Prognostic scores for predicting overall survival in patients with metastatic renal and urothelial cancer undergoing immunotherapy - which one to use?

Purpose: Evaluation of the prognostic significance of four different scoring systems in a real-world cohort of patients with metastatic urothelial carcinoma (mUC) or renal cell carcinoma (mRCC) undergoing immunotherapy (IO).

Methods: For 120 patients with mUC (n = 67) and mRCC (n = 53) who received IO between July 2016 and December 2020 at the tertiary Urological University Medical Centre Mannheim, the following scores were recorded at pre-treatment baseline: modified Glasgow prognostic score (mGPS), systemic immune-inflammation index (SII), neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR), neutrophil-to-eosinophil ratio (NER). Overall survival (time between the beginning of IO until the patients' death or last contact) was determined for every patient.

A comparison of force adaptation in toddlers and adults during a drawer opening task.

Adapting movements to rapidly changing conditions is fundamental for interacting with our dynamic environment. This adaptability relies on internal models that predict and evaluate sensory outcomes to adjust motor commands. Even infants anticipate object properties for efficient grasping, suggesting the use of internal models.

Spatially resolved transcriptomics and graph-based deep learning improve accuracy of routine CNS tumor diagnostics.

The diagnostic landscape of brain tumors integrates comprehensive molecular markers alongside traditional histopathological evaluation. DNA methylation and next-generation sequencing (NGS) have become a cornerstone in central nervous system (CNS) tumor classification. A limiting requirement for NGS and methylation profiling is sufficient DNA quality and quantity, which restrict its feasibility.

Dimensional structure of the Brief Illness Perception Questionnaire and Association with adverse childhood experiences in patients with an implantable cardioverter-defibrillator.

Illness perceptions (IP), as measured by the Brief Illness Perception Questionnaire (BIPQ), and adverse childhood experiences (ACE) have been shown to affect the physical and psychological well-being in different patient populations. However, little is known about IP and ACE in patients with an implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD). Our objectives were to investigate the dimensional structure and to evaluate correlates of the BIPQ in ICD patients.

[Treatment of ankle osteoarthritis : Analysis of a German nationwide survey].

Background: In most cases osteoarthritis of the ankle is of posttraumatic origin. Younger people are more frequently affected, which makes treatment a particular challenge. In addition to conservative treatment numerous surgical procedures are available for the treatment of advanced arthrosis.

Oxidation state of bioavailable dissolved organic matter influences bacterioplankton respiration and growth efficiency.

Oxygen consumption by oceanic microbes can predict respiration (CO production) but requires an assumed respiratory quotient (RQ; ΔO/ΔCO). Measured apparent RQs (ARQs) can be impacted by various processes, including nitrification and changes in dissolved organic matter (DOM) composition, leading to discrepancies between ARQ and actual RQ. In DOM remineralization experiments conducted in the eastern North Atlantic Ocean, ARQs averaged 1.

Powertrain configuration design for two mode power split hybrid electric vehicle.

Hybrid transmissions have attracted great attention in the automotive industry due to their energy-saving, low-emission properties, and have become a focus of research and development. This paper presents a new method to design the configuration of two mode power split hybrid transmission using the combination of the simple planetary gear trains (PGT). For this purpose, the hybrid transmission structure is divided into two substructures, which achieve different operation modes respectively.

A high-fat meal significantly impacts the bioavailability and biphasic absorption of cannabidiol (CBD) from a CBD-rich extract in men and women.

Cannabidiol (CBD), a specialized metabolite (phytocannabinoid) abundant in Cannabis sativa, is attracting increasing attention for its alleged health-promoting properties. The present study aimed to investigate the pharmacokinetics of CBD and its primary metabolite, 7-hydroxy-cannabidiol (7-OH-CBD), following a single oral dose of a CBD-rich Cannabis sativa extract, equivalent to 70 mg CBD, in healthy male (n=5) and female (n=6) participants. Using a randomized crossover design, the study evaluated the impact of a standardized high-fat meal compared to fasting on the oral bioavailability of CBD.

Artificial intelligence for image recognition in diagnosing oral and oropharyngeal cancer and leukoplakia.

Visual diagnosis is one of the key features of squamous cell carcinoma of the oral cavity (OSCC) and oropharynx (OPSCC), both subsets of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) with a heterogeneous clinical appearance. Advancements in artificial intelligence led to Image recognition being introduced recently into large language models (LLMs) such as ChatGPT 4.0.

Single cell profiling of circulating autoreactive CD4 T cells from patients with autoimmune liver diseases suggests tissue imprinting.

