IJMS, Vol. 19, Pages 4031: Applications of Noble Metal-Based Nanoparticles in Medicine

IJMS, Vol. 19, Pages 4031: Applications of Noble Metal-Based Nanoparticles in Medicine

International Journal of Molecular Sciences doi: 10.3390/ijms19124031

Authors: Bartosz Klębowski Joanna Depciuch Magdalena Parlińska-Wojtan Jarek Baran

Nanoparticles have unique, size-dependent properties, which means they are widely used in various branches of industry. The ability to control the properties of nanoparticles makes these nanomaterials very interesting for medicine and pharmacology. The application of nanoparticles in medicine is associated with the design of specific nanostructures, which can be used as novel diagnostic and therapeutic modalities. There are a lot of applications of nanoparticles, e.g., as drug delivery systems, radiosensitizers in radiation or proton therapy, in bioimaging, or as bactericides/fungicides. This paper aims to introduce the characteristics of noble metal-based nanoparticles with particular emphasis on their applications in medicine and related sciences.

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Cancer Research, Statistics,Treatment

From the Editor's Desk Vanita Noronha Cancer Research, Statistics, and Treatment 2018 1(1):1-1

Current management strategies in gallbladder cancers Vikas Ostwal, Sanyo Dsouza, Shraddha Patkar, Sherly Lewis, Mahesh Goel, Krunal Khobragade, Anant Ramaswamy Cancer Research, Statistics, and Treatment 2018 1(1):2-9 Gallbladder cancers (GBC) are common in the Indo-Gangetic belt of India. Most consensus guidelines in the West have considered GBC as part of the biliary tract cancer spectrum; however, considering the markedly higher burden of GBC in India, there is a need to have specific management treatment strategies in the Indian scenario. The extent of surgical resections, the use of staging laparoscopies, the optimum adjuvant therapy for resected high-risk GBC (T3 or T4 disease and node-positive disease), as well as the preferred second-line chemotherapeutic regimens for advanced GBC are questions that remain incompletely defined and answered. The current review presents a synopsis of currently available evidence and emerging approaches in the treatment of GBC.

Novel therapeutic options for recurrent metastatic salivary gland tumors: Review of ongoing clinical trials Avinash Pandey, Manish Kumar, Heena Shahi, Aishwarya Kumari, Shivkant Singh Cancer Research, Statistics, and Treatment 2018 1(1):10-18 The clinical behavior and biology of recurrent malignant salivary gland tumors are myriad with slow-growing indolent disease at the one end of spectrum and aggressive symptomatic illness with metastases to bone, lung, and liver at the other end. Several different agents and combination chemotherapy regimens have been explored in patients whose disease is symptomatic with response rates between 15% and 40%. Recently, molecular studies have evolved to reveal targetable biomarkers which can be further explored in the therapeutic landscape with specific targeted therapies. A subset of tumors also expresses hormone receptors and hence is amenable to conventional antihormonal agents to obtain a possibly meaningful benefit. We searched for all ongoing and completed clinical trials involving chemotherapy, targeted therapy, hormonal therapy, and immunotherapy valid for patients with recurrent metastatic salivary gland tumors. We present the current viable therapeutic options for such a cohort of patients in routine clinical practice.

Adjuvant chemotherapy protocols for lung cancer Sameer Shrirangwar, Manasi Sharma, Sunny Jandyal, Shruti Kate Cancer Research, Statistics, and Treatment 2018 1(1):19-40

A step-wise guide to performing survival analysis Santam Chakraborty Cancer Research, Statistics, and Treatment 2018 1(1):41-45 Survival analysis refers to statistical techniques which have been designed to circumvent the issues arising out of incomplete information regarding the time until which a desired event or endpoint occurs. The reasons for this may be manifold, for example, lost to follow-up, dropouts from the study, lack of sufficient research budget, and short follow-up period. It is one of the common but complicated analysis done in trials. The current article provides a step-wise guide toward understanding survival functions and performing it.

