Are we HER-ting for innovation in neoadjuvant breast cancer trial design?

Through the use of surrogate markers of efficacy, neoadjuvant studies may facilitate the implementation of new treatments into clinical practice. However, disease-free survival is the current standard outcome endpoint for registration of a novel treatment. The coupling of smaller neoadjuvant 'proof of principle' studies with larger adjuvant registration trials offers the promise of speeding up the time to market of new therapies. Clever new designs, such as the 'biological window' and 'learn on the way', can provide valuable insight regarding mechanisms of action and resistance of these novel drugs by identifying patients who are most likely to respond to a novel therapy early in the drug development process. Using the ongoing neoadjuvant trials with HER2 (human epidermal growth factor receptor 2)-directed therapy as a paradigm, this article discusses recent innovations in study design and the challenges of conducting translational research in the neoadjuvant setting

The Relative Role of Perceived Partner Risks in Promoting Condom Use in a Three-City Sample of High-Risk, Low-Income Women

We examined the effect of women’s perceptions of sexual partner risks on condom use. Women from three US cities (n = 1,967) were recruited to provide data on HIV risks. In univariate models, increased odds of condom use were associated with perceiving that partners had concurrent partners and being unaware of partners': (a) HIV status, (b) bisexuality, (c) concurrency; and/or (d) injection drug use. In multivariate models, neither being unaware of the four partner risk factors nor perceiving a partner as being high risk was associated with condom use. Contextual factors associated with decreased odds of condom use were having sex with a main partner, homelessness in the past year, alcohol use during sex, and crack use in the past 30 days. Awareness of a partner’s risks may not be sufficient for increasing condom use. Contextual factors, sex with a main partner in particular, decrease condom use despite awareness of partner risk factors

Simultaneous Detection of 10 Foodborne Pathogens using Capillary Electrophoresis-Based Single Strand Conformation Polymorphism

This report outlines the development of a rapid, simple, and sensitive detection system for pathogenic bacteria using a capillary electrophoresis-based, single strand conformation polymorphism (CE-SSCP) combined with PCR. We demonstrate that this method, used with primers targeting the V4 region of the 16S rRNA gene, is capable of the simultaneous detection of 10 microbes that could be associated with foodborne illness, caused by animal-derived foods: Salmonella enterica, Listeria monocytogenes, Escherichia coli O157:H7, Campylobacter jejuni, Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus cereus, Clostridium perfringens, Yersinia enterocolitica, Vibrio parahaemolyticus, and Enterobacter sakazakii. The traditional detection techniques are time-consuming and labor-intensive, due to the necessary task of separate cultivation of each target species. As such, the CE-SSCP-PCR method, that we have developed, has the potential to diagnose pathogens rapidly, unlike the traditional technique, in order to prevent foodborne illness in a much more efficient manner.X1133sciescopuskc

Commonwealth Executive Master of Business / Public Administration Degree

Background: The association between periodontal inflammation and non-fatal stroke is still controversial and limited to evidence in Western countries. The aim of this study was to investigate whether periodontitis is independently associated with non-fatal stroke in Korean adults. Methods: A case-control study was conducted on 265 non-fatal chronic stroke cases at the National Rehabilitation Center, Seoul, Korea, and 214 non-stroke population controls. Medical specialists diagnosed stroke by using brain imaging from magnetic resonance imaging and/or computerized tomography. A dentist recorded the clinical attachment level (CAL), the distance between the cemento-enamel junction and the probed base of the periodontal pocket, using a University of North Carolina-15 manual probe. An interview assessed 17 sociodemographic, behavioral, systemic/oral health–related possible confounders. Multiple logistic regression analysis was used to evaluate the association between periodontitis and stroke while controlling for age, gender, income, education, smoking, drinking, history of systemic disease, body mass index, familial cardiovascular risk factors, and oral health behaviors. Subgroup analyses were also performed. Results: Stroke was strongly associated with periodontitis (presence of CAL ≥6 mm): the odds ratio was 4.0 (95% confidence interval: 2.3 to 7.0) after controlling for all possible confounders. The association with periodontitis (tertiary percentage of CAL ≥5 mm) had a dose-response effect. The association between periodontitis and stroke was higher among adults younger than age 60 (6.0 versus 2.6) and normotensives (4.8 versus 3.2). Conclusion: Our data suggested that periodontitis is independently associated with non-fatal stroke, and its impact seems to be greater among younger or normotensive Korean adults