All India Co-ordinated Research Project on Biological Control of Crop Pests

Not AvailableSurveys were undertaken to document the fauna of insects, spiders and entomopathogenic nematodesacross India despite the travel restrictions due to COVID-19. The expeditions undertaken yielded several species of natural enemies viz.,Chalcididae (66.32%), Eulophidae (19.94%), Pteromalidae (4.14%) and Encyrtidae (3.37%) of Hymenoptera and 14 species of trichogrammatids representing 7 genera. The predominant genera of hymenopteran insect parasitoids were identified as Dirhinus Dalman (30.47%) followed by Brachymeria Westwood (27.73%), Hockeria Walker (22.27%) and Antrocephalus Kirby (18.75%). Revisionary studies of the braconid parasitoid, Apanteles sp. ater-group including subgroup eublemmae of the genus (Hymenoptera: Braconidae) of the Oriental region was carried out with an illustrated key, in which a total of 97 species were recorded and illustrated. Three species of tachinid flies, Peribaea orbata on larva of Spodoptera litura, Halidaia luteicornis on larva of Parnara sp., Sturmiopsis inferens on larva of Sesamia inferens and Carcelia sp. from the larvae of Helicoverpa armigera (Noctuidae) were identified and described. The spider fauna of rice ecosystem was documented, where six species of long jawed orb weaver, Tetragnatha species have been described of which T. keyserlingi was the predominant species across the surveyed locations in Tamil Nadu. The species, Tetragnathanitens collected from Tamil Nadu and Telangana was the first report from India. The spitting spider, Scytodes fusca Walckenaer of family Scyotidae was redescribed with documentation of variations in the vulval pattern of the female and theory about the introduction of this Pantropical species to India.Not Availabl

Non-invasive intravoxel incoherent motion MRI in prediction of histopathological response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy and survival outcome in osteosarcoma at the time of diagnosis

Abstract Background Early prediction of response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NACT) is important to aid personalized treatment in osteosarcoma. Diffusion-weighted Intravoxel Incoherent Motion (IVIM) MRI was used to evaluate the predictive value for response to NACT and survival outcome in osteosarcoma. Methods Total fifty-five patients with biopsy-proven osteosarcoma were recruited prospectively, among them 35 patients were further analysed. Patients underwent 3 cycles of NACT (Cisplatin + Doxorubicin) followed by surgery and response adapted adjuvant chemotherapy. Treatment outcomes were histopathological response to NACT (good-response ≥ 50% necrosis and poor-response < 50% necrosis) and survival outcome (event-free survival (EFS) and overall survival (OS)). IVIM MRI was acquired at 1.5T at baseline (t0), after 1-cycle (t1) and after 3-cycles (t2) of NACT. Quantitative IVIM parameters (D, D*, f & D*.f) were estimated using advanced state-of-the-art spatial penalty based IVIM analysis method bi-exponential model with total-variation penalty function (BETV) at 3 time-points and histogram analysis was performed. Results Good-responders: Poor-responders ratio was 13 (37%):22 (63%). EFS and OS were 31% and 69% with 16.27 and 25.9 months of median duration respectively. For predicting poor-response to NACT, IVIM parameters showed AUC = 0.87, Sensitivity = 86%, Specificity = 77% at t0, and AUC = 0.96, Sensitivity = 86%, Specificity = 100% at t1. Multivariate Cox regression analysis showed smaller tumour volume (HR = 1.002, p = 0.001) higher ADC-25th-percentile (HR = 0.047, p = 0.005) & D-Mean (HR = 0.1, p = 0.023) and lower D*-Mean (HR = 1.052, p = 0.039) were independent predictors of longer EFS (log-rank p-values: 0.054, 0.0034, 0.0017, 0.0019 respectively) and non-metastatic disease (HR = 4.33, p < 10–3), smaller tumour-volume (HR = 1.001, p = 0.042), lower D*-Mean (HR = 1.045, p = 0.056) and higher D*.f-skewness (HR = 0.544, p = 0.048) were independent predictors of longer OS (log-rank p-values: < 10–3, 0.07, < 10–3, 0.019 respectively). Conclusion IVIM parameters obtained with a 1.5T scanner along with novel BETV method and their histogram analysis indicating tumour heterogeneity were informative in characterizing NACT response and survival outcome in osteosarcoma

Treatment outcomes in patients with Ewing sarcoma of the spine in a resource-challenged setting: 17-year experience from a single center in India

