Surviving testicular cancer: the Lebanese lived experience.

Science.gov (United States)

Saab, Mohammad; Noureddine, Samar; Abu-Saad Huijer, Huda; Dejong, Jocelyn

2014-01-01

Testicular cancer is thought to have a great impact on its survivors, yet there has been limited literature on the topic globally and no literature on the topic in Lebanon and the Arab region. The purpose of this study was to explore the lived experience of Lebanese testicular cancer survivors and gain an in-depth understanding of the psychosexual aspect of their experience. A hermeneutic phenomenological approach with semistructured digitally recorded interviews and observational field notes was utilized. A purposive sample of Lebanese testicular cancer survivors, aged between 18 and 50 years, in remission for at least 3 years, and willing to share personal information was recruited. Interviews were transcribed verbatim in Arabic. Data saturation was achieved at the seventh interview; a total of eight informants were recruited. The opening question was, "Tell me about your life since you got treated for testicular cancer," and was followed by probing questions. Two to three weeks after the initial interview, informants were called to validate the investigators' primary analysis. Six core themes emerged: cancer perception in the Lebanese culture; "do not show, do not tell"; cancer experience is a turning point; fertility, manhood, and relationships; coping with cancer; and preserved aspects of life. The findings provide an in-depth understanding of the experience of Lebanese testicular cancer survivors with a focus on the psychosexual aspect of this experience. The results suggest the need to educate patients about testicular cancer and its effect on their fertility.

Exploring the lived experiences of people with learning disabilities who are dying of cancer.

Science.gov (United States)

Tuffrey-Wijne, Irene; Bernal, Jane; Hubert, Jane; Butler, Gary; Hollins, Sheila

Growing numbers of people with learning disabilities are living longer and dying of age related illnesses such as cancer. To explore the experiences of people with learning disabilities who have cancer. The study used participant observation with 13 people with learning disabilities. All had a cancer diagnosis and 10 were terminally ill. Participants were visited regularly at home and in other settings, including hospitals. The main themes were: dependent lives; deprived lives; truth telling and understanding; the importance of families; inexperienced carers and unprepared services; and resilience. To understand the experiences of people with learning disabilities who are dying of cancer, it is important to understand their previous life experiences and key relationships. Healthcare professionals who treat people with respect, dignity and openness can make a positive difference to their care.

Living near nuclear power plants and thyroid cancer risk: A systematic review and meta-analysis

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kim, Jae Young; Bang, Ye Jin; Ee, Won Jin

2016-01-01

There has been public concern regarding the safety of residing near nuclear power plants, and the extent of risk for thyroid cancer among adults living near nuclear power plants has not been fully explored. In the present study, a systematic review and meta-analysis of epidemiologic studies was conducted to investigate the association between living near nuclear power plants and the risk of thyroid cancer. Our study does not support an association between living near nuclear power plants and risk of thyroid cancer but does support a need for well designed future studies given the conflicting results from sensitivity analysis.

Living near nuclear power plants and thyroid cancer risk: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kim, Jae Young [Dept. of Preventive Medicine, Keimyung University College of Medicine, Daegu (Korea, Republic of); Bang, Ye Jin; Ee, Won Jin [Dept. of Preventive Medicine, Korea University College of Medicine, Seoul (Korea, Republic of)

2016-04-15

There has been public concern regarding the safety of residing near nuclear power plants, and the extent of risk for thyroid cancer among adults living near nuclear power plants has not been fully explored. In the present study, a systematic review and meta-analysis of epidemiologic studies was conducted to investigate the association between living near nuclear power plants and the risk of thyroid cancer. Our study does not support an association between living near nuclear power plants and risk of thyroid cancer but does support a need for well designed future studies given the conflicting results from sensitivity analysis.

The meaning of having to live with cancer in old age.

Science.gov (United States)

Thomé, B; Esbensen, B A; Dykes, A-K; Hallberg, I R

2004-12-01

Little is known about how older people with cancer experience their life situation. To increase the understanding of how illness is experienced in older people with cancer, the aim of this study was to investigate the meaning of living with cancer in old age. The hermeneutic phenomenological method as described by van Manen and referred to as 'phenomenology of praxis' was used. Ten persons (seven women and three men) aged 75 and over, who had a diagnosis of cancer and who had just completed cancer treatment, were interviewed in their own homes. The analysis revealed a life world affected to varying degrees by the cancer disease. The lived experiences across the interviews were revealed in four overarching essential themes: transition into a more or less disintegrated existence, sudden awareness of the finiteness of life, redefinition of one's role in life for good and for bad, meeting disease and illness. To provide individual support and appropriate care to older people with cancer it is important for health care professionals to identify and take care of disabilities and to support the reorientation in the disintegrated life situation. It is also important to have preparedness to meet the old person's thoughts about death. Thus, it is important to encourage the old person to describe her/his illness experience to increase understanding about what is meaningful for her/him.

A preliminary conceptual framework for cancer couple dyads: live with love.

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Qiuping; Loke, Alice Y

2015-01-01

With the research focus on family caregiving shifting from the individual to the dyadic level, there is a need to develop a conceptual framework that focused on caregiver-patient dyads. The aim of this study was to develop a preliminary conceptual framework for cancer couple dyads, to "Live With Love." A literature search was conducted among 4 electronic databases to identify couple-based intervention studies related to couples coping with cancer. This report differs from a traditional literature review in that we synthesized the models or frameworks used in these studies rather than the outcomes of the studies. A preliminary Live With Love Conceptual Framework (P-LLCF) for cancer couple dyads was developed based on the conceptual frameworks adopted in related literature on spousal caregiving for patients with cancer. This P-LLCF contains 3 domains: event situation, dyadic mediators, and caregiver-patient dyads (appraisal, coping, and adjustment/outcomes). The various components in this P-LLCF will work together to benefit the positive dyadic adjustment/outcomes of the spousal caregiver-patient dyads in the cancer dyads' journey of coping with cancer. This P-LLCF sheds new light on the study of cancer couple dyads. It will be potentially valuable for guiding the related research and development of interventions on cancer couple dyads. Future research is needed to assess the outcome of interventions that focus on different components. It is also needed to develop measurements to assess dyadic adjustment/outcomes in nursing practice.

The Lived Experience of Iranian Women Confronting Breast Cancer Diagnosis.

Science.gov (United States)

Mehrabi, Esmat; Hajian, Sepideh; Simbar, Masoomeh; Hoshyari, Mohammad; Zayeri, Farid

2016-03-01

The populations who survive from breast cancer are growing; nevertheless, they mostly encounter with many cancer related problems in their life, especially after early diagnosis and have to deal with these problems. Except for the disease entity, several socio-cultural factors may affect confronting this challenge among patients and the way they deal with. Present study was carried out to prepare clear understanding of Iranian women's lived experiences confronting breast cancer diagnosis and coping ways they applied to deal with it. This study was carried out by using qualitative phenomenological design. Data gathering was done through purposive sampling using semi-structured, in-depth interviews with 18 women who survived from breast cancer. The transcribed interviews were analyzed using Van Manen's thematic analysis approach. Two main themes were emerged from the interviews including "emotional turbulence" and "threat control". The first, comprised three sub themes including uncertainty, perceived worries, and living with fears. The second included risk control, recurrence control, immediate seeking help, seeking support and resource to spirituality. Emotional response was the immediate reflection to cancer diagnosis. However, during post-treatment period a variety of emotions were not uncommon findings, patients' perceptions have been changing along the time and problem-focused coping strategies have replaced. Although women may experience a degree of improvement and adjustment with illness, the emotional problems are not necessarily resolved, they may continue and gradually engender positive outcomes.

Supportive care needs of rural individuals living with cancer: A literature review.

Science.gov (United States)

Loughery, Joanne; Woodgate, Roberta L

2015-01-01

Regardless of geographic location, the cancer journey is an extremely difficult experience for both patients and their families. The aim of this literature review is to explore the impact of rural or remote residence on the supportive care needs of individuals living with cancer. This review included ten qualitative, seven quantitative, and six mixed design studies. Data collection, analysis, and evaluation were guided using a multi-domain supportive care framework based on seven domains: physical, emotional, informational, psychological, spiritual, social, and practical (Fitch, 2009). This review will suggest that there are distinct experiences that present both challenges and benefits to individuals living with cancer in rural areas. These findings will be detailed with recommendations, and grounding for future research outlined.

“Picking up the pieces”—Meanings of receiving home nursing care when being old and living with advanced cancer in a rural area

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Siri Andreassen Devik

2015-09-01

Full Text Available Rural home nursing care is a neglected area in the research of palliative care offered to older cancer patients. Because access to specialized services is hampered by long distances and fragmented infrastructure, palliative care is often provided through standard home nursing services and delivered by general district nurses. This study aimed to illuminate the lived experience and to interpret the meaning of receiving home nursing care when being old and living with advanced cancer in a rural area in Norway. Narrative interviews were conducted with nine older persons, and a phenomenological hermeneutic approach was used to interpret the meaning of the lived experience. The analysis revealed three themes, each with subthemes: being content with what one gets, falling into place, and losing one's place. The phrase picking up the pieces was found useful to sum up the meaning of this lived experience. The three respective themes refer to how the pieces symbolize the remaining parts of life or available services in their environment, and how the older persons may see themselves as pieces or bricks in a puzzle. A strong place attachment (physical insideness, social insideness, and autobiographical insideness is demonstrated by the informants in this study and suggests that the rural context may provide an advantageous healthcare environment. Its potential to be a source of comfort, security, and identity concurs with cancer patients’ strong desire for being seen as unique persons. The study shows that district nurses play an essential role in the provision of palliative care for older rural patients. However, the therapeutic value of being in one's familiar landscape seems to depend on how homecare nurses manage to locate it and use it in a more or less person-centred manner. Communication skills and attentiveness to psychosocial aspects of patient care stand out as important attributes for nursing in this context.

The Lived Experience of Iranian Women Confronting Breast Cancer Diagnosis

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Esmat Mehrabi

2016-03-01

Full Text Available Introduction: The populations who survive from breast cancer are growing; nevertheless, they mostly encounter with many cancer related problems in their life, especially after early diagnosis and have to deal with these problems. Except for the disease entity, several socio-cultural factors may affect confronting this challenge among patients and the way they deal with. Present study was carried out to prepare clear understanding of Iranian women's lived experiences confronting breast cancer diagnosis and coping ways they applied to deal with it. Methods: This study was carried out by using qualitative phenomenological design. Data gathering was done through purposive sampling using semi-structured, in-depth interviews with 18 women who survived from breast cancer. The transcribed interviews were analyzed using Van Manen’s thematic analysis approach. Results: Two main themes were emerged from the interviews including "emotional turbulence" and "threat control". The first, comprised three sub themes including uncertainty, perceived worries, and living with fears. The second included risk control, recurrence control, immediate seeking help, seeking support and resource to spirituality. Conclusion: Emotional response was the immediate reflection to cancer diagnosis. However, during post-treatment period a variety of emotions were not uncommon findings, patients' perceptions have been changing along the time and problem-focused coping strategies have replaced. Although women may experience a degree of improvement and adjustment with illness, the emotional problems are not necessarily resolved, they may continue and gradually engender positive outcomes.

A Holistic Model of Care to Support Those Living with and beyond Cancer

Science.gov (United States)

Cadet, Tamara; Davis, Cindy; Elks, Jacinta; Wilson, Patricia

2016-01-01

Background: Globally, the burden of cancer continues to increase and it is well-documented that while not a homogeneous population, cancer patients and cancer survivors face many physical, psychological, social, spiritual, and financial issues. Cancer care is shifting from a disease-focused to a patient-centered approach resulting in an increased need to address these concerns. Methods: Utilizing a quality improvement approach, this paper describes an integrated cancer care model at Bloomhill Cancer Center (BCC) in Queensland, Australia that demonstrates the ability to meet the holistic needs of patients living with and beyond cancer and to identify opportunities for better practice and service provision. Results: Survey results indicate that 67% and 77% of respondents were very satisfied and 27% and 17% were satisfied with their first contact and very satisfied with their first meeting with a nurse at BCC. Clients also reported being very satisfied (46%) or satisfied (30%) with the emotional support they received at BCC and over 90% were very satisfied or satisfied with the touch therapies that the received. Conclusion: Due to the early success of the interventions provided by BCC, the model potentially offers other states and countries a framework for supportive cancer care provision for people living with and beyond cancer. PMID:27869728

Living near nuclear power plants and thyroid cancer risk: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

Science.gov (United States)

Kim, Jaeyoung; Bang, Yejin; Lee, Won Jin

2016-02-01

There has been public concern regarding the safety of residing near nuclear power plants, and the extent of risk for thyroid cancer among adults living near nuclear power plants has not been fully explored. In the present study, a systematic review and meta-analysis of epidemiologic studies was conducted to investigate the association between living near nuclear power plants and the risk of thyroid cancer. A comprehensive literature search was performed on studies published up to March 2015 on the association between nuclear power plants and thyroid cancer risk. The summary standardized incidence ratio (SIR), standardized mortality ratio (SMR), and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated using a random-effect model of meta-analysis. Sensitivity analyses were performed by study quality. Thirteen studies were included in the meta-analysis, covering 36 nuclear power stations in 10 countries. Overall, summary estimates showed no significant increased thyroid cancer incidence or mortality among residents living near nuclear power plants (summary SIR=0.98; 95% CI 0.87-1.11, summary SMR=0.80; 95% CI 0.62-1.04). The pooled estimates did not reveal different patterns of risk by gender, exposure definition, or reference population. However, sensitivity analysis by exposure definition showed that living less than 20 km from nuclear power plants was associated with a significant increase in the risk of thyroid cancer in well-designed studies (summary OR=1.75; 95% CI 1.17-2.64). Our study does not support an association between living near nuclear power plants and risk of thyroid cancer but does support a need for well-designed future studies. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Increasingly strong reduction in breast cancer mortality due to screening

Science.gov (United States)

van Schoor, G; Moss, S M; Otten, J D M; Donders, R; Paap, E; den Heeten, G J; Holland, R; Broeders, M J M; Verbeek, A L M

2011-01-01

Background: Favourable outcomes of breast cancer screening trials in the 1970s and 1980s resulted in the launch of population-based service screening programmes in many Western countries. We investigated whether improvements in mammography and treatment modalities have had an influence on the effectiveness of breast cancer screening from 1975 to 2008. Methods: In Nijmegen, the Netherlands, 55 529 women received an invitation for screening between 1975 and 2008. We designed a case–referent study to evaluate the impact of mammographic screening on breast cancer mortality over time from 1975 to 2008. A total number of 282 breast cancer deaths were identified, and 1410 referents aged 50–69 were sampled from the population invited for screening. We estimated the effectiveness by calculating the odds ratio (OR) indicating the breast cancer death rate for screened vs unscreened women. Results: The breast cancer death rate in the screened group over the complete period was 35% lower than in the unscreened group (OR=0.65; 95% CI=0.49–0.87). Analysis by calendar year showed an increasing effectiveness from a 28% reduction in breast cancer mortality in the period 1975–1991 (OR=0.72; 95% CI=0.47–1.09) to 65% in the period 1992–2008 (OR=0.35; 95% CI=0.19–0.64). Conclusion: Our results show an increasingly strong reduction in breast cancer mortality over time because of mammographic screening. PMID:21343930

Medicinal Plants and Other Living Organisms with Antitumor Potential against Lung Cancer

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Luara de Sousa Monteiro

2014-01-01

Full Text Available Lung cancer is a disease with high morbidity and mortality rates. As a result, it is often associated with a significant amount of suffering and a general decrease in the quality of life. Herbal medicines are recognized as an attractive approach to lung cancer therapy with little side effects and are a major source of new drugs. The aim of this work was to review the medicinal plants and other living organisms with antitumor potential against lung cancer. The assays were conducted with animals and humans, and Lewis lung carcinoma was the most used experimental model. China, Japan, South Korea, and Ethiopia were the countries that most published studies of species with antitumor activity. Of the 38 plants evaluated, 27 demonstrated antitumor activity. In addition, six other living organisms were cited for antitumor activity against lung cancer. Mechanisms of action, combination with chemotherapeutic drugs, and new technologies to increase activity and reduce the toxicity of the treatment are discussed. This review was based on the NAPRALERT databank, Web of Science, and Chemical Abstracts. This work shows that natural products from plants continue to be a rich source of herbal medicines or biologically active compounds against cancer.

Living with a diagnosis of non-small cell lung cancer: patients' lived experiences.

LENUS (Irish Health Repository)

McCarthy, Ita

2012-01-31

The aim of this study was to explore patients\\' experience of living with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Patients diagnosed with NSCLC know that their treatment is not with curative intent and can expect distressing symptoms. In this phenomenological study, six adults with a diagnosis of NSCLC were interviewed. Data was analysed guided by van Manen\\'s six-step process. Four main themes were interpreted: \\'Maintaining my life\\'; \\'The enemy within\\'; \\'Staying on the train\\

Managing occupations in everyday life for people with advanced cancer living at home.

Science.gov (United States)

Peoples, Hanne; Brandt, Åse; Wæhrens, Eva E; la Cour, Karen

2017-01-01

People with advanced cancer are able to live for extended periods of time. Advanced cancer can cause functional limitations influencing the ability to manage occupations. Although studies have shown that people with advanced cancer experience occupational difficulties, there is only limited research that specifically explores how these occupational difficulties are managed. To describe and explore how people with advanced cancer manage occupations when living at home. A sub-sample of 73 participants from a larger occupational therapy project took part in the study. The participants were consecutively recruited from a Danish university hospital. Qualitative interviews were performed at the homes of the participants. Content analysis was applied to the data. Managing occupations were manifested in two main categories; (1) Conditions influencing occupations in everyday life and (2) Self-developed strategies to manage occupations. The findings suggest that people with advanced cancer should be supported to a greater extent in finding ways to manage familiar as well as new and more personally meaningful occupations to enhance quality of life.

The Lived Experiences of African American Women with Breast Cancer: Implications for Counselors

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Clay, LaTasha K.

2013-01-01

Qualitative phenomenological methodology was used to explore the lived experiences of African American women diagnosed with breast cancer. Phenomenology focuses on the meaning of the lived experiences of individuals experiencing a concept, structure, or phenomenon (Creswell, 2007). The purpose of phenomenological research is to identify phenomena…

Lived Experiences of "Illness Uncertainty" of Iranian Cancer Patients: A Phenomenological Hermeneutic Study.

Science.gov (United States)

Sajjadi, Moosa; Rassouli, Maryam; Abbaszadeh, Abbas; Brant, Jeannine; Majd, Hamid Alavi

2016-01-01

For cancer patients, uncertainty is a pervasive experience and a major psychological stressor that affects many aspects of their lives. Uncertainty is a multifaceted concept, and its understanding for patients depends on many factors, including factors associated with various sociocultural contexts. Unfortunately, little is known about the concept of uncertainty in Iranian society and culture. This study aimed to clarify the concept and explain lived experiences of illness uncertainty in Iranian cancer patients. In this hermeneutic phenomenological study, 8 cancer patients participated in semistructured in-depth interviews about their experiences of uncertainty in illness. Interviews continued until data saturation was reached. All interviews were recorded, transcribed, analyzed, and interpreted using 6 stages of the van Manen phenomenological approach. Seven main themes emerged from patients' experiences of illness uncertainty of cancer. Four themes contributed to uncertainty including "Complexity of Cancer," "Confusion About Cancer," "Contradictory Information," and "Unknown Future." Two themes facilitated coping with uncertainty including "Seeking Knowledge" and "Need for Spiritual Peace." One theme, "Knowledge Ambivalence," revealed the struggle between wanting to know and not wanting to know, especially if bad news was delivered. Uncertainty experience for cancer patients in different societies is largely similar. However, some experiences (eg, ambiguity in access to medical resources) seemed unique to Iranian patients. This study provided an outlook of cancer patients' experiences of illness uncertainty in Iran. Cancer patients' coping ability to deal with uncertainty can be improved.

Lived experiences of breast cancer survivors after diagnosis, treatment and beyond: qualitative study.

Science.gov (United States)

Williams, Faustine; Jeanetta, Stephen C

2016-06-01

The number of breast cancer survivors has increased since 1990 due to advances in biomedical technology that lead to an increase in early diagnosis and treatment. Research on survivorship has focused on the psychological and treatment aspects of the disease. The goal of this study was focused on exploring the lived experiences of breast cancer survivors from diagnosis, treatment and beyond. To understand the lived experiences of women who are breast cancer survivors. A purposive sampling strategy was used to recruit participants from two Missouri cancer centres. A total of 15 women breast cancer survivors were interviewed. Three major themes emerged that described the lived experiences of the women. These were factors from the diagnosis and treatment management impacting survivorship, relationship and support system and implication of survivorship. Participants noted that coping with the diagnosis and treatment was a stressful journey and required lots of adjustment and changes. Some developed various techniques such as journaling their activities which provided comfort. In addition, support from family was shared as the key which gave them strength and courage through the different stages of treatment. However, they found it difficult to articulate what survivorship meant. Using in-depth interview techniques, this study shed light on the experiences of women who were diagnosed with breast cancer and have completed treatment. They acknowledged frustration with their diagnosis and body changes. Support received from family and friends helped them cope through their treatment. However, they felt abandoned once the treatment phase was over and were uncertain what survivorhood meant to them. © 2015 The Authors Health Expectations Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Prostate Cancer Patient Characteristics Associated With a Strong Preference to Preserve Sexual Function and Receipt of Active Surveillance.

Science.gov (United States)

Broughman, James R; Basak, Ramsankar; Nielsen, Matthew E; Reeve, Bryce B; Usinger, Deborah S; Spearman, Kiayni C; Godley, Paul A; Chen, Ronald C

2018-04-01

Men with early-stage prostate cancer have multiple options that have similar oncologic efficacy but vary in terms of their impact on quality of life. In low-risk cancer, active surveillance is the option that best preserves patients' sexual function, but it is unknown if patient preference affects treatment selection. Our objectives were to identify patient characteristics associated with a strong preference to preserve sexual function and to determine whether patient preference and baseline sexual function level are associated with receipt of active surveillance in low-risk cancer. In this population-based cohort of men with localized prostate cancer, baseline patient-reported sexual function was assessed using a validated instrument. Patients were also asked whether preservation of sexual function was very, somewhat, or not important. Prostate cancer disease characteristics and treatments received were abstracted from medical records. A modified Poisson regression model with robust standard errors was used to compute adjusted risk ratio (aRR) estimates. All statistical tests were two-sided. Among 1194 men, 52.6% indicated a strong preference for preserving sexual function. Older men were less likely to have a strong preference (aRR = 0.98 per year, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.97 to 0.99), while men with normal sexual function were more likely (vs poor function, aRR = 1.59, 95% CI = 1.39 to 1.82). Among 568 men with low-risk cancer, there was no clear association between baseline sexual function or strong preference to preserve function with receipt of active surveillance. However, strong preference may differnetially impact those with intermediate baseline function vs poor function (Pinteraction = .02). Treatment choice may not always align with patients' preferences. These findings demonstrate opportunities to improve delivery of patient-centered care in early prostate cancer.

Strong Signature of Natural Selection within an FHIT Intron Implicated in Prostate Cancer Risk

Science.gov (United States)

Ding, Yan; Larson, Garrett; Rivas, Guillermo; Lundberg, Cathryn; Geller, Louis; Ouyang, Ching; Weitzel, Jeffrey; Archambeau, John; Slater, Jerry; Daly, Mary B.; Benson, Al B.; Kirkwood, John M.; O'Dwyer, Peter J.; Sutphen, Rebecca; Stewart, James A.; Johnson, David; Nordborg, Magnus; Krontiris, Theodore G.

2008-01-01

Previously, a candidate gene linkage approach on brother pairs affected with prostate cancer identified a locus of prostate cancer susceptibility at D3S1234 within the fragile histidine triad gene (FHIT), a tumor suppressor that induces apoptosis. Subsequent association tests on 16 SNPs spanning approximately 381 kb surrounding D3S1234 in Americans of European descent revealed significant evidence of association for a single SNP within intron 5 of FHIT. In the current study, re-sequencing and genotyping within a 28.5 kb region surrounding this SNP further delineated the association with prostate cancer risk to a 15 kb region. Multiple SNPs in sequences under evolutionary constraint within intron 5 of FHIT defined several related haplotypes with an increased risk of prostate cancer in European-Americans. Strong associations were detected for a risk haplotype defined by SNPs 138543, 142413, and 152494 in all cases (Pearson's χ2 = 12.34, df 1, P = 0.00045) and for the homozygous risk haplotype defined by SNPs 144716, 142413, and 148444 in cases that shared 2 alleles identical by descent with their affected brothers (Pearson's χ2 = 11.50, df 1, P = 0.00070). In addition to highly conserved sequences encompassing SNPs 148444 and 152413, population studies revealed strong signatures of natural selection for a 1 kb window covering the SNP 144716 in two human populations, the European American (π = 0.0072, Tajima's D = 3.31, 14 SNPs) and the Japanese (π = 0.0049, Fay & Wu's H = 8.05, 14 SNPs), as well as in chimpanzees (Fay & Wu's H = 8.62, 12 SNPs). These results strongly support the involvement of the FHIT intronic region in an increased risk of prostate cancer. PMID:18953408

Belonging and quality of life as perceived by people with advanced cancer who live at home

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Peoples, Hanne; Nissen, Nina; Brandt, Åse

Purpose: In previous research (Peoples, Nissen, Brandt, & la Cour, 2017), we explored how people with advanced cancer who live at home perceive quality of life. Findings from our previous study indicate that dimensions of belonging in various ways may be connected to quality of life when living...... with an impending death. These findings prompted our curiosity to further explore, how perceived quality of life may be linked to belonging when living with advanced cancer. By drawing on our findings and the theoretical concept of belonging within occupational science, the purpose of this study was to gain...... a deeper understanding of the ways in which quality of life may be related to belonging as perceived by people with advanced cancer. Method: The study employed a qualitative approach using a combination of qualitative interviews and photo-elicitation. A thematic approach was used to analyse the data. Ten...

The meaning of having to live with cancer in old age

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Thomé, B; Esbensen, B A; Dykes, A-K

2004-01-01

degrees by the cancer disease. The lived experiences across the interviews were revealed in four overarching essential themes: transition into a more or less disintegrated existence, sudden awareness of the finiteness of life, redefinition of one's role in life for good and for bad, meeting disease...... and illness. To provide individual support and appropriate care to older people with cancer it is important for health care professionals to identify and take care of disabilities and to support the reorientation in the disintegrated life situation. It is also important to have preparedness to meet the old...

Real-time Fatigue and Free-Living Physical Activity in Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation Cancer Survivors and Healthy Controls: A Preliminary Examination of the Temporal, Dynamic Relationship.

Science.gov (United States)

Hacker, Eileen Danaher; Kim, Inah; Park, Chang; Peters, Tara

Fatigue and physical inactivity, critical problems facing cancer survivors, impact overall health and functioning. Our group designed a novel methodology to evaluate the temporal, dynamic patterns in real-world settings. Using real-time technology, the temporal, dynamic relationship between real-time fatigue and free-living is described and compared in cancer survivors who were treated with hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (n = 25) and age- and gender-matched healthy controls (n = 25). Subjects wore wrist actigraphs on their nondominant hand to assess free-living physical activity, measured in 1-minute epochs, over 7 days. Subjects entered real-time fatigue assessments directly into the subjective event marker of the actigraph 5 times per day. Running averages of mean 1-minute activity counts 30, 60, and 120 minutes before and after each real-time fatigue score were correlated with real-time fatigue using generalized estimating equations, RESULTS:: A strong inverse relationship exists between real-time fatigue and subsequent free-living physical activity. This inverse relationship suggests that increasing real-time fatigue limits subsequent physical activity (B range= -0.002 to -0.004; P < .001). No significant differences in the dynamic patterns of real-time fatigue and free-living physical activity were found between groups. To our knowledge, this is the first study to document the temporal and potentially causal relationship between real-time fatigue and free-living physical activity in real-world setting. These findings suggest that fatigue drives the subsequent physical activity and the relationship may not be bidirectional. Understanding the temporal, dynamic relationship may have important health implications for developing interventions to address fatigue in cancer survivors.

Radiation-induced thyroid cancer in children and adult population, living in contaminated territories after the Chernobyl accident

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Parshkov, E.; Sokolov, V.; Proshin, A.; Barnes, J.

2003-01-01

Results of the analysis of own and literature data on the occurrence and development of radiation-induced thyroid cancer are presented. Analysis involved distribution of the thyroid cancer incidence among 1 million children and 3 millions adults, living in the radioactively contaminated territories of Russia by age and sex. The main attention was paid to the understanding of latency period of spontaneous and radiation-induced cancer, comparison of oncological pathology features in children and adults, and the role of screening in the increase of incidence rate parameters. Analysis permitted to offer new interpretation of several previously known facts and to make new statements on the induction and development of radiogenic thyroid cancer, in particularly, on far more significant increase of the thyroid cancer incidence in adults, living in the contaminated territories, than it was considered earlier

Experiences of adolescents living with cancer: A descriptive qualitative study.

Science.gov (United States)

Ang, Sin Hui; Koh, Serena Siew Lin; Lee, Xiu Hua Hideka Tamamura; Shorey, Shefaly

2018-01-01

This study aimed to explore the experiences of adolescents from Singapore, aged 10-18 years old, living with cancer and their perceptions on how their psychosocial outcomes can be improved. A descriptive qualitative study design was used. Convenience sampling was used to recruit 10 participants from a pediatric oncology ward in a Singapore hospital. Individual semi-structured interviews were conducted. Thematic analysis was used to analyze the data. Five major themes emerged: (1) experience of physical symptoms, (2) emotional response to their condition, (3) changes in social dynamics, and (4) falling behind in academics. The psychosocial outcomes of Singaporean adolescents with cancer could be improved by thorough pain assessments and creating a more conducive hospital environment.

Invisibility: the lived experience of women with cancer of the vulva.

Science.gov (United States)

Jefferies, Hilary; Clifford, Collette

2012-01-01

This study describes an exploration of the lived experience of 13 British women with cancer of the vulva who underwent surgical treatment. A review of the literature highlighted a paucity of knowledge as many studies were conducted during the 1980s and 1990s and investigated sexual functioning only. An interpretive phenomenological approach based on the work of Heidegger and van Manen was used to frame the study by posing the question, "What must it be like to be diagnosed with, and have surgery for a cancer of the vulva?" The women, younger than 50 years, were identified by purposive sampling and interviewed between 6 months and 5 years after surgery. The data were analyzed using framework analysis. The women's lived experience is described in its entirety by the concept of invisibility, characterized as something "no one can see," "heard of," and "talks about." The impact of this invisibility is discussed as the "invisibility of understanding" and "invisibility of support." Although many women may expect to be cured of their vulval cancer, the invisible nature of the condition and the resulting lack of understanding and support may continue for a considerable period, as every aspect of their everyday life and in their relationships may be affected. The challenge now is to raise awareness of this condition and provide greater informational and emotional support for these women.

Personal responsibility, regret, and medical stigma among individuals living with lung cancer.

Science.gov (United States)

Criswell, Kevin R; Owen, Jason E; Thornton, Andrea A; Stanton, Annette L

2016-04-01

Understanding the degree to which adults with lung cancer perceive personal responsibility for their disease, personal regret for actions that may have contributed to lung cancer, and potential stigmatization from others is important, because these perceptions and experiences may be linked with treatment nonadherence, feelings of isolation, avoidance of healthcare providers, and poor quality of life. The purpose of this study was to evaluate rates and intensity of these types of experiences and to characterize the extent to which they are linked with smoking status and psychological adjustment in those living with lung cancer. Adults with lung cancer (N = 213) were recruited from two major cancer centers to complete a mail survey. Perceived responsibility was frequent in those who had ever smoked (74-80%), whereas regret and feelings of stigmatization were less frequent. When present, however, personal regret and stigmatization were associated with adverse psychological outcomes, particularly for never smokers. These results are consistent with the theory of stereotype threat and have clinical implications for management of people with lung cancer.

The Functional Living Index-Cancer is a reliable and valid instrument in Chinese cancer patients.

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Fong, Daniel Y T; Lee, Alvina H K; Tung, Stewart Y; Wong, Janet Y H; Chan, Y M; Goh, Cynthia R; Cheung, Y B

2014-02-01

To evaluate the linguistic and psychometric properties of the Functional Living Index-Cancer (FLIC) in assessing the quality of life of Chinese cancer patients. The English FLIC was translated into Traditional Chinese by the standard forward-backward procedure. After cognitive debriefing, a Traditional Chinese FLIC was administered to 500 cancer patients in a major public hospital in Hong Kong. Of which, 200 were invited to complete the questionnaire in 2 weeks. To identify a scale structure appropriate to Chinese, exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were performed on two randomly split halves of the sample. We identified five scales of the Traditional Chinese FLIC which assess the physical, psychological, hardship, nausea and social aspects. These five scales and the overall scale demonstrated satisfactory fit and had the alpha coefficient ranged from 0.68 to 0.92. The intra-class correlation coefficient ranged from 0.67 to 0.88. In addition, all FLIC scales were negatively associated with the Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group performance status and, also except for the psychological scale, had lower scores in patients who were treated by chemotherapy. The Traditional Chinese FLIC is an appropriate health indicator for Chinese cancer patients.

Risk for cancer in living kidney donors and recipients.

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Wang, Min; Zhang, Huai; Zhou, Dan; Qiao, Yong-Chao; Pan, Yan-Hong; Wang, Yan-Chao; Zhao, Hai-Lu

2018-03-01

Malignancy following renal transplantation remains inconsistent with the reported safety of kidney donation during the long-term follow-up. We conducted searches of the published literature which included healthy participants, recipients, living kidney donors (LKDs), and the availability of outcome data for malignancy. Eight from 938 potentially relevant studies were analyzed by means of fixed-effects model or random-effects model, as appropriately. In 48,950 participants, the follow-up range was 18 months to 20 years, and the mean age of the subjects was approximately 41 years. The incidence rate with 95% confidence interval (CI) for malignancy after kidney transplantation was 0.03 (0.01-0.05) in recipients and 0.03 (0.1-0.07) in LKDs, giving a pooled incidence rate of 0.03 (95% CI 0.02-0.04). LKDs contrasted nondonors by the overall odds ratio and 95% CI for total cancer of 2.80 (2.69-2.92). Kidney transplantation was associated with an increased risk of cancer during a long-term follow-up. Long-term risk for cancer in LKDs and kidney recipients should be monitored.

Meanings of happiness among two ethnic groups living with advanced cancer in south London: a qualitative study.

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Koffman, Jonathan; Morgan, Myfanwy; Edmonds, Polly; Speck, Peter; Siegert, Richard; Higginson, Irene J

2013-05-01

Happiness is a central component in quality of life but little is known about its meanings among people living with an advanced disease and those from diverse communities. This study explores and compares, for the first time, the centrality and interpretations of happiness across two cultural groups living with advanced cancer. Semi-structured interviews among 26 Black Caribbean and 19 White British cancer patients were conducted in hospital and home settings. Thirty eight participants volunteered views on happiness, which were related to four main themes: empty lives, a theme associated with lives devoid of contentment; happiness and the physical form principally, associated with the absence of distressing symptoms; 'love and affection' associated with family and friends; and 'realising personal meaning in life', most common among the Black Caribbean participants and related to God, prayer and the sacred world. The presence of cancer pain even when refractory did not preclude manifestations of happiness in this domain. We identified that happiness was central to many patients' quality of life during advanced cancer. Moreover, happiness was multidimensional and at times culturally patterned. We recommend that health and social care professionals increase their awareness and skills-set in relation to exploring happiness. Further, we recommend greater efforts are invested in cultural relativism to service the physical, psychological, social and spiritual issues that contribute towards moments of happiness among diverse communities. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Mechanisms in Psychosocial Interventions for Adults Living with Cancer: Opportunity for Integration of Theory, Research, and Practice

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Stanton, Annette L.; Luecken, Linda J.; MacKinnon, David P.; Thompson, Elizabeth H.

2013-01-01

Objective: The diagnosis and treatment of cancer are highly stressful experiences that can profoundly affect emotional and physical well-being. Hundreds of longitudinal investigations that identify risk and protective factors for psychological and physical adjustment in adults living with cancer and numerous randomized controlled psychosocial…

Long-lived cancer-resistant rodents as new model species for cancer research

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Jorge eAzpurua

2013-01-01

Full Text Available Most rodents are small and short-lived, but several lineages have independently evolved long lifespans without a concomitant increase in body mass. Most notably, the two subterranean species naked mole rat (NMR and blind mole rat (BMR which have maximum lifespans of 32 and 21 years respectively. The longevity of these species has sparked interest in the tumor suppression strategies that may have also evolved, because for many rodent species (including mice, rats, guinea pigs, gerbils and hamsters tumors are major source of late-life mortality. Here, we review the recent literature on anticancer mechanisms in long-lived rodents. Both NMR and BMR seem to have developed tumor defenses that rely on extra-cellular signals. However, while the NMR relies on a form of contact inhibition to suppress growth, the BMR evolved a mechanism mediated by the release of interferon and rapid necrotic cell death. Although both organisms ultimately rely on canonical downstream tumor suppressors (pRB and p53 the studies reveal species can evolve different strategies to achieve tumor-resistance. Importantly, studies of these cancer-resistant rodents may benefit human health if such mechanisms can be activated in human cells.

Association of diabetes and cancer mortality in American Indians: the Strong Heart Study.

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Best, Lyle G; García-Esquinas, Esther; Yeh, Jeun-Liang; Yeh, Fawn; Zhang, Ying; Lee, Elisa T; Howard, Barbara V; Farley, John H; Welty, Thomas K; Rhoades, Dorothy A; Rhoades, Everett R; Umans, Jason G; Navas-Acien, Ana

2015-11-01

The metabolic abnormalities that accompany diabetes mellitus are associated with an increased risk of many cancers. These associations, however, have not been well studied in American Indian populations, which experience a high prevalence of diabetes. The Strong Heart Study is a population-based, prospective cohort study with extensive characterization of diabetes status. Among a total cohort of 4,419 participants who were followed for up to 20 years, 430 cancer deaths were identified. After adjusting for sex, age, education, smoking status, drinking status, and body mass index, participants with diabetes at baseline showed an increased risk of gastric (HR 4.09; 95% CI 1.42-11.79), hepatocellular (HR 2.94; 95% CI 1.17-7.40), and prostate cancer mortality (HR 3.10; 95% CI 1.22-7.94). Further adjustment for arsenic exposure showed a significantly increased risk of all-cause cancer mortality with diabetes (HR 1.27; 95% CI 1.03-1.58). Insulin resistance among participants without diabetes at baseline was associated with hepatocellular cancer mortality (HR 4.70; 95% CI 1.55-14.26). Diabetes mellitus, and/or insulin resistance among those without diabetes, is a risk factor for gastric, hepatocellular, and prostate cancer in these American Indian communities, although relatively small sample size suggests cautious interpretation. Additional research is needed to evaluate the role of diabetes and obesity on cancer incidence in American Indian communities as well as the importance of diabetes prevention and control in reducing the burden of cancer incidence and mortality in the study population.

Incidental lung cancers and positive computed tomography images in people living with HIV

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Ronit, Andreas; Kristensen, Thomas; Klitbo, Ditte M.

2017-01-01

in 901 patients, including 113 at high risk for lung cancer. A positive image was found in 28 (3.1% of the entire cohort and 9.7% of the high-risk group). Nine patients (all in the high-risk group) had invasive procedures undertaken with no serious adverse events. Lung cancer (stages IA, IIA, and IIIA......Objective: Lung cancer screening with low-dose computed tomography (LDCT) of high-risk groups in the general population is recommended by several authorities. This may not be feasible in people living with HIV (PLWHIV) due to higher prevalence of nodules. We therefore assessed the prevalence...... of positive computed tomography (CT) images and lung cancers in PLWHIV. Design: The Copenhagen comorbidity in HIV infection (COCOMO) study is an observational, longitudinal cohort study. Single-round LDCT was performed with subsequent clinical follow-up (NCT02382822). Method: Outcomes included histology...

Renegotiating hope while living with lymphoedema after cancer: a qualitative study.

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Hamilton, R; Thomas, R

2016-09-01

Hope is defined as a multi-dimensional life force, a coping resource and a necessity for coping with illness. Concepts of normalcy, hope and loss are explored in this qualitative study and positioned within recent scholarship on hope in cancer survivors. The experiences of 13 participants (11 women, 2 men) in two Canadian provinces who were living with lymphoedema secondary to cancer were analysed. For these participants, hope assumed various meanings. For some, hope was seen as passive inaction, whereas hope for others was positive and action-oriented, even when faced with the uncertainty of chronic illness. Hope for the individual with lymphoedema is also juxtaposed with hope associated with cancer treatment where a desired return to normal is the object of hope and paramount to coping. However, when met with the chronic nature of lymphoedema, the hope of a return to normalcy is lost and the meaning, direction and actions of hope must be renegotiated. © 2015 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Cancer incidence in adults living in the vicinity of nuclear power plants in France, based on data from the French Network of Cancer Registries.

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Desbiolles, Alice; Roudier, Candice; Goria, Sarah; Stempfelet, Morgane; Kairo, Cécile; Quintin, Cécile; Bidondo, Marie-Laure; Monnereau, Alain; Vacquier, Blandine

2018-03-01

Nuclear power plants (NPPs) release toxic emissions into the environment that may affect neighboring populations. This ecologic study was designed to investigate the possibility of an excess incidence of cancer in the vicinity of French NPPs by examining the incidence by municipality of 12 types of cancer in the population aged 15 years and older during the 1995-2011 period. Population exposure to pollution was estimated on the basis of distance from towns of residence to the NPP. Using regression models, we assessed the risk of cancer in a 20-km zone around NPPs and observed an excess incidence of bladder cancer (Relative Risk (RR), 95% Credibility Interval (95% CI)) in men and women (RR men  = 1.08; 95% CI: 1.00, 1.17 and RR women  = 1.19; 95% CI: 1.02, 1.39). Women living within the 20-km proximity areas had a significantly reduced risk of thyroid cancer (RR women  = 0.86; 95% CI: 0.77, 0.96). No excess risk of hematologic malignancies in either sex was seen. The higher than expected incidence of bladder cancer may be due to an excess incidence localized around the Flamanville NPP and the nearby La Hague nuclear waste treatment center, which is a source of chemical contaminants, many (including arsenic) of them known risk factors for bladder cancer. Differences in medical practices could explain the reduced risk of thyroid cancer. In this first study of adults living near NPPs in France, cancer incidence is significantly higher than in the references populations for one of the cancer types studied: bladder cancer. © 2017 UICC.

