177LuLu-PSMA has recently been approved for use in the post-taxane, post-novel hormonal-agent setting in patients with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer. As a beta-emitting radioligand ...targeting prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA), it delivers radiation to cells expressing PSMA on their surface. In pivotal clinical trials, patients were selected for this treatment based on positron emission tomography (PET)/CT imaging, requiring PSMA-avid disease with no evidence of discordant disease on 2-18Ffluoro-2-deoxy-D-glucose PET/CT or contrast CT scan. Despite exhibiting an optimal imaging phenotype, the response for many patients is not durable, and a minority do not respond to 177LuLu-PSMA at all. Disease progression is inevitable even for those who achieve an exceptional initial response. Reasons for both primary and acquired resistance are largely unknown; however, they are likely due to the presence of underlying PSMA-negative disease not identified on imaging, molecular factors conferring radioresistance, and inadequate delivery of lethal radiation, particularly to sites of micrometastatic disease. Biomarkers are urgently needed to optimize patient selection for treatment with 177LuLu-PSMA by identifying those who are most and least likely to respond. Retrospective data support using several prognostic and predictive baseline patient- and disease-related parameters; however, robust prospective data is required before these can be translated into widespread use. Further, early on-treatment clinical parameters (in addition to serial prostate-specific antigen PSA levels and conventional restaging imaging) may serve as surrogates for predicting treatment response. With little known about the efficacy of treatments given after 177LuLu-PSMA, optimal treatment sequencing is paramount, and biomarker-driven patient selection will hopefully improve treatment and survival outcomes.
In the treatment of cancer, understanding the disease status, or accurate staging, is extremely important, and various imaging techniques are used. Computed tomography (CT), magnetic resonance ...imaging, and scintigrams are commonly used for solid tumors, and advances in these technologies have improved the accuracy of diagnosis. In the clinical practice of prostate cancer, CT and bone scans have been considered especially important for detecting metastases. Nowadays, CT and bone scans are called conventional methods because positron emission tomography (PET), especially prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA)/PET, is extremely sensitive in detecting metastases. Advances in functional imaging, such as PET, are advancing the diagnosis of cancer by allowing information to be added to the morphological diagnosis. Furthermore, PSMA is known to be upregulated depending on the malignancy of the prostate cancer grade and resistance to therapy. Therefore, it is often highly expressed in castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC) with poor prognosis, and its therapeutic application has been attempted for around two decades. PSMA theranostics refers to a type of cancer treatment that combines both diagnosis and therapy using a PSMA. The theranostic approach uses a radioactive substance attached to a molecule that targets PSMA protein on cancer cells. This molecule is injected into the patient’s bloodstream and can be used for both imaging the cancer cells with a PET scan (PSMA PET imaging) and delivering radiation directly to the cancer cells (PSMA-targeted radioligand therapy), with the aim of minimizing damage to healthy tissue. Recently, in an international phase III trial, the impact of 177Lu-PSMA-617 therapy was studied in patients with advanced PSMA-positive metastatic CRPC who had previously been treated with specific inhibitors and regimens. The trial revealed that 177Lu-PSMA-617 significantly extended both progression-free survival and overall survival compared to standard care alone. Although there was a higher incidence of grade 3 or above adverse events with 177Lu-PSMA-617, it did not negatively impact the patients’ quality of life. PSMA theranostics is currently being studied and used primarily for the treatment of prostate cancer, but it has the potential to be applied to other types of cancers as well.
The contexts addressed by the Italian National Strategy for Inner Areas (SNAI) often lack successful regional policies and systemic territorial approaches to achieve effective transformations towards ...resilient territories. These issues are addressed by the ongoing project “B4R Branding4Resilience.” This contribution aims to present and discuss its first results in the focus area of Val di Sole, Trentino-Alto Adige Region (Italy). The main goal of the University of Trento unit is to pursue leadership in innovating with nature in small thermal villages. The aim is to create a territorial strategy based on the value of the water resources and thermal systems by promoting the enhancement of their natural capital. An interdisciplinary and multi-scalar methodology has been adopted to combine qualitative and quantitative approaches; a data collection process was used to explore the natural identity of Val di Sole to comprehend the ecological and spatial elements; a co-design activity was conducted with the local community’s engagement to propose a resilient territorial strategic vision. As a result, the “Val di Sole Blueprint” represents a strategic tool to implement thermal landscapes as ecological design resources for the territory and to support sustainable territorial development for a better quality of life.
