How Robust is the Evidence for Prehabilitation in Cancer Surgery?: A Systematic Review and Fragility Index Analysis.

Background: The number of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) exploring the effectiveness of prehabilitation on improving postoperative outcomes for cancer surgery is increasing. Fragility index (FI) and reverse fragility index (RFI) represent the minimum number of participants whose status needs to change from an "event" to a "non-event," thereby the results change from statistically significant to nonsignificant (or vice versa for RFI). Fragility quotient (FQ) allows for the FI or RFI to be standardized to the sample size of the study.

The use of ATR-FTIR to track the degradation of single-use polystyrene cup lids during 24 months of temperate outdoor exposure.

A set of unused virgin polystyrene coffee cup lids were distributed in the environment (Sutton Bonington, UK) for a period of 24 months to compare monthly degradation rates across four treatments with variable degrees of exposure to natural UV irradiance (full or reduced exposure) and soil (surface or buried). Analysis of monthly samples (hole-punched discs) from three lids of each treatment via FTIR-ATR indicated that the lids in each treatment displayed varying levels of degradation, ranked as follows: exposure on the ground surface, no shading > exposure on the ground surface, shading> both buried treatments. Principal component analyses (PCAs) and the carbonyl index indicated that photooxidation via sunlight exposure was the primary degradation mechanism for polystyrene under these environmentally relevant conditions.

Waist-to-Height Ratio - Reference Values and Associations with Cardiovascular Risk Factors in a Russian Adult Population.

Purpose: Waist-to-height ratio (WHtR) is an anthropometric index with limited data on its population distribution. The aim was to establish WHtR reference values and investigate WHtR associations with socio-demographic, lifestyle and clinical characteristics in Russian adults.

Methods: We used data from the population-based cross-sectional Know Your Heart study (2015-2018, Arkhangelsk and Novosibirsk, N = 4495, 58.

Insights from the trial innovation network's initial consultation process.

Multicenter clinical trials are essential for evaluating interventions but often face significant challenges in study design, site coordination, participant recruitment, and regulatory compliance. To address these issues, the National Institutes of Health's National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences established the Trial Innovation Network (TIN). The TIN offers a scientific consultation process, providing access to clinical trial and disease experts who provide input and recommendations throughout the trial's duration, at no cost to investigators.

Mortality Outcomes in People with Lung Cancer with and without Type2 Diabetes: A Cohort Study in England.

Introduction: The impact of type 2 diabetes (T2DM) on mortality following lung cancer diagnosis remains unclear, with conflicting evidence across studies. We aimed to assess differences in all-cause and cause-specific mortality between people with lung cancer with and without T2DM within a primary care population in England.

Methods: The study population was 69,674 people with incident lung cancer within the Clinical Practice Research Datalink (CPRD) Aurum primary care database (2010-2022).

Population Pharmacokinetic and Pharmacokinetic-Pharmacodynamic Modeling of Serum M-Protein Response for Modakafusp Alfa in a Phase 1/2 Study of Patients With Relapsed or Refractory Multiple Myeloma.

Modakafusp alfa (TAK-573) is a novel, first-in-class fusion protein of a humanized anti-CD38 IgG4 kappa antibody fused to attenuated human interferon alfa-2b. It acts as an agonistic innate immunity enhancer through targeted interferon (IFN) signaling and has been investigated as an immune-oncology therapeutic agent in patients with relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma (RRMM). Population PK analysis and sequential PK-PD analysis of serum M-protein (MP) as a primary marker of tumor burden in RRMM were conducted using dose escalation (Part 1) and dose expansion (Part 2) data from 96 RRMM patients enrolled in the Phase 1/2 iinnovate-1 trial.

A peptide vaccine targeting the CMV antigen pp65 in children and young adults with recurrent high-grade glioma and medulloblastoma: a phase 1 trial.

