•Survival outcome of patients with NSCLC treated by a dedicated multidisciplinary team within the structure of a Comprehensive Cancer Center (CCCZ).•Quantification of the mortality risk between ...patients receiving their primary treatment at the CCCZ Zürich and those treated elsewhere and registered in cantonal cancer registry.•Superior survival probability of the patients treated at the CCCZ compared to those from the canton Zürich treated outside the CCCZ.
Cancer cases among the population of the canton Zurich, are registered in the Cancer Registry of the cantons of Zurich and Zug (KKR). The Thoracic Oncology Center, founded in 2011 is one of 17 multidisciplinary centers within the Comprehensive Cancer Center Zurich (CCCZ).
The aim of the current study is to quantify the mortality risk of patients with NSCLC and identify differences on survival and other factors between patients receiving their primary treatment at the CCCZ and those treated elsewhere and registered by KKR. The differential effect between CCCZ and KKR cohorts on survival: overall, by stage, sex and age, is explored. Stratified log-rank and Wilcoxon tests, Cox models and restricted mean survival times (RMST) are estimated. Propensity score matching (PSM) is also used to adjust for confounding factors.
Analysis included 848 NSCLC cases from the CCCZ and 1759 from the KKR, diagnosed between January 2011 and December 2015. At a median follow-up of 57 months, overall survival (OS) was significantly superior for patients treated at the CCCZ compared to KKR Median OS: 36.0 months (95%CI: 31.0–45.0) and 12.0 months (95%CI: 11.0–13.0), respectively, stratified log-rank p < 0.001; adjusted HR = 1.31, (95% CI: 1.18–1.46), difference in RMST up to 72 months: 13.8 months (95%CI: 11.5–16.2), p < 0.001. The effect of cohort was significant for stages III and IV (overall and also by sex and age). After PSM OS remained significantly superior for patients treated at the CCCZ compared to KKR.
The survival probability for patients in the CCCZ cohort was superior to that of patients in the canton Zürich treated outside the center. This analysis provides further evidence of the importance of the volume of experience and the availability of a multidisciplinary organization and research environment, as delivered by a comprehensive cancer center, on the outcome of patients with NSCLC.
Background The involvement of IgE‐mediated hypersensitivity reactions in the genesis of gastrointestinal symptoms after ingestion of foods containing wheat has been rarely reported.
Objective To ...detect IgE specifically binding to wheat proteins in the sera of atopic and non‐atopic patients suffering from gastrointestinal symptoms after ingestion of wheat and to evaluate the reliability of skin prick test and CAP in the diagnosis of food allergy to wheat.
Methods The sera of patients (10 atopic and 10 non‐atopic) previously diagnosed as suffering from irritable bowel syndrome and complaining of symptoms after wheat ingestion were analysed by immunoblotting for IgE binding to water/salt‐soluble and insoluble wheat flour proteins.
Results All the atopic patients and only one of the non‐atopic patients were positive to wheat CAP. For the patients tested, skin prick test was positive for all the atopic patients and for only one of the non‐atopic patients. However, immunoblotting experiments showed the presence of specific IgE to wheat proteins in all the patients. Ten out of 11 of the wheat CAP‐positive patients had IgE binding to a soluble 16‐kDa band, but the same band was recognized, in a slighter way, by only two out of nine of the wheat CAP‐negative patients. Moreover, although almost all of the patients were negative in CAP testing with gluten, 19 out of 20 recognized protein bands belonging to the prolamin fraction.
Conclusions For the atopic patients the positivity to skin prick test and CAP to wheat was in accordance with the immunoblotting results and a food allergy to wheat could be diagnosed. In these patients a major allergen was a 16‐kDa band corresponding to members of the cereal α‐amylase/trypsin inhibitors protein family, the major allergens involved in baker's asthma. In the non‐atopic patients the positive immunoblotting results contrasted with the responses of the allergologic tests, indicating that the allergenic wheat protein preparations currently used are of limited value in detecting specific IgE to wheat and that the fraction of irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) patients with food allergy may be larger than believed.
The Argon Dark Matter (ArDM-1t) experiment is a ton-scale liquid argon (LAr) double-phase time projection chamber designed for direct Dark Matter searches. Such a device allows to explore the low ...energy frontier in LAr with a charge imaging detector. The ionization charge is extracted from the liquid into the gas phase and there amplified by the use of a Large Electron Multiplier in order to reduce the detection threshold. Direct detection of the ionization charge with fine spatial granularity, combined with a measurement of the amplitude and time evolution of the associated primary scintillation light, provide powerful tools for the identification of WIMP interactions against the background due to electrons, photons and possibly neutrons if scattering more than once. A one ton LAr detector is presently installed on surface at CERN to fully test all functionalities and it will be soon moved to an underground location. We will emphasize here the lessons learned from such a device for the design of a large LAr TPC for neutrino oscillation, proton decay and astrophysical neutrinos searches.
In this paper we present results from a test of a small Liquid Argon Large Electron Multiplier Time Projection Chamber (LAr LEM-TPC). This detector concept provides a 3D-tracking and calorimetric ...device capable of charge amplification, suited for next-generation neutrino detectors and possibly direct Dark Matter searches. During a test of a 3 lt chamber equipped with a 10×10 cm2 readout, cosmic muon data was recorded during three weeks of data taking. A maximum gain of 6.5 was achieved and the liquid argon was kept pure enough to ensure 20 cm drift (O(ppb) O2 equivalent).
PDF
