Effect of Density on Mediterranean Pine Seedlings Using the Nelder Wheel Design: Analysis of Survival and Early Growth

Abstract Background: There is growing interest in mixed-species forests but a lack of studies that analyse them for regeneration phases or any stage other than mature stands. Information is scarce about relatively unproductive species such as Pinus pinaster and Pinus halepensis in Mediterranean ecosystems. The objective of this study was to investigate inter- and intra-specific interactions of both species in different tree densities during the first years of establishment. Five Nelder wheel plots were planted to test densities ranging from 1000 to 80000 seedlings/ha and simulate establishment sub-processes at high densities. Pinus pinaster and Pinus halepensis were mixed along the spokes, to obtain three mixture levels in which 100%, 80% or 60% of the seedlings were of the same species. Cox proportional-hazards models and binomial logistic regressions were fitted to analyse seedling survival. Early growth (basal diameter and height at one and four years after plantation) was analysed by fitting linear mixed-effects models. Results: Pinus halepensis showed higher survival rates and basal diameter increments but more time is needed to know how Pinus pinaster responds to density and mixture. Conclusions: Both competitive and facilitating seedling interactions were observed at higher densities, which facilitate seedling survival but decrease early growth. Pinus halepensis showed higher survival rates and basal diameter increments but more time is necessary to determine Pinus pinaster response to density and mixture.

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Is more aggressive lymph node assessment associated with improved survival in stage II-III colorectal cancer? Evidence from the Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) cancer registry

Journal of Clinical Oncology ◽

10.1200/jco.2007.25.18_suppl.4048 ◽

2007 ◽

Vol 25 (18_suppl) ◽

pp. 4048-4048

Author(s):

Y. Yeh ◽

Q. Cai ◽

J. Chao ◽

M. Russell

Keyword(s):

Colorectal Cancer ◽

Risk Factors ◽

Proportional Hazards ◽

Survival Rates ◽

Cox Proportional Hazards ◽

Stage Ii ◽

Rank Test ◽

Stage Iiia ◽

Nccn Guidelines ◽

Cox Proportional Hazards Models

4048 Background: NCCN guidelines recommend assessment of =12 lymph nodes (LN) to improve accuracy in colorectal cancer (CRC) staging. Previous studies have used various cut-points to assess the relationship between the number of LN sampled and survival. The association between NCCN guideline-compliant nodal sampling and survival is assessed, while controlling for other risk factors. Methods: We selected 145,485 adult patients newly diagnosed with stage II or III from SEER during 1990–2003. Kaplan-Meier curves were compared using the log-rank test. Cox proportional hazards models were constructed to determine the effect of sampling ≥ 12 LN on survival. Results: Median patient follow-up was 5.7 years. The table shows overall survival rates in CRC patients with < 12 versus =12 LN assessed: After adjusting for age, sex, tumor size and grade, sampling ≥ 12 LN was independently associated with improved survival. For patients with =12 versus <12 LN assessed, survival increased by 13% for stage IIa [HR=0.75; 95%CI 0.72–0.78; p< .001], 16% for stage IIb [HR=0.69; 95%CI 0.67- 0.71; p< .001], 12% for stage IIIb [HR=0.75; 95%CI 0.72–0.77], and 10% for stage IIIc [HR=0.85, 95%CI 0.81–0.89]. The association was not statistically significant for stage IIIa patients. Conclusion: Consistent with previous reports, this analysis found that optimal nodal sampling increased survival across stage II and III, specifically when ≥ 12 LN are sampled and when controlling for other risk factors. Furthermore, the results underscore the need for adhering to the NCCN guidelines. The lack of a statistically significant association in stage IIIa patients may be due to small cohort size. [Table: see text] [Table: see text]

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Differences in survival for metastatic colorectal cancer patients by lines of therapy received.

Journal of Clinical Oncology ◽

10.1200/jco.2012.30.15_suppl.e14016 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 30 (15_suppl) ◽

pp. e14016-e14016

Author(s):

Brian S. Seal ◽

Benjamin Chastek ◽

Mahesh Kulakodlu ◽

Satish Valluri

Keyword(s):

