Clinical trial data of anti-PD-1/PD-L1 therapy for recurrent or metastatic nasopharyngeal carcinoma: A review

IMPORTANCE: Anti-programmed cell death receptor-1 (PD-1) therapy is standard of care for incurable recurrent or metastatic non-nasopharyngeal head and neck cancer. In contrast, there are no regulatory agency-approved anti-PD-1 agents indicated for the treatment of recurrent or metastatic nasopharyngeal carcinomas (RM-NPC) in the Western hemisphere, and no standard treatment option exists beyond first-line chemotherapy for RM-NPC. The pace of development of novel systemic therapy regimens for RM-NPC has been slow compared to many other advanced tumor types, leaving an unmet clinical need for these patients with a poor prognosis. OBSERVATIONS: Recent clinical trials have documented the clinical activity of anti-PD-1 therapy in RM-NPC. In particular, randomized clinical trials in the first-line setting have demonstrated significant improvements in progression-free survival (PFS) with the addition of anti-PD-1 therapy to standard chemotherapy. Whether the observed PFS benefits require combination chemoimmunotherapy or can be achieved with chemotherapy followed by crossover to immunotherapy upon progression remains unknown. Ongoing clinical trials are exploring novel anti-PD-1 therapy-based combinations, which may further solidify a role for these agents in RM-NPC. CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE: Among patients with RM-NPC, anti-PD-1 therapy added to first-line standard-of-care gemcitabine plus cisplatin provides significantly better efficacy outcomes compared to chemotherapy alone, and anti-PD-1 monotherapy appears to have comparable clinical activity and better tolerability than chemotherapy in previously treated disease. Thus, anti-PD-1 therapy is poised to advance standard of care for the treatment of RM-NPC

On ant-like Synemosyna Hentz, 1846 spiders from Bolivia, with indirect evidence for polymorphic mimicry complexes (Araneae: Salticidae: Simonellini)

Three species of Synemosyna Hentz, 1846 were recorded during a survey in five Bolivian forest ecoregions: S. aurantiaca (Mello-Leitão, 1917), S. myrmeciaeformis (Taczanowski, 1871) and S. nicaraguaensis Cutler, 1993. Synemosyna aurantiaca and S. nicaraguaensis are recorded for Bolivia for the first time and the previously unknown male of S. nicaraguaensis is described and illustrated. The habitus and the genitalia of the female of S. myrmeciaeformis are illustrated for the first time. Synemosyna aurantiaca occurs in semi-deciduous forests south of 18° S and S. myrmeciaeformis in the Bolivian Yungas forest and ecoregions of the Amazon biome north of 16° S. Synemosyna nicaraguaensis is possibly an Andean species that enters into the moist Isthmian forests of Central America. Several potential mimicry complexes with two broad patterns were observed: sex-specific polychromatic mimicry (S. nicaraguaensis), and transformational mimicry involving smaller orange and larger brown to dark-brown forms (S. aurantiaca and S. myrmeciaeformis).Fil: Perger, Robert. Colección Boliviana de Fauna; BoliviaFil: Rubio, Gonzalo Daniel. Instituto Nacional de Tecnologia Agropecuaria. Centro Regional Misiones. Estacion Experimental Agropecuaria Cerro Azul.; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Nordeste; ArgentinaFil: Haddad, Charles R.. University of the Free State; Sudáfric

Histoire sociale des pouvoirs politiques

Robert Descimon, directeur d’étudesÉlie Haddad, chargé de recherche au CNRS Les élites du pouvoir à l’épreuve de la monarchie absolue aux XVIe et XVIIe siècles Le séminaire a été consacré à expliciter les buts de la recherche commune sur l’anthropologie de la parenté dans la noblesse en rapport avec la construction de l’État monarchique en France. Robert Descimon a repris l’étude des significations sociales du brocard dû aux post-glossateurs Familia, id est substantia. Les rapports entre les ..

Histoire sociale des pouvoirs politiques

Robert Descimon, directeur d’étudesElie Haddad, chargé de recherche au CNRS Les élites du pouvoir à l’épreuve de la monarchie absolue (XVIe-XVIIIe siècles) François Joseph Ruggiu (professeur à l’Université Paris-IV/Sorbonne) a inauguré le séminaire par une lecture critique du livre Épreuves de noblesse, (Les Belles Lettres, 2010), qui est un produit du séminaire des années passées. La perspective anthropologique est restée, cette année, au cœur de notre enseignement : Élie Haddad a présenté l..

