Gastrointestinal stromal tumors: treatment patterns of a population-based sample.

Objectives: The National Cancer Institute (NCI) annually confirms therapy with treating physicians on a sample of patients diagnosed with a specific cancer.

Methods: Using the NCI Patterns of Care data, treatment patterns were examined on a population-based sample of patients diagnosed with gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GIST) in 2008.

Results: A random sample of 323 of 405 GIST patients registered in SEER was selected.

Quality improvement in the national cancer institute community cancer centers program: the quality oncology practice initiative experience.

Purpose: The National Cancer Institute (NCI) Community Cancer Centers Program (NCCCP) began in 2007; it is a network of community-based hospitals funded by the NCI. Quality of care is an NCCCP priority, with participation in the American Society of Clinical Oncology Quality Oncology Practice Initiative (QOPI) playing a fundamental role in quality assessment and quality improvement (QI) projects. Using QOPI methodology, performance on quality measures was analyzed two times per year over a 3-year period to enhance our implementation of quality standards at NCCCP hospitals.

Age- and sex-specific mortality associated with the 1918-1919 influenza pandemic in Kentucky.

Background: The reasons for the unusual age-specific mortality patterns of the 1918-1919 influenza pandemic remain unknown. Here we characterize pandemic-related mortality by single year of age in a unique statewide Kentucky data set and explore breakpoints in the age curves.

Methods: Individual death certificates from Kentucky during 1911-1919 were abstracted by medically trained personnel.

Characterization of anti-Salmonella enterica serotype Typhi antibody responses in bacteremic Bangladeshi patients by an immunoaffinity proteomics-based technology.

Salmonella enterica serotype Typhi is the cause of typhoid fever and a human-restricted pathogen. Currently available typhoid vaccines provide 50 to 90% protection for 2 to 5 years, and available practical diagnostic assays to identify individuals with typhoid fever lack sensitivity and/or specificity. Identifying immunogenic S.