Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors as a Treatment Option for Bladder Cancer: Current Evidence.

Bladder cancer is a prevalent disease, and treatment options for advanced bladder cancer remain limited. However, immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) targeting cytotoxic T-lymphocyte-associated antigen-4 (CTLA-4) and programmed cell death-1 (PD-1) have shown promise in treating bladder cancer. These drugs work by blocking receptors and ligands, disrupting signaling, and allowing T cells to recognize and attack cancer cells. ICIs have been found to be effective in treating bladder cancer, especially in cases of metastatic urothelial carcinoma (UC) that have progressed after chemotherapy. Furthermore, combination therapy with ICIs and chemotherapy or radiation therapy has shown promise in treating bladder cancer. While there are challenges associated with ICIs, including adverse effects, immune-related adverse events, and lack of efficacy in some patients, they remain a promising option for bladder cancer treatment, especially in cases where other treatment options have failed. This review paper focuses on the current role, challenges, and future trends of immunotherapy in the management of bladder cancer.

Exploring the Prevalence and Factors Influencing Clinical Trial Awareness in US Adults with Self-Reported Depression and Anxiety.

OBJECTIVE: Lack of clinical trial awareness is a crucial barrier to clinical trial enrollment. The objective of this study was to examine the prevalence and factors associated with clinical trial awareness among US adults with self-reported depression and anxiety. METHODS: Data were collected from 896 adults who self-reported depression and anxiety from the 2020 Health Information National Trends Survey. Multinomial logistic regression was utilized to assess predictors of clinical trial awareness, particularly socio-demographic, health-related, and technological variables. Odds ratios (OR) for the associations were reported. RESULTS: About 60.4% of adults with self-reported depression or anxiety reported being aware of clinical trials. In the multivariable regression, education level, health-related social media use, and having access to a regular provider were all significantly associated with greater odds of clinical trial awareness among individuals with depression and/or anxiety. Specifically, individuals with at least some college education (OR 2.07, 95% confidence interval (CI); 1.28-3.34; p ​= ​0.004) were more likely to report awareness of clinical trials than those with less than a college education. Similarly, compared to those without access to health providers, individuals with depression and/or anxiety who had a regular provider had greater odds of clinical trial awareness (OR 2.23, 95% CI; 1.16-4.31; p ​= ​0.017). Additionally, those who reported two or more health-related uses of social media were significantly more likely to report clinical trial awareness than their counterparts who reported no health-related social media use (OR 3.17, 95% CI; 1.48-6.80; p ​= ​0.004). CONCLUSION: Our study shows that about six in 10 adults with depression and anxiety in the United States were aware of clinical trials. However, some sub-groups of patients, particularly those without access to a regular health provider, those with a lower education level, and those with limited use of social media for health purposes, remain inadequately informed and may lack awareness of available clinical trials. These findings are crucial and identify subgroups of people with mental disorders that may benefit from targeted interventions to improve clinical trial awareness.

Association Between the Use of Wearable Devices and Physical Activity Among US Adults With Depression and Anxiety: Evidence From the 2019 and 2020 Health Information National Trends Survey.

Objective The objective of this study was to examine the relationship between wearable device (WD) use and physical activity (PA) levels among US adults with self-reported depression and anxiety. Methods Data were pooled from 2026 adults who self-reported depression and anxiety from the 2019 and 2020 Health Information National Trends Survey. The explanatory variable was WD use, and the outcomes were weekly PA levels and resistance strength training. Logistic regression was conducted to investigate the association between WD and PA parameters. Results About 33% of adults with self-reported depression/anxiety reported WD use. Only 32.5% and 34.2% of the population reported meeting the weekly recommended levels of physical activity (≥150 minutes/week) and strength and resistance exercise (≥2 times weekly), respectively. In adjusted analyses, the use of WD was not associated with meeting the national weekly recommendation for physical activity (OR 1.38, 95% CI (0.94, 2.04); p=0.10) or resistance strength training (OR 1.31, 95% CI (0.82, 2.08); p=0.26). Further exploratory analysis also showed that physical activity levels did not differ with the frequency of WD use. Conclusion Despite the popularity of WD use among people with mental disorders, we found that use of WD was not associated with increased physical activity measures, suggesting that although there is a promise for these tools to augment mental health, their real-world effectiveness in promoting physical activity in people with mental disorders remains to be proven.