Patterns of practice of regional nodal irradiation in breast cancer: results of the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) NOdal Radiotherapy (NORA) survey†

Predicting breast cancer outcome based on SLN node status without ALND is currently an area of uncertainty in SLN+ patients. These uncertainties influence the decision-making of adjuvant nodal irradiation. The NORA Survey was designed to examine the patterns of RNI practice in Europe to provide a basis for designing future trials in areas of equipoise in clinical decision-making concerning RN

Comparison of immune activation of the COVID vaccines : ChAdOx1, BNT162b2, mRNA-1273, BBIBP-CorV, and Gam-COVID-Vac from serological human samples in Hungary showed higher protection after mRNA-based

To gain insight into the different protective mechanisms of approved vaccines, this study focuses on the comparison of humoral and cellular immune responses of five widely used vaccines including ChAdOx1 (AZD1222, AstraZeneca), BNT162b2 (Pfizer), mRNA-1273 (Moderna), BBIBP-CorV (Sinopharm), and Gam-COVID-Vac (Sputnik V).Isolated plasma from 95 volunteers' blood samples was used to measure anti-SARS-CoV-2 humoral and cellular immune responses. Positive controls were recovered patients from COVID-19 (unvaccinated). Specific quantification kits for anti-nucleocapsid IgG, anti-Spike protein IgG, neutralizing antibodies as well as specific SARS-CoV-2 antigens for T-cell activation were used and Spearman correlation and matrix analyses were performed to compare overall immune responses.Nucleocapsid antibodies were significantly higher for the BBIBP-CorV and convalescent group when compared to other vaccines. In contrast, subjects vaccinated with BNT162b2 and mRNA-1273 presented significantly higher anti-spike IgG. In fact, 9.1% of convalescent, 4.5% of Gam-COVID-Vac, 28.6% of ChAdOx1, and 12.5% of BBIBP-CorV volunteers did not generate anti-spike IgG. Similarly, a positive correlation was observed after the neutralization assay. T-cell activation studies showed that mRNA-based vaccines induced a T-cell driven immune response in all cases, while 55% of convalescents, 8% of BNT162b1, 12,5% of mRNA-1273, 9% of Gam-COVID-Vac, 57% of ChAdOx1, and 56% of BBIBP-CorV subjects presented no cellular response. Further correlation matrix analyses indicated that anti-spike IgG and neutralizing antibodies production, and T-cell activation follow the same trend after immunization.RNA-based vaccines induced the most robust adaptive immune activation against SARS-CoV-2 by promoting a significantly higher T-cell response, anti-spike IgG and neutralization levels. Vector-based vaccines protected against the virus at a comparable level to convalescent patients

The Effects of Hyperacute Serum on the Elements of the Human Subchondral Bone Marrow Niche

Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are widely used in laboratory experiments as well as in human cell therapy. Their culture requires animal sera like fetal calf serum (FCS) as essential supplementation; however, animal sera pose a risk for clinical applications. Human blood derivatives, for example, platelet-rich plasma (PRP) releasates, are potential replacements of FCS; however, it is unclear which serum variant has the best effect on the given cell or tissue type. Additionally, blood derivatives are commonly used in musculoskeletal diseases like osteoarthritis (OA) or osteonecrosis as "proliferative agents" for the topical MSC pool. Hyperacute serum (HAS), a new serum derivative, has been designed to approximate the natural coagulation cascade with a single-step, additive-free preparation method. We investigated the effects of HAS on monolayer MSC cultures and in their natural niche, in 3D subchondral bone and marrow explants. Viability measurements, RT-qPCR evaluation for gene expression and flow cytometry for cell surface marker analysis were performed to compare the effects of FCS-, PRP-, or HAS-supplemented culture media. Monolayer MSCs showed significantly higher metabolic activity following 5 days' incubation in HAS, and osteoblast-specific mRNA expression was markedly increased, while cells also retained their MSC-specific cell surface markers. A similar effect was observed on bone and marrow explants, which was further confirmed with confocal microscopy analysis. Moreover, markedly higher bone marrow preservation was observed with histology in case of HAS supplementation compared to FCS. These findings indicate possible application of HAS in regenerative solutions of skeletal diseases like OA or osteonecrosis

Dose distribution in the thyroid gland following radiation therapy of breast cancer-a retrospective study

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Purpose</p> <p>To relate the development of post-treatment hypothyroidism with the dose distribution within the thyroid gland in breast cancer (BC) patients treated with loco-regional radiotherapy (RT).</p> <p>Methods and materials</p> <p>In two groups of BC patients postoperatively irradiated by computer tomography (CT)-based RT, the individual dose distributions in the thyroid gland were compared with each other; Cases developed post-treatment hypothyroidism after multimodal treatment including 4-field RT technique. Matched patients in Controls remained free for hypothyroidism. Based on each patient's dose volume histogram (DVH) the volume percentages of the thyroid absorbing respectively 20, 30, 40 and 50 Gy were then estimated (V20, V30, V40 and V50) together with the individual mean thyroid dose over the whole gland (MeanTotGy). The mean and median thyroid dose for the included patients was about 30 Gy, subsequently the total volume of the thyroid gland (VolTotGy) and the absolute volumes (cm³) receiving respectively < 30 Gy and ≥ 30 Gy were calculated (Vol < 30 and Vol ≥ 30) and analyzed.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>No statistically significant inter-group differences were found between V20, V30, V40 and V50Gy or the median of MeanTotGy. The median VolTotGy in Controls was 2.3 times above VolTotGy in Cases (ρ = 0.003), with large inter-individual variations in both groups. The volume of the thyroid gland receiving < 30 Gy in Controls was almost 2.5 times greater than the comparable figure in Cases.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>We concluded that in patients with small thyroid glands after loco-radiotherapy of BC, the risk of post-treatment hypothyroidism depends on the volume of the thyroid gland.</p

