Coming of age in a straight white man’s geography: Reflections on positionality and relationality as feminist anti-oppressive praxis

In this intervention, we consider how relational thinking about our positions and experiences can contribute to a feminist, anti-oppressive praxis in geography. Hosting a critical dialogue amongst ourselves, we collectively reflect on our experiences coming of age in a discipline marked by ongoing forms of coloniality, racism, sexism, and trans/homophobia in an attempt to find commonalities across our different identities and experiences. Drawing from feminist thought and situating these evolving and polyvocal concepts within our experiences as feminist geographers, we consider what relationality and its associated practices can accomplish within our institutions. We also critique how feminist approaches such as these are taken up and deployed in &lsquo;critical&rsquo; spaces, yet often fail to transform power dynamics long characterizing the discipline and its institutional spaces. In doing so, we aim to develop a feminist geographic praxis that recognizes our fluid subjectivities and the different positions we inhabit in the academy while also contributing to a sense of solidarity and commonality-in-difference. We revisit and build upon feminist concepts of positionality and relationality to both name the identity politics of the field and to fashion a way toward more inclusive spaces shaped by mutuality, recognition, and an anti-oppressive praxis. &nbsp;</p

Decreasing Mortality and Hospitalizations with Rising Costs Related to Gastric Cancer in the USA: An Epidemiological Perspective

BACKGROUND: There is no convincing data on the trends of hospitalizations, mortality, cost, and demographic variations associated with inpatient admissions for gastric cancer in the USA. The aim of this study was to use a national database of US hospitals to evaluate the trends associated with gastric cancer. METHODS: We analyzed the National Inpatient Sample (NIS) database for all patients in whom gastric cancer (ICD-9 code: 151.0, 151.1, 151.2, 151.3, 151.4, 151.5, 151.6, 151.8, 151.9) was the principal discharge diagnosis during the period, 2003-2014. The NIS is the largest publicly available all-payer inpatient care database in the US. It contains data from approximately eight million hospital stays each year. The statistical significance of the difference in the number of hospital discharges, length of stay, and hospital costs over the study period was determined by regression analysis. RESULTS: In 2003, there were 23,921 admissions with a principal discharge diagnosis of gastric cancer as compared to 21,540 in 2014 (P \u3c 0.01). The mean length of stay for gastric cancer decreased by 17% between 2003 and 2014 from 10.9 days to 8.95 days (P \u3c 0.01). However, during this period, the mean hospital charges increased significantly by 21% from $75,341 per patient in 2003 to$ 91,385 per patient in 2014 (P \u3c 0.001). There was a more significant reduction in mortality over a period of 11 years from 2428 (10.15%) in 2003 to 1345 (6.24%) in 2014 (P \u3c 0.01). The aggregate charges (i.e., national bill ) for gastric cancer increased significantly from 1.79 bn $to 1. 96 bn$ (P \u3c 0.001), despite decrease in hospitalization (inflation adjusted). CONCLUSION: Although the number of inpatient admissions for gastric cancer have decreased over the past decade, the healthcare burden and cost related to it has increased significantly. Inpatient mortality is decreasing which is consistent with overall decrease in gastric cancer-related deaths. Cost increase associated with gastric cancer contributed significantly to the national healthcare bill

Global burden of 288 causes of death and life expectancy decomposition in 204 countries and territories and 811 subnational locations, 1990–2021: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2021

