Digital Commons Network^™

Saying Goodbye To Grandma, Courtney A. Brown

Comparative Woman

No abstract provided.

Implantable Biomaterials To Provide Local Immunotherapy Following Surgical Resection., Michael J Gough, Jason R Baird, R Bryan Bell

Articles, Abstracts, and Reports

No abstract provided.

Intimate Moments: Dispelling The Cancer Myth With Real Life - Summer Rain By Nanna Hauge Kristensen., Sophie Townsend

RadioDoc Review

Nanna Hauge Kristensen’s Summer Rain is a small piece in length and in scope. It is intimate, almost fragmentary. It is simply a story of a woman, who is a mother, and a daughter, and who has cancer; a woman undergoing treatment, and raising her child, and dealing with the ramifications of what cancer treatment means. An anthropologist by training, Kristensen’s observational, almost distanced approach style, allows us to glimpse her life, but also to feel it. There is something very empirical about what she’s doing in this piece, and she allows us no room to pretend that her cancer …

The Splice Is Not Right: Splice-Site-Creating Mutations In Cancer Genomes, Reyka Glencora Jayasinghe

Arts & Sciences Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Accurate interpretation of cancer mutations in individual tumors is a prerequisite for precision medicine. Large-scale sequencing studies, such as The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) project, have worked to address the functional consequences of genomic mutations, with the larger goal of determining the underlying mechanisms of cancer initiation and progression. Many studies have focused on characterizing non-synonymous somatic mutations that alter amino acid sequence, as well as splice disrupting mutations at splice donors and acceptors. Current annotation methods typically classify mutations as disruptors of splicing if they fall on the consensus intronic dinucleotide splice donor, GT, the splice acceptor, AG. Splice …

Lucky Little Things, Karen Abbott

Children's Book and Media Review

Emma is struggling with the death of her mother's best friend, who was a second mother to her and a bringer of magic into her life. This particular morning, however, there is a letter waiting under the door with Emma's name on it. The letter holds a magical promise: ten small wishes that Emma writes down will come true as long as she doesn't tell another living human. The letter starts Emma on a road of adventure as she wonders who it came from and what luck really is. When Emma finds out who sent the first letter and the …

Regulation Of Canonical And Non-Canonical Hippo Pathway Components In Mitosis And Cancer, Seth Stauffer

Theses & Dissertations

The Hippo pathway is conserved regulator of organ size through control of proliferation, apoptosis, and stem-cell self-renewal. In addition to this important function, many of the canonical signaling members have also been shown to be regulated during mitosis. Importantly, Hippo pathway components are frequently dysregulated in cancers and have attracted attention as possible targets for improved cancer therapeutics. Further exploration of Hippo-YAP (yes-associated protein) signaling has revealed new regulators and effectors outside the canonical signaling network and has revealed a larger non-canonical network of signaling proteins in which canonical Hippo pathway components crosstalk with important cellular homeostasis and apoptosis signaling …

The Drug Discovery Of Potential Anti-Cancer Agents To Inhibit The Demethylation Catalytic Activity Of The Jmjc Domain Of Kdm3a, Balgees Alshanqeti

Electronic Theses & Dissertations

Lysine demethylase 3A (KDM3A) is an enzyme that specifically catalyzes the removal of 2 or three methyl groups from lysine 9 of histone 3 (KH3). It belongs to the family of histone demethylases that contain the Jumonji C (JmjC) domain, which means cruciform in Japanese. KDM3A also belongs to a family of hydroxylases that are alpha-ketoglutarate dependent. The role of KDM3A in the cell is not yet understood, however, and based on its demethylation of studies have showed that its expression is elevated in embryonic stem cells in humans and in mice. In general, patterns of elevated expression of KDM3A …

In Silico Development Of An Rna Aptamer Library To Be Use For The Selection Of Rna Aptamer That Target Biomolecules, Nehad Nawfawi

