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Aim: To compare the expectations and the reality of oncology patients in terms of to the use of medical cannabis, including symptom control and related quality of life. Research question: Is there a difference between oncology patients expectations and their reality concerning the use of medical cannabis and what do oncology patients experience regarding symptom control and quality of life? Method: This research was done in a tertiary hospital in Israel at the oncology clinic A comparative study that used self- administered questionnaires for patients who received authorization to use medical cannabis. The first questionnaire was given to patients after receiving the authorization to use medical cannabis and asked about their expectations related to its use. Patients filled out the same questionnaire for the second time, approximately two months after. Comparison of the respondent’s answers, before and after using medical cannabis, showed reality of improving symptom control and Quality of Life. Results: Seventy-four patients completed both questionnaires. Most patients reported advantage in symptom control when using medical cannabis, although their expectations were somewhat higher than the reality experienced. Advantage of using medical cannabis was also found concerning improvement of quality of life. Seventy-five of patients still used medical cannabis once completing the second questionnaire and most of them reported that they would recommend the use of medical cannabis. Conclusion: It can be seen from this study that for many oncology patients the use of medical cannabis may be very helpful. However, the use of cannabis is not free of side effects, as can be seen from the patients’ reports. This has clear implications for oncology nursing practice and may lead to a better understanding of patients using medical cannabis in the future, in terms of its benefit and side effects. 

The pandemic of Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) caused by Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) continues to rise around the globe. As per 15th July 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) reported 13,119,239 confirmed COVID-19 cases along with 573,752 confirmed deaths globally.

Hypercalcemia in End Stage Renal Disease on Dialysis, is a frustrating complication for both medical staff and patients, and it may lead to vascular calcification, Calciphylaxis, and even aggravating cardiovascular disease, even in the absence of risk factors which can lead to early death [1], and correcting Hypercalcemia even in the absence of hyperphosphatemia is out most important to improve co-morbid conditions and reduce mortality, most common causes in end stage renal disease, includes high calcium dialysis bath, high dietary intake of Calcium rich food, exogenous intake of calcium products, or excessive intake of Vitamin D, underlying Sarcoidosis, rare causes need to be explored in resistant cases, including Vitamin A toxicosis, as being presented in this case.

The aim of the study was to evaluate ozone therapy in obese pregnant women. 118 pregnant women with varying degrees of obesity were examined and treated. It turned out that the course of intravenous drip administration of ozonated saline solution leads to the normalization of a number of important indicators of homeostasis including stimulation of the antioxidant system and reduction of peroxide stress. The reduction in the frequency of miscarriage, preeclampsia, premature birth, and bleeding during childbirth and the postpartum period is achieved. It`s possible to recommend the inclusion of ozone therapy in the preventive treatment of pregnant women with exogenous constitutional obesity.

Primary melanocytic neoplasms of the central nervous system are rare entities and can present in different clinical forms with mild and non-specific symptoms (such as headache and tinnitus) to severe and limiting symptoms (focal deficits and intracranial hypertension), mimicking the most diverse pathologies. In addition to the peculiar changes in imaging tests, diagnosis is always a challenge given the multitude of possible differential diagnoses, including aseptic meningitis. Given this, we bring here the case of a 59-year-old patient who attended care due to headache and vertigo followed by involvement of the cranial nerves and spinal cord, corroborated by physical examination and imaging study suggesting diffuse involvement of the meninges, which was subsequently confirmed by anatomopathological examination as a primary melanocytic neoplasm of the central nervous system but ended up dying due to complications resulting from late diagnosis. The objective of this work is to raise awareness about the possibility of this pathology as a differential diagnosis in these cases where there are often frustrating clinical manifestations but with changes in imaging tests, to enable an early diagnosis and consequently the possibility of a better therapeutic result, in addition to a brief review of the propaedeutic findings of this pathology.

