Clinical practice guidelines for the prevention and treatment of EGFR inhibitor-associated dermatologic toxicities

Background Epidermal growth factor receptor inhibitors (EGFRI) produce various dermatologic side effects in the majority of patients, and guidelines are crucial for the prevention and treatment of these untoward events. The purpose of this panel was to develop evidence-based recommendations for EGFRI-associated dermatologic toxicities. Methods A multinational, interdisciplinary panel of experts in supportive care in cancer reviewed pertinent studies using established criteria in order to develop first-generation recommendations for EGFRI-associated dermatologic toxicities. Results Prophylactic and reactive recommendations for papulopustular (acneiform) rash, hair changes, radiation dermatitis, pruritus, mucositis, xerosis/fissures, and paronychia are presented, as well as general dermatologic recommendations when possible. Conclusion Prevention and management of EGFRI-related dermatologic toxicities is critical to maintain patients’ health-related quality of life and dose intensity of antineoplastic regimens. More rigorous investigation of these toxicities is warranted to improve preventive and treatment strategies

Nutritional correlates of koala persistence in a low-density population

It is widely postulated that nutritional factors drive bottom-up, resource-based patterns in herbivore ecology and distribution. There is, however, much controversy over the roles of different plant constituents and how these influence individual herbivores and herbivore populations. The density of koala (Phascolarctos cinereus) populations varies widely and many attribute population trends to variation in the nutritional quality of the eucalypt leaves of their diet, but there is little evidence to support this hypothesis. We used a nested design that involved sampling of trees at two spatial scales to investigate how leaf chemistry influences free-living koalas from a low-density population in south east New South Wales, Australia. Using koala faecal pellets as a proxy for koala visitation to trees, we found an interaction between toxins and nutrients in leaves at a small spatial scale, whereby koalas preferred trees with leaves of higher concentrations of available nitrogen but lower concentrations of sideroxylonals (secondary metabolites found exclusively in eucalypts) compared to neighbouring trees of the same species. We argue that taxonomic and phenotypic diversity is likely to be important when foraging in habitats of low nutritional quality in providing diet choice to tradeoff nutrients and toxins and minimise movement costs. Our findings suggest that immediate nutritional concerns are an important priority of folivores in low-quality habitats and imply that nutritional limitations play an important role in constraining folivore populations. We show that, with a careful experimental design, it is possible to make inferences about populations of herbivores that exist at extremely low densities and thus achieve a better understanding about how plant composition influences herbivore ecology and persistence.IW and WF received a grant from New South Wales (NSW) Department of Environment, Climate Change & Water

Defining Menstrual Literacy With the Aim of Evaluating Mobile Menstrual Tracking Applications.

For the estimated 75 million people in the United States who menstruate, understanding menstrual health as a critical vital sign is an important aspect of managing personal health. Unsurprisingly, in the past decade, menstrual tracking applications have become increasingly popular, with more than 300 applications available for download and an estimated 200 million downloads worldwide. This study had two purposes. The first was to formulate a definition for menstrual literacy-a baseline of knowledge and skills for understanding anatomical and biological facts of menstruation, caring for the menstruating body, and completing menstrual care tasks-by building on prior work about health literacy and by conducting content analysis of eight Web sites containing information about menstruation. The second was to evaluate a maximum variation sample of 17 menstrual tracking applications; here, features and functions related to the concepts about menstrual literacy identified in a content analysis were compared. These applications had insufficient support for facilitating menstrual literacy, especially for teen and perimenopausal users. The article discusses these disconnects and subsequent design opportunities for menstrual tracking applications to facilitate more robust support of menstrual literacy and overall health of people who menstruate

Direct Coupling of Capillary Supercritical Fluid Chromatography with Double-Focusing High Resolution Mass Spectrometry

An integral restrictor interface with jet separator for coupling column supercritical fluid extraction - supercritical fluid chromatography with high resolution mass spectrometry (SFE-SFC-MS) has been built and used for the analysis of a fatty acid ester, and of polymer aditives with a wide range of masses. The mobile phase used was supercritical carbon dioxide; a flame ionization detector (FID) was used in paralel with the mass spectrometer. Different SFC-MS interface operating conditions, e. g. temperature, restrictor position, flow rate, and sample transfer conditions were optimized to obtain good sensitivity and separation for thes applications. In addition, the sensitivity of measurements performed with the direct insertion probe and by SFC-MS interface have been compared