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Immunotherapy has increased survival for non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), especially for those diagnosed with late-stage disease. However, it is not known if its use is equally distributed across races. We assessed immunotherapy use in 21 098 pathologically confirmed stage IV NSCLC patients according to race in the Surveillance Epidemiology, and End Results–Medicare linked dataset. Multivariable models were conducted to evaluate the independent association of receipt of immunotherapy with race and overall survival according to race. Black patients had statistically significantly lower odds of receiving immunotherapy (adjusted odds ratio = 0.60, 95% confidence interval = 0.44 to 0.80); receipt of immunotherapy was lower in Asian and Hispanic patients but not statistically significant. When immunotherapy was received, survival was similar across races. Immunotherapy for NSCLC is not used equally among races, underscoring the racial disparities that exist in access to the newest cancer treatment. Efforts should be directed toward expanding access to novel, efficacious treatments for advanced stage lung cancer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: This study aims to appraise 2017 AACE Guidelines for Management of Dyslipidemia and Prevention of Cardiovascular Disease by using Appraisal of Guidelines for Research and Evaluation II (AGREE II) tool. Method: A total of seven investigators who have obtained a postgraduate Doctor of Pharmacy or Masters of Clinical Pharmacy, appraised the dyslipidaemia guidelines independently, by using AGREE II tool. Key findings: Among all the domains, the highest‐scoring domain was the clarity of presentation (87%), and the lowest was the applicability (26%). The assessors gave the top ranking for both 'scope and purpose' (78%) and 'Editorial independence' (79%). The overall guideline assessment was 61%. Most of the investigators (four out of seven) recommended using the guidelines in clinical practice with modifications. Conclusion: The appraisal obtained in this article can be utilized by guideline developers to improve the quality of their upcoming guidelines. Healthcare professionals can be aware of guideline limitations and the importance of quality assessment of the guideline before applying their recommendations whenever possible by using Agree II tool. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study was performed to quantify the association between mortality and known and unknown secondhand smoke (SHS) exposure as measured by cotinine levels in non-smokers. Data collected from 1999 to 2010 in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) were linked to the National Death Index. Self-reported non-smokers aged ≥20 years (N = 20 175) were studied. Serum cotinine was measured at recruitment; non-smokers were those with cotinine below the reported race-specific cut-off points (5.92, 4.85 and 0.84 ng/ml for non-Hispanic blacks, non-Hispanic whites and Mexican Americans, and 3.08 ng/ml for all other groups). Serum cotinine levels were significantly associated with overall survival (HRadj 1.17, 95% CI: 1.13-1.22 per natural-log unit change in cotinine), death for all medical causes, lung cancer, all cancers and heart diseases, after adjustment for gender, race/ethnicity, body mass index, smoking history and education. Similar results were observed when non-smokers reporting no SHS exposure at home or work were analyzed. There was a statistically significant trend in years of life lost (YLL), adjusted for confounders, across cotinine categories both in nonsmokers (YLLadj: 5.6, 6.4, 6.8, 7.5; P for trend < 0.0001) and non-smokers reporting no SHS exposure (YLLadj: 5.5, 6.1, 6.3, 6.7; P for trend = 0.002). Serum cotinine levels identify SHS-attributable mortality in subjects who would have otherwise been overlooked by questionnaire data, providing further evidence that the economic toll of SHS may be substantially higher than what was reported based on questionnaires. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer mortality in the USA. Within the past decade, two large trials (the National Lung Screening Trial Research and the International Early Lung Cancer Action Program) confirmed a significant role for low-dose CT (LDCT) screening in identifying early stages of cancer leading to reduced mortality in high-risk patients. Given the evidence, the US Preventive Services Task Force issued a recommendation in favour of LDCT screening for high-risk individuals. Despite the strong support for LDCT among physicians who treat lung cancer and cumulative data demonstrating a survival benefit for screening and early detection, it took more than a decade for lung cancer screening to be embraced at the policy level. With many lives lost in the interim, did we really need a randomized controlled trial to make this decision?. