Thursday, August 20, 2015

Future US UAV Flights focus on trouble hot spots

Pentagon to Increase Drone Flights Over South China Sea | The Diplomat
The U.S. Department of Defense is planning to step up the number of drone surveillance flights by 50 percent over the next four years the Wall Street Journal reports.
A senior defense official told the Wall Street Journal that the Pentagon in particular seeks to improve its intelligence collection capabilities in places such as Ukraine, Iraq, Syria, North Africa, and the South China Sea.
In detail, the new plan envisions an increase of the number of flights from 61 to 90 by 2019. The majority of missions are currently flown by the U.S. Air Force (USAF). However, in addition to around 60 USAF flights, the new plan foresees as many as 16 sorties flown by the U.S. Army, up to four by the Special Forces Command, and around ten by government contractors.  The USAF currently shares intelligence feeds from 22 out of its 60 daily sorties with the Central Intelligence Agency.

USAF plans to end MQ-1 Predator operations in 2018 - 8/14/2015 - Flight Global
The service has been planning to retire the MQ-1 ever since introducing the larger and more capable General Atomics MQ-9 Reaper in 2007, but the insatiable demand for intelligence surveillance and reconnaissance and target strikes in conflict zones around the world has kept the original Predator in service.
Now, the air force has set 2018 as the end date for the MQ-1 operations and says the aircraft will be moved to the boneyard, but the ground control stations and other items will be repurposed to support the MQ-9.

UPDATE 1-Pentagon eyes sharp increase in drone flights by 2019 -official | Reuters
Aug 17 (Reuters) - The Pentagon is planning a sharp increase in daily drone flights over conflict zones around the globe in the next four years as it tries to meet the reconnaissance and air strike needs of combatant commanders, a spokesman said on Monday.
Navy Captain Jeff Davis, a Defense Department spokesman, said the number of unmanned drone flights, known as combat air patrols, would be increased by about 50 percent by 2019 - from between 60 and 65 a day to about 90.
The Air Force will continue to conduct about 60 drone flights daily, while the Army would fly between 10 and 20, and Special Operations Command would provide up to 10 more. The department also would rely on contractors to fly up to 10 other combat air patrols daily, all of them unarmed.

Predator Drone Maker General Atomics Flying Spy Missions For the Pentagon Since April - Defense One
The U.S. military wants to boost its drone presence by 50 percent in four years, and it’s hiring help. General Atomics, maker of the ubiquitous Predator and Reaper drones, began flying intelligence missions for the Defense Department this month.
It’s not unprecedented for the military to hire drone builders to fly them. Boeing pilots its small, unarmed ScanEagle drone, which has a ceiling of 3,500 feet and a top speed under 250 mph, for the Pentagon. But the Predator is far more capable, typically flies at 10,000-feet and, of course, has an armed variant.
Officials with General Atomics told Defense One that the company began flying surveillance missions for the Pentagon, although they could not disclose the location or mission details.
Currently, Air Force crews fly 60 Predator and Reaper combat air patrols, where one CAP means keeping one aircraft in the air around the clock. The Pentagon wants to push that towards 90 by 2019, the Wall Street Journal reported Monday. With Air Force drone crews worn out by wartime operations, military leaders are turning to the Army, U.S. Special Operations Command — and the defense industry.
 
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Sunday, August 16, 2015

Prostate Cancer News - 2015-08-15


Prostate Cancer News - 2015-08-15

General Case Management

Prostate Cancer Advocacy: Making it Count - Cancer Answers
I thought of the man who spoke to me about fighting metastatic prostate cancer. He felt not enough was being done. I sensed urgency in his voice. But though I heard fight in his voice, I also heard desperation — the fear of not knowing about tomorrow.
Well, none of us are guaranteed tomorrow. So it’s the quality of our days that counts.
I started the Blue Cure Foundation, a prostate cancer nonprofit, after being diagnosed with prostate cancer at age 35. My background was in marketing, and I felt my talents could be used to place a greater spotlight on the disease — in ways that haven’t been done. I wanted to change the conversation from ceaseless focus on fundraising solely for a cure that’s been sought for decades. I wanted us to consider cancer’s many causes and how we can reduce risk, improve outcomes, push for more accurate screenings and fight the complacency I find, as if prostate cancer is both the old and new normal.
Rallying the Prostate Cancer Community - Cancer Answers
“We don’t have it in our budget.”
That’s the excuse I hear too often from hospitals or cancer centers when I ask them to light a building blue one evening during September’s National Prostate Cancer Awareness Month.
They spend money lighting buildings pink in October for Breast Cancer Awareness Month. They support runs that benefit other cancers. They have lavish advertising budgets. But no, they can’t manage one night’s support for prostate cancer – the most commonly diagnosed male cancer in America.
GPs ‘more cost effective’ for prostate cancer aftercare | Irish Examiner
The NCRI’s new study, published in the journal Supportive Care in Cancer, revealed specialist aftercare for this type of cancer is no longer “sustainable” here due to the country’s rising number of prostate cancer survivors. It suggests survivors should switch to GP follow-up sessions instead as it is a more viable option and will not adversely affect the quality of aftercare received.

