Deploying an artificial intelligence-based online search tool to increase patients' access to and understanding of solid tumor gastrointestinal clinical trials.

BACKGROUND: The number and complexity of clinical trials is growing, making finding and accessing trials increasingly challenging. A key barrier to increasing recruitment efficiency is patients' low awareness of trials as an option. They rarely hear about trials from oncologists, unless these are based at a research center, which introduces trial population biases. Even if patients decide to search for trial information on their own, it is difficult for laypeople to understand. Trial search tools exist, but have multiple shortcomings: complex navigation, limited search functionality, data too complex for non-specialists, and next steps unclear. METHODS: Access to trials via a novel trial search tool using technology, including artificial intelligence (AI), to restructure trial information and match patients to trials was the focus of this study. We focused on 6 gastrointestinal cancers for evaluating the search tool's AI model in which their trial information was restructured based on key eligibility differentiators identified. Research participants were recruited with the support of patient associations leveraging social media. They were asked to complete a survey evaluating an established tool and the novel tool to find trials relevant for them. They assessed aspects of the tools' usability on 5-level Likert scales. RESULTS: Survey respondents had a base level of awareness of trials, with patient associations and the internet as leading information sources. The novel tool made it easier to find trials, led to an improvement in ease of understanding information presented and provided more clarity on what the next steps towards enrollment would be. Overall, this led to higher patient satisfaction. CONCLUSIONS: Novel patient-focused tools can unlock trial access for all patients. Democratizing trial information will not only increase trial accrual, but also patient satisfaction while reducing disparities. This tool could also be of value for academic or community oncologists who face similar issues when navigating trials for patients.

Impulsivity is a heritable trait in rodents and associated with a novel quantitative trait locus on chromosome 1.

Impulsivity describes the tendency to act prematurely without appropriate foresight and is symptomatic of a number of neuropsychiatric disorders. Although a number of genes for impulsivity have been identified, no study to date has carried out an unbiased, genome-wide approach to identify genetic markers associated with impulsivity in experimental animals. Herein we report a linkage study of a six-generational pedigree of adult rats phenotyped for one dimension of impulsivity, namely premature responding on the five-choice serial reaction time task, combined with genome wide sequencing and transcriptome analysis to identify candidate genes associated with the expression of the impulsivity trait. Premature responding was found to be heritable (h2 = 13-16%), with significant linkage (LOD 5.2) identified on chromosome 1. Fine mapping of this locus identified a number of polymorphic candidate genes, however only one, beta haemoglobin, was differentially expressed in both the founder strain and F6 generation. These findings provide novel insights into the genetic substrates and putative neurobiological mechanisms of impulsivity with broader translational relevance for impulsivity-related disorders in humans.

Social dominance in rats: effects on cocaine self-administration, novelty reactivity and dopamine receptor binding and content in the striatum.

RATIONALE: Studies in human and non-human primates demonstrate that social status is an important determinant of cocaine reinforcement. However, it is unclear whether social rank is associated with other traits that also predispose to addiction and whether social status similarly predicts cocaine self-administration in rats. OBJECTIVES: The objective of this study is to investigate whether social ranking assessed using a resource competition task affects (i) the acquisition, maintenance and reinstatement of cocaine self-administration; (ii) the dopaminergic markers in the striatum; and (iii) the expression of ancillary traits for addiction. METHODS: Social ranking was determined in group-housed rats based upon drinking times during competition for a highly palatable liquid. Rats were then evaluated for cocaine self-administration and cue-induced drug reinstatement or individual levels of impulsivity, anxiety and novelty-induced locomotor activity. Finally, dopamine content, dopamine transporter (DAT) and dopamine D2/D3 (D2/3) receptor binding were measured postmortem in the dorsal and ventral striatum. RESULTS: Rats deemed socially dominant showed enhanced novelty reactivity but were neither more impulsive nor anxious compared with subordinate rats. Dominant rats additionally maintained higher rates of cocaine self-administration but showed no differences in the acquisition, extinction and reinstatement of this behaviour. D2/3 binding was elevated in the nucleus accumbens shell and dorsal striatum of dominant rats when compared to subordinate rats, and was accompanied by elevated DAT and reduced dopamine content in the nucleus accumbens shell. CONCLUSIONS: These findings show that social hierarchy influences the rate of self-administered cocaine but not anxiety or impulsivity in rats. Similar to non-human primates, these effects may be mediated by striatal dopaminergic systems.

Anthropomorphic breast phantoms with physiological water, lipid, and hemoglobin content for near-infrared spectral tomography.

