Polymorphisms in CYP1A1 and ethnic-specific susceptibility to acute lymphoblastic leukemia in children.

Background: Acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) is the most common childhood malignancy. The U.S.

The role of support staff in pediatric palliative care: their perceptions, training, and available resources.

Pediatric palliative care requires the orchestrated efforts of a multidisciplinary care team of medical staff, nursing, psychosocial staff, and other healthcare professionals. Augmenting this team are support staff including financial counsellors, volunteers, secretaries, and others not involved in the direct administration of medical services. Prior research in palliative care has studied the perceptions, training, and professional resources of medical staff and social workers, but neglected to investigate such factors in support staff.

Phase I and Phase II enzyme polymorphisms and childhood cancer.

Childhood cancers continue to be challenging clinical entities whose etiology, demographic characteristics, clinical progression, treatment efficacy, and outcomes remain incompletely understood. Research suggests that multiple environmental and genetic factors may play crucial roles in the pathophysiology of many of these malignancies. Recent attention has been directed to the role of carcinogen metabolizing enzymes in the etiology and progression of cancer in both adults and children due to their multitude of polymorphic variants and their intimate interaction with environmental factors.