The Internet of Things (IoT) is undergoing rapid growth in the IT industry, but, it continues to be associated with several security and privacy concerns as a result of its massive scale, decentralised topology, and resource-constrained devices. Blockchain (BC), a distributed ledger technology used in cryptocurrency has attracted significant attention in the realm of IoT security and privacy. However, adopting BC to IoT is not straightforward in most cases, due to overheads and delays caused by BC operations. In this paper, we apply a BC technology known as Hyperledgder Fabric, to an IoT network. This technology introduces an execute-order technique for transactions that separates the transaction execution from consensus, resulting in increased efficiency. We demonstrate that our proposed IoT-BC architecture is sufficiently secure with regard to fundamental security goals i.e., confidentiality, integrity, and availability. Finally, the simulation results are highlighted that shows the performance overheads associated with our approach are as minimal as those associated with the Hyperledger Fabric framework and negligible in terms of security and privacy.

K-ras mutations are common among the Saudi colorectal cancer population, especially pG12V and pG12D in codon 12, and are more frequent in sigmoid and rectal adenocarcinomas and stage IVB tumors.

Introduction: Cancer treatment and prognosis depend heavily on early detection. Survival in the early stages is excellent for almost all types of cancer. Unfortunately, in Saudi Arabia, a large number of cancer patients present with advanced disease, resulting in a poor prognosis. There are three levels of delay in the management of cancer patients. The first level is the time between the first cancer-related symptoms and the presentation to the health facility, the second level is from the presentation to the diagnosis, and the third level is between the diagnosis and the treatment. This study aims to determine if there is a delay, at what level and to study the factors causing such delays. Materials and methods: Two hundred cancer patients who presented to the Armed Forces Hospital Southern Region, Oncology Department, were interviewed from January 1st to June 30th, 2018. The interviews were conducted by trained physicians familiar with the questionnaire’s contents. The questionnaire consisted of four sections: a demographic section and three more sections to identify factors causing the delay at the three levels from the patients’ perspectives. All data were analyzed using the SPSS version 20.0. Results: The mean patient age was 63 years. A total of 112 patients were female and 88 were male. The most common cancer type was breast cancer (27.5%). Among the patients, 61% were illiterate and 25.5% had elementary school degrees, 86% expressed little or no general medical knowledge about cancer. More women than men paid attention to cancer symptoms (70% vs. 54%). 75% of the patients presented to the first health facility after 2 months from the first appearance of symptoms (level 1 delay). Only 2% of the patients presented within one week. 50% of the patients received a diagnosis after visiting two health facilities. All patients were diagnosed at hospitals. 40% of patients used alternative medicines, 70% of whom thought this was the cause of their delayed presentations. 67% had their diagnosis confirmed within one month (level 2 delay), and 66% started their definitive treatment within one month (level 3 delay). 75% of the patients blame themselves for the delay. Educational level (p = 0.03), knowledge about cancer (p < 0.01), and the use of complementary and alternative medicines (CAM) (p = 0.01) were significantly associated with delayed presentation of patients to the health facility. Conclusion: There is a delay in the presentation of cancer patients (level 1) in the southern part of Saudi Arabia. Educational level, knowledge of cancer symptoms, and use of complementary and alternative medicines are the main causes. There were no delays in diagnosis and start of treatment (level 2,3).

6059 Background: Neoadjuvant cisplatin/docetaxel are active agents for locally advanced nasopharyngeal cancer (LANPXCA). The efficacy and tolerability of neoadjuvant cisplatin/docetaxel followed by concurrent cisplatin with radiotherapy are explored in a phase II trial. Methods: From Jan 2003 to Jan 2005; 23 patients with LANPXCA stage III, IVA, IVB, (AJCC 2002), were treated with 3 cycles of neoadjuvant docetaxel 60mg/m2, 1 hour IV infusion D1 and cisplatin 60 mg/m2, 2 hours IV infusion D1 with prophylactic GSCF as 5μg/kg sc D3–7,(recycle D22). This was followed by 2 cycles of cisplatin 100 mg/m2, 2 hours IV infusion D1 , (recycle D22), concurrently with radiotherapy aiming at 70Gy / 35 fractions / 7 weeks. The median follow up was 27.9 months (18.3–47.3). Results: The median age was 38 years (16–68) and male to female ratio was 7.66:1. Neck mass 95.7%, neck pain 73.9%, nasal obstruction 65.2%, , headache 56.5%, impaired hearing 52.2%, and epistaxis 52.2% were the commonest symptoms. All patients had G3 squamous cell carcinoma. The majority of patients were stage IV 52.2% while 47.8 % were stage III. Grade one ECOG performance status was the commonest 52.2% while 47.8% were G2. The treatment was tolerable with commonest G3 acute toxicities were dysphagia 43.4% , and oral mucositis 8.7%. The commonest G3 late toxicities were dry mouth 17.4% and impaired hearing 13%. Complete remission was achieved in 22/23 patients 95.7% while 1/23 patients 4.3% was partial responder. Failure sites include; Distant; liver and/or bone 8.7%, local; skull base 4.3% or local and distant 4.3%.The Kaplan Meyer 47 month disease free survival was 82.61% while the 47 month overall survival was 91.3%. Conclusion: Neoadjuvant docetaxel / cisplatin followed by concurrent Cisplatin with radiotherapy is an effective and tolerable outpatient treatment for LANPXCA. No significant financial relationships to disclose.