Salt wedges and trapped brines of low-latitude endoreic saline lakes as potential modulators of GHG emission.

Large salt lakes are long-term witnesses to climatic conditions and land use in their basins. The majority are experiencing a drastic drop in water levels due to climate change and human impact. Endoreic Lake Urmia (NW Iran), the sixth largest salt lake worldwide, is a striking example of this decline.

Anti-Gene IGF-I Vaccines in Cancer Gene Therapy: A Review of a Case of Glioblastoma.

Objective: Vaccines for the deadliest brain tumor - glioblastoma (GBM) - are generally based on targeting growth factors or their receptors, often using antibodies. The vaccines described in the review were prepared to suppress the principal cancer growth factor - IGF-I, using anti-gene approaches either of antisense (AS) or of triple helix (TH) type. Our objective was to increase the median survival of patients treated with AS and TH cell vaccines.

Previous immune checkpoint inhibitor therapy is associated with decreased COVID-19-related hospitalizations and complications in patients with cancer: Results of a propensity-matched analysis of the OnCovid registry.

Objectives: To date, studies have not provided definitive answers regarding whether previous immune checkpoint inhibitor (ICI) treatment alters outcomes for cancer patients with COVID-19.

Methods: The OnCovid registry (NCT04393974) was searched from February 27, 2020, to January 31, 2022, for patients who received systemic anti-cancer therapy in the 4 weeks before laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 diagnosis. Propensity-score matching using country, vaccination status, primary tumor type, sex, age, comorbidity burden, tumor stage, and remission status investigated differences in predefined clinical outcomes comparing those who had or had not received ICIs.

Developmental Trajectory of Depressive Symptoms from Early Childhood through High School in Children and Adolescents with a High Intellectual Potential.

We aimed to explore the developmental trajectory of depressive symptoms in a national sample of French children with a high intellectual potential (HIP) seeking help from gifted organizations. Participants were drawn from a national retrospective survey sent to 1200 families with HIP children (IQ ≥ 130) from primary to high school and they answered a self-report questionnaire of a depression scale (MDI-C). The children's parents completed a self-report questionnaire collected on different stages of the child's school level, perinatality, psychomotor development, health, family's history, behavior, interpersonal relationships and daily activities, school performance, presence of learning disorders and remediation.

Wireless Lighting System: A New Tool for Assessing Cognitive Functions in the Elderly.

Studies on the effects of aging on cognition have been using the same cognitive tests for decades. A Wireless Lighting System (WLS) could be used to assess cognitive functions in a physically active situation, making the assessment of cognition less isolated and more ecological. This pilot study aimed to evaluate the potential of a WLS for assessing older adults' cognitive functions.

Olaparib for the Treatment of Patients With Metastatic Castration-Resistant Prostate Cancer and Alterations in and/or in the PROfound Trial.

Olaparib improved PFS and OS across subgroups of BRCA1/2mut #prostatecancer patients in the PROFOUND phase III trial.

MreE (PBP2) variants facilitate clinical disease during cephalosporin exposures.

Cephalosporins are the most common triggers of healthcare-associated infections (CDI). Here, we confirm gene-level drivers of cephalosporin resistance and their roles in promoting disease. Genomic-epidemiologic analyses of 306 isolates from a hospital surveillance program monitoring asymptomatic carriers and CDI patients identified prevalent third-generation cephalosporin resistance to ceftriaxone at >256 ug/mL in 26% of isolates.

Predictors of medication adherence in a large 1-year prospective cohort of individuals with schizophrenia: insights from the multicentric FACE-SZ dataset.

Schizophrenia is characterized by the most salient medication adherence problems among severe mental disorders, but limited prospective data are available to predict and improve adherence in this population. This investigation aims to identify predictors of medication adherence over a 1-year period in a large national cohort using clustering analysis. Outpatients were recruited from ten Schizophrenia Expert Centers and were evaluated with a day-long standardized battery including clinician and patient-rated medication adherence measures.

Ethiodized oil as an imaging biomarker after conventional transarterial chemoembolization.

Conventional transarterial chemoembolization (cTACE) utilizing ethiodized oil as a chemotherapy carrier has become a standard treatment for intermediate-stage hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and has been adopted as a bridging and downstaging therapy for liver transplantation. Water-in-oil emulsion made up of ethiodized oil and chemotherapy solution is retained in tumor vasculature resulting in high tissue drug concentration and low systemic chemotherapy doses. The density and distribution pattern of ethiodized oil within the tumor on post-treatment imaging are predictive of the extent of tumor necrosis and duration of response to treatment.

Mortality Risk for Docetaxel-Treated, High-Grade Prostate Cancer With Low PSA Levels: A Meta-Analysis.

Importance: Patients with high-grade prostate cancer with low levels of prostate-specific antigen (PSA; <4 ng/mL) are at high risk of mortality, necessitating an improved treatment paradigm.

Objective: To assess for these patients whether adding docetaxel to standard of care (SOC) treatment is associated with decreased prostate cancer-specific mortality (PCSM) and all-cause mortality (ACM).

Data Sources: PubMed search from 2000 to 2022.

KRAS inhibition using MRTX1257: a novel radio-sensitizing partner.

Background: KRAS activating mutations are considered the most frequent oncogenic drivers and are correlated with radio-resistance in multiple cancers including non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and colorectal cancer. Although KRAS was considered undruggable until recently, several KRAS inhibitors have recently reached clinical development. Among them, MRTX849 (Mirati Therapeutics) showed encouraging clinical outcomes for the treatment of selected patients with KRAS mutated NSCLC and colorectal cancers.

