15 research outputs found

    Prediction model for short-term mortality after palliative radiotherapy for patients having advanced cancer: a cohort study from routine electronic medical data.

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    We developed a predictive score system for 30-day mortality after palliative radiotherapy by using predictors from routine electronic medical record. Patients with metastatic cancer receiving first course palliative radiotherapy from 1 July, 2007 to 31 December, 2017 were identified. 30-day mortality odds ratios and probabilities of the death predictive score were obtained using multivariable logistic regression model. Overall, 5,795 patients participated. Median follow-up was 39.6 months (range, 24.5-69.3) for all surviving patients. 5,290 patients died over a median 110 days, of whom 995 (17.2%) died within 30 days of radiotherapy commencement. The most important mortality predictors were primary lung cancer (odds ratio: 1.73, 95% confidence interval: 1.47-2.04) and log peripheral blood neutrophil lymphocyte ratio (odds ratio: 1.71, 95% confidence interval: 1.52-1.92). The developed predictive scoring system had 10 predictor variables and 20 points. The cross-validated area under curve was 0.81 (95% confidence interval: 0.79-0.82). The calibration suggested a reasonably good fit for the model (likelihood-ratio statistic: 2.81, P = 0.094), providing an accurate prediction for almost all 30-day mortality probabilities. The predictive scoring system accurately predicted 30-day mortality among patients with stage IV cancer. Oncologists may use this to tailor palliative therapy for patients

    Observation of a new boson at a mass of 125 GeV with the CMS experiment at the LHC

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    Association between serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D and ovarian reserve in premenopausal women

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    OBJECTIVE: Vitamin D has been linked to anti-Müllerian hormone levels, suggesting a possible association with greater ovarian reserve, but large population-based studies are lacking. Our objective was to explore the association between vitamin D and FSH in premenopausal women. METHODS: The Uterine Fibroid Study (1996 – 1999) enrolled randomly-selected 30 – 49 year-old members of a Washington D. C. health plan (N=1430). Women provided a blood and urine sample in addition to questionnaire data. The vitamin D metabolite 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D) was measured in stored plasma samples. Urinary FSH (mIU/mg creatinine) was measured with an immunofluorometric assay. To obtain baseline measures, this investigation was limited to urine samples collected in the first 5 days of the menstrual cycle or 5 days prior to menses onset. Additionally, post-menopausal women and women using oral contraceptives were excluded, leaving 527 women in our analysis. FSH was creatinine-adjusted, normalized by log-transformation, and then modeled with multivariable linear regression. RESULTS: The median 25(OH)D level was 12 ng/mL, with approximately 75% of participants below the recommended level of 20 ng/mL. FSH and 25(OH)D were inversely related. For an increase of 10 ng/mL in 25(OH)D, urinary FSH decreased 14% (95% Confidence Interval: −23%, −5%), p=0.003. CONCLUSIONS: Vitamin D is inversely related to FSH. This is consistent with literature relating low vitamin D with lower anti-Müllerian hormone. Prospective studies should investigate whether low levels of vitamin D contribute to decreased ovarian reserve

    A New Boson with a Mass of 125 GeV Observed with the CMS Experiment at the Large Hadron Collider

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    The Higgs boson was postulated nearly five decades ago within the framework of the standard model of particle physics and has been the subject of numerous searches at accelerators around the world. Its discovery would verify the existence of a complex scalar field thought to give mass to three of the carriers of the electroweak force-the W+, W-, and Z(0) bosons-as well as to the fundamental quarks and leptons. The CMS Collaboration has observed, with a statistical significance of five standard deviations, a new particle produced in proton-proton collisions at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN. The evidence is strongest in the diphoton and four-lepton (electrons and/or muons) final states, which provide the best mass resolution in the CMS detector. The probability of the observed signal being due to a random fluctuation of the background is about 1 in 3 x 10(6). The new particle is a boson with spin not equal to 1 and has a mass of about 1.25 giga-electron volts. Although its measured properties are, within the uncertainties of the present data, consistent with those expected of the Higgs boson, more data are needed to elucidate the precise nature of the new particle
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