Measurement Properties of the Dysphagiameter for the Assessment of Dysphagia in Oculopharyngeal Muscular Dystrophy.

Oculopharyngeal muscular dystrophy (OPMD) is a rare late-onset muscle disease with progressive dysphagia as a major symptom. The Dysphagiameter is a newly developed patient-reported outcome measure (PROM) to assess the severity of dysphagia and its impact in patients with OPMD. This article reports on item reduction and a first assessment of the Dysphagiameter's psychometrics properties, in a French and English-speaking population of individuals with OPMD.

De-escalating and discontinuing disease-modifying therapies in multiple sclerosis.

The development of disease-modifying therapies (DMTs) for the treatment of multiple sclerosis (MS) has been highly successful in recent decades. It is now widely accepted that early initiation of DMTs after disease onset is associated with a better long-term prognosis. However, the question of when and how to de-escalate or discontinue DMTs remains open and critical.

Hypoperfusion intensity ratio to differentiate between stroke etiologies in patients with a large vessel occlusion.

Background: Collateral circulation plays a key role in acute ischemic stroke. We sought to determine the association between the arterial collateral status, estimated by the Hypoperfusion Intensity Ratio (HIR) on perfusion MRI, and stroke etiology in anterior circulation large vessel occlusion (LVO).

Methods: We retrospectively analyzed anterior circulation LVO acute stroke patients with a baseline perfusion MRI performed within 24 h from symptom onset.

Prognostic Biomarkers in Evolving Melanoma Immunotherapy.

Melanoma, a highly aggressive form of skin cancer, has seen significant advancements in treatment through the introduction of immunotherapy. However, the variability in patient responses underscores the need for reliable biomarkers to guide treatment decisions. This article reviews key biomarkers in melanoma immunotherapy, such as PD-L1 expression, tumor mutational burden (TMB), and gene expression profiles (GEPs).

Prediction of severity of obstructive sleep apnea by awake impulse oscillometry.

Objective/background: Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is a common disease, which poses a significant health threat. Initial diagnostics with polygraphy or polysomnography are time consuming and expensive. Therefore, there is an unmet medical need for simplification, especially to exclude healthy patients from elaborate and unnecessary diagnostics.

PAM-13 in clinical cancer care: A systematic review.

Background: The Patient Activation Measure-13 (PAM-13) assesses patients' ability to manage their healthcare. This systematic review aimed to summarize the relationship between the PAM-13 and patient characteristics, as well as program effectiveness.

Methods: A systematic literature search was conducted using the PubMed database and following the PRISMA guidelines.

Ultrasonography for the assessment of enthesitis in psoriatic arthritis: systematic review with meta-analysis.

Introduction: The specificity of ultrasonography (US) for enthesitis in psoriatic arthritis (PsA) is unclear. The objective was to analyze the specificity of US enthesitis in Mode B and using Power Doppler (PD), for the diagnosis of PsA through a systematic review with meta-analysis.

Methods: Systematic review in PubMed 2010-June 2023, of studies of adult patients with confirmed PsA with or without a control group of non-PsA patients, reporting information on US enthesitis.

Neuropsychological tests at the Italian Centers for Cognitive Disorders and Dementias: results from a survey on 450 specialized services.

Background: The Italian Fund for Alzheimer's and other dementias approved in 2020 enabled the conducting of a survey in the Italian Centers for Cognitive Disorders and Dementias (CCDDs) to analyse the organization, the administrative features and the professionals' characteristics.

Aims: To investigate the current use of neuropsychological (NP) tests in Italian CCDDs and the association between the use of a basic set of tests for neuropsychological assessment (NPA) and organizational/structural characteristics of CCDDs.

Methods: A survey was conducted with an online questionnaire in all CCDDs between July 2022 and February 2023.

A review of ultraviolet filters and their impact on aquatic environments.

Numerous anthropogenic ultraviolet filters (UVF) have been detected in aquatic environments and concerns have arisen regarding their potential impacts on aquatic organisms. This manuscript reviews the environmental concentrations and potential toxicity of various UVF. The highest concentrations of UVF are typically observed near frequently visited recreational areas and during peak water-activity periods, which suggests that sunscreen application correlates with noticeable alterations in UVF concentrations.

