As the cancer healthcare system world-wide is being integrated with new scientific discoveries to upgrade cancer care, the role of the onco-trained nurses is continuing to evolve.These trained nurses participate in a variety of roles and setups that were unheard of few years ago, but are now steadily increasing.Incorporation of genetics in practice of cancer treatment has given additional responsibility of cancer genetic counselling along with the physician and counsellor along with hospital administrative offices.Oncology nurses serve in numerous leadership positions, such as chief executive officers, directors of cancer service lines, and directors of admission services at hospitals and clinics.

The Journal of Cancer Metastasis and Treatment is an open access journal focused on cancer metastasis and treatment, including the occurrence, development, progression, metastasis, and treatment of oncologic disease. It covers basic, translational and clinical research related to cancer cell biology, genomics, precision medicine, oncology internal medicine, radiotherapy and radiology, obstetrics and gynecology, pediatrics, surgery, hematology, neurooncology, etc.

Primitive neuroectodermal tumors (PNETs) are highly malignant small round blue cell tumors of neuroectodermal origin belonging to either central nervous system, autonomic nervous system or peripheral Askin's or Ewing's group of neoplasms. The latter generally arise in soft tissues of trunk or axial skeleton in children and early adolescents. However in adults this entity is very uncommon. Of all peripheral entities, primary PNET of lungs without chest wall or pleural involvement in adults are extremely rare and have been scarcely reported in world literature as single case reports. We hereby report a series of three interesting cases of adult PNET of lung diagnosed and treated in our institute. The chief presenting complaints of these patients were of chest pain, cough and dyspnea. The cases were diagnosed on the basis of imaging and biopsy which confirmed these lesions to be of PNET histology, confirmed by immunopositivity for neuron specific enolase (NSE), synaptophysin, chromogranin, CD 99 and vimentin on immunohistochemistry (IHC). All three were deemed unresectable in view of infiltration of nearby vital organs and high chances of morbidity. They were treated with upfront chemotherapy followed by conformal radiotherapy (RT) to the residual disease to which they showed significant response both clinically and radiologically. Presently these patients are on regular follow-up for over 6 months without any evidence of progression of disease or distant metastasis.

Retinoblastoma (Rb) is a common childhood malignancy but bilateral Rb with metastasis to parotids is very uncommon. To the best of our knowledge, bilateral Rb metastasizing to parotids is very rare and this is the fifth such case reported in world literature till date in a 2-year-old male child who underwent exenteration of left eye for bilateral Rb and later developed recurrent metastasis to left parotid requiring parotidectomy. A year later he presented again with swelling left parotid region extending from occipital region reaching upto left anterior chest wall with intra-cranial extension on magnetic resonance imaging. Histopathological examination of the parotid swelling and immunohistochemistry showed metastasis from Rb. He was treated with chemotherapy followed by radiotherapy to local site and brain to which he responded well. Presently on regular follow up without any signs of locoregional and distal metastasis. Till date different types of primary parotid tumors have been reported in literature but a metastatic parotid tumor is extremely rare and therefore this case is being reported to highlight the extreme rarity, the diagnostic and therapeutic challenges, the highly aggressive nature and overall dismal prognosis of this disease entity.

Indian Journal of Endocrinology and Metabolism / Jan-Feb 2013 / Vol 17 | Issue 1 179 can play an effective role in creating mass awareness for prevention of type 2 DM and other Non Communicable Diseases (NCDs). Bangladesh is a secular country and more than 88% of its population are Muslims. We have several meetings with religious and opinion leaders like the Chief Imam of large Mosques and Principals of the Govt. accredited Madrasas in Bangladesh. They all agreed to help our mission for prevention of diabetes and other NCDs. The Imams also helped us to compose a religious sermon (Khutba) for Friday congregation. We have already appealed to the Imams for distributing it to different Mosques. We are also taking the help of our Affiliated Associations (almost one at each of the 64 districts) to persuade the Imams of the district headquarters to use this at Friday sermon. We also contacted Priests of Churches, Hindu Temples (Ram Krishna Mission), and Buddhist Temples (Buddha Bihar) for assistance. They all have agreed to help us. Govt. of Bangladesh is now in the process of finalizing a draft for the National Policy for Prevention of type 2 DM. The Govt. is also considering religious leaders as a part of the policy. We seek your help for disseminating this through your esteem Journal. We have the English version of this Khutba which we are glad to share with anybody who may like to use it.

BACKGROUND:Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) management has witnessed paradigm changes over the past decade. In the early era, Absolute lymphocyte counts (ALC) were used as an inexpensive, indirect marker of immunity status. With time, CD4 lymphocyte counts and HIV RNA levels have become a standard of care for follow up of people living with HIV/AIDS (PLHA). Wide disparities between resource rich and poor countries, rekindles the need for an inexpensive surrogate marker for CD4 lymphocyte counts. Multiple studies in the past including one by Sen S et al, in 2011 did not validate ALC as a surrogate marker of CD4 lymphocyte counts and had recommended a similar study at another centre to validate the same.(1) Recently few publications have suggested that ALC may be used as a proxy marker to CD4 lymphocyte counts in resource poor areas.(2) With this backdrop we decided to evaluate the association if any, of ALC as a surrogate marker to CD4 lymphocyte counts. METHODS:ALC and CD4 lymphocyte counts measurements of 241 patients at our HIV/AIDS referral centre were assessed over a period of 13 months. RESULTS:Pearson correlation coefficient, coefficient of determination and standard statistical methods revealed modest linear correlation between ALC and CD4 lymphocyte counts which was statistically significant but did not have clinical significance. CONCLUSION:We recommend that time has come to call curtains down on ALC as a surrogate marker for CD4 lymphocyte count.