programmed death-1

BACKGROUND: Chile rapidly implemented an extensive COVID-19 vaccination campaign, deploying a diversity of vaccines with a strategy that prioritized the elderly and individuals with comorbidities. This study aims to assess the direct impact of vaccination on the number of COVID-19 related cases, hospital admissions, ICU admissions and deaths averted during the first year and a half of the campaign. METHODS: Via Chile's transparency law, we obtained access to weekly event counts categorized by vaccination status and age...

OBJECTIVE: Immunotherapy targeting programmed cell death 1 (PDCD1 or PD-1) and its ligands has shown remarkable promise and the regulation mechanism of PD-1 expression has received arising attention in recent years. PDCD1 exon 3 encodes the transmembrane domain and the deletion of exon 3 produces a soluble protein isoform of PD-1 (sPD-1), which can enhance immune response by competing with full-length PD-1 protein (flPD-1 or surface PD-1) on T cell surface. However, the mechanism of PDCD1 exon 3 skipping is unclear...

In this research, the hydrophilic structure of multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) was modified by synthesizing polycitric acid (PCA) and attaching folic acid (FA) to create MWCNT-PCA-FA. This modified nanocomplex was utilized as a carrier for the lipophilic compound curcumin (Cur). Characterization techniques including TGA, TEM, and UV-visible spectrophotometry were used to analyze the nanocomplex. The mechanism of cancer cell death induced by MWCNT-PCA-FA was studied extensively using the MTT assay, colony formation analysis, cell cycle assessment via flow cytometry, and apoptosis studies...

PURPOSE: Optimal treatment for stage IIIA/N2 non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is controversial. We aimed to assess the efficacy and safety of adjuvant pembrolizumab for stage IIIA/N2 NSCLC completely resected after neoadjuvant concurrent chemoradiation therapy (CCRT). MATERIALS AND METHODS: In this open-label, single-center, single-arm phase 2 trial, patients with stage IIIA/N2 NSCLC received adjuvant pembrolizumab for up to two years after complete resection following neoadjuvant CCRT...

AIM: Pinworm infection (known as enterobiasis or oxyuriasis) is one of the most common parasitic diseases globally and in the Czech Republic (CZ). The aim of this study is to analyse the available epidemiological data on the incidence of enterobiasis in the CZ from 2018-2022. METHODS: A descriptive analysis was done of enterobiasis (ICD-10 code B80) data reported to the electronic Infectious Disease Information System in the CZ from 2018 to 2022. Data processing and analysis were conducted using MS Excel 2016...

INTRODUCTION: Colorectal cancer (CRC) remains a significant public health concern. This study aims to provide a comprehensive understanding of the effectiveness of fecal immunochemical test (FIT) screening on CRC incidence and mortality, leveraging the scale of over 1.5 million randomly selected Taiwanese participants and more than 11.7 million person-years of follow-up. METHODS: This prospective cohort study merges data from three robust Taiwanese health databases: the CRC screening program, cancer registration, and death registration databases...

Endothelial programmed death-ligand 1 (PD-L1) expression is higher in tumors than in normal tissues. Also, tumoral vasculatures tend to be leakier than normal vessels leading to a higher trans-endothelial or transmural fluid flow. However, it is not clear whether such elevated transmural flow can control endothelial PD-L1 expression. Here, a new microfluidic device is developed to investigate the relationship between transmural flow and PD-L1 expression in microvascular networks (MVNs). After treating the MVNs with transmural flow for 24 h, the expression of PD-L1 in endothelial cells is upregulated...

Traffic-related pedestrian deaths in the United States reached a 40-year high in 2021. Each year, pedestrians also suffer nonfatal traffic-related injuries requiring medical treatment. Near real-time emergency department visit data from CDC's National Syndromic Surveillance Program during January 2021-December 2023 indicated that among approximately 301 million visits identified, 137,325 involved a pedestrian injury (overall visit proportion = 45.62 per 100,000 visits). The proportions of visits for pedestrian injury were 1...

IMPORTANCE: The treatment paradigm for advanced urothelial carcinoma (aUC) has undergone substantial transformation due to the introduction of effective, novel therapeutic agents. However, outcomes remain poor, and little is known about current treatment approaches and attrition rates for patients with aUC. OBJECTIVES: To delineate evolving treatment patterns and attrition rates in patients with aUC using a US-based patient-level sample. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: This retrospective cohort study used patient-level data from the nationwide deidentified electronic health record database Flatiron Health, originating from approximately 280 oncology clinics across the US...

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: Since obesity is a major risk factor for many different types of cancer, examining one of the most closely associated comorbidities, such as hypercholesterolemia, is crucial to understanding how obesity causes cancer. Hypercholesterolemia is usually associated with many cardiovascular complications such as hypertension, angina, and atherosclerosis. In addition, cholesterol may be a major factor in increasing cancer risk. Cancer patients who received statins, an anti-hypercholesteremic medicine, demonstrated improved prognosis possibly through its effect on tumor proliferation, apoptosis, and oxidative stress...

