Human papillomavirus (HPV) related Oropharynx Cancer in the United Kingdom – An evolution in the understanding of disease aetiology

A rising incidence of oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma (OPSCC) incidence has occurred throughout the developed world, where it has been attributed to an increasing impact of human papillomavirus (HPV) on disease etiology. This report presents the findings of a multicenter cross-sectional retrospective study aimed at determining the proportion of HPV-positive and HPV-negative OPSCC within the United Kingdom. Archival tumor tissue blocks from 1,602 patients previously diagnosed with OPSCC (2002-2011) were collated from 11 centers. HPV status was determined with three validated commercial tests to provide valid data for 1,474 cases in total. Corresponding national incidence data from the same decade were obtained from UK Cancer registries. The overall proportion of HPV+ OPSCC between 2002 and 2011 was 51.8% [95% confidence interval (CI), 49.3-54.4], and this remained unchanged throughout the decade [unadjusted RR = 1.00 (95% CI, 0.99-1.02)]. However, over the same period, the incidence of OPSCC in the broader UK population underwent a 2-fold increase [age-standardized rate 2002: 2.1 (95% CI, 1.9-2.2); 2011: 4.1 (95% CI, 4.0-4.3)]. Although the number of OPSCCs diagnosed within the United Kingdom from 2002 to 2011 nearly doubled, the proportion of HPV+ cases remained static at approximately 50%. Our results argue that the rapidly increasing incidence of OPSCC in the United Kingdom cannot be solely attributable to the influence of HPV. The parallel increase in HPV+ and HPV- cases we documented warrants further investigation, so that appropriate future prevention strategies for both types of disease can be implemented.</p

Scientometric Analysis and Combined Density-Equalizing Mapping of Environmental Tobacco Smoke (ETS) Research

Background: Passive exposure to environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) is estimated to exert a major burden of disease. Currently, numerous countries have taken legal actions to protect the population against ETS. Numerous studies have been conducted in this field. Therefore, scientometric methods should be used to analyze the accumulated data since there is no such approach available so far. Methods and Results: A combination of scientometric methods and novel visualizing procedures were used, including density-equalizing mapping and radar charting techniques. 6,580 ETS-related studies published between 1900 and 2008 were identified in the ISI database. Using different scientometric approaches, a continuous increase of both quantitative and qualitative parameters was found. The combination with density-equalizing calculations demonstrated a leading position of the United States (2,959 items published) in terms of quantitative research activities. Charting techniques demonstrated that there are numerous bi- and multilateral networks between different countries and institutions in this field. Again, a leading position of American institutions was found. Conclusions: This is the first comprehensive scientometric analysis of data on global scientific activities in the field o

BLOOM: A 176B-Parameter Open-Access Multilingual Language Model

Large language models (LLMs) have been shown to be able to perform new tasks based on a few demonstrations or natural language instructions. While these capabilities have led to widespread adoption, most LLMs are developed by resource-rich organizations and are frequently kept from the public. As a step towards democratizing this powerful technology, we present BLOOM, a 176B-parameter open-access language model designed and built thanks to a collaboration of hundreds of researchers. BLOOM is a decoder-only Transformer language model that was trained on the ROOTS corpus, a dataset comprising hundreds of sources in 46 natural and 13 programming languages (59 in total). We find that BLOOM achieves competitive performance on a wide variety of benchmarks, with stronger results after undergoing multitask prompted finetuning. To facilitate future research and applications using LLMs, we publicly release our models and code under the Responsible AI License

The rearrangement of phenyl carbamates: syntheses of 2,4-dioxo-3,4-dihydro-2H-1,3-benzoxazines and salicylamides (Aminobenzenes ; 8)

Das thermische Verhalten der aus Phenolen und Isocyanaten dargestellten Carbamidsäureester (Urethane) 1a-x wird untersucht. N-Phenyl- und N-Benzoyl-carbamidsäure-phenylester lagern sich beim Erhitzen in N-substituierte Salicylamide 3 um. Die experimentellen Befunde machen einen intramolekularen Verlauf für diese der Fries-Umlagerung von Phenylestern vergleichbare Reaktion wenig wahrscheinlich. Bei der Thermolyse von N-Alkoxycarbonyl-carbamidsäure-phenylestern entstehen Benzoxazinone 6, die sich mit verd. Kalilauge unter CO2-Abspaltung nahezu quantitativ in die Salicylamide 7 überführen lassen.The thermal behavior of carbamates 1a-x prepared from phenols and isocyanates is investigated. On heating, N-phenyl- and N-benzoylcarbamic acid phenyl esters rearrange to yield N-substituted salicylamides 3. Experimental results render an intramolecular course of this reaction, which is analogous to the Fries rearrangement of phenyl esters, rather unlikely. Thermolysis of N-(alkoxycarbonyl)carbamic acid phenyl esters affords benzoxazinones 6, which are decarboxylated with dilute KOH to give salicylamides 7 in almost quantitative yield