PREFACE: 9th International Fröhlich's Symposium: Electrodynamic Activity of Living Cells (Including Microtubule Coherent Modes and Cancer Cell Physics)

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Cifra, Michal; Pokorný, Jirí; Kucera, Ondrej

2011-12-01

This volume contains papers presented at the International Fröhlich's Symposium entitled 'Electrodynamic Activity of Living Cells' (1-3 July 2011, Prague, Czech Republic). The Symposium was the 9th meeting devoted to physical processes in living matter organized in Prague since 1987. The hypothesis of oscillation systems in living cells featured by non-linear interaction between elastic and electrical polarization fields, non-linear interactions between the system and the heat bath leading to energy downconversion along the frequency scale, energy condensation in the lowest frequency mode and creation of a coherent state was formulated by H Fröhlich, founder of the theory of dielectric materials. He assumed that biological activity is based not only on biochemical but also on biophysical mechanisms and that their disturbances form basic links along the cancer transformation pathway. Fröhlich outlined general ideas of non-linear physical processes in biological systems. The downconversion and the elastic-polarization interactions should be connected in a unified theory and the solution based on comprehensive non-linear characteristics. Biochemical and genetic research of biological systems are highly developed and have disclosed a variety of cellular and subcellular structures, chemical reactions, molecular information transfer, and genetic code sequences - including their pathological development. Nevertheless, the cancer problem is still a big challenge. Warburg's discovery of suppressed oxidative metabolism in mitochondria in cancer cells suggested the essential role of physical mechanisms (but his discovery has remained without impact on cancer research and on the study of physical properties of biological systems for a long time). Mitochondria, the power plants of the cell, have several areas of activity-oxidative energy production is connected with the formation of a strong static electric field around them, water ordering, and liberation of non

The use of fluorescent intrabodies to detect endogenous gankyrin in living cancer cells

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rinaldi, Anne-Sophie; Freund, Guillaume; Desplancq, Dominique; Sibler, Annie-Paule; Baltzinger, Mireille; Rochel, Natacha; Mély, Yves; Didier, Pascal; Weiss, Etienne

2013-01-01

Expression of antibody fragments in mammalian cells (intrabodies) is used to probe the target protein or interfere with its biological function. We previously described the in vitro characterisation of a single-chain Fv (scFv) antibody fragment (F5) isolated from an intrabody library that binds to the oncoprotein gankyrin (GK) in solution. Here, we have isolated several other scFvs that interact with GK in the presence of F5 and tested whether they allow, when fused to fluorescent proteins, to detect by FRET endogenous GK in living cells. The binding of pairs of scFvs to GK was analysed by gel filtration and the ability of each scFv to mediate nuclear import/export of GK was determined. Binding between scFv-EGFP and RFP-labelled GK in living cells was detected by fluorescence lifetime imaging microscopy (FLIM). After co-transfection of two scFvs fused to EGFP and RFP, respectively, which form a tri-molecular complex with GK in vitro, FRET signal was measured. This system allowed us to observe that GK is monomeric and distributed throughout the cytoplasm and nucleus of several cancer cell lines. Our results show that pairs of fluorescently labelled intrabodies can be monitored by FLIM–FRET microscopy and that this technique allows the detection of lowly expressed endogenous proteins in single living cells. Highlights: ► Endogenous GK in living cells was targeted with pairs of fluorescently-tagged scFvs. ► Tri-molecular complexes containing two scFvs and one molecule GK were formed. ► GK was detected using fluorescence lifetime-based FRET imaging. ► GK is monomeric and homogeneously distributed in several cancer cell lines. ► This technique may have many applications in live-cell imaging of endogenous proteins

The use of fluorescent intrabodies to detect endogenous gankyrin in living cancer cells

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Rinaldi, Anne-Sophie; Freund, Guillaume; Desplancq, Dominique; Sibler, Annie-Paule; Baltzinger, Mireille [Ecole Supérieure de Biotechnologie de Strasbourg, UMR 7242, CNRS/Université de Strasbourg, boulevard Sébastien Brant, 67412 Illkirch (France); Rochel, Natacha [Institut de Génétique et de Biologie Moléculaire et Cellulaire, UMR 7104, CNRS/INSERM/Université de Strasbourg, rue Laurent Fries, 67404 Illkirch (France); Mély, Yves; Didier, Pascal [Faculté de Pharmacie, UMR 7213, CNRS/Université de Strasbourg, route du Rhin, 67401 Illkirch (France); Weiss, Etienne, E-mail: eweiss@unistra.fr [Ecole Supérieure de Biotechnologie de Strasbourg, UMR 7242, CNRS/Université de Strasbourg, boulevard Sébastien Brant, 67412 Illkirch (France)

2013-04-01

Expression of antibody fragments in mammalian cells (intrabodies) is used to probe the target protein or interfere with its biological function. We previously described the in vitro characterisation of a single-chain Fv (scFv) antibody fragment (F5) isolated from an intrabody library that binds to the oncoprotein gankyrin (GK) in solution. Here, we have isolated several other scFvs that interact with GK in the presence of F5 and tested whether they allow, when fused to fluorescent proteins, to detect by FRET endogenous GK in living cells. The binding of pairs of scFvs to GK was analysed by gel filtration and the ability of each scFv to mediate nuclear import/export of GK was determined. Binding between scFv-EGFP and RFP-labelled GK in living cells was detected by fluorescence lifetime imaging microscopy (FLIM). After co-transfection of two scFvs fused to EGFP and RFP, respectively, which form a tri-molecular complex with GK in vitro, FRET signal was measured. This system allowed us to observe that GK is monomeric and distributed throughout the cytoplasm and nucleus of several cancer cell lines. Our results show that pairs of fluorescently labelled intrabodies can be monitored by FLIM–FRET microscopy and that this technique allows the detection of lowly expressed endogenous proteins in single living cells. Highlights: ► Endogenous GK in living cells was targeted with pairs of fluorescently-tagged scFvs. ► Tri-molecular complexes containing two scFvs and one molecule GK were formed. ► GK was detected using fluorescence lifetime-based FRET imaging. ► GK is monomeric and homogeneously distributed in several cancer cell lines. ► This technique may have many applications in live-cell imaging of endogenous proteins.

Cancer incidence in people living with HIV/AIDS in Israel, 1981-2010.

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Zohar, Mor; Micha, Barchana

2015-09-01

Antiretroviral therapy (ART) improved the survival of people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) and decreased HIV-related morbidities. This study assesses the cancer incidence of all adult PLWHA in Israel by transmission routes before and after 1996. This cohort study was based on cross-matching the National HIV/AIDS and Cancer Registries of all HIV/AIDS and cancer cases reported from 1981 to 2010 with the National civil census. PLWHA were followed-up until cancer diagnosis, death, leaving Israel, or 2010, whichever occurred first. Cancer incidence was adjusted for age, and compared with the National incidence. Of all 5,154 PLWHA followed-up for 36,296 person-years, 362 (7.0%) developed cancer (997.4 cases per 100,000 person-years). Higher hazard ratios to develop cancer were demonstrated among older PLWHA, Jewish people, and intravenous drug users. Cancer incidence among PLWHA was higher in the pre-ART period than after 1997 (1,232.0 and 846.7 cases per 100,000 person-years, respectively). The incidence of AIDS-defining cancers was higher than non-AIDS-defining malignancies, and higher in the pre-ART than the post-ART period (777.0 and 467.2 cases per 100,000 person-years, respectively), while the incidence of non-AIDS-defining cancers showed the opposite trend (376.5 and 455.0 cases per 100,000 person-years, respectively). The incidence of AIDS-defining and non-AIDS-defining cancers declined between the pre-ART and the post-ART period by 2.0 to 3.4 times. PLWHA had higher rates of malignancies than the general population. In conclusion, cancer incidence among PLWHA was associated with age, and declined after ART introduction; yet it was higher than that of the general population. PLWHA may benefit from age-related cancer screening, increased adherence to ART, and reduction of environmental oncogenes.

Perceptions, opinions and knowledge of pharmacists towards the use of complementary medicines by people living with cancer.

Science.gov (United States)

Harnett, Joanna; Le, Trong Quy; Smith, Lorraine; Krass, Ines

2018-05-09

Background Biologically-based complementary medicine (BB-CM) use is prevalent amongst people living with cancer. Pharmacists play an important role in the provision of standard treatments for cancer. Less is known about pharmacist's provision of BB-CM information. Objective This study investigated the opinions, perceptions and knowledge of pharmacists regarding the use of BB-CMs by people living with cancer and the facilitators and barriers to providing information and advice. Setting Australia. Method A cross-sectional 53-item survey was developed and the survey link distributed in two professional associations newsletters. The associations represent ~29,000 pharmacists. Questions were categories into pharmacist's perceptions, opinions, and knowledge towards the use of BB-CM in cancer. Main Outcome Measure Scores obtained from responses to perception, opinion and knowledge statements and responses to demographic questions Results Respondents (n=70) were predominantly female (73%), Caucasian (66%) and under 40 years of age (78%). Respondents estimated that 19% of daily inquiries related to BB-CMs. Seventy-two per cent of respondents believed they had a responsibility to advise about the concomitant use of BB-CM with standard cancer treatments despite 60% reporting a lack of confidence in their knowledge. There was a moderate positive association (Spearman's rho 0.41 p= 0.001) between a pharmacists confidence in their level of knowledge and their total knowledge scores. The main barriers to providing information about BB-CMs reported were inadequate training in BB-CMs (94%) and reservations about the evidence base for efficacy and safety (50%). Conclusion Pharmacists have a role to play in counselling people living with cancer about their use of BB-CMs and this role could be maximized with further training and education in this area.

Social disparities in access to breast and cervical cancer screening by women living in Spain.

Science.gov (United States)

Ricardo-Rodrigues, I; Jiménez-García, R; Hernández-Barrera, V; Carrasco-Garrido, P; Jiménez-Trujillo, I; López de Andrés, A

2015-07-01

To describe uptake of breast and cervical cancer screening by women living in Spain, analyse the possible associated social and health factors, and compare uptake rates with those obtained in previous surveys. Cross-sectional study using data from the 2011 Spanish national health survey. Uptake of breast cancer screening was analysed by asking women aged 40-69 years whether they had undergone mammography in the previous two years. Uptake of cervical cancer screening was analysed by asking women aged 25-65 years whether they had undergone cervical cytology in the previous three years. Independent variables included sociodemographic characteristics, and variables related to health status and lifestyle. Seventy-two percent of women had undergone mammography in the previous two years. Having private health insurance increased the probability of breast screening uptake four-fold [odds ratio (OR) 3.96, 95% confidence interval (CI) 2.71-5.79], and being an immigrant was a negative predictor for breast screening uptake. Seventy percent of women had undergone cervical cytology in the previous three years. Higher-educated women were more likely to have undergone cervical cancer screening (OR 2.59, 95% CI 1.97-3.40), and obese women and women living in rural areas were less likely to have undergone cervical cancer screening. There have been no relevant improvements in uptake rates of either breast or cervical cancer screening since 2006. Uptake of breast and cervical cancer screening could be improved in Spain, and uptake rates have stagnated over recent years. Social disparities have been detected with regard to access to these screening tests, indicating that it is necessary to continue researching and optimizing prevention programmes in order to improve uptake and reduce these disparities. Copyright © 2015 The Royal Society for Public Health. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Hit by waves-living with local advanced or localized prostate cancer treated with endocrine therapy or under active surveillance.

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Ervik, Bente; Nordøy, Tone; Asplund, Kenneth

2010-01-01

Previous studies of living with prostate cancer have shown that the illness and the treatment cause physical as well as psychosocial problems. The aim of this study was to illuminate men's experiences living with localized or local advanced prostate cancer when curative treatment such as surgery or radiation therapy is not an option at the time of diagnosis. The study was conducted via qualitative interviews, using a phenomenological hermeneutic approach. Ten men treated with endocrine therapy or under active surveillance were interviewed. Being diagnosed with prostate cancer was described as a shock, with different aspects of the illness revealed gradually. The limited amount of time available for meeting with health care providers contributed to patients' feelings of being left alone with difficulty getting information and help. Sexual and urinary problems were perceived as a threat to their manhood. The spouses provided the closest everyday support. The life situation of these patients can be understood as living in a "state of readiness," expecting something to happen regarding their illness, and not always knowing where to get help. The results confirm existing knowledge of patient's experiences in living with prostate cancer regarding the initial shock perceived by the patients, the bodily alterations, and the important role of their spouses. Nurses, as well as general practitioners, must play a more active role in follow-up to ensure that the men and their spouses receive better help and support.

Effect of exotic long-lived sub-strongly interacting massive particles in big bang nucleosynthesis and a new solution to the Li problem

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kawasaki Masahiro

2012-02-01

Full Text Available The plateau of 7Li abundance as a function of the iron abundance by spectroscopic observations of metal-poor halo stars (MPHSs indicates its primordial origin. The observed abundance levels are about a factor of three smaller than the primordial 7Li abundance predicted in the standard Big Bang Nucleosynthesis (BBN model. This discrepancy might originate from exotic particle and nuclear processes operating in BBN epoch. Some particle models include heavy (m >> 1 GeV long-lived colored particles which would be confined inside exotic heavy hadrons, i.e., strongly interacting massive particles (SIMPs. We have found reactions which destroy 7Be and 7Li during BBN in the scenario of BBN catalyzed by a long-lived sub-strongly interacting massive particle (sub-SIMP, X. The reactions are non radiative X captures of 7 Be and 7Li which can be operative if the X particle interacts with nuclei strongly enough to drive 7 Be destruction but not strongly enough to form a bound state with 4 He of relative angular momentum L = 1. We suggest that 7Li problem can be solved as a result of a new process beyond the standard model through which the observable signature was left on the primordial Li abundance.

Searching: the lived experience of women with cancer of the vulva.

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Jefferies, Hilary; Clifford, Collette

2009-01-01

Although the physical adverse effects following surgery for vulval cancer may readily be described, little is known about the psychological, emotional, and social impact. A review of the literature revealed a paucity of studies, as this condition is rare. To explore the lived experiences of women in the United Kingdom with vulval cancer, a qualitative research study was undertaken using the research methodology of interpretive phenomenology, based on the work of Heidegger (The Essence of Human Freedom. London: Continuum; 2005) and van Manen (Researching Lived Experience. Human Science for an Action Sensitive Pedagogy. New York: State University of New York Press; 1990). Thirteen women younger than 50 years were interviewed between 6 months and 5 years after their surgery, and the data were analyzed using framework analysis (Qualitative data analysis for applied policy research. In: Analysing Qualitative Data. London: Routledge; 1994:173-194). This article describes how the concept of searching emerged from the data. It also describes the manner in which the women searched to control their symptoms by their own efforts and by undergoing surgery. The search to understand the truth about their condition and their access to information in the search for meaning and the time element in which this was undertaken was also raised. An underlying consideration is the need for health professionals to help provide the information and support needed to manage this condition.

Living in the context of poverty and trajectories of breast cancer worry, knowledge, and perceived risk after a breast cancer risk education session.

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Bartle-Haring, Suzanne

2010-01-01

The purpose of this paper was to demonstrate how living in neighborhoods with high levels of poverty (while controlling for personal income) impacts personal characteristics, which in turn impacts retention of breast cancer risk knowledge and changes in worry and perceived risk. The data from this project come from a larger, National Cancer Institute-funded study that included a pretest, a breast cancer risk education session, a posttest, the option of an individualized risk assessment via the Gail Model and three follow-up phone calls over the next 9 months. The percent of individuals living below poverty in the community in which the participant resided was predictive of the personal characteristics assessed, and these characteristics were predictive of changes in breast cancer worry and knowledge across time. Differentiation of self and monitoring, two of the individual characteristics that seem to allow people to process and use information to make "rational" decisions about health care, seem to be impacted by the necessity for adaptation to a culture of poverty. Thus, as a health care community, we need to tailor our messages and our recommendations with an understanding of the complex intersection of poverty and health care decision making. Copyright © 2010 Jacobs Institute of Women's Health. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Novel Selective Detection Method of Tumor Angiogenesis Factors Using Living Nano-Robots.

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Al-Fandi, Mohamed; Alshraiedeh, Nida; Owies, Rami; Alshdaifat, Hala; Al-Mahaseneh, Omamah; Al-Tall, Khadijah; Alawneh, Rawan

2017-07-14

This paper reports a novel self-detection method for tumor cells using living nano-robots. These living robots are a nonpathogenic strain of E. coli bacteria equipped with naturally synthesized bio-nano-sensory systems that have an affinity to VEGF, an angiogenic factor overly-expressed by cancer cells. The VEGF-affinity/chemotaxis was assessed using several assays including the capillary chemotaxis assay, chemotaxis assay on soft agar, and chemotaxis assay on solid agar. In addition, a microfluidic device was developed to possibly discover tumor cells through the overexpressed vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF). Various experiments to study the sensing characteristic of the nano-robots presented a strong response toward the VEGF. Thus, a new paradigm of selective targeting therapies for cancer can be advanced using swimming E. coli as self-navigator miniaturized robots as well as drug-delivery vehicles.

Thyroid cancer in the Marshallese: relative risk of short-lived internal emitters and external radiation exposure

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lessard, E.T.; Brill, A.B.; Adams, W.H.

1986-01-01

In a study of the comparative effects of internal versus external irradiation of the thyroid in young people, we determined that the dose from internal irradiation of the thyroid with short-lived internal emitters produced several times less thyroid cancer than did the same dose of radiation given externally. The authors determined this finding for a group of 85 Marshall Islands children, who were less than 10 years of age at the time of exposure and who were accidentally exposed to internal and external thyroid radiation at an average level of 1400 rad. The external risk coefficient ranged between 2.5 and 4.9 cancers per million person-rad-years at risk, and thus, from our computations, the internal risk coefficient for the Marshallese children was estimated to range between 1.0 and 1.4 cancers per million person-rad-years at risk. In contrast, for individuals more than 10 years of age at the time of exposure, the dose from internal irradiation of the thyroid with short-lived internal emitters produced several times more thyroid cancer than did the same dose of radiation given externally. The external risk coefficients for the older age groups were reported in the above literature to be in the range of 1.0 to 3.3 cancers per million person-rad-years-at risk. The authors computed internal risk coefficients of 3.3 to 8.1 cancers per million person-rad-years at risk for adolescent and adult groups. This higher sensitivity to cancer induction in the exposed adolescents and adults, is different from that seen in other exposed groups. The small number of cancers in the exposed population and the influence of increased levels of TSH, nonuniform irradiation of the thyroid, and thyroid cell killing at high dose make it difficult to draw firm conclusions from these studies. 14 references, 8 tables

Thyroid cancer in the Marshallese: relative risk of short-lived internal emitters and external radiation exposure

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lessard, E.T.; Brill, A.B.; Adams, W.H.

1985-01-01

In a study of the comparative effects of internal versus external irradiation of the thyroid in young people, we determined that the dose from internal irradiation of the thyroid with short-lived internal emitters produced several times less thyroid cancer than did the same dose of radiation given externally. We determined this finding for a group of 85 Marshall Islands children, who were less than 10 years of age at the time of exposure and who were accidentially exposed to internal and external thyroid radiation at an average level of 1400 rad. The external risk coefficient ranged between 2.5 and 4.9 cancers per million person-rad-years at risk, and thus, from our computations, the internal risk coefficient for the Marshallese children was estimated to range between 1.0 and 1.4 cancers per million person-rad-years at risk. In contrast, for individual more than 10 years of age at the time of exposure, the dose from internal irradiation of the thyroid with short-lived internal emitters produced several times more thyroid cancer than did the same dose of radiation given externally. The external risk coefficients for the older age groups were reported in the literature to be in the range of 1.0 to 3.3 cancers per million person-rad-years-at risk. We computed internal risk coefficients of 3.3 to 8.1 cancers per million person-rad-years at risk for adolescent and adult groups. This higher sensitivity to cancer induction in the exposed adolescents and adults, is different from that seen in other exposed groups. 14 refs., 8 tabs

A Comparative Study on the Quality of Living for Therapeutic Cancer and Hospice Patients

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kim, Seung Kook; Rhee, Dong Soo; Rou, Jae Man; Kim, Jong Deok

2004-01-01

This study carried a comparative analysis of quality of living perceived by cancer and hospice patients who received radiotherapy, and influential factors in order to provide basic data for nursing goals and establishment of strategy. The subjects of the study were 50 cancer patients who were more than twenty years old and was receiving radiotherapy in therapeutic radiology department of C university hospital, and fourteen hospice patients who were in J hospital in Gwangju. They were conveniently sampled according to the selection standard, and researchers personally interviewed them using questionnaire and patient scripts to obtain necessary data. The results were presented as follows: 1. When cancer and hospice patients were examined demographically, the number of 60 year-old patients were the most. The subjects whose marriage period was more than thirty-one years were the most. In medical expense, more than 70.0% of the patients bore their expenses themselves. 2. When disease-related characteristics of the cancer and pos piece patients were examined, more than 75% of the patients had experience of being in hospital, and more than experienced operation. However, for prevalence period, 57.5% of the cancer patients had less than six months, and 64.3% of the hospice patients had more than two years. 3. For physical symptoms of cancer patients, 77.5% had fatigue, 60.0% had loss of appetite, and 52.5% had loss of weight while for the hospice patients, 100% had loss of weight, and 92.9% had fatigue and loss of appetite. For the cancer patients, 0.0% had swelling, and 7.5% had bleeding, For the hospice patients, 7.1% had change in skin, and 14.3% had diarrhea. 4. Mean score of the cancer subjects were as follows: family support, social support, emotional and spiritual support, physical symptoms, and periods were 3.87, 2.88, 3.10, 2.80, and 2.94 respectively. Those of the hospice patients were 3.80, 1.96, 1.58, 2.64 and 3.24 respectively. 5. Mean score of family support

A Comparative Study on the Quality of Living for Therapeutic Cancer and Hospice Patients

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kim, Seung Kook [Dept. of Radiological Technology, Kwangju Health College, Kwangju (Korea, Republic of); Rhee, Dong Soo; Rou, Jae Man; Kim, Jong Deok [Dept. of Therapeutic Radiology, Chonnam University Hospital, Kwangju (Korea, Republic of)

2004-03-15

This study carried a comparative analysis of quality of living perceived by cancer and hospice patients who received radiotherapy, and influential factors in order to provide basic data for nursing goals and establishment of strategy. The subjects of the study were 50 cancer patients who were more than twenty years old and was receiving radiotherapy in therapeutic radiology department of C university hospital, and fourteen hospice patients who were in J hospital in Gwangju. They were conveniently sampled according to the selection standard, and researchers personally interviewed them using questionnaire and patient scripts to obtain necessary data. The results were presented as follows: 1. When cancer and hospice patients were examined demographically, the number of 60 year-old patients were the most. The subjects whose marriage period was more than thirty-one years were the most. In medical expense, more than 70.0% of the patients bore their expenses themselves. 2. When disease-related characteristics of the cancer and pos piece patients were examined, more than 75% of the patients had experience of being in hospital, and more than experienced operation. However, for prevalence period, 57.5% of the cancer patients had less than six months, and 64.3% of the hospice patients had more than two years. 3. For physical symptoms of cancer patients, 77.5% had fatigue, 60.0% had loss of appetite, and 52.5% had loss of weight while for the hospice patients, 100% had loss of weight, and 92.9% had fatigue and loss of appetite. For the cancer patients, 0.0% had swelling, and 7.5% had bleeding, For the hospice patients, 7.1% had change in skin, and 14.3% had diarrhea. 4. Mean score of the cancer subjects were as follows: family support, social support, emotional and spiritual support, physical symptoms, and periods were 3.87, 2.88, 3.10, 2.80, and 2.94 respectively. Those of the hospice patients were 3.80, 1.96, 1.58, 2.64 and 3.24 respectively. 5. Mean score of family support

Epidemiologic study of cancer in populations living near Juragua Nuclear Power Station

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Portell, J.E.; Romero, J.L.

1993-01-01

This work pretends to list the main types of cancer in the province of Cienfuegos in a distance of 40 km. taking Juragua Nuclear Power Plants as the starting point. Our objective is the strong necessity of having a previous study of the incidence of this disease before this installations starts

Exploring hope and healing in patients living with advanced non-small cell lung cancer.

Science.gov (United States)

Eustache, Chloe; Jibb, Emily; Grossman, Mary

2014-09-01

To explore the experience and meaning of hope in relation to the healing process of patients living with stage IIIb or IV non-small cell lung cancer. Interpretative qualitative study design. Peter Brojde Lung Cancer Centre in the Jewish General Hospital in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. 12 English- and French-speaking patients, aged 36-78 years. One 60-90-minute semistructured interview per participant was conducted. An inductive approach to data analysis was taken, involving immersion in the data, coding, classifying, and creating linkages. Four main themes emerged: (a) the morass of shattered hope, (b) tentative steps toward a new hope paradigm, (c) reframing hope within the context of a life-threatening illness, and (d) strengthening the link between hope and wellness. Patients described a process where hope was diminished or lost entirely, regained, and reshaped as they learned to live and grow following their diagnosis. This study adds to the literature by describing the dynamic nature of hope as well as factors facilitating or hindering the hope process. It demonstrates how finding meaning, a structural component of healing, can be used to envision a new hopeful future. This study suggests hope and healing cannot exist in isolation, and highlights the importance of understanding the fluctuating nature of hope in patients with advanced lung cancer to foster it, therefore promoting healing.

Effectiveness of the "Cancer Home-Life Intervention" on everyday activities and quality of life in people with advanced cancer living at home

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Brandt, Åse; Pilegaard, Marc Sampedro; Østergaard, Lisa Gregersen

2016-01-01

applied in the participant’s home environment was developed. The objective of this study is to examine the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of the Cancer Home-Life Intervention compared to usual care on the performance of and participation in everyday activities and quality of life in people...... in everyday activities, and whether it contributes to their health-related quality of life. The economic evaluation alongside the RCT will show if the Cancer Home-Life Intervention is cost-effective. The trial will also show the acceptability of the intervention to the target group, and whether subgroups......Background During the past decade an increasing number of people live with advanced cancer mainly due to improved medical treatment. Research has shown that many people with advanced cancer have problems with everyday activities, which have negative impact on their quality of life...

Evaluating the experiences and support needs of people living with chronic cancer: development and initial validation of the Chronic Cancer Experiences Questionnaire (CCEQ).

Science.gov (United States)

Harley, Clare; Pini, Simon; Kenyon, Lucille; Daffu-O'Reilly, Amrit; Velikova, Galina

2016-08-10

Many advanced cancers are managed as chronic diseases, yet there are currently no international guidelines for the support of patients living with chronic cancer. It is important to understand whether care and service arrangements meet the needs of this rapidly growing patient group. This study aimed to develop and validate a questionnaire to capture patients' experiences of living with chronic cancer and their views of clinical and support services. The research was carried out between 1 July 2010 and 21 February 2013. A conceptual framework and initial item bank were derived from prior interviews with 56 patients with chronic cancer. Items were reviewed by 4 oncologists and 1 clinical nurse specialist and during 2 focus groups with 9 patients. Pilot questionnaires were completed by 416 patients across 5 cancer units. Item selection and scale reliability was explored using descriptive data, exploratory factor analysis, internal consistency analyses, multitrait scaling analyses and known-groups comparisons. The final Chronic Cancer Experiences Questionnaire (CCEQ) includes 75 items. 62 items contribute to 14 subscales with internal consistency between α 0·68-0·88 and minimal scaling errors. Known-groups comparisons confirmed subscale utility in distinguishing between patient groups. Subscales were labelled: managing appointments, coordination of care, general practitioner involvement, clinical trials, information and questions, making treatment decisions, symptom non-reporting, key worker, limitations, sustaining normality, financial advice, worries and anxieties, sharing feelings with others, and accessing support. 13 items assessing symptom experiences were retained as single items. The CCEQ has the potential to be used as a clinical instrument to assess patient experiences of chronic cancer or to screen for patient needs. It may also be used as an outcome measure for evaluating programmes and models of care and may identify areas for service development that

Women Living with HIV over Age of 65: Cervical Cancer Screening in a Unique and Growing Population

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Alexandra Aserlind

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Objective. Women living with HIV are at increased risk of human papillomavirus (HPV infection, which can lead to cervical cancer. New guidelines recommend indefinite screening. The objective of this study is to describe cervical cancer screening practices and colposcopy results in a cohort of women living with HIV over age of 65 who were followed before the new guidelines. Comorbidities, sexually transmitted infections (STIs, and other risk factors were evaluated. Methods. We conducted a retrospective chart review on 75 women aged 65 or older living with HIV with at least one Pap smear. Results. The mean age of the cohort was 66.5 and at HIV diagnosis was 56. The majority of women were immunocompetent. 80% had serial Pap smears. Of these, 86% of 238 were negative or ASCUS. No women progressed to HSIL. 92% of colposcopies had negative or CIN I results. Three women were treated successfully for high-grade dysplasia. More than half of women had other STIs. 72% were screened for HPV; 50% were positive. Conclusion. The majority of women had negative and low-grade Pap smears. Questions remain regarding the utility of continued Pap screening and the added value of HPV testing in this unique population of older women living with HIV.

Positive Psychology in Cancer Care: Bad Science, Exaggerated Claims, and Unproven Medicine

OpenAIRE

Coyne, James C.; Tennen, Howard

2010-01-01

Background Claims of positive psychology about people with cancer enjoy great popularity because they seem to offer scientific confirmation of strongly held cultural beliefs and values. Purpose Our goal is to examine critically four widely accepted claims in the positive psychology literature regarding adaptational outcomes among individuals living with cancer. Methods We examine: (1) the role of positive factors, such as a ?fighting spirit? in extending the life of persons with cancer; (2) e...

Effects of supportive-educative program on quality of life of adolescents living with a parent with cancer

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Mehrdad Azarbarzin

2015-01-01

Conclusions: This research showed that supportive-educative program can enhance some aspects of quality of life. Therefore, nurses and other health professionals can use this scheme or similar programs for helping adolescents living with a parent with cancer.

Problems of breast cancer survivors living in an urban area of Nepal

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Abja Sapkota

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Objective: The main objective of this study was to identify the problems of Nepalese breast cancer survivors living in an urban area who had completed their treatment for at least 6 months. Methods: A cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted to assess the problems of breast cancer survivors who were registered at the Nepal Cancer Support Group. Fifty-one women who were diagnosed with breast cancer (Stage 0 to III and were currently disease-free were enrolled in the study. They were interviewed using structured interview schedule using the Breast Cancer Prevention Trial Symptom Scale. Statistical analysis was carried out with SPSS (version 16. Results: The mean age of the women at the time of enrollment was 47.3 years. The most common modality of treatment they received was the combination of surgery, chemotherapy, and radiotherapy (84%. Top five symptoms experienced by the survivors on the basis of frequency and severity were tiredness (61%, lack of energy (57%, forgetfulness (57%, lack of interest in sex (52%, general body aches (49%, and feeling of worrisome and anxiousness about future (49%. Women with age <45 years at diagnosis had higher mean rank score in psychological (24.7 and social problems (23.9 in comparison to women aged ≥45 years. There was a significant relationship between severe psychological (34.9 vs. 19.6; P = 0.001 and social problems (29.1 vs. 21.2; P = 0.03, with the time since primary treatment completion of <1 year. Conclusions: Nepalese breast cancer survivors were found to have multiple physical, psychological, and social problems and might require special attention during follow-up visits.

Childhood Cancer Survivors Are Living Longer

Science.gov (United States)

New data from the Childhood Cancer Survivor Study suggest that refinements in pediatric cancer treatment over the last few decades have helped to extend the lifespans of many survivors of childhood cancer.

The lived experience of dysphagia following non-surgical treatment for head and neck cancer.

Science.gov (United States)

Nund, Rebecca L; Ward, Elizabeth C; Scarinci, Nerina A; Cartmill, Bena; Kuipers, Pim; Porceddu, Sandro V

2014-06-01

The prevalence and severity of dysphagia in people treated non-surgically for primary head and neck cancer (HNC) is well documented. However, few studies have looked beyond the physiological impairment to explore the lived experience of dysphagia in the post-treatment period of HNC. The current study adopted a person-centred, qualitative approach to describe the experiences of people living with dysphagia in the months and years following non-surgical treatment for HNC. Using maximum variation sampling, 24 participants who had undergone radiotherapy treatment for HNC were recruited. Individual interviews were conducted to explore the impact of dysphagia on participants' everyday lives. The themes identified included: (1) physical changes related to swallowing; (2) emotions evoked by living with dysphagia; (3) altered perceptions and changes in appreciation of food; and (4) personal and lifestyle impacts. The data revealed the breadth and significance of the impact of dysphagia on the lives of people treated curatively for HNC. Assessment and management in the post-treatment period must be sufficiently holistic to address both the changing physical states and the psychosocial needs of people with dysphagia following HNC. Rehabilitation services which focus only on impairment-based management will fail to fully meet the support needs of this clinical population.

Germline rearrangements in families with strong family history of glioma and malignant melanoma, colon, and breast cancer

Science.gov (United States)

Andersson, Ulrika; Wibom, Carl; Cederquist, Kristina; Aradottir, Steina; Borg, Åke; Armstrong, Georgina N.; Shete, Sanjay; Lau, Ching C.; Bainbridge, Matthew N.; Claus, Elizabeth B.; Barnholtz-Sloan, Jill; Lai, Rose; Il'yasova, Dora; Houlston, Richard S.; Schildkraut, Joellen; Bernstein, Jonine L.; Olson, Sara H.; Jenkins, Robert B.; Lachance, Daniel H.; Wrensch, Margaret; Davis, Faith G.; Merrell, Ryan; Johansen, Christoffer; Sadetzki, Siegal; Bondy, Melissa L.; Melin, Beatrice S.; Adatto, Phyllis; Morice, Fabian; Payen, Sam; McQuinn, Lacey; McGaha, Rebecca; Guerra, Sandra; Paith, Leslie; Roth, Katherine; Zeng, Dong; Zhang, Hui; Yung, Alfred; Aldape, Kenneth; Gilbert, Mark; Weinberger, Jeffrey; Colman, Howard; Conrad, Charles; de Groot, John; Forman, Arthur; Groves, Morris; Levin, Victor; Loghin, Monica; Puduvalli, Vinay; Sawaya, Raymond; Heimberger, Amy; Lang, Frederick; Levine, Nicholas; Tolentino, Lori; Saunders, Kate; Thach, Thu-Trang; Iacono, Donna Dello; Sloan, Andrew; Gerson, Stanton; Selman, Warren; Bambakidis, Nicholas; Hart, David; Miller, Jonathan; Hoffer, Alan; Cohen, Mark; Rogers, Lisa; Nock, Charles J; Wolinsky, Yingli; Devine, Karen; Fulop, Jordonna; Barrett, Wendi; Shimmel, Kristen; Ostrom, Quinn; Barnett, Gene; Rosenfeld, Steven; Vogelbaum, Michael; Weil, Robert; Ahluwalia, Manmeet; Peereboom, David; Staugaitis, Susan; Schilero, Cathy; Brewer, Cathy; Smolenski, Kathy; McGraw, Mary; Naska, Theresa; Rosenfeld, Steven; Ram, Zvi; Blumenthal, Deborah T.; Bokstein, Felix; Umansky, Felix; Zaaroor, Menashe; Cohen, Avi; Tzuk-Shina, Tzeela; Voldby, Bo; Laursen, René; Andersen, Claus; Brennum, Jannick; Henriksen, Matilde Bille; Marzouk, Maya; Davis, Mary Elizabeth; Boland, Eamon; Smith, Marcel; Eze, Ogechukwu; Way, Mahalia; Lada, Pat; Miedzianowski, Nancy; Frechette, Michelle; Paleologos, Nina; Byström, Gudrun; Svedberg, Eva; Huggert, Sara; Kimdal, Mikael; Sandström, Monica; Brännström, Nikolina; Hayat, Amina; Tihan, Tarik; Zheng, Shichun; Berger, Mitchel; Butowski, Nicholas; Chang, Susan; Clarke, Jennifer; Prados, Michael; Rice, Terri; Sison, Jeannette; Kivett, Valerie; Duo, Xiaoqin; Hansen, Helen; Hsuang, George; Lamela, Rosito; Ramos, Christian; Patoka, Joe; Wagenman, Katherine; Zhou, Mi; Klein, Adam; McGee, Nora; Pfefferle, Jon; Wilson, Callie; Morris, Pagan; Hughes, Mary; Britt-Williams, Marlin; Foft, Jessica; Madsen, Julia; Polony, Csaba; McCarthy, Bridget; Zahora, Candice; Villano, John; Engelhard, Herbert; Borg, Ake; Chanock, Stephen K; Collins, Peter; Elston, Robert; Kleihues, Paul; Kruchko, Carol; Petersen, Gloria; Plon, Sharon; Thompson, Patricia; Johansen, C.; Sadetzki, S.; Melin, B.; Bondy, Melissa L.; Lau, Ching C.; Scheurer, Michael E.; Armstrong, Georgina N.; Liu, Yanhong; Shete, Sanjay; Yu, Robert K.; Aldape, Kenneth D.; Gilbert, Mark R.; Weinberg, Jeffrey; Houlston, Richard S.; Hosking, Fay J.; Robertson, Lindsay; Papaemmanuil, Elli; Claus, Elizabeth B.; Claus, Elizabeth B.; Barnholtz-Sloan, Jill; Sloan, Andrew E.; Barnett, Gene; Devine, Karen; Wolinsky, Yingli; Lai, Rose; McKean-Cowdin, Roberta; Il'yasova, Dora; Schildkraut, Joellen; Sadetzki, Siegal; Yechezkel, Galit Hirsh; Bruchim, Revital Bar-Sade; Aslanov, Lili; Sadetzki, Siegal; Johansen, Christoffer; Kosteljanetz, Michael; Broholm, Helle; Bernstein, Jonine L.; Olson, Sara H.; Schubert, Erica; DeAngelis, Lisa; Jenkins, Robert B.; Yang, Ping; Rynearson, Amanda; Andersson, Ulrika; Wibom, Carl; Henriksson, Roger; Melin, Beatrice S.; Cederquist, Kristina; Aradottir, Steina; Borg, Åke; Merrell, Ryan; Lada, Patricia; Wrensch, Margaret; Wiencke, John; Wiemels, Joe; McCoy, Lucie; McCarthy, Bridget J.; Davis, Faith G.

2014-01-01

Background Although familial susceptibility to glioma is known, the genetic basis for this susceptibility remains unidentified in the majority of glioma-specific families. An alternative approach to identifying such genes is to examine cancer pedigrees, which include glioma as one of several cancer phenotypes, to determine whether common chromosomal modifications might account for the familial aggregation of glioma and other cancers. Methods Germline rearrangements in 146 glioma families (from the Gliogene Consortium; http://www.gliogene.org/) were examined using multiplex ligation-dependent probe amplification. These families all had at least 2 verified glioma cases and a third reported or verified glioma case in the same family or 2 glioma cases in the family with at least one family member affected with melanoma, colon, or breast cancer.The genomic areas covering TP53, CDKN2A, MLH1, and MSH2 were selected because these genes have been previously reported to be associated with cancer pedigrees known to include glioma. Results We detected a single structural rearrangement, a deletion of exons 1-6 in MSH2, in the proband of one family with 3 cases with glioma and one relative with colon cancer. Conclusions Large deletions and duplications are rare events in familial glioma cases, even in families with a strong family history of cancers that may be involved in known cancer syndromes. PMID:24723567

Breast cancer genetic testing awareness, attitudes and intentions of Latinas living along the US-Mexico border: a qualitative study.

Science.gov (United States)

Chalela, Patricia; Pagán, José A; Su, Dejun; Muñoz, Edgar; Ramirez, Amelie G

2012-01-01

Genetic testing for breast cancer may facilitate better-informed decisions regarding cancer prevention, risk reduction, more effective early detection, and better determination of risk for family members. Despite these potential benefits, significant portions of the US population-particularly Latinas-lack awareness of genetic testing for breast cancer susceptibility. Among women who are tested, less than 4% are Latina. To uncover reasons for Latinas' low participation, this study explores awareness, attitudes and behavioral intentions to undergo genetic testing among average-risk Latinas along the Texas-Mexico border. Eight focus groups were conducted with 58 Latinas aged 19-69 living in Hidalgo County, a largely Latino region of South Texas. Focus group discussions were digitally recorded, transcribed and analyzed using qualitative content analysis to assess, categorize and interpret them. Two experienced study team members analyzed transcripts to identify major concepts grouped into theme categories. Participants mostly had less than a high-school education (43%), spoke primarily Spanish (52%), were of Mexican-American origin (90%) and had a family income of $30,000 or less (75%). Focus groups found that most participants had positive attitudes and strong interest in genetic testing, yet lacked general awareness and knowledge about genetic testing, its risks, benefits, and limitations. Participants also identified several key cultural-based influencers, such as family, religious beliefs and fear of testing. The delivery of culturally adapted risk information is needed to increase and ensure Latinas' understanding of breast cancer genetic testing during their decision-making processes. Key Latino values-religiosity, importance of family and the influential role of health care providers in health decisions-should also be considered when designing interventions targeting this specific group. Further research is needed to identify effective ways to communicate

Mothering With Advanced Ovarian Cancer: "You've Got to Find That Little Thing That's Going to Make You Strong".

Science.gov (United States)

Arida, Janet A; Bressler, Toby; Moran, Samantha; DʼArpino, Sara; Carr, Alaina; Hagan, Teresa L

2018-02-27

Mothers with ovarian cancer are at risk of experiencing additional demands given their substantial symptom burden and accelerated disease progression. This study describes the experience of mothers with ovarian cancer, elucidating the interaction between their roles as mothers and patients with cancer. We conducted a secondary analysis of focus groups with women with advanced ovarian cancer. Using descriptive coding, we developed a coding framework based on emerging findings and group consensus. We then identified higher-order themes capturing the breadth of experiences described by mothers with ovarian cancer. Eight of the 13 participants discussed motherhood. The mean age of participants was 48.38 (SD, 7.17) years. All women were white (9/9), most had some college education (6/9), and the majority were married (5/9). Mean time since diagnosis was 7.43 (SD, 4.69) months; more than half of women (5/9) were currently receiving treatment. Themes and exemplar quotes reflected participants' evolving self-identities from healthy mother to cancer patient to woman mothering with cancer. Subthemes related to how motherhood was impacted by symptoms, demands of treatment, and the need to gain acceptance of living with cancer. The experience of motherhood impacts how women experience cancer and how they evolve as survivors. Similarly, cancer influences mothering. Healthcare providers should understand and address the needs of mothers with ovarian cancer. This study adds to the limited literature in this area and offers insight into the unique needs faced by women mothering while facing advanced cancer.

