Training Responsible Journalists in China: Guiding Domestic Opinion, Gaining Foreign Audiences

The teaching of international journalism in China serves a dual purpose: to train professionals who can strengthen the country’s international media and to guide domestic opinion on international issues. This article follows one class of students at Tsinghua University in Beijing and investigates how they are taught to gain foreign audiences, stay loyal to the party line, protect national interests at home and abroad, and be critical of foreign media reports. On this basis, the article discusses how the concept of professionalism, within the specific context of international journalism, is contested by competing views on what it means to be a responsible journalist

Serum tumour marker CA 125 in monitoring of ovarian cancer during first-line chemotherapy

The value of the serum tumour marker CA 125 to date has been in the monitoring of ovarian cancer patients for response to therapy and for recurrence of disease. However, despite the availability of serial data on CA 125, the problem of interpreting a change over time is still unsolved. The aim of this study was to assess the ability of CA 125 to monitor patients with ovarian cancer during postoperative chemotherapy. 255 patients with stage IC-IV ovarian cancer were allocated to the tumour marker monitoring study. The evaluation of CA 125 information was based on the analytical imprecision, the normal intra-individual biological variation, the sampling interval, and the cut-off value. Additionally, a new assessment criterion based upon an increment of 2.5 times the baseline CA 125 concentration confirmed by a third measurement was elaborated and the utility investigated. The efficiency of CA 125 for identifying progression and non-progression during first-line chemotherapy was 91.9%. The median lead time for true positive results was 41 days. Using the new elaborated criterion the efficiency of CA 125 for identifying progression and non-progression during first-line chemotherapy was 90.5%. The median lead time for true positive results was 35 days. CA 125 gave reliable prediction of progressive disease during postoperative chemotherapy. The results indicate a high applicability of the presented progression criteria during CA 125 monitoring of patients with changing activity of ovarian cancer. © 2001 Cancer Research Campaign www.bjcancer.co

Epirubicin is not Superior to Doxorubicin in the Treatment of Advanced Soft Tissue Sarcomas.The Experience of the EORTC Soft Tissue and Bone Sarcoma Group

Purpose. Doxorubicin (dox) still appears to be one of the most active drugs in the treatment of soft tissue sarcomas. However, treatment duration is limited due to cumulative cardiotoxicity. A number of small studies from single institutions have suggested activity of other analogues. In two studies the EORTC STBSG tested whether epirubicin (epi) is an alternative to standard dose dox in the treatment of chemonaive patients with advanced soft tissue sarcoma. The present report gives the final results of these studies

High-dose epirubicin is not an alternative to standard-dose doxorubicin in the treatment of advanced soft tissue sarcomas. A study of the EORTC soft tissue and bone sarcoma group.

The activity and toxicity of single-agent standard-dose doxorubicin were compared with that of two schedules of high-dose epirubicin. A total of 334 chemonaive patients with histologically confirmed advanced soft-tissue sarcomas received (A) doxorubicin 75 mg m(-2) on day 1 (112 patients), (B) epirubicin 150 mg m(-2) on day 1 (111 patients) or (C) epirubicin 50 mg m(-2) day(-1) on days 1, 2 and 3 (111 patients); all given as bolus injection at 3-week intervals. A median of four treatment cycles was given. Median age was 52 years (19-70 years) and performance score 1 (0-2). Of 314 evaluable patients, 45 (14%) had an objective tumour response (eight complete response, 35 partial response). There were no differences among the three groups. Median time to progression for groups A, B and C was 16, 14 and 12 weeks, and median survival 45, 47 and 45 weeks respectively. Neither progression-free (P = 0.93) nor overall survival (P = 0.89) differed among the three groups. After the first cycle of therapy, two patients died of infection and one owing to cardiovascular disease, all on epirubicin. Both dose schedules of epirubicin were more myelotoxic than doxorubicin. Cardiotoxicity (> or = grade 3) occurred in 1%, 0% and 2% respectively. Regardless of the schedule, high-dose epirubicin is not a preferred alternative to standard-dose doxorubicin in the treatment of patients with advanced soft-tissue sarcomas