Innovative Thinking on Endpoint Selection in Clinical Trials

ABSTRACT

In clinical trials, selection of appropriate study endpoints is critical for an accurate and reliable evaluation of safety and effectiveness of a test treatment under investigation. In practice, however, there are usually multiple endpoints available for measurement of disease status and/or therapeutic effect of the test treatment under study. For example, in cancer clinical trials, overall survival, response rate, and/or time to disease progression are usually considered as primary clinical endpoints for evaluation of safety and effectiveness of the test treatment under investigation. Once the study endpoints have been selected, sample size required for achieving a desired power is then determined. It, however, should be noted that different study endpoints may result in different sample sizes. In practice, it is usually not clear which study endpoint can best inform the disease status and measure the treatment effect. Moreover, different study endpoints may not translate one another although they may be highly correlated one another. In this article, we intend to develop an innovative endpoint namely therapeutic index based on a utility function to combine and utilize information collected from all study endpoints. Statistical properties and performances of the proposed therapeutic index are evaluated theoretically. A numerical example concerning a cancer clinical trial is given to illustrate the use of the proposed therapeutic index.     

Outcomes after neoadjuvant or adjuvant chemotherapy for cT2-4N0-1 non–small cell lung cancer: A propensity-matched analysis

Objective

Comparative survival between neoadjuvant chemotherapy and adjuvant chemotherapy for patients with cT2-4N0-1M0 non–small cell lung cancer has not been extensively studied.

Specific alterations in plasma proteins during depressed,manic, and euthymic states of bipolar disorder

Bipolar disorder (BD) is a common psychiatric mood disorder affecting more than 1-2% of the general population of different European countries. Unfortunately, there is no objective laboratory-based test to aid BD diagnosis or monitor its progression, and little is known about the molecular basis of BD. Here, we performed a comparative proteomic study to identify differentially expressed plasma proteins in various BD mood states (depressed BD, manic BD, and euthymic BD) relative to healthy controls. A total of 10 euthymic BD, 20 depressed BD, 15 manic BD, and 20 demographically matched healthy control subjects were recruited. Seven high-abundance proteins were immunodepleted in plasma samples from the 4 experimental groups, which were then subjected to proteome-wide expression profiling by two-dimensional electrophoresis and matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization-time-of-flight/time-of-flight tandem mass spectrometry. Proteomic results were validated by immunoblotting and bioinformatically analyzed using MetaCore. From a total of 32 proteins identified with 1.5-fold changes in expression compared with healthy controls, 16 proteins were perturbed in BD independent of mood state, while 16 proteins were specifically associated with particular BD mood states. Two mood-independent differential proteins, apolipoprotein (Apo) A1 and Apo L1, suggest that BD pathophysiology may be associated with early perturbations in lipid metabolism. Moreover, down-regulation of one mood-dependent protein, carbonic anhydrase 1 (CA-1), suggests it may be involved in the pathophysiology of depressive episodes in BD. Thus, BD pathophysiology may be associated with early perturbations in lipid metabolism that are independent of mood state, while CA-1 may be involved in the pathophysiology of depressive episodes.     

