Isolation of MRO is more likely to be associated with a prolonged course and an unfavorable outcome. Continuous multidisciplinary surveillance of BSI is warranted to develop strategies for antimicrobial resistance control.

PurposeCarcinoma of the breast is the most prevalent cancer among Egyptian women and constitutes 29% of National Cancer Institute cases. The aim of this study was to determine the effect of breast cancer on oxidative stress, cardiac markers and liver function tests, moreover the role of 5-fluorouracil, doxorubicin, and cyclophosphamide (FAC) in the treatment of breast cancer and its mechanism through changing the measured markers.MethodsForty female breast cancer patients who were admitted to the Department of Oncology of the Beni-Suef University Hospital were enrolled in the study. This study included three arms: a control group of healthy age-matched females (n=20), breast cancer patients who weren't receiving treatment (n=20), and patients undergoing treatment with anticancer combination drugs FAC (n=20). Blood samples collected from the control subjects and patients were analysed to determine levels of catalase, reduced glutathione (GSH), uric acid, nitric oxide (NO), malondialdehyde, creatine kinase (CK), lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), liver enzymes (alanine aminotransferase and aspartate aminotransferase), and creatinine.ResultsThe levels of catalase and GSH were significantly reduced (p<0.05) in breast carcinoma and FAC treated breast cancer patients. The lipid peroxidation and NO levels were significantly enhanced in both untreated and FAC treated breast cancer patients. The CK and LDH were significantly enhanced (p<0.05) in the FAC group.ConclusionThe results from the present study show that oxidative stress is implicated in breast carcinoma and chemotherapy aggravates this oxidative stress which causes damage to many cellular targets and has the main side effect of cardiotoxicity.

Background and Objectives: Cancer treatments leading to increased survival rates are reported to participate in the creation of debilitating physical and psychosocial deficits for cancer survivors. Measures of health-related quality of life (HRQOL) are designed to tap such consequences of cancer treatment together with the impact of the disease itself. Methods: Parents of 67 included patients aged 8 - 12 years, were asked to complete the parent proxy report of PedsQL^TM 3.0 Cancer Module (Arabic version), as well as a separate sheet for socio-demographic data. Results: The ratio of Males to females was 1.8:1 among study patients with a median age of 8 years at diagnosis. Hematological malignancies represented 70.1% of the sample, with the highest proportion for ALL (52.2%). Total QOL showed to be relatively low with mean value of 62.29 for the whole group. Subscales with least scores were for; worry (44.11), perceived physical appearance (50.6), and procedural anxiety (55.34). On the other hand, the best score was 75.98 for communication, followed by 72.63 for cognitive problems. The impacts of some medical and socio-demographic variables on QOL and its subscales were elicited in our results. Conclusion: Increased treatment intensity, long duration of hospital admission, higher frequency of hospital visits, female sex, younger age at diagnosis, and large family size were all associated with a poorer total QOL and/or its subscales among Egyptian pediatric cancer patients.

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BackgroundActivation of herpes virus 6 (HHV6) has seen in Hodgkin's and non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma (HL&NHL) as a result of lymphoma associated immunosuppression. Multiple studies have suggested an association between both HHV6 and cytomegalovirus CMV for development of CMV disease affecting the pathogenesis of lymphoma. Therefore, this study investigated the frequency of HHV6, its impact on clinical manifestations of lymphoma and its possible association with risk for development of CMV infection in pediatric lymphoma patients.MethodsPresence of HHV6 DNA and CMV DNA was investigated by PCR assay in both WBC's and plasma samples from 50 patients diagnosed with HL or NHL. CMV antibody titer was also determined in sera obtained from each patient. Twenty apparently healthy siblings were used as a control group.ResultsIn a study group of 50 patients diagnosed with HL or NHL, 23/50 (46%) were found to be positive for herpes virus DNA (HHV6 or CMV) in WBC's or plasma by PCR assay and this was significantly higher than its presence in the pediatric control group 2/20 (10%) (p = 0.005). Ten out of these 23 (43%) were found to have active CMV infection. Fifty six percent of patients with CMV infection were found among NHL cases with B- subtype. The presence of both herpes viruses DNA was significantly associated with more frequent episodes of febrile neutropenia (median 3 episodes), absolute neutrophil count (< 0.8), lymphocytes (< 0.5), and low hemoglobin level (< 9.1), (p < 0.05).ConclusionThe presence of HHV6 can be considered as a predicting indicator of cellular immunosuppression preceding the onset of CMV infection which may result in a severe outcome among pediatric lymphoma patients.

BackgroundEpstein-Barr virus (EBV) and human cytomegalovirus (CMV) infections are environmental risk factors affecting the outcome of cancer due to an impairment in the cell-mediated immunity. Therefore, this study aimed to detect the frequency of EBV and CMV DNA and their association with clinical characteristics and outcome of pediatric leukemic patients.MethodsSamples of 50 immunocompromised pediatric leukemic patients and 30 apparently healthy children were subjected to the amplification of EBV DNA by one version of PCR targeting the Bam H1 W region of the genomic region of EBV, and the amplification of CMV DNA by targeting the CMV UL97 genomic region by a second round PCR. All investigations were performed on WBCs and sera. Results were correlated with the clinical and laboratory characteristics of the disease, and with overall survival.ResultsEBV and CMV DNA were detected in 20 and 54% of leukemic patients, respectively. Nine out of ten patients with EBV DNA (90%) were positive for CMV DNA in their sera. The presence of EBV DNA or CMV DNA was associated with neutropenia and a low total leukocyte count (TLC) (p = 0.02, 0.03, respectively). The presence of severe CMV disease, longer duration of febrile neutropenia, neutropenia, lymphopenia, thrombocytopenia and the presence of EBV DNA in patients’ sera were significantly associated with worse overall survival.ConclusionThe detection of CMV disease and EBV DNA is relatively common in leukemic children and is significantly associated with a decline in the overall survival.

Background Staphylococci are the most frequently isolated organisms from blood cultures of febrile neutropenic (FN) cancer patients. We aimed to define the nature of these isolates by studying the prevalence of icaA and icaD genes in coagulase‐negative staphylococci (CoNS) and Staphylococcus aureus isolates in relation to clinical and microbiological features. Procedure Fifty‐five CoNS and S. aureus isolates from blood cultures of FN pediatric patients receiving chemotherapy were tested for slime production using Congo red agar plate test (CRA test), and for the presence of icaA and icaD genes by PCR. Results Of the CoNS isolates, eight were positive for ica genes, and three were slime positive/ica negative. A total of 11 (24.4%) cases of CoNS bacteremia were either ica genes or CRA test positive. There was a concordance between ica genes and CRA test positivity (P < 0.001). S. aureus isolates exhibited icaA and icaD genes more than CoNS isolates (P = 0.03). Vancomycin was significantly more prescribed in episodes of ica‐positive cases (P = 0.029). Conclusions The results of the present study support the hypothesis that the ica genes are important virulence markers for clinically significant CoNS isolates, indicating their ability to produce slime. This could be used to assign a group with higher risk FN. On the other hand, absence of these genes may permit, along with other clinical criteria, the consideration of a low‐risk FN episode and allow for safe early discharge. Pediatr Blood Cancer 2009;52:824–828. © 2009 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.

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