There is a long history of research into body fluid biomarkers in neurodegenerative and neuroinflammatory diseases. However, only a few biomarkers in CSF are being used in clinical practice. One of ...the most critical factors in CSF biomarker research is the inadequate powering of studies because of the lack of sufficient samples that can be obtained in single-center studies. Therefore, collaboration between investigators is needed to establish large biobanks of well-defined samples. Standardized protocols for biobanking are a prerequisite to ensure that the statistical power gained by increasing the numbers of CSF samples is not compromised by preanalytical factors. Here, a consensus report on recommendations for CSF collection and biobanking is presented, formed by the BioMS-eu network for CSF biomarker research in multiple sclerosis. We focus on CSF collection procedures, preanalytical factors, and high-quality clinical and paraclinical information. The biobanking protocols are applicable for CSF biobanks for research targeting any neurologic disease.
Transcatheter aortic-valve replacement with a new self-expanding prosthesis was compared with surgical aortic-valve replacement in patients with aortic stenosis who were at high surgical risk. The ...rate of death from any cause at 1 year was lower in the TAVR group.
Aortic stenosis is a debilitating disease in elderly persons that carries a dismal prognosis after symptom onset.
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Although surgical aortic-valve replacement remains the standard treatment for aortic stenosis,
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many patients are not suitable candidates for surgical replacement owing to an increased risk of death during surgery.
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,
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Transcatheter aortic-valve replacement (TAVR) with a balloon-expandable device improves survival, as compared with medical therapy, in patients with severe aortic stenosis who cannot undergo surgery.
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Balloon-expandable TAVR and surgical aortic-valve replacement are associated with similar survival rates at 1 year among patients considered to be at high surgical risk, although the frequency of . . .
By means of Shannon's relationship between information and probability, Youden's index for rating diagnostic tests is shown to be a probability-scale analogue of the log-likelihood ratio of a ...positive test outcome.
Elevated levels or increases in circulating tumor cells (CTC) portend poor prognosis in patients with epithelial cancers. Less is known about CTCs as surrogate endpoints or their use for predictive ...biomarker evaluation. This study investigated the utility of CTC enumeration and characterization using the CellSearch platform, as well as mutation detection in circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA), in patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).
Forty-one patients were enrolled in a single-arm phase II clinical trial of erlotinib and pertuzumab. Peripheral blood was analyzed for CTC enumeration, EGFR expression in CTCs, and detection of oncogenic mutations in CTCs and ctDNA. Changes in CTC levels were correlated with 218Ffluoro-2-deoxy-D-glucose-positron emission tomographic (FDG-PET) and computed tomographic (CT) imaging and survival endpoints.
CTCs were detected (≥ 1 CTC) at baseline in 78% of patients. Greater sensitivity for mutation detection was observed in ctDNA than in CTCs and detected mutations were strongly concordant with mutation status in matched tumor. Higher baseline CTC counts were associated with response to treatment by Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors (RECIST, P = 0.009) and decreased CTC counts upon treatment were associated with FDG-PET and RECIST response (P = 0.014 and P = 0.019) and longer progression-free survival (P = 0.050).
These data provide evidence of a correlation between decreases in CTC counts and radiographic response by either FDG-PET or RECIST in patients with advanced NSCLC. These findings require prospective validation but suggest a potential role for using CTC decreases as an early indication of response to therapy and ctDNA for real-time assessment of mutation status from blood.
We report periods and JHKL observations for 643 oxygen-rich Mira variables found in two outer bulge fields at b = −7° and l = ±8° and combine these with data on 8057 inner bulge Miras from the ...Optical Gravitational Lensing Experiment, MACHO and Two Micron All Sky Survey surveys, which are concentrated closer to the Galactic Centre. Distance moduli are estimated for all these stars. Evidence is given showing that the bulge structure is a function of age. The longer period Miras (log P > 2.6, age ∼5 Gyr and younger) show clear evidence of a bar structure inclined to the line of sight in both the inner and outer regions. The distribution of the shorter period (metal-rich globular cluster age) Miras appears spheroidal in the outer bulge. In the inner region these old stars are also distributed differently from the younger ones and possibly suggest a more complex structure. These data suggest a distance to the Galactic Centre, R
0, of 8.9 kpc with an estimated uncertainty of ∼0.4 kpc. The possible effect of helium enrichment on our conclusions is discussed.
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