Quality of life without toxicity or symptoms analysis of a randomized controlled clinical trial comparing efficacy of cabazitaxel versus docetaxel in recurrent head and neck cancer Vijay Patil, Amit Joshi, Vanita Noronha, Sachin Dhumal, Arun Chandrasekharan, Nikhil Pande, Sameer Shrirangwar, Anup Toshniwal, Siddharth Turkar, Kushal Gupta, Vikas Talreja, Abhishek Mahajan, Shashikant Juvekar, Atanu Bhattacharjee, Kumar Prabhash Cancer Research, Statistics, and Treatment 2018 1(1):46-50 Background: This analysis was done with the aim to study the overall impact of docetaxel and cabazitaxel treatment using quality-adjusted time without symptoms and toxicity (QTWiST) analysis in head and neck cancer patients receiving second-line treatment. Methods: Overall survival (OS) was partitioned in three health states for QTWiST analysis. Toxicity (TOX) state was defined as the cumulative number of days spent in grade 3 or above toxicity postrandomization and before progression. TWiST state was defined as the cumulative number of days spent postrandomization and before progression without grade 3 or above toxicity. REL state was defined as the time spent in days postprogression till death. A threshold utility analysis was performed. Results: The restricted mean TOX state duration in cabazitaxel arm was 2.26 days (95% confidence interval [CI] 1.12–3.40) versus 1.54 days (95% CI 0.56–2.53 days) in docetaxel arm. In threshold utility analysis, the mean difference in QTWiST was in favor of docetaxel arm and ranged from −7.194 (utility for TOX) to −35.96. For any combination of utility score of REL >0, with any combination of utility score of TOX, the difference in mean QTWiST between the two arms was >14 days (i.e. >10% of OS), in favor of docetaxel arm which is considered clinically meaningful. Conclusion: Patients randomized to docetaxel arm had a higher QTWiST score than patients in cabazitaxel arm. There was a suggestion that docetaxel led to better quallity of life without toxicity or symptoms, which would require confirmation in a larger study.

A Bayesian approach for dynamic treatment regimes in the presence of competing risk analysis Atanu Bhattacharjee, Gajendra K Vishwakarma, Souvik Banerjee Cancer Research, Statistics, and Treatment 2018 1(1):51-57 Background: A sequencing rule is considered to formulate the dynamic treatment regime (DTR). This sequence rule is based on the clinical relevance, prior evidence about the best performing therapy, and the requirement to treat a patient in a specific scenario. The challenge occurs when the study offers a concluding remark about best effective therapy among all possible combinations of treatment management schedules treated with a sequence rule. The time-to-event data analysis is the only available method to figure out the best effective treatment in the context of oncology research. However, the presence of the competing risk event of death in the time-to-event analysis is unavoidable, and it becomes challenging to decide regarding the best effective treatment strategy. Methodology: In this article, we describe the statistical methodology to handle the competing risk time-to-event data analysis in DTR. The analysis is performed with the Bayesian approach to help determine the best effective treatment strategy. Results: We introduce the OpenBUGS function, which provides the comparison and estimation of different treatment sequences in time-to-event competing risk data analysis adopting the newly proposed statistical approach. Conclusion: This method is efficient to guide the personalized medicine in oncology setup through the supportive decision rule.

Cancer care: Challenges in the developing world Chepsy C Philip, Amrith Mathew, M Joseph John Cancer Research, Statistics, and Treatment 2018 1(1):58-62 Objective: Cancer care in the developing world remains a challenge. Limitations in the diagnosis, poverty, and knowledge are recognized as some of the challenges. Health-care financing and treatment facilities are limitations toward availing cancer care. An assessment of the extent of the burden and strength of available infrastructure is limited. We performed an assessment to gather information from young oncologists in the developing world to identify similarities and differences among the countries. Methods: Information on services was gathered using a questionnaire from young oncologists participating in the American Society of Clinical Oncology annual meet selected to represent various developing countries. Descriptive statistics were used to report results. Results: The median doctor: outpatient ratio was 1:20 (1:2–1:80). Median: staffing ratio in an oncology ward was 1:6 (1:2–1:20). Four (22.2%) respondents reported complete social security support for health care in oncology. Stem cell transplant facility was reported as available in 8 (44.4%) centers out of 20. South Asian respondents reported the highest out-of-pocket expenditure (65%) and the least doctor: outpatient ratio at 1:20. Conclusion: Cancer care challenges appear similar in the regions surveyed. Additional strategies to improve the health-care infrastructure and provide a health security net to treat all cancer patients are required to benefit the efforts to tackle the growing burden of cancer in the developing countries.