The human cytomegalovirus (CMV) antigen pp65 is expressed in high-grade glioma (HGG) and medulloblastoma but not in the adjacent brain. This single-arm phase 1 trial ( NCT03299309 ) assessed the safety and immunogenicity of a peptide vaccine (PEP-CMV) targeting pp65 in individuals (3-35 years old) with recurrent HGG or medulloblastoma. Thirty-six individuals with HGG received PEP-CMV.

"I felt so alone in the process:" Experiences of Indigenous women with maternal medical travel in the Canadian Arctic and opportunities for improvement.

Problem: Indigenous women face unique challenges during pregnancy/birth-related medical travel due to systemic barriers, cultural differences, and geographic isolation.

Background: In Canada, Indigenous women frequently travel substantial distances for pregnancy care and birth. Many pregnant women in Northwest Territories (NWT) are mandated to travel to urban centres with secondary/tertiary hospitals between 36-38-weeks gestation.

Intra-amniotic antisense oligonucleotide treatment improves phenotypes in preclinical models of spinal muscular atrophy.

Neurological disorders with onset before or at birth are a leading cause of morbidity and mortality in infants and children. Prenatal treatment has the potential to reduce or prevent irreversible neuronal loss and facilitate normal neurodevelopment. We hypothesized that antisense oligonucleotides (ASOs) delivered to the amniotic fluid by intra-amniotic (IA) injection could safely distribute to the fetal central nervous system (CNS) and provide therapeutic benefit in the motor neuron disease spinal muscular atrophy (SMA), caused by mutations of the survival of motor neuron 1 gene (), leading to deficiency of SMN protein.

IL-7-mediated expansion of autologous lymphocytes increases CD8+ VLA-4 expression and accumulation in glioblastoma models.

The efficacy of T cell-activating therapies against glioma is limited by an immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment and tumor-induced T cell sequestration. We investigated whether peripherally infused nonantigen specific autologous lymphocytes could accumulate in intracranial tumors. We observed that nonspecific autologous CD8+ ALT cells can indeed accumulate in this context, despite endogenous T cell sequestration in bone marrow.

Incidence and prevalence of asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and interstitial lung disease between 2004 and 2023: harmonised analyses of longitudinal cohorts across England, Wales, South-East Scotland and Northern Ireland.

Background: We describe the epidemiology of asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and interstitial lung disease (ILD) from 2004 to 2023 in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland (NI) using a harmonised approach.

Methods: Data from the National Health Service England (NHSE), Clinical Practice Research Datalink Aurum in England, Secure Anonymised Information Linkage Databank in Wales, DataLoch in South-East Scotland and the Honest Broker Service in NI were used. A harmonised approach to COPD, asthma and ILD case definitions, study designs and study populations across the four nations was performed.

Comparison of inflammatory biomarker levels in neurodegenerative proteinopathies: a case-control study.

While diagnostic criteria have been established and validated for most neurodegenerative diseases, the considerable overlap between individual nosological entities remains a significant diagnostic challenge. Increasing evidence suggests that neurodegeneration is often initiated by inflammation within the central nervous system. The identification of inflammation could serve as a first signal of the pathophysiological process.

Workforce Trends Among Canadian Medical Oncologists and Medical Oncology Trainees over Two Decades.

Understanding oncology health human resources across Canada is critical to the delivery of quality cancer care. Little has been published about the medical oncology (MO) workforce and trainees; this study sought to characterize trends in the MO workforce and explore the relationship between medical oncologists and cancer incidence as a surrogate demand marker. : Publicly available databases from the Canadian Medical Association, the Canadian Institute of Health Information, and the Canadian Post MD Education Registry were utilized to estimate the number, demographics, and regional distribution of practicing MOs and MO trainees between 1994 and 2020.

Diabetes complications in people with alcohol use disorder and type 2 diabetes.

Background: People living with alcohol use disorder (AUD) who develop type 2 diabetes (T2DM) may be at higher risk of diabetes complications.

Aim: Our aim was to compare diabetes monitoring and incidence of diabetes complications between people with and without AUD prior to T2DM diagnosis attending primary care in England.

Design & Setting: We used the Clinical Practice Research Datalink Aurum linked with Hospital Episode Statistics and Office for National Statistics mortality data.

