Bøger i Cancer Treatment and Research serien

This book addresses Epigenetics in Cancer and covers the most recent advances in RNA/histone/DNA epigenetics in Oncology. RNA/histone/DNA epigenetics have been shown to play pivotal roles in cancer initiation, progression, maintenance and drug response/resistance, tumor microenvironment, cancer stem cell self-renewal, cancer metabolism, and tumor immune evasion. In particular, research in RNA cancer epigenetics has made impressive progress in the last few years.Individual chapters in Part I (focusing on RNA epigenetics) are devoted to RNA modifications in Cancer Metabolism and Microenvironment, Cancer Stem Cell Biology, Immune Surveillance, Solid Tumors and Tumor Immunity, and Hematopoietic Malignancies, as well as to RNA editing in Cancer. Chapters in Part II and III of the book focus on histone epigenetics and DNA epigenetics, respectively.By familiarizing readers with the latest developments in this complex and challenging field, the book offers a valuable resourcefor scientists, graduate students and clinicians alike.

This book offers a wide-ranging description and analysis of recent developments and current trends in health policy with regard to cancer drug safety. The book opens with an overview of pharmacovigilance for cancer blockbuster drugs, covering both general considerations and efforts to develop a structured framework for the identification and reporting of adverse drug reactions (ADRs). A number of important examples of serious ADRs to hematology and oncology drugs are then reviewed, with evaluation of the lessons learned and the policy implications of the ensuing legal cases and their settlements. Further, the difficulty of reporting such blockbuster side effects in the medical literature is explored in an empirical study. Significant advances have been achieved in analytic methods for the identification of ADRs, and here there is a particular focus on the value of optimal discriminant analysis. Finally, the impacts on pharmacovigilance and drug safety of the huge fines paid under the U.S. False Claims Act relating to the defrauding of governmental programs also receive careful attention - these fines are playing an important role in changing the landscape for pharmaceutical safety.

This comprehensive book provides an overview of cancer therapeutics and covers different innovative treatment approaches for cancer. The initial chapter gives a detailed overview on cancer progression and disease diagnostics. The following chapters focus on different cancer treatment approaches, such as chemotherapy, radiotherapy, hormonal therapy, immunotherapy, nutritional assessments, targeted therapy and Nano therapeutics. It also highlights the importance of cancer genomics, disease advancement, personalized medicine and psychological support for cancer patients. Emphasis is also given to the many challenges in the area of designing cancer treatment and designing clinical trials. The complete book also presents cancer management with different cancer treatment modalities, including pharmacogenomics and drug reactions. This is a unique and comprehensive piece of work that not only highlights the disease treatment modalities but also focuses on many challenges in the area of designing cancer treatment and even in designing clinical trials.The contributing authors are experts in this field of cancer treatment. By familiarizing readers with the latest developments in this complex field, the book offers a valuable resource for clinicians. Researchers and medical students will also benefit from this comprehensive text.

This book presents the clinical scope of cancer immunotherapeutic agents for solid tumors and Hematologic malignancies, elaborates on the scientific details of their modes of action, and presents the impact of these agents on oncology, patients and the broader healthcare system. At present, cancer immunotherapies fall broadly into three categories: immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs), adoptive T cell therapies, and cancer vaccines which have distinct mechanisms of action. Immune checkpoint inhibitors rely upon disrupting tumor antigen recognition as self by the immune system through inhibition of checkpoint molecules. Adoptive T cell therapies involve the engineering of T cells ex vivo to target and destroy tumor cells.The first part of this book will provide an overview of the discovery and mechanistic details of the technology. The second part will be devoted to elaborating on the clinical outcomes, successes and limitations for specific tumor subtypes, which includes both solid tumors and hematologic malignances for both pediatric and adult populations. As such, the book offers a valuable resource for oncologists, hematologists, and all those seeking an up-to-date overview of cancer immunotherapies.

This book provides a concise update on current understanding of the biology of acute and chronic leukemias and other bone marrow neoplasms, including myelodysplastic and myeloproliferative disorders, and explores new and emerging treatments. There is a particular focus on the molecular abnormalities that are drivers of leukemia and on their detection by modern molecular techniques. Knowledge of the ways in which genomic and metabolic abnormalities in the hematologic neoplasms affect prognosis and treatment decision making is reviewed. Detailed attention is devoted to targeted therapies, including novel drugs, and to potential targets for future drug development. In addition, readers find in-depth discussion of cellular and antibody-based immunotherapies as well as the role of hematopoietic stem cell transplantation in the treatment of leukemias and bone marrow malignancies. The book is of special interest for hematologists, oncologists, and cancer researchers; it is also of value for hematology trainees and medical students.

