ESMO / ASCO Recommendations for a Global Curriculum in Medical Oncology Edition 2016

The European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) and the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) are publishing a new edition of the ESMO/ASCO Global Curriculum (GC) thanks to contribution of 64 ESMO-appointed and 32 ASCO-appointed authors. First published in 2004 and updated in 2010, the GC edition 2016 answers to the need for updated recommendations for the training of physicians in medical oncology by defining the standard to be fulfilled to qualify as medical oncologists. At times of internationalisation of healthcare and increased mobility of patients and physicians, the GC aims to provide state-of-the-art cancer care to all patients wherever they live. Recent progress in the field of cancer research has indeed resulted in diagnostic and therapeutic innovations such as targeted therapies as a standard therapeutic approach or personalised cancer medicine apart from the revival of immunotherapy, requiring specialised training for medical oncology trainees. Thus, several new chapters on technical contents such as molecular pathology, translational research or molecular imaging and on conceptual attitudes towards human principles like genetic counselling or survivorship have been integrated in the GC. The GC edition 2016 consists of 12 sections with 17 subsections, 44 chapters and 35 subchapters, respectively. Besides renewal in its contents, the GC underwent a principal formal change taking into consideration modern didactic principles. It is presented in a template-based format that subcategorises the detailed outcome requirements into learning objectives, awareness, knowledge and skills. Consecutive steps will be those of harmonising and implementing teaching and assessment strategies

Modelling the spatiotemporal dynamics of chemovirotherapy cancer treatment

Chemovirotherapy is a combination therapy with chemotherapy and oncolytic viruses. It is gaining more interest and attracting more attention in the clinical setting due to its effective therapy and potential synergistic interactions against cancer. In this paper, we develop and analyse a mathematical model in the form of parabolic non-linear partial differential equations to investigate the spatiotemporal dynamics of tumour cells under chemovirotherapy treatment. The proposed model consists of uninfected and infected tumour cells, a free virus, and a chemotherapeutic drug. The analysis of the model is carried out for both the temporal and spatiotemporal cases. Travelling wave solutions to the spatiotemporal model are used to determine the minimum wave speed of tumour invasion. A sensitivity analysis is performed on the model parameters to establish the key parameters that promote cancer remission during chemovirotherapy treatment. Model analysis of the temporal model suggests that virus burst size and virus infection rate determine the success of the virotherapy treatment, whereas travelling wave solutions to the spatiotemporal model show that tumour diffusivity and growth rate are critical during chemovirotherapy. Simulation results reveal that chemovirotherapy is more effective and a good alternative to either chemotherapy or virotherapy, which is in agreement with the recent experimental studies.University of Pretoria and DST/NRF SARChI Chair in Mathematical Models and Methods in Bioengineering and Biosciences.http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/tjbd20hj2017Mathematics and Applied Mathematic

Naturopathy/herbalism consultations by mid-aged Australian women who have cancer

Complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) is now a significant practice issue for those delivering cancer care with a range of CAM being utilized by a significant number of patients with cancer. While various studies have explored the prevalence of CAM use among cancer patients, little is currently known about naturopathy/herbalism use by patients with cancer in Australia. This paper reports the prevalence of naturopath/herbalist consultations among mid-aged Australian women with cancer. The research was conducted as part of the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women's Health, with the data for this analysis coming from the third survey of 11 202 women aged 50-55, conducted in 2001. For all cancers combined, 15.7% of women with cancer were found to consult a naturopath/herbalist. Mid-aged women with cancer were found to be more likely to consult a naturopath/herbalist than mid-aged women without cancer. Naturopathy/herbalism consultations appear to be utilized by the women with cancer alongside and as a supplement to conventional health services. Given the prevalence of consultations with herbal therapists/naturopaths among mid-aged women with cancer in Australia, it is important that physicians and others involved in cancer patient care and management are informed and educated about naturopathy/herbalism and its use among their patients