The NCDB offers a critically important perspective on cancer care in the United States. To capitalize on its strengths and adjust for its limitations, investigators and their audiences should familiarize themselves with the advantages and shortcomings of the NCDB, as well as its evolution over time.

No abstract

In the National Cancer Database, adjuvant chemotherapy remained efficacious when started 7 to 18 weeks after non-small-cell lung cancer resection. Patients who recover slowly from non-small-cell lung cancer surgery may still benefit from delayed adjuvant chemotherapy started up to 4 months after surgery.

Herein, we report on the functionalization of silica nanoparticles with a small molecule, the amino acid cysteine, in order to create a low-fouling zwitterionic surface for nanomedicine applications. The cysteine functionalization was shown to impart the particles with excellent stability in both salt and single-protein solutions of lysozyme (positively charged) and bovine serum albumin (negatively charged). Bare silica particles precipitated immediately in a lysozyme solution, while cysteine-functionalized particles were stable for 20 h. Furthermore, the particles displayed excellent long-term stability in solutions of human serum showing no aggregation over a period of 14 days. The functionalized particles also possess multiple reactive surface groups for further coupling reactions. We believe that the surface functionalization schemes described in this report represent a versatile and effective method of stabilizing nanoparticle systems in biological media for their use in a variety of therapeutic and diagnostic applications.

Among healthy patients with clinical stage I non-small cell lung cancer in the National Cancer Database, lobectomy is associated with a significantly better outcome than stereotactic body radiotherapy. Further study is warranted to clarify the comparative effectiveness of surgery and stereotactic body radiotherapy across various strata of patient health.