Association between Cerebrospinal Fluid and Serum Biomarker Levels and Diagnosis, Injury Severity, and Short-Term Outcomes in Patients with Acute Traumatic Spinal Cord Injury.

Acute traumatic spinal cord injury (SCI) is recognized as a global problem that can lead to a range of acute and secondary complications impacting morbidity and mortality. There is still a lack of reliable diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers in patients with SCI that could help guide clinical care and identify novel therapeutic targets for future drug discovery. The aim of this prospective controlled study was to determine the cerebral spinal fluid (CSF) and serum profiles of 10 biomarkers as indicators of SCI diagnosis, severity, and prognosis to aid in assessing appropriate treatment modalities. CSF and serum samples of 15 SCI and ten healthy participants were included in the study. The neurological assessments were scored on admission and at discharge from the hospital using the American Spinal Injury Association Impairment Score (AIS) grades. The CSF and serum concentrations of SBDP150, S100B, GFAP, NF-L, UCHL-1, Tau, and IL-6 were significantly higher in SCI patients when compared with the control group. The CSF GBDP 38/44K, UCHL-L1, S100B, GFAP, and Tau levels were significantly higher in the AIS A patients. This study demonstrated a strong correlation between biomarker levels in the diagnosis and injury severity of SCI but no association with short-term outcomes. Future prospective controlled studies need to be done to support the results of this study.

Factors Associated with the Decision to Decline Chemotherapy in Metastatic Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer.

(1) Background: Disparities in cancer treatment and outcomes have long been well-documented in the medical literature. With the eruption of advances in new treatment modalities, the long-existing disparities are now being further uncovered and brought to the attention of the medical community. While social health determinants have previously been linked to treatment disparities in lung cancer, we analyzed data from the National Cancer Database to explore sociodemographic and geographic factors related to accepting or declining physician-recommended chemotherapy. Patients diagnosed with metastatic lung cancer between 2004 and 2016 who declined chemotherapy recommended by their physicians were included in this study. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was performed. Cox Regression and Kaplan-Meier analyses were performed to look for survival characteristics. (2) Results: 316,826 patients with Stage IV lung cancer were identified. Factors related to a higher rate of refusal by patients included older age > 70, female sex, low income, lack of insurance coverage, residency in the New England region, and higher comorbidity. Patients living in areas with lower education were less likely to decline chemotherapy. (3) Conclusion: Further understanding of the factors impacting treatment decisions would be essential to improve the efficacy of care delivery in patients with cancer and reduce reversible causes of disparity.

Social disparities in pain management provision in stage IV lung cancer: A national registry analysis.

A strong association exists between pain and lung cancer (LC). Focusing on the disparities in pain referral in LC patients, we are aiming to characterize the prevalence and patterns of referrals to pain management (PM) in Stage IV non-small-cell LC (NSLC) and small-cell LC (SCLC). We sampled the National Cancer Database for de novo stage IV LC (2004-2016). We analyzed trends of pain referral using the Cochran-Armitage test. Chi-squared statistics were used to identify the sociodemographic and clinico-pathologic determinants of referral to PM, and significant variables (P < .05) were included in one multivariable regression model predicting the likelihood of pain referral. A total N = 17,620 (3.1%) of NSLC and N = 4305 (2.9%) SCLC patients were referred to PM. A significant increase in referrals was observed between 2004 and 2016 (NSLC: 1.7%-4.1%, P < .001; SCLC: 1.6%-4.2%, P < .001). Patient and disease factors played a significant role in likelihood of referral in both groups. Demographic factors such as gender, age, and facility type played a role in the likelihood of pain referrals, highlighting the gap and need for multidisciplinary PM in patients with LC. Despite an increase in the proportion of referrals to PM issued for terminal stage LC, the overall proportion remains low. To ensure better of quality of life for patients, oncologists need to be made aware of existent disparities and implicit biases.

Impact of COVID-19 on Cancer-Related Care in the United States: An Overview.

COVID-19 impacted several health services, including cancer-related care. Its implications were significant due to the lapse in hospital resources, compounded by the delays stemming from the economic effects on patients' jobs and medical coverage. Furthermore, reports suggesting an increased risk for morbidity and mortality from COVID-19 in patients with cancer and those on active cancer treatment caused additional fear and potential delays in seeking medical services. This review provides an overview of the pandemic's impact on cancer care in the United States and suggests measures for tackling similar situations in the future.

Omalizumab as a treatment option for antihistamine-refractory aquagenic urticaria.

A teenage girl presented with symptoms of itching and hives on contact with water for 3 years. On specific provocative testing and ruling out underlying systemic conditions, she was diagnosed with aquagenic urticaria. Following failed attempts to control her symptoms with second-generation antihistamines, she was started on monthly subcutaneous injections of the monoclonal antibody, omalizumab. The patient demonstrated significant improvement, with symptoms being well-controlled for 2 years now. She enjoys a good quality of life and can take a shower without developing itching or hives.

Management of HR+/HER2+ lobular breast cancer and trends do not mirror better outcomes.

PURPOSE: Treatment protocols for invasive lobular breast cancer (ILC) have largely followed those for invasive ductal breast cancer. This study compares treatment outcomes of endocrine therapy versus combined chemo-endocrine therapy in hormone-receptor-positive (HR+), HER2-positive (HER2+) ILC tumors in a large national registry. METHODS: We sampled the National Cancer Database (2010-2016) for female patients with stages I-III, HR+/HER2+ ILC who underwent surgery. Cochran-Armitage trend test examined trends of treatment regimen administration: Surgery only (S), chemotherapy (C), endocrine therapy (ET), and combined chemo-endocrine therapy (CET), with or without anti-HER2 therapy. Cox proportional hazard model were used to compare overall survival (OS) across ET and CET cohorts, stratifying for anti-HER2 therapy, before and after propensity score match of cohorts (2013-2016). Kaplan-Meier (KM) survival curves were also produced. RESULTS: N=11,421 were included. 58.7% of patients received Anti-Her2 therapy after 2013. CET conferred better OS over ET in the unmatched (adjusted-5-year-OS: 92.5% vs. 81.1%, p<0.001) and PS-matched (90.4% vs. 84.5%, p=0.001) samples. ET caused lower OS in patients who received Anti-Her2 therapy (HR: 2.56, 95% CI: 1.60-4.12, p<0.001) and patients who did not (HR: 1.84, 95% CI: 1.21-2.78, p=0.004), as compared to CET on multivariable analysis. KM modeling showed highest OS in the CET cohort who received Anti-Her2 (93.0%), followed by the CET cohort who did not receive Anti-Her2 (90.2%) (p=0.06). CONCLUSION: Chemotherapy followed by endocrine therapy and Anti-Her2 therapy was shown to be the most effective treatment modality in HR+/HER2+ ILC, contrasting previous data on the inconclusive benefit of chemotherapy in patients with ILC.