Expert advice from ResearchMatch volunteers: Recruitment Innovation Center use cases and innovation.

Involving participants in the design of clinical trials should improve the overall success of a study. For this to occur, streamlined mechanisms are needed to connect the populations potentially impacted by a given study or health topic with research teams in order to inform trial design in a meaningful and timely manner. To address this need, we developed an innovative mechanism called the "ResearchMatch Expert Advice Tool" that quickly obtains volunteer perspectives from populations with specific health conditions or lived experiences using the national recruitment registry, ResearchMatch.

Real-world Clinical Outcomes and Prognostic Factors in Neuroendocrine Prostate Cancer.

Background: Neuroendocrine prostate cancer (NEPC) encompasses pure NEPC and tumors with mixed adenocarcinoma and neuroendocrine histology. While NEPC is thought to confer a poor prognosis, outcome data are sparse, making risk stratification and treatment decisions difficult for clinicians.

Methods: This retrospective study identified patients with morphological and/or immunohistochemical NEPC features on pathological review of high-grade prostate cancer cases.

Microplastic pollution in salt marsh and urban tributary sediment cores of the River Thames estuary, UK: Spatial and temporal accumulation trends.

Microplastics in sediment cores from urban tidal tributaries, Barking and Bow Creek-London and salt marshes Swanscombe, Kent, and Rainham, Essex, Thames estuary (UK), were quantified by density separation and ATR-FTIR spectroscopy. All eight tributary cores were dominated by low-density microplastics, polypropylene, polyethylene, and polystyrene with the greatest abundance (mean 360.0 ± 12.

Alcohol and cause-specific mortality in Russia: the Know Your Heart Study 2015-23.

Background: Alcohol-related mortality in Russia exceeds the world average and presents a critical public health concern. This study assesses the impact of alcohol consumption levels on mortality and investigates mortality predictors among Russians, including people treated for alcohol-related diagnoses (narcology patients).

Methods: We examined 2629 men and women aged 35-69 years who participated in the Know Your Heart study (2015-17), Arkhangelsk, Russia.

Recording of Alcohol Use Disorder in Electronic Health Records: Developing a Recommended Codelist for Research.

Purpose: Electronic health records (EHR) are valuable resources for health research; however, their use is challenging. A validated alcohol use disorder (AUD) codelist for UK primary care is needed to improve population-based research in this patient group. We aimed to develop an AUD codelist for use in the Clinical Practice Research Datalink (CPRD) Aurum database, a UK EHR primary-care database.

Microplastics pollution in sediments of the Thames and Medway estuaries, UK: Organic matter associations and predominance of polyethylene.

Microplastics at 10 sites along a 77 km transect of the river Thames estuary (UK) and 5 sites along 29 km of the Medway estuary were separated from sediment and analysed by ATR-FTIR spectroscopy. Microplastics were observed at all sites. Highest Thames concentrations were in urban London between Chelsea and West Thurrock (average 170.

COVID-19 infections in English schools and the households of students and staff 2020-21: a self-controlled case-series analysis.

Background: The role of children and staff in SARS-CoV-2 transmission outside and within households is still not fully understood when large numbers are in regular, frequent contact in schools.

Methods: We used the self-controlled case-series method during the alpha- and delta-dominant periods to explore the incidence of infection in periods around a household member infection, relative to periods without household infection, in a cohort of primary and secondary English schoolchildren and staff from November 2020 to July 2021.

Results: We found the relative incidence of infection in students and staff was highest in the 1-7 days following household infection, remaining high up to 14 days after, with risk also elevated in the 6--12 days before household infection.

Improving Care for Older Adults with Cancer in Canada: A Call to Action.

Most patients diagnosed with and dying from cancer in Canada are older adults, with aging contributing to the large projected growth in cancer incidence. Older adults with cancer have unique needs, and on a global scale increasing efforts have been made to address recognized gaps in their cancer care. However, in Canada, geriatric oncology remains a new and developing field.