Epidemiology and Death-Related Factors of Oncology Patients in Emergency Department

Introduction: Accurate diagnosis and proper treatment of oncology patients presented to emergency department(ED) can dramatically enhance their quality of life and decrease their mortality rate. Therefore, the presentstudy aimed to evaluate these patients from an epidemiologic point of view as well as identifying death-relatedfactors. Methods: In this retrospective cross-sectional study, all the oncology patients presented to ED duringone year were evaluated using census sampling. A checklist that consisted of clinical and demographic data aswell as patients outcome was filled for each patient. Using SPSS 21, multivariate stepwise logistic regressionanalysis was done to identify independent death-related factors. Results: 568 patients with the mean age of53.64§18.99 years were studied (56.5% male). The most common locations of tumor were brain (32.7%) andgastrointestinal tract (27.1%). Pain (32.5%) was the most frequent chief complaint on ED arrival. The overallmortality rate of studied patients was 154 (27.1%), 25 (16.2%) of them in ED. Among the evaluated factors,marital status, visiting on a weekday, arrival to ED via ambulance, type of cancer, stage of cancer, presence ofmetastasis, being under treatment with chemo-radiotherapy, chief complaint on arrival, tumor location, andadmission to intensive care unit (ICU) correlated significantly with in-hospital mortality. Conclusion: The mostcommon type of cancer in the studied patients was solid, located in the brain or gastrointestinal tract, in stage IIIand IV, metastatic, and under chemo-radiotherapy. Independent death-related factors included ICU admission,presentation with loss of consciousness or bleeding, arrival via ambulance, cancer stage > II, neuroendocrineand genitourinary location of cancer, and being under chemo-radiotherapy

The Effect of Elaeagnus angustifolia L. Cream on Radiation-Induced Skin Reactions in Women with Breast Cancer; A Preliminary Clinical Trial: Running title?????

Radiotherapy, a highly effective way to destroy breast cancer, causes skin adverse effects. A considerable amount of studies have been conducted to find a way to alleviate or relieve dermal adverse effects of radiation. The aim of this study was to observe the clinical effect of Elaeagnus angustifolia L. cream to treat radiotherapy-induced skin destruction in breast cancer patients.Thirty two patients suffering from different stages of radiotherapy-induced skin reactions were evaluated in a double-blind randomized study; 16 patients in the treatment group received Elaeagnus angustifolia cream, while the other 16 patients, served as control group.Two weeks after the treatment, patients in Elaeagnus angustifolia group showed significantly lower skin reaction grade compared with placebo group. The attitude of the patients of Elaeagnus angustifolia group about dryness, itching, pain, burning, blisters and sores was significantly improved after two weeks of treatment.Elaeagnus angustifolia cream may effectively reduce the radiotherapy-induced dermal injury

Nanocurcumin as a radioprotective agent against radiation-induced mortality in mice

Objective(s): Curcumin, a natural plant product, is commonly known as wonder drug of life, but the poor bioavailability of its free form has hindered its clinical development. The aim of the present study was to investigate the radioprotective effect of nanocurcumin on survival of mice under whole body X-ray irradiation. Materials and Methods: The Naval Medical Research Institute (NMRI) mice randomly assigned to separate groups and received nanocurcumin via oral gavage at different time points related to irradiation. The survival of mice was evaluated daily for 30 days post-irradiation and finally, the LD50/30 was calculated using Probit analysis. The 30-day survival curve was plotted using the Kaplan-Meier survival curve and the median survival of different subgroups was compared using log-rank test. The P-values less than 0.05 were considered significant. Results: Our results showed that the administration of oral nanocurcumin could effectively reduce the mortality rate in the irradiated mice. Five days pretreatment with nanocurcumin (4 mg/kg/day) induced maximum radioprotective effect. The LD50/30 was 7.18 Gray (Gy) (95% confidence interval [CI]: 6.59-7.77) and 8.78 Gy (95% CI: 8.14-9.50) for irradiation-only and the optimum nanocurcumin group (pre-irradiation group), respectively (dose reduction factor [DRF] = 1.22). Continued administration of nanocurcumin up to seven days post-irradiation resulted in no further radioprotection. Conclusions: The results obtained in this study confirmed the efficacy of nanocurcumin as a radioprotective agent against radiation-induced mortality in mice. The specific characteristics of nanocurcumin, such as non-toxicity, edibility, availability, make this phytochemical as a potential radioprotective agent in the radiotherapy setting and radiation accidents. Further clinical studies are highly recommended

Effective Treatment of Cervical Lymph Node Metastasis of Breast Cancer by Low Voltage High-Frequency Electrochemotherapy

