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Simple Summary: This study aimed to evaluate the outcomes and prognostic factors for multicentric lymphoma in 38 small breed dogs (weighing under 15 kg) treated with combination chemotherapy with vincristine, cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, and prednisolone between January 2014 and May 2020. Significant factors for longer mean survival time in the complete remission group included being under 10 years old, no cardiovascular heart disease, and no prior hospitalization due to chemotherapy side effects. These results will help confirm the clinical characteristics and outcomes in small breed dogs with lymphoma and provide insights into the most effective treatments and prognosis for these animals. Lymphoma is one of the most common malignant tumors in dogs. Combination chemotherapy with vincristine, cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, and prednisolone (CHOP) is the most effective treatment for multicentric lymphoma. Previous studies have evaluated the response of large dogs to CHOP treatment and identified prognostic factors; however, studies on small dogs are lacking. In this study, we investigated the outcomes and prognostic factors for small dogs with multicentric lymphoma treated with CHOP. The responses of patients to CHOP treatment were assessed, and 54.3% were evaluated as being in complete remission (CR), 31.4% in partial remission (PR), and 14.3% in no remission (NR). The overall response rate was 85.7%. The median survival times for CR, PR, and NR patients were 683 days (85–1496 days), 241 days (15–777 days), and 119 days (61–308 days), respectively. Among the CR patients, survival was longer under the following conditions: age under 10 years (p = 0.011), no cardiovascular heart disease (p = 0.046), and no history of hospitalization due to side effects from chemotherapy (p = 0.002). These results might help clinicians build treatment plans for multicentric lymphoma in small breed dogs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Early detection of COVID-19 improves the chance of recovery and helps identify high-risk patients. Our study aimed to statistically predict the time to improvement with the admission data of COVID-19 patients. Methods: Our prospective cohort study occurred between January and September 2022 at Alexandria University Hospital's outpatient clinic and isolation department. We enrolled 43 patients after assessing their eligibility and collecting their baseline data. Results: The mean age was 34.8 years (± 12.3). Most of them were females (65.1%). The mean of oxygen saturation was 95.2% (± 2.8). We used linear regression to predict how long it would take to improve [time to improvement (days) = 1.186*P (mmol/L) + 0.010*IL-10 (pg/mL)]. Its diagnostic performance was 0.723 (95% CI: 0.552–0.894), and it was accurate at predicting improvement within a week but not at longer delays; additionally, its positive and negative predictive values were 56.3% and 85.2%, respectively. Conclusion: We recommend monitoring phosphorus and interleukin-10 levels. The time-to-improvement delay negatively correlated with a reduction in baseline oxygen saturation upon admission. Additionally, for every 0.84 meq/L increase in phosphorus or 100 pg/mL increase in interleukin-10, there was a 1-day delay provided that the other was constant, with a coefficient of determination of 85.9%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: Non-apoptotic modes of cell death have gained increasing attention in the past few years. Cuproptosis is a copper-dependent cell death mechanism that is involved in numerous diseases, including cancer. The relevance of cuproptosis for the survival times of cancer patients is still incompletely understood. We have investigated cuproptosis-related genes based on their mRNA expression and statistical relationship to the survival times of patients by using Kaplan–Meier statistics. Further, we have investigated the possible interactions of the genes with signaling networks. Our study has shown that cuproptosis may play an important role in hepatocellular carcinoma, renal clear cell carcinoma, papillary renal cell carcinoma, and lung adenocarcinoma. We identified gene signatures consisting of nine to twenty-one genes in the above four tumor types, and we have shown that a high mRNA expression of 63/124 cuproptosis-associated genes significantly correlated with shorter survival times of cancer patients. We investigated the mRNA expression of 124 cuproptosis-associated genes in 7489 biopsies from 20 different tumor types of The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA). The KM plotter algorithm has been used to calculate Kaplan–Meier statistics and false discovery rate (FDR) corrections. Interaction networks have been generated using Ingenuity Pathway Analysis (IPA). High mRNA expression of 63 out of 124 genes significantly correlated with shorter survival times of cancer patients across all 20 tumor types. IPA analyses revealed that their gene products were interconnected in canonical pathways (e.g., cancer, cell death, cell cycle, cell signaling). Four tumor entities showed a higher accumulation of genes than the other cancer types, i.e., renal clear cell carcinoma (n = 21), renal papillary carcinoma (n = 13), kidney hepatocellular carcinoma (n = 13), and lung adenocarcinoma (n = 9). These gene clusters may serve as prognostic signatures for patient survival. These signatures were also of prognostic value for tumors with high mutational rates and neoantigen loads. Cuproptosis is of prognostic significance for the survival of cancer patients. The identification of specific gene signatures deserves further exploration for their clinical utility in routine diagnostics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is of vital importance to patients and physicians, as well as administrators and drug regulators, that the treatment for a disease has been shown to be safe and clinically meaningful in long-term use. Recent literature has highlighted 3 major categories of arguments for and against modification of the underlying disease process in Alzheimer's disease (AD): pathophysiology, biomarkers and data from clinical trials. We argue that the Alzheimer's arena is over-reliant on theories of disease modification based solely on brain positron emission tomography (PET) imaging and blood biomarkers of tau and Aß peptides. Here, we instead focus on a historically-grounded empirical criterion from other fields of medicine to overcome the weak interpretations of short Alzheimer's trials: survival time (ST). Our analysis has identified 3 key points. First, if anti-amyloid therapies are AD-modifying treatments, then we argue that they should increase ST more than the standard "symptomatic" care with memantine and acetylcholinesterase inhibitors. Second, we question memantine and cholinesterase inhibitors being labeled simply as "symptomatic" Alzheimer's drugs since long-term use of them can produce disease modification, that is, increase ST. Third, we make a case for memantine or cholinesterase inhibitors being used as controls in clinical trials with amyloid-lowering and other drugs, and argue against their current under-use in care of Alzheimer's patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: This study aimed to explore the relationship between smoking status and the interval to brain metastasis in patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and its impact on survival time after brain metastasis. Methods: Data were collected from patientswith NSCLC with brainmetastaseswho were treated at our centre between January 2005 and December 2017. Clinical indices such as clinicopathological features and smoking status were recorded, and patients were followed up until 1 September 2022. Based on our inclusion and exclusion criteria, 461 patients were analysed and matched using 1:1 propensity score matching. Three balanced groups were formed: non-smoking (n = 113), smoking cessation (n = 113), and smoking (n = 113). The interval to brain metastasis and overall survival were compared between the groups. Results: There was a statistically significant difference in the interval to brain metastasis between the non-smoking and smoking cessation groups (p = 0.001), as well as between the non-smoking and smoking groups (p < 0.001). However, the difference between the smoking cessation and smoking groups was not statistically significant (p = 0.106). Multivariate and univariate analyses identified smoking status, clinical stage, lung cancer surgery, chemotherapy, and chest radiotherapy as independent predictors of the interval to brain metastasis. Additionally, the multivariate analysis showed that smoking status, driver gene mutations, and chest radiotherapy independently influenced survival after brain metastasis. Conclusion: Smoking status in patients with NSCLC affects the interval to brain metastasis and survival after brain metastasis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Biological invasions threaten biodiversity and cause severe ecological and socioeconomic impacts. Freshwater snails are very diverse and many became invasive or have the potential to do so. Studies on the relationship between bioecological traits and invasiveness are needed to prevent new invasions. The tolerance to environmental stressors of the neonate, one of the most vulnerable ontogenetic phases, may be an important component of invasiveness in freshwater snails. We hypothesize that tolerance of neonates to environmental stressors increases the chances of population establishment and persistence and hence of becoming an invader. We predict that the neonates of invasive freshwater snails will show higher survival under starvation and desiccation than those of non-invasive ones and tested this experimentally for three species of each type. We also estimated neonate volume as a proxy of tolerance. We found that the desiccation stress was more severe than the starvation one. The tolerance to starvation of two of the invasive species (Melanoides tuberculata and Pomacea canaliculata) was much higher than that of remaining species but the pattern was less clear for desiccation, which was more directly related to neonate volume. None of the non-invasive species showed high tolerance to these stressors and the invasive Physella acuta groups with them in this regard. On the whole our prediction about the relationship between neonate tolerance and invasiveness stands for five out of the six species tested, indicating that the tolerance of neonates of freshwater snails merits more research effort on other stressors to gain a sounder comprehension of their invasiveness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Background As assessment tools of nutritional status, the controlling nutritional status (CONUT) and modified controlling nutritional status (mCONUT) score are associated with survival in various cancers. We aimed to investigate the association between the CONUT/mCONUT score’s prognostic value and survival time in patients with FIGO stage IIB–IIIB cervical cancer treated with radiotherapy. Methods In this retrospective study, 165 patients between September 2013 and September 2015 were analyzed, and the optimal CONUT/mCONUT score cut-off values were determined using receiver operating characteristic curves. Propensity score matching (PSM) was used to minimize selection bias. The Kaplan–Meier method and a Cox proportional hazard model were used to assess the CONUT/mCONUT score’s predictive value linked to survival time. Two nomograms were created to predict the overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS). Results The cut-off values for CONUT and mCONUT score were both 2. Five-year OS and PFS rates were higher in a low CONUT score group than in a high CONUT score group (OS: 81.1% vs. 53.8%, respectively, P