Electronic Theses & Dissertations

The systematic evolution of ligands by exponential enrichment (SELEX) is a powerful method for the development of high affinity RNA ligands toward and infinite array of target molecules. SELEX is based upon the generation of a randomized population of RNA or DNA molecules followed by a target molecule that selects high affinity ligands from the randomized population followed by the subsequent amplification of the selected molecules. The procedure of selection and amplification is typically carried out through multiple cycles to insure that the identified ligands exhibits the highest affinity toward the target. The procedure is very time- consuming often taking …

All The Ways The World Can End, Shelby Bunker

Children's Book and Media Review

All the Ways the World Can End by Abby Sher is the emotional story of a girl who has many phobias, including the cancer that is killing her father. As Eleanor battles her fears and fights for her father’s life, she tries to find love, makes mistakes, and ultimately discovers herself. True friends, family, and her own determination keep her afloat in this scary world.

From Ant To Eagle, Taylor Harris

Children's Book and Media Review

After moving to what seems like the middle of nowhere, Cal is stuck with no one to play with except his six-year-old brother, Sammy. He can get Sammy to do almost anything by promising him a level in the system that he made up, promoting his brother from Ant to higher levels, with Sammy hoping to reach the Eagle status that his brother has. When a new girl, Aleta, moves in, Cal starts spending more time with her and less time with Sammy. Meanwhile, Sammy starts getting sick. Once school starts, they find out that Sammy has cancer. After that, …

Perilymphatic Irx-2 Cytokine Therapy To Enhance Tumor Infiltrating Lymphocytes And Pd-L1 Expression Preceding Curative-Intent Therapy In Early Stage Breast Cancer, Joanna Pucilowska, Venkatesh Rajamanickam, Katherine Sanchez, Valerie Conrad, Alison Conlin, Shagheyegh Aliabadi-Wahle, Shu-Ching Chang, Gary Grunkemeier, Nikki Moxon, Staci Mellinger, Maritza Martel, James Egan, Monil Shah, David B Page

Books, Presentations, Posters, Etc.

Background: Cytokines are being explored as a therapeutic strategy to modulate the tumor microenvironment and facilitate immunotherapy benefit in breast cancer. Here, we investigate a locoregional therapeutic approach whereby cytokines (IRX-2) are administered into the subcutaneous peri-areolar tissue (in an anatomic distribution similar to sentinel lymph node mapping) to facilitate immune cell recruitment/activation within the draining lymph nodes and tumor in ESBC. IRX-2 is derived from ex vivo phytohemagglutinin-stimulated lymphocytes and contains multiple cytokines including IL-1β, IL-2, TNF-α, IFN-γ, IL-6, IL-8, and GM-CSF, with stable concentrations from lot to lot. Preclinically, IRX-2 activates T-cells and natural killer (NK) cells, facilitates …

Updated Efficacy Of First Or Second-Line Pembrolizumab Plus In Metastatic Triple Negative Breast Cancer And Correlations With Baseline Lymphocyte And Naïve Cd4+ T-Cell Count, David Page, Joanna Pucilowska, Laura Bennetts, I Kim, Katherine Sanchez, Maritza Martel, Alison Conlin, Nikki Moxon, Staci Mellinger, Anupama Acheson, K Kemmer, Z Mitri, J Vuky, J Ahn, C Abaya, T Manigault, R Basho, Walter Urba, Hl Mcarthur

Books, Presentations, Posters, Etc.

Background: In mTNBC, anti-PD-1/L1 monotherapy is most effective when administered early in the course of disease, with recent trials demonstrating overall response rates (ORR) of 23-26% in the first-line setting and 5-6% in later lines. This may reflect iatrogenic lymphopenia from preceding cytotoxic chemotherapy. Furthermore, curative-intent chemotherapy is associated with prolonged suppression of naïve CD4+ cells, a T-cell subset that may play a critical role in the generation of de novo anti-tumor immune responses. We present the final clinical results of a pilot study evaluating the safety and efficacy of combining pembrolizumab plus standard-of-care capecitabine in the first/second-line mTNBC …