Breast mimicking tissue optical phantoms with sufficient structural integrity to be deployed as stand-alone imaging targets are developed and successfully constructed with biologically relevant concentrations of water, lipid, and blood. The results show excellent material homogeneity and reproducibility with inter- and intraphantom variability of 3.5 and 3.8%, respectively, for water and lipid concentrations ranging from 15 to 85%. The phantoms were long-lasting and exhibited water and lipid fractions that were consistent to within 5% of their original content when measured 2 weeks after creation. A breast-shaped three-compartment model of adipose, fibroglandular, and malignant tissues was created with water content ranging from 30% for the adipose simulant to 80% for the tumor. Mean measured water content ranged from 30% in simulated adipose to 73% in simulated tumor with the higher water localized to the tumor-like material. This novel heterogeneous phantom design is composed of physiologically relevant concentrations of the major optical absorbers in the breast in the near-infrared wavelengths that should significantly improve imaging system characterization and optimization because the materials have stand-alone structural integrity and can be readily molded into the sizes and shapes of tissues commensurate with clinical breast imaging.

HPV and HPV vaccines: the knowledge levels, opinions, and behavior of parents.

To measure parent knowledge levels and opinions related to the human papillomavirus (HPV) and the two vaccines used to prevent it. To measure parent behavior in terms of whether or not to have their children vaccinated. Between June 19, 2012, and August 24, 2012, questionnaires were distributed to parents while waiting for their child to see their pediatrician at a local group practice. The survey was reviewed for face validity by College of Pharmacy social science and clinical faculty members, and an earlier version of it had been used successfully in a published study of biomedical students' knowledge of and attitudes toward the HPV vaccine. 129 usable surveys were obtained. 48.1% of subjects said they learned about the HPV vaccines from the media, while 47.3% identified health care practitioner(s) as a source of knowledge. The mean score on a 20-item knowledge test regarding the infection and vaccines was 36% (range 0-80%). Opinions on the subject varied widely. For example, 22.4% of subjects agreed that schools should require that students be vaccinated before enrolling, while 3.2% agreed that vaccination causes patients to become sexually active. Subjects reported vaccination status for 253 children (mean age 13) as follows: 33% vaccinated; 28% not vaccinated but will be; 11% will never be vaccinated; and 28% not decided. These results are somewhat encouraging, because many parents are hearing about the vaccines from their providers. Although not an equally valid source, the media are also raising awareness. Based on the knowledge and opinion results of this study, there is a need for pharmacists and other providers to educate their patients about the vaccines and the virus and to converse with them regarding the moral and psychological implications of vaccination. Still, it is encouraging that these subjects had or plan to have over half (61%) of their children vaccinated.

Salmonella in meats, water, fruit and vegetables as disclosed from testing undertaken by Food Business Operators in Ireland from 2005 to 2009.

UNLABELLED: Food Business Operators (FBO) are responsible for the safety of the food they produce and in Ireland those under the regulatory control of the Department of Agriculture, Food and Marine are required to provide summary data on microbiological tests undertaken as part of their food safety controls. These data are provided to the National Reference Laboratory through the 25 private laboratories undertaking the testing. RESULTS: Over the five-year period Salmonella sp. was isolated from 0.7% of the 254,000 raw meat or raw meat products tested with the annual prevalence ranging from 0.5 to 1.1%. Poultry meats were consistently more contaminated than other meats with higher recovery rates in turkey (3.3%), duck (3.3%), and chicken (2.5%) compared with meats of porcine (1.6%), ovine (0.2%) and bovine origin (0.1%). Salmonella sp. was also isolated from 58 (0.06%) of the 96,115 cooked or partially cooked meat and meat products tested during the reporting period with the annual percentage positive samples ranging from 0.01 to 0.16%. A total of 50 different serotypes were recovered from raw meats over this period with the greatest diversity found in poultry samples (n = 36). Four serotypes, Kentucky, Typhimurium, Agona and Derby accounted for over 70% of all isolates detected on FBO testing over the period 2005 to 2009. CONCLUSIONS: Capturing microbiological data generated by Food Business Operators allows the regulatory sector access to a substantial amount of valuable data with the minimum financial outlay.

The meaning of weaning: influence of the weaning period on behavioral development in mice.

Maternal care during the first week postpartum has long-term consequences for offspring development in rodents. However, mother-infant interactions continue well beyond this period, with several physiological and behavioral changes occurring between days 18 and 28 PN. In the present study, we investigate the long-term effects on offspring behavior of being weaned at day 21 PN versus day 28 PN. We found that male and female offspring engage in higher initial levels of social interaction if weaned at day 28 PN, as well as sexually dimorphic changes in exploratory behavior. Females who were themselves weaned earlier also appeared to wean their own pups earlier. Sex-specific effects of weaning age were found on levels of oxytocin and vasopressin V1a receptor density in the hypothalamus, central nucleus of the amygdala and nucleus accumbens. These results indicate that altering weaning age in mice may be a useful model for investigating the development of sexual dimorphism in neurobiology and behavior.