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PURPOSE SEER registries do not report results of epidermal growth factor receptor ( EGFR) and anaplastic lymphoma kinase ( ALK) mutation tests. To facilitate population-based research in molecularly defined subgroups of non–small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC), we assessed the validity of natural language processing (NLP) for the ascertainment of EGFR and ALK testing from electronic pathology (e-path) reports of NSCLC cases included in two SEER registries: the Cancer Surveillance System (CSS) and the Kentucky Cancer Registry (KCR). METHODS We obtained 4,278 e-path reports from 1,634 patients who were diagnosed with stage IV nonsquamous NSCLC from September 1, 2011, to December 31, 2013, included in CSS. We used 855 CSS reports to train NLP systems for the ascertainment of EGFR and ALK test status (reported v not reported) and test results (positive v negative). We assessed sensitivity, specificity, and positive and negative predictive values in an internal validation sample of 3,423 CSS e-path reports and repeated the analysis in an external sample of 1,041 e-path reports from 565 KCR patients. Two oncologists manually reviewed all e-path reports to generate gold-standard data sets. RESULTS NLP systems yielded internal validity metrics that ranged from 0.95 to 1.00 for EGFR and ALK test status and results in CSS e-path reports. NLP showed high internal accuracy for the ascertainment of EGFR and ALK in CSS patients—F scores of 0.95 and 0.96, respectively. In the external validation analysis, NLP yielded metrics that ranged from 0.02 to 0.96 in KCR reports and F scores of 0.70 and 0.72, respectively, in KCR patients. CONCLUSION NLP is an internally valid method for the ascertainment of EGFR and ALK test information from e-path reports available in SEER registries, but future work is necessary to increase NLP external validity.

Background: Diabetic retinopathy (DR) is an important cause of visual impairment. It is preventable with proper screening and treatment of diabetes. Therefore, it is necessary to assess awareness of the disease in the population and educate them. Our study aimed to assess the knowledge, attitude and practices regarding diabetes and DR in India.Methods: We conducted a knowledge, attitude, and practice study of 1152 participants belonging to various economic backgrounds across India, using a validated questionnaire from Shri C. H. Nagri Eye Institute, Ahmedabad. We divided the study population into diabetics and non-diabetics. Statistical analysis was done using SPSS version 20.Results: Out of 1152, 121 (10.5%) were diabetics and 1031 (89.5%) were nondiabetics. Mean age of diabetics (55.71) was higher than non-diabetics (37.55) (p<0.001). Only 34% of non-diabetics and 55% of diabetics knew about DR. There was a positive co-relation between knowledge of diabetes (r=0.262, p<0.001) and DR (r=0.096, p=0.031) with the level of education. Only 20% admitted that diabetics were at a higher risk for eye problems. A significant portion of participants (40%) said they were never counselled for DR and 54% never had a fundus examination.Conclusions: The There is a clear lack of knowledge regarding diabetes and diabetic retinopathy. An alarming percentage of patients were never told about the complications and need for regular fundus examinations. There is an urgent need to increase its awareness. A collaborative approach of general-practitioners, ophthalmologists, diabetologist as well as health-policy makers is required to provide needs-based, context-specific comprehensive diabetic care in India.

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