Miscibility and Viscoelastic Properties of Acrylic Polyhedral Oligomeric Silsesquioxane-Poly(methyl methacrylate) Blends

Submitted to POLYMER, January 2005We investigate the miscibility of acrylic polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxanes (POSS) [characteristic size d ≈ 2 nm] and poly(methyl methacrylate)(PMMA) in order to determine the effect of well-dispersed POSS nanoparticles on the thermomechanical properties of PMMA. Two different acrylic POSS species (unmodified and hydrogenated) were blended separately with PMMA at volume fractions up to φ = 0.30. Both POSS species have a plasticizing effect on PMMA by lowering the glass transition temperature Tg and decreasing the melt-state linear viscoelastic moduli measured in small amplitude oscillatory shear flow. The unmodified acrylic-POSS has better miscibility with PMMA than the hydrogenated form, approaching complete miscibility for loadings φ Tg of PMMA, far less than the 17.4°C decrease in the glass transition temperature observed in a blend of 5 vol% dioctyl phthalate (DOP) in PMMA; however, the decrease in the glass transition temperature per added plasticizer molecule is nearly the same in the unmodified acrylic-POSS-PMMA blend compared with the DOP-PMMA blend. Time-temperature superposition (TTS) was applied successfully to the storage and loss moduli data and the resulting shift factors were correlated with a significant increase in free volume of the blends. The fractional free volume f0 = 0.046 for PMMA at T0 = 170°C while for a blend of 5 vol% unmodified acrylic-POSS in PMMA f0 = 0.057, which corresponds to an addition of 0.47 nm3 per added POSS molecule at φ = 0.05. The degree of dispersion was characterized using both wide-angle x-ray diffraction (WAXD) and dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA). Diffraction patterns for both blend systems show clear evidence of phase separation at φ = 0.20 and higher, but no significant phase separation is evident at φ = 0.10 and lower. The storage modulus measured in DMA indicates appreciable phase separation for unmodified acrylic POSS loadings φ = 0.10, while no evidence of phase separation is present in the φ = 0.05 blend in DMA.AFOSR (DURINT program

Histoire sociale des pouvoirs politiques

Robert Descimon, directeur d’étudesÉlie Haddad, chargé de recherche au CNRS Transmission et parenté dans la noblesse française de robe et d’épée aux XVIe et XVIIe siècles Le début du séminaire a été consacré à une réflexion sur les notions que notre groupe de recherche essaie de mettre en œuvre dans son étude de la noblesse de robe parisienne et de la noblesse en général : voulant éclairer les obscurs objets de la transmission au sein de la parenté nobiliaire, on s’est attaché en particulier ..

Histoire sociale des pouvoirs politiques

Robert Descimon, directeur d’étudesÉlie Haddad, chargé de recherche au CNRS Les élites du pouvoir à l’épreuve de la monarchie absolue aux XVIe et XVIIe siècles Le séminaire a été consacré à expliciter les buts de la recherche commune sur l’anthropologie de la parenté dans la noblesse en rapport avec la construction de l’État monarchique en France. Robert Descimon a repris l’étude des significations sociales du brocard dû aux post-glossateurs Familia, id est substantia. Les rapports entre les ..

Histoire sociale des pouvoirs politiques

Robert Descimon, directeur d’étudesÉlie Haddad, chargé de recherche au CNRS Transmission et parenté dans la noblesse française de robe et d’épée aux XVIe et XVIIe siècles Le début du séminaire a été consacré à une réflexion sur les notions que notre groupe de recherche essaie de mettre en œuvre dans son étude de la noblesse de robe parisienne et de la noblesse en général : voulant éclairer les obscurs objets de la transmission au sein de la parenté nobiliaire, on s’est attaché en particulier ..

Effect of nanoparticles on the modifications of drilling fluids properties : A review of recent advances

The authors would like to thank the School of Engineering at the University of Aberdeen for providing required facilities to support this study.Peer reviewedPostprin