Lung cancer remains the leading cause of cancer deaths in the United States. In the past decade, significant advances have been made in the science of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Screening ...has been introduced with the goal of early detection. The National Lung Screening Trial found a lung cancer mortality benefit of 20% and a 6.7% decrease in all-cause mortality with the use of low-dose chest computed tomography in high-risk individuals. The treatment of lung cancer has also evolved with the introduction of several lines of tyrosine kinase inhibitors in patients with EGFR, ALK, ROS1, and NTRK mutations. Similarly, immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) have dramatically changed the landscape of NSCLC treatment. Furthermore, the results of new trials continue to help us understand the role of these novel agents and which patients are more likely to benefit; ICIs are now part of the first-line NSCLC treatment armamentarium as monotherapy, combined with chemotherapy, or after definite chemoradiotherapy in patients with stage III unresectable NSCLC. Expression of programmed cell death protein-ligand 1 in malignant cells has been studied as a potential biomarker for response to ICIs. However, important drawbacks exist that limit its discriminatory potential. Identification of accurate predictive biomarkers beyond programmed cell death protein-ligand 1 expression remains essential to select the most appropriate candidates for ICI therapy. Many questions remain unanswered regarding the proper sequence and combinations of these new agents; however, the field is moving rapidly, and the overall direction is optimistic.
Abstract Biomarkers play an essential role in the management of patients with invasive breast cancer. For selecting patients likely to respond to endocrine therapy, both oestrogen receptors (ERs) and ...progesterone receptors (PRs) should be measured on all newly diagnosed invasive breast cancers. On the other hand, for selecting likely response to all forms of anti-HER2 therapy (trastuzumab, pertuzumab, lapatinib or ado-trastuzumab emtansine), determination of HER2 expression or gene copy number is mandatory. Where feasible, measurement of ER, PR and HER2 should be performed on recurrent lesions and the primary invasive tumour. Although methodological problems exist in the determination of Ki67, because of its clearly established clinical value, wide availability and low costs relative to the available multianalyte signatures, Ki67 may be used for determining prognosis, especially if values are low or high. In oestrogen receptor (ER)-positive, HER2-negative, lymph node–negative patients, multianalyte tests such as urokinase plasminogen activator (uPA)-PAI-1, Oncotype DX, MammaPrint, EndoPredict, Breast Cancer Index (BCI) and Prosigna (PAM50) may be used to predict outcome and aid adjunct therapy decision-making. Oncotype DX, MammaPrint, EndoPredict and Prosigna may be similarly used in patients with 1–3 metastatic lymph nodes. All laboratories measuring biomarkers for patient management should use analytically and clinically validated assays, participate in external quality assurance programs, have established assay acceptance and rejection criteria, perform regular audits and be accredited by an appropriate organisation.
The Λ(1405) baryon is difficult to detect in experiment, absent in many quark model calculations, and supposedly manifested through a two-pole structure. Its uncommon properties make it the subject ...of numerous experimental and theoretical studies, including those by the Adelaide group who report lattice-QCD eigenvalues for different quark masses. We compare these eigenvalues to predictions of a model based on Unitary Chiral Perturbation Theory. The UχPT calculation predicts the quark mass dependence remarkably well. It also predicts the overlap pattern with different meson-baryon components, mainly πΣ and K¯N, at different quark masses, which might help in the construction of meson-baryon operators for improved level detection on the lattice. More accurate lattice QCD data are required to draw definite conclusions on the nature of the Λ(1405).
The interaction between various charmed mesons and charmed baryons is studied within the framework of the coupled-channel unitary approach with the local hidden gauge formalism. Several meson-baryon ...dynamically generated narrow N* and Λ* resonances with hidden charm are predicted with mass above 4 GeV and width smaller than 100 MeV. The predicted new resonances definitely cannot be accommodated by quark models with three constituent quarks and can be looked for in the forthcoming PANDA/FAIR experiments.
A sequence consisting of palladium-catalyzed benzamide ortho-arylation/reaction with (CF3CO)2O was developed allowing a convenient one-pot synthesis of ortho-arylated benzonitriles and fluorenone ...derivatives. The outcome of this transformation is dependent on the amide N-alkyl substituent. Dehydration of ortho-arylated N-cyclohexyl-benzamides by (CF3CO)2O results in efficient production of benzonitriles. In contrast, o-arylated N-propylbenzamides are converted to fluorenone derivatives.
