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SUMMARY OBJECTIVE: Breast cancer is the most common malignancy in women. In the treatment of these patients, pathological complete response is defined as the absence of invasive cancer in breast or lymph node tissue after the completion of neoadjuvant chemotherapy. In this study, we aimed to investigate the relationship of enhancer of zeste homolog 2 and mucin 1 expressions with pathological complete response in patients with breast cancer receiving neoadjuvant chemotherapy. METHODS: A total of 151 patients were included in the study. Enhancer of zeste homolog 2 and mucin 1 expressions were evaluated in the biopsy materials pre-neoadjuvant chemotherapy and post-neoadjuvant chemotherapy surgical material, and their relationship with pathological complete response was investigated. RESULTS: The pathological complete response rates were significantly higher among the hormone receptor-negative patients, those with a high Ki-67 score, and patients with HER2-positive. Higher pathological complete response rates were obtained from patients with enhancer of zeste homolog 2 expression positivity pre-neoadjuvant chemotherapy. In addition, after neoadjuvant chemotherapy, enhancer of zeste homolog 2 expression was found to be completely negative in materials with pathological complete response; that is, in breast tissues considered to be tumor-free. While there was no significant relationship between mucin 1 expression and pathological complete response pre-neoadjuvant chemotherapy, mucin 1 expression was determined to significantly differ between the tissues with and without pathological complete response among the surgical materials examined. CONCLUSION: In our study investigating the relationship between enhancer of zeste homolog 2 and mucin 1 expression and pathological complete response in patients who received neoadjuvant chemotherapy, we found that enhancer of zeste homolog 2 expression could be used as a predictive marker for pathological complete response. However, mucin 1 expression was not associated with pathological complete response.
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AIM: To examine stress in carers of the elderly who attended a solo family medical practice. METHOD: Eighty-seven carers were compared with 102 non-caregiving controls. Subjects were asked to complete survey questionnaires either in the surgery or at home. The General Health Questionnaire (CHQ) was used to assess psychological morbidity, the Relative Stress Scale as a measure of subjective burden and information was collected on activities of daily living and instrumental activities of daily living. RESULTS: No significant difference was found in GHQ scores, reflecting the high level of stress in this family practice sample (mean GHQ = 4.7, standard deviation = 6.2). Psychological morbidity in carers was associated with the provision of assistance with instrumental activities of daily living such as shopping, cooking and finances. CONCLUSIONS: We suggest that because carers often encounter specific challenges which may be amenable to intervention, general practitioners should familiarise themselves with these issues, determine the caregiving status of their patients and provide information about community services to carers.