Effects of qigong exercise on fatigue, anxiety, and depressive symptoms of patients with chronic fatigue syndrome-like illness: a randomized controlled trial.

Background. Anxiety/depressive symptoms are common in patients with chronic fatigue syndrome- (CFS-) like illness. Qigong as a modality of complementary and alternative therapy has been increasingly applied by patients with chronic illnesses, but little is known about the effect of Qigong on anxiety/depressive symptoms of the patients with CFS-like illness.

A randomized controlled trial of qigong exercise on fatigue symptoms, functioning, and telomerase activity in persons with chronic fatigue or chronic fatigue syndrome.

Background: Chronic fatigue is common in the general population. Complementary therapies are often used by patients with chronic fatigue or chronic fatigue syndrome to manage their symptoms.

Purpose: This study aimed to assess the effect of a 4-month qigong intervention program among patients with chronic fatigue or chronic fatigue syndrome.

Can intensity-modulated radiotherapy preserve oral health-related quality of life of nasopharyngeal carcinoma patients?

Purpose: To investigate the changes in salivary function and oral health-related quality of life for patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma treated by intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT).

Methods And Materials: A total of 57 patients with early-stage nasopharyngeal carcinoma received IMRT. The parotid and whole saliva flow was measured, and the Medical Outcomes Study 36-item short form, European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer Quality of Life questionnaire-C30, European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer Quality of Life questionnaire 35-item head-and-neck module, and Oral Health Impact Profile questionnaires were completed at baseline and 2, 6, 12, 18, and 24 months after IMRT.

Increased expression of annexin I is associated with drug-resistance in nasopharyngeal carcinoma and other solid tumors.

Adjuvant chemotherapy alongside radiotherapy is one of the effective therapies in nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) treatment. However, the appearance of drug resistance is a major obstacle for anti-cancer chemotherapy and often causes failure of the chemotherapy. In this study, a drug-resistant gene annexin I (ANX-I) was identified by comparing differentially expressed proteins between a cisplatin (CDDP)-resistant NPC cell line CNE2-CDDP and parental CNE2 cells using 2-DE.

Capecitabine monotherapy for recurrent and metastatic nasopharyngeal cancer.

Background: Capecitabine monotherapy had activity in recurrent/metastatic nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) as demonstrated previously in a small pilot study. We conducted a retrospective review of patients who received capecitabine for recurrent and metastatic NPC to further evaluate its clinical benefits.

Methods: Forty-nine patients with recurrent and metastatic NPC received capecitabine at a dose of 1-1.

Phase II study of gefitinib for the treatment of recurrent and metastatic nasopharyngeal carcinoma.

Background: This single-center, phase II study assessed the safety/tolerability and initial efficacy of gefitinib in patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) pretreated with platinum-based chemotherapy.

Methods: Patients with recurrent and metastatic NPC who had treatment failure with at least 2 lines of chemotherapy including platinum were given gefitinib at a fixed dose of 250 mg daily. Treatment was continued until the patient experienced unacceptable side effects or disease progression.

Stereotactic radiosurgery versus gold grain implantation in salvaging local failures of nasopharyngeal carcinoma.

Background: Limited local failure of nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) can often be salvaged by reirradiation using different techniques. Both gold grain implantation (GGI) and stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) have been used as salvage treatment of NPC but the relative efficacy of these two treatments is not known.

Methods And Materials: A total of 74 patients with local NPC failure were included in this retrospective analysis.

Disorientation and reconstruction:the meaning searching pathways of patients with colorectal cancer.

This study examines psychosocial difficulties faced by Chinese patients with colorectal cancer, and attempts to identify factors that contribute to the meaning searching process that in turn brings about growth and transformation. Twenty-six patients with colorectal cancer were interviewed. Data were analyzed using the constant comparative method.

Outcome of fractionated stereotactic radiotherapy for 90 patients with locally persistent and recurrent nasopharyngeal carcinoma.

Purpose: Local recurrence remains one of the major causes of failure in nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC). Stereotactic radiosurgery and fractionated stereotactic radiation therapy (FSRT) have recently evolved as a salvage option of NPC. This study was conducted to review the treatment outcome after FSRT for NPC.

