Prior Rounds Research Articles

Shrinking the lymphatic filariasis map of Zimbabwe: Reassessing the population requiring treatment through confirmatory mapping.

Zimbabwe is endemic for lymphatic filariasis (LF) with 39 districts identified for mass drug administration (MDA) in 2014. The objective of this study was to reassess the current population requiring MDA. The LF confirmatory mapping method was used to evaluate the prevalence of circulating filarial antigens (CFA) among school-aged children (9-14 years) in previously endemic districts. This was achieved through a cross-sectional survey between 2021 and 2023, applying a cluster sampling approach across 39 districts, targeting 18,720 children to assess ongoing LF transmission. he findings revealed a significant decline in LF prevalence, with an overall rate of 0.43%. Importantly, 82.05% of districts previously identified as endemic were reclassified as non-endemic. Only seven districts retained endemic status, necessitating continued MDA using the triple-drug therapy regimen. Population estimates based on 2022 census data indicated that 1.19 million individuals across these districts require MDA, representing an 84.4% reduction compared to previous estimates. Despite the progress, the persistence of low-level transmission in certain districts highlights the need for sustained surveillance and morbidity management services, including hydrocele surgery and lymphedema care. There was a significant reduction in the number of people requiring MDA. The decline in LF endemicity is attributed to a combination of factors, including prior rounds of MDA and vector control initiatives including historical interventions, such as DDT spraying against Human African Trypanosomiasis.

Understanding Trust and Reliance Development in AI Advice: Assessing Model Accuracy, Model Explanations, and Experiences from Previous Interactions

People are increasingly interacting with AI systems, but successful interactions depend on people trusting these systems only when appropriate. Since neither gaining trust in AI advice nor restoring lost trust after AI mistakes is warranted, we seek to better understand the development of trust and reliance in sequential human-AI interaction scenarios. In a 2 \({\times}\) 2 between-subject simulated AI experiment, we tested how model accuracy (high vs. low) and explanation type (human-like vs. abstract) affect trust and reliance on AI advice for repeated interactions. In the experiment, participants estimated jail times for 20 criminal law cases, first without and then with AI advice. Our results show that trust and reliance are significantly higher for high model accuracy. In addition, reliance does not decline over the trial sequence, and trust increases significantly with high accuracy. Human-like (vs. abstract) explanations only increased reliance on the high-accuracy condition. We furthermore tested the extent to which trust and reliance in a trial round can be explained by trust and reliance experiences from prior rounds. We find that trust assessments in prior trials correlate with trust in subsequent ones. We also find that the cumulative trust experience of a person in all earlier trial rounds correlates with trust in subsequent ones. Furthermore, we find that the two trust measures, trust and reliance, impact each other: prior trust beliefs not only influence subsequent trust beliefs but likewise influence subsequent reliance behavior, and vice versa. Executing a replication study yielded comparable results to our original study, thereby enhancing the validity of our findings.

Concurrent behavioral modeling and multimodal neuroimaging reveals how feedback affects the performance of decision making in internet gaming disorder

Internet gaming disorder (IGD) prompts inquiry into how feedback from prior gaming rounds influences subsequent risk-taking behavior and potential neural mechanisms. Forty-two participants, including 15 with IGD and 27 health controls (HCs), underwent a sequential risk-taking task. Hierarchy Bayesian modeling was adopted to measure risky propensity, behavioral consistence, and affection by emotion ratings from last trial. Concurrent electroencephalogram and functional near-infrared spectroscopy (EEG-fNIRS) recordings were performed to demonstrate when, where and how the previous-round feedback affects the decision making to the next round. We discovered that the IGD illustrated heightened risk-taking propensity as compared to the HCs, indicating by the computational modeling (p = 0.028). EEG results also showed significant time window differences in univariate and multivariate pattern analysis between the IGD and HCs after the loss of the game. Further, reduced brain activation in the prefrontal cortex during the task was detected in IGD as compared to that of the control group. The findings underscore the importance of understanding the aberrant decision-making processes in IGD and suggest potential implications for future interventions and treatments aimed at addressing this behavioral addiction.