СТАБИЛЬНЫЕ ЭЛЕКТРОННО-ЯДЕРНЫЕ СПИНОВЫЕ СИСТЕМЫ NV–13C В АЛМАЗЕ ДЛЯ КВАНТОВЫХ ТЕХНОЛОГИЙ

Using the methods of computational chemistry, we calculated matrices AKL describing hyperfine interactions (HFI) between the electron spin of the color ‘nitrogen-vacancy’ center (NV center) in a diamond and a 13C nuclear spin located somewhere in the Н-terminated carbon cluster C510[NV]H252 hosting the NV center. The rates W0 of the 13C spin flip-flops induced by anisotropic HFI are calculated systematically for all possible locations of 13C in the cluster. It is shown that in the cluster, there are specific positions of nuclear 13C spin, in which it almost does not undergo such flip-flops due to small off-diagonal elements in corresponding matrices AKL. Spatial locations of the 13C stability positions in the cluster are discovered and characteristic splitting values in the spectra of optically detected magnetic resonance (ODMR) for the stable NV–13C systems are calculated, which can be utilized to identify them during their experimental search for use in emerging quantum technologies. It is shown that the positions of the 13C nuclear spin located on the NV center symmetry axis are completely stable (W0 = 0). The characteristics of eight ‘axial’ NV–13C systems are elucidated. The presence of additional ‘non-axial’ near-stable NV–13C spin systems also exhibiting very low flip-flop rates (W0 → 0) due to a high local symmetry of the spin density distribution resulting in vanishing the off-diagonal HFI matrix AKL elements for such systems is revealed for the first time. Spatially, these ‘non-axial’ stable NV–13C systems are located near the plane passing through the vacancy of the NV center and being perpendicular to the NV axis. Analysis of the available publications showed that apparently, some of the predicted stable NV–13C systems have already been observed experimentally. Методами компьютерной химии рассчитаны матрицы AKL, описывающие сверхтонкое взаимодействие (СТВ) электронного спина центра окраски «азот-вакансия» (NV-центра) в алмазе с ядерным спином атома 13С, который расположен в одном из возможных узлов решетки в пассивированном водородом углеродном кластере С510[NV]H252. Выполнен систематический анализ скоростей W0 переворотов ядерных спинов 13С, индуцируемых их анизотропным СТВ с электронным спином NV-центра. Показано, что в кластере имеются специфические позиции ядерного спина 13С, в которых он практически не испытывает таких переворотов вследствие малости недиагональных элементов в соответствующих матрицах AKL. Определено пространственное расположение найденных позиций стабильности в кластере относительно NV-центра и рассчитаны величины характерных расщеплений в спектрах оптически детектируемого магнитного резонанса (ОДМР) для стабильных систем NV–13C, по которым их можно идентифицировать в процессе их экспериментального поиска для использования в разрабатываемых квантовых технологиях. Показано, что полностью стабильными (W0 = 0) являются позиции ядерного спина, расположенные на оси симметрии NV-центра. Найдены характеристики восьми таких «осевых» систем NV–13C. Впервые обнаружено наличие в кластере дополнительных «неосевых» квазистабильных систем NV–13C, имеющих малые скорости переворотов (W0 .→0) спина 13С вследствие высокой локальной симметрии распределения спиновой плотности, обусловливающей малость недиагональных элементов матриц СТВ для таких систем. Пространственно «не осевые» стабильные системы NV–13C расположены в плоскости, проходящей через вакансию NV-центра перпендикулярно его оси. Выполненный анализ имеющихся литературных данных показал, что, по-видимому, некоторые из предсказанных стабильных систем NV–13C уже наблюдались экспериментально.

A review of the international early recommendations for departments organization and cancer management priorities during the global COVID-19 pandemic: applicability in low- and middle-income countries.

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is an infectious disease caused by a new virus that has never been identified in humans before. COVID-19 caused at the time of writing of this article, 2.5 million cases of infections in 193 countries with 165,000 deaths, including two-third in Europe. In this context, Oncology Departments of the affected countries had to adapt quickly their health system care and establish new organizations and priorities. Thus, numerous recommendations and therapeutic options have been reported to optimize therapy delivery to patients with chronic disease and cancer. Obviously, while these cancer care recommendations are immediately applicable in Europe, they may not be applicable in certain emerging and low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). In this review, we aimed to summarize these international guidelines in accordance with cancer types, making a synthesis for daily practice to protect patients, staff and tailor anti-cancer therapy delivery taking into account patients/tumour criteria and tools availability. Thus, we will discuss their applicability in the LMICs with different organizations, limited means and different constraints