A prospective study of the impact of nasopharyngeal cancer and radiotherapy on the psychosocial condition of Chinese patients.

Background: Radiotherapy (RT) promises optimistic results in the treatment of nasopharyngeal cancer (NPC). The objective of the current study was to map out prospectively the impact of NPC and RT on patients from diagnosis to 1 year posttreatment.

Methods: For this study, 67 Chinese patients (46 men and 21 women) with newly diagnosed stage I or II NPC who received primary RT were recruited.

Up-regulation of fibroblast growth factor 3 is associated with tumor metastasis and recurrence in human hepatocellular carcinoma.

Recently, we established a hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) cell line (named H4-M) from a metastatic HCC tumor. In H4-M, a marker chromosome containing a homogeneously staining region (hsr) was identified by cytogenetic analysis. The hsr was characterized by chromosome microdissection and the result showed that the hsr was composed of DNA sequence from 11q13.

Xerostomia and quality of life after intensity-modulated radiotherapy vs. conventional radiotherapy for early-stage nasopharyngeal carcinoma: initial report on a randomized controlled clinical trial.

Purpose: To compare directly the effect of intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) vs. conventional radiotherapy (CRT) on salivary flow and quality of life (QoL) in patients with early-stage nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC).

Methods And Materials: Fifty-one patients with T2, N0/N1, M0 NPC took part in a randomized controlled clinical study and received IMRT or CRT.

Predictive factors of tumor control and survival after radiosurgery for local failures of nasopharyngeal carcinoma.

Background: Stereotactic radiosurgery has been employed as a salvage treatment of local failures of nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC). To identify patients that would benefit from radiosurgery, we reviewed our data with emphasis on factors that predicted treatment outcome.

Patients And Methods: A total of 48 patients with local failures of NPC were treated by stereotactic radiosurgery between March 1996 and February 2005.

Preliminary results of a randomized study (NPC-9902 Trial) on therapeutic gain by concurrent chemotherapy and/or accelerated fractionation for locally advanced nasopharyngeal carcinoma.

Purpose: To compare the benefit achieved by concurrent chemoradiotherapy (CRT) and/or accelerated fractionation (AF) vs. radiotherapy (RT) alone with conventional fractionation (CF) for patients with T3-4N0-1M0 nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC).

Methods And Materials: All patients were irradiated with the same RT technique to > or =66 Gy at 2 Gy per fraction, conventional five fractions/week in the CF and CF+C (chemotherapy) arms, and accelerated six fractions/week in the AF and AF+C arms.

Complementary activation of peripheral natural killer cell immunity in nasopharyngeal carcinoma.

NK cells and alphabeta- and gammadelta-CTL play important roles in cellular immunity against tumors. We previously demonstrated that NPC patients have a quantitative and qualitative deficit in gammadelta-CTL and EBV-specific alphabeta-CTL when compared to normal subjects and NPC long-term survivors. In this study we report further observations of a complementary activation of peripheral NK cells in NPC patients.

A randomized controlled trial of psychosocial interventions using the psychophysiological framework for Chinese breast cancer patients.

This study aimed to investigate the psychophysiological outcomes of different psychosocial interventions for breast cancer patients. Participants were randomly assigned into 3 intervention groups, namely, Body-Mind-Spirit (BMS), Supportive-Expressive (SE), and Social Support Self-Help (SS) groups; a no-intervention group was used as control. Salivary cortisol was used as the physiological stress marker.

Improvement of survival after addition of induction chemotherapy to radiotherapy in patients with early-stage nasopharyngeal carcinoma: Subgroup analysis of two Phase III trials.

Purpose: Induction chemotherapy has not been shown to improve survival in nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) in Phase III trials. To evaluate the effect of induction chemotherapy in NPC further, we performed subgroup analysis of two Phase III trials according to the T and N stage.

Methods And Materials: Data from two phase III trials comparing cisplatin/epirubicin or cisplatin/bleomycin/5-fluorouracil followed by radiotherapy (RT) vs.