Advance care planning among older cancer survivors in the United States.

91 Background: The goal of advance care planning (ACP) is to ensure that end-of-life (EOL) care is consistent with patient wishes and preferences. The ACP is particularly relevant to older adults with cancer due to their high risk of mortality. However, it remains unclear whether older cancer survivors have a higher rate of ACP engagement than general older adults. Methods: We used data from the National Health and Aging Trends Study (NHATS) Round 8, a nationally representative study of adults aged ³65. This cross-sectional analysis included 4,666 participants (1,568 cancer survivors), representing 33.93 million older Americans in 2018. The ACP was defined as having any of the three self-reported elements of ACP: EOL discussion, durable power of attorney (DPOA), or living will/advance directive. Cancer survivors were identified by self-reported cancer in Round 8 or prior rounds. Covariates were self-reported, including age, sex, race, marital status, education level, income, number of comorbidities, number of limitations in activities of daily living (ADL) and probable/possible dementia. We used logistic regressions to examine the association of cancer diagnosis and ACP engagement, adjusting for covariates and complex survey design and weights. Results: Older cancer survivors reported a higher rate of ACP engagement (80.10% vs 73.39), EOL discussion (66.94% vs 60.92%), DPOA (58.56% vs 51.02%) and living will/advance directive (63.34% vs 52.81%), compared to older adults without cancer. However, in adjusted logistic models, there was not significant difference between the two groups in ACP engagement (adjusted OR=1.12, 95% CI: 0.93, 1.36, P=0.22), EOL discussion (adjusted OR=1.08, 95% CI: 0.91, 1.29, P=0.37), DPOA (adjusted OR=1.07, 95% CI: 0.90, 1.28, P= 0.42) or living will/advance directive (adjusted OR=1.20, 95% CI: 1.00, 1.45, P=0.05). The oldest old (>80 years), women, White people, single/not married, with higher education, income, comorbidities and ADL limitations were more likely to engage in ACP (all P<0.01). The associations were similar across models that explored the individual elements of ACP. Conclusions: Despite the high mortality risk, older cancer survivors are not more likely to engage in ACP than the general older adults. About 20% of US older cancer survivors have not engaged in any form of ACP. Hospital, clinic and community strategies to introduce and encourage ACP among older cancer survivors are needed, especially for those minority populations.

How do financialised agri-corporate investors acquire farmland? Analysing land investment in an Australian agricultural region, 2004–2019

Abstract This article uses a purpose-designed land parcels database covering all rural land transactions over 16 years (2004–2019 inclusive) to document the ways in which financialised agri-corporate investors acquired farmland in a major Australian cropping and grazing region, New England North West (NENW). Framing these investments through the lens of strategic coupling reveals a mix of land acquisition strategies. Almost 200,000 ha of farmland was acquired by financialised agri-corporate investors in NENW during the study period. Approximately one-third was acquired through takeovers of stock market listed agricultural companies or unlisted agricultural asset management companies, another third involved the purchase of farms already packaged into assetised forms by prior rounds of restructuring and the final third involved the purchase and aggregation of family farms. We interpret this mix of entry modes to indicate a flexible and opportunistic set of dynamics in how financialised agri-corporate investors amass their land assets, underlining their reach and scope in the restructuring of regional agricultures.

