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  • Surgery vs Radiation in Early Glottic Cancer

    Surgery vs Radiation in Early Glottic Cancer

    TOPLINE:

    In a study of patients with T1 glottic squamous cell carcinomas, a group who received transoral microlaryngeal surgery alone had a higher risk for recurrence than a group who received radiotherapy alone, while 5-year overall survival rates remained similar between the two groups. Patients with T1b tumors had lower survival rates and higher rates of laryngectomy than those with T1a tumors.

    METHODOLOGY:

    • Radiotherapy is the standard treatment for T1 glottic squamous cell carcinomas, but microlaryngeal surgery has emerged as an alternative, prompting researchers to assess their comparative effectiveness.
    • This retrospective observational study included data of 777 patients (12% women; median age, 69 years) with T1a (n = 652) and T1b glottic squamous cell carcinomas (n = 125) from the Swedish Head and Neck Cancer Register, who were treated between 2008 and 2019.
    • Overall, 367 patients (47.2%) underwent microlaryngeal surgery alone, 382 (49.2%) received radiotherapy as a single-modality treatment, while 28 (3.6%) received both treatments.
    • Study outcomes were 5-year overall survival and risk for recurrence (defined as reappearance more than 6 months after diagnosis) or laryngectomy.

    TAKEAWAY:

    • Overall survival at 5 years was higher in patients with T1a tumors than in those with T1b tumors (78.5% vs 66.2%; P = .005).
    • Compared with radiotherapy alone, microlaryngeal surgery alone showed no significant difference in 5-year overall survival among patients with T1a (79.8% vs 77.5%; P = .53) and T1b (63.8% vs 65.9%; P = .610) tumors. The 5-year survival rate was 72.7% in patients who received both surgery and radiotherapy (all T1a), which was not significantly different from what was seen for those who received radiotherapy alone.
    • Most recurrences (80% for T1a and 91% for T1b; 90.5% local) occurred within 3 years, with median times to recurrence of 17.9 months (T1a) and 15 months (T1b).
    • At 3 years, recurrence rates were significantly higher after surgery alone than radiotherapy alone — 19.0% vs 6.4% for T1a tumors, and 56% vs 10% for T1b tumors (P < .001 for both comparisons).
    • The 3-year cumulative incidence of laryngectomy was significantly higher in the T1b vs T1a group (P = .01). Laryngectomy occurred in 5.0% and 5.2% of patients with T1a tumors after surgery alone and radiotherapy alone, respectively, compared with 16.0% and 10.6% among patients with T1b tumors.

    IN PRACTICE:

    “The results indicated a significant difference in 5‐year overall survival in favor of T1a vs T1b tumors and that microlaryngeal surgery should be used with caution in patients who have T1b cancer,” the authors wrote.

    SOURCE:

    The study was led by Hedda Haugen Cange, MD, PhD, Sahlgrenska University Hospital, Goteborg, Sweden. It was published online on June 26, 2025, in Cancer.

    LIMITATIONS:

    The study was limited by its retrospective, observational design. Data were missing on factors like voice quality, quality of life, and comorbidities, which limited comprehensive assessment. Additionally, the small sample size for T1b tumors reduced the study’s statistical power.

    DISCLOSURES:

    The study was funded by Laryngfonden. One author reported serving on a Merck Sharp and Dohme End Point Review Committee outside the submitted work.

    This article was created using several editorial tools, including AI, as part of the process. Human editors reviewed this content before publication.

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  • Pakistan calls upon UNSC to resolve Kashmir dispute

    Pakistan calls upon UNSC to resolve Kashmir dispute

    ISLAMABAD  –  Pakistan’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Asim Iftikhar Ahmad, who assumed the UN Security Council’s presidency for July, yesterday urged UNSC and its permanent members on Wednesday to resolve the Kashmir dispute.

    He underscored the need for resolving the Kashmir dispute, which he said was causing tensions and frictions between Pakistan and India. “It is time that this (Kashmir dispute) be addressed, and I would say this is not only a responsibility of Pakistan — we are here temporarily, two years as a non-permanent member,” he told a crowded news conference at the UN Headquarters in New York, while responding to a question.

    “I think it’s the responsibility of the Security Council itself, and particularly the permanent members to see that they take certain steps to actually get their own resolutions implemented,” Ambassador Asim Iftikhar said.

