Background Molecular diagnostic testing is necessary to guide optimal first-line treatment. The number of patients who receive first-line treatment based on biomarker analysis in Japan is unknown. We aimed to determine the proportion of nonsquamous non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients for whom first-line treatment was selected based on biomarker testing. Methods This retrospective, multicenter, observational study registered patients aged ⩾20 years with locally advanced or metastatic nonsquamous NSCLC who started first-line treatment between August and December 2017 in Japan. Data were collected from medical records between January and May 2018. The primary endpoint was the proportion of patients with confirmed biomarker status for first-line treatment decision. Results Among 202 patients enrolled from 11 centers, 161 (79.7%; 95% confidence interval, 74.2-85.2%) had confirmed biomarker status. The testing rate was highest for epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR; 97.5%), followed by anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK; 88.1%), programmed death ligand-1 (PD-L1; 87.1%), and ROS1 (67.3%). For first-line treatment, 70/75 patients with EGFR-positive tumors were administered an EGFR-TKI; 14/15 patients with ALK-positive tumors received an ALK inhibitor; 2/2 patients with ROS1-positive tumors received a ROS1 inhibitor; and 29/36 driver mutation-negative patients with a PD-L1 tumor proportion score ⩾50% were administered an anti-PD-1 monoclonal antibody. Median times from confirmed diagnosis date to first-line treatment initiation, and from first biomarker test order to last biomarker test result were 19 and 11 days, respectively. Conclusions The proportion of nonsquamous NSCLC patients with confirmed biomarker status for first-line treatment was considered insufficient and in need of improvement. © The Author(s), 2020.Natural killer/T-cell lymphoma (NKTCL) is an aggressive malignancy that usually presents in the upper aerodigestive tract. This malignancy shows substantial geographic variability in incidence, and is characterized by Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) infections. Epigenetic aberrations may dysregulate the expression of genes involved in different hallmarks of cancer. A growing body of evidence underscores the importance of epigenetic aberrations in the pathogenesis of NKTCL. Promoter hypermethylation is a common epigenetic mechanism for the inactivation of tumour suppressor genes. Several epigenetically silenced tumour suppressor candidates (e.g. PRDM1, BIM) were identified in this aggressive cancer using locus-specific and genome-wide promoter methylation analyses. Importantly, genes involved in epigenetic modifications were identified to be mutated (e.g. KMT2D) or methylated (e.g. TET2) in NKTCL patients, which may contribute to pathogenesis through global alterations in chromatin states. Cancer-associated microRNAs, some of which are expressed by EBV, and long noncoding RNAs have been observed to be dysregulated in NKTCL. This review focuses on studies investigating epigenetic aberrations in NKTCL to bolster our overall understanding of the role of these abnormalities in disease pathobiology. We also discuss the potential of these epigenetic aberrations to improve diagnosis and prognosis as well as reveal novel targets of therapy for NKTCL. © The Author(s), 2020.Background Malnutrition is common in cancer patients, particularly in those affected by gastrointestinal malignancies, and negatively affects treatment tolerance, survival, functional status, and quality of life (QoL).  https://www.selleckchem.com/products/GDC-0449.html  Nutritional support, including supplemental parenteral nutrition (SPN), has been recommended at the earliest opportunity in malnourished cancer patients. The limited available evidence on the efficacy of SPN in gastrointestinal cancer patients is positive, particularly with regards to QoL, body composition, and energy intake, but the evidence on survival is still scanty. Furthermore, studies regarding the early administration of SPN in combination with nutritional counseling from the beginning of first-line chemotherapy (CT) are lacking. We hypothesize that early systematic SPN in combination with nutritional counseling (NC), compared with NC alone, can benefit patients with previously untreated metastatic gastric cancer at nutritional risk undergoing first-line CT. Methods The aim of this prage randomized trials in different cancer types, potentially resulting in the improvement of supportive care quality. Trial registration This study is registered on ClinicalTrials.gov NCT03949907. © The Author(s), 2020.Background Enterobacter cloacae complex (ECC) bacteria, such as E. cloacae, E. sichuanensis, E. kobei, and E. roggenkampii, have been emerging as nosocomial pathogens. Many strains isolated from medical clinics were found to be resistant to antibiotics, and in the worst cases, acquired multidrug resistance. We present the whole genome sequence of SGAir0282, isolated from the outdoor air in Singapore, and its relevance to other ECC bacteria by in silico genomic analysis. Results Complete genome assembly of E. sichuanensis strain SGAir0282 was generated using PacBio RSII and Illumina MiSeq platforms, and the datasets were used for de novo assembly using Hierarchical Genome Assembly Process (HGAP) and error corrected with Pilon. The genome assembly consisted of a single contig of 4.71 Mb and with a G+C content of 55.5%. No plasmid was detected in the assembly. The genome contained 4371 coding genes, 83 tRNA and 25 rRNA genes, as predicted by NCBI's Prokaryotic Genome Annotation Pipeline (PGAP). Among the genes, the antibiotic resistance related genes were included Streptothricin acetdyltransferase (SatA), fosfomycin resistance protein (FosA) and metal-dependent hydrolases of the beta-lactamase superfamily I (BLI). Conclusion Based on whole genome alignment and phylogenetic analysis, the strain SGAir0282 was identified to be Enterobacter sichuanensis. The strain possesses gene clusters for virulence, disease and defence, that can also be found in other multidrug resistant ECC type strains. © The Author(s) 2020.Background The human gut microbiome has an important role in health and disease. There is extensive geographical variation in the composition of the gut microbiome, however, little is known about the gut microbiome composition of people from the Arabian Peninsula. In this study, we describe the gut microbiome of Arab Kuwaitis. The gut microbiome of 25 native adult Arab Kuwaitis was characterised using 16S rRNA gene sequencing of the V3-V4 regions. Sequencing data were analysed using DADA2. Phylogeny analysis was performed using amplicon sequence variants (ASVs) assigned to the Bacteroides genus and 16S rRNA sequences of Bacteroides type strains to understand the relationships among Bacteroides ASVs. Results About 63% of participants were overweight/obese reflecting normal Kuwaiti population. Firmicutes and Bacteroidetes were the dominant phyla detected in the gut microbiome (representing 48% and 46% of total sequencing reads respectively). At the genus level, Bacteroides was the most abundant genus in 22 of 25 participants.