Is there still a place for docetaxel rechallenge in prostate cancer?

Three-weekly docetaxel plus prednisone is the standard first-line cytotoxic treatment for patients with metastatic castrate-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC). Today, several new treatment options are available for patients with tumor progression after first-line docetaxel: Abiraterone, enzalutamide, cabazitaxel, sipuleucel-T immunotherapy, and the radionuclide radium-223. However, despite the evolving scenario in CRPC treatment, the optimal sequencing of the innovative therapies remains unclear. The reintroduction of docetaxel at the occurrence of disease progression after a drug holiday (docetaxel rechallenge) was often proposed, and this chemotherapeutic agent showed to maintain antitumor activity in mCRPC patients. Docetaxel rechallenge may still constitute a valid treatment option mainly for patients with favorable response to first-line docetaxel, at least > 3 mo progression-free interval, age less than 75 years, good performance status, and acceptable docetaxel toxicity. The risk of cumulative toxicity must be evaluated, since sensory neuropathy, nail disorders and fatigue might occur on docetaxel rechallenge

Learnable Descriptors for Visual Search

This work proposes LDVS, a learnable binary local descriptor devised for matching natural images within the MPEG CDVS framework. LDVS descriptors are learned so that they can be sign-quantized and compared using the Hamming distance. The underlying convolutional architecture enjoys a moderate parameters count for operations on mobile devices. Our experiments show that LDVS descriptors perform favorably over comparable learned binary descriptors at patch matching on two different datasets. A complete pair-wise image matching pipeline is then designed around LDVS descriptors, integrating them in the reference CDVS evaluation framework. Experiments show that LDVS descriptors outperform the compressed CDVS SIFT-like descriptors at pair-wise image matching over the challenging CDVS image dataset

VUV-Vis optical characterization of Tetraphenyl-butadiene films on glass and specular reflector substrates from room to liquid Argon temperature

The use of efficient wavelength-shifters from the vacuum-ultraviolet to the photosensor's range of sensitivity is a key feature in detectors for Dark Matter search and neutrino physics based on liquid argon scintillation detection. Thin film of Tetraphenyl-butadiene (TPB) deposited onto the surface delimiting the active volume of the detector and/or onto the photosensor optical window is the most common solution in current and planned experiments. Detector design and response can be evaluated and correctly simulated only when the properties of the optical system in use (TPB film + substrate) are fully understood. Characterization of the optical system requires specific, sometimes sophisticated optical methodologies. In this paper the main features of TPB coatings on different, commonly used substrates is reported, as a result of two independent campaigns of measurements at the specialized optical metrology labs of ENEA and University of Tor Vergata. Measured features include TPB emission spectra with lineshape and relative intensity variation recorded as a function of the film thickness and for the first time down to LAr temperature, as well as optical reflectance and transmittance spectra of the TPB coated substrates in the wavelength range of the TPB emission

Weekly epirubicin in patients with hormone-resistant prostate cancer

The aim of this study was to investigate the benefit of weekly epirubicin in the treatment of metastatic hormone-resistant prostate cancer. One hundred and forty-eight patients with metastatic hormone-resistant prostate cancer received weekly 30-min intravenous infusions of epirubicin 30 mg m2 of body surface area. The primary end-point was palliative response, defined as a reduction in pain intensity and an improvement in performance status. The secondary end-points were the duration of the palliative response, quality of life and survival. Fifty-seven (44%) of the 131 evaluable patients met the primary criterion of palliative response after six treatment cycles and 73 (56%) after 12 cycles; the median duration of the response was 9 months (range 1–11). The median global quality of life improved in 52% of the patients after six cycles and in 68% after 12 cycles. The 12- and 18-month survival rates were respectively 56 and 31%, with a median survival of 13+ months (range 1–36). The treatment was well tolerated: grade 3 neutropenia was observed in 8% of the patients, grade 3 anaemia in 7%, and grade 3 thrombocytopenia in 3%. None of the patients developed grade 4 toxicity or congestive heart failure. Weekly epirubicin chemotherapy can lead to a rapid and lasting palliative result in patients with metastatic HRPC, and have a positive effect on the quality of life and survival

Near-real time forest change detection using PlanetScope imagery

© 2020 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. To combat global deforestation, monitoring forest disturbances at sub-annual scales is a key challenge. For this purpose, the new Planetscope nano-satellite constellation is a game changer, with a revisit time of 1 day and a pixel size of 3-m. We present a near-real time forest disturbance alert system based on PlanetScope imagery: the Thresholding Rewards and Penances algorithm (TRP). It produces a new forest change map as soon as a new PlanetScope image is acquired. To calibrate and validate TRP, a reference set was constructed as a complete census of five randomly selected study areas in Tuscany, Italy. We processed 572 PlanetScope images acquired between 1 May 2018 and 5 July 2019. TRP was used to construct forest change maps during the study period for which the final user’s accuracy was 86% and the final producer’s accuracy was 92%. In addition, we estimated the forest change area using an unbiased stratified estimator that can be used with a small sample of reference data. The 95% confidence interval for the sample-based estimate of 56.89 ha included the census-based area estimate of 56.19 ha.s

Psychological impact and health-related quality-of-life outcomes of Mayer-Rokitansky-Küster-Hauser syndrome : A systematic review and narrative synthesis

Mayer-Rokitansky-K\ufcster-Hauser syndrome causes absence or underdevelopment of uterus and vagina, but women's subjective experience remains understudied. This systematic review was conducted to examine the psychological and health-related quality-of-life outcomes of Mayer-Rokitansky-K\ufcster-Hauser syndrome. In total, 22 articles identified through electronic search matched the inclusion criteria and were included in our review. Mayer-Rokitansky-K\ufcster-Hauser syndrome may be associated with psychological symptoms and impaired quality of life, but especially with poor sexual esteem and genital image. Women may experience difficulties managing intimacy and disclosing to partners. Mothers may be perceived as overinvolved, with consequent negative emotions in women with the disease

Weekly chemotherapy in advanced prostatic cancer.

This randomised phase II study was performed in order to evaluate the effectiveness of a weekly chemotherapy regimen in advanced prostatic carcinoma patients (stage D2) refractory to hormonal therapy. Seventy-two cases were studied: they were randomised in a 2:1 ratio to receive either epirubicin (30 mg m-2 weekly) or doxorubicin (25 mg m-2 weekly); 48 patients received epirubicin and 24 received doxorubicin. After 12 courses of chemotherapy, the 45 evaluable patients in the epirubicin arm showed a response rate of 37.7% and the 21 evaluable patients in the doxorubicin arm showed a response rate of 33.3% (P = 0.51). Pain intensity, bone and prostatic tumour markers rapidly and significantly decreased in responders. An improvement in physical symptoms, functional conditions and in emotional well-being was observed in the majority of the treated patients. The histological analysis of bone metastases, performed before and after 12 courses of chemotherapy showed a significant reduction in neoplastic invasion and in new bone formation in responders. Cardiac performance worsened in five out of 45 patients and in ten out of 21 during the first 12 courses of epirubicin or doxorubicin respectively (P = 0.014). The median survival was 12.5 months in the epirubicin arm and 8.0 months in the doxorubicin arm (P = 0.042). Our data indicate that in advanced prostatic carcinoma, a weekly epirubicin regimen may give rapid palliative results, similar to that of doxorubicin, but with less side-effects