The Impact of Environmental Accounting and Reporting on Organizational Performance of Selected Oil and Gas Companies in Niger Delta Region of Nigeria

This study examines the impact of environmental accounting and reporting an organizational performance with particular reference to oil and gas companies operating in the Niger Delta Region of Nigeria. The study was conducted using the Pearson’s product moment correlation co-efficient. The elements were selected by means of random and stratified sampling technique. Data were gathered from primary and secondary sources. Data collected were presented using tables and analyzed using the Pearson’s product moment correlational analysis. It was found from the study that environmental cost has satisfied relationship with firm’s profitability. It was concluded that environmentally friendly firms will significantly disclose environmental related information in financial statements and reports. The study recommended that firms should adopt a uniform method of reporting and disclosed environmental issues for the purpose of control and measurement of performance and that accounting standards should be published locally and internationally and reviewed continually to ensure dynamism and compliance to meet environmental and situational needs. Keywords: Environmental Account, Environmental Cost, Environmental Impact,  Environment Report, Financial Informatio

A word of caution: do not wake sleeping dogs; micrometastases of melanoma suddenly grew after progesterone treatment

Background: Hormonal treatment might affect the immune response to tumor antigens induced in cancer patients who are being vaccinated. Case presentation: A 33 years-old woman was diagnosed with cutaneous melanoma in May 2009. Her melanoma was located in the intermammary sulcus, had a Breslow thickness of 4 mm, a Clark’s level IV, it was ulcerated and highly melanotic. The bilateral sentinel node biopsy was negative. She entered into a randomized Phase II/III clinical study comparing a vaccine composed of irradiated melanoma cells plus BCG plus GM-CSF versus IFN-alpha 2b and she was assigned to the vaccine arm. During the two years treatment she remained disease-free; the final CAT scan being performed in August 2011. Between November and December 2011, her gynecologist treated her with three cycles of 200 mg progesterone/day for ten days, every two weeks, for ovary dysfunction. In November 2011 the patient returned to the Hospital for clinical and imaging evaluation and no evidence of disease was found. At the next visit in March 2012 an ultrasound revealed multiple, large metastases in the liver. A CAT scan confirmed the presence of liver, adrenal glands and spleen metastases. A needle biopsy of a liver lesion revealed metastatic melanoma of similar characteristics to the original tumor. We suggest that progesterone treatment triggered proliferation of so far dormant micrometastases that were controlled during CSF470 vaccine treatment. Conclusion: The use of progesterone in patients with melanoma that are under immunological treatments should be carefully considered, since progesterone could modify the balance of pro-inflammatory and Th1 functions to a regulatory and anti-inflammatory profile of the immune system that could have an impact in tumor progression.Fil: Mordoh, Jose. Fundacion Cancer. Centro de Investigaciones Oncologicas; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Tapia, Ivana Jaqueline. Fundacion Cancer. Centro de Investigaciones Oncologicas; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Barrio, Maria Marcela. Fundacion Cancer. Centro de Investigaciones Oncologicas; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentin

Association of immunotherapy and immunosuppression with severe COVID-19 disease in patients with cancer

Background: Cytokine storm due to COVID-19 can cause high morbidity and mortality. Patients with cancer treated with immunotherapy (IO) and those with immunosuppression may have higher rates of cytokine storm due to immune dysregulation. We sought to evaluate the association of IO and immunosuppression with COVID-19 outcomes and cytokine storm occurrence among patients with cancer and COVID-19, based on data from the COVID-19 and Cancer Consortium (CCC19). Methods: A registry-based retrospective cohort study was conducted on patients reported to the CCC19 registry from March 2020 to September 2021. The primary outcome was defined as an ordinal scale of COVID-19 severity. The secondary outcome was the occurrence of a cytokine storm using CCC19 variables, defined as biological and clinical evidence of severe inflammation, with end-organ dysfunction (Fajgenbaum D.C. et al., N Engl J Med., 2020). The association of IO or immunosuppression with the outcomes of interest were evaluated using a multivariable logistic regression balanced for covariate distributions through inverse probability of treatment weighting (IPTW). Results: A total of 10,214 patients were included, among which 482 (4.7%) received IO, 3,715 (36.4%) received non-IO systemic therapies, and 6,017 (58.9%) were untreated in the 3 months prior to COVID-19 diagnosis. No difference in COVID-19 severity or the development of a cytokine storm was found in the IO group compared to the untreated group (aOR: 0.77; 95%CI:0.45-1.32, and aOR: 1.06; 95%CI:0.42-2.67, respectively). On multivariable analysis, baseline immunosuppression was associated with worse outcomes both in relation to COVID-19 severity (aOR: 1.89; 95%CI:1.51-2.35) and the presence of a cytokine storm (aOR: 1.75; 95%CI:1.30-2.35). Conclusions: Administration of IO was not associated with severe outcomes in patients with cancer and COVID-19, whereas pre-existing baseline immunosuppression appears to be independently associated with worse clinical outcomes including cytokine storm

