First Assessment of Mountains on Northwestern Ellesmere Island, Nunavut, as Potential Astronomical Observing Sites

Ellesmere Island, at the most northerly tip of Canada, possesses the highest mountain peaks within 10 degrees of the pole. The highest is 2616 m, with many summits over 1000 m, high enough to place them above a stable low-elevation thermal inversion that persists through winter darkness. Our group has studied four mountains along the northwestern coast which have the additional benefit of smooth onshore airflow from the ice-locked Arctic Ocean. We deployed small robotic site testing stations at three sites, the highest of which is over 1600 m and within 8 degrees of the pole. Basic weather and sky clarity data for over three years beginning in 2006 are presented here, and compared with available nearby sea-level data and one manned mid-elevation site. Our results point to coastal mountain sites experiencing good weather: low median wind speed, high clear-sky fraction and the expectation of excellent seeing. Some practical aspects of access to these remote locations and operation and maintenance of equipment there are also discussed.Comment: 21 pages, 2 tables, 15 figures; accepted for publication in PAS

Feasibility of Interdisciplinary Community-Based Fall Risk Screening

OBJECTIVE: This pilot study examined the feasibility of (1) conducting interdisciplinary fall risk screens at a communitywide adult fall prevention event and (2) collecting preliminary follow-up data from people screened at the event about balance confidence and home and activity modifications made after receiving educational information at the event. METHOD: We conducted a pilot study with pre- and posttesting (4-mo follow-up) with 35 communitydwelling adults ≥55 yr old. RESULTS: Approximately half the participants were at risk for falls. Most participants who anticipated making environmental or activity changes to reduce fall risk initiated changes (n = 8/11; 72.7%) during the 4-mo follow-up period. We found no significant difference in participants\u27 balance confidence between baseline (median = 62.81) and follow-up (median = 64.06) as measured by the Activities-specific Balance Confidence scale. CONCLUSION: Conducting interdisciplinary fall risk screens at an adult fall prevention event is feasible and can facilitate environmental and behavior changes to reduce fall risk

Analytical procedures

The aim of this chapter is to provide an introduction to the current methodsavailable for the analysis of plant material containing sesquiterpene lactones,delineate the most widely used extraction methods and provide a brief review of the literature on the subject. A general classification of sesquiterpene lactones, based on their carbocyclic skeletons, is given. The physicochemical properties and methods most commonly used for its extraction from the plant material, including more recent techniques such as supercritical fluid extraction, are analysed. Furthermore, visualization reagents for thin layer chromatography and isolation techniques, using different chromatographic methods, are also described.Fil: Sülsen, Valeria Patricia. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Houssay. Instituto de Química y Metabolismo del Fármaco. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Farmacia y Bioquímica. Instituto de Química y Metabolismo del Fármaco; ArgentinaFil: Catalan, Cesar Atilio Nazareno. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Tucumán. Instituto de Química del Noroeste. Universidad Nacional de Tucumán. Facultad de Bioquímica, Química y Farmacia. Instituto de Química del Noroeste; ArgentinaFil: Martino, Virginia Susana. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Houssay. Instituto de Química y Metabolismo del Fármaco. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Farmacia y Bioquímica. Instituto de Química y Metabolismo del Fármaco; Argentin

Effect of enzalutamide on health-related quality of life, pain, and skeletal-related events in asymptomatic and minimally symptomatic, chemotherapy-naive patients with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (PREVAIL): results from a randomised, phase 3 trial.

BACKGROUND: Enzalutamide significantly increased overall survival and radiographic progression-free survival compared with placebo in the PREVAIL trial of asymptomatic and minimally symptomatic, chemotherapy-naive patients with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer. We report the effect of enzalutamide on health-related quality of life (HRQoL), pain, and skeletal-related events observed during this trial. METHODS: In this phase 3, double-blind trial, patients were randomly assigned (1:1) to receive enzalutamide 160 mg/day (n=872) or placebo (n=845) orally. HRQoL was assessed at baseline and during treatment using the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-Prostate (FACT-P) and EQ-5D questionnaires. Pain status was assessed at screening, baseline, week 13, and week 25 with the Brief Pain Inventory Short Form (BPI-SF). The primary analysis of HRQoL data used a mixed-effects model to test the difference between least square means change from baseline at week 61. We assessed change from baseline, percentage improvement, and time to deterioration in HRQoL and pain, the proportion of patients with a skeletal-related event, and time to first skeletal-related event. Analysis was done on the intention-to-treat population. This study is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov, number NCT01212991. FINDINGS: Median treatment duration was 16·6 months (IQR 10·1-21·1) in the enzalutamide group and 4·6 months (2·8-9·7) in the placebo group. The mixed-effects model analyses showed significant treatment differences in change from baseline to week 61 with enzalutamide compared with placebo for most FACT-P endpoints and EQ-5D visual analogue scale. Median time to deterioration in FACT-P total score was 11·3 months (95% CI 11·1-13·9) in the enzalutamide group and 5·6 months (5·5-5·6) in the placebo groups (hazard ratio [HR] 0·62 [95% CI 0·54-0·72]; p<0·0001). A significantly greater proportion of patients in the enzalutamide group than in the placebo group reported clinically meaningful improvements in FACT-P total score (327 [40%] of 826 vs 181 [23%] of 790), in EQ-5D utility index (224 [28%] of 812 vs 99 [16%] of 623), and visual analogue scale (218 [27%] of 803 vs 106 of [18%] 603; all p<0·0001). Median time to progression in BPI-SF pain at its worst was 5·7 months (95% CI 5·6-5·7) in the enzalutamide group and 5·6 months (5·4-5·6) in the placebo group (HR 0·62 [95% CI 0·53-0·74]; p<0·0001). Progression of pain at its worst was less common in the enzalutamide group than in the placebo group at week 13 (220 [29%] of 769 vs 257 [42%] of 610; p<0·0001), but not at week 25 (225 [32%] of 705 vs 135 [38%] of 360; p=0·068). 278 (32%) of 872 patients in the enzalutamide group and 309 (37%) of 845 patients in the placebo group had experienced a skeletal-related event by data cutoff. Median time to first skeletal-related events in the enzalutamide group was 31·1 months (95% CI 29·5-not reached) and 31·3 months (95% CI 23·9-not reached) in the placebo group (HR 0·72 [95% CI 0·61-0·84]; p<0·0001). INTERPRETATION: In addition to improving overall survival relative to placebo, enzalutamide significantly improves patient-related outcomes and delays occurrence of first skeletal-related event in chemotherapy-naive men with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer. FUNDING: Astellas Pharma and Medivation

Effects of heart failure pharmacotherapy on cancer: a narrative review of implicated pathways and pre-clinical and clinical evidence

Heart failure (HF) patients have a significantly higher risk of new-onset cancer and cancer-associated mortality, compared to subjects free of HF. While both the prevention and treatment of new-onset HF in patients with cancer have been investigated extensively, less is known about the prevention and treatment of new-onset cancer in patients with HF, and whether and how guideline directed medical therapy (GDMT) for HF should be modified when cancer is diagnosed in HF patients. The purpose of this review is to elaborate and discuss the effects of pillar HF pharmacotherapies, as well as digoxin and diuretics on cancer, and to identify areas for further research and novel therapeutic strategies. To this end, in this review (i) proposed effects and mechanisms of action of guideline-directed HF drugs on cancer derived from pre-clinical data will be described, (ii) the evidence from both observational studies and randomized controlled trials on the effects of GDMT on cancer incidence and cancer-related outcomes, as synthetized by meta-analyses will be reviewed, and (iii) considerations for future pre-clinical and clinical investigations will be provided