ObjectiveTo understand the survival time and possible influencing factors of pneumoconiosis patients in Ninghai County, Zhejiang Province who were followed up from 2019 to 2023, and to provide references for prolonging the survival time of pneumoconiosis patients.MethodsInformation about pneumoconiosis patients was collected from the sub-module Occupational Disease Follow-Up Management and Follow-Up Excel database of the Occupational Disease and Health Hazards Monitoring Information System. Survival analysis was conducted through applying Kaplan-Meier survival curves and Cox regression models.ResultsOf the 366 pneumoconiosis patients, 99.73% were male, 71.04% had stage Ⅰ pneumoconiosis, and the disease type was mainly silicosis. The survival rates at 5, 10, and 20 years after diagnosis of pneumoconiosis were 97%, 88%, and 62%, respectively, with a cumulative survival rate of 42%. The median survival time of patients with pneumoconiosis was 32.11 years. Log-rank test found statistically significant differences in the survival curves among pneumoconiosis patients with different pneumoconiosis stages, age at first diagnosis, and pneumoconiosis complications. Cox regression analysis revealed that the risk of reduced survival time in patients with pneumoconiosis stage Ⅲ was 2.184 times higher than that of patients with stage Ⅰ (P=0.007). In comparison with the age of first diagnosis at

Abstract Introduction HIV/AIDS is one of the most dangerous diseases globally, impacting public health, economics, society, political issues, and communities. As of 2023, the World Health Organization estimates that 40.4 million people are living with HIV/AIDS. This study aimed to identify the determinants of survival time for HIV/AIDS patients in the pastoralist region of Borena at Yabelo General Hospital. Method The study design was a retrospective cohort study, with a sample size of 293 individuals living with HIV/AIDS, based on recorded data. This research utilized survival model analysis, employing Kaplan-Meier plots, the log-rank test, and Cox proportional hazard model analysis. Result Out of the total sample size, 179 (61.1%) were female and 114 (38.1%) were male. Among these males, 36 (31.6%) were deceased. The analysis using the Cox proportional hazard model revealed that the following variables were significantly associated with the survival time of HIV/AIDS patients: gender, educational status, area of residence, tuberculosis (TB), and opportunistic infections. Conclusions We concluded that individuals living with HIV/AIDS in urban areas have a lower risk of death compared to those in rural areas, indicating that rural residents have a reduced survival probability. Therefore, the Borena zone administration should focus on adult patients to enhance life expectancy.

Abstract Background The Charlson Comorbidity Index (CCI) is commonly employed for predicting mortality. Nonetheless, its performance has rarely been evaluated in patients with dementia. This study aimed to examine the predictive capability of the CCI-based model for survival prediction in Thai patients diagnosed with dementia. Methods An external validation study was conducted using retrospective data from adults with dementia who had visited the outpatient departments at Maharaj Nakorn Chiang Mai Hospital between 2006 and 2012. The data obtained from electronic medical records included age, gender, date of dementia diagnosis and death, types of dementia, and comorbidities at the time of dementia diagnosis. The discriminative ability and calibration of the CCI-based model were estimated using Harrell’s C Discrimination Index and visualized with calibration plot. As the initial performance did not meet satisfaction, model updating and recalibration were performed. Results Of 702 patients, 56.9% were female. The mean age at dementia diagnosis was 75.22 (SD 9.75) year-old. During external validation, Harrell's C-statistic of the CCI-based model was 0.58 (95% CI, 0.54–0.61). The model showed poor external calibration. Model updating was subsequently performed. All updated models demonstrated a modest increase in Harrell's C-statistic. Temporal recalibration did not significantly improve the calibration of any of the updated models. Conclusion The CCI-based model exhibited fair discriminative ability and poor calibration for predicting survival in Thai patients diagnosed with dementia. Despite attempts at model updating, significant improvements were not achieved. Therefore, it is important to consider the incorporation of other influential prognostic factors.

