Identification and Validation of Biomarkers to Predict Early Diagnosis of Inflammatory Bowel Disease and Its Progression to Colorectal Cancer.

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) has become a common global health problem as prevalence continues to rise. It is often associated with increased risk of colorectal cancer (CRC) development. Limitations in current IBD biomarker-based diagnosis hinder the accuracy of early detection of CRC progression.

Burn-injured patients - the preferably unheard.

Background: Data on colorectal cancer (CRC) diagnosis to treatment interval (DTI), an index of quality assurance in high-income countries (HICs) is lacking in South Africa. This study aimed to determine DTIs and their impact on CRC survival in a South African cohort.

Methods: Participants ( = 289) from the Colorectal Cancer in South Africa (CRCSA) cohort were identified for inclusion.

The association between lifestyle-related risk factors and survival in patients with colorectal cancer in an urban South African cohort.

Background: Lifestyle-related factors have been linked with risk for colorectal cancer. Data describing the relationship between lifestyle factors of South African patients who present with colorectal cancer and their survival is sparse.

Objectives: The objectives were to describe the profile of patients with colorectal cancer; to determine the association between lifestyle-related factors and survival, and to compare results of patients in the private and public sectors.

Use of Machine Learning and Statistical Algorithms to Predict Hospital Length of Stay Following Colorectal Cancer Resection: A South African Pilot Study.

The aim of this pilot study was to develop logistic regression (LR) and support vector machine (SVM) models that differentiate low from high risk for prolonged hospital length of stay (LOS) in a South African cohort of 383 colorectal cancer patients who underwent surgical resection with curative intent. Additionally, the impact of 10-fold cross-validation (CV), Monte Carlo CV, and bootstrap internal validation methods on the performance of the two models was evaluated. The median LOS was 9 days, and prolonged LOS was defined as greater than 9 days post-operation.