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BACKGROUND: A life care plan often analyzes needs up to a person's life expectancy. Expected present value of necessary funding for such a plan is likewise based on the fixed survival time. If a client should live beyond or die before the life expectancy, a shortfall or excess of funding may seem inevitable. The life table, of which life expectancy is a summary measure, clarifies these issues. OBJECTIVES: We explain life expectancy and how it is used in tort litigation, economic calculations, and life care planning. We examine the life table, of which life expectancy is one output. We illustrate how a life table provides age-specific probabilities of death and survival, life expectancies, and median survival times, and other information and that every life expectancy must be associated with a life table. We consider the implications for life care planners, forensic economists, and others. CONCLUSIONS: Life expectancy is a summary of more detailed information provided in a life table. The full life table provides better information for planning purposes. Whether life expectancy or a full life table should be used in developing and valuing a life care plan is not well understood. A multi-disciplinary approach may help clarify these issues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, the estimation of the difference between two median survival times is considered when two treatment groups of right-censored data and the associated covariates are available. To identify the possible range of covariates over which the two treatments would produce different median survival times, two confidence bands for the difference as a function of the covariates are proposed under the stratified and treatment-specific Cox models, respectively. The results of a simulation study indicate that the latter generally maintains its confidence level and the former holds its confidence level and preserves a narrower width when the two treatments satisfy the stratified Cox model. An application of the proposed confidence bands is finally illustrated with a data set in a two-arm lung cancer study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we propose a Bezier curve method to estimate the survival function and the median survival time in interval-censored data. We compare the proposed estimator with other existing methods such as the parametric method, the single point imputation method, and the nonparametric maximum likelihood estimator through extensive numerical studies, and it is shown that the proposed estimator performs better than others in the sense of mean squared error and mean integrated squared error. An illustrative example based on a real data set is given. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Pogostemon benghalensis has been used traditionally as anticancer in India. Aim of the Study: The present study was undertaken to investigate the antitumor activity of hydroethanolic extract of P. benghalensis (HEEPB) and aqueous extract of P. benghalensis (AEPB) on ehrlich ascites carcinoma (EAC) tumor bearing mice. Materials and Methods: For antitumor effect, treatments with HEEPB and AEPB at doses of 250 mg/kg and 500 mg/kg/day orally were started after 24 h of intraperitoneal inoculation of EAC cells. After the treatment period, median survival time (MST), hematological parameters and solid tumor volume were used to evaluate antitumor activity of the extracts. Results: Both, HEEPB and AEPB, have increased MST (P < 0.05), reduced solid tumor volume (P < 0.05) and normalized hematological parameters (P < 0.05) significantly. Conclusion: As HEEPB and AEPB were effective in reducing the severity of morphological and biochemical parameters induced by EAC cells, this study justifies the traditional use of this plant in cancer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: In this paper we compare four nonparametric quantile function estimators for randomly right censored data: the Kaplan–Meier estimator, the linearly interpolated Kaplan–Meier estimator, the kernel-type survival function estimator, and the Bézier curve smoothing estimator. Also, we compare several kinds of confidence intervals of quantiles for four nonparametric quantile function estimators. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is an inflammation-associated cancer. However, the lipid pro-inflammatory mediators have only been seldom investigated in HCC pathogenesis. Cylindromatosis (CYLD) attenuation is involved in hepatocarcinogenesis. Here, we aimed to evaluate the significance of hepatic lipid pro-inflammatory metabolites of arachidonate-affected CYLD expression via the 5-lipoxygenase (5-LO) pathway. Resection liver tissues from HCC patients or donors were evaluated for the correlation of 5-LO/cysteinyl leukotrienes (CysLTs) signaling to the expression of CYLD. The impact of functional components in 5-LO/CysLTs cascade on survival of HCC patients was subsequently assessed. Both livers from canines, a preponderant animal for cancer research, and genetic-modified human HCC cells treated with hepatocarcinogen aristolochic acid I (AAI) were further used to reveal the possible relevance between 5-LO pathway activation and CYLD suppression. Five-LO-activating protein (FLAP), an essential partner of 5-LO, was significantly overexpressed and was parallel to CYLD depression, CD34 neovascular localization, and high Ki-67 expression in the resection tissues from HCC patients. Importantly, high hepatic FLAP transcription markedly shortened the median survival time of HCC patients after surgical resection. In the livers of AAI-treated canines, FLAP overexpression was parallel to enhanced CysLTs contents and the simultaneous attenuation of CYLD. Moreover, knock-in FLAP significantly diminished the expression of CYLD in AAI-treated human HCC cells. In summary, the hepatic FLAP/CysLTs axis is a crucial suppressor of CYLD in HCC pathogenesis, which highlights a novel mechanism in hepatocarcinogenesis and progression. FLAP therefore can be explored for the early HCC detection and a target of anti-HCC therapy., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2022 Su, Zheng, Bréchot, Zheng, Zhu, Huang, Zhang, Tao, Lou and Li.)

