scholarly journals Lack of Access to Targeted Cancer Treatment Modalities in the Developing World in the Era of Precision Medicine: Real-Life Lessons From Bosnia

2018 ◽  
pp. 1-5
Author(s):  
Amina Kurtovic-Kozaric ◽  
Semir Vranic ◽  
Sabira Kurtovic ◽  
Azra Hasic ◽  
Mirza Kozaric ◽  
...  
2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
pp. 130-145 ◽  
Author(s):  
Keywan Mortezaee ◽  
Masoud Najafi ◽  
Bagher Farhood ◽  
Amirhossein Ahmadi ◽  
Dheyauldeen Shabeeb ◽  
...  

Cancer is one of the most complicated diseases in present-day medical science. Yearly, several studies suggest various strategies for preventing carcinogenesis. Furthermore, experiments for the treatment of cancer with low side effects are ongoing. Chemotherapy, targeted therapy, radiotherapy and immunotherapy are the most common non-invasive strategies for cancer treatment. One of the most challenging issues encountered with these modalities is low effectiveness, as well as normal tissue toxicity for chemo-radiation therapy. The use of some agents as adjuvants has been suggested to improve tumor responses and also alleviate normal tissue toxicity. Resveratrol, a natural flavonoid, has attracted a lot of attention for the management of both tumor and normal tissue responses to various modalities of cancer therapy. As an antioxidant and anti-inflammatory agent, in vitro and in vivo studies show that it is able to mitigate chemo-radiation toxicity in normal tissues. However, clinical studies to confirm the usage of resveratrol as a chemo-radioprotector are lacking. In addition, it can sensitize various types of cancer cells to both chemotherapy drugs and radiation. In recent years, some clinical studies suggested that resveratrol may have an effect on inducing cancer cell killing. Yet, clinical translation of resveratrol has not yielded desirable results for the combination of resveratrol with radiotherapy, targeted therapy or immunotherapy. In this paper, we review the potential role of resveratrol for preserving normal tissues and sensitization of cancer cells in combination with different cancer treatment modalities.


2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ameneh Jafari ◽  
Mostafa Rezaei-Tavirani ◽  
Behrouz Farhadihosseinabadi ◽  
Hakimeh Zali ◽  
Hassan Niknejad

AbstractCancer is a leading cause of death in both developed and developing countries, and because of population growth and aging, it is a growing medical burden worldwide. With robust development in medicine, the use of stem cells has opened new treatment modalities in cancer therapy. In adult stem cells, mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are showing rising promise in cancer treatment due to their unique properties. Among different sources of MSCs, human amniotic fluid/membrane is an attractive and suitable reservoir. There are conflicting opinions about the role of human amniotic membrane/fluid mesenchymal stem cells (hAMSCS/hAFMSCs) in cancer, as some studies demonstrating the anticancer effects of these cells and others suggesting their progressive effects on cancer. This review focuses on recent findings about the role of hAMSCs/hAFMSCs in cancer treatment and summarizes the suppressing as well as promoting effects of these cells on cancer progression and underling mechanisms.


2010 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 17-37 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patricia G. Lange

Games have received increased scholarly attention due to the economic value they generate. Yet, some studies still conceptualize games as ‘‘virtual’’ realms that are theoretically distinct from ‘‘real world’’ experiences. Based on an ethnographic investigation of two online, text-based gaming environments, this study analyzes dynamics such as technical acculturation, access to technical knowledge, and opportunities for self-expression by studying social interaction that occurred in non-revenue-generating games. Frameworks that focus on dynamics such as in-game conversation in broader game-centric domains or ecologies should be considered to accommodate a wider variety of gaming forms and related interdisciplinary research questions. Different games have different consequences, and it is important to understand the varying consequential contexts that games afford. Whether or not the consequences may be measured economically, it is nevertheless important to consider how social interactions may complicate forms of self-expression in ways that impact the human spirit.