What IS an “N-of-1″ clinical trial? | THE "NEW" PROSTATE CANCER INFOLINK
N-of-1 clinical trials are basically trials of specific therapies in a single patient with very highly defined characteristics — often including a complete genetic profile as well as a whole bunch of other data. It would be impossible here to get into all the details about how N-of-1 clinical trials should be used and when they provide data that may be helpful in the management of larger number of patients, so here are a series of resources for those who might be interested in learning more — because we are going to be hearing about N-of-1 clinical trials in prostate cancer soon:
Latest prostate cancer findings may help determine the most suitable treatment for the condition : MEDICINE & HEALTH : Science Times
Prostate cancer may actually be five different diseases masked in one, scientists conclude after conducting a study that might help in designing the best treatment for this condition. A team of experts from the Cancer Research U.K. said that they were finally able to categorize the prostate cancer tumors into five distinct groups depending on their composite genes.
Prostate Cancer - Pipeline Review Report H1 2015 | Medgadget
This report provides comprehensive information on the therapeutic development for Prostate Cancer, complete with comparative analysis at various stages, therapeutics assessment by drug target, mechanism of action (MoA), route of administration (RoA) and molecule type, along with latest updates, and featured news and press releases. It also reviews key players involved in the therapeutic development for Prostate Cancer and special features on late-stage and discontinued projects.

Prostate Cancer. Signs and prognosis of prostate cancer. | Patient
Prostate Cancer on the Web-Expedient Tool for Patients' Decision-Making?
Many patients diagnosed with cancer search for health information on the Web. We aimed to assess the quality and reliability of online health information on prostate cancer.
Google, Yahoo, and Bing were searched for the term "prostate cancer." After selecting the most frequented websites, quality was measured by
  • Quality assessed using
  • Popularity assessed  using
  • LIDA tool.used to investigate 
    • accessibility, 
    • usability, and 
    • reliability
Quality, accessibility, and usability of websites on prostate cancer provided a high rating in the current analysis. These findings are encouraging in view of the growing frequency of patients' access of health information online.
Evaluation of medical information quality

Choices you Make

Are Vitamin E Supplements Healthy or Harmful?
Prostate Cancer: A 2011 study funded by the National Cancer Institute examined whether vitamin E might help prevent prostate cancer. Earlier research had found no benefit or harm from vitamin E. This large study of 35,533 men over a periodhttps://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/proxy/AVvXsEjj6l737MK0YexSa5XXZkGlzKKW6EolcbMLmLqBurYRzdwSUA6VT-B2s7U3QlQwX-LoOBvccajk7EdDHY26Mmmr1Ufmc_-WDs3YbAthMrJrk7rxR1y-QUCpOhbZNJnqIUG_KVdhZ8cMkWkXODk_ZPT1VyY= of three years came up with a surprising result. Healthy men taking vitamin E actually had a higher incidence of prostate cancer than other men
Access : The effect of bicycling on PSA levels: a systematic review and meta-analysis : Prostate Cancer and Prostatic Diseases
Our findings suggest that there is no effect of cycling on PSA; however, the limited number of trials and the absence of randomized controlled trials limit the interpretation of our results. Additionally, the median sample size only consisted of 42 subjects. Therefore, our study may have low statistical power to detect a difference in PSA.
Prostate Cancer and Prostatic Diseases - Physical activity and its mechanistic effects on prostate cancer
Over the past decade, data have emerged demonstrating the association between physical activity and prostate cancer risk. Although the precise biological mechanisms are not yet understood, it is postulated that physical activity may reduce the risk of prostate cancer directly or indirectly via inter-related biological pathways. In addition, several studies have shown decreased or inhibited growth of prostate cancer cells, increased apoptosis of prostate cancer cells, delayed tumor formation and suppressed metastasis. Furthermore, these studies hypothesize a variety of biological pathways mediating the growth inhibitory and pro-apoptotic effects of physical activity on human prostate cancer cells.

Screening and Diagnosis

You Were Wondering: When to screen for prostate cancer?
When to start screening is based on individual risk, but age 40 is a reasonable time to start screening for those at highest risk with genetic predispositions or strong family histories of prostate cancer at a young age. Otherwise healthy men at high risk with a family history or African American men should get screened between ages 40 and 45.
Dr. Samadi: New Study Showing Prostate Cancer Screening Improved by Complete Family History | Long Island New York
A new study is showing the increasing importance of understand and having a complete family history of prostate cancer and the correlation to gauging personal risk with greater accuracy.
Much research over the past few decades, has shown having a first, second or third-degree relative with prostate cancer raises a Caucasian man’s risks of the disease. For Caucasian males, a complete family history of prostate cancer among close and distant relatives may gauge personal risk with greater accuracy.
If an extensive family history exists and men are aware, it provides awider range to estimate individual risks that are potentially more accurate than those based on typical family health histories. Both maternal and paternal history are equally important.
Is histological prostate inflammation in an initial prostate biopsy a predictor of prostate cancer on repeat biopsy?
A histological inflammatory finding at the initial prostate biopsy was negatively associated with prostate cancer detection in repeat biopsy. This result could be useful to determine the need for repeat prostate biopsy in patients with persistently elevated prostate-specific antigen.

