Zespół pieczenia jamy ustnej

  Zespół pieczenia jamy ustnej (BMS) jest idiopatyczną jednostką chorobową manifestującą się jako długotrwałe uczucie piekącego, palącego lub kłującego bólu w obrębie błon śluzowych jamy ustnej, najczęściej języka. Dolegliwościom bólowym często towarzyszą zaburzenia smaku, uczucie suchości jamy ustnej oraz nieprawidłowości psychiatryczne. Mimo że jest to stosunkowo częste schorzenie, szczególnie w przypadku kobiet w wieku pomenopauzalnym, a jego obraz kliniczny opisuje się w literaturze medycznej od niemal 150 lat, BMS nadal stanowi mało znany problem diagnostyczny i terapeutyczny. Trudności napotykane w praktyce klinicznej są w dużej mierze wynikiem słabo poznanej, wieloczynnikowej etiologii schorzenia, nieobecnością żadnych nieprawidłowości w zakresie morfologii błon śluzowych jamy ustnej oraz niedostatkiem randomizowanych badań weryfikujących skuteczność postępowania leczniczego. Celem tego artykułu jest przybliżenie czytelnikom typowego obrazu klinicznego BMS, ukazanie znaczenia diagnostyki różnicowej zespołu oraz przedstawienie aktualnych danych dotyczących dostępnych sposobów terapii. Znajomość powyższych kwestii przez lekarzy różnych specjalności jest kluczowa dla poprawy jakości życia pacjentów cierpiących na BMS.

Adenoid cystic carcinoma: emerging role of translocations and gene fusions.

Adenoid cystic carcinoma (ACC), the second most common salivary gland malignancy, is notorious for poor prognosis, which reflects the propensity of ACC to progress to clinically advanced metastatic disease. Due to high long-term mortality and lack of effective systemic treatment, the slow-growing but aggressive ACC poses a particular challenge in head and neck oncology. Despite the advancements in cancer genomics, up until recently relatively few genetic alterations critical to the ACC development have been recognized. Although the specific chromosomal translocations resulting in MYB-NFIB fusions provide insight into the ACC pathogenesis and represent attractive diagnostic and therapeutic targets, their clinical significance is unclear, and a substantial subset of ACCs do not harbor the MYB-NFIB translocation. Strategies based on detection of newly described genetic events (such as MYB activating super-enhancer translocations and alterations affecting another member of MYB transcription factor family-MYBL1) offer new hope for improved risk assessment, therapeutic intervention and tumor surveillance. However, the impact of these approaches is still limited by an incomplete understanding of the ACC biology, and the manner by which these alterations initiate and drive ACC remains to be delineated. This manuscript summarizes the current status of gene fusions and other driver genetic alterations in ACC pathogenesis and discusses new therapeutic strategies stemming from the current research

Winter Bird Assemblages in Rural and Urban Environments: A National Survey

Urban development has a marked effect on the ecological and behavioural traits of many living organisms, including birds. In this paper, we analysed differences in the numbers of wintering birds between rural and urban areas in Poland. We also analysed species richness and abundance in relation to longitude, latitude, human population size, and landscape structure. All these parameters were analysed using modern statistical techniques incorporating species detectability. We counted birds in 156 squares (0.25 km2 each) in December 2012 and again in January 2013 in locations in and around 26 urban areas across Poland (in each urban area we surveyed 3 squares and 3 squares in nearby rural areas). The influence of twelve potential environmental variables on species abundance and richness was assessed with Generalized Linear Mixed Models, Principal Components and Detrended Correspondence Analyses. Totals of 72 bird species and 89,710 individual birds were recorded in this study. On average (±SE) 13.3 ± 0.3 species and 288 ± 14 individuals were recorded in each square in each survey. A formal comparison of rural and urban areas revealed that 27 species had a significant preference; 17 to rural areas and 10 to urban areas. Moreover, overall abundance in urban areas was more than double that of rural areas. There was almost a complete separation of rural and urban bird communities. Significantly more birds and more bird species were recorded in January compared to December. We conclude that differences between rural and urban areas in terms of winter conditions and the availability of resources are reflected in different bird communities in the two environments

Search for gravitational-lensing signatures in the full third observing run of the LIGO-Virgo network

Gravitational lensing by massive objects along the line of sight to the source causes distortions of gravitational wave-signals; such distortions may reveal information about fundamental physics, cosmology and astrophysics. In this work, we have extended the search for lensing signatures to all binary black hole events from the third observing run of the LIGO--Virgo network. We search for repeated signals from strong lensing by 1) performing targeted searches for subthreshold signals, 2) calculating the degree of overlap amongst the intrinsic parameters and sky location of pairs of signals, 3) comparing the similarities of the spectrograms amongst pairs of signals, and 4) performing dual-signal Bayesian analysis that takes into account selection effects and astrophysical knowledge. We also search for distortions to the gravitational waveform caused by 1) frequency-independent phase shifts in strongly lensed images, and 2) frequency-dependent modulation of the amplitude and phase due to point masses. None of these searches yields significant evidence for lensing. Finally, we use the non-detection of gravitational-wave lensing to constrain the lensing rate based on the latest merger-rate estimates and the fraction of dark matter composed of compact objects

