ENCR News

Statistical methods for population-based cancer survival analysis - Treviso, Italy, 17-22 June 2013 http://cansurvnet Paul Dickman and Paul Lambert will hold a 1-week course on statistical methods for population-based cancer survival analysis in Treviso, Italy from 17-22 June 2013 as part of the annual summer school http://www.biostatepi.org. The course will address the principles, methods and application of statistical methods in population-based cancer survival analysis and cover central concepts, such as how to estimate and model relative survival, as well as recent methodological developments including cure models, flexible parametric models, and estimating crude probabilities of death. Comparison of alternative methodological approaches (e.g. to estimating relative survival and to modeling relative survival) will be a focus of the course and participants will get the opportunity to apply and contrast a range of methods to real data. A large amount of time will be devoted to exercise sessions where Drs Lambert and Dickman along with 3 other experienced faculty members will be available to work with participants individually or in small groups. The exercise sessions will also provide an opportunity for participants to discuss their own research projects with the faculty (and with each other). More information can be found on http://cansurvnet Paul Dickman & Paul Lambert For the organisers Posted on 5 February 2013
Posted on 09 Oct. 2012	ENCR Scientific Meeting & General Assembly 2012 19-20 September, Cork, Ireland. The presentations are now available! More...
Data protection: the European Commission proposes a comprehensive reform of the data protection rules The European Commission proposed a comprehensive reform of the EU's 1995 data protection rules to strengthen online privacy rights. Whereas an update is much needed in this field, the reform will have a direct impact on cancer research. As data protection and ethical conduct of research is part of the EUROCOURSE project, the EUROCOURSE WP2 working group studied the proposed Regulation. Reviewing over 83 different paragraphs and definitions is a highly specialised task in which they were helped by a Dutch law firm expert in this domain of EU legislation. Main principles of the proposed regulation: Explicit consent needed to process personal data relating to health (Article 9), Right for all individuals "to be forgotten", Coded ID numbers considered identifiable data. However, the proposed regulation currently also includes three articles (81, 82 and 83) exempting the type of research conducted with cancer registry data and linkages to auxiliary files. It is imperative that these articles are maintained to be able to continue public health research. Read this article published in the European Journal of Public Health (EJPH) for more details. The EUROCOURSE WP2 working group have contacted Members of the European Parliament last summer through the European Cancer League (ECL) (read Open Letter). Another letter (read here) was sent to the European Commission to emphasize the risks brought upon cancer research should the articles 81, 82 and 83 be removed from the proposed reform. The Eurocourse WP2 together with ENCR, their legal advisor and experts from clinical databases and screening, met again on 6 June, in Amsterdam, where the revised regulation proposal was discussed. The clauses that may impact the utilisation of cancer registries and other databases for public health research and monitoring were commented in detail. This will be compiled in a document and shared so this can be used as information to the MEP’s and other officials. The ENCR Steering Committee strongly encourages each cancer registry to contact their MEPs to emphasize the importance for public health to exempt cancer research from the three main principles with from-the-field examples. References: - Directive 95/46/EC of the European Parliament: http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=CELEX:31995L0046:EN:HTML - European Commission website: http://ec.europa.eu/justice/newsroom/data-protection/news/120125_en.htm Posted on 18 June 2012
Posted on 31 May 2012	IACR Annual Conference Cork 2012 & ENCR Meeting The 34th IACR Annual Conference and the ENCR Meeting will be held on 17-20 September 2012 in Cork, Ireland. The ENCR Meeting will showcase the most significant achievements of the Network over the past five years and other topics of relevance to the European cancer registries. The outcomes of EUROCOURSE, the major ENCR project, will be presented. To find out more information about these events and register, please visit our dedicated website at www.iacr2012.com.
Available on request: Electronic cancer staging tool The Northern Ireland Cancer Registry (NICR), Queen's University Belfast, with licence from Springer Healthcare, LLC, has developed a Microsoft Access-based Staging Tool. The tool calculates TNM and other site-specific cancer staging classifications from the basic features of the patient's disease (e.g. tumour size or number of lymph nodes involved), entered by the user in a controlled fashion. Currently the tool is based on version 6 of the AJCC staging manual for all cancer sites, except for Lung and Uterus which have been converted to version 7. The NICR are planning to update all sites to version 7 in the near future. The NICR Staging Tool can be used by any ENCR registry who have proof of purchase of three AJCC Cancer Staging Manuals from Springer Healthcare, LLC. To request the NICR Staging Tool, an online request form will be made available on the NICR website (www.qub.ac.uk/research-centres/nicr). Posted on 16 December 2011
Cancer Epidemiology: Principles & Methods The FREE PDF is available online! Click here to view the download page. Posted on 09 December 2011
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