Previous Phase Research Articles

IFMIF/EVEDA achievements overview

In a fusion reactor, the plasma based on a deuterium-tritium reaction generates high energy neutron flux interacting with the materials of the plasma facing components. In order to study the irradiated behavior of these materials, the International Fusion Materials Irradiation Facility (IFMIF) was conceived to generate these fusion relevant neutrons through d-Li stripping source. IFMIF is presently in its Engineering Validation and Engineering Design Activities (EVEDA) phase under the Broader Approach agreement signed between EURATOM and Japanese Government in 2007. This agreement mandates the IFMIF/EVEDA project to validate the design of the different systems of IFMIF and to produce an integrated engineering design of IFMIF, together with the data necessary for future decisions on its construction and operation. While the Engineering Validation Activity (EVA) of the Lithium Target Facility and the Test Facility was completed by constructing prototypes, the EVA of the Accelerator Facility with the Linear IFMIF Prototype Accelerator (LIPAc) is still on-going at the Rokkasho Fusion Institute, Japan. This paper overviews the achievements in the previous phase ended on 31 March 2020 and the progress in the current phase to complete the commissioning of the LIPAc.

A multicenter, randomized phase 2 study to establish combinations of CBP501, cisplatin and nivolumab for ≥3rd-line treatment of patients with advanced pancreatic adenocarcinoma

BackgroundThere is no standard of care for ≥ 3rd-line treatment of metastatic pancreatic adenocarcinoma (PDAC). CBP501 is a novel calmodulin-binding peptide that has been shown to enhance the influx of platinum agents into tumor cells and tumor immunogenicity. This study aimed to (1) confirm efficacy of CBP501/cisplatin/nivolumab for metastatic PDAC observed in a previous phase 1 study, (2) identify combinations that yield 35% 3-month progression-free survival rate (3MPFS) and (3) define the contribution of CBP501 to the effects of combination therapy. MethodsCBP501 16 or 25 mg/m2 (CBP(16) or CBP(25)) was combined with 60 mg/m2 cisplatin (CDDP) and 240 mg nivolumab (nivo), administered at 3-week intervals. Patients were randomized 1:1:1:1 to (1) CBP(25)/CDDP/nivo, (2) CBP(16)/CDDP/nivo, (3) CBP(25)/CDDP and (4) CDDP/nivo, with randomization stratified by ECOG PS and liver metastases. A Fleming two-stage design was used, yielding a one-sided type I error rate of 2.5% and 80% power when the true 3MPFS is 35%. ResultsAmong 36 patients, 3MPFS was 44.4% in arms 1 and 2, 11.1% in arm 3% and 33.3% in arm 4. Two patients achieved a partial response in arm 1 (ORR 22.2%; none in other arms). Median PFS and OS were 2.4, 2.1, 1.5 and 1.5 months and 6.3, 5.3, 3.7 and 4.9 months, respectively. Overall, all treatment combinations were well tolerated. Most treatment-related adverse events were grade 1–2. ConclusionsThe combination CBP(25)/(16)/CDDP/nivo demonstrated promising signs of efficacy and a manageable safety profile for the treatment of advanced PDAC. Clinical trial registrationNCT04953962

Real-world use of nirmatrelvir-ritonavir in COVID-19 outpatients during BQ.1, BQ.1.1., and XBB.1.5 predominant omicron variants in three U.S. health systems: a retrospective cohort study

Ritonavir-boosted Nirmatrelvir (NMV-r), a protease inhibitor with invitro activity against SARS-CoV-2, can reduce risk of progression to severe COVID-19 among high-risk individuals infected with earlier variants, but less is known about its effectiveness against omicron variants BQ.1/BQ.1.1/XBB.1.5. We sought to evaluate effectiveness of NMV-r in BQ.1/BQ.1.1/XBB.1.5 omicron variants by comparing hospitalisation rates to NMV-r treated patients during a previous omicron phase and to contemporaneous untreated patients. We conducted a retrospective observational cohort study of non-hospitalised adult patients with SARS-CoV-2 infection using real-world data from three health systems in Colorado and Utah, and compared hospitalisation rates in NMV-r-treated patients in a BA.2/BA.2.12.1/BA.4/BA.5 variant-predominant (first) phase (April 3, 2022-November 12, 2022), with a BQ.1/BQ.1.1/XBB.1.5 variant-predominant (second) phase (November 13, 2022-March 7, 2023). In the primary analysis, we used Firth logistic regression with a two-segment (phase) linear time model, and pre-specified non-inferiority bounds for the mean change between segments. In a pre-specified secondary analysis, we inferred NMV-r effectiveness in a cohort of treated and untreated patients infected during the second phase. For both analyses, the primary outcome was 28-day all-cause hospitalisation. Subgroup analyses assessed treatment effect heterogeneity. In the primary analysis, 28-day all-cause hospitalisation rates in NMV-r treated patients in the second phase (n=12,061) were non-inferior compared to the first phase (n=25,075) (198 [1.6%] vs. 345 [1.4%], adjusted odds ratio (aOR): 0.76 [95% CI 0.54-1.06]), with consistent results among secondary endpoints and key subgroups. Secondary cohort analyses revealed additional evidence for NMV-r effectiveness, with reduced 28-day hospitalisation rates among treated patients compared to untreated patients during a BQ.1/BQ.1.1/XBB.1.5 predominant phase (198/12,061 [1.6%] vs. 376/10,031 [3.7%], aOR 0.34 [95% CI 0.30-0.38), findings robust to additional sensitivity analyses. Real-world evidence from major US healthcare systems suggests ongoing NMV-r effectiveness in preventing hospitalisation during a BQ.1/BQ.1.1/XBB.1.5-predominant phase in the U.S, supporting its continued use in similar patient populations. U.S. National Institutes of Health.