解剖锁定钢板联合同种异体腓骨治疗肱骨近端骨折疗效的Meta分析

文题释义：肱骨近端骨折：肱骨近端包括肱骨头及大结节、小结节，中老年人骨质疏松及低能量损伤可导致肱骨近端骨折。 同种异体腓骨：取自于人体异体，经过加工处理，去除其免疫原性，保留其骨性结构，可用于移植修复骨缺损，起到支撑作用。 背景：肱骨近端骨折是临床常见骨折，但对肱骨近端内侧柱缺乏支撑的骨折目前仍是治疗难点，并发症常见，失败率较高。 目的：比较解剖锁定钢板联合同种异体腓骨与单纯解剖锁定钢板治疗肱骨近端骨折的疗效。 方法：使用计算机检索PubMed、Embase、Cochrane Library、Google Scholar、中国知网、万方、维普数据库，检索时间均从建库到2020年2月。检索国内外关于对比研究解剖锁定钢板联合同种异体腓骨与单纯解剖锁定钢板治疗肱骨近端骨折疗效的文献。2名研究员根据纳入和排除标准分别独立筛选文献，提取数据，评估文献中的偏倚风险。纳入12篇相关文献使用RevMan 5.2软件将以下指标进行Meta分析，包括影像学数据、功能评分和并发症。结果与结论：①通过文献检索、根据纳入和排除标准，12篇文献纳入研究，其中11篇为回顾性队列研究，1篇为随机对照研究；纳入研究文献质量高，但GRADE证据质量级别较低。②共纳入958例患者，其中解剖锁定钢板联合同种异体腓骨组411例，单纯解剖锁定钢板组547例；③Meta分析结果显示，解剖锁定钢板联合同种异体腓骨组术后1年肱骨头高度差值(MD=-2.40，95%CI：-2.49至-2.31)、颈干角差值(MD= -6.14，95%CI：-6.62至-5.67)、目测类比评分(MD=-0.22，95%CI：-0.35至-0.08)、肩关节功能评分(MD=4.12，95%CI：2.18-6.06)，上肢伤残评分(MD=-10.32，95%CI：-13.44至-7.19)、术后2年的目测类比评分(MD=-0.37，95%CI：-0.55至-0.19)、肩关节功能评分(MD=5.07，95%CI：2.86-7.27)、总体并发症(OR=0.31，95%CI：0.20-0.48)及肱骨头螺钉切出(OR=0.25，95%CI：0.11-0.55)均明显优于单纯解剖锁定钢板组(P < 0.05)，肱骨头坏死(OR=0.94，95%CI：0.47-1.88)，两组间差异无显著性意义(P > 0.05)；④因此，较弱的证据提示，肱骨近端解剖锁定钢板联合同种异体腓骨治疗肱骨近端骨折的短期疗效优于解剖锁定钢板，可减少并发症的发生，促进功能恢复。ORCID: 0000-0002-8486-3932(阳运康) 中国组织工程研究杂志出版内容重点：人工关节；骨植入物；脊柱；骨折；内固定；数字化骨科；组织工程     

Porocarcinoma coexisting at a site of Bowen disease in a 63‐year‐old woman

Porocarcinoma is an unusual, locally aggressive and potentially fatal neoplasm. Several cutaneous malignancies have been described in association with porocarcinoma, including squamous cell carcinoma, basal cell carcinoma and tricholemmal carcinoma. Previous reports have indicated that the occurrence of malignant tumours in combination with porocarcinoma is extremely rare, in particular with regard to Bowen disease (BD). We report an uncommon case of porocarcinoma occurring synchronously in a single BD lesion in a 63‐year‐old woman with multiple BD lesions. The clinical and histological findings confirmed this diagnosis.     

输尿管支架管结壳患者尿液菌群的分布特点

目的探讨输尿管支架管结壳患者尿液菌群的分布特点。方法选取2018年10月至2019年3月在山东省立第三医院、山东大学齐鲁医院、济南市中心医院和济南市济钢医院就诊的35例输尿管支架管置入术后患者。纳入标准:年龄18~65岁;输尿管镜碎石术后留置内支架管4周。排除标准:尿液细菌培养阳性;严重肉眼血尿;近期口服抗生素;存在明显残石患者。本研究采用横断面研究方法(临床研究注册号为ChiCTR1800020025),根据有无支架管结壳将患者分为结壳组23例和无结壳组12例。收集拔管当日患者尿液行细菌16s DNA检测。使用UPARSE、UCHIME和RDP calssifier等软件分析两组患者尿液菌群分布特点,明确两组患者尿液中细菌种类总数、细菌丰度,以及丰度占比较大的细菌类别,比较两组患者尿液细菌种类、数量及细菌丰度的差异,明确结壳组患者尿液中丰度占比较大的细菌菌属。结果两组患者的年龄、性别、体质指数、置管侧别、内支架管型号及结石成分差异均无统计学意义(P>0.05)。16s DNA检测结果显示,结壳组丰度占比>1%的菌属数量为11个,丰度占比>0.01%的菌属数量为74个;无结壳组丰度占比>1%的菌属数量为7个,丰度占比>0.01%的菌属数量为11个,两组丰度占比>1%的菌属数量比较差异有统计学意义(t=5.12,P=0.000)。结壳组中菌属丰度占比前3位分别为乳杆菌属(23.1%)、拟杆菌属(18.8%)和未分级拟杆菌属(17.1%),非结壳组中菌属丰度占比前3位分别是为埃希菌-志贺菌属(32.2%)、肠球菌属(24.9%)和假单胞菌属(18.2%)。两组间差异最大的3种细菌是乳杆菌属(P=0.010),拟杆菌属(P=0.004)和未分级拟杆菌属(P=0.004)。结论支架管结壳患者尿液中细菌种类和数量都明显多于非支架管结壳患者。拟杆菌属细菌在支架管结壳患者尿液中的细菌种类丰度较大。