BACKGROUND Regular, detailed reporting on population health by underlying cause of death is fundamental for public health decision making. Cause-specific estimates of mortality and the subsequent effects on life expectancy worldwide are valuable metrics to gauge progress in reducing mortality rates. These estimates are particularly important following large-scale mortality spikes, such as the COVID-19 pandemic. When systematically analysed, mortality rates and life expectancy allow comparisons of the consequences of causes of death globally and over time, providing a nuanced understanding of the effect of these causes on global populations. METHODS The Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study (GBD) 2021 cause-of-death analysis estimated mortality and years of life lost (YLLs) from 288 causes of death by age-sex-location-year in 204 countries and territories and 811 subnational locations for each year from 1990 until 2021. The analysis used 56 604 data sources, including data from vital registration and verbal autopsy as well as surveys, censuses, surveillance systems, and cancer registries, among others. As with previous GBD rounds, cause-specific death rates for most causes were estimated using the Cause of Death Ensemble model-a modelling tool developed for GBD to assess the out-of-sample predictive validity of different statistical models and covariate permutations and combine those results to produce cause-specific mortality estimates-with alternative strategies adapted to model causes with insufficient data, substantial changes in reporting over the study period, or unusual epidemiology. YLLs were computed as the product of the number of deaths for each cause-age-sex-location-year and the standard life expectancy at each age. As part of the modelling process, uncertainty intervals (UIs) were generated using the 2·5th and 97·5th percentiles from a 1000-draw distribution for each metric. We decomposed life expectancy by cause of death, location, and year to show cause-specific effects on life expectancy from 1990 to 2021. We also used the coefficient of variation and the fraction of population affected by 90% of deaths to highlight concentrations of mortality. Findings are reported in counts and age-standardised rates. Methodological improvements for cause-of-death estimates in GBD 2021 include the expansion of under-5-years age group to include four new age groups, enhanced methods to account for stochastic variation of sparse data, and the inclusion of COVID-19 and other pandemic-related mortality-which includes excess mortality associated with the pandemic, excluding COVID-19, lower respiratory infections, measles, malaria, and pertussis. For this analysis, 199 new country-years of vital registration cause-of-death data, 5 country-years of surveillance data, 21 country-years of verbal autopsy data, and 94 country-years of other data types were added to those used in previous GBD rounds. FINDINGS The leading causes of age-standardised deaths globally were the same in 2019 as they were in 1990; in descending order, these were, ischaemic heart disease, stroke, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and lower respiratory infections. In 2021, however, COVID-19 replaced stroke as the second-leading age-standardised cause of death, with 94·0 deaths (95% UI 89·2-100·0) per 100 000 population. The COVID-19 pandemic shifted the rankings of the leading five causes, lowering stroke to the third-leading and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease to the fourth-leading position. In 2021, the highest age-standardised death rates from COVID-19 occurred in sub-Saharan Africa (271·0 deaths [250·1-290·7] per 100 000 population) and Latin America and the Caribbean (195·4 deaths [182·1-211·4] per 100 000 population). The lowest age-standardised death rates from COVID-19 were in the high-income super-region (48·1 deaths [47·4-48·8] per 100 000 population) and southeast Asia, east Asia, and Oceania (23·2 deaths [16·3-37·2] per 100 000 population). Globally, life expectancy steadily improved between 1990 and 2019 for 18 of the 22 investigated causes. Decomposition of global and regional life expectancy showed the positive effect that reductions in deaths from enteric infections, lower respiratory infections, stroke, and neonatal deaths, among others have contributed to improved survival over the study period. However, a net reduction of 1·6 years occurred in global life expectancy between 2019 and 2021, primarily due to increased death rates from COVID-19 and other pandemic-related mortality. Life expectancy was highly variable between super-regions over the study period, with southeast Asia, east Asia, and Oceania gaining 8·3 years (6·7-9·9) overall, while having the smallest reduction in life expectancy due to COVID-19 (0·4 years). The largest reduction in life expectancy due to COVID-19 occurred in Latin America and the Caribbean (3·6 years). Additionally, 53 of the 288 causes of death were highly concentrated in locations with less than 50% of the global population as of 2021, and these causes of death became progressively more concentrated since 1990, when only 44 causes showed this pattern. The concentration phenomenon is discussed heuristically with respect to enteric and lower respiratory infections, malaria, HIV/AIDS, neonatal disorders, tuberculosis, and measles. INTERPRETATION Long-standing gains in life expectancy and reductions in many of the leading causes of death have been disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic, the adverse effects of which were spread unevenly among populations. Despite the pandemic, there has been continued progress in combatting several notable causes of death, leading to improved global life expectancy over the study period. Each of the seven GBD super-regions showed an overall improvement from 1990 and 2021, obscuring the negative effect in the years of the pandemic. Additionally, our findings regarding regional variation in causes of death driving increases in life expectancy hold clear policy utility. Analyses of shifting mortality trends reveal that several causes, once widespread globally, are now increasingly concentrated geographically. These changes in mortality concentration, alongside further investigation of changing risks, interventions, and relevant policy, present an important opportunity to deepen our understanding of mortality-reduction strategies. Examining patterns in mortality concentration might reveal areas where successful public health interventions have been implemented. Translating these successes to locations where certain causes of death remain entrenched can inform policies that work to improve life expectancy for people everywhere. FUNDING Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