PURPOSE: Cuproptosis, programmed cell death by intracellular copper-mediated lipoylated protein aggregation, is involved in various tumorigenesis and drug resistance abilities by mediating the tumor microenvironment. Previous studies have demonstrated that serum copper levels are higher in OC patients than in normal subjects. However, the exact relationship between cuproptosis and ovarian cancer progression remains to be further elucidated. METHODS: The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) and gene expression omnibus (GEO) datasets were utilized to establish a cuproptosis-related prognostic signature in ovarian cancer...

Secondary prevention with penicillin aims to prevent further episodes of acute rheumatic fever and subsequent development of rheumatic heart disease (RHD). Penicillin allergy, self-reported by 10% of the population, can affect secondary prevention programs. We aimed to assess the role for (i) routine penicillin allergy testing and the (ii) safety of penicillin allergy delabeling approaches in this context. We searched MEDLINE, Embase, CENTRAL, ClinicalTrials.gov, WHO ICTRP, ISRCTN, and CPCI-S to identify the relevant reports...

BACKGROUND: More than 767 million coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) cases and 6.9 million deaths with COVID-19 have been recorded as of August 2023. Several public health and social measures were implemented in schools to contain the spread of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) and prevent onward transmission. We built upon methods from a previous Cochrane review to capture current empirical evidence relating to the effectiveness of school measures to limit SARS-CoV-2 transmission...

OBJECTIVES: Before the advent of direct-acting antiviral therapy for hepatitis C virus, a large proportion of kidneys from donors with hepatitis C viremia were discarded. Hepatitis C virus is now amenable to effective treatment with excellent seronegativity rates. In this study, we review the outcomes of hepatitis C viremic kidneys transplanted into hepatitis C-naive recipients. MATERIALS AND METHODS: In this retrospective observational study, we examined 6 deceased donor kidneys with hepatitis C viremia that were transplanted into hepatitis C-naive recipients between March 2020 and April 2021 at a single center...

BACKGROUND: Predictive biomarkers for immune checkpoint blockade in the second-line treatment of metastatic renal cell carcinoma (mRCC) are lacking. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Patients with histologically confirmed RCC who started nivolumab after at least 4 months of tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) were recruited for this study. Serial tissue and blood samples were collected for immune biomarker evaluation. The primary endpoint was to determine the association of specific T-cell subsets with clinical outcomes tested using Wilcoxon rank sum for clinical benefit rate (CBR) and log-rank test for progression-free survival (PFS)...

OBJECTIVE: The authors evaluated associations between employment at discharge from Veterans Health Administration Vocational Rehabilitation Service (VR) programs and suicide and other causes of death. METHODS: For veterans receiving VR between October 1, 2005, and September 30, 2014 (N=78,293), proportional hazards analyses were used to test associations of employment with suicide, drug overdose, and external and natural cause mortality rates over 1 and 5 years postdischarge and through December 31, 2019...

With the advent of immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs), a better understanding of tumor microenvironment (TME) is becoming crucial in managing esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) patients. We investigated the survival impact of TME status and changes in patients with ESCC who underwent neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) followed by surgery (n = 264). We examined immunohistochemical status (CD4+ , CD8+ , CD20+ , Foxp3+ , HLA class-1+ , CD204+ , and programmed death ligand-1 [PD-L1+ ]) on 264 pre-NAC and 204 paired post-NAC specimens...

BACKGROUND: Endometria are one of the important components of the uterus, which is located in the peritoneal cavity. Endometrial injury usually leads to intrauterine adhesions (IUA), accompanied by inflammation and cell death. We previously reported that both the endometrial ferroptosis was increased and monocytes/macrophages were involved in endometrial injury of IUA. Large peritoneal macrophages (LPMs) are recently reported to migrate into the injured tissues and phagocytose dead cells to repair the tissues...

BACKGROUND: Prolonged Grief Disorder (PGD) was newly included in the ICD-11 and DSM-5-TR. It is not yet part of the standard assessments in many healthcare systems, including psychiatric wards. Because disordered grief is associated with suicidality, sleep problems and substance use disorders, an investigation into PGD in psychiatric inpatients is warranted. METHOD: We interviewed N = 101 psychiatric inpatients who were admitted to the open psychiatric wards and the day hospital of a German psychiatric hospital and who had lost a person close to them...

BACKGROUND: Neoadjuvant treatment for hormone receptor-positive/human epidermal growth factor receptor 2-negative (HR+/HER2-) breast cancer is controversial and requires a comprehensive analysis for optimal therapy assessment. Therefore, a two-step Bayesian network meta-analysis (NMA) was performed to compare the efficacy and safety of different neoadjuvant regimens. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS: Phase II/III randomized clinical trials comparing various neoadjuvant therapies for HR+/HER2- breast cancer were included...