Biopsies, Genomics and Pathology

UroNav Fusion Biopsy System Offered at Dr. Samadi's Prostate Cancer Center... -- NEW YORK, Aug. 11, 2015 /PRNewswire/ --
NEW YORK, Aug. 11, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Renowned Urologist and Robotic Prostate Cancer Surgeon, Dr. David Samadi, solely offers the revolutionary UroNav Fusion Biopsy System for MRI-Guided Fusion Biopsy in men with an elevated PSA. Innovated from the company, Invivo, the UroNav brings the power of MRI Guided Biopsy to diagnosing prostate cancer. This technique has tremendously improved the detection and differentiation of high and low-risk prostate cancers. Integrating the use of an MRI makes for a much more accurate diagnosis, especially when it comes to the staging of the prostate cancer. 
The biology and pathology of “young age” prostate cancer | THE "NEW" PROSTATE CANCER INFOLINK
A recent article in the Journal of Clinical Pathology reviews available data about the epidemiology, biology, and clinical pathology of “young age” prostate cancer, which the authors define as clinically significant cancer in men under 55 years of age.
This review article by Hussein et al. is now available in full, on line, on the Medscape web site, and will probably be of significant interest to support group leaders, other prostate cancer educators, and men diagnosed with prostate cancer at such younger ages.
mpMRIs, targeted biopsies, and the accuracy of Gleason grading | THE "NEW" PROSTATE CANCER INFOLINK
A new study that is in press on line in the Journal of Urology addresses, very reasonably, the question of whether using targeted biopsy methods based on multiparametric MRI (mpMRI) data is improving our ability to accurately assess patient’s Gleason grades and scores prior to decisions about treatment.
According to the abstract of this new paper by the French clinical research team (Lanz et al., based in Paris), the answer appears to be a definitive “Maybe”.
A Contemporary Prostate Cancer Grading System: A Validated Alternative to the Gleason Score.
Despite revisions in 2005 and 2014, the Gleason prostate cancer (PCa) grading system still has major deficiencies. Combining of Gleason scores into a three-tiered grouping (6, 7, 8-10) is used most frequently for prognostic and therapeutic purposes. The lowest score, assigned 6, may be misunderstood as a cancer in the middle of the grading scale, and 3+4=7 and 4+3=7 are often considered the same prognostic group.
The new PCa grading system has these benefits: more accurate grade stratification than current systems, simplified grading system of five grades, and lowest grade is 1, as opposed to 6, with the potential to reduce overtreatment of PCa.
We looked at outcomes for prostate cancer (PCa) treated with radical prostatectomy or radiation therapy and validated a new grading system with more accurate grade stratification than current systems, including asimplified grading system of five grades and a lowest grade is 1, as opposed to 6, with the potential to reduce overtreatment of PCa.
Molecular Profiles Can be Used for Early Detection of Aggressive Prostate Cancer - Cancer Therapy Advisor
In a first-ever study, findings identified five gene sets that can predict clinical outcome in independent patient cohorts with prostate cancer, according to researchers in England.1  
Combining gene copy number and gene expression data has yielded a new 100-gene risk-stratification signature for prostate cancer that appears to outperform prostate specific antigen (PSA) and Gleason scores, and might allow early detection of the most aggressive cases.
The five faces of prostate cancer? - Cancer Research UK - Science blog
Dr Lamb’s team has shown, for the first time, that prostate cancer can be divided into five distinct groups, each of which has a unique molecular signature that appears to predict how well a patient will do after surgery.
They found that by using this group of 100 genes – or gene signature – prostate cancer patients who’d had surgery to remove their prostate could be divided into five distinct sub-groups.
  • One group had lots of DNA deletions and consequently low activity of certain genes
  • Another had high amounts of DNA repetition which resulted in increased activity of specific genes.
  • Two more groups had very few copy-number alterations, or changes in activity.
  • The fifth and final group had some – but not too many – copy-number alterations.
Multimodal image-guided prostate fusion biopsy based on automatic deformable registration.
The prostate TRUS images are automatically segmented with a Hough transform-based random forest approach. The registration is based on the Coherent Point Drift algorithm to align surfaces elastically and to propagate the deformation field calculated from thin-plate splines to the whole gland.
RESULTS - The method, which has minimal requirements and temporal overhead in the existing clinical workflow, is evaluated in terms of surface distance and landmark registration error with respect to the clinical ground truth. Evaluations on agar-gelatin phantoms and clinical data of 13 patients confirm the validity of this approach.
MAPPING MOLECULES TO FIGHT CANCER
The Cancer Genome Atlas project, or TCGA, is a collaborative effort between the NHGRI and the National Cancer Institute. Since 2006, Hutter and her team have worked to characterize the various cancers in more precise terms. In nine years, they have mapped thousands of gene sequences, constructing molecular models, or “maps,” of the numerous types of tumors. By examining patterns of molecular changes between the healthy tissue and the tumor, the TCGA team was able to construct maps that will help doctors understand cancer better.
With these molecular-level models, Hutter hopes to change the medical field’s way of thinking about cancer as a single entity. “Five to ten years from now, people are never going to just say, ‘I have liver cancer,’” she explained. With this new research, doctors will be able to classify cancer in an entirely new way, giving individuals the tools to understand and describe their illness in more specific terms.

