Evolution of natural disaster terminologies, with a case study of the covid-19 pandemic.

Disaster, catastrophe, and cataclysm are some English terminologies that describe the severity of adverse events. Civilians, reporters, and professionals often use these terminologies to communicate and report any event's severity. This linguistic method is the most practical way to rapidly reach all levels of local/regional/national, and international stakeholders during disasters.

A universal severity classification for natural disasters.

The magnitude of a disaster's severity cannot be easily assessed because there is no global method that provides real magnitudes of natural disaster severity levels. Therefore, a new universal severity classification scheme for natural disasters is developed and is supported by data. This universal system looks at the severity of disasters based on the most influential impact factor and gives a rating from zero to ten: Zero indicates no impact and ten is a worldwide devastation.

Hypereosinophilic Syndrome, Multiorgan Involvement and Response to Imatinib.

Hypereosinophilic syndrome (HES) is an uncommon syndrome characterized by peripheral blood eosinophils count of more than 1,500/mm with associated tissue damage. It can be either primary or secondary, for example, due to parasitic infections or inflammation. We present a case of a 49-year-old Asian female with recurrent hospital admissions for cholecystitis, gastritis, urinary cystitis, and pancreatitis.

A Roundtable Discussion of the Breast Cancer Therapy Expert Group (BCTEG): Clinical Developments and Practice Guidance on Human Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor 2 (HER2)-positive Breast Cancer.

Expression of human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) in breast cancer defines a subset of patients (∼15%-20%) who are candidates for anti-HER2 therapies, most notably, trastuzumab, pertuzumab, antibody drug conjugates (eg, T-DM1), and tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) drugs (eg, lapatinib and neratinib), all of which have dramatically changed the prognosis for this aggressive subtype of breast cancer. A roundtable meeting of the Breast Cancer Therapy Expert Group (BCTEG) was convened in March 2018 in an effort to discuss and clarify, from the perspective of the practicing community oncologist, recent developments in the diagnosis and treatment of HER2-positive (HER2) breast cancer. Members of the group selected 4 key topics for discussion prior to the meeting, including diagnosis of HER2 disease, and its treatment in the neoadjuvant, adjuvant, and metastatic settings.

Case-Based Review and Clinical Guidance on the Use of Genomic Assays for Early-Stage Breast Cancer: Breast Cancer Therapy Expert Group (BCTEG).

In addition to classical clinicopathologic factors, such as hormone receptor positivity, human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) status, and tumor size, grade, and lymph node status, a number of commercially available genomic tests may be used to help inform treatment decisions for early breast cancer patients. Although these tests improve our understanding of breast cancer and help to individualize treatment decisions, clinicians face challenges when deciding on the most appropriate test to order, and the advantages, if any, of one test over another. The Breast Cancer Therapy Expert Group (BCTEG) recently convened a roundtable meeting to discuss issues surrounding the use of genomic testing in early breast cancer, with the goal of providing practical guidance on the use of these tests by the community oncologist, for whom breast cancer may be only one of many tumor types they treat.

The Impact of Epidemiological Factors and Treatment Interventions on Survival in Patients With Signet Ring Cell Carcinoma of the Pancreas.

Objectives: Primary pancreatic signet ring cell carcinoma (SRCC) is a rare histologic variant of pancreatic carcinoma. A population-based analysis of pancreatic SRCC was performed to determine the predictive effects of epidemiological factors and treatment interventions on overall survival (OS) and disease-specific survival (DSS).

Materials And Methods: The Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results registry was searched for pancreatic SRCC cases diagnosed between January 1, 1973 and December 31, 2013.

Endocrine therapy and related issues in hormone receptor-positive early breast cancer: a roundtable discussion by the breast cancer therapy expert group (BCTEG).

Purpose: Management of breast cancer is a rapidly evolving field, and, although evidence-based guidelines are available for clinicians to provide direction on critical issues in patient care, clinicians often left to address these issues in the context of community practice situations with their patients. These include the patient's comorbid conditions, actual versus perceived benefit of treatments, patient's compliance as well as financial/reimbursement issues, and long-term tolerability of therapy.

Methods: A meeting of global oncology experts was convened in January 2017 with the belief that there is a gap in clinical practice guidance on several fundamental issues in breast cancer care, particularly in the community setting, where oncologists may encounter multiple tumor types.

Effects of elevated carbon dioxide on stomatal characteristics and carbon isotope ratio of Arabidopsis thaliana ecotypes originating from an altitudinal gradient.