497 - Lebrikizumab in combination with topical corticosteroids maintains improvements in itch and sleep at 68 weeks in patients with moderate-to-severe atopic dermatitis

Abstract Introduction/Background Atopic dermatitis (AD) is a chronic disease affecting children and adults and requires long-term treatment. Moderate-to-severe AD causes itching, which considerably impacts sleep. Interleukin (IL)-13 is the key cytokine in the skin of patients with AD. Lebrikizumab (LEB) is a novel monoclonal antibody that binds with high affinity and slow off-rate to IL-13, thereby blocking the downstream effects of IL-13 with high potency. LEB has demonstrated efficacy and maintained improvement in measures of itch and sleep over 52 weeks in previous phase 3 trials. ADhere (NCT04250337) was a 16-week, randomized, double-blinded, placebo-controlled, phase 3 clinical trial, where patients were treated with LEB and topical corticosteroids (TCS) vs placebo and TCS. LEB responders from ADhere at week 16 were defined as having Investigator’s Global Assessment response of 0 or 1 or reporting 75% improvement from ADhere baseline in Eczema Area and Severity Index who did not use rescue medications. ADhere LEB responders were rerandomized 2:1 into ADjoin (NCT04392154) for blinded treatment with LEB 250 mg every 2 weeks (Q2W) or every 4 weeks (Q4W), respectively, with TCS use as needed, for an additional 100 weeks with itch and sleep data being collected for the first 52 weeks. Objectives The objectives of the study are to report the impact of LEB on itch and sleep improvements over a longer period (68 weeks) in ADhere week 16 LEB responders with moderate-to-severe AD who entered a long-term extension study, ADjoin. Methods Itch was reported using the Pruritus Numeric Rating Scale (NRS), a patient-reported, single-item, daily, 11-point scale, where the minimal clinically important difference (MCID) is 3 points. Sleep loss due to itch was reported using the Sleep-Loss Scale, a patient-reported, single-item, 5-point scale, where the MCID is 1 point. We report ≥3-point improvement in Pruritus NRS among patients with baseline score at least 3, percent change from ADhere baseline (PCFB) in Pruritus NRS, Pruritus NRS (0,1), ≥1-point improvement in Sleep-Loss Scale score among patients with baseline score at least 1, ≥2-point improvement in Sleep-Loss Scale score among patients with baseline score at least 2 and PCFB in Sleep-Loss Scale score. All outcomes were reported at week 52 of ADjoin study, after a total of 68 weeks of LEB treatment. As observed analyses used all data collected. Results At week 68, most patients reported maintaining ≥3-point improvement in Pruritus NRS treated with LEB Q2W (80.6%, 29/36) and LEB Q4W (88.9%, 16/18). Patients treated with LEB Q2W and LEB Q4W reported maintaining 65.3% and 59.4% improvement in Pruritus NRS at week 68 compared to ADhere baseline, respectively. At week 68, 45.9% (17/37) patients in LEB Q2W group and 31.6% (6/19) in LEB Q4W group reached Pruritus NRS of 0 or 1. At week 68, most patients reported maintaining ≥1-point improvement in Sleep-Loss Scale score treated with LEB Q2W (96.9%, 31/32) and LEB Q4W (85.7%, 12/14). Similarly, most patients reported maintaining ≥2-point improvement in Sleep-Loss Scale score treated with LEB Q2W (60.9%, 14/23) and LEB Q4W (75.0%, 6/8). Patients treated with LEB Q2W and Q4W reported maintaining 84.1% and 58.8% improvement in Sleep-Loss Scale score at week 68, respectively, compared to ADhere baseline. Conclusions LEB + TCS maintained itch and sleep improvement at 68 weeks in patients with moderate-to-severe atopic dermatitis.