Ewing sarcoma (ES) of the spine is a rare childhood cancer with sparse literature on treatment outcomes. We aimed to describe survival outcomes and prognostic factors in patients with spinal ES treated at a single institute in a resource-challenged setting. We conducted a retrospective analysis of patients with spinal ES registered at a tertiary care oncology center between 2003–2019. Clinical patient data was retrieved from hospital records. Cox regression analysis was used to identify the association of baseline clinical parameters with event free survival (EFS) and overall survival (OS). A cohort of 85 patients was analyzed including 38 (45%) patients with metastatic disease. The median age was 15 years with 73% being male. Local therapy was administered in 62 (72.9%) patients with surgery alone in 8 (9.4%), radiotherapy alone in 36 (42.4%) and both in 18 (21.2%) patients. A higher proportion of males received local therapy than females (80.3% versus 59.1%; p = 0.049). The median EFS and OS were 20.1 and 28.6 months, respectively. On univariable analysis, age ≤ 15 years, female sex, serum albumin ≤3.5 g/dL and hemoglobin ≤11 g/dL were associated with inferior EFS while younger age, female sex, hypoalbuminemia and metastatic disease were associated with inferior OS. On multivariable analysis, only hypoalbuminemia was predictive for inferior EFS (HR:2.41; p = 0.005) while hypoalbuminemia (HR:2.06;p = 0.033) and female sex (HR:1.83; p = 0.046) were associated with inferior OS. We concluded that hypoalbuminemia confers poor prognosis in ES spine. Survival outcomes are poorer in females treated in our setting, possibly due to prevailing sex-based biases.</p

Comparison of Prophylactic Intravenous Antibiotic Regimens After Endoprosthetic Reconstruction for Lower Extremity Bone Tumors: A Randomized Clinical Trial

The use of perioperative, prophylactic, intravenous antibiotics is standard practice to reduce the risk of surgical site infection after oncologic resection and complex endoprosthetic reconstruction for lower extremity bone tumors. However, evidence guiding the duration of prophylactic treatment remains limited. To assess the effect of a 5-day regimen of postoperative, prophylactic, intravenous antibiotics compared with a 1-day regimen on the rate of surgical site infections within 1 year after surgery. This randomized clinical superiority trial was performed at 48 clinical sites in 12 countries from January 1, 2013, to October 29, 2019. The trial included patients with a primary bone tumor or a soft tissue sarcoma that had invaded the femur or tibia or oligometastatic bone disease of the femur or tibia with expected survival of at least 1 year who required surgical management by excision and endoprosthetic reconstruction. A total of 611 patients were enrolled, and 7 were excluded for ineligibility. A 1- or 5-day regimen of postoperative prophylactic intravenous cephalosporin (cefazolin or cefuroxime) that began within 8 hours after skin closure and was administered every 8 hours thereafter. Those randomized to the 1-day regimen received identical saline doses every 8 hours for the remaining 4 days; patients, care providers, and outcomes assessors were blinded to treatment regimen. The primary outcome in this superiority trial was a surgical site infection (superficial incisional, deep incisional, or organ space) classified according to the criteria established by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention within 1 year after surgery. Secondary outcomes included antibiotic-related complications, unplanned additional operations, oncologic and functional outcomes, and mortality. Of the 604 patients included in the final analysis (mean [SD] age, 41.2 [21.9] years; 361 [59.8%] male; 114 [18.9%] Asian, 43 [7.1%] Black, 34 [5.6%] Hispanic, 15 [2.5%] Indigenous, 384 [63.8%] White, and 12 [2.0%] other), 293 were randomized to a 5-day regimen and 311 to a 1-day regimen. A surgical site infection occurred in 44 patients (15.0%) allocated to the 5-day regimen and in 52 patients (16.7%) allocated to the 1-day regimen (hazard ratio, 0.93; 95% CI, 0.62-1.40; P = .73). Antibiotic-related complications occurred in 15 patients (5.1%) in the 5-day regimen and in 5 patients (1.6%) allocated to the 1-day regimen (hazard ratio, 3.24; 95% CI, 1.17-8.98; P = .02). Other secondary outcomes did not differ significantly between treatment groups. This randomized clinical trial did not confirm the superiority of a 5-day regimen of postoperative intravenous antibiotics over a 1-day regimen in preventing surgical site infections after surgery for lower extremity bone tumors that required an endoprosthesis. The 5-day regimen group had significantly more antibiotic-related complications. ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT01479283