Defining Treatment Response for Clinical Trials of Pediatric Acute Asthma

An agreed-upon definition of treatment response for clinical trials of pediatric acute asthma does not exist, limiting meaningful comparisons among therapeutic interventions and advances in asthma management. To develop a consensus definition of treatment response for clinical trials of pediatric acute asthma. A multidisciplinary panel of 22 experts participated in a Web-based modified Delphi process to achieve consensus on a definition of treatment response. Round 1 consisted of closed- and open-ended questions in which panelists ranked measures of treatment response developed by literature review, suggested additional measures, and explained their responses. In rounds 2 and 3, panelists reviewed summary statistics of the panel's rating from prior rounds and reconsidered their rankings. In round 3, pairwise ranking was performed to determine the ranked importance of components. Consensus was defined as 70% or greater agreement among panelists choosing Likert-scale values of 1 to 6 (extremely unimportant to extremely important) and an interquartile range less than2. Drawing on results from the expert panel, we developed a definition of treatment response that includes Clinical Severity Score, need for additional therapies, and hospitalization. Clinical Severity Score encompassed most ranked criteria (eg, respiratory distress, wheeze) for a treatment response definition. Panelists recommended that a valid and pragmatic severity score be used consistently across institutions. Panelists also achieved consensus on the top 10 criteria that appropriately classify need for hospitalization. This consensus definition of treatment response can be used in clinical trials of children with acute asthma to standardize outcome measurement and report meaningful outcomes.

Persistence of onchocerciasis in villages in Enugu and Ogun states in Nigeria following many rounds of mass distribution of ivermectin

BackgroundOnchocerciasis is endemic in most local government areas (LGAs) in Enugu and Ogun states. Most meso- and hyper-endemic LGAs have received many rounds of ivermectin mass drug administration (MDA). This study aimed to determine the current prevalence of onchocerciasis in villages in Enugu and Ogun states that were formerly highly endemic and to assess progress toward elimination of the infection in areas believed to be at high risk for persistence.MethodsCross-sectional community surveys were conducted 8 to 12 months after the last round of MDA in 16 villages (6 in Enugu state and 10 in Ogun state) in individuals aged ≥ 18 years. Study participants were examined for the presence of palpable subcutaneous nodules. Skin snips from the posterior iliac crests were used to assess microfiladermia (Mf) prevalence and density.Results643 subjects were palpated for nodules and 627 individuals (225 in Enugu state; 402 in Ogun state) provided skin snips. Nodule prevalence in the study villages ranged from 42 to 66.7% in Enugu state and from 0 to 25.0% in Ogun state. Mf prevalence in the Enugu and Ogun study villages ranged from 32 to 51.1% and 0 to 28.6%, respectively. Geometric mean skin Mf density in surveyed Enugu state villages ranged between 1 and 3.1 Mf/mg; these values were < 1 Mf/mg in all but one community in Ogun state villages.ConclusionResults from this study show that onchocerciasis persists in adults in many villages in Enugu and Ogun states despite many prior rounds of ivermectin MDA. Prevalence was higher in villages surveyed in Enugu than in Ogun. Low Mf densities suggest the MDA program is working well to reduce disease, but more time will be required to reach the elimination goal.

Flexible Aid in an Uncertain World: The Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds Program

Emergency fiscal transfers to state, local, tribal, and territorial governments have been at the core of the U.S. federal government's response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The most extensive of these transfer programs is the Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds (CSLFRF) program, contained in the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021. The CSLFRF is not only larger than prior rounds of emergency aid, it was also designed to address a broader series of crises, address pre-existing inequities, and provide greater discretion to public officials in deciding how to allocate funds. In this article, we consider the extent to which this program represents a departure from what some have called “fend for yourself” federalism. We conclude that while the coordinated effort of intergovernmental organizations resulted in a greater measure of federal fiscal activism and flexibility than might have been anticipated, lingering political conflicts and legacies of austerity will continue to inflect the CSLFRF's implementation.

Ongoing Refinement and Innovation in the Data Collection Protocols of the Third Round of the National Social Life, Health, and Aging Project.

