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Antimicrobial And Anticancer Activity Of Essential Oils From Guatemalan Medicinal Plants, Andrew B. Miller Nov 2010

Antimicrobial And Anticancer Activity Of Essential Oils From Guatemalan Medicinal Plants, Andrew B. Miller

Theses and Dissertations

Guatemalan medicinal plants were collected and screened for the presence of essential oils using steam distillation. Oil was found in 63 species from 24 families and was tested in tube dilution assays for activity against Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, Streptococcus mutans, Lactobacillus acidophilus and Candida albicans. Several essential oils were highly active with 20 instances of oils inhibiting the microbes at an MIC of 0.31 µl/ml. Oils were also tested against cancerous and established cell lines using a 15% (v/v) agar-media which was developed to improve essential oil solubility. Assays were performed against three cancer lines: …


Antifolate Modulators Of Amp-Activated Protein Kinase Signaling As Cancer Therapeutics, Scott Rothbart Sep 2010

Antifolate Modulators Of Amp-Activated Protein Kinase Signaling As Cancer Therapeutics, Scott Rothbart

Theses and Dissertations

Since its discovery, it was appreciated that the antifolate pemetrexed had multiple targets within folate metabolism. This laboratory was instrumental in showing that pemetrexed elicited its primary action as a thymidylate synthase inhibitor. Unusual for an antifolate, pemetrexed showed significant clinical activity against malignant pleural mesothelioma and non-small cell lung cancer. Accordingly, the FDA recently issued first-line approvals for pemetrexed in these diseases, leading us to question whether the effects of pemetrexed on other folate-dependent targets could explain this atypical clinical activity of the drug. Studies in this dissertation showed that in addition to thymidylate synthase inhibition, pemetrexed was also …


Cell Death And Sustained Senescence Arrest In Colon Carcinoma And Melanoma Tumor Cells In Response To The Novel Microtubule Poison, Jg-03-14, Jonathan Biggers Jul 2010

Cell Death And Sustained Senescence Arrest In Colon Carcinoma And Melanoma Tumor Cells In Response To The Novel Microtubule Poison, Jg-03-14, Jonathan Biggers

Theses and Dissertations

Previous studies from this and other laboratories have shown that the novel microtubule poison, JG-03-14, which binds to the colchicine binding site of tubulin, has the capacity to promote both autophagy and apoptosis in breast tumor cells, as well as interfering with endothelial cell function and potentially disrupting tumor vasculature. The current work was designed to investigate the interaction between JG-03-14 and cell culture models of colon carcinoma and melanoma, specifically HCT116 human colon carcinoma cells and B16F10 murine melanoma cells. In both cases, JG-03-14 promoted death in the bulk of the treated population. FACS analysis, DAPI and TUNEL staining …


Understanding Posttraumatic Growth Among Individuals With Cancer: The Role Of Social Support And Unsupportive Interactions, Wendy Balliet Apr 2010

Understanding Posttraumatic Growth Among Individuals With Cancer: The Role Of Social Support And Unsupportive Interactions, Wendy Balliet

Theses and Dissertations

The experience of being diagnosed with and treated for cancer is an extremely stressful experience for most individuals. Historically, the literature on stress and coping has focused on negative outcomes, such as depression and anxiety, in relation to one‘s experience with cancer. Under-represented in the literature has been a theoretical framework that examines positive and transformative experiences that may occur throughout the cancer experience. The current study assessed interpersonal variables that rarely have been investigated in relation to one‘s experience with cancer (i.e., received social support and unsupportive interactions) and their association with depressive symptoms, positive emotion, and posttraumatic growth …


Nursing Home Organizational Characteristics And Utilization Of Cancer-Related Medical Services, Chun-Chieh Lin Jan 2010

Nursing Home Organizational Characteristics And Utilization Of Cancer-Related Medical Services, Chun-Chieh Lin

Theses and Dissertations

Cancer is the second leading cause of death in the U.S and is more common among the elderly. Since frailty and other age related conditions put the elderly at risk for nursing home care, nursing homes may be the site of care and death for many elderly cancer patients. However, there is a large gap in knowledge concerning cancer treatment of elderly nursing home residents. Since residents rely heavily on their nursing facilities, nursing homes might influence them in their treatment decisions. After controlling for resident and nursing home market characteristics, this study applies Andersen’s Behavioral Model to examine whether …