Evidence for Coupling of Velocity and Composition Fluctuations in a Binary Liquid Mixture

A critical mixture of isobutyric acid and water was quenched from the one-phase region into the two-phase region and, after the spinodal ring was well developed, a reverse quench returned the system to the one-phase region. Light-scattering measurements for this process exhibit a clearly nondiffusive relaxation which, at least for early times after the quench reversal, is in good agreement with Ruiz\u27s scheme for the coupling of velocity and composition fluctuations

Understanding the patient experience in hepatocellular carcinoma: a qualitative patient interview study

Hepatocellular carcinoma; Quality of life; SymptomsCarcinoma hepatocelular; Calidad de vida; SíntomasCarcinoma hepatocel·lular; Qualitat de vida; SímptomesPurpose This study aimed to elucidate the patient experience of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) to guide patient-centered outcome measurement in drug development. Methods Patients with HCC participated in qualitative interviews to elicit disease-related signs/symptoms and impacts, using discussion guides developed from literature searches and discussions with oncologists. Interview participants rated the disturbance of their experiences (0–10 scale). A conceptual model was developed and mapped against patient-reported outcome (PRO) instruments identified from database reviews. Results Interviews were conducted with 25 individuals with HCC (68% were men; median age: 63 years; 12% Barcelona clinic liver cancer (BCLC) stage A; 32% stage B; and 56% stage C) in the USA. Fifty-one HCC-related concepts were identified from the interviews and were grouped into eight sign/symptom categories (eating behavior/weight changes; extremities [arms, legs]; fatigue and strength; gastrointestinal; pain; sensory; skin; other) and four impact categories (emotional; physical; cognitive function; other) for the conceptual model. The most prevalent and disturbing experiences across the disease stages were fatigue/lack of energy and emotional impacts such as frustration, fear, and depression. Abdominal pain and skin-related issues were particularly common and disturbing in individuals with HCC stage C. The EORTC QLQ-C30 and HCC18 were identified as commonly used PRO instruments in HCC studies and captured the relevant signs/symptoms associated with the patient experience. Conclusion Patients with HCC reported a range of signs/symptoms and impacts that negatively affect daily functioning and quality of life. Including PRO measures in HCC clinical trials can provide meaningful patient perspectives during drug development.This qualitative study was funded by AstraZeneca

Using Novel Carbon Monoxide Devices in Remote Smoking Cessation Treatment: A Utilization and Reliability Analysis

https://openworks.mdanderson.org/sumexp22/1119/thumbnail.jp

Visualizing tumor evolution with the fishplot package for R

BACKGROUND: Massively-parallel sequencing at depth is now enabling tumor heterogeneity and evolution to be characterized in unprecedented detail. Tracking these changes in clonal architecture often provides insight into therapeutic response and resistance. In complex cases involving multiple timepoints, standard visualizations, such as scatterplots, can be difficult to interpret. Current data visualization methods are also typically manual and laborious, and often only approximate subclonal fractions. RESULTS: We have developed an R package that accurately and intuitively displays changes in clonal structure over time. It requires simple input data and produces illustrative and easy-to-interpret graphs suitable for diagnosis, presentation, and publication. CONCLUSIONS: The simplicity, power, and flexibility of this tool make it valuable for visualizing tumor evolution, and it has potential utility in both research and clinical settings. The fishplot package is available at https://github.com/chrisamiller/fishplot. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12864-016-3195-z) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users

Are Musculoskeletal Conditions Neglected in National Health Surveys?

Concise report[Abstract] Objective: To describe the proportion of national health surveys that contain questions on the prevalence and consequences of musculoskeletal conditions. Methods: We used a comprehensive search strategy to obtain national health surveys from the 218 countries listed by the World Bank. Two authors independently extracted information from each national health survey. Outcomes were the proportion of surveys that contained questions on the prevalence of musculoskeletal conditions using the Global Burden of Disease categorization of RA, OA, low back pain, neck pain, gout and other and contained condition-specific questions about activity limitation, severity of pain and work absence. We also measured how frequently the prevalence of low back pain was measured using a consensus-based standard definition for low back pain prevalence studies. Results: We identified national health surveys from 170 countries. Sixty-two (36.4%), the majority from high-income countries (n = 43), measured the prevalence of at least one musculoskeletal condition. OA [53 (85.4%)], low back pain [39 (62.9%)] and neck pain [37 (59.7%)] were most commonly measured, while RA and gout prevalence were only measured in 10 (5.9%) and 3 (1.8%) surveys, respectively. A minority of surveys assessed condition-specific activity limitations [6 (3.6%)], pain severity [5 (2.9%)] and work absence [1 (0.6%)]. Only one survey used the consensus-based standard definition for low back pain. Conclusion: Musculoskeletal conditions are neglected in the majority of national health surveys. Monitoring musculoskeletal conditions through ongoing surveys is crucial for the development and evaluation of health policies to reduce their burden

A high LDH to absolute lymphocyte count ratio in patients with DLBCL predicts for a poor intratumoral immune response and inferior survival

Purpose: To test the utility of the circulating Lactate Dehydrogenase (LDH) to absolute lymphocyte count (ALC) ratio (LAR) to predict outcome to conventional first-line chemo-immunotherapy in Diffuse Large B-cell Lymphoma (DLBCL), and investigate its correlation to the tumour immune microenvironment (TME). Experimental Design: A population based cohort of 210 patients (median age: 64, range 18-90 years) with median follow up 3.8 years was analysed. All patients were treated with R-CHOP, and no immunosuppression related cases were included. Tissue for nanoString gene expression was available in 141. Results: High (i.e. adverse) LAR was associated with inferior progression free and overall survival (PFS 45% vs. 78%; OS 56% vs 86%, both p < 0.001) at 5-years. Patients with a high LAR had a strikingly different TME compared to patients with a low ratio. Low LAR was associated with a good-risk TME immune gene signature (p < 0.0001), including high CD8 and lower M2 macrophage infiltration. COO classification was not significantly different between high and low LAR patients. LAR was predictive of outcome independent of cell of origin and the international prognostic index (IPI). In particular, LAR discriminated patients with high IPI (3- 5), showing 5-year PFS and OS of 32% vs. 74% (p=0.0006), and 43% vs. 81% (p=0.0003). A combined nanoString based immune score and the LAR allowed better prediction of outcome than either prognosticator alone (p < 0.0001). Conclusions: The LAR reflects the TME within DLBCL, and is a strong predictor of outcome in DLBCL treated with conventional first-line therapy that is independent of and additive to the IPI. Further studies are required to determine if this easily applicable blood assay can determine patients that might benefit from immune checkpoint blockade