Benefit from dose-dense adjuvant chemotherapy for breast cancer: subgroup analyses from the randomised phase 3 PANTHER trial.

Background: It is unclear whether some patients with high-risk breast cancer do not warrant adjuvant dose-dense chemotherapy due to small expected absolute benefit.

Methods: The phase 3 PANTHER trial (NCT00798070) compared adjuvant sequential epirubicin/cyclophosphamide (EC) and docetaxel (D) administered in either tailored dose-dense (tDD EC/D) or standard interval schedule (FEC/D) to patients with high-risk resected early breast cancer (n = 2003). We compared outcomes across key subgroups of interest, evaluated the performance of the online prognostication and treatment benefit estimation tool PREDICT and conducted a subpopulation treatment effect pattern plot (STEPP) analysis.

Re-exposition to ipilimumab plus nivolumab in metastatic Merkel cell carcinoma.

Background: Merkel cell carcinoma (MCC) is a rare but highly aggressive cutaneous malignancy. Immune checkpoint inhibition (ICI) with PD-(L)1 blockade has significantly improved treatment outcomes in metastatic disease. In patients with primary resistance to PD-(L)1 inhibition, a high overall response rate (ORR) of 50% to later-line ipilimumab plus nivolumab (IPI/NIVO) has been demonstrated.

Cytotoxic surface contamination in hospitals: Current practices, challenges and perspectives.

Objective: Despite significant advances in cancer treatment with targeted therapies and immunotherapies, cytotoxic chemotherapies are still extensively used. Potential cytotoxic contamination in preparing and administrating cytotoxics is still a major source of concern. Besides advanced protections including biological safety cabinets, work surface contamination needs to be continuously controlled to ensure that handling procedures and cleaning were appropriate.

Efficacy of CTLA-4 checkpoint therapy is dependent on IL-21 signaling to mediate cytotoxic reprogramming of PD-1CD8 T cells.

The mechanisms underlying the efficacy of anti-programmed cell death protein 1 (PD-1) and anti-cytotoxic T lymphocyte-associated protein 4 (CTLA-4) therapy are incompletely understood. Here, by immune profiling responding PD-1CD8 T (T) cell populations from patients with advanced melanoma, we identified differential programming of T cells in response to combination therapy, from an exhausted toward a more cytotoxic effector program. This effect does not occur with anti-PD-1 monotherapy.

Changes in Respiratory Syncytial Virus-Associated Hospitalisations Epidemiology After Nirsevimab Introduction in Lyon, France.

Background: Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) is a major health concern, particularly for infants. In France, Nirsevimab, a long-acting monoclonal antibody to prevent RSV-associated lower respiratory tract infections (LRTI) was available from September 2023. We described RSV-associated LRTI hospitalisations during the 2023-2024 season among infants younger than six months born at the Hospices Civils de Lyon (HCL), and evaluated the effectiveness of Nirsevimab against RSV-LRTI hospitalisation.

Mechanical induction in metazoan development and evolution: from earliest multi-cellular organisms to modern animal embryos.

The development and origin of animal body forms have long been intensely explored, from the analysis of morphological traits during antiquity to Newtonian mechanical conceptions of morphogenesis. Advent of molecular biology then focused most interests on the biochemical patterning and genetic regulation of embryonic development. Today, a view is arising of development of multicellular living forms as a phenomenon emerging from non-hierarchical, reciprocal mechanical and mechanotransductive interactions between biochemical patterning and biomechanical morphogenesis.

Comparison of fludarabine/melphalan (FM140) with fludarabine/melphalan/BCNU (FBM110) in patients with relapsed/refractory AML undergoing allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation - a registry study on behalf of the EBMT Acute Leukemia Working Party.

The treatment of relapsed/refractory acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is associated with a dismal prognosis. The allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation (allo-HCT) is frequently performed as salvage therapy. Reduced intensity conditioning protocols have been developed with the aim of reducing the leukemia burden without increasing their toxicity.

