OncoLog, Volume 59, Number 03, March 2014

Expanding the Use of Laparoscopic Liver Resection: Minimally invasive surgical resection of liver tumors once was used only in select patients with easily accessible lesions located in the anterior of the liver. However, recent improvements in surgical techniques and the use of preoperative imaging have made laparoscopic approaches possible for even compels liver resection Physicians Refining Lung Cancer Screening Program: Lung cancer screening with low-dose computed tomography (CT) has been shown to reduce the rate of lung cancer-specific mortality in people at high risk for the disease Should the Primary Tumor Be Treated in Patients With Metastatic Prostate Cancer?: Researchers at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center hope to determine whether treating the primary tumor has any oncologic benefit in patients with metastatic prostate cancer HOUSE CALL: Vaccines That Prevent Cancer- Hepatitis B and HPV vaccines protect against cancer-causing viruseshttps://openworks.mdanderson.org/oncolog/1242/thumbnail.jp

OncoLog, Volume 59, Number 06, June 2014

New Agents Hold Promise for Patients With Advanced Thyroid Cancer: New agents are expanding treatment options for patients with advanced thyroid cancer-not only the papillary variant but also the less common medullary and differentiated variants of the disease Surgical Options for Lymphedema: Lymphedema of the extremities, whether from cancer treatment or other causes, typically is not curable. But advances in surgical techniques are reducing or eliminating symptoms for many patients INBRIEF: Intensity-Modulated Radiation Therapy Improves Survival in Head and Neck Cancer Patients/ Research Findings Could Lead to Blood Test for Cancer-Related Gene Defects/ Tumor-Suppressing Protein May Help Predict Survival in Some Breast Cancer Patients HOUSE CALL: Sleep Problems in Cancer Patients-Sleep disorders can be managedhttps://openworks.mdanderson.org/oncolog/1245/thumbnail.jp

OncoLog, Volume 60, Number 03, March 2015

Small Cell Lung Cancer Studies May Increase Treatment Options: Despite advances in treating many cancers, the standard treatment of small cell lung cancer has remained unchanged for decades. But researchers at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center are exploring several new approaches to treat small cell lung cancer. Improved Maintenance Therapy Promotes Myeloma patients\u27 Quality of Life After Stem Cell Transplantation: High-dose chemotherapy followed by autologous stem cell transplantation can prolong survival for patients with multiple myeloma. However, patients remain at a high risk of relapse even after transplantation. Maintenance therapy can extend remission in these patients, and clinical trials at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center are exploring new maintenance regimens to further improve patients\u27 outcomes. Primary Tumor Resection may Be Overused in Patients with Metastatic Colon Cancer: Primary tumor resection may be overused in patients with newly diagnosed stage IV colorectal cancer, according to the findings of a new study from The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. HOUSE CALL: How Hospital Chaplains Help-Chaplains help patients and families deal with emotional and spiritual concerns.https://openworks.mdanderson.org/oncolog/1253/thumbnail.jp

OncoLog, Volume 60, Number 07, July 2015

Emergency Care for Cancer Patients: Medical problems that may seem routine in patients without cancer often mean something different or have a different cause in cancer patients and may be much more serious, requiring urgent treatment. Managing these problems promptly and effectively is a challenge faced by all cancer centers. Immunotherapy Trials Offer Hope to Patients with High-Risk or Metastatic Cancer: Although the cure rate for the breast cancer has risen steadily in recent decades, recurrent or metastatic disease remains difficult to control. To fight metastatic breast cancer and forestall the recurrence of high-risk primary disease, researchers at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center are using various techniques to boost the body\u27s immune system. Clinical trials of many of these therapies are already under way. HOUSE CALL: Hospital Patient Advocates Provide Support-Advocates serve as liaisons between hospitals and patientshttps://openworks.mdanderson.org/oncolog/1257/thumbnail.jp

OncoLog, Volume 58, Number 11-12, November - December 2013

Paget Disease of the Breast: A Rare, Often Misdiagnosed Malignancy: A small, scaling rash around the nipple may not be just another case of eczema or dermatitis. Paget disease of the breast, a rare malignancy, is often mistaken for a benign dermatological condition. But Paget disease typically indicates underlying ductal carcinoma in situ or invasive breast cancer New Partial-Breast Radiation Therapy Regimen Uses Protons: Whole-or partial-breast radiation therapy can reduce a patient\u27s chance of brest cancer recurrence after lumpectomy, but this benefit must be weighed against the risk of damage to healthy tissue Managing Dental Complications in Patients with Head and Neck Cancer: Dental complications in patients with head and neck cancer can be serious or even life-threatening if not managed effectively INBRIEF: NF-kB May Be Linked to Glioblastoma Treatment Resistance HOUSE CALL: Health Benefits of Quitting Smoking-It\u27s never too late to quit, but sooner is betterhttps://openworks.mdanderson.org/oncolog/1239/thumbnail.jp

