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SILVER SPRING, Maryland-The FDA’s Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee (ODAC) has unanimously recommended that the agency amend the labeling of Herceptin (trastuzumab, Genentech) to include a new gene-detection test to identify women with metastatic breast cancer who are likely to benefit from the therapy. The 16-to-0 vote backed adding the PathVysion HER-2 DNA Probe Kit to the labeling. The kit is made by Vysis, Inc., now owned by Abbott Laboratories.

ROCKVILLE, Maryland-Researchers at the Food and Drug Administration and the Veteran’s Administrations will join in an effort to determine whether HIV infection or certain drugs used to treat it cause avascular necrosis (AVN). The disorder,

SAN FRANCISCO-The rate of breast-conserving surgery with adjuvant radiation therapy increased at a North Carolina community hospital (Durham Regional) after Duke University Medical Center radiation oncologists opened an on-site clinic. The study results were presented at the 43rd Annual Meeting of the American Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology (abstract 87).

OLYMPIA, Washington-The overwhelming approval of a significant tax increase on cigarettes by the residents of Washington State has raised hopes among public health groups that other states will follow suit. By a margin of 65% to 35%,

SAN DIEGO--The staff at the H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa has initiated new practices that allow immunocompromised patients to eat fresh fruits and vegetables without worrying about bacterial infection, said Linda Rice, RN, OCN, RN III, staff nurse at Moffitt’s Medical Oncology/Hematology unit.

BETHESDA, Maryland-In what it calls "a landmark initiative," the National Cancer Institute has established a large network of cancer advocates to provide insights and feedback to its researchers and staff. The new group-Consumer

SAN FRANCISCO-Survival rates are significantly higher for women who have outer quadrant breast cancer, when compared with patients who have an inner quadrant lesion, according to results presented at the 43rd Annual Meeting of the American Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology (ASTRO abstract 198). At 20 years, the improvement in survival for women with outer quadrant lesions ranged from 2.2% to 9.4%, depending on age group.

Andrew C. von Eschenbach, MD, has been named director of the National Cancer Institute (NCI) by President Bush. This appointment follows his recent selection as president-elect of the American Cancer Society.

ALBUQUERQUE-"Ethnicity is a relatively understudied concept in pain medicine," David B. Morris, PhD, writes in his review of ethnicity and pain (Pain Clinical Updates vol. IX, no. 4, November 2001). Existing research, he said, has provided "few firm generalizations" about the relationship between ethnicity and pain. This is due, in part, to the fact that both pain and ethnicity are "multidimensional, malleable, and shaped by culture."

SILVER SPRING, Maryland-Due to concerns about the postmarketing safety of the bolus or Saltz regimen of Camptosar (irinotecan, Pharmacia) combined with fluorouracil (5-FU) and leucovorin (IFL) as a first-line treatment for metastatic colorectal cancer, the Food and Drug Administration asked its Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee (ODAC) to review the issue.

In this article (the first of a two-part interview), Linda L. Emanuel, MD, PhD, discusses bioethics. Part I highlights end-of-life care and physician-assisted suicide, while part II, which will appear in an upcoming issue of ONI, focuses on organizational ethics and future issues in bioethics.

NEW ORLEANS-Transperitoneal laparoscopic radical prostatectomy achieves negative surgical margins comparable to those achieved with the open retropubic approach, according to a study from University of Massachusetts Medical School

ATLANTA-Health care personnel exposed to HIV should be evaluated within hours (rather than days) after their exposure and should be tested for HIV at baseline (ie, to establish infection status at the time of exposure), according to the latest HIV postexposure prophylaxis (PEP) guidelines from the US Public Health Service [MMWR 50:(RR11):1-42, 2001].

SAN DIEGO--Anxiety and other symptoms of distress that occur during radiotherapy and chemotherapy sessions were found to be reduced when patients were exposed to octaphonic sound, according to Sook Kim, RN, BSN, a nurse clinician and charge nurse at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center’s Ambulatory Treatment Center.

ST. LOUIS, Missouri-United States Attorney General John Ashcroft "is putting a spoke in the wheel" of end-of-life care, said Karen Stanley, RN, MSN, AOCN, FAAN. In a decision designed to prevent the implementation of Oregon’s Death

MINNEAPOLIS-Give Life Twice. That’s the message behind a new National Marrow Donor Program (NMDP) pilot project designed to increase the number of minority umbilical cord blood units listed on the NMDP Registry. Patients of minority race and ethnicity are less likely than Caucasians to find a matched donor in the Registry, the NMDP said in a press release. The NMDP’s goal is to collect 2,000 units of cord blood from African-American, Hispanic/Latino, and Asian/Pacific Islander donors.

