Quality of life gains in frail and intermediate-fit patients with multiple Myeloma: Findings from the prospective HOVON123 clinical trial.

Background: Frailty in newly-diagnosed multiple myeloma (NDMM) patients is associated with treatment-related toxicity, which negatively affects health-related quality of life (HRQoL). Currently, data on changes in HRQoL of frail and intermediate-fit MM patients during active treatment and post-treatment follow-up are absent.

Methods: The HOVON123 study (NTR4244) was a phase II trial in which NDMM patients ≥ 75 years were treated with nine dose-adjusted cycles of Melphalan-Prednisone-Bortezomib (MPV).

Does size matter? - Comparing pyranoses with septanoses as ligands of the bacterial lectin FimH.

The pharmacological modulation of disease-relevant carbohydrate-protein interactions represents an underexplored area of medicinal chemistry. One particular challenge in the design of glycomimetic compounds is the inherent instability of the glycosidic bond toward enzymatic cleavage. This problem has traditionally been approached by employing S-, N-, or C-glycosides with reduced susceptibility toward glycosidases.

Middle East Cancer Consortium-Development of Palliative Care Services for Cancer Patients.

When patients are diagnosed with cancer, they lose the mode of living they have been accustomed to and face difficulties in coping with the new complexed medical condition. In the case of advanced stages of cancer, patients lose the ability to take an active role in decisions related to priority in treatment modality, decision-making, and planning. In addition, these patients lose the ability of choice-to agree to a certain mode of treatment, who will treat them, and where.

Evaluating Pain Management Practices for Cancer Patients among Health Professionals: A Global Survey.

Cancer incidence in the world is predicted to increase in the next decade. While progress has been in diagnosis and treatment, much still remains to be done to improve cancer pain therapy, mainly in underserved communities in low-income countries. To determine knowledge, beliefs, and barriers regarding pain management in both high- and low-income countries (according to the WHO classification); and to learn about ways to improve the current state of affairs.

Enhancing the enthalpic contribution of hydrogen bonds by solvent shielding.

In biological systems, polar interactions are heavily burdened by high desolvation penalties resulting from strong solute-solvent interactions. As a consequence thereof, enthalpic contributions of hydrogen bonds to the free energy of binding are severely diminished. However, this effect is strongly attenuated for interactions within solvent-shielded areas of proteins.

Ixazomib, Daratumumab, and Low-Dose Dexamethasone in Frail Patients With Newly Diagnosed Multiple Myeloma: The Hovon 143 Study.

Purpose: Frail patients with newly diagnosed multiple myeloma have an inferior outcome, mainly because of a high discontinuation rate due to toxicity. We designed a phase II trial specifically for frail patients, evaluating the efficacy and tolerability of ixazomib-daratumumab-low-dose-dexamethasone (Ixa-Dara-dex).

Methods: Sixty-five patients, who were frail according to the International Myeloma Working Group frailty index, were treated with nine induction cycles Ixa-Dara-dex followed by maintenance with Ixa-Dara for a maximum of 2 years.

Global Perspectives on Palliative Care for Cancer Patients: Not All Countries Are the Same.

Purpose Of The Review: The integration of cancer-related palliative care is essential to holistic, quality cancer care. While some similarities exist between countries, this manuscript will focus on five differences that impact palliative care for cancer patients including the epidemiology of cancer and related symptoms, cancer-specific integration into care, palliative care education, economic development of the country, and cultural and religious differences.

Recent Findings: The epidemiology of cancer varies around the world resulting in variable symptoms and the need for individualized approaches to palliative care.

Palliative Care in High and Low Resource Countries.

Palliative Care (PC) is defined by the World Health Organization (WHO) as a support provided by multiple disciplines in order to improve the quality of life of both patients and their caregivers, throughout the disease course, from diagnosis to end-of-life. PC aims to prevent and treat symptoms and side effects of the disease and its treatment. PC is well developed in most high- -income countries; however in most low-income settings, where approximately 80% of patients with cancer requiring PC care for advanced disease live, PC services are still uncommon.

Enhancing Palliative Care With Mindful Touch: Impact of a Manual and Movement Therapy Training Program in an International Multidisciplinary Integrative Oncology Setting.

Context: Manual and movement therapies (MMTs) play a central role in the integrative oncology setting, significantly improving patients' quality of life (QOL). Despite research supporting the effectiveness and safety of these modalities, most oncology health care providers (HCPs) lack any MMT training.

Objectives: In this study, we examine the impact of an MMT-based integrative oncology training program with the participation of an international and multidisciplinary group of oncology HCPs.

Development of palliative care services in Turkey.

