scholarly journals Fighting cancer through an informed society

2016 ◽  
Vol 04 (02) ◽  
pp. 057-066
Author(s):  
Prashant Mehta ◽  
Pranjit Bhajoni ◽  
Swati Mehta
Keyword(s):  
Cancer Patients ◽  
Scientific Data ◽  
Behavioral Pattern ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Social Perceptions ◽  
Sense Of Security ◽  
Social Support System ◽  
False Sense ◽  
The Common ◽  
Informed Society

AbstractSocial perceptions play an extremely important role in the lives of cancer patients and survivors. Society is a machinery which can dictate the behavioral pattern of a patient, the kind of treatment he/she seeks or believes in, and the treatment he/she finally takes. Proper education of the society, in general, with regard to various aspects of cancer and its treatment can make things easier for patients, their families and the treating physicians alike. False social beliefs create unsurmountable hurdles for both patients and their families. When families of cancer patients visit a doctor, very often they tend to describe the experience of one or more of their close or distant family members with cancer. They start reliving the same experience if it was bad, or they may develop a false sense of security about the curability if it was good. In both situations, it becomes difficult for them to understand that each cancer is different from the other, cancer being a heterogenous disease. Moreover, what the patients and their families hear from friends and their social support system about cancer in general makes them depressed, anxious, and vulnerable. The information they get from the Internet and print media is mostly unregulated and may present extreme views which compound their problems. In this review, we have analyzed some of the common perceptions and myths which we come across in clinical practice and have presented scientific data to refute or support these beliefs wherever suitable.

Love, Inc.

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laurie Essig
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Global Climate Change ◽  
Structural Changes ◽  
Global Climate ◽  
Dating Apps ◽  
Sense Of Security ◽  
True Love ◽  
The Future ◽  
False Sense ◽  
Global Movements

In Love, Inc., Laurie Essig argues that love is not all we need. As the future became less secure—with global climate change and the transfer of wealth to the few—Americans became more romantic. Romance is not just what lovers do but also what lovers learn through ideology. As an ideology, romance allowed us to privatize our futures, to imagine ourselves as safe and secure tomorrow if only we could find our "one true love" today. But the fairy dust of romance blinded us to what we really need: global movements and structural changes. By traveling through dating apps and spectacular engagements, white weddings and Disney honeymoons, Essig shows us how romance was sold to us and why we bought it. Love, Inc. seduced so many of us into a false sense of security, but it also, paradoxically, gives us hope in hopeless times. This book explores the struggle between our inner cynics and our inner romantic.

Causality Then and Now

1993 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 165-177
Author(s):  
Karen Harding
Keyword(s):  
Quantum Theory ◽  
Common Sense ◽  
Mechanical Model ◽  
Physical World ◽  
Scientific Data ◽  
The World ◽  
The Common ◽  
The Universe ◽  
The Way

Ate appearances deceiving? Do objects behave the way they do becauseGod wills it? Ate objects impetmanent and do they only exist becausethey ate continuously created by God? According to a1 Ghazlli, theanswers to all of these questions ate yes. Objects that appear to bepermanent are not. Those relationships commonly tefemed to as causalare a result of God’s habits rather than because one event inevitably leadsto another. God creates everything in the universe continuously; if Heceased to create it, it would no longer exist.These ideas seem oddly naive and unscientific to people living in thetwentieth century. They seem at odds with the common conception of thephysical world. Common sense says that the universe is made of tealobjects that persist in time. Furthermore, the behavior of these objects isreasonable, logical, and predictable. The belief that the univetse is understandablevia logic and reason harkens back to Newton’s mechanical viewof the universe and has provided one of the basic underpinnings ofscience for centuries. Although most people believe that the world is accutatelydescribed by this sort of mechanical model, the appropriatenessof such a model has been called into question by recent scientificadvances, and in particular, by quantum theory. This theory implies thatthe physical world is actually very different from what a mechanicalmodel would predit.Quantum theory seeks to explain the nature of physical entities andthe way that they interact. It atose in the early part of the twentieth centuryin response to new scientific data that could not be incorporated successfullyinto the ptevailing mechanical view of the universe. Due largely ...

