Cancer research across Africa: a comparative bibliometric analysis.

INTRODUCTION: Research is a critical pillar in national cancer control planning. However, there is a dearth of evidence for countries to implement affordable strategies. The WHO and various Commissions have recommended developing stakeholder-based needs assessments based on objective data to generate evidence to inform national and regional prioritisation of cancer research needs and goals. METHODOLOGY: Bibliometric algorithms (macros) were developed and validated to assess cancer research outputs of all 54 African countries over a 12-year period (2009-2020). Subanalysis included collaboration patterns, site and domain-specific focus of research and understanding authorship dynamics by both position and sex. Detailed subanalysis was performed to understand multiple impact metrics and context relative outputs in comparison with the disease burden as well as the application of a funding thesaurus to determine funding resources. RESULTS: African countries in total published 23 679 cancer research papers over the 12-year period (2009-2020) with the fractional African contribution totalling 16 201 papers and the remaining 7478 from authors from out with the continent. The total number of papers increased rapidly with time, with an annual growth rate of 15%. The 49 sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries together published just 5281 papers, of which South Africa's contribution was 2206 (42% of the SSA total, 14% of all Africa) and Nigeria's contribution was 997 (19% of the SSA total, 4% of all Africa). Cancer research accounted for 7.9% of all African biomedical research outputs (African research in infectious diseases was 5.1 times than that of cancer research). Research outputs that are proportionally low relative to their burden across Africa are paediatric, cervical, oesophageal and prostate cancer. African research mirrored that of Western countries in terms of its focus on discovery science and pharmaceutical research. The percentages of female researchers in Africa were comparable with those elsewhere, but only in North African and some Anglophone countries. CONCLUSIONS: There is an imbalance in relevant local research generation on the continent and cancer control efforts. The recommendations articulated in our five-point plan arising from these data are broadly focused on structural changes, for example, overt inclusion of research into national cancer control planning and financial, for example, for countries to spend 10% of a notional 1% gross domestic expenditure on research and development on cancer.

Significance of Using SYPRO Ruby against CBB R-250 for Visualizing Haematoxylin Stained Proteins in Gels.

Laser Capture Micro-dissection (LCM) is a technique that is used to isolate specific tumor cells from a heterogeneous tumor tissue sample.To aid in identifying and dissecting pure tumor cells from other parts of the tissues such as the stroma, tissues are stained with Haematoxylin and Eosin. The cells are then used for protein, RNA or DNA extraction. However, the effect of Haematoxylin and Eosin or other different stains routinely used in the laboratories on the recovery, quantity and quality of proteins especially for down stream application such as 2-dimenssional gel electrophoresis (2-DE) and MS not known. This study, determined the effect of Haematoxylin staining on the detection methods used in 1-D SDS-PAGE for protein quantification. A series of concentration of proteins were obtained from human pancreatic whole tissue and was run on a SDS-PAGE parallel with the proteins obtained from Haematoxylin stained and unstained tissues.The protein band intensities were measured with a densitometer after separately stained with SYPRO Ruby or CBB R-250.The protein band intensity ratios of the whole tissue and Haematoxylin stain/ Haematoxylin unstained tissue were calculated. According to the ratios,there was an intensity loss in the Haematoxylin stained proteins when detecting through CBB R -250 but not from SYPRO Ruby. This was due to the structure and reactivity of these two stains towards proteins in the presence of Haematoxylin. The study recommends the use of SYPRO Ruby instead of CBB R-250 to visualize proteins in 2-DE gels when tissues were stained with Haematoxylin.

Part I: cancer in Sudan­burden, distribution, and trends breast, gynecological, and prostate cancers.

