Growing neurons rely on chemical cues to find their targets, but new research shows that the brain’s physical properties help shape those signals. Scientists discovered that tissue stiffness can trigger the production of guidance molecules through a force-sensing protein called Piezo1. This protein not only detects mechanical forces but also helps maintain the structure of brain tissue. The discovery reveals a powerful link between the brain’s physical environment and how its wiring is built.
“In a world where trimodality therapy has been the standard of care for so long, it’s remarkable to think that some of these cancers can be cured with a single systemic agent alone.”
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The world of cancer treatment is a rapidly evolving creature, and rectal cancer is no exception. In particular, locally advanced rectal cancer has a number of valid treatment options. While it’s traditionally a surgical disease, in some cases we now have evidence for watch-and-wait approaches that spare patients the morbidity and toxicity associated with oncologic resections. But even when the goal is to get the patient to a total mesorectal excision (TME), several nuances can influence decision making. Suddenly, talking to a patient about rectal cancer has become as lengthy a discussion as those we have with intermediate-risk prostate cancer patients.
We currently have good evidence to suggest that total neoadjuvant therapy (TNT) should be standard of care for locally advanced rectal cancers. But even within this algorithm of chemotherapy and chemoradiation followed by surgery, questions abound. Which treatment should we start with? Which chemotherapy should be used? What radiation fractionation should we employ? And which concurrent chemotherapy should be paired with radiation? While the 5-year follow-up of the RAPIDO trial demonstrated a statistically significant increase in the locoregional recurrence rate (10% vs 6%) with short course radiation,1 this must be viewed through a critical lens, given that the two arms did not directly compare short-and long-course radiation. Perhaps it was the addition of neoadjuvant chemotherapy, delaying surgery, that resulted in a detriment to the locoregional control. Thus, short-course radiation is still indicated as a reasonable treatment option per NCCN guidelines.
Does the cause of tricuspid regurgitation (TR) affect survival?
A new analysis of nearly 13K patients finds that survival in Primary TR is better than in Secondary or Lead-associated TR. @JabbarMMS
BackgroundTricuspid regurgitation (TR) is a common valvular disorder that can affect patients’ quality of life and survival. The impact of TR etiology on overall survival and the associated risk factors in each subgroup are not well studied.
Read it in the RedJournal: @NRGOnc
: Intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) is increasingly used for total body irradiation (TBI) due to its ability to deliver myeloablative doses while sparing radiosensitive organs. To enable consistent evaluation in future National Clinical Trials Network (NCTN) studies, the xxx Hematologic Malignancies Working Group (HMWG) convened IMRT-TBI experts and NCTN leaders to develop consensus recommendations for standardized multi-institutional implementation.
In a randomized clinical trial including older bereaved adults, group-format grief-focused cognitive behavioral therapy (ProlongedGriefDisorder) was noninferior to individual therapy for reducing symptoms of prolonged grief, posttraumatic stress disorder, depression, and anxiety at 6 months.
Both formats produced large reductions in symptom burden, suggesting either delivery method is effective for older adults seeking treatment after loss.
This study examines whether cognitive behavioral therapy delivered in a group format is noninferior to cognitive behavioral therapy delivered in an individual format in reducing prolonged grief disorder symptoms in older adults.
Humanoid robots, robotic systems with a human-like body structure, have the potential of tackling various real-world tasks that are currently being completed by humans. In recent years, many robotics researchers and computer scientists have been trying to broaden these robots’ capabilities and improve how they move in their surroundings.
A research team at Amazon Frontier AI & Robotics (FAR) and University of California Berkeley (UC Berkeley) recently introduced perceptive humanoid parkour (PHP), a framework that could allow humanoid robots to move with remarkable agility, running, jumping and climbing over obstacles in urban or natural environments. Their proposed approach, outlined in a paper published on the arXiv preprint server, entails training computational models on recordings of humans engaging in parkour, a popular urban sport that allows practitioners to rapidly navigate environments using their agility and body strength.
“While recent advances in humanoid locomotion have achieved stable walking on varied terrains, capturing the agility and adaptivity of highly dynamic human motions remains an open challenge,” wrote Zhen Wu, Xiaoyu Huang and their colleagues in their paper.