Objective: In this study, we aimed to identify patients at risk of chemotherapy-induced cardiotoxicity with a simple method like platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio (PLR) before starting therapy. Method: A total of 65 breast cancer patients who completed anthracycline or adjuvant trastuzumab treatment were evaluated retrospectively. Serial PLR calculations, echocardiographic examinations, and cardiac markers before treatment and after follow-up period were analyzed. Cardiotoxicity was determined according to Cardiac Review and Evaluation Committee Criteria. Results: Patients were divided into two groups according to their (...) baseline PLR levels as Group C—PLR < 119 and Group D—PLR 120. The median follow-up of the study was 22.23 (12-42) months. Concomitant disease and baseline characteristics were similar in both groups. Symptomatic cardiotoxicity was not observed in both groups. Cardiotoxicity was occurred in one patient (2.3%) in Group C and in four patients (9.5%) in Group D (P ¼ .005). Average mean left ventricular ejection fraction loss from baseline was 10.7 6 7.0% in Group D vs 2.3 6 6.4% in Group C (P ¼ .008). Interpretation of cardiac markers that were present in nearly half of the patients revealed that serum hs-c-reactive protein and pro-brain natriu¨ retic peptide levels were significantly higher in patients who developed cardiotoxicity compared to who did not develop cardiotoxicity. PLR 120 had 99% sensitivity and 85% specificity in predicting cardiotoxicity. Conclusion: This study’s results showed that high PLR levels were associated with chemotherapy-induced cardiotoxicity. To our best knowledge, this is the first study, examining the impact of whole blood test on chemotherapy-induced cardiotoxicity before starting the therapy and allowing doctors plot a route for these risky patients. (shrink)

Objective: The use of neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NACT) in breast cancer is increasing. The management of locally advanced breast cancer differs due to the approach of the center to which the patient applied and the approach of the following physician. From this point of view, we aimed to evaluate the real life data of our region. -/- Methods: The study included 106 patients treated with neoadjuvant chemotherapy in the medical oncology clinic of two different university hospitals. Association between clinicopathological (...) features and pathological complete response (pCR) were analyzed. -/- Results: The pCR rate was higher in patients with negative hormone receptors and this difference was statistically significant (p:0.000). The rate of obtaining pCR increased as the NACT duration increased, and this increase was statistically significant. The mean NACT duration applied to the patients with pCR was 5.48 ± 0.22 months, and the mean NACT duration for those who could not obtain pCR was 5.01 ± 0.1 months (p:0.041). The recurrence rate of patients with pCR was 11.1%, while the recurrence rate of patients who could not obtain pCR was 31.6% (p:0.04). -/- Conclusions: Pathological response to chemotherapy is an important factor in determining prognosis. There appears to be a need for new biomarkers that allow the prediction of pCR and long-term outcomes. (shrink)

What Ivan Illich regarded in his Medical Nemesis as the ‘expropriation of health’ takes place on the surfaces and in the spaces of the screens all around us, including our cell phones but also the patient monitors and (increasingly) the iPads that intervene between nurse and patient. To explore what Illich called the ‘age of the show’, this essay uses film examples, like Creed and the controversial documentary Vaxxed, and the television series Nurse Jackie. Rocky’s cancer in his last film (...) (submitting to chemo to ‘fight’ cancer) highlights what Illich along with Petr Skrabanek called the ‘expropriation of death’. In contrast to what Illich denotes as ‘Umsonstigkeit’ – i.e., a free gift, given undeservedly, i.e., gratuitously – medical science tends to be tempted by what Illich terms scientistic ‘black magic’, taking over (expropriating) the life and the death of the patient in increasingly technological ways, a point underscored in the concluding section on the commercial prospects of xenotransplants using factory farm or mass-produced (and already for some time) human-pig mosaics or chimeras. (shrink)

Induction of neoplasia after therapeutic irradiation is well recognized. The development of the glioblastoma has been documented less frequently in association with radiation therapy. Pediatric patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia are more susceptible to radiation-induced complications than adult patients. Post radiation glioblastomas in childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia have poor prognosis. Treating postradiation glioblastomas are challenging for pediatric neuro-oncologists because of their more aggressive course than primary glioblastomas. To improve survival ratios and quality of life new researches are required in this (...) treatment field. The goal of this review is to discuss the possible risk factors for radiation-induced tumorgenesis and histopathological characteristics. (shrink)