Background: As assessment tools of nutritional status, the controlling nutritional status (CONUT) and modified controlling nutritional status (mCONUT) score are associated with survival in various cancers. We aimed to investigate the association between the CONUT/mCONUT score's prognostic value and survival time in patients with FIGO stage IIB–IIIB cervical cancer treated with radiotherapy. Methods: In this retrospective study, 165 patients between September 2013 and September 2015 were analyzed, and the optimal CONUT/mCONUT score cut-off values were determined using receiver operating characteristic curves. Propensity score matching (PSM) was used to minimize selection bias. The Kaplan–Meier method and a Cox proportional hazard model were used to assess the CONUT/mCONUT score's predictive value linked to survival time. Two nomograms were created to predict the overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS). Results: The cut-off values for CONUT and mCONUT score were both 2. Five-year OS and PFS rates were higher in a low CONUT score group than in a high CONUT score group (OS: 81.1% vs. 53.8%, respectively, P < 0.001; PFS: 76.4% vs. 48.2%, respectively; P < 0.001). A high CONUT score was associated with decreased OS (hazard ratio (HR) 2.93, 95% CI 1.54–5.56; P = 0.001) and PFS (HR 2.77, 95% CI 1.52–5.04; P < 0.001). High CONUT scores influenced OS in the PSM cohort. A high mCONUT score was not associated with decreased OS and PFS in Cox regression analysis. Conclusion: The CONUT score is a promising indicator for predicting survival in patients with cervical cancer receiving radiotherapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It remains unclear whether recent changes in the prognosis and management of patients with trisomy 13 impact patient survival. We investigated changes in survival of patients with trisomy 13 in Japan. Data from the Vital Statistics Database in Japan was retrieved to examine the association of sex, surgical history, and years of birth and death with changes in survival patterns in 1164 patients with trisomy 13 between 1995 and 2021. The rates of deaths due to trisomy 13 increased from 9.8% to 23.1% in those over 1 year of age and from 7.3% to 19.2% in those within 24 h of birth between 1995 and 2021. The median survival time was longer in 2009–2021 than in 1996–2008 (40 vs. 84 days, p < 0.001). The median survival time and the rate of patients with surgical history increased from 91 days and 16.0% in 1996–2008 to 179 days and 28.0% in 2009–2021, respectively. Median survival time among patients with trisomy 13 has increased over the last 26 years, with almost 1 in 3 patients currently surviving for more than 1 year. The increased surgical intervention rate might have contributed to this improvement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: HIV/AIDS is one of the most dangerous diseases globally, impacting public health, economics, society, political issues, and communities. As of 2023, the World Health Organization estimates that 40.4 million people are living with HIV/AIDS. This study aimed to identify the determinants of survival time for HIV/AIDS patients in the pastoralist region of Borena at Yabelo General Hospital. Method: The study design was a retrospective cohort study, with a sample size of 293 individuals living with HIV/AIDS, based on recorded data. This research utilized survival model analysis, employing Kaplan-Meier plots, the log-rank test, and Cox proportional hazard model analysis. Result: Out of the total sample size, 179 (61.1%) were female and 114 (38.1%) were male. Among these males, 36 (31.6%) were deceased. The analysis using the Cox proportional hazard model revealed that the following variables were significantly associated with the survival time of HIV/AIDS patients: gender, educational status, area of residence, tuberculosis (TB), and opportunistic infections. Conclusions: We concluded that individuals living with HIV/AIDS in urban areas have a lower risk of death compared to those in rural areas, indicating that rural residents have a reduced survival probability. Therefore, the Borena zone administration should focus on adult patients to enhance life expectancy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: This study analyzed the risk factors associated with positive surgical margins (PSM) and five-year survival after prostate cancer resection to construct a positive margin prediction model. Methods: We retrospectively analyzed the clinical data of 148 patients treated with prostatectomy. The patients were divided into PSM group and Negative surgical margins (NSM) group. Several parameters were compared between the groups. All patients were followed up for 60 months. The risk factors for PSM and five-year survival were evaluated by univariate analysis, followed by multifactorial dichotomous logistic regression analysis. Finally, ROC curves were plotted for the risk factors to establish a predictive model for PSM after prostate cancer resection. Results: (1) Serum PSA, percentage of positive puncture stitches, clinical stage, surgical approach, Gleason score on puncture biopsy, and perineural invasion were significantly associated with the risk of PSM (P < 0.05). Serum PSA, perineural invasion, Gleason score on puncture biopsy, and percentage of positive puncture stitches were independent risk factors for PSM. (2) Total prostate-specific antigen (tPSA) by puncture, nutritional status, lymph node metastasis, bone metastasis, and seminal vesicle invasion may be risk factors for five-year survival. Lymph node metastasis and nutritional status were the main risk factors for the five-year survival of patients with prostate cancer. (3) After plotting the ROC curve, the area under the curve (AUC) [AUC: 0.776, 95%, confidence interval (CI): 0.725 to 0.854] was found to be a valid predictor of PSM; the AUC [AUC: 0.664, 95%, confidence interval (CI): 0.576 to 0.753] was also a valid predictor of five-year survival (P < 0.05). (4) The scoring system had a standard error of 0.02 and a cut-off value of 6. It predicted PSM after prostate cancer resection with moderate efficacy. Conclusions: Serum PSA, perineural invasion, puncture biopsy Gleason score, and percentage of positive puncture stitches were independent risk factors for positive surgical margins (PSM). Also, lymph node metastasis and nutritional status were the main risk factors for the five-year survival of patients with prostate cancer. Overall, the prediction efficacy of this scoring system concerning the risk of PSM after prostate cancer resection was moderate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: This study aimed to verify if intraoperative radiotherapy (IORT) can achieve the same survival outcome as whole‐breast external beam radiotherapy (EBRT) in early breast cancer after breast‐conserving surgery (BCS), and to explore the suitable candidates that can safely receive IORT after BCS. Methods: Eligible post‐BCS patients who received IORT or EBRT were included in the Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) database from 2010 to 2018. Risk factors that affected 5‐year overall survival (OS) or breast cancer specific survival (BCSS) were identified by Cox proportional hazards regression analysis. Clinical characteristics, OS, and BCSS were comparatively analyzed between the two treatment modalities. Results: The survival analysis after propensity score matching confirmed that patients who received IORT (n = 2200) had a better 5‐year OS than those who received EBRT (n = 2200) (p = 0.015). However, the two groups did not differ significantly in 5‐year BCSS (p = 0.381). This feature persisted even after multivariate analyses that took into account numerous clinical characteristics. Although there was no significant difference in BCSS between different subgroups of patients treated with IORT or EBRT, patients over 55 years of age, with T1, N0, non‐triple negative breast cancers, hormone receptor‐positive, and histologic grade II showed a better OS after receiving IORT. Conclusion: In low‐risk, early‐stage breast cancer, IORT was not inferior to EBRT considering 5‐year BCSS and OS. Considering the equivalent clinical outcome but less radiotoxicity, IORT might be a reasonable alternative to EBRT in highly selective patients undergoing BCS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The Charlson Comorbidity Index (CCI) is commonly employed for predicting mortality. Nonetheless, its performance has rarely been evaluated in patients with dementia. This study aimed to examine the predictive capability of the CCI-based model for survival prediction in Thai patients diagnosed with dementia. Methods: An external validation study was conducted using retrospective data from adults with dementia who had visited the outpatient departments at Maharaj Nakorn Chiang Mai Hospital between 2006 and 2012. The data obtained from electronic medical records included age, gender, date of dementia diagnosis and death, types of dementia, and comorbidities at the time of dementia diagnosis. The discriminative ability and calibration of the CCI-based model were estimated using Harrell's C Discrimination Index and visualized with calibration plot. As the initial performance did not meet satisfaction, model updating and recalibration were performed. Results: Of 702 patients, 56.9% were female. The mean age at dementia diagnosis was 75.22 (SD 9.75) year-old. During external validation, Harrell's C-statistic of the CCI-based model was 0.58 (95% CI, 0.54–0.61). The model showed poor external calibration. Model updating was subsequently performed. All updated models demonstrated a modest increase in Harrell's C-statistic. Temporal recalibration did not significantly improve the calibration of any of the updated models. Conclusion: The CCI-based model exhibited fair discriminative ability and poor calibration for predicting survival in Thai patients diagnosed with dementia. Despite attempts at model updating, significant improvements were not achieved. Therefore, it is important to consider the incorporation of other influential prognostic factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The exponential distribution can provide a simple and appealing survival-time model in reliability analysis and life tests. Due to certain experimental designs, time limitations, budgetary requirements, and other reasons, however, only censored data can be obtained. In this paper, we propose a novel estimation procedure for the mean survival time of an exponential distribution under a sequential censoring scheme, which can be treated as a combination of type I censoring and type II censoring. The procedure makes a trade-off between estimation error and sampling cost, using the minimum number of observations. An extensive set of Monte Carlo simulations is conducted to further validate its remarkable performance. To demonstrate the practical applicability, we then implement this newly proposed procedure to assess the reliability of various Backblaze's hard disk models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Telescopic crown-retained dentures (TCDs) are one of the most common types of prosthetic restorations for partially edentulous patients; however, post and core (PC) treatment shows the worst survival probability if the tooth is used as an abutment for the TCD. Due to extra axial forces, abutment tooth fracture is a common cause of failure for TCDs; thus, PC treatment is often needed to refit the existing telescopic crown (TC). However, there are no clinical survival data on whether the PC treatment was used to refit the TC after abutment tooth fracture (PC2) or the PC was already fitted at the time of TCD treatment (PC1). A total of 246 patients with 399 PC treatments were retrospectively evaluated for follow-ups up to 17.33 years. The files were analysed for PC1 and PC2. Furthermore, the influence of the jaw, type of tooth, luting material, PC material, bone attachment, therapist and cause of failure was recorded. For statistical analysis, Kaplan–Meier and Cox regression analyses were conducted. PC2 showed highly significant lower survival probabilities than PC1 (p < 0.001). Moreover, the bone attachment and the age of the patient at the time of fitting the PC crown had an influence on the survival (p < 0.001). Therefore, PC2 should be carefully discussed with the patient and PC1 should be favoured in endodontically treated abutment teeth for TCDs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Objective This study aims to investigate the clinical and pathological characteristics, treatment approaches, and prognosis of gallbladder neuroendocrine carcinoma (GB-NEC). Methods Retrospective analysis was conducted on the clinical data of 37 patients with GB-NEC admitted to Shanxi Cancer Hospital from January 2010 to June 2023. The study included an examination of their general information, treatment regimens, and overall prognosis. Results Twelve cases, either due to distant metastasis or other reasons, did not undergo surgical treatment and received palliative chemotherapy (Group 1). Two cases underwent simple cholecystectomy (Group 2); four patients underwent palliative tumor resection surgery (Group 3), and nineteen patients underwent radical resection surgery (Group 4). Among the 37 GB-NEC patients, the average pre-surgery CA19-9 level was 113.29 ± 138.45 U/mL, and the median overall survival time was 19 months (range 7.89–30.11 months). Of these, 28 cases (75.7%) received systemic treatment, 25 cases (67.6%) underwent surgical intervention, and 16 cases (64.0%) received postoperative adjuvant treatment, including combined radiochemotherapy or chemotherapy alone. The median overall survival time was 4 months (0.61–7.40 months) for Group 1 (n = 12), 8 months for Group 2 (n = 2), 21 months (14.67–43.33 months) for Group 3 (n = 4), and 19 months (range 7.89–30.11 months) for Group 4 (n = 19). A significant difference in median overall survival time was observed between Group 1 and Group 4 (P = 0.004). Conclusion Surgery remains the primary treatment for GB-NEC, with radical resection potentially offering greater benefits to patient survival compared to other therapeutic options. Postoperative adjuvant therapy has the potential to extend patient survival, although the overall prognosis remains challenging.

