Nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) is a specific entity different from head and neck carcinoma. Incidence is higher in South-East Asia and North Africa. Prognosis, especially for locally advanced stages (IIB - IVB) and metastasis, remains poor: more than third of cases will present local and/or metastatic recurrence. Overall 5-year survival for all NPC stages ranges from 50% to 70%. The role of chemotherapy in metastasis is well established, and remains an important palliative treatment, although no randomized trial has been reported comparing the different chemotherapy regimens. As 1(st)-line treatment, platin-based regimens seems optimal; in 2(nd) line and after progression under platins, there is no consensus: monotherapy with drugs such as gemcitabine, capecitabine or taxanes has been the most widely tested, with acceptable results. Future trials should integrate targeted therapy, in the light of overexpression of EGFR1 and C-kit in NPC. The present study presents a review of the literature concerning the various studies of metastatic NPC.

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Some alpha,omega-alkanediyl bis-dimethylammonium bromide compounds (gemini surfactants) referred as "m-s-m" have been synthesized, purified and characterized by usual spectroscopic methods. These compounds have been screened for antibacterial activity against Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Staphylococcus aureus. Their activity was compared. The compounds tested showed excellent in vitro antibacterial activity against Staphylococcus aureus ranging from 1.5 to 20 microg/ml and had variable activity against E. coli with minimum minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of 50 microg/ml. These compounds are less active against P. aeruginosa. On the other hand, contrary to the antibacterial activity of these products against S. aureus, a relation between the MIC and the critical micellar concentration (CMC) was found and relationship between chain's Length and antibacterial activity was found.

Some one fifth of lung AC tumors in Moroccan patients harbor EGFR mutations. This mutation frequency is higher than that found in whites but lower than in Asian population. Further studies, in larger numbers of patients, are needed to confirm these findings.

Background: A multicentre cohort study was held in Morocco, designed to evaluate the quality of life of cancer patients. The aim of this paper is to report the assessment of the quality of life of early colorectal cancer patients, before and after cancer treatment, to identify other factors which are related to this quality of life. Methods: We used the third version of the QLQ-C30 questionnaire of the European organization for Research and treatment of Cancer (EORTC) after a transcultural validation. The Data collection was done at inclusion and then every twelve weeks to achieve one year of follow up. Results: Overall 294 patients presented with early colorectal cancer, the median age was 56 years (range: 21-88). The male-female sex ratio was 1.17. At inclusion, the global health status was the most affected functional dimension. For symptoms: financial difficulties and fatigue scores were the highest ones. Emotional and social functions were significantly worse in rectal cancer. Most symptoms were more present in rectal cancer. At inclusion, global health status score was significantly worse in stage III. Anorexia was significantly more important among colorectal female patients. For Patients over 70 years-old, the difference was statistically significant for the physical function item which was lower. Overall, Functional dimensions scores were improved after chemotherapy. The symptoms scores did not differ significantly for patients treated by radiotherapy, between inclusion and at one year. Conclusion: Our EORTC QLQ C30 scores are overall comparable to the reference values. Neither chemotherapy, nor radiotherapy worsened the quality of life at one year.