EFFECTS OF SMOKING ON THE DISEASE PROGNOSIS IN CANCER PATIENTS

2019 ◽  
Vol 65 (3) ◽  
pp. 321-329
Author(s):  
David Zaridze ◽  
Anush Mukeriya
Keyword(s):  
Smoking Cessation ◽  
Cancer Patients ◽  
Malignant Tumors ◽  
Scientific Data ◽  
Second Primary ◽  
Primary Tumors ◽  
Smoking Intensity ◽  
Risk Of Death ◽  
Disease Prognosis ◽  
Increased Risk

Smoking not only increases the risk of the development of malignant tumors (MT), but affects the disease prognosis, mortality and survivability of cancer patients. The link between the smoking of cancer patients and increased risk of death by all diseases and oncological causes has been established. Mortality increases with the growth of the smoking intensity, i.e. the number of cigarettes, smoked per day. Smoking is associated with the worst general and oncological survivability. The statistically trend-line between the smoking intensity and survivability was observed: each additional unit of cigarette consumption (pack/year) leads to the Overall Survival Reduction by 1% (p = 0.002). The link between smoking and the risk of developing second primary tumors has been confirmed. Smoking increases the likelihood of side effects of the antitumor therapy both drug therapy and radiation therapy and reduces the treatment efficacy. The smoking cessation leads to a significant improvement in the prognosis of a cancer patient. Scientific data on the negative effect of smoking on the prognosis of cancer patients have a major clinical importance. The treatment program for cancer patients should include science-based methods for the smoking cessation. The latter is fundamentally important, taking into account that the smoking frequency among cancer patients is much higher than in the population.

scholarly journals Is a reduction in viability enough to determine biofilm susceptibility to a biocide?

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-7
Author(s):  
Katarzyna Ledwoch ◽  
Maddalena Magoga ◽  
Dulcie Williams ◽  
Stefania Fabbri ◽  
James Walsh ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mechanical Action ◽  
Atmospheric Plasma ◽  
Sense Of Security ◽  
Biocidal Products ◽  
False Sense ◽  
Sodium Dichloroisocyanurate ◽  
430 Stainless Steel ◽  
Cross Transmission ◽  
Product Test ◽  
Cleaning And Disinfection

Abstract Objective: The abundance and prevalence of dry-surface biofilms (DSBs) in hospitals constitute an emerging problem, yet studies rarely report the cleaning and disinfection efficacy against DSBs. Here, the combined impact of treatments on viability, transferability, and recovery of bacteria from DSBs has been investigated for the first time. Methods: Staphylococcus aureus DSBs were produced in alternating 48-hour wet–dry cycles for 12 days on AISI 430 stainless steel discs. The efficacy of 11 commercially available disinfectants, 4 detergents, and 2 contactless interventions were tested using a modified standardized product test. Reduction in viability, direct transferability, cross transmission (via glove intermediate), and DSB recovery after treatment were measured. Results: Of 11 disinfectants, 9 were effective in killing and removing bacteria from S. aureus DSBs with >4 log10 reduction. Only 2 disinfectants, sodium dichloroisocyanurate 1,000 ppm and peracetic acid 3,500 ppm, were able to lower both direct and cross transmission of bacteria (<2 compression contacts positive for bacterial growth). Of 11 disinfectants, 8 could not prevent DSB recovery for >2 days. Treatments not involving mechanical action (vaporized hydrogen peroxide and cold atmospheric plasma) were ineffective, producing <1 log10 reduction in viability, DSB regrowth within 1 day, and 100% transferability of DSB after treatment. Conclusions: Reduction in bacterial viability alone does not determine product performance against biofilm and might give a false sense of security to consumers, manufacturers and regulators. The ability to prevent bacterial transfer and biofilm recovery after treatment requires a better understanding of the effectiveness of biocidal products.

scholarly journals Cancer patients’ information seeking behavior related to online electronic healthcare records

2021 ◽  
Vol 27 (3) ◽  
pp. 146045822110247
Author(s):  
Hanife Rexhepi ◽  
Isto Huvila ◽  
Rose-Mharie Åhlfeldt ◽  
Åsa Cajander
Keyword(s):  
Cancer Patients ◽  
Health Information ◽  
Information Seeking ◽  
Healthcare Professionals ◽  
Medical Information ◽  
Information Seeking Behavior ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Seeking Behavior ◽  
Information Horizons ◽  
Health Information Sources

Patients’ online access to their EHR together with the rapid proliferation of medical information on the Internet has changed how patients use information to learn about their health. Patients’ tendency to turn to the Internet to find information about their health and care is well-documented. However, little is known about patients’ information seeking behavior when using online EHRs. By using information horizons as an analytical tool this paper aims to investigate the information behavior of cancer patients who have chosen to view their EHRs (readers) and to those who have not made that option (non-readers). Thirty interviews were conducted with patients. Based on information horizons, it seems that non-reading is associated with living in a narrower information world in comparison to readers. The findings do not suggest that the smallness would be a result of active avoidance of information, or that it would be counterproductive for the patients. The findings suggest, however, that EHRs would benefit from comprehensive linking to authoritative health information sources to help users to understand their contents. In parallel, healthcare professionals should be more aware of their personal role as a key source of health information to those who choose not to read their EHRs.