Targeting The Brd4/Foxo3a/Cdk6 Axis Sensitizes Akt Inhibition In Luminal Breast Cancer, Jingyi Liu, Weijie Guo, Zhibing Duan, Lei Zeng, Yadi Wu, Yule Chen, Fang Tai, Yifan Wang, Yiwei Lin, Qiang Zhang, Yanling He, Jiong Deng, Rachel L. Stewart, Chi Wang, Pengnian Charles Lin, Saghi Ghaffari, B. Mark Evers, Suling Liu, Ming-Ming Zhou, Binhua P. Zhou, Jian Shi

Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry Faculty Publications

BRD4 assembles transcriptional machinery at gene super-enhancer regions and governs the expression of genes that are critical for cancer progression. However, it remains unclear whether BRD4-mediated gene transcription is required for tumor cells to develop drug resistance. Our data show that prolonged treatment of luminal breast cancer cells with AKT inhibitors induces FOXO3a dephosphorylation, nuclear translocation, and disrupts its association with SirT6, eventually leading to FOXO3a acetylation as well as BRD4 recognition. Acetylated FOXO3a recognizes the BD2 domain of BRD4, recruits the BRD4/RNAPII complex to the CDK6 gene promoter, and induces its transcription. Pharmacological inhibition of either BRD4/FOXO3a association or …

Polycomb Complexes Associate With Enhancers To Regulate Oncogenic Pathways In Cancer, Ho Lam (Candy) Chan

Open Access Dissertations

The Polycomb repressive complexes play diverse and essential roles in cell fate decisions, embryonic development, stem cell pluripotency, and gene regulation. There are two main Polycomb complexes in mammalian cells, Polycomb Repressive Complex 1 and 2 (PRC1 and PRC2). PRC1 can be further subdivided into canonical and non-canonical complexes depending on its composition (cPRC1 and ncPRC1). Historically, Polycomb complexes have been mostly associated with maintaining gene repression carried out by its histone-modifying and chromatin-remodeling capabilities. Specifically, PRC1 can catalyze mono-ubiquitination of histone H2A on lysine 119 while PRC2 trimethylates histone H3 on lysine 27. Both these histone marks are associated …

The Impact Of Mental Health On Cancer Preventative Screenings, Chelsea Edirisuriya, Amy Leader, Phd

Phase 1

Among the mental health population of the United States, overall preventative health services, such as cancer screening rates, are remarkably low. Additionally, there is a significant 30% higher mortality rate due to cancer in psychiatric patients. This project established if there are disparities in cancer screening rates between the general population and the mental health population of Southeastern Pennsylvania. The project analyzed and compared the differences in cancer screenings for colorectal, breast, and cervical cancer among those currently diagnosed with a mental condition and the general population. Through p-value and Pearson chi-square statistical analysis of the Community Health Data Base …

High-Throughput Polygenic Biomarker Discovery Using Condition-Specific Gene Coexpression Networks, William Louis Poehlman

All Dissertations

Biomarkers can be described as molecular signatures that are associated with a trait or disease. RNA expression data facilitates discovery of biomarkers underlying complex phenotypes because it can capture dynamic biochemical processes that are regulated in tissue-specific and time-specific manners. Gene Coexpression Network (GCN) analysis is a method that utilizes RNA expression data to identify binary gene relationships across experimental conditions. Using a novel GCN construction algorithm, Knowledge Independent Network Construction (KINC), I provide evidence for novel polygenic biomarkers in both plant and animal use cases.

Kidney cancer is comprised of several distinct subtypes that demonstrate unique histological and molecular …

Harnessing The Physical Properties Of Zno Nanoparticles For Biological Applications And Factors That Impact Zno Nanoparticle Toxicity, Joshua Eixenberger

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

The production of materials at the nanoscale leads to novel properties and has made the field of nanotechnology a part of everyday life. Numerous applications of nanomaterials have led to their use in electronics, optics, and medicine. However, creating materials at such a small size brings them on the same scale as many biomolecules and cellular components, altering their interactions with biological systems. This can lead to unintended biological impacts as many nanomaterials are considerably more toxic than their bulk counterpart material. ZnO nanoparticles (nZnO) are particularly interesting in this context. The FDA classifies ZnO as a generally recognized as …

