Repeating platinum/bevacizumab in recurrent or progressive cervical cancer yields marginal survival benefits

Our objective was to assess overall survival of cervical cancer patients following prior platinum/bevacizumab chemotherapy, comparing retreatment with platinum/bevacizumab with alternative therapies. A retrospective analysis was performed of women who received platinum/bevacizumab (PB) chemotherapy for cervical cancer at Washington University between July 1, 2005 and December 31, 2015. Wilcoxon rank-sum exact test and Fisher's exact test were used to compare the treatment groups, and Kaplan Meier curves were generated. Cox regression analyses were performed, with treatment free interval and prior therapy response included as covariates. Of 84 patients who received PB chemotherapy, 59 (70%) received no second line chemotherapy, as they did not recur, progressed without further chemotherapy, were lost to follow up, or expired. Of the remaining 25 patients, 9 were retreated with the combination of platinum/bevacizumab (PB), 6 were retreated with a platinum regimen without bevacizumab (P), and 10 were retreated with neither (not-P). The only long-term survivor was in the not-P group and was treated with an immunotherapy agent. Median overall survival of all patients was 7.1 months. There was a marginal difference in survival between women in the PB and not-PB groups (11.8 versus 5.7 months; HR 3.02, 95% CI, 0.98–9.28). There was no difference in survival based on platinum interval (HR 0.81; 95% CI, 0.27–2.45). Outcomes are grim for women retreated after platinum/bevacizumab therapy and are only marginally improved by retreatment with a platinum/bevacizumab regimen. Rather than additional PB therapy, women with cervical cancer who recur after platinum/bevacizumab should consider supportive care or clinical trials

Bibliometric Analysis of Psychomotricity Research Trends: The Current Role of Childhood

Psychomotricity is a wide broad term, which encompasses different bodily action approaches to support children and adolescents to achieve their highest potential. A search on the Web of Science (WoS) Core Collection database was performed on this topic, using traditional bibliometric laws. Finally, 118 publications (112 articles and 6 reviews) documents were found. Annual publications presented an exponentially growing trend (R2 = 84.7%). Spain was the most productive country/region worldwide. Paola Magioncalda, Matteo Martino y Víctor Arufe Giraldez were highlighted as the most prolific co-authors. “Retos Nuevas Tendencias en Educación Física, Deporte y Recreación” was the most productive journal and the “International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health”, was the second most productive; the third in the list was the most productive in the JCR ranking. Thus, research on psychomotricity is experiencing exponential growth, causing this topic to generate great interest among researchers, publishers and journals. The most cited paper was “Neurocognitive Effects of Alcohol Hangover”. The author keywords that were first raised together with psychomotricity were related to rehabilitation and psychomotor development, while the current trend was focused on physical activity and early childhood education

A contribution to the selection of emission-line galaxies using narrow-band filters in the optical airglow windows

Emission line galaxies are an invaluable tool for our understanding of the evolution of galaxies in the Universe. Imaging of deep fields with narrow-band filters allows not only the selection of these objects, but also to infer the line flux and the equivalent width of the emission line with some assumptions. The narrow-band filter technique provides homogeneous samples of galaxies in small comoving volumes in the sky. We present an analysis of the selection of emission-line galaxies using narrow-band filters. Different methods of observation are considered: broad-band -- narrow-band filters and two broad-band and one narrow-band filters. We study also the effect of several lines entering simultaneously inside the filters (this is the case of Halpha). In each case the equations to obtain the equivalent width and line flux from the photometry are obtained. Candidates to emission-line objects are selected by their color excess in a magnitude-color diagram. For different narrow-band filters, we compute the mean colors of stars and galaxies, showing that, apart from galaxies, some types of stars could be selected with certain filter sets. We show how to compute the standard deviation of the colors of the objects even in the usual case when there are not enough objects to determine the standard deviation from the data. We present also helpful equations to compute the narrow-band and the broad-band exposure times in order to obtain minimum dispersion in the ratio of fluxes of both bands with minimum total exposure time.Comment: Accepted for publication in PASP 48 pages, 10 figures Corrected typos, fixed references. Updated reference to T

Quantum anomaly and 2D-3D crossover in strongly interacting Fermi gases

We present an experimental investigation of collective oscillations in harmonically trapped Fermi gases through the crossover from two to three dimensions. Specifically, we measure the frequency of the radial monopole or breathing mode as a function of dimensionality in Fermi gases with tunable interactions. The frequency of this mode is set by the adiabatic compressibility and probes the thermodynamic equation of state. In 2D, a dynamical scaling symmetry for atoms interacting via a {\delta}-potential predicts the breathing mode to occur at exactly twice the harmonic confinement frequency. However, a renormalized quantum treatment introduces a new length scale which breaks this classical scale invariance resulting in a so-called quantum anomaly. Our measurements deep in the 2D regime lie above the scale-invariant prediction for a range of interaction strengths indicating the breakdown of a {\delta}-potential model for atomic interactions. As the dimensionality is tuned from 2D to 3D we see the breathing oscillation frequency evolve smoothly towards the 3D limit.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figure

