scholarly journals Outcomes in urological cancer are strongly influenced by route to diagnosis

2017 ◽  
Vol 10 (1_suppl) ◽  
pp. 9-13
Author(s):  
Jayne L Douglas-Moore ◽  
Luke Hounsome ◽  
Julia Verne ◽  
Roger Kockelbergh

Introduction: The Routes to Diagnosis study has recorded data on new cancer diagnoses since 2006. The route to diagnosis of urological cancer influences outcomes and factors including gender, age and deprivation are implicated in affecting the way in which patients present. Materials and methods: Data were obtained from the National Cancer Intelligence Network Routes to Diagnosis study. Every new cancer case is assigned to one of eight routes of diagnosis, seven of which are applicable to urological cancers. Data from 2006 to 2013 are described in this report. Results: Two week wait is the most common route to diagnosis of bladder and testicular cancer compared to prostate, renal and penile malignancy in which routine general practitioner referral was the most common route. Two week wait referrals are associated with the best survival, and emergency presentations with the worst. Emergency presentation increases with advancing age but is also noted to be a significant route to diagnosis in patients less than 50 years. Bladder and renal cancer are more common in men but the route to diagnosis varies with gender. Increasing deprivation increases emergency presentation but has minimal effect on two week wait and routine general practitioner referrals. Conclusion: National data on the impact of route to diagnosis of urological malignancy have been described for the first time. The effect of age and gender on route to diagnosis and consequently cancer outcome has been noted. To enable earlier diagnosis attention must focus on extremes of age, patients with penile cancer and the most deprived patients.

Author(s):  
Piotr Zapała ◽  
Aleksander Ślusarczyk ◽  
Paweł Rajwa ◽  
Mikołaj Przydacz ◽  
Wojciech Krajewski ◽  
...  

IntroductionIn the majority of Western European countries, the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic has led to a dramatic reduction in urooncological surgeries. Our objective was to evaluate the impact of the pandemic on volume and patterns of urooncological surgery in Poland.Material and methodsThis is a retrospective analysis of 10 urologic centres in Poland. Data regarding major oncological procedures performed after the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak (March 15, 2020 – May 31, 2020) were evaluated and compared with data from the respective period in 2019.ResultsBetween March 15, 2020 and May 31, 2020, a total of 968 oncological procedures were performed in participating centres. When compared to the respective period in 2019 (1063 procedures) the overall number of surgeries declined by 8.9%. The reduction was observed for transurethral resection of bladder tumour (TURBT) (20.1%) and partial nephrectomies (PN) (16.5%). Surgical activity considering radical nephrectomy (RN), nephroureterectomy (NU), and radical prostatectomy (RP) remained relatively unchanged, whereas radical cystectomy (RC) burden showed a significant increase (90.9%). Characteristics of patients treated with TURBT, RC, NU, PN, and RN did not differ significantly between the compared periods, whereas RP in the COVID-19 period was performed more frequently in patients with a higher grade group (p = 0.028) and positive digital rectal examination (p = 0.007).ConclusionsSurgical activity for urological cancers in Poland has been maintained during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Polish strategy in the initial period of the COVID-19 crisis mirrors the scenario of hard initial lockdown followed by adaptive lockdown, during which oncological care remained undisrupted and did not require particular priority triage.


2020 ◽  
Vol 29 (4) ◽  
pp. 2097-2108
Author(s):  
Robyn L. Croft ◽  
Courtney T. Byrd

Purpose The purpose of this study was to identify levels of self-compassion in adults who do and do not stutter and to determine whether self-compassion predicts the impact of stuttering on quality of life in adults who stutter. Method Participants included 140 adults who do and do not stutter matched for age and gender. All participants completed the Self-Compassion Scale. Adults who stutter also completed the Overall Assessment of the Speaker's Experience of Stuttering. Data were analyzed for self-compassion differences between and within adults who do and do not stutter and to predict self-compassion on quality of life in adults who stutter. Results Adults who do and do not stutter exhibited no significant differences in total self-compassion, regardless of participant gender. A simple linear regression of the total self-compassion score and total Overall Assessment of the Speaker's Experience of Stuttering score showed a significant, negative linear relationship of self-compassion predicting the impact of stuttering on quality of life. Conclusions Data suggest that higher levels of self-kindness, mindfulness, and social connectedness (i.e., self-compassion) are related to reduced negative reactions to stuttering, an increased participation in daily communication situations, and an improved overall quality of life. Future research should replicate current findings and identify moderators of the self-compassion–quality of life relationship.


