A community-based trial of a psychosocial eHealth intervention for parents of children with cancer.

Background: The Electronic Surviving Cancer Competently Intervention Program (eSCCIP), a psychosocial eHealth intervention for parents and caregivers of children with cancer (parents), was delivered in a community-based psychosocial oncology center. Primary endpoints were intervention acceptability, feasibility, and accessibility, with a secondary exploratory focus on psychosocial outcomes.

Procedure: Oncology therapists in a psychosocial oncology center were trained in eSCCIP delivery.

DICER1 Mutation Detected in an Infant Guides Accurate Diagnosis of Auto-Amputated Embryonal Rhabdomyosarcoma.

Background: The DICER1 mutation is a pathogenic, germline mutation that predisposes patients to uncommon malignancies at a young age.

Case: A 6-month-old female infant presented with vaginal bleeding and a protruding vaginal mass of unclear pathogenesis. Chemotherapy was initially targeted toward a germ cell tumor; after pathologic testing and auto-amputation of the tumor, the patient was diagnosed with a rare DICER1-associated embryonal rhabdomyosarcoma.

Interleukin-6, interleukin-8, and a rapid and sensitive assay for calcitonin precursors for the determination of bacterial sepsis in febrile neutropenic children.

Objective: Children with cancer often develop febrile illnesses after cytotoxic chemotherapy. Determining which children have serious bacterial infections in this vulnerable period would be valuable. We evaluated the ability of a rapid and sensitive assay for the concentration of calcitonin precursors (CTpr) as a sensitive diagnostic marker for bacterial sepsis in febrile, neutropenic children and determined the utility of measuring cytokines to improve the predictive value of this approach.

Overexpression of the EGFR/FKBP12/HIF-2alpha pathway identified in childhood astrocytomas by angiogenesis gene profiling.

Intense angiogenesis proliferation, a histopathological hallmark distinguishing malignant from benign astrocytoma, is vital for tumor progression. Thus, identifying and targeting specific pathways that promote malignant astrocytoma-induced angiogenesis could have substantial therapeutic benefit. Expression profiling of 13 childhood astrocytomas to determine the expression pattern of 133 angiogenesis-related genes revealed that 44 (33%) genes were differentially expressed (17 were overexpressed, and 27 were underexpressed) between malignant high-grade astrocytomas (HGAs) and benign low-grade astrocytomas.