Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Putting A Face To Cancer, Lenn Robbins

Capstones

About one month after I began my studies at the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism, I was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer, Langerhans Cell Histiocytosis (LCH). Three years and three relapses later, I have my MA, I defiant will to fight this disease and the hope that by chronicling my experience I might help others. If this project helps just one person, it's been worth the ride.

https://lennrobbins.wixsite.com/facetocancer

Rare Malignant Peritoneum Mesothelioma Masquerading With Respiratory Manifestation, Ravish Patel, Pratikkumar Vekaria, Devin Vaishnani, Johnnie Mao, Chandrika Raiyani, Marvin Vaishnani, Tejas Raiyani

Internal Medicine

Mesothelioma is a rare and aggressive cancer that affects the linings of the pleura, peritoneum and pericardium. Pleural involvement is however most common. Malignant Peritoneal mesothelioma (MPM) is a cancer developing in the lining of the peritoneum, which is extremely rare. Most MPM cases are caused by asbestos exposure. Common symptoms of MPM include abdominal distension, abdominal pain, swelling or tenderness and constipation or diarrhea, with most common being abdominal swelling. MPM is difficult to diagnose due to its vague, nonspecific symptoms.

Choking On Adenocarcinoma, Andre Sahakian Md, Rajesh Gulati Md

Internal Medicine

No abstract provided.

Nivolumab Induced Myasthenia Gravis, Elizabeth Henderson Md, Imad Ikhawn Md, Dharti R. Patel Md, Monicka Felix

Internal Medicine

No abstract provided.

1,25-Dihydroxyvitamin D Mediated Hypercalcemia As An Initial Presentation In A Patient With Undiagnosed B-Cell Non-Hodgkin’S Lymphoma, Ranjit Banwait Md, Jawad Noor Md, Jing He Md, Xiaolong Liu Md, Liang Sun Md

Internal Medicine

In non-Hodgkin's lymphoma the findings of hypercalcemia as an initial presentation is extremely rare (<3% of cases). Here we report a 67 year-old man who presented with ST changes secondary to hypercalcemia in the setting of B-cell lymphoma.

The Role Of Kidney Injury Molecule-1 In The Metastasis Of Renal Cell Carcinoma, Jasper Lee

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Over 30% of patients with renal cell carcinoma (RCC) present with metastases, with median survival of 2 years. Kidney injury molecule 1 (KIM-1) is a cell-surface glycoprotein expressed by >90% of RCC tumours. Preliminary data mined from The Cancer Genome Atlas RNA-sequencing database indicates that KIM-1 overexpression predicts overall survival in patients. Here we sought to determine if tumour KIM-1 plays a role in RCC cell extravasation and metastasis to the lungs. In vitro invasion and in vivo metastasis assays were performed to investigate the metastatic potential of KIM-1-expressing cells, and RNA-seq was conducted to identify differentially expressed genes between …

Retrospective Evaluation Of Weight Loss In Maine Medical Center Cancer Institute (Mmcci) Patients Receiving Radiation Treatment For Head And Neck Cancer, Julian Johnson, David Debartolo-Stone, Jessica Moore, Ruth Hanselman, Stephen Tyzik, Suneela Nayak, Amy Sparks

Operational Transformation

Treatment for head and neck cancer often results in weight loss as a side effect. One option to mitigate this weight loss is placement of a percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy (PEG) tube placement. Radiation oncologists at a academic tertiary medical center discuss the option of PEG placement during patient consultation.

A retrospective evaluation of weight loss in patients receiving radiation was conducted over a two-year period. The goal of this data collection was to create a standard for oncology consultations regarding PEG tube placement.

Baseline metrics and a root cause analysis drove subsequent data collection steps. After analyzing the raw data, …

A Technique For Approximating Transition Rates From Published Survival Analyses, Markian A. Pahuta, Joel Werier, Eugene K. Wai, Roy A. Patchell, Doug Coyle

Neurology Faculty Publications

Background: Quality-adjusted-life-years (QALYs) are used to concurrently quantify morbidity and mortality within a single parameter. For this reason, QALYs can facilitate the discussion of risks and benefits during patient counseling regarding treatment options. QALYs are often calculated using partitioned-survival modelling. Alternatively, QALYs can be calculated using more flexible and informative state-transition models populated with transition rates estimated using multistate modelling (MSM) techniques. Unfortunately the latter approach is considered not possible when only progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) analyses are reported.

Methods: We have developed a method that can be used to estimate approximate transition rates from published PFS …

Investigation Of Precise Molecular Mechanistic Action Of Tobacco-Associated Carcinogen ‘Nnk’ Induced Carcinogenesis: A System Biology Approach, Ad Anukriti, Anupam Dhasmana, Swati Uniyal, Pallavi Somvanshi, Uma Bhardwaj, Meenu Gupta, Shafiul Haque, Mohtashim Lohani, Dhruv Kumar, Janne Ruokolainen, Kavindra Kumar Kesari

School of Medicine Publications and Presentations

Cancer is the second deadliest disease listed by the WHO. One of the major causes of cancer disease is tobacco and consumption possibly due to its main component, 4-(methylnitrosamino)-1-(3-pyridyl)-1-butanone (NNK). A plethora of studies have been conducted in the past aiming to decipher the association of NNK with other diseases. However, it is strongly linked with cancer development. Despite these studies, a clear molecular mechanism and the impact of NNK on various system-level networks is not known. In the present study, system biology tools were employed to understand the key regulatory mechanisms and the perturbations that will happen in the …

Caspases And Cancer: Connections Through Circular Dichroism Spectroscopy, Sarah M. Hethcox

