Diagnostic value of digital droplet polymerase chain reaction and digital multiplexed detection of single-nucleotide variants in pancreatic cytology specimens collected by EUS-guided FNA.

Background And Aims: EUS-guided FNA is recommended as a first-line procedure for the histopathologic diagnosis of pancreatic cancer. Molecular analysis of EUS-FNA samples might be used as an auxiliary tool to strengthen the diagnosis. The current study aimed to evaluate the diagnostic performances of K-ras testing using droplet digital polymerase chain reaction (ddPCR) and a novel single-nucleotide variant (SNV) assay performed on pancreatic EUS-FNA samples.

The Effect of Psychoeducation on Anxiety in Women Undergoing Their Initial Breast Cancer Screening Mammography.

We conducted a prospective, randomized, single-blinded study to determine whether a psychoeducational intervention for patients undergoing screening mammography could influence the level of anxiety related to the procedure. Fifty women undergoing mammography for the first time were included in the study and randomized to two groups. In the study group, patients received a psychoeducational session before mammography.

Current and emerging EGFR therapies for glioblastoma.

Glioblastomas (GBMs) are the most lethal and hard to treat malignancies in clinical practice. The standard of care for treating GBM involving surgery and adjuvant radiotherapy and concomitant temozolomide (TMZ) has remained virtually unchanged in the past decade. Molecular targeted therapies against cancer-specific structures have reported mediocre results in the treatment of GBM, due to multiple factors such as the presence of the blood brain barrier or a vast array of molecular alterations which greatly hinder the action of the most therapeutic agents.

Silencing of epidermal growth factor, latrophilin and seven transmembrane domain-containing protein 1 (ELTD1) via siRNA-induced cell death in glioblastoma.

The failure of therapies targeting tumor angiogenesis may be caused by anti-angiogenic resistance mechanisms induced by VEGF and non-VEGF pathways alterations. Anti-angiogenic therapy failure is also attributed to immune system, acting by tumor-associated macrophages that release pro-angiogenic factors and a consequent increase of blood vessels. Recently, in a study by Rheal et al.

Effect of VEGFR, PDGFR and PI3K/mTOR Targeting in Glioblastoma.

Resistance to targeted therapy is a well known obstacle in cancer therapy. The cross-talk between several growth factor receptors generates redundancy in their intracellular pathways that usually mediates resistance to receptor targeted therapy. Simultaneous inactivation of two or more growth factor receptors has been suggested to prevent the cross-talk between their signaling pathways and to better eliminate malignant cells.

Mismatch repair gene expression in gastroesophageal cancers.

Background/aims: Mismatch repair (MMR) genes play a critical role in maintaining genomic stability, and the impairment of MMR machinery is associated with different human cancers, mainly colorectal cancer. The purpose of our study was to analyze gene expression patterns of three MMR genes (MSH2, MHS6, and EXO1) in gastroesophageal cancers, a pathology in which the contribution of DNA repair genes remains essentially unclear.

Materials And Methods: A total of 45 Romanian patients diagnosed with sporadic gastroesophageal cancers were included in this study.

[The descriptive epidemiological aspects of bronchopulmonary neoplasms in Dolj County].

This study represents a descriptive epidemiologic analysis of the morbidity and mortality incidence by lung cancer in Dolj. The usual processing of the registered values in primary evidences (report of the new cases to 100,000 residents) is in accordance with the literature about the variation of the incidence depending on residential environment and sex greater values in urban environment and at man, beginning from the fifth decade of life. The epidemiologic analysis by indirect standardisation of the mortality and the morbidity emphasizes in Dolj higher incidence up to the media of the Dolj, specially in the rural environment, aspects that suggest the intervention of the environmental factors and behaviour factors in the etiology of the lung cancer.

[The diagnostic and treatment aspects in bronchopulmonary neoplasms in Dolj County].

The study carried out during 1991-1995 concerns 50 subjects with lung cancer confirmed by microscopy registered in the Oncology Department of Craiova University Hospital. The patients were studied on terms of clinical stage which indicated the regime of treatment associations: surgery + chemotherapy + radiotherapy, chemo-radiotherapy, chemo-immunotherapy, in order to improve surviving. The treatment results were assayed for each group of patients according to the international criteria of treatment response evaluation.