Ph-Induced Folding Of The Caspase-Cleaved Par-4 Tumor Suppressor: Evidence Of Structure Outside Of The Coiled Coil Domain, Andrea M. Clark, Komala Ponniah, Meghan S. Warden, Emily M. Raitt, Andrea C. Yawn, Stephen M. Pascal

Chemistry & Biochemistry Faculty Publications

Prostate apoptosis response-4 (Par-4) is a 38 kDa largely intrinsically disordered tumor suppressor protein that functions in cancer cell apoptosis. Par-4 down-regulation is often observed in cancer while up-regulation is characteristic of neurodegenerative conditions such as Alzheimer’s disease. Cleavage of Par-4 by caspase-3 activates tumor suppression via formation of an approximately 25 kDa fragment (cl-Par-4) that enters the nucleus and inhibits Bcl-2 and NF-ƙB, which function in pro-survival pathways. Here, we have investigated the structure of cl-Par-4 using biophysical techniques including circular dichroism (CD) spectroscopy, dynamic light scattering (DLS), and intrinsic tyrosine fluorescence. The results demonstrate pH-dependent folding of cl-Par-4, …

Roles Of Cytosolic Nucleic Acid Sensors In Cancer And Infection, Qifan Zhu

Theses and Dissertations (ETD)

Pattern recognition receptors are innate immune sensors that recognize pathogen-associated molecular patterns (PAMPs) and danger-associated molecular patterns (DAMPs) with crucial roles in host defense against microbial infection, autoimmune diseases and cancer. Cytosolic nucleic acids including DNA and RNA originate from pathogens or self-cells, which form major groups of PAMPs and DAMPs. A range of nucleic acid sensors have evolved to sense various types of nucleic acids. How different DNA-sensing pathways regulate microbial infection and cancer is the focus of this dissertation.

Stimulator of IFN genes (STING) is a cytosolic innate immune sensor for cyclic dinucleotides that also serves a dual …

Impedance Sensing Of Cancer Cells Directly On Sensory Bioscaffolds Of Bioceramics Nanofibers, Hanan Alismail

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Cancer cell research has been growing for decades. In the field of cancer pathology, there is an increasing and long-unmet need to develop a new technology for low-cost, rapid, sensitive, selective, label-free (i.e. direct), simple and reliable screening, diagnosis, and monitoring of live cancer and normal cells in same shape and size from the same anatomic region. For the first time on using an impedance signal, the breast cancer and normal cells have been thus screened, diagnosed and monitored on a smart bioscaffold of entangled nanowires of bioceramics titanate grown directly on the surface of implantable Ti-metal and characterized by …

Self-Compassion And Physical Health-Related Quality Of Life In Cancer: Mediating Effects Of Control Beliefs And Treatment Adherence, Morgan Treaster

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Among the 14 million persons living in the United States with current or remitted cancer, poor physical health-related quality of life (HRQL) is a significant concern. However, self-compassion (i.e., common humanity, mindfulness, self-kindness) may be a protective factor, either directly or indirectly, by allowing for a sense of empowerment and control over illness, and in turn, facilitating engagement in treatment and positive perceptions of health. Serial mediation analyses among persons living with current (n = 67) or remitted (n = 168) cancer lend support for a positive, direct association between self-compassion and physical HRQL, as well as indirect effects via …

Characterization Of Cancer Incidence In Chronic Kidney Disease Patients: A Single Center Study, 2008 – 2018, Jagadeesh Puvvula

Capstone Experience

Background: Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is an established risk factor for cardiovascular disease, but the significance of lower Glomerular filtration rate on incidence and mortality from cancer is uncertain. There is evidence that cancer risk and cancer mortality may be increased in individuals with End Stage Renal Disease (ESRD) requiring dialysis or after renal transplantation but whether less severe kidney disease is associated with cancer remains poorly understood.