SAN FRANCISCO-Chemotherapy given concomitantly with radiotherapy improves disease-free survival rates in patients with stages III and IV oropharynx carcinoma, according to final results of the 94-01 GORTEC study. The findings were presented at the 43rd Annual Meeting of the American Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology (ASTRO plenary 2).

A federal judge in Oregon has temporarily blocked Attorney General John Ashcroft’s ability to prosecute Oregon physicians who use controlled substances to help a patient in pain end his or her life. Mr. Ashcroft’s announcement in early

MIAMI BEACH-Trastuzumab (Herceptin), the monoclonal antibody that blocks HER-2, has been chemically linked to the maytansinoid DM1, a powerful cytotoxic agent that attacks tubulin, resulting in a conjugate that is dramatically more effective

WASHINGTON-President Bush moved quickly to appoint a new director of the National Cancer Institute, naming Andrew C. von Eschenbach, MD, a professor of urology at The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center and a cancer survivor.

RESEARCH TRIANGLE, North Carolina-Five academic research centers will join the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) to form a consortium to study how genes interact with the environment to cause cancer and other

SAN DIEGO--Nursing staff at Fox Chase Cancer Center are investigating the factors that put cancer patients at risk for hospital readmission, said Carolyn Weaver, RN, MSN, AOCN, a clinical nurse specialist and patient education coordinator

ROCKVILLE, Maryland-The Association of Community Cancer Centers (ACCC) has launched a new website (www.accc-cancer.org/publicpolicy) dedicated to regulatory and legislative issues affecting patients with cancer. The website will assist in the education of patients and their families about public policy that affects cancer care.

BETHESDA, Maryland-Two National Institutes of Health (NIH) units will jointly fund the design and construction of three new synchrotron beamlines as a way to increase x-ray crystallography studies of proteins.

SEATTLE-Researchers at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center have discovered a chemical compound that reverses a process called silencing, in which genes or chromosomal regions are shut off (Proc Natl Acad Sci 98:15113-

Cancer researchers can almost feel the ground rumble beneath their feet as they walk through their clinics and laboratories. A veritable explosion of information has radically altered the way we think about cancer, and has introduced new concepts

Barton, Loprinzi, and Gostout provide a comprehensive, accurate, and multidisciplinary review of the management of menopausal symptoms in patients with a previous diagnosis of cancer. The article is clearly enhanced by the authorship of individuals from different backgrounds, each of whom bring a valuable perspective to the subject. Additional attention to several issues would, however, make interpretation of the data on this subject, and hence, the management of patients with these problems, more clear.

More women, and especially more premenopausal women, are surviving their cancer diagnosis. However, due to their therapy, these women may become symptomatic from iatrogenic ovarian failure. For some, the use of hormone replacement therapy (HRT) is contraindicated because it may affect the course of their disease. Other women and their physicians may feel uncomfortable with the use of hormones because research is inconclusive regarding long-term survival or disease recurrence. Women who experience a cessation of menses due to adjuvant therapy for breast cancer are more likely than women undergoing a natural menopause to experience severe hot flashes, night sweats, and fatigue.[1] However, nonhormonal interventions appear to benefit many of these women[2] and should be used to decrease their symptoms. Barton, Loprinzi, and Gostout address these concerns in their excellent review and offer recommendations for pharmacologic and nonpharmacologic interventions.

The study of cancer in specific populations can offer clues useful in determining the extrinsic and intrinsic factors influencing cancer in all populations. Extrinsic factors are sometimes called "environmental" in the broadest sense of the word. They are modifiable or mutable. Intrinsic factors are more inherent to the individual. They are almost always genetic and are immutable or unchangeable. Targeting research on specific populations is and should be a significant ethical issue.

Health disparities among populations within the United States are well documented. In order to eliminate these disparities, we must further understand their sources. Are they the result of the unequal distribution of resources, racism, or inherent characteristics of ethnically or "racially" defined groups? How we define and discuss "race" has major scientific and moral consequences. In this issue, Leslie Klein Hoffman asks two major questions as they pertain to research on ethnic or "racially" defined groups. When is genetic research on a population appropriate? How should researchers define a given population? These questions are timely, and it is both humbling and instructive that the answers to these questions remain unclear.