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PURPOSE: The B-MaP-C study investigated changes to breast cancer care that were necessitated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Here we present a follow-up analysis of those patients commenced on bridging endocrine therapy (BrET), whilst they were awaiting surgery due to reprioritisation of resources. METHODS: This multicentre, multinational cohort study recruited 6045 patients from the UK, Spain and Portugal during the peak pandemic period (Feb-July 2020). Patients on BrET were followed up to investigate the duration of, and response to, BrET. This included changes in tumour size to reflect downstaging potential, and changes in cellular proliferation (Ki67), as a marker of prognosis. RESULTS: 1094 patients were prescribed BrET, over a median period of 53 days (IQR 32-81 days). The majority of patients (95.6%) had strong ER expression (Allred score 7-8/8). Very few patients required expedited surgery, due to lack of response (1.2%) or due to lack of tolerance/compliance (0.8%). There were small reductions in median tumour size after 3 months' treatment duration; median of 4 mm [IQR - 20, 4]. In a small subset of patients (n = 47), a drop in cellular proliferation (Ki67) occurred in 26 patients (55%), from high (Ki67 ≥ 10%) to low (< 10%), with at least one month's duration of BrET. DISCUSSION: This study describes real-world usage of pre-operative endocrine therapy as necessitated by the pandemic. BrET was found to be tolerable and safe. The data support short-term (≤ 3 months) usage of pre-operative endocrine therapy. Longer-term use should be investigated in future trials.

Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) allows researchers to obtain rich structural information and it's the standard method of determining the absolute chemical structure. It is also widely used in natural product dereplication, unknown identification, and metabolomics.Owing to the importance of NMR data, nmrXiv is currently being developed with the ultimate goal of accelerating broader coordination and data sharing among researchers by creating a computational platform for the management, sharing, and analysis of NMR data.nmrXiv is voluntarily FAIR, open-source, and cloud-based NMR data infrastructure. &nbsp

Neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NACT) is increasingly being used to treat early breast cancer, and offers several advantages, including reducing the extent of breast and axillary surgery, and providing an in vivo assessment of tumour sensitivity to treatment1–4. Clinical trials have identified tumour subgroups with high rates of pCR. A pCR can be achieved in 45–90 per cent of human epidermal growth factor receptor 2-positive (HER2+) tumours and triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC), but the rate in oestrogen receptor-positive (ER+)/HER2-negative (HER2–) breast cancer remains below 10 per cent3,5. Historically, increasing pCR rates following NACT have not translated into more breast-conserving surgery (BCS), but more recent data suggest that NACT can result in surgical downstaging6.NACT use in the UK appears inconsistent, as highlighted by a recent prospective audit7. Although UK guidelines suggest considering NACT in patients with HER2+ cancers and TNBC, detailed guidance does not exist8. Furthermore, it is unclear whether pCR rates in routine clinical practice reflect those observed in trials, and whether tumour downstaging influences surgical decision-making beyond the trial setting. Moreover, there remains a lack of consensus on whether definitive surgery should aim to excise the original or post-treatment tumour footprint, as highlighted in a recent UK survey9, in which 24 per cent of centres stated that their routine practice was to excise the original tumour footprint rather than carry out response-adapted surgery.This prospective study aimed to determine surgical decision-making in the breast and axilla and pCR rates in routine clinical practice following NACT for early breast cancer.

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Background: The B-MaP-C study aimed to determine alterations to breast cancer (BC) management during the peak transmission period of the UK COVID-19 pandemic and the potential impact of these treatment decisions. Methods: This was a national cohort study of patients with early BC undergoing multidisciplinary team (MDT)-guided treatment recommendations during the pandemic, designated ‘standard’ or ‘COVID-altered’, in the preoperative, operative and post-operative setting. Findings: Of 3776 patients (from 64 UK units) in the study, 2246 (59%) had ‘COVID-altered’ management. ‘Bridging’ endocrine therapy was used (n = 951) where theatre capacity was reduced. There was increasing access to COVID-19 low-risk theatres during the study period (59%). In line with national guidance, immediate breast reconstruction was avoided (n = 299). Where adjuvant chemotherapy was omitted (n = 81), the median benefit was only 3% (IQR 2–9%) using ‘NHS Predict’. There was the rapid adoption of new evidence-based hypofractionated radiotherapy (n = 781, from 46 units). Only 14 patients (1%) tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 during their treatment journey. Conclusions: The majority of ‘COVID-altered’ management decisions were largely in line with pre-COVID evidence-based guidelines, implying that breast cancer survival outcomes are unlikely to be negatively impacted by the pandemic. However, in this study, the potential impact of delays to BC presentation or diagnosis remains unknown.