Seid Fentaw,1 Anteneh Asmare Godana,2 Dawit Abathun,2 Dessie Melese Chekole2,3 1Department of Statistics, College of Natural and Computational Sciences, Wollo University, Dessie, Ethiopia; 2Department of Statistics, College of Natural and Computational Sciences, University of Gondar, Gondar, Ethiopia; 3Management and Healthcare Laboratory, Institute of Management and Department EMbeDS, Sant’Anna School of Advanced Studies, Piazza Martiri della Libertà 33, Pisa, 56127 ItalyCorrespondence: Dessie Melese Chekole, Management and Healthcare Laboratory, Institute of Management and Department EMbeDS, Sant’Anna School of Advanced Studies, Piazza Martiri della Libertà 33, Pisa, 56127, Italy, Email dessie.chekole@santannapisa.it; dessie.melese1@uog.edu.etBackground: One in five people will eventually develop cancer, and one in eleven women will lose their lives to the disease. The main aim of this study is to determinants of survival time of women with breast cancer using appropriate Frailty models.Methods: A study involving 632 Ethiopian women with breast cancer was conducted between 2018 and 2020, utilizing medical records from Felege-Hiwot Referral Hospital, the University of Gondar, and Dessie Referral Hospital. To compare survival, the Kaplan-Meier plot (s) and Log rank test were employed; to assess mean survival, one-way analysis of variance and the t test were utilized. The factors influencing women’s survival times from breast cancer were identified using the parametric shared frailty model and the accelerated failure time model.Results: The median time to die for breast cancer patients treated at FHRH, UoGCSH, and DRH was 14.91 months, 11.14 months, and 12.32 months, respectively. The parametric model of shared frailty fit those who were statistically significant in univariate analysis. The results showed that survival of women with breast cancer was significantly influenced by age, tumor size, comorbidity, nodal status, stage, histologic grade, and type of primary treatment initiated. When comparing mean survival times between hospitals, the results showed a significant difference; patients who were treated in FHRH live significantly longer than patients treated in UoGCSH and DRH, whereas patients treated in UoGCSH have comparatively lower survival. Women with stage IV and comorbidities have 22.4% and 27.1% shorter expected survival, respectively.Conclusion: This finding suggests that improving the availability and accessibility of radiation therapy and surgery, eliminating disparities between hospitals, raising awareness of early signs and symptoms of breast cancer and encouraging women to seek clinical help, and highlighting women with comorbidities at diagnosis are important ways to increase survival time.Keywords: survival time, lognormal-inverse Gaussian model, women breast cancer

Abstract Background Patients infected with Acinetobacter baumannii (AB) bacteremia in hospital have high morbidity and mortality. We analyzed the clinical characteristics of pneumonia and nonpneumonia-related AB bloodstream infections (AB BSIs) and explored the possible independent risk factors for the incidence and prognosis of pneumonia-related AB BSIs. Methods A retrospective monocentric observational study was performed. All 117 episodes of hospital-acquired AB bacteremia sorted into groups of pneumonia-related AB BSIs (n = 45) and nonpneumonia-related AB BSIs (n = 72) were eligible. Univariate/multivariate logistic regression analysis was used to explore the independent risk factors. The primary outcome was the antibiotic susceptibility in vitro of pneumonia-related AB BSIs group. The secondary outcome was the independent risk factor for the pneumonia-related AB BSIs group. Results Among 117 patients with AB BSIs, the pneumonia-related group had a greater risk of multidrug resistant A. baumannii (MDRAB) infection (84.44%) and carbapenem-resistant A. baumannii (CRAB) infection (80%). Polymyxin, minocycline and amikacin had relatively high susceptibility rates (> 80%) in the nonpneumonia-related group. However, in the pneumonia-related group, only polymyxin had a drug susceptibility rate of over 80%. Univariate analysis showed that survival time (day), CRAB, MDRAB, length of hospital stay prior to culture, length of ICU stay prior to culture, immunocompromised status, antibiotics used prior to culture (n > = 3 types), endotracheal tube, fiberoptic bronchoscopy, PITT, SOFA and invasive interventions (n > = 3 types) were associated with pneumonia-related AB bacteremia. The multivariate logistic regression analysis revealed that recent surgery (within 1 mo) [P = 0.043; 0.306 (0.098–0.962)] and invasive interventions (n > = 3 types) [P = 0.021; 0.072 (0.008–0.671)] were independent risk factors related to pneumonia-related AB bacteremia. Multivariate logistic regression analysis revealed that length of ICU stay prior to culture [P = 0.009; 0.959 (0.930–0.990)] and recent surgery (within 1 mo) [P = 0.004; 0.260 (0.105–0.646)] were independent risk factors for mortality in patients with pneumonia-related AB bacteremia. The Kaplan‒Meier curve and the timing test showed that patients with pneumonia-related AB bacteremia had shorter survival time compared to those with nonpneumonia-related AB bacteremia. Conclusions Our study found that A. baumannii had a high rate of antibiotic resistance in vitro in the pneumonia-related bacteremia group, and was only sensitive to polymyxin. Recent surgery was a significantly independent predictor in patients with pneumonia-related AB bacteremia.