Thiamine administration in septic shock: a post hoc analysis of two randomized trials

BackgroundThis is a post hoc analysis of combined cohorts from two previous Phase II clinical trials to assess the effect of thiamine administration on kidney protection and mortality in patients with septic shock.MethodsPatient-level data from the Thiamine in Septic Shock Trial (NCT01070810) and the Thiamine for Renal Protection in Septic Shock Trial (NCT03550794) were combined in this analysis. The primary outcome for the current study was survival without the receipt of renal replacement therapy (RRT). Analyses were performed on the overall cohort and the thiamine-deficient cohort (thiamine < 8 nmol/L).ResultsTotally, 158 patients were included. Overall, thiamine administration was associated with higher odds of being alive and RRT-free (adjusted odds ratio [aOR]: 2.05 [95% confidence interval (CI) 1.08–3.90]) and not needing RRT (aOR: 2.59 [95% CI 1.01–6.62]). In the thiamine-deficient group, thiamine administration was associated with higher odds of being alive and RRT-free (aOR: 8.17 [95% CI 1.79–37.22]) and surviving to hospital discharge (aOR: 6.84 [95% CI 1.54–30.36]). There was a significant effect modification by baseline thiamine deficiency for alive and RRT-free (interaction, p = 0.016) and surviving to hospital discharge (p = 0.019).ConclusionIn the combined analysis of two previous randomized trials, thiamine administration was associated with higher odds of being alive and RRT-free at hospital discharge in patients with septic shock. This signal was stronger in patients with thiamine deficiency.

Abstract TP286: Spatial Transcriptome Profile of Stem Cell-Mediated Recovery in Stroke-Injured Rat Brains

Introduction: Intraparenchymal stem cell transplantation shows therapeutic promise for chronic ischemic stroke patients. Our previous phase 1/2a trial revealed a transient T2-FLAIR (fluid-attenuated inversion recovery) MRI signal in the premotor cortex following intraparenchymal stem cell transplantation, the size of which positively correlated with the extent of clinical recovery. We sought to elucidate the underlying molecular mechanisms in this FLAIR region that may facilitate post-stroke recovery using spatial transcriptomic profiling in stroke-injured rat brains. Methods: Adult male SD rats underwent 30 min transient middle cerebral artery occlusion followed at 1 month by transplantation of human ES-derived neural stem cells (NR1) or buffer into the ipsilesional striatum. Whisker paw test and various MRI sequences (T2, FLAIR, DWI) were performed at multiple time points. The Visium platform (10X Genomics) was used for unbiased spatial transcriptome analysis in two stem-cell and two vehicle-treated brains at the peak of FLAIR. Results: We successfully replicated transplant-induced FLAIR after chronic stroke in rats and found a positive correlation between FLAIR and improved neurological outcomes. Visium identified specific gene clusters for the stroke injury, transplant/needle-track, stem cell graft, and the cortical ‘FLAIR’ region. The latter consisted of a central core containing the gene signature of the needle track and blood, and a wider region around this core which encompassed the FLAIR lesion seen by MRI. This wider FLAIR region displayed a predominantly microglia/inflammation-associated signature and was best characterized by the upregulation of apoptosis-associated genes. Pathway analysis of the differentially-expressed genes in the FLAIR cluster revealed a significant representation of immune cell responses (e.g. phagocytosis, immune cell migration, cytokine signaling), as well as ER stress mechanisms. Conclusion: This pilot study provides initial evidence that altered immune responses in the stem cell transplant-induced FLAIR region may promote recovery after chronic stroke. Further research on the role of microglia/neuroinflammation is needed to understand the mechanisms of stem cell-mediated brain repair.

A phase II study to evaluate the safety and efficacy of anlotinib combined with penpulimab for advanced refractory biliary tract cancer.

TPS582 Background: Although with modest efficacy, mFOLFOX is recommended as standard second-line chemotherapy for advanced biliary tract cancer (BTC). Several clinical trials are exploring the combination treatment of antiangiogenic drugs and immune checkpoint inhibitors. Anlotinib is an oral multi-targeted tyrosine kinase inhibitor targeting VEGFR1/2/3, FGFR1-4 and PDGFRα/β, which effectively blocks tumor neovascularization and growth. Previous phase I/II clinical trials suggested that anlotinib combined with PD-(L)1 inhibitors as second-line therapy was well tolerated and showed clinical anti-tumor activity in advanced biliary tract cancer (NCT03825705, NCT03996408, ChiCTR1900022003, ChiCTR2000037847). Penpulimab is a novel humanized anti-PD-1 IgG1 antibody with complete removal of Fc receptor mediated effect, and featuring slow antigen binding off-rate and high receptor occupancy. In this study, we explore anlotinib plus penpulimab as a chemo-free combination for second-line and above therapy. Methods: This is a prospective, single-arm, phase II study. BTC patients (pts) failed after the first-line treatment, aged 18-75 and an ECOG PS of 0-1 were recruited.Eligible pts received anlotinib (12mg, po, d1-14, q3w) and penpulimab (200mg, iv, d1, q3w) until disease progression, unacceptable toxicity or up to 2 years. The primary endpoint was Objective Response Rate (ORR). Secondary endpoints included Overall survival (OS), Progression-Free Survival (PFS), Disease Control Rate (DCR) and safety. Based on a two-sided test for one proportion with 5.0% type I error, 80% power to detect an improvement in ORR from 5% to 22%, there will be 27 pts enrolled considering 20% of pts dropping out. Clinical trial information: ChiCTR2300069126 .