The third round (R3) of the National Social Life, Health, and Aging Project, a nationally representative, longitudinal survey of community-residing older adults, consisted of 4,777 in-person interviews and 6,100 completed visits to households to identify newly eligible respondents. It revisited respondents from the first rounds (Cohort 1), born in the years 1920 through 1947, and added new respondents (Cohort 2) born in the years 1948 through 1965. Coresidential romantic partners of both cohorts were also eligible. Data collection included in-person questionnaires, up to 11 biomeasures, and a self-administered, postinterview paper questionnaire. Questionnaire domains included social network and social support, elder mistreatment, physical health, cognitive function, romantic partners and sexuality, fertility and menopause, mental health, and employment and finances. Biomeasure collection included height, weight, waist circumference, blood pressure and heart rate, timed walk, balance, chair stands, smell, saliva passive drool in a tube (cortisol, dehydroepiandrosterone, estradiol, progesterone, testosterone), dried blood spots (C-reactive protein, Epstein-Barr virus antibodies, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, hemoglobin, glycosylated hemoglobin [HbA1c], total cholesterol), and accelerometry (sleep patterns and physical activity). A brief questionnaire also collected data on respondents who were deceased or in too poor health to participate. Measures such as response and cooperation rates are provided to evaluate the design and implementation. This article describes innovation in the development and implementation of R3, the recruitment of a new cohort of respondents, and fidelity to prior rounds' study design and data collection procedures.

Occupational Science Concepts Essential to Occupation-Based Practice: Development of Expert Consensus.

What occupational science (OS) knowledge may be essential to occupational therapy practice has not been systematically explored. To identify and gain expert consensus on OS concepts viewed as essential to occupational therapy practice. A complex, convergent mixed-methods Delphi design with an international panel of OS experts randomly assigned to two parallel groups. In Round 1, each group generated OS concepts; in Rounds 2 and 3, they rated the degree to which each concept was essential to occupational therapy. Data were analyzed separately for each group. A fourth round combined the two groups and used carefully merged concept definitions from both groups to validate consensus on essential concepts arising from the prior rounds. Fifty-two nominated experts from 22 countries who met a priori criteria participated in the 14-mo study. Of 62 experts invited, 52 (Group A = 24, Group B = 28) participated in the first round, and 42 (81%) completed the full-group final round. Eleven concepts met the consensus threshold (≥70%) established for the study. Additional analysis compared parallel- and full-group results to carefully discern conceptual similarities and differences, especially with near-consensus concepts. Substantial expert agreement was established for several OS concepts viewed as essential, providing a basis for future studies to refine the concepts for occupational therapy education and practice. What This Article Adds: The results of this research provide a systematically derived preliminary basis for selecting OS content for occupational therapy educational programs and preliminary concepts for organizing OS knowledge germane to occupational therapy practice.

Secured communication using efficient artificial neural synchronization

In this paper, an efficient artificial neural group synchronization is proposed for secured neural key exchange over public channels. To share the key over a public network, two Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs) are coordinated by mutual learning. The primary issue of neural coordination is assessing the synchronization of two parties’ ANNs in the absence of weights from the other. There is a delay in coordination measurement in existing techniques, which affects the confidentiality of neural coordination. Furthermore, research into the mutual learning of a cluster of ANNs is limited. This paper introduces a mutual learning methodology for measuring the entire synchronization of the set of ANNs quickly and efficiently. The measure of coordination is determined by the frequency with which the two networks have had the same outcome in prior rounds. When a particular threshold is reached, the hash is used to decide whether all networks are properly coordinated. The modified methodology uses has value of the weight vectors to achieve full coordination between two communicating entities. This technique has several advantages, including (1) Generation of session key via complete binary tree-based group mutual neural synchronization of ANNs over the public channel. (2) Unlike existing methods, the suggested method allows two communication entities to recognize full coordination faster. (3) Brute force, geometric, impersonation, and majority attacks are all considered in this proposed scheme. Tests to validate the performance of the proposed methodology are carried out, and the results show that the proposed methodology outperforms similar approaches already in use.

Dependent interviewing: a remedy or a curse for measurement error in surveys?