Cost-Effective and Sustainable Drug Use in Hospitals: A Systematic and Practice-Based Approach.

Background And Objective: Rising healthcare costs challenge the financial sustainability of healthcare systems. Interventional pharmacoeconomics has emerged as a vital discipline to improve the cost-effective and sustainable use of drugs in clinical practice. However, current efforts are often fragmented, highlighting the need for an integrated hospital-wide approach.

Analysis of the 10-day ultra-marathon using a predictive XG boost model.

Objective: Ultra-marathon running races are held as distance-limited or time-limited events, ranging from 6 h to 10 days. Only a few runners compete in 10-day events, and so far, we have little knowledge about the athletes' origins, performance, and event characteristics. The aim of the present study was to investigate the origin and performance of these runners and the fastest race locations.

Frailty assessment in geriatric trauma patients: comparing the predictive value of the full and a condensed version of the Fried frailty phenotype.

Background: Frailty is associated with multiple negative outcomes in geriatric trauma patients. Simultaneously, frailty assessment including physical measurements for weakness (grip strength) and slowness (gait speed) poses challenges in this vulnerable patient group. We aimed to compare the full 5-component Fried Frailty Phenotype (fFP) and a condensed model (cFP) without physical measurements, with regard to predicting hospital length of stay (LOS) and discharge disposition (DD).

An open-label, randomized phase III study of early switch maintenance vs delayed second-line nivolumab in advanced stage squamous non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients after standard first-line platinum-based chemotherapy-EDEN trial GOIRC 04-2016.

Background: As for squamous (Sq)-NSCLC, Checkmate-017 trial showed a significant overall survival (OS) improvement in favor of Nivolumab (Nivo) over Docetaxel in 2nd-line. We hypothesized that anticipating Nivo use, as early switch maintenance after 1st-line chemotherapy (CHT), might have improved survival as compared to delayed 2nd-line treatment.

Methods: EDEN was an open-label, 2-arm, phase III study which randomized (1:1) stage IIIB/IV Sq-NSCLC pts non-progressive after 1st-line platinum-based CHT, to receive early Nivo as switch maintenance (Arm A) or standard best supportive care followed by 2nd-line Nivo at disease progression (Arm B).

European consensus-based interdisciplinary guideline for melanoma. Part 1: Diagnostics - Update 2024.

This guideline was developed in close collaboration with multidisciplinary experts from the European Association of Dermato-Oncology (EADO), the European Dermatology Forum (EDF) and the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC). Recommendations for the diagnosis and treatment of melanoma were developed on the basis of systematic literature research and consensus conferences. Cutaneous melanoma (CM) is the most dangerous form of skin tumor and accounts for 90 % of skin cancer mortality.

Evaluation of S100A8/A9 and neutrophils as prognostic markers in metastatic melanoma patients under immune-checkpoint inhibition.

Immune-checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) have revolutionized melanoma treatment, yet approximately half of patients do not respond to these therapies. Identifying prognostic biomarkers is crucial for treatment decisions. Our retrospective study assessed liquid biopsies and tumor tissue analyses for two potential biomarkers: danger-associated molecular pattern (DAMP) S100A8/A9 and its source, neutrophils.

Characterisation of the tumour microenvironment and PD-L1 granularity reveals the prognostic value of cancer-associated myofibroblasts in non-invasive bladder cancer.

High-risk non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC) presents high recurrence and progression rates. Despite the use of Bacillus Calmette-Guérin gold-standard immunotherapy and the recent irruption of anti-PD-1/PD-L1 drugs, we are missing a comprehensive understanding of the tumor microenvironment (TME) that may help us find biomarkers associated to treatment outcome. Here, we prospectively analyzed TME composition and PD-L1 expression of tumor and non-tumoral tissue biopsies from 73 NMIBC patients and used scRNA-seq, transcriptomic cohorts and tissue micro-array to validate the prognostic value of cell types of interest.