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TUCSON--The Arizona Cancer Center has received a 5-year, $500,000 Bristol-Myers Squibb Unrestricted Cancer Research Grant. Sydney E. Salmon, MD, Regents Professor of Medicine and director of the center, will serve as the grant administrator. Dr. Salmon announced the new funding at a ceremony held to dedicate the center’s $22.5 million expansion project adding 30 new cancer research laboratories to the center.

WASHINGTON--David Satcher, MD, PhD, won confirmation as US Surgeon General by a 63 to 35 vote after 75 members of the Senate voted to end a filibuster led by Sen. John D. Ashcroft (R-Mo).

WASHINGTON--The most effective way to reduce tobacco use in both the short and medium term is a $2 per pack increase in the federal excise tax on cigarettes or some other equivalent means to raise the price of tobacco sharply, the National Cancer Policy Board of the Institute of Medicine (IOM) concluded in a recent report.

Because many types of cancers metastasize to the lungs, early detection may affect both tumor staging and treatment planning. On the other hand, it is also important to refrain from subjecting patients to procedures that

Sphincter-preserving treatment with combined radiation and chemotherapy has replaced abdominoperineal resection as the standard of care for patients with carcinoma of the anal canal. Randomized studies have shown

Approximately 10% of all epithelial ovarian carcinoma cases are associated with inheritance of an autosomal-dominant genetic mutation conferring a predisposition to cancer with variable penetrance. Two such manifestations

Fatigue is a common and troubling symptom in patients with cancer or HIV/AIDS, resulting in significant disability and adverse effects on quality of life. Its etiology remains complex and is most likely multifactorial. Despite its

Sphincter-preserving treatment with combined radiation and chemotherapy has replaced abdominoperineal resection as the standard of care for patients with carcinoma of the anal canal. Randomized studies have shown

Malignant diseases of the vagina account for about 1% of gynecologic cancers. Approximately 95% of vaginal malignancies are squamous cell carcinomas. A variety of neoplasms have, however, been noted as arising in the vagina, and these are listed in Table 1. Like squamous cancer of the vulva, this disease occurs predominately in a geriatric population but occasionally is seen in premenopausal women.

Because many types of cancers metastasize to the lungs, early detection may affect both tumor staging and treatment planning. On the other hand, it is also important to refrain from subjecting patients to procedures that

Fatigue is a common and troubling symptom in patients with cancer or HIV/AIDS, resulting in significant disability and adverse effects on quality of life. Its etiology remains complex and is most likely multifactorial. Despite its

Gestational trophoblastic disease is a term applied to a rare group of tumors that have several common characteristics: the tumor cells arise in the fetal chorion during pregnancy; the vast majority of the tumors make human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG); the amount of hCG produced is proportional to the amount of viable tumor; and they are sensitive to a variety of cytotoxic chemotherapeutic agents. Histopathologic diagnoses included in this group of tumors are:

Direct comparison of intravenous and oral 5-HT3 antagonists has shown equivalent efficacy if appropriate doses are given, thus allowing widespread use of the more convenient and economical oral route. Effective antiemesis generates additional cost savings by decreasing the resources necessary for salvage antiemetic preparation and administration, additional physician and nursing evaluation, clean-up and maintenance of the patient area, and possible additional hospitalization necessitated by uncontrolled emesis.

Approximately 10% of all epithelial ovarian carcinoma cases are associated with inheritance of an autosomal-dominant genetic mutation conferring a predisposition to cancer with variable penetrance. Two such manifestations

GW776C85 is a new drug that has been shown to be an effective inactivator of dihydropyrimidine dehydrogenase (DPD). Preclinical studies demonstrated that administration of GW776C85 with 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) resulted in several desirable pharmacologic effects. Initial clinical data on 5-FU combined with GW776C85 suggest potentially increased antitumor activity in at least some malignancies with tolerable toxicity, as well as several distinct economic and quality-of-life advantages including the following: (1) The possibility of administering 5-FU as an oral drug due to excellent bioavailability of 5-FU following inactivation of DPD; (2) a cost-effective alternative to continuous or protracted infusion of 5-FU without the need for hospitalization or surgical placement of an intravenous access and availability of an ambulatory pump; and (3) potential for less interpatient variation of 5-FU toxicity (eg, in host tissues, such as bone marrow and gastrointestinal mucosa cells) due to inactivation of DPD in essentially all patients treated, permitting better 5-FU dosing guidelines. Finally, because tumors may theoretically become resistant to 5-FU by increased levels of DPD, the use of GW776C85 to inactivate DPD may provide a potential means by which tumor resistance can be reversed. [ONCOLOGY(Suppl 4):51-56, 1998]

