It is estimated that more than 6 million pet dogs are diagnosed with cancer annually in the USA. Both primary care and specialist veterinarians are frequently called upon to provide clinical care ...that improves the quality and/or quantity of life for affected animals. Because these cancers develop spontaneously in animals that often share the same environment as their owners, have intact immune systems and are of similar size to humans, and because the diagnostic tests and treatments for these cancers are similar to those used for management of human cancers, canine cancer provides an opportunity for research that simultaneously helps improve both canine and human health care. This is especially true in the field of radiation oncology, for which there is a rich and continually evolving history of learning from the careful study of pet dogs undergoing various forms of radiotherapy. The purpose of this review article is to inform readers of the potential utility and limitations of using dogs in that manner; the peer-reviewed literature will be critically reviewed, and current research efforts will be discussed. The article concludes with a look toward promising future directions and applications of this pet dog "model."
Background
Locoregional tumor control and prolonged survival for dogs with genitourinary carcinoma (CGUC) reportedly are achievable using treatment with radiotherapy (RT) with or without adjunctive ...chemotherapy and nonsteroidal anti‐inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs).
Objectives
To characterize event‐free and overall survival after treatment of CGUC using NSAIDs, mitoxantrone (MTX), and a standardized RT protocol (57 Gy in 20 fractions).
Animals
Fifty‐one client‐owned dogs treated between 2008 and 2017.
Methods
Dogs were retrospectively categorized into treatment groups: (a) first‐line concurrent chemoradiotherapy (≥1 dose of MTX started within 1 month of RT); (b) first‐line chemotherapy (MTX administered for >1 month before RT without tumor progression); (c) RT as a salvage procedure (MTX, surgery or both with subsequent locoregional tumor progression before RT). Treatment‐induced toxicoses, event‐free survival (EFS), and overall survival times (OSTs) were recorded. The influence of demographics, staging, and treatment‐related factors on survival was assessed using Cox proportional hazards modeling.
Results
Median EFS and OST for all dogs were 260 and 510 days with no significant differences among groups 1 (n = 39), 2 (n = 4), and 3 (n = 8). Both EFS and OST were shorter in dogs with moderate to severe clinical signs (P < .001 and P < .001, respectively); OST was shorter in dogs with prostatic involvement (P = .02). Permanent urinary incontinence developed in 16 dogs (31%) at a median of 70 days postirradiation; other toxicoses were mild and self‐limiting.
Conclusions and Clinical Importance
Mild clinical signs and lack of prostate involvement were associated with favorable prognosis for survival. Client education regarding the risk of urinary incontinence is warranted.
Using panel data from the BHPS and its Understanding Society extension, we study life satisfaction (LS) and income over nearly two decades, for samples split by education, and age, to our knowledge ...for the first time. The highly educated went from lowest to highest LS, though their average income was always higher. In spite of rapid income growth up to 2008/2009, the less educated showed no rise in LS, while highly educated LS rose after the crash despite declining real income. In panel LS regressions with individual fixed effects, none of the income variables was significant for the highly educated.
Learning objectives typically indicate subject matter judged to be important or that represents essential material to be learned during a course. We report here on our efforts to identify essential ...course content and determine our effectiveness teaching and assessing this content in our preclinical human anatomy course. Using a consensus driven approach, we identified anatomical structures, relationships, and functional concepts judged to represent essential material in our unit on the thorax that students were expected to be familiar with. We then determined performance on specific examination questions that focused directly on the essential material. Thirty‐seven of 48 students (77%) correctly answered all 34 of 51 questions that directly focused on content we defined as essential. The remaining 11 students answered the majority of these questions correctly. The overall mean score was 86% (range 61%–98%). Our review of student performance on the End of Block thorax examination confirmed our belief that we were successful in helping students learn material we defined as essential. We found the process described here to be helpful in defining essential content and for helping focus and improve medical education and learning assessment based on that material. We believe the idea of defining essential content that can be efficiently taught and effectively learned within a proscribed period of time is an important and necessary objective. We believe the approach used here might be successfully utilized in other programs in efforts aimed at quality improvement.
•Photometric characterization of (101955) Bennu, target of the OSIRIS-REx mission, was conducted between the years 2005–2012.•The rotation period, ECAS colors, BVRI colors and phase function were ...determined.•Color photometry is consistent with being a primitive B-type carbonaceous asteroid.•A linear phase slope of 0.040±0.003 magnitudes per degree of phase angle is consistent with an albedo of 0.03–0.04.
The NASA OSIRIS-REx mission will retrieve a sample of the carbonaceous near-Earth Asteroid (101955) Bennu and return it to Earth in 2023. Photometry in the Eight Color Asteroid Survey (ECAS) filter system and Johnson–Cousins V and R filters were conducted during the two most recent apparitions in 2005/2006 and 2011/2012. Lightcurve observations over the nights of September 14–17, 2005 yielded a synodic rotation period of 4.2905±0.0065h, which is consistent with the results of Nolan et al. (2013). ECAS color measurements made during the same nights confirm the B-type classification of Clark et al. (Clark, B.E., Binzel, R.P., Howell, E.S., Cloutis, E.A., Ockert-Bell, M., Christensen, P., Barucci, M.A., DeMeo, F., Lauretta, D.S., Connolly, H., Soderberg, A., Hergenrother, C., Lim, L., Emery, J., Mueller, M. 2011. Icarus 216, 462–475). A search for the 0.7μm hydration feature using the method of Vilas (Vilas, F. 1994. Icarus 111, 456–467) did not reveal its presence. Photometry was obtained over a range of phase angles from 15° to 96° between 2005 and 2012. The resulting phase function slope of 0.040 magnitudes per degree is consistent with the phase slopes of other low albedo near-Earth asteroids (Belskaya, I.N., Shevchenko, V.G. 2000. Icarus 147, 94–105).