     “That’s the way forward,” he added. Ahead of the news conference, the 15-member Council met and approved the programme of work for the month of July. “Our approach is firmly rooted in the purposes and principles of the UN Charter, peaceful settlement of disputes, sovereign equality, respect for international law and multilateralism,” Ambassador Ahmad told UN corps of correspondents. Pakistan, he said, will convene two signature events during its Presidency –a high-level debate on “Promoting International Peace and Security through Multilateralism and Peaceful Settlement of Disputes,” scheduled for 22 July, and on UN-OIC cooperation on July 24. Both debates will be chaired by Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister, Senator Ishaq Dar. Moreover, DPM/FM Dar would also preside over the quarterly open debate on Palestine on July 23.

    “The debates stem from the reality that today’s crises often emerge from unresolved disputes, the erosion of international obligations, and the underutilization of peaceful means enshrined in Chapter VI of the Charter,” the Pakistani envoy said.

    On Kashmir, Ambassador Asim Iftikhar Ahmad also said that all issues on the Security Council’s agenda can be discussed any time and the decades-old dispute over the Himalayan state was on agenda under India-Pakistan question.

    The UN Security Council has pronounced on it in several resolutions that, among other elements, grant the Kashmiri people their right to self-determination, he said. “It is festering dispute, It has several dimensions,” the Pakistan envoy said, noting its peace and security dimension, political and legal dimension, and it also human rights dimension. “This is an issue that has been there unresolved; It is a cause of tensions and frictions between India and Pakistan. It is impeding development of friendly relations in our region. It is time that this be addressed,” he added.


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  • TRANSITION OF PROMOTIONAL ACTIVITIES FOR ALLERGEN IMMUNOTHERAPY DRUG ACTAIR® IN JAPAN｜ 塩野義製薬

    Baar (Switzerland), Osaka (Japan), Tokyo (Japan), July 3, 2025 – Stallergenes Greer, Shionogi & Co., Ltd. (“Shionogi”) and CEOLIA Pharma Co. Ltd (“CEOLIA”) today announced the transition of promotional activities for Actair® in Japan. Actair® is Stallergenes Greer’s sublingual immunotherapy tablet for the treatment of patients suffering from house dust mite induced allergic rhinitis.

     

    After ending the license agreement established in 2010 with Shionogi, which had been responsible for developing, registering, and commercialising Actair® in Japan, Stallergenes Greer has appointed CEOLIA as its new promotional partner in the country starting July 3. To ensure the continuity of both patient care and support for healthcare professionals, Shionogi will continue during a transition period to serve as the Marketing Authorisation Holder (MAH) in Japan and remain responsible for the importation, manufacturing and distribution of Actair®. Shionogi will also provide active support to CEOLIA by transferring knowledge and offering operational assistance.

     

    Stallergenes Greer acknowledges Shionogi’s contribution and sustained commitment to improving allergy care in Japan. The company welcomes CEOLIA as a trusted new partner and looks forward to working closely together to further advance access to allergen immunotherapy treatments and continue to improve the quality of life of patients with respiratory allergies.

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  • Bhachar slams speaker, vows legal battle, protests – Newspaper

    Bhachar slams speaker, vows legal battle, protests – Newspaper

    LAHORE: Chiding the speaker for acting like a dictator under pressure, Opposition Leader in Punjab Assembly Malik Ahmad Khan Bhachar said the opposition would continue fighting for the cause of the people of Punjab.

    “Our patron-in-chief has appreciated PTI’s 26 MPAs for challenging the pharaohs and instructed them to hold assembly outside the [assembly] premises and continue giving tough time to the fake-mandated government,” Mr Bhachar said while speaking at a news conference at Lahore Press Club on Wednesday. He said the PTI would suggest amendments to the proposed Punjab Local Government Act.

    He said the PTI would continue protesting ‘irregular’ payments of Rs10 trillion as reported by the Auditor General of Pakistan and added that this ‘Form-47’ government also got Rs509 billion supplementary budget with less than 23 members in the House.

    “PML-N MPAs came in droves to listen to CM Maryam Nawaz’ speech but their number reduced to less than 25, when supplementary budget was passed,” he said.

    Says PTI to suggest amendments to proposed LG law

    Bhachar said the speaker suspended 26 opposition MPAs for protesting during CM’s speech but he had conveniently ignored the treasury MPAs’ protest and cheap slogans, when opposition women MPAs were speaking in the assembly. He said the speaker had neither notified the opposition parliamentary leader nor gave floor to the opposition leader despite repeated requests.