A randomized phase III study comparing 2-weekly docetaxel, cisplatin and 5-FU (bDCF) with cisplatin and 5-FU (CF) in patients with metastatic or recurrent esophageal cancer: JCOG1314 (MIRACLE).

322 Background: For metastatic or recurrent esophageal cancer, 2-drug combination of cisplatin and 5-FU (CF) has long been a standard of care before the emergence of immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs). Previous phase I/II study of 3-drug combination, 2-weekly docetaxel plus CF (bDCF) showed promising antitumor activity (JCOG0807). We conducted JCOG1314, a randomized phase III study to confirm the survival superiority of bDCF over CF. Methods: Main eligibility criteria were metastatic or recurrent esophageal cancer; histologically proven squamous cell carcinoma or adenocarcinoma; age 20 to 75; no previous systemic therapy for metastatic disease. Patients were randomly assigned to CF arm (cisplatin 80 mg/m2 on day 1, and 5-FU 800 mg/m2 on days 1-5, every 28 days), or bDCF arm (docetaxel 30 mg/m2 on day 1 and day 15 in addition to CF, every 28 days). The primary endpoint was overall survival (OS). To detect a 3-month difference in median OS [hazard ratio (HR) = 0.73] with study-wise, one-sided alpha level of 5% and power of 75%, 240 patients were required. Results: A total of 240 patients were randomly assigned to bDCF (n = 121) and CF (n = 119) between September 2014 to April 2021. Patient background in bDCF/CF arm was median age, 65/64 years; ECOG performance status 0, 69%/75%; metastatic disease, 63%/67%, ≥2 metastatic organs, 59%/56%; squamous cell carcinoma, 94%/97%. As a data cut-off of April 2023, all 240 patients discontinued protocol treatment. The reasons for treatment discontinuation in bDCF/CF arm were disease progression, 58%/71%; adverse events (AEs), 35%/27%; refusal, 1%/1%; others, 7%/5%, respectively. With a median follow-up of 15.3 months (m), bDCF arm was not superior to CF arm in terms of OS with a median of 16.2 m versus 14.8 m [HR, 0.90; 95% confidence interval (CI), 0.68–1.19; p = 0.23], however, progression-free survival (PFS) in bDCF arm was favorable compared to CF arm with a median of 6.0 m versus 5.2 m (HR, 0.68; 95% CI, 0.52–0.88). Response rate in bDCF/CF arm was 52.8%/45.6%. Major grade 3 or 4 AEs observed in bDCF/CF arm were neutropenia (37.8%/27.1%); anorexia (25.2%/16.1%); fatigue (10.1%/15.3%); hyponatremia (13.4%/13.6%). No treatment related death was observed. Subsequent therapy in bDCF/CF arm was provided for 87%/89% of patients. Conclusions: JCOG1314 did not reach its primary objective, although bDCF was associated with significant increases in PFS. CF is still the standard therapy in patients with metastatic or recurrent esophageal cancer if ICIs are not applicable. Clinical trial information: jRCTs031180143 .

A phase II trial of CapeOX plus nivolumab for early relapsed HER2-negative gastric cancer (JACCRO GC-11: FirSTAR trial).