Uncovering treatment burden as a key concept for stroke care: a systematic review of qualitative research

<b>Background</b> Patients with chronic disease may experience complicated management plans requiring significant personal investment. This has been termed ‘treatment burden’ and has been associated with unfavourable outcomes. The aim of this systematic review is to examine the qualitative literature on treatment burden in stroke from the patient perspective.<p></p> <b>Methods and findings</b> The search strategy centred on: stroke, treatment burden, patient experience, and qualitative methods. We searched: Scopus, CINAHL, Embase, Medline, and PsycINFO. We tracked references, footnotes, and citations. Restrictions included: English language, date of publication January 2000 until February 2013. Two reviewers independently carried out the following: paper screening, data extraction, and data analysis. Data were analysed using framework synthesis, as informed by Normalization Process Theory. Sixty-nine papers were included. Treatment burden includes: (1) making sense of stroke management and planning care, (2) interacting with others, (3) enacting management strategies, and (4) reflecting on management. Health care is fragmented, with poor communication between patient and health care providers. Patients report inadequate information provision. Inpatient care is unsatisfactory, with a perceived lack of empathy from professionals and a shortage of stimulating activities on the ward. Discharge services are poorly coordinated, and accessing health and social care in the community is difficult. The study has potential limitations because it was restricted to studies published in English only and data from low-income countries were scarce.<p></p> <b>Conclusions</b> Stroke management is extremely demanding for patients, and treatment burden is influenced by micro and macro organisation of health services. Knowledge deficits mean patients are ill equipped to organise their care and develop coping strategies, making adherence less likely. There is a need to transform the approach to care provision so that services are configured to prioritise patient needs rather than those of health care systems

Pain, psychological distress and health-related quality of life at baseline and 3 months after radical prostatectomy

BACKGROUND: Inadequate management of postoperative pain is common, and postoperative pain is a risk factor for prolonged pain. In addition to medical and technical factors, psychological factors may also influence the experience of postoperative pain. METHODS: Pain was measured postoperatively at 24, 48, and 72 hr in hospital and after 3 months at home in 140 patients undergoing radical prostatectomy (RP). Patients answered questionnaires about anxiety and depression (HAD scale) and health-related quality of life (SF-36) at baseline and 3 months after surgery. RESULTS: In the first 3 postoperative days, mild pain was reported by 45 patients (32%), moderate pain by 64 (45%), and severe pain by 31 (22%) on one or more days. High postoperative pain scores were correlated with length of hospital stay and with high pain scores at home. Forty patients (29%) reported moderate (n = 35) or severe (n = 5) pain after discharge from hospital. Patients who experienced anxiety and depression preoperatively had higher postoperative pain scores and remained anxious and depressed 3 months after surgery. The scores for the physical domains in the SF-36 were decreased, while the mental health scores were increased at 3 months. Anxiety and depression were negatively correlated with all domains of the SF-36. CONCLUSION: There is a need for nurses to be aware of the psychological status of RP patients and its impact upon patients' experience of postoperative pain and recovery. The ability to identify patients with psychological distress and to target interventions is an important goal for future research

Elevated neutrophil and monocyte counts in peripheral blood are associated with poor survival in patients with metastatic melanoma: a prognostic model

We aimed to create a prognostic model in metastatic melanoma based on independent prognostic factors in 321 patients receiving interleukin-2 (IL-2)-based immunotherapy with a median follow-up time for patients currently alive of 52 months (range 15–189 months). The patients were treated as part of several phase II protocols and the majority received treatment with intermediate dose subcutaneous IL-2 and interferon-α. Neutrophil and monocyte counts, lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), number of metastatic sites, location of metastases and performance status were all statistically significant prognostic factors in univariate analyses. Subsequently, a multivariate Cox's regression analysis identified elevated LDH (P<0.001, hazard ratio 2.8), elevated neutrophil counts (P=0.02, hazard ratio 1.4) and a performance status of 2 (P=0.008, hazard ratio 1.6) as independent prognostic factors for poor survival. An elevated monocyte count could replace an elevated neutrophil count. Patients were assigned to one of three risk groups according to the cumulative risk defined as the sum of simplified risk scores of the three independent prognostic factors. Low-, intermediate- and high-risk patients achieved a median survival of 12.6 months (95% confidence interval (CI), 11.4–13.8), 6.0 months (95% CI, 4.8–7.2) and 3.4 months (95% CI, 1.2–5.6), respectively. The low-risk group encompassed the majority of long-term survivors, whereas the patients in the high-risk group with a very poor prognosis should probably not be offered IL-2-based immunotherapy