO) is the most common secondary reason of osteoporosis. Therapeutic strategies using traditional Chinese medicine are under investigation for osteoporosis, with efforts to improve efficacy and clarify the mechanism.

Metabolic Disease, NAD Metabolism, Nicotinamide Riboside, and the Gut Microbiome: Connecting the Dots from the Gut to Physiology.

The effort to use nutrients as interventions to treat human disease has been important to medicine. A current example in this vein pertains to NAD boosters, such as nicotinamide riboside (NR) and nicotinamide mononucleotide (NMN), which are in many clinical trials in a variety of disease conditions. Independent laboratories have shown that ingested NR (or NMN) has mitigating effects on metabolic syndrome in mice.

CSF1 receptor inhibition of tenosynovial giant cell tumor using novel disease-specific MRI measures of tumor burden.

Monitoring treatment of tenosynovial giant cell tumor (TGCT) is complicated by the irregular shape and asymmetrical growth of the tumor. We compared responses to pexidartinib by Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors (RECIST) 1.1 with those by tumor volume score (TVS) and modified RECIST (m-RECIST).

Cooling Anesthesia for Intravitreal Injection: Results of the Prospective Open-Label, Dose-Ranging COOL-1 Trial.

Purpose: To evaluate the safety and efficacy of a novel medical device to provide cooling anesthesia to the eye as local anesthesia for intravitreal injections.

Study Design: First in human, open-label study of 43 subjects assessed at three different doses: -10°C for 20 seconds (group 1), -15°C for 15 seconds (group 2), and -15°C for 20 seconds (group 3). Main outcome measures were safety and pain of injection using a numeric rating scale (NRS).

Virus-Mimic mRNA Vaccine for Cancer Treatment.

An effective therapeutic cancer vaccine should be empowered with the capacity to overcome the immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment. Here, the authors describe a mRNA virus-mimicking vaccine platform that is comprised of a phospholipid bilayer encapsulated with a protein-nucleotide core consisting of antigen-encoding mRNA molecules, unmethylated CpG oligonucleotides and positively charged proteins. In cell culture, VLVP potently stimulated bone marrow-derived dendritic cells (BMDCs) to express inflammatory cytokines that facilitated dendritic cell (DC) maturation and promoted antigen processing and presentation.

Avelumab in patients with previously treated metastatic Merkel cell carcinoma (JAVELIN Merkel 200): updated overall survival data after >5 years of follow-up.

Background: Merkel cell carcinoma (MCC) is a rare, aggressive skin cancer that has a poor prognosis in patients with advanced disease. Avelumab [anti-programmed death-ligand 1 (PD-L1)] became the first approved treatment for patients with metastatic MCC (mMCC), based on efficacy and safety data observed in the JAVELIN Merkel 200 trial. We report long-term overall survival (OS) data after >5 years of follow-up from the cohort of patients with mMCC whose disease had progressed after one or more prior lines of chemotherapy.

Toxicity of Chimeric Antigen Receptor T Cells and its Management.

Recently, chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cell therapy has transformed the treatment armamentarium of relapsed/refractory B lymphoid malignancies. CAR T cells provide an excellent response rate and potential cure for these patients. However, CAR T cells also possess unique and potentially life-threatening immune-mediated side effects.

Validating Visual Stimuli of Nature Images and Identifying the Representative Characteristics.

This study fills a void in the literature by both validating images of nature for use in future research experiments and examining which characteristics of these visual stimuli are found to be most representative of nature. We utilized a convenience sample of university students to assess 129 different nature images on which best represented nature. Participants ( = 40) viewed one image per question ( = 129) and were asked to rate images using a 5-point Likert scale, with the anchors "best represents nature" (5) and "least represents nature" (1).

Morphological characteristics of eyes with neovascular age-related macular degeneration and good long-term visual outcomes after anti-VEGF therapy.

Purpose: To analyse the morphological characteristics of eyes with neovascular age-related macular degeneration (AMD) with good long-term visual acuity after anti-VEGF (vascular endothelial growth factor) therapy.

Methods: Retrospective, observational study of 175 patients with neovascular AMD with >5 years of follow-up after initiating anti-VEGF therapy. Spectral-domain optical coherence tomography images were assessed for thickness of pigment epithelial detachment (PED), subretinal hyper-reflective material (SHRM), subretinal fluid and subfoveal choroidal, as well as the integrity of the outer retinal bands.

The 100 Most Mentioned Glaucoma Articles Online With Highest Altmetric Attention Scores.

Prcis: Characteristics of the most mentioned glaucoma articles on the internet were analyzed, allowing a better understanding of the dissemination of glaucoma research to the general public.

Purpose: The aim was to determine the 100 most mentioned articles on the internet in the field of glaucoma and analyze their characteristics.

Materials And Methods: We identified the top 100 glaucoma articles with the highest Altmetric Attention Score (AAS), an automatically calculated metric for monitoring social media.