Despite the growing burden of cancer worldwide, it continues to receive low priority in Africa, across the continent and specifically in Sudan. This is due to political unrest, limited health resources, and other pressing public health issues such as infectious diseases. Lack of awareness about the magnitude of the current and future cancer burden among policy makers play a major role as well. Although, the real scope of cancer in Sudan is not known, the reported cases have increased from 303 in 1967-6303 in 2010. According to Globocan estimates, the top most common cancers in both sexes are breast, non-Hodgkin lymphoma, leukemia, esophagus, and colorectum. This review is the first of four papers that focuses on cancer, its distribution and trend as well as the risk factors most common in Sudan. It is expected that cancer will increase in Sudan as a result of migration of people from rural areas to urban cities in the pursuit of a better standard of living, which has resulted in lifestyle and behavioral changes that include tobacco chewing and smoking, unhealthy dieting, and a lack of physical activity. These changes are further exacerbated by the aging population and have made the country vulnerable to many diseases including cancer. These reviews are meant to provide a better understanding and knowledge required to plan appropriate cancer-control and prevention strategies in the country.

Breast-cancer screening with trained volunteers in a rural area of Sudan: a pilot study.

BACKGROUND: Breast cancer has a low cure rate in low-income and middle-income countries because patients often present with late-stage disease that has metastasised to other organs. We assessed whether the implementation of a cancer awareness and breast examination programme that uses local, volunteer women could increase the early detection of breast cancer in a rural area of sub-Saharan Africa. METHODS: We did this pilot study in two counties in Gezira State, Sudan. We chose Keremet (56 villages) as the experimental county and Abugota (79 villages) as the control county. Female volunteers from villages in Keremet were trained in the detection of breast abnormalities. When trained, volunteers visited households in their village and screened women aged 18 years or older for breast abnormalities, referring women with suspected breast cancer for medical diagnosis and, if necessary, treatment at the district hospital. We also ran a cancer awareness programme for both men and women in study villages. Villages in the control population received no intervention. This study is ongoing. FINDINGS: Between Jan 1, 2010, and Oct 10, 2012, 10 309 (70%) of 14 788 women in Keremet were screened. 138 women were identified as having breast abnormalities and were referred to the district hospital for diagnosis and treatment. 20 of these women did not report to the hospital. Of the 118 women who did report, 101 were diagnosed with benign lesions, eight with carcinoma in situ, and nine had malignant disease. After treatment, 12 of the 17 women with either carcinoma in situ or malignant disease (four had early breast cancer and eight had ductal carcinoma in situ) were disease-free and had a good prognosis. In the control villages, only four women reported to the centre: one was found to have a benign lesion while three were diagnosed with advanced disease. INTERPRETATION: Our findings show that a screening programme using local volunteers can increase the detection of breast cancer in asymptomatic women in low-income rural communities. These findings can inform policy-makers' decisions in the design of cancer control programmes in Sudan and other similar areas in sub-Saharan Africa. FUNDING: Sudan National Cancer Institute.

Effect of a photoactivated rhodium complex in melanoma.

cis-Dichlorobis (3,4,7,8-tetramethyl-1,10-phenanthroline) rhodium(III) chloride (OCTBP) is an octahedral complex that has been shown to react with nucleic acids when irradiated with light. Earlier studies on its phototoxicity toward human esophageal, bladder, pancreas, and colon cancer cells have been extended to in-vitro and in-vivo evaluation of its effect on malignant melanoma cells using the 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-5-(3-carboxymethoxyphenyl)-2-(4-sulfophenyl)-2H-tetrazolium proliferation assay and xenograft model of melanoma. Tumor volume and the percentage of tumor growth delay were used to assess the antitumor effect of light-activated OCTBP. Terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase dUTP nick-end labeling assays and immunohistochemistry were also performed on tumor tissue samples. Photoactivated OCTBP was found to inhibit melanoma cell growth by 40% at 100 µmol/l concentration. Phototherapy with OCTBP was most efficacious with optimal percentage treated/control values observed early in the course of the experiment. At the end of the experiment (60 days), there was a 50% tumor inhibition compared with vehicle or drug controls. OCTBP treatment resulted in a tumor growth delay of 16 days (tumor growth of 24%) compared with the untreated control, whereas cisplatin resulted in 10 days tumor growth delay. This antitumor activity was found to be closely associated with the induction of apoptosis. The use of photoactivated OCTBP as an adjuvant therapy for the treatment of melanoma may provide a new targeted therapy to prevent progression of this disease.