    He said he had written a letter to the speaker to provide evidence explaining that the opposition members broke down microphones.

    He said the opposition would approach courts despite knowing that the courts were not giving justice to the opposition.

    The opposition leader condemned the federal government for increasing petroleum prices and added that this increase would instantly shoot up the cost of daily-use items.

    Acknowledging the negligence in death of 17 persons in Swat River, Opposition Leader in Punjab Assembly Malik Ahmad Khan Bhachar said Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz should also be punished for the death of 20 children in a Pakpattan hospital.

    “Those negligent in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and in Punjab should be punished,” Mr Bhachar said.

    Answering a question, the opposition leader said the political parties do keep their doors open for negotiations. He said party President Chaudhry Parvez Elahi was holding meetings and issuing instructions to them.

    Published in Dawn, July 3rd, 2025

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  • TikToker held with 13 guards for ‘public display of arms’ in Lahore – Pakistan

    TikToker held with 13 guards for ‘public display of arms’ in Lahore – Pakistan

    LAHORE: The Crime Control Department (CCD) of Lahore police on Wednesday arrested a known TikToker and his 13 security guards for “public display of weapons”.

    The police acted when the suspects blatantly violated the Section 144 imposed by the Punjab government to ensure peace in the city during Muharram.

    As per CCD sources, TikToker Kashif Zamir, along with his armed bodyguards, traveled on a city road in a double-cabin vehicle. His team recorded video clips showing the weapons displayed by his guards and uploaded the same on social media.

    The police say such conduct causes harassment to the public.

    A CCD official says the police arrested the TikToker in a raid and recovered firearms from him and his guards, lodging cases against them.

    He says the police also recovered videos of the TikToker showing him traveling on different city roads, along with his heavily-armed security guards. The CCD official says that Kashif Zameer is a habitual offender as he was also arrested in the past on the same charges.

    Later, a video statement of the TikToker, recorded in police custody, appeared on social media wherein he apologised for taking law into his hands.

    Published in Dawn, July 3rd, 2025

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  • Capgemini unveils strategic AI framework to turn enterprise ambition into measurable business impact

    Capgemini unveils strategic AI framework to turn enterprise ambition into measurable business impact





    Capgemini unveils strategic AI framework to turn enterprise ambition into measurable business impact – Capgemini


























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  • Indonesia, Saudi Arabia agree on strategic cooperation worth 27 bln USD-Xinhua

    JAKARTA, July 3 (Xinhua) — Indonesia and Saudi Arabia have agreed on business cooperation worth some 27 billion U.S. dollars in various sectors, including clean energy, petrochemical industries, aviation fuel services, healthcare, pharmaceuticals, and health technology.

    According to a press release by the Indonesian Presidential Secretariat on Thursday, the agreements were signed by private sector entities from both countries and welcomed by President Prabowo Subianto and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman during a bilateral meeting at Al-Salam Palace in Jeddah on Wednesday.

    In a joint statement, both leaders expressed their commitment to strengthening and expanding bilateral cooperation, particularly in investment, trade, and the digital economy, including enhanced private sector collaboration.

    They also welcomed the strengthening of defense and security cooperation, including counterterrorism, the fight against extremism, cybersecurity, and cooperation in information exchange and training.

    Both leaders affirmed the importance of enhancing cooperation in multilateral mechanisms such as the G20, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, the International Monetary Fund, and the Non-Aligned Movement, to address global challenges. ■

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  • A Challenging Case of Wild-Type Transthyretin Amyloidosis (ATTR) Amyloidosis Treated With Cardiac Resynchronization Therapy

    A Challenging Case of Wild-Type Transthyretin Amyloidosis (ATTR) Amyloidosis Treated With Cardiac Resynchronization Therapy


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  • Dubai’s booming restaurant scene is feeling the heat of high costs and high failure rates

    Dubai’s booming restaurant scene is feeling the heat of high costs and high failure rates

    DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — From suspended tables to underwater lounges, some 13,000 food and drink establishments in Dubai pull out all the stops to attract customers in one of the world’s most saturated dining markets.

    They cater to all tastes and budgets. Some spots ladle out inexpensive biryani while others offer dishes dusted with edible gold.

    These are some of the ways the emirate is competing with its neighbors Saudi Arabia and Qatar for tourist dollars and, so far, it’s beating them handily. Dubai has more restaurants per capita than any major city except Paris.