Surface contamination by microbes is a major public health concern. A damp environment is one of potential sources for microbe proliferation. Smart photocatalytic coatings on building surfaces using ...semiconductors like titania (TiO2) can effectively curb this growing threat. Metal-doped titania in anatase phase has been proven as a promising candidate for energy and environmental applications. In this present work, the antimicrobial efficacy of copper (Cu)-doped TiO2 (Cu-TiO2) was evaluated against Escherichia coli (Gram-negative) and Staphylococcus aureus (Gram-positive) under visible light irradiation. Doping of a minute fraction of Cu (0.5 mol %) in TiO2 was carried out via sol-gel technique. Cu-TiO2 further calcined at various temperatures (in the range of 500–700 °C) to evaluate the thermal stability of TiO2 anatase phase. The physico-chemical properties of the samples were characterized through X-ray diffraction (XRD), Raman spectroscopy, X-ray photo-electron spectroscopy (XPS) and UV–visible spectroscopy techniques. XRD results revealed that the anatase phase of TiO2 was maintained well, up to 650 °C, by the Cu dopant. UV–vis results suggested that the visible light absorption property of Cu-TiO2 was enhanced and the band gap is reduced to 2.8 eV. Density functional theory (DFT) studies emphasize the introduction of Cu+ and Cu2+ ions by replacing Ti4+ ions in the TiO2 lattice, creating oxygen vacancies. These further promoted the photocatalytic efficiency. A significantly high bacterial inactivation (99.9999%) was attained in 30 min of visible light irradiation by Cu-TiO2.
Ceria, CeO
2, plays an important role in catalysis, participating directly in the conversion of environmentally sensitive molecules. This arises from the ability of ceria to store and release oxygen ...depending upon the conditions present in the exhaust gas. Obtaining a basic understanding of oxygen vacancy defects in ceria and the interaction of defective structures with such molecules is central to our understanding of the role of ceria in catalysis. In this work we examine using first principles density functional theory (DFT), with the inclusion of on site electronic correlations (DFT
+
U), the geometry and electronic structure of (1
1
1), (1
1
0) and (1
0
0) ceria surfaces that include oxygen vacancies. We find for all surfaces that the surface (atomistic) structure is strongly perturbed and the extraction of an oxygen vacancy is associated with a reduction of two neighbouring Ce(IV) species to Ce(III) rather than partial reduction of all Ce ions in the simulation cell. In the electronic density of states a new gap state appears between the top of the valence band and the bottom of the unoccupied Ce 4f states. Localisation of charge due to the gap state and excess spin density on Ce
3+ sites neighbouring the vacancy is observed for all three surfaces. These DFT
+
U results are validated by recent experimental results regarding the electronic structure of reduced ceria surfaces, in contrast to previous DFT results. We observe an interesting result that the vacancy formation energies do not follow the same order as the stabilities of the pure surfaces, as measured by the surface energy; thus, the (1
1
0) surface has the lowest vacancy formation energy. The impact of this for the study of catalytic reactions on ceria surfaces is discussed.
Nasal tumor size can change during radiation therapy (RT). The amount of peritumoral fluid (eg, mucohemorrhagic effusions) can also fluctuate. How often this occurs and the magnitude of change are ...unknown. Likewise, there are no data which describe dosimetric effects of these changing volumes during a course of RT in veterinary medicine. This study addresses that gap in knowledge. Using pet dogs with nasal tumors, three CT image sets were created. Different Hounsfield units were applied to the gross tumor volume (GTV) of each image set: unchanged, –1000 (AIR), –1000 (to the portion of the GTV that actually underwent volume reduction during clinical RT; REAL). Two plans were created: 18‐fraction three‐dimensional conformal RT (3DCRT) and three‐fraction intensity‐modulated stereotactic RT (IM‐SRT). For nearby normal tissues and GTV, near‐maximum doses (D2% and D5%) and volumes receiving clinically significant doses were recorded. To verify “AIR” results, thermoluminescent dosimeters recorded dose in cadavers that were irradiated using both 3DCRT and IM‐SRT plans. “AIR” scenario had ≤1.5 Gray (Gy) increases in D2% and ≤3.2 cc increases of volume. “REAL” scenario had ≤0.97 Gy increases in D5% and ≤0.55 cc increases of volume at clinically relevant doses. Both were statistical significant. Results suggest that near‐complete resolution of GTV warrants plan revision.
Previous research has shown that test‐enhanced learning with structured feedback facilitates durable learning. We describe a small group learning/assessment activity using these approaches intended ...to increase engagement and engagement with the course material. We divided our class into six groups of seven students each that worked together in the activity. During each weekly session, course related multiple choice questions were projected and each group instructed to work independently to arrive at a consensus answer for each question. After each question is considered, a faculty facilitator then randomly selects one group to share their choice with the other groups and provide and rationale for their choice. A different group or groups are then called upon to share their choice. When differences emerge, the instructor then facilitates discussion among the groups in an effort to resolve confusion or incomplete or incorrect understanding that becomes evident. We found that attendance for these sessions was greater than for the more traditional lecture based session also included in the course and that students were actively engaged in this learning activity. The success of the small group learning/assessment session is dependent on several factors including the difficulty of the questions and their relatedness to the course objectives, the timing and placement of the session or sessions within the course and the skill of the faculty facilitator in encouraging active participation while ensuring a safe environment in which students can openly share their sometimes incomplete or incorrect understanding of the material.
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