New Release Books by Brooke Chang

FIVE RUNNERS. ONE JOB. And a Whole Lot of Trouble... It should have been a simple walk in the corp. Stroll into a mid-level corporation disguised as a nameless mid-level manager in a suit, deliver an unknown data package to an isolated network, and stroll out again. But nothing is ever simple in the shadows. Now five shadowrunners are on the run themselves. Framed by their employer, the mysterious Mr. Johnson, and marked for termination by every hired cop, corp security man, and shadowrunner in Seattle, the team must find out who set them up, why they did it, and figure out how to deliver their payback—without getting killed in the process. The Complete Frame Job is the collected six-novella story set in the gritty, dark future, magic-and-machine world of Shadowrun.

PART TWO OF THE ORIGINAL SHADOWRUN SIXTH WORLD EDITION NOVELLA SERIES! FIVE RUNNERS. ONE JOB. AND A WHOLE LOT OF TROUBLE... Now that the shadowrunning team knows they''ve been double-crossed by one of the largest megacorps in the Sixth World, they''ve got two jobs to do: clear their name and deliver payback with a vengeance. While hiding out on the outskirts of Seattle, Aussie rigger Emu begins taking steps toward that exact plan by trying to find out who set them up with Knight Errant, but she''s also got other problems; juggling an outstanding mob debt and handling a side courier run for a friend in exchange for intel on the corp Johnson. However, even the best laid plans can go wrong, and Emu has to find a way to accomplish all all three jobs while staying one step ahead of her enemies...and their bullets.

Abstract: Background: In patients with cirrhosis, portal hypertension increases intestinal permeability, dysbiosis, and bacterial translocation, promoting an inflammatory state that can lead to the progression of liver disease and development of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). We aimed to investigate whether beta blockers (BBs), which can mediate portal hypertension, conferred survival benefits in patients treated with immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs). Methods: We conducted a retrospective, observational study of 578 patients with unresectable HCC treated with ICI from 2017 to 2019 at 13 institutions across three continents. BB use was defined as exposure to BBs at any time during ICI therapy. The primary objective was to assess the association of BB exposure with overall survival (OS). Secondary objectives were to evaluate the association of BB use with progression-free survival (PFS) and objective response rate (ORR) according to RECIST 1.1 criteria. Results: In our study cohort, 203 (35%) patients used BBs at any point during ICI therapy. Of these, 51% were taking a nonselective BB. BB use was not significantly correlated with OS (hazard ratio [HR] 1.12, 95% CI 0.9-1.39, P = 0.298), PFS (HR 1.02, 95% CI 0.83-1.26, P = 0.844) or ORR (odds ratio [OR] 0.84, 95% CI 0.54-1.31, P = 0.451) in univariate or multivariate analyses. BB use was also not associated with incidence of adverse events (OR 1.38, 95% CI 0.96-1.97, P = 0.079). Specifically, nonselective BB use was not correlated with OS (HR 0.94, 95% CI 0.66-1.33, P = 0.721), PFS (HR 0.92, 0.66-1.29, P = 0.629), ORR (OR 1.20, 95% CI 0.58-2.49, P = 0.623), or rate of adverse events (OR 0.82, 95% CI 0.46-1.47, P = 0.510). Conclusion: In this real-world population of patients with unresectable HCC treated with immunotherapy, BB use was not associated with OS, PFS or ORR