Gender-related and geographic trends in interactions between radiotherapy professionals on Twitter.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Twitter presence in academia has been linked to greater research impact which influences career progression. The purpose of this study was to analyse Twitter activity of the radiotherapy community around ESTRO congresses with a focus on gender-related and geographic trends. MATERIALS AND METHODS Tweets, re-tweets and replies, here designated as interactions, around the ESTRO congresses held in 2012-2021 were collected. Twitter activity was analysed temporally and, for the period 2016-2021, the geographical span of the ESTRO Twitter network was studied. Tweets and Twitter users collated during the 10 years analysed were ranked based on number of 'likes', 're-tweets' and followers, considered as indicators of leadership/influence. Gender representation was assessed for the top-end percentiles. RESULTS Twitter activity around ESTRO congresses was multiplied by 60 in 6 years growing from 150 interactions in 2012 to a peak of 9097 in 2018. In 2020, during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, activity dropped by 60 % to reach 2945 interactions and recovered to half the pre-pandemic level in 2021. Europe, North America and Oceania were strongly connected and remained the main contributors. While overall, 58 % of accounts were owned by men, this proportion increased towards top liked/re-tweeted tweets and most-followed profiles to reach up to 84 % in the top-percentiles. CONCLUSION During the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, Twitter activity around ESTRO congresses substantially decreased. Men were over-represented on the platform and in most popular tweets and influential accounts. Given the increasing importance of social media presence in academia the gender-based biases observed may help in understanding the gender gap in career progression

Contribution of tumour blood-flow for prediction of response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy in breast cancer using 18F-FDG PET/CT

International audienc

Biological correlates of tumor perfusion and its heterogeneity in newly diagnosed breast cancer using dynamic first-pass 18F-FDG PET/CT

International audiencePurpose The aim of this prospective study is to analyze the global tumor blood flow (BF) and its heterogeneity in newly diagnosed breast cancer (BC) according to tumor biological characteristics and molecular subtypes. These perfusion parameters were compared to those classically derived from metabolic studies to investigate links between perfusion and metabolism. Methods Two hundred seventeen newly diagnosed BC patients underwent a F-18-FDG PET/CT exam before any treatment. A 2-min dynamic acquisition, centered on the chest, was performed immediately after intravenous injection of 3 MBq/kg of F-18-FDG, followed by a two-step static acquisition 90 min later. Tumor BF was calculated (in ml/min/g) using a single compartment kinetic model. In addition to standard PET parameters, texture features (TF) describing the heterogeneity of tumor perfusion and metabolism were extracted. Patients were divided into three groups: Luminal (HR+/HER2-), HER2 (HER2+), and TN (HR-/HER2-). Global and TF parameters of BF and metabolism were compared in different groups of patients according to tumor biological characteristics. Results Tumors with lymph node involvement showed a higher perfusion, whereas no significant differences in SUV_max or SUV_mean were reported. TN tumors had a higher metabolic activity than HER2 and luminal tumors but no significant differences in global BF values were noted. HER2 tumors exhibited a larger tumor heterogeneity of both perfusion and metabolism compared to luminal and TN tumors. Heterogeneity of perfusion appeared well correlated to that of metabolism. Conclusions The study of breast cancer perfusion shows a higher BF in large tumors and in tumors with lymph node involvement, not paralleled by similar modifications in tumor global metabolism. In addition, the observed correlation between the perfusion heterogeneity and the metabolism heterogeneity suggests that tumor perfusion and consequently the process of tumor angiogenesis might be involved in the metabolism heterogeneity previously shown in BC

Gender-related and geographic trends in interactions between radiotherapy professionals on Twitter

Background and purpose: Twitter presence in academia has been linked to greater research impact which influences career progression. The purpose of this study was to analyse Twitter activity of the radiotherapy community around ESTRO congresses with a focus on gender-related and geographic trends. Materials and methods: Tweets, re-tweets and replies, here designated as interactions, around the ESTRO congresses held in 2012–2021 were collected. Twitter activity was analysed temporally and, for the period 2016–2021, the geographical span of the ESTRO Twitter network was studied. Tweets and Twitter users collated during the 10 years analysed were ranked based on number of ‘likes’, ‘re-tweets’ and followers, considered as indicators of leadership/influence. Gender representation was assessed for the top-end percentiles. Results: Twitter activity around ESTRO congresses was multiplied by 60 in 6 years growing from 150 interactions in 2012 to a peak of 9097 in 2018. In 2020, during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, activity dropped by 60 % to reach 2945 interactions and recovered to half the pre-pandemic level in 2021. Europe, North America and Oceania were strongly connected and remained the main contributors. While overall, 58 % of accounts were owned by men, this proportion increased towards top liked/re-tweeted tweets and most-followed profiles to reach up to 84 % in the top-percentiles. Conclusion: During the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, Twitter activity around ESTRO congresses substantially decreased. Men were over-represented on the platform and in most popular tweets and influential accounts. Given the increasing importance of social media presence in academia the gender-based biases observed may help in understanding the gender gap in career progression