Author(s):  
Rathika Krishnasamy

Background: The rate of multidrug-resistant organisms (MDRO) colonisation in dialysis populations has increased over time. This study aimed to assess the effect of contact precautions and isolation on quality of life and mood for haemodialysis (HD) patients colonised with MDRO. Methods: Patients undergoing facility HD completed the Kidney Disease Quality of Life (KDQOL–SFTM), Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) and Personal Wellbeing-Index Adult (PWI-A). Patients colonised with MDRO were case-matched by age and gender with patients not colonised. Results: A total of 16 MDRO-colonised patients were matched with 16 controls. Groups were well matched for demographics and co-morbidities, other than a trend for older dialysis vintage in the MDRO group [7.2 years (interquartile range 4.6–10.0) compared to 3.2 (1.4–7.6) years, p=0.05]. Comparing MDRO-positive with negative patients, physical (30.5±10.7 vs. 34.6±7.3; p=0.2) and mental (46.5±11.2 vs. 48.5±12.5; p = 0.6) composite scores were not different between groups. The MDRO group reported poorer sleep quality (p=0.01) and sleep patterns (p=0.05), and lower social function (p=0.02). BDI scores were similar (MDRO-positive 10(3.5–21.0) vs. MDRO-negative 12(6.5–16.0), p=0.6). PWI-A scores were also similar in both groups; however, MDRO patients reported lower scores for “feeling safe”, p=0.03. Conclusion: While overall scores of quality of life and depression were similar between groups, the MDRO group reported poorer outcomes in sleep and social function. A larger cohort and qualitative interviews may give more detail of the impact of contact precautions and isolation on HD patients. The necessity for contact precautions for different MDRO needs consideration.


Author(s):  
Judith Herrin

This book explores the exceptional roles that women played in the vibrant cultural and political life of medieval Byzantium. This book evokes the complex and exotic world of Byzantium's women, from empresses and saints to uneducated rural widows. Drawing on a diverse range of sources, the book sheds light on the importance of marriage in imperial statecraft, the tense coexistence of empresses in the imperial court, and the critical relationships of mothers and daughters. It looks at women's interactions with eunuchs, the in-between gender in Byzantine society, and shows how women defended their rights to hold land. The book describes how women controlled their inheritances, participated in urban crowds demanding the dismissal of corrupt officials, followed the processions of holy icons and relics, and marked religious feasts with liturgical celebrations, market activity, and holiday pleasures. The vivid portraits that emerge here reveal how women exerted an unrivalled influence on the patriarchal society of Byzantium, and remained active participants in the many changes that occurred throughout the empire's millennial history. The book brings together the author's finest essays on women and gender written throughout the long span of her career. This volume includes three new essays published here for the very first time and a new general introduction. It also provides a concise introduction to each essay that describes how it came to be written and how it fits into her broader views about women and Byzantium.


Author(s):  
Alicia Mireles Christoff

This book engages twentieth-century post-Freudian British psychoanalysis in an unprecedented way: as literary theory. Placing the writing of figures like D. W. Winnicott, W. R. Bion, Michael and Enid Balint, Joan Riviere, Paula Heimann, and Betty Joseph in conversation with canonical Victorian fiction, the book reveals just how much object relations can teach us about how and why we read. These thinkers illustrate the ever-shifting impact our relations with others have on the psyche, and help us see how literary figures—characters, narrators, authors, and other readers—shape and structure us too. In the book, novels are charged relational fields. Closely reading novels by George Eliot and Thomas Hardy, the book shows that traditional understandings of Victorian fiction change when we fully recognize the object relations of reading. It is not by chance that British psychoanalysis illuminates underappreciated aspects of Victorian fiction so vibrantly: Victorian novels shaped modern psychoanalytic theories of psyche and relationality—including the eclipsing of empire and race in the construction of subject. Relational reading opens up both Victorian fiction and psychoanalysis to wider political and postcolonial dimensions, while prompting a closer engagement with work in such areas as critical race theory and gender and sexuality studies. The book describes the impact of literary form on readers and on twentieth- and twenty-first-century theories of the subject.


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