Tests

Cancer-detecting dogs approved for NHS trial | Life and style | The Guardian
Dogs capable of sniffing out cancer have been approved for use in a trial by the NHS. The charity Medical Detection Dogs has gained approval from Milton Keynes University Hospital for further trials, after an initial study showed specially trained dogs can detect prostate tumours in urine in 93% of cases.
It is hoped canine testing could help show up inaccuracies in the traditional Prostate-Specific Antigen (PSA) test, used to determine if men need a biopsy. The test has a high “false positive” rate, and many men are unnecessarily referred for the invasive procedure.
Smart Technology Could Improve Prostate Cancer Diagnosis - Aug 10 2015 12:27 PM - University of Birmingham - Labmate Online
A smart sensor chip able to pick up on subtle differences in glycoprotein molecules and believed to have ability to improve the accuracy and efficiency of prostate cancer diagnosis has been developed by scientists at the University of Birmingham.
The team of chemical engineers and chemists created the chip with synthetic receptors along a 2D surface to identify specific, targeted glycoprotein molecules that are differentiated by their modified carbohydrate chains, unlike current tests which rely heavily on antibodies which are less robust and have been shown to have a high rate of false-positive readings.

Imaging

Prostate Cancer and Prostatic Diseases - Magnetic resonance imaging on disease reclassification among active surveillance candidates with low-risk prostate cancer: a diagnostic meta-analysis
MRI, especially multiparametric (MP)-MRI, has a moderate diagnostic accuracy as a significant predictor of disease reclassification among AS candidates. The high NPV and specificity for the prediction of biopsy reclassification upon clinical follow-up suggest that negative prostate MRI findings may support a patient remaining under AS. Although the PPV and sensitivity for the prediction were relatively low, the presence of a suspicious lesion >10 mm lesion may suggest an increased risk for disease progression.

Treatment

Active Surveillance

Prostate cancer: Avoiding excess confirmatory biopsies : Nature Reviews Urology : Nature Publishing Group
A new predictive model could help omit unnecessary confirmatory biopsy in men with prostate cancer at low risk of reclassification on active surveillance.
The retrospective study, performed by researchers from the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, NY, USA, included 392 patients diagnosed with Gleason score 6 prostate cancer upon initial biopsy.
Designing Normative Messages About Active Surveillance for Men With Localized Prostate Cancer.
The authors examined the acceptability of normative messages about active surveillance as a management option for patients with low-risk prostate cancer. Men with a diagnosis of localized prostate cancer who were recruited through prostate cancer support organizations completed a web-based survey (N = 331). They rated messages about active surveillance for believability, accuracy, and importance for men to hear when making treatment decisions.
The message "You don't have to panic … you have time to think about your options" was perceived as believable, accurate, and important by more than 80% of the survivors. In contrast, messages about trust in the active surveillance protocol and "knowing in plenty of time" if treatment is needed were rated as accurate by only about 36% of respondents.
For active surveillance to be viewed as a reasonable alternative, men will need reassurance that following an active surveillance protocol is likely to allow time for curative treatment if the cancer progresses.

Surgery

Similar to horseshoes and hand grenades
Close Surgical Margins Raise Risk of Prostate Cancer Return - Renal and Urology News
Close surgical margins in radical prostatectomy specimens are associated with biochemical recurrence (BCR) rates similar to those of positive surgical margins, according to a new study.
In study of 609 patients who underwent radical prostatectomy for prostate cancer, patients who had close and positive surgical margins on final pathology had 3-year BCR-free survival rates of 70.4% and 74.5%, respectively, a non-significant difference between the groups, Michael J. Whalen, MD, of the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York, and colleagues reported. By comparison, patients with negative margins had a 3-year BCR-free survival rate of 90%, which was significantly higher than the rates for patients with close and positive margins. On multivariable analysis, patients with close margins had a 2.7-fold increased risk of BCR compared with those who had negative margins.