Introduction: Palliative care (PC) is a holistic philosophy of care that can only be obtained through the awareness of public and healthcare professionals, PC training and good integration into the health system. Depending on health system structures, there are differences in PC models and organisations in various countries. This study is designed to evaluate the current status of PC services in Turkey, which is strongly supported by national health policies.

Correction to: Human Development Index and its association with staff spiritual care provision: a Middle Eastern oncology study.

Incorrect family name of Layth Mula-Hussain.

Interprofessional spiritual care in oncology: a literature review.

Spiritual care is recognised as an essential element of the care of patients with serious illness such as cancer. Spiritual distress can result in poorer health outcomes including quality of life. The American Society of Clinical Oncology and other organisations recommend addressing spiritual needs in the clinical setting.

Human Development Index and its association with staff spiritual care provision: a Middle Eastern oncology study.

Background: Although staff spiritual care provision plays a key role in patient-centered care, there is insufficient information on international variance in attitudes toward spiritual care and its actual provision.

Methods: A cross-sectional survey of the attitudes of Middle Eastern oncology physicians and nurses toward eight examples of staff provision of spiritual care: two questionnaire items concerned prayer, while six items related to applied information gathering, such as spiritual history taking, referrals, and encouraging patients in their spirituality. In addition, respondents reported on spiritual care provision for their last three advanced cancer patients.

Improvement of Aglycone π-Stacking Yields Nanomolar to Sub-nanomolar FimH Antagonists.

Antimicrobial resistance has become a serious concern for the treatment of urinary tract infections. In this context, an anti-adhesive approach targeting FimH, a bacterial lectin enabling the attachment of E. coli to host cells, has attracted considerable interest.

Training for awareness of one's own spirituality: A key factor in overcoming barriers to the provision of spiritual care to advanced cancer patients by doctors and nurses.

Objective: When patients feel spiritually supported by staff, we find increased use of hospice and reduced use of aggressive treatments at end of life, yet substantial barriers to staff spiritual care provision still exist. We aimed to study these barriers in a new cultural context and analyzed a new subgroup with "unrealized potential" for improved spiritual care provision: those who are positively inclined toward spiritual care yet do not themselves provide it.

Method: We distributed the Religion and Spirituality in Cancer Care Study via the Middle East Cancer Consortium to physicians and nurses caring for advanced cancer patients.

KinITC-One Method Supports both Thermodynamic and Kinetic SARs as Exemplified on FimH Antagonists.

Affinity data, such as dissociation constants (K ) or inhibitory concentrations (IC ), are widely used in drug discovery. However, these parameters describe an equilibrium state, which is often not established in vivo due to pharmacokinetic effects and they are therefore not necessarily sufficient for evaluating drug efficacy. More accurate indicators for pharmacological activity are the kinetics of binding processes, as they shed light on the rate of formation of protein-ligand complexes and their half-life.

Sulfur Partitioning between Glutathione and Protein Synthesis Determines Plant Growth.

Photoautotrophic organisms must efficiently allocate their resources between stress-response pathways and growth-promoting pathways to be successful in a constantly changing environment. In this study, we addressed the coordination of sulfur flux between the biosynthesis of the reactive oxygen species scavenger glutathione (GSH) and protein translation as one example of a central resource allocation switch. We crossed the Arabidopsis () GSH synthesis-depleted cadmium-sensitive mutant, which lacks glutamate cysteine (Cys) ligase, into the sulfite reductase mutant, which suffers from a significantly decreased flux of sulfur into Cys and, consequently, is retarded in growth.

Refugees in Conflict: Creating a Bridge Between Traditional and Conventional Health Belief Models.

Unlabelled: The recent wave of migration from Middle Eastern countries to Europe presents significant challenges to the European health profession. These include the inevitable communication gap created by differences in health care beliefs between European oncologists, health care practitioners, and refugee patients. This article presents the conclusions of a workshop attended by a group of clinicians and researchers affiliated with the Middle East Cancer Consortium, as well as four European-based health-related organizations.

Conformational switch of the bacterial adhesin FimH in the absence of the regulatory domain: Engineering a minimalistic allosteric system.

For many biological processes such as ligand binding, enzymatic catalysis, or protein folding, allosteric regulation of protein conformation and dynamics is fundamentally important. One example is the bacterial adhesin FimH, where the C-terminal pilin domain exerts negative allosteric control over binding of the N-terminal lectin domain to mannosylated ligands on host cells. When the lectin and pilin domains are separated under shear stress, the FimH-ligand interaction switches in a so-called catch-bond mechanism from the low- to high-affinity state.