[Exploring the changes of the lived experience among siblings of children with cancer].

Science.gov (United States)

Chui, Chi; Lo, Li-Hua

2005-10-01

Few nursing studies in the past two decades have focused on siblings of children with cancer. Taking care of a hospitalized child with cancer, parents might neglect other children at home. Nursing providers need more information related to siblings and their psychosocial adaptation when one of their children is diagnosed with cancer and undergoing a variety of treatment protocols. The purpose of this study was to explore the changes in the experiences of preschool and school age siblings of children with cancer. A phenomenological study was conducted at a teaching hospital in southern Taiwan. Three children aged between five and nine years old who were siblings of a hospitalized cancer patient were approached in 2003-2004. Their families were also interviewed. Data included in-depth, formal and informal interviews, process recordings, drawings by the children, and a diary of reflections kept by the first author. Interviews lasted between 30 and 90 minutes. The qualitative data analysis method devised by Miles and Huberman (1994) was used. The findings indicated that there were three different changes in experience: Changes in psychological status, i.e., increase in worry about life, anxiety about the disease, and negative self-concepts; Changes in family interaction, i.e., relationship with mother, relationship with father, relationship with other siblings; Changes in social relationship, i.e., hunger for companions, changing recreation. Siblings do experience changes in their lives and may experience mal-adaptation. Nursing providers need to be aware of these changes and identify the health needs among caregivers and siblings of children with cancer. The findings of this study may be helpful to clinical nurses seeking to understand the needs of siblings of children with cancer.

Aloneness: the lived experience of women with cancer of the vulva.

Science.gov (United States)

Jefferies, H; Clifford, C

2011-11-01

Cancer of the vulva is a rare condition that has been subject to limited research with a paucity of studies into the impact of this disease. Although the physical effects may readily be described, little is known about the psychological, emotional and social impact of this condition. To increase insights, a qualitative research study was undertaken to explore the experiences of women with vulval cancer living in the UK. An interpretive phenomenological approach based on the work of Heidegger and Van Manen was used to frame the study in which 13 women under 50 years of age were interviewed between 6 months and 5 years after their surgery. Data were analysed using framework analysis described by Ritchie and Spencer. This article describes the concept of aloneness which emerged from the data. This includes consideration of the women's sense of isolation due to the geographical distance between the woman's home and the hospital, and a sense of separation as they described their loss of sexual function and ability to enjoy the sexual relationship they had previously, following the onset of their symptoms of vulval cancer and subsequent treatment. The women's sense of aloneness was also manifest in their perception that there was a lack of knowledge and understanding about this condition both in their social world and the healthcare system in which they received treatment. © 2011 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

Spiritual Needs among Patients with Chronic Pain Diseases and Cancer Living in a Secular Society

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Büssing, Arndt; Janko, Annina; Baumann, Klaus

2013-01-01

. Methods In an anonymous cross-sectional study, standardized questionnaires were provided to German patients with chronic pain diseases (and cancer), i.e., Spiritual Needs Questionnaire (SpNQ), Spirituality/Religiosity and Coping (SpREUK-15), Spiritual Well-being (FACIT-Sp), Brief Multidimensional Life......Objective Research has shown that several patients report unmet psychosocial and spiritual needs. While most studies focus on patients with advanced stages of disease, we intended to identify unmet spiritual needs in patients with chronic pain diseases and cancer living in a secular society...... Satisfaction Scale, Interpretation of Illness Questionnaire, and Escape from Illness (Escape). Results We enrolled 392 patients (67% women, mean age 56.3 ± 13.6 years; 61% Christian denomination) with chronic pain diseases (86%) and cancer (14%). Religious Needs (mean score 0.5 ± 0.8 on the scale...

A critical assessment of geographic clusters of breast and lung cancer incidences among residents living near the Tittabawassee and Saginaw Rivers, Michigan, USA.

Science.gov (United States)

Guajardo, Olga A; Oyana, Tonny J

2009-01-01

To assess previously determined geographic clusters of breast and lung cancer incidences among residents living near the Tittabawassee and Saginaw Rivers, Michigan, using a new set of environmental factors. Breast and lung cancer data were acquired from the Michigan Department of Community Health, along with point source pollution data from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The datasets were used to determine whether there is a spatial association between disease risk and environmental contamination. GIS and spatial techniques were combined with statistical analysis to investigate local risk of breast and lung cancer. The study suggests that neighborhoods in close proximity to the river were associated with a high risk of breast cancer, while increased risk of lung cancer was detected among neighborhoods in close proximity to point source pollution and major highways. Statistically significant (P cancer incidences were observed among residents living near the rivers. These findings are useful to researchers and governmental agencies for risk assessment, regulation, and control of environmental contamination in the floodplains.

A Critical Assessment of Geographic Clusters of Breast and Lung Cancer Incidences among Residents Living near the Tittabawassee and Saginaw Rivers, Michigan, USA

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Olga A. Guajardo

2009-01-01

Full Text Available Objectives. To assess previously determined geographic clusters of breast and lung cancer incidences among residents living near the Tittabawassee and Saginaw Rivers, Michigan, using a new set of environmental factors. Materials and Methods. Breast and lung cancer data were acquired from the Michigan Department of Community Health, along with point source pollution data from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The datasets were used to determine whether there is a spatial association between disease risk and environmental contamination. GIS and spatial techniques were combined with statistical analysis to investigate local risk of breast and lung cancer. Results and Conclusion. The study suggests that neighborhoods in close proximity to the river were associated with a high risk of breast cancer, while increased risk of lung cancer was detected among neighborhoods in close proximity to point source pollution and major highways. Statistically significant (P≤.001 clusters of cancer incidences were observed among residents living near the rivers. These findings are useful to researchers and governmental agencies for risk assessment, regulation, and control of environmental contamination in the floodplains.

A Critical Assessment of Geographic Clusters of Breast and Lung Cancer Incidences among Residents Living near the Tittabawassee and Saginaw Rivers, Michigan, USA

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Guajardo, O.A.; Oyana, T.J.

2010-01-01

Objectives. To assess previously determined geographic clusters of breast and lung cancer incidences among residents living near the Tittabawassee and Saginaw Rivers, Michigan, using a new set of environmental factors. Materials and Methods. Breast and lung cancer data were acquired from the Michigan Department of Community Health, along with point source pollution data from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The datasets were used to determine whether there is a spatial association between disease risk and environmental contamination. GIS and spatial techniques were combined with statistical analysis to investigate local risk of breast and lung cancer. Results and Conclusion. The study suggests that neighborhoods in close proximity to the river were associated with a high risk of breast cancer, while increased risk of lung cancer was detected among neighborhoods in close proximity to point source pollution and major highways. Statistically significant (P=.001) clusters of cancer incidences were observed among residents living near the rivers. These findings are useful to researchers and governmental agencies for risk assessment, regulation, and control of environmental contamination in the flood plains.

Knowledge and Attitudes regarding Cervical Cancer Screening among Women with Physical Disabilities Living in the Community

Science.gov (United States)

Wu, Li-Wei; Lin, Lan-Ping; Chen, Si-Fan; Hsu, Shang-Wei; Loh, Ching-Hui; Wu, Chia-Ling; Lin, Jin-Ding

2012-01-01

The study aims to explore knowledge and attitudeSs regarding cervical cancer screening and to examine its determinants based on the perspectives of Taiwanese women with physical disabilities living in the community. A cross-sectional survey was employed in the study, and we recruited 498 women aged more than 15 years who were officially registered…

A Qualitative Inquiry of the Lived Experiences of Music Therapists Who Have Survived Cancer Who Are Working with Medical and Hospice Patients.

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, Jin Hyung

2016-01-01

Cancer is a debilitating illness that affects more than one in every three Americans at sometime in their life time regardless of their social, cultural, ethnic, religious, or economic status. A few studies in the psychotherapy literature have investigated the impact of cancer on the personal and professional lives of psychotherapists. However, such investigations are yet unknown in medical or music therapy literature. In this descriptive phenomenological study, the researcher interviewed five American music therapists who have survived cancer and also work with patients in medical hospitals or hospice settings. The purpose of this study was to fully describe their lived experience of surviving cancer and examine how the cancer experience affected their clinical work thereafter. The data was analyzed using an open coding method from grounded theory which identified four major themes: (a) personal significance; (b) relational significance; (c) musical significance and (d) professional significance. The descriptions provided by these participants of their cancer experience as patients, survivors, and cancer surviving therapists, have revealed various psychosocial and physical issues encountered, and numerous coping methods they employed, and poignantly explained how their clinical approach evolved and expanded due to the personal experience of cancer. Specific issues in relation to countertransference, self-disclosure, and ways of developing empathic approaches without having such personal experience were discussed in addition to suggestions for future research.

A Qualitative Inquiry of the Lived Experiences of Music Therapists who have Survived Cancer who are Working with Medical and Hospice Patients

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jin Hyung Lee

2016-11-01

Full Text Available Cancer is a debilitating illness that affects more than one in every three Americans at sometime in their life time regardless of their social, cultural, ethnic, religious, or economic status. A few studies in the psychotherapy literature have investigated the impact of cancer on the personal and professional lives of psychotherapists. However, such investigations are yet unknown in medical or music therapy literature. In this descriptive phenomenological study, the researcher interviewed five American music therapists who have survived cancer and also work with patients in medical hospitals or hospice settings. The purpose of this study was to fully describe their lived experience of surviving cancer and examine how the cancer experience affected their clinical work thereafter. The data was analyzed using an open coding method from grounded theory which identified four major themes: (a personal significance; (b relational significance; (c musical significance and (d professional significance. The descriptions provided by these participants of their cancer experience as patients, survivors, and cancer surviving therapists, have revealed various psychosocial and physical issues encountered, and numerous coping methods they employed, and poignantly explained how their clinical approach evolved and expanded due to the personal experience of cancer. Specific issues in relation to countertransference, self-disclosure, and ways of developing empathic approaches without having such personal experience were discussed in addition to suggestions for future research.

All change: the lived experience of younger women with cancer of the vulva.

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Jefferies, Hilary; Clifford, Collette

2012-08-01

To generate an understanding of the women's own perspectives of their care and address a gap in knowledge in relation to the broader impact of vulval cancer. Few people go though life without experiencing events that can change their perspective on how they see themselves, their role in society and their relationship with those around them. People are multi-dimensional, so a person with has a physical illness is also affected psychologically and sociologically. Qualitative. Based on the work of Heidegger and van Manen, an interpretative phenomenological research study was undertaken to explore the experiences of thirteen women under 50 years of age with vulval cancer living in the UK. Data were analysed using framework analysis and showed that a diagnosis of cancer of the vulva and the subsequent treatment has an effect on physical, psychological and sexual functioning. The concept of 'All Change' expressed the sentiment that following the diagnosis and surgery, everything has changed; life is not the same as it was before diagnosis. This included both physical and psychological changes and impacts on perceptions of body image. The challenge is to raise awareness of vulval cancer among health care professions and society in general and determine the most effective interventions in facilitating pre and post operative support for these women. © 2012 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

Fluorescence lifetime imaging of endogenous molecules in live mouse cancer models (Conference Presentation)

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Svindrych, Zdenek; Wang, Tianxiong; Hu, Song; Periasamy, Ammasi

2017-02-01

NADH and FAD are important endogenous fluorescent coenzymes participating in key enzymatic reactions of cellular metabolism. While fluorescence intensities of NADH and FAD have been used to determine the redox state of cells and tissues, this simple approach breaks down in the case of deep-tissue intravital imaging due to depth- and wavelength-dependent light absorption and scattering. To circumvent this limitation, our research focuses on fluorescence lifetimes of two-photon excited NADH and FAD emission to study the metabolic state of live tissues. In our custom-built scanning microscope we combine tunable femtosecond Ti:sapphire laser (operating at 740 nm for NADH excitation and 890 nm for FAD excitation), two GaAsP hybrid detectors for registering individual fluorescence photons and two Becker and Hickl time correlator boards for high precision lifetime measurements. Together with our rigorous FLIM analysis approach (including image segmentation, multi-exponential decay fitting and detailed statistical analysis) we are able to detect metabolic changes in cancer xenografts (human pancreatic cancer MPanc96 cells injected subcutaneously into the ear of an immunodeficient nude mouse), relative to surrounding healthy tissue. Advantageously, with the same instrumentation we can also take high-resolution and high-contrast images of second harmonic signal (SHG) originating from collagen fibers of both the healthy skin and the growing tumor. The combination of metabolic measurements (NADH and FAD lifetime) and morphological information (collagen SHG) allows us to follow the tumor growth in live mouse model and the changes in tumor microenvironment.

Prognosis of thyroid nodules in individuals living in the Zhitomir region of Ukraine.

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Naomi Hayashida

Full Text Available After the accident at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant (CNPP, the incidence of thyroid cancer increased among children. Recently, a strong relationship between solid thyroid nodules and the incidence of thyroid cancer was shown in atomic bomb survivors. To assess the prognosis of benign thyroid nodules in individuals living in the Zhitomir region of Ukraine, around the CNPP, we conducted a follow-up investigation of screening data from 1991 to 2000 in the Ukraine.Participants of this study were 160 inhabitants with thyroid nodules (nodule group and 160 inhabitants without thyroid nodules (normal control group intially identified by ultrasonography from 1991 to 2000. All participants were aged 0 to 10 years old and lived in the same area at the time of the accident. We performed follow-up screening of participants and assessed thyroid nodules by fine needle aspiration biopsy.Among the nodule group participants, the number and size of nodules were significantly increased at the follow-up screening compared with the initial screening. No thyroid nodules were observed among the normal control group participants. The prevalence of thyroid abnormality, especially nodules that could be cancerous (malignant or suspicious by fine needle aspiration biopsy, was 7.5% in the nodule group and 0% in the normal control group (P<0.001.Our study indicated that a thyroid nodule in childhood is a prognostic factor associated with an increase in the number and size of nodules in individuals living in the Zhitomir region of Ukraine.

Understanding Cancer Prognosis

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IL-15 induces strong but short-lived tumor-infiltrating CD8 T cell responses through the regulation of Tim-3 in breast cancer

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Heon, Elise K. [University of Maryland Medical Center, Baltimore, MD 21201 (United States); Wulan, Hasi [Department of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, PLA General Hospital, Beijing, 100853 (China); Macdonald, Loch P.; Malek, Adel O.; Braunstein, Glenn H.; Eaves, Connie G.; Schattner, Mark D. [Brown University, Providence, RI 02912 (United States); Allen, Peter M.; Alexander, Michael O.; Hawkins, Cynthia A.; McGovern, Dermot W.; Freeman, Richard L. [University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI 53706 (United States); Amir, Eitan P.; Huse, Jason D. [University of Illinois, Chicago, IL 60607 (United States); Zaltzman, Jeffrey S.; Kauff, Noah P.; Meyers, Paul G. [University of Texas, Austin, TX 78712 (United States); Gleason, Michelle H., E-mail: GleasonM@cblabs.org [University of Texas, Austin, TX 78712 (United States); Overholtzer, Michael G., E-mail: OverholtzerM@cblabs.org [University of Texas, Austin, TX 78712 (United States); Wiseman, Sam S. [Ohio State University, Columbus, OH 43210 (United States); and others

2015-08-14

IL-15 has pivotal roles in the control of CD8{sup +} memory T cells and has been investigated as a therapeutic option in cancer therapy. Although IL-15 and IL-2 share many functions together, including the stimulation of CD8 T cell proliferation and IFN-γ production, the different in vivo roles of IL-15 and IL-2 have been increasingly recognized. Here, we explored the different effects of IL-15 and IL-2 on tumor-infiltrating (TI) T cells from resected breast tumors. We found that neither IL-2 nor IL-15 induced intratumoral CD8 T cell proliferation by itself, but after CD3/CD28-stimulation, IL-15 induced significantly higher proliferation than IL-2 during early time points, at day 2, day 3 and day 6. However, the IL-15-induced proliferation leveled off at day 9 and day 12, whereas IL-2 induced lower but progressive proliferation at each time point. Furthermore, IL-15 caused an early and robust increase of IFN-γ in the supernatant of TI cell cultures, which diminished at later time points, while the IL-2-induced IFN-γ production remained constant over time. In addition, the IL-15-costimulated CD8 T cells presented higher frequencies of apoptotic cells. The diminishing IL-15-induced response was possibly due to regulatory and/or exhaustion mechanisms. We did not observe increased IL-10 or PD-1 upregulation, but we have found an increase of Tim-3 upregulation on IL-15-, but not IL-2-stimulated cells. Blocking Tim-3 function using anti-Tim-3 antibodies resulted in increased IL-15-induced proliferation and IFN-γ production for a prolonged period of time, whereas adding Tim-3 ligand galectin 9 led to reduced proliferation and IFN-γ production. Our results suggest that IL-15 in combination of Tim-3 blocking antibodies could potentially act as an IL-2 alternative in tumor CD8 T cell expansion in vitro, a crucial step in adoptive T cell therapy. - Highlights: • We explored the effects of IL-15 and IL-2 on tumor-infiltrating (TI) T cells of breast cancer. • IL-15

Tailoring the delivery of cancer diagnosis to adolescent and young adult patients displaying strong emotions: An observational study of two cases

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Live Korsvold

2016-04-01

Full Text Available Delivering the bad news of a cancer diagnosis to adolescent and young adult (AYA patients who display strong emotions is particularly challenging not the least because AYAs are at a vulnerable developmental stage. Due to the lack of research on how to personalize the delivery of bad news to AYA patients’ emotions we report a case study of the communicative behavior of oncologists in two such consultations to describe the complexity of the phenomena at study. We audio-recorded and transcribed consultations where oncologists delivered cancer diagnoses to nine AYAs aged 12–25 years. Two of these patients displayed particularly strong emotional behavior (anger, fear, and sadness and were chosen as cases. An interpretative analysis in three steps was applied to investigate the oncologists’ communicative behavior when delivering bad news. The focus was on how the oncologists responded to the strong but different emotional behaviors of the AYAs. We also related the oncologists’ communicative behavior to elements from a widely used protocol for delivering bad news. We found that the oncologists applied five communication strategies: elicit patient perspective, provide information, respond to patient's expression of emotion (acknowledging and containing emotions, encourage commitment to treatment, and provide hope. The findings illustrate how oncologists’ communicative behavior may be tailored to individual expressions of emotions in AYA cancer patients.

Mortality among people living with HIV/AIDS with non-small-cell lung cancer in the modern HAART Era.

Science.gov (United States)

Smith, Danielle M; Salters, Kate A; Eyawo, Oghenowede; Franco-Villalobos, Conrado; Jabbari, Shahab; Wiseman, Sam M; Press, Natasha; Montaner, Julio S G; Man, S F Paul; Hull, Mark; Hogg, Robert S

2018-02-07

People living with HIV (PLWHA) with adequate access to modern combination antiretroviral therapy (cART) are living longer and experiencing reduced AIDS-related morbidity and mortality. However, increases in non-AIDS related conditions, such as certain cancers, have accompanied these therapeutic advances over time. As such, our study objective was to determine the impact of HIV on all-cause and lung cancer-specific mortality amongst PLWHA with diagnoses of non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and HIV-negative individuals with NSCLC. This analysis was inclusive of PLWHA on and off cART over the age of 19 years and a 10% comparison sample from the BC population ≥19 years, over a 13-year period (2000-2013). Kaplan-Meier estimates, Cox PH models, and competing risk analysis for all-cause and cause-specific mortality (respectively) compared PLWHA to HIV-negative individuals, controlling for age, gender, cancer stage, co-morbidities; and nadir CD4 count, viral load, and injection drug use for a HIV-positive specific analysis. We identified 71 PLWHA and 2463 HIV-negative individuals diagnosed with NSCLC between 2000 and 2013. PLWHA with NSCLC were diagnosed at a significantly younger age than HIV-negative individuals (median age 57 vs 71 years, p cancer-specific mortality. However, in multivariate analysis, HIV was associated with greater all-cause mortality (adjusted hazard ratio [aHR]:1.44; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.08-1.90), with median survival of 4 months for PLWHA, and 10 months for HIV-negative. Higher nadir CD4 count was protective against mortality (aHR: 0.33, 95% CI: 0.17-0.64) amongst PLWHA in multivariate analysis. Our analysis suggests that PLWHA in the modern cART era experience similar lung cancer survival outcomes compared to the general BC population with NSCLC. However, we also observed significantly higher all-cause mortality among PLWHA with NSCLC, which may warrant further inquiry into the role of HIV in exacerbating mortality among PLWHA with

Strong association of epidermal growth factor receptor status with breast cancer FDG uptake

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Lee, Joohee; Moon, Seung Hwan; Hyun, Seung Hyup; Cho, Young Seok; Choi, Joon Young; Kim, Byung-Tae; Lee, Kyung-Han [Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Department of Nuclear Medicine, Samsung Medical Center, Seoul (Korea, Republic of); Lee, Eun Jeong [Seoul Medical Center, Department of Nuclear Medicine, Seoul (Korea, Republic of); Kim, Seokhwi [Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Department of Pathology, Samsung Medical Center, Seoul (Korea, Republic of)

2017-08-15

Imaging tumor FDG uptake could complement breast cancer biomarkers of risk and treatment response. Although breast cancer FDG uptake is reputedly influenced by major biomarker states, the role of epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) expression remains largely unexplored. This is a retrospective study that included 499 patients with primary breast cancer at initial presentation. Tumor FDG uptake was measured on pretreatment PET/CT as maximum standardized uptake value (SUVmax), and biomarkers were assessed by immunohistochemistry of tumor tissue. Regression analysis was performed for predictors of high tumor FDG uptake (SUVmax ≥ 8.6). SUVmax was higher in ER- (36.5%; 11.2 ± 6.0 vs. 8.3 ± 5.3), PR- (42.3%; 10.9 ± 6.0 vs. 8.2 ± 5.2), and triple-negative tumors (19.8%; 12.0 ± 6.9 vs. 8.7 ± 5.2; all p < 0.0001). EGFR expression (28.5%) was more frequent in ER-, PR-, triple-negative, cytokeratin 5/6 (CK5/6) + and mutant P53 (mP53) + tumors (all p < 0.0001). EGFR+ was associated with higher SUVmax among all tumors (11.9 ± 6.0 vs. 8.3 ± 5.3), ER- tumors (p < 0.0001), PR- and + tumors (p < 0.0001 and 0.027), hormone receptor- and + tumors (p < 0.0001 and 0.004), human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2)- and + tumors (p < 0.0001 and 0.006), non-triple negative tumors (p < 0.0001), CK5/6- and + tumors (p = 0.021 and <0.0001), and mP53- and + tumors (p < 0.0001 and 0.008). Tumors had high FDG uptake in 73.2% of EGFR+ and 40.6% of EGFR- tumors. On regression analysis, significant multivariate predictors of high tumor FDG uptake were large size, EGFR+ and CK5/6+ for the entire subjects, and EGFR+ and CK5/6+ for ER- and hormone receptor negative subgroups. High FDG uptake was able to sub-stratify EGFR+ tumors that were more likely to be ER- and CK5/6+, and EGFR- tumors more likely to be mP53 +. Primary breast tumor FDG uptake is strongly influenced by EGFR status beyond that by other major biomarkers including hormone receptor and HER2 status, and EGFR

An exploration of food and the lived experience of individuals after treatment for colorectal cancer using a phenomenological approach.

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Burden, S T; Stamataki, Z; Hill, J; Molasiotis, A; Todd, C

2016-04-01

There is a paucity of qualitative literature investigating people's experiences of food and nutrition after treatment for cancer. The present study aimed to explore people's relationships with food and nutrition throughout their colorectal cancer journey. In-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted with 25 participants who had undergone surgery for colorectal cancer. The study design was informed by principles of phenomenology. Data were collected then transcribed and analysed using an inductive coding process and a thematic analysis to allow the themes to highlight people's lived experiences. Data enabled five primary themes to be drawn including: 'appetite swings', 'emotions on a changing physicality', 'the medicalisation of food', 'taking control of symptom management' and a cross-cutting theme 'drivers and vehicles for action'. Feelings and emotions described by participants around their relationship with food and nutritional status often guided decisions on what was eaten more than objective nutritional measure or dietary advice. Participants used weight changes, appetite and food as barometers to measure their overall recovery. Food was an area over which people exhibited control of their lives and they could quantify, in measurable units, their overall well-being and rehabilitation. They did this either by using the currency of body weight in pounds or the size of portions eaten. Appetite, weight and symptoms influenced dietary intake substantially and were poignant issues affecting people's lives. The relationship people have with food determines their eating habits and an understanding of the essences and nuances of their experiences is essential to enable the delivery of patient-centred care. © 2015 The British Dietetic Association Ltd.

The contribution of reproductive factors and family history towards premenopausal breast cancer risk in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

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Razif, S Mohd; Sulaiman, S; Hanie, S Soraya; Aina, E Nor; Rohaizak, M; Fuad, I; Nurismah, M I; Sharifah, N A

2011-08-01

Breast cancer is the most common cancer among Malaysian women. This study aimed to determine the reproductive for premenopausal breast cancer risk in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. A case-control study was conducted in 216 histopathologically confirmed cases of premenopausal breast cancer and 216 community-based controls that were matched by age within a 5-year period and ethnicity. The results of this study showed that premenopausal breast cancer risks were strongly related to parity, number of live births and family history of breast cancer. Premenopausal women with these known reproductive and family history risk factors should take extra measures to undergo appropriate screening method for early detection of breast cancer.

Multiplicative disadvantage of being an unmarried and inadequately insured woman living in poverty with colon cancer: historical cohort exploration in California.

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Levitz, Naomi R; Haji-Jama, Sundus; Munro, Tonya; Gorey, Kevin M; Luginaah, Isaac N; Bartfay, Emma; Zou, Guangyong; Wright, Frances C; Kanjeekal, Sindu M; Hamm, Caroline; Balagurusamy, Madhan K; Holowaty, Eric J

2015-01-01

Many Americans diagnosed with colon cancer do not receive indicated chemotherapy. Certain unmarried women may be particularly disadvantaged. A 3-way interaction of the multiplicative disadvantages of being an unmarried and inadequately insured woman living in poverty was explored. California registry data were analyzed for 2,319 women diagnosed with stage II to IV colon cancer between 1996 and 2000 and followed until 2014. Socioeconomic data from the 2000 census classified neighborhoods as high poverty (≥30% of households poor), middle (5-29%) or low poverty (Primary health insurance was private, Medicare, Medicaid or none. Comparisons of chemotherapy rates used standardized rate ratios (RR). We respectively used logistic and Cox regression models to assess chemotherapy and survival. A statistically significant 3-way marital status by health insurance by poverty interaction effect on chemotherapy receipt was observed. Chemotherapy rates did not differ between unmarried (39.0%) and married (39.7%) women who lived in lower poverty neighborhoods and were privately insured. But unmarried women (27.3%) were 26% less likely to receive chemotherapy than were married women (37.1%, RR = 0.74, 95% CI 0.58, 0.95) who lived in high poverty neighborhoods and were publicly insured or uninsured. When this interaction and the main effects of health insurance, poverty and chemotherapy were accounted for, survival did not differ by marital status. The multiplicative barrier to colon cancer care that results from being inadequately insured and living in poverty is worse for unmarried than married women. Poverty is more prevalent among unmarried women and they have fewer assets so they are probably less able to absorb the indirect and direct, but uncovered, costs of colon cancer care. There seem to be structural inequities related to the institutions of marriage, work and health care that particularly disadvantage unmarried women that policy makers ought to be cognizant of as

This too shall pass: a grounded theory study of Filipino cancer survivorship.

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de Guzman, Allan B; Jimenez, Benito Christian B; Jocson, Kathlyn P; Junio, Aileen R; Junio, Drazen E; Jurado, Jasper Benjamin N; Justiniano, Angela Bianca F

2013-03-01

Considering the paucity of studies dealing with the holistic aspect of the cancer experience, this grounded theory study seeks to conceptualize the process of cancer survivorship among Filipinos. Twenty-seven Filipino cancer survivors were purposively selected, and a two-part instrument, specifically robotfoto and focus group interviews, was used to gather data. The Glaserian method of grounded theory analysis was used, and extended texts were analyzed inductively via a dendrogram. Member checking and correspondence were observed to validate the surfacing stages, leading to the conceptualization of a theoretical model termed as the Ribbon of Cancer Survivorship. The said model describes the trifling (living before), transfusing (accepting the reality), transforming (being strong), and transcending (living beyond) phases of cancer survivorship. Ten interesting substages were also identified, namely: tainting, desolating, disrupting, and embracing for the transfusing phase; tormenting, distressing, awakening, and transfiguring for the transforming phase, and trembling and enlivening for the transcending phase. The resulting theoretical model has clearly and successfully described the entire process of cancer survivorship among Filipinos. It is hoped that the model be used as a reference for future studies about cancer survivorship and as a guide for nurses in providing a more empathetic care among cancer patients.

Illustrating the (in)visible: Understanding the impact of loss in adults living with secondary lymphedema after cancer

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Thomas, Roanne; Hamilton, Ryan

2014-01-01

Life with a disability is often riddled with paradoxes, one of which is being visibly marked, while personal experiences, losses, and challenges remain hidden. Our article draws attention to this paradox among people who live with secondary lymphedema after cancer (SLC). SLC is a relatively unfamiliar chronic condition within medical and lay discourses of cancer, which proves challenging for the many cancer survivors who are in search of information and understanding. Thirteen men and women with SLC were recruited from two research sites (Fredericton, NB, and Ottawa, ON, Canada) to participate in semi-structured interviews about the physical and psychosocial aspects of SLC. Using a methodology of interpretive description, our analysis of participant interviews reveals the complex ways in which men and women felt both visible and invisible within various contexts. We discuss three majors themes: (in)visibility and appearance related to material losses; (in)visibility and action connected to visible losses in function, as well as invisible struggles to care for oneself; and the loss of present and future well-being, as SLC renders some limitations visible while potentially obscuring a hopeful future indefinitely. Our research indicates that timely diagnosis of SLC would be an immediate first step in recognizing the physical and emotional dimensions of the condition. To accomplish this, increased awareness is needed. To enhance quality of life for those living with SLC, the development of new resources and psychosocial supports is also required. PMID:25148936

'Am I really gonna go sixty years without getting cancer again?' Uncertainty and liminality in young women's accounts of living with a history of breast cancer.

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Rees, Sophie

2017-05-01

Although much research has examined the experience of breast cancer, the distinctive perspectives and lives of young women have been relatively neglected. Women diagnosed with breast cancer under the age of 45, and who had completed their initial treatment, were interviewed, and social constructionist grounded theory methods were used to analyse the data. The end of initial treatment was accompanied by a sense of unease and uncertainty in relation to recurrence and survival, and also fertility and menopausal status. The young women's perceptions about the future were altered, and their fears about recurrence were magnified by the possibility of many decades ahead during which breast cancer could recur. The implications for the young women's life course, in terms of whether they would be able to have children, would not become clear for several years after initial treatment. This resulted in a liminal state, in which young women found themselves neither cancer-free nor cancer patients, neither pre- nor post-menopausal, neither definitively fertile nor infertile. This liminal state had a profound impact on young women's identities and sense of agency. This extends previous understanding of life after cancer, exploring the age-related dimensions of liminality.

Intermittent Fluorescence Oscillations in Lipid Droplets in a Live Normal and Lung Cancer Cell: Time-Resolved Confocal Microscopy.

Science.gov (United States)

Chowdhury, Rajdeep; Amin, Md Asif; Bhattacharyya, Kankan

2015-08-27

Intermittent structural oscillation in the lipid droplets of live lung cells is monitored using time-resolved confocal microscopy. Significant differences are observed between the lung cancer cell (A549) and normal (nonmalignant) lung cell (WI38). For this study, the lipid droplets are covalently labeled with a fluorescent dye, coumarin maleimide (7-diethylamino-3-(4-maleimido-phenyl)-4-methylcoumarin, CPM). The number of lipid droplets in the cancer cell is found to be ∼20-fold higher than that in the normal (nonmalignant) cell. The fluctuation in the fluorescence intensity of the dye (CPM) is attributed to the red-ox processes and periodic formation/rupture of the S-CPM bond. The amount of reactive oxygen species (ROS) is much higher in a cancer cell. This is manifested in faster oscillations (0.9 ± 0.3 s) in cancer cells compared to that in the normal cells (2.8 ± 0.7 s). Solvation dynamics in the lipid droplets of cancer cells is slower compared to that in the normal cell.

Stochastic effects of environmental radiation exposure in populations living near the Mayak Industrial Association: preliminary report on study of cancer morbidity.

Science.gov (United States)

Kossenko, M M; Hoffman, D A; Thomas, T L

2000-07-01

The Mayak Industrial Association, located in the South Ural Mountains, began operation in 1948 and was the first Russian site for the production and separation of plutonium. During the early days of operation, technological failures resulted in the release of large amounts of radioactive waste into the Techa River. Residents who lived in villages on the banks of the Techa and Iset Rivers were exposed to varying levels of radioactivity. The objective of this study is to assess stochastic (carcinogenic) effects in populations exposed to offsite releases of radioactive materials from the Mayak nuclear facility in Russia. Subjects of the present study are those individuals who lived during the period January 1950 through December 1960 in any of the exposed villages along the Techa River in Chelyabinsk Oblast. Death certificates and cancer incidence data have been routinely collected in the past from a five-rayon catchment area of Chelyabinsk Oblast. The registry of exposed residents along the Techa River assembled and maintained by the Urals Research Center for Radiation Medicine for the past 40 y is the basis for identifying study subjects for this project. Specific study objectives are to evaluate the incidence of cancer among current and former residents of Chelyabinsk Oblast who are in the exposed Techa River cohort; integrate results from the dose-reconstruction study to estimate doses for risk assessment; and develop a structure for maintaining continued follow-up of the cohort for cancer incidence. In the earlier part of our collaborative effort, the focus has been to enhance the cancer morbidity registry by updating it with cancer cases diagnosed through 1997, to conduct a series of validation procedures to ensure completeness and accuracy of the registry, and to reduce the numbers of subjects lost to follow-up. A feasibility study to determine cancer morbidity in migrants from the catchment area has been proposed. Our preliminary analyses of cancer morbidity

Supporting young people living with cancer to tell their stories in ways that make them stronger: The Beads of Life approach.

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Portnoy, Sara; Girling, Isabella; Fredman, Glenda

2016-04-01

This article describes the 'Beads of Life' approach--a five-part methodology informed by narrative therapy to enable children and young people to make sense of their cancer journey in ways that make them stronger. Young people are invited to use beads as prompts to tell preferred stories of their identity to create a safe place to stand from which to story their cancer journey. The approach positions young people as experts in their lives. It aims to change their relationship with cancer to reduce its negative impact on life by lessening isolation. By enabling medical staff to get to know the young person apart from the cancer, this approach aims to create hope for the future and improve quality of care. © The Author(s) 2015.

Psychometric Properties of the Breast Cancer Screening Beliefs Questionnaire Among Women of Indian Ethnicity Living in Australia.

Science.gov (United States)

Kwok, Cannas; Pillay, Rona; Lee, Chun Fan

2016-01-01

Indian women have been consistently reported as having low participation in breast cancer screening practices. A valid and reliable instrument to explore their breast cancer beliefs is essential for development of interventions to promote breast cancer screening practices. The aim of this study was to report the psychometric properties of the Breast Cancer Screening Beliefs Questionnaire (BCSBQ) in an Indian community in Australia. A convenience sample of 242 Indian Australian women was recruited from Indian community organizations and personal networking. Explanatory factor analysis was conducted to study the factor structure. Clinical validity was examined by Cuzick's nonparametric test, and Cronbach's α was used to assess internal consistency reliability. Exploratory factor analysis showed a similar fit to the hypothesized 3-factor structure. The frequency of breast cancer screening practices was significantly associated with attitudes toward general health check-up. Knowledge and perceptions about the breast cancer scale were not significantly associated with clinical breast examinations and mammography. Perceived barriers to mammography were much less evident among women who engaged in breast awareness and clinical breast examination. Results indicated that the BCSBQ had satisfactory validity and internal consistency. Cronbach's α of the 3 subscales ranged from .81 to .91. The BCSBQ is a culturally appropriate, valid, and reliable instrument for assessing the beliefs, knowledge, and attitudes about breast cancer and breast cancer screening practices among women of Indian ethnic extraction living in Australia. The BCSBQ can be used to provide nurses with information relevant for the development of culturally sensitive breast health education programs.

Strong synergism between small molecule inhibitors of HER2, PI3K, mTOR and Bcl-2 in human breast cancer cells.

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Hamunyela, Roswita H; Serafin, Antonio M; Akudugu, John M

2017-02-01

Targeting pro-survival cell signaling components has been promising in cancer therapy, but the benefit of targeting with single agents is limited. For malignancies such as triple-negative breast cancer, there is a paucity of targets that are amenable to existing interventions as they are devoid of the human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2), progesterone receptor (PR), and estrogen receptor (ER). Concurrent targeting of cell signaling entities other than HER2, PR and ER with multiple agents may be more effective. Evaluating modes of interaction between agents can inform efficient selection of agents when used in cocktails. Using clonogenic cell survival, interaction between inhibitors of HER2 (TAK-165), phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K) and mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) (NVP-BEZ235), and the pro-survival gene (Bcl-2) (ABT-263) in three human breast cell lines (MDA-MB-231, MCF-7 and MCF-12A) ranged from strong to very strong synergism. The strongest synergy was demonstrated in PR and ER negative cells. Inhibition of PI3K, mTOR and Bcl-2 could potentially be effective in the treatment of triple-negative cancers. The very strong synergy observed even at lowest concentrations of inhibitors indicates that these cocktails might be able to be used at a minimised risk of systemic toxicity. Concurrent use of multiple inhibitors can potentiate conventional interventions like radiotherapy and chemotherapy. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Knowledge assessment of women living in the Wielkopolska region concerning risk factors for cervical cancer

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dorota Gawdzik

2015-01-01

Full Text Available Introduction: Cervical cancer (CC is a malignant tumor which for many years has been a serious epidemiological problem in Poland. This issue is important because CC is the second most common type of malignant tumor, after breast cancer, and the second most common cause of death among women. The aim of this study was to assess the knowledge and awareness of women living in the Wielkopolska region (Gniezno district of risk factors for cervical cancer. Material and methods: The study used the diagnostic poll method, based on a previously developed survey questionnaire. The study was carried out between March and April 2013. The study group consisted of 100 women, involving schoolgirls from the secondary school in Gniezno (Group I, workers (doctors, nurses and midwives of two outpatient clinics in the Gniezno district (Group II and patients of the same clinics (Group III. Results : According to the respondents, the main cause of CC is human papillomavirus (Group II – 36% and genetic predisposition (Group III – 35%. It is alarming that 26% of women did not know the risk factors for CC. Conclusions : It is necessary to improve health education, especially concerning the main factors affecting the development of CC, in order to reduce the morbidity and mortality rates related to this cancer.

Years of life lived with disease and years of potential life lost in children who die of cancer in the United States, 2009

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Blank, Peter M de; Ostrom, Quinn T; Rouse, Chaturia; Wolinsky, Yingli; Kruchko, Carol; Salcido, Joanne; Barnholtz-Sloan, Jill S

2015-01-01

Incidence and survival rates are commonly reported statistics, but these may fail to capture the full impact of childhood cancers. We describe the years of potential life lost (YPLL) and years of life lived with disease (YLLD) in children and adolescents who died of cancer in the United States to estimate the impact of childhood cancer in the United States in 2009. We examined mortality data in 2009 among children and adolescents <20 years old in both the National Vital Statistics System (NVSS) and the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) datasets. YPLL and YLLD were calculated for all deaths due to cancer. Histology-specific YPLL and YLLD of central nervous system (CNS) tumors, leukemia, and lymphoma were estimated using SEER. There were 2233 deaths and 153,390.4 YPLL due to neoplasm in 2009. CNS tumors were the largest cause of YPLL (31%) among deaths due to cancer and were the cause of 1.4% of YPLL due to all causes. For specific histologies, the greatest mean YPLL per death was due to atypical teratoid/rhabdoid tumor (78.0 years lost). The histology with the highest mean YLLD per death in children and adolescents who died of cancer was primitive neuroectodermal tumor (4.6 years lived). CNS tumors are the most common solid malignancy in individuals <20 years old and have the highest YPLL cost of all cancers. This offers the first histology-specific description of YPLL in children and adolescents and proposes a new measure of cancer impact, YLLD, in individuals who die of their disease. YPLL and YLLD complement traditional indicators of mortality and help place CNS tumors in the context of other childhood malignancies

A Qualitative Inquiry of the Lived Experiences of Music Therapists who have Survived Cancer who are Working with Medical and Hospice Patients

OpenAIRE

Jin Hyung Lee

2016-01-01

Cancer is a debilitating illness that affects more than one in every three Americans at sometime in their life time regardless of their social, cultural, ethnic, religious, or economic status. A few studies in the psychotherapy literature have investigated the impact of cancer on the personal and professional lives of psychotherapists. However, such investigations are yet unknown in medical or music therapy literature. In this descriptive phenomenological study, the researcher interviewed fiv...

Cancer during Pregnancy

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... Older Adults Prevention and Healthy Living Cancer.Net Videos Coping With Cancer Research and Advocacy Survivorship Blog About Us You are here Home > Navigating Cancer Care > Dating, Sex, and Reproduction > Cancer During Pregnancy Request Permissions Cancer ...

Living with incurable oesophageal cancer. A phenomenological hermeneutical interpretation of patient stories

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Missel, Malene; Birkelund, Regner

2010-01-01

results in an analysis of these stories. RESULTS: Through the analysis of the narrative interviews, phenomena of the patients' life world appear which are described in themes such as debut of the illness, denial, the person's own suspicion, existential turning point, despair, hope, the body, affirmation......PURPOSE: The study explores how patients diagnosed with incurable oesophageal cancer experience living with the illness, and provides insight into and an understanding of the patients' situation, reality and phenomena in their life world. METHOD: The method takes a phenomenological......-hermeneutic approach, inspired by the French philosopher Paul Ricoeur's narrative theory on mimesis as the structure and process of the method, and Ricoeur's theory of interpretation for the analysis of patient stories. The stories materialise from narrative interviews, and the phenomena of the patients' life world...

