COLUMBUS, Ohio ­– Data from a national clinical trial shows that a striking 89% of patients with desmoplastic melanoma responded to immunotherapy (pembrolizumab) alone, suggesting that many patients could avoid the risk for toxicity from combination therapies and achieve cancer control with this approach to treatment. Desmoplastic melanoma is a subset of melanoma skin cancer that is caused by high levels of ultraviolet (UV) radiation damage and, therefore, a high number of tumor mutations that all contribute to aggressive ...

Close to 90 percent of patients with unresectable (inoperable) desmoplastic melanoma, a rare form of skin cancer, saw their cancer improve after treatment with the immunotherapy drug pembrolizumab in a recent clinical trial. These results from the S1512 trial conducted by the SWOG Cancer Research Network, a group funded by the National Cancer Institute (NCI), are being delivered in an oral presentation at the clinical trials plenary session of the 2023 annual meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) in Orlando, Florida, on April 16th. The S1512 ...

ABSTRACT: CT006 ORLANDO, Fla. ― The first-in-class YAP/TEAD inhibitor VT3989 was well tolerated with durable antitumor responses in patients with advanced malignant mesothelioma and other tumors with NF2 mutations, according to results of a Phase I trial led by researchers at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. The first-in-human study was presented today at the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Annual Meeting 2023. Seven of 69 patients had radiological partial responses that persisted up to at least 21 months, indicating tumor shrinkage, while 34 had stable disease. Patient benefit was observed in patients with both mesothelioma ...

ORLANDO – Despite recent advances, ovarian cancer remains the fifth leading cause of cancer-related deaths among women, and there’s a critical need for new treatment options, especially for advanced cancers that grow back after standard of care treatment. Results from a preclinical study, led by researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, verified a new target for drug-resistant ovarian cancer and provided data to support a treatment approach that is already making its way into clinical trials. Sarah Gitto, PhD, an instructor of Pathology and Laboratory ...

VIDEO OF RESEARCHER AND PATIENT COMMENTARY IS AVAILABLE AT: https://bcove.video/3mxxASq   The combination of an experimental mRNA vaccine with an immunotherapy reduced the likelihood of melanoma recurring or causing death by 44% when compared to immunotherapy alone, a new clinical trial shows. Led by researchers at NYU Langone Health and its Perlmutter Cancer Center, the randomized phase 2b trial involved men and women who had surgery to remove melanoma from lymph nodes or other organs and were at high risk of the disease returning in sites distant from the original cancer.            ...

ABSTRACT: CT005  ORLANDO, Fla. ― A regimen of pre-surgical immunotherapy and chemotherapy followed by post-surgical immunotherapy significantly improved event-free survival (EFS) and pathologic complete response (pCR) rates compared to chemotherapy alone for patients with operable non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), according to Phase III trial results presented today by researchers from The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center at the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Annual Meeting 2023.   The ...

Recently, a team of South Korean scientists led by Director C. Justin LEE of the Center for Cognition and Sociality within the Institute for Basic Science made a new discovery that can revolutionize both the diagnosis and treatment of Alzheimer’s Disease. The group demonstrated a mechanism where the astrocytes in the brain uptake elevated levels of acetates, which turns them into hazardous reactive astrocytes. They then went on further to develop a new imaging technique that takes advantage of this mechanism to directly observe the astrocyte-neuron interactions. Alzheimer’s disease (AD), one of ...

Barcelona, Spain – 16 April 2023:  A region-wide study in more than 50,000 patients with atrial fibrillation has found reduced risks of stroke and transient ischaemic attack in those who started statins within a year of diagnosis compared with those who did not. The findings are presented at EHRA 2023, a scientific congress of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC).1   “Our study indicates that taking statins for many years was even more protective against stroke than short-term use,” said study author Ms. Jiayi Huang, a PhD student at the University of Hong Kong, China.   Atrial fibrillation is the most common ...