Objectives: In this study we retrospectively analyzed the prognostic factors of patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC)., Methods: Clinical data of 112 patients with advanced NSCLC treated in the tumor center of our hospital from January 2016 to December 2017 were analyzed retrospectively, follow up the survival of patients, the effects of gender, age, tumor stage, pathological type, performance status (PS) score, smoking history and treatment on the survival of elderly patients with advanced NSCLC were analyzed. Results: The median survival time was 12.0 months, and the median age was 74 years. The 3-year survival rate after confirmation of advanced lung cancer was 6.25%. Kaplan Meier univariate analysis showed that age, PS score, smoking status and treatment correlated with the prognosis( P <0.05). Cox multivariate analysis showed that age >70 years, PS score>2, smoking and no targeted therapy were independent adverse prognostic factors for elderly patients with advanced NSCLC( P <0.05)., Conclusions: Age, PS score, smoking and treatment mode affect the prognosis and survival of elderly patients with advanced NSCLC. Effective treatment should be given according to the principle of evidence-based medicine., (Copyright: © Pakistan Journal of Medical Sciences.)

Background: It is controversial for the use of survival surrogate end points including response rate (RR), disease control rate (DCR), time to progression, and progression-free survival (PFS) in trials of molecular targeted agents. Our aim was to determine the correlations of these surrogates with survival in the treatment of advanced non-small-cell lung cancer (ANSCLC) with epidermal growth factor receptor tyrosine kinase inhibitors (EGFR-TKIs), gefitinib and erlotinib. Methods: Summary data of median survival time (MST) and surrogates from prospective trials of EGFR-TKIs in ANSCLC were identified. Patient- or trial-related characteristics were introduced as covariates. Simple and multivariate linear regression models were fitted for MST and each surrogate, respectively. And the significance of each surrogate as a survival marker was compared by calculating the area under their receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves. Results: Sixty eligible trials (9,903 patients) were enrolled. RR, DCR, and PFS were all strongly associated with MST. In their simple linear regression models, the coefficient of determination ( R) was 0.83 ( p < 0.000001), 0.58 ( p < 0.0001), and 0.70 ( p < 0.0001), respectively. And in their multivariate linear regression models, the standard coefficient was 0.71 ( p < 0.001), 0.40 ( p < 0.001), and 0.74 ( p < 0.001), respectively, while RR and PFS were the preferred survival predictors in the ROC analysis. Conclusion: RR or PFS may serve as an appropriate survival surrogate in the clinical trials of EGFR-TKIs for ANSCLC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: For investigating differences between two treatment groups in medical science, selecting a suitable model to capture the underlying survival function for each group with some covariates is an important issue. Many methods, such as stratified Cox model and unstratified Cox model, have been proposed for investigating the problem. However, different models generally perform differently under different circumstances and none dominates the others. In this article, we focus on two sample problems with right-censored data and propose a model selection criterion based on an approximately unbiased estimator of Kullback–Leibler loss, which accounts for estimation uncertainty in estimated survival functions obtained by various candidate models. The effectiveness of the proposed method is justified by some simulation studies and it also applied to an HIV+ data set for illustration. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Background: In 1989 BreastScreen SA started screening for breast cancer in South Australia. Methods: The programme concentrated on women between the ages of 50 and 69, using a 24-month screening interval and a joint method of mammography, clinical examination and self-detection. Results: This paper is a summary of our efforts to provide an assessment of the impact of the screening programme in terms of additional survival time past the age of first detection of the disease. Discussion: The concept of benchmarks is introduced, and the survival advantages for screened women is measured from these benchmarks. Conclusion: The women in the BreastScreen SA service, who had primary breast tumours, had an estimated additional survival advantage of 2.6 years. Some statistical modelling allowed us to extrapolate to other screening designs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of this study was to review the results of randomized Phase III controlled trials (RCTs) that involve initial treatments of malignant glioma and determine changes in median survival times (MST) over the last 40 years. An electronic database search identified RCTs for patients undergoing initial treatment for supratentorial high-grade malignant glioma. MSTs were analysed with respect to the date that patient accrual to the trial started, to identify the time course of