The global burden of cervical cancer requiring surgery: database estimates.

Background: Scaling up surgical services for cervical cancer in low and middle income countries requires quantification of the need for those services. The aim of this study was to estimate the global burden of cervical cancer for which access to surgery is required.

Methods: This was a retrospective analysis of publicly available data.

A systematic review of endometrial cancer clinical research in Africa.

Background: Women in Africa are experiencing a rising burden of endometrial cancer. Research and investment to improve treatment and outcomes are critically needed. We systematically reviewed and characterized endometrial cancer-related research within a clinically relevant context to help organize and assess existing endometrial cancer research in Africa.

Mapping of Radiation Oncology and Gynecologic Oncology Services Available to Treat the Growing Burden of Cervical Cancer in Africa.

Purpose: To meet the demand for cervical cancer care in Africa, access to surgical and radiation therapy services needs to be understood. We thus mapped the availability of gynecologic and radiation therapy equipment and staffing for treating cervical cancer.

Methods And Materials: We collected data on gynecologic and radiation oncology staffing, equipment, and infrastructure capacities across Africa.

Radiotherapy services in low resource settings: The situation in Nigeria.

Objective: About 50%-60% of all cancer cases will require radiotherapy during their treatment. Nonetheless, radiotherapy facilities are limited in low- and middle-income countries and despite high cancer burden in these regions of the world, only 5% have access to radiation therapy. This study identified the location of radiotherapy centers, the types of radiotherapy machines available and the personnel available in each radiotherapy center in Nigeria.

Multi-organ segmentation of abdominal structures from non-contrast and contrast enhanced CT images.

Manually delineating upper abdominal organs at risk (OARs) is a time-consuming task. To develop a deep-learning-based tool for accurate and robust auto-segmentation of these OARs, forty pancreatic cancer patients with contrast-enhanced breath-hold computed tomographic (CT) images were selected. We trained a three-dimensional (3D) U-Net ensemble that automatically segments all organ contours concurrently with the self-configuring nnU-Net framework.

Association Between Facility Volume and Overall Survival for Patients with Grade II Meningioma after Gross Total Resection.

Background: The role of adjuvant radiation after gross total resection (GTR) for grade II meningioma is evolving, prompting further evaluation in NRG-BN003, a phase 3 national trial. Furthermore, the relationship between facility volume and outcomes in patients with grade II meningioma after GTR has not been examined at a national level. We aim to assess overall survival (OS) of patients with grade II meningioma after GTR by surgical case volume and OS by receipt of adjuvant radiation.

Barriers to radiotherapy access at the University College Hospital in Ibadan, Nigeria.

Introduction: Nigeria has the biggest gap between radiotherapy availability and need, with one machine per 19.4 million people, compared to one machine per 250,000 people in high-income countries. This study aims to identify its patient-level barriers to radiotherapy access.

Two-Year Follow-Up of Autologous Fat Grafting With Laser-Assisted Facelifts.

Skin tightening and improved facial contouring can be achieved through a variety of modalities including traditional facelifts, autologous fat injections, laser resurfacing, laser liposuction fibers, and includes the popular use of botox and synthetic fillers. Facial fat grafting has been helpful in treating the volume deficient aging face and can easily be injected following subcutaneous laser therapy. We will demonstrate in this clinical study that lasers and fat grafting can be used safely in combination with facelifts to improve skin contouring and tightness compared with single therapy.

Increasing Cervical Cancer Awareness and Screening in Jamaica: Effectiveness of a Theory-Based Educational Intervention.

Despite declines in cervical cancer mortality in developed countries, cervical cancer incidence and mortality rates remain high in Jamaica due to low levels of screening. Effective interventions are needed to decrease barriers to preventive behaviors and increase adoption of behaviors and services to improve prospects of survival. We enrolled 225 women attending health facilities in an intervention consisting of a pre-test, educational presentation and post-test.

A theory-based intervention to improve breast cancer awareness and screening in Jamaica.

Despite declines in breast cancer mortality rates in developed countries, mortality rates remain high in Jamaica due to low levels of screening and lack of early detection. We hypothesized that a theory-based health educational intervention would increase awareness of breast cancer and intention to screen among women in Western Jamaica. Two hundred and forty six women attending hospitals or clinics were enrolled in an educational intervention consisting of a pretest, breast cancer presentation, and posttest if they had never been screened or had not been screened in 5 years or more.

Enhanced human endothelial progenitor cell adhesion and differentiation by a bioinspired multifunctional nanomatrix.

Endothelial progenitor cell (EPC)-capturing techniques have led to revolutionary strategies that can improve the performance of cardiovascular implant devices and engineered tissues by enhancing re-endothelialization and angiogenesis. However, these strategies are limited by controversies regarding the phenotypic identities of EPCs as well as their inability to target and prevent the other afflictions associated with current therapies, namely, thrombosis and neointimal hyperplasia. Therefore, the goal of this study was to study the efficacy of a bioinspired multifunctional nanomatrix in recruiting and promoting the differentiation of EPCs toward an endothelial lineage.