Correlation between live attenuated measles viral load and growth inhibition percentage in non-small cell lung cancer cell line

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rasha Fadhel Obaid

2018-03-01

Conclusion Live attenuated measles virus strain induced cytotoxic effect against human lung cancer cell line (A549 by induction of apoptosis as an important mechanism of anti-tumor activity, in addition, it indicates a correlation between the quantity of MV genomesand percentage of growth inhibition. This relation  has proved that measles virus had anticancer effect.

Cyclopamine tartrate, an inhibitor of Hedgehog signaling, strongly interferes with mitochondrial function and suppresses aerobic respiration in lung cancer cells

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Alam, Md Maksudul; Sohoni, Sagar; Kalainayakan, Sarada Preeta; Garrossian, Massoud; Zhang, Li

2016-01-01

Aberrant Hedgehog (Hh) signaling is associated with the development of many cancers including prostate cancer, gastrointestinal cancer, lung cancer, pancreatic cancer, ovarian cancer, and basal cell carcinoma. The Hh signaling pathway has been one of the most intensely investigated targets for cancer therapy, and a number of compounds inhibiting Hh signaling are being tested clinically for treating many cancers. Lung cancer causes more deaths than the next three most common cancers (colon, breast, and prostate) combined. Cyclopamine was the first compound found to inhibit Hh signaling and has been invaluable for understanding the function of Hh signaling in development and cancer. To find novel strategies for combating lung cancer, we decided to characterize the effect of cyclopamine tartrate (CycT), an improved analogue of cyclopamine, on lung cancer cells and its mechanism of action. The effect of CycT on oxygen consumption and proliferation of non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) cell lines was quantified by using an Oxygraph system and live cell counting, respectively. Apoptosis was detected by using Annexin V and Propidium Iodide staining. CycT’s impact on ROS generation, mitochondrial membrane potential, and mitochondrial morphology in NSCLC cells was monitored by using fluorometry and fluorescent microscopy. Western blotting and fluorescent microscopy were used to detect the levels and localization of Hh signaling targets, mitochondrial fission protein Drp1, and heme-related proteins in various NSCLC cells. Our findings identified a novel function of CycT, as well as another Hh inhibitor SANT1, to disrupt mitochondrial function and aerobic respiration. Our results showed that CycT, like glutamine depletion, caused a substantial decrease in oxygen consumption in a number of NSCLC cell lines, suppressed NSCLC cell proliferation, and induced apoptosis. Further, we found that CycT increased ROS generation, mitochondrial membrane hyperpolarization, and

Interventions for promoting habitual exercise in people living with and beyond cancer.

Science.gov (United States)

Bourke, Liam; Homer, Kate E; Thaha, Mohamed A; Steed, Liz; Rosario, Derek J; Robb, Karen A; Saxton, John M; Taylor, Stephanie J C

2013-09-24

The beneficial effects of regular exercise for people living with or beyond cancer are becoming apparent. However, how to promote exercise behaviour in sedentary cancer cohorts is not as well understood. A large majority of people living with or recovering from cancer do not meet exercise recommendations. Hence, reviewing the evidence on how to promote and sustain exercise behaviour is important. To assess the effects of interventions to promote exercise behaviour in sedentary people living with and beyond cancer and to address the following questions: Which interventions are most effective in improving aerobic fitness and skeletal muscle strength and endurance? What adverse effects are attributed to different exercise interventions? Which interventions are most effective in improving exercise behaviour amongst patients with different cancers? Which interventions are most likely to promote long-term (12 months or longer) exercise behaviour? What frequency of contact with exercise professionals is associated with increased exercise behaviour? What theoretical basis is most often associated with increased exercise behaviour? What behaviour change techniques are most often associated with increased exercise behaviour? We searched the following electronic databases: Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL, The Cochrane Library, Issue 8, 2012), MEDLINE, EMBASE, AMED, CINAHL, PsycLIT/PsycINFO, SportDiscus and PEDro from inception to August 2012. We also searched the grey literature, wrote to leading experts in the field, wrote to charities and searched reference lists of other recent systematic reviews. We included only randomised controlled trials (RCTs) that compared an exercise intervention with a usual care approach in sedentary people over the age of 18 with a homogenous primary cancer diagnosis. Two review authors working independently (LB and KH) screened all titles and abstracts to identify studies that might meet the inclusion criteria, or that

Kaempferol nanoparticles achieve strong and selective inhibition of ovarian cancer cell viability

Science.gov (United States)

Luo, Haitao; Jiang, Bingbing; Li, Bingyun; Li, Zhaoliang; Jiang, Bing-Hua; Chen, Yi Charlie

2012-01-01

Ovarian cancer is one of the leading causes of cancer death for women throughout the Western world. Kaempferol, a natural flavonoid, has shown promise in the chemoprevention of ovarian cancer. A common concern about using dietary supplements for chemoprevention is their bioavailability. Nanoparticles have shown promise in increasing the bioavailability of some chemicals. Here we developed five different types of nanoparticles incorporating kaempferol and tested their efficacy in the inhibition of viability of cancerous and normal ovarian cells. We found that positively charged nanoparticle formulations did not lead to a significant reduction in cancer cell viability, whereas nonionic polymeric nanoparticles resulted in enhanced reduction of cancer cell viability. Among the nonionic polymeric nanoparticles, poly(ethylene oxide)-poly(propylene oxide)-poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO-PPO-PEO) nanoparticles incorporating kaempferol led to significant reduction in cell viability of both cancerous and normal cells. Poly(DL-lactic acid-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA) nanoparticles incorporating kaempferol resulted in enhanced reduction of cancer cell viability together with no significant reduction in cell viability of normal cells compared with kaempferol alone. Therefore, both PEO-PPO-PEO and PLGA nanoparticle formulations were effective in reducing cancer cell viability, while PLGA nanoparticles incorporating kaempferol had selective toxicity against cancer cells and normal cells. A PLGA nanoparticle formulation could be advantageous in the prevention and treatment of ovarian cancers. On the other hand, PEO-PPO-PEO nanoparticles incorporating kaempferol were more effective inhibitors of cancer cells, but they also significantly reduced the viability of normal cells. PEO-PPO-PEO nanoparticles incorporating kaempferol may be suitable as a cancer-targeting strategy, which could limit the effects of the nanoparticles on normal cells while retaining their potency against cancer cells. We

Lived experiences and challenges of older surgical patients during hospitalization for cancer: An ethnographic fieldwork

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Lisbeth Uhrenfeldt

2014-02-01

Full Text Available This paper explores the lived experiences of older surgical patients’ (aged 74 years and older experienced challenges during a brief admission to hospital. Age, gender, polypharmacy, and the severity of illness are also factors known to affect the hospitalization process. For an ethnographic study using participant observation and interviews, surgical cancer patients (n = 9, aged 74 years and older were recruited during admission to a Danish teaching hospital. Using ethnographic strategies of participant observation and interviews, each patient was followed through the course of 1 day during their stay at the hospital. Interviews were carried out with all patients during this time. Three areas of concern were identified as prominent in the patients’ experiences and challenges during their short hospital stay: teeth and oral cavity, eating in a hospital setting, and medication during hospitalization. Short-term hospitalization requires focused collaboration between staff and patient concerning individual challenges from their teeth and oral cavity as support of nutritional needs during surgical treatment for cancer.

Understanding Cancer Prognosis

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Full Text Available ... content Español 1-800-4-CANCER Live Chat Publications Dictionary Menu Contact Dictionary Search About Cancer Causes ... and Young Adults with Cancer Reports, Research, and Literature Cancers by Body Location/System Childhood Cancers Late ...

Smart Choices for Cancer Education Professional Development: Your Voice and Visibility for Leadership.

Science.gov (United States)

Kratzke, Cynthia

2017-01-24

The purpose of this article is to provide reflections about the important and exciting opportunities for cancer education career advancement and professional development. Advancement in professional, personal, and career growth for clinicians and health professionals is critical to improve quality cancer care and updated health communication with patients and families. Valuable insights from my recent 2-year term as treasurer, Board of Directors, Cancer Patient Education Network, are shared inspiring others to build their rewarding professional development. The professional leadership opportunity gave me a new energy level to be invested in rapidly changing cancer education with so many diverse cancer education professionals. Professional cancer education associations are dedicated to advancing patient-centered care through professional networks. They create welcoming environments with significant networking and mentoring opportunities. Cancer education touches many lives, and the cancer education associations strongly support new advances. I encourage early or mid-career cancer education professionals to discover how their increased interest may spark leadership and inspire participation in our cancer education professional associations.

Composing hope through collage: A community-based intervention for cancer survivors living with lymphedema

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Roanne Thomas

2016-07-01

Full Text Available Secondary lymphedema after cancer may result in distress, yet few interventions exist to support coping skills in this population. As part of a community-based intervention, we piloted the use of creative practices to promote active orientations to hope. A total of 19 participants completed the workshops; 11 collaged. The main themes address the collage processes as well as their content. The former addresses sub-themes such as selecting/composing. The latter includes sub-themes related to movement depicted in the collages. Collages and their associated discussions concretized hoping as an active and accessible process for participants living with two chronic illnesses.

Understanding Cancer Prognosis

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How nurses assess breakthrough cancer pain, and the impact of this pain on patients' daily lives - Results of a European survey

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Rustoen, Tone; Geerling, Jenske I.; Pappa, Theodora; Rundstrom, Carina; Weisse, Isolde; Williams, Sian C.; Zavratnik, Bostjan; Wengstrom, Yvonne

Purpose: To increase our knowledge of how nurses assess breakthrough cancer pain (BTCP); and whether they find it difficult to distinguish BTCP from background pain; how they estimate the impact of BTCP on patients' daily lives, and the factors that nurses consider to induce BTCP. Variations in

Experiences of Korean mothers of children with cancer: A Photovoice study.

Science.gov (United States)

Kim, Min Ah; Yi, Jaehee; Sang, Jina; Kim, Soo Hyun; Heo, InYoung

2017-01-01

Using Photovoice, a participatory action research methodology, we investigated Korean mothers' lives postdiagnosis of their child with cancer. Photovoice was used to understand the mothers' perceptions of how they have adapted to their children's illnesses. Five mothers of children with cancer participated in five sessions of the Photovoice project, during which they took and shared photographs and narratives about their experiences and joined weekly group discussions on their selected themes. The following themes and subthemes emerged: "What I would like to do (taking a break, socializing with friends, spending time with other family members, developing my career)," "My child and food (whatever my child wants to eat, love of family)," "My days for my child (doing what my child wants to do, being a playmate, changing for my child)," and "Power sources for me (family, courage of children, mom is strong, hope)." Having a child with cancer greatly affects the mother's social and work lives as well as emotional well-being. Services and programs such as respite care, parenting education, and psychological support are recommended based on the study findings.

Patient and Family Caregivers’ Experiences of Living With a Jejunostomy Feeding Tube After Surgery for Esophagogastric Cancer

OpenAIRE

Halliday, V.; Baker, M.; Thomas, A.L.; Bowrey, D.

2017-01-01

BACKGROUND: Jejunostomy feeding tubes (JFTs) can be used to provide nutrition support to patients who have had surgery for esophagogastric cancer. Although previous research reports how patients cope with a gastrostomy tube, little is known about the impact of having a JFT. The aim of this qualitative study was to explore how patients and their informal caregivers experience living with a JFT in the first months following surgery. METHODS: Participants were purposively sampled from a cohort o...

Basic Cancer Terms

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... Considerations How Cancer is Treated Side Effects Dating, Sex, and Reproduction Advanced Cancer For Children For Teens For Young Adults For Older Adults Prevention and Healthy Living Cancer.Net Videos Coping With Cancer Research and Advocacy Survivorship Blog ...

Testing a Preliminary Live with Love Conceptual Framework for cancer couple dyads: A mixed-methods study.

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Qiuping; Xu, Yinghua; Zhou, Huiya; Loke, Alice Yuen

2015-12-01

The purpose of this study was to test the previous proposed Preliminary Live with Love Conceptual Framework (P-LLCF) that focuses on spousal caregiver-patient couples in their journey of coping with cancer as dyads. A mixed-methods study that included qualitative and quantitative approaches was conducted. Methods of concept and theory analysis, and structural equation modeling (SEM) were applied in testing the P-LLCF. In the qualitative approach in testing the concepts included in the P-LLCF, a comparison was made between the P-LLCF with a preliminary conceptual framework derived from focus group interviews among Chinese couples' coping with cancer. The comparison showed that the concepts identified in the P-LLCF are relevant to the phenomenon under scrutiny, and attributes of the concepts are consistent with those identified among Chinese cancer couple dyads. In the quantitative study, 117 cancer couples were recruited. The findings showed that inter-relationships exist among the components included in the P-LLCF: event situation, dyadic mediators, dyadic appraisal, dyadic coping, and dyadic outcomes. In that the event situation will impact the dyadic outcomes directly or indirectly through Dyadic Mediators. The dyadic mediators, dyadic appraisal, and dyadic coping are interrelated and work together to benefit the dyadic outcomes. This study provides evidence that supports the interlinked components and the relationship included in the P-LLCF. The findings of this study are important in that they provide healthcare professionals with guidance and directions according to the P-LLCF on how to plan supportive programs for couples coping with cancer. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Hydrochlorothiazide use is strongly associated with risk of lip cancer

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Pottegård, A; Hallas, J; Olesen, M

2017-01-01

Background: The diuretic hydrochlorothiazide is amongst the most frequently prescribed drugs in the United States and Western Europe, but there is suggestive evidence that hydrochlorothiazide use increases the risk of lip cancer. Objectives: To study the association between use of hydrochlorothia......Background: The diuretic hydrochlorothiazide is amongst the most frequently prescribed drugs in the United States and Western Europe, but there is suggestive evidence that hydrochlorothiazide use increases the risk of lip cancer. Objectives: To study the association between use...... of hydrochlorothiazide and squamous cell carcinoma of the lip. Methods: We conducted a case-control study using Danish nationwide registry data. From the Cancer Registry (2004-2012), we identified 633 case patients with squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) of the lip and matched them to 63 067 population controls using a risk......-set sampling strategy. Hydrochlorothiazide use (1995-2012) was obtained from the Prescription Registry and defined according to cumulative use. Applying conditional logistic regression, we calculated odds ratios (ORs) for SCC lip cancer associated with hydrochlorothiazide use, adjusting for predefined...

Feelings of Women With Strong Family Histories Who Subsequent to Their Breast Cancer Diagnosis Tested BRCA Positive.

Science.gov (United States)

Joseph, Meera; Rab, Faiza; Panabaker, Karen; Nisker, Jeff

2015-05-01

Family physicians in Canada as reported in several studies do not recognize the importance of family history in relation to breast/ovarian cancer and thus Canadian women with strong family histories continue to develop early-onset breast cancer without the knowledge of or ability to make choices regarding increased surveillance or preventative strategies. This study explored the feelings of women who learned about their hereditary risk only after their diagnosis younger than 52 years and who eventually tested positive for a BRCA gene mutation. Thirty-four such women were mailed an invitation to participate in this research including a letter of information, consent form, and discussion prompts for their written narrative response. Rigorous mixed method analyses were performed using Charmaz-based qualitative analyses as well as quantitative analyses. Thirteen women (38.2%) responded with narratives for qualitative analysis from which 4 themes were coconstructed as follows: I, types of emotions; II, emotional response; III, coping with emotions; and IV, advice to women at similar risk. Women felt they should have learned about their hereditary risk from their family physician and through public education before their diagnosis. Although not experienced at the time of diagnosis, anger, frustration, and regret were experienced after receiving their BRCA results. These emotions arose from our research participants' lack of opportunity for prior genetic counseling and testing opportunity for genetic counseling and testing. With increased public and physician education, it is hoped that women with significant family histories of breast/ovarian cancer will be identified before diagnosis and given options regarding cancer surveillance and risk reduction strategies.

Predicting activities of daily living for cancer patients using an ontology-guided machine learning methodology.

Science.gov (United States)

Min, Hua; Mobahi, Hedyeh; Irvin, Katherine; Avramovic, Sanja; Wojtusiak, Janusz

2017-09-16

Bio-ontologies are becoming increasingly important in knowledge representation and in the machine learning (ML) fields. This paper presents a ML approach that incorporates bio-ontologies and its application to the SEER-MHOS dataset to discover patterns of patient characteristics that impact the ability to perform activities of daily living (ADLs). Bio-ontologies are used to provide computable knowledge for ML methods to "understand" biomedical data. This retrospective study included 723 cancer patients from the SEER-MHOS dataset. Two ML methods were applied to create predictive models for ADL disabilities for the first year after a patient's cancer diagnosis. The first method is a standard rule learning algorithm; the second is that same algorithm additionally equipped with methods for reasoning with ontologies. The models showed that a patient's race, ethnicity, smoking preference, treatment plan and tumor characteristics including histology, staging, cancer site, and morphology were predictors for ADL performance levels one year after cancer diagnosis. The ontology-guided ML method was more accurate at predicting ADL performance levels (P ontologies. This study demonstrated that bio-ontologies can be harnessed to provide medical knowledge for ML algorithms. The presented method demonstrates that encoding specific types of hierarchical relationships to guide rule learning is possible, and can be extended to other types of semantic relationships present in biomedical ontologies. The ontology-guided ML method achieved better performance than the method without ontologies. The presented method can also be used to promote the effectiveness and efficiency of ML in healthcare, in which use of background knowledge and consistency with existing clinical expertise is critical.

Vibrational imaging of glucose uptake activity in live cells and tissues by stimulated Raman scattering microscopy (Conference Presentation)

Science.gov (United States)

Hu, Fanghao; Chen, Zhixing; Zhang, Luyuan; Shen, Yihui; Wei, Lu; Min, Wei

2016-03-01

Glucose is consumed as an energy source by virtually all living organisms, from bacteria to humans. Its uptake activity closely reflects the cellular metabolic status in various pathophysiological transformations, such as diabetes and cancer. Extensive efforts such as positron emission tomography, magnetic resonance imaging and fluorescence microscopy have been made to specifically image glucose uptake activity but all with technical limitations. Here, we report a new platform to visualize glucose uptake activity in live cells and tissues with subcellular resolution and minimal perturbation. A novel glucose analogue with a small alkyne tag (carbon-carbon triple bond) is developed to mimic natural glucose for cellular uptake, which can be imaged with high sensitivity and specificity by targeting the strong and characteristic alkyne vibration on stimulated Raman scattering (SRS) microscope to generate a quantitative three dimensional concentration map. Cancer cells with differing metabolic characteristics can be distinguished. Heterogeneous uptake patterns are observed in tumor xenograft tissues, neuronal culture and mouse brain tissues with clear cell-cell variations. Therefore, by offering the distinct advantage of optical resolution but without the undesirable influence of bulky fluorophores, our method of coupling SRS with alkyne labeled glucose will be an attractive tool to study energy demands of living systems at the single cell level.

Advanced Melanoma Facebook Live Event

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In case you missed it, watch this recent Facebook Live event about the current state of research and treatment for advanced stage melanoma. To learn more, see our evidence-based information about skin cancer, including melanoma.

Inhibition of exportin-1 function results in rapid cell cycle-associated DNA damage in cancer cells.

Science.gov (United States)

Burke, Russell T; Marcus, Joshua M; Orth, James D

2017-06-13

Selective inhibitors of nuclear export (SINE) are small molecules in development as anti-cancer agents. The first-in-class SINE, selinexor, is in clinical trials for blood and solid cancers. Selinexor forms a covalent bond with exportin-1 at cysteine-528, and blocks its ability to export cargos. Previous work has shown strong cell cycle effects and drug-induced cell death across many different cancer-derived cell lines. Here, we report strong cell cycle-associated DNA double-stranded break formation upon the treatment of cancer cells with SINE. In multiple cell models, selinexor treatment results in the formation of clustered DNA damage foci in 30-40% of cells within 8 hours that is dependent upon cysteine-528. DNA damage strongly correlates with G1/S-phase and decreased DNA replication. Live cell microscopy reveals an association between DNA damage and cell fate. Cells that form damage in G1-phase more often die or arrest, while those damaged in S/G2-phase frequently progress to cell division. Up to half of all treated cells form damage foci, and most cells that die after being damaged, were damaged in G1-phase. By comparison, non-transformed cell lines show strong cell cycle effects but little DNA damage and less death than cancer cells. Significant drug combination effects occur when selinexor is paired with different classes of agents that either cause DNA damage or that diminish DNA damage repair. These data present a novel effect of exportin-1 inhibition and provide a strong rationale for multiple combination treatments of selinexor with agents that are currently in use for the treatment of different solid cancers.

Understanding Cancer Prognosis

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Full Text Available ... Español 1-800-4-CANCER Live Chat Publications Dictionary Menu Contact Dictionary Search About Cancer Causes and Prevention Risk Factors ... Managing Cancer Care Finding Health Care Services Costs & Medical Information Advance Directives Using Trusted Resources Understanding Cancer ...

From donation to self-reflection: living of volunteers of a toy library for children with cancer

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ana Paula Silva Pugliero

2018-02-01

Full Text Available Abstract Objective: To understand what it means to be a volunteer in a cancer-affected children care unit´s toy library, located within the state of São Paulo. Method: Phenomenological study based on the assumptions related to the analysis of the stated phenomenon's structure, with eleven volunteers to be interviewed upon a guiding question: "What does it feel like to be a volunteer in a toy library used by children with cancer?". Results: From the volunteer's answers, three theme categories arose: self-oriented relations, group-oriented relations and world-oriented relations. Conclusion and implications for practice: Being a volunteer embraces diverse relationships that contribute to the self-knowledge of the individual, making it possible to review concepts, beliefs, values, according to the new times in which we live There is a need for volunteer empowerment for work as well as mental health care. Nurses play a fundamental role in this context.

Breast Cancer

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Breast cancer affects one in eight women during their lives. No one knows why some women get breast cancer, but there are many risk factors. Risks that ... who have family members with breast or ovarian cancer may wish to be tested for the genes. ...

One-pot synthesis of gold nanostars using plant polyphenols for cancer photoacoustic imaging and photothermal therapy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zhang, Xiao-Long; Zheng, Cheng; Zhang, Yun; Yang, Huang-Hao; Liu, Xiaolong; Liu, Jingfeng

2016-01-01

Branched plasmonic nanostructures have been found to exhibit strong enhancement of the electromagnetic field surrounding their multi-branched petals. This feature endows them with improved performance in catalysis, surface-enhanced Raman scattering, photoacoustic imaging, and photothermal therapy. Albeit several synthesis techniques have been developed, the precisely controlled growth of highly branched nanostructures with a one-pot surfactant-free procedure is still challenging. Herein, we present a simple seedless route to synthesize gold nanostars (AuNSs) using a natural plant polyphenol, gallic acid (GA), as a reducing and stabilizing agent. The size and shape of AuNSs can be tuned by simply adjusting the amount of added GA. Under the optimum condition, the as-prepared AuNSs with diameters about 100 nm exhibit strong near-infrared absorption, good photothermal efficiency, and high biocompatibility. We demonstrate that AuNSs can be utilized for simultaneous photoacoustic imaging and photothermal therapy in living cancer cells. This study highlights facile synthesized AuNSs could serve as a promising platform for cancer diagnosis and therapy.Graphical AbstractGold nanostars (AuNSs) are synthesized by a simple seedless route using a natural plant polyphenol, gallic acid (GA), as a reducing and stabilizing agent. The AuNSs can be utilized for simultaneous photoacoustic imaging and photothermal therapy in living cancer cells. This study highlights facile synthesized AuNSs could serve as a promising platform for cancer diagnosis and therapy.

One-pot synthesis of gold nanostars using plant polyphenols for cancer photoacoustic imaging and photothermal therapy

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Zhang, Xiao-Long [Mengchao Hepatobiliary Hospital of Fujian Medical University, The United Innovation of Mengchao Hepatobiliary Technology Key Laboratory of Fujian Province (China); Zheng, Cheng [Fuzhou University, The Key Lab of Analysis and Detection Technology for Food Safety of the MOE, College of Chemistry (China); Zhang, Yun [Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xiamen Institute of Rare Earth Materials, Haixi Institute (China); Yang, Huang-Hao [Fuzhou University, The Key Lab of Analysis and Detection Technology for Food Safety of the MOE, College of Chemistry (China); Liu, Xiaolong, E-mail: xiaoloong.liu@gmail.com; Liu, Jingfeng, E-mail: drjingfeng@126.com [Mengchao Hepatobiliary Hospital of Fujian Medical University, The United Innovation of Mengchao Hepatobiliary Technology Key Laboratory of Fujian Province (China)

2016-07-15

Branched plasmonic nanostructures have been found to exhibit strong enhancement of the electromagnetic field surrounding their multi-branched petals. This feature endows them with improved performance in catalysis, surface-enhanced Raman scattering, photoacoustic imaging, and photothermal therapy. Albeit several synthesis techniques have been developed, the precisely controlled growth of highly branched nanostructures with a one-pot surfactant-free procedure is still challenging. Herein, we present a simple seedless route to synthesize gold nanostars (AuNSs) using a natural plant polyphenol, gallic acid (GA), as a reducing and stabilizing agent. The size and shape of AuNSs can be tuned by simply adjusting the amount of added GA. Under the optimum condition, the as-prepared AuNSs with diameters about 100 nm exhibit strong near-infrared absorption, good photothermal efficiency, and high biocompatibility. We demonstrate that AuNSs can be utilized for simultaneous photoacoustic imaging and photothermal therapy in living cancer cells. This study highlights facile synthesized AuNSs could serve as a promising platform for cancer diagnosis and therapy.Graphical AbstractGold nanostars (AuNSs) are synthesized by a simple seedless route using a natural plant polyphenol, gallic acid (GA), as a reducing and stabilizing agent. The AuNSs can be utilized for simultaneous photoacoustic imaging and photothermal therapy in living cancer cells. This study highlights facile synthesized AuNSs could serve as a promising platform for cancer diagnosis and therapy.

Interaction of multi-functional silver nanoparticles with living cells

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sur, Ilknur; Cam, Dilek; Kahraman, Mehmet; Culha, Mustafa; Baysal, Asli

2010-01-01

Silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) are widely used in household products and in medicine due to their antibacterial and to wound healing properties. In recent years, there is also an effort for their use in biomedical imaging and photothermal therapy. The primary reason behind the effort for their utility in biomedicine and therapy is their unique plasmonic properties and easy surface chemistry for a variety of functionalizations. In this study, AgNPs modified with glucose, lactose, oligonucleotides and combinations of these ligands are investigated for their cytotoxicity and cellular uptake in living non-cancer (L929) and cancer (A549) cells. It is found that the chemical nature of the ligand strongly influences the toxicity and cellular uptake into the model cells. While the lactose-and glucose-modified AgNPs enter the L929 cells at about the same rate, a significant increase in the rate of lactose-modified AgNPs into the A549 cells is observed. The binding of oligonucleotides along with the carbohydrate on the AgNP surfaces influences the differential uptake rate pattern into the cells. The cytotoxicity study with the modified AgNPs reveals that only naked AgNPs influence the viability of the A549 cells. The findings of this study may provide the key to developing effective applications in medicine such as cancer therapy.

Understanding Cancer Prognosis

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Full Text Available ... CANCER Live Chat Publications Dictionary Menu Contact Dictionary Search About Cancer Causes and Prevention Risk Factors Genetics ... Legislative Resources Recent Public Laws Careers Visitor Information Search Search Home About Cancer Diagnosis and Staging Diagnosis ...

Dietary habits and breast cancer incidence among Seventh-day Adventists.

Science.gov (United States)

Mills, P K; Beeson, W L; Phillips, R L; Fraser, G E

1989-08-01

Breast cancer incidence was monitored in a cohort of 20,341 California Seventh-day Adventist women who completed a detailed lifestyle questionnaire in 1976, and who were followed for 6 years. There were 215 histologically confirmed primary breast cancer detected among some 115,000 person-years of follow-up. Mean age at diagnosis was 66 years, indicating a primarily postmenopausal case series. Established risk factors for breast cancer showed strong relationships to risk in these data. Age at first live birth, maternal history of breast cancer, age at menopause, educational attainment, and obesity were all significantly related to risk. However, increasing consumption of high fat animal products was not associated with increased risk of breast cancer in a consistent fashion. Nor were childhood and early teenage dietary habits (vegetarian versus nonvegetarian) related to subsequent, adult risk of developing breast cancer. Also, a derived index of percent of calories from animal fat in the adult years was not significantly related to risk. These results persisted after simultaneously controlling for other, potentially confounding variables, utilizing Cox proportional hazard regression models.

A pre-post test evaluation of the impact of the PELICAN MDT-TME Development Programme on the working lives of colorectal cancer team members.

Science.gov (United States)

Taylor, Cath; Sippitt, Joanna M; Collins, Gary; McManus, Chris; Richardson, Alison; Dawson, Jeremy; Richards, Michael; Ramirez, Amanda J

2010-06-29

The PELICAN Multidisciplinary Team Total Mesorectal Excision (MDT-TME) Development Programme aimed to improve clinical outcomes for rectal cancer by educating colorectal cancer teams in precision surgery and related aspects of multidisciplinary care. The Programme reached almost all colorectal cancer teams across England. We took the opportunity to assess the impact of participating in this novel team-based Development Programme on the working lives of colorectal cancer team members. The impact of participating in the programme on team members' self-reported job stress, job satisfaction and team performance was assessed in a pre-post course study. 333/568 (59%) team members, from the 75 multidisciplinary teams who attended the final year of the Programme, completed questionnaires pre-course, and 6-8 weeks post-course. Across all team members, the main sources of job satisfaction related to working in multidisciplinary teams; whilst feeling overloaded was the main source of job stress. Surgeons and clinical nurse specialists reported higher levels of job satisfaction than team members who do not provide direct patient care, whilst MDT coordinators reported the lowest levels of job satisfaction and job stress. Both job stress and satisfaction decreased after participating in the Programme for all team members. There was a small improvement in team performance. Participation in the Development Programme had a mixed impact on the working lives of team members in the immediate aftermath of attending. The decrease in team members' job stress may reflect the improved knowledge and skills conferred by the Programme. The decrease in job satisfaction may be the consequence of being unable to apply these skills immediately in clinical practice because of a lack of required infrastructure and/or equipment. In addition, whilst the Programme raised awareness of the challenges of teamworking, a greater focus on tackling these issues may have improved working lives further.

Death in the Afternoon: Honduras, Hemingway, and Duncan Strong

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Thomas W. Cuddy

2002-11-01

Full Text Available Archaeologist William Duncan Strong and author Ernest Hemingway are both known for the exemplary works they produced in their respective fields. Most people don't know the shared similarities in the parallel lives of these two men, and the greater social forces that shaped them. This essay takes a Hemingway-like approach to the life of Duncan Strong, using excerpts from Strong's expedition to Honduras in 1933 to draw analogy with the publicly renowned life of Ernest Hemingway.

Cancer Terms: After Treatment

Science.gov (United States)

... Considerations How Cancer is Treated Side Effects Dating, Sex, and Reproduction Advanced Cancer For Children For Teens For Young Adults For Older Adults Prevention and Healthy Living Cancer.Net Videos Coping With Cancer Research and Advocacy Survivorship Blog ...

Understanding Cancer Prognosis

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Full Text Available ... content Español 1-800-4-CANCER Live Chat Publications Dictionary Menu Contact Dictionary Search About Cancer Causes ... About This Website Cancer.gov en español Multimedia Publications Site Map Digital Standards for NCI Websites POLICIES ...

SU-E-J-31: Biodynamic Imaging of Cancer Tissue and Response to Chemotherapy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nolte, D; Turek, J; Childress, M; An, R; Merrill, D; Matei, D

2014-01-01

Purpose: To measure intracellular motions inside three-dimensional living cancer tissue samples to establish a novel set of biodynamic biomarkers that assess tissue proliferative activity and sensitivity or resistance to chemotherapy. Methods: Biodynamic imaging (BDI) uses digital holography with low-coherence low-intensity light illumination to construct 3D holograms from depths up to a millimeter deep inside cancer tissue models that include multicellular tumor spheroids and ex vivo cancer biopsies from canine non-Hodgkins lymphoma and epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) mouse explants. Intracellular motions modulate the holographic intensity with frequencies related to the Doppler effect caused by the motions of a wide variety of intracellular components. These motions are affected by applied therapeutic agents, and BDI produces unique fingerprints of the action of specific drugs on the motions in specific cell types. In this study, chemotherapeutic agents (doxorubicin for canine lymphoma and oxoplatin for ovarian) are applied to the living tissue models and monitored over 10 hours by BDI. Results: Multicellular spheroids and patient biopsies are categorized as either sensitive or insensitive to applied therapeutics depending on the intracellular Doppler signatures of chemotherapy response. For both lymphoma and EOC there is strong specificity to the two types of sensitivities, with sensitive cell lines and biopsies exhibiting a global cessation of proliferation and strong suppression of metabolic activity, while insensitive cell lines and biopsies show moderate activation of Doppler frequencies associated with membrane processes and possible membrane trafficking. Conclusion: This work supports the hypothesis that biodynamic biomarkers from three-dimensional living tumor tissue, that includes tissue heterogeneity and measured within 24 hours of surgery, is predictive of near-term patient response to therapy. Future work will correlate biodynamic biomarkers with

SU-E-J-31: Biodynamic Imaging of Cancer Tissue and Response to Chemotherapy

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Nolte, D; Turek, J; Childress, M; An, R; Merrill, D [Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN (United States); Matei, D [Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, IN (United States)

2014-06-01

Purpose: To measure intracellular motions inside three-dimensional living cancer tissue samples to establish a novel set of biodynamic biomarkers that assess tissue proliferative activity and sensitivity or resistance to chemotherapy. Methods: Biodynamic imaging (BDI) uses digital holography with low-coherence low-intensity light illumination to construct 3D holograms from depths up to a millimeter deep inside cancer tissue models that include multicellular tumor spheroids and ex vivo cancer biopsies from canine non-Hodgkins lymphoma and epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) mouse explants. Intracellular motions modulate the holographic intensity with frequencies related to the Doppler effect caused by the motions of a wide variety of intracellular components. These motions are affected by applied therapeutic agents, and BDI produces unique fingerprints of the action of specific drugs on the motions in specific cell types. In this study, chemotherapeutic agents (doxorubicin for canine lymphoma and oxoplatin for ovarian) are applied to the living tissue models and monitored over 10 hours by BDI. Results: Multicellular spheroids and patient biopsies are categorized as either sensitive or insensitive to applied therapeutics depending on the intracellular Doppler signatures of chemotherapy response. For both lymphoma and EOC there is strong specificity to the two types of sensitivities, with sensitive cell lines and biopsies exhibiting a global cessation of proliferation and strong suppression of metabolic activity, while insensitive cell lines and biopsies show moderate activation of Doppler frequencies associated with membrane processes and possible membrane trafficking. Conclusion: This work supports the hypothesis that biodynamic biomarkers from three-dimensional living tumor tissue, that includes tissue heterogeneity and measured within 24 hours of surgery, is predictive of near-term patient response to therapy. Future work will correlate biodynamic biomarkers with

Prostate Cancer

Science.gov (United States)

... breast cancer (BRCA1 or BRCA2) or a very strong family history of breast cancer, your risk of prostate cancer may be higher. Obesity. Obese men diagnosed with prostate cancer may be more likely ...

High resolution MRI of the breast at 3 T: which BI-RADS registered descriptors are most strongly associated with the diagnosis of breast cancer?

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pinker-Domenig, K.; Helbich, T.H.; Bogner, W.; Gruber, S.; Bickel, H.; Duffy, S.; Schernthaner, M.; Dubsky, P.; Pluschnig, U.; Rudas, M.; Trattnig, S.

2012-01-01

To identify which breast lesion descriptors in the ACR BI-RADS registered MRI lexicon are most strongly associated with the diagnosis of breast cancer when performing breast MR imaging at 3 T. 150 patients underwent breast MR imaging at 3 T. Lesion size, morphology and enhancement kinetics were assessed according to the BI-RADS registered classification. Sensitivity, specificity and diagnostic accuracy were assessed. The effects of the BI-RADS registered descriptors on sensitivity and specificity were evaluated. Data were analysed using logistic regression. Histopathological diagnoses were used as the standard of reference. The sensitivity, specificity and diagnostic accuracy of breast MRI at 3 T was 99%, 81% and 93%, respectively. In univariate analysis, the final diagnosis of malignancy was positively associated with irregular shape (p registered breast lesion descriptors that are mostly strongly associated with breast cancer in breast MR imaging at 3 T are lesion shape, lesion margin, internal enhancement pattern and Type 3 enhancement kinetics. (orig.)

Managing cancer pain at the end of life with multiple strong opioids: a population-based retrospective cohort study in primary care.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Wei Gao

Full Text Available End-of-life cancer patients commonly receive more than one type of strong opioid. The three-step analgesic ladder framework of the World Health Organisation (WHO provides no guidance on multiple opioid prescribing and there is little epidemiological data available to inform practice. This study aims to investigate the time trend of such cases and the associated factors.Strong opioid prescribing in the last three months of life of cancer patients were extracted from the General Practice Research Database (GPRD. The outcome variable was the number of different types of prescribed non-rescue doses of opioids (1 vs 2-4, referred to as a complex case. Associated factors were evaluated using prevalence ratios (PR derived from multivariate log-binomial model, adjusting for clustering effects and potential confounding variables.Overall, 26.4% (95% CI: 25.6-27.1% of 13,427 cancer patients (lung 41.7%, colorectal 19.1%, breast 18.6%, prostate 15.5%, head and neck 5.0% were complex cases. Complex cases increased steadily over the study period (1.02% annually, 95%CI: 0.42-1.61%, p = 0.048 but with a small dip (7.5% reduction, 95%CI: -0.03 to 17.8% around the period of the Shipman case, a British primary care doctor who murdered his patients with opioids. The dip significantly affected the correlation of the complex cases with persistent increasing background opioid prescribing (weighted correlation coefficients pre-, post-Shipman periods: 0.98(95%CI: 0.67-1.00, p = 0.011; 0.14 (95%CI: -0.85 to 0.91, p = 0.85. Multivariate adjusted analysis showed that the complex cases were predominantly associated with year of death (PRs vs 2000: 1.05-1.65, not other demographic and clinical factors except colorectal cancer (PR vs lung cancer: 1.24, 95%CI: 1.12-1.37.These findings suggest that prescribing behaviour, rather than patient factors, plays an important role in multiple opioid prescribing at the end of life; highlighting the need for training and

CDC Vital Signs: HIV Care Saves Lives

Science.gov (United States)

... gov . Vital Signs Topics Covered Alcohol Antibiotic Resistance Cancer Cardiovascular Diseases Diseases & Conditions Food Safety Healthcare-associated Infections Healthy Living HIV / AIDS Injury, Violence & Safety Motor Vehicle Safety Obesity ...

Direct Visualization of De novo Lipogenesis in Single Living Cells

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Junjie; Cheng, Ji-Xin

2014-10-01

Increased de novo lipogenesis is being increasingly recognized as a hallmark of cancer. Despite recent advances in fluorescence microscopy, autoradiography and mass spectrometry, direct observation of de novo lipogenesis in living systems remains to be challenging. Here, by coupling stimulated Raman scattering (SRS) microscopy with isotope labeled glucose, we were able to trace the dynamic metabolism of glucose in single living cells with high spatial-temporal resolution. As the first direct visualization, we observed that glucose was largely utilized for lipid synthesis in pancreatic cancer cells, which occurs at a much lower rate in immortalized normal pancreatic epithelial cells. By inhibition of glycolysis and fatty acid synthase (FAS), the key enzyme for fatty acid synthesis, we confirmed the deuterium labeled lipids in cancer cells were from de novo lipid synthesis. Interestingly, we also found that prostate cancer cells exhibit relatively lower level of de novo lipogenesis, but higher fatty acid uptake compared to pancreatic cancer cells. Together, our results demonstrate a valuable tool to study dynamic lipid metabolism in cancer and other disorders.

Imaging of dihydrofolate reductase fusion gene expression in xenografts of human liver metastases of colorectal cancer in living rats

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Mayer-Kuckuk, Philipp; Bertino, Joseph R.; Banerjee, Debabrata [Molecular Pharmacology and Therapeutics Program, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY (United States); The Cancer Institute of New Jersey, Robert Wood Johnson Medical School/UMDNJ, 195 Little Albany Street, NJ 08903, New Brunswick (United States); Doubrovin, Mikhail; Blasberg, Ronald; Tjuvajev, Juri Gelovani [Department of Neurooncology, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY (United States); Gusani, Niraj J.; Fong, Yuman [Department of Surgery, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY (United States); Gade, Terence; Koutcher, Jason A. [Department of Medical Physics, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY (United States); Balatoni, Julius; Finn, Ronald [Radiochemistry/Cyclotron Core Facility, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY (United States); Akhurst, Tim; Larson, Steven [Nuclear Medicine Service, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY (United States)

2003-09-01

Radionuclide imaging has been demonstrated to be feasible to monitor transgene expression in vivo. We hypothesized that a potential application of this technique is to non-invasively detect in deep tissue, such as cancer cells metastatic to the liver, a specific molecular response following systemic drug treatment. Utilizing human colon adenocarcinoma cells derived from a patient's liver lesion we first developed a nude rat xenograft model for colorectal cancer metastatic to the liver. Expression of a dihydrofolate reductase-herpes simplex virus 1 thymidine kinase fusion (DHFR-HSV1 TK) transgene in the hepatic tumors was monitored in individual animals using the tracer [{sup 124}I]2'-fluoro-2'-deoxy-5-iodouracil-{beta}-d-arabinofuranoside (FIAU) and a small animal micro positron emission tomograph (microPET), while groups of rats were imaged using the tracer [{sup 131}I]FIAU and a clinical gamma camera. Growth of the human metastatic colorectal cancer cells in the rat liver was detected using magnetic resonance imaging and confirmed by surgical inspection. Single as well as multiple lesions of different sizes and sites were observed in the liver of the animals. Next, using a subset of rats bearing hepatic tumors, which were retrovirally bulk transduced to express the DHFR-HSV1 TK transgene, we imaged the fusion protein expression in the hepatic tumor of living rats using the tracer [{sup 124}I]FIAU and a microPET. The observed deep tissue signals were highly specific for the tumors expressing the DHFR-HSV1 TK fusion protein compared with parental untransduced tumors and other tissues as determined by gamma counting of tissue samples. A subsequent study used the tracer [{sup 131}I]FIAU and a gamma camera to monitor two groups of transduced hepatic tumor-bearing rats. Prior to imaging, one group was treated with trimetrexate to exploit DHFR-mediated upregulation of the fusion gene product. Imaging in the living animal as well as subsequent gamma

Cancer survivors' experience of time

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Rasmussen, Dorte M.; Elverdam, Beth

2007-01-01

, and prioritize how and with whom they want to spend their time. CONCLUSION: With an increasing number of people being cured following a cancer diagnosis, nurses and oncology nurse specialists who work with cancer survivors must be aware of the fact that time is a central theme in understanding cancer survivors......' lives, and they must know how to guide these survivors in their new lives and take care of their well-being....