Radiation

New Data on Prostate Cancer, Salvage Radiation, and Survival
Patients experiencing biochemical failure — defined as an increase in prostate-specific antigen (PSA) level — after prostatectomy for prostate cancer often receive salvage radiation therapy (SRT) to control the disease and prevent metastases.
However, despite SRT, some patients still exhibit biochemical failure. Now, a long-term, single-center study, published online July 9 in the American Journal of Clinical Oncology, has demonstrated that outcomes for 61 men who experienced a biochemical recurrence after surgery, including a subset of 34 men who experienced failure twice (once after surgery and once after SRT), are robust.
The median overall survival was 13.6 years for the men in the study who had two biochemical recurrences and 14.7 years for the men who had just the one recurrence after surgery, report the authors, led by D. Nathan Kim, MD, PhD, from Texas Oncology in Waco.
Furthermore, the 10-year prostate-cancer-specific, metastasis-free, and castration-resistant-free survival (from the time of PSA failure after SRT) rates were all in excess of 70% for the men who had two biochemical recurrences.
Prostate Cancer and Prostatic Diseases - The significance of circulating tumor cells in prostate cancer patients undergoing adjuvant or salvage radiation therapy
Following radical prostatectomy, success of adjuvant and salvage radiation therapy (RT) is dependent on the absence of micrometastatic disease. However, reliable prognostic/predictive factors for determining this are lacking. Therefore, novel biomarkers are needed to assist with clinical decision-making in this setting. Enumeration of circulating tumor cells (CTCs) using the regulatory-approved Cell Search System (CSS) is prognostic in metastatic prostate cancer. We hypothesize that CTCs may also be prognostic in the post-prostatectomy setting. Our results suggest that CTCs may be indicative of disseminated disease and assessment of CTCs during RT may be helpful in clinical decision-making to determine, which patients may benefit from RT versus those who may benefit more from systemic treatments.
Men With Intermediate or High-Risk Prostate Cancer See Survival Benefit From Increased Radiation Therapy
Men with intermediate- or high-risk prostate cancer experienced higher survival rates when given increased radiation doses than men with low-risk disease, according to researchers from Penn Medicine. In addition, men with low-risk disease but with already-high survival rates were unaffected by higher radiation doses.
Anusha Kalbasi, MD, and colleagues compared the survival rates of 42,481 men who were diagnosed between 2004 and 2006 and followed through 2012 and linked those rates with increased radiation doses in the National Cancer Database. The researchers investigated whether “radiation dose reduction for patients with low-risk prostate cancer could achieve similar cure rates while avoiding the increased risk of side effects associated with higher radiation doses,” said Kalbasi, a resident in the department of radiation oncology at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. -
Judge Tells Aetna to Pay for Proton RT for Prostate Cancer
CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas, Aug. 6, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, Robert C. Hilliard of Hilliard Munoz Gonzales LLP (HMG) obtained an Order from a Newton County judge granting a restraining order against Aetna Insurance, preventing the insurance company from denying life-saving cancer treatment for his client, Bobby Allen Bean. 
Mr. Bean, a 1973 graduate of Newton County High School who has lived in Newton with his wife for over forty years, is suffering from advanced prostate cancer and is currently being treated at Houston's MD Anderson. Based upon Mr. Bean's medical history, his doctors have recommended that he receive Proton Radiation Therapy; the only other options to treat the cancer are too risky for Mr. Bean because he also suffers from insulin-dependent Type 2 diabetes. Despite his doctor's recommendations, his medical insurance carrier, Aetna, has refused to cover the treatment, claiming that it is "experimental."

Hormone

Androgen Deprivation for Localized Prostate Cancer Ups Cardiac Risks - Renal and Urology News
Androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) with gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) agonists is associated with an increased risk of cardiac events in elderly men with localized prostate cancer and a decent life expectancy, new findings suggest.
“Clinicians should carefully weigh the risks and benefits of ADT in patients with a prolonged life expectancy,” the authors concluded in a paper published online ahead of print in BJU International. “Routine screening and lifestyle interventions are warranted in at-risk subpopulations treated with ADT.”