Some studies indicate that these associations do appear to be organ specific. It has been reported that reduced renal function is associated with an increased risk of cancers of the kidney and …

The Role Of Tumor Suppressor Dear1 In The Acquisition Of Mammary Stem/Progenitor Cell Properties, Uyen Le

Dissertations & Theses (Open Access)

Breast cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer in women in America. Ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS), one of the earliest pre-invasive forms of invasive ductal carcinoma (IDC), has a 30-50% risk of progressing to IDC. Understanding the mechanisms regulating progression from DCIS to IDC would help identify biomarkers to stratify patients at higher risk of progression or metastasis. Cumulative literature suggests the earliest phase of dissemination from the primary tumor is driven by the epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) program. DEAR1 is a tumor suppressor gene which is mutated, undergoes loss of heterozygosity in breast cancer, and is downregulated in DCIS …

Targeting The Colchicine Binding Site On Tubulin To Overcome Multidrug Resistance And Anticancer Efficacy Of Selective Survivin Inhibitors, Kinsle E. Arnst

Theses and Dissertations (ETD)

Tubulin inhibitors are widely used as chemotherapeutic agents, and their successis attributed to their ability to target microtubule dynamics and disrupt critical cellular functions including cell signaling, motility, intracellular trafficking, and mitosis. Interference with microtubule dynamics consequently disrupts mitotic progression and ultimately leads to apoptosis, validating microtubule dynamics as an excellent target for anticancer agents. While this class of drug has proven to be effective against many cancer types, the clinical efficacy of current tubulin inhibitors is often limited by the development of multidrug resistance. The most common form of resistance to these agents arises from the overexpression of drug …

An Analysis Of Research Publication On Colorectal Cancer In Asian Countries, Dr Murugan Chinnaraj, Richa Narzary

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

This paper discusses colorectal cancer research output in Asian during 2000- 2017. The data has been downloaded from PubMed databases. A total of 2726 articles were found. Language distribution shows a majority of the papers are published in the English language 2661 (97.61%) irrespective of the native language of the country and those publications were in the form of journal articles i.e. 2225 (81.62%). The authorship pattern indicates the maximum number of papers was published by collaborative work of more than ten authors for which the mean value of Degree of Collaboration is 0.84 indicating the high ratio of collaborative …

West Allis Memorial Hospital Cancer Program Annual Report, 1985, Advocate Aurora Health

Aurora West Allis Medical Center Books, Documents, and Pamphlets

West Allis Memorial Hospital, West Allis, WI: Annual report of the cancer program at West Allis Memorial Hospital for 1985. Includes sections on statistics, support services, education, lung cancer, breast cancer, and colon and rectal cancer.

West Allis Memorial Hospital Cancer Program Annual Report, 1986, Advocate Aurora Health

Aurora West Allis Medical Center Books, Documents, and Pamphlets

West Allis Memorial Hospital, West Allis, WI: Annual report of the cancer program at West Allis Memorial Hospital for 1986. Includes sections on statistics, pathology, radiology, inpatient oncology unit, outpatient oncology clinic, cervical cancer, Patterns of Care Study, and brain cancer.

West Allis Memorial Hospital Cancer Program Annual Report, 1987, Advocate Aurora Health

Aurora West Allis Medical Center Books, Documents, and Pamphlets

West Allis Memorial Hospital, West Allis, WI: Annual report of the cancer program at West Allis Memorial Hospital for 1987. Includes sections on statistics, breast cancer, support services, inpatient oncology unit, outpatient oncology clinic, outpatient surgery, radiation oncology, rehabilitation, and lung cancer.

West Allis Memorial Hospital Cancer Program Annual Report, 1988, Advocate Aurora Health

Aurora West Allis Medical Center Books, Documents, and Pamphlets

West Allis Memorial Hospital, West Allis, WI: Annual report of the cancer program at West Allis Memorial Hospital for 1988. Includes sections on statistics, support services, research, stomach cancer, estrogen and progesterone receptor assays for breast cancer, and MRI.

West Allis Memorial Hospital Cancer Program Annual Report, 1990, Advocate Aurora Health

Aurora West Allis Medical Center Books, Documents, and Pamphlets

West Allis Memorial Hospital, West Allis, WI: Annual report of the cancer program at West Allis Memorial Hospital for 1990. Includes sections on statistics and colorectal cancer.