changes in MST. Linear regression was used for statistical analysis. The review included 44 clinical trials that recruited patients between 1966 and 2004. Overall, there was a steady significant improvement in MST for the novel treatment cohorts over this period (r2 = 0.43, p < 0.001), with MST increasing from around 8 to 15 months. There was also consistent improvement in the MST of the control cohorts, from around 7 months to 14 months, that reached statistical significance (r2 = 0.41, p < 0.001). However, analysis including a quadratic term revealed a trend towards the rate of improvement in MST decreasing in the last two decades in the control, but not novel treatment, groups. The differences, either positive or negative, in MSTs between the control and novel treatment cohorts, and number of trials performed have all decreased with time. Subgroup analysis of the three most recent clinical trials report statistically significant better outcomes in MST after either >90% or 'complete' tumour resection. Despite tremendous advances in both the understanding of the biology of malignant gliomas and treatments in neuro-oncology, the prognosis for patients with malignant gliomas, although improved, remains very poor. The limitations of this type of analysis, including how trial design can bias outcomes and militate against comparison of trials are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Aim: The aim of this study is to evaluate the safety and efficacy of hepatic artery infusion (HAI) of 5-fluorouracil (5FU) for patients with liver metastases from colorectal carcinoma after radiological placement of infusion catheters. Methods: Forty-two patients with liver metastases from colorectal carcinoma received radiological placement of infusion catheters using the distal fixation method. They received continuous HAI of 5FU 1000–1500mg for 5h weekly or biweekly. Tumor status was assessed by chest-abdominal computed tomography (CT) scan after every 10 infusions. Hepatic perfusion was checked by CT arteriography via the infusion port after every 10 infusions. Results: Radiological placements of catheters were performed successfully in all cases. Each patient received an average of 36 treatments (range: 10–98). Catheter failure was found in 3 patients (7.1%). Nine incidents of grade 1 toxicity were observed in 8 patients (19.0%). There was a complete response in 6 patients, partial remission in 18, stable disease in 9, and progression of disease in 9 (response rate: 57.1%). Overall median survival time was 29.1months. Using Cox''s proportional hazard model, lymph node metastases in primary colorectal carcinoma and pre-treatment serum CEA affected overall survival (P =0.011, P =0.005). Conclusions: HAI after radiological placement of infusion catheters is a safe and effective treatment particularly for patients with no lymph node metastasis in primary carcinoma or with a low pre-treatment serum CEA level. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This article is concerned with variable selection methods for the Cox proportional hazards regression model. Including excessive covariates causes extra variability and inflated confidence intervals for regression parameters; thus regimes for discarding the less informative ones are needed. Our framework has p covariates designated as "protected," while variables from a further set of q covariates are examined for possible inclusion or exclusion. We develop a focused information criterion (FIC) that for given interest parameter finds the best subset of covariates. Thus the FIC might find that the best model for predicting median survival time is different than the best model for estimating survival probabilities, and the best overall model for analyzing men's survival might not be the same as the best overall model for analyzing women's survival. Methodology is also developed for model averaging, wherein the final estimate of a quantity is a weighted average of estimates computed for a range of submodels. Our methods are illustrated in simulations and for a survival study of Danish skin cancer patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aims of this retrospective observational study were to determine the factors which affect treatment provision and the Median Survival Time (MST) for maintenance of tooth vitality following complicated crown fracture. The survey was carried out for patients treated at Newcastle Dental Hospital (NDH) according to departmental guidelines over a 2-year period following the introduction of a new protocol for management of these types of injuries. Seventy-three cases of complicated crown fracture were identified in 69 children with a mean age of 10.3 years (SD = 2.5 years). Seventy-one percent of the fractures occurred in males (M:F ratio was 2.5:1). Fifty-one percent of the complicated crown fractures were in immature teeth. Of the 73 traumatised teeth, 45% presented initially in general dental practice (GDP), 37% at the dental hospital and 8% at local accident and emergency departments with the remaining 10% seen at other or unrecorded locations. Of the 41 fractures, which presented initially at a location other than the dental hospital, 38% were referred to the