The haplotype-resolved T2T reference genome highlights structural variation underlying agronomic traits of melon.

Melon ( L.) is an important vegetable crop that has an extensive history of cultivation. However, the genome of wild and semi-wild melon types that can be used for the analysis of agronomic traits is not yet available.

Assessing and validating the specialized competency framework for pharmacists in sales and marketing (SCF-PSM): a cross-sectional analysis in Lebanon.

Objectives: Competencies refer to the knowledge, skills, attitudes, and behaviors individuals develop through education, training, and experience. These competencies can be formulated into a framework to support practitioner development for effective and sustained performance. In the absence of a national framework for pharmacy education and practice in Lebanon, the Order of Pharmacists of Lebanon (OPL, the official association of pharmacists in Lebanon) pioneered the development of a pharmacy competency framework in 2017.

Safety and tolerability of long-term treatment with darolutamide in patients with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer.

Background: In patients with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer, darolutamide was well tolerated for 25 months, but minimal long-term safety data are available.

Methods: Treatment-emergent adverse events (TEAEs) for patients receiving darolutamide for a median of 38 months (n = 13) are described in this pooled analysis of individual patient data from phase 1/2 studies.

Results: All patients reported TEAEs (mostly grade 1/2).

The interplay between microbial communities and soil properties.

In recent years, there has been considerable progress in determining the soil properties that influence the structure of the soil microbiome. By contrast, the effects of microorganisms on their soil habitat have received less attention with most previous studies focusing on microbial contributions to soil carbon and nitrogen dynamics. However, soil microorganisms are not only involved in nutrient cycling and organic matter transformations but also alter the soil habitat through various biochemical and biophysical mechanisms.

Impact of Prior Cytoreductive Nephrectomy on Efficacy in Patients with Synchronous Metastatic Renal Cell Carcinoma Treated with Avelumab plus Axitinib or Sunitinib: Post Hoc Analysis from the JAVELIN Renal 101 Phase 3 Trial.

Data on the effects of prior cytoreductive nephrectomy (CN) in patients with renal cell carcinoma (RCC) with synchronous metastases (M1 disease) before immune checkpoint inhibitor (ICI) treatment are limited. In this post hoc analysis of treatment-naive patients with advanced RCC from the phase 3 JAVELIN Renal 101 trial, we assessed efficacy outcomes in the avelumab + axitinib and sunitinib arms in patients who were initially diagnosed with M1 disease (n = 412) grouped by prior CN (yes vs no). Progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) were analyzed using multivariable Cox regression, and objective response rates (ORRs) were analyzed using logistic regression.

Tailored immunotherapy approach with nivolumab with or without nivolumab plus ipilimumab as immunotherapeutic boost in patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma (TITAN-RCC): a multicentre, single-arm, phase 2 trial.

Background: Nivolumab plus ipilimumab is approved as first-line regimen for intermediate-risk or poor-risk metastatic renal cell carcinoma, and nivolumab monotherapy as second-line therapy for all risk groups. We aimed to examine the efficacy and safety of nivolumab monotherapy and nivolumab plus ipilimumab combination as an immunotherapeutic boost after no response to nivolumab monotherapy in patients with intermediate-risk and poor-risk clear-cell metastatic renal cell carcinoma.

Methods: TITAN-RCC is a multicentre, single-arm, phase 2 trial, done at 28 hospitals and cancer centres across Europe (Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and the UK).

Occupational Benzene Exposure and Lung Cancer Risk: A Pooled Analysis of 14 Case-Control Studies.

Benzene has been classified as carcinogenic to humans, but there is limited evidence linking benzene exposure to lung cancer. We aimed to examine the relationship between occupational benzene exposure and lung cancer. Subjects from 14 case-control studies across Europe and Canada were pooled.

Efficacy and Safety of Darolutamide in Combination With Androgen-Deprivation Therapy and Docetaxel in Black Patients From the Randomized ARASENS Trial.

Background: In the ARASENS trial (NCT02799602), darolutamide in combination with androgen-deprivation therapy (ADT) and docetaxel significantly reduced the risk of death by 32.5% (HR, 0.68; 95% CI, 0.

A new method for in vivo assessment of corneal transparency using spectral-domain OCT.

Corneal transparency is essential to provide a clear view into and out of the eye, yet clinical means to assess such transparency are extremely limited and usually involve a subjective grading of visible opacities by means of slit-lamp biomicroscopy. Here, we describe an automated algorithm allowing extraction of quantitative corneal transparency parameters with standard clinical spectral-domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT). Our algorithm employs a novel pre-processing procedure to standardize SD-OCT image analysis and to numerically correct common instrumental artifacts before extracting mean intensity stromal-depth (z) profiles over a 6-mm-wide corneal area.

Targeted mutation and inactivation of the kinesin light chain 3 protein-encoding gene have no impact on mouse fertility†.

The kinesin light chain 3 protein (KLC3) is the only member of the kinesin light chain protein family that was identified in post-meiotic mouse male germ cells. It plays a role in the formation of the sperm midpiece through its association with both spermatid mitochondria and outer dense fibers (ODF). Previous studies showed a significant correlation between its expression level and sperm motility and quantitative semen parameters in humans, while the overexpression of a KLC3-mutant protein unable to bind ODF also affected the same traits in mice.