Choices have to be made regarding what reference mortality rates to use and what age distribution to standardize to. We illustrate the method and some potential choices using data from England for men diagnosed with melanoma. Various marginal measures are presented and compared. The new measures help enhance understanding of cancer survival and are a complement to the more commonly used measures.The new measures help enhance understanding of cancer survival and are a complement to the more commonly used measures. Remdesivir is a prodrug with in vitro activity against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2). Its clinical efficacy in patients with COVID-19 under mechanical ventilation remains to be evaluated. This study includes patients under mechanical ventilation with confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection admitted to the ICU of Pesaro hospital between 29 February and 20 March 2020. During this period, remdesivir was provided on a compassionate use basis. Clinical characteristics and outcome of patients treated with remdesivir were collected retrospectively and compared with those of patients hospitalized in the same time period. A total of 51 patients were considered, of which 25 were treated with remdesivir. The median (IQR) age was 67 (59-75.5) years, 92% were men and symptom onset was 10 (8-12) days before admission to ICU. At baseline, there was no significant difference in demographic characteristics, comorbidities and laboratory values between patients treated and not treated with remdesivir. Median follow-up was 52 (46-57) days. Kaplan-Meier curves showed significantly lower mortality among patients who had been treated with remdesivir (56% versus 92%, P < 0.001). Cox regression analysis showed that the Charlson Comorbidity Index was the only factor that had a significant association with higher mortality (OR 1.184; 95% CI 1.027-1.365; P = 0.020), while the use of remdesivir was associated with better survival (OR 3.506; 95% CI 1.768-6.954; P < 0.001). In this study the mortality rate of patients with COVID-19 under mechanical ventilation is confirmed to be high. The use of remdesivir was associated with a significant beneficial effect on survival.In this study the mortality rate of patients with COVID-19 under mechanical ventilation is confirmed to be high. The use of remdesivir was associated with a significant beneficial effect on survival. Can oocytes extracted from excised ovarian tissue and matured in vitro be a useful adjunct for urgent fertility preservation (FP)? Ovarian tissue oocyte in-vitro maturation (OTO-IVM) in combination with ovarian tissue cryopreservation (OTC) is a valuable adjunct technique for FP. Despite the impressive progress in the field, options for FP for cancer patients are still limited and, depending on the technique, clinical outcome data are still scarce. This was a retrospective cohort study conducted at a university hospital-affiliated fertility clinic between January 2012 and May 2019. The study included 77 patients who underwent unilateral oophorectomy for OTC. Cumulus-oocyte complexes (COCs) obtained during ovarian tissue processing were matured in vitro for 28-42 h. Oocytes reaching metaphase II stage were vitrified or inseminated for embryo vitrification. Overall, 1220 COCs were collected. The mean oocyte maturation rate was 39% ± 23% (SD). OUL232 supplier There were 64 patients who had vitrification of oocytes ( The results of the study illustrate the added value of OTO-IVM in combination with OTC. We report the first live birth following the use of this appended technique combined with oocyte vitrification. No external funding was used for this study. M.D.V. reports honoraria for lectures in the last 2 years from MSD and Ferring, outside the submitted work, as well as grant support from MSD. The other authors have nothing to declare. N/A.N/A. What are the distributions and associated clinical characteristics of mediator complex subunit 12 (MED12), high mobility group AT-hook 2 (HMGA2) and fumarate hydratase (FH) aberrations in uterine leiomyomas from fertile-aged myomectomy patients? These driver mutations account for the majority (83%) of tumours in fertile-aged patients. Alterations affecting MED12, HMGA2 and FH account for 80-90% of uterine leiomyomas from middle-aged hysterectomy patients, while the molecular background of tumours from young myomectomy patients has not been systematically studied. A retrospective series of 361 archival uterine leiomyoma samples from 234 women aged ≤45 years undergoing myomectomy in 2009-2014 was examined. Associations between the molecular data and detailed clinical information of the patients and tumours were analysed. DNA was extracted from formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded samples and MED12 exons 1 and 2 were sequenced to identify mutations. Level of HMGA2 expression was evaluated by immunohistoche partly descriptive. The contribution of driver mutations in leiomyomas from young myomectomy patients is comparable to tumours obtained from hysterectomies of mostly middle-aged women. Our results support the earlier findings that MED12 mutations are associated with multiple tumours, smaller tumour size and subserosal location. The study emphasizes the distinct molecular background of solitary leiomyomas, and more research is needed to clarify the underlying causes of the notable proportion of wild-type leiomyomas. The study was supported by the Academy of Finland (307773), the Sigrid Jusélius Foundation, the Cancer Foundation Finland and the iCAN Digital Precision Cancer Medicine Flagship. The authors declare no conflicts of interest. N/A.N/A.Growing evidence suggests 2-deoxy-2-[18F]fluoro-D-glucose (18FDG)-positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) is a useful imaging technique for the evaluation of fever of unknown origin (FUO). This imaging technique allows for accurate localization of foci of hypermetabolism based on 18FDG uptake in glycolytically-active cells that may represent inflammation, infection, or neoplasia. The presence of abnormal uptake can help direct further investigation that may yield a final diagnosis. A lack of abnormal uptake can be reasonably reassuring that these conditions are not present, thereby avoiding unnecessary additional testing. Insurers have not routinely covered outpatient 18FDG-PET/CT for the indication of FUO in the United States; however, data published since 2007 suggest early use in FUO diagnostic evaluations improves diagnostic efficiency and saves costs. Clinicians and insurers should consider 18FDG-PET/CTas a useful tool when preliminary studies are unrevealing.