dental hospital without the provision of an emergency pulp bandage. The overall definitive treatments provided for the 37 open apex teeth included pulp cap (19%), partial pulpotomy (32%), cervical pulpotomy (8%) and pulpectomy (35%), while for the 36 closed apex teeth it was pulp cap (28%), pulpotomy (11%), and pulpectomy (61%). Of the 30 teeth, which underwent vital pulp therapy (18 open and 12 closed apex), the MST for the 15 teeth treated with pulp caps was 1460 days (95% CI: 1067, 1853) while for the 15 teeth treated with pulpotomies it was 1375 days (95% CI: 964, 1786). There was no statistically significant difference in the MST between teeth treated with pulp caps and pulpotomies. In conclusion, the proportion of patients referred to secondary care with complicated crown fractures without provision of a pulp bandage is of some concern. More conservative treatment of closed apex teeth sustaining complicated crown fractures, utilizing vital pulp therapy techniques would appear to be appropriate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Early detection of breast cancer is an important public health policy. Programs of regular screening examinations have been widely established in an attempt to detect the disease when the primary tumour diameter is small. In South Australia, BreastScreen SA suggests that women between the ages of 50 and 70 years be screened every 24 months. Our aim in this paper is to make assessments of various screening procedures by using statistical models with parameters estimated exclusively from South Australian data. We establish a relationship between primary tumour diameter and ultimate survival time. We estimate an advantage of 2.9 years in median survival time for those women detected with the disease by BreastScreen SA, compared with an unscreened population. We construct a computer model from which we determine the consequences of using a 12 month screening interval. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background. Costimulatory blockade has been shown to prevent acute rejection (AR) and promote long-term graft survival in a number of animal models including nonhuman primates. The effect of concomitant administration of conventional immunosuppressives on long-term liver allograft survival and intragraft expression of immune mediators has not previously been examined.Materials and methods. A high-responding Dark Agouti to Lewis orthotopic liver transplant (LEW OLT) model was used to compare anti-CD154 alone, or in combination with cyclosporin (CyA) on allograft survival. Donor-specific reactivity was assessed by mixed lymphocyte reaction (MLR) and allogeneic skin grafts. Surviving rats were euthanized on day 150 and intragraft gene (CD80, 86, 152, 154, IFN-γ, IL-2, IL-6, IL-10, IL-13, TNF-α, TGF-β, IL-7, Fas-ligand, Granzyme B, bax, and bcl2) and protein (CD4, CD8, ED1, CD154, CD80, CD86) expression was measured.Results. Untreated control recipients had a median survival time of 5 days. Recipients treated with anti-CD154 survived to beyond 150 days with no evidence of AR. Concomitant administration of CyA did not alter the long-term survival. There was no difference in the serum aspartate aminotransferase between treatment groups or a change over time. All treated recipients showed a reduction in donor-specific MLR at day 40 and 60 but had persistence of donor reactivity to skin grafts at day 100. Histologically, liver architecture was well preserved despite the presence of a nondestructive mononuclear cell infiltrate. Analysis of intragraft gene expression revealed an inverse relationship between the duration of anti-CD154 therapy and the gene expression of costimulatory molecules and Th1 cytokine transcripts. The pro-apoptotic gene, bax, was increased in recipients treated with anti-CD154, but not CyA, compared with normal liver.Conclusions. These data demonstrate that anti-CD154 therapy either alone or in combination with CyA allows for the long-term survival of liver allografts in the rat despite there being a difference in the intragraft gene and protein profile. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Background: Thus far, few studies have investigated the safety and efficacy of programmed death-1 (PD-1) immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) and tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) antibodies in patients with hepatitis B virus (HBV)-related liver cancer., Objective: To investigate the effect of combination therapy with programmed death-1 (PD-1) immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) and tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) on HBV-related liver cancer., Methods: Until January 31, 2022, liver cancer patients with hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) or HBV DNA positivity, treated with PD-1 ICIs and TKIs combined with nucleoside analogs (NAs), were retrospectively reviewed. The correlation between the change in HBV DNA and HBsAg levels and tumor response was analyzed using the χ 2 test. Cox univariate and multivariate survival analyses and Kaplan-Meier curves were used to identify and compare risk factors and overall survival (OS)., Results: A total of 48 patients were enrolled in