TPS423 Background: Fluoropyrimidine-based post-operative chemotherapy is one of the standard adjuvant therapies for curatively resected gastric cancer (GC).1,2 The current standard first-line chemotherapy consists of fluoropyrimidine and oxaliplatin combined with nivolumab in advanced HER2-negative GC patients including cases with a recurrence &gt; 6 months after completion of post-operative chemotherapy, based on the CheckMate 649 and ATTRACTION-4 trials. However, in GC patients with early recurrence during or ≤ 6 months after completion of post-operative 5-FU based chemotherapy, optimal treatments remain to be established. A previous phase II study showed that capecitabine plus cisplatin is an active regimen for early relapsed GC after post-operative S-1 monotherapy.3 This trial aims to investigate the efficacy of capecitabine plus oxaliplatin (CapeOX) plus nivolumab for patients with early relapsed HER2-negative GC. Methods: This is a multicenter single-arm phase II trial. The main eligibility criteria include: histologically confirmed HER2-negative adenocarcinoma of stomach or esophagogastric junction; radiologically diagnosed recurrence during or ≤ 6 months after post-operative chemotherapy with S-1 or S-1 plus docetaxel conducted for stage II/III GC after curative resection; age ≥ 18 years; ECOG performance status 0-1; having measurable lesions according to RECIST ver. 1.1; and adequate oral intake and organ functions. Enrolled patients will receive 21-day cycles of nivolumab with CapeOX at the following dose until disease progression or unacceptable toxicities: capecitabine, 1000 mg/m2 twice per day on day 1-14; oxaliplatin, 130 mg/m2 on day 1; and nivolumab, 360 mg on day 1. The primary endpoint is objective response rate (ORR), and the secondary endpoints include overall survival, progression-free survival, disease control rate, duration of response, and safety. PD-L1 combined positive score will be tested for the association with efficacy. We assume null ORR of 20% and alternative ORR of 32%. With two-sided alpha level of 10% and 80% power, sample size would be calculated as 85. Thus, a total of 92 patients are planned for enrollment within a 2.5-year accrual period. Enrollment opened in March 2023. Clinical trial information: jRCTs031220572. 1. N Engl J Med. 2007;357:1810-20. 2. J Clin Oncol. 2019;37:1296-1304. 3. Gastric Cancer. 2018;21:811-8. Clinical trial information: jRCTs031220572 .

Joint margin adaption and multiscale feature fusion for COVID-19 CT images segmentation

Segmenting COVID-19 from CT images remains a challenging task due to the structural characteristics, including complex and diverse infected regions, high inter-class similarity, and intra-class variability, which make it difficult to capture detailed semantic information such as edges and textures effectively. The present study introduces a novel methodology for segmenting COVID-19 CT images, consisting of three distinct stages. The proposed approach is primarily based on the margin adaptive deep supervised feature fusion network (MADFNet) architecture, which adopts an encoder-decoder framework. In this strategy, the segmentation outcomes obtained in the previous phase are utilized as supervised terms to facilitate the semantic segmentation process in the subsequent stage. In MADFNet, firstly, the channel edge detection and spatial edge detection modules capture the rich semantic information of edge context from different dimensions to obtain the fine texture information and semantic dependencies, respectively. Then, the encoder feature fusion module is designed to aggregate multiscale feature representations at the same level, facilitating information integration across different channels and enabling adaptive detection of structural features such as edges and textures. Finally, the decoder feature fusion module integrates multiscale feature dependencies from different levels to alleviate the semantic discrepancies of features at different levels and accurately locate lesion regions. The single-class segmentation Dice scores of MADFNet on the three experimental datasets are 0.831, 0.825, and 0.821, respectively, and the results of single-class as well as multi-class lesion segmentation on COVID-19 CT images validated the feasibility of our work.

The Surgical Treatment of Advanced Urinary Incontinence

Purpose: Current treatments of urgency urinary incontinence (UUI) are aimed to reduce the neurological influence on bladder detrusor muscle function. A previous observation after posterior exenteration led to the hypothesis that UUI is caused by a laxity of the uterosacral ligaments (USL). In a previous Clinical Phase I trial in patients with UUI continence was achieved in 40% of patients by replacement of the USL. The results supported the concept of a Clinical Phase II trial in which only patients who lost urine after urgency (advanced UI) were treated by replacement of the USL. The aim of the study was to evaluate the cause why some patients became continent while others remained incontinent after replacement of the USL. Methods: In this Clinical Phase II trial, patients with advanced UI were included. The USL was replaced by specially designed polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) structures. During laparoscopy these structures were fixed at the promontory and at the cervical stump after supracervical hysterectomy (cervicosacropexy, CESA) or at the vaginal stump (vaginosacropexy, VASA). The USL replacing parts of the structures had an identical length of 8.8 cm in CESA and 9.3 cm in VASA. Patients who remained incontinent after tensioning of the vagina were offered a suburethral trans-obturator tape (TOT). Results: 339 patients with advanced urinary incontinence (UI) were evaluable. Continence was re-established in 39% of patients after CESA and in 32.9% after VASA. The statistical analysis revealed that the Continence Rates (CR) after CESA or VASA were significantly (p&lt;0.001) dependent on patients age at surgery (&lt;60 years vs ≥60 years). The respective CR after CESA were 50% vs 26% and after VASA 41.5% vs 28.9%. After an additional transobturator tape (TOT) the overall CR was between 67.5% and 87.5%. Conclusion: The replacement of the USL by PVDF-tapes of defined length led to continence in between 32.9% and 39% of the patients. After the additional placement of a TOT 8/4 the percentage of continent patients increased by 30.5% to 37.3%. These findings support the hypothesis that continence is dependent on the physiological function of the USL and PUL. The observation that the CR after USL replacement decreased in patients ≥60 years indicates that ageing affected some additional other part in the area of the urethra-vesical junction (UVJ). The CR after CESA or VASA (and a TOT) in patients with advanced UI deserve further clinical evaluation.