Stomatal functioning regulates the fluxes of CO and water vapor between vegetation and atmosphere and thereby influences plant adaptation to their habitats. Stomatal traits are controlled by external environmental and internal cellular signaling. The objective of this study was to quantify the effects of CO enrichment (CE) on stomatal density (SD)-related properties, guard cell length (GCL) and carbon isotope ratio (δ C) of a range of Arabidopsis thaliana ecotypes originating from a wide altitudinal range [50-1260 m above sea level (asl)], and grown at 400 and 800 ppm [CO ], and thereby elucidate the possible adaptation and acclimation responses controlling stomatal traits and water use efficiency (WUE).

Spontaneously resolving cerebellar syndrome as a sequelae of dengue viral infection: a case series from Sri Lanka.

Sri Lanka is hyperendemic for dengue viral infection. Dengue has a wide spectrum of neurological manifestations including previously reported Sri Lankan cases with a 6th nerve palsy and a cerebellar syndrome from a co-infection with dengue and Epstein-Barr virus. This series describes a spontaneously resolving cerebellar syndrome following a dengue viral infection.

Acute graft-versus-host disease: pathophysiology, clinical manifestations, and management.

Hematopoietic stem cell transplantation has evolved as a central treatment modality in the management of different hematologic malignancies. Despite adequate posttransplantation immunosuppressive therapy, acute graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) remains a major cause of morbidity and mortality in the hematopoietic stem cell transplantation setting, even in patients who receive human leukemic antigen (HLA) identical sibling grafts. Up to 30% of the recipients of stem cells or bone marrow transplantation from HLA-identical related donors and most patients who receive cells from other sources (matched-unrelated, non-HLA-identical siblings, cord blood) will develop > Grade 2 acute GVHD despite immunosuppressive prophylaxis.

Stem cell transplantation for multiple myeloma: current status and future directions.

High-dose chemotherapy or chemoradiation therapy supported with autologous stem cell transplantation is now recognized as a valid therapeutic option for patients with multiple myeloma. Results of randomized trials have established autografting as the treatment of choice for patients younger than 65 years, as part of their initial therapy. In this review, the issues of who benefits from transplant, what is the optimal procedure, and whether there is a potential role for allografting are addressed.

Hemorrhagic cystitis after allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation: donor type matters.

Hemorrhagic cystitis (HC) remains a common complication of allogeneic blood and marrow transplantation. Previous analyses of risk factors for this complication were performed in heterogeneous populations, with dissimilar diagnosis and conditioning regimens. We postulated that HC is more prevalent in matched unrelated donor (MUD) and unrelated cord blood (UCB) transplantations than in matched related donor (MRD) transplantations.

Granulocytic sarcoma of the pancreas. A report of one case and review of the literature.

Granulocytic sarcoma is an extramedullary collection of myeloblasts. Granulocytic sarcomas usually arise during the course of acute myeloid leukemia, although they also occur infrequently in chronic myeloid leukemia and other myeloproliferative disorders. We are reporting a very unusual presentation of granulocytic sarcoma in a patient with poorly differentiated (FAB type M2) acute myeloid leukemia.

Evaluation of safety and pharmacokinetics of administering intravenous busulfan in a twice-daily or daily schedule to patients with advanced hematologic malignant disease undergoing stem cell transplantation.

Intravenous busulfan (i.v. BU) has demonstrated safety when administered at 0.

Diminished benefit from resection of cancer of the head of the pancreas in patients of advanced age.

Background And Objectives: The incidence of pancreatic cancer is increasing, and an increasing proportion of these patients is older than 65 years. The benefits of resection in the geriatric population, in whom major comorbidity is more likely, are poorly defined. The authors sought to determine the relative benefits of resection of cancer of the head of the pancreas in different age groups, with particular emphasis on the geriatric population.

Influence of Hispanic ethnicity on outcome after resection of carcinoma of the head of the pancreas.

Background: Poor outcomes in Hispanic patients have been reported for tumors at a number of sites. The authors sought to determine whether a similar phenomenon occurs in Hispanics after the resection of solid epithelial tumors of the head of the pancreas.

Methods: Between 1983-1995, 273 patients with noncystic epithelial carcinoma of the head of the pancreas were evaluated.

Radical resection of periampullary tumors in the elderly: evaluation of long-term results.

Increasingly, patients of advanced age are coming for evaluation of periampullary tumors. Although several studies have demonstrated the safety of resecting periampullary tumors in older patients, few long-term survival data have been reported. Between 1983 and 1992 various periampullary masses were resected in 70 patients over age 65 (range 65-87 years).