the study, with an objective response rate (ORR) of 31.3%, a disease control rate (DCR) of 66.7%; the incidence of adverse events was mostly mild. A significant decrease in HBV DNA and HBsAg levels was observed at 12 and 24 weeks compared with the baseline (p < 0.05). Compared to patients with progressive disease (PD), patients with disease control showed a more significant decrease in HBV DNA and HBsAg levels at 12 and 24 weeks (p < 0.001). Eleven patients showed elevations in HBV DNA level and one of them showed HBV reactivation; however, the reactivation was not associated hepatitis. Moreover, eight patients showed elevation in HBsAg. Elevation in HBV DNA level was associated with poor tumor response (P=0.001, OR=18.643 [95% CI: 3.271-106.253]). Cox survival analysis suggested that HBV DNA increase (P=0.011, HR=4.816, 95% CI: 1.439-16.117) and HBsAg increase (P=0.022, HR=4.161, 95% CI: 1.224-16.144) were independent risk factors associated with survival time. Kaplan-Meier curves suggested that patients who exhibited an increase in HBV DNA (6.87 months vs undefined, log-rank test: p= 0.004) and HBsAg (8.07 months vs undefined, log-rank test: p= 0.004) levels had a shorter median survival time (MST). Patients without increased HBsAg showed better baseline liver function and routine blood tests (p<0.05) than patients with increased HBsAg. An increase in C-reactive protein (CRP) and interleukin-6 (IL-6), and a decrease in T lymphocytes, CD4+ T lymphocytes, and B lymphocytes at 1-week post-treatment associated with HBsAg well-controlled., Conclusion: HBV-related liver cancer patients treated with combination therapy showed improved efficacy and safety profiles. Combination therapy has some effect on HBV infection, and a correlation between tumor response and antiviral efficacy was found. Elevation of HBV DNA and HBsAg levels may indicate poorer tumor response and survival time. Better baseline liver function and early immune activation may be associated with decline in HBsAg levels., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest. The reviewer XZ declared a shared parent affiliation with the author NS to the handling editor at the time of review., (Copyright © 2022 Pan, Yu, Wang, Tu, Shen, Qiu, Liu, Su, Zuo, Luan, Zhang, Shi, Meng and Wang.)

The centralised registration and care of all diabetics in a geographically defined population has provided an epidemiological basis for a longitudinal investigation of the prognosis of this disease. Records of all newly diagnosed diabetics who had been registered in the Erfurt district (population 1.25 million) in 1966 were studied in relation to the time period 1966-1976. Of the known 2,560 diabetics (910 men, 1,650 women; 93.7% >40 years of age), 1,054 had died during the 10-year follow-up period. Cardiovascular causes accounted for the majority of deaths (63%). In almost all age classes proportionally more men than women had died at follow-up; there was a significant difference in the 60-69 year group (men 61.6%, women 46.2%). In comparison with the general population, excess mortality ranged from 2.1 to 1.0, decreasing with age at onset without significant differences between men and women. Excess mortality was present in most age classes and was evident within the first year after diagnosis. Current life-table analysis confirmed the shortened life expectancy of the diabetics. The lower lifeexpectancy of noninsul-independent diabetics may not be due to hyperglycaemia alone but probably also involves a variety of atherogenic risk factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aims of this research were (a) to compare food restriction initiated in adult life of male Fischer 344 rats with that limited to early life or involving most of the life span on physical, metabolic, and longevity characteristics and (b) to study a similar level of protein restriction without caloric restriction on these characteristics. Food restriction (60% of the ad libitum intake) initiated at 6 months of age markedly increased life span as did a similar restriction started at 6 weeks of age, but food restriction limited to early life (6 weeks to 6 months of age) and protein restriction caused only a small increase in longevity. Food restriction does not act by reducing the intake of calories or other nutrient per gram of body mass, a finding not in accord with classic views. A progressive decrease in spontaneous locomotive activity with age occurred in ad libitum fed but not restricted rats [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Background Mucormycosis is a life-threatening infection that predominantly occurs in immunocompromised hosts. The antifungal APX001A (manogepix) inhibits Gwt1, an enzyme required for the conserved glycosylphosphatidyl inositol (GPI) post-translational modification in eukaryotes. We previously reported the activity of APX001 (fosmanogepix, the prodrug of APX001A) against Rhizopus delemar (minimum effective concentration [MEC] = 0.25 µg/mL). Here we assessed the activity against R. oryzae, which has an elevated MEC value. Methods R. oryzae 99–892 MIC and MEC values were 0.125 µg/mL and 4.0 µg/mL for isavuconazole (ISAV) and APX001A, respectively. ICR mice were immunosuppressed