Ruxolitinib Re-Treatment in Patients with Myelofibrosis: Real-World Evidence on Patient Characteristics and Outcomes

Ruxolitinib is an FDA-approved treatment of intermediate- and high-risk myelofibrosis. In the phase 3 COMFORT studies, ruxolitinib reduced spleen volume in patients with myelofibrosis, with a median time to response of 3 months. However, nearly 20% of patients discontinued by month 4 with few treatment options available following discontinuation of ruxolitinib treatment. In this study, 2 independent patient care data sources were queried (Cardinal Health Oncology Provider Extended Network [OPEN] and HealthCore Integrated Research Environment [HIRE®]), and a retrospective review of medical charts was conducted. Patients aged ≥18 years with a diagnosis of myelofibrosis (primary or secondary), use of ruxolitinib for myelofibrosis, and documented physician-directed ruxolitinib interruption were included. Among 26 included patients, pre-interruption median (interquartile range [IQR]) ruxolitinib treatment duration was 123 (57–391, OPEN) and 110 (37–148, HIRE) days. Half the patients interrupted treatment within 3 months, commonly for adverse events (42% and 71%, respectively). After restarting ruxolitinib, median (IQR) re-treatment duration was 196 (54–553) and 166 (108–262) days, respectively. Consistent with previous reports, symptoms and spleen size improved in (OPEN/HIRE) 45%/43% and 40%/33% of evaluable patients, respectively. Further studies investigating the management of dose modifications and interruptions are needed to optimize benefit from ruxolitinib therapy.

Innovations for an Integrated Approach to the 2030 Agenda

From the One Health (OH) perspective, the achievement of better public health results depends on effective strategies and interventions based on integrated research in diverse sectors of activity (human health, animal health, agriculture, and environment). The central topic in the United Nations 2030 Agenda aims at a world free of hunger, poverty, and severe disease through the achievement of 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The objective of the present study is to evaluate countries and applicants of technologies patented between 2015-2020. From this methodological perspective, searches have been carried out in this study on the global patent database documents available, using specific search strategies for technologies related to challenging diseases for achieving SDGs, such as neglected communicable and non-communicable diseases: diarrhea, tuberculosis, malaria, obesity, cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, lung cancer, human schistosomiasis, and Zika.

"Lingua receptiva": ekolingwistyczne ujęcie słowiańskich kontaktów międzyjęzykowych w przestrzeni pogranicza (przypadek polsko-czeski)

Lingua receptiva: An Ecolinguistic Approach to Slavic Inter-Language Contacts in a Borderland Area (a Polish-Czech Case)Ecolinguistics has dealt with inter-language contacts ever since its beginnings as an independent linguistic discipline in the 1970s. However, it has not gained much interest among Slavic studies scholars in Poland. The aim of this article is to present the ecolinguistic concept of research on Slavic inter-language contacts on the example of Polish and Czech using the notion lingua receptiva. The proposed concept of integrated research on language ecology in the Polish-Czech borderland covers three dimensions of the language ecosystem: natural, social and cognitive. Research on the natural ecology of the language revolves around its interrelationships with the surrounding natural environment and can relate to topography, fauna and flora, etc. This research considers the potential of the natural and the anthropogenic environment in relation to the language (and vice versa). In the sociological observation of the language ecology, attention is paid to social and cultural conditions shaping the relationships between communicating individuals and the nature of the communities that are constituted or maintained as a result of these contacts. Cognitive language ecology, in turn, includes the cognitive skills and competences of users, especially those that enable flexible adaptation in a particular environment. A different methodology has been developed for each dimension: from sociolinguistic quantitative approaches based on surveys, to pragmalinguistic experiments designed to observe the shape of sender-recipient relations in inter-language receptive communication. These methodologies are presented together with the preliminary results of research which make it possible to state that lingua receptiva is the nucleus of inclusive multilingualism, breaking the paradigm of monolingualism and blurring the borders between languages in the pursuit of mutual understanding. Lingua receptiva: ekolingwistyczne ujęcie słowiańskich kontaktów międzyjęzykowych w przestrzeni pogranicza (przypadek polsko-czeski)Ekolingwistyka jako samodzielna dyscyplina językoznawcza, która ukonstytuowała się w latach 70. XX wieku, od początku zajmowała się kontaktami międzyjęzykowymi. Jednakże wśród slawistów w Polsce nie zyskała większego zainteresowania. Celem tekstu jest przedstawienie ekolingwistycznej koncepcji badań słowiańskich kontaktów międzyjęzykowych na przykładzie polsko-czeskim z wykorzystaniem pojęcia lingua receptiva. Proponowana koncepcja zintegrowanych badań nad ekologią języka na polsko-czeskim pograniczu obejmuje trzy wymiary ekosystemu języka: naturalny, społeczny i poznawczy. Badania nad naturalną ekologią języka oscylują wokół jego wzajemnych związków z otaczającym środowiskiem naturalnym i mogą odnosić się do topografii, fauny i flory itd. Pod uwagę bierze się w nich potencjał środowiska naturalnego i otoczenia antropogenicznego w relacji do języka (i odwrotnie). W obserwacji socjologicznej ekologii języka zwraca się uwagę na uwarunkowania społeczne i kulturowe kształtujące relacje między komunikującymi się jednostkami oraz charakter wspólnot, które są konstytuowane lub podtrzymywane w wyniku tych kontaktów. Kognitywna ekologia języka obejmuje z kolei zdolności poznawcze i kompetencje użytkowników, zwłaszcza te, które pozwalają elastycznie adaptować się w określonym środowisku. Dla każdego wymiaru została wypracowana inna metodologia: od socjolingwistycznych ujęć ilościowych opartych na badaniach ankietowych do eksperymentów pragmalingwistycznych służących obserwacji ukształtowania nadawczo-odbiorczego w międzyjęzykowej komunikacji receptywnej. Zostanie ona przedstawiona wraz ze wstępnymi wynikami badań, które pozwalają stwierdzić, że lingua receptiva stanowi jądro multilingwizmu inkluzywnego przełamującego paradygmat jednojęzyczności i zacierającego granice języków w dążeniu do wzajemnego zrozumienia.