Risk of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 Transmission in Seoul, Korea.

The risk of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) transmission during the endemic phase may vary from that during the previous pandemic phase. We evaluated the risk of infection in a general population with laboratory-confirmed coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in a community setting in Korea. This study included 1,286 individuals who had been in contact with an index COVID-19 case between January 24, 2020, and June 30, 2022. Variables such as age, sex, nationality, place of contact, level of contact, the status of exposed cases, period, and level of mask-wearing were assessed. Among 1,286 participants, 132 (10.30%) were confirmed to have COVID-19. With increasing age, the risk of the exposed persons contracting COVID-19 from index cases tended to increase (P <0.001), especially for people in their 70s (odds ratio, 1.24; 95% confidence interval, 1.11-1.40; P <0.001). We found an increasing trend in the risk of a COVID-19 exposed case becoming a secondary infection case (P <0.001) in long-term care facilities where the attack rate was high. The risk of COVID-19 transmission is high in long-term care facilities where many older adults reside. Intensive management of facilities at risk of infection and strict mask-wearing of confirmed COVID-19 cases are necessary to prevent the risk of COVID-19 infection.

Voluntary wheel running access produces opposite effects in male and female rats on both palatable diet consumption and associated ventral striatal opioid- and dopamine-related gene expression.

The relationship between physical activity levels and feeding behaviors has been a focus of preclinical research for decades, yet this interaction has only recently been explored for potential sex differences. The aim of the present study was to isolate sex-dependent effects of voluntary wheel running (RUN) vs. sedentary locked wheel (SED) home cage conditions on palatability-driven feeding behavior using a 2-diet choice task between standard chow and a high-fat diet. The sex-dependent effects of physical activity on feeding behavior were examined following a within-subject novel reversal design of physical activity conditions (i.e., RUN > SED > RUN), to assess temporal sensitivity of the interaction. Following the final 2 weeks of reestablished and sustained RUN vs. SED conditions in separate groups of both males and females, reward-related opioid and dopamine gene expression within the nucleus accumbens (Acb) brain region were analyzed. Results demonstrated that the initial RUN > SED transition led to sex-dependent effects of SED condition, as males increased, and females decreased their high fat consumption, compared to their respective high fat consumption during previous RUN condition phase. Following reintroduction to the RUN condition, males decreased, and females increased their high fat consumption, compared to their separate SED control group. Last, sex-dependent shifts in ventral striatal opioid- and dopamine-related gene expression were observed to parallel the behavioral effects. The major findings of the study reveal that SED and RUN home cage conditions shift palatability-driven feeding in the opposite direction for males and females, these effects are sensitive to reversal, and these sex-dependent feeding behaviors track sex-dependent changes to critical reward-related gene expression patterns in the Acb. Considering the present high rates of sedentary behavior and obesity, furthering our understanding of the interaction between physical activity (or lack thereof) and feeding behavior should be a priority, especially in the context of these divergent sex-dependent outcomes.

Usability of a telerehabilitation program for patients with musculoskeletal or oncological diseases: A mixed-methods evaluation / Benutzerfreundlichkeit eines Telerehabilitations-Programmes für Patient*innen mit muskuloskelettalen oder onkologischen Erkrankungen: Eine Mixed-Methods Evaluation

Abstract Purpose Telerehabilitation may stabilize the results of a previous phase 2 rehabilitation program through remote rehabilitation sessions. We evaluated a new telerehabilitation service (PV RehaTRAIN®) during its initial implementation, focusing on its usability both from the perspective of patients with musculoskeletal or oncological diseases and the interdisciplinary treatment team. Methods The evaluation followed a convergent mixed-methods design. After separate qualitative and quantitative analyses of the multi-perspective findings from interviews, focus groups and questionnaires, we interpreted the results collectively and equally. Results Overall, the results indicate high acceptance of and satisfaction with the new telerehabilitation service, especially from the patients’ perspective and regarding educational and individual counselling sessions. However, the treatment team identified a need for further didactic training to enable them to realize their full professional potential in a telerehabilitation setting. Conclusion The new telerehabilitation service PV RehaTRAIN® may bridge gaps in health care for patients who do not have access to conventional phase 3 rehabilitation infrastructure or prefer remote services that are readily integrated into their everyday lives. Members of the interdisciplinary treatment team offering telerehabilitation for the first time need adequate technical and especially setting-specific didactic training. Increased participation of treatment teams when refining telerehabilitation systems may minimize problems in early implementation phases and contribute to the quality of care.

