Objectives: Sexual health is an integral part of well-being. However, the sexual health needs and desires of middle-aged and older adults have been largely disregarded. Therefore, this study aimed to understand the sexual health service preferences of adults aged 45 and older to improve the accessibility of sexual health services in the UK.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFGranular cell tumour is a rare, mostly benign, soft tissue, neuroectodermal tumour, most commonly seen in the skin and peripheral soft tissue. There are no publications to date of PSMA-PET avidity in a granular cell tumour. In this 60 year old male, staging PSMA-PET for a localized intermediate risk prostate cancer incidentally identified a PSMA-avid left supraspinatus lesion, which was subsequently biopsy-proven as a granular cell tumour.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntroduction: Concurrent chemoradiotherapy is the standard of care in the curative intent treatment of squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) of the anus. Volumetric arc therapy (VMAT) is a highly conformal radiation therapy technique that has been implemented to reduce toxicity for these patients. However, there are few reports evaluating the long-term outcomes of VMAT.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFEhlers-Danlos syndrome (EDS) consists of a heterogeneous group of congenital collagen formation disorders characterised by skin hyperextensibility, atrophic scarring, and generalized joint hypermobility. Collagen vascular disorders have been implicated in increased incidence and severity of radiation toxicities; however, there are limited reports on the safety of radiation therapy with EDS. We identified all patients with EDS who received adjuvant conventional and hypofractionated breast radiation therapy at our institution and reviewed patient, treatment, and toxicity characteristics.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFKearns-Sayre syndrome (KSS) is a rare mitochondrial disorder, and the effects of radiotherapy on such a population group are unknown. A 60-year-old male with a history of KSS was diagnosed with locally advanced basal cell carcinoma along the left inner canthus. He was treated at our institution with curative intent radiotherapy alone and tolerated it well with no major acute or late toxicities.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Med Imaging Radiat Oncol
September 2023
Introduction: The Australian Faculty of Radiation Oncology Genitourinary Group (FROGG) developed prostate bed clinical target volume (CTV) contouring guidelines which were subsequently used to develop the National EviQ guidelines for adjuvant and salvage post-prostatectomy radiotherapy (PPRT). These guidelines were based mainly upon consensus agreement. With the advent of prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA) positron emission tomography (PET), sites of recurrence can now be detected with low prostate-specific antigen (PSA) levels following radical prostatectomy.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntroduction: This study aimed to investigate the patterns of practices of radiation oncologists (ROs) and urologists in Australia and New Zealand with respect to the utilisation of post-prostatectomy radiation therapy (RT) and help guide the development of an update to the existing Faculty of Radiation Oncology Genito-Urinary Group post-prostatectomy guidelines.
Methods: ROs and urologists with subspecialty practice in prostate cancer from Australia and New Zealand were invited to participate in an online survey comprised of clinical scenarios regarding post-prostatectomy RT.
Results: Sixty-five ROs and 28 urologists responded to the survey.
Community Ment Health J
January 2024
Much of the emerging evidence on the impact of COVID-19 on people with psychosocial disabilities comes from high-income countries. This study sought to explore the perceptions and experiences of youths living with psychosis during the COVID-19 pandemic in Nigeria. Using a co-produced research process, a facility-based study was conducted among youth with confirmed diagnosis of a psychotic disorder.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Med Imaging Radiat Oncol
August 2023
Introduction: We evaluated long-term outcomes for octogenarians with localised prostate cancer treated using dose-escalated image-guided intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) at our institution.
Methods: The charts of octogenarians treated for localised prostate cancer were retrospectively reviewed. Overall survival (OS), prostate cancer-specific survival (PCaSS), toxicity rates and changes from baseline were collected.
Purpose: Triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) is a breast carcinoma subtype that neither expresses estrogen (ER) and progesterone receptors (PR) nor the human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2). Patients with TNBC have been shown to have poorer outcomes mainly owing to the limited treatment options available. However, some studies have shown TNBC tumors expressing androgen receptors (AR), raising hopes of its prognostic role.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntroduction: The Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Radiologists (RANZCR) Faculty of Radiation Oncology Genitourinary Group (FROGG) guidelines and online EviQ protocols incorporate prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA) positron emission tomography (PET)-guided dose-escalated intensity-modulated radiation therapy (DE-IMRT) for newly diagnosed lymph node (LN) positive prostate cancer. We evaluated late toxicity and efficacy outcomes following the FROGG and EviQ approach.
