Association of cetuximab with adverse pulmonary events in cancer patients: a comprehensive review

Compounds derived from biologic sources, or biologicals, are increasingly utilized as therapeutic agents in malignancy. Development of anti-cancer targeted therapies from biologics is increasingly being utilized. Cetuximab, a chimeric monoclonal antibody, is one such anti-cancer targeted therapeutic that has shown efficacy in quelling the rate of patient decline in colorectal, head/neck, and non-small cell lung cancer. However, due to the relatively recent addition of biologic compounds to the therapeutic arsenal, information related to adverse reactions is less well known than those seen in traditional chemotherapeutics. Dermatologic reactions have been demonstrated as the most frequent side effect cited during cetuximab therapy for malignancy; however, other effects may lead to greater morbidity. In general, pulmonary complications of therapeutics can lead to significant morbidity and mortality. The purpose of this review is to compile the various pulmonary side effects seen in patients treated with cetuximab for various malignancies, and to compare the incidence of these adverse reactions to standard therapies

Differentiation and Recruitment of Th9 Cells Stimulated by Pleural Mesothelial Cells in Human Mycobacterium tuberculosis Infection

Newly discovered IL-9–producing CD4+ helper T cells (Th9 cells) have been reported to contribute to tissue inflammation and immune responses, however, differentiation and immune regulation of Th9 cells in tuberculosis remain unknown. In the present study, our data showed that increased Th9 cells with the phenotype of effector memory cells were found to be in tuberculous pleural effusion as compared with blood. TGF-β was essential for Th9 cell differentiation from naïve CD4+ T cells stimulated with PMA and ionomycin in vitro for 5 h, and addition of IL-1β, IL-4 or IL-6 further augmented Th9 cell differentiation. Tuberculous pleural effusion and supernatants of cultured pleural mesothelial cells were chemotactic for Th9 cells, and this activity was partly blocked by anti-CCL20 antibody. IL-9 promoted the pleural mesothelial cell repairing and inhibited IFN-γ-induced pleural mesothelial cell apoptosis. Moreover, pleural mesothelial cells promoted Th9 cell differentiation by presenting antigen. Collectively, these data provide new information concerning Th9 cells, in particular the collaborative immune regulation between Th9 cells and pleural mesothelial cells in human M. tuberculosis infection. In particular, pleural mesothelial cells were able to function as antigen-presenting cells to stimulate Th9 cell differentiation

Review of methods used by chiropractors to determine the site for applying manipulation

Background: With the development of increasing evidence for the use of manipulation in the management of musculoskeletal conditions, there is growing interest in identifying the appropriate indications for care. Recently, attempts have been made to develop clinical prediction rules, however the validity of these clinical prediction rules remains unclear and their impact on care delivery has yet to be established. The current study was designed to evaluate the literature on the validity and reliability of the more common methods used by doctors of chiropractic to inform the choice of the site at which to apply spinal manipulation. Methods: Structured searches were conducted in Medline, PubMed, CINAHL and ICL, supported by hand searches of archives, to identify studies of the diagnostic reliability and validity of common methods used to identify the site of treatment application. To be included, studies were to present original data from studies of human subjects and be designed to address the region or location of care delivery. Only English language manuscripts from peer-reviewed journals were included. The quality of evidence was ranked using QUADAS for validity and QAREL for reliability, as appropriate. Data were extracted and synthesized, and were evaluated in terms of strength of evidence and the degree to which the evidence was favourable for clinical use of the method under investigation. Results: A total of 2594 titles were screened from which 201 articles met all inclusion criteria. The spectrum of manuscript quality was quite broad, as was the degree to which the evidence favoured clinical application of the diagnostic methods reviewed. The most convincing favourable evidence was for methods which confirmed or provoked pain at a specific spinal segmental level or region. There was also high quality evidence supporting the use, with limitations, of static and motion palpation, and measures of leg length inequality. Evidence of mixed quality supported the use, with limitations, of postural evaluation. The evidence was unclear on the applicability of measures of stiffness and the use of spinal x-rays. The evidence was of mixed quality, but unfavourable for the use of manual muscle testing, skin conductance, surface electromyography and skin temperature measurement. Conclusions: A considerable range of methods is in use for determining where in the spine to administer spinal manipulation. The currently published evidence falls across a spectrum ranging from strongly favourable to strongly unfavourable in regard to using these methods. In general, the stronger and more favourable evidence is for those procedures which take a direct measure of the presumptive site of care– methods involving pain provocation upon palpation or localized tissue examination. Procedures which involve some indirect assessment for identifying the manipulable lesion of the spine–such as skin conductance or thermography–tend not to be supported by the available evidence.https://doi.org/10.1186/2045-709X-21-3

Reconnaissance automatique de texture par analyse fractale

L'intérêt d'une analyse fractale est d'être invariante aux transformations d'échelles, translations et rotations. Les informations communément extraites de ce type d'analyse sont la dimension et la lacunarité. Pour disposer d'un nombre de paramètres discriminants plus important, il est possible d'utiliser la signature fractale, qui est la variation locale de la mesure de la dimension fractale. L'intérêt de la méthode présentée dans cet article réside dans une modélisation de la signature, les valeurs du modèle étant ensuite utilisées par un réseau de neurones pour séparer les textures en familles d'appartenance

Jump Height from Inertial Recordings : A Tutorial for a Sports Scientist

Jump performance provides meaningful information both for sporting and clinical needs. Current state-of-the-art in jump performance assessment is laboratory-bound, however, out-of-the-laboratory methods are desirable. Therefore, the purposes of the present investigation were 1) to explore whether utilising a novel analytical approach minimises the bias between inertial recording unit (IMU)-based and jump mat-based jump height estimates, and 2) to provide a thorough tutorial for a sport scientist (see appendix) to facilitate standardisation of jump height estimation. Forty one women, men and boys aged 6 to 77 years-of-age completed three maximal counter movement jumps without arm swing, which were concurrently registered with a jump mat, and an IMU worn in low lumbar region. Excellent agreement between the novel IMU-based jump height and jump mat jump height was observed (mean IMU 22.6 [8.3] cm, mean jump mat 22.7 [8.9], mean bias -0.1 cm [95% limits of agreement -4.5 cm to 4.4 cm; p = 0.826], intra-class correlation coefficient 0.97 [95% CI 0.94 to 0.98, p < 0.001]). In conclusion, inertial recordings conducted with lightweight IMUs worn on the hip provide a valid and feasible assessment of jump height among people with varying athletic ability. Inertial signals have the potential to afford (at least semi-) automated analysis pipeline with low labour cost thus being potentially feasible in applied settings such as in professional sports or in the clinics.peerReviewe