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We state several conditions equivalent to weak*-dentability for certain subsets of a dual Banach space which include both the compact case and a result of Ghoussoub and Maurey. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This study aims to compare serum cotinine levels in e-cigarette and combustible cigarette smokers, in an attempt to quantify the potential chronic nicotine addiction risk that e-cigarettes pose. We analyzed 428 participants in 2015–2016 NHANES: 379 (87.03%) smoked combustible cigarettes alone and 49 (12.97%) smoked e-cigarettes. Serum cotinine levels were measured by isotope-dilution high-performance liquid chromatography/atmospheric pressure chemical ionization tandem mass spectrometric method with a detection limit of 0.015 ng/ml. Electronic cigarette smokers were younger than combustible cigarette smokers (mean age 36.79 versus 42.69 years, P = 0.03), more likely to be male (64.93% versus 48.32%, P = 0.09) and significantly less likely to live with other smokers (50.17% versus 90.07%, P < 0.01). Serum cotinine levels increased linearly with self-reported days of smoking in both electronic cigarette and combustible cigarette smokers, after accounting for living with a smoker. The analysis of the subgroup who reported daily use show non-statistically significantly higher serum cotinine levels in electronic cigarette smokers versus combustible cigarette smokers (β adj = 52.50, P = 0.10). This analysis of recent US data demonstrates that electronic cigarettes expose users to nicotine levels proportionate to, and potentially higher than combustible cigarettes, and thus pose a serious risk of chronic nicotine addiction. This could be particularly relevant in otherwise tobacco naive individuals; future risk of tobacco-related dependence, addiction and relapse, as well as of tobacco-related cancers in these subjects needs to be investigated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We study the metrizability of weak topologies when restricted to the unit sphere of some equivalent norm on a Banach space, and its relationships with other geometrical properties of norms. In case of dual Banach space X*, we prove that there exists a dual norm such that its unit sphere is weak* metrizable if and only if (BX*, w*) is a descriptive compact, which provides a complete characterization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

OBJECTIVES Integrin-linked kinase (ILK) is an intracellular protein implicated in chronic inflammation and neoplastic transformation. In a recently accomplished pilot study, we showed that ILK can be detected in the serum of patients with benign and malignant chest diseases, including malignant pleural mesothelioma (MPM). Interestingly, average serum ILK concentrations were 10 times higher in MPM patients when compared with the rest of the study population, and a diagnostic test solely based on serum ILK concentration could discriminate between MPM and non-MPM with considerable accuracy. This study aimed to investigate whether serum ILK concentration could also be used to discriminate between MPM and asbestos exposure only. METHODS Using a self-developed sandwich enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, we measured serum ILK concentrations in 101 MPM patients, and 96 asbestos-exposed, but healthy insulation workers. Seventy-three MPM patients had an epitheloid subtype (72.3%), and 42 had a Stage I or II disease (41.6%). RESULTS When compared with asbestos-exposed individuals, MPM patients of all clinical stages had significantly higher (mean ± standard deviation, median) serum ILK concentrations (10.7 ± 13.6, median 7 ng/ml vs 3.1 ± 4.6, median 1.4 ng/ml; P < 0.001). Among MPM patients, the serum ILK concentration was significantly higher at advanced disease stages III + IV than at early stages I + II (13.7 ± 15.9, median 8.5 ng/ml vs 6.7 ± 7.8, median 3.5 ng/ml; P = 0.02). Using serum ILK to discriminate between MPM patients and asbestos-exposed individuals yielded an area under the curve of 0.69 (95% confidence interval 0.63–0.76). The corresponding sensitivity and specificity for a cut-off of 4.49 ng/ml ILK are 61.4 and 80.2%, respectively. CONCLUSIONS These data show significant differences between MPM patients and asbestos-exposed but healthy individuals concerning their serum ILK concentration. Furthermore, since ILK levels are increased in advanced MPM stages in comparison with early MPM stages, we suggest evaluating its potential use as a marker of disease progression in MPM. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Presents comments on the article about mesorectal excision for rectal cancer published in the 2001 issue of 'British Journal of Surgery.' Diversion of fecal stream after anastomoses; Mortality due to anastomotic leakage; Requirement of permanent stoma in several patients.