Cerebrospinal fluid diversion for leptomeningeal metastasis: palliative, procedural and oncologic outcomes.

Background: Leptomeningeal metastasis (LM) occurs in 3-5% of patients with solid metastatic tumors and often portends a severe prognosis including symptomatic hydrocephalus and intracranial hypertension. Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) shunting can provide symptomatic relief in this patient subset; however, few studies have examined the role of shunting in the palliation, prognosis and overall oncologic care of these patients.

Objective: To identify and evaluate risk factors associated with prognosis after CSF diversion and assess surgical, symptomatic and oncologic outcomes in this population.

Neoadjuvant osimertinib with/without chemotherapy versus chemotherapy alone for -mutated resectable non-small-cell lung cancer: NeoADAURA.

Osimertinib is a third-generation, irreversible oral EGFR-tyrosine kinase inhibitor), that potently inhibits EGFR-tyrosine kinase inhibitor-sensitizing mutations and T790M resistance mutations together with efficacy in CNS metastases in patients with non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Here we describe the rationale and design for the Phase III NeoADAURA study (NCT04351555), which will evaluate neoadjuvant osimertinib with or without chemotherapy versus chemotherapy alone prior to surgery, in patients with resectable stage II-IIIB N2 mutation-positive NSCLC. The primary end point is centrally assessed major pathological response at the time of resection.

Treatment patterns and survival in patients with early-onset pancreatic cancer.

Background: Pancreatic cancer is uncommon in patients younger than 50 years, although its incidence is increasing. This study characterizes treatment utilization for early-onset pancreatic cancer (EOPC) versus average-age-onset pancreatic cancer (AOPC) and identifies factors associated with failure to receive treatment.

Methods: The National Cancer Data Base (NCDB) was queried for patients with EOPC (age < 50 years) or AOPC (age ≥ 50 years) from 2004 to 2016.

Systemic therapies for metastatic hormone-sensitive prostate cancer: network meta-analysis.

Objectives: To perform a systematic review and network meta-analysis to compare the efficacy and safety of currently available treatments for the management of metastatic hormone-sensitive prostate cancer (mHSPC), as there has been a paradigm shift with the use of next-generation androgen receptor inhibitors (ARIs) and docetaxel.

Methods: Multiple databases were searched for articles published before May 2020 according to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-analysis extension statement for network meta-analysis. Studies comparing overall/progression-free survival (OS/PFS) and/or adverse events (AEs) in patients with mHSPC were eligible.

Epithelioid hemangioendothelioma, an ultra-rare cancer: a consensus paper from the community of experts.

Epithelioid hemangioendothelioma (EHE) is an ultra-rare, translocated, vascular sarcoma. EHE clinical behavior is variable, ranging from that of a low-grade malignancy to that of a high-grade sarcoma and it is marked by a high propensity for systemic involvement. No active systemic agents are currently approved specifically for EHE, which is typically refractory to the antitumor drugs used in sarcomas.

Targeting nectin-4 by antibody-drug conjugates for the treatment of urothelial carcinoma.

Introduction: Nectin-4 is a tumor-associated antigen overexpressed in urothelial carcinoma and several other malignancies. It has emerged as a compelling target for novel tumor-directed therapies, particularly as a component of antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs), a growing class of anti-cancer therapeutic agents. Development of nectin-4-directed therapies has been led by enfortumab vedotin (EV), an ADC comprised of a fully human monoclonal antibody specific for nectin-4 conjugated via a cleavable linker to the microtubule inhibitor MMAE.

First-line immune-checkpoint inhibitor combination therapy for chemotherapy-eligible patients with metastatic urothelial carcinoma: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

Introduction: Platinum-based combination chemotherapy is the standard treatment for patients with chemotherapy-eligible metastatic urothelial carcinoma (mUC). Immune-checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) are currently assessed in this setting. This review aimed to assess the role of ICIs alone or in combination as first-line treatment in chemotherapy-eligible patients with mUC.

Iron Deposition Characteristics of Deep Gray Matter in Elderly Individuals in the Community Revealed by Quantitative Susceptibility Mapping and Multiple Factor Analysis.

Purpose: The objective of this study was to determine which factors influence brain iron concentrations in deep gray matter in elderly individuals and how these factors influence regional brain iron concentrations.

Methods: A total of 105 elderly individuals were enrolled in this study. All participants underwent detailed magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) examinations from October 2018 to August 2019.

Financial toxicity, mental health, and gynecologic cancer treatment: The effect of the COVID-19 pandemic among low-income women in New York City.

Background: New York City (NYC) emerged as an epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic, and marginalized populations were affected at disproportionate rates. The authors sought to determine the impact of COVID-19 on cancer treatment, anxiety, and financial distress among low-income patients with gynecologic cancer during the peak of the NYC pandemic.

Methods: Medicaid-insured women who were receiving gynecologic oncology care at 2 affiliated centers were contacted by telephone interviews between March 15 and April 15, 2020.