Dose-response relationship of nasopharyngeal carcinoma above conventional tumoricidal level: a study by the Hong Kong nasopharyngeal carcinoma study group (HKNPCSG).

Background And Purpose: To define the dose-response relationship of nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) above the conventional tumoricidal dose level of 66 Gy when the basic radiotherapy (RT) course was given by the 2D Ho's technique.

Patients And Methods: Data from all five regional cancer centers in Hong Kong were pooled for this retrospective study. All patients (n = 2426) were treated with curative-intent RT with or without chemotherapy between 1996 and 2000 with the basic RT course using the Ho's technique.

Preservation of quality of life after intensity-modulated radiotherapy for early-stage nasopharyngeal carcinoma: results of a prospective longitudinal study.

Background: Xerostomia is a ubiquitous complication after conventional radiotherapy for nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) that seriously impairs patient quality of life (QOL). The effect on QOL of parotid-sparing intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) for early-stage NPC was assessed prospectively.

Methods: Thirty-two patients with T1-2,N0-1,M0 NPC received IMRT.

Co-overexpression of fibroblast growth factor 3 and epidermal growth factor receptor is correlated with the development of nonsmall cell lung carcinoma.

Background: Lung cancer is a prevalent cancer with a poor prognosis. To develop a useful in vitro cell model, a cell line of lung squamous cell carcinoma (SCC-35) was established.

Methods: The SCC-35 cell was characterized by comparative genomic hybridization (CGH) and spectral karyotyping (SKY).

Re-irradiation of nasopharyngeal carcinoma with intensity-modulated radiotherapy.

Background And Purpose: To evaluate the treatment outcome in patients with locally recurrent nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) treated with intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT).

Materials And Methods: Between October 2001 and May 2004, 31 patients with locally recurrent NPC received re-irradiation using IMRT. The rT classification distribution was 3 for rT1, 5 for rT2, 9 for rT3, and 14 for r T4.

Preliminary results of radiation dose escalation for locally advanced nasopharyngeal carcinoma.

Purpose: To study the safety and efficacy of dose escalation in tumor for locally advanced nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC).

Methods And Materials: From September 2000 to June 2004, 50 patients with T3-T4 NPC were treated with intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT). Fourteen patients had Stage III and 36 patients had Stage IVA-IVB disease.

Induction chemotherapy with cisplatin and gemcitabine followed by reirradiation for locally recurrent nasopharyngeal carcinoma.

Objectives: Patients with advanced local recurrence of nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) have a poor prognosis. Retreatment by external radiotherapy is frequently the only option but results are usually poor. This study was conducted to evaluate the benefits of adding induction chemotherapy with cisplatin and gemcitabine before reirradiation for locally recurrent NPC.

Preliminary results of a randomized study on therapeutic gain by concurrent chemotherapy for regionally-advanced nasopharyngeal carcinoma: NPC-9901 Trial by the Hong Kong Nasopharyngeal Cancer Study Group.

Purpose: This randomized study compared the results achieved by concurrent chemoradiotherapy (CRT) versus radiotherapy (RT) alone for nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) with advanced nodal disease.

Patients And Methods: Patients with nonkeratinizing/undifferentiated NPC staged T1-4N2-3M0 were randomized to CRT or RT. Both arms were treated with the same RT technique and dose fractionation.

[Concomitant chemo-radiotherapy for locoregionally advanced nasopharygeal carcinoma].

Objective: To evaluate the efficacy and toxicity of concomitant chemo-radiotherapy (CCRT) followed by adjuvant chemotherapy (ACT) in Chinese patients with locoregionally advanced nasopharygeal carcinoma (NPC).

Methods: Seventy-four patients with stage III and IV (UICC1997) were treated by Intergroup 0099 regimen, consisting of CCRT using cisplatin 100 mg/m(2) on D1, 22, and 43 of radiotherapy, followed by ACT using cisplatin 80 mg x m(-2) x d(-1) and 5-Fu 1 g x m(-2) x 4 d(-1) given from D71, 99, and 127. All the patients were irradiated with conventional fractionation to a total dose of 68 Gy to the nasopharynx and 66 Gy to the neck.