Phase II Study of Pembrolizumab As First-Line, Single-Drug Therapy for Patients With Unresectable Cutaneous Squamous Cell Carcinomas.

Purpose: To evaluate first-line pembrolizumab monotherapy efficacy and safety in patients with unresectable cutaneous squamous cell carcinomas (CSCCs).

Patients And Methods: Patients, predominantly men, with their CSSCs' immunohistochemically determined programmed cell death-ligand 1 (PD-L1) status determined (tumor proportion score threshold, 1%), received pembrolizumab (200 mg every 3 weeks). The primary endpoint was the 39-patient primary cohort's objective response rate at week 15 (ORR).

[Endometrial receptivity in assisted reproductive techniques: An aspect to investigate in embryo implantation failure].

Infertility affects between 8 and 12% of reproductive-age couples worldwide. Despite improvements in assisted reproductive techniques (ART), live birth rates are still limited. In clinical practice, imaging and microscopy are currently widely used, but their diagnostic effectiveness remains limited.

Poor kidney graft survival in anorexia nervosa patients.

Background: Anorexia nervosa is a condition associated with poor outcomes in a variety of circumstances such as recurrence of eating disorders, psychiatric disorders, and organ damage.

Objective: In the present study, we first sought to determine the 5-year kidney graft survival in patients with anorexia nervosa and then to evaluate the BMI course and medical complications.

Methods: In this multicenter, retrospective, case-control study, we analyzed the impact of anorexia nervosa on graft outcomes compared to transplant recipients with low or normal BMI.

Phase I study of vinblastine in combination with nilotinib in children, adolescents, and young adults with refractory or recurrent low-grade glioma.

Background: New rescue regimens are needed for pediatric refractory/recurrent low-grade glioma. Nilotinib is a tyrosine kinase inhibitor that has potential synergistic effects with vinblastine on angiogenesis, tumor cell growth, and immunomodulation.

Methods: This phase I trial aimed to determine the recommended doses of this combination for phase II trials (RP2D) using the dual-agent Bayesian continual reassessment method.

Randomized Trial Comparing Double Versus Triple Bortezomib-Based Regimen in Patients With Multiple Myeloma and Acute Kidney Injury Due to Cast Nephropathy.

Purpose: We report a multicenter controlled trial comparing renal recovery and tolerance profile of doublet versus triplet bortezomib-based regimens in patients with initial myeloma cast nephropathy (CN) and acute kidney injury (AKI) without need for dialysis.

Methods: After symptomatic measures and high-dose dexamethasone, patients were randomly assigned to receive bortezomib plus dexamethasone (BD), or BD plus cyclophosphamide (C-BD). In patients with < 50% reduction of serum free light chains (sFLCs) after 3 cycles, chemotherapy was reinforced with either cyclophosphamide (BD group) or thalidomide (C-BD group).

Deslorelin acetate implant induces transient sterility and behavior changes in male olive baboon (Papio anubis): A case study.

This case study evaluates the effects of a 4.7 mg deslorelin acetate implant on one male olive baboon (Papio anubis). Implantation induces transient azoospermia after which the subject was able to conceive again.

Dyspnea after subthalamic deep brain stimulation in Parkinson's disease: a case-control study.

Objective: Dyspnea can be present as non-motor symptom in patients with Parkinson's disease (PD). Deep brain stimulation (DBS) of the subthalamic nucleus (STN) improves motor and non-motor symptoms in PD. However, new-onset dyspnea has been reported after DBS surgery.

Safety and Patient-Reported Outcomes of Atezolizumab Plus Chemotherapy With or Without Bevacizumab Versus Bevacizumab Plus Chemotherapy in Non-Small-Cell Lung Cancer.

Purpose: Atezolizumab, bevacizumab, carboplatin, and paclitaxel (ABCP) demonstrated survival benefit versus bevacizumab, carboplatin, and paclitaxel (BCP) in chemotherapy-naïve nonsquamous non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC). We present safety and patient-reported outcomes (PROs) to provide additional information on the relative impact of adding atezolizumab to chemotherapy with and without bevacizumab in nonsquamous NSCLC.

Methods: Patients were randomly assigned to receive atezolizumab, carboplatin, and paclitaxel (ACP), ABCP, or BCP.