Chemo

​How Tokai Pharmaceuticals is using precision medicine for prostate cancer - Boston Business Journal
Morrison says that study turned out to be key to Tokai’s pitch to investors. Her company already had Phase 2 data showing that its drug, called galeterone, worked in those same patients, who have a shortened version of something called the androgen receptor. In August of that year, the FDA had already approved Tokai’s reworked late-stage trial to focus on just those patients, which make up around a fifth of all patients with the disease. As long as galeterone’s demonstrated ability to stop the growth of prostate cancer in those patients held up, the trial had a high probability of success, since the NEJM study seemed to ensure that the drugs galeterone was being compared to — Zytiga, sold by Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ), and Xtandi, sold by Astellas ­— would have no effect at all.
New approach to decades old treatment yields increased survival for some prostate cancer patients - Medical News Today
For more than 60 years, the standard of care for patients with prostate cancer fueled by androgen hormones that has spread to other parts of the body has been androgen deprivation therapy (ADT). While the response rate is high, resistance to ADT often occurs. Generally, when ADT is no longer working, chemotherapy is administered for these patients. Research coordinated by the ECOG-ACRIN Cancer Research Group, supported in part by the National Cancer Institute, and published in the current online version of The New England Journal of Medicine, examined the outcomes of giving the chemotherapy drug docetaxel at the start of ADT. Results showed an increased survival of 13.6 months for patients treated with ADT plus docetaxel than with ADT alone. 
Androgen pathway resistance in prostate cancer and therapeutic implications.
Metastatic prostate cancer is an incurable disease that is treated with a variety of hormonal therapies targeting various nodes of the androgen receptor (AR) pathway. Invariably patients develop resistance and become castration resistant. Common treatments for castration-resistant disease include novel hormonal therapies, such as abiraterone and enzalutamide, chemotherapy, immunotherapy and radiopharmaceuticals. As this disease generally remains incurable, understanding the molecular underpinnings of resistance pathways is critical in designing therapeutic strategies to delay or overcome such resistance.

New Techniques

Researchers develop "intelligent" training tool to treat prostate cancer
Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University have developed a new approach to improve training for cryosurgery, a procedure used to treat prostate cancer by freezing and destroying the diseased tissues. The new approach will shorten the learning curve and improve the quality of the minimally invasive treatment by reducing complications, shortening recovery times and lowering health care costs.
Yoed Rabin, a professor of mechanical engineering and a board member of the American College of Cryosurgery, has led the development of this first computerized training tool. This intelligent training tool provides feedback to the trainee and offers advice on how to maximize the freezing of cancer tumors while preserving the healthy tissues surrounding the site.

Side Effects

Prostate Cancer May Impact Relationship Satisfaction Among Couples - Cancer Therapy Advisor
Results showed that both patients and spouses experienced reduced mental and physical health at 1 month after surgery, but health was mostly improved at 6 and 12 months.
Researchers found that patient's physical health correlated with patient's relationship satisfaction, and both patient's and spouse's mental health were associated with their own relationship satisfaction.
Another Side Effect of Cancer: Suicidal Thoughts
In a survey of prostate cancer survivors, Recklitis and his colleagues found that 12 percent of respondents experienced suicidal ideation in the previous year. Physical and emotional health, pain, work status, and incomewere found to be contributing factors. Depressed mood was linked with suicidal ideation. So was having a previous mental health condition[RC1] . There was no link between suicidal ideation and age. Type of treatment, recurrence, or time since diagnosis didn’t matter.

Advanced/Recurrence

Stretching survival from advanced prostate cancer | afr.com
A new study has confirmed that men with metastatic, hormone-sensitive prostate cancer can gain more than a year of survival when they simultaneously receive hormone-blocking medications and chemotherapy right after diagnosis.
Case Study: Newly Diagnosed Metastatic Prostate Cancer
Final CHAARTED data now published in NEJM | THE "NEW" PROSTATE CANCER INFOLINK
The final results of the CHAARTED trial, recommending early treatment with the combination of androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) and chemotherapy, at least in men with extensive metastasis at diagnosis, have just been published this week by Sweeney et al. in The New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM). The combination of these data with the data reported from the STAMPEDE trial at ASCO in 2015 has now provided compelling evidence supporting combination therapy (with ADT and docetaxel-based chemotherapy) for men newly diagnosed with metastatic prostate cancer — and most particularly for those men initially diagnosed with more extensive forms of metastatic disease.
Long-term Outcome of Prostate Cancer Patients Who Exhibit Biochemical Failure Despite Salvage Radiation Therapy After Radical Prostatectomy.
Salvage radiation therapy (SRT) is an effective treatment for recurrent prostate cancer (PCa) after radical prostatectomy. We report the long-term outcome of men who developed biochemical recurrence (BCR) after SRT and were treated >14 years ago. Extended  follow-up demonstrates that despite SRT failure, prostate cancer-specific survival (PCSS) was 84% and remains high in select patients. Early failure (≤1 y after SRT) predicted for significantly worse outcome and may represent a subgroup with more aggressive disease that may be considered for further prospective clinical studies.
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Thursday, August 13, 2015

Marine Helos get Link16, work with UAV and SOC

A UH-1Y Huey takes off alongside an AH-1W Super Cobra
during a training exercise testing a digital interoperability
system at Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point, N.C.
July 24, 2015.
Digital Interoperability Speeds up the Kill Chain n
Digital interoperability speeds up the kill chain > The Official United States Marine Corps Public Website > News Display
Digital interoperability is the technology capable of increasing prowess on the battlefield. The exercise testing a LINK 16 conversion system for one of the first times within an explicitly rotary-wing exercise included




“For the rotary-wing aircraft, up until recently, the Marine Corps has been using paper maps and objective area diagrams to plot friendly and enemy locations using a pen or pencil,” said Marron. “Now with tablets, we have modern technology in an aircraft that is 30 years old. It allows us to tap into a tactical picture that was previously out of our reach.”


