Publications by authors named "Alok Goel"

The global demographic and epidemiological transition have led to a rapidly increasing burden of cancer, particularly among older adults. There are scant data on the prevalence and demographic pattern of cancer in older Indian persons. This was a multicentric observational study conducted between January 2019 and December 2020.

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Importance: There is limited evidence with regard to the benefit of adjuvant chemotherapy chemoradiotherapy in resected gallbladder cancers (GBCs).

Objective: To establish a baseline survival rate for operated GBCs in patients receiving either gemcitabine plus cisplatin (GC) or capecitabine and capecitabine concurrent with chemoradiation (CCRT).

Design, Setting, And Participants: The GECCOR-GB study was a multicenter, open-label, randomized phase 2 noncomparator "pick the winner" design trial of adjuvant GC and CCRT in patients with resected histologically confirmed adenocarcinoma or adenosquamous carcinoma of the gallbladder, (stage II/III) with no local residual tumor (R0) or microscopic residual tumor (R1).

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In low- and middle-income countries most of the cancer patients attend the hospital at a late stage and treatment completion of these cases is challenging. The early detection program (EDP), in rural areas of Punjab state, India was initiated to identify breast, cervical, and oral cancer at an early stage by raising awareness and providing easy access to diagnosis and treatment. A total of 361 health education programs and 99 early detection clinics were organized.

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The search for efficient and transparent nonlinear optical (NLO) media has led to the investigation and development of alternative organic optical materials. In this context, a series of new hexylthiotruxene derivatives have been synthesized, and their linear and NLO properties are explored. These truxene derivatives show large NLO absorption due to their C symmetry, presence of large hyperpolarizability, and extended π-conjugation.

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Puneet Kaur Somal  Classification of breast cancer into different molecular subtypes has important prognostic and therapeutic implications. The immunohistochemistry surrogate classification has been advocated for this purpose. The primary objective of the present study was to assess the prevalence of the different molecular subtypes of invasive breast carcinoma and study the clinicopathological parameters in a tertiary care cancer center in rural North India.

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 The objective is to present the patterns of dual primary malignancies diagnosed at the Pathology Laboratory of Cancer Hospital with the support from hospital-based cancer registry (HBCR), Sangrur, Punjab, India for the years 2018 and 2019.  HBCR abstracts data from electronic medical records. Trained cancer registry staff abstracts cases in standard pro forma.

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Introduction: There is a scarcity of population-based prostate cancer survival data in India. We assessed the population-based, overall survival of patients with prostate cancer from the Sangrur and Mansa cancer registries of the Punjab state, India.

Methods: In the year 2013-2016, a total of 171 prostate cancer cases were registered in these two registries.

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Aim: Endometrial carcinoma (EC) data from India are very sparse. We did a retrospective analysis of our patients registered at this peripheral cancer center based in rural Punjab and studied their outcome.

Materials And Methods: Ninety-eight Stage I and II EC patients with endometroid histology registered at our institute from January 2015 to April 2020 were studied for demography, histopathology, treatment received, and outcomes.

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 The evaluation of bone marrow (BM) status is an integral part of the initial workup of patients diagnosed with lymphoma as it plays an important role in staging and predicting prognosis in these patients. This article determines the incidence and pattern of BM involvement in lymphoma cases and distinguishes benign from malignant lymphoid aggregates in BM biopsies.  The study group included 121 cases of Hodgkin and non-Hodgkin lymphomas for which BM biopsies were performed, fixed in acetic acid-zinc formalin solution, decalcified using 10% formic acid, and subjected to hematoxylin and eosin and immunohistochemistry.

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Background: Patients with head and neck cancer were treated with either 70 Gy in 35 fractions (Arm A) or 66 Gy in 30 fractions (Arm B).

Materials And Methods: Total 168 patients of carcinoma oropharynx, larynx, and hypopharynx treated with radical chemoradiation in two Arm A versus B (65 vs. 103 patients).

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Context.—: The histopathology reporting practice in rural areas is largely variable. To ensure the adequacy of histopathology reports (HPRs), the College of American Pathologists (CAP) has developed cancer reporting checklists.

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In low and middle-income countries, access to cancer diagnosis and treatment is suboptimal. Further, compliance to cancer treatment is a major issue due to various reasons including financial barriers, lack of family support and fear of treatment. This article discusses the determinants of treatment completion in cancer patients of a government-run hospital, in a rural part of Punjab in India.

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Article Synopsis
  • The study explores how grafted plants, specifically a tomato/potato system, can enhance stress responses in scions using rootstocks that are tolerant to osmotic stress (OS).
  • Researchers found that osmotic stress induces changes in gene expression, with some mRNA from stress-responsive genes being transported from the rootstock to the scion, enhancing its tolerance to OS.
  • Transgenic tobacco experiments demonstrated that certain genes can improve plant growth and stress tolerance, indicating their potential use in developing resilient crops through grafting technology.
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This is a retrospective study of the incidence and clinical profile of male breast cancer (MBC) presenting to a rural cancer center in Punjab, India. All MBC cases registered over a period of 4.5 years from January 2015 to July 2019 were included.