Prediction of the Melting Point of Ionic Liquids with Clustering and Noeuroevolution

Ionic liquids (ILs) are salts with a wide liquid temperature range and low melting points and can be fine-tuned to have specific physicochemical properties by the selection of their anion and cation. However, having a physical synthesis of multiple ILs for testing purposes can be expensive. For this reason, an in-silico estimation of physicochemical properties is desired. The selection of these components is limited by the low precision offered by state-of-the-art predictive models. In this paper, we explore the prediction of melting points with clustering algorithms and a novel Neuroevolution approach. We focused our design on simplicity. We concluded that performing clustering analysis in a previous phase of the model generation improves the estimation accuracy of the melting point, which is validated in experimentation made in-silico

Real-time estimation of lung deformation from body surface using a general CoordConv CNN

Background and ObjectiveEstimating the three-dimensional (3D) deformation of the lung is important for accurate dose delivery in radiotherapy and precise surgical guidance in lung surgery navigation. Additional 4D-CT information is often required to eliminate the effect of individual variations and obtain a more accurate estimation of lung deformation. However, this results in increased radiation dose. Therefore, we propose a novel method that estimates lung tissue deformation from depth maps and two CT phases per patient. MethodsThe method models the 3D motion of each voxel as a linear displacement along a direction vector, with a variable amplitude and phase that depend on the voxel location. The direction vector and amplitude are derived from the registration of the CT images at the end-of-exhale (EOE) and the end-of-inhale (EOI) phases. The voxel phase is estimated by a neural network. Coordinate convolution (CoordConv) is used to fuse multimodal data and embed absolute position information. The network takes the front and side views as well as the previous phase views as inputs to enhance accuracy. ResultsWe evaluate the proposed method on two datasets: DIR-Lab and 4D-Lung, and obtain average errors of 2.11 mm and 1.36 mm, respectively. The method achieves real-time performance of less than 7 ms per frame on a NVIDIA GeForce 2080Ti GPU. ConclusionCompared with previous methods, our method achieves comparable or even better accuracy with less CT phases.

Crustal stress pattern at Mt. Etna volcano

Stress fields may exhibit variegated patterns, especially in volcanic areas where several processes superimpose their effects in space and time. The comprehension of such patterns may not be straightforward to investigate. This work investigates the pattern of the crustal stress in the area of Mt. Etna Volcano (Sicily, Italy). This has been possible through a collection of more than 800 stress indicators derived from seismological and volcanological/geological information. In particular, the type of collected data allows to consider, for the first time in this area, two different temporal steps in the evolution of Etna volcano: the present-day and the previous volcanic phase at 15 ka. Results indicate a transition between a background shallow NW-SE tensional regime and a deep SW-NE compressional one that occurs between 6 and 16 km depth and which well fits with the present-day geodynamic framework of the area. The occurrence of small-scale lateral variations is interpreted as the second-order effect of the structures of the active front buried beneath the volcano, to the volcano loading, and to the feeding system. The temporal variations in the area surrounding the volcano suggest a major rearrangement of the background stress field evidenced by the swap between minimum and maximum horizontal stress directions. Conversely, during the same period, the stress pattern in the exact correspondence of the volcanic edifice showed to be stable and with a radial arrangement. Such coherence would support the literature which suggests a long-term inflation process started at least 15 kyr ago.

PD-L1 expression guidance on sintilimab versus pembrolizumab with or without platinum-doublet chemotherapy in untreated patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer (CTONG1901): A phase 2, randomized, controlled trial

No direct comparison has been performed between different programmed cell death-1 (PD-1) inhibitors for first-line treatment in patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). The feasibility of using PD-L1-expression-guided immunotherapy remains unknown. In this open-label, phase 2 study (NCT04252365), patients with advanced NSCLC without EGFR or ALK alterations were randomized (1:1) to receive sintilimab or pembrolizumab monotherapy (PD-L1 expression ≥ 50%), or sintilimab or pembrolizumab plus platinum-based chemotherapy (PD-L1 expression < 50%). The sample size was calculated by optimal two-stage design. The primary endpoint was the objective response rate (ORR). The study included 71 patients (sintilimab arms, n = 35; pembrolizumab arms, n = 36) and met its primary endpoint, with a confirmed ORR of 51.4% (18/35) in the sintilimab arms. The confirmed ORR (95% confidence interval) was 46.2% (19.2%, 74.9%) and 42.9% (17.7%, 71.1%) for patients treated with sintilimab and pembrolizumab monotherapy; and 54.5% (32.2%, 75.6%) and 45.4% (24.4%, 67.8%) for those treated with sintilimab- and pembrolizumab-based combination therapies. The median progression-free survival was 6.9 versus 8.1 months for all sintilimab-treated versus all pembrolizumab-treated patients, respectively, in which it was 7.6 versus 11.0 months in monotherapy and 7.4 versus 7.1 months in combination therapies. The median overall survival was 14.9 versus 21.3 months for all sintilimab-treated versus all pembrolizumab-treated patients, respectively, in which it was 14.9 versus 22.6 months in monotherapy and 14.7 versus 17.3 months in combination therapies. Treatment-related adverse events were consistent with safety outcomes of monotherapy and combination therapy in previous phase III studies. However, the incidence of rash was higher with sintilimab than pembrolizumab monotherapy. This is the first prospective phase 2 study to directly compare two anti-PD-1 antibodies as first-line treatment in advanced NSCLC. Sintilimab was efficacious and well-tolerated irrespective of PD-L1 expression level in patients with advanced NSCLC and had similar efficacy and safety to pembrolizumab.