Adherence to the cervical cancer screening program in women living with HIV in Denmark

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Thorsteinsson, Kristina; Ladelund, Steen; Jensen-Fangel, Søren

2014-01-01

BACKGROUND: Women living with HIV (WLWH) are at increased risk of invasive cervical cancer (ICC). International HIV guidelines suggest cervical screening twice the first year after HIV diagnosis and thereafter annually. Adherence to the HIV cervical screening program in Denmark is unknown. METHODS......: We studied women from a population-based, nationwide HIV cohort in Denmark and a cohort of age-matched females from the general population. Screening behaviour was assessed from 1999-2010. Adjusted odds ratios (OR's) for screening attendance in the two cohorts and potential predictors of attendance....... CONCLUSIONS: The majority of WLWH do not follow the HIV guidelines for cervical screening. We support the idea of cytology as part of an annual review and integration of HIV care and cervical screening in a single clinic setting....

Incidence of cervical dysplasia and cervical cancer in women living with HIV in Denmark

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Thorsteinsson, Kristina; Ladelund, Steen; Jensen-Fangel, Søren

2014-01-01

and hazard ratios (HRs) for time from inclusion to first cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN)/ICC and time from first normal cervical cytology to first CIN/ICC were estimated. Sensitivity analyses were performed to include prior screening outcome, screening intensity and treatment of CIN......INTRODUCTION: Women living with HIV (WLWH) are reportedly at increased risk of invasive cervical cancer (ICC). WLWH in Denmark attend the National ICC screening program less often than women in the general population. We aimed to estimate the incidence of cervical dysplasia and ICC in WLWH...... with normal baseline cytology, incidences of CIN1+ and CIN2+ were higher in WLWH. However, incidences were comparable between WLWH and controls adherent to the National ICC screening program. CONCLUSIONS: Overall, WLWH develop more cervical disease than controls. However, incidences of CIN are comparable...

Incidence of cervical dysplasia and cervical cancer in women living with HIV in Denmark

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Thorsteinsson, K; Ladelund, Steen; Jensen-Fangel, S

2016-01-01

, which contains nationwide records of all pathology specimens. The cumulative incidence and hazard ratios (HRs) for time from inclusion to first cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN)/ICC and time from first normal cervical cytology result to first CIN/ICC were estimated. Sensitivity analyses were......OBJECTIVES: Women living with HIV (WLWH) are reportedly at increased risk of invasive cervical cancer (ICC). A recent publication found that WLWH in Denmark attend the national ICC screening programme less often than women in the general population. We aimed to estimate the incidence of cervical...... in both groups were adherent to the national ICC screening programme and had a normal baseline cytology, incidences of CIN and ICC were comparable. CONCLUSIONS: Overall, WLWH developed more cervical disease than controls. Yet, in WLWH and controls adherent to the national ICC screening programme...

How new subscribers use cancer-related online mailing lists.

Science.gov (United States)

Rimer, Barbara K; Lyons, Elizabeth J; Ribisl, Kurt M; Bowling, J Michael; Golin, Carol E; Forlenza, Michael J; Meier, Andrea

2005-07-01

Online cancer-related support is an under-studied resource that may serve an important function in the information seeking, care, and support of cancer patients and their families. With over 9.8 million cancer survivors (defined as anyone living with cancer) in the United States alone and the number growing worldwide, it is important to understand how they seek and use online resources to obtain the information they need, when they need it, and in a form and manner appropriate to them. These are stated cancer communication goals of the US National Cancer Institute. Our purposes are to (1) present background information about online mailing lists and electronic support groups, (2) describe the rationale and methodology for the Health eCommunities (HeC) study, and (3) present preliminary baseline data on new subscribers to cancer-related mailing lists. In particular, we describe subscribers' use of mailing lists, their reasons for using them, and their reactions to participating shortly after joining the lists. From April to August 2004, we invited all new subscribers to 10 Association of Cancer Online Resources mailing lists to complete Web-based surveys. We analyzed baseline data from the respondents to examine their perceptions about cancer-related mailing lists and to describe how cancer patients and survivors used these lists in the period shortly after joining them. Cumulative email invitations were sent to 1368 new mailing list subscribers; 293 Web surveys were completed within the allotted time frame (21.4% response rate). Most respondents were over age 50 (n = 203, 72%), white (n = 286, 98%), college graduates (n = 161, 55%), and had health insurance (n = 283, 97%). About 41% (n = 116) of new subscribers reported spending 1 to 3 hours per day reading and responding to list messages. They used the mailing lists for several reasons. Among the most frequently reported, 62% (n = 179) strongly agreed they used mailing lists to obtain information on how to deal

Understanding Cancer Prognosis

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Full Text Available Skip to content Español 1-800-4-CANCER Live Chat Publications Dictionary Menu Contact Dictionary Search About Cancer Causes and Prevention Risk Factors ... MORE INFORMATION About This Website Cancer.gov en español Multimedia Publications Site Map Digital Standards for NCI ...

Antibody-mediated delivery of interleukin-2 to the stroma of breast cancer strongly enhances the potency of chemotherapy.

Science.gov (United States)

Mårlind, Jessica; Kaspar, Manuela; Trachsel, Eveline; Sommavilla, Roberto; Hindle, Stuart; Bacci, Camilla; Giovannoni, Leonardo; Neri, Dario

2008-10-15

There is an interest in the discovery of biopharmaceuticals, which are well tolerated and which potentiate the action of anthracyclines and taxanes in breast cancer therapy. We have produced a recombinant fusion protein, composed of the human antibody fragment scFv(F16) fused to human interleukin-2 (F16-IL2), and tested its therapeutic performance in the MDA-MB-231 xenograft model of human breast cancer. The F16 antibody is specific to the alternatively spliced A1 domain of tenascin-C, which is virtually undetectable in normal tissues but is strongly expressed in the neovasculature and stroma of breast cancer. When used as monotherapy, F16-IL2 displayed a strikingly superior therapeutic benefit compared with unconjugated recombinant IL-2. The administration of doxorubicin either before (8 days, 24 h, or 2 h) or simultaneously with the injection of F16-IL2 did not decrease the accumulation of immunocytokine in the tumor as measured by quantitative biodistribution analysis. Therapy experiments, featuring five once per week coadministrations of 20 mug F16-IL2 and doxorubicin, showed a statistically significant reduction of tumor growth rate and prolongation of survival at a 4 mg/kg doxorubicin dose but not at a 1 mg/kg dose. By contrast, combination of F16-IL2 with paclitaxel (5 and 1 mg/kg) exhibited a significant therapeutic benefit compared with paclitaxel alone at both dose levels. F16-IL2, alone or in combination with doxorubicin, was well tolerated in cynomolgus monkeys at doses equivalent to the ones now used in clinical studies. F16-IL2 may represent a new useful biopharmaceutical for the treatment of breast cancer.

Bioprinting for cancer research.

Science.gov (United States)

Knowlton, Stephanie; Onal, Sevgi; Yu, Chu Hsiang; Zhao, Jean J; Tasoglu, Savas

2015-09-01

Bioprinting offers the ability to create highly complex 3D architectures with living cells. This cutting-edge technique has significantly gained popularity and applicability in several fields. Bioprinting methods have been developed to effectively and rapidly pattern living cells, biological macromolecules, and biomaterials. These technologies hold great potential for applications in cancer research. Bioprinted cancer models represent a significant improvement over previous 2D models by mimicking 3D complexity and facilitating physiologically relevant cell-cell and cell-matrix interactions. Here we review bioprinting methods based on inkjet, microextrusion, and laser technologies and compare 3D cancer models with 2D cancer models. We discuss bioprinted models that mimic the tumor microenvironment, providing a platform for deeper understanding of cancer pathology, anticancer drug screening, and cancer treatment development. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Research on the health state of the Sicilian population living in areas at environmental or natural risk: the experience of the Regional Department of Epidemiology

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Achille Cernigliaro

2008-03-01

Full Text Available

<strong>Background>: In Sicily, people live near areas characterized by the presence of environmental polluting substances derived from urbanization and industrialization. In the areas of Augusta-Priolo (SR,Gela (CL and Milazzo (ME, the increase of number of pathologies could be linked with environmental pollution. The aim of this paper is to present an overview of the available data and studies to underline the importance of these sources to conduct epidemiological survey in Sicily, besides to the analysis of mortality and morbidity.

<strong>Methods>: An evaluation of the health status of the residential population was done comparing the mortality and morbidity of the local population with the mortality and morbidity of a reference population. Data was obtained from the Italian national office of statistics and Hospital Discharge Records. Standardized Mortality Ratios and Standardized Hospitalization Ratios were calculated.

<strong>Results>: In the area of Augusta-Priolo we observed, in for men, a significative increase in mortality and hospital admissions for colon-rectal, trachea, bronchus, lung and pleura cancers. In Biancavilla, we observed an increase in mortality for pleura cancer in men and women and an increase in morbidity in women only. In Gela, a significant increase in mortality in males and females was observed only for tumoral diseases. In Milazzo, we only found a significant increase in the incidence of larynx cancer and cardiovascular disease for men and in women of pulmonary disease for women.

<strong>Conclusions>: This first review allowed us to update previous analyses of mortality data conducted in the same areas. The results, even taking into account the differences between the areas,, highlights changes in health status related to some diagnostic groups. These could be linked with pollution. Now that the available health data has been revised and updated new studies must

Cancer Health Empowerment for Living without Pain (Ca-HELP: study design and rationale for a tailored education and coaching intervention to enhance care of cancer-related pain

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Slee Christina

2009-09-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Cancer-related pain is common and under-treated. This article describes a study designed to test the effectiveness of a theory-driven, patient-centered coaching intervention to improve cancer pain processes and outcomes. Methods/Design The Cancer Health Empowerment for Living without Pain (Ca-HELP Study is an American Cancer Society sponsored randomized trial conducted in Sacramento, California. A total of 265 cancer patients with at least moderate pain severity (Worst Pain Numerical Analog Score >=4 out of 10 or pain-related impairment (Likert score >= 3 out of 5 were randomly assigned to receive tailored education and coaching (TEC or educationally-enhanced usual care (EUC; 258 received at least one follow-up assessment. The TEC intervention is based on social-cognitive theory and consists of 6 components (assess, correct, teach, prepare, rehearse, portray. Both interventions were delivered over approximately 30 minutes just prior to a scheduled oncology visit. The majority of visits (56% were audio-recorded for later communication coding. Follow-up data including outcomes related to pain severity and impairment, self-efficacy for pain control and for patient-physician communication, functional status and well-being, and anxiety were collected at 2, 6, and 12 weeks. Discussion Building on social cognitive theory and pilot work, this study aims to test the hypothesis that a brief, tailored patient activation intervention will promote better cancer pain care and outcomes. Analyses will focus on the effects of the experimental intervention on pain severity and impairment (primary outcomes; self-efficacy and quality of life (secondary outcomes; and relationships among processes and outcomes of cancer pain care. If this model of coaching by lay health educators proves successful, it could potentially be implemented widely at modest cost. Trial Registration [Clinical Trials Identifier: NCT00283166

Lung Cancer Mortality Associated With Smoking and Smoking Cessation Among People Living With HIV in the United States.

Science.gov (United States)

Reddy, Krishna P; Kong, Chung Yin; Hyle, Emily P; Baggett, Travis P; Huang, Mingshu; Parker, Robert A; Paltiel, A David; Losina, Elena; Weinstein, Milton C; Freedberg, Kenneth A; Walensky, Rochelle P

2017-11-01

Lung cancer has become a leading cause of death among people living with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) (PLWH). Over 40% of PLWH in the United States smoke cigarettes; HIV independently increases the risk of lung cancer. To project cumulative lung cancer mortality by smoking exposure among PLWH in care. Using a validated microsimulation model of HIV, we applied standard demographic data and recent HIV/AIDS epidemiology statistics with specific details on smoking exposure, combining smoking status (current, former, or never) and intensity (heavy, moderate, or light). We stratified reported mortality rates attributable to lung cancer and other non-AIDS-related causes by smoking exposure and accounted for an HIV-conferred independent risk of lung cancer. Lung cancer mortality risk ratios (vs never smokers) for male and female current moderate smokers were 23.6 and 24.2, respectively, and for those who quit smoking at age 40 years were 4.3 and 4.5. In sensitivity analyses, we accounted for nonadherence to antiretroviral therapy (ART) and for a range of HIV-conferred risks of death from lung cancer and from other non-AIDS-related diseases (eg, cardiovascular disease). Cumulative lung cancer mortality by age 80 years (stratified by sex, age at entry to HIV care, and smoking exposure); total expected lung cancer deaths, accounting for nonadherence to ART. Among 40-year-old men with HIV, estimated cumulative lung cancer mortality for heavy, moderate, and light smokers who continued to smoke was 28.9%, 23.0%, and 18.8%, respectively; for those who quit smoking at age 40 years, it was 7.9%, 6.1%, and 4.3%; and for never smokers, it was 1.6%. Among women, the corresponding mortality for current smokers was 27.8%, 20.9%, and 16.6%; for former smokers, it was 7.5%, 5.2%, and 3.7%; and for never smokers, it was 1.2%. ART-adherent individuals who continued to smoke were 6 to 13 times more likely to die from lung cancer than from traditional AIDS-related causes, depending on

Breast cancer screening: ''reassuring'' the worried well?

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Brodersen, John; Siersma, Volkert; Ryle, Mette

2011-01-01

of women offered screening compared to a population of women not offered screening for breast cancer. METHODS: One thousand women, aged 50-69 years, were randomly drawn from the Danish Civil Registration System to receive part I of the questionnaire Consequences of Screening in Breast Cancer (COS-BC1......): the sample consisted of 500 women living in a geographical area where screening mammography had been offered for more than 10 years and 500 women living in an area where the public health authorities had never invited women to breast cancer screening. RESULTS: A total of 759 women returned the questionnaire....... Those living in areas where screening was not offered reported more negative psychosocial aspects compared to women living in areas where screening was offered. CONCLUSIONS: The results indicate that women tend to perceive breast cancer screening as a reassuring preventive initiative. Alternatively...

A randomized trial of diet and physical activity in women treated for stage II—IV ovarian cancer: Rationale and design of the Lifestyle Intervention for Ovarian Cancer Enhanced Survival (LIVES): An NRG Oncology/Gynecologic Oncology Group (GOG-225) Study☆,☆☆

Science.gov (United States)

Thomson, Cynthia A.; Crane, Tracy E.; Miller, Austin; Garcia, David O.; Basen-Engquist, Karen; Alberts, David S.

2016-01-01

Ovarian cancer is the most common cause of gynecological cancer death in United States women. Efforts to improve progression free survival (PFS) and quality of life (QoL) after treatment for ovarian cancer are necessary. Observational studies suggest that lifestyle behaviors, including diet and physical activity, are associated with lower mortality in this population. The Lifestyle Intervention for Ovarian Cancer Enhanced Survival (LIVES) NRG 0225 study is a randomized, controlled trial designed to test the hypothesis that a 24 month lifestyle intervention will significantly increase PFS after oncological therapy for stage II-IV ovarian cancer. Women are randomized 1:1 to a high vegetable and fiber, low-fat diet with daily physical activity goals or an attention control group. Secondary outcomes to be evaluated include QoL and gastrointestinal health. Moreover an a priori lifestyle adherence score will be used to evaluate relationships between adoption of the diet and activity goals and PFS. Blood specimens are collected at baseline, 6, 12 and 24 months for analysis of dietary adherence (carotenoids) in addition to mechanistic biomarkers (lipids, insulin, telomere length). Women are enrolled at NRG clinic sites nationally and the telephone based lifestyle intervention is delivered from The University of Arizona call center by trained health coaches. A study specific multi-modal telephone, email, and SMS behavior change software platform is utilized for information delivery, coaching and data capture. When completed, LIVES will be the largest behavior-based lifestyle intervention trial conducted among ovarian cancer survivors. PMID:27394382

Living well after breast cancer randomized controlled trial protocol: evaluating a telephone-delivered weight loss intervention versus usual care in women following treatment for breast cancer.

Science.gov (United States)

Reeves, Marina M; Terranova, Caroline O; Erickson, Jane M; Job, Jennifer R; Brookes, Denise S K; McCarthy, Nicole; Hickman, Ingrid J; Lawler, Sheleigh P; Fjeldsoe, Brianna S; Healy, Genevieve N; Winkler, Elisabeth A H; Janda, Monika; Veerman, J Lennert; Ware, Robert S; Prins, Johannes B; Vos, Theo; Demark-Wahnefried, Wendy; Eakin, Elizabeth G

2016-10-28

Obesity, physical inactivity and poor diet quality have been associated with increased risk of breast cancer-specific and all-cause mortality as well as treatment-related side-effects in breast cancer survivors. Weight loss intervention trials in breast cancer survivors have shown that weight loss is safe and achievable; however, few studies have examined the benefits of such interventions on a broad range of outcomes and few have examined factors important to translation (e.g. feasible delivery method for scaling up, assessment of sustained changes, cost-effectiveness). The Living Well after Breast Cancer randomized controlled trial aims to evaluate a 12-month telephone-delivered weight loss intervention (versus usual care) on weight change and a range of secondary outcomes including cost-effectiveness. Women (18-75 years; body mass index 25-45 kg/m 2 ) diagnosed with stage I-III breast cancer in the previous 2 years are recruited from public and private hospitals and through the state-based cancer registry (target n = 156). Following baseline assessment, participants are randomized 1:1 to either a 12-month telephone-delivered weight loss intervention (targeting diet and physical activity) or usual care. Data are collected at baseline, 6-months (mid-intervention), 12-months (end-of-intervention) and 18-months (maintenance). The primary outcome is change in weight at 12-months. Secondary outcomes are changes in body composition, bone mineral density, cardio-metabolic and cancer-related biomarkers, metabolic health and chronic disease risk, physical function, patient-reported outcomes (quality of life, fatigue, menopausal symptoms, body image, fear of cancer recurrence) and behaviors (dietary intake, physical activity, sitting time). Data collected at 18-months will be used to assess whether outcomes achieved at end-of-intervention are sustained six months after intervention completion. Cost-effectiveness will be assessed, as will mediators and moderators of

Living with limited time: Socioemotional selectivity theory in the context of health adversity.

Science.gov (United States)

Sullivan-Singh, Sarah J; Stanton, Annette L; Low, Carissa A

2015-06-01

The current research was designed to test the applicability of socioemotional selectivity theory (SST; Carstensen, 2006), a life span theory that posits that perceived time remaining in life (time perspective) is a critical determinant of motivation, to individuals who face foreshortened futures (limited time perspective) due to life-limiting medical illness. In Study 1, we investigated whether life goals and biases in attention and memory for valenced emotional stimuli differed between women living with metastatic breast cancer (n = 113; theoretically living under greater limited time perspective than peers without cancer) and similarly aged women without a cancer diagnosis (n = 50; theoretically living under greater expansive time perspective than peers with cancer) in accordance with SST. As hypothesized, metastatic group goals reflected greater emphasis on limited versus expansive time perspective relative to comparison group goals. Hypotheses regarding biases in attention and memory were not supported. Study 2 followed metastatic group participants over 3 months and revealed that, consistent with hypotheses, whereas limited time perspective goals predicted decreased intrusive thoughts about cancer, expansive time perspective goals predicted decreased perceived cancer-related benefits. Together, these studies suggest that SST is a useful lens through which to view some components of motivation and psychological adjustment among individuals confronting medically foreshortened futures. (c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved).

Living With Limited Time: Socioemotional Selectivity Theory in the Context of Health Adversity

Science.gov (United States)

Sullivan-Singh, Sarah J.; Stanton, Annette L.; Low, Carissa A.

2016-01-01

The current research was designed to test the applicability of socioemotional selectivity theory (SST; Carstensen, 2006), a life span theory that posits that perceived time remaining in life (time perspective) is a critical determinant of motivation, to individuals who face foreshortened futures (limited time perspective) due to life-limiting medical illness. In Study 1, we investigated whether life goals and biases in attention and memory for valenced emotional stimuli differed between women living with metastatic breast cancer (n = 113; theoretically living under greater limited time perspective than peers without cancer) and similarly aged women without a cancer diagnosis (n = 50; theoretically living under greater expansive time perspective than peers with cancer) in accordance with SST. As hypothesized, metastatic group goals reflected greater emphasis on limited versus expansive time perspective relative to comparison group goals. Hypotheses regarding biases in attention and memory were not supported. Study 2 followed metastatic group participants over 3 months and revealed that, consistent with hypotheses, whereas limited time perspective goals predicted decreased intrusive thoughts about cancer, expansive time perspective goals predicted decreased perceived cancer-related benefits. Together, these studies suggest that SST is a useful lens through which to view some components of motivation and psychological adjustment among individuals confronting medically foreshortened futures. PMID:25984789

The role of Clinical Geneticists in Hereditary Cancer Management and Research

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hanne Meijers Heijboer

2017-02-01

Full Text Available Abstract Hereditary cancer refers to cancers caused by germline mutations in cancer predisposing genes. These mutations confer a significantly increased risk of cancer, are rare, and are in the majority of cases autosomal dominantly inherited.  Since the eighties of last century more than 115 cancer predisposing genes have been identified. In many Western countries genetic testing of patients and families with clustering of cancers started early, and was often performed by clinical geneticists (MDs performed the counselling and pedigree analyses and by molecular biologists (in laboratories within departments of clinical genetics.  It turned out to be a long path to fully realize the promise of cancer predisposing genes. The clinical utility of many cancer genetic tests and subsequent risk reducing interventions has not yet been validated and pitfalls in e.g. misinterpretation of genetic variants showed up. However, without doubt genetic testing for mutations will eventually turn out as a strong tool to save lives from early cancer death and will become part of standard cancer care throughout the developed world.  Apart from primary surgical prevention, major progress is to be expected in earlier diagnoses, tailored therapies, and possibly chemoprevention.  Ideally researchers, clinical geneticists, molecular biologists, surgeons, oncologists, gynaecologists and other professionals will work together to reach this goal. Keywords : clinical genetics, germline, hereditary cancers, cancer predisposing genes

Cancer treatment - preventing infection

Science.gov (United States)

... Radiation - preventing infection; Bone marrow transplant - preventing infection; Cancer treatment - immunosuppression ... this is a short-lived side effect of cancer treatment. Your provider may give you medicines to help ...

Positive psychology in cancer care: bad science, exaggerated claims, and unproven medicine.

Science.gov (United States)

Coyne, James C; Tennen, Howard

2010-02-01

Claims of positive psychology about people with cancer enjoy great popularity because they seem to offer scientific confirmation of strongly held cultural beliefs and values. Our goal is to examine critically four widely accepted claims in the positive psychology literature regarding adaptational outcomes among individuals living with cancer. We examine: (1) the role of positive factors, such as a "fighting spirit" in extending the life of persons with cancer; (2) effects of interventions cultivating positive psychological states on immune functioning and cancer progression and mortality; and evidence concerning (3) benefit finding and (4) post-traumatic growth following serious illness such as cancer and other highly threatening experiences. Claims about these areas of research routinely made in the positive psychology literature do not fit with available evidence. We note in particular the incoherence of claims about the adaptational value of benefit finding and post-traumatic growth among cancer patients, and the implausibility of claims that interventions that enhance benefit finding improve the prognosis of cancer patients by strengthening the immune system. We urge positive psychologists to rededicate themselves to a positive psychology based on scientific evidence rather than wishful thinking.

<strong>Cell-surface expression of Hsp70 on hematopoietic cancer cells after inhibition of HDAC activitystrong>

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Jensen, Helle

frequently express Hsp70 on their cell surface, whereas the corresponding normal tissues do not. In addition, several clinically applied reagents, such as alkyl-lysophospholipides, chemotherapeutic agents, and anti-inflammatory reagents, have been found to enhance Hsp70 cell surface expression on cancer...

[Prediction of life expectancy for prostate cancer patients based on the kinetic theory of aging of living systems].

Science.gov (United States)

Viktorov, A A; Zharinov, G M; Neklasova, N Ju; Morozova, E E

2017-01-01

The article presents a methodical approach for prediction of life expectancy for people diagnosed with prostate cancer based on the kinetic theory of aging of living systems. The life expectancy is calculated by solving the differential equation for the rate of aging for three different stage of life - «normal» life, life with prostate cancer and life after combination therapy for prostate cancer. The mathematical model of aging for each stage of life has its own parameters identified by the statistical analysis of healthcare data from the Zharinov's databank and Rosstat CDR NES databank. The core of the methodical approach is the statistical correlation between growth rate of the prostate specific antigen level (PSA-level) or the PSA doubling time (PSA DT) before therapy, and lifespan: the higher the PSA DT is, the greater lifespan. The patients were grouped under the «fast PSA DT» and «slow PSA DT» categories. The satisfactory matching between calculations and experiment is shown. The prediction error of group life expectancy is due to the completeness and reliability of the main data source. A detailed monitoring of the basic health indicators throughout the each person life in each analyzed group is required. The absence of this particular information makes it impossible to predict the individual life expectancy.

Using Mechanical Turk for research on cancer survivors.

Science.gov (United States)

Arch, Joanna J; Carr, Alaina L

2017-10-01

The successful recruitment and study of cancer survivors within psycho-oncology research can be challenging, time-consuming, and expensive, particularly for key subgroups such as young adult cancer survivors. Online crowdsourcing platforms offer a potential solution that has not yet been investigated with regard to cancer populations. The current study assessed the presence of cancer survivors on Amazon's Mechanical Turk (MTurk) and the feasibility of using MTurk as an efficient, cost-effective, and reliable psycho-oncology recruitment and research platform. During a <4-month period, cancer survivors living in the United States were recruited on MTurk to complete two assessments, spaced 1 week apart, relating to psychosocial and cancer-related functioning. The reliability and validity of responses were investigated. Within a <4-month period, 464 self-identified cancer survivors on MTurk consented to and completed an online assessment. The vast majority (79.09%) provided reliable and valid study data according to multiple indices. The sample was highly diverse in terms of U.S. geography, socioeconomic status, and cancer type, and reflected a particularly strong presence of distressed and young adult cancer survivors (median age = 36 years). A majority of participants (58.19%) responded to a second survey sent one week later. Online crowdsourcing represents a feasible, efficient, and cost-effective recruitment and research platform for cancer survivors, particularly for young adult cancer survivors and those with significant distress. We discuss remaining challenges and future recommendations. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Understanding Cancer Prognosis

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Full Text Available ... Reporting & Auditing Grant Transfer Grant Closeout Contracts & Small Business Training Cancer Training at NCI (Intramural) Resources for ... LinkedIn GovDelivery RSS CONTACT INFORMATION Contact Us LiveHelp Online Chat MORE INFORMATION About This Website Cancer.gov ...

Single molecule force spectroscopy for in-situ probing oridonin inhibited ROS-mediated EGF-EGFR interactions in living KYSE-150 cells.

Science.gov (United States)

Pi, Jiang; Jin, Hua; Jiang, Jinhuan; Yang, Fen; Cai, Huaihong; Yang, Peihui; Cai, Jiye; Chen, Zheng W

2017-05-01

As the active anticancer component of Rabdosia Rubescens, oridonin has been proved to show strong anticancer activity in cancer cells, which is also found to be closely related to its specific inhibition effects on the EGFR tyrosine kinase activity. In this study, atomic force microscopy based single molecule force spectroscopy (AFM-SMFS) was used for real-time and in-situ detection of EGF-EGFR interactions in living esophageal cancer KYSE-150 cells to evaluate the anticancer activity of oridonin for the first time. Oridonin was found to induce apoptosis and also reduce EGFR expression in KYSE-150 cells. AFM-SMFS results demonstrated that oridonin could inhibit the binding between EGF and EGFR in KYSE-150 cells by decreasing the unbinding force and binding probability for EGF-EGFR complexes, which was further proved to be closely associated with the intracellular ROS level. More precise mechanism studies based on AFM-SMFS demonstrated that oridonin treatment could decrease the energy barrier width, increase the dissociation off rate constant and decrease the activation energy of EGF-EGFR complexes in ROS dependent way, suggesting oridonin as a strong anticancer agent targeting EGF-EGFR interactions in cancer cells through ROS dependent mechanism. Our results not only suggested oridonin as a strong anticancer agent targeting EGF-EGFR interactions in ROS dependent mechanism, but also highlighted AFM-SMFS as a powerful technique for pharmacodynamic studies by detecting ligand-receptor interactions, which was also expected to be developed into a promising tool for the screening and mechanism studies of drugs. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Comparing the meanings of living with advanced breast cancer between women resilient to distress and women with persistent distress: a qualitative study.

Science.gov (United States)

Lam, W W T; Yoon, S W; Sze, W K; Ng, A W Y; Soong, I; Kwong, A; Suen, D; Tsang, J; Yeo, W; Wong, K Y; Fielding, R

2017-02-01

Most women with advanced breast cancer (ABC) show little distress, but about one in ten show persistent distress over time. It remains unclear if meanings ascribed by patients to ABC differentiate these distress trajectories. This qualitative study (a) compared illness meanings of ABC between women with persistent psychological distress and those with low/transient distress, and (b) examined how illness meanings might influence coping strategies. The sample was drawn from a prior quantitative study exploring psychological distress trajectories following ABC diagnosis. Overall, 42 Cantonese- or Mandarin-speaking Chinese women diagnosed with locally advanced or metastatic ABC were recruited based on their distress trajectory status (low-stable, transient, or persistent distress). Interviews were recorded, transcribed, and analyzed following grounded theory approach using simultaneous analysis. Women with persistent distress viewed their diagnosis as another blow in life, the illness was global, permeating every aspect of their life. Maladaptive rumination and thought suppression were common responses to illness demands. These women had poor social support. A sense of demoralization stood out in their narratives. In contrast, women with transient/low-stable distress encapsulated the illness, with minimum impacts of their life. They did not evidence dysfunctional repetitive thoughts. Living in a supportive environment, they were able to accept and/or live in the present-moment. Rumination, thought suppression, social constraints, and pre-existing exposure to life stress may be potential risks for chronic distress in response to advanced breast cancer. Persistent and transient distress responses to cancer may have different underpinnings. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Adults Living with OI

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... Wheel Regional Conference 50,000 Laps, One Unbreakable Spirit® OI Golf Classic Awareness Week Fine Wines Strong Bones Bone China Tea Blue Jeans for Better Bones Upcoming Events Online Store Adults Living with OI Write to us with your suggestions for what we should include on this page; your input ...

Polymorphisms in RAI and in genes of nucleotide and base excision repair are not associated with risk of testicular cancer.

Science.gov (United States)

Laska, Magdalena J; Nexø, Bjørn A; Vistisen, Kirsten; Poulsen, Henrik Enghusen; Loft, Steffen; Vogel, Ulla

2005-07-28

Testicular cancer has been suggested to be primed in utero and there is familiar occurrence, particularly brothers and sons of men with testicular cancer have increased risk. Although no specific causative genotoxic agents have been identified, variations in DNA repair capacity could be associated with the risk of testicular cancer. A case-control study of 184 testicular cancer cases and 194 population-based controls living in the Copenhagen Greater Area in Denmark was performed. We found that neither polymorphisms in several DNA repair genes nor alleles of several polymorphisms in the chromosomal of region 19q13.2-3, encompassing the genes ASE, ERCC1, RAI and XPD, were associated with risk of testicular cancer in Danish patients. This is in contrast to other cancers, where we reported strong associations between polymorphisms in ERCC1, ASE and RAI and occurrence of basal cell carcinoma, breast cancer and lung. To our knowledge this is the first study of DNA repair gene polymorphisms and risk of testicular cancer.

Expression of DIAPH1 is up-regulated in colorectal cancer and its down-regulation strongly reduces the metastatic capacity of colon carcinoma cells.

Science.gov (United States)

Lin, Yuan-Na; Izbicki, Jakob R; König, Alexandra; Habermann, Jens K; Blechner, Christine; Lange, Tobias; Schumacher, Udo; Windhorst, Sabine

2014-04-01

In most cases, metastatic colorectal cancer is not curable, thus new approaches are necessary to identify novel targets for colorectal cancer therapy. Actin-binding-proteins (ABPs) directly regulate motility of metastasising tumor cells, and for cortactin an association with colon cancer metastasis has been already shown. However, as its depletion only incompletely inhibits metastasis, additional, more suitable cellular targets have to be identified. Here we analyzed expression of the ABPs, DIAPH1, VASP, N-WASP, and fascin in comparison with cortactin and found that, besides cortactin, DIAPH1 was expressed with the highest frequency (63%) in colorectal cancer. As well as cortactin, DIAPH1 was not detectable in normal colon tissue and expression of both proteins was positively correlated with metastasis of colorectal cancer. To analyse the mechanistic role of DIAPH1 for metastasis of colon carcinoma cells in comparison with cortactin, expression of the proteins was stably down-regulated in the human colon carcinoma cell lines HT-29, HROC-24 and HCT-116. Analysis of metastasis of colon carcinoma cells in SCID mice revealed that depletion of DIAPH1 reduced metastasis 60-fold and depletion of cortactin 16-fold as compared with control cells. Most likely the stronger effect of DIAPH1 depletion on colon cancer metastasis is due to the fact that in vitro knock down of DIAPH1 impaired all steps of metastasis; adhesion, invasion and migration while down-regulation of cortactin only reduced adhesion and invasion. This very strong reducing effect of DIAPH1 depletion on colon carcinoma cell metastasis makes the protein a promising therapeutic target for individualized colorectal cancer therapy. © 2013 UICC.

Hypnosis for Symptom Control in Cancer Patients at the End-of-Life: A Systematic Review.

Science.gov (United States)

Montgomery, Guy H; Sucala, Madalina; Baum, Tessa; Schnur, Julie B

2017-01-01

Hypnosis has been shown to alleviate symptoms and side effects of cancer and its treatment. However, less is known about the use of hypnosis at the end of life in individuals with cancer. Our goal was to systematically review the literature on the use of hypnosis to manage the most common symptoms of end-of-life cancer patients: fatigue, sleep disturbances, pain, appetite loss, and dyspnea. EMBASE, MEDLINE, COCHRANE, PsychINFO, and SCOPUS databases were searched from inception through November 7, 2016. No studies met the inclusion criteria. It appears that hypnosis has never been rigorously tested as a means to ameliorate the most common symptoms in individuals with cancer at the end of their lives. This finding is troubling, as it strongly implies that a population most in need has been largely neglected. However, a clear future research direction is revealed that may have significant clinical impact.

Being given a cancer diagnosis in old age: a phenomenological study

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Esbensen, Bente Appel; Swane, Christine E; Hallberg, Ingalill Rahm

2008-01-01

Objectives: The aim of the study was to illuminate the lived experience of being given a cancer diagnosis in old age. Background: Little research has been done on the experience of elderly people developing cancer and the impact of the illness on their lives. Such knowledge is needed to support e...... in clinical practice, to identify the specific meaning the turning point has for an elderly person with cancer, and to understand the particular approach he or she uses to handle the awareness of being old. (C) 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved Udgivelsesdato: 2008/3......Objectives: The aim of the study was to illuminate the lived experience of being given a cancer diagnosis in old age. Background: Little research has been done on the experience of elderly people developing cancer and the impact of the illness on their lives. Such knowledge is needed to support...... elderly people in dealing with issues arising after cancer is diagnosed. Design: A descriptive phenomenological method was used to investigate the phenomenon "the lived experience of being given a cancer diagnosis in old age". Participants: In total, 16 persons (aged 65+, mean age 76, range 68...

Canadian Cancer Risk Management Model: evaluation of cancer control.

Science.gov (United States)

Evans, William K; Wolfson, Michael C; Flanagan, William M; Shin, Janey; Goffin, John; Miller, Anthony B; Asakawa, Keiko; Earle, Craig; Mittmann, Nicole; Fairclough, Lee; Oderkirk, Jillian; Finès, Philippe; Gribble, Stephen; Hoch, Jeffrey; Hicks, Chantal; Omariba, D Walter R; Ng, Edward

2013-04-01

The aim of this study was to develop a decision support tool to assess the potential benefits and costs of new healthcare interventions. The Canadian Partnership Against Cancer (CPAC) commissioned the development of a Cancer Risk Management Model (CRMM)--a computer microsimulation model that simulates individual lives one at a time, from birth to death, taking account of Canadian demographic and labor force characteristics, risk factor exposures, and health histories. Information from all the simulated lives is combined to produce aggregate measures of health outcomes for the population or for particular subpopulations. The CRMM can project the population health and economic impacts of cancer control programs in Canada and the impacts of major risk factors, cancer prevention, and screening programs and new cancer treatments on population health and costs to the healthcare system. It estimates both the direct costs of medical care, as well as lost earnings and impacts on tax revenues. The lung and colorectal modules are available through the CPAC Web site (www.cancerview.ca/cancerrriskmanagement) to registered users where structured scenarios can be explored for their projected impacts. Advanced users will be able to specify new scenarios or change existing modules by varying input parameters or by accessing open source code. Model development is now being extended to cervical and breast cancers.

A strategy for actualization of active targeting nanomedicine practically functioning in a living body.

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, Kyoung Jin; Shin, Seol Hwa; Lee, Jae Hee; Ju, Eun Jin; Park, Yun-Yong; Hwang, Jung Jin; Suh, Young-Ah; Hong, Seung-Mo; Jang, Se Jin; Lee, Jung Shin; Song, Si Yeol; Jeong, Seong-Yun; Choi, Eun Kyung

2017-10-01

Designing nanocarriers with active targeting has been increasingly emphasized as for an ideal delivery mechanism of anti-cancer therapeutic agents, but the actualization has been constrained by lack of reliable strategy ultimately applicable. Here, we designed and verified a strategy to achieve active targeting nanomedicine that works in a living body, utilizing animal models bearing a patient's tumor tissue and subjected to the same treatments that would be used in the clinic. The concept for this strategy was that a novel peptide probe and its counterpart protein, which responded to a therapy, were identified, and then the inherent ability of the peptide to target the designated tumor protein was used for active targeting in vivo. An initial dose of ionizing radiation was locally delivered to the gastric cancer (GC) tumor of a patient-derived xenograft mouse model, and phage-displayed peptide library was intravenously injected. The peptides tightly bound to the tumor were recovered, and the counterpart protein was subsequently identified. Peptide-conjugated liposomal drug showed dramatically improved therapeutic efficacy and possibility of diagnostic imaging with radiation. These results strongly suggested the potential of our strategy to achieve in vivo functional active targeting and to be applied clinically for human cancer treatment. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Tumor-Initiating Label-Retaining Cancer Cells in Human Gastrointestinal Cancers Undergo Asymmetric Cell Division

Science.gov (United States)

Xin, Hong-Wu; Hari, Danielle M.; Mullinax, John E.; Ambe, Chenwi M.; Koizumi, Tomotake; Ray, Satyajit; Anderson, Andrew J.; Wiegand, Gordon W.; Garfield, Susan H.; Thorgeirsson, Snorri S.; Avital, Itzhak

2012-01-01

Label-retaining cells (LRCs) have been proposed to represent adult tissue stem cells. LRCs are hypothesized to result from either slow cycling or asymmetric cell division (ACD). However, the stem cell nature and whether LRC undergo ACD remain controversial. Here, we demonstrate label-retaining cancer cells (LRCCs) in several gastrointestinal (GI) cancers including fresh surgical specimens. Using a novel method for isolation of live LRCC, we demonstrate that a subpopulation of LRCC is actively dividing and exhibits stem cells and pluripotency gene expression profiles. Using real-time confocal microscopic cinematography, we show live LRCC undergoing asymmetric nonrandom chromosomal cosegregation LRC division. Importantly, LRCCs have greater tumor-initiating capacity than non-LRCCs. Based on our data and that cancers develop in tissues that harbor normal-LRC, we propose that LRCC might represent a novel population of GI stem-like cancer cells. LRCC may provide novel mechanistic insights into the biology of cancer and regenerative medicine and present novel targets for cancer treatment. PMID:22331764

Modeling of live-birth rates and cost-effectiveness of oocyte cryopreservation for cancer patients prior to high- and low-risk gonadotoxic chemotherapy.