Honolulu, HI | April 16, 2023—An award-winning Scientific Online Poster presented during the 2023 ARRS Annual Meeting on the island of Oahu explained how the novel technique of three-dimensional (3D) slice-to-volume (SVR) MRI allows for precise delineation and measurement of the fetal optic pathway (FOP). Noting the limited fetal presentation and low reproducibility of ultrasound-based techniques, as well as conventional MRI’s inconsistencies in FOP visualization due to low resolution (i.e., large slice thickness), “our preliminary results nevertheless demonstrate the promises and utility of this technique,” said Eric Juang, MS, of Creighton University ...

Honolulu, HI | April 16, 2023—Erik K. Paulson, MD, chair of the radiology department at Duke University, has been named the 123rd President of the American Roentgen Ray Society (ARRS) during the opening ceremony of the 2023 ARRS Annual Meeting in Honolulu, HI. “I am absolutely honored and delighted to serve as the President of our country’s oldest radiology society, a society whose sweet spot is member education,” Dr. Paulson said in his ARRS Annual Meeting opening remarks at ...

  **Note: the release below is from the European Congress of Clinical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases (ECCMID 2023, Copenhagen, 15-18 April). Please credit the conference if you use this story** Measures introduced to reduce transmission of COVID-19 infections during 2020-2021 suppressed transmission of group A streptococcal (GAS) infections, particularly in children. Following the lifting of public health restrictions in the UK in Feb-2022, Group A Streptococcus presentations – including scarlet fever and invasive Group A Strep – rose significantly in England, although iGAS still remained very ...

**Note: the release below is from the European Congress of Clinical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases (ECCMID 2023, Copenhagen, 15-18 April). Please credit the conference if you use this story** During the 2022-2023 winter season Denmark experienced a surge in infections caused by group A streptococci (GAS), including the more dangerous, invasive types of infections (iGAS). Incidence of iGAS is highest among the elderly, but the largest relative increase from previous seasons was seen among children. The study is being presented to the European Congress of Clinical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases (ECCMID 2023, Copenhagen, ...

**Note: the release below is from the European Congress of Clinical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases (ECCMID 2023, Copenhagen, 15-18 April). Please credit the conference if you use this story** New research from France shows that infections cause by Group A Streptococcus (GAS) fell by 80% as the first COVID lockdown took effect in March 2020 and stayed at low levels until March 2022, from which point they increased by 18% a month to rise well above pre-COVID levels. The study is being presented at the European Congress of Clinical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases in Copenhagen, Denmark (15-18 ...

**Note: the release below is from the European Congress of Clinical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases (ECCMID 2023, Copenhagen, 15-18 April). Please credit the conference if you use this story** Antibiotics help to fight bacterial infections, but they can also harm the helpful microbes living in the gut, which can have long-lasting health consequences. Now new research being presented at this year’s European Congress of Clinical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases (ECCMID) in Copenhagen, Denmark (15-18 April) has identified ...

*Note: this is a joint press release from the European Congress of Clinical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases (ECCMID) and The Lancet Respiratory Medicine.  Please credit both the congress and the journal in your stories* A major UK study has discovered that the disturbed sleep patterns in patients hospitalised with COVID-19 was likely to be a driver of breathlessness. The study of patients in 38 institutions across the UK was led by University of Manchester and Leicester, presented at the European Congress of Clinical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases (Copenhagen, 15-18 April) and published in The Lancet ...

About The Study: Among adults with laboratory-confirmed Clostridioides difficile infection (CDI) with one or more prior CDI episodes in the last six months and those with primary CDI at high risk for recurrence, high-dose VE303 (a novel oral microbiome-directed therapy composed of nonpathogenic, nontoxigenic, commensal strains of Clostridia) prevented recurrent CDI compared with placebo. A larger, phase 3 study is needed to confirm these findings.  Authors: Jeffrey L. Silber, M.D., of Vedanta Biosciences Inc., in Cambridge, Massachusetts, is the corresponding author. To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website at this link https://media.jamanetwork.com/ (doi:10.1001/jama.2023.4314) Editor’s ...