Fatigue is a common and troubling symptom in patients with cancer or HIV/AIDS, resulting in significant disability and adverse effects on quality of life. Its etiology remains complex and is most likely multifactorial. Despite its

Outcomes assessment describes a variety of activities, including classic clinical trials with quality of life and cost end points, observational studies examining the outcomes of treatment in the course of routine clinical care, and the process of managing patterns of care in clinical practice. These activities share important common features, including an emphasis on quality of life and economic outcomes, an explicit consideration of the importance of patient characteristics in determining outcomes, and a broad definition of what constitutes cancer care.

LOS ANGELES--California businessman Alfred E. Mann has donated $100 million each to the University of Southern California (USC) and the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) to set up institutes for biomedical research.

The side effects commonly experienced by patients receiving chemotherapy for the treatment of cancer can challenge many aspects of daily life. Nausea and vomiting, the most common side effects reported by patients, affect the ability to continue with usual life activities and, thus have a pronounced impact on quality of life.

TEXARKANA, Tex-The tobacco industry has reached a settlement with the State of Texas worth $15.3 billion, the largest such settlement to date. Previously, the companies settled with Mississippi for $3.4 billion and with Florida for $11.3 billion. The state’s private trial lawyers will receive 15% of the sum in fees, a total of more than $2.2 billion.

SPOKANE, Wash-A new organization is collecting health histories from people exposed to radiation from nuclear weapons production worldwide, to provide an international source of in-formation.

ORLANDO-Researchers at the Seattle Prostate Institute, University of Washington, and Northwest Hospital have shown excellent progression-free survival in favorable prostate cancer patients with the use of transperitoneal ultrasound-guided brachytherapy as sole treatment. Peter Grimm, DO, presented eight-year follow-up data on more than 400 patients in a poster presentation at the American Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology meeting.

NEW YORK-The Gay Men’s Health Crisis (GMHC), the country’s premier nonprofit AIDS service group, has changed its thinking on HIV reporting. The agency is calling for a change in state policy that would require New York physicians to report cases of HIV infection to the state’s health department.

The tobacco industry has developed an elaborate strategy to craft, lobby, and campaign for proposed pro-tobacco laws that masquerade as tobacco control measures, says a University of California San Francisco health policy researcher.

BETHESDA, Md-Troubled by the small size of the studies presented to it, the FDA’s Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee (ODAC) declined to vote on whether to make a recommendation regarding DepoCyt (cytarabine lipid-particle injection, DepoTech Corp.).

PHILADELPHIA-A roundtable discussion on who should pay for clinical trials, planned for the third annual conference of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN), promises fireworks but also holds out the possibility of consensus building.

NEW YORK-The smoking cessation interventions outlined in the Agency for Health Care Policy and Research (AHCPR) Smoking Cessation Clinical Practice Guideline are more cost effective than many other preventive interventions such as mammography or cholesterol treatment, Michael Fiore, MD, MPH, said at a briefing sponsored by the American Medical Association and the American Public Health Association.

WASHINGTON-Amid political bickering on Capitol Hill over the proposed tobacco settlement and the gloomy prediction of Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott (R-Miss) that legislation needed to implement the pact stands only a 30% chance of passage, a powerful Senate chairman gently warned public health groups that discord within their own ranks isn’t helping the situation.

Scientists from Geron Corporation (Menlo Park, California) and the University Medical Center at Dallas recently reported their successful extension of the life-span of normal human cells using the enzyme telomerase. In a paper published in the January 16, 1998, issue of Science, the researchers explained that introduction of an active telomerase gene into normal mortal cells resulted in the lengthening of telomeres and a marked increase in the life-span of the cells, making the cells potentially immortal.

Scientists at the City of Hope Cancer Center have uncovered evidence that abnormal DNA structures may be responsible for one of the earliest detectable chemical changes associated with the development of cancer.