Objective: This study aims to investigate the clinical and pathological characteristics, treatment approaches, and prognosis of gallbladder neuroendocrine carcinoma (GB-NEC). Methods: Retrospective analysis was conducted on the clinical data of 37 patients with GB-NEC admitted to Shanxi Cancer Hospital from January 2010 to June 2023. The study included an examination of their general information, treatment regimens, and overall prognosis. Results: Twelve cases, either due to distant metastasis or other reasons, did not undergo surgical treatment and received palliative chemotherapy (Group 1). Two cases underwent simple cholecystectomy (Group 2); four patients underwent palliative tumor resection surgery (Group 3), and nineteen patients underwent radical resection surgery (Group 4). Among the 37 GB-NEC patients, the average pre-surgery CA19-9 level was 113.29 ± 138.45 U/mL, and the median overall survival time was 19 months (range 7.89–30.11 months). Of these, 28 cases (75.7%) received systemic treatment, 25 cases (67.6%) underwent surgical intervention, and 16 cases (64.0%) received postoperative adjuvant treatment, including combined radiochemotherapy or chemotherapy alone. The median overall survival time was 4 months (0.61–7.40 months) for Group 1 (n = 12), 8 months for Group 2 (n = 2), 21 months (14.67–43.33 months) for Group 3 (n = 4), and 19 months (range 7.89–30.11 months) for Group 4 (n = 19). A significant difference in median overall survival time was observed between Group 1 and Group 4 (P = 0.004). Conclusion: Surgery remains the primary treatment for GB-NEC, with radical resection potentially offering greater benefits to patient survival compared to other therapeutic options. Postoperative adjuvant therapy has the potential to extend patient survival, although the overall prognosis remains challenging. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study builds on previous research indicating that breast cancer survival time is influenced by several underlying factors. The study covered a period of 10 years from January 2012 to December 2022, and 140 cases were considered within the study cohort. The study considered breast cancer patients from North East Nigeria. The methodologies used are Cox hazard proportional regression and Kaplan–Meier analysis. The mean patient survival time is 592.2 days, with an average age of 44.61 years, average number of children of 5, and mean weight difference of 1.95 kg while on treatment. Kaplan-Meier analysis and the log rank test were used to investigate how the various covariates affect survival time, and it was found that age and family history have significant effects on the survival time in the studied population. The p-value of 0.04 for radiotherapy indicates statistical significance, in contrast to other treatment options such as surgery (p-value 0.7), targeted therapy (p-value 0.7), and chemotherapy (p-value 0.6). Residual diagnostic analysis with a component for assessment of Variance Inflation Factors (VIF) was used to detect multicollinearity among the independent variables. A total of 60 events (deaths) occurred within the study period with a concordance value of 0.73, which indicates a moderate level of agreement. This implies that the model's predictions align reasonably well with the observed outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper introduces an assumption-lean method that constructs valid and efficient lower predictive bounds for survival times with censored data. We build on recent work by Candès et al. (2023) , whose approach first subsets the data to discard any data points with early censoring times and then uses a reweighting technique, namely, weighted conformal inference (Tibshirani et al. 2019), to correct for the distribution shift introduced by this subsetting procedure. For our new method, instead of constraining to a fixed threshold for the censoring time when subsetting the data, we allow for a covariate-dependent and data-adaptive subsetting step, which is better able to capture the heterogeneity of the censoring mechanism. As a result, our method can lead to lower predictive bounds that are less conservative and give more accurate information. We show that in the Type-I right-censoring setting, if either the censoring mechanism or the conditional quantile of the survival time is well estimated, our proposed procedure achieves nearly exact marginal coverage, where in the latter case we additionally have approximate conditional coverage. We evaluate the validity and efficiency of our proposed algorithm in numerical experiments, illustrating its advantage when compared with other competing methods. Finally, our method is applied to a real dataset to generate lower predictive bounds for users' active times on a mobile app. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and Aims: Severe acute malnutrition remains a significant health challenge, particularly in low‐ and middle‐income countries. The aim of this study was to determine the survival time of under‐five children with severe acute malnutrition. Methods: A retrospective cohort study was conducted at a hospital, focusing on under‐five children with severe acute malnutrition. The study included 322 inpatients admitted to the Chiro hospital in Chiro, Ethiopia, between September 2019 and August 2020, whose data was obtained from medical records. Survival functions were analysed using Kaplan‒Meier plots and log‐rank tests. The survival time of severe acute malnutrition was further analysed using the Cox proportional hazards model and Bayesian parametric survival models, employing integrated nested Laplace approximation methods. Results: Among the 322 patients, 118 (36.6%) died as a result of severe acute malnutrition. The estimated median survival time for inpatients was found to be 2 weeks. Model selection criteria favored the Bayesian Weibull accelerated failure time model, which demonstrated that age, body temperature, pulse rate, nasogastric (NG) tube usage, hypoglycemia, anemia, diarrhea, dehydration, malaria, and pneumonia significantly influenced the survival time of severe acute malnutrition. Conclusions: This study revealed that children below 24 months, those with altered body temperature and pulse rate, NG tube usage, hypoglycemia, and comorbidities such as anemia, diarrhea, dehydration, malaria, and pneumonia had a shorter survival time when affected by severe acute malnutrition under the age of five. To reduce the death rate of children under 5 years of age, it is necessary to design community management for acute malnutrition to ensure early detection and improve access to and coverage for children who are malnourished. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Palliative care patients with malignant bowel obstruction are particularly at risk of developing malnutrition, which in turn directly shortens survival time and worsens quality of life (QoL). According to the available data, the survival time in this patient group is often less than three months. To avoid further complications related to malnutrition and poor outcomes in oncological therapy, nutritional therapy such as home parenteral nutrition (HPN) is offered. The aim of this study was to investigate whether nutritional status is a prognostic factor for survival in palliative care patients with malignant inoperable bowel obstruction qualified for home parenteral nutrition and which nutritional assessment tool has the most accurate prognostic value. This retrospective observational analysis included 200 patients with malignant bowel obstruction referred for home parenteral nutrition between January 2018 and August 2023. The analysis included laboratory test results, body mass index (BMI), Subjective Global Assessment (SGA), Nutritional Risk Index (NRI), Geriatric Nutritional Risk Index (GNRI), Prognostic Nutritional Index (PNI) and malnutrition as defined by the Global Leadership Initiative on Malnutrition (GLIM). The average survival time of the patients was 75 days. Patients with higher NRI and PNI scores were more likely to survive (NRI: p < 0.001; PNI: p < 0.001). The GLIM criteria, SGA scores and BMI values did not prove to be good prognostic factors for survival (GLIM p = 0.922, SGA p = 0.083, BMI p = 0.092). The results suggest that the use of NRI and PNI may be helpful in prognosing survival in these patients and that prevention of the development of malnutrition through earlier nutritional assessment and intervention should be considered in this patient group. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Resilience, measured by the distribution of passage times between alternate states, indicates persistence of a state in stochastic dynamic systems such as blooms of cyanobacteria in lakes. We used high‐frequency datasets to compare the resilience of low and high states of phycocyanin, a pigment indicator of cyanobacteria, in Lake Mendota, Wisconsin, USA, for three growing seasons that ranged sevenfold in external phosphorus (P) load. Each year we observed 139–265 passage times across the unstable threshold that separated the low‐ from high‐phycocyanin states. Each sample of passage times is highly skewed with low median, larger mean, much larger SD, and wide tails extending to long lifetimes of a state. About 25% of events, whether low or high phycocyanin, lasted a day or more. Among these 3 years of contrasting external P load, there were no discernible differences in the resilience of either ecosystem state. We attribute this lack of contrast to the sustained recycling of P from sediments and the high stochasticity of phycocyanin in this lake. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the second-leading cause of cancer-related deaths worldwide. Distant metastases are usually located in the liver and are present in 50% of patients. Aim: The aim of this study is to evaluate changes in body composition and phase angle before and after surgical treatment of CRC liver metastases, as well as survival time and treatment costs. Material and methods: The study included 134 patients who received 174 surgeries for CRC liver metastases. Bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA) was performed using an AKERN BIA 101 analyzer. Results: BIA was performed before and after surgery. The results of tests (total body water content [TBW], body cell mass [BCM], and phase angle) showed a reduction in BCM by 2.21 kg and a statistically significant decrease in phase angle values after surgery (from 5.06 to 4.25 in women and from 5.34 to 4.76 in men). These values are below the reference range for both sexes. There was a correlation between phase angle values and muscle mass, both before (R = 0.528, p<0001) and after surgery (R = 0.634, p<000.1). Preoperative levels of the tumor marker CEA were elevated in more than half of the patients. The median survival time after resection of liver metastases was 37.6 months. Discussion: A significant factor that increases complications, mortality, and treatment costs of cancer patients is malnutrition, which could be the earliest symptom of malignant disease. Conclusions: Successful treatment of CRC requires the patients to participate in follow-up examinations and to be aware of early signs associated with recurrence (e.g., blood in the stool or weight loss). The patients' nutritional status should be monitored and recorded in a DILO card. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Patients with advanced cancer who misunderstand their prognosis and chance of cure tend to overestimate the likely benefits of palliative systemic therapy. Aim: To determine patient perceptions of palliative systemic therapy benefits in advanced cancer. Methods: We surveyed 104 outpatients with advanced cancer receiving systemic anticancer therapy and their treating oncologists. Patients recorded their understanding of treatment impact on chance of cure and symptoms. Life expectancy was estimated by patients and oncologists. A visual analogue scale (0–10) was used to record how patients and oncologists valued quality of life (QOL) and length of life (LOL) (<4 QOL most important; 4–7 QOL and LOL equal; >7 LOL most important). Patient‐oncologist discordance was defined as a ≥4‐point difference. Results: The main reasons patients selected for receiving treatment were to live longer (54%) and cure their cancer (36%). Most patients reported treatment was very/somewhat likely to prolong life (84%) and improve symptoms (76%), whereas 20% reported treatment was very/somewhat likely to cure their cancer. 42% of patients selected a timeframe for life expectancy (choice of four timeframes between <1 year and ≥5 years); of these, 62% selected a longer timeframe than their oncologist. When making treatment decisions, 71% of patients (52% of oncologists) valued QOL and LOL equally. Patient‐oncologist discordance was 21%, mostly because of oncologists valuing QOL more than their patients (70%). Conclusion: At least 20% of patients receiving systemic therapy for advanced cancer reported an expectation of cure. Most patients and oncologists value QOL and LOL equally when making treatment decisions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Patients infected with Acinetobacter baumannii (AB) bacteremia in hospital have high morbidity and mortality. We analyzed the clinical characteristics of pneumonia and nonpneumonia-related AB bloodstream infections (AB BSIs) and explored the possible independent risk factors for the incidence and prognosis of pneumonia-related AB BSIs. Methods: A retrospective monocentric observational study was performed. All 117 episodes of hospital-acquired AB bacteremia sorted into groups of pneumonia-related AB BSIs (n = 45) and nonpneumonia-related AB BSIs (n = 72) were eligible. Univariate/multivariate logistic regression analysis was used to explore the independent risk factors. The primary outcome was the antibiotic susceptibility in vitro of pneumonia-related AB BSIs group. The secondary outcome was the independent risk factor for the pneumonia-related AB BSIs group. Results: Among 117 patients with AB BSIs, the pneumonia-related group had a greater risk of multidrug resistant A. baumannii (MDRAB) infection (84.44%) and carbapenem-resistant A. baumannii (CRAB) infection (80%). Polymyxin, minocycline and amikacin had relatively high susceptibility rates (> 80%) in the nonpneumonia-related group. However, in the pneumonia-related group, only polymyxin had a drug susceptibility rate of over 80%. Univariate analysis showed that survival time (day), CRAB, MDRAB, length of hospital stay prior to culture, length of ICU stay prior to culture, immunocompromised status, antibiotics used prior to culture (n > = 3 types), endotracheal tube, fiberoptic bronchoscopy, PITT, SOFA and invasive interventions (n > = 3 types) were associated with pneumonia-related AB bacteremia. The multivariate logistic regression analysis revealed that recent surgery (within 1 mo) [P = 0.043; 0.306 (0.098–0.962)] and invasive interventions (n > = 3 types) [P = 0.021; 0.072 (0.008–0.671)] were independent risk factors related to pneumonia-related AB bacteremia. Multivariate logistic regression analysis revealed that length of ICU stay prior to culture [P = 0.009; 0.959 (0.930–0.990)] and recent surgery (within 1 mo) [P = 0.004; 0.260 (0.105–0.646)] were independent risk factors for mortality in patients with pneumonia-related AB bacteremia. The Kaplan‒Meier curve and the timing test showed that patients with pneumonia-related AB bacteremia had shorter survival time compared to those with nonpneumonia-related AB bacteremia. Conclusions: Our study found that A. baumannii had a high rate of antibiotic resistance in vitro in the pneumonia-related bacteremia group, and was only sensitive to polymyxin. Recent surgery was a significantly independent predictor in patients with pneumonia-related AB bacteremia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective To investigate the effect of nutritional status before the first chemotherapy on the tolerance, efficacy, adverse reactions and survival of patients with advanced gastric cancer. Methods A total of 336 patients with advanced gastric cancer admitted to Fujian Cancer Hospital from May 2018 to July 2020 were selected to evaluate the nutritional status before the first chemotherapy by the Global Leadership Initiative on Malnutrition(GLIM). The patients were divided into the malnutrition group(116 cases) and the wellnourished group(220 cases) according to nutritional status. The relationship between malnutrition and clinical outcome in the patients with advanced gastric cancer was evaluated by using the propensity score matching method to balance the inter-group confounding factors. Results Among 336 patients with gastric cancer, 116 (34. 5%) had malnutrition. Before matching, there were significant differences in age and tumor size between the two groups(P >0. 05). The 103 pairs were successfully matched by 1∶1 nearest neighbor matching method. After matching, the baseline data between the two groups were balanced. The gastrointestinal reaction, neuropathy and fatigue degree of the malnutrition group were higher than those of the well-nourished group (P <0. 05). The chemotherapy tolerance, curative effect and survival time of the malnutrition group were lower than those of the well-nourished group(P <0. 05). Conclusion The incidence of malnutrition in the patients with advanced gastric cancer is high, which increases the adverse reaction of chemotherapy and reduces the tolerance and survival time of chemotherapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study addresses the critical issue of high-temperature stress in Japanese flounder (Paralichthys olivaceus), a factor threatening both their survival and the growth of the aquaculture industry. The research aims to identify genetic markers associated with high-temperature tolerance, unravel the genetic regulatory mechanisms, and lay the foundation for breeding Japanese flounder with increased resistance to high temperatures. In this study, using a genome-wide association study was performed to identify single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and genes associated with high−temperature tolerance for Japanese flounder using 280 individuals with 342 311 high-quality SNPs. The traits of high-temperature tolerance were defined as the survival time and survival status of Japanese flounder at high water temperature (31℃) for 15 days cultivate. A genome-wide association study identified six loci on six chromosomes significantly correlated with survival time under high-temperature stress. Six candidate genes were successfully annotated. Additionally, 34 loci associated with survival status were identified and mapped to 15 chromosomes, with 22 candidate genes annotated. Functional analysis highlighted the potential importance of genes like traf4 and ppm1l in regulating apoptosis, impacting high-temperature tolerance in Japanese flounder. These findings provide a valuable theoretical framework for integrating molecular markers into Japanese flounder breeding programmes, serving as a molecular tool to enhance genetic traits linked to high-temperature tolerance in cultured Japanese flounder.