Proportional Hazards ◽

Survival Rates ◽

Patient Characteristics ◽

Cox Proportional Hazards ◽

Research Database ◽

First Line ◽

Cox Proportional Hazards Models ◽

Stage 4 ◽

Similar Survival ◽

The Impact

e14016 Background: Improvements in survival for advanced-stage CRC patients who receive chemotherapy have been reported. We compared survival rates for patients with 3+ vs. <3 lines of therapy. Methods: Adult patients with a diagnosis of CRC between 01/01/05 and 05/31/10 were identified from the Impact Intelligence Oncology Management (IIOM) registry. Patients with either stage 4 CRC at original diagnosis or development of metastasis were included. Registry data included original stage and date of diagnosis. Linked healthcare claims from the Life Sciences Research Database, a large US health insurance database affiliated with OptumInsight, were used to identify lines of therapy after metastases and patient characteristics. Death data were obtained from the Social Security Administration’s master death file. Patients were categorized by number of lines of therapy received (0, 1, 2, 3+) and original stage at diagnosis (0-2, 3, 4, unknown). Survival following metastases was evaluated using Cox proportional hazards models controlling for lines of therapy received, stage, and other patient characteristics. Results: 598 patients, followed for a mean of 653 days after becoming metastatic, were included. Mean unadjusted length of follow-up was lowest among patients who received no chemotherapy (516 days) or only 1 line (511 days), and increased to 627 days for those with 2 lines and 930 days for those with 3+ lines. However, multivariate analysis indicated that patients with 3+ lines had comparable survival vs. those with 0 (HR=0.79), 1 (HR=1.59), or 2 (HR=1.15) lines of therapy (p>0.05 for all comparisons). Compared to patients who presented with stage 4 CRC, those who progressed from stage 0-2 (HR=1.22), stage 3 (HR=0.83), or unknown stage (HR=1.18) had similar survival after metastases (p>0.05 for all comparisons). After excluding 94 patients who didn’t receive chemotherapy, patients treated with an oxaliplatin-based regimen (HR=1.28; p=0.24) in first line had similar survival compared to patients treated with an irinotecan-based or anti-EGFR regimen in first line. Conclusions: Lines of therapy received and initial stage were not associated with survival after development of metastases.

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Alternating combination VCMP/VBAP chemotherapy versus melphalan/prednisone in the treatment of multiple myeloma: a randomized multicentric study of 487 patients.

Journal of Clinical Oncology ◽

10.1200/jco.1993.11.6.1165 ◽

1993 ◽

Vol 11 (6) ◽

pp. 1165-1171 ◽

Cited By ~ 37

Author(s):

J Bladé ◽

J F San Miguel ◽

A Alcalá ◽

J Maldonado ◽

M A Sanz ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Multiple Myeloma ◽

Partial Response ◽

Combination Chemotherapy ◽

Proportional Hazards ◽

Response Rate ◽

Objective Response ◽

Survival Rates ◽

Cox Proportional Hazards ◽

Multicentric Study ◽

Cox Proportional Hazards Models

PURPOSE To determine whether combination chemotherapy with alternating cycles of vincristine, cyclophosphamide, melphalan, and prednisone (VCMP) and vincristine, carmustine (BCNU), Adriamycin (doxorubicin; Farmitalia, Carlo-Erba Laboratories, Spain), and prednisone (VBAP) is better than the standard melphalan-prednisone (MP) regimen in multiple myeloma (MM). PATIENTS AND METHODS From January 1985 to December 1989, 28 institutions of the Spanish Cooperative Group for Hematological Malignancies Treatment, Spanish Society of Hematology (PETHEMA) entered 487 eligible patients with symptomatic MM into the study. Patients were randomized to receive either MP or alternating courses of VCMP and VBAP. Logistic regression and the Cox proportional hazards models were used to assess the association between patients' characteristics and response rate and survival, respectively. RESULTS Among 449 patients who were assessable for response, the overall response rate to MP was 51.8% (31.5% objective response plus 20.3% partial response) as compared with 62.7% (45.2% objective response plus 17.5% partial response) to VCMP/VBAP (P = .025). Also, a significantly higher proportion of objective responses was observed with combination chemotherapy (45.2% v 31.5%; P = .004). The factors associated with an unfavorable response rate in the overall series were low platelet count, treatment with MP, high creatinine level and immunoglobulin, (IgG) monoclonal (M)-component. No significant differences were found when survival rates of both groups of patients were compared. However, patients with IgA myeloma treated with VCMP/VBAP survived significantly longer than those who received MP (median, 20.2 v 38.4 months; P < .005). CONCLUSION These results indicate that combination chemotherapy improves response rate in MM. However, this does not result in a significantly different survival rate, except for patients with IgA myeloma, who survive significantly longer with combination chemotherapy.