Search for eccentric black hole coalescences during the third observing run of LIGO and Virgo

Despite the growing number of confident binary black hole coalescences observed through gravitational waves so far, the astrophysical origin of these binaries remains uncertain. Orbital eccentricity is one of the clearest tracers of binary formation channels. Identifying binary eccentricity, however, remains challenging due to the limited availability of gravitational waveforms that include effects of eccentricity. Here, we present observational results for a waveform-independent search sensitive to eccentric black hole coalescences, covering the third observing run (O3) of the LIGO and Virgo detectors. We identified no new high-significance candidates beyond those that were already identified with searches focusing on quasi-circular binaries. We determine the sensitivity of our search to high-mass (total mass M>70 M⊙) binaries covering eccentricities up to 0.3 at 15 Hz orbital frequency, and use this to compare model predictions to search results. Assuming all detections are indeed quasi-circular, for our fiducial population model, we place an upper limit for the merger rate density of high-mass binaries with eccentricities 0<e≤0.3 at 0.33 Gpc−3 yr−1 at 90\% confidence level

Ultralight vector dark matter search using data from the KAGRA O3GK run

Among the various candidates for dark matter (DM), ultralight vector DM can be probed by laser interferometric gravitational wave detectors through the measurement of oscillating length changes in the arm cavities. In this context, KAGRA has a unique feature due to differing compositions of its mirrors, enhancing the signal of vector DM in the length change in the auxiliary channels. Here we present the result of a search for U(1)B−L gauge boson DM using the KAGRA data from auxiliary length channels during the first joint observation run together with GEO600. By applying our search pipeline, which takes into account the stochastic nature of ultralight DM, upper bounds on the coupling strength between the U(1)B−L gauge boson and ordinary matter are obtained for a range of DM masses. While our constraints are less stringent than those derived from previous experiments, this study demonstrates the applicability of our method to the lower-mass vector DM search, which is made difficult in this measurement by the short observation time compared to the auto-correlation time scale of DM

Metronomic Chemotherapy in Prostate Cancer

Despite the significant expansion of the therapeutic armamentarium associated with the introduction of novel endocrine therapies, cytotoxic agents, radiopharmaceuticals, and PARP inhibitors, progression of metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC) beyond treatment options remains the leading cause of death in advanced prostate cancer patients. Metronomic chemotherapy (MC) is an old concept of wise utilization of cytotoxic agents administered continuously and at low doses. The metronomic is unique due to its multidimensional mechanisms of action involving: (i) inhibition of cancer cell proliferation, (ii) inhibition of angiogenesis, (iii) mitigation of tumor-related immunosuppression, (iv) impairment of cancer stem cell functions, and (v) modulation of tumor and host microbiome. MC has been extensively studied in advanced prostate cancer before the advent of novel therapies, and its actual activity in contemporary, heavily pretreated mCRPC patients is unknown. We have conducted a prospective analysis of consecutive cases of mCRPC patients who failed all available standard therapies to find the optimal MC regimen for phase II studies. The metronomic combination of weekly paclitaxel 60 mg/m2 i.v. with capecitabine 1500 mg/d p.o. and cyclophosphamide 50 mg/d p.o. was selected as the preferred regimen for a planned phase II study in heavily pretreated mCRPC patients

Ocena skuteczności chemioterapii z zastosowaniem kapecytabiny i oksaliplatyny u chorych na uogólnionego raka jelita grubego. Wpływ lokalizacji ogniska pierwotnego raka na skuteczność leczenia

Wstęp. Rak jelita grubego jest coraz częstszym nowotworem, a dzięki możliwości stosowania wielu leków oraz terapii skojarzonej nosi znamiona choroby przewlekłej. Istotne znaczenie ma poprawa jakości życia chorych.  Materiał i metody. Niniejsza analiza dotyczy schematu opartego na oksaliplatynie i kapecytabinie (CAPOX), użytego w grupie 305 chorych. Chemioterapię tę zastosowano w ramach I, II lub III linii leczenia paliatywnego.  Wyniki. W pracy udowodniono skuteczność schematu mimo redukcji dawek leków u około 50% chorych, a 3. stopień toksyczności dotyczył zaledwie 5% z nich (nie zaobserwowano powikłań 4. stopnia). Grupę chorych, w której CAPOX zastosowano jako I linię leczenia, uznano za reprezentatywną i poddano ocenie skuteczność terapii w zależności od umiejscowienia guza pierwotnego.  Wnioski. Zaobserwowano różnice w przeżyciu całkowitym chorych po stratyfikacji względem lokalizacji guza pierwotnego. Przeżycie było dłuższe w przypadku lokalizacji guza pierwotnego po stronie lewej w porównaniu z umiejscowieniem prawostronnym i wynosiło — odpowiednio — 20,4 (95% CI 17,5–23,4) wobec 12,1 (95% CI 10,5–13,8) miesiąca (p = 0,014)