The entire world was taken by surprise when 1990 brought an end to Soviet communism in Europe and thus a genuine end to World War II. The fact that these developments surprised not only the leaders and the people of the countries concerned, but also scholars is an extraordinary challenge to the students of Soviet-type economics. In the academic world, where predictive force is one of the key indicators of a successful theory, this weak performance calls into question the validity of earlier findings and interpretations. Something was wrong in the general framework. Socialist Investment Cycles offers an explanation of this failure. Socialist Investment Cycles is the first monograph in English on investment fluctuations in planned economies, a chapter in history. While providing a broad overview of the literature on socialist investment cycles, as well as a quantitative description of the actual processes, the author puts forth a new framework for understanding investment fluctuations. In this framework socialist planners were able to adjust the volume of investments without risking the fulfillment of politically more sensitive target variables. Socialist Investment Cycles encompasses all thirty-five countries which were ruled by communism and is the first study to penetrate deeply into the data problem, country by country, and series by series. Socialist Investment Cycles has been written after the collapse of Soviet-type communism in Eastern Europe, the USSR, and the countries of Asia and Africa. It thus offers a retrospective view on both the theory and practice of socialist economies.

1. Introduction to Bayesian Methods in Reliability.- 1. Why Bayesian Methods?.- 1.1 Sparse data.- 1.2 Decision problems.- 2. Bayes' Theorem.- 3. Examples from a Safety Study on Gas transmission Pipelines.- 3.1 Estimating the probability of the development of a big hole.- 3.2 Estimating the leak rate of a gas transmission pipeline.- 4. Conclusions.- References.- 2. An Overview of the Bayesian Approach.- 1. Background.- 2. Probability Concepts.- 3. Notation.- 4. Reliability Concepts and Models.- 5. Forms of Data.- 6. Statistical Problems.- 7. Review of Non-Bayesian Statistical Methods.- 8. Desiderata for Decision-Oriented Statistical Methodology.- 9. Decision-Making.- 10. Degrees of Belief as Probabilities.- 11. Bayesian Statistical Philosophy.- 12. A Simple Illustration of Bayesian Learning.- 13. Bayesian Approaches to Typical Statistical Questions.- 14. Assessment of Prior Densities.- 15. Bayesian Inference for some Univariate Probability Models.- 16. Approximate Analysis under Great Prior Uncertainty.- 17. Problems Involving many Parameters: Empirical Bayes.- 18. Numerical Methods for Practical Bayesian Statistics.- References.- 3. Reliability Modelling and Estimation.- 1. Non-Repairable Systems.- 1.1 Introduction.- 1.2 Describing reliability.- 1.3 Failure time distributions.- 2. Estimation.- 2.1 Introduction.- 2.2 Classical methods.- 2.3 Bayesian methods.- 3. Reliability estimation.- 3.1 Introduction.- 3.2 Binomial sampling.- 3.3 Pascal sampling.- 3.4 Poisson sampling.- 3.5 Hazard rate estimation.- References.- 4. Repairable Systems and Growth Models.- 1. Introduction.- 2. Good as New: the Renewal Process.- 3. Estimation.- 4. The Poisson Process.- 5. Bad as old: the Non-Homogeneous Poisson Process.- 6. Classical Estimation.- 7. Exploratory Analysis.- 8. The Duane Model.- 9. Bayesian Analysis.- References.- 5. The Use of Expert Judgement in Risk Assessment.- 1. Introduction.- 2. Independence Preservation.- 3. The Quality of Experts' Judgement.- 4. Calibration Sets and Seed Variables.- 5. A Classical Model.- 6. Bayesian Models.- 7. Some Experimental Results.- References.- 6. Forecasting Software Reliability.- 1. Introduction.- 2. The Software Reliability Growth Problem.- 3. Some Software Reliability Growth Models.- 3.1 Jelinski and Moranda (JM).- 3.2 Bayesian Jelinski-Moranda (BJM).- 3.3 Littlewood (L).- 3.4 Littlewood and Verrall (LV).- 3.5 Keiller and Littlewood (KL).- 3.6 Weibull order statistics (W).- 3.7 Duane (D).- 3.8 Goel-Okumoto (GO).- 3.9 Littlewood NHPP (LNHPP).- 4. Examples of Use.- 5. Analysis of Predictive Quality.- 5.1 The u-plot.- 5.2 The y-plot, and scatter plot of u's.- 5.3 Measures of 'noise'.- 5.3.1 Braun statistic.- 5.3.2 Median variability.- 5.3.3 Rate variability.- 5.4 Prequential likelihood.- 6. Examples of Predictive Analysis.- 7. Adapting and Combining Predictions; Future Directions.- 8 Summary and Conclusions.- Acknowledgements.- References.- References.- Author index.

