ABSTRACT
Our aim was to describe the research practices of doctoral students facing a dilemma to research integrity and to assess the impact of inappropriate research environments, i.e. exposure to (a) a post-doctoral researcher who committed a Detrimental Research Practice (DRP) in a similar situation and (b) a supervisor who did not oppose the DRP. We conducted two 2-arm, parallel-group randomized controlled trials. We created 10 vignettes describing a realistic dilemma with two alternative courses of action (good practice versus DRP). 630 PhD students were randomized through an online system to a vignette (a) with (n = 151) or without (n = 164) exposure to a post-doctoral researcher; (b) with (n = 155) or without (n = 160) exposure to a supervisor. The primary outcome was a score from - 5 to + 5, where positive scores indicated the choice of DRP and negative scores indicated good practice. Overall, 37% of unexposed participants chose to commit DRP with important variation across vignettes (minimum 10%; maximum 66%). The mean difference [95%CI] was 0.17 [- 0.65 to 0.99;], p = 0.65 when exposed to the post-doctoral researcher, and 0.79 [- 0.38; 1.94], p = 0.16, when exposed to the supervisor. In conclusion, we did not find evidence of an impact of postdoctoral researchers and supervisors on student research practices.Trial registration: NCT04263805, NCT04263506 (registration date 11 February 2020).
Subject(s)
Biomedical Research , Students , HumansABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: This phase II, open-label, multicentre study aimed to evaluate changes in cell proliferation and biomarkers, as well as efficacy of lapatinib in treatment-naïve patients with HER-2-negative primary breast cancer. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Patients received 1500 mg lapatinib for 28-42 days before surgery with repeat biopsies and measurements. The primary end point was inhibition of cell proliferation measured by Ki67; the secondary end points included clinical response, adverse events and changes in FOXO3a, FOXM1, p-AKT and HER-3. RESULTS: Overall, there was no significant reduction in Ki67 with treatment (assessment carried out in 28 of 31 subjects enrolled). However, four patients (14%) showed a reduction in Ki67 ≥50%. Four of 25 patients (16%) had a partial response to treatment judged by sequential ultrasound measurements. Response, in terms of either Ki67 or ultrasound, did not relate to changes in any biomarker assessed at baseline, including the estrogen receptor (ER) and epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR). However, all four clinical responders were HER-3 positive, as were three of four Ki67 responders. CONCLUSIONS: Overall, a pre-surgical course of lapatinib monotherapy had little effect on this group of patients; however, in subsets of patients, especially those with HER-3-positive tumors, we observed either reduction in proliferation (Ki67) or tumor size; EGFR/ER status had no impact.
Subject(s)
Breast Neoplasms/drug therapy , Cell Proliferation/drug effects , Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic/drug effects , Quinazolines/administration & dosage , Adult , Aged , Biopsy , Breast Neoplasms/genetics , Breast Neoplasms/pathology , ErbB Receptors/metabolism , Female , Forkhead Box Protein M1 , Forkhead Box Protein O3 , Forkhead Transcription Factors/metabolism , Humans , Ki-67 Antigen/metabolism , Lapatinib , Middle Aged , Oncogene Protein v-akt/metabolism , Receptor, ErbB-2/genetics , Receptor, ErbB-3/metabolism , Receptors, Estrogen/metabolismABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: This study was performed to investigate nutritional parameters of hemodialysis patients by using anthropometric and biochemical measurements. METHODS: Data from the last 6 months of 22 adult hemodialysis patients with a mean age of 61 ± 14 years were analyzed retrospectively. Dialysis vintage, normalized protein catabolic rate (nPCR), serum biochemical parameters, mid arm muscle circumference (MAMC) were determined as mean and standard deviation. Correlations between the variables were computed by coefficient p of Pearson. RESULTS: We found significant positive correlations: age of patients versus C-reactive protein, MAMC versus LDL-Cholesterol, MAMC versus body mass index, albumin versus hemoglobin. There were also significant negative correlations: age versus serum creatinine, age versus albumin, age versus intact parathyroid hormone (iPTH), dialysis vintage versus MAMC. CONCLUSION: In conclusion, age seem to be negatively associated with iPTH and albumin. As dialysis vintage increases, muscle mass seems to decrease.