Phase Ib study of anti-EGFR antibody (SCT200) in combination with anti-PD-1 antibody (SCT-I10A) for patients with RAS/BRAF wild-type metastatic colorectal cancer.

This study evaluated the safety and efficacy of an anti-epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) antibody (SCT200) and an anti-programmed cell death 1 (PD-1) antibody (SCT-I10A) as third-line or subsequent therapies in patients with rat sarcoma viral oncogene (RAS)/v-raf murine sarcoma viral oncogene homolog B (BRAF) wild-type (wt) metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC). We conducted a multicenter, open-label, phase Ib clinical trial. Patients with histologically confirmed RAS/BRAF wt mCRC with more than two lines of treatment were enrolled and treated with SCT-I10A and SCT200. The primary endpoints were the objective response rate (ORR) and safety. The secondary endpoints included disease control rate (DCR), progression-free survival (PFS), and overall survival (OS). Twenty-one patients were enrolled in the study through January 28, 2023. The ORR was 28.57% and the DCR was 85.71% (18/21). The median PFS and OS were 4.14 and 12.84 months, respectively. The treatment-related adverse events (TRAEs) were tolerable. Moreover, compared with the monotherapy cohort from our previous phase I study evaluating SCT200 for RAS/BRAF wt mCRC in a third-line setting, no significant improvements in PFS and OS were observed in the combination group. SCT200 combined with SCT-I10A demonstrated promising efficacy in previously treated RAS/BRAF wt mCRC patients with an acceptable safety profile. Further head-to-head studies with larger sample sizes are needed to validate whether the efficacy and safety of combined anti-EGFR and anti-PD-1 therapy are superior to anti-EGFR monotherapy in the third-line setting. (Registration No. NCT04229537).

Membraneless Ionic Liquid Droplet Nanoprobe for Vapor Sensing and Gas Phase Scanning Electrochemical Microscopy

Gas phase sensing of volatile chemicals is a critical area of research relevant to biomedical diagnosis and environmental hazard assessment. Among various types of sensors, electrochemical sensors garnered attention as cost-effective and portable methods. Most electrochemical sensors needed the membrane to prevent solvent evaporation for detecting the gaseous species. However, the presence of the membrane induced slow response time due to the penetration of gas molecules through the membrane. To improve the systems, a membraneless ionic liquid droplet nanoprobe was developed. Gaseous species can permeate the thin ionic liquid layer, which was also used as the electrolytes, and react on the electrode in extremely fast response. Furthermore, nano-sized electrode makes available to detect sensitively with low charging capacitance. Using the probe type form factor, application to gas phase scanning electrochemical microscopy (SECM) was attempted with high spatial resolution. Oxygen detection, the most commonly studied, was implemented for the first application of the ionic liquid nanoprobe. The limit of detection of this probe was 13 ppm, which is extremely good for electrochemical oxygen sensors. Also, the fast response (< 0.1 s) made the mapping of oxygen concentration using SECM. The nanoprobe showed more than a hundred times better spatial resolution (several micrometer scale) than the previous gas phase SECM study mapping the oxygen. As the application of this oxygen probe, Li-air battery analysis can be conducted. Oxygen was used in the reaction at the cathode of the Li-air battery. As mapping the oxygen concentration above the cathode, It is expected that structural causes for the irreversibility at the cathode can also be found. As oxygen sensing, other electrochemical active gaseous species can be detected with the electrochemical sensor. Trinitrotoluene is a well-known explosive compound, and it can be detected in electrochemistry. Due to its low vapor pressure, di-nitroaromatic compounds, like dinitrotoluene (DNT), dinitrobenzene (DNB), and dinitrophenol (DNP), were used as explosive footprints, which have higher vapor pressure and have often been identified as marker molecules. Using our ionic liquid nanoprobe, we developed the nitroaromatic compounds (NACs) sensor for real-time detection of trace vapors, without any sample pre-treatment and at room temperature. Furthermore, in a simulated airport carousel, real-time and preemptive NACs detection was demonstrated with fast response time. As oxygen detection, gas phase SECM was conducted and 3D mapping capability of the differential vapor pressure was demonstrated, exercising the potential of the NACs nanoprobe in locating the source of an explosive risk. With the sensitive sensing performance of nanoprobe, it can be used as breath analysis. There are several biomarkers to indicate certain diseases. For example, acetone is a representative biomarker of diabetes. Using this sensing platform, acetone sensing was implemented, and it may be used for the initial detection of diabetes.