Antibiotic-resistant bacteria pose a serious threat to our health. Our ability to destroy deadly bacteria by using antibiotics have not only improved our lives by curing infections, it also allows us to undertake otherwise dangerous treatments from chemotherapies to invasive surgeries. The emergence of antibiotic resistance, I argue, is a consequence of various iterations of prisoner’s dilemmas. To wit, each participant (from patients to nations) has rational self-interest to pursue a course of action that is suboptimal for all of us. (...) The standard solutions to prisoner’s dilemma look to realign cost-benefit such that individuals’ interests match those of the collective. However, the lack of a global organization to enforce an effective carrot-and-stick system makes it unlikely that we can solve the antibiotic resistance problem this way. I argue that our best chance might be an attempt to teach altruism and convince individuals to act not out of their self-interests. (shrink)

This conversational opinion article between two parties – Kate, a disability performance scholar and Sarah, an interdisciplinary artist-scholar with lived experience of disability – considers the dancing body as redeemer in the specific case of a dancer experiencing ‘chemo fog’, or Chemotherapy-Related Cognitive Impairment (CRCI) after undergoing oncological treatments for Hodgkin Lymphoma. This work draws on Pini’s own lived experience of illness (Pini & Pini, 2019) in dialogue with Maguire-Rosier’s study of dancers with hidden impairments (Gibson & Maguire-Rosier, 2020). (...) In an exploratory account based on an interview with one another, the authors ask: when our senses and perceptions of ourselves and the world we become are obfuscated, what is the nature of the new relationship between the performing self and its absent body/mind/world? How can we shape our narrative and articulate who we are, what we are doing or where we are going, if we are moving in the ‘fog’? Our discussion reveals how Pini’s dancing body elucidates healing, while recovering an agentic perspective in her experience of alienation and frustration tied to chemo fog and related impairments. With this work we offer an original perspective on how a dancing body can resist theoretical diagnosis. (shrink)

This academic paper on Ethical issues of using umbilical cord blood stem cell therapy of John Stuart Mill perspective aim to investigate the new approaches in the treatment of diseases by using umbilical cord blood stem cells. And also to study ethical issues from the use of umbilical cord blood stem cells in the treatment of diseases considered by Mill’s utilitarianism. 21st century, the medical industry was interested in organ transplantation from stem cells especially stem cells from the umbilical cord (...) to treat chronic and degenerative organ diseases, blood cancer and organ transplantation which successful and widespread throughout the world. Thailand has about 900 new children with Leukemia every year. About 50 percent are leukemia which needs to be treated correctly and urgently. In general Standardized chemotherapy but if the cancer patient has a bad prognosis Or have recurrent cancer Patients need to be treated with bone marrow transplants or stem cells to have a chance to heal. According to Mill’s Utilitarianism, the ethical concepts that determine what is the basic criterion used to determine whether it should or should not concern with the popular benefit that the criterion used is the amount of happiness that results from actions. Treating the disease using stem cells will make the patient recover from the disease, healthier and happier in life. As Mill said "The correctness of an action depends on the tendency that the action will lead to happiness. (shrink)

Objective: Lung cancer is the most common cause of morbidity and mortality. Platinum-based chemotherapy, which is the primary line of treatment, offers limited benefit due to drug resistance and side effects. Berberine (BBR), which is characterised by its potent and safe anticancer activity, represents a promising combination option in chemotherapy. To overcome the limitations in lung cancer chemotherapy, we investigated whether BBR and cisplatin (CIS) exert synergistic effects on non-small cell lung cancer cell line (A549) based on (...) cytotoxicity and apoptotic response markers. -/- Methods: The potential cytotoxic effects of the combination treatment were evaluated using the MTT and Chou-Talalay methods. Elisa assays were also performed to measure the levels of the pro-apoptotic protein Bax and the effector protein caspase (Cas)-3. -/- Results: The results showed that BBR alone reduced A549 cell viability in a dose-dependent manner and synergized with CIS (CI =0.34±0.05 at IC50 concentrations). Elisa results showed that the combined treatment (both at IC50 concentrations) modulated apoptotic signalling pathways in A549 cells. Bax and Cas3 protein levels were dramatically enhanced in A549 cells treated with CIS +BBR compared to control (0.5% DMSO) (p < 0.001). -/- Conclusion: Our results suggest that BBR can synergistically enhance the therapeutic effect of CIS in A549 cells. The potential therapeutic efficacy of BBR as part of a combination in current chemotherapy should be supported by in-depth research and clinical studies on the molecular mechanisms associated with cancer. (shrink)

The article considers the relevance of research on the problem of gender in oncology. The existing views on gender differences are given. The directions of further research / within the framework of gender psychology are determined.