The European Cancer Patient’s Bill of Rights, update and implementation 2016

In this implementation phase of the European Cancer Patient’s Bill of Rights (BoR), we confirm the following three patient-centred principles that underpin this initiative: 1: The right of every European citizen to receive the most accurate information and to be proactively involved in his/her care. 2: The right of every European citizen to optimal and timely access to a diagnosis and to appropriate specialised care, underpinned by research and innovation. 3: The right of every European citizen to receive care in health systems that ensure the best possible cancer prevention, the earliest possible diagnosis of their cancer, improved outcomes, patient rehabilitation, best quality of life and affordable health care. The key aspects of working towards implementing the BoR are: - Agree our high-level goal. The vision of 70% long-term survival for patients with cancer in 2035, promoting cancer prevention and cancer control and the associated progress in ensuring good patient experience and quality of life. - Establish the major mechanisms to underpin its delivery. (1) The systematic and rigorous sharing of best practice between and across European cancer healthcare systems and (2) the active promotion of Research and Innovation focused on improving outcomes; (3) Improving access to new and established cancer care by sharing best practice in the development, approval, procurement and reimbursement of cancer diagnostic tests and treatments. - Work with other organisations to bring into being a Europe based centre that will (1) systematically identify, evaluate and validate and disseminate best practice in cancer management for the different countries and regions and (2) promote Research and Innovation and its translation to maximise its impact to improve outcomes

Profile of subjective quality of life and its correlates in a nation-wide sample of high school students in an Arab setting using the WHOQOL-Bref

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The upsurge of interest in the quality of life (QOL) of children is in line with the 1989 Convention on the Rights of the Child, which stressed the child's right to adequate circumstances for physical, mental, and social development. The study's objectives were to: (i) highlight how satisfied Kuwaiti high school students were with life circumstances as in the WHOQOL-Bref; (ii) assess the prevalence of at risk status for impaired QOL and establish the QOL domain normative values; and (iii) examine the relationship of QOL with personal, parental, and socio-environmental factors.</p> <p>Method</p> <p>A nation-wide sample of students in senior classes in government high schools (N = 4467, 48.6% boys; aged 14-23 years) completed questionnaires that included the WHOQOL-Bref.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Using Cummins' norm of 70% - 80%, we found that, as a group, they barely achieved the well-being threshold score for physical health (70%), social relations (72.8%), environment (70.8%) and general facet (70.2%), but not for psychological health (61.9%). These scores were lower than those reported from other countries. Using the recommended cut-off of <1<it>SD </it>of population mean, the prevalence of at risk status for impaired QOL was 12.9% - 18.8% (population age-adjusted: 15.9% - 21.1%). In all domains, boys had significantly higher QOL than girls, mediated by anxiety/depression; while the younger ones had significantly higher QOL (<it>p </it>< 0.001), mediated by difficulty with studies and social relations. Although poorer QOL was significantly associated with parental divorce and father's low socio-economic status, the most important predictors of poorer QOL were perception of poor emotional relationship between the parents, poor self-esteem and difficulty with studies.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Poorer QOL seemed to reflect a circumstance of social disadvantage and poor psychosocial well-being in which girls fared worse than boys. The findings indicate that programs that address parental harmony and school programs that promote study-friendly atmospheres could help to improve psychosocial well-being. The application of QOL as a school population health measure may facilitate risk assessment and the tracking of health status.</p

Multi-scale genomic, transcriptomic and proteomic analysis of colorectal cancer cell lines to identify novel biomarkers