Lung function in Birt-Hogg-Dubé syndrome: a retrospective analysis of 96 patients.

Background: Birt-Hogg-Dubé syndrome (BHD) is a rare autosomal dominant disorder caused by mutations in the FLCN gene coding for folliculin. Its clinical expression includes cutaneous fibrofolliculomas, renal tumors, multiple pulmonary cysts, and recurrent spontaneous pneumothoraces. Data on lung function in BHD are scarce and it is not known whether lung function declines over time.

[The advanced practice nurse in gerontology, a trial to be transformed].

Elderly people are the main victims of discontinuities in their treatment because they require appropriate care. The current system is no longer able to satisfactorily cover all these complex and increasingly important demands due to the lengthening of life expectancy and the profound crisis affecting health professionals. Feedback from the experience of nurses with a Master's degree in Advanced Practice in Gerontology since 2012 shows that in this new and critical context, they are a serious solution to be adopted by the legislator to meet these public health challenges.

Is cell-free DNA in spent embryo culture medium an alternative to embryo biopsy for preimplantation genetic testing? A systematic review.

Preimplantation genetic testing (PGT) is increasingly used worldwide. It currently entails the use of invasive techniques, i.e.

Needlestack: an ultra-sensitive variant caller for multi-sample next generation sequencing data.

The emergence of next-generation sequencing (NGS) has revolutionized the way of reaching a genome sequence, with the promise of potentially providing a comprehensive characterization of DNA variations. Nevertheless, detecting somatic mutations is still a difficult problem, in particular when trying to identify low abundance mutations, such as subclonal mutations, tumour-derived alterations in body fluids or somatic mutations from histological normal tissue. The main challenge is to precisely distinguish between sequencing artefacts and true mutations, particularly when the latter are so rare they reach similar abundance levels as artefacts.

Interoceptive Abilities in Inflammatory Bowel Diseases and Irritable Bowel Syndrome.

Alexithymia is usually described by three main dimensions difficulty identifying feelings (DIF), difficulty describing feelings (DDF), and externally oriented thinking (EOT). The most commonly used questionnaire investigating alexithymia, the Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20), supports this three-factor structure. One important assumption is that alexithymia severity is associated to vulnerability to somatic diseases, among them gastrointestinal disorders.

Metabolic profiles among COPD and controls in the CanCOLD population-based cohort.

A high prevalence of intermediate cardiometabolic risk factors and obesity in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) has suggested the existence of pathophysiological links between hypertriglyceridemia, insulin resistance, visceral adiposity, and hypoxia or impaired pulmonary function. However, whether COPD contributes independently to the development of these cardiometabolic risk factors remains unclear. Our objective was to compare ectopic fat and metabolic profiles among representative individuals with COPD and control subjects and to evaluate whether the presence of COPD alters the metabolic risk profile.

The essential role of intraflagellar transport protein IFT81 in male mice spermiogenesis and fertility.

Intraflagellar transport (IFT) is an evolutionarily conserved mechanism that is indispensable for the formation and maintenance of cilia and flagella; however, the implications and functions of IFT81 remain unknown. In this study, we disrupted IFT81 expression in male germ cells starting from the spermatocyte stage. As a result, homozygous mutant males were completely infertile and displayed abnormal sperm parameters.

Clinical significance of energy loss index in patients with low-gradient severe aortic stenosis and preserved ejection fraction.

Aims: We hypothesized that among patients with low-gradient severe aortic stenosis (AS) and preserved left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF), reclassification of AS severity as moderate by pressure recovery adjusted indexed aortic valve area (AVAi) = energy loss index (ELI), may identify a subgroup of patients with a better outcome.

Methods And Results: Three hundred and seventy-nine patients with low-gradient AS (defined by AVAi ≤ 0.6 cm2/m2 and mean aortic pressure gradient < 40 mmHg) and preserved LVEF ≥50% were studied.

Contact Lenses and Infectious Keratitis: From a Case-Control Study to a Computation of the Risk for Wearers.

Purpose: Contact lens (CL)-related microbial keratitis (MK) has major public health implications, with about 300 million wearers worldwide, and certain potentially modifiable risk factors. This study aimed to identify the risk factors of CL-related MK.

Methods: A multicenter case-control study was conducted between 2014 and 2017.