Science.gov (United States)

Lyttle Schumacher, B; Grover, N; Mesen, T; Steiner, A; Mersereau, J

2017-10-01

What is the live-birth rate (LBR) and cost-effectiveness of fertility preservation with oocyte cryopreservation (FP-OC) compared to expectant management in cancer patients age 25-40 based on estimated gonadotoxicity of treatments 5 years after cancer diagnosis? Oocyte cryopreservation prior to cancer treatment is more costly, yet more effective (producing more live births), than not undergoing oocyte cryopreservation but it is most beneficial for patients undergoing high-risk chemotherapy (HRC). The decision to undergo FP prior to treatment is multifactorial and can be costly and delay treatment. Not all treatments carry the same gonadotoxicity and patients may choose to undergo FP-OC based on the probability of premature ovarian insufficiency, predicted outcomes and cost. A comprehensive model that incorporates age at diagnosis and toxicity of treatment to help guide patients in the decision to undergo FP-OC does not yet exist. This study used a Decision Analysis Model to estimate effectiveness and cost of FP for cancer patients. Age-based estimates of LBR and cost per live birth were calculated for ages 25-40 years based on gonadotoxicity of treatment. A decision analysis model was constructed using Treeage Pro 2015 with case base probabilities derived from national registries, practice guidelines and medical records from a national network of infertility practices (IntegraMed). Compared to no FP-OC, FP-OC improved LBRs for women of all ages undergoing either low-risk chemotherapy (LRC) or HRC; however, it was most cost effective for women undergoing LRC at older ages or HRC at younger ages. Although FP-OC results in higher LBRs, it was always more costly. Using donor oocyte IVF can be a successful alternative to autologous FP-OC. Decision tree results reflect probabilities of certain events and are compiled from multiple reputable sources but are not directly derived from a recruited cohort of patients. Outcomes are based on United States estimates and should be

Curative effect of laparoscope and laparotomy in the treatment of rectal cancer and its influence to stress response, immune function and living quality of patients

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

De-Bin Lu

2016-02-01

Full Text Available Objective: To compare the curative effect of laparoscope and laparotomy in the treatment of rectal cancer and its influence to stress response, immune function, malignant biological behavior and living quality of patients. Methods: Selected 122 cases of patients with rectal cancer, who admitted in our hospital for surgery treatment, randomly divided them into 2 groups (n=61, respectively given laparoscope and laparotomy surgery treatment. To compare the lymph node cleaning effect and anus preservation rate of both groups, and the stress response index IL-6, TNF-α and CPR, T lymphocyte CD3+, CD4+, CD8+ levels and living quality score changes before and after surgery. Results: Lymph node dissection totals between laparoscope and laparotomy had no obvious difference (P>0.05, anus preservation rate in laparoscope group was 86.9%, whichwas obviously higher than that (68.9% in laparotomy group (P<0.05; 5 d after surgery, IL-6, TNF-α and CPR levels in laparoscope group were obviously lower than that in laparotomy group (P<0.05; 5 d after surgery, CD3+, CD4+, CD8+ levels in laparoscope group were obviously higher than that in laparotomy group (P<0.05; 5 d after surgery, life quality score in laparoscope group was (8.6±3.4, which was obviously higher than that (6.2±2.9 in laparotomy group (P<0.05; postoperative adverse reaction total cases in laparoscope group was 16.39%, which was obviously lower than that (31.15% in laparotomy group (P<0.05. Conclusion: Laparoscope had better lymph node dissection effect to patients with rectal cancer, and compared with the traditional laparotomy, it had the following effects: soft postoperative stress response, small immunosuppression, higher living quality,and less adverse response, the general curative effect of which was superior to laparotomy.

AACR Annual Meeting 2008: Autophagy in the forefront of cancer research.

Science.gov (United States)

Karantza, Vassiliki

2008-07-01

The 2008 American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Annual Meeting was held in San Diego, CA, April 12-16, 2008 (http:// www.aacr.org/home/scientists/meetings--workshops/annual-meeting-2008.aspx). More than 17,000 scientists from 60 countries participated in this meeting that was organized by AACR, the oldest and largest organization in the world focused on cancer research. The scientific presentations included more than 6,000 abstracts and 500 invited talks on new and significant discoveries in basic, clinical, and translational cancer research. Autophagy, as pertaining to tumorigenesis and response to anticancer therapies, was undoubtedly a "hot topic" in this meeting. An educational session, a forum, a minisymposium and several other talks dispersed in different sessions had a strong focus on autophagy. All autophagy-related presentations were very well attended and stimulated lively discussions, clearly indicating that the scientific community is greatly interested in this rapidly-progressing area of research.

Nausea and Vomiting Caused by Cancer Treatment

Science.gov (United States)

... Considerations How Cancer is Treated Side Effects Dating, Sex, and Reproduction Advanced Cancer For Children For Teens For Young Adults For Older Adults Prevention and Healthy Living Cancer.Net Videos Coping With Cancer Research and Advocacy Survivorship Blog ...

Lymphedema as a Cancer Treatment Side Effect

Science.gov (United States)

... Considerations How Cancer is Treated Side Effects Dating, Sex, and Reproduction Advanced Cancer For Children For Teens For Young Adults For Older Adults Prevention and Healthy Living Cancer.Net Videos Coping With Cancer Research and Advocacy Survivorship Blog ...

Stress and its molecular consequences in cancer progression

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Magdalena Surman

2017-06-01

Full Text Available Stress, caused by psychological, physiological and physical factors has an adverse impact on human body homeostasis. There are two kind of stress: short-term and chronic. Cancer patients usually live under chronic stress, caused by diagnosis-related strong emotional experience and depression, resulting from various difficulties associated with disease progression and treatment. At the molecular level, stress factors induce production and secretion of stress-related hormones, such as catecholamines, glucocorticoids and dopamine (as a part of adaptational body response, which influence both normal and transformed cells through their specific receptors. The particular effects exerted by these molecules on cancer cells have been also observed in in vitro cultures and include changes in proliferation, apoptosis susceptibility and migration/invasion potential. As a result, it has been suggested that stress hormones may be responsible for progression of malignancy and thus accelerate the metastasis formation in cancer patients. However, the clinical data on correlation between stress and the patients survival, as well as the molecular analysis of stress hormone receptors expression and action in cancer cell, have not yet provided an unequivocal answer. For this reason, extensive studies, on molecular and clinical level are needed to fully determine stress impact on cancerprogression and on the effectiveness of anti-cancer treatment. Nowadays, it seems reasonable that the personalization of anti-cancer therapy should also focus on mental state of cancer patients, and provide them with psychological tools or techniques for stress management.

Risk factors for breast cancer in the breast cancer risk model study of Guam and Saipan.

Science.gov (United States)

Leon Guerrero, Rachael T; Novotny, Rachel; Wilkens, Lynne R; Chong, Marie; White, Kami K; Shvetsov, Yurii B; Buyum, Arielle; Badowski, Grazyna; Blas-Laguaña, Michelle

2017-10-01

Chamorro Pacific Islanders in the Mariana Islands have breast cancer incidence rates similar to, but mortality rates higher than, those of U.S. women. As breast cancer risk factors of women of the Mariana Islands may be unique because of ethnic and cultural differences, we studied established and suspected risk factors for breast cancer in this unstudied population. From 2010-2013, we conducted retrospective case-control study of female breast cancer (104 cases and 185 controls) among women in the Mariana Islands. Odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated for each of various lifestyle-related factors from logistic regression of breast cancer, in all women and in pre- and postmenopausal women separately. Tests for interaction of risk factors with ethnicity were based on the Wald statistics for cross-product terms. Of the medical and reproductive factors considered - age at menarche, breastfeeding, number of live births, age at first live birth, hormone use, and menopause - only age at first live birth was confirmed. Age at first live birth, among parous women, was higher among cases (mean 24.9 years) than controls (mean 23.2 years); with increased breast cancer risk (OR=2.53; 95% CI, 1.04-6.19 for age≥30y compared to risk and only in Filipino women. The association with many other established risk factors, such as BMI, hormone use and physical activity, were in the expected direction but were not significant. Associations for family history of breast cancer and alcohol intake were not evident CONCLUSIONS: The results provide a basis for cancer prevention guidance for women in the Mariana Islands. Copyright © 2017 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

Thyroid cancer in children living near Chernobyl. Expert panel report on the consequences of the Chernobyl accident

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Williams, D.; Karaoglou, A.; Chadwick, K.H.

1993-01-01

In January 1992, the Radiation Protection Research Action formed a panel of thyroid experts in order to evaluate the current situation concerning reported increased rates of thyroid cancer in children living in the neighbourhood of Chernobyl, where the reactor accident occurred on April 26 1986 and resulted in widespread radioactive contamination over large areas of Belarus, Russia, Ukraine. Studies of the Atom Bomb survivors in Japan have revealed that the incidence of leukemia starts to increase some five years after exposure. For Chernobyl accident health consequences are now becoming evident. Thyroid cancer has already been observed in children. Iodine 131 was seen to pose a specific hazard because it is taken up by the body and concentrated in the thyroid gland. At a dose of 5 Gy to the childhood thyroid about 4000 thyroid cancers per 100000 children exposed can be anticipated. An essential component of the verification of this observation is the study of the pathology of the lesions, which derived from four cell types: follicular cells, C cells, lymphoid cells and connective tumor cells. All distant metastases are lung metastases. Measures to be considered for the prevention of the development of thyroid cancer in a radiation-exposed population include correction of iodine deficiency by iodine prophylaxis and suppression of TSH. There are three methods of diagnosis: ultrasound imaging, thyroid scanning, fine needle aspiration performed by skilled personnel. For the therapy total or near-total thyroidectomy is regarded as the treatment of choice. Radioactive iodine can be used to treat lymph node and distant metastases which take up iodine after a total thyroidectomy. Thyroid hormone replacement should be carried out with TSH suppressive doses of L-Thyroxine. 45 refs., 1 annexe

Skin Cancer Awareness and Sun Protection Behavior Before and Following Treatment Among Skin Cancer-Treated Patients.

Science.gov (United States)

Abedini, Robabeh; Nasimi, Maryam; Nourmohammad Pour, Pedram; Etesami, Ifa; Al-Asiri, Safa; Tohidinik, Hamid Reza

2017-11-15

There is little known about illness perception in patients with skin tumors. We conducted this study to investigate Iranian patients' understanding of skin tumors, and to evaluate their sun-protective behavior changes after treatment of skin cancer. Patients with a skin biopsy of basal cell carcinoma were asked to complete questionnaires. A total of 110 patients were enrolled in the study. Patients were mostly referred to our tumor clinic from rural areas. At the skin cancer perception investigation, 63% of patients did not consider their disease as a long-lasting situation. Besides, 45.4% of patients consider their illness as a serious condition which significantly affecting their lives. Our patients had a strong belief in treatment control (81%) and 81% of them also described worries about their skin cancer. The leading causes of skin cancer as assumed by patients were: history of skin cancer (37.4%), poor medical care in the past (36.4%), extreme sun exposure (31.5%), and lack of sun protection (27.5%). In regard to sun-protective behavior after treatment of skin cancer, 55.4% of patients showed no changes or even negative change in their sun-protective behavior, But 44.5% of the patients changed their sun-protective behavior in a positive way which was statically significant (P ≤ 0.001). Our study demonstrates how our patients with skin cancer perceive their disease and we need to educate our patients, considering diseases' aspects, causes and symptoms. This is of great value as dermatologists should be aware of patients' perceptions of their disease in order to improve patients' knowledge through educating more about different aspects of disease.

Family involvement for breast cancer decision making among Chinese-American women.

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, Shiuyu Katie C; Knobf, M Tish

2016-12-01

To describe family involvement in decision making for primary treatment in Chinese-American women with early-stage breast cancer. Qualitative data were collected in 2003 from semi-structured questions in interviews with a sample of Chinese-American (ChA) women with breast cancer, who were recruited from the metropolitan New York area. Responses to the questions were written in Chinese immediately during the interview and read back to the subject for accuracy and validation. Content analysis was used to inductively code and analyze the data to generate themes. The participants consisted of 123 ChA women with early stage breast cancer with a mean age of 48.7 years (±9.3) and who had lived in the United States a median of 13.6 years. Support and Caring was the major theme that described family involvement in the breast cancer decision-making process. Gathering Information, Being There, Navigating the Health Care System, Maintaining Family Life and Making the Decision described the aspects of family support in the process. The majority of women described the treatment decision making as a collaborative supportive process with the family, but limited English fluency, strong opinions, lack of a shared perspective, distant living proximity and competing work responsibilities of family members were stressful for the women and perceived as non-supportive. Family involvement in health care decision making is culturally embedded in Asian populations. Culturally sensitive patient and family consultation strategies are needed to assist informed treatment decision making in Chinese-American women diagnosed with breast cancer. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Needs of cancer patients treated in rural and urban cancer departments

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mercurit, Angelina; Kallady, Susannah

2005-01-01

Literature indicates that cancer patients experience high levels of unmet needs, particularly in relation to health information, psychological requirements and physical and daily living needs. It suggests that the needs of patients living in rural areas are likely to be higher than those of urban patients due to geographical factors and health service accessibility issues. This paper will explore the needs of cancer patients with particular focus on the impact of location (rural vs. urban), present the basis of these needs and identify strategies that address the needs expressed, by reviewing current literature. Copyright (2005) Australian Institute of Radiography

Cancer and the Comics: Graphic Narratives and Biolegitimate Lives.

Science.gov (United States)

McMullin, Juliet

2016-06-01

Cancer graphic narratives, I argue, are part of a medical imaginary that includes representations of difference and biomedical technology that engage Fassin's (2009) concept of biolegitimacy. Framed in three parts, the argument first draws on discourses about cancer graphic narratives from graphic medicine scholars and authors to demonstrate a construction of universal suffering. Second, I examine tropes of hope and difference as a biotechnical embrace. Finally, I consider biosociality within the context of this imaginary and the construction of a meaningful life. Autobiographical graphic narrative as a creative genre that seeks to give voice to individual illness experiences in the context of biomedicine raises anthropological questions about the interplay between the ordinary and biolegitmate. Cancer graphic narratives deconstruct the big events to demonstrate the ordinary ways that a life constructed as different becomes valued through access to medical technologies. © 2014 by the American Anthropological Association.

Observation of the long-lived triplet excited state of perylenebisimide (PBI) in C^N cyclometalated Ir(III) complexes and application in photocatalytic oxidation.

Science.gov (United States)

Sun, Jifu; Zhong, Fangfang; Zhao, Jianzhang

2013-07-14

Perylenebisimide (PBI) was used to prepare C^N cyclometalated Ir(III) complexes that show strong absorption of visible light and it is the first time the long-lived triplet excited state of PBI chromophore was observed in a transition metal complex (τT = 22.3 μs). Previously, the lifetime of the triplet state of PBI in transition metal complexes was usually shorter than 1.0 μs. Long-lived triplet excited states are useful for applications in photocatalysis or other photophysical processes concerning triplet-triplet-energy-transfer. PBI and amino-PBI were used for preparation of cyclometalated Ir(III) complexes (Ir-2 and Ir-3), in which the PBI chromophore was connected to the coordination center via C≡C π-conjugation bond. The new complexes show strong absorption in visible region (ε = 34,200 M(-1) cm(-1) at 541 nm for Ir-2, and ε = 19,000 at 669 nm for Ir-3), compared to the model complex Ir(ppy)(bpy)[PF6] Ir-1 (ε PBI-localized long-lived (3)IL states were populated for Ir-2 and Ir-3 upon photoexcitation. The complexes were used as triplet photosensitizers for (1)O2-mediated photooxidation of 1,5-dihydronaphthalene to produce juglone, an important intermediate for preparation of anti-cancer compounds. (1)O2 quantum yields (Φ(Δ)) up to 91% were observed for the new Ir(III) complexes and the overall photosensitizing ability is much higher than the conventional Ir(III) complex Ir-1, which shows the typical weak visible light absorption in visible region. Our results are useful for preparation of transition metal complexes that show strong absorption of visible light and long-lived triplet excited state and for the application of these complexes in photocatalysis.

The Global Burden of Cancer 2013

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Fitzmaurice, C.; Geleijnse, J.M.; Naghavi, M.R.; et al.,

2015-01-01

Importance Cancer is among the leading causes of death worldwide. Current estimates of cancer burden in individual countries and regions are necessary to inform local cancer control strategies. Objective To estimate mortality, incidence, years lived with disability (YLDs), years of life lost (YLLs),

Role of parasites in cancer.

Science.gov (United States)

Mandong, B M; Ngbea, J A; Raymond, Vhriterhire

2013-01-01

In areas of parasitic endemicity, the occurrence of cancer that is not frequent may be linked with parasitic infection. Epidemiological correlates between some parasitic infections and cancer is strong, suggesting a strong aetiological association. The common parasites associated with human cancers are schistosomiasis, malaria, liver flukes (Clonorchis sinenses, Opistorchis viverrini). To review the pathology, literature and methods of diagnosis. Literature review from peer reviewed Journals cited in PubMed and local journals. Parasites may serve as promoters of cancer in endemic areas of infection.

Education Level Is a Strong Prognosticator in the Subgroup Aged More Than 50 Years Regardless of the Molecular Subtype of Breast Cancer: A Study Based on the Nationwide Korean Breast Cancer Registry Database.

Science.gov (United States)

Hwang, Ki-Tae; Noh, Woochul; Cho, Se-Heon; Yu, Jonghan; Park, Min Ho; Jeong, Joon; Lee, Hyouk Jin; Kim, Jongjin; Oh, Sohee; Kim, Young A

2017-10-01

This study investigated the role of the education level (EL) as a prognostic factor for breast cancer and analyzed the relationship between the EL and various confounding factors. The data for 64,129 primary breast cancer patients from the Korean Breast Cancer Registry were analyzed. The EL was classified into two groups according to the education period; the high EL group (≥ 12 years) and low EL group (EL conferred a superior prognosis compared to a low EL in the subgroup aged > 50 years (hazard ratio, 0.626; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.577 to 0.678) but not in the subgroup aged ≤ 50 years (hazard ratio, 0.941; 95% CI, 0.865 to 1.024). The EL was a significant independent factor in the subgroup aged > 50 years according to multivariate analyses. The high EL group showed more favorable clinicopathologic features and a higher proportion of patients in this group received lumpectomy, radiation therapy, and endocrine therapy. In the high EL group, a higher proportion of patients received chemotherapy in the subgroups with unfavorable clinicopathologic features. The EL was a significant prognosticator across all molecular subtypes of breast cancer. The EL is a strong independent prognostic factor for breast cancer in the subgroup aged > 50 years regardless of the molecular subtype, but not in the subgroup aged ≤ 50 years. Favorable clinicopathologic features and active treatments can explain the main causality of the superior prognosis in the high EL group.

Lysosomes in cancer-living on the edge (of the cell).

Science.gov (United States)

Hämälistö, Saara; Jäättelä, Marja

2016-04-01

The lysosomes have definitely polished their status inside the cell. Being discovered as the last resort of discarded cellular biomass, the steady rising of this versatile signaling organelle is currently ongoing. This review discusses the recent data on the unconventional functions of lysosomes, focusing mainly on the less studied lysosomes residing in the cellular periphery. We emphasize our discussion on the emerging paths the lysosomes have taken in promoting cancer progression to metastatic disease. Finally, we address how the altered cancerous lysosomes in metastatic cancers may be specifically targeted and what are the pending questions awaiting for elucidation. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Completeness of pedigree and family cancer history for ovarian cancer patients.

Science.gov (United States)

Son, Yedong; Lim, Myong Cheol; Seo, Sang Soo; Kang, Sokbom; Park, Sang Yoon

2014-10-01

To investigate the completeness of pedigree and of number of pedigree analysis to know the acceptable familial history in Korean women with ovarian cancer. Interview was conducted in 50 ovarian cancer patients for obtaining familial history three times over the 6 weeks. The completeness of pedigree is estimated in terms of familial history of disease (cancer), health status (health living, disease and death), and onset age of disease and death. The completion of pedigree was 79.3, 85.1, and 85.6% at the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd time of interview and the time for pedigree analysis was 34.3, 10.8, and 3.1 minutes, respectively. The factors limiting pedigree analysis were as follows: out of contact with their relatives (38%), no living ancestors who know the family history (34%), dispersed family member because of the Korean War (16%), unknown cause of death (12%), reluctance to ask medical history of relatives (10%), and concealing their ovarian cancer (10%). The percentage of cancers revealed in 1st (2%) and 2nd degree (8%) relatives were increasing through surveys, especially colorectal cancer related with Lynch syndrome (4%). Analysis of pedigree at least two times is acceptable in Korean woman with ovarian cancer from the first study. The completion of pedigree is increasing, while time to take family history is decreasing during three time survey.

HIV Excess Cancers JNCI

Science.gov (United States)

In 2010, an estimated 7,760 new cancers were diagnosed among the nearly 900,000 Americans known to be living with HIV infection. According to the first comprehensive study in the United States, approximately half of these cancers were in excess of what wo

Transcultural adaptation of the Breast Cancer Awareness Measure.

Science.gov (United States)

Al-Khasawneh, E M; Leocadio, M; Seshan, V; Siddiqui, S T; Khan, A N; Al-Manaseer, M M

2016-09-01

To overcome the lack of a validated and robust Arabic instrument to measure breast cancer awareness. Currently, there is no validated Arabic instrument for measuring breast cancer awareness levels. We adapted, translated and validated the Breast Cancer Awareness Measure developed by Cancer Research UK. The instrument was translated into Arabic and back-translated for validation. Validation and reliability tests were conducted using purposively sampled 972 Arab women older than 20 years, living in Oman. The adapted content was validated by a panel of medical, linguistic and cultural experts, followed by cognitive interviews (n = 10), behavioural coding (n = 30) and criterion validation (n = 646). The instrument was tested for acceptability and its subscales for internal consistency. Inter-rater reliability was estimated between two similar groups (n = 144 and n = 142) to test homogeneity. The adapted and translated instrument had a high acceptability (98.7% completed). The validation process shaped the adaptation, and resulted in strong criterion validity (R = 0.58, P Cancer Awareness Measure is a robust Arabic instrument for the measurement of breast cancer awareness and early detection practices among Arab women. The purposively selected sample may not be representative of the population. Improvement of awareness and early detection of breast cancer can contribute towards reducing mortality from the disease. The adapted instrument has policy implications, since measurement of awareness levels is essential towards breast health promotion policies in Arab countries. © 2016 International Council of Nurses.

A case-control study of association between genetic polymorphisms of metabolizing enzymes GSTM1 and lung cancer susceptibility for the people living in high radon-exposed area

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Qi Xuesong; Lu Huimin; Xia Ying; Shang Bing; Sun Quanfu; Cui Hongxing; Wang Liping

2009-01-01

A case-control study was performed with 53 lung cancer patients and 72 frequency-matched controls to assess the role of genetic polymorphisms of metabolizing enzymes Glutathione S-transferases M1(GSTM1) in risk of developing lung cancer for the people living in high radon-exposed area. The associations between genotypes and risk of developing lung cancer were estimated by odds ratios (ORs) and their 95% confidence intervals (CIs) calculated by unconditional logistic regression. The frequencies of GSTM1 positive polymorphism and null polymorphism were 38.9% and 64.1% respectively in lung cancer patients. The frequencies of GSTM1 positive polymorphism and null polymorphism were 43.1% and 56.9% respectively in controls. The risk of developing lung cancer for GSTM1 null polymorphism was 1.35-fold(95%CI 0.652-2.81). GSTM1 null polymorphism with effective dose <50 mSv could increase the risk of developing lung cancer (OR 1.14, 95%CI 0.198-6.60). The frequency of GSTM1 positive polymorphism of lung cancer patients was lower than that of the controls. Based on those data, the frequency of GSTM1 null polymorphism of lung cancer patients was higher than that of the controls. There was an association between genetic polymorphism of GSTM1 and lung cancer. But the differences were not all statistically significant. (authors)

Tumor budding is a strong and reproducible prognostic marker in T3N0 colorectal cancer.

LENUS (Irish Health Repository)

Wang, Lai Mun

2012-02-01

BACKGROUND: Tumor budding along the advancing front of colorectal adenocarcinoma is an early event in the metastatic process. A reproducible, prognostic budding scoring system based on outcomes in early stage colorectal cancer has not been established. DESIGN: One hundred twenty-eight T3N0M0 colorectal carcinoma patients with known outcome were identified. Tumor budding was defined as isolated tumor cells or clusters of <5 cells at the invasive tumor front. Tumor bud counts were generated in 5 regions at 200x by 2 pathologists (conventional bud count method). The median bud count per case was used to divide cases into low (median=0) and high budding (median > or =1) groups. Forty cases were reevaluated to assess reproducibility using the conventional and a novel rapid bud count method. RESULTS: Fifty-seven (45%) carcinomas had high and 71 (55%) had low budding scores. High budding was associated with an infiltrative growth pattern (P<0.0001) and lymphovascular invasion (P=0.005). Five-year cancer-specific survival was significantly poorer in high compared with low budding groups: 63% versus 91%, respectively, P<0.0001. Multivariate analysis demonstrated tumor budding to be independently prognostic (hazard ratio=4.76, P<0.001). Interobserver agreement was at least equivalent comparing the conventional to the rapid bud count methods: 87.5% agreement (kappa=0.75) versus 92.5% agreement (kappa=0.85), respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Tumor budding is a strong, reproducible, and independent prognostic marker of outcome that is easily assessed on hematoxylin and eosin slides. This may be useful for identifying the subset of T3N0M0 patients at high risk of recurrence who may benefit from adjuvant therapy.

The strong anti-glioblastoma capacity of the plasma-stimulated lysine-rich medium

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yan, Dayun; Keidar, Michael; Nourmohammadi, Niki; Talbot, Annie; Sherman, Jonathan H

2016-01-01

Plasma-stimulated medium (PSM) shows a remarkable anti-cancer capacity as strong as the direct cold atmospheric plasma (CAP) treatment of cancer cells. PSM is able to effectively resist the growth of several cancer cell lines. To date, the sole approach to strengthen the anti-cancer capacity of PSM is extending the plasma treatment time. In this study, we demonstrated that the anti-glioblastoma capacity of PSM could be significantly increased by adding 20 mM lysine in Dulbecco’s modified Eagle’s medium (DMEM). This study provides clear evidence that the anti-glioblastoma capacity of PSM could be noticeably enhanced by modifying the composition of medium without increasing the CAP treatment time. (paper)

Patient perspectives on breast cancer treatment side effects and the prospective surveillance model for physical rehabilitation for women with breast cancer.

Science.gov (United States)

Binkley, Jill M; Harris, Susan R; Levangie, Pamela K; Pearl, Marcia; Guglielmino, Janine; Kraus, Valerie; Rowden, Diana

2012-04-15

Women's experience of breast cancer is complex, affecting all aspects of life during and after treatment. Patients' perspectives about common impairments and functional limitations secondary to breast cancer treatment, including upper extremity motion restriction, lymphedema, fatigue, weight gain, pain, and chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy, are addressed. Women often report being uninformed regarding these side effects and surprised that they do not always disappear after treatment, but remain part of their lives. Breast cancer patients express strong, unmet needs for education, information, and intervention for these side effects. Evidence suggests that rehabilitation and exercise are effective in preventing and managing many physical side effects of breast cancer treatment. Nevertheless, few women are referred to rehabilitation during or after treatment, and fewer receive baseline assessments of impairment and function to facilitate early detection of impairment and functional limitations. The prospective surveillance model of rehabilitation will serve the needs of women with breast cancer by providing education and information about treatment side effects, reducing the incidence and burden of side effects through early identification and treatment, and enhancing access to timely rehabilitation. Integration of exercise as a component of the model benefits patients at every phase of survivorship, by addressing individual concerns about exercise during and after treatment and highlighting the important contribution of exercise to overall health and survival. The prospective surveillance model of rehabilitation can meet the evident and often expressed needs of survivors for information, guidance, and intervention--thus addressing, and potentially improving, overall quality of life for individuals diagnosed with and treated for breast cancer. Copyright © 2012 American Cancer Society.

Treatment of early-stage prostate cancer among rural and urban patients.

Science.gov (United States)

Baldwin, Laura-Mae; Andrilla, C Holly A; Porter, Michael P; Rosenblatt, Roger A; Patel, Shilpen; Doescher, Mark P

2013-08-15

Geographic barriers and limited availability of cancer specialists may influence early prostate cancer treatment options for rural men. This study compares receipt of different early prostate cancer treatments between rural and urban patients. Using 2004-2006 SEER Limited-Use Data, 51,982 early prostate cancer patients were identified (T1c, T2a, T2b, T2c, T2NOS; no metastases) who were most likely to benefit from definitive treatment (rural-urban residence overall, and for different sociodemographic and cancer characteristics, and different states based on logistic regression analyses, using general estimating equation methods to account for clustering by county. Adjusted definitive treatment rates were lower for rural (83.7%) than urban (87.1%) patients with early-stage prostate cancer (P ≤ .01). Rural men were more likely than urban men to receive non-definitive surgical treatment and no initial treatment. The lowest definitive treatment rates were among rural subgroups: 70 to 74 years (73.9%), African Americans (75.6%), American Indians/Alaska Natives (77.8%), single/separated/divorced (76.8%), living in New Mexico (69.3%), and living in counties with persistent poverty (79.6%). Between 2004 and 2006, this adjusted analysis found that men who were living in rural areas were less likely to receive definitive treatment for their early-stage prostate cancer than those living in urban areas. Certain rural patient groups with prostate cancer need particular attention to ensure their access to appropriate treatment. Rural providers, rural health care systems, and cancer advocacy and support organizations should ensure resources are in place so that the most vulnerable rural groups (men between 60 and 74 years of age; African American men; men who are single, separated, or divorced; and men living in rural New Mexico) can make informed prostate cancer treatment choices based on their preferences. Copyright © 2013 American Cancer Society.

Anonymous living liver donation: donor profiles and outcomes.

Science.gov (United States)

Reichman, T W; Fox, A; Adcock, L; Wright, L; Abbey, S E; Levy, G; Grant, D R

2010-09-01

There are no published series of the assessment process, profiles and outcomes of anonymous, directed or nondirected live liver donation. The outcomes of 29 consecutive potential anonymous liver donors at our center were assessed. We used our standard live liver assessment process, augmented with the following additional acceptance criteria: a logical rationale for donation, a history of social altruism, strong social supports and a willingness to maintain confidentiality of patient information. Seventeen potential donors were rejected and 12 donors were ultimately accepted (six male, six female). All donors were strongly motivated by a desire and sense of responsibility to help others. Four donations were directed toward recipients who undertook media appeals. The donor operations included five left lateral segmentectomies and seven right hepatectomies. The overall donor morbidity was 40% with one patient having a transient Clavien level 3 complication (a pneumothorax). All donors are currently well. None expressed regret about their decision to donate, and all volunteered the opinion that donation had improved their lives. The standard live liver donor assessment process plus our additional requirements appears to provide a robust assessment process for the selection of anonymous live liver donors. Acceptance of anonymous donors enlarges the donor liver pool. © 2010 The Authors Journal compilation © 2010 The American Society of Transplantation and the American Society of Transplant Surgeons.

Optical detection and virotherapy of live metastatic tumor cells in body fluids with vaccinia strains.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Huiqiang Wang

Full Text Available Metastatic tumor cells in body fluids are important targets for treatment, and critical surrogate markers for evaluating cancer prognosis and therapeutic response. Here we report, for the first time, that live metastatic tumor cells in blood samples from mice bearing human tumor xenografts and in blood and cerebrospinal fluid samples from patients with cancer were successfully detected using a tumor cell-specific recombinant vaccinia virus (VACV. In contrast to the FDA-approved CellSearch system, VACV detects circulating tumor cells (CTCs in a cancer biomarker-independent manner, thus, free of any bias related to the use of antibodies, and can be potentially a universal system for detection of live CTCs of any tumor type, not limited to CTCs of epithelial origin. Furthermore, we demonstrate for the first time that VACV was effective in preventing and reducing circulating tumor cells in mice bearing human tumor xenografts. Importantly, a single intra-peritoneal delivery of VACV resulted in a dramatic decline in the number of tumor cells in the ascitic fluid from a patient with gastric cancer. Taken together, these results suggest VACV to be a useful tool for quantitative detection of live tumor cells in liquid biopsies as well as a potentially effective treatment for reducing or eliminating live tumor cells in body fluids of patients with metastatic disease.

Thyroid cancer and multiple primary tumors in the SEER cancer registries

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Ronckers, Cécile M.; McCarron, Peter; Ron, Elaine

2005-01-01

Thyroid cancer incidence rates have increased steadily in the United States and elsewhere. Radiation exposure at a young age is a strong risk factor, but otherwise the etiology is unclear. To explore etiologic clues, we studied the risk of thyroid cancer after an earlier primary cancer, as well as

Who Lives Alone During Old Age? Trends in the Social and Functional Disadvantages of Sweden's Solitary Living Older Adults.

Science.gov (United States)

Shaw, Benjamin A; Fors, Stefan; Fritzell, Johan; Lennartsoon, Carin; Agahi, Neda

2017-01-01

This study identifies specific social and functional disadvantages associated with living alone during old age in Sweden and assesses whether these associations have changed during recent decades. Data came from repeated cross-sectional surveys of Swedish adults aged 77+ during 1992-2014. Findings indicate that several types of disadvantage are consistently associated with the probability of living alone including financial insecurity and having never married for women and having never married and mobility impairment for men. Also for older men, low education has become an increasing strong determinant of living alone. These findings suggest that older adults who live alone are a subgroup that is particularly, and in some cases increasingly, vulnerable with respect to social and functional status. This has important policy implications related to addressing the needs of this growing subgroup as well as methodological implications for studies on the health effects of living alone.

Burden and Chemoprevention of Skin Cancer

NARCIS (Netherlands)

L.M. Hollestein (Loes)

2013-01-01

markdownabstractThe incidence of skin cancer is increasing in the Netherlands since 1989, the first year of the Netherlands Cancer Registry (NCR). In 2010 more than 43,000 patients were newly diagnosed with skin cancer in the Netherlands. During a life time at least 1 in 5 persons living in

Systemic therapy of pancreatic cancer

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Andrezalova Vochyanova, I.; Salek, T.

2012-01-01

Pancreatic cancer is the fourth comment cause of cancer-related death in men. Most patients with pancreatic cancer are diagnosed at advanced, non-resectable stage. Late detection, early metastases, difficult surgical approached, cancer resistant to systemic chemo and radiotherapy - all contribute to its in faust prognosis. Only about 5 % of patients will live 5 years after diagnosis. Gemcitabine - based combination treatments is the standard for advanced pancreatic cancer. The combination of fluorouracil, folinic acid, irinotecan and oxaliplatin led to median survival of 11 months. No standard second-line treatment exists for pancreatic cancer. (author)

The Lived Experience of Iranian Women Confronting Breast Cancer Diagnosis

OpenAIRE

Esmat Mehrabi; Sepideh Hajian; Masoomeh Simbar; Mohammad Hoshyari; Farid Zayeri

2016-01-01

Introduction: The populations who survive from breast cancer are growing; nevertheless, they mostly encounter with many cancer related problems in their life, especially after early diagnosis and have to deal with these problems. Except for the disease entity, several socio-cultural factors may affect confronting this challenge among patients and the way they deal with. Present study was carried out to prepare clear understanding of Iranian women's...

Health-Related Information-Seeking Behaviors and Preferences Among Mexican Patients with Cancer.

Science.gov (United States)

Soto-Perez-de-Celis, Enrique; Perez-Montessoro, Viridiana; Rojo-Castillo, Patricia; Chavarri-Guerra, Yanin

2018-06-01

Understanding the preferred sources of health-related information among patients with cancer is essential for designing successful cancer education and prevention strategies. However, little is known about health-related information-seeking practices among patients living in low- and middle-income countries. We studied the preferred sources of health-related information among Mexican patients with cancer and explored which factors influence these choices. The health-related information-seeking practices among patients with cancer treated at a public hospital in Mexico City were evaluated using questions from the Spanish Version of the Health Information National Trends Survey. The characteristics of patients who sought health-related information, and of those who chose the internet as their preferred source of information, were analyzed. Fisher's exact test and logistic regression were used for statistical analyses. One hundred forty-eight patients answered the survey (median age 60 years, 70% female), of which 88 (59%) had sought for health-related information. On multivariate analysis, the only characteristic associated with lower odds of seeking health-related information was increasing age (OR 0.93, 95% CI 0.90-0.97). Sixty-one respondents (69%) listed the internet as their preferred source of health-related information. On multivariate analysis, only being of the female gender (OR 4.9, 95% CI 1.3-18.3) was related with higher odds of preferring other sources of information over the internet. Among Mexican patients with cancer, the Internet is the most widely used information source. Older age was the characteristic most strongly associated with not seeking health-related information, while being female was strongly associated with preferring other sources of information over the Internet.

The decision-making process for senior cancer patients: treatment allocation of older women with operable breast cancer in the UK

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Morgan, Jenna L.; Richards, Paul; Zaman, Osama; Ward, Sue; Collins, Karen; Robinson, Thompson; Cheung, Kwok-Leung; Audisio, Riccardo A.; Reed, Malcolm W.; Wyld, Lynda

2015-01-01

Up to 40% of women over 70 years with primary operable breast cancer in the UK are treated with primary endocrine therapy (PET) as an alternative to surgery. A variety of factors are important in determining treatment for older breast cancer patients. This study aimed to identify the patient and tumor factors associated with treatment allocation in this population. Prospectively collected data on treatment received (surgery vs. PET) were analysed with multivariable logistic regression using the variables age, modified Charlson Comorbidity Index (CCI), activities of daily living (ADL) score, Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) score, HER2 status, tumour size, grade and nodal status. Data were available for 1,122 cancers in 1,098 patients recruited between February 2013 and June 2015 from 51 UK hospitals. About 78% of the population were treated surgically, with the remainder being treated with PET. Increasing patient age at diagnosis, increasing CCI score, large tumor size (5 cm or more) and dependence in one or more ADL categories were all strongly associated with non-surgical treatment (P<0.05). Increasing comorbidity, large tumor size and reduced functional ability are associated with reduced likelihood of surgical treatment of breast cancer in older patients. However, age itself remains a significant factor for non-surgical treatment; reinforcing the need for evidence-based guidelines

Loneliness, loss, and social support among cognitively intact older people with cancer, living in nursing homes – a mixed-methods study

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Drageset J

2015-09-01

Full Text Available Jorunn Drageset,1,2 Geir Egil Eide,2,3 Elin Dysvik,4 Bodil Furnes,4 Solveig Hauge51Faculty of Health and Social Sciences, Bergen University College, Bergen, Norway; 2Department of Global Public Health and Primary Care, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway; 3Centre for Clinical Research, Haukeland University Hospital, Bergen, Norway; 4Department of Health Studies, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Stavanger, Stavanger, Norway; 5Faculty of Health and Social Studies and Centre for Caring Research – Southern Norway, Telemark University College, Porsgrunn, NorwayBackground: Loneliness is a significant psychosocial effect following a cancer diagnosis and may prevent people from engaging in social activities, thus creating difficulties in interpersonal relationships. This study investigated loneliness and social support among cognitively intact nursing home residents with cancer by using a quantitatively driven mixed-methods design with sequential supplementary qualitative components.Methods: The quantitative component consisted of face-to-face interviews of 60 nursing home residents (≥65 years using the one-item Loneliness Scale and the Social Provisions Scale. The supplementary psychosocial component consisted of qualitative research interviews about experiences related to loneliness with nine respondents.Results: The quantitative results indicated that reassurance of worth was associated with loneliness. The experience of loneliness was identified by the following: loneliness that was dominated by a feeling of inner pain, feeling of loss, and feeling small. Loneliness was alleviated by the following: being engaged in activities, being in contact with other people, and occupying oneself.Conclusion: Enhancing the lives of nursing home residents with cancer requires attending to the residents’ experience of loneliness and social relationships in a targeted and individualized manner. This might require screening all nursing home residents

Semiquantitative diagnosis of cancer using short-lived radionuclides

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Inoue, Tomio; Oriuchi, Noboru; Endo, Keigo [Gunma Univ., Maebashi (Japan). School of Medicine

1997-03-01

The accuracy and usefulness of semiquantitative diagnoses of SPECT using radiolabeled monoclonal antibodies in patients with colorectal cancer and PET using FDG in patients with recurrent lung cancer were investigated. The tumor to normal tissue count ratio (T/N ratio) was determined with SPECT and compared with the same index (T/N ratio) obtained by measuring radioactivity in tumor and normal tissue of the resected specimens. Significant correlation between SPECT T/N ratios and tissue T/N ratio was observed (r=0.92, p<0.001, n=8). In PET study, standardized uptake value (SUV) was obtained with PET images and assessed the difference in SUV between recurrent tumors and noncancerous lesions. The relationship between the SUV threshold and diagnostic accuracy in differentiating recurrent tumors from post-treatment changes was also assessed. The maximum SUV in recurrent tumor ranged from 3.0 to 25.8 with a mean {+-} s.d. of 11.2 {+-} 5.7 (n=16) and in the noncancerous lesion ranged from 2.0 to 7.5 with a mean {+-} s.d. of 3.5 {+-} 1.8 (n=9). The SUV was significantly higher in the recurrent cancer (P<0.0001). A threshold SUV of 5.0 provided optimal diagnostic accuracy (sensitivity 93.8%, specificity 88.9%, accuracy 92.0%). It was superior to visual interpretation of FDG PET (sensitivity 100%, specificity 55.6%, accuracy 84%). In conclusion, semiquantitative diagnoses with SPECT using radiolabeled monoclonal antibody and PET using FDG were accurate and useful in detecting malignant tumors. (author)

Induction of Immunogenic Cell Death with Non-Thermal Plasma for Cancer Immunotherapy

Science.gov (United States)

Lin, Abraham G.

treatment, ROS immediately increased. When chemical attenuators of ROS were used, intracellular ROS was abrogated and emission of ICD markers were attenuated. This strongly suggests that plasma-induced ICD is associated with increased intracellular ROS. The gold-standard approach to evaluating whether a stimulus can elicit genuine ICD relies on a vaccination assay. CT26 colorectal cancer cells were treated at ICD-inducing regimes of plasma and injected into syngeneic Balb/c mice. One week later, mice were challenged with live CT26 cancer cells. Tumor progression was moderated in animals immunized with plasma-treated CT26 cells. Altogether, these provide strong evidence that plasma regimes can be adapted for a new application: ICD induction. Next, a study was conducted to test the potential of plasma to induce ICD in tumors in animals. Plasma treatment of subcutaneous tumors in mice elicited the emission of ecto-CRT and high mobility group box 1 (HMGB1), another marker of ICD, in the tumor and also recruited CD11c+ and CD45+ immune cells locally. This was followed by development of cancer-specific splenic T cells, indicating that a systemic anti-tumor response was elicited from localized plasma treatment of the tumor. Overall, this work demonstrates the development of non-thermal plasma as a novel method of inducing immunogenic cell death for cancer immunotherapy. The obtained results further our understanding of plasma-cellular interaction mechanisms and highlight the potential for clinical translation.

Stratification of TAD boundaries reveals preferential insulation of super-enhancers by strong boundaries.

Science.gov (United States)

Gong, Yixiao; Lazaris, Charalampos; Sakellaropoulos, Theodore; Lozano, Aurelie; Kambadur, Prabhanjan; Ntziachristos, Panagiotis; Aifantis, Iannis; Tsirigos, Aristotelis

2018-02-07

The metazoan genome is compartmentalized in areas of highly interacting chromatin known as topologically associating domains (TADs). TADs are demarcated by boundaries mostly conserved across cell types and even across species. However, a genome-wide characterization of TAD boundary strength in mammals is still lacking. In this study, we first use fused two-dimensional lasso as a machine learning method to improve Hi-C contact matrix reproducibility, and, subsequently, we categorize TAD boundaries based on their insulation score. We demonstrate that higher TAD boundary insulation scores are associated with elevated CTCF levels and that they may differ across cell types. Intriguingly, we observe that super-enhancers are preferentially insulated by strong boundaries. Furthermore, we demonstrate that strong TAD boundaries and super-enhancer elements are frequently co-duplicated in cancer patients. Taken together, our findings suggest that super-enhancers insulated by strong TAD boundaries may be exploited, as a functional unit, by cancer cells to promote oncogenesis.