Pharmaceutics ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (8) ◽  
pp. 1151
Author(s):  
Lu Tang ◽  
Jing Li ◽  
Qingqing Zhao ◽  
Ting Pan ◽  
Hui Zhong ◽  
...  

The encapsulation of therapeutic agents into nano-based drug delivery system for cancer treatment has received considerable attention in recent years. Advancements in nanotechnology provide an opportunity for efficient delivery of anticancer drugs. The unique properties of nanoparticles not only allow cancer-specific drug delivery by inherent passive targeting phenomena and adopting active targeting strategies, but also improve the pharmacokinetics and bioavailability of the loaded drugs, leading to enhanced therapeutic efficacy and safety compared to conventional treatment modalities. Small molecule drugs are the most widely used anticancer agents at present, while biological macromolecules, such as therapeutic antibodies, peptides and genes, have gained increasing attention. Therefore, this review focuses on the recent achievements of novel nano-encapsulation in targeted drug delivery. A comprehensive introduction of intelligent delivery strategies based on various nanocarriers to encapsulate small molecule chemotherapeutic drugs and biological macromolecule drugs in cancer treatment will also be highlighted.


Circulation ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 130 (suppl_2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Yuksel Cavusoglu ◽  
Omer Kozan ◽  
Ahmet Temizhan ◽  
Serdar Kucukoglu

Purpose: Resting heart rate (HR), health related quality of life (HQoL) and NYHA functional capacity are referred as important determinants of prognosis and targets of therapy in heart failure (HF). REALITY HF (Resting Heart Rate and Real Life Treatment Modality in Outpatients with Left Ventricular Systolic Dysfunction) study data were analyzed for the evaluation of any relationship of resting HR with HQoL assessed by Kansas City Cardiomyopathy Questionnaire (KCCQ) and NYHA functional class. Methods: REALITY HF was a multicenter, prospective registry designed to evaluate HF patients’ characteristics and effects of treatment modalities on resting HR and enrolled 1057 patients (age 61±12 years) with LVEF <40%. 781 (74%) patients in sinus rhythm were included in this analysis. Patients were classified into 4 groups according to the quartiles of HR: Q1:<68 bpm (n=234), Q2:69-75 bpm (n=189), Q3:76-87 bpm (n=194) and Q4:>87 bpm (n=164). KCCQ was completed in a random sample of 320 (Q1:n=27, Q2:n=99, Q3:n=125, Q4:n=69) patients, in which higher scores show better patient’s health status. Results: During enrollment, 82% of patients were receiving ≥2 drugs including ACE[[Unable to Display Character: &#304;]]/ARB, beta blocker, aldosterone blocker, diuretic or digoxin. Resting HR was 76±14 bpm and 68% of patients had a resting HR ≥70 bpm. KCCQ overall summary score (OSC) was found to be 75.7±13.2 in those in Q1, 65.5±20.8 in Q2, 64.4±20.6 in Q3 and 58.3±21.2 in Q4 (p=0.004) and KCCQ clinical summary score (CSS) was 80.4±15.7 in those in Q1, 70.0±22.4 in Q2, 69.9±21.9 in Q3 and 63.8±23.3 in Q4 (p=0.016). Also, there was a significant negative correlation between resting HR and OSC (p=0.008) or CSS (p=0.031). The distribution of NYHA-I patients for Q1, Q2, Q3 and Q4 were 40.7%, 22.8%, 23.8% and 12.7%, NYHA-II patients-30.8%, 23.1%, 27.2% and 18.9%, NYHA-III patients-21.2%, 23.9%, 24.3% and 30.6% and NYHA-IV patients-22.7%, 34.1%, 22.7% and 20.5%, respectively (p<0.001). Also, resting HR were found to gradually and significantly increase across NYHA categories (72.8±12 bpm in NYHA-I, 76.1±13 bpm in NYHA-II, 80.2±15 bpm in NYHA-III and 78.9±16 bpm in NYHA-IV, p<0.001). Conclusions: These results suggest that elevated resting HR in HF patients is associated with impaired HQoL and worse NYHA functional capacity.


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