with cyclophosphamide (200 mg/kg) and cortisone acetate (500 mg/kg) on Days -2, +3, and +8 relative to intratracheal infection with 2.5 × 105 cells of R. oryzae 99–892. For survival studies, treatment with 104 mg/kg APX001 was compared with ISAV (110 mg/kg TID). Oral treatment started on Day +1 through Day +7, relative to infection for survival studies, and through Day +4 for tissue fungal burden studies (assessed by conidial equivalent [CE] using qPCR). Placebo mice received vehicle control. To extend the half-life of APX001, mice were administered 50 mg/kg of the cytochrome P450 inhibitor 1-aminobenzotriazole (ABT) 2 h prior to APX001 administration. Results APX001 and ISAV equally prolonged median survival time of mice (n = 20) vs. placebo (12 and 14 days for APX001 and ISAV, respectively, vs. 8 days for placebo). Furthermore, APX001 and ISAV treatment both resulted in 30% 21-day survival vs. 0% survival of placebo mice (P < 0.05 by log-rank test). Both drug treatments resulted in ~1.5 log10 reduction in lung and brain CE vs. placebo-treated mice (n = 10, P < 0.005 by Wilcoxon rank-sum test). Conclusion Despite a higher MEC value, APX001 showed significant efficacy against R. oryzae that was as protective as ISAV in immunosuppressed mice. Given the previously reported activity of APX001 against a strain of R. delemar with a lower MEC value,APX001 has now been shown to be efficacious against both species of Rhizopus , which together are responsible for ~60–70% of isolates causing lethal mucormycosis. Thus, continued investigation of APX001 against mucormycosis is warranted. Disclosures All authors: No reported disclosures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a progressive motor neuron disease with great heterogeneity. Biological prognostic markers are needed for the patients to plan future supportive treatment, palliative treatment, and end-of-life decisions. In addition, prognostic markers are greatly needed for the randomization in clinical trials., Objective: This study aimed to test the ALS Functional Rating Scale-Revised (ALSFRS-R) progression rate (ΔFS) as a prognostic marker of survival in a Danish ALS cohort., Methods: The ALSFRS-R score at test date in association with duration of symptoms, from the onset of symptoms until test date, (defined as ΔFS') was calculated for 90 Danish patients diagnosed with either probable or definite sporadic ALS. Median survival time was then estimated from the onset of symptoms until primary endpoint (either death or tracheostomy). ΔFS' was subjected to survival analysis using Cox proportional hazards modelling, log-rank test, and Kaplan-Meier survival analysis., Results and Conclusions: Both ΔFS' and age was found to be strong predictors of survival of the Danish ALS cohort. Both variables are easily obtained at the time of diagnosis and could be used by clinicians and ALS patients to plan future supportive and palliative treatment. Furthermore, ΔFS', is a simple, prognostic marker that predicts survival in the early phase of disease as well as at later stages of the disease.

Clinical records of dogs with spontaneous degenerative mitral valve disease (DMVD) with clinical signs related to congestive heart failure (CHF) recruited during routine clinical practice between 2001 and 2018 at the Cardiology Unit of the Veterinary Teaching Hospital (University of Milan) were included in this retrospective cohort study. Baseline echocardiographic data were evaluated. Median survival time (MST) was calculated. Data on therapeutic treatment, ISACHC (International Small Animal Cardiac Health Council) or ACVIM (American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine) classes were reviewed based on the inclusion period and type of endpoint (i.e. cardiac death or death for other causes). A univocal classification was needed, and the patients classified in ISACHC classes II, IIIa and IIIb, visited before 2009, were reallocated to ACVIM class C. The main goal of this data review was to retrospectively evaluate 259 clinical records of subjects belonging to ACVIM C class examined between 2001 to 2018 and 202 dogs examined between 2010 to 2018. In this way, in the second group, the bias of the reclassification was avoided. The MST (median survival time) of these subjects was 531 d (2001-2018) and 335.5 d (2010-2018), respectively. Univariate survival regression analysis for subjects included from 2010 to 2018 showed as significantly related to cardiac death (CD): left atrium to aorta ratio (LA/Ao) (HR 2.754, p=0.000), E wave (HR 2.961, p=0.000), E/A ratio (HR 1.372, p=0.000), end-diastolic (HR 1.007, p=0.000) (EDVI) and end-systolic (HR 1.012, p=0.026) (ESVI) volume indexes, allometric diastolic (HR 4.018, p=0.000) (LVIDdN) and systolic (HR 2.674, p=0.049) (LVIDsN) left ventricular internal diameters, age (HR 1.006, p=0.009) and pulmonary hypertension severity (HR=1.309, p=0.012) (PH). Multivariate analysis, adjusted for age, showed that the only variable that determined a statistically significant difference in MST was PH severity (HR 1.334, p=0.033). The type of therapeutic treatment within this class was not significant for the MST of the subjects., (Copyright© by the Polish Academy of Sciences.)