Methods: Patients with LN-positive-only metastases on PSMA-PET imaging were offered curative therapy with 3 months neoadjuvant androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) followed by DE-IMRT and 3 years adjuvant ADT.
Introduction: Sexual health is essential for general health and well-being. Sexual health services for middle-aged and older adults are not prioritised and optimising available services for this population is often overlooked. Not much is known about preferences for accessing sexual health services among middle-aged and older people or level of satisfaction with current services.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFEnzymatic deconstruction of poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) is under intense investigation, given the ability of hydrolase enzymes to depolymerize PET to its constituent monomers near the polymer glass transition temperature. To date, reported PET hydrolases have been sourced from a relatively narrow sequence space. Here, we identify additional PET-active biocatalysts from natural diversity by using bioinformatics and machine learning to mine 74 putative thermotolerant PET hydrolases.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjectives: Population-representative studies of the sexual health of middle-aged and older adults are lacking in ageing societies. This study aimed to identify latent patterns of sexual behaviours and health of people aged 45-74 years.
Methods: We conducted a latent class analysis of the National Attitudes and Sexual Lifestyles Survey (Natsal-3), a nationally representative survey conducted in Britain in 2011.
Objective: To assess the prognostic value of the neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) in a cohort of triple-negative breast cancer patients (TNBC) treated in a regional cancer center.
Methods: The electronic medical records of 214 consecutive patients treated with surgery, chemotherapy, and radiotherapy between 2006 and 2016 were reviewed. The prognostic significance of the NLR for disease-free survival (DFS) and overall survival (OS) was examined in relation to clinical and treatment-related factors.
Invited for this month's cover is the BOTTLE Consortium, featuring Gregg Beckham's laboratory from NREL and John McGeehan's laboratory from the University of Portsmouth. The cover image shows the application of poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) hydrolase enzymes on post-consumer waste plastic, towards the development of an enzymatic PET recycling strategy. The Full Paper itself is available at 10.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Med Imaging Radiat Oncol
February 2022
Introduction: Evidence-based Australian guidelines (eviQ) recommend adjuvant supraclavicular fossa irradiation after axillary lymph node dissection (ALND) in node-positive breast cancer patients. Disparity between surgically determined versus computed tomography (CT) determined nodal volumes may result in discontiguous nodal volumes and untreated nodal tissue. We examine the extent of untreated nodal tissue in women with breast cancer post-level II or III ALND and adjuvant radiation therapy (RT) using ESTRO contouring guidelines.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThere is keen interest to develop new technologies to recycle the plastic poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET). To this end, the use of PET-hydrolyzing enzymes has shown promise for PET deconstruction to its monomers, terephthalate (TPA) and ethylene glycol (EG). Here, the Ideonella sakaiensis PETase wild-type enzyme was compared to a previously reported improved variant (W159H/S238F).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntroduction: Current contouring guidelines for curative radiation therapy for muscle-invasive bladder cancer (MIBC) recommend margins of 1.5-2.0 cm, applied to the clinical target volume (CTV).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMetaplastic breast carcinoma is an uncommon subtype of invasive ductal carcinoma with a tendency towards poorer clinical outcomes. Following ethical approval, the current study reviewed the institutional records of ~2,500 women with breast cancer. A total of 14 cases of metaplastic breast cancer were reviewed for management and treatment outcomes.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPurpose: The five grade group system has been validated for men treated with radical prostatectomy. However, the prognostic value for men treated with radiation therapy is uncertain, with prior studies utilising old techniques and doses. We aimed to validate the International Society of Urological Pathology (ISUP) groupings for men treated with contemporary radiation therapy.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe rapid rise in cancer incidence within the world's poorest nations highlights the need for equitable access to evidence-based cancer care. It has been previously demonstrated that radiotherapy is a cost-effective and necessary tool in cancer treatment. However, globally there is a growing divide between demand and supply of radiotherapy services.
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