Construction and preliminary validation of a tool to measure the needs of adolescents and young adults (AYA) diagnosed with cancer: the QUestionnaire nEEd Cancer AYAs: QUEEC-AYAs.

CONTEXT: In France, 2300 adolescents and young adults (AYAs, 15-25 years old) are diagnosed with cancer each year. As soon as the disease is diagnosed, a number of physical, psychological and social needs may arise. The aim of this study is to develop a tool to measure unmet needs that will allow the specificities of AYAs to be understood while allowing health care staff to mobilise the necessary actors to resolve them. METHODS: We developed the Questionnaire nEEd Cancer AYAs (QUEEC-AYAs questionnaire), from two existing questionnaires: the Cancer Needs Questionnaire Young People and the Needs Assessment & Service Bridge. A main sample of 103 AYAs then received and completed the questionnaire in order to conduct an exploratory factor analysis. RESULTS: The final structure of the QUEEC-AYAs is composed of 7 dimensions and 48 items: information (8 items), cancer care team (6 items), Physical health (4 items), Emotional health (14 items), Sexual & reproductive health (6 items), Health behaviors & wellness (4 items), Daily life (6 items). The questionnaire has a good acceptability and all domains have a Cronbach's alphas value above 0.80. CONCLUSION: The QUEEC-AYAs is the first measure of the psychosocial needs of AYAs available in French. Its systematic use in health care services should improve the coordination of care required by AYAs during and after treatment. TRIAL REGISTRATION: This study was approved by the ethics committee of the Paoli-Calmettes Institute (IRB # IPC 2021-041, 2021 May 20).

Coalescence of Anderson-localized modes at an exceptional point in 2D random media.

In non-Hermitian settings, the particular position at which two eigenstates coalesce in the complex plane under a variation of a physical parameter is called an exceptional point. An open disordered system is a special class of non-Hermitian system, where the degree of scattering directly controls the confinement of the modes. Herein a non-perturbative theory is proposed which describes the evolution of modes when the permittivity distribution of a 2D open dielectric system is modified, thereby facilitating to steer individual eigenstates to such a non-Hermitian degeneracy. The method is used to predict the position of such an exceptional point between two Anderson-localized states in a disordered scattering medium. We observe that the accuracy of the prediction depends on the number of localized states accounted for. Such an exceptional point is experimentally accessible in practically relevant disordered photonic systems.

[Does the announcement of cancer at the time of Non Muscle-Invasive Bladder Cancer diagnosis affect quality of life and adherence of patients? Data from the French prospective cohort VICAN]. / L'annonce du cancer au diagnostic de Tumeur de vessie non infiltrant le muscle modifie-t-elle la qualité de vie et l'observance des patients ? Données de la cohorte prospective française VICAN.

INTRODUCTION: The information provided at the time of diagnosis of Non Muscle-Invasive Bladder Cancer (NMIBC) is highly variable. Well-informed patient are more involved in shared decisions. The objective of our study was to assess the information perceived by the patient at the time of NMIBC diagnosis and its impact on quality of life. METHODS: The VICAN french cohort involved a representative sample of 4174 cancer patients and 5 years survivors. Patients reported outcomes (PROs) were collected by phone and self-questionnaire. Among the 118 NMIBC patients, the term used to define the pathology at diagnosis was prospectively evaluated. The impact on quality of life (using SF-12, EORTC-QLQ-C30 and HAD scale) and on adherence to the care protocol (endoscopic monitoring) has been assessed. RESULTS: Only 26.8% of patients reported hearing the word « Cancer ¼ at the time of NMIBC diagnosis. Conversely, 73.2% of them reported others terms, including « Tumor ¼ (22%), « Polyp ¼ (24%), and « Carcinoma ¼ (17.1%). There was no difference in terms of physical, mental quality of life and anxiety, regardless of the term used. Adherence to the follow-up endoscopic protocol was better in the group of patients hearing the word "Cancer". CONCLUSION: Three quarters of patients treated for NMIBC did not integrate the concept of « Cancer ¼ at the time of diagnosis. Quality of life and anxiety did not differ significantly depending on the term used at diagnosis. However, adherence to care protocol appears to be higher when using the word "Cancer". LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: 3.

Theoretical investigation using DFT of quinoxaline derivatives for electronic and photovoltaic effects.

Photovoltaic properties of solar cells based on fifteen organic dyes have been studied in this work. B3LYP/6-311G (d,p) methods are realized to obtain geometries and optimize the electronic properties, optical and photovoltaic parameters for some quinoxaline derivatives. The results showed that time dependent DFT investigations using the CAM-B3LYP method with the polarized split-valence 6-311G (d,p) basis sets and the polarizable continuum model PCM model were sensibly able to predict the excitation energies, the spectroscopy of the compounds. HOMO and LUMO energy levels of these molecules can make a positive impact on the process of electron injection and dye regeneration. Gaps energy ΔE g , short-circuit current density J sc, light-harvesting efficiency LHE, injection driving force ΔGinject, total reorganization energy λtotal and open-circuit photovoltage V oc enable qualitative predictions about the reactivity of these dyes.