Surgical side infections of the tracheostomy- A retrospective cohort study of patients with head and neck cancer in intensive care

This study was conducted to reveal the relevant risk factors for surgical site infections (SSI) of the tracheostomy in ICU tracheostomy patients with oncologic history. Retrospectively, medical and ICU records of patients who received open tracheostomy in a uniform manner were investigated. Of 187 consecutive patients in total, patients with a peri/post-operative antibiotic prophylaxis (POABP) experienced significantly more Organ-Space SSI, whereas patients with a POABP developed less Superficial Incisional SSI and Deep Incisional SSI. Neck Dissection (p = 0.025), especially the more levels are included, and POABP (p = 0.005) have a significant impact on the occurrence of an SSI of the tracheostomy. Deep incisional SSI significantly prolonged a patient's dependency on a ventilator (p = 0.045, M = 3.92, SD = 4.718). The difference between Superficial Incisional, Deep Incisional and Organ-Space SSI should be taken in consideration regarding risk evaluation and treatment. Furthermore, a gram-negative facultative anaerobic biofilm should be taken into consideration in treatment options and thus an escalation regarding antibiotic treatment as a POABP. For fulminant SSI of the tracheostomy the use of piperacillin/tazobactam or 3rd generation cephalosporines or carbapenems is recommendable.(c) 2022 European Association for Cranio-Maxillo-Facial Surgery. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved

Literarhistorische Forschungen.

Hrsg. von dr. Josefschick und dr. M. frh. v. Waldberg.Publication suspended, 1915-27.Mode of access: Internet

Omission of tranexamic acid does not increase the amount of perioperative blood transfusions in patients undergoing one-level spinal fusion surgery: a retrospective propensity score-matched noninferiority study

Introduction Application of tranexamic acid (TXA) in spine surgery is very frequent even without signs of hyperfibrinolysis, although its beneficial blood-saving effects are offset by harmful adverse events such as thromboembolic incidents. Thus, we investigated whether in relatively less invasive spinal procedures such as one-level posterior spinal fusion, omission of TXA affects the requirement for blood transfusions. Methods We conducted a retrospective propensity score-matched noninferiority study with 212 patients who underwent one-level posterior spine fusion and who were stratified according to whether they received TXA intraoperatively at our tertiary care center. The primary endpoint was the volume of transfused packed red cells. Testing for noninferiority or equivalence was performed by two one-sided testing procedure (TOST) with a priori defined noninferiority margins (delta). Results After propensity score matching a total of five patients (11.6%) treated with TXA were transfused compared with five patients (11.6%) who did not receive TXA. The majority of patients (51.2%) had a risk-increasing condition. The risk difference (no TXA-TXA) of intraoperative transfusion was - 4.7% (CI 90% - 13.62 to 4.32%), and omitting TXA was non-inferior (delta = +/- 10%). The mean intergroup difference in transfused volume (no TXA-TXA) was - 23.26 ml intraoperatively (CI 90% - 69.34 to 22.83 ml) and -46.51 ml overall (CI 90% -181.12 to 88.1 ml), respectively, suggesting equivalence of TXA omission (delta = +/- 300 ml). The hemoglobin decline between both groups was also equivalent (with delta = +/- 1 g/dl) both on the first postoperative day (Delta Delta Hb = 0.02 g/dl, CI 90% - 0.53 to 0.56 g/dl) and at discharge (Delta Delta Hb = - 0.29 g/dl, CI 90% -0.89 to 0.31 g/dl). Conclusion We demonstrated that requirement of transfusion is rare among one-level fusion surgery and the omission of TXA is noninferior with regard to blood transfusion in high-risk patients undergoing this procedure. Therefore, the prophylactic use of TXA cannot be recommended here, suggesting to focus on alternative blood conservation strategies, if necessary