Assets that are LINK 16 capable can send information to unmanned aerial systems ground control stations, which acts as a network gateway to then push out specific information in a readable format to non-LINK 16 enabled aircraft. Those aircraft can then see that information, provided they are carrying a specific radio and tablet running an application called “KILSWITCH” (Kinetic Integration Lightweight Software Individual Tactical Combat Handheld).


Systems that monitor the aircraft’s status can also be tapped into and that information can be transmitted off the aircraft. “In the future, it will tell how much fuel an aircraft has and how many weapons it possesses,” said Capt. Christopher Cain, a pilot training officer with HMLA-467.


Additionally, there are efforts underway to integrate technologies that will have the ability to populate threats. “If one aircraft can see a threat, it can notify everyone connected, show how far away and how to stay away to mitigate it … It will speed-up the kill chain.”

Related/Background:

  • Understanding Link 16 - Understanding_Voice+Data_Link_Networking.pdf
  • Tactical data link puts Marine units on the same page -- Defense Systems 
  • Army Faces Decisions About Airborne Radio
    The Army has already fielded an airborne radio that carries Link 16. Through a sole-source procurement in 2013, the Army selected a two-channel radio co-developed by ViaSat and Harris, the small tactical terminal, (STT) for the AH-64E Apache helicopter.
    The Army launched a Small Airborne Link 16 Terminal (SALT) program, intended only for the AH64E, though an anticipated request for proposals for SALT was put on hold while the Army determines whether the AH64E needs and SRW channel on the SALT or equivalent radio in addition to the SRW capability the SANR provides.
    "Getting Link 16 into that aircraft is absolutely critical," Hughes said. "Whether we have Link 16 and SRW, the Army is looking at the requirement to make sure we have it right and we have a plan to go forward."
    "You have SANR to all the helicopters and SALT to just the Apaches and you have solutions out there to give them the Link 16 capabilities," said Col. James Ross, project manager for tactical radios. "It's a matter of whether we go to the SALT program for that or another means the aviation community will be able to do." 
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Tuesday, August 11, 2015

USAF SAB says MQ-9, RQ-4 can be upgraded to survive in contested airspace

A Smarter, Deadlier UAV: USAF Looks at Upgrades
WASHINGTON — For the current generation of unmanned systems to survive in contested environments, they need upgrades to situational awareness, automation and weapons, a major US Air Force research project has found.
The conclusions come from the latest round of studies by the Air Force Scientific Advisory Board (SAB), an independent federal advisory committee made up of 50 scientists and researchers who every year drill down on a series of topics the service has asked them to consider.
This most recent trio of studies, which launched in January, looked at how — or if — the Air Force should invest its research funding into upgrading unmanned systems, developing quantum computing technologies and how to build in cybersecurity for internal processors on existing and current platforms.
Of the three studies, the one with the most near-term impact focused on UAVs like the MQ-9 Reaper and RQ-4 Global Hawk, said Werner Dahm, a former chief scientist of the Air Force who serves as SAB chairman.
Radar warning systems, new munitions and communications gear to allow operations in GPS-denied situations would give the two backbones of the unmanned intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) fleets new life in contested environments, Dahm explained to reporters this week.

USAF science panel recommends MQ-9, RQ-4 improvement plan - 8/4/2015 - Flight Global
A panel of military scientists is briefing senior US Air Force leaders on ways to make the defenceless General Atomics MQ-9 Reaper and Northrop Grumman RQ-4 Global Hawk more useful in a war against a sophisticated enemy that has the ability to hunt and kill aircraft.
Air Force's Scientific Advisory Board (SAB) says adding readily-available sensors, weapons, and threat detection and countermeasures systems to the MQ-9 and RQ-4 for better situational awareness and defence could see the aircraft deployed on riskier operations in the future.
“The SAB found that both the MQ-9 and RQ-4 could be modified in specific ways to provide utility in contested environments” says Werner Dahm, SAB chair and air force chief scientist from 2008 to 2010.
“There’s about 3,000lbs [1,360kg] of payload capacity on most of those platforms. You could put quite a few additional systems on to them; they have the size, weight and power to be able to run these systems.”