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The effect of non-surgical and surgical mechanical root debridement on infrabony defects: a retrospective study

Scientific Reports ◽

10.1038/s41598-021-99205-z ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 11 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Jad Majzoub ◽

Ali Salami ◽

Shayan Barootchi ◽

Lorenzo Tavelli ◽

Hsun-Liang Chan ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Retrospective Study ◽

Clinical Outcomes ◽

Proportional Hazards ◽

Survival Rates ◽

Gingival Recession ◽

Cox Proportional Hazards ◽

Pocket Depth ◽

Cox Proportional Hazards Models ◽

Tooth Survival ◽

Infrabony Defects

AbstractThe aim of this retrospective study was to assess the outcomes of non-surgical and surgical mechanical root debridement for the treatment of infrabony defects and explore potential prognostic factors. Treated infrabony defects followed for at least 1 year were selected. All data pertaining to the clinical outcomes were recorded. Multi-level regression analysis and Cox Proportional-Hazards Models were used to assess the immediate (3–6 months) clinical outcomes, survival of the treated teeth, and factors influencing these results. 132 patients were included in the analysis. The analysis showed 1.42 ± 1.71 and 2.23 ± 1.64 mm in pocket depth (PD) reduction, 0.13 ± 1.83 and 0.08 ± 1.76 mm in clinical attachment level (CAL) gain, and 1.29 ± 1.56 and 2.15 ± 1.33 mm increase in gingival recession (REC) for the non-surgical and surgical groups, respectively. The 5-year survival rates were 93% for the non-surgically and 90% for the surgically treated teeth. Several factors affected clinical outcomes and tooth survival. Within its limitations, the treatment of infrabony defects with non-surgical and surgical mechanical root debridement was found to result in moderate but significant PD reduction, nevertheless, this may also be attributable to the resultant REC.

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A Machine Learning-Based Model to Predict Survival After Transarterial Chemoembolization for BCLC Stage B Hepatocellular Carcinoma

Frontiers in Oncology ◽

10.3389/fonc.2021.608260 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 11 ◽

Author(s):

Huapeng Lin ◽

Lingfeng Zeng ◽

Jing Yang ◽

Wei Hu ◽

Ying Zhu

Keyword(s):

Machine Learning ◽

Hepatocellular Carcinoma ◽

Proportional Hazards ◽

External Validation ◽

Model Development ◽

Survival Rates ◽

Model Performance ◽

Cox Proportional Hazards ◽

Proportional Hazards Models ◽

Cox Proportional Hazards Models

ObjectiveWe sought to develop and validate a novel prognostic model for predicting survival of patients with Barcelona Clinic Liver Cancer Stages (BCLC) stage B hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) using a machine learning approach based on random survival forests (RSF).MethodsWe retrospectively analyzed overall survival rates of patients with BCLC stage B HCC using a training (n = 602), internal validation (n = 301), and external validation (n = 343) groups. We extracted twenty-one clinical and biochemical parameters with established strategies for preprocessing, then adopted the RSF classifier for variable selection and model development. We evaluated model performance using the concordance index (c-index) and area under the receiver operator characteristic curves (AUROC).ResultsRSF revealed that five parameters, namely size of the tumor, BCLC-B sub-classification, AFP level, ALB level, and number of lesions, were strong predictors of survival. These were thereafter used for model development. The established model had a c-index of 0.69, whereas AUROC for predicting survival outcomes of the first three years reached 0.72, 0.71, and 0.73, respectively. Additionally, the model had better performance relative to other eight Cox proportional-hazards models, and excellent performance in the subgroup of BCLC-B sub-classification B I and B II stages.ConclusionThe RSF-based model, established herein, can effectively predict survival of patients with BCLC stage B HCC, with better performance than previous Cox proportional hazards models.

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A semi-supervised approach for rapidly creating clinical biomarker phenotypes in the UK Biobank using different primary care EHR and clinical terminology systems

JAMIA Open ◽

10.1093/jamiaopen/ooaa047 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Spiros Denaxas ◽

Anoop D Shah ◽

Bilal A Mateen ◽

Valerie Kuan ◽

Jennifer K Quint ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Primary Care ◽