OncoLog, Volume 59, Number 07, July 2014

Side Effects of Targeted Molecular Agents Vary According to Mechanism of Action: The main side effects of cytotoxic chemotherapy are notorious. But the side effects of newer, targeted molecular agents are less well known, so patients receiving such drugs may not know what to expect and may require additional guidance from physicians INBRIEF: Study Finds Less Frequent Bisphosphonate Treatment Equivalent to Standard Regimen RAS Mutation Status May predict Outcomes After Surgery for Colorectal Cancer Liver Metastases HPV Test Does Not Replace Pap Test for Cervical cancer Screening: The recent approval of a human papillomavirus (HPV) test for cervical cancer screening has created confusion within the medical community about appropriate screening guidelines HOUSE CALL: Advance Directives Make Patient\u27s Wishes Known- Types of advance directives and their functionshttps://openworks.mdanderson.org/oncolog/1246/thumbnail.jp

OncoLog, Volume 59, Number 10, October 2014

New Drugs for Myeloproliferative Neoplasms Ease Suffering and Extend Life: A new class of drugs has redefined treatment for patients with myeloproliferative neoplasms by easing their symptom burden while extending their lives Neoadjuvant Targeted Therapy May Offer Multiple Benefits for Patients with Locally Advanced Renal Cancer: Despite definitive treatment with nephrectomy, locally advanced renal cancer recurs in 20%-30% of patients, substantially reducing their chance for long-term survival. To prevent such recurrences and prolong survival, urologic oncologists are studying the integration of targeted molecular therapies with surgical treatments New Combination Therapy Offers Potential to Cure FLT3-ITD Acute Myelogenous Leukemia: A new combination therapy using plerixafor, granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF), and sorafenib may lead to lasting remissions-and possibly even a cure-for patients with acute myelogenous leukemia (AML) carrying the internal tandem duplication (ITD) mutation in the Fms-like tyrosine kinase 3 (FLT3) gene HOUSE CALL: Symptoms of Cancer-Lasting symptoms can mean cancer or other diseaseshttps://openworks.mdanderson.org/oncolog/1249/thumbnail.jp

SIZER: A Dataset and Model for Parsing 3D Clothing and Learning Size Sensitive 3D Clothing

While models of 3D clothing learned from real data exist, no method can predict clothing deformation as a function of garment size. In this paper, we introduce SizerNet to predict 3D clothing conditioned on human body shape and garment size parameters, and ParserNet to infer garment meshes and shape under clothing with personal details in a single pass from an input mesh. SizerNet allows to estimate and visualize the dressing effect of a garment in various sizes, and ParserNet allows to edit clothing of an input mesh directly, removing the need for scan segmentation, which is a challenging problem in itself. To learn these models, we introduce the SIZER dataset of clothing size variation which includes $100$ different subjects wearing casual clothing items in various sizes, totaling to approximately 2000 scans. This dataset includes the scans, registrations to the SMPL model, scans segmented in clothing parts, garment category and size labels. Our experiments show better parsing accuracy and size prediction than baseline methods trained on SIZER. The code, model and dataset will be released for research purposes.Comment: European Conference on Computer Vision 202

Characterizing non-Markovian Quantum Processes by Fast Bayesian Tomography

To push gate performance to levels beyond the thresholds for quantum error correction, it is important to characterize the error sources occurring on quantum gates. However, the characterization of non-Markovian error poses a challenge to current quantum process tomography techniques. Fast Bayesian Tomography (FBT) is a self-consistent gate set tomography protocol that can be bootstrapped from earlier characterization knowledge and be updated in real-time with arbitrary gate sequences. Here we demonstrate how FBT allows for the characterization of key non-Markovian error processes. We introduce two experimental protocols for FBT to diagnose the non-Markovian behavior of two-qubit systems on silicon quantum dots. To increase the efficiency and scalability of the experiment-analysis loop, we develop an online FBT software stack. To reduce experiment cost and analysis time, we also introduce a native readout method and warm boot strategy. Our results demonstrate that FBT is a useful tool for probing non-Markovian errors that can be detrimental to the ultimate realization of fault-tolerant operation on quantum computing