Effective CAR T-cell targeting of an MUC1 cleavage product.

Background: We developed Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cells targeting mucin 1 (MUC1)* (muk * (muk 1 star)), which is the tumor-associated growth factor receptor form of MUC1. Our antibody, MNC2, uniquely binds to MUC1* on cancer cells but does not bind to full-length MUC1, which is expressed on all normal epithelial cells. We tested the ability of the Tyr to Phe mutations in CD3ζ, known as "1XX", to increase in vivo persistence and enable the recognition and killing of low antigen-expressing cancer cells.

Predictors of Unplanned Hospitalizations Among Older Adults Receiving Cancer Chemotherapy.

Purpose: Hospitalizations during cancer treatment are costly, can impair quality of life, and negatively affect therapy completion. Our objective was to identify risk factors for unplanned hospitalization among older adults receiving chemotherapy.

Methods: This is a secondary analysis of a multisite cohort study (N = 750) of patients ≥ 65 years of age evaluated with a geriatric assessment (GA) to predict chemotherapy toxicity.

Programmed Death 1 and Programmed Death Ligand 1 Inhibitors in Advanced and Recurrent Urothelial Carcinoma: Meta-analysis of Single-Agent Studies.

We performed a systematic review and meta-analysis on the response rates of patients with treatment-refractory urothelial carcinoma treated with programmed cell death 1 (PD-1) and programmed death ligand 1 (PD-L1) inhibitors. We reviewed the literature for prospective studies evaluating PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitors in refractory urothelial carcinoma patients, which formed the basis for US Food and Drug Administration approval of 5 different antagonistic antibodies targeting PD-1 or PD-L1 (atezolizumab, durvalumab, avelumab, nivolumab, and pembrolizumab). We considered studies examining PD-1/PD-L1-treated patients, which we identified using the following key terms in the Pubmed, Scopus, Web of Science, ClinicalTrial.

Parity-time-symmetry-breaking gyroscopes: lasing without gain and subthreshold regimes.

We show that the lasing threshold for two coupled resonators (CRs) corresponds to lasing without gain (LWG), a phenomenon analogous to lasing without inversion in atomic systems, when parity-time (PT) symmetry is broken. The use of LWG for gyroscopes may resolve some of the difficulties associated with PT-symmetric gyroscopes. In particular, we find that PT-symmetric systems suffer from undamped Rabi oscillations, whereas LWG systems are overdamped.

Variation in the Thoroughness of Pathologic Assessment and Response Rates of Locally Advanced Rectal Cancers After Chemoradiation.

Background: Pathologic complete response (pCR) is associated with better prognosis and guides management for patients with advanced rectal cancer. Response rates vary between series for unclear reasons. We examine whether the thoroughness of pathologic assessment explains differences in pCR rates.

Closed-loop superluminal passive cavity.

We demonstrate the operation of a closed-loop fast-light cavity that allows rapid (~10 ms) measurements of the cavity mode frequency and its uncertainty. We vary the scale factor by temperature tuning the atomic density of an intracavity vapor cell. The cavity remains locked even as the system passes through the critical anomalous dispersion where a pole is observed in the scale factor.

Coping strategies, trajectories, and their associations with patient-reported outcomes among women with ovarian cancer.

Objective: Most women with ovarian cancer present with advanced stage disease and face aggressive treatments, recurrence, and possible death, yet little is known about how they cope. Our objective was to identify coping strategies used by women with ovarian cancer and their trajectories of use after diagnosis and to assess if coping trajectories are associated with subsequent anxiety, depression, or quality of life.

Methods: Women with ovarian cancer completed questionnaires including the Brief-COPE, HADS, and FACT at 3, 6, and 9 months after diagnosis and the HADS and FACT at 12 months.

Medication beliefs predict medication adherence in ambulatory patients with decompensated cirrhosis.

Aim: To investigate the impact of medication beliefs, illness perceptions and quality of life on medication adherence in people with decompensated cirrhosis.

Methods: One hundred adults with decompensated cirrhosis completed a structured questionnaire when they attended for routine outpatient hepatology review. Measures of self-reported medication adherence (Morisky Medication Adherence Scale), beliefs surrounding medications (Beliefs about Medicines Questionnaire), perceptions of illness and medicines (Brief Illness Perception Questionnaire), and quality of life (Chronic Liver Disease Questionnaire) were examined.

Patient-oriented education and medication management intervention for people with decompensated cirrhosis: study protocol for a randomized controlled trial.

Background: People with decompensated cirrhosis require complex medical care and are often prescribed an intricate and frequently changing medication and lifestyle regimen. However, many patients mismanage their medications or have poor comprehension of their disease and self-management tasks. This can lead to harm, hospitalization, and death.

High-precision, accurate optical frequency reference using a Fabry-Perót diode laser.

We show that the optical output of a temperature and current-tuned Fabry-Perót diode laser system, with no external optical feedback and in which the frequency is locked to Doppler-free hyperfine resonances of the Rb D line, can achieve high frequency stability and accuracy. Experimental results are presented for the spectral linewidth, frequency stability, and frequency accuracy of the source. Although our optical source is limited by a short-term spectral linewidth greater than 2 MHz, beat signal measurements from two such sources demonstrate a frequency stability of 1.

Implementation of a School-Based Educational Program to Increase Breast Cancer Awareness and Promote Intergenerational Transmission of Knowledge in a Rural Mexican Community.

Background: Rural women have limited access to breast cancer education, which partially contributes to late diagnosis and treatment. In this pilot study, we tested the feasibility of implementing a school-based breast cancer educational program for adolescents in a rural Mexican community. We hypothesized that the adolescents' knowledge on breast cancer would increase as a result of the program, and that there would be intergenerational transmission of that knowledge to their older female relatives.

