Fatigue in breast cancer patients: psychometric evaluation of the fatigue questionnaire EORTC QLQ-FA13.

BACKGROUND: Fatigue is a frequent symptom in breast cancer patients and breast cancer survivors. The aims of this study were to test a newly developed fatigue questionnaire (EORTC QLQ-FA13) and to detect prognostic factors of fatigue. METHODS: A total of 308 breast cancer patients (response rate: 91 %) were tested with the fatigue questionnaire EORTC QLQ-FA13 and the fatigue scale of the EORTC QLQ-C30. In addition, several other questionnaires were also adopted. RESULTS: The youngest age group of breast cancer patients was most strongly affected by fatigue. The psychometric analysis of the EORTC QLQ-FA13 supported a three-dimensional structure (physical, emotional, and cognitive fatigue). The reliability (Cronbach's alpha = 0.94) was very good. Clinical factors such as time since diagnosis and received therapy did not significantly predict the level of fatigue. CONCLUSION: Fatigue remains a severe problem in breast cancer patients, especially in younger women. Researchers or clinicians who want to measure fatigue have the choice between the short 3-item fatigue scale of the EORTC QLQ-C30, stressing the physical aspect of fatigue, and the long 13-item EORTC QLQ-FA13 scale with slightly better psychometric properties, including cognitive and emotional aspects of fatigue.

Immortalisation of ovarian granulosa and Theca cells of the marmoset monkey Calllithrix jacchus.

In view of the increasing need for laboratory primates in biomedical research it is desirable to develop appropriate primate-specific cell culture models that could prevent or significantly reduce the increasing use of primary cultures and experiments with living animals. Follicular granulosa and theca cells are essential for the control of hormone-dependent processes such as the ovarian cycle and pregnancy, but also for the occurrence of hormone-dependent diseases. For this reason it is of great interest to know more about control mechanisms existing in these follicular cell types and the effect of pharmacological or toxicological agents on them. An immortalisation protocol for the two ovarian cell types of the marmoset monkey (Callithrix jacchus) has been developed. All cell lines established so far were examined with regard to the maintenance of known, tissue-specific features (e.g. hormone responsiveness and enzyme expression). The results obtained indicate that it is worth while cloning and characterising the cell lines in more detail so that they could be used after an adequate validation as a defined test system both for basic research as well as for pharmacological or toxicological screening.