Proportional Hazards ◽

Biomarker Discovery ◽

Data Extraction ◽

Cox Proportional Hazards ◽

Research Quality ◽

Uk Biobank ◽

Expert Review ◽

Cox Proportional Hazards Models ◽

The Uk

Abstract Objectives The UK Biobank (UKB) is making primary care electronic health records (EHRs) for 500 000 participants available for COVID-19-related research. Data are extracted from four sources, recorded using five clinical terminologies and stored in different schemas. The aims of our research were to: (a) develop a semi-supervised approach for bootstrapping EHR phenotyping algorithms in UKB EHR, and (b) to evaluate our approach by implementing and evaluating phenotypes for 31 common biomarkers. Materials and Methods We describe an algorithmic approach to phenotyping biomarkers in primary care EHR involving (a) bootstrapping definitions using existing phenotypes, (b) excluding generic, rare, or semantically distant terms, (c) forward-mapping terminology terms, (d) expert review, and (e) data extraction. We evaluated the phenotypes by assessing the ability to reproduce known epidemiological associations with all-cause mortality using Cox proportional hazards models. Results We created and evaluated phenotyping algorithms for 31 biomarkers many of which are directly related to COVID-19 complications, for example diabetes, cardiovascular disease, respiratory disease. Our algorithm identified 1651 Read v2 and Clinical Terms Version 3 terms and automatically excluded 1228 terms. Clinical review excluded 103 terms and included 44 terms, resulting in 364 terms for data extraction (sensitivity 0.89, specificity 0.92). We extracted 38 190 682 events and identified 220 978 participants with at least one biomarker measured. Discussion and conclusion Bootstrapping phenotyping algorithms from similar EHR can potentially address pre-existing methodological concerns that undermine the outputs of biomarker discovery pipelines and provide research-quality phenotyping algorithms.

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Changes in Metabolic Syndrome Status and Breast Cancer Risk: A Nationwide Cohort Study

Cancers ◽

10.3390/cancers13051177 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (5) ◽

pp. 1177

Author(s):

In Young Choi ◽

Sohyun Chun ◽

Dong Wook Shin ◽

Kyungdo Han ◽

Keun Hye Jeon ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Breast Cancer ◽

Metabolic Syndrome ◽

Proportional Hazards ◽

Screening Program ◽

Cox Proportional Hazards ◽

Cox Proportional Hazards Models ◽

Hazard Ratios ◽

Increased Risk ◽

Health Screening Program ◽

Design And Methods

Objective: To our knowledge, no studies have yet looked at how the risk of developing breast cancer (BC) varies with changes in metabolic syndrome (MetS) status. This study aimed to investigate the association between changes in MetS and subsequent BC occurrence. Research Design and Methods: We enrolled 930,055 postmenopausal women aged 40–74 years who participated in a biennial National Health Screening Program in 2009–2010 and 2011–2012. Participants were categorized into four groups according to change in MetS status during the two-year interval screening: sustained non-MetS, transition to MetS, transition to non-MetS, and sustained MetS. We calculated multivariable-adjusted hazard ratios (aHRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for BC incidence using the Cox proportional hazards models. Results: At baseline, MetS was associated with a significantly increased risk of BC (aHR 1.11, 95% CI 1.06–1.17) and so were all of its components. The risk of BC increased as the number of the components increased (aHR 1.46, 95% CI 1.26–1.61 for women with all five components). Compared to the sustained non-MetS group, the aHR (95% CI) for BC was 1.11 (1.04–1.19) in the transition to MetS group, 1.05 (0.96–1.14) in the transition to non-MetS group, and 1.18 (1.12–1.25) in the sustained MetS group. Conclusions: Significantly increased BC risk was observed in the sustained MetS and transition to MetS groups. These findings are clinically meaningful in that efforts to recover from MetS may lead to reduced risk of BC.

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Pre-diagnosis neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio and mortality in individuals who develop lung cancer

Cancer Causes & Control ◽

10.1007/s10552-021-01469-3 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Laurie Grieshober ◽

Stefan Graw ◽

Matt J. Barnett ◽

Gary E. Goodman ◽

Chu Chen ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Lung Cancer ◽

Proportional Hazards ◽

Smoking Status ◽

Cox Proportional Hazards ◽

Neutrophil To Lymphocyte Ratio ◽

Blood Draw ◽

Lymphocyte Ratio ◽

Cox Proportional Hazards Models ◽

Inflammatory Profile ◽

Heavy Smokers

Abstract Purpose The neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) is a marker of systemic inflammation that has been reported to be associated with survival after chronic disease diagnoses, including lung cancer. We hypothesized that the inflammatory profile reflected by pre-diagnosis NLR, rather than the well-studied pre-treatment NLR at diagnosis, may be associated with increased mortality after lung cancer is diagnosed in high-risk heavy smokers. Methods We examined associations between pre-diagnosis methylation-derived NLR (mdNLR) and lung cancer-specific and all-cause mortality in 279 non-small lung cancer (NSCLC) and 81 small cell lung cancer (SCLC) cases from the β-Carotene and Retinol Efficacy Trial (CARET). Cox proportional hazards models were adjusted for age, sex, smoking status, pack years, and time between blood draw and diagnosis, and stratified by stage of disease. Models were run separately by histotype. Results Among SCLC cases, those with pre-diagnosis mdNLR in the highest quartile had 2.5-fold increased mortality compared to those in the lowest quartile. For each unit increase in pre-diagnosis mdNLR, we observed 22–23% increased mortality (SCLC-specific hazard ratio [HR] = 1.23, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.02, 1.48; all-cause HR = 1.22, 95% CI 1.01, 1.46). SCLC associations were strongest for current smokers at blood draw (Interaction Ps = 0.03). Increasing mdNLR was not associated with mortality among NSCLC overall, nor within adenocarcinoma (N = 148) or squamous cell carcinoma (N = 115) case groups. Conclusion Our findings suggest that increased mdNLR, representing a systemic inflammatory profile on average 4.5 years before a SCLC diagnosis, may be associated with mortality in heavy smokers who go on to develop SCLC but not NSCLC.