Autoimmune liver diseases (AILD) involve dysregulated CD4 T cell responses against liver self-antigens, but how these autoreactive T cells relate to liver tissue pathology remains unclear. Here we perform single-cell transcriptomic and T cell receptor analyses of circulating, self-antigen-specific CD4 T cells from patients with AILD and identify a subset of liver-autoreactive CD4 T cells with a distinct B-helper transcriptional profile characterized by PD-1, TIGIT and HLA-DR expression. These cells share clonal relationships with expanded intrahepatic T cells and exhibit transcriptional signatures overlapping with tissue-resident T cells in chronically inflamed environments.

CODE-ACCORD: A Corpus of building regulatory data for rule generation towards automatic compliance checking.

Automatic Compliance Checking (ACC) within the Architecture, Engineering, and Construction (AEC) sector necessitates automating the interpretation of building regulations to achieve its full potential. Converting textual rules into machine-readable formats is challenging due to the complexities of natural language and the scarcity of resources for advanced Machine Learning (ML). Addressing these challenges, we introduce CODE-ACCORD, a dataset of 862 sentences from the building regulations of England and Finland.

Advances in systematic conservation planning to meet global biodiversity goals.

Systematic conservation planning (SCP) involves the cost-effective placement and application of management actions to achieve biodiversity conservation objectives. Given the political momentum for greater global nature protection, restoration, and improved management of natural resources articulated in the targets of the Global Biodiversity Framework, assessing the state-of-the-art of SCP is timely. Recent advances in SCP include faster and more exact algorithms and software, inclusion of ecosystem services and multiple facets of biodiversity (e.

Systemic therapy for patients with metastatic pheochromocytoma and paraganglioma.

Pheochromocytomas and paragangliomas are rare neuroendocrine tumors derived from the paraganglia. These tumors frequently secrete excessive amounts of catecholamines leading to cardiovascular and gastrointestinal complications. While all pheochromocytomas and paragangliomas possess the potential for metastasis, actual metastatic occurrences are observed in approximately one third of cases.

Advanced Imaging of Type 2 Spinal CSF Leaks with Ultrahigh-Resolution Cone-Beam CT Myelography.

Type 2 CSF leaks are spinal lateral dural tears, causing spontaneous intracranial hypotension (SIH). They may be visualized with digital subtraction myelography (DSM), cone-beam CT (CBCT) myelography, energy-integrating detector or photon-counting CT myelography. A recently introduced ultrahigh-resolution cone-beam CT (UHR-CBCT) myelography has shown beneficial visualization of CSF-venous fistula, another cause of SIH.

Hawkmoth pheromone transduction involves G protein-dependent phospholipase Cβ signaling.

Evolutionary pressures adapted insect chemosensation to the respective insect's physiological needs and tasks in their ecological niches. Solitary nocturnal moths rely on their acute olfactory sense to find mates at night. Pheromones are detected with maximized sensitivity and high temporal resolution through mechanisms that are mostly unknown.

Advancements in the Research of for the Treatment of Colorectal Cancer.

Colorectal cancer, characterized by its high incidence, concealed early symptoms, and poor prognosis at advanced stages, ranks as the third leading cause of cancer-related deaths worldwide. (AM) refers to the dried roots of (Fisch.) Bge.

New Artisse intrasaccular device for intracranial aneurysm treatment: short term clinical and angiographic result from the prospective registry INSPIRE-A.

Background: Intrasaccular devices have broadened treatment options for wide necked aneurysms. This study presents the preliminary experience with the Artisse 2.0 device.

How Much Data Are Enough? Toward Statistically Robust Adhesion Experiments by Atomic Force Microscopy.

Direct force measurements by atomic force microscopy (AFM) have become an indispensable analytical tool in the last decades. Force measurements have been widely used for adhesion measurements, often in combination with the colloidal probe technique. For the latter technique, a colloidal particle is attached to the end of an AFM cantilever, proving great flexibility in terms of colloid/surface interaction to be studied.

Left Atrial Appendage Occlusion in Patients With Atrial Fibrillation and Hemodialysis: An International, Multicentric Registry.

Background: The net benefit of oral anticoagulation in patients with end-stage renal disease on hemodialysis (HD) is uncertain. In recent years, left atrial appendage closure (LAAC) has emerged as an alternative to oral anticoagulation; however, there is scant evidence of LAAC in patients on HD.

Objectives: This study aimed to assess the feasibility and safety of LAAC in patients on HD.

Self-reported determinants for subjective financial distress: a qualitative interview study with German cancer patients.

Objectives: Patient-reported financial effects of a tumour disease in a universal healthcare setting are a multidimensional phenomenon. Actual and anticipated objective financial burden caused by direct medical and non-medical costs as well as indirect costs such as loss of income can lead to subjective financial distress. To better understand subjective financial distress, the presented study explores self-reported determinants for subjective financial distress in German patients with cancer, aiming to inform a new German-language patient-reported outcome measure for determining the financial effects of a tumour disease.