    But the city-state’s booming restaurant scene is testing the limits of its growth-at-all-costs model, raising questions about how long Dubai can keep feeding its own ambitions.

    The competition is cutthroat, so presentation is key.

    “Gone are the days when it just tastes good,” said Kym Barter, the general manager of Atlantis The Palm, a resort perched on a manmade archipelago that boasts more Michelin stars than any other venue in the Middle East.

    But dazzling Dubai’s food bloggers — the most popular of whom have millions of social media followers — isn’t enough. Staying afloat means battling high rents and winning over a diverse and demanding group of consumers.

    Dubai has roughly nine expatriate residents for every Emirati citizen. Most of its private sector workers are migrants on temporary contracts, and only Vatican City has a higher share of foreign-born residents.

    Tourists, in turn, outnumber locals about five to one by some estimates, and they spend lavishly. Visitors to Dubai drop an average of over five times more than those traveling to nearby Saudi Arabia or even the U.S., according to global restaurant consultant Aaron Allen.

    Dubai is “on the right path” to becoming the world’s food capital, said Torsten Vildgaard, executive chef at FZN by Björn Frantzén. The restaurant, which runs at more than $540 a head, was one of two in Dubai to nab three Michelin stars in May.

    “We’re only seeing the tip of the iceberg of what’s to come in terms of gastronomy here,” Vildgaard added.

    With each new set of illuminated high-rises and hotels, another crop of eateries emerge, vying for patrons. The legions of construction workers powering Dubai’s progress also need affordable options.

    That growth, propped up in part by investor pressure on some of the world’s biggest chains to expand in Dubai, has created what some analysts warn is a bubble.

    “If you’re a publicly traded company like Americana, what are you supposed to do — just stop opening restaurants?” restaurant consultant Allen said, referring to the Gulf-based operator of KFC, Pizza Hut and other big franchises.

    The frenetic expansion of Dubai’s restaurant industry is part of a regional shift that has seen Gulf Arab states pour hundreds of billions of dollars into building out tourist destinations as they move away from hydrocarbons to diversify their economies. Saudi Arabia has a high-stakes, $500 billion project: a straight-line futuristic city called Neom.

    But, in a Muslim-majority region, the United Arab Emirates has gone to lengths that some consider too much of a compromise, including relaxing restrictions on alcohol that fuel its pubs and nightlife and other social reforms.

    The rapid development comes at a price. Dubai’s restaurants have a high failure rate, industry veterans say, though local authorities don’t say what the rate of closures is. In the downtown district and other prime areas, annual rents for restaurants can top $100 per square foot. That’s on a par with some of the world’s most expensive cities.

    Still, the emirate issued almost 1,200 new restaurant licenses last year, according to Dubai’s Department of Economy and Tourism. The department declined to respond to questions.

    Empty tables during peak hours are common, even in top locations. Part of the problem, managers say, is that traffic congestion is so severe that convincing diners to drive out can be a tall task.

    “I sometimes go, ‘Do I go into the restaurant right now, because I’m going to get into traffic?’’’ said Waseem Abdul Hameed, operations manager at Ravi, a Pakistani family-owned eatery famous for its official Adidas shoe line and a 2010 TV feature from Anthony Bourdain.

    He knows restaurateurs who have had to shut up shop and others who are squeezed by slim margins and increasingly reliant on delivery apps, Hameed said.

    The demand sends fleets of migrant workers racing through gridlock on motorbikes, with few protections and tight delivery windows. Emirati newspaper Khaleej Times reported the accidental deaths of 17 Dubai food couriers last year.

    The math of Dubai’s restaurant scene doesn’t add up, delivery apps and wealthy tourists notwithstanding, restaurant consultant Allen said. He cited operating expenses that have more than doubled relative to sales since 2009, when a financial crisis almost hobbled the emirate.

    Too many Dubai entrepreneurs, he put it simply, have “too much money, and they don’t know what to do besides open restaurants.”

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  • Study unveils powerful strategy to rejuvenate effectiveness of CAR T cell therapy against glioblastoma

    Study unveils powerful strategy to rejuvenate effectiveness of CAR T cell therapy against glioblastoma

    A team of researchers from the San Raffaele-Telethon Institute for Gene Therapy (SR-TIGET, Milan), led by Nadia Coltella and Luigi Naldini, has unveiled a powerful strategy to rejuvenate the effectiveness of chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cell therapy against glioblastoma, one of the most lethal and treatment-resistant brain tumors. The findings, published in Science Translational Medicine, highlight how gene therapy targeting immune stimulating cytokines to the tumor microenvironment (TME) and enabling their private cross-talk with CAR-T cells not only restores CAR-T killer activity but also boost a broader immune response that inhibits tumor growth and extends host survival in a preclinical glioblastoma models.