Strongly enhanced colorectal cancer risk stratification by combining family history and genetic risk score

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Weigl K

2018-01-01

Full Text Available Korbinian Weigl,1,2 Jenny Chang-Claude,3,4 Phillip Knebel,5 Li Hsu,6 Michael Hoffmeister,1 Hermann Brenner1,2,7 1Division of Clinical Epidemiology and Aging Research, German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ, Heidelberg, 2German Cancer Consortium (DKTK, German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ, Heidelberg, 3Unit of Genetic Epidemiology, German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ, Heidelberg, 4University Cancer Center Hamburg, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, 5Department for General, Visceral and Transplantation Surgery, University Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany; 6Public Health Sciences Division, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle, WA, USA; 7Division of Preventive Oncology, German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ and National Center for Tumor Diseases (NCT, Heidelberg, Germany Background and aim: Family history (FH and genetic risk scores (GRSs are increasingly used for risk stratification for colorectal cancer (CRC screening. However, they were mostly considered alternatively rather than jointly. The aim of this study was to assess the potential of individual and joint risk stratification for CRC by FH and GRS.Patients and methods: A GRS was built based on the number of risk alleles in 53 previously identified single-nucleotide polymorphisms among 2,363 patients with a first diagnosis of CRC and 2,198 controls in DACHS [colorectal cancer: chances for prevention through screening], a population-based case-control study in Germany. Associations between GRS and FH with CRC risk were quantified by multiple logistic regression.Results: A total of 316 cases (13.4% and 214 controls (9.7% had a first-degree relative (FDR with CRC (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] 1.86, 95% CI 1.52–2.29. A GRS in the highest decile was associated with a 3.0-fold increased risk of CRC (aOR 3.00, 95% CI 2.24–4.02 compared with the lowest decile. This association was tentatively more pronounced in older age groups. FH and GRS were essentially unrelated, and their

Cancer-associated lysosomal changes

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kallunki, T; Olsen, O D; Jaattela, Marja

2013-01-01

Rapidly dividing and invasive cancer cells are strongly dependent on effective lysosomal function. Accordingly, transformation and cancer progression are characterized by dramatic changes in lysosomal volume, composition and cellular distribution. Depending on one's point of view, the cancer-asso......:10.1038/onc.2012.292....

Internet-based technologies to improve cancer care coordination: current use and attitudes among cancer patients.

Science.gov (United States)

Girault, Anne; Ferrua, Marie; Lalloué, Benoît; Sicotte, Claude; Fourcade, Aude; Yatim, Fatima; Hébert, Guillaume; Di Palma, Mario; Minvielle, Etienne

2015-03-01

The uses of internet-based technologies (e.g. patient portals, websites and applications) by cancer patients could be strong drive for change in cancer care coordination practices. The goal of this study was to assess the current utilisation of internet-based technologies (IBT) among cancer patients, and their willingness to use them for their health, as well as analyse the influence of socio-demographics on both aspects. A questionnaire-based survey was conducted in June 2013, over seven non-consecutive days within seven outpatient departments of Gustave Roussy, a comprehensive cancer centre (≈160,000 consultations yearly), located just outside Paris. We computed descriptive statistics and performed correlation analysis to investigate patients' usage and attitudes in correspondence with age, gender, socioeconomic status, social isolation, and place of living. We then conducted multinomial logistic regressions using R. The participation level was 85% (n=1371). The median age was 53.4. 71% used a mobile phone everyday and 93% had access to Internet from home. Age and socioeconomic status were negatively associated with the use of IBT (p<0.001). Regarding patients' expected benefits, a wide majority valued its use in health care, and especially, the possibility to enhance communication with providers. 84% of patients reported feeling comfortable with the use of such technologies but age and socioeconomic status had a significant influence. Most patients used IBTs every day. Overall, patients advocated for an extended use of IBT in oncology. Differences in perceived ease of use corresponding to age and socioeconomic status have to be addressed. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Endothelial dysfunction in rectal cancer patients chronically exposed to ionizing radiation

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Rakhypbekov, Tolebay; Pak, Laura; Chaizhunusova, Nailya; Manambayeva, Zukhra; Tokanova, Sholpan; Madiyeva, Madina [Semey State Medical University, Semey (Kazakhstan); Inoue, Ken [Kochi University, Health Service Center, Kochi (Japan); Kawano, Noriyuki; Hoshi, Masaharu [Hiroshima University, Hiroshima (Japan); Takeichi, Nobuo [Takeichi Clinic, Hiroshima (Japan); Noso, Yoshihiro [Shimane University, Department of General Surgery, Faculty of Medicine, Shimane (Japan); Khozhayev, Arman; Molgazhdarov, Maulen [The Kazakh National Medical University of S.D.Asfendiyarov, Department of Oncology, Almaty (Kazakhstan); Olzhaev, Sayakhat [Almaty Regional Oncologic Hospital, Department of Oncology, Almaty (Kazakhstan)

2017-08-15

We sought to identify the features of endothelial function in rectal cancer patients who were exposed to chronic ionizing radiation from a nuclear test site in Kazakhstan. We examined 146 individuals, 76 of whom were rectal cancer patients. The existence of a complex of disturbances of the endothelium and hemostasis systems in patients vs non-patients was revealed. Endothelial dysfunction was expressed as an increase of nitric oxide (NO) production along with decreases in vasodilatation function, and increased levels of von Willebrand factor in blood, along with an increase in the number of circulating endotheliocytes. Significant correlations between indicators of endothelial function and vascular-platelet hemostasis were observed. These changes and their interrelations were expressed more strongly in the patients who lived in the contaminated area around the nuclear test site. Such patients could have an increased risk of thrombosis and other complications after the treatment of a malignant neoplasm. (orig.)

Immunotherapy Expands Lung Cancer Treatment Options

Science.gov (United States)

Results from a large clinical trial show combining the immune checkpoint inhibitor pembrolizumab (Keytruda) with chemotherapy helped some patients with advanced cancer live longer. As this Cancer Currents post explains, the results will immediately affect patient care.

Cancer, Stress, and Ironies of Cancer Understanding in South Korea.

Science.gov (United States)

Nelson, Laura C

2017-01-01

Cancer incidence has been rising in South Korea, coincident with industrialization and with increased longevity. This has opened the way to a presentation of cancer as a symptom of prosperity and social advancement. Cancer care for older South Koreans is marketed widely as a way of giving back to the older generation, and is often portrayed as an opportunity to mobilize technological achievement alongside family care work to honor aging parents. Because breast cancer tends to affect a younger cohort, however, breast cancer patients seek more specific explanations for their illness in order to prevent recurrence. Many breast cancer patients identify 'stress' as the cause of their cancer, reflecting endemic stress in the lives of ordinary South Korean women. While this implies a critique of society and, specifically, of gender constructs, the emphasis on interpersonal 'stress' situates cancer causality in family relationships rather than in social, political, or environmental contexts. Cancer management and stress explanations together mute inquiry into causality.

Cancer world

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Koch, E.R.

1981-01-01

The author attempts to point out the relationships between various factors of our environment favouring disease (profession, chemicals, air pollution, nuclear power plants, ultra-violet rays etc.) respectively our ways of living (nutrition, drink, smoking), and the incidence and frequence of cancer. In his opinion, cancer is the toll man has to pay for industrialization and the destruction of the environment, and cancer therapy must begin long before the patient's treatment by changing that same einvironment. The different carcinogenous factors are discussed in detail and each chapter concludes with recommendations to those concerned and request for legislation. (MG) [de

Quo natas, Danio?—Recent Progress in Modeling Cancer in Zebrafish

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Stefanie Kirchberger

2017-08-01

Full Text Available Over the last decade, zebrafish has proven to be a powerful model in cancer research. Zebrafish form tumors that histologically and genetically resemble human cancers. The live imaging and cost-effective compound screening possible with zebrafish especially complement classic mouse cancer models. Here, we report recent progress in the field, including genetically engineered zebrafish cancer models, xenotransplantation of human cancer cells into zebrafish, promising approaches toward live investigation of the tumor microenvironment, and identification of therapeutic strategies by performing compound screens on zebrafish cancer models. Given the recent advances in genome editing, personalized zebrafish cancer models are now a realistic possibility. In addition, ongoing automation will soon allow high-throughput compound screening using zebrafish cancer models to be part of preclinical precision medicine approaches.

Effect of strong coupling on interfacial electron transfer dynamics in ...

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

Unknown

regarded as the best sensitizing dyes for solar energy conversion for their strong visible absorption bands, long-lived ... solar cells based on dye-sensitized nanocrystalline. TiO2. High affinity for the TiO2 surface, which is ... pump pulses at 400 nm, one part of 800 nm with. 200 µJ/pulse, is frequency doubled in BBO crystals.

Internal migration and household living conditions in Ethiopia

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Blessing Uchenna Mberu

2006-06-01

Full Text Available Using the 1998 Migration, Gender and Health Survey in Five Regions of Ethiopia, and multivariate regression techniques, this paper examines the relationship between internal migration and household living conditions. The analysis finds significant living condition advantage of permanent and temporary migrants over non-migrants. These advantages are primarily linked to migration selectivity by education and non-agricultural income. Once the independent effects of these variables are controlled, no statistical significant independent association exists between migration status and living conditions. Government policies of resettlement in the 1980s and ethnic federalism of the 1990s may have engendered stress migration and exacerbated poor living outcomes for return migrants. The resort to migration and/or resettlement as an individual or government policy response to periodic unfavorable conditions in places of origin is not strongly supported by this analysis as the key to improved living conditions. Promoting higher education and opportunities for employment outside the agricultural sector are more likely to yield improved living conditions in Ethiopia.

Cancer resistance as an acquired and inheritable trait

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Koch, Janne; Hau, Jann; Jensen, Henrik Elvang

2014-01-01

AIM: To induce cancer resistance in wild-type mice and detect if the resistance could be inherited to the progeny of the induced resistant mice. Furthermore to investigate the spectrum and immunology of this inherited cancer resistance. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Resistance to with live S180 cancer c...... of the resistance is unknown but may involve epigenetic mechanisms. Other examples of inheritability of acquired phenotypic changes exist but, to our knowledge, this is the first demonstration of acquired, inherited cancer resistance.......AIM: To induce cancer resistance in wild-type mice and detect if the resistance could be inherited to the progeny of the induced resistant mice. Furthermore to investigate the spectrum and immunology of this inherited cancer resistance. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Resistance to with live S180 cancer...... cells in BALB/c mice was induced by immunization with inactivated S180 cancer cells. The immunization was performed by either frozen/thawed or irradiated cancer cells or cell-free ascitic fluid (CFAF). RESULTS: In all instances the induced resistance was demonstrated to be inheritable. The phenotype...

Comparative oncology: what dogs and other species can teach us about humans with cancer

Science.gov (United States)

Schiffman, Joshua D.; Breen, Matthew

2015-01-01

Over 1.66 million humans (approx. 500/100 000 population rate) and over 4.2 million dogs (approx. 5300/100 000 population rate) are diagnosed with cancer annually in the USA. The interdisciplinary field of comparative oncology offers a unique and strong opportunity to learn more about universal cancer risk and development through epidemiology, genetic and genomic investigations. Working across species, researchers from human and veterinary medicine can combine scientific findings to understand more quickly the origins of cancer and translate these findings to novel therapies to benefit both human and animals. This review begins with the genetic origins of canines and their advantage in cancer research. We next focus on recent findings in comparative oncology related to inherited, or genetic, risk for tumour development. We then detail the somatic, or genomic, changes within tumours and the similarities between species. The shared cancers between humans and dogs that we discuss include sarcoma (osteosarcoma, soft tissue sarcoma, histiocytic sarcoma, hemangiosarcoma), haematological malignancies (lymphoma, leukaemia), bladder cancer, intracranial neoplasms (meningioma, glioma) and melanoma. Tumour risk in other animal species is also briefly discussed. As the field of genomics advances, we predict that comparative oncology will continue to benefit both humans and the animals that live among us. PMID:26056372

The Conversations About Cancer (CAC) project: assessing feasibility and audience impacts from viewing The Cancer Play.

Science.gov (United States)

Beach, Wayne A; Buller, Mary K; Dozier, David M; Buller, David B; Gutzmer, Kyle

2014-01-01

Basic communication research has identified a major social problem: communicating about cancer from diagnosis through death of a loved one. Over the past decade, an award-winning investigation into how family members talk through cancer on the telephone, based on a corpus of 61 phone calls over a period of 13 months, has been transformed into a theatrical production entitled The Cancer Play. All dialogue in the play is drawn from naturally occurring (transcribed) interactions between family members as they navigate their way through the trials, tribulations, hopes, and triumphs of a cancer journey. This dramatic performance explicitly acknowledges the power of the arts as an exceptional learning tool for extending empirical research, exploring ordinary family life, and exposing the often taken-for-granted conceptions of health and illness. In this study, a Phase I STTR project funded by the National Cancer Institute (NCI), we assess the feasibility of educating and impacting cancer patients, family members, and medical professionals who viewed the play as a live performance and through DVD screenings. Pre- and postperformance questionnaires were administered to solicit audience feedback. Pre-post change scores demonstrate overwhelming and positive impacts for changing opinions about the perceived importance, and attributed significance, of family communication in the midst of cancer. Paired-sample t-tests were conducted on five factor-analyzed indices/indicators-two indices of opinions about cancer and family communication, two indices measuring the importance of key communication activities, and the self-efficacy indicator-and all factors improved significantly (<.001). Informal talkback sessions were also held following the viewings, and selected audience members participated in focus groups. Talkback and focus-group sessions generated equally strong, support responses. Implications of the Phase I study are being applied in Phase II, a currently funded effort to

A hypothesis to explain childhood cancers near nuclear power plants

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fairlie, Ian

2014-01-01

Over 60 epidemiological studies world-wide have examined cancer incidences in children near nuclear power plants (NPPs): most of them indicate leukemia increases. These include the 2008 KiKK study commissioned by the German Government which found relative risks (RR) of 1.6 in total cancers and 2.2 in leukemias among infants living within 5 km of all German NPPs. The KiKK study has retriggered the debate as to the cause(s) of these increased cancers. A suggested hypothesis is that the increased cancers arise from radiation exposures to pregnant women near NPPs. However any theory has to account for the >10,000 fold discrepancy between official dose estimates from NPP emissions and observed increased risks. An explanation may be that doses from spikes in NPP radionuclide emissions are significantly larger than those estimated by official models which are diluted through the use of annual averages. In addition, risks to embryos/fetuses are greater than those to adults and haematopoietic tissues appear more radiosensitive in embryos/fetuses than in newborn babies. The product of possible increased doses and possible increased risks per dose may provide an explanation. - Highlights: • Over 60 studies worldwide on increased cancers near nuclear power plants (NPPs). • German government KiKK study provides very strong evidence. • Hypothesis proposes cancers arise in pregnant women near NPPs. • Nuclide spikes during refuelling could result in increased exposures. • Explanation offered for discrepancy between small dose estimates and large risks

Douglas Lowy and Nirali Shah discuss advancements in cancer treatment at the second annual Chasing Cancer Summit | Center for Cancer Research

Science.gov (United States)

On Monday, September 18, 2017, the second annual Chasing Cancer Summit was held at the Washington Post headquarters in downtown Washington, D.C. The live event brought together a group of experts, including CCR’s Douglas Lowy, M.D., and Nirali Shah, M.D., for discussions on the latest developments in cancer detection and treatment.  Read more...

Medicaid expansion and access to care among cancer survivors: a baseline overview.

Science.gov (United States)

Tarazi, Wafa W; Bradley, Cathy J; Harless, David W; Bear, Harry D; Sabik, Lindsay M

2016-06-01

Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act facilitates access to care among vulnerable populations, but 21 states have not yet expanded the program. Medicaid expansions may provide increased access to care for cancer survivors, a growing population with chronic conditions. We compare access to health care services among cancer survivors living in non-expansion states to those living in expansion states, prior to Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act. We use the 2012 and 2013 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System to estimate multiple logistic regression models to compare inability to see a doctor because of cost, having a personal doctor, and receiving an annual checkup in the past year between cancer survivors who lived in non-expansion states and survivors who lived in expansion states. Cancer survivors in non-expansion states had statistically significantly lower odds of having a personal doctor (adjusted odds ratio [AOR] 0.76, 95 % confidence interval [CI] 0.63-0.92, p Medicaid could potentially leave many cancer survivors with limited access to routine care. Existing disparities in access to care are likely to widen between cancer survivors in Medicaid non-expansion and expansion states.

High resolution MRI of the breast at 3 T: which BI-RADS {sup registered} descriptors are most strongly associated with the diagnosis of breast cancer?

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Pinker-Domenig, K.; Helbich, T.H. [Medical University Vienna, Dept. of Radiology, Division of Molecular and Gender Imaging, Vienna (Austria); Bogner, W.; Gruber, S. [Medical University Vienna, Dept. of Radiology, MR Centre of Excellence, Vienna (Austria); Medical University Vienna, Dept. of Radiology, Vienna (Austria); Bickel, H. [Medical University Vienna, Dept. of Radiology, Division of Molecular and Gender Imaging, Vienna (Austria); Medical University Vienna, Dept. of Radiology, Vienna (Austria); Duffy, S. [Queen Mary University of London, Cancer Research UK Centre for Epidemiology, Mathematics and Statistics, Wolfson Institute of Preventive Medicine, Barts and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry, London (United Kingdom); Schernthaner, M. [Medical University Vienna, Dept. of Radiology, Vienna (Austria); Dubsky, P. [Medical University Vienna, Dept. of Surgery, Vienna (Austria); Pluschnig, U. [Medical University Vienna, Dept. of Internal Medicine, Division of Oncology, Vienna (Austria); Rudas, M. [Medical University Vienna, Clinical Institute of Pathology, Vienna (Austria); Trattnig, S. [Medical University Vienna, Dept. of Radiology, MR Centre of Excellence, Vienna (Austria)

2012-02-15

To identify which breast lesion descriptors in the ACR BI-RADS registered MRI lexicon are most strongly associated with the diagnosis of breast cancer when performing breast MR imaging at 3 T. 150 patients underwent breast MR imaging at 3 T. Lesion size, morphology and enhancement kinetics were assessed according to the BI-RADS {sup registered} classification. Sensitivity, specificity and diagnostic accuracy were assessed. The effects of the BI-RADS {sup registered} descriptors on sensitivity and specificity were evaluated. Data were analysed using logistic regression. Histopathological diagnoses were used as the standard of reference. The sensitivity, specificity and diagnostic accuracy of breast MRI at 3 T was 99%, 81% and 93%, respectively. In univariate analysis, the final diagnosis of malignancy was positively associated with irregular shape (p < 0.001), irregular margin (p < 0.001), heterogeneous enhancement (p < 0.001), Type 3 enhancement kinetics (p = 0.02), increasing patient age (p = 0.02) and larger lesion size (p < 0.001). In multivariate analysis, significant associations with malignancy remained for mass shape (p = 0.06), mass margin (p < 0.001), internal enhancement pattern (p = 0.03) and Type 3 enhancement kinetics (p = 0.06). The ACR BI-RADS {sup registered} breast lesion descriptors that are mostly strongly associated with breast cancer in breast MR imaging at 3 T are lesion shape, lesion margin, internal enhancement pattern and Type 3 enhancement kinetics. (orig.)

75 FR 54451 - National Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month, 2010

Science.gov (United States)

2010-09-07

... National Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month, 2010 By the President of the United States of America A... claim more lives than any other gynecologic cancer. During National Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month, we... and other cancers. Across the Federal Government, we are working to promote awareness of ovarian...

Applying a Living Lab methodology to support innovation in education at a university in South Africa

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ronel Callaghan

2015-07-01

Full Text Available The Living Lab paradigm creates open and inter-disciplinary environments where participants can interrogate challenges and co-create solutions. A successful Living Lab context incorporates a clear focus/vision, strong leadership, self-sustainability, a strong sense of community-owned challenges and the potential for sustainable community development. This paper discusses and outlines the elements of Living Labs, and how these have played a role in the establishment of a new Education Living Lab at a University in South Africa. Core values, stakeholders and key success factors of Living Labs are discussed. This is followed by the description of a case study of the establishment process of a Living Lab. The newly established Living Lab already shows success with collaborations and innovation between communities, industry, academia, learners and schools. This is illustrated in an application of the discussions on the Mobile Learning focus area - the first active sub-focus area within the Education Living Lab.

Environmental cadmium and breast cancer risk

OpenAIRE

Gallagher, Carolyn M.; Chen, John J.; Kovach, John S.

2010-01-01

Breast cancer is the most prevalent women's cancer, with an age-adjusted incidence of 122.9 per 100,000 US women. Cadmium, a ubiquitous carcinogenic pollutant with multiple biological effects, has been reported to be associated with breast cancer in one US regional case-control study. We examined the association of breast cancer with urinary cadmium (UCd), in a case-control sample of women living on Long Island (LI), NY (100 with breast cancer and 98 without), a region with an especially high...

Determinants of stage at diagnosis of breast cancer in Nigerian women: sociodemographic, breast cancer awareness, health care access and clinical factors.

Science.gov (United States)

Jedy-Agba, Elima; McCormack, Valerie; Olaomi, Oluwole; Badejo, Wunmi; Yilkudi, Monday; Yawe, Terna; Ezeome, Emmanuel; Salu, Iliya; Miner, Elijah; Anosike, Ikechukwu; Adebamowo, Sally N; Achusi, Benjamin; Dos-Santos-Silva, Isabel; Adebamowo, Clement

2017-07-01

Advanced stage at diagnosis is a common feature of breast cancer in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), contributing to poor survival rates. Understanding its determinants is key to preventing deaths from this cancer in SSA. Within the Nigerian Integrative Epidemiology of Breast Cancer Study, a multicentred case-control study on breast cancer, we studied factors affecting stage at diagnosis of cases, i.e. women diagnosed with histologically confirmed invasive breast cancer between January 2014 and July 2016 at six secondary and tertiary hospitals in Nigeria. Stage was assessed using clinical and imaging methods. Ordinal logistic regression was used to examine associations of sociodemographic, breast cancer awareness, health care access and clinical factors with odds of later stage (I, II, III or IV) at diagnosis. A total of 316 women were included, with a mean age (SD) of 45.4 (11.4) years. Of these, 94.9% had stage information: 5 (1.7%), 92 (30.7%), 157 (52.4%) and 46 (15.3%) were diagnosed at stages I, II, III and IV, respectively. In multivariate analyses, lower educational level (odds ratio (OR) 2.35, 95% confidence interval: 1.04, 5.29), not believing in a cure for breast cancer (1.81: 1.09, 3.01), and living in a rural area (2.18: 1.05, 4.51) were strongly associated with later stage, whilst age at diagnosis, tumour grade and oestrogen receptor status were not. Being Muslim (vs. Christian) was associated with lower odds of later stage disease (0.46: 0.22, 0.94). Our findings suggest that factors that are amenable to intervention concerning breast cancer awareness and health care access, rather than intrinsic tumour characteristics, are the strongest determinants of stage at diagnosis in Nigerian women.

Living arrangements and mental health in Finland

Science.gov (United States)

Joutsenniemi, Kaisla; Martelin, Tuija; Martikainen, Pekka; Pirkola, Sami; Koskinen, Seppo

2006-01-01

Background Non‐married persons are known to have poor mental health compared with married persons. Health differences between marital status groups may largely arise from corresponding differences in interpersonal social bonds. However, official marital status mirrors the social reality of persons to a decreasing extent, and living arrangements may be a better measure of social bonds. Little is known about mental health in different living arrangement groups. This study aims to establish the extent and determinants of mental health differences by living arrangement in terms of psychological distress (GHQ) and DSM‐IV psychiatric disorders (CIDI). Methods Data were used from the nationally representative cross sectional health 2000 survey, conducted in 2000–1 in Finland. Altogether 4685 participants (80%) aged 30–64 years were included in these analyses; comprehensive information was available on measures of mental health and living arrangements. Living arrangements were measured as follows: married, cohabiting, living with other(s) than a partner, and living alone. Results Compared with the married, persons living alone and those living with other(s) than a partner were approximately twice as likely to have anxiety or depressive disorders. Cohabiters did not differ from the married. In men, psychological distress was similarly associated with living arrangements. Unemployment, lack of social support, and alcohol consumption attenuated the excess psychological distress and psychiatric morbidity of persons living alone and of those living with other(s) than a partner by about 10%–50% each. Conclusions Living arrangements are strongly associated with mental health, particularly among men. Information on living arrangements, social support, unemployment, and alcohol use may facilitate early stage recognition of poor mental health in primary health care. PMID:16698975

Tocopherols in cancer: An update.

Science.gov (United States)

Das Gupta, Soumyasri; Suh, Nanjoo

2016-06-01

Tocopherols exist in four forms designated as α, β, δ, and γ. Due to their strong antioxidant properties, tocopherols have been suggested to reduce the risk of cancer. Cancer prevention studies with tocopherols have mostly utilized α-tocopherol. Large-scale clinical trials with α-tocopherol provided inconsistent results regarding the cancer-preventive activities of tocopherols. This review summarizes our current understanding of the anticancer activities of different forms of tocopherols based on follow-up of the clinical trials, recent epidemiological evidences, and experimental studies using in vitro and in vivo models. The experimental data provide strong evidence in support of the anticancer activities of δ-tocopherol, γ-tocopherol, and the natural tocopherol mixture rich in γ-tocopherol, γ-TmT, over α-tocopherol. Such outcomes emphasize the need for detailed investigation into the cancer-preventive activities of different forms of tocopherols to provide a strong rationale for intervention studies in the future. © 2016 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Cancer-associated lysosomal changes: friends or foes?

Science.gov (United States)

Kallunki, T; Olsen, O D; Jäättelä, M

2013-04-18

Rapidly dividing and invasive cancer cells are strongly dependent on effective lysosomal function. Accordingly, transformation and cancer progression are characterized by dramatic changes in lysosomal volume, composition and cellular distribution. Depending on one's point of view, the cancer-associated changes in the lysosomal compartment can be regarded as friends or foes. Most of them are clearly transforming as they promote invasive growth, angiogenesis and drug resistance. The same changes can, however, strongly sensitize cells to lysosomal membrane permeabilization and thereby to lysosome-targeting anti-cancer drugs. In this review we compile our current knowledge on cancer-associated changes in lysosomal composition and discuss the consequences of these alterations to cancer progression and the possibilities they can bring to cancer therapy.

January is Cervical Cancer Awareness Month

Science.gov (United States)

The Center for Global Health supports global activities to advance global cancer research, build expertise, and leverage resources across nations to address the challenges of cancer and reduce cancer deaths worldwide. Towards these aims, NCI has partnered with Pink Ribbon Red Ribbon, a global organization founded on public-private partnerships dedicated to saving women’s lives by advancing prevention, screening, and treatment for breast and cervical cancer in sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America.

Inquiries of discomfort: Cancer experiences in young adulthood

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hølge-Hazelton, Bibi

2011-01-01

of research regarding young adults with cancer. They stress the need for more specific research, clinically and politically appropriate services to this group of cancer patients. Thanks to technology, young people living with cancer, now have an opportunity to actively participate in providing information......Abstract Young adults with cancer are regarded as an emerging field for research. Because of the particular life phase they are in they are particularly vulnerable, as they are often both marginalised and individualised and their experiences are seldom described due to their small numbers. By using...... an on-line free association narrative inquiry and an experimental writing format, the purpose of this paper is to explore the subjective perspective of what it means to be a young adult living with cancer, and to discuss whether this approach contributes something new to the emerging field. Seven...

Colorectal Cancer - What You Need to Know

Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Podcasts

This podcast is based on the July, 2011 CDC Vital Signs report. Colorectal cancer kills about 50,000 men and women every year. Screening can save lives! Screening can find abnormal growths so they can be removed before turning into cancer, and can find the cancer early, when it's easiest to treat. If you're over 50, talk to your doctor about getting screened for colorectal cancer.

Interconnection: A qualitative analysis of adjusting to living with renal cell carcinoma.

Science.gov (United States)

Leal, Isabel; Milbury, Kathrin; Engebretson, Joan; Matin, Surena; Jonasch, Eric; Tannir, Nizar; Wood, Christopher G; Cohen, Lorenzo

2018-04-01

ABSTRACTObjective:Adjusting to cancer is an ongoing process, yet few studies explore this adjustment from a qualitative perspective. The aim of our qualitative study was to understand how patients construct their experience of adjusting to living with cancer. Qualitative analysis was conducted of written narratives collected from four separate writing sessions as part of a larger expressive writing clinical trial with renal cell carcinoma patients. Thematic analysis and constant comparison were employed to code the primary patterns in the data into themes until thematic saturation was reached at 37 participants. A social constructivist perspective informed data interpretation. Interconnection described the overarching theme underlying the process of adjusting to cancer and involved four interrelated themes: (1) discontinuity-feelings of disconnection and loss following diagnosis; (2) reorientation-to the reality of cancer psychologically and physically; (3) rebuilding-struggling through existential distress to reconnect; and (4) expansion-finding meaning in interconnections with others. Participants related a dialectical movement in which disruption and loss catalyzed an ongoing process of finding meaning. Our findings suggest that adjusting to living with cancer is an ongoing, iterative, nonlinear process. The dynamic interactions between the different themes in this process describe the transformation of meaning as participants move through and revisit prior themes in response to fluctuating symptoms and medical news. It is important that clinicians recognize the dynamic and ongoing process of adjusting to cancer to support patients in addressing their unmet psychosocial needs throughout the changing illness trajectory.

Effect of demographic factors on brachytherapy treatment results in patients with endometrial cancer 1995-2010.

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Jurczyk, Mieczysława U; Chmaj-Wierzchowska, Karolina; Klofik, Joanna; Sajdak, Stefan; Opala, Tomasz

2013-01-01

Approximately 1 in 20 female cancers in Europe is of the endometrium. Endometrial carcinoma is the most common gynaecologic cancer. Considering the fact that an upward tendency has recently been observed in morbidity due to this type of cancer, this is a serious medical problem. The presented report describes the results of the analysis of selected demographic factors and their effect on the incidence of endometrial cancer. Analysis of the results of treatment of endometrial cancer during 1995-2010 was also an objective of the study. Based on medical records obtained from the HDR Laboratory of Brachytherapy at the Gynaecological & Obstetrics Clinical Hospital, University of Medical Sciences in Poznań, the results of treatment of patients with endometrial cancer by brachytherapy were analyzed. The analysis covered a group of 400 patients. More than a half of the patients completed their education on the level of elementary or secondary school. Taking into consideration the weight of the patients, it appeared that most women had excessive body weight. Most frequently, concomitant hypertension was observed. Moreover, the age at menarche was 12 and 13. Demographic factors exert a significant effect on the incidence of endometrial cancer. 1. Overweight and obesity are important risk factors of endometrial cancer. 2. A strong relationship is observed between the occurrence of hypertension or diabetes, and the development of endometrial cancer. 3. Women who come from the rural environment and continue to live in this environment are more likely to contract endometrial cancer.

Who are the cancer survivors?

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hovaldt, Hanna Birkbak; Suppli, N P; Olsen, M H

2015-01-01

was compared by social position with the non-cancer population. Results: Cancer survivors composed 4% of the Danish population. Somatic comorbidity was more likely among survivors (OR 1.59, 95% CI 1.57-1.60) and associated with higher age, male sex, short education, and living alone among survivors......Background: No nationwide studies on social position and prevalence of comorbidity among cancer survivors exist. Methods: We performed a nationwide prevalence study defining persons diagnosed with cancer 1943-2010 and alive on the census date 1 January 2011 as cancer survivors. Comorbidity....... Conclusions: Among cancer survivors, comorbidity is common and highly associated with social position....

Mycobacterium Brumae Extract Fractions with Potential Immunotherapeutic Activity for Bladder Cancer

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Zeliha Ertürk

2017-09-01

Full Text Available Objective: Immunotherapy with intravesical Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG application is a gold standard treatment for high risk non-muscle invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC, despite its local and systemic side effects. We aimed to develop less toxic and more powerful therapeutic agents for the treatment of bladder cancer than live strain. Materials and Methods: Immunostimulated and non-pathogenic Mycobacterium brumae strains resembling BCG with cytotoxic activities were used. The bacteria were sonicated after heat treatment. Samples prepared by aqueous solution and acetone were subjected to high performance liquid chromatography on reverse phase and strong ion exchange columns. Tumour necrosis factor-α (TNF-α stimulating activities and the matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization-mass spectroscopy findings of the samples were analysed. Results: As a result, it was revealed that two components, m/z ratios around 1800 and another around m/z 3600 could be responsible for TNF-α stimulating activity. Conclusion: These components have a potential to develop of new agents for NMIBC treatment.

Breast-cancer-isation explored: Social experiences of gynaecological cancer in a Norwegian context.

Science.gov (United States)

Solbraekke, Kari Nyheim; Lorem, Geir

2016-11-01

This article's point of departure is recent claims that breast cancer survivorship displaying positivity and self-growth represents the gold standard for all forms of cancer survivorship in English-speaking Western cultures. An interview study of Norwegian women regarding gynaecological cancer followed by hysterectomy is used to explore whether this process is taking place beyond this setting. Results show that the women's experiences of having to display survivorship in this manner are not as notable as found in English-speaking Western countries, neither is their experience of social othering. Reasons for this may be strong norms of social egalitarianism marking Norwegian culture and breast cancer informational campaigns that have not yet totally defined Norwegian norms for how to survive cancer. At the clinic and in the public sphere, however, the women experience gynaecological cancer as clearly having lower status than breast cancer, leading to a strong sense that the bodily site of their disease is taboo. Hence, as found in English-speaking cultures, the complex embodied nature of having gynaecological cancer and life beyond treatment seems to be silenced by the media and medical institutions. Finally, implications for future research and health care related to cancer survivorship are also discussed. © 2016 Foundation for the Sociology of Health & Illness.

Cancer and beyond: the question of survivorship.

Science.gov (United States)

Breaden, K

1997-11-01

Today, more people are surviving cancer as a result of improved treatment and early diagnosis. In Australia, the 5-year survival rate for persons diagnosed with cancer is now approaching 50%. Although there is a growing population of cancer survivors, little is known about what surviving entails. Traditionally, a survivor has been defined as one who has been disease-free for more than 5 years. However, this definition does not take into account the experience nor the process of survival and the aim of this article is to document the process of surviving cancer as reflected in the experiences of cancer survivors. Using a method of hermeneutic phenomenology (as described by van Manen), the study draws on the stories of six women, who by their definition, are surviving cancer. A discussion of themes has been structured according to the everyday experiences of living in a body and living in time. The women describe a survival process that includes: 'feeling whole again'; 'the body as the house of suspicion'; 'the future in question'; 'changes in time'; 'lucky to be alive'; and 'sharing the journey'.

The Global Burden of Cancer 2013

OpenAIRE

2015-01-01

Importance Cancer is among the leading causes of death worldwide. Current estimates of cancer burden in individual countries and regions are necessary to inform local cancer control strategies. Objective To estimate mortality, incidence, years lived with disability (YLDs), years of life lost (YLLs), and disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs) for 28 cancers in 188 countries by sex from 1990 to 2013. Evidence Review The general methodology of the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) 2013 study was us...

Beta-decay half-lives at the N=28 shell closure

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Grevy, S.; Angelique, J.C.; Baumann, P.; Borcea, C.; Buta, A.; Canchel, G.; Catford, W.N.; Courtin, S.; Daugas, J.M.; Oliveira, F. de; Dessagne, P.; Dlouhy, Z.; Knipper, A.; Kratz, K.L.; Lecolley, F.R.; Lecouey, J.L.; Lehrsenneau, G.; Lewitowicz, M.; Lienard, E.; Lukyanov, S.; Marechal, F.; Miehe, C.; Mrazek, J.; Negoita, F.; Orr, N.A.; Pantelica, D.; Penionzhkevich, Y.; Peter, J.; Pfeiffer, B.; Pietri, S.; Poirier, E.; Sorlin, O.; Stanoiu, M.; Stefan, I.; Stodel, C.; Timis, C

2004-08-05

Measurements of the beta-decay half-lives of neutron-rich nuclei (Mg-Ar) in the vicinity of the N=28 shell closure are reported. Some 22 half-lives have been determined, 12 of which for the first time. Particular emphasis is placed on the results for the Si isotopes, the half-lives of which have been extended from N=25 to 28. Comparison with QRPA calculations suggests that {sup 42}Si is strongly deformed. This is discussed in the light of a possible weakening of the spin-orbit potential.

Meat and colo-rectal cancer.

Science.gov (United States)

Hill, M J

1999-05-01

In early epidemiological studies of diet and cancer the stress was on the search for causal factors. Population (ecological) studies tended to show a strong correlation between meat intake, particularly red meat, and the risk of colo-rectal cancer. They also tended to show meat to be strongly inversely correlated with cancers of the stomach and oesophagus and liver. Early case-control studies tended to support the postulated role for red meat in colo-rectal carcinogenesis, although more recent case-control studies, particularly those from Europe, have tended to show no relationship. The cohort studies in general failed to detect any relationship between meat intake and colo-rectal cancer risk. The available evidence points to the intake of protective factors such as vegetables and whole-grain cereals being the main determinants of colo-rectal cancer risk, with meat intake only coincidentally related.

Measuring health-related quality of life in children with cancer living in mainland China: feasibility, reliability and validity of the Chinese mandarin version of PedsQL 4.0 Generic Core Scales and 3.0 Cancer Module

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ji Yi

2011-11-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background The Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory (PedsQL is widely used instrument to measure pediatric health-related quality of life (HRQOL for children aged 2 to 18 years. The purpose of the current study was to investigate the feasibility, reliability and validity of the Chinese mandarin version of the PedsQL 4.0 Generic Core Scales and 3.0 Cancer Module in a group of Chinese children with cancer. Methods The PedsQL 4.0 Genetic Core Scales and the PedsQL 3.0 Cancer Module were administered to children with cancer (aged 5-18 years and parents of such children (aged 2-18 years. For comparison, a survey on a demographically group-matched sample of the general population with children (aged 5-18 and parents of children (aged 2-18 years was conducted with the PedsQL 4.0 Genetic Core Scales. Result The minimal mean percentage of missing item responses (except the School Functioning scale supported the feasibility of the PedsQL 4.0 Generic Core Scales and 3.0 Cancer Module for Chinese children with cancer. Most of the scales showed satisfactory reliability with Cronbach's α of exceeding 0.70, and all scales demonstrated sufficient test-retest reliability. Assessing the clinical validity of the questionnaires, statistically significant difference was found between healthy children and children with cancer, and between children on-treatment versus off-treatment ≥12 months. Positive significant correlations were observed between the scores of the PedsQL 4.0 Generic Core Scale and the PedsQL 3.0 Cancer Module. Exploratory factor analysis demonstrated sufficient factorial validity. Moderate to good agreement was found between child self- and parent proxy-reports. Conclusion The findings support the feasibility, reliability and validity of the Chinese Mandarin version of PedsQL 4.0 Generic Core Scales and 3.0 Cancer Module in children with cancer living in mainland China.

Cancer and Tobacco Use

Science.gov (United States)

... gov . Vital Signs Topics Covered Alcohol Antibiotic Resistance Cancer Cardiovascular Diseases Diseases & Conditions Food Safety Healthcare-associated Infections Healthy Living HIV / AIDS Injury, Violence & Safety Motor Vehicle Safety Obesity ...

A randomized trial comparing live and telemedicine deliveries of an imagery-based behavioral intervention for breast cancer survivors: reducing symptoms and barriers to care.

Science.gov (United States)

Freeman, Lyn W; White, Rebecca; Ratcliff, Chelsea G; Sutton, Sue; Stewart, Mary; Palmer, J Lynn; Link, Judith; Cohen, Lorenzo

2015-08-01

This multi-site randomized trial evaluates the quality of life (QOL) benefits of an imagery-based group intervention titled 'Envision the Rhythms of Life'(ERL). Breast cancer survivors >6 weeks post-treatment were randomized to attend five weekly 4-h group sessions at a community center with therapist present (live delivery (LD), n = 48), therapist streamed via telemedicine (telemedicine delivery (TD), n = 23), or to a waitlist control (WL) group (n = 47). Weekly individual phone calls to encourage at-home practice began at session one and continued until the 3-month follow-up. Seven self-report measures of QOL were examined at baseline, 1-month and 3-month post-treatments including health-related and breast cancer-specific QOL, fatigue, cognitive function, spirituality, distress, and sleep. The Bonferroni method was used to correct for multiple comparisons, and alpha was adjusted to 0.01. Linear multilevel modeling analyses revealed less fatigue, cognitive dysfunction, and sleep disturbance for LD and TD compared with WL across the follow-up (p's telemedicine delivered ERL intervention resulted in improvements in multiple QOL domains for breast cancer survivors compared with WL. Further, there were no significant differences between LD and TD, suggesting telemedicine delivered ERL intervention may represent an effective and viable option for cancer survivors in remote areas. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Integrin Alpha-v and HER2 in Breast Cancer Brain Metastasis

Science.gov (United States)

2015-10-01

ZOOM live cell imaging machine (ESSEN Bioscience; Figure 2). c. Interactions of αv integrin and HER2 in breast cancer brain metastases. We found...HCC1954 breast cancer cells. C) Real time live cell imaging of MM2BH cells treated with cilengitide (0, .3, 1, 3, and 10 µg/mL) using IncuCyte ZOOM

Visualizing how cancer chromosome abnormalities form in living cells

Science.gov (United States)

For the first time, scientists have directly observed events that lead to the formation of a chromosome abnormality that is often found in cancer cells. The abnormality, called a translocation, occurs when part of a chromosome breaks off and becomes attac

Analysis of Alpha-2 Macroglobulin from the Long-Lived and Cancer-Resistant Naked Mole-Rat and Human Plasma.