Electrochemotherapy (ECT) is a new local treatment method for solid and superficial tumors. During this new technique, patients experience an unpleasant sensation and slight edema. Most unpleasant and painful is mainly attributed to muscle contractions provoked by high amplitude and low repetition frequency pulses. Recently, we showed that electrochemotherapy using low voltage and higher repetition frequency (LVHF ECT) is an effective tool for inhibiting tumor growth and inducing cell permeabilization. Low voltage high-frequency electrochemotherapy was developed and optimized in vitro and in vivo which and can be used in the clinic. In the present study, we report a case of cervical lymph node metastasis of breast cancer treated by the technique. In our case, LVHF ECT was successful in reducing the size and palliating the symptoms of cervical lymph node metastasis in clinical conditions, whereas other approaches were inefficient. Our electrochemotherapy technique shows good clinical results. However, more studies on this new method are necessary to prove that LVHF ECT can be considered as a standard treatment modality

A comparative study of cisplatin-based definitive chemo-radiation in non-metastatic squamous cell carcinoma of the esophagus

Introduction: Esophageal cancer is the seventh most frequent malignancy in Iranian men and the fourth most common cancer in Iranian women. It is also among the 10 most frequent cancers in the world. Definitive chemoradiation using cisplatin with 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) is known as the standard of care among various chemotherapy regimens used with esophageal cancer patients who are not eligible for surgery. Cisplatin with paclitaxel and cisplatin with irinotecan also have been used often during the past five years. The aim of this research was to compare overall survival (OS) and hematological toxicity rates between these regimens. Methods: This single-institutional study included 55 patients who were treated with definitive chemo-radiation in the radiation-oncology ward at Shohada-e-Tajrish Hospital in Tehran, Iran, between 2006 and 2013. They received one of four regimens, i.e., cisplatin, cisplatin with 5-FU (old chemotherapy regimens), cisplatin with paclitaxel, or cisplatin with irinotecan (new chemotherapy regimens) as part of their definitive chemo-radiation with curative intent. The Kaplan-Meier estimator was used to estimate the overall survival times, which were compared by using the Breslow test. Results: The follow-up period was between 26-109 months, with a median of 72 months. OS was not different between the old and new chemotherapy regimen groups (p = 0.18). Hematological toxicity (leucopenia) in the old chemotherapy regimen groups (10%) was significantly lower than in the new chemotherapy regimen groups (43%, p = 0.012). But OS in cisplatin or cisplatin with 5-FU scheme was statistically better than with the cisplatin with paclitaxel scheme (p = 0.026, p = 0.028, respectively). Conclusion: This study showed that OS are similar in both the old and new chemotherapy treatment regimens in esophageal cancer patients who were treated with definitive chemo-radiation. The new chemotherapy treatment regimens should be used with caution as an alternative treatment of cisplatin with 5-FU for further evaluatio

Relationship between perceived social support and psychological hardiness with family communication patterns and quality of life of oncology patients

Abstract Aim The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between PSS, PH, FCP and QoL of oncology patients. Methods In this descriptive‐correlational study, 340 oncology patients were selected with convenience sampling method from the hospitals in Tehran 2018–2019. Data were collected using, “PSS,” “PH,” “FCP” and “European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer Quality of Life Questionnaire, EORTC QLQ‐C30.” Data were analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics using SPSS21 and Amos. Results The direct effect and the total effect of PSS and FCP on QoL were significant (p  .05) and the effect of PH on QoL was not significant (p = .96). The Root Mean Squares of Error Approximations (RMSEA), Non‐Normed Fit Index (NNFI), Comparative Fit Index (CFI) and Goodness of Fit Index (GFI) were estimated 0.07, 0.97, 0.98 and 0.91, respectively

Data-Driven Discovery of Molecular Targets for Antibody-Drug Conjugates in Cancer Treatment

Antibody-drug conjugate therapy has attracted considerable attention in recent years. Since the selection of appropriate targets is a critical aspect of antibody-drug conjugate research and development, a big data research for discovery of candidate targets per tumor type is outstanding and of high interest. Thus, the purpose of this study was to identify and prioritize candidate antibody-drug conjugate targets with translational potential across common types of cancer by mining the Human Protein Atlas, as a unique big data resource. To perform a multifaceted screening process, XML and TSV files including immunohistochemistry expression data for 45 normal tissues and 20 tumor types were downloaded from the Human Protein Atlas website. For genes without high protein expression across critical normal tissues, a quasi H-score (range, 0-300) was computed per tumor type. All genes with a quasi H−score≥150 were extracted. Of these, genes with cell surface localization were selected and included in a multilevel validation process. Among 19670 genes that encode proteins, 5520 membrane protein-coding genes were included in this study. During a multistep data mining procedure, 332 potential targets were identified based on the level of the protein expression across critical normal tissues and 20 tumor types. After validation, 23 cell surface proteins were identified and prioritized as candidate antibody-drug conjugate targets of which two have interestingly been approved by the FDA for use in solid tumors, one has been approved for lymphoma, and four have currently been entered in clinical trials. In conclusion, we identified and prioritized several candidate targets with translational potential, which may yield new clinically effective and safe antibody-drug conjugates. This large-scale antibody-based proteomic study allows us to go beyond the RNA-seq studies, facilitates bench-to-clinic research of targeted anticancer therapeutics, and offers valuable insights into the development of new antibody-drug conjugates