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USAF Scientific Advisory Board
2015 Study, Beginning January 2015

Enhanced Utility of Unmanned Air Vehicles
In Contested and Denied Environments
Terms of Reference

Background
Air Force use of unmanned air vehicles (UAVs) such as the MQ-9 Reaper and RQ-4 Global Hawk for ISR and strike missions increased significantly over the past decade, but has primarily been limited to highly permissive environments. Future operations may require employing UAVs in contested environments or anti-access/area-denial environments having highly capable integrated air defenses, where survivability of typical UAVs greatly limits their utility. While signature reduction is one potential means for achieving increased survivability, there are other approaches that could potentially offer various levels of enhanced utility, either by increasing survivability or by other means. Potential approaches include electronic support from other assets to enhance UAV survivability, on-board electronic countermeasures, cooperative interaction among several UAVs, disaggregating UAV functions across multiple platforms, reducing UAV cost so low that survival is not an issue, or even deploying UAVs in numbers that substantially complicate an adversary's defensive capabilities. The relative levels of survivability and utility enhancement enabled by such approaches depend on characteristics of the operating environment and must be weighed against their cost. Ensuring the future utility of Air Force UAVs requires an understanding of how these factors interrelate and which combinations of such approaches enable effective operation in various levels of contested or denied operating environments.

Charter
The study will:
  • Identify potential future missions for UAVs in contested or denied environments, including ISR, strike, and other roles in integrated operations.
  • Assess anticipated defensive characteristics across a range of potential future operating environments, from weakly contested airspace to anti-access/area-denial environments.
  • Characterize expected survivability of current UAVs across these environments and compare to the performance of alternative approaches employing manned aircraft.
  • Identify approaches other than signature reduction that may enhance the survivability of current and future UAVs across these environments and assess their relative efficacy.
  • Assess the technologies needed to enable these approaches, identify current technology gaps, and assess the magnitude of the effort needed to fill those gaps.
  • Make recommendations regarding the most valuable approaches for achieving enhanced utility of UAVs in contested and denied environments and across the range of potential future operating environments.
Study Products
Briefing to SAF/OS & AF/CC in July 2015. Publish report in December 2015.

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Monday, August 10, 2015

IG says USMC managing G/ATOR well, need TEMP for GaN

AN/TPS-80 Ground/Air Task Oriented Radar (G/ATOR)
DoD IG - Reports and Publications - Marine Corps Ground/Air Task Oriented Radar Program Management Met Acquisition Guidelines Intent, but Risks Remain
The Marine Corps generally managed the G/ATOR program in accordance with Defense acquisition guidelines. G/ATOR Program Management Office (PMO) officials implemented reliability improvements, planned new semiconductor technology that should reduce costs and improve
performance, and obtained the milestone decision authority approval for increased initial production quantities.

However, on March 10, 2014, the milestone decision authority approved the G/ATOR system to begin initial production without an approved Test and Evaluation Master Plan (TEMP). Officials from G/ATOR PMO and the test community stated that they were coordinating to include the test
strategy for new semiconductor technology and a clarified operational reliability requirement in the TEMP.

G/ATOR PMO officials plan to complete the TEMP before developmental testing begins in the second quarter FY 2017. Until the TEMP is updated to include the test strategy for new semiconductor technology and a clarified operational reliability requirement, the G/ATOR program is not ready for additional testing.
• On January 24, 2014, G/ATOR PMO officials briefed the MDA about their plan to transition to a new semiconductor technology—from gallium arsenide (GaAs) to gallium nitride (GaN).
  • G/ATOR PMO officials stated the transition should 
    • reduce costs and 
    • improve G/ATOR reliability.
  • Marine Corps officials estimated $40 million in procurement cost savings when they transition to GaN technology.
  • GaN-based G/ATOR systems should achieve greater efficiency by reducing the number of system components.
    • GaN-based G/ATOR has 76 less transmit/receive components than GaAs-based G/ATOR.
    • Fewer components:
      • cost less to maintain and sustain; and
      • reduce chances of failure.
  • G/ATOR PMO officials are updating the TEMP to include the GaN test strategy 

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NASA opens door to space with CubeSat Initiative

CubeSats Initiative | NASA
NASA Opens New CubeSat Opportunities for Low-Cost Space Exploration -- WASHINGTON, Aug. 10, 2015 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ --
WASHINGTON, Aug. 10, 2015 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Space enthusiasts have an opportunity to contribute to NASA's exploration goals through the next round of the agency's CubeSat Launch Initiative. Applicants must submit their proposals electronically by 4:30 p.m. EST, Nov. 24. 

The CubeSat Launch Initiative provides access to space for CubeSats developed by NASA centers, accredited educational institutions and non-profit organizations, giving CubeSat developers access to a low-cost pathway to conduct research in the areas of science, exploration, technology development, education or operations consistent with NASA's Strategic Plan. NASA does not provide funding for the development of the small satellites.

NASA’s CubeSat Launch initiative (CSLI) provides opportunities for small satellite payloads to fly on rockets planned for upcoming launches. These CubeSats are flown as auxiliary payloads on previously planned missions.



CubeSats are a class of research spacecraft called nanosatellites. The cube-shaped satellites are  approximately four inches long, have a volume of about one quart and weigh about 3 pounds.  To participate in the CSLI program, CubeSat investigations should be consistent with NASA's Strategic Plan and the Education Strategic Coordination Framework. The research should address aspects of science, exploration, technology development, education or operations.



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