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Survival rates and prognostic factors in right- and left-sided colon cancer stage I–IV: an unselected retrospective single-center trial

International Journal of Colorectal Disease ◽

10.1007/s00384-021-04005-6 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Claudius E. Degro ◽

Richard Strozynski ◽

Florian N. Loch ◽

Christian Schineis ◽

Fiona Speichinger ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Colon Cancer ◽

Overall Survival ◽

Blood Level ◽

Proportional Hazards ◽

Survival Rates ◽

Cox Proportional Hazards ◽

Stage I ◽

Cancer Stage ◽

Single Center ◽

Significant Difference

Abstract Purpose Colorectal cancer revealed over the last decades a remarkable shift with an increasing proportion of a right- compared to a left-sided tumor location. In the current study, we aimed to disclose clinicopathological differences between right- and left-sided colon cancer (rCC and lCC) with respect to mortality and outcome predictors. Methods In total, 417 patients with colon cancer stage I–IV were analyzed in the present retrospective single-center study. Survival rates were assessed using the Kaplan–Meier method and uni/multivariate analyses were performed with a Cox proportional hazards regression model. Results Our study showed no significant difference of the overall survival between rCC and lCC stage I–IV (p = 0.354). Multivariate analysis revealed in the rCC cohort the worst outcome for ASA (American Society of Anesthesiologists) score IV patients (hazard ratio [HR]: 16.0; CI 95%: 2.1–123.5), CEA (carcinoembryonic antigen) blood level > 100 µg/l (HR: 3.3; CI 95%: 1.2–9.0), increased lymph node ratio of 0.6–1.0 (HR: 5.3; CI 95%: 1.7–16.1), and grade 4 tumors (G4) (HR: 120.6; CI 95%: 6.7–2179.6) whereas in the lCC population, ASA score IV (HR: 8.9; CI 95%: 0.9–91.9), CEA blood level 20.1–100 µg/l (HR: 5.4; CI 95%: 2.4–12.4), conversion to laparotomy (HR: 14.1; CI 95%: 4.0–49.0), and severe surgical complications (Clavien-Dindo III–IV) (HR: 2.9; CI 95%: 1.5–5.5) were identified as predictors of a diminished overall survival. Conclusion Laterality disclosed no significant effect on the overall prognosis of colon cancer patients. However, group differences and distinct survival predictors could be identified in rCC and lCC patients.

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Association Between Informant-Reported Sleep Disturbance and Incident Dementia: An Analysis of the National Alzheimer’s Coordinating Center Uniform Data Set

Journal of Applied Gerontology ◽

10.1177/0733464820967202 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 073346482096720

Author(s):

Woojung Lee ◽

Shelly L. Gray ◽

Douglas Barthold ◽

Donovan T. Maust ◽

Zachary A. Marcum

Keyword(s):

Older Adults ◽

Sleep Disturbance ◽

Proportional Hazards ◽

Cox Proportional Hazards ◽

Cognitive Screening ◽

Cognitive Level ◽

Data Set ◽

Cox Proportional Hazards Models ◽

Incident Dementia ◽

Normal Cognition

Informants’ reports can be useful in screening patients for future risk of dementia. We aimed to determine whether informant-reported sleep disturbance is associated with incident dementia, whether this association varies by baseline cognitive level and whether the severity of informant-reported sleep disturbance is associated with incident dementia among those with sleep disturbance. A longitudinal retrospective cohort study was conducted using the uniform data set collected by the National Alzheimer’s Coordinating Center. Older adults without dementia at baseline living with informants were included in analysis. Cox proportional hazards models showed that participants with an informant-reported sleep disturbance were more likely to develop dementia, although this association may be specific for older adults with normal cognition. In addition, older adults with more severe sleep disturbance had a higher risk of incident dementia than those with mild sleep disturbance. Informant-reported information on sleep quality may be useful for prompting cognitive screening.

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