An active city approach for urban development.

With an increasing percentage of the global population living in cities and the concurrent decrease in physical activity in daily life, public health issues for urban development have arisen. This study responds to that trend by presenting an approach to measure city-wide physical activity levels. Comparing of city indices for active sports and the active transportation shows differences between subject cities and activity level of age groups in sports as well as walking and cycling. Therefore, our study lends itself to implications for urban development towards creating a healthier city.

A phase II study of sorafenib in malignant mesothelioma: results of Cancer and Leukemia Group B 30307.

HYPOTHESIS: Malignant mesotheliomas (MMs) express vascular endothelial growth factor receptor (VEGFR), platelet-derived growth factor receptor, and cKIT. Sorafenib is a potent inhibitor of the ras/raf/MEK pathway and also targets VEGFR and cKIT. We evaluated the activity of sorafenib in patients with unresectable mesothelioma. METHODS: MM patients who had received 0 to 1 prior chemotherapy regimens were treated with sorafenib 400 mg orally twice daily continuously. The primary end point was objective response. ERK1/2 phosphorylation in archival tissues was correlated with response and survival. RESULTS: A total of 51 patients were enrolled, 50 were evaluable and included in the analysis. Three patients had a partial response (6% [95% confidence interval = 1.3-16.6%]), and 27 (54% [95% confidence interval = 39.3-68.2%]) had stable disease. Median progression-free survival and median overall survival (OS) were 3.6 and 9.7 months, respectively. Median survival was superior in epithelioid histology versus other types (10.7 versus 3.7 months, p = 0.0179). The difference in median OS between pretreated and chemonaive patients was not statistically significant (13.2 versus 5 months, p = 0.3117). Low/negative baseline tumor phospho-ERK1/2 levels were associated with improved OS (13.9 versus 5.2 months, p = 0.0066). CONCLUSION: Sorafenib has limited activity in advanced MM patients, similar to that seen with other VEGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitors. Additional studies of sorafenib in MM are not warranted.

Improving accrual of older persons to cancer treatment trials: a randomized trial comparing an educational intervention with standard information: CALGB 360001.

PURPOSE: To design and test a geriatric educational intervention to improve accrual of cancer patients age 65 years and older to cooperative group-sponsored treatment trials. METHODS: Main member institutions of the Cancer and Leukemia Group B (CALGB) and its affiliates were randomly assigned to receive standard information (n = 73) or educational intervention (n = 53). Standard information included CALGB Web site access and periodic notification about existing trials. The geriatric educational intervention included standard information plus: (1) an educational seminar; (2) educational materials; (3) a list of available protocols for use on charts; (4) a monthly e-mail and mail reminders for 1 year; and (5) a case discussion seminar. The main outcome was percentage of accrual of older persons to phase II and III treatment protocols after study initiation compared with baseline. RESULTS: There were 3,032 patients entered onto trials in the baseline year, and 2,160 and 1,239 during the 2 years postintervention, respectively. Overall percentage of accrual of older patients was 37% at baseline, and 33% and 31% during the first and second years after intervention. There was no improvement in accrual in the intervention versus control arm: 36% v 32% in the first year and 31% v 31% in the second year. CONCLUSION: Accrual of older patients was not increased by this intervention. Reasons for lack of effect include low intervention intensity, high baseline accrual rates, and closure of several high-accruing protocols during the study. More intense and multifaceted approaches will be needed to change physician (and patient) behavior and to increase accrual of older persons to clinical trials.