Session I - Multidisciplinary Studies.- Field data versus modelling. Why environmental sciences need both.- Field testing of transport models for organic chemicals in surface and subsurface water.- The transport and fate of organic pollutants in rivers. II - Field measurement and modelling for styrene, xylenes, dichlorobenzenes and 4-phenyl-dodecane.- Environmental applications of chemometrics - envirometrics.- Session II - Partitioning of Organic Micropollutants in the Aquatic Environment.- Sorption kinetics of micropollutants from suspended particles: experimental observations and modelling.- Bioaccumulation kinetics: experimental data and modelling.- Bioaccumulation of nonylphenol in caged mussels in an industrial coastal area on the Swedish West coast.- Transport and distribution of DDT and PCB in the upper Sado estuary, and accumulation in oysters: importance of runoff.- Herbicide losses in runoff from the agricultural area of Thessaloniki in Thermaikos Gulf, N. Greece.- Session III - Novel Analytical Techniques in Environmental Chemistry.- The role of capillary GC - Hyphenated techniques in water analysis.- Supercritical fluid extraction of chlorinated compounds and other pollutants.- Application of AMD to the determination of crop-protection agents in drinking water - Fundamentals and method.- Session IV - Monitoring Micropollutant.- Liquid chromatographic strategies for the determination of pesticides in the aquatic environment.- Multiresidue analysis of pesticides in drinking water and related samples.- Chemical Analysis as a cyclic procedure (a chain is only as strong as its weakest link).- Session V - Degradation of Organic Micropollutants During Field Conditions.- Microbial degradation of mixtures of aromatic compounds at low concentrations under aerobic conditions.- Microbial aspects of the behaviour of chlorinated compounds during soil passage.- Session VI - Reclamation of Polluted Ground Water.- In situ biorestoration of a subsoil, contaminated with gasoline.- Bioremediation of chlorophenol-contaminated ground water.- Synergic behaviour of microorganisms able to degrade halogenated organic substances.- Session VII- Chemical and Photochemical Oxidation.- Photochemical processes in water and their stimulation for the degradation of organic micropollutants.- Removal of nitrogenous pesticides by direct and radical type ozonation.- The effect of ozonation and biological filtration on the removal of cyanobacterial toxins.- Session VIII - Future of Environmental Chemistry.- Global aspects of the environmental fate of organic micropollutants.- Environmental problems in a long term perspective.- EC policy in the field of water.- Poster Session I - Analytical Methodologies.- Carboxylic biointermediates of LAS and NPEO: synthesis, characterization and RP-HPLC determination.- Dual Column chromatography in a standard gas chromatograph.- Identification of volatile organic compounds in urban and industrial effluents discharged at Sado estuary.- The evaluation of three solvent extraction techniques for the isolation of n-herbicides from drinking-and surface water.- Two interlaboratory studies on volatile organic hydrocarbons.- Determination of nitroaromatics in water using substance specific detection modes.- HPLC with Diode-Array-Detection - a new multi-method in the determination of pesticides in drinking water.- GC determination of chlorophenoxy acids in minor polluted waters.- Multi-component analysis of pesticides in water samples by HPLC. Rapid extraction and neutral/acid fractionation by a carbopack cartridge.- FAB mass spectrometric applications to the study of non volatile organic compounds in water.- Determination of organotin miticides in water and vegetables.- Field measurement of volatile organic chemicals by membrane inlet mass spectometry.- Extraction and analysis of organic micropollutants in river water.- Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons.- Identification and behaviour of iodinated haloform medicinal odor.- C...

The previous volume of this series on soft tissue sarcomas highlighted the importance of the multidisciplinary approach to treatment, the focus of which is continued in the present edition. Proper diagnosis and staging remain the cornerstone of the treatment strategy. Sophisticated histopathology techniques and growing consensus on grading systems have further increased the importance of the histopathologist in providing estimates of the prognosis of the patient as well as providing data for the planning of treatment strategy. The use of cytogenetics is relatively new in this field. This might enable the distinction of subgroups in specific histological tumor types. Furthermore, molecular biological studies not only help to reveal inherited predispositions and details in oncogenesis in tumor development, but they may also provide additional predictive factors for tumor behavior. Further data on treatment strategy will be provided by diagnostic imaging, a field in which the role of magnetic resonance imaging is rapidly developing. As far as actual treatment is concerned, surgery still provides the major chance for cure. In view of the endeavor to be as sparing as possible, the addition of radiotherapy to surgery is of utmost importance. Usually radiotherapy is given after surgery, but the optimal sequence of the two modalities still needs to be defined. The combined use of surgery with radiotherapy and/or chemotherapy does have an impact on wound healing.

