Scientific reports
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Comparative Study
Cisplatin shows greater efficacy than gemcitabine when combined with nab-paclitaxel in metastatic triple-negative breast cancer.
Our study aimed to compare the efficacy and safety of nab-paclitaxel plus cisplatin (AP) with nab-paclitaxel plus gemcitabine (AG) in patients with metastatic breast cancer (MBC). We collected data from two single-arm, phase II MBC studies. In NCT01149798, seventy-three MBC patients received 125 mg/m2 nab-paclitaxel on days 1, 8 and 15 followed by 75 mg/m2 cisplatin on day 1 of a 28-day cycle. ⋯ Both regimens showed substantial efficacy and were tolerated well in MBC patients. mTNBC who received AP rather than AG showed longer PFS. However, adverse events were more common with AP. Thus, AP may be worth recommending to mTNBC, while AG may be a better alternative for MBC patients with other subtypes.
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The early detection of cognitive impairment or dementia is in the focus of current research as the amount of cognitively impaired individuals will rise intensely in the next decades due to aging population worldwide. Currently available diagnostic tools to detect mild cognitive impairment (MCI) or dementia are time-consuming, invasive or expensive and not suitable for wide application as required by the high number of people at risk. Thus, a fast, simple and sensitive test is urgently needed to enable an accurate detection of people with cognitive dysfunction and dementia in the earlier stages to initiate specific diagnostic and therapeutic interventions. ⋯ Finally, in differentiating patients with mAD from healthy individuals, accuracy of both dCDT (93.0%) and CERAD total scores (92.3%) was excellent. Our findings suggest that dCDT is a suitable screening tool to identify early cognitive dysfunction. Its performance is comparable with the time-consuming established psychometric measure (CERAD test battery).
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Metal/mineral dyshomeostasis has been implicated in the development of Alzheimer's disease (AD). The aim of the study was to investigate the difference in absolute and percentage levels of plasma phosphorus, calcium, iron, zinc, copper, selenium in cognitively normal (CN) and AD subjects. Total reflection X-ray fluorescence (TXRF) spectroscopy was used to detect plasma metals/minerals in CN and AD subjects (n = 44 per group). ⋯ Percentage concentrations calculated for phosphorus, calcium, iron, zinc, copper, selenium by dividing the concentration of each element by the total concentration of these elements and multiplying by 100%, demonstrated phosphorus was higher in AD compared to CN subjects, while calcium, iron, zinc, copper and selenium were lower in AD subjects, with area under the curves as high as 0.937 (p = 6 × 10-5) computed from receiver operating curves. With exclusion of high levels of phosphorus and calcium from percentage calculations, iron levels remained low in AD whereas zinc was higher in AD, and copper and selenium levels were similar. We demonstrate altered distribution of elements in the plasma of AD subjects with high interdependencies between elemental levels and propose the potential of TXRF measurements for disease monitoring.
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We developed a computer-aided diagnosis (CAD) system based on linked color imaging (LCI) images to predict the histological results of polyps by analyzing the colors of the lesions. A total of 139 images of adenomatous polyps and 69 images of non-adenomatous polyps obtained from our hospital were collected and used to train the CAD system. A test set of LCI images, including both adenomatous and non-adenomatous polyps, was prospectively collected from patients who underwent colonoscopies between Oct and Dec 2017; this test set was used to assess the diagnostic abilities of the CAD system compared to those of human endoscopists (two experts and two novices). ⋯ The accuracy of the CAD system was comparable to that of the expert endoscopists (78.4% vs 79.6%; p = 0.517). In addition, the diagnostic accuracy of the novices was significantly lower to the performance of the experts (70.7% vs 79.6%; p = 0.018). A novel CAD system based on LCI could be a rapid and powerful decision-making tool for endoscopists.
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Federal barriers and logistical challenges have hindered measurement of the real time effects from the types of cannabis products used medically by millions of patients in vivo. Between 06/06/2016 and 03/05/2018, 3,341 people completed 19,910 self- administrated cannabis sessions using the mobile device software, ReleafApp to record: type of cannabis product (dried whole natural Cannabis flower, concentrate, edible, tincture, topical), combustion method (joint, pipe, vaporization), Cannabis subspecies (C. indica and C. sativa), and major cannabinoid contents (tetrahydrocannabinol, THC; and cannabidiol, CBD), along with real-time ratings of health symptom severity levels, prior-to and immediately following administration, and reported side effects. A fixed effects panel regression approach was used to model the within-user effects of different product characteristics. ⋯ Dried flower was the most commonly used product and generally associated with greater symptom relief than other types of products. Across product characteristics, only higher THC levels were independently associated with greater symptom relief and prevalence of positive and negative side effects. In contrast, CBD potency levels were generally not associated with significant symptom changes or experienced side effects.