Honors College Theses

While excessive cell death inevitably leads to negative effects, the endurance of damaged cells in the presence of death signals can be equally detrimental to health. Apoptosis, or programmed cell death, is a highly regulated process in which cues from within or from outside a cell can trigger an irreversible sequence of signals that carry out cell destruction known as the apoptotic cascade. A group of enzymes called caspases play a vital role in this cascade with some participating as initiators and others acting as effectors of protein cleavage and intracellular breakdown. Although it is normal for the activity of …

Prevention Of Oral Mucositis In Cancer Patients, Patricia E. Biel

Evidence-Based Practice Project Reports

Oral mucositis [OM] is one of the most severe non-hematological problems related to cancer treatments and can impact quality of life. It is linked to poorer outcomes due to the associated weight loss, pain, dehydration, and risk of developing life-threatening infections. The purpose of this evidence-based practice project was to determine if OM is preventable with the use of an oral care protocol and zinc supplementation when compared to use of oral care protocols alone. The Johns Hopkins Nursing Evidence-Based Practice Model was used to guide project implementation in an outpatient oncology office. Recommendations were developed from an exhaustive review …

Abstracts From The 25th Annual Health Care Systems Research Network Conference, April 8–10, 2019, Portland, Oregon

Journal of Patient-Centered Research and Reviews

The Health Care Systems Research Network (HCSRN) is made up of nonprofit health systems with embedded research departments whose scientists are dedicated to public domain research. The network’s annual conference serves as a forum for research teams to disseminate study findings, stimulate new collaborations, and share insights about conducting research in real-world care settings. Abstracts accepted for presentation at HCSRN 2019 are published in this supplement of Journal of Patient-Centered Research and Reviews, the official scientific journal of the conference.

Health Effects Of A Vegan Diet And Pediatric Cancer Prevention, Lindsay Wisehart

Senior Honors Theses

Veganism is a diet which excludes consumption of all animal products. With proper planning and vitamin supplementation to ensure adequate intake of protein, fat, calcium, zinc, iron, and vitamins D and B12, a vegan diet is widely accepted as suitable for growing and developing children. The decreased levels of dairy, red and processed meats, fat, and protein, and increased levels of fruits and vegetables characteristic of a vegan diet have been shown to reduce risk of mortality and a number of diseases including adult and childhood cancer. Childhood cancer is the second leading cause of childhood death in Western society. …

Extracellular Vesicles From Thyroid Carcinoma: The New Frontier Of Liquid Biopsy, Germana Rappa, Caterina Puglisi, Mark F. Santos, Stefano Forte, Lorenzo Memeo, Aurelio Lorico

College of Osteopathic Medicine (TUN) Publications and Research

The diagnostic approach to thyroid cancer is one of the most challenging issues in oncology of the endocrine system because of its high incidence (3.8% of all new cancer cases in the US) and the difficulty to distinguish benign from malignant non-functional thyroid nodules and establish the cervical lymph node involvement during staging. Routine diagnosis of thyroid nodules usually relies on a fine-needle aspirate biopsy, which is invasive and often inaccurate. Therefore, there is an urgent need to identify novel, accurate, and non-invasive diagnostic procedures. Liquid biopsy, as a non-invasive approach for the detection of diagnostic biomarkers for early tumor …

Cellular Senescence And Their Role In Liver Metabolism In Health And Disease: Overview And Future Directions, Matthew Schade, Jacqueline A. Sanabria, Rodrigo Aguilar, Milad Modarresi, Brad Gillon, Zach Hunter, Jacqueline Fannin, Amrita Mallick, Henri Brunengraber, Juan Sanabria

Juan R. Sanabria

Chronic liver disease has globally risen mainly due to a prevalent Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) infection rate and an epidemic of obesity. It is estimated by the year 2030, 2.2 billion people around the world will be overweight and 1.1 billion people will be obese. Diabetes and obesity are the main risk factors for the development of the metabolic syndrome and in the liver of Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease (NAFLD) which could progress to NASH related cirrhosis and liver malignancy. At present there is not effective therapy for NASH besides loss of weight and exercise. Furthermore, optimal management of HCC …

Using Fundamental Properties Of Light To Investigate Photonic Effects In Condensed Matter And Biological Tissues, Laura A. Sordillo

Dissertations and Theses

Light possesses characteristics such as polarization, wavelength and coherence. The interaction of light and matter, whether in a semiconductor or in a biological sample, can reveal important information about the internal properties of a system. My thesis focuses on two areas: photocarriers in gallium arsenide and biomedical optics. Varying the excitation wavelength can be used to study both biological tissue and condensed matter. I altered the excitation wavelengths to be in the longer near-infrared (NIR) optical windows, in the shortwave infrared (SWIR) range, a wavelength region previously thought to be unusable for medical imaging. With this method, I acquired high …

A 3d Bioprinter Platform For Mechanistic Analysis Of Tumoroids And Chimeric Mammary Organoids, John A. Reid, Xavier-Lewis Palmer, Peter A. Mollica, Nicole Northam, Patrick C. Sachs, Robert D. Bruno

Medical Diagnostics & Translational Sciences Faculty Publications

The normal mammary microenvironment can suppress tumorigenesis and redirect cancer cells to adopt a normal mammary epithelial cell fate in vivo. Understanding of this phenomenon offers great promise for novel treatment and detection strategies in cancer, but current model systems make mechanistic insights into the process difficult. We have recently described a low-cost bioprinting platform designed to be accessible for basic cell biology laboratories. Here we report the use of this system for the study of tumorigenesis and microenvironmental redirection of breast cancer cells. We show our bioprinter significantly increases tumoroid formation in 3D collagen gels and allows for precise …