Pre-oncall key conditions training for first-year radiology registrars.

Introduction: The Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Radiology (RANZCR) recognised the importance of experience in on-call and emergency radiology for first-year registrars by introducing 'Key conditions in Year 1 training'. This list of common radiological pathologies can help to focus preparations for new registrars as they prepare for after-hours duties.

Methods: The Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital (RBWH) implemented a 12-week formal training programme, based on this curriculum, for new registrars prior to commencing after-hours work.

Oral human papillomavirus infection incidence and clearance: a systematic review of the literature.

Subclinical oral human papillomavirus (HPV) infection that persists for decades is likely to precede an HPV-driven squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck, but little is known about the natural history of oral HPV. We systematically reviewed and abstracted data from nine manuscripts that examined human immunodeficiency virus-negative and cancer-free subjects for oral HPV DNA to determine the pooled baseline prevalence and incidence of newly acquired oral HPV infections, and specifically for HPV-16. We also documented the clearance rate and the median time to clearance, where data existed.

Prospective study of definitive chemoradiation in locally or regionally advanced squamous cell carcinoma of the skin.

Background: The purpose of this study was to present our evaluation of the outcomes of concurrent chemoradiotherapy (CRT) in patients with locally advanced cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma (SCC).

Methods: This was a prospective phase II study. The primary endpoint was complete response (CR).

Absolute versus relative measures of plasma fatty acids and health outcomes: example of phospholipid omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids and all-cause mortality in women.

Purpose: In a well-characterised community-based prospective study, we aimed to systematically assess the differences in associations of plasma omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acid (FA) status with all-cause mortality when plasma FA status is expressed in absolute concentrations versus relative levels.

Methods: In a community sample of 564 women aged 25-75 years in Queensland, Australia, baseline plasma phospholipid FA levels were measured using gas chromatography. Specific FAs analysed were eicosapentaenoic acid, docosapentaenoic acid, docosahexaenoic acid, total long-chain omega-3 FAs, linoleic acid, arachidonic acid, and total omega-6 FAs.

Association between renal function and chemotherapy-related toxicity in older adults with cancer.

Purpose: To evaluate the association between renal function (RF) and chemotherapy-related toxicity (CRT) in older adults with cancer and to compare the effect of different RF formulas and body weight measurements on this association.

Methods: This is a secondary analysis of data from a prospective multicenter study of patients ≥ age 65 who were starting a new chemotherapy regimen. RF was estimated with 4 formulas (modified Jelliffe [Jelliffe], Cockcroft-Gault [CG], Wright, and Modification of Diet in Renal Disease [MDRD]), using actual, ideal and adjusted body weights for 492 patients.

Effect of increasing radiation dose on pathologic complete response in rectal cancer patients treated with neoadjuvant chemoradiation therapy.

Background: Neoadjuvant chemoradiation therapy (CRT) increases pathological complete response (pCR) rates compared to radiotherapy alone in patients with stage II-III rectal cancer. Limited evidence addresses whether radiotherapy dose escalation further improves pCR rates. Our purpose is to measure the effects of radiotherapy dose and other factors on post-therapy pathologic tumor (ypT) and nodal stage in rectal cancer patients treated with neoadjuvant CRT followed by mesorectal excision.

Presurgical Biomarker Performance in the Detection of Gleason Upgrading in Prostate Cancer.

Background: Gleason Score (GS) upgrading is generally considered a trigger for exit to definitive treatment during active surveillance (AS). Predicting the potential for GS upgrading would be of value in assessing AS eligibility.

Methods: We assessed the performance of biomarkers in presurgical specimens of expressed prostatic secretion (EPS) in this setting.

Quantum-Noise-Limited Sensitivity-Enhancement of a Passive Optical Cavity by a Fast-Light Medium.

We demonstrate for a passive optical cavity containing a dispersive atomic medium, the increase in scale factor near the critical anomalous dispersion is not cancelled by mode broadening or attenuation, resulting in an overall increase in the predicted quantum-noise-limited sensitivity. Enhancements of over two orders of magnitude are measured in the scale factor, which translates to greater than an order-of-magnitude enhancement in the predicted quantum-noise-limited measurement precision, by temperature tuning a low-pressure vapor of non-interacting atoms in a low-finesse cavity close to the critical anomalous dispersion condition. The predicted enhancement in sensitivity is confirmed through Monte-Carlo numerical simulations.

Proteoform-Specific Insights into Cellular Proteome Regulation.

Knowledge regarding compositions of proteomes at the proteoform level enhances insights into cellular phenotypes. A strategy is described herein for discovery of proteoform-specific information about cellular proteomes. This strategy involved analysis of data obtained by bottom-up mass spectrometry of multiple protein OGE separations on a fraction by fraction basis.

Effects of Larval Nutrition on Wolbachia-Based Dengue Virus Interference in Aedes aegypti (Diptera: Culicidae).

In order to assess the broad-scale applicability of field releases of Wolbachia for the biological control of insect-transmitted diseases, we determined the relationship between the larval diet of Aedes aegypti L. mosquitoes infected with Wolbachia strains and their susceptibility to dengue virus (DENV) infection via intrathoracic injection and oral inoculation. Larvae were reared on diets that varied in the quantity of food which had the effect of modifying development time and adult body size.

L1CAM is an independent predictor of poor survival in endometrial cancer - An analysis of The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA).

Background: L1-cell adhesion molecule (L1CAM) was previously reported to carry a poor prognosis in Stage I, low-risk endometrial cancer (EC). We evaluated the role of L1CAM among all stages and histologies in ECs in The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA).

Methods: Clinical information and RNA-Seq expression data were derived from TCGA uterine cancer cohort.