Abstract Objective This study aimed to verify if intraoperative radiotherapy (IORT) can achieve the same survival outcome as whole‐breast external beam radiotherapy (EBRT) in early breast cancer after breast‐conserving surgery (BCS), and to explore the suitable candidates that can safely receive IORT after BCS. Methods Eligible post‐BCS patients who received IORT or EBRT were included in the Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) database from 2010 to 2018. Risk factors that affected 5‐year overall survival (OS) or breast cancer specific survival (BCSS) were identified by Cox proportional hazards regression analysis. Clinical characteristics, OS, and BCSS were comparatively analyzed between the two treatment modalities. Results The survival analysis after propensity score matching confirmed that patients who received IORT (n = 2200) had a better 5‐year OS than those who received EBRT (n = 2200) (p = 0.015). However, the two groups did not differ significantly in 5‐year BCSS (p = 0.381). This feature persisted even after multivariate analyses that took into account numerous clinical characteristics. Although there was no significant difference in BCSS between different subgroups of patients treated with IORT or EBRT, patients over 55 years of age, with T1, N0, non‐triple negative breast cancers, hormone receptor‐positive, and histologic grade II showed a better OS after receiving IORT. Conclusion In low‐risk, early‐stage breast cancer, IORT was not inferior to EBRT considering 5‐year BCSS and OS. Considering the equivalent clinical outcome but less radiotoxicity, IORT might be a reasonable alternative to EBRT in highly selective patients undergoing BCS.

Abstract This study aims to compare the perioperative outcomes and long-term survival of U-VATS lobectomy for NSCLC with multiportal VATS (M-VATS, involving two ports or more) lobectomy. A total of 339 patients who underwent intentional VATS lobectomy for lung cancer between 2012 and 2017 were included in the analysis. Perioperative outcomes and long-term survival were evaluated. Propensity score matching was utilized to minimize baseline characteristic differences between the two groups. Out of the total cases, 17 (5.01%) were converted to open thoracotomy. The conversion rates were 4.96% (7/141) in the U-VATS group and 5.05% (10/198) in the M-VATS group. A total of 322 consecutive patients underwent VATS lobectomy and mediastinal lymphadenectomy. After propensity matching, 106 pairs were obtained, consisting of 83 males and 129 females. Intraoperative bleeding volume, number of retrieved lymph nodes, explored nodal stations, drainage time and volume, and postoperative hospital stay were similar between the two groups. Both groups exhibited comparable morbidity and mortality rates. From the multivariable analysis, there was no significant difference observed in terms of overall survival (OS) and disease-free survival (DFS) between the two patient cohorts. U-VATS demonstrated comparable perioperative outcomes and long-term efficacy to M-VATS. However, further confirmation of these findings is required.