COVID-19 and Politics of Representation: A CSA of Pakistani Print Media Semiotic Discourses

Print media discourses are highly polarized. Different linguistic and meta-linguistic moves are employed to represent the same issue under different socio-political themes. This study decodes the semiotic discourses of two (02) Pakistani English and Urdu newspapers (Dawn & Jang) about the representation of COVID-19 related issues. This has been done to broaden the canvas of the research by including English and Urdu newspapers’ readership. The time span for data collection ranges from March 15, 2020, to May 15, 2020. The integrated research approach used in the study has been devised by drawing upon Kress (2010) and Krueger (2001) to analyze the data at linguistic and semiotic levels. The findings of semiotic analysis have been validated through focus group discussions on the selected cartoons from English and Urdu newspapers. The findings of the research reveal that the representation of COVID- 19 related issues varies in English and Urdu newspapers. The most frequently occurred themes in English newspapers about the representation of covid19 related issues include economic downfall, danger to the worlds’ economy, the clash between America and China, delays in vaccine production, and food and health insecurity at national and international levels. On contrary, the Urdu newspapers highlighted the issues related to corruption, the oil crisis, a satire on the general masses for not observing SOPs, a satire on health ministry, and poverty increase because of lockdown policies. The research contends that semiotic discourses are the best sites for ideological investment and are designed keeping in view the target audience.

Holding It Together? Professional Perspectives on the Role of Relationships when Relocating Young People due to Extra-familial Harm

When young people come to harm in extra-familial contexts, professionals may move them a distance from their home community to protect them, and in doing so disrupt relationships in which they have encountered harm. However, relocations can also fracture young people’s protective relationships with family, peers, and professionals; relationships that have been positioned as targets for intervention in cases of extra-familial harm. The extent to which these relationships are considered during relocations is under-explored. Utilising semi-structured interviews with 16 social work professionals in England and Wales, we assessed their accounts of using relationships prior to, during, and following relocations in cases of extra-familial harm. Three themes emerged: using relationships during relocations to provide consistency, to collaborate, and to create safety. Professional accounts prioritised young people’s relationships with practitioners, over relationships with families, peers, and their wider communities, when using/seeking opportunities to offer consistency and to collaborate on safety plans. They also depicted a struggle to engage with the complex web of family, peer, and community relationships associated to young people’s protection in both their home communities and those they had been moved to; relationships that were critical for creating safety. Implications for practice and future research are discussed, highlighting the potential merits of offering integrated research and practice frameworks that hold together young people’s relationships with families, peers, communities, and professionals, in response to extra-familial harm.

Toxicity and Antifeedant Activity of Calotropis gigantea L. Leaf Extract Against Plutella xylostella L. (Lepidoptera: Plutellidae)

Many parts of the Calotropis gigantea plant are known to contain bioactive compounds, but leaves contain the most. This study aimed to determine the toxicity and antifeedant activity of C. gigantea leaves against Plutella xylostella. The study was carried out from November 2019 to July 2020. Toxicity was tested using the leaf dipping and spraying methods. Antifeedant activity was tested using a no-choice test and a choice test. Identification of the compound composition of the leaf extract of C. gigantea was carried out at the Integrated Research and Testing Laboratory, Gadjah Mada University. Extract toxicity data obtained were analyzed by Probit analysis. The results showed that the antifeedant activity of C. gigantea leaf extract a no-choice and with choice at each concentration had a significant effect on the consumption of P. xylostella larvae rations. The toxicity (LC50) of the leaf extract of C. gigantea to P. xylostella by the dipping method was 2,958 µgl-1 while the spraying application was 3.944 µgl-1. The composition of chemical compounds contained in the leaf extract of C. gigantea is saponins, alkaloids, flavonoids, tannins, phenols, terpenoids. With the composition of these chemical compounds, the leaf extract of C. gigantea has the potential as a source of vegetable insecticide compounds against P. xylostella.

