A wide gathering of scientists, clinicians, pharmacists and nurses specialized in pediatric oncology practice met to celebrate the second anniversary of Children's Cancer Hospital, Egypt (CCHE). The celebration was in the form of high-brow teaching lectures and reports presented by international experts in the fields of pediatric CNS tumors, solid tumors (neuroblastoma, nephroblastoma, soft tissue and bone tumors, lymphoma, leukemia and pediatric oncology nursing. The conference extends its activities to hospital management, clinical pharmacy and telemedicine. Furthermore, CCHE experts presented the efforts performed to establish a state-of-the-art pediatric oncology hospital equipped with all needed facilities to raise the standard of care to the highest levels.

Clathrate hydrates are molecular structures in which water molecules form
molecular cages that host other species of molecules. These structures are formed
as a result of phase transition under specific temperatures and pressures. The shape
and stability of the structure is dependent on the guest molecules. Clathrate
hydrates are immensely present in nature, and are expected to appear in various
applications like in transport, and storage of other molecules. They are also
thought of as the future worldwide energy reservoir. Raman spectroscopy offers an
effective way to understand the dynamics of such crucial structures. Raman
spectroscopic measurements were obtained from samples of simple clathrate
hydrates of hydrogen and hydrogen deuteride, using a novel cell that allowed us to
witness the formation of clathrates, and perform in situ measurements upon them.
Understanding the Raman spectrum will help unravel new and interesting traits of
enclathrated molecules, as it reveals their quantum dynamics inside molecular
cages. The cluttered region of the Raman spectrum assigned to the vibrational
states with different occupancies have been analyzed, and a new interpretation of
this region of the spectrum is proposed in this work, based on calculations of
average occupancy per large cage for samples formed at different synthesis
pressures, and subjected to heating and quenching cycles.

BACKGROUND: The pediatric diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma (DIPG) outcome remains dismal despite multiple therapeutic attempts.

PURPOSE: To compare the results of treatment of pediatric diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma (DIPG) using hypofractionated versus conventional radiotherapy.

PATIENTS AND METHODS: Seventy-one newly diagnosed DIPG children were randomized into hypofractionated (HF) (39Gy/13 fractions in 2.6weeks) and conventional (CF) arm (54Gy/30 fractions in 6weeks).

RESULTS: The median and one-year overall survival (OS) was 7.8months and 36.4±8.2% for the hypofractionated arm, and 9.5 and 26.2±7.4% for the conventional arm respectively. The 18-month OS difference was 2.2%. The OS hazard ratio (HR) was 1.14 (95% CI: 0.70-1.89) (p=0.59). The hypofractionated arm had a median and one-year progression-free survival (PFS) of 6.6months and 22.5±7.1%, compared to 7.3 and 17.9±7.1% for the conventional arm. The PFS HR was 1.10 (95% CI: 0.67-1.90) (p=0.71). The 18-month PFS difference was 1.1%. These differences exceed the non-inferiority margin. The immediate and delayed side effects were not different in the 2 arms.

CONCLUSIONS: Hypofractionated radiotherapy offers lesser burden on the patients, their families and the treating departments, with nearly comparable results to conventional fractionation, though not fulfilling the non-inferiority assumption.