Abstract Background Despite the significant weight of difficulty, Ethiopia's survival rate and mortality predictors have not yet been identified. Finding out what influences outpatient breast cancer patients' survival time was the major goal of this study. Methods A retrospective study was conducted on outpatients with breast cancer. In order to accomplish the goal, 382 outpatients with breast cancer were included in the study using information obtained from the medical records of patients registered at the University of Gondar referral hospital in Gondar, Ethiopia, between May 15, 2016, and May 15, 2020. In order to compare survival functions, Kaplan-Meier plots and the log-rank test were used. The Cox-PH model and Bayesian parametric survival models were then used to examine the survival time of breast cancer outpatients. The use of integrated layered Laplace approximation techniques has been made. Results The study included 382 outpatients with breast cancer in total, and 148 (38.7%) patients died. 42 months was the estimated median patient survival time. The Bayesian Weibull accelerated failure time model was determined to be suitable using model selection criteria. Stage, grade 2, 3, and 4, co-morbid, histological type, FIGO stage, chemotherapy, metastatic number 1, 2, and >=3, and tumour size all have a sizable impact on the survival time of outpatients with breast cancer, according to the results of this model. The breast cancer outpatient survival time was correctly predicted by the Bayesian Weibull accelerated failure time model. Conclusions Compared to high- and middle-income countries, the overall survival rate was lower. Notable variables influencing the length of survival following a breast cancer diagnosis were weight loss, invasive medullar histology, comorbid disease, a large tumour size, an increase in metastases, an increase in the International Federation of Gynaecologists and Obstetricians stage, an increase in grade, lymphatic vascular space invasion, positive regional nodes, and late stages of cancer. The authors advise that it is preferable to increase the number of early screening programmes and treatment centres for breast cancer and to work with the public media to raise knowledge of the disease's prevention, screening, and treatment choices.

Abstract Background Hospitalization in individuals with dementia can be associated with negative and unintended outcomes. Research indicates that people with dementia experience more hospital admissions in comparison to individuals without dementia. This study aims to assess the survival time of individuals with dementia who experience unplanned hospitalization and examine the factors that are associated with mortality in this population. Methods This retrospective cohort study was conducted using data from older adults with dementia who survived unplanned hospitalizations at Maharaj Nakorn Chiang Mai Hospital between January 1, 2009, and December 31, 2016. The association between factors and mortality were analyzed using a multivariable Cox proportional hazards model. Results One hundred and eighty-one cases were included. The mean age of the study population was 80.07 (SD 7.49) years, and the majority were female (56.91%). The median survival time of the studied cohort was 3.06 years (95% CI 3.14–3.60). The multivariable analysis revealed that older age (aHR = 1.02, 95% CI 1.00-1.05), a diagnosis of mixed-type dementia (aHR = 3.45, 95% CI 1.17–10.14), higher Charlson comorbidity index score (aHR = 1.19, 95% CI 1.04–1.36), higher serum creatinine level (aHR = 1.35, 95% CI 1.10–1.66), insertion of endotracheal tube (aHR = 1.95, 95% CI 1.07–3.54), and readmission within 30 days (aHR = 1.88, 95% CI 1.18–2.98) were associated with an increased risk of mortality. Conclusions We identified several notable predictors of mortality. Healthcare providers can use the findings of this study to identify patients who may be at higher risk of mortality and develop targeted interventions which may improve patient outcomes.

Jiaming Shen,1,2,&ast; Xia Wang,2,&ast; Guangde Yang,2,&ast; Li Li,2 Juanjuan Fu,2 Wei Xu,3 Qingqiao Zhang,3 Xiucheng Pan2 1Department of Gastroenterology, People’s Hospital of Jingjiang, Taizhou, People’s Republic of China; 2Department of Infectious Disease, The Affiliated Hospital of Xuzhou Medical University, Xuzhou, People’s Republic of China; 3Department of Interventional Radiology, The Affiliated Hospital of Xuzhou Medical University, Xuzhou, People’s Republic of China&ast;These authors contributed equally to this workCorrespondence: Xiucheng Pan, Tel +8618052268129, Email xzpxc68@126.comPurpose: Recently, the triple therapy of transarterial chemoembolization (TACE) combined with tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) plus immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) has become a new treatment option for advanced or unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients. We aimed to explore the liver injury and its effect on overall survival (OS) in patients treated with this combination therapy.Patients and Methods: Patients with HBV-related HCC who were treated with TACE-TKIs-ICIs from January 2020 to December 2021 were enrolled. Liver injury and survival time were the main endpoints of the study. Logistic regression analysis was used to analyze the factors associated with liver injury. Cox regression and Kaplan–Meier analysis were used to determine prognostic factors for OS.Results: As of March 2022, 52 of the 119 enrolled patients developed any grade hepatotoxicity: 15 cases with grade 1, 19 cases with grade 2, 16 cases with grade 3 and 2 cases with grade 4. Our analysis indicated that lack of antiviral prevention was a risk factor for liver injury (OR = 0.149; 95% CI: 0.050– 0.442; P = 0.001). The findings suggested that liver injury events (HR = 1.912; 95% CI: 1.031– 3.546; P = 0.040) was associated with patient death. The median OS of patients without liver injury, grade 1– 2 and grade 3– 4 liver injury were undefined, 13.7 months and 11.1 months, respectively (log-rank P = 0.034).Conclusion: Liver injury adverse events are common in HBV-related HCC patients treated with TACE-TKIs-ICIs. Patients who developed liver injury had a poor prognosis. For HBV-related HCC patients, effective prophylactic antiviral therapy and regular liver function testing are required before and during this triple therapy. Keywords: HBV-related HCC, TACE, TKI, ICI, liver injury, survival time

Lymphoma is one of the most common malignant tumors in dogs. Combination chemotherapy with vincristine, cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, and prednisolone (CHOP) is the most effective treatment for multicentric lymphoma. Previous studies have evaluated the response of large dogs to CHOP treatment and identified prognostic factors; however, studies on small dogs are lacking. In this study, we investigated the outcomes and prognostic factors for small dogs with multicentric lymphoma treated with CHOP. The responses of patients to CHOP treatment were assessed, and 54.3% were evaluated as being in complete remission (CR), 31.4% in partial remission (PR), and 14.3% in no remission (NR). The overall response rate was 85.7%. The median survival times for CR, PR, and NR patients were 683 days (85–1496 days), 241 days (15–777 days), and 119 days (61–308 days), respectively. Among the CR patients, survival was longer under the following conditions: age under 10 years (p = 0.011), no cardiovascular heart disease (p = 0.046), and no history of hospitalization due to side effects from chemotherapy (p = 0.002). These results might help clinicians build treatment plans for multicentric lymphoma in small breed dogs.

We investigated the mRNA expression of 124 cuproptosis-associated genes in 7489 biopsies from 20 different tumor types of The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA). The KM plotter algorithm has been used to calculate Kaplan–Meier statistics and false discovery rate (FDR) corrections. Interaction networks have been generated using Ingenuity Pathway Analysis (IPA). High mRNA expression of 63 out of 124 genes significantly correlated with shorter survival times of cancer patients across all 20 tumor types. IPA analyses revealed that their gene products were interconnected in canonical pathways (e.g., cancer, cell death, cell cycle, cell signaling). Four tumor entities showed a higher accumulation of genes than the other cancer types, i.e., renal clear cell carcinoma (n = 21), renal papillary carcinoma (n = 13), kidney hepatocellular carcinoma (n = 13), and lung adenocarcinoma (n = 9). These gene clusters may serve as prognostic signatures for patient survival. These signatures were also of prognostic value for tumors with high mutational rates and neoantigen loads. Cuproptosis is of prognostic significance for the survival of cancer patients. The identification of specific gene signatures deserves further exploration for their clinical utility in routine diagnostics.

