The Right Dose: Results of a Patient Advocate-Led Survey of Individuals With Metastatic Breast Cancer Regarding Treatment-Related Side Effects and Views About Dosage Assessment to Optimize Quality of Life.

Purpose: Although patients with metastatic breast cancer (MBC) have been living longer with the advent of more effective treatments such as targeted therapy and immunotherapy, the disease remains incurable, and most patients will undergo therapy indefinitely. When beginning therapy, patients are typically prescribed dose often based upon the maximum tolerated dose identified in phase I clinical trials. However, patients' perspectives about tolerability and willingness to discuss individualized dosing of drugs upon initiation of a new regimen and throughout the course of treatment have not been comprehensively evaluated.

The patient perspective on dose optimization for anticancer treatments: A new era of cancer drug dosing-Challenging the "more is better" dogma.

The Patient-Centered Dosing Initiative, a patient-led effort advocating for a paradigm shift in determining cancer drug dosing strategies, pioneers a departure from traditional oncology drug dosing practices. Historically, oncology drug dosing relies on identifying the maximum tolerated dose through phase 1 dose escalation methodology, favoring higher dosing for greater efficacy, often leading to higher toxicity. However, this approach is not universally applicable, especially for newer treatments like targeted therapies and immunotherapies.

Patient-centered dosing: oncologists' perspectives about treatment-related side effects and individualized dosing for patients with metastatic breast cancer (MBC).

Purpose: Although metastatic breast cancer (MBC) is treatable, it is not curable and most patients remain on treatment indefinitely. While oncologists commonly prescribe the recommended starting dose (RSD) from the FDA-approved label, patient tolerance may differ from that seen in clinical trials. We report on a survey of medical oncologists' perspectives about treatment-related toxicity and willingness to discuss flexible dosing with patients.

Paper-based Transwell assays: an inexpensive alternative to study cellular invasion.

Cellular movement is essential in the formation and maintenance of healthy tissues as well as in disease progression such as tumor metastasis. In this work, we describe a paper-based Transwell assay capable of quantifying cellular invasion through an extracellular matrix. The paper-based Transwell assays generate similar datasets, with equivalent reproducibility, to commercially available Transwell assays.

Moonshots and metastatic disease: the need for a multi-faceted approach when studying atypical responses.

Clinical research generally focuses on results involving a statistical mean with little attention in trial design to patients who respond considerably better or worse than average. Exploring the reasons underlying an "atypical response" will increase understanding of the mechanisms involved in cancer progression and treatment resistance, accelerate biomarker identification, and improve precision medicine by allowing clinicians to prospectively select optimal treatments. Based on our review, we suggest two ways to move this field forward.

Frozen section analysis of ureteral margins in patients undergoing radical cystectomy for bladder cancer: differential impact of carcinoma in situ in the bladder on reliability and impact on tumour recurrence in the upper urinary tract.

Background: Patients undergoing radical cystectomy (RC) for urothelial carcinoma of the bladder (UCB) are at risk for upper urinary tract recurrence (UUTR), especially in case of carcinoma in situ (CIS). Data on the impact of CIS in the urinary bladder on ureteral tumour involvement or UUTR are conflicting. We presently evaluate the accuracy of intraoperative frozen section analysis (FSA) of the ureteral margin, the incidence of ureteral tumour involvement and their impact on UUTR in patients undergoing RC for UCB with versus without CIS of the bladder.

[Closure of psychiatric hospitals and major regional disparities in Italy].

The history of psychiatry in Italy is rooted in the 1960s movement illustrated by the transformation of the Gorizia psychiatric hospital led by Franco Basaglia. The new law, referred to as the "law 180", which resulted from the movement, removed the concept of dangerousness and set out the modes of admission in the psychiatric sector. Today, the health system is based around the mental healthcare department and centre, responsible for the organisation of community care.

Tumor thrombus of inferior vena cava in patients with renal cell carcinoma - clinical and oncological outcome of 50 patients after surgery.

Background: To evaluate oncological and clinical outcome in patients with renal cell carcinoma (RCC) and tumor thrombus involving inferior vena cava (IVC) treated with nephrectomy and thrombectomy.

Methods: We identified 50 patients with a median age of 65 years, who underwent radical surgical treatment for RCC and tumor thrombus of the IVC between 1997 and 2010. The charts were reviewed for pathological and surgical parameters, as well as complications and oncological outcome.

[Recto-vesico-cutaneous fistula following salvage cryotherapy of the prostate due to recurrent localized prostate cancer].

For patients with recurrent prostate cancer after initial external beam radiation salvage cryotherapy is considered as an alternative to salvage prostatectomy. We report a serious complication of salvage cryotherapy in a 72-year-old man suffering from a severe recto-vesico-cutaneous fistula 6 weeks after salvage cryotherapy. To manage this situation salvage cystoprostatectomy and continent urinary diversion with creation of an ileocaecal pouch with cutaneous stoma had to be performed.