This work was partially funded by the Strategic Educational Pathways Scholarship (Malta). The scholarship is part-financed by the European Union – European Social Fund (ESF) under Operational Programme II – Cohesion Policy 2007-2013, “Empowering People for More Jobs and a Better Quality of Life”. This project was additionally funded by Medical Research Scotland.Selecting colorectal cancer (CRC) patients likely to respond to therapy remains a clinical challenge. The objectives of this study were to establish which genes were differentially expressed with respect to treatment sensitivity and relate this to copy number in a panel of 15 CRC cell lines. Copy number variations of the identified genes were assessed in a cohort of CRCs. IC50’s were measured for 5-fluorouracil, oxaliplatin, and BEZ-235, a PI3K/mTOR inhibitor. Cell lines were profiled using array comparative genomic hybridisation, Illumina gene expression analysis, reverse phase protein arrays, and targeted sequencing of KRAS hotspot mutations. Frequent gains were observed at 2p, 3q, 5p, 7p, 7q, 8q, 12p, 13q, 14q, and 17q and losses at 2q, 3p, 5q, 8p, 9p, 9q, 14q, 18q, and 20p. Frequently gained regions contained EGFR, PIK3CA, MYC, SMO, TRIB1, FZD1, and BRCA2, while frequently lost regions contained FHIT and MACROD2. TRIB1 was selected for further study. Gene enrichment analysis showed that differentially expressed genes with respect to treatment response were involved in Wnt signalling, EGF receptor signalling, apoptosis, cell cycle, and angiogenesis. Stepwise integration of copy number and gene expression data yielded 47 candidate genes that were significantly correlated. PDCD6 was differentially expressed in all three treatment responses. Tissue microarrays were constructed for a cohort of 118 CRC patients and TRIB1 and MYC amplifications were measured using fluorescence in situ hybridisation. TRIB1 and MYC were amplified in 14.5% and 7.4% of the cohort, respectively, and these amplifications were significantly correlated (p≤0.0001). TRIB1 protein expression in the patient cohort was significantly correlated with pERK, Akt, and Caspase 3 expression. In conclusion, a set of candidate predictive biomarkers for 5-fluorouracil, oxaliplatin, and BEZ235 are described that warrant further study. Amplification of the putative oncogene TRIB1 has been described for the first time in a cohort of CRC patients.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

The relationship between the quality of life of children with asthma and family functioning

© 2001 EBSCO Industries, Inc. All rights reserved.The quality of life of 84 children with asthma, aged 7-12 years, and their family functioning was assessed using standard questionnaires. A significant relationship was found between children's reports of their quality of life and several key dimensions of family functioning. The results suggest that independent of their frequency, the extent to which asthma symptoms upset and bother children varies depending on the level of the functioning of the children's families. Treatment approaches designed to improve family functioning may reduce the extent to which children are bothered by their asthma symptoms and thus improve their quality of life.Michael G. Sawyer, Nicola Spurrier, Declan Kennedy and James Marti

Visual evoked potential latencies of three-year-old children prenatally exposed to buprenorphine or methadone compared with non-opioid exposed children: the results of a longitudinal study

Abstract not availableJustine N. Whitham, Nicola J. Spurrier, Peter A. Baghurst, Paul Weston, Michael G. Sawye

The effects of prenatal exposure to buprenorphine or methadone on infant visual evoked potentials

This study compared the neurological development of 4 month old infants exposed to buprenorphine or methadone during pregnancy to that of a control group of non-exposed infants. Participants were 30 buprenorphine-maintained women, 22 methadone-maintained women and 33 non opioid-dependent controls, and their infants. Women were enrolled during pregnancy as part of an open-label non-randomised flexible-dosing longitudinal study. Groups were matched for maternal age, parity, gravida, and tobacco and alcohol use. Infant neurological development was assessed by measuring latency of pattern reversal visual evoked potentials (VEP). One-way between groups analyses of variance (ANOVA) were conducted to test the statistical significance of differences between the mean latencies of the peak response to two different sized checkerboard patterns (48' and 69' of retinal arc). Infants prenatally exposed to methadone had significantly prolonged latencies, compared with infants in the control group and infants prenatally exposed to buprenorphine, in response to checks of 48' and 69'. VEP latencies of infants prenatally exposed to buprenorphine did not differ significantly from controls for either check size. After adjustment for covariates, prenatal exposure to methadone remained a significant predictor of VEP response to checks of 48', but not 69'. Maternal self-reported used of marijuana during pregnancy made a significant unique contribution to the variance in P1 latencies for both check sizes. Data from this controlled, non-randomised study suggest that buprenorphine may confer an advantage over methadone as a maintenance drug during pregnancy in terms of infant neural development at 4 months of age.Justine N. Whitham, Nicola J. Spurrier, Michael G. Sawyer, Peter A. Baghurst, John E. Taplin, Jason M. White and Andrea L. Gordo

The relationship between asthma severity, family functioning and the health-related quality of life of children with asthma

This study compared the health-related quality of life (HRQL) of 236 children with mild or moderate, severe asthma with that of a large representative sample of children in the general community. The study also examined the relationship between the HRQL of children with asthma and their demographic characteristics, asthma severity and family functioning. Chlldren with asthma had a significantly poorer HRQL than other children in the community. Amongst the children with asthma, parents reported that children living in single-parent families had poorer physical health, mental health and social functioning than children in two-parent families. There was a significant relationship between the mental health of children with asthma and family functioning but no significant relationship between their physical health and family functioning. These findings suggest that the domains comprising the HRQL of children with asthma are related to both disease and non-disease factors. A better understanding of these relationsfups will facilitate the development of new interventions to help children with asthma.M. G. Sawyer, N. Spurrier, L. Whaites, D. Kennedy, A. J. Martin and P. Baghurs