Longitudinal surveys often rely on dependent interviewing (DI) to lower the levels of random measurement error in survey data and reduce the incidence of spurious change. DI refers to a data collection technique that incorporates information from prior interview rounds into subsequent waves. While this method is considered an effective remedy for random measurement error, it can also introduce more systematic errors, in particular when respondents are first reminded of their previously provided answer and then asked about their current status. The aim of this paper is to assess the impact of DI on measurement error in employment mobility. We take advantage of a unique experimental situation that was created by the roll-out of dependent interviewing in the Dutch Labour Force Survey (LFS). We apply Hidden Markov Modeling (HMM) to linked LFS and Employment Register (ER) data that cover a period before and after dependent interviewing was abolished, which in turn enables the modeling of systematic errors in the LFS data. Our results indicate that DI lowered the probability of obtaining random measurement error but had no significant effect on the systematic component of the error. The lack of a significant effect might be partially due to the fact that the probability of repeating the same error was extremely high at baseline (i.e when using standard, independent interviewing); therefore the use of DI could not increase this probability any further.

GazeBase, a large-scale, multi-stimulus, longitudinal eye movement dataset

This manuscript presents GazeBase, a large-scale longitudinal dataset containing 12,334 monocular eye-movement recordings captured from 322 college-aged participants. Participants completed a battery of seven tasks in two contiguous sessions during each round of recording, including a – (1) fixation task, (2) horizontal saccade task, (3) random oblique saccade task, (4) reading task, (5/6) free viewing of cinematic video task, and (7) gaze-driven gaming task. Nine rounds of recording were conducted over a 37 month period, with participants in each subsequent round recruited exclusively from prior rounds. All data was collected using an EyeLink 1000 eye tracker at a 1,000 Hz sampling rate, with a calibration and validation protocol performed before each task to ensure data quality. Due to its large number of participants and longitudinal nature, GazeBase is well suited for exploring research hypotheses in eye movement biometrics, along with other applications applying machine learning to eye movement signal analysis. Classification labels produced by the instrument’s real-time parser are provided for a subset of GazeBase, along with pupil area.

A bridging model to reconcile statistics based on data from multiple surveys

Surveys designed to collect data on similar variables using samples representing the same population may still result in different estimates due, for example, to differences in sample designs or modes of data collection. Considered in this paper is the case where two surveys were conducted concurrently, with one using the same methodology as used in prior rounds of the survey and the other using an updated methodology, resulting in substantial differences in several key estimates. Due to differences in sample size, only the latter survey was detailed enough for disaggregated-level estimates of publishable quality. We propose a hierarchical model to account for discrepancies in the estimates from the two surveys and a Bayesian approach for producing reliable estimates at various levels of aggregation. The model relies on a common latent structure at the disaggregated level to allow “bridging” between the two surveys. The methodology is applied to the 2016 National Survey of Fishing, Hunting and Wildlife-Associated Recreation and the 2016 50-State Surveys of Fishing, Hunting and Wildlife-Related Recreation. Aligning these two surveys is critical to extend the series of related statistics that have been published since 1955, allowing for meaningful comparisons over time despite the change in survey methodology.

Grand rounds education in neurology, with a focus on headache medicine.

To quantify the proportion of headache-related grand rounds in academic neurology programs and to compare this with adult neurology residency director views on the need for an increase in headache-related grand rounds. Although headache are among the most prevalent and most burdensome neurologic conditions, headache medicine is often considered underrepresented in neurology departments. Additionally, prior studies have shown that many neurology residency directors feel that training programs do not include an adequate amount of exposure to headache clinics or headache-related didactics. One important aspect of didactic education in neurology departments is adult neurology grand rounds. Previous publications have evaluated neither the proportion of headache-related grand rounds in academic neurology departments nor the residency program directors' views on appropriate amount of headache-related grand rounds. Our study has attempted to quantify this information to elucidate opportunities to improve practice educational gaps. In this cross-sectional study, we surveyed adult neurology residency directors (from the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education [ACGME] listing of academic adult neurology residency programs) between October 2018 and September 2019. In addition, we used two methods to obtain the proportion of headache-related grand rounds in neurology: (1) emailing residency directors a questionnaire asking for a list of prior grand rounds topics and (2) an online search for each academic neurology program. First, for our grand rounds analysis, headache medicine consisted of 3.7% of the lectures in 2017-2018 and 6.3% of the lectures in 2018-2019 (average of each institution; 17 institutions and 411 total lectures in 2017-2018, 21 institutions and 463 total lectures in 2018-2019). The most common number of lectures on headache medicine for each grand rounds series was zero (for 7 of 17 grand rounds series in 2017-2018 and 7 of 21 in 2018-2019), followed closely by one lecture (for 6 of 17 grand rounds series in 2017-2018 and 6 of 21 in 2018-2019). Second, for our survey, the response rate was 19.3% (29/150). No residency director thought their institution had too many grand rounds dedicated to headache medicine, and 62.1% (18/29) thought they had an adequate amount of headache grand rounds. Within the survey responders, 75.9% (22/29) of adult neurology residency programs have a board-certified headache specialist at their institution. Although most adult neurology residency directors believe that headache is adequately represented in adult neurology grand rounds, headache medicine makes up 4%-6% of all neurology grand rounds. Compared with other neurology subspecialties and the other core ACGME milestones, headache makes up the fewest grand rounds lectures that were assessed in this study.

