Cancer Immunotherapy Trials Underutilize Immune Response Monitoring

Immune‐related radiological and biomarker monitoring in cancer immunotherapy trials permits interrogation of efficacy and reasons for therapeutic failure. We report the results from a cross‐sectional analysis of response monitoring in 685 T‐cell checkpoint‐targeted cancer immunotherapy trials in solid malignancies, as registered on the U.S. National Institutes of Health trial registry by October 2016. Immune‐related radiological response criteria were registered for only 25% of clinical trials. Only 38% of trials registered an exploratory immunological biomarker, and registration of immunological biomarkers has decreased over the last 15 years. We suggest that increasing the utilization of immune‐related response monitoring across cancer immunotherapy trials will improve analysis of outcomes and facilitate translational efforts to extend the benefit of immunotherapy to a greater proportion of patients with cancer.This work was supported by the Wellcome Trust Translational Medicine and Therapeutics Programme [RJAG/076 to T.J], by Cancer Research UK [C42738/A24868 to TJ], and the Cambridge Translational Medicine and Therapeutics Academic Clinical Fellowship Programme (C.M.C)

Biochar: pyrogenic carbon for agricultural use: a critical review.

O biocarvão (biomassa carbonizada para uso agrícola) tem sido usado como condicionador do solo em todo o mundo, e essa tecnologia é de especial interesse para o Brasil, uma vez que tanto a ?inspiração?, que veio das Terras Pretas de Índios da Amazônia, como o fato de o Brasil ser o maior produtor mundial de carvão vegetal, com a geração de importante quantidade de resíduos na forma de finos de carvão e diversas biomassas residuais, principalmente da agroindústria, como bagaço de cana, resíduos das indústrias de madeira, papel e celulose, biocombustíveis, lodo de esgoto etc. Na última década, diversos estudos com biocarvão têm sido realizados e atualmente uma vasta literatura e excelentes revisões estão disponíveis. Objetivou-se aqui não fazer uma revisão bibliográfica exaustiva, mas sim uma revisão crítica para apontar alguns destaques na pesquisa sobre biochar. Para isso, foram selecionados alguns temaschave considerados críticos e relevantes e fez-se um ?condensado? da literatura pertinente, mais para orientar as pesquisas e tendências do que um mero olhar para o passad

Ivermectin resistant and susceptible third-stage larvae of Haemonchus contortus: cholinesterase and phosphatase activities

Cholinesterase and acid phosphatase (AP), but not alkaline phosphatase activities, were detected in cytosolic and membrane-bound fractions of ivermectin resistant and susceptible Haemonchus contortus infective-stage larvae. Some differences in acetylcholinesterase activity of cytosolic fractions and in the AP activity of these fractions as well as in the response to AP inhibitors by membrane-bound fractions were detected. Data are discussed

Adopting robust decision-making to forest management under climate change

International audienceAbstract Key messageMulti-objective robust decision making is a promising decision-making method in forest management under climate change as it adequately considers deep uncertainties and handles the long-term, inflexible, and multi-objective character of decisions. This paper provides guidance for application and recommendation on the design. ContextRecent studies have promoted the application of robust decision-making approaches to adequately consider deep uncertainties in natural resource management. Yet, applications have until now hardly addressed the forest management context. AimsThis paper seeks to (i) assemble different definitions of uncertainty and draw recommendation to deal with the different levels in decision making, (ii) outline those applications that adequately deal with deep uncertainty, and (iii) systematically review the applications to natural resources management in order to (iv) propose adoption in forest management. MethodsWe conducted a systematic literature review of robust decision-making approaches and their applications in natural resource management. Different levels of uncertainty were categorized depending on available knowledge in order to provide recommendations on dealing with deep uncertainty. Robust decision-making approaches and their applications to natural resources management were evaluated based on different analysis steps. A simplified application to a hypothetical tree species selection problem illustrates that distinct robustness formulations may lead to different conclusions. Finally, robust decision-making applications to forest management under climate change uncertainty were evaluated and recommendations drawn. ResultsDeep uncertainty is not adequately considered in the forest management literature. Yet, the comparison of robust decision-making approaches and their applications to natural resource management provide guidance on applying robust decision making in forest management regarding decision contexts, decision variables, robustness metrics, and how uncertainty is depicted. ConclusionAs forest management is characterized by long decision horizons, inflexible systems, and multiple objectives, and is subject to deeply uncertain climate change, the application of a robust decision-making framework using a global, so-called satisficing robustness metric is recommended. Further recommendations are distinguished depending on the decision context