Topological Analysis of Metabolic Networks Integrating Co-Segregating Transcriptomes and Metabolomes in Type 2 Diabetic Rat Congenic Series

Background: The genetic regulation of metabolic phenotypes (i.e., metabotypes) in type 2 diabetes mellitus is caused by complex organ-specific cellular mechanisms contributing to impaired insulin secretion and insulin resistance. Methods: We used systematic metabotyping by 1H NMR spectroscopy and genome-wide gene expression in white adipose tissue to map molecular phenotypes to genomic blocks associated with obesity and insulin secretion in a series of rat congenic strains derived from spontaneously diabetic Goto-Kakizaki (GK) and normoglycemic Brown-Norway (BN) rats. We implemented a network biology strategy approach to visualise shortest paths between metabolites and genes significantly associated with each genomic block. Results: Despite strong genomic similarities (95-99%) among congenics, each strain exhibited specific patterns of gene expression and metabotypes, reflecting metabolic consequences of series of linked genetic polymorphisms in the congenic intervals. We subsequently used the congenic panel to map quantitative trait loci underlying specific metabotypes (mQTL) and genome-wide expression traits (eQTL). Variation in key metabolites like glucose, succinate, lactate or 3-hydroxybutyrate, and second messenger precursors like inositol was associated with several independent genomic intervals, indicating functional redundancy in these regions. To navigate through the complexity of these association networks we mapped candidate genes and metabolites onto metabolic pathways and implemented a shortest path strategy to highlight potential mechanistic links between metabolites and transcripts at colocalized mQTLs and eQTLs. Minimizing shortest path length drove prioritization of biological validations by gene silencing. Conclusions: These results underline the importance of network-based integration of multilevel systems genetics datasets to improve understanding of the genetic architecture of metabotype and transcriptomic regulations and to characterize novel functional roles for genes determining tissue-specific metabolism

Lipoblastoma retroperitoneal en un lactante. Caso clínico

ResumenIntroducciónEl lipoblastoma es una neoplasia benigna del tejido adiposo, de presentación infrecuente y casi exclusiva en niños menores de 3 años. Usualmente se presenta en las extremidades como una masa indolora de crecimiento progresivo, estableciéndose su diagnóstico definitivo mediante análisis histológico y citogenético.ObjetivoPresentar un caso clínico de lipoblastoma de ubicación inhabitual en una lactante y revisar la literatura al respecto.Caso clínicoLactante mayor de 16 meses, con aumento de volumen abdominal de 6 meses de evolución, asociado a una ingesta alimentaria disminuida, sin otros síntomas. El estudio de imagen reveló una imagen de aspecto lipoideo que comprometía casi la totalidad de la cavidad abdominal, muy sugerente de lipoblastoma, realizándose la resección de un tumor retroperitoneal de 18cm de diámetro que rechazaba los órganos vecinos. El análisis histológico fue suficiente para confirmar el diagnóstico. En el seguimiento no hubo recidiva.ConclusiónTomando en cuenta la baja frecuencia de esta afección y su inusual presentación, se reporta el caso de esta paciente, para considerarlo dentro del diagnóstico diferencial de masa abdominal en un lactante.AbstractIntroductionLipoblastoma is a benign neoplasia of the adipose tissue. It is a rare conditionand almost exclusively presents in children under 3 years old. It usually occurs in extremities as a painless volume increase of progressive growth, with the definitive diagnosis being established by pathological and cytogenetic analysis. The treatment of choice is complete resection, and follow-up period of up to five years is recommended due to a recurrence of up to 25%.ObjectiveTo present an unusual location of this uncommon condition in an infant, and review the related literature.Case reportA sixteen-month child with an increase in abdominal growth of six-months progression, associated with a decreased food intake, and with no other symptoms. The imaging study revealed a lipoid-like image compromising almost the entire abdominal cavity, very suggestive of lipoblastoma. A resection was performed on an 18cm diameter retroperitoneal tumour that rejected the adjacent organs. Histological analysis was enough to confirm diagnosis without the need for cytogenetic analysis. The follow-up showed no recurrence of the disease.ConclusionGiven the rarity of this disease and its unusual presentation, we communicate this clinical case, in order to be considered in the differential diagnosis of abdominal mass in chilhood