Background/Aim: National guidelines offer little guidance on the use of PSA progression (PSA increase as defined below) as a clinical endpoint in metastatic castrationresistant prostate cancer (mCRPC). The aim of the study was to examine treatment patterns/outcomes with abiraterone (abi)/enzalutamide (enza) throughout PSA progression and near the end of life (EOL). Patients and Methods: Cases of mCRPC treated with abi or enza from the New York Veterans Affairs (VA) from 6/2011-8/2017 were reviewed. Regression analyses were conducted to identify factors associated with continuation of abi/enza treatment up to the EOL, and survival. Results: Of 184 patients, 72 received abi alone, 28 received enza alone, and 84 received both. Treatment was changed for PSA progression alone in 39.1% (abi) and 25.7% (enza) of patients. A total of 37 patients (20%) received abi/enza within 1 month before death, 30% of whom were receiving hospice services. Older patients and black patients were less likely to receive abi/enza up to the EOL. Conclusion: Abi/enza are frequently discontinued for PSA progression alone and continued at EOL. The clinical benefit of these practices warrants additional study. Materials and Methods Study design. A multi-center, retrospective cohort study of patients with advanced prostate cancer at 2 participating VA medical centers (Manhattan, Brooklyn) was conducted to characterize abiraterone and enzalutamide treatment and patient outcomes. The study was approved by the institutional review board. Population and variables. A total of 184 patients with metastatic prostate cancer who received prescriptions for abiraterone acetate or 2467 This article is freely accessible online.
After learning basic quantum computing concepts, it is desirable to reinforce the learning using an important and relatively complex algorithm through which the students can observe and appreciate how the qubits evolve and interact with each other. Harrow-Hassidim-Lloyd (HHL) quantum algorithm, which can solve Linear System Problems with exponential speed-up over classical method and is the basic of many important quantum computing algorithms, is used to serve this purpose. The HHL algorithm is explained analytically followed by a 4-qubit numerical example in bra-ket notation. Matlab code corresponding to the numerical example is available for students to gain a deeper understanding of the HHL algorithm from a pure matrix point of view.A quantum circuit programmed using qiskit is also provided which can be used for real hardware execution in IBM quantum computers. After going through the material, students are expected to have a better appreciation of the concepts such as basis transformation, bra-ket and matrix rep-
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