The synthesized 1,5 diarylpenta-1,4-dien-3-one derivatives (compounds 1-6) as synthetic curcumin analogues were tested for their potential anticancer activity against human ovarian and lung adenocarcinoma cells. The absorption, distribution, metabolism, excretion, and toxicity (ADMET/pharmacokinetic) parameters of all the compounds were predicted by admetSAR software. The pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamics and bioactivity scores properties based on Lipinski rule and Ghose filter, calculated with the help of Molinspiration and ChemDraw. Molecular docking evaluation of all the compounds was also performed by using AutoDock Vina and iGEMDOCK against three most common human anticancer targets; epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), heat shock protein (Hsp 90-α), and vascular endothelial growth factor receptor-2 (VEGFR2). The obtained results were compared with the reference compound 7 and drugs 8-10 (7: GO-035; 8: Quinazolin; 9: Naquotinib and 10: Ribofuranuronamide). Finding indicates, all the compounds were potentially interacting with VEGFR2 through the average –9.1 binding energy (BE) with closer contact 1H-NMR). In vitro anti-proliferative activity was tested via MTT method against human ovarian carcinoma (PA-1) and human lung adenocarcinoma (A549) cells and further screened for apoptotic parameters such as nuclear fragmentation and ROS generation. Compound 4 exhibits good dose-dependent anti-proliferative activity (IC50 73 and 79.7 µM) against human ovarian carcinoma and human lung adenocarcinoma, respectively. Communicated by Ramaswamy H. Sarma

Digital watermarking is a technique of embedding pieces of information into digital data such as text, audio, video, and still images that can be detected or extracted later to show authentication about the data. Watermark is hidden information in the image(s) and is so designed that it does not degrade/distort the quality of the image and still keeps the information. Digital watermarking is basically to protect ownership rights and to control of making illicit copies of digital data. In this paper, we have discussed various watermarking techniques and properties and have proposed a modified LSB technique. We have implemented the proposed technique by following: 2-bits of 8-bit gray image is replaced by luminance part, next 2-bits by red component, next 2-bits by green component and next 2-bits by blue component of 32-bit image using secret key. The advantage is that watermarking capacity has been increased and unaffected by various attacks e.g. zero out LSB bits, cropping etc. Watermark image is imperceptible in resultant image. We have tested this technique on several images and found that it is quite satisfactory. This technique is secured as unauthorized user can not extract the watermarked contents easily from the original image and works well in adverse situations. We have implemented this technique on platform java 1.5.0., Comment: 4 pages, 2 images, Proceedings International Conference on Innovative Technologies Reserch & Development in Science, Technology and Management organized by PDM collage of Engg & IEEE-IMS/EMB(Delhi), 2009. arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:0802.3746 by other authors without attribution

The aim of Design of Digital Accelerometer based Seismic Sensor Node is to propose a design for wireless sensor network for exploring the sub-surface region of the moon by studying the seismic waves generated over there. As Moonquakes are less frequent and are smaller in scale than are earthquakes, we need a sensor network of high sensitivity that can live up to a longer period of time over which we can take necessary readings to study the sub-surface region of moon. In the system proposed, four seismic sensor nodes are considered which need to be arranged in linear fashion over the surface of the moon with the help of rover. These nodes would collect data of the passive seismic events that takes place on the moon and transmit it to the base station so that the information could be used by the Researchers/ Seismological officials for further studies. The components of the sensor node include an accelerometer, Analog to Digital converter. A microcontroller would collect data from sensor and store it on data flash. The power requirements of the sensor node would be met by a battery. The base station of the system would be on rover and would be able to collect data through direct transmission from all the four nodes. The system thus developed would be able to collect the seismic events over a life time of approx. 6months. The thesis discusses the hardware design and issues faced during the design with their solution. The prime emphasis of the design is on the miniaturization in the size, low weight and lower power consumption of the node.