Once-a-week versus once-every-3-weeks cisplatin in patients receiving chemoradiation for locally advanced head-and-neck cancer: A survey of practice in India Gautam Goyal, Vijay M Patil, Vanita Noronha, Amit Joshi, Satvik Khaddar, Sajak Kakkar, Ritesh Pruthy, Purvish Parikh, Kumar Prabhash Cancer Research, Statistics, and Treatment 2018 1(1):63-67 Purpose: High-dose (100 mg/m2) cisplatin with radiotherapy is the standard practice in locally advanced head-and-neck squamous cell carcinoma. Use of this regimen in resource- constrained and economically constrained countries like India is difficult. Methods: This study was a cross-sectional survey conducted among Indian oncologists treating head-and-neck cancer. The survey consisted of 25 questions relevant to general day-to-day practice in head-and-neck oncology. It included questions regarding the most common drug used in the concurrent chemoradiation (CRT) setting, the most common schedule of administration of cisplatin, the doses used in once-a-week or once-every-3-week cisplatin chemoradiotherapy, toxicities, and preventive strategies. Descriptive analysis was performed using SPSS software version 20. Results: Responses were obtained from 257 oncologists practicing in various oncology centers throughout the country. The agent most commonly used for radiosensitization was cisplatin (n = 243; 94.6%). The once-a-week regimen of cisplatin was the favored regimen (87.9%, n = 226). The reason for favoring the once-a-week regimen was better tolerance (n = 153, 59.5%). The once-every-3-weeks cisplatin schedule was prescribed for >50% of head-and-neck cancer patients by 23 participants only (8.9%). Conclusion: In this nationwide Indian survey, the majority of clinicians preferred the once-a-week cisplatin schedule for CRT in locally advanced head-and-neck cancer patients, due to better tolerance.

Pleural mass imaging - A quick primer Raajit Chanana, Vijay Patil, Vanita Noronha, Amit Joshi, Kumar Prabhash Cancer Research, Statistics, and Treatment 2018 1(1):68-70 A 35-year-old female patient with no comorbidities and no history of addictions presented with a 2 week history of intermittent right-sided chest pain without any associated symptoms. On local examination, there was dullness over the right infrascapular and right infra-axillary area along with decreased breath sounds over the corresponding areas. Computed tomography scan revealed a well-defined lobulated heterogeneously enhancing pleural-based mass. What is the most likely diagnosis?

Person-related factors associated with work participation in employees with health problems: a systematic review

Abstract

Purpose

The objective of this systematic review was to explore and provide systematically assessed information about the association between person-related factors and work participation of people with health problems. The research question was: what is the association between selected person-related factors and work participation of workers with health problems?

Methods

A systematic review was carried out in PubMed and PsycINFO to search for original papers published between January 2007 and February 2017. The risk of bias of the studies included was assessed using quality assessment tools from the Joanna Briggs Institute. The quality of evidence was assessed using the GRADE framework for prognostic studies.

Results

In total, 113 studies were included, all of which addressed the association between person-related factors and work participation. The factors positively associated with work participation were positive expectations regarding recovery or return to work, optimism, self-efficacy, motivation, feelings of control, and perceived health. The factors negatively associated with work participation were fear-avoidance beliefs, perceived work-relatedness of the health problem, and catastrophizing. Different coping strategies had a negative or a positive relationship with work participation.

Conclusions

The results of this review provide more insight into the associations between different cognitions and perceptions and work participation. The results of this study suggest that person-related factors should be considered by occupational- and insurance physicians when they diagnose, evaluate or provide treatment to employees. Further research is required to determine how these physicians could obtain and apply such information and whether its application leads to a better quality of care.

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Hydrological risk analysis of dam overtopping using bivariate statistical approach: a case study from Geheyan Reservoir, China

Abstract

Hydrological risk analysis is essential and provides useful information for dam safety management and decision-making. This study presents the application of bivariate flood frequency analysis to risk analysis of dam overtopping for Geheyan Reservoir in China. The dependence between the flood peak and volume is modelled with the copula function. A Monte Carlo procedure is conducted to generate 100,000 random flood peak-volume pairs, which are subsequently transformed to corresponding design flood hydrographs (DFHs) by amplifying the selected annual maximum flood hydrographs (AMFHs). These synthetic DFHs are routed through the reservoir to obtain the frequency curve of maximum water level and assess the risk of dam overtopping. Sensitive analysis is performed to investigate the influence of different AMFH shapes and correlation coefficients of flood peak and volume on estimated overtopping risks. The results show that synthetic DFH with AMFH shape characterized by a delayed time to peak results in higher risk, and therefore highlight the importance of including a range of possible AMFH shapes in the dam risk analysis. It is also demonstrated that the overtopping risk is increased as the correlation coefficient of flood peak and volume increases and underestimated in the independence case (i.e. traditional univariate approach), while overestimated in the full dependence case. The bivariate statistical approach based on copulas can effectively capture the actual dependence between flood peak and volume, which should be preferred in the dam risk analysis practice.