Therapists' consensus on an infant massage programme for high-risk infants from resource constrained contexts: a delphi study

Background : There are various infant massage programmes designed for infants born without complications, but there are limited options available for caregivers with high-risk infants from a resource-constrained context. Aim : This study aimed to develop a caregiver-initiated infant massage programme specific for high-risk infants in a resource-constrained context to facilitate the bonding and attachment process between this dyad. Metho d: A three-round Delphi study was conducted with purposively selected physiotherapists and occupational therapists with experience in the field of high-risk babies in a resource-constrained context. The design of the round one survey was informed by the available literature, and the subsequent two rounds of surveys were designed based on the prior rounds. Iteration of results was provided prior to the subsequent rounds. Results : Attrition between rounds occurred from an initial 14 participants in round one to 8 participants in round three. Consensus on 19 massage strokes were achieved in addition to considerations for implementation of the programme with this population. Conclusio n: The implication of attrition requires further study. Notwithstanding this, an infant massage programme for high-risk infants was developed with the inclusion of considerations for this dyad’s social and medical context. Key words : Infant massage, Infant massage programme, High-risk infants, Delphi technique, Bonding.

Continual Learning Strategy in One-Stage Object Detection Framework Based on Experience Replay for Autonomous Driving Vehicle.

Object detection is an important aspect for autonomous driving vehicles (ADV), which may comprise of a machine learning model that detects a range of classes. As the deployment of ADV widens globally, the variety of objects to be detected may increase beyond the designated range of classes. Continual learning for object detection essentially ensure a robust adaptation of a model to detect additional classes on the fly. This study proposes a novel continual learning method for object detection that learns new object class(es) along with cumulative memory of classes from prior learning rounds to avoid any catastrophic forgetting. The results of PASCAL VOC 2007 have suggested that the proposed ER method obtains 4.3% of mAP drop compared against the all-classes learning, which is the lowest amongst other prior arts.

Reused Cultivation Water Accumulates Dissolved Organic Carbon and Uniquely Influences Different Marine Microalgae.

Reusing growth medium (water supplemented with nutrients) for microalgae cultivation is required for economical and environmentally sustainable production of algae bioproducts (fuels, feed, and food). However, reused medium often contains microbes and dissolved organic matter that may affect algae growth. While the accumulation of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) in reused medium has been demonstrated, it is unclear whether DOC concentrations affect algae growth or subsequent rates of algal DOC release. To address these questions, lab-scale experiments were conducted with three marine microalgae strains, Navicula sp. SFP, Staurosira sp. C323, and Chlorella sp. D046, grown in medium reused up to four times. Navicula sp. and Chlorella sp. grew similarly in reused medium as in fresh medium, while Staurosira sp. became completely inhibited in reused medium. Across the three algae, there was no broad trend between initial DOC concentration in reused medium and algae growth response. Navicula sp. released less DOC overall in reused medium than in fresh medium, but DOC release rates did not decrease proportionally with increased DOC concentrations. Net DOC accumulation was much lower than gross DOC released by Navicula sp. and Staurosira sp., indicating the majority of released DOC was degraded. Additionally, biodegradation experiments with reused media showed no further net decrease in DOC, suggesting the accumulated DOC was recalcitrant to the associated bacteria. Overall, these results suggest that taxa-specific factors may be responsible for algae growth response in reused medium, and that DOC release and accumulation are insensitive to prior cultivation rounds. Choosing an algae strain that is uninhibited by accumulated DOC is therefore critical to ensure successful water reuse in the algae industry.

