Evaluation of the Effectiveness of Bevacizumab Treatment in Patients with Metastatic Colorectal Cancer with PET-CT

Purpose: To evaluate the response to therapy with PET-CT in metastatic colorectal cancer patients treated with Bevacizumab and chemotherapy.Methods: Twenty-two patients with metastatic colorectal cancer that were treated with bevacizumab and 6 cycles of chemotherapy were evaluated by whole-body PET-CT scan before and after the treatment in accordance with the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer criteria.Results: While 31.8% of patients responded to treatment (complete response + partial response), 68.2% did not respond to treatment (stable disease + progressive disease). The mean hepatic, extra hepatic, abdomen, lung and bone metastases SUVmax values were higher after treatment in comparison to the pre-treatment values. There was an increase in SUVmax values in those who did not respond to the treatment, while a decrease was observed in those who responded to the treatment. Survival was significantly increased in all patients that responded to the treatment. The difference in terms of gender, histological subtype, histological grade, primary tumor location, presence of metastases in regional lymph nodes and liver at the time of diagnosis or the response to the treatment was not statistically significant.Conclusions: In this study we detected metabolic response before anatomical response with PET-CT in one third of metastatic colorectal cancer patients treated with Bevacizumab and chemotherapy. This finding suggests that PET-CT may be used as a measure to follow therapy response and predict the prognosis in metastatic colorectal cancer patients

Comparative QSTR Study Using Semi-Empirical and First Principle Methods Based Descriptors for Acute Toxicity of Diverse Organic Compounds to the Fathead Minnow

Abstract: Several quantum-mechanics-based descriptors were derived for a diverse set of 48 organic compounds using AM1, PM3, HF/6-31+G, and DFT-B3LYP/6-31+G (d) level of the theory. LC50 values of acute toxicity of the compounds were correlated to the fathead minnow and predicted using calculated descriptors by employing Comprehensive Descriptors for Structural and Statistical Analysis (CODESSA) program. The heuristic method, implemented in the CODESSA program for selecting the ‘best ’ regression model, was applied to a pre-selection of the most-representative descriptors by sequentially eliminating descriptors that did not satisfy a certain level of statistical criterion. First model, statistically, the most significant one has been drawn up with the help of DFT calculations in which the squared correlation coefficient R 2 is 0.85, and the squared cross-validation 2 correlation coefficient R CV is 0.79. Second model, which has been drawn up with the help of HF calculations, has its statistical quality very close to the DFT-based one and in this model value of R 2 2 is 0.84 and that of R CV is 0.78. Third and fourth models have been drawn up with the help of AM1 and PM3 calculations, respectively. The values of R 2 and 2 RCV in the third case are correspondingly 0.79 and 0.66, whereas in the fourth case they are 0.78 and 0.65 respectively. Results of this study clearly demonstrate that for the calculations o

Epidemiology and outcomes of hospital-acquired bloodstream infections in intensive care unit patients: the EUROBACT-2 international cohort study

Purpose In the critically ill, hospital-acquired bloodstream infections (HA-BSI) are associated with significant mortality. Granular data are required for optimizing management, and developing guidelines and clinical trials. Methods We carried out a prospective international cohort study of adult patients (≥ 18 years of age) with HA-BSI treated in intensive care units (ICUs) between June 2019 and February 2021. Results 2600 patients from 333 ICUs in 52 countries were included. 78% HA-BSI were ICU-acquired. Median Sequential Organ Failure Assessment (SOFA) score was 8 [IQR 5; 11] at HA-BSI diagnosis. Most frequent sources of infection included pneumonia (26.7%) and intravascular catheters (26.4%). Most frequent pathogens were Gram-negative bacteria (59.0%), predominantly Klebsiella spp. (27.9%), Acinetobacter spp. (20.3%), Escherichia coli (15.8%), and Pseudomonas spp. (14.3%). Carbapenem resistance was present in 37.8%, 84.6%, 7.4%, and 33.2%, respectively. Difficult-to-treat resistance (DTR) was present in 23.5% and pan-drug resistance in 1.5%. Antimicrobial therapy was deemed adequate within 24 h for 51.5%. Antimicrobial resistance was associated with longer delays to adequate antimicrobial therapy. Source control was needed in 52.5% but not achieved in 18.2%. Mortality was 37.1%, and only 16.1% had been discharged alive from hospital by day-28. Conclusions HA-BSI was frequently caused by Gram-negative, carbapenem-resistant and DTR pathogens. Antimicrobial resistance led to delays in adequate antimicrobial therapy. Mortality was high, and at day-28 only a minority of the patients were discharged alive from the hospital. Prevention of antimicrobial resistance and focusing on adequate antimicrobial therapy and source control are important to optimize patient management and outcomes