A Survey of Oncologists' Perceptions and Opinions Regarding the Use of Granulocyte Colony-Stimulating Factors.

The purpose of the study is to describe oncologists' perceptions and opinions about patient eligibility, guidelines, and barriers for use of granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF), overall and stratified by their affiliation with the Oncology Care Model (OCM). In May 2018, we invited and recruited practicing US oncologists from a national database for an online survey. Level of agreement was identified using a seven-point scale, ranging from strongly disagree to strongly agree. Of 200 participating oncologists, 70 were OCM-affiliated. Overall, 65% of oncologists agreed or strongly agreed that all patients at high risk of febrile neutropenia (FN) should receive prophylactic G-CSF, and half agreed or strongly agreed that benefits of G-CSF outweigh the potential adverse effects. The most common barriers to G-CSF use for patients at high risk of FN included patient refusal (37.1% of OCM-affiliated oncologists vs. 21.5% of non-OCM-affiliated oncologists), not on protocol/not supported by guidelines (32.9% vs. 23.1%), lack of reimbursement to practice (30.0% vs. 15.4%), and concerns about insurance coverage (22.9% vs. 26.9%). More OCM-affiliated oncologists reported that their practices offer and strongly encourage adherence to a specific protocol for G-CSF use (49.2%) versus non-OCM oncologists (31.3%). Despite recommendations from national guidelines and strong evidence from randomized, controlled clinical trials, only two thirds of oncologists agree or strongly agree that all patients at high risk of FN should receive primary G-CSF prophylaxis. Decisions about G-CSF prophylaxis may be affected by factors other than risk of FN, such as patient choice, practice protocols/guidelines, lack of reimbursement, and insurance coverage.

Quality Assurance in Archaeological Survey.

To have confidence in the results of an archaeological survey, whether for heritage management or research objectives, we must have some assurance that the survey was carried out to a reasonably high standard. This paper discusses the use of Quality Assurance (QA) approaches and empirical methods for estimating surveys' effectiveness at discovering archaeological artifacts as a means for ensuring quality standards. We illustrate with the example of two surveys in Cyprus and Jordan in which resurvey, measurement of surveyor "sweep widths," and realistic estimates of survey coverage allow us to evaluate explicitly the probability that the survey missed pottery or lithics, as well as to decide when survey has been thorough enough to warrant moving to another survey unit.

Lake Ontario salmon (Salmo salar) were not migratory: A long-standing historical debate solved through stable isotope analysis.

Lake Ontario once supported a large complex of Atlantic Salmon (Salmo salar) populations that became extinct prior to scientific study. Since the 1860s, research efforts to conserve and reintroduce a sustainable population of Atlantic Salmon have focused on determining whether Lake Ontario's original salmon populations had migrated to the Atlantic Ocean as part of their lifecycle (anadromy), stayed in the lake year-round (potamodromy), or both. We used stable carbon, nitrogen, and sulfur isotope analyses of archaeological bones and historical museum-archived salmon scales to show that the original salmon populations from Lake Ontario completed their entire lifecycle without migrating to the Atlantic Ocean. With a time depth of more than 500 years, our findings provide a unique baseline with significant potential for informing modern restocking and conservation efforts.

New age constraints on the Middle Stone Age occupations of Kharga Oasis, Western Desert, Egypt.

Spring-deposited carbonate rocks, or tufas, exposed along the flanks of the Libyan Plateau near Kharga Oasis, Western Desert, Egypt, can provide a directly datable stratigraphic context for Middle Stone Age/Middle Paleolithic (MSA/MP) archaeological material, if such material can be found in situ within tufa strata. Two such localities (Mata'na Site G and Bulaq Wadi 3 Locus 1) described by Caton-Thompson were revisited and sampled for uranium-series analysis. At Mata'na Site G (KH/MT-02), Middle Stone Age ("Upper Levalloisian") material is underlain by tufa with a uranium-series age of 127.9+/-1.3 ka, and overlain by tufa with an age of 103+/-14 ka. At Bulaq Wadi 3 Locus 1, a uranium-series age of 114.4+/-4.2 ka on tufa capping a small collection of Middle Stone Age artifacts also provides a minimum age constraint on that material. Tufa underlying an MSA workshop (KH/MD-10) indicates that this assemblage, characterized by use of several Levallois reduction methods, was deposited after approximately 124 ka. Furthermore, uranium-series ages averaging approximately 133 ka on a Wadi Midauwara tufa (WME-10) without associated archaeological material suggest that one period of spring flow in the region began during the Marine Isotope Stage 6/5e transition, prior to the warmest portion of the last interglacial period. The dated archaeological material suggests that the distinction that has been identified between Nubian and non-Nubian complexes in the Nile Valley may hold for the Western Desert, although local complexity has yet to be fully described.

Comparative evolutionary genetics of spontaneous mutations affecting fitness in rhabditid nematodes.

Deleterious mutations are of fundamental importance to all aspects of organismal biology. Evolutionary geneticists have expended tremendous effort to estimate the genome-wide rate of mutation and the effects of new mutations on fitness, but the degree to which genomic mutational properties vary within and between taxa is largely unknown, particularly in multicellular organisms. Beginning with two highly inbred strains from each of three species in the nematode family Rhabditidae (Caenorhabditis briggsae, Caenorhabditis elegans, and Oscheius myriophila), we allowed mutations to accumulate in the relative absence of natural selection for 200 generations. We document significant variation in the rate of decay of fitness because of new mutations between strains and between species. Estimates of the per-generation mutational decay of fitness were very consistent within strains between assays 100 generations apart. Rate of mutational decay in fitness was positively associated with genomic mutation rate and negatively associated with average mutational effect. These results provide unambiguous experimental evidence for substantial variation in genome-wide properties of mutation both within and between species and reinforce conclusions from previous experiments that the cumulative effects on fitness of new mutations can differ markedly among related taxa.