We present a 54-year-old male with abdominal pain, Vomiting and weight loss since 5 months. Perforation was noted at recto-sigmoid junction and underwent Hartman’s procedure with end colostomy. Histology of sigmoid colon confirmed a Stercoral perforation without any evidence of dysplasia or malignancy. Patient had chemotherapy for squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) of epiglottis a year ago and was on codeine phosphate and Oromorph as and when required since his treatment for SCC for pain. Patient also had been suffering from constipation since he finished chemotherapy. Stercoral perforation always need to kept in mind in patients who present with constipation and need to take all patients who present with chronic constipation and initiate measures we encounter commonly in everyday practice. We present a brief review about Stercoral perforation and its management.

Dear reader, isn’t it time to turn things around and allow TIME to take its rightful place? In a nutshell, I believe Time should be considered as the primary energy that has created the whole material world and governs the continuous changes in it. In my article “An Intelligent Cosmos: Philosophy of Science”, I discuss that this primary creative energy is, more generally, the Dark Energy in our Universe. I believe that Dark Energy probably has a variety of specific manifestations, and I assume that one of those manifestations is Time. This article is a continuation of my article “An Intelligent Cosmos: Philosophy of Science” 

As we know that, Asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases are well characterized diseases, they can co-exist as asthma-COPD overlap (ACO). The co-existence of asthma-chronic obstructive pulmonary disease overlap (ACO) in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) patients is often unrecognized. In patients with a primary diagnosis of COPD or Asthma, the identification of ACO has got implication for better prognosis and treatment. Such patients experience frequent exacerbations, poor quality of life, rapid decline in lung function and high mortality than COPD or Asthma alone. Inhalational steroids provide significant alleviation of symptoms in such patients and some studies suggest that the most severe patients may respond to biological agents indicated for severe asthma. Patients who have asthma with a COPD component tend to present with severe hypoxia because of Irreversible/fixed airway obstruction and impairment of the alveolar diffusion capacity by emphysematous changes. In contrast, patients with COPD who have an asthma component not only have exertional dyspnoea but also develop paroxysmal wheezing or dyspnoea at night or in the early morning. The criteria to diagnose asthma-COPD overlap (ACO) include positive bronchodilator response, sputum eosinophilia or previous diagnosis of asthma, high IgE and/or history of atopy. There is scarcity of literature available in country like India. We highlight the importance of identification of Asthma COPD overlap as different phenotype from COPD or asthma alone as it is challenging to diagnose ACO in India. We report 3 cases having both the features of asthma and COPD, later diagnosed with Asthma-COPD overlap.

In this article different numerical techniques for solving optimal control problems is introduced, the aim of this paper is to achieve the best accuracy for the Optimal Control Problem (OCP) which has the objective of minimizing the size of tumor cells by the end of the treatment. An important aspect is considered, which is, the optimal concentrations of drugs that not affect the patient’s health significantly. To study the behavior of tumor growth, a mathematical model is used to simulate the dynamic behavior of tumors since it is difficult to prototype dynamic behavior of the tumor. A tumor-immune model with four components, namely, tumor cells, active cytotoxic T-cells (CTLs), helper T-cells, and a chemotherapeutic drug is used. Two general categories of optimal control methods which are indirect methods and direct ones based on nonlinear programming solvers and interior point algorithms are compared. Within the direct optimal control techniques, we review three different solutions techniques namely (i) multiple shooting methods, (ii) trapezoidal direct collocation method, (iii) Hermit- Simpson’s collocation method and within the indirect methods we review the Pontryagin’s Maximum principle with both collocation method and the backward forward sweep method. Results show that the direct methods achieved better control than indirect methods.

Monilinia laxa is a fungus that causes brown rot in stone fruit. Immature green fruits in the first stage of fruit development (stage I) are generally susceptible. To investigate the relationship between the physical characteristics of immature fruit and susceptibility to M. laxa, we characterized the progeny, derived from a clone of wild peach (Prunus davidiana) crossed with two commercial nectarines (Prunus persica) varieties, through laboratory infection, transpiration monitoring and stomata counting. Two types of fruit infections were observed - ‘classic’ brown rot and ‘clear spot’ symptoms - which have not previously been described in the literature. The number and density of stomata did not explain the observed variability of infection in the progeny. However, surface conductance was positively correlated with infection level. This study provides experimental evidence partially linking physical fruit characteristics to brown rot infection at the immature fruit stage. The role of delayed cuticle deposition in susceptibility to brown rot of immature fruit is discussed.