This publication is the Russian translation of the Plain Language Summary (PLS) of the Cochrane Systematic Review: Cortés-Jofré M, Rueda-Etxebarria M, Orillard E, Jimenez Tejero E, Rueda J-R. Therapeutic vaccines for advanced non-small cell lung cancer. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2024, Issue 3. Art. No.: CD013377. DOI: 10.1002/14651858.CD013377.pub2

Accurately predicting survival time holds significant importance in various medical and scientific domains. This study proposes a novel survival prediction model for oral cancer using multi-omics data including clinical, DNA methylation, copy number alteration, and mRNA data. The proposed model incorporates four feature selection methods, namely LASSO, Elastic Net, Random Forest Regressor, and Recursive Feature Elimination (RFE), to improve the accuracy. The findings reveal that RFE outperforms the other methods, achieving the highest C-Index of 0.944. This is a significant improvement over previous models, which have a c-index of 0.694 using only clinical data and 0.916 using multi-omics data. In terms of precision, the Random Forest Regressor is the most precise with an MSE of 18.37, followed by RFE of 21.61. Notably, both RFE and Random Forest Regressor outperformed LASSO and Elastic Net in predictive accuracy. Additionally, the results highlight the consistency of RFE, as indicated by its low Median Absolute Error (MedAE) of 2.86. Random Forest Regressor also performed well in this regard, with a MedAE of 4.05. In contrast, Elastic Net exhibited a higher MedAE of 4.55, while LASSO showed more variability, with a MedAE of 8.58. These findings offer valuable insights into survival analysis and feature selection, helping researchers and practitioners select appropriate approaches for survival time prediction, and improving accuracy and reliability in critical applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: As lung squamous cell carcinoma (LUSC) patients are at increased risk of developing a second primary cancer, this complicates the patient's condition and thus makes prognostic assessment more difficult, posing a significant prognostic challenge for clinicians. Our goal was to assess the prognosis of LUSC patients with a second primary tumor, and provide insights into appropriate therapy and monitoring strategies. Methods: Data was obtained for LUSC patients from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) database. The LUSC patients were divided into three groups (LS-SPM, OT-LUSC and LUSC-only). Univariate and stratified analyses were performed for the baseline and clinical characteristics of the participants. Multiple regression and Kaplan-Meier survival analyses were also performed, followed by a final life table analysis. Results: In our sample of 101,626 patients, the HR for OS in the LS-SPM group was 0.40 in univariate analysis. Kaplan-Meier survival curves showed that LS-SPM patients had considerably longer lifespans compared to the other groups. The LS-SPM patients had median and mean survival times of 64 months and 89.11 months. Unadjusted and adjusted multiple regression analyses showed that LSSPM patients had a superior survival compared to LUSC-only and OTLUSC groups. Conclusion: LS-SPM patients have a good prognosis with aggressive therapy and immune monitoring. The present study offers novel insights into the pathophysiological causes and treatments for LS-SPM. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rhizoctonia solani AG-3 TB primarily causes tobacco target spot disease by producing a large number of sexual spores. However, inducing sexual spore formation under in vitro conditions has been challenging, impeding further research on its control. In this study, field experiments were conducted to assess the effects of different concentrations of chemical and biological fungicides on the production of sexual spores of R. solani AG-3 TB on tobacco plants. The results demonstrated that four chemical fungicides (propiconazole-morpholine guanidine, bordeaux mixture, thiophanate-methyl, and mancozeb) significantly induced sexual spore formation. Among them, increasing the concentrations of the first three fungicides resulted in an increase in the number of sexual spores, while increasing the concentration of mancozeb led to a decrease in spore count. The pathogenic fungus produced more sexual spores during the night than during the day. Temperature, humidity, and light conditions influenced spore production. Additionally, the infection rate of sexual spores was directly proportional to their concentration and inoculation time, but their survival time did not exceed 6 h in vitro. Importantly, Streptomyces rectiolaceus A8 significantly suppressed sexual spore formation, achieving an 83.63% control efficacy in the field and producing antimicrobial substances against R. solani AG-3 TB. In conclusion, appropriate concentrations of chemical fungicides can induce sexual spore formation, while A8 can inhibit their production, showing potential value for controlling tobacco target spot disease. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Histopathology is commonly used in forensic medicine. Only few studies are available in the literature about the correlation between skin wounds histopathology and survival time or other medicolegal data. The aim of this study was to illustrate the usefulness of histopathological analysis of skin wounds in forensic daily practice and to evaluate its correlation with the clinical and police investigation data. In this single-center, retrospective, and descriptive study, we included 198 forensic pathology cases, from the files of the Legal Medicine and Biopathology Departments of the University Hospital of Nancy, with a total of 554 skin samples. Basing on the police investigations (n = 43), the median survival time between the main related trauma and death was 83 min. The histopathological analysis concluded to 2% of post-mortem lesions (absence of hemorrhage) and 55% of perimortem or undetermined lesions (hemorrhage without inflammation); 8% of the lesions had an estimated time interval between more than 10 min and several hours, 22% between several hours and several days, and 14% between several days and several weeks. Histopathological dating was statistically associated with wound location (p < 0.01), the type of injury, hypothermia, positive toxicology, histopathological hepatic lesions, and survival time (p < 0.001). In conclusion, the histopathological analysis of skin wounds allowed to propose a survival time in almost half of cases, with a significant correlation with the police investigation-based estimation of survival time, but also other parameters such as wound location or toxicology. It however lacks of accuracy, and further studies are needed to develop new markers, notably based on immunohistochemistry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Hospice care ensures better end-of-life quality by relieving terminal symptoms. Prior research has indicated that hospice care could prolong survival and reduce end-of-life medical expenditures among patients with cancer. However, the dearth of studies on the effects of hospice care type and use sequence on survival time and end-of-life medical expenditures substantiates the need for investigation. Data sources and study setting: Two million random records were obtained from the National Health Insurance Research Database. Study design: We estimated the effects of the type and sequence of hospice care use on survival time and medical expenditures among advanced cancer patients. This was a cross-sectional study. Data collection/extraction methods: Patient data were collected from 2 million random records provided by the National Health Insurance Research Database of Taiwan. We included people with cancer and excluded patients under 20 years of age; 2860 patients remained after matching. Principal findings: The results indicated that the average survival time of patients who received inpatient palliative care (1022 days) was significantly shorter than that of patients who did not receive palliative care (P < 0.001), but the health care expenditure during the entire course of cancer therapy was not the lowest. Interestingly, patients who received inpatient palliative care had the lowest health care expenditure at 1 year or month before the end of life (P < 0.001). Conclusion: The type and sequence of palliative care affected the survival time and health care expenditures of cancer patients. Receiving palliative care did not prolong survival but rather reduced health care expenditures. The sequence of receiving palliative care significantly affected health care expenditures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wild salmonid fish are faced with the challenge of infections from the ectoparasitic salmon louse, which thus dictates the management of salmon aquaculture in areas where farms and wild populations co‐exist. The mortality risk of wild Atlantic salmon is used as an indicator of threat levels when monitoring wild populations, and therefore the aim of this study was to robustly investigate the effect of infection intensity on probability of mortality in salmon of wild origin. To assess critical infection levels, recently‐smoltified Atlantic salmon were infected with intensities ranging from 0 to 2.5 lice g−1 and exposed to a 48‐h simulated migration. The first mortalities occurred when preadults appeared and ceased as lice became adults. Infection intensity negatively affected mortality probability and survival time, whereas the simulated migration had no influence on the probability of mortality. Individual‐level effects of infection on host mortality is difficult to quantify in the field; however, the correlation between louse load and mortality probability obtained in this study can facilitate indirect estimates of mortality risk of wild salmon populations and contribute to conservation efforts associated with this parasite. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]