[Urethro-crural fistula to the adductor canal. Late complication following radiotherapy for recurrent prostate cancer].

Urinary fistulas are rare (late) complications following radiotherapy for prostate cancer. We present the case of a urethro-crural fistula to the adductor canal 7 years after radiotherapy in a man who had previously undergone radical prostatectomy.

Serum carcino-embryonic antigen (CEA) and its possible use as tumor marker for secondary tumors in urinary intestinal reservoirs.

Objectives: Serum carcino-embryonic antigen (CEA) has become a useful tumor marker in patients with colorectal adenocarcinoma. Patients who undergo uroenteric reconstruction, such as urinary diversion (UD), have an increased risk of developing malignant changes in their UD. We compared serum CEA levels in patients with different types of UD, evaluating long-term CEA changes and assessing its potential for use as a tumor marker of malignant transformation in the UD.

Long-term results of a staged approach: continent urinary diversion in preparation for renal transplantation.

Purpose: We provide the long-term results of renal transplantation into continent urinary intestinal reservoirs as a planned 2-stage procedure.

Materials And Methods: Between November 1990 and January 2009, 18 patients underwent cadaveric or living related renal transplantation into continent urinary reservoirs (continent cutaneous diversion 16, orthotopic substitution 2). All patients were prospectively followed.

Last resort in devastated bladder outlet: bladder neck closure and continent vesicostomy--long-term results and comparison of different techniques.

Objectives: To compare surgical techniques and long-term outcomes in patients undergoing bladder neck closure (BNC) and continent vesicostomy for devastated bladder outlet.

Methods: A total of 17 patients who underwent BNC, omental interposition, and continent vesicostomy between 1994 and 2008 were analyzed. Indication for surgery was recurrent anastomotic stricture combined with postradical prostatectomy incontinence (n = 10), postvulvectomy (n = 1), and neurogenic bladder dysfunction (n = 6).

Testis-sparing surgery versus radical orchiectomy in patients with Leydig cell tumors.

Objectives: To compare retrospectively the outcome of testis-sparing surgery (TSS) to radical orchiectomy (RO) in patients with Leydig cell tumor (LCT).

Methods: Between 1992 and 2008, 16 patients with LCT of the testis were identified. All but 1 tumor could be detected by ultrasonography.

Metanephric adenoma in a two-year-old child.

Metanephric adenomas in children are very rare. We present the case of a 2-year-old girl with a mass of the left kidney. The lesion was completely removed by nephron-sparing surgery.

Solitary schwannoma of the glans penis.

Schwannomas of the penis are extremely rare. A 69-year-old man presented with a circumscribed asymptomatic tumor on the dorsum of the glans penis. Histopathologic examination of the surgical specimen showed a benign schwannoma.

Recurrent pelvic neuroblastoma in an adult patient.

Background: Neuroblastoma is a common malignancy in children, but rarely occurs in adults.

Case Report: We report the case of a 39-year-old woman who was treated for her fourth recurrence of a pelvic neuroblastoma.

Conclusions: Because of the rarity of these tumors during adolescence and adulthood, little information is available on the clinical course of patients with neuroblastoma in this age group.

Chronic perforation of the urinary bladder by self-inserted foreign body.

We report on a 14-year-old girl with pyelonephritis, secondary to a foreign body, in her urinary bladder. A self-inserted pencil led to stone formation and bladder perforation at two sites. Eighteen months after insertion, the pencil was removed by suprapubic cystotomy.

Repetitive strain injury (cumulative trauma disorder): causes and treatment.

Background: The computerization of the workforce in the last two decades has led to increases in the incidence of repetitive strain injury (RSI). U.S.

Photoemission evidence for a remnant fermi surface and a d-wave-like dispersion in insulating Ca2CuO2Cl2.

An angle-resolved photoemission study is reported on Ca2CuO2Cl2, a parent compound of high-Tc superconductors. Analysis of the electron occupation probability, n(k), from the spectra shows a steep drop in spectral intensity across a contour that is close to the Fermi surface predicted by the band calculation. This analysis reveals a Fermi surface remnant, even though Ca2CuO2Cl2 is a Mott insulator.

Excitation Gap in the Normal State of Underdoped Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8+delta.

Angle-resolved photoemission experiments reveal evidence of an energy gap in the normal state excitation spectrum of the cuprate superconductor Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8+delta. This gap exists only in underdoped samples and closes around the doping level at which the superconducting transition temperature Tc is a maximum. The momentum dependence and magnitude of the gap closely resemble those of the dx2-y2 gap observed in the superconducting state.