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IJERPH, Vol. 15, Pages 870: Sufficient Social Support as a Possible Preventive Factor against Fighting and Bullying in School Children

IJERPH, Vol. 15, Pages 870: Sufficient Social Support as a Possible Preventive Factor against Fighting and Bullying in School Children

International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health doi: 10.3390/ijerph15050870

Authors: Kastytis Šmigelskas Tomas Vaičiūnas Justė Lukoševičiūtė Marta Malinowska-Cieślik Marina Melkumova Eva Movsesyan Apolinaras Zaborskis

Background: This study aims to explore how sufficient social support can act as a possible preventive factor against fighting and bullying in school-aged children in 9 European countries. Methods: Data for this study were collected during the 2013/2014 Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC) survey. The sample consisted of 9 European countries, involving 43,667 school children in total, aged 11, 13 and 15 years. The analysed data focus on social context (relations with family, peers, and school) as well as risk behaviours such as smoking, drunkenness, fighting and bullying in adolescents. The relationships between social support and violent behaviour variables were estimated using multiple regression models and multivariate analyses. Results: Bullying, across 9 countries, was more prevalent than fighting, except for Armenia, Israel, and Poland. The prevalence among countries differed considerably, with fighting being most expressed in Armenia and bullying—in Latvia and Lithuania. The strongest risk factors for bullying and fighting were male gender (less expressed for bullying), smoking and alcohol consumption. In addition, for bullying the social support was similarly strong factor like above-mentioned factors, while for fighting—less significant, but still independent. All forms of social support were significantly relate with lower violent behaviour of school children, and family support was associated most strongly. Regardless the socioeconomic, historical, and cultural differences among selected countries, the enhancement and reinforcement of the social support from possible many different resources should be taken into consideration in prevention programs against school violence behaviours.

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IJERPH, Vol. 15, Pages 868: Research on Occupational Safety, Health Management and Risk Control Technology in Coal Mines

IJERPH, Vol. 15, Pages 868: Research on Occupational Safety, Health Management and Risk Control Technology in Coal Mines

International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health doi: 10.3390/ijerph15050868

Authors: Lu-jie Zhou Qing-gui Cao Kai Yu Lin-lin Wang Hai-bin Wang

This paper studies the occupational safety and health management methods as well as risk control technology associated with the coal mining industry, including daily management of occupational safety and health, identification and assessment of risks, early warning and dynamic monitoring of risks, etc.; also, a B/S mode software (Geting Coal Mine, Jining, Shandong, China), i.e., Coal Mine Occupational Safety and Health Management and Risk Control System, is developed to attain the aforementioned objectives, namely promoting the coal mine occupational safety and health management based on early warning and dynamic monitoring of risks. Furthermore, the practical effectiveness and the associated pattern for applying this software package to coal mining is analyzed. The study indicates that the presently developed coal mine occupational safety and health management and risk control technology and the associated software can support the occupational safety and health management efforts in coal mines in a standardized and effective manner. It can also control the accident risks scientifically and effectively; its effective implementation can further improve the coal mine occupational safety and health management mechanism, and further enhance the risk management approaches. Besides, its implementation indicates that the occupational safety and health management and risk control technology has been established based on a benign cycle involving dynamic feedback and scientific development, which can provide a reliable assurance to the safe operation of coal mines.

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IJERPH, Vol. 15, Pages 869: Correction: Renzaho, A.M.N., et al. The Synergetic Effect of Targeted Resource Transfers for Families, Child Sensitive Social Protection Programs, and Capacity Building for Effective Social Protection on Children’s Nutritional Status in Nepal. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2017, 14, 1502

IJERPH, Vol. 15, Pages 869: Correction: Renzaho, A.M.N., et al. The Synergetic Effect of Targeted Resource Transfers for Families, Child Sensitive Social Protection Programs, and Capacity Building for Effective Social Protection on Children's Nutritional Status in Nepal. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2017, 14, 1502

International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health doi: 10.3390/ijerph15050869

Authors: Andre M. N. Renzaho Stanley Chitekwe Wen Chen Sanjay Rijal Thakur Dhakal Pradiumna Dahal

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