Costs of Early Adjuvant Radiation Therapy After Radical Prostatectomy: A Decision Analysis

Purpose/Objective(s): Prospective, randomized trials support adjuvant radiation therapy (RT) for adverse pathologic features after radical prostatectomy (RP). However, adjuvant RT is not universally delivered in this setting. Criticisms of adjuvant RT include toxicity, financial costs, potential overtreatment, and effectiveness of salvage RT. The objective of this study was to construct a decision analytic model to estimate real world cost of RT vs. no RT within the context of the effectiveness of early adjuvant RT for prostate patients based on published clinical results of the Southwest Oncology Group prospective trial of adjuvant RT (SWOG 8794). American Society for Therapeutic Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) 52nd Annual Meeting October 31 - November 4, San Diego, C

Identifying barriers to patient acceptance of active surveillance: content analysis of online patient communications.

OBJECTIVES: Qualitative research aimed at identifying patient acceptance of active surveillance (AS) has been identified as a public health research priority. The primary objective of this study was to determine if analysis of a large-sample of anonymous internet conversations (ICs) could be utilized to identify unmet public needs regarding AS. METHODS: English-language ICs regarding prostate cancer (PC) treatment with AS from 2002-12 were identified using a novel internet search methodology. Web spiders were developed to mine, aggregate, and analyze content from the world-wide-web for ICs centered on AS. Collection of ICs was not restricted to any specific geographic region of origin. NLP was used to evaluate content and perform a sentiment analysis. Conversations were scored as positive, negative, or neutral. A sentiment index (SI) was subsequently calculated according to the following formula to compare temporal trends in public sentiment towards AS: [(# Positive IC/#Total IC)-(#Negative IC/#Total IC) x 100]. RESULTS: A total of 464 ICs were identified. Sentiment increased from -13 to +2 over the study period. The increase sentiment has been driven by increased patient emphasis on quality-of-life factors and endorsement of AS by national medical organizations. Unmet needs identified in these ICs include: a gap between quantitative data regarding long-term outcomes with AS vs. conventional treatments, desire for treatment information from an unbiased specialist, and absence of public role models managed with AS. CONCLUSIONS: This study demonstrates the potential utility of online patient communications to provide insight into patient preferences and decision-making. Based on our findings, we recommend that multidisciplinary clinics consider including an unbiased specialist to present treatment options and that future decision tools for AS include quantitative data regarding outcomes after AS

PARP-1 regulates DNA repair factor availability.

PARP-1 holds major functions on chromatin, DNA damage repair and transcriptional regulation, both of which are relevant in the context of cancer. Here, unbiased transcriptional profiling revealed the downstream transcriptional profile of PARP-1 enzymatic activity. Further investigation of the PARP-1-regulated transcriptome and secondary strategies for assessing PARP-1 activity in patient tissues revealed that PARP-1 activity was unexpectedly enriched as a function of disease progression and was associated with poor outcome independent of DNA double-strand breaks, suggesting that enhanced PARP-1 activity may promote aggressive phenotypes. Mechanistic investigation revealed that active PARP-1 served to enhance E2F1 transcription factor activity, and specifically promoted E2F1-mediated induction of DNA repair factors involved in homologous recombination (HR). Conversely, PARP-1 inhibition reduced HR factor availability and thus acted to induce or enhance BRCA-ness . These observations bring new understanding of PARP-1 function in cancer and have significant ramifications on predicting PARP-1 inhibitor function in the clinical setting

Adenocarcinoma of the Colon Disguised as Abdominal Wall Abscess: Case Report and Review of the Literature

Introduction. Abdominal wall invasion by cancerous cells arising from the colon with an overlying secondary infection that presents as an abdominal wall abscess has been encountered previously, but such a symptom is rarely the first presentation of colon cancer. There are very few cases reported in the literature. Case Presentation. In this case report, we present a case of a 66-year-old male presenting with abdominal wall abscess that was refractory to treatment. The patient later was found to have an abdominal wall invasion by an underlying colonic carcinoma. Conclusion. The purpose of this review is to set forth the proper approach when encountering such cases and emphasize on the significance of keeping a high index of suspicion. We also highlight the need for utilizing proper diagnostic imaging modalities prior to invasive intervention

Atypical Enteropathogenic Escherichia coli Infection and Prolonged Diarrhea in Children

Infection of children with atypical EPEC is associated with prolonged diarrhea