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Background: Because the addition of nimotuzumab to chemoradiation in patients with locally advanced head and neck cancer improved outcomes in a phase 2 study, the authors conducted a phase 3 study to confirm these findings.

Methods: This open-label, investigator-initiated, phase 3, randomized trial was conducted from 2012 to 2018. Adult patients with locally advanced head and neck cancer who were fit for radical chemoradiation were randomized 1:1 to receive either radical radiotherapy (66-70 grays) with concurrent weekly cisplatin (30 mg/m ) (CRT) or the same schedule of CRT with weekly nimotuzumab (200 mg) (NCRT).

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Introduction: Approximately 40% of patients receiving first-line chemotherapy (CT1) for advanced pancreatic adenocarcinomas (PDACs) receive second-line chemotherapy (CT2). The most appropriate regimen to be used has not been identified, and data regarding CT2 in advanced PDAC from India are scarce.

Materials And Methods: A retrospective analysis of advanced PDAC patients who were evaluated during the period of August 2013 to August 2016 in the Department of GI medical Oncology, at Tata Memorial Hospital was conducted.

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Introduction: The median overall survival (mOS) in metastatic pancreatic cancers (PCs) hovers between 6 months to 11 months.

Materials And Methods: The study is a retrospective analysis of metastatic PC patients who were evaluated from August 2013 to August 2016 in the Department of Gastrointestinal (GI) Medical Oncology, Tata Memorial Hospital (TMH).

Results: Out of 218 patients, 24 patients (11%) were not planned for chemotherapy and referred to the Department of Palliative Care for further supportive care.

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Background: This study was designed to evaluate the differential effect of epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) mutation status (exon 19 vs. 21) on progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) in treatment-naïve advanced EGFR mutation-positive nonsmall cell lung cancer (NSCLC) treated with gefitinib as first-line agent.

Methods: This was a post hoc analysis of EGFR-mutated (exon 19 and 21) advanced-stage (Stage IIIB or IV), chemotherapy-naive NSCLC patients treated with gefitinib as first line in a phase 3 randomized study.

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Background: It is unknown whether the outcomes of second-line pemetrexed-carboplatin chemotherapy administered after progression on gefitinib are dependent on type of EGFR mutation present at baseline.

Method: Adult non-small-cell lung cancer patients, with exon 19 deletion or exon 21 L858R mutation, who progressed on gefitinib and received pemetrexed-carboplatin chemotherapy were selected for this analysis.

Result: 55 patients received pemetrexed-carboplatin as second-line treatment.

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Background: EGFR mutation subtype is a recognised factor impacting outcomes of patients receiving oral tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) in non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Evidence for the effect of this factor on outcomes in patients receiving pemetrexed is limited.

Methods: We completed a study comparing pemetrexed-platinum combination versus oral TKI in EGFR mutation-positive patients in lung cancer.

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Objective: Oral tyrosine kinase inhibitor has been shown to prolong progression-free survival (PFS) in estimated glomerular filtration rate (EGFR) mutation positive adenocarcinoma; however, the comparator arm has not included the current standard adenocarcinoma regimen (pemetrexed carboplatin induction followed by maintenance pemetrexed) and patients from Indian subcontinent. Hence, this study was carried out in Indian patients to compare gefitinib with the above-mentioned chemotherapy regimen.

Methods: This was an open-labelled, randomised, parallel group study comparing gefitinib (250 mg orally daily) with pemetrexed (500 mg/m) and carboplatin (area under the curve 5) doublet intravenous induction chemotherapy regimen followed by maintenance pemetrexed (500 mg/m) in patients with EGFR-activating mutation-positive stage IIIB or stage IV adenocarcinoma lung in the first-line setting.

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Despite the ubiquitous nature of aqueous solutions across the chemical, biological and environmental sciences our experimental understanding of their electronic structure is rudimentary-qualitative at best. One of the most basic and seemingly straightforward properties of aqueous solutions-ionization energies-are (qualitatively) tabulated at the water-air interface for a mere handful of solutes, and the manner in which these results are obtained assume the aqueous solutions behave like a gas in the photoelectron experiment (where the vacuum levels of the aqueous solution and of the photoelectron analyzer are equilibrated). Here we report the experimental measure of a sizeable offset (ca.

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Esterification of pseudoephedrine hydrochloride (PSE) by citric acid was observed in a solid dose pharmaceutical preparation at room temperature and accelerated stability condition (40°C/75% relative humidity). The esterification of PSE with citric acid was confirmed by a solid-state binary reaction in the presence of minor level of water at elevated temperature to generate three isomeric esters. The structures of the pseudoephedrine citric acid esters were elucidated using high-resolution mass spectrometry and nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (NMR).

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