Integrating cancer into crisis: a global vision for action from WHO and partners.

More than a billion people live in fragile, conflict-affected, and vulnerable settings requiring humanitarian support, where cancer is a substantial health issue. Despite its substantial effect on populations, cancer care remains underprioritised in emergency preparedness and response frameworks and humanitarian operational planning. This Policy Review summarises the perspectives and actionable recommendations from the First Global High-Level Technical Meeting on Non-communicable Diseases in Humanitarian Settings, with a focus on cancer.

A Multi-Institutional Study of Barriers to Cervical Cancer Care in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Purpose: The global rise in cancer incidence has been accompanied by disproportionately high morbidity and mortality rates in low- and middle-income countries. Many patients who are offered potentially curative treatment for cervical cancer in low- and middle-income countries never return to start treatment for reasons that are poorly documented and little understood. We investigated the interplay of sociodemographic, financial, and geographic factors as barriers to care among such patients in Botswana and Zimbabwe.

Impact of a global radiation oncology scholarship for trainees: An evaluation of early outcomes.

Global Oncology capacity in Radiation Oncology (RO) needs development. We report on early outcomes of a Canadian Global Oncology elective scholarship program for trainees (2014-2019). The number of global oncology electives increased.

Design and Implementation of a Distant-Learning Clinical Research Mentorship Program: The Accra-Toronto Collaboration.

Purpose: For many oncology training programs in low- and middle-income countries, dedicated time for research education and mentorship of trainees is limited. Here, we report a 1-year-long collaboration between a cancer center in Canada and one in Ghana with the aim of imparting clinical research skills and mentoring the research of radiation oncology residents.

Methods: On the basis of a needs assessment conducted in Ghana, we designed a curriculum consisting of 13 weekly seminars delivered via videoconference, followed by a 1-year-long mentorship program to support research projects.

Frameless Stereotactic Radiosurgery on the Gamma Knife Icon: Early Experience From 100 Patients.

Background: The Gamma Knife (GK) Icon (Elekta AB) uses a cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT) scanner and an infrared camera system to support the delivery of frameless stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS). There are limited data on patients treated with frameless GK radiosurgery (GKRS).

Objective: To describe the early experience, process, technical details, and short-term outcomes with frameless GKRS at our institution.

External Beam Radiation Therapy and Brachytherapy for Cervical Cancer: The Experience of the National Centre for Radiotherapy in Accra, Ghana.

Purpose: Most women with cervical cancer in Sub-Saharan Africa present with locally advanced disease. These women require external beam radiation therapy and brachytherapy for curative treatment, but data on their outcomes remain sparse. We report data on treatment characteristics, follow-up, toxicity, and cancer outcomes in a large population of patients from the National Centre for Radiotherapy in Accra, Ghana.

The "rocky treatment course": identifying a high-risk subgroup of head and neck cancer patients for supportive interventions.

Purpose: We aim to identify the risk factors for a "rocky" treatment course (RTC) in head and neck cancer.

Methods: A retrospective case-control study was conducted utilizing data from a prospective study. We defined the RTC as a composite of adverse outcomes including G-tube dependence and increased nursing interventions.

Long term control of a maxillary sinus mucoepidermoid carcinoma with low dose radiation therapy: a case report.

Mucoepidermoid carcinoma of the maxillary sinus is a rare malignancy of the head and neck. The location of this tumour near vital structures and its large size at presentation makes surgical resection with negative margins challenging. In incurable cases, relief from symptoms such as epistaxis may be achieved with radiation therapy.

Hypofractionated radiation therapy for breast ductal carcinoma in situ.

Purpose: Conventional radiation therapy (RT) administered in 25 fractions after breast-conserving surgery (BCS) is the standard treatment for ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) of the breast. Although accelerated hypofractionated regimens in 16 fractions have been shown to be equivalent to conventional RT for invasive breast cancer, few studies have reported results of using hypofractionated RT in DCIS.

Methods And Materials: In this multicenter collaborative effort, we retrospectively reviewed the records of all women with DCIS at 3 institutions treated with BCS followed by hypofractionated whole-breast RT (WBRT) delivered in 16 fractions.

Re-irradiation for painful bone metastases - a systematic review.

The purpose of this review was to determine the efficacy of re-irradiation in patients with bone metastases. A literature search was conducted in Ovid Medline, OldMedline, Embase, Embase Classic, and Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials using relevant subject headings and keywords such as bone metastases, radiotherapy and palliative care. The resulting articles were sorted for inclusion for palliative external beam radiation retreatment response rate data.

Tunable oscillations and chaotic dynamics in systems with localized synthesis.

Biological systems contain biochemical control networks that reside within a remarkable spatial structure. We present a theoretical study of a biological system in which two chemically coupled species, an activating species and an inhibiting species forming a negative feedback, are synthesized at unique sites and interact with each other through diffusion. The dynamical behaviors in these systems depend on the spatial locations of these synthetic sites.