Outcomes of patients with non-small cell lung cancer and poor performance status treated with immune checkpoint inhibitors in the real-world setting

International Journal of Clinical Oncology - Immune-checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) are standard treatments for metastatic non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Patients with poor performance status...     

Neorickettsia helminthoeca associated lymphoid,enteric, and pulmonary lesions in dogs from Southern Brazil: An immunohistochemical study

Neorickettsia helminthoeca (NH), the agent of salmon poisoning disease or canine neorickettiosis (CN), is a bacterial endosymbiont of the nematode Nanophyetus salmincola, and infections are spreading among specific fish‐eating mammalians. This article describes the pathologic and immunohistochemical findings associated with spontaneous NH‐induced infections in dogs from Southern Brazil. The principal pathologic findings were hypertrophy of Peyer patches and lymphadenopathy with lymphocytic proliferation, chronic interstitial pneumonia, and chronic enteritis associated with positive intralesional immunoreactivity to antigens of NH within macrophages and histiocytes. Positive immunoreactivity against canine parvovirus‐2 (CPV‐2) or/and canine distemper virus was not detected in the evaluated intestinal segments or in the samples from the cerebellum and lungs, respectively, from the dogs evaluated. These findings demonstrated that NH was involved in the enteric, pulmonary, and lymphoid lesions herein described, and provide additional information to confirm the occurrence of this bacterial endosymbiont within this geographical location. It is proposed that chronic pneumonia should be considered as a pathologic manifestation of NH‐induced infections. Additionally, our results show that the occurrences of CN seem to be underdiagnosed in Southern Brazil due to the confusion with the incidence of CPV‐2.     

Evaluation of selective attention in patients with misophonia

IntroductionMisophonia is characterized by the aversion to very selective sounds, which evoke a strong emotional reaction. It has been inferred that misophonia, as well as tinnitus, is associated with hyperconnectivity between auditory and limbic systems. Individuals with bothersome tinnitus may have selective attention impairment, but it has not been demonstrated in case of misophonia yet.ObjectiveTo characterize a sample of misophonic subjects and compare it with two control groups, one with tinnitus individuals (without misophonia) and the other with asymptomatic individuals (without misophonia and without tinnitus), regarding the selective attention.MethodsWe evaluated 40 normal-hearing participants: 10 with misophonia, 10 with tinnitus (without misophonia) and 20 without tinnitus and without misophonia. In order to evaluate the selective attention, the dichotic sentence identification test was applied in three situations: firstly, the Brazilian Portuguese test was applied. Then, the same test was applied, combined with two competitive sounds: chewing sound (representing a sound that commonly triggers misophonia), and white noise (representing a common type of tinnitus which causes discomfort to patients).ResultsThe dichotic sentence identification test with chewing sound, showed that the average of correct responses differed between misophonia and without tinnitus and without misophonia (p = 0.027) and between misophonia and tinnitus (without misophonia) (p = 0.002), in both cases lower in misophonia. Both, the dichotic sentence identification test alone, and with white noise, failed to show differences in the average of correct responses among the three groups (p ≥ 0.452).ConclusionThe misophonia participants presented a lower percentage of correct responses in the dichotic sentence identification test with chewing sound; suggesting that individuals with misophonia may have selective attention impairment when they are exposed to sounds that trigger this condition.     

Can a pragmatic responsive feeding scale be developed and applied globally?

Responsive feeding (RF) has been recognized as necessary to prevent all forms of malnutrition including stunting and childhood obesity. Specific RF guidelines have been developed, but it is unclear how RF behaviours can be monitored systematically. Therefore, developing valid and reliable abbreviated and pragmatic RF scales is an important global priority. This is challenging, as RF is a construct with multiple dimensions including recognizing and responding to hunger and satiety cues, providing a nurturing environment during feeding episodes, and understanding how feeding needs evolve as a function of the developmental stage of the young child. Further, RF is embedded within the responsive parenting framework that in addition to RF includes sleep, soothing and play routines and the interconnections between them. A recent pioneer study conducted in a rural area of Cambodia validated an 8‐item RF scale through direct feeding observations of 6‐ to 23‐month‐old infants at home, as part of two cross‐sectional surveys conducted before and after a complementary feeding intervention. It is important for similar research to be conducted elsewhere to find out if it is possible or not to develop a core RF scale that is valid and reliable and that has adequate specificity and sensitivity for application in community studies and population surveys globally. As highlighted in this article, different definitions of RF have been used in the field; thus, it is important to reach consensus on a single definition to help move this research area forward.