A
bstract
Recent lattice data on
ππ
-scattering phase shifts in the vector-isovector channel, pseudoscalar meson masses and decay constants for strange-quark masses smaller or equal to the physical ...value allow us to study the strangeness dependence of these observables for the first time. We perform a global analysis on two kind of lattice trajectories depending on whether the sum of quark masses or the strange-quark mass is kept fixed to the physical point. The quark mass dependence of these observables is extracted from unitarized coupled-channel one-loop Chiral Perturbation Theory. This analysis guides new predictions on the
ρ
(770) meson properties over trajectories where the strange-quark mass is lighter than the physical mass, as well as on the SU(3) symmetric line. As a result, the light- and strange-quark mass dependence of the
ρ
(770) meson parameters are discussed and precise values of the Low Energy Constants present in unitarized one-loop Chiral Perturbation Theory are given. Finally, the current discrepancy between two- and three-flavor lattice results for the
ρ
(770) meson is studied.
We conduct a two-flavor (Nf=2) lattice QCD calculation of the elastic phase shifts for pion-pion scattering in the scalar, isoscalar channel (the σ-meson). The calculation is performed for two quark ...masses corresponding to pion masses of 315 and 227 MeV. The σ-meson parameters are extracted using various parametrizations of the scattering amplitude. The results obtained from a chiral unitary parametrization are extrapolated to the physical point and read Mσ=(440−16+10(50)−i240(20)(25)) MeV, where the uncertainties in the parentheses denote the stochastic and systematic ones. The behavior of the σ-meson parameters with increasing pion mass is discussed as well.
Whether cardiovascular (CV) disease is associated with clinical outcomes in cancer patients receiving immunotherapy is unknown. We reviewed the Mayo Clinic database for all cancer patients who ...received an immune checkpoint inhibitor (ICI). Multivariate logistic regression analysis, survival analyses, and Cox proportional-hazards models were formulated. Between March, 2010 and July, 2019, 3,326 patients received ICI. Mean patient age was 63.5 years (range: 16 to 96 years). In a Cox proportional-hazards model, obesity (hazard ratio HR 0.65, 95% confidence level CI 0.55 to 0.77, p < 0.001) and hypercholesterolemia (HR 0.80, 95% CI 0.72 to 0.89, p < 0.001) were associated with lower all-cause mortality while hypertension (HR 1.32, 95% CI 1.17 to 1.49, p < 0.001) and smoking (HR 1.17, 95% CI 1.06 to 1.29, p = 0.002) were associated with higher overall mortality. Among patients with lung cancer, multivariable-adjusted hazard ratios for death from any cause for beta blocker users, as compared with patients who had never used a beta blocker, were 1.39 (95% CI 1.10 to 1.76, p = 0.006). A total of 80 patients (2.4%) experienced CV immune-related adverse events. Event-related morality for ICI-induced myocarditis was 41.7% (5/12). Multivariable-adjusted hazard ratios for ICI-induced myocarditis were 5.2 (95% CI 1.4 to 18.7, p = 0.01) for history of heart failure, 4.06 (95% CI 1.15 to 14.3, p = 0.03) for history of acute coronary syndrome, and 1.07 (per each 1-year increase, 95% CI 1.01 to 1.14, p = 0.02) for age. In conclusion, our study shows that CV factors are associated with clinical outcomes in cancer patients receiving ICI and could be used to predict mortality. In patients with lung cancer, pretreatment beta blocker use is associated with higher all-cause mortality. Three clinical factors—history of heart failure, history of acute coronary syndrome, and age greater than 80 years—help identify patients at higher risk of ICI-induced myocarditis who might benefit from more intensive cardiac surveillance.
We investigate the topological protection of surface states in Weyl and nodal-line semimetals by characterizing them as evanescent states when the band structure is extended to complex momenta. We ...find in this way a sequence of exceptional points-that is, branch points with zero energy in the complex spectrum-allowing us to identify the set of surface states with complex momentum signaling the decay into the 3D semimetal. From this point of view, Weyl and nodal-line semimetals can be classified in two types depending on the way surface states decay. Type A semimetals have surface states with smaller penetration length and oscillating decay while type B semimetals have longer simple exponential decays. The difference between both types reflects in the way the branch cuts in the spectrum accommodate in the complex plane. The stability of the surface states stems in this approach from the complex structure that develops around the exceptional points, with a topological protection which is based on the fact that the branch cuts cannot be closed by small perturbations. We check this property when nodal-line semimetals are placed under circularly polarized light, where we observe that the exceptional points survive the effect of such a perturbation, though appropriate boundary conditions for zero-energy surface states cannot be satisfied in general due to the breakdown of time-reversal invariance by the radiation field.
In this work we compare the predictions for the scattering length and effective range of the channels
K
0
Σ
+
,
K
+
Σ
0
,
K
+
Λ
and
η
p
, assuming the
N
∗
(
1535
)
state as a molecular state of these ...channels, or an original genuine state, made for instance from three quarks. Looking at very different scenarios, what we conclude is that the predictions of these two pictures are drastically different, to the point that we advise the measurement of these magnitudes, accessible for instance by measuring correlation functions, in order to gain much valuable information concerning the nature of this state.
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