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Fecal glucocorticoids and intestinal parasite infections within wild american lowland gorillas (Gorilla gorilla gorilla) involved in ecotourism.
ion initiation and might not be preventable through prophylaxis. This suggests that alternative strategies for prevention are needed, such as earlier initiation of preventive therapy through rapid diagnosis of adult cases or community-wide screening approaches. FUNDING National Institutes of Health. BACKGROUND Therapeutic blockade of the axis of programmed cell death 1 (PD-1) and its ligand (PD-L1) has transformed the management of non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Clinical trials with pembrolizumab have enrolled patients with performance status (PS) 0-1. However, around 18% of patients with NSCLC are PS2, and the activity and safety of pembrolizumab in these patients is unclear. We aimed to evaluate the safety and efficacy of pembrolizumab in these patients. METHODS We did a multicentre, single-arm, open-label, phase 2 trial (PePS2) in ten hospitals in the UK, in which patients with NSCLC and a rigorous ascription of PS2 were given pembrolizumab 200 mg every 3 weeks. No masking was used in this trial. We stratified the treatment evaluation by tumour proportion score (TPS) and line of therapy. Co-primary outcomes were (1) durable clinical benefit (DCB), defined as the occurrence of complete response, partial response, or stable disease that continues until at least the second CT scan scheduled at 18 wes good as those in patients with PS0-1 and the data provides clinicians with the confidence to incorporate pembrolizumab into the treatment pathway of patients with NSCLC of PS2. FUNDING Merck, Sharp & Dohme. BACKGROUND To evaluate the feasibility of a surgical technique using a sub-perfluoro-n-octane (PFO) injection of ocular viscoelastic device (OVD) to stabilize inverted internal limiting membrane (ILM) flap for the treatment of macular hole retinal detachment (MHRD). METHODS This study was a retrospective, consecutive, interventional case series. learn more Patients who underwent MHRD surgery with sub-PFO injection of OVD to stabilize inverted ILM flap onto the macular hole (MH) were reviewed. The color fundus and optical coherence tomography (OCT) images were collected and evaluated. The best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA) before and after surgery were compared as the functional outcome. RESULTS The study included 8 eyes of 8 consecutive patients (mean age 61.8 ± 7.1 years; mean follow-up period 9.0 ± 2.5 months). All eyes (100%) achieved successful MH closure; 7 eyes (87.5%) demonstrated complete retinal reattachment, and 1 eye (12.5%) had minimal residual subretinal fluid parafoveally. Of the 8 patients, 7 patients (87.5%) had achieved improvement in BCVA after the primary surgery, whereas 1 eye remained stable. The average BCVA before and after the surgery at the last visit improved from 20/843 (1.63 ± 0.48 logMAR) to 20/200 (1.00 ± 0.39 logMAR) (P = 0.016). Anatomically, near-normal foveal contour was noted in five (62.5%) eyes at the final follow-up. CONCLUSIONS The use of sub-PFO injection of OVD in MHRD surgery could stabilize inverted ILM flaps, achieve good anatomical results and improve postoperative BCVA.BACKGROUND The survival benefit of neoadjuvant therapy in resectable carcinoma esophagus has been elucidated. We performed a meta-analysis in light of new studies and long-term results of past trials. The search strategy was refined to include only "neoadjuvant" so that any bias by adjuvant treatment is eliminated. METHODS A detailed search of MEDLINE, Embase, and Cochrane Library was done. Only published randomized English language trials were included. Data were categorized as neoadjuvant concurrent chemoradiation (NACRT), neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NACT), neoadjuvant radiotherapy (NART), and neoadjuvant sequential chemoradiotherapy (SCRT). Meta-analysis was done using odds ratio (OR) and 95% CI using fixed/random effects model. Heterogeneity was tested by chi-square and I2 test. Z probability calculated significant difference across subgroups. Outcomes assessed were overall survival (OS) and disease-free survival (DFS) at 3 and 5 years, respectively, mortality (30/90 day) and failures (local/systemic). RESULTS Twenty-five randomized trials involving 5272 patients were included for quantitative analysis. NACRT was evaluated in 12 studies (2676 patients). Superior 3-year OS (OR = 0.68 CI 0.52-0.90, p = 0.007), 3-year DFS (OR = 0.55 CI 0.45-0.68, p = 0.00001), and 5-year DFS (OR = 0.59 CI 0.47-0.74, p = 0.00001), with lower failures (OR = 0.52 CI 0.37-0.73, p = 0.0001), were seen in favor of NACRT at the cost of increased perioperative mortality (OR = 1.79 CI 1.15-2.80, p = .01). However, 5-year OS (OR = 0.78 CI 0.60-0.1.01, p = 0.06) was not found to be significantly superior. NACT, NART, and SCRT were not found to have any benefit over surgery alone. CONCLUSION This meta-analysis presents strong evidence favoring NACRT over upfront surgery. It also shows no survival advantage of neoadjuvant chemotherapy.BACKGROUND Autotetraploid Carassius auratus (4nRCC, 4n = 200, RRRR) was derived from the whole genome duplication of diploid red crucian carp (Carassius auratus red var.) (2nRCC, 2n = 100, RR). To investigate the genetic effects of tetraploidization, we analyzed DNA variation, epigenetic modification and gene expression changes in the Sox9a-Amh-Cyp19a1a regulatory cascade between 4nRCC and 2nRCC. RESULTS We found that the Sox9a gene contained two variants in 2nRCC and four variants in 4nRCC. Compared with that in 2nRCC, DNA methylation in the promoter regions of the Amh and Cyp19a1a genes in 4nRCC was altered by single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) mutations, which resulted in the insertions and deletions of CpG sites, and the methylation levels of the Sox9a, Amh and Cyp19a1a genes increased after tetraploidization. The gene expression level of the Sox9a-Amh-Cyp19a1a regulatory cascade was downregulated in 4nRCC compared with that in 2nRCC. CONCLUSION The above results demonstrate that tetraploidization leads to significant changes in the genome, epigenetic modification and gene expression in the Sox9a-Amh-Cyp19a1a regulatory cascade; these findings increase the extant knowledge regarding the effects of polyploidization.
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