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Two recent reports provide supportive evidence for current strategies in the management of prostate cancer. The first, from Finland, is a report of the marginal value of PSA screening in terms of long-term prostate cancer survival. And, from a cooperative observational cohort in the United States, there is suggestive evidence that radical prostatectomy provides a somewhat more favorable survival outcome when compared to external beam radiotherapy.
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Ninety-six women with breast cancer undergoing radiotherapy during a 5- to 6-week interval were randomized to either a qigong group or a wait-list control group. The results indicate that the women in the qigong group had clinically significantly less depressive symptoms and better quality of life than the control group.
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In a single-arm, multicenter, Phase 2 trial, bevacizumab in combination with docetaxel and carboplatin achieved a pathological complete response in 19 of 45 patients with stage II/III triple-negative breast cancer. Forty-four of the 45 patients completed the planned six cycles and toxicity was manageable. One patient had delayed wound healing as a subsequent surgical complication. Thus, bevacizumab may provide significant improvement in neoadjuvant strategies for triple-negative breast cancer and further investigation is warranted.
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NSAIDs and cardiovascular risk; new antithrombotic guidelines; warfarin during surgery; Pfizer selling Viagra online; azithromycin and cardiovascular risk; and FDA actions.
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In a prospective Phase 2 study, 48 patients with resected pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma were treated with erlotinib (100 mg daily) and capecitabine (800 mg/m2 twice daily Monday-Friday) concurrently with intensity-modulated radiation therapy followed by four cycles of adjuvant gemcitabine (1000 mg/m2 on days 1, 8, and 15 every 28 days) and erlotinib (100 mg daily).
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n a small, multicenter, randomized Phase 2 trial, the all-oral combination of cyclophosphamide and capecitabine demonstrated a trend toward an increasing response rate when compared to capecitabine alone in the treatment of locally advanced or metastatic breast cancer. The combination was well tolerated.
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A new technique of evaluating liquid-based Pap smears has been developed to identify confirmed disease-specific mutations in patients with uterine and ovarian cancers. The new technique identified most uterine and some ovarian cancers and importantly, produced no false positive screens among normal, noncancer controls.
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High-risk, early breast cancer patients treated on a dose-intense chemotherapy protocol were randomized to receive thrice weekly epoetin alfa or not. As compared with controls, hemoglobin levels were maintained and fewer red cell transfusions were required. Furthermore, there did not appear to be any detriment in progression-free or overall survival. However, venous thrombotic events occurred more frequently. The use of erythropoiesis-stimulating agents in the adjuvant setting remains unsettled.
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There is a known association of obesity and glucose intolerance with pancreatic cancer but whether this is due to the effect of high glucose itself, insulin resistance, or pancreatic ß-cell dysfunction is unknown. In an epidemiological, nested, case-control analysis drawn from five large prospective cohorts, measures of insulin resistance were independently associated with pancreatic cancer risk, but this was not true for measures of hyperglycemia or ß-cell dysfunction alone.
