Development of a pharmacy educational environment questionnaire.

Introduction: A robust instrument for measuring the educational environment in a pharmacy patient care setting is currently lacking. The authors aimed to develop a person-reported outcome measure to gauge trainee pharmacists' perceptions of their clinical workplace-based educational environment. This paper reports the various sources of validity evidence.

Brain-derived neurotrophic factor as a biomarker in cancer-related cognitive impairment among adolescent and young adult cancer patients.

Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) improves cognitive function by stimulating neurogenesis and neuroplasticity. We hypothesize that higher plasma BDNF levels are protective against cognitive toxicity among adolescent and young adult cancer patients (15-39 years old). In a prospective, longitudinal study, we recruited 74 newly diagnosed cancer and 118 age-matched non-cancer controls who completed the Cambridge Neuropsychological Test Automated Battery (CANTAB), Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-Cognitive Function questionnaire (FACT-Cog) and blood draws.

Anthracycline-Free Protocol for Favorable-Risk Childhood ALL: A Noninferiority Comparison Between Malaysia-Singapore ALL 2003 and ALL 2010 Studies.

Purpose: To investigate whether, for children with favorable-risk B-cell precursor ALL (BCP-ALL), an anthracycline-free protocol is noninferior to a modified Berlin-Frankfurt-Muenster ALL-IC2002 protocol, which includes 120 mg/m of anthracyclines.

Patients And Methods: Three hundred sixty-nine children with favorable-risk BCP-ALL (age 1-9 years, no extramedullary disease, and no high-risk genetics) who cleared minimal residual disease (≤0.01%) at the end of remission induction were enrolled into Ma-Spore (MS) ALL trials.

Cognitive impairment in adolescent and young adult cancer patients: Pre-treatment findings of a longitudinal study.

Background: There is little information about cancer-related cognitive impairment (CRCI) in adolescent and young adults (AYA, 15-39 years old) due to its rare incidence. Here, we present the pre-treatment (before chemotherapy or radiotherapy) evaluation of cognitive function and ability of AYA with cancer (AYAC) in a multicentered cohort study.

Methods: Newly diagnosed AYAC and age-matched healthy controls (HC) were recruited between 2018 and 2021.

Life-threatening infections during treatment for acute lymphoblastic leukemia on the Malaysia-Singapore 2003 and 2010 clinical trials: A risk prediction model.

Aim: Life-threatening infections significantly impact the care of children undergoing therapy for acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) who are at risk of severe sepsis due to both host and treatment factors. Our aim was to develop a life-threatening infection risk prediction model that would allow remote rapid triage of patients to reduce time to first dose of antibiotics and sepsis-related mortality.

Methods: A retrospective analysis of 2068 fever episodes during ALL therapy was used for model building and subsequent internal validation.

Successful toxicity reduction during delayed intensification in the non-high-risk arm of Malaysia-Singapore Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia 2010 study.

Unlabelled: In non-high-risk (non-HR) patients, the Malaysia-Singapore Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia 2003 (MS2003) study achieved good outcomes. However, its delayed-intensification (DI) phase, comprising repeated blocks of protocol III (2003-PIII), was toxic and caused significant treatment delays. The successor MS2010 study attempted to lower DI toxicity by replacing myelosuppressive drugs (doxorubicin, cytarabine) with vincristine and asparaginase.

An Evaluation of DNA Methyltransferase 1 (DNMT1) Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms and Chemotherapy-Associated Cognitive Impairment: A Prospective, Longitudinal Study.

Strong evidence suggests that genetic variations in DNA methyltransferases (DNMTs) may alter the downstream expression and DNA methylation patterns of neuronal genes and influence cognition. This study investigates the association between a DNMT1 polymorphism, rs2162560, and chemotherapy-associated cognitive impairment (CACI) in a cohort of breast cancer patients. This is a prospective, longitudinal cohort study.

Association of plasma leptin, pro-inflammatory adipokines and cancer-related fatigue in early-stage breast cancer patients: A prospective cohort study.

Cancer-related fatigue (CRF) is subjective and has wide inter-individual variability. Given that leptin is commonly associated with fatigue syndrome, its use as a potential biomarker for CRF is being investigated. The primary objective of this study was to evaluate the association between leptin and CRF in early-stage breast cancer patients receiving chemotherapy.

Replication and Meta-analysis of the Association between BDNF Val66Met Polymorphism and Cognitive Impairment in Patients Receiving Chemotherapy.

Cancer-related cognitive impairment (CRCI) adversely affects cancer patients. We had previously demonstrated that the BDNF Val66Met genetic polymorphism is associated with lower odds of subjective CRCI in the multitasking and verbal ability domains among breast cancer patients receiving chemotherapy. To further assess our previous findings, we evaluated the association of BDNF Val66Met polymorphism with subjective and objective CRCI in a temporally separate cohort of patients and pooled findings from both the original (n = 145) and current (n = 193) cohorts in a meta-analysis.

Distinct and heterogeneous trajectories of self-perceived cognitive impairment among Asian breast cancer survivors.

Objectives: Currently, there are no studies that have established the self-perceived cognitive trajectories experienced by breast cancer patients (BCPs) post-chemotherapy. Therefore, we characterized the long-term trajectory of self-perceived cognitive function among Asian early-stage BCPs using the minimal clinically important difference of a subjective measure of cognitive function.

Methods: Early-stage BCPs who received chemotherapy were recruited and assessed at 4 time points: Before chemotherapy initiation (T1), 6 weeks post-chemotherapy initiation (T2), 12 weeks post-chemotherapy initiation (T3), and 15-months post-chemotherapy initiation (T4).

Association of mitochondrial DNA content in peripheral blood with cancer-related fatigue and chemotherapy-related cognitive impairment in early-stage breast cancer patients: a prospective cohort study.

Purpose: Cancer-related fatigue (CRF) and chemotherapy-related cognitive impairment (CRCI) are reported to be associated with mitochondrial dysfunction. Hence, mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) content, a biomarker of mitochondrial dysfunction, is hypothesized to correlate with the onset of CRF and CRCI. This study aims to evaluate the association between peripheral blood mtDNA content reduction and severity of CRF and CRCI in patients receiving chemotherapy.

Brain-derived neurotrophic factor genetic polymorphism (rs6265) is protective against chemotherapy-associated cognitive impairment in patients with early-stage breast cancer.

Background: Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), a neurotrophin that regulates neuronal function and development, is implicated in several neurodegenerative conditions. Preliminary data suggest that a reduction of BDNF concentrations may lead to postchemotherapy cognitive impairment. We hypothesized that a single nucleotide polymorphism (rs6265) of the BDNF gene may predispose patients to cognitive impairment.