scholarly journals Linguistic validation of the simplified Chinese version of the US National Cancer Institute’s patient-reported outcomes version of the common terminology criteria for adverse events (PRO-CTCAE™)

BMC Cancer ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Cheng KKF ◽  
S. A. Mitchell ◽  
N. Chan ◽  
E. Ang ◽  
W. Tam ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Adverse Events ◽  
Cancer Patients ◽  
Patient Reported Outcomes ◽  
A Priori ◽  
Cognitive Interviews ◽  
Simplified Chinese ◽  
Patient Reported ◽  
The Us ◽  
The Common ◽  
Response Choices

Abstract Background The aim of this study was to translate and linguistically validate the U.S. National Cancer Institute’s Patient-Reported Outcomes version of the Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events (PRO-CTCAE™) into Simplified Chinese for use in Singapore. Methods All 124 items of the English source PRO-CTCAE item library were translated into Simplified Chinese using internationally established translation procedures. Two rounds of cognitive interviews were conducted with 96 cancer patients undergoing adjuvant treatment to determine if the translations adequately captured the PRO-CTCAE source concepts, and to evaluate comprehension, clarity and ease of judgement. Interview probes addressed the 78 PRO-CTCAE symptom terms (e.g. fatigue), as well as the attributes (e.g. severity), response choices, and phrasing of ‘at its worst’. Items that met the a priori threshold of ≥20% of participants with comprehension difficulties were considered for rephrasing and retesting. Items where < 20% of the sample experienced comprehension difficulties were also considered for rephrasing if better phrasing options were available. Results A majority of PRO-CTCAE-Simplified Chinese items were well comprehended by participants in Round 1. One item posed difficulties in ≥20% and was revised. Two items presented difficulties in < 20% but were revised as there were preferred alternative phrasings. Twenty-four items presented difficulties in < 10% of respondents. Of these, eleven items were revised to an alternative preferred phrasing, four items were revised to include synonyms. Revised items were tested in Round 2 and demonstrated satisfactory comprehension. Conclusions PRO-CTCAE-Simplified Chinese has been successfully developed and linguistically validated in a sample of cancer patients residing in Singapore.

scholarly journals A false sense of security

2008 ◽  
Vol 183 (7) ◽  
pp. 1317-1317
Author(s):  
Mike Rossner
Keyword(s):  
Sense Of Security ◽  
False Sense

scholarly journals Genetic variants of the EGFR ligand-binding domain and their association with structural alterations in Arab cancer patients

2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Maryam Marzouq ◽  
Ali Nairouz ◽  
Noureddine Ben Khalaf ◽  
Sonia Bourguiba-Hachemi ◽  
Raed Quaddorah ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Thyroid Cancer ◽  
Cancer Patients ◽  
Genetic Variants ◽  
Growth Factor Receptor ◽  
Genomic Analysis ◽  
Egfr Ligand ◽  
Energetic State ◽  
Epidermal Growth ◽  
The Common ◽  
Heterozygous Form

Abstract Objective This study aimed to identify novel genetic variants in the CR2 extracellular domain of the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) in healthy individuals and patients with six different types of adenocarcinoma, in Arabian peninsula populations. It also aimed to investigate the effects of these variants on the EGFR structure and their eventual relevance to tumorigenesis. Results We detected seven new EGFR genetic variants in 168 cancer patients and 114 controls. A SNP rs374670788 was more frequent in bladder cancer but not significantly associated to. However, a missense mutation (V550M) was significantly associated to colon, ovary, lung, bladder and thyroid cancer samples (p < 0.05). Three mutations (H590R, E602K and T605T) were found in the heterozygous form only in colon cancer patients. Genomic analysis of the synonymous mutation (G632G) showed that the T/A genotype could be associated to thyroid cancer in Arab patients (p < 0.05). An additional novel SNP rs571064657 was observed in control individuals. Computational analysis of the genetic variants revealed a reduction in the stabilization of the EGFR tethered form for both V550M and the common R521K variant with low energetic state (− ∆∆G). Molecular interactions analysis suggested that these mutations might affect the receptor’s function and promote tumorigenesis.

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