PurposeThe purpose of this research is to explore the experiences regarding diversity and inclusion in the professional context. The stories of female IT professionals included the discussion around ...enablers and blockers of career and development in IT and talking about worst and best daily experiences at the workplace.Design/methodology/approachThis is a qualitative study that presents the findings from four focus groups with 50 participants – selected female IT professionals working in Poland. The IT professionals were taking part in the Women in Tech Summit in Warsaw in 2019. LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY® projective technique has been applied during the group interviews to help the participants express their experiences in a creative way.FindingsThe findings include conceptualization of the three main sources of inequalities: (1) Imbalance in rewards and recognition and performance visibility (2) Inability to build wider women-oriented strategic alliances and meaningful relationships around D&I and (3) Willingness but no practical mechanisms to contribute to the business value and being a part of meaningful activities and two concepts of how to improve employee experiences, namely: business strategizing based on daily meaningful experience and mentoring others and impacting business reality through creating professional alliances that matter and are recognized as business value generators as the key directions.Research limitations/implicationsThe research was conducted before the pandemic.Practical implicationsThe research creates a practical conversational framework for managers giving directions on how to talk about diversity and inclusion in the workplace using a perspective of “daily interactions” and “everyday employee experiences”.Social implicationsThe emerged concepts help to direct the corporate discussions around Social Development Goal No. 5 – Gender Equality in a practical business dimension.Originality/valueThe originality is brought by (1) LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY® – the method of creative exploration used during the focused groups (2) social significance of gender equality in the technological roles and industries, especially in the context of reskilling approaches (3) Central and Eastern European perspective of the research.
The term "micro-entrapment syndrome of nerves innervating the face (MESNIF)" is a relatively new concept. It refers to the micro-entrapment of facial nerve (trigeminal nerve and facial nerve) ...terminals for various reasons, resulting in one-side facial discomfort, subjective sensory abnormalities, or stiffness, and in certain cases, localized micro muscle movement abnormalities and motor disharmony. It is frequently caused by facial paralysis or chronic trigeminal neuritis or injury, and is prevalent in clinical practice. Peripheral facial paralysis affects 60%-70% of people. Both men and women are susceptible to it. It is most common in young and middle-aged women. At the moment, there are two types of therapy options for this disease: nonsurgical treatments and surgical treatments. Among surgical treatments, pulsed radiofrequency has good curative results. This paper describes two typical situations that had good curative effects.
China’s adoption of the silver economy emerges as a pivotal response to ageing challenges, as the same time China also has the need for low-carbon transformation of social-economic development. ......China’s silver economy can present an opportunity for green finance committed to low-carbon transformation. According to the UN, the global population aged 65 and above is expected to grow from 10% in 2022 to 16% by 2050 (Gerland et al., 2022), impacting labour, industry, and consumer patterns, and highlighting ageing’s potential to drive economic opportunities (Laperche et al., 2019). ...older adults possesses vast potential in promoting green production and lifestyles, their life experiences, combined with an acknowledgment of sustainable living and the need for a healthy environment, position them as active proponents of green lifestyles (Rhoades et al., 2017; Kriebel-Gasparro, 2022; Hampton and Whitmarsh, 2023). ...China’s modern urban and town development, guided by the principles of ‘green, low-carbon, and ecological liveability’ (Qiu et al., 2021; Chen et al., 2022), also including green construction and renewable energy use.
•Factors affecting intention to use E-Licensing by employees.•Perceived usefulness/relative advantage is positively related to intention to use E-Licensing.•Perceived ease of use and result ...demonstrability have positive effect on intention to use.•Visibility/observability is positively related to intention to use.•Enables formulation and design of measures to encourage usage of E-licensing.
The advancement in technologies has changed the way services are delivered (Dabholkar, 2000). The licensing department of a local authority in Penang, Malaysia is the major department involved in the processing and issuance of various types of licenses. The traditional method of processing of licenses manually has been a subject of criticism by license applicants and the public due to the delay in processing and the inefficient feedback mechanism. Over a period of two years, the licensing department has been working closely with the system designers by providing input on the construction of the E-Licensing system. All the time spent and the investment would go to waste if the employees do not intend to use the system. This study is focused on factors affecting intention to use of technology enabled service delivery (E-Licensing) by employees. The research model by Moore and Benbasat (1991) was adapted and used in this study. Six hypotheses were formulated to test the relationship proposed. The data collected from a sample of 92 respondents was used in the analysis of the hypothesis. The findings from this study show that (i) perceived usefulness/relative advantage is positively related to intention to use E-Licensing. (ii) Perceived ease of use and result demonstrability is positively related to intention to use E-Licensing. (iii) Visibility/observability is positively related to intention to use E-Licensing. This study will enable the licensing department to formulate, design and introduce measures to encourage usage of E-Licensing.
The main aim of this paper is to develop a conceptual framework for understanding the co- creation of ICT Innovation.
To do this we first review key innovation literature with the argument that each ...set of innovation literature considers the world of innovation from a sterile perspective, normally linear in nature. We propose an alternative view encapsulated in our idea of 'Co-creation of ICT Innovation'. To illustrate the nature of Co-creation of ICT Innovation, we present three case studies from India and show the distinctness in the nature of problem solving in each case. We then use this distinctness to develop a dual interactive framework. One framework is at a Meta level that develops the conceptual theme for the process of co-creation. The other framework, that populates the conceptual theme with operational drivers, is aimed to populate the Meta level with ideas that can initiate the process of Co-creation of ICT Innovation. Our contribution in this paper is this dual interactive framework that we argue explains the nature and process of co- creation.
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