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    BACKGROUND:The authors validated the Royal Marsden Hospital (RMH) prognostic score in patients with advanced lung, pancreatic, and head and neck cancers who were enrolled on phase 1 trials in the MD Anderson Cancer Center Phase I Clinical Trials Program.METHODS:The RMH score uses albumin (?3.5 g/dL vs <3.5 g/dL), lactate dehydrogenase (less than or equal to the upper limit of normal [?ULN] vs >ULN), and the number of metastatic sites (?2 sites vs ?3 sites) to predict patient survival in phase 1 trials. The authors of this report retrospectively reviewed the outcomes of 229 consecutive patients with lung, pancreatic, and head and neck tumors who were treated on 57 phase 1 trials.RESULTS:Two hundred twenty-nine consecutive patients with lung cancer (N = 85), pancreatic cancer (N = 83), and head and neck tumors (N = 61) were treated. The median patient age was 60 years (range, 26-85 years), and 63% of the patients were men. Patients with a good RMH prognostic score (0-1) at baseline had a longer median survival than patients with a poor prognostic score (2-3; 33.9 weeks vs 21.1 weeks; P < .0001). The RMH score was an independent variable that predicted survival in multivariate analysis. Other independent variables that predicted better survival were hemoglobin level (?10.5 g/dL), Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group performance status (0-1), and tumor type. Patients who were treated on first-in-human trials did not fare worse compared with those who were not treated on first-in-human trials.CONCLUSIONS:For patients with lung, pancreatic, and head and neck tumors who were treated on phase 1 trials, survival was predicted accurately by the RMH prognostic score. Cancer 2011;. © 2011 American Cancer Society.dx.doi.org


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    (UT Southwestern Medical Center) UT Southwestern Medical Center has developed a new lifesaving genetic screening program for families at high risk of contracting colorectal cancer, a deadly yet highly preventable form of cancer.
    www.eurekalert.org   ...Read On

    Australia's Special Broadcasting Station (SBS) exposed the "unspeakable" realities of the Japanese catastrophe in its 60 Minutes program Sunday night.
    enformable.com//australian-60-minutes-dr-michio-kaku-the-  ...Read On

    After losing my beloved Dennis, I have learned that life does go on. Am preparing to enter a nursing program to finish my education, have survived financially, met a wonderful man, working so hard to set my feet back on the ground! Yet every single day, I think of my beloved Dennis! I talk to him, I ask him to pray for me, I ask him what he thinks of what I am embarking upon I know I will love that man until the day I take my last breath! I pray with all my heart that all of you are feeling the newness of a life that our Lord has set out for you! God bless, Lucy
    csn.cancer.org   ...Read On

    Sean Smith, an Australian scientist who heads the computational biology and nanotechnology program at the University of Queensland, has accepted an offer to direct ORNL's nanoscience research center. www.nanotech-now.com


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