Plastic debris particles smaller than 5 mm in size, known as microplastics (MPs), are a serious environmental concern. Formed by the breaking down of plastic waste due to wear and tear and sunlight or produced by fiber waste in laundry wastewater and as microbeads in beauty products, they adsorb and introduce harmful chemicals that pollute the environment. By 2050, MPs might outnumber the fish in the oceans. Under these circumstances, the collection and removal of MPs from water are crucial. Conventionally, MPs are collected by filtering water through meshes. ...

Barcelona, Spain – 15 April 2023:  An international consensus statement on the safest and most effective way to implant a pacing system that mimics the heart’s normal function is published today in EP Europace,1 a journal of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC). The document is being launched at the EHRA Conduction System Pacing (CSP) Summit2 and will be discussed during EHRA 2023, a scientific congress of the ESC.3   “It is estimated that 1.4 million patients worldwide will receive a pacemaker in 2023,” said first author ...

**Note: the release below is from the European Congress of Clinical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases (ECCMID 2023, Copenhagen, 15-18 April). Please credit the conference if you use this story** Examination tables, scales and other surfaces in small animal veterinary practices are frequently contaminated with multidrug-resistant “superbugs”, the results of a Portuguese study suggest. The research, which is being presented at this year’s European Congress of Clinical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases (ECCMID) ...

**Note: the release below is from the European Congress of Clinical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases (ECCMID 2023, Copenhagen, 15-18 April). Please credit the conference if you use this story** Multidrug-resistant E. coli were found in 40% of supermarket meat samples tested in a Spanish study. E. coli strains capable of causing severe infections in people were also highly prevalent, this year's European Congress of Clinical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases (ECCMID 2023, Copenhagen, 15-18 April) will hear. Antibiotic resistance is reaching dangerously high levels around the world. Drug-resistant infections kill ...

**Note: the release below is from the European Congress of Clinical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases (ECCMID 2023, Copenhagen, 15-18 April). Please credit the conference if you use this story** A genetic study analysing the microbiome (bacteria in the gut) of a large nationally representative sample of the Finnish population finds that geographic, demographic, diet, and lifestyle factors are driving the spread of antibiotic resistance in the general population. The most comprehensive study of its kind by Dr Katariina Pärnänen ...

**Note: the release below is from the European Congress of Clinical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases (ECCMID 2023, Copenhagen, 15-18 April). Please credit the conference if you use this story** Evidence that multidrug-resistant bacteria are being passed between pet cats and dogs and their owners will be presented at this year’s European Congress of Clinical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases (ECCMID) in Copenhagen, Denmark (15-18 April). Six pets in Portugal and one in the UK were carrying antibiotic-resistant bacteria similar to those found in their owners, a Portuguese study found. The finding underlines the importance ...

Strokes cause numerous changes in gene activity in affected small blood vessels in the brain, and these changes are potentially targetable with existing or future drugs to mitigate brain injury or improve stroke recovery, according to a study led by Weill Cornell Medicine scientists. In the study, which appears Apr. 14 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the researchers performed a comprehensive survey, in a preclinical model, of gene activity changes in small blood vessels in the brain following stroke. Comparing these changes to those that have been recorded in stroke patients, they catalogued hundreds ...

Along their eight arms, octopuses have highly sensitive suckers that allow methodical explorations of the seafloor as they search for nourishment in a “taste by touch” approach. Squids, on the other hand, use a much different tactic to find their next meal: patiently hiding until they ambush their prey in swift bursts. In a unique analysis that provides a glimpse into the origin stories of new animal traits, a pair of research studies led by University of California San Diego and Harvard University scientists has traced the evolutionary adaptations of octopus and squid sensing capabilities. The studies, featured on ...

 In tropical regions of the planet, savannas and forests often coexist in the same area and are exposed to the same climate. An example is the Cerrado, a Brazilian biome that includes several types of vegetation, from broad-leaved and sclerophyllous in dense woodland or shrubland (cerrado sensu stricto) to semi-evergreen in closed-canopy forest (cerradão), as well as grassland with scattered shrubs (campo sujo) and even semi-deciduous seasonal forest.  Areas of cerradão develop in the absence of fire, in both poor and moderately fertile soil (dystrophic to mesotrophic). This coexistence intrigues botanists and ecologists ...