    The study builds on the prior development by the Naldini’s laboratory of a gene therapy strategy that exploit genetic engineering of hematopoietic progenitors to generate a progeny of monocyte/macrophages that selectively release their immune stimulating payload upon infiltrating a tumor. This strategy has been taken to its first-in-human clinical testing as stand-alone treatment of glioblastoma by the biotech company Genenta Science, a spin-off from the San Raffaele Institute now listed on the NASDAQ.

    “Solid tumors like glioblastoma have been notoriously difficult for CAR-T cells to penetrate and control,” explains Dr. Rossari, first author of the work, “By reprogramming a population of tumor-infiltrating macrophages to deliver cytokines directly into the tumor, we’ve morphed the immunosuppressive TME into one supportive of immune cells, thus allowing CAR T cells to better persist, become activated and attack tumor cells.”

    CAR-T cells have shown transformative results in blood cancers but have struggled in solid tumors due to the hostile, immunosuppressive TME. The team’s strategy leads to selective release of two cytokines within the TME: interferon-α (IFN-α), a pleiotropic immune stimulator that counteracts local immune suppressive cues and enforces antigen presentation and immune effectors’ activity, and an engineered mutant of interleukin-2 that can only activate a cognate mutant receptor co-introduced with the CAR into T cells, thus boosting the proliferation specifically of the administered effector engaged in fighting the tumor.

    “The private ‘cross-talk’ between genetically engineered macrophages and CAR T cells established in the TME ensures that the immune stimulants act only where needed, sparing the rest of the body from systemic toxicity, and specifically on the relevant target cells involved in the tumor attack, again preventing collateral damage and aberrant effects,” says Dr. Alvisi, co-first author of the study.

    In a mouse model of glioblastoma that mimics the pathology and immunological barriers seen in human patients, the targeted cytokines rescued the activity of CAR-T cells that, given alone, were ineffective – as mostly seen in clinical trials. In turn, the rescued CAR T cells now synergized with cytokine delivery, significantly enhancing their effect on delaying tumor growth and extending mouse survival. Strikingly, even tumors with only a fraction of cells expressing the CAR-targeted antigen B7-H3 were effectively controlled, indicating engagement of endogenous T cells on top of the CAR-T to fight the tumor.

    “We observed not only reactivation of the CAR-T cells but also the recruitment of the host’s own T cells against a wider range of tumor antigens,” says Dr. Nadia Coltella, senior co-corresponding author. “This phenomenon, known as antigenic spreading, was mostly dependent on IFN-α activity in the TME and is a key feature for creating effective immunity as it may overcome immune evasion by tumors targeted only through a single antigen by the CAR-T cells.”

    “This work represents another important step forward in our decade-long commitment to develop a novel gene and cell therapy strategy effective against tumors, as we have been able to do for several genetic diseases along the life of our institute” adds Luigi Naldini, Director of SR-TIGET and Professor at Università Vita-Salute San Raffaele. “The tumor-targeted IFN-α delivery strategy is already being evaluated as stand-alone treatment in a first-in-human phase 1/2a trial on the most aggressive type of glioblastoma (Temferon trial) led by the biotech company Genenta Science. The study has shown feasibility, safety, biological activity in reprogramming the TME and early but promising indication of therapeutic benefit, albeit limited by the small number of treated patients and the design of a phase 1 study. A combination of Temferon with CAR-T cells administration, as prompted by our new study, could in future further enhance the benefit of the treatment and broaden its efficacy to a larger fraction of patients.”

    This study was supported also by the Italian Association for Cancer Research (AIRC), the Louis-Jeantet Foundation through the Jeantet-Collen Prize for Translational Medicine to Luigi Naldini, and a research contract from Genenta Sciences.

    Source:

    Journal reference:

    Rossari, F., et al. (2025) A cross-talk established by tumor-targeted cytokines rescues CAR T cell activity and engages host T cells against glioblastoma in mice. Science Translational Medicine. doi.org/10.1126/scitranslmed.ado9511.

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