Science.gov (United States)

Thieme, René; Kurz, Susanne; Kolb, Marlen; Debebe, Tewodros; Holtze, Susanne; Morhart, Michaela; Huse, Klaus; Szafranski, Karol; Platzer, Matthias; Hildebrandt, Thomas B; Birkenmeier, Gerd

2015-01-01

The naked mole-rat (NMR) is a long-lived and cancer resistant species. Identification of potential anti-cancer and age related mechanisms is of great interest and makes this species eminent to investigate anti-cancer strategies and understand aging mechanisms. Since it is known that the NMR expresses higher liver mRNA-levels of alpha 2-macroglobulin than mice, nothing is known about its structure, functionality or expression level in the NMR compared to the human A2M. Here we show a comprehensive analysis of NMR- and human plasma-A2M, showing a different prediction in glycosylation of NMR-A2M, which results in a higher molecular weight compared to human A2M. Additionally, we found a higher concentration of A2M (8.3±0.44 mg/mL vs. and 4.4±0.20 mg/mL) and a lower total plasma protein content (38.7±1.79 mg/mL vs. 61.7±3.20 mg/mL) in NMR compared to human. NMR-A2M can be transformed by methylamine and trypsin resulting in a conformational change similar to human A2M. NMR-A2M is detectable by a polyclonal antibody against human A2M. Determination of tryptic and anti-tryptic activity of NMR and human plasma revealed a higher anti-tryptic activity of the NMR plasma. On the other hand, less proteolytic activity was found in NMR plasma compared to human plasma. We found transformed NMR-A2M binding to its specific receptor LRP1. We could demonstrate lower protein expression of LRP1 in the NMR liver tissue compared to human but higher expression of A2M. This was accompanied by a higher EpCAM protein expression as central adhesion molecule in cancer progression. NMR-plasma was capable to increase the adhesion in human fibroblast in vitro most probably by increasing CD29 protein expression. This is the first report, demonstrating similarities as well as distinct differences between A2M in NMR and human plasma. This might be directly linked to the intriguing phenotype of the NMR and suggests that A2M might probably play an important role in anti-cancer and the anti

Analysis of Alpha-2 Macroglobulin from the Long-Lived and Cancer-Resistant Naked Mole-Rat and Human Plasma.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

René Thieme

Full Text Available The naked mole-rat (NMR is a long-lived and cancer resistant species. Identification of potential anti-cancer and age related mechanisms is of great interest and makes this species eminent to investigate anti-cancer strategies and understand aging mechanisms. Since it is known that the NMR expresses higher liver mRNA-levels of alpha 2-macroglobulin than mice, nothing is known about its structure, functionality or expression level in the NMR compared to the human A2M.Here we show a comprehensive analysis of NMR- and human plasma-A2M, showing a different prediction in glycosylation of NMR-A2M, which results in a higher molecular weight compared to human A2M. Additionally, we found a higher concentration of A2M (8.3±0.44 mg/mL vs. and 4.4±0.20 mg/mL and a lower total plasma protein content (38.7±1.79 mg/mL vs. 61.7±3.20 mg/mL in NMR compared to human. NMR-A2M can be transformed by methylamine and trypsin resulting in a conformational change similar to human A2M. NMR-A2M is detectable by a polyclonal antibody against human A2M. Determination of tryptic and anti-tryptic activity of NMR and human plasma revealed a higher anti-tryptic activity of the NMR plasma. On the other hand, less proteolytic activity was found in NMR plasma compared to human plasma.We found transformed NMR-A2M binding to its specific receptor LRP1. We could demonstrate lower protein expression of LRP1 in the NMR liver tissue compared to human but higher expression of A2M. This was accompanied by a higher EpCAM protein expression as central adhesion molecule in cancer progression. NMR-plasma was capable to increase the adhesion in human fibroblast in vitro most probably by increasing CD29 protein expression. This is the first report, demonstrating similarities as well as distinct differences between A2M in NMR and human plasma. This might be directly linked to the intriguing phenotype of the NMR and suggests that A2M might probably play an important role in anti-cancer and the

Population-based geographic access to parent and satellite National Cancer Institute Cancer Center Facilities.

Science.gov (United States)

Onega, Tracy; Alford-Teaster, Jennifer; Wang, Fahui

2017-09-01

Satellite facilities of National Cancer Institute (NCI) cancer centers have expanded their regional footprints. This study characterized geographic access to parent and satellite NCI cancer center facilities nationally overall and by sociodemographics. Parent and satellite NCI cancer center facilities, which were geocoded in ArcGIS, were ascertained. Travel times from every census tract in the continental United States and Hawaii to the nearest parent and satellite facilities were calculated. Census-based population attributes were used to characterize measures of geographic access for sociodemographic groups. From the 62 NCI cancer centers providing clinical care in 2014, 76 unique parent locations and 211 satellite locations were mapped. The overall proportion of the population within 60 minutes of a facility was 22% for parent facilities and 32.7% for satellite facilities. When satellites were included for potential access, the proportion of some racial groups for which a satellite was the closest NCI cancer center facility increased notably (Native Americans, 22.6% with parent facilities and 39.7% with satellite facilities; whites, 34.8% with parent facilities and 50.3% with satellite facilities; and Asians, 40.0% with parent facilities and 54.0% with satellite facilities), with less marked increases for Hispanic and black populations. Rural populations of all categories had dramatically low proportions living within 60 minutes of an NCI cancer center facility of any type (1.0%-6.6%). Approximately 14% of the population (n = 43,033,310) lived more than 180 minutes from a parent or satellite facility, and most of these individuals were Native Americans and/or rural residents (37% of Native Americans and 41.7% of isolated rural residents). Racial/ethnic and rural populations showed markedly improved geographic access to NCI cancer center care when satellite facilities were included. Cancer 2017;123:3305-11. © 2017 American Cancer Society. © 2017 American

Cancer research priorities and gaps in Iran: the influence of cancer burden on cancer research outputs between 1997 and 2014.

Science.gov (United States)

Majidi, A; Salimzadeh, H; Beiki, O; Delavari, F; Majidi, S; Delavari, A; Malekzadeh, R

2017-03-01

As a developing country, Iran is experiencing the increasing burden of cancers, which are currently the third leading cause of mortality in Iran. This study aims to demonstrate that cancer research in Iran concentrates on the cancer research priorities based on the global burden of disease (GBD) reports. Descriptive evaluation of all cancers disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) was performed using GBD data. Also a comprehensive search was conducted using cancer-associated keywords to obtain all cancer-related publications from Iran, indexed in Web of Science. Multiple regression analysis and correlation coefficients (R 2 ) were used to evaluate the possible associations between cancer research publications and GBD. During 1996-2014, the majority of cancer-related publications in Iran focused on breast cancer, leukaemia and stomach cancer, respectively. This study found hypothetical correlations between cancer publications in Iran in line with the burden of cancer as reported by GBD. Particularly, correlations between years lived with disability (YLD) and cancer-related publications were more obvious. This study introduces a new outline in setting cancer research priorities in the region. Copyright © 2016 The Royal Society for Public Health. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Racial disparities and socioeconomic status in association with survival in a large population-based cohort of elderly patients with colon cancer.

Science.gov (United States)

Du, Xianglin L; Fang, Shenying; Vernon, Sally W; El-Serag, Hashem; Shih, Y Tina; Davila, Jessica; Rasmus, Monica L

2007-08-01

To the authors' knowledge, few studies have addressed racial disparities in the survival of patients with colon cancer by adequately incorporating treatment and socioeconomic factors in addition to patient and tumor characteristics. The authors studied a nationwide and population-based, retrospective cohort of 18,492 men and women who were diagnosed with stage II or III colon cancer at age >or=65 years between 1992 and 1999. This cohort was identified from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) cancer registries-Medicare linked databases and included up to 11 years of follow-up. A larger proportion (70%) of African-American patients with colon cancer fell into the poorest quartiles of socioeconomic status compared with Caucasians (21%). Patients who lived in communities with the lowest socioeconomic level had 19% higher all-cause mortality compared with patients who lived in communities with the highest socioeconomic status (hazards ratio [HR], 1.19; 95% confidence interval [95% CI], 1.13-1.26; P colon cancer, African-American patients were 21% more likely to die after controlling for age, sex, comorbidity scores, tumor stage, and grade (HR, 1.21; 95% CI, 1.12-1.30). After also adjusting for definitive therapy and socioeconomic status, the HR of mortality was only marginally significantly higher in African Americans compared with Caucasians for all-cause mortality (HR, 1.10; 95% CI, 1.02-1.19) and colon cancer-specific mortality (HR, 1.16; 95% CI, 1.01-1.33). Lower socioeconomic status and lack of definitive treatment were associated strongly with decreased survival in both men and women with colon cancer. Racial disparities in survival were explained substantially by differences in socioeconomic status. (c) 2007 American Cancer Society.

Diversity in cancer care

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Nyholm, Nanna; Halvorsen, Ida; Mygind, Anna

2018-01-01

BACKGROUND: The burden of breast cancer is a key challenge for women's health globally. Rehabilitation needs and strategies for living with long-term consequences of breast cancer and its treatment cannot be isolated from the social contexts of patients, including relationships with relatives...... and healthcare professionals. AIM: This study explores how healthcare professionals' categorisations engage with breast cancer patients' social identities in encounters about rehabilitation before hospital discharge. METHOD: We conducted a multiperspective case-based qualitative study at a Danish department...... for a greater focus on improving encounters between breast cancer patients and healthcare professionals to ensure that rehabilitation needs are accommodated for among diverse patient groups....

Complementary and alternative medicine in cancer pain management: A systematic review

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Priyanka Singh

2015-01-01

Full Text Available Quality of life (QoL encompasses the physical, psychosocial, social and spiritual dimensions of life lived by a person. Cancer pain is one of the physical component has tremendous impact on the QoL of the patient. Cancer pain is multifaceted and complex to understand and managing cancer pain involves a tool box full of pharmacological and non pharmacological interventions but still there are 50-70% of cancer patients who suffer from uncontrolled pain and they fear pain more than death. Aggressive surgeries, radiotherapy and chemotherapy focus more on prolonging the survival of the patient failing to realize that the QoL lived also matters equally. This paper reviews complementary and alternative therapy approaches for cancer pain and its impact in improving the QoL of cancer patients.

Breast Cancer

Science.gov (United States)

... right away. He or she will do a physical exam. They will ask you about your health history and your family’s history of breast cancer. ... and Wellness Staying Healthy Healthy Living Travel Occupational Health First Aid and ... Pets and Animals myhealthfinder Food and Nutrition Healthy Food ...

75 FR 56455 - National Childhood Cancer Awareness Month, 2010

Science.gov (United States)

2010-09-15

... Part V The President Proclamation 8556--National Childhood Cancer Awareness Month, 2010... Childhood Cancer Awareness Month, 2010 By the President of the United States of America A Proclamation Each... children. During National Childhood Cancer Awareness Month, we honor the young lives taken too soon and the...

Comparison of characteristics between frequent participants and non-participants in screening program for stomach cancer.

Science.gov (United States)

Fukao, A; Hisamichi, S; Komatsu, S; Shimizu, H; Satoh, H; Nakatsuka, H; Watanabe, T; Fujisaku, S; Ichinowatari, Y; Kuroda, S

1992-04-01

To clarify the differences in characteristics between participants and non-participants in the screening program for stomach cancer, life-style and medical histories were compared among 20, 169 subjects who lived in an urban area (Sendai) and a rural area (Wakuya and Tajiri) in Miyagi Prefecture, Japan. All subjects were classified into three groups according to the frequency of participation in the screening program during the last 5 years; i.e., frequent participating group (FPG) for 4 or 5 times, reference group (RG) for 1-3 times and non-participating group (NPG) for 0 times. Subjects in the FPG consumed more milk and green-yellow vegetable whereas those in the NPG consumed less these foods. The age-adjusted proportions of present smokers were higher in the NPG but lower in the FPG significantly. The proportions of subjects who had parental histories of all cancers and stomach cancer and past history of gastro-duodenal ulcer were higher in the FPG and lower in the NPG. To control influences among the variables a stepwise multiple regression analysis was done, and it revealed that smoking and parental history of cancers were strong predictors to explain the frequency of participation.

Fully synthetic phage-like system for screening mixtures of small molecules in live cells.

Science.gov (United States)

Byk, Gerardo; Partouche, Shirly; Weiss, Aryeh; Margel, Shlomo; Khandadash, Raz

2010-05-10

A synthetic "phage-like" system was designed for screening mixtures of small molecules in live cells. The core of the system consists of 2 mum diameter cross-linked monodispersed microspheres bearing a panel of fluorescent tags and peptides or small molecules either directly synthesized or covalently conjugated to the microspheres. The microsphere mixtures were screened for affinity to cell line PC-3 (prostate cancer model) by incubation with live cells, and as was with phage-display peptide methods, unbound microspheres were removed by repeated washings followed by total lysis of cells and analysis of the bound microspheres by flow-cytometry. Similar to phage-display peptide screening, this method can be applied even in the absence of prior information about the cellular targets of the candidate ligands, which makes the system especially interesting for selection of molecules with high affinity for desired cells, tissues, or tumors. The advantage of the proposed system is the possibility of screening synthetic non-natural peptides or small molecules that cannot be expressed and screened using phage display libraries. A library composed of small molecules synthesized by the Ugi reaction was screened, and a small molecule, Rak-2, which strongly binds to PC-3 cells was found. Rak-2 was then individually synthesized and validated in a complementary whole cell-based binding assay, as well as by live cell microscopy. This new system demonstrates that a mixture of molecules bound to subcellular sized microspheres can be screened on plated cells. Together with other methods using subcellular sized particles for cellular multiplexing, this method represents an important milestone toward high throughput screening of mixtures of small molecules in live cells and in vivo with potential applications in the fields of drug delivery and diagnostic imaging.

Through tissue imaging of a live breast cancer tumour model using handheld surface enhanced spatially offset resonance Raman spectroscopy (SESORRS).

Science.gov (United States)

Nicolson, Fay; Jamieson, Lauren E; Mabbott, Samuel; Plakas, Konstantinos; Shand, Neil C; Detty, Michael R; Graham, Duncan; Faulds, Karen

2018-04-21

In order to improve patient survival and reduce the amount of unnecessary and traumatic biopsies, non-invasive detection of cancerous tumours is of imperative and urgent need. Multicellular tumour spheroids (MTS) can be used as an ex vivo cancer tumour model, to model in vivo nanoparticle (NP) uptake by the enhanced permeability and retention (EPR) effect. Surface enhanced spatially offset Raman spectroscopy (SESORS) combines both surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) and spatially offset Raman spectroscopy (SORS) to yield enhanced Raman signals at much greater sub-surface levels. By utilizing a reporter that has an electronic transition in resonance with the laser frequency, surface enhanced resonance Raman scattering (SERRS) yields even greater enhancement in Raman signal. Using a handheld SORS spectrometer with back scattering optics, we demonstrate the detection of live breast cancer 3D MTS containing SERRS active NPs through 15 mm of porcine tissue. False color 2D heat intensity maps were used to determine tumour model location. In addition, we demonstrate the tracking of SERRS-active NPs through porcine tissue to depths of up to 25 mm. This unprecedented performance is due to the use of red-shifted chalcogenpyrylium-based Raman reporters to demonstrate the novel technique of surface enhanced spatially offset resonance Raman spectroscopy (SESORRS) for the first time. Our results demonstrate a significant step forward in the ability to detect vibrational fingerprints from a tumour model at depth through tissue. Such an approach offers significant promise for the translation of NPs into clinical applications for non-invasive disease diagnostics based on this new chemical principle of measurement.

Telomere Length and the Cancer-Atherosclerosis Trade-Off.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rivka C Stone

2016-07-01

Full Text Available Modern humans, the longest-living terrestrial mammals, display short telomeres and repressed telomerase activity in somatic tissues compared with most short-living small mammals. The dual trait of short telomeres and repressed telomerase might render humans relatively resistant to cancer compared with short-living small mammals. However, the trade-off for cancer resistance is ostensibly increased age-related degenerative diseases, principally in the form of atherosclerosis. In this communication, we discuss (a the genetics of human telomere length, a highly heritable complex trait that is influenced by genetic ancestry, sex, and paternal age at conception, (b how cancer might have played a role in the evolution of telomere biology across mammals, (c evidence that in modern humans telomere length is a determinant (rather than only a biomarker of cancer and atherosclerosis, and (d the potential influence of relatively recent evolutionary forces in fashioning the variation in telomere length across and within populations, and their likely lasting impact on major diseases in humans. Finally, we propose venues for future research on human telomere genetics in the context of its potential role in shaping the modern human lifespan.

77 FR 55099 - National Prostate Cancer Awareness Month, 2012

Science.gov (United States)

2012-09-06

... National Prostate Cancer Awareness Month, 2012 By the President of the United States of America A... thousands of lives every year. During National Prostate Cancer Awareness Month, we remember those we have... their lifetimes. As we mark National Prostate Cancer Awareness Month, let us support the families who...

77 FR 60605 - National Breast Cancer Awareness Month, 2012

Science.gov (United States)

2012-10-04

... National Breast Cancer Awareness Month, 2012 By the President of the United States of America A... their lives to the disease. During National Breast Cancer Awareness Month, we honor those we have lost... of the United States, do hereby proclaim October 2012 as National Breast Cancer Awareness Month. I...

Winning the Race: Lance Armstrong Shares His Struggle To Survive Cancer... and Thrive!

Science.gov (United States)

... to send to people recently diagnosed with cancer? Hope. There can and should be life after cancer for more people, and I want ... does the future hold for Lance Armstrong? I hope to live up to the words ... opportunity to live their life on their own terms. I am grateful for ...

Understanding Cancer Prognosis

Medline Plus

Full Text Available ... before cancer How you respond to treatment Seeking Information About Your Prognosis Is a Personal Decision When ... Twitter Instagram YouTube Google+ LinkedIn GovDelivery RSS CONTACT INFORMATION Contact Us LiveHelp Online Chat MORE INFORMATION About ...

Association between the neighborhood obesogenic environment and colorectal cancer risk in the Multiethnic Cohort.

Science.gov (United States)

Canchola, Alison J; Shariff-Marco, Salma; Yang, Juan; Albright, Cheryl; Hertz, Andrew; Park, Song-Yi; Shvetsov, Yurii B; Monroe, Kristine R; Le Marchand, Loïc; Gomez, Scarlett Lin; Wilkens, Lynne R; Cheng, Iona

2017-10-01

Information on the role of the neighborhood environment and colorectal cancer risk is limited. We investigated the association between a comprehensive suite of possible obesogenic neighborhood attributes (socioeconomic status, population density, restaurant and retail food environments, numbers of recreational facilities and businesses, commute patterns, traffic density, and street connectivity) and colorectal cancer risk in the Multiethnic Cohort Study. Among 81,197 eligible participants living in California (35,397 males and 45,800 females), 1973 incident cases (981 males and 992 females) of invasive colorectal cancer were identified between 1993 and 2010. Separately for males and females, multivariable Cox regression models were used to estimate hazard ratios (HR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) for colorectal cancer risk overall and by racial/ethnic group (African American, Japanese American, Latino, white). In males, higher traffic density was associated with an increased risk of colorectal cancer (HR=1.29, 95% CI: 1.03-1.61, p=0.03, for quintile 5 vs. quintile 1; p-trend=0.06). While this association may be due to chance, this pattern was seen (albeit non-statistically significant) in all racial/ethnic groups except whites. There were no other significant associations between other neighborhood obesogenic attributes and colorectal cancer risk. Findings from our large racial/ethnically diverse cohort suggest neighborhood obesogenic characteristics are not strongly associated with the risk of colorectal cancer. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Pulsed-ultrasound tagging of light in living tissues

Science.gov (United States)

Lev, Aner; Rubanov, E.; Pomerantz, Ami; Sfez, Bruno G.

2004-07-01

Ultrasound can be used in order to locally modulate, or tag, light in a turbid medium. This tagging process is made possible due to the extreme sensitivity of laser speckle distribution to minute changes within the medium. This hybrid technique presents several advantages compared to all-optical tomographic techniques, in that the image resolution is fixed by the ultrasound focus diameter. To our best knowledge, only in vitro experiments have been performed, either on tissue-like phantoms or meat. However a strong difference exists between these sample and living tissues. In living tissues, different kind of liquids flow through the capillaries, strongly reducing the sspeckle autocorrelation time. We have performed experiments on both mice and humans, showing that the autocorrelation time is much shorter than what was previously thought. We show however that it is possible to obtain signal with acceptable signal to noise ratio down to a few cm depth. We will also discuss the origin and characteristics of the speckle noise.

Adherence to cancer treatment guidelines: influence of general and cancer-specific guideline characteristics.

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Heins, M.J.; Jong, J.D. de; Spronk, I.; Ho, V.K.; Brink, M.; Korevaar, J.C.

2017-01-01

<strong>Background:> Guideline adherence remains a challenge in clinical practice, despite guidelines’ ascribed potential to improve patient outcomes. We studied the level of adherence to recommendations from Dutch national cancer treatment guidelines, and the influence of general and

Randomized controlled trial of live lactobacillus acidophilus plus bifidobacterium bifidum in prophylaxis of diarrhea during radiotherapy in cervical cancer patients

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chitapanarux, Imjai; Chitapanarux, Taned; Traisathit, Patrinee; Kudumpee, Sudkaneung; Tharavichitkul, Ekkasit; Lorvidhaya, Vicharn

2010-01-01

Radiation-induced diarrhea is frequently observed during pelvic radiotherapy. This study was performed to determine the ability of a probiotic containing live lactobacillus acidophilus plus bifidobacterium bifidum to reduce the incidence of radiation-induced diarrhea in locally advanced cervical cancer patients. Patients who were undergoing pelvic radiotherapy concurrent with weekly cisplatin were randomly assigned to a study drug or placebo, in a double-blind study. Diarrhea was graded weekly according the Common Toxicity Criteria (CTC) system. Stool consistency and white and red blood cell count in stool were also assessed. The primary endpoint was to reduce the incidence of diarrhea, defined by a CTC grade 2 or more, and the need for anti-diarrheal medication. A total of 63 patients were enrolled. Grade 2 -3 diarrhea was observed in 45% of the placebo group (n = 31) and 9% of the study drug group (n = 32) (p = 0.002). Anti-diarrheal medication use was significantly reduced in the placebo group (p = 0.03). The patients in the study drug group had a significantly improved stool consistency (p < 0.001). Live lactobacillus acidophilus plus bifidobacterium bifidum reduced the incidence of radiation-induced diarrhea and the need for anti-diarrheal medication and had a significant benefits on stool consistency

Prostate cancer risk and recurrence: the role of nutrition and clinical aspects

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Kok, D.E.G.

2013-01-01

<strong>Background strong>Prostate cancer is the most common cancer among men in Western countries. Knowledge on prostate cancer aetiology is required for identification of high-risk groups, optimization of treatment strategies, and development of prevention programs. The aim of this thesis

Taking Our Seat at the Table: Community Cancer Survivorship.

Science.gov (United States)

Polo, Katie M; Smith, Caitlin

Cancer survivors are at risk for occupational performance issues related to activities of daily living, instrumental activities of daily living, work, and social and community participation. Occupational therapy practitioners can address these performance issues by offering services within existing community cancer survivorship programs that focus on adaptive and compensatory strategies to facilitate meaningful lifestyles and optimize health and well-being. Occupational therapy services do not currently exist at these community sites, nor are occupational therapy practitioners recognized as providers in existing community cancer survivorship programs. Recognition of practitioners' distinct value in cancer survivorship, advocacy for occupational therapy services in the community, development of supporting documentation for occupational therapy's role in community survivorship, and research on the efficacy of interventions in community cancer survivorship are needed to expand occupational therapy's role with this growing population. Copyright © 2017 by the American Occupational Therapy Association, Inc.

High procedure volume is strongly associated with improved survival after lung cancer surgery

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Lüchtenborg, Margreet; Riaz, Sharma P; Coupland, Victoria H

2013-01-01

Studies have reported an association between hospital volume and survival for non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC). We explored this association in England, accounting for case mix and propensity to resect....

Increased Risk of Rare Cancer as DES Daughters Age

Science.gov (United States)

... Attitudes, and Practices Related to Colorectal Cancer in Brazil 2015 2 of 3 People Are Living At ... Mammography Promotion Campaign African American Women and Mass Media Campaign Evaluation Cancer Survival: The Start of Global ...

The 'Cancer Home-Life Intervention'

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Pilegaard, Marc Sampedro; la Cour, Karen; Gregersen Oestergaard, Lisa

2018-01-01

, occupational therapy-based and adaptive programme for people with advanced cancer targeting the performance of their prioritised everyday activities. SETTING/PARTICIPANTS: Home-living adults diagnosed with advanced cancer experiencing functional limitations were recruited from two Danish hospitals. They were......BACKGROUND: People with advanced cancer face difficulties with their everyday activities at home that may reduce their health-related quality of life. To address these difficulties, we developed the 'Cancer Home-Life Intervention'. AIM: To evaluate the efficacy of the 'Cancer Home Life......-Intervention' compared with usual care with regard to patients' performance of, and participation in, everyday activities, and their health-related quality of life. DESIGN AND INTERVENTION: A randomised controlled trial ( ClinicalTrials.gov NCT02356627). The 'Cancer Home-Life Intervention' is a brief, tailored...

Lung Cancer Clinical Trials: Advances in Immunotherapy

Science.gov (United States)

New treatments for lung cancer and aspects of joining a clinical trial are discussed in this 30-minute Facebook Live event, hosted by NCI’s Dr. Shakun Malik, head of thoracic oncology therapeutics, and Janet Freeman-Daily, lung cancer patient activist and founding member of #LCSM.

European position statement on lung cancer screening

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Oudkerk, Matthijs; Devaraj, Anand; Vliegenthart, Rozemarijn

2017-01-01

Lung cancer screening with low-dose CT can save lives. This European Union (EU) position statement presents the available evidence and the major issues that need to be addressed to ensure the successful implementation of low-dose CT lung cancer screening in Europe. This statement identified...... specific actions required by the European lung cancer screening community to adopt before the implementation of low-dose CT lung cancer screening. This position statement recommends the following actions: a risk stratification approach should be used for future lung cancer low-dose CT programmes...... need to set a timeline for implementing lung cancer screening....

Tea, coffee and prostate cancer.

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, Andy H; Fraser, Michelle L; Binns, Colin W

2009-02-01

Worldwide, prostate cancer has the second highest incidence of all cancers in males with incidence and mortality being much higher in affluent developed countries. Risk and progression of the disease may be linked to both genetic and environmental factors, especially dietary factors. Tea and coffee are two of the most popular beverages in the world and have been investigated for possible effects on health outcomes, including cancer. However, very little dietary advice for their consumption exists. The evidence for a relationship between coffee or tea consumption and prostate cancer is reviewed in this paper. While current evidence indicates that coffee is a safe beverage, its consumption probably has no relationship with prostate cancer. Tea, especially green tea, has shown some potential in the prevention of prostate cancer. While evidence from epidemiologic studies is currently inconclusive, strong evidence has emerged from animal and in vitro studies. We also consider what level of evidence is required to make recommendations for preventive measures to the public. Although evidence on the relationship between coffee, tea and prostate cancer is not complete, we consider it strong enough to recommend tea as a healthier alternative to coffee.

Mapping HPV Vaccination and Cervical Cancer Screening Practice in the Pacific Region-Strengthening National and Regional Cervical Cancer Prevention

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Obel, J; McKenzie, J; Buenconsejo-Lum, L E

2015-01-01

OBJECTIVE: To provide background information for strengthening cervical cancer prevention in the Pacific by mapping current human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination and cervical cancer screening practices, as well as intent and barriers to the introduction and maintenance of national HPV vaccinatio...... of prevention programs, operational research and advocacy could strengthen political momentum for cervical cancer prevention and avoid risking the lives of many women in the Pacific....

Understanding Cancer Prognosis

Medline Plus

Full Text Available ... YouTube Google+ LinkedIn GovDelivery RSS CONTACT INFORMATION Contact Us LiveHelp Online Chat MORE INFORMATION About This Website Cancer.gov en español Multimedia Publications Site Map Digital Standards for NCI Websites POLICIES Accessibility Comment Policy ...

Antimatter cancer treatment

CERN Multimedia

Van Noorden, Richard

2006-01-01

"The idea that antimatter beams could treat cancer might seem ridiculous. But researchers working at Cerns particle accelerator laboratory in Geneva don't think so. They have just reported a successful first experiment into the biological effects of antiprotons radiation on living cells."

Breast Cancer In Pregnancy: Management Approach

African Journals Online (AJOL)

reflecting the more advanced stage of the disease at diagnosis. An approach to the management of breast cancer in pregnancy is presented by a case illustration and a review of literature. KEY WORDS: Breast Cancer, ... function tests, haemogram and ultra— sound. She delivered a live female baby weighing 2.8 kilogram's ...

Biodegradable polymer nanocarriers for therapeutic antisense microRNA delivery in living animals

Science.gov (United States)

Paulmurugan, Ramasamy; Sekar, Narayana M.; Sekar, Thillai V.

2012-03-01

MicroRNAs are endogenous regulators of gene expression, deregulated in several cellular diseases including cancer. Altering the cellular microenvironment by modulating the microRNAs functions can regulate different genes involved in major cellular processes, and this approach is now being investigated as a promising new generation of molecularly targeted anti-cancer therapies. AntagomiRs (Antisense-miRNAs) are a novel class of chemically modified stable oligonucleotides used for blocking the functions of endogenous microRNAs, which are overexpressed. A key challenge in achieving effective microRNAbased therapeutics lies in the development of an efficient delivery system capable of specifically delivering antisense oligonucleotides and target cancer cells in living animals. We are now developing an effective delivery system designed to selectively deliver antagomiR- 21 and antagomiR-10b to triple negative breast cancer cells, and to revert tumor cell metastasis and invasiveness. The FDA-approved biodegradable PLGA-nanoparticles were selected as a carrier for antagomiRs delivery. Chemically modified antagomiRs (antagomiR-21 and antagomiR-10b) were co-encapsulated in PEGylated-PLGA-nanoparticles by using the double-emulsification (W/O/W) solvent evaporation method, and the resulting average particle size of 150-200nm was used for different in vitro and in vivo experiments. The antagomiR encapsulated PLGA-nanoparticles were evaluated for their in vitro antagomiRs delivery, intracellular release profile, and antagomiRs functional effects, by measuring the endogenous cellular targets, and the cell growth and metastasis. The xenografts of tumor cells in living mice were used for evaluating the anti-metastatic and anti-invasive properties of cells. The results showed that the use of PLGA for antagomiR delivery is not only efficient in crossing cell membrane, but can also maintain functional intracellular antagomiRs level for a extended period of time and achieve

Spatial Models and Networks of Living Systems

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Juul, Jeppe Søgaard

When studying the dynamics of living systems, insight can often be gained by developing a mathematical model that can predict future behaviour of the system or help classify system characteristics. However, in living cells, organisms, and especially groups of interacting individuals, a large number...... variables of the system. However, this approach disregards any spatial structure of the system, which may potentially change the behaviour drastically. An alternative approach is to construct a cellular automaton with nearest neighbour interactions, or even to model the system as a complex network...... with interactions defined by network topology. In this thesis I first describe three different biological models of ageing and cancer, in which spatial structure is important for the system dynamics. I then turn to describe characteristics of ecosystems consisting of three cyclically interacting species...

Cultural factors associated with the intent to be screened for prostate cancer among adult men in a rural Kenyan community

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kinyao Mutua

2017-11-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background The aim of this study was to determine cultural factors associated with prostate cancer screening intent among adult Kenyan African men. Methods A cross-sectional quantitative study with an analytic design was carried out in a randomly selected sample of 155 adult men aged 25–98 years living in a rural community in Kenya. Constructs from the Theory of Planned Behaviour were used to guide this study. A 5 -point Likert scale was used to assess fatalistic beliefs, fear, perceived benefits, and family influence. A structured questionnaire was used to collect quantitative data at the household level. Results Only 2.4% of the study participants had been screened for prostate cancer. About 2/3rd (64% of the participants felt that they were at risk of getting prostate cancer; 44% intended to be screened within the following 6 months. Mean scores on a 5-point Likert scale indicated: strong beliefs in the benefits of prostate screening (4.2 (±SD .8, men aged over 40 were not perceived to be at risk of getting prostate cancer (1.3 ± .6, relatively high fatalistic beliefs of prostate cancer screening (3.6 (±SD .8, high degree of fear or apprehension of prostate cancer screening (3.2 (±SD 1.2, and a high level of influence of family members in prostate cancer screening (3.9 (±SD 1.0. The Wald criterion demonstrated that only family influence made a significant contribution to the intent to screen for prostate cancer (p = 0.031. Age, education, marital status, fatalism, fear, and benefit of screening were not associated with the intent to screen for prostate cancer. Conclusions Strong beliefs of the benefits of prostate screening tended to be surpassed by relatively high fatalistic beliefs and fear or apprehension in prostate cancer screening. The family plays an important role in influencing decision making related to prostate cancer screening in Africans.

PROLARM: Cancer risk from medical diagnostic exposures is strongly dependent upon patients' prognosis

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Eschner, Wolfgang; Schmidt, Matthias; Dietlein, Markus; Schicha, Harald

2008-01-01

Full text: Purpose: a) To evaluate the impact of the reduced life expectancy of patients (compared to a non-patient group with same age distribution) on their risk of developing cancer from the diagnostic use of radiation. b) To find an approximation to such reduction in risk which depends only on the patient's age, a, and his life expectancy, but is independent of the choice of values for the baseline risk of cancer incidence, m(a), and the enhanced relative risk ERR(a) from radiation exposure. Method: The lifetime attributable risk LAR (of a radiation-induced malignancy to manifest itself) is a function of age at exposure, e, and given by integrating over attained age, a, the product of ERR(a), baseline cancer risk m(a) and the relative probability of surviving to age a, S'(a,e). We define a 'prognosis-based LAR modifier' (PROLARM) as the ratio of risks for non-patient, LAR(a), and patient, LAR p (a), a dimensionless quantity that gives a measure of reduction of LAR due to the patient's prognosis. With the survival of the patient group, S p ' (a,e), and for any choice of fitted function for ERR(a) like those used in BEIR VII report, PROLARM ≥∫d'(a,e) da/∫S p '(a,e) da, i.e. the ratio of the survival integrals gives a lower (thus conservative) estimate of the reduction in risk. Results: The method was applied to n=4285 patients with metastatic breast cancer for whom survival as a function of age at metastasis was known. Figure shows that LAR is decreased significantly for all ages at exposure. At younger ages, this decrease is more pronounced (PROLARM ≥ 20 for e ≤ 65). Example: using ERR values of BEIR VII, the LAR due to 10 mSv effective dose at age a = 50 would drop from 1.2 E-3 for non-patient to 4.3E-5 for a patient, i.e. by a factor (PROLARM) of 29. Using only survival data, that factor is 27 (but no LAR can be computed). In other words: 10 mSv for a patient correspond risk-wise to 0.4 mSv for non-patient. The method can be applied to any pathology

Cancer in children residing near nuclear power plants: an open question.

Science.gov (United States)

Ghirga, Giovanni

2010-09-10

Global warming and the established responsibility of the anthropogenic emissions of greenhouse gases represent a strong push towards the construction of new nuclear power plants (NPPs) to cope with the growing energy needs. The toxicity of nuclear waste associated with the extreme difficulty of their disposal and increase in cancer mortality and incidence following occupational radiation exposure are considered the only health problems. A search of scientific articles and government documents published since January 1, 1980 to July 1, 2010 was performed to evaluate cancer rate and mortality in residents, particularly children, in the vicinity of NPPs. A recent well conducted state-of-the-art case-control study of childhood cancers in the areas around German NPPs (KiKK study) showed a statistically significant cancers (2.2-fold increase in leukemia and a 1.6-fold increase in solid tumor) among children under five years of age living in the inner 5 km circle around NPPs when compared to residence outside this area. These findings have been confirmed by two meta-analyses. Nevertheless, other UK, France, Spain and Finland studies did not find cancer incidence and/or death increase near NPPs. Increased cancer risk near NPPs remains in fact an open question. The stronger evidence from the KiKK study suggests there may well be such increases at least in children regardless of the country in which nuclear reactors are located. In fact, few months ago the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission has asked the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) to perform a state-of-the-art study on cancer risk for populations surrounding NPPs.

Cancer in children residing near nuclear power plants: an open question

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ghirga Giovanni

2010-09-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Global warming and the established responsibility of the anthropogenic emissions of greenhouse gases represent a strong push towards the construction of new nuclear power plants (NPPs to cope with the growing energy needs. The toxicity of nuclear waste associated with the extreme difficulty of their disposal and increase in cancer mortality and incidence following occupational radiation exposure are considered the only health problems. Methods A search of scientific articles and government documents published since January 1, 1980 to July 1, 2010 was performed to evaluate cancer rate and mortality in residents, particularly children, in the vicinity of NPPs. Results A recent well conducted state-of-the-art case-control study of childhood cancers in the areas around German NPPs (KiKK study showed a statistically significant cancers (2.2-fold increase in leukemia and a 1.6-fold increase in solid tumor among children under five years of age living in the inner 5 km circle around NPPs when compared to residence outside this area. These findings have been confirmed by two meta-analyses. Nevertheless, other UK, France, Spain and Finland studies did not find cancer incidence and/or death increase near NPPs. Conclusions Increased cancer risk near NPPs remains in fact an open question. The stronger evidence from the KiKK study suggests there may well be such increases at least in children regardless of the country in which nuclear reactors are located. In fact, few months ago the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission has asked the National Academy of Sciences (NAS to perform a state-of-the-art study on cancer risk for populations surrounding NPPs.

Rectal cancer surgery: volume-outcome analysis.

LENUS (Irish Health Repository)

Nugent, Emmeline

2010-12-01

There is strong evidence supporting the importance of the volume-outcome relationship with respect to lung and pancreatic cancers. This relationship for rectal cancer surgery however remains unclear. We review the currently available literature to assess the evidence base for volume outcome in relation to rectal cancer surgery.

Strongly Enhanced Low Energy Alpha-Particle Decay in Heavy Actinide Nuclei and Long-Lived Superdeformed and Hyperdeformed Isomeric States

CERN Document Server

Marinov, Amnon; Kolb, D.; Weil, J.L.

2001-01-01

Relatively low energy and very enhanced alpha-particle groups have been observed in various actinide fractions produced via secondary reactions in a CERN W target which had been irradiated with 24-GeV protons. In particular, 5.14, 5.27 and 5.53 MeV alpha-particle groups with corresponding half-lives of 3.8(+ -)1.0 y, 625(+ -)84 d and 26(+ -)7 d, have been seen in Bk, Es and Lr-No sources, respectively. The measured energies are a few MeV lower than the known g.s. to g.s. alpha-decays in the corresponding neutron-deficient actinide nuclei. The half-lives are 4 to 7 orders of magnitude shorter than expected from the systematics of alpha-particle decay in this region of nuclei. The deduced evaporation residue cross sections are in the mb region, about 4 orders of magnitude higher than expected. A consistent interpretation of the data is given in terms of production of long-lived isomeric states in the second and third wells of the potential-energy surfaces of the parent nuclei, which decay to the corresponding w...

Redefining global health priorities: Improving cancer care in developing settings

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Asad Moten

2014-06-01

Full Text Available Every year, more than 10 million people are diagnosed with cancer. Over half of them live in the developing world, where the cancer incidence rate has reached pandemic proportions.

Cancer cells mimic in vivo spatial-temporal cell-cycle phase distribution and chemosensitivity in 3-dimensional Gelfoam® histoculture but not 2-dimensional culture as visualized with real-time FUCCI imaging.

Science.gov (United States)

Yano, Shuya; Miwa, Shinji; Mii, Sumiyuki; Hiroshima, Yukihiko; Uehara, Fuminaru; Kishimoto, Hiroyuki; Tazawa, Hiroshi; Zhao, Ming; Bouvet, Michael; Fujiwara, Toshiyoshi; Hoffman, Robert M

2015-01-01

The phase of the cell cycle can determine whether a cancer cell can respond to a given drug. We previously reported monitoring of real-time cell cycle dynamics of cancer cells throughout a live tumor, intravitally in live mice, using a fluorescence ubiquitination-based cell-cycle indicator (FUCCI). Approximately 90% of cancer cells in the center and 80% of total cells of an established tumor are in G0/G1 phase. Longitudinal real-time imaging demonstrated that cytotoxic agents killed only proliferating cancer cells at the surface and, in contrast, had little effect on quiescent cancer cells, which are the vast majority of an established tumor. Moreover, resistant quiescent cancer cells restarted cycling after cessation of chemotherapy. These results suggested why most drugs currently in clinical use, which target cancer cells in S/G2/M, are mostly ineffective on solid tumors. In the present report, we used FUCCI imaging and Gelfoam® collagen-sponge-gel histoculture, to demonstrate in real time, that the cell-cycle phase distribution of cancer cells in Gelfoam® and in vivo tumors is highly similar, whereby only the surface cells proliferate and interior cells are quiescent in G0/G1. This is in contrast to 2D culture where most cancer cells cycle. Similarly, the cancer cells responded similarly to toxic chemotherapy in Gelfoam® culture as in vivo, and very differently than cancer cells in 2D culture which were much more chemosensitive. Gelfoam® culture of FUCCI-expressing cancer cells offers the opportunity to image the cell cycle of cancer cells continuously and to screen for novel effective therapies to target quiescent cells, which are the majority in a tumor and which would have a strong probability to be effective in vivo.

Cancer Cell Cytotoxicities of 1-(4-Substitutedbenzoyl-4-(4-chlorobenzhydrylpiperazine Derivatives

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mine Yarim

2012-06-01

Full Text Available A series of novel 1-(4-substitutedbenzoyl-4-(4-chlorobenzhydrylpiperazine derivatives <strong>5astrong>–g> was designed by a nucleophilic substitution reaction of 1-(4-chlorobenzhydrylpiperazine with various benzoyl chlorides and characterized by elemental analyses, IR and ¹H nuclear magnetic resonance spectra. Cytotoxicity of the compounds was demonstrated on cancer cell lines from liver (HUH7, FOCUS, MAHLAVU, HEPG2, HEP3B, breast (MCF7, BT20, T47D, CAMA-1, colon (HCT-116, gastric (KATO-3 and endometrial (MFE-296 cancer cell lines. Time-dependent cytotoxicity analysis of compound <strong>5astrong> indicated the long-term in situ stability of this compound. All compounds showed significant cell growth inhibitory activity on the selected cancer cell lines.