Best practices for the management of local-regional recurrent chordoma: a position paper by the Chordoma Global Consensus Group

Chordomas are rare, malignant bone tumors of the skull-base and axial skeleton. Until recently, there was no consensus among experts regarding appropriate clinical management of chordoma, resulting in inconsistent care and suboptimal outcomes for many patients. To address this shortcoming, the European Society of Medical Oncology (ESMO) and the Chordoma Foundation, the global chordoma patient advocacy group, convened a multi-disciplinary group of chordoma specialists to define by consensus evidence-based best practices for the optimal approach to chordoma. In January 2015, the first recommendations of this group were published, covering the management of primary and metastatic chordomas. Additional evidence and further discussion were needed to develop recommendations about the management of local-regional failures. Thus, ESMO and CF convened a second consensus group meeting in November 2015 to address the treatment of locally relapsed chordoma. This meeting involved over 60 specialists from Europe, the United States and Japan with expertise in treatment of patients with chordoma. The consensus achieved during that meeting is the subject of the present publication and complements the recommendations of the first position paper.     

Patient Race or Ethnicity and the Use of Diagnostic Imaging: A Systematic Review

ObjectiveTo summarize the existing literature evaluating differences in imaging use based on patient race and ethnicity.MethodsThe authors performed a structured search of four databases for the dates January 1, 2000, to April 13, 2021, using key words and derivatives focused on imaging and patient race. Retrieved citations were reviewed by abstract and then full text to identify articles that evaluated the likelihood of imaging use by patient race or ethnicity controlling for sociodemographic factors. Data regarding publication characteristics, study population, clinical setting, and results was extracted and summarized.ResultsThe structured search identified 2,938 articles, of which 206 met inclusion criteria. Most studies (87%, 179 of 206) were conducted in the United States, and the majority (72%, 149 of 206) found decreased or inappropriate imaging use in minority groups. Breast cancer screening was the most common clinical setting (50%, 104 of 206), followed by cancer care (10%, 21 of 206) and general imaging use (9%, 19 of 206). Government-administered surveys were the most common data source (40%, 82 of 206). Only a small minority of studies (8%, 17 of 206) evaluated strategies to mitigate the unequal use of imaging based on patient race and ethnicity.DiscussionThe existing literature shows decreased or inappropriate use of diagnostic imaging for minority patients across a wide variety of clinical settings. Although the number of articles on the topic is large, the majority are clustered around specific topics, and few articles evaluate potential strategies to reduce the inequitable use of diagnostic imaging.     

The impact of exercise on sleep in people with Parkinson’s disease a scoping review

While high intensity exercise is associated with improvement of both motor and non-motor symptoms in Parkinson’s disease (PD), there is limited evidence on its impact on sleep disturbances in PD. This scoping review aims to provide a preliminary statement of the potential size and scope of available evidence for the interaction between exercise and sleep in people with PD. Research to date on non-motor symptoms of PD is broad, with scarce information regarding specific effects of exercise on sleep. A systematic literature search was conducted through three phases. Fifteen articles met the inclusion criteria for this study. Resistive exercise and multimodal exercise programs were frequently studied and found to improve sleep and decrease sleep-related disorders. These findings suggest that exercise programs may improve sleep and other non-motor symptoms of PD. The research was inconclusive when comparing the effects of high and low intensity exercises. Further research on the interaction between exercise and sleep in PD may have implications for rehabilitative therapy interventions.     

A biocompatible supramolecular hydrogel with multivalent galactose ligands inhibiting Pseudomonas aeruginosa virulence and growth

In recent years, peptide self-assembly proved to be an efficient strategy to create complex structures or functional materials with nanoscale precision. In this work, we designed and synthesized a novel glycopeptide molecule with a galactose moiety through peptide galactosylation. Then relying on peptide self-assembling strategies, we created a supramolecular hydrogel with multivalent galactose ligands on the surface of self-assembled nanofibers for molecular recognition and interactions. Because of multivalent galactose–LecA interactions, the self-assemblies of glycopeptide could target P. aeruginosa specifically, and acted as anti-virulence and antibacterial agents to inhibit biofilm formation and bacterial growth of P. aeruginosa. Moreover, in association with polymyxin B, a common antibiotic, the glycopeptide hydrogel exhibited a synergistic growth inhibition effect on biofilm colonization of P. aeruginosa.

A glycopeptide hydrogel displaying galactoses on their surface was prepared, which inhibited Pseudomonas aeruginosa virulence and growth through multivalent interactions.