Aesthetics of Home. Continuity and Variation in New Zealand Medium Density Housing

<p>In New Zealand, most people do not find Medium Density housing (MDH) visually appealing. In October 2017, BRANZ carried out a survey on the different attitudes New Zealanders have towards MDH. This study concluded that the visual aesthetics is one of the top issues in shifting the acceptance of MDH within New Zealand. (BRANZ, 2017. p.2) Additionally in an attempt to house many people quickly, there have been growing concerns around the quality of the aesthetic output. (Howden-Chapman, 2015. p.80) This negative attitude towards MDH has fuelled the ever growing housing crisis. This thesis proposes that improved aesthetic qualities can be achieved within a high density multiple housing project. It argues that identifying and analysing the current aesthetic issues connected with existing MDH in New Zealand, will create a starting point for further design-led research. From this critique, this thesis aims to design a viable alternative to the current New Zealand approach to MDH. This design will aim to model varied aesthetic qualities and to identify key strategies for potential application in other projects. Research will occur through an extended series of different design-led research projects. Initially a quick fire design exercise in parallel with initial background research around the field of MDH and aesthetics will form the basis to begin from. Self and peer reflection will follow to inform the iterative research, extracting the key issues emerging from the research. Both research for design (theories and precedents), and researching through a series of iterative design projects occur. These two integrated research methods will be repeated in cycles throughout the year to keep the research current throughout the process and develop its depth.</p>

Aesthetics of Home. Continuity and Variation in New Zealand Medium Density Housing

<p>In New Zealand, most people do not find Medium Density housing (MDH) visually appealing. In October 2017, BRANZ carried out a survey on the different attitudes New Zealanders have towards MDH. This study concluded that the visual aesthetics is one of the top issues in shifting the acceptance of MDH within New Zealand. (BRANZ, 2017. p.2) Additionally in an attempt to house many people quickly, there have been growing concerns around the quality of the aesthetic output. (Howden-Chapman, 2015. p.80) This negative attitude towards MDH has fuelled the ever growing housing crisis. This thesis proposes that improved aesthetic qualities can be achieved within a high density multiple housing project. It argues that identifying and analysing the current aesthetic issues connected with existing MDH in New Zealand, will create a starting point for further design-led research. From this critique, this thesis aims to design a viable alternative to the current New Zealand approach to MDH. This design will aim to model varied aesthetic qualities and to identify key strategies for potential application in other projects. Research will occur through an extended series of different design-led research projects. Initially a quick fire design exercise in parallel with initial background research around the field of MDH and aesthetics will form the basis to begin from. Self and peer reflection will follow to inform the iterative research, extracting the key issues emerging from the research. Both research for design (theories and precedents), and researching through a series of iterative design projects occur. These two integrated research methods will be repeated in cycles throughout the year to keep the research current throughout the process and develop its depth.</p>

Impact of COVID-19 on mobility and participation of older adults living in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada: a multimethod cohort design protocol

IntroductionThe novel COVID-19 required many countries to impose public health measures that likely impacted the participation and mobility of community-dwelling older adults. This protocol details a multimethod cohort design undertaken to describe short-term and medium-term changes to the mobility and participation of older Canadians living in the community rather than retirement facilities during the COVID-19 pandemic.Methods and analysisA longitudinal telephone (or online)-administered survey is being conducted with a random sample of older adults living within 20 km of McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, identified from census dissemination areas. Baseline data collection of community-dwelling older adults aged 65 years and over began in May 2020 with follow-ups at 3, 6, 9 and 12 months. The Late-Life Function and Disability Instrument and global rating of change anchors are the primary outcomes of interest. A subsample of respondents will participate in open-ended, semistructured interviews conducted over the telephone or through video-conference, to explore participants’ lived experiences with respect to their mobility and participation during the pandemic. Descriptive statistics and quantitative approaches will be used to determine changes in mobility and social and personal participation, and associated personal and environmental factors. For the interviews, qualitative data will be analysed using descriptive phenomenology.Ethics and disseminationApproval was obtained from the Hamilton Integrated Research Ethics Board of McMaster University (2020-10814-GRA). This study may inform the design of programmes that can support community-dwelling older adults during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. Findings will be disseminated through peer-reviewed publications and conferences focused on ageing.