Prolonged Response to HER2-Directed Therapy in a Patient With HER2-Amplified, Rapidly Progressive Metastatic Colorectal Cancer

HER2 gene amplifications and activating mutations in the HER2 receptor tyrosine kinase are present in 4% of metastatic colorectal cancers (mCRCs). HER2-targeted therapy is not standard of care, although preclinical and clinical data suggest that patients with HER2 amplifications and/or HER2-activating mutations may benefit from HER2-directed therapy. HER2 amplifications and activating mutations have also been implicated in resistance to anti-epidermal growth factor receptor-based therapy. This report describes a patient with KRAS, NRAS, and BRAF wild-type mCRC who experienced disease progression on first-line treatment with FOLFIRI and cetuximab after only 5 months, and subsequently experienced progression on second-line treatment with capecitabine and oxaliplatin plus bevacizumab after 2 months with significant functional decline. Next-generation sequencing of the primary tumor identified HER2 amplification, and we were able to obtain trastuzumab-DM1 for off-label use. The patient had symptomatic clinical benefit from trastuzumab-DM1 and had radiographic disease control for 7 months. On progression, therapy was changed to trastuzumab and pertuzumab, but the patient's disease progressed 3 months later. Treatment with the trastuzumab-DM1 resulted in a sustained response that was longer than his prior responses in the first and second lines of treatment, with a dramatic improvement in the patient's functional status. This case represents the first report, to our knowledge, of successful single-agent treatment of HER2-amplifed CRC with trastuzumab-DM1. Clinical trials targeting patients with HER2-mutated and -amplified metastatic colon cancer are currently underway. Molecular insights from investigating HER2 activation and the impact of HER2-directed therapies in a wide variety of solid tumors will create the needed evidence base to more broadly inform patient care

Finding Waldo: The Evolving Paradigm of Circulating Tumor DNA (ctDNA)—Guided Minimal Residual Disease (MRD) Assessment in Colorectal Cancer (CRC)

Circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA), the tumor-derived cell-free DNA fragments in the bloodstream carrying tumor-specific genetic and epigenetic alterations, represents an emerging novel tool for minimal residual disease (MRD) assessment in patients with resected colorectal cancer (CRC). For many decades, precise risk-stratification following curative-intent colorectal surgery has remained an enduring challenge. The current risk stratification strategy relies on clinicopathologic characteristics of the tumors that lacks precision and results in over-and undertreatment in a significant proportion of patients. Consequently, a biomarker that can reliably identify patients harboring MRD would be of critical importance in refining patient selection for adjuvant therapy. Several prospective cohort studies have provided compelling data suggesting that ctDNA could be a robust biomarker for MRD that outperforms all existing clinicopathologic criteria. Numerous clinical trials are currently underway to validate the ctDNA-guided MRD assessment and adjuvant treatment strategies. Once validated, the ctDNA technology will likely transform the adjuvant therapy paradigm of colorectal cancer, supporting ctDNA-guided treatment escalation and de-escalation. The current article presents a comprehensive overview of the published studies supporting the utility of ctDNA for MRD assessment in patients with CRC. We also discuss ongoing ctDNA-guided adjuvant clinical trials that will likely shape future adjuvant therapy strategies for patients with CRC