Going on a Field Trip: Critical Geographical Walking Tours and Tactical Media as Urban Praxis in Sydney, Australia

Going on a Field Trip: Critical Geographical Walking Tours and Tactical Media as Urban Praxis in Sydney, Australia

Abstract CT171: Safety and efficacy of a whole-cell targeted immunotherapy for breast cancer: Preliminary findings

Abstract The purpose of this study is to evaluate the safety and preliminary efficacy of a targeted immunotherapy for breast cancer based on SV-BR-1-GM, a breast cancer cell line modified to secrete GM-CSF. The regimen used includes low dose cyclophosphamide (300 mg/m2) 2-3 days prior to inoculation to reduce immune suppression; irradiated SV-BR-1-GM (20,000 cGy) dosed intradermally (ID) in 4 sites (~20x106 cells total); and post-inoculation interferon-α (10,000 units ID into the SV-BR-1-GM inoculation sites) 2±1 and 4±1 days later. Dosing is every 2 weeks for the first month, then monthly for up to one year. This regimen was used in a prior study in 4 evaluable patients with advanced cancer (3 breast and 1 ovarian) and was safe and well tolerated. One patient, who had a partial response of widely metastatic breast cancer, was found to match SV-BR-1-GM at an MHC class II allele (HLA-DRB3*02:02). This regimen is being used in a clinical trial (NCT03066947 in ClinicalTrials.gov) in patients with advanced breast cancer. To date 7 patients with metastatic breast cancer have been recruited and 6 dosed with evidence of tumor response in 2 patients. Ages ranged from 46-73. Time from initial diagnosis ranged from 2 - 12 years. The number of prior chemotherapy or biological therapy regimens ranged from 3-7. Treatment was generally safe and well tolerated. The majority of adverse events were limited to local irritation at the injection sites. No serious adverse events related to SV-BR-1-GM treatment have been reported and no new or unexpected safety issues related to SV-BR-1-GM have been observed. Two patients dropped out after a single cycle of treatment. One patient with inflammatory breast cancer dropped out after 2 treatments due to worsening breast inflammation. One patient appeared to be responding in the breast after the first treatment, with regression of soft tissue lesions in the breast, but developed a worsening pleural and pericardial effusions shortly after the second treatment with the development of pulseless electrical activity and was unable to be resuscitated. One patient has received 5 cycles of therapy and is ongoing. One patient had a notable response. For this 73-year-old woman with breast cancer diagnosed in 1995 with liver and lung metastases and 7 prior rounds of chemotherapy, after 3 months of treatment her scans noted “a clear response in the multiple bilateral pulmonary nodules” indicating that several lung tumors had disappeared or decreased in size. This response was maintained after 6 months. The liver tumors were stable to slightly increased at 3 months, and then progressed after 6 months. This patient matched with SV-BR-1-GM at 2 HLA loci (HLA-A*24:02 and HLA-DRB3*02:02). The regimen used in this study has shown early evidence of activity in these patients with late stage, heavily pre-treated metastatic breast cancer. HLA matching may be useful in predicting those patients most likely to respond. Citation Format: Jarrod P. Holmes, Elizabeth Tan-Chiu, Charles L. Wiseman, Markus D. Lacher, George Peoples, William V. Williams. Safety and efficacy of a whole-cell targeted immunotherapy for breast cancer: Preliminary findings [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2018; 2018 Apr 14-18; Chicago, IL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2018;78(13 Suppl):Abstract nr CT171.