The present study aimed to determine knowledge of breast cancer risk factors, symptoms and early detection methods and to identify knowledge and practice of breast self-examination among Ain Shams University female students. This is a descriptive cross sectional study. Most study participants had low level of knowledge of breast cancer risk factors. The most widely known risk factors by the students were smoking 66.9%, followed by radiation to the chest 63.7% and genetic factors 63.7%. Most of the students (81.6%) identified breast lump as a symptom for breast cancer. However, non lump symptoms were less known and less than half were aware of other warning signs. Mass media such as TV and/or radio were identified as the main source of information on breast cancer by 89.1% of students followed by relatives 39.2%. Only 8.8% of students identified correctly the appropriate time to perform breast self examination and 1.3% reported performing it regularly every month. The most common reasons for not practicing BSE were” did not know how to perform it” (47.7%) and lack of interest (35%). The findings of this study showed that there is low level of knowledge on breast cancer risk factors, early warning signs and BSE among female university students and that only few students practice BSE monthly. Health care workers should develop effective breast health programs targeting youth to help females to gain healthy habits starting very early during their formative years.

Cis and Carb have similar efficacy, tolerability, and effect on QOL and both can be used as a first-line treatment of squamous NSCLC.

Background: Oncologists are at risk of developing burn out syndrome due to many stressors they may face. Aim: To determine the level of burnout in a cohort of clinical oncologists working in an Egyptian university hospital. Methods: Fifty-two clinical oncologists were invited to participate in the study. Burnout was assessed using the Arabic version of Maslach Burnout Inventory Human Services Survey (MBI-HSS). Results: The response rate was 90% (47/52). The majority (70%) of responders were young oncologists and 62% had >10 years experience in the oncology field. Females represented 52% of them and 62% were married. The MBI-HSS scores indicated that 72% of participants had burnout on the emotional exhaustion (EE) scale, 49% on the depersonalization (DP) scale and 38% on the personal accomplishment (PA) scale. A significantly lower PA score was associated with female gender, being single, viewing vacation time as insufficient, and an experience duration <10 years in oncology (p = 0.01, 0.01, 0.03, and 0.02; respectively). The preference not to choose again oncology as a career was also associated with significantly lower PA score and higher EE score (p=0.02 and 0.001; respectively). Conclusion: The surveyed oncologists experienced high burnout. Larger studies are needed in order to assess the burden of the problem and to develop evidence-based interventions to reduce it.

Geographic information systems (GIS) offer a very rich toolbox of methods and technologies, and powerful research tools that extend far beyond the mere production of maps, making it possible to cross-link and study the complex interaction of disease data and factors originating from a wide range of disparate sources. Despite their potential indispensable role in cancer prevention and control programmes, GIS are underrepresented in specialised oncology literature. The latter has provided an impetus for the current review. The review provides an eight-year snapshot of geospatial cancer research in peer-reviewed literature (2002-2009), presenting the clinico-epidemiological and methodological findings and trends in the covered corpus (93 papers). The authors concluded that understanding the relationship between location and cancer/cancer care services can play a crucial role in disease control and prevention, and in better service planning, and appropriate resource utilisation. Nevertheless, there are still barriers that hinder the wide-scale adoption of GIS and related technologies in everyday oncology practice.

BackgroundFAS-670 A>G (rs1800682) and FASL-844 C>T (rs763110) polymorphisms have been previously correlated with clinical outcome of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and breast and bladder cancers. We investigated the influence of these polymorphisms on clinical outcome of malignant pleural mesothelioma (MPM) patients.Patients and methodsIn this cohort study (NCT02269878), 68 epithelioid MPM Egyptian patients treated with first-line platinum-based chemotherapy were recruited in the period between April 2014 and May 2015. The genotype analysis was performed using TaqMan® single-nucleotide polymorphism genotyping assay. The association between the selected polymorphisms and response rate, progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) at 18 months was evaluated.ResultsThe median age of patients was 55 years and 45.6% of them received platinum in combination with pemetrexed, while 54.4% received platinum in combination with gemcitabine. FASL-844 CC genotype was more common than expected in early-stage tumor (P=0.042). It was found that there was no association between the investigated polymorphisms and response rate or 18-month OS. However, the PFS rate at 18 months for FASL-844 CC genotype carriers was 45% versus 10.6% for FASL-844 CT/TT genotypes carriers (log-rank: 6.2; P=0.013). Also, the number of platinum-based cycles and tumor stage were found to be significant variables for PFS by univariate analysis (P≤0.001 and P=0.006, respectively). Stratified Cox regression showed that the carriers of FASL-844 CT/TT genotypes were still more susceptible to disease progression than carriers of FASL-844 CC genotype (adjusted HR =3.77, 95% CI: 1.34–10.62, P=0.012).ConclusionThe results of this study suggest that FASL-844 C/T polymorphism could predict PFS in MPM patients receiving platinum-based chemotherapy; therefore, this should be further evaluated as a potential marker for the prediction of clinical outcome in patients with MPM.