Inequalities in Financial Distress, Symptoms, and Quality of Life Among Patients with Advanced Cancer in France and the U.S.

Background: Financial distress (FD) is common among patients with advanced cancer. Our purpose was to compare the frequency and intensity of FD and its associations with symptom distress and quality of life (QOL) in these patients in France and the U.S.

Healing touch in radiation therapy: is the benefit tangible?

Background: Cancer patients tend to use more and more complementary or alternative medicine concomitantly to radiotherapy. A large part of these patients have recourse to Mind and Body practice, mainly with biofield healers or magnetizers, without any level of evidence. The aim of the present study was to report epidemiologic data on biofield healers in radiation therapy patients, and to assess the possible objective and subjective benefits.

Financial distress in patients with advanced cancer.

Purpose: We examined the frequency and severity of financial distress (FD) and its association with quality of life (QOL) and symptoms among patients with advanced cancer in France.

Design: In this cross-sectional study, 143 patients with advanced cancer were enrolled. QOL was assessed using the Functional Assessment of Cancer General (FACT-G) and symptoms assessed using Edmonton Assessment System (ESAS) and Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS).

[Evaluation of professional practices: improving cancer related-pain management in radiation oncology].

Radiation oncologist often faced cancer pain, regardless the stage of cancer. Given the high prevalence of cancer pain, and its potential for profound adverse consequences, all patients with active malignancy should be routinely screened and treated for pain. Using a questionnaire developed by the pain center of the Institut de cancérologie de la Loire, we questioned in a routine day 154 patients receiving radiation in our department.

Penile-response profiles of sexual aggressors during phallometric testing.

This study analyzes sexual-preference profiles in a sample of 420 sexual aggressors who exhibited a valid profile during their initial phallometric assessment. The sexual stimuli used in the process were audiotapes describing sexual-offending scenarios. Two types of sexual stimuli sets were used: one developed for sexual aggressors against women and a second developed for sexual aggressors against children.

Sexual murderers of children: developmental, precrime, crime, and postcrime factors.

The amount of empirical research on men who commit sexual murders is scarce, and no distinction has been made between those who have victimized adults and those who have victimized children. Therefore, to better understand specifically sexual murderers of children (n = 11), comparisons were performed with a group of sexual murderers of adult women (n = 66) on developmental, precrime, crime, and postcrime factors. It appears that sexual murderers of children are more often victims of sexual abuse during childhood and present more often deviant sexual fantasies as compared to sexual murderers of women.

Pure red-cell aplasia and antierythropoietin antibodies in patients treated with recombinant erythropoietin.

Background: Within a period of three years, we identified 13 patients in whom pure red-cell aplasia developed during treatment with recombinant human erythropoietin (epoetin). We investigated whether there was an immunologic basis for the anemia in these patients.

Methods: Serum samples from the 13 patients with pure red-cell aplasia were tested for neutralizing antibodies that could inhibit erythroid-colony formation by normal bone marrow cells in vitro.