More often than not, progress in medicine occurs incrementally. The report of an 'important' new observation is typically greeted by a mixture of excitement and skepticism. Yet the true value of the discovery may not be known for several years until it is confirmed (or refuted) by independently conducted studies. In some cases, controversy may continue to shroud a topic due to the discordant results generated by different research groups. Since the last Gynecologic Oncology volume in the Cancer Treatment and Research series, a number of new areas have emerged that shed new light on the pathogenesis, diagnosis, and treatment of gynecologic malignancies. In this volume of the Cancer Treatment and Research series, I have attempted to integrate articles that highlight some of these newest developments with chapters that provide an overview of selected areas of controversy. This volume is not meant to be an abbreviated text of gynecologic oncology but rather a collection of selected works that can provide the reader with a better perspective on the areas of change within the field. The application of molecular biology to cervical cancer has allowed us to understand more completely the roles of human papilloma viruses and cellular oncogenes in the development of cancer of the uterine cervix.

, Adrenal and Endocrine Tumors in Children' is the third volume in the series, 'Cancer Treatment and Research' devoted to pediatric oncology. Like its predecessors, it is organized into two sections. The first section again deals with issues of basic research germane to the understanding of childhood malignancies. In volume 3, the scope of the first section has been broadened to include a review that is epidemiologically oriented and a second review that is psychologically oriented. In the second part, major pediatric oncology units in Japan, Australia, Europe and the Americas have been invited to report their experience with of the multiple endocrine adrenal cortical carcinomas and the presentation neoplasia syndromes in children. In addition to these institutional reports of case material, there are reviews on genetics, pathology, and a diagnostic evaluation of children. The overview chapter on adrenal cortical carcinoma includes recommendations for radiotherapy from Dr. D' Angio and for che- motherapy from Dr. Philip Schein. Individuals using these recommended therapies are encouraged to report their results to the editors. The informa- tion will then be made available to others on request. List of Contributors ACTON, Dr. Ronald, Diabetes Research Hospital, Room 817, 1808 7th Ave. South, Birmingham, AL 35233, USA. BAUM, Edward S., M.D., Division of Hematology/Oncology, Northwestern University Medical School, Children's Memorial Hospital, 2300 Child- ren's Plaza, Chicago, IL 60614, USA. BENZ, Dr. Chris c., Dept. of Medicine, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT 06510, USA.

The results of randomized trials evaluating the use of early or adjuvant systemic treatment for patients with resectable breast cancer provide an eloquent rebuttal to those who would argue that we have made no progress in the treatment of cancer. Many of the tumors that we have been most successful in curing with chemotherapy and other newer forms of treatment are relatively uncommon. In contrast, breast cancer continues to be the single most common malignancy among women in the western world, is increasingly a cause of death throughout Asia and Third-World countries, and remains one of the most substantial causes of cancer mortality world- wide. The use of mammography as a means of early detection has been shown to reduce breast cancer mortality by 25-35% among those popu- lations in which it is utilized. The use of adjuvant systemic treatment in appropriate patients provides a similar (and additional) reduction in breast cancer mortality. Few subjects have been so systematically studied in the history of medicine, and it seems fair to conclude that the value to adjuvant systemic therapy in prolonging the lives of women with breast cancer is more firmly supported by empirical evidence than even the more conventional or primary treatments using various combinations ofsurgery and radiotherapy.

Throughout the world, head and neck cancer is a major threat to public health and a significant challenge to both clinicians and basic scientists. Despite extensive efforts in primary prevention, screening, early detection, and therapy, long-term survival rates have not improved substantially in the last three decades. This book covers a wide range of exciting new findings in both clinical and basic sciences as they are relevant to head and neck cancer. These findings have recently enhanced our understanding of head and neck carcinogenesis at the genetic and molecular levels, offering the promise of improved preventive and therapeutic strategies. This book will also present information on the important clinical advances that have been made in chemoprevention, organ preservation, and the simultaneous use of chemo- therapy and radiotherapy. The first part provides an overview of the etiology and biology of head and neck cancer, including an examination of human papillomaviruses in both benign and malignant lesions. This section also discusses the carcinogenic process at the genetic and molecular levels, as well as aberrant squamous differentiation; increased understanding of these areas has great potential to translate into new strategies for cancer prevention. The second part describes recent advances in developing a risk model for head and neck cancer, as well as the application of genetic susceptibility data in chemoprevention. This section also includes overviews of the status of chemoprevention trials and of the process of invasion and metastasis in head and neck cancer.