New on NCI Websites for October 2018

October 30, 2018, by NCI Staff

NCI Releases Annual Plan & Budget Proposal for Fiscal Year 2020

The Annual Plan highlights some of the results of the nation’s investment in cancer research, and it reflects NCI’s best judgment on the ideal funding needed to make the most rapid progress against cancer. Read how NCI’s investments in research have improved lives and about promising opportunities to better prevent, diagnose, and treat cancer.

NCI-CONNECT Website Launches

The NCI-CONNECT Rare Brain & Spine Tumor Network fosters partnerships aimed at improving care and treatment for patients with rare brain and spine tumors. Visit the new NCI-CONNECT Network website, which connects patients, providers, and advocates helping people with these rare tumors.

Breast Cancer Risk Assessment Tool Updated

NCI’s Breast Cancer Risk Assessment Tool was recently updated to provide more accurate estimates of breast cancer risk for Hispanic women. This interactive tool provides estimates of a woman’s risk of breast cancer over the next 5 years and during her lifetime.

New Videos Highlight Cancer Care Delivery Research and International Consortium

New videos recently added to the NCI YouTube channel include a discussion about cancer care delivery research conducted in the NCI Community Oncology Research Program and an introduction to NCI’s new International Cancer Proteogenome Consortium.

Free NCI E-Books Now Available in Online Bookstores

NCI’s popular patient education e-books are now available for download through Google Play, Barnes & Noble, and the US Government Bookstore. The e-books can also be downloaded from the Apple Book Store.

Choices for Cancer Care When Active Treatment May Not Be an Option

This updated page explains the types of care available to patients who decide not to continue with active cancer treatment. Information about hospice care has been added to the page.

Revised Fact Sheets

The Cancer Clusters fact sheet explains how cancer clusters are reported and evaluated, how to report a suspected cancer cluster or find out if one is being investigated, and where to go for more information.

The Alcohol and Cancer Risk fact sheet reviews what is known about alcohol consumption and cancer risk, including the types of cancers that are related to alcohol, how alcohol may increase cancer risk, and the role that genes play.

What Cancer Screening Statistics Really Tell Us

Studies of cancer screening have shown that more screening does not necessarily translate into fewer cancer deaths. This article explains how to interpret the statistics used to describe the results of screening studies.

Center for Cancer Research Patient Profiles

NCI’s Center for Cancer Research (CCR) has published two new patient profiles featuring people who turned to CCR and the NIH Clinical Center to treat their cancers.

• Prostate cancer journey leads to immunotherapy
• Former world-class hammer thrower battles diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL)

Understanding Uniparental Disomy Article and Video

In uniparental disomy, a condition thought to contribute to the uncontrolled cell growth seen in cancer, dividing cells inherit both copies of a chromosome from the same parent instead of inheriting one member of each paired chromosome from each parent as they should. In a new study, researchers in CCR’s Laboratory of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology have discovered how this happens. This new whiteboard animation video also describes the study and its findings.

Latest Issue of Linkage Newsletter Available

The Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics (DCEG) has published the Summer 2018 issue of its Linkage newsletter, including the feature articles Death Before Old Age: Untangling Premature Mortality in the United States and Agricultural Exposures, Multiple Myeloma Etiology: Profile of Tenure-track Investigator Jonathan Hofmann. Other highlights include summaries of the latest scientific publications from the division and updates on staff achievements, including the HHS Lifetime Achievement Award received by Martha Linet, M.D., M.P.H., for her decades of international leadership in epidemiology.

Recent DCEG Research Highlights

Researchers from DCEG have published results from several new studies in recent months. The division’s website features brief summaries of these studies, which were published after the latest Linkage newsletter.

• Pediatric Mortality Decreases in United States, but Rates Still Higher than Canada and United Kingdom
• Novel Susceptibility Loci Identified for Ewing Sarcoma
• Projecting Premature Death Rates for the US Population Through 2030
• Low-Dose Radiation Exposure Linked to Leukemia in Large Retrospective Study
• Coffee Consumption and Mortality Risk: A Look at the Effect of Genetic Variation in Caffeine Metabolism in the UK Biobank

NCI Biomedical Informatics Blog Posts Introduce New Office, Explore Partnerships

The latest post on the NCI Biomedical Informatics Blog introduces the new Office of Data Sharing (ODS), part of NCI’s Center for Biomedical Informatics and Information Technology, and explains the role ODS is playing in setting equitable data sharing principles for pediatric data across NCI and NIH data repositories.

Another recent post, Predictive Modeling for Pre-clinical Drug Screening: Improving Models Derived From Observational Studies Using Machine Learning and Simulation, explains how NCI and the Frederick National Laboratory for Cancer Research are collaborating with the Department of Energy and others on the Joint Design of Advanced Computing Solutions for Cancer (JDACS4C) Cellular Level Pilot.

Skin Cancer Treatment

NCI’s PDQ summary on skin cancer treatment has undergone a major revision. It includes updated information on risk factors, factors that affect prognosis, staging, and treatment options for basal cell carcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma of the skin.