Translational Medical Research Commons^™

Understanding The Nursing Practices And Perspectives Of Premedication And Transfusion Reaction Reporting: A Qualitative Description Study, Wenxin Miao

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

This qualitative description study is a sub-study of a knowledge translation (KT) project to implement evidence-based blood transfusion practices at an urban tertiary hospital. The goals of the KT project are to reduce the use of pre-transfusion medications (premedication) and to improve transfusion reaction (TR) reporting practices at this institution. This study explored the nursing practices and perspectives of premedication and TR reporting by conducting interviews with 25 nurses. The findings showed a lack of standardized premedication and TR reporting practices at this institution. A practice change is needed to achieve the goals of the KT project. The study also …

Investigating The Mechanisms Of Breast Cancer Metastasis Using Multimodality Molecular Imaging, Katie Parkins

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Introduction: Breast cancer recurrence continues to be a significant challenge in the clinic. Despite successful removal and/or treatment of the original tumour, many patients experience relapse in the breast or at distant sites. Furthermore, the diagnosis of metastatic disease often occurs too late for effective treatment. Methods: In this thesis, we combine iron-based cellular MRI and longitudinal BLI to noninvasively track the fate of cancer cells into overt tumours in the mouse brain. We then apply this imaging model to study the effect of a primary breast tumour on the growth of secondary metastases in an immune competent …

Anaplastic Thyroid Cancer: Identification Of Candidate Therapeutics And Mechanisms Of Disease Progression, Nicole Pinto

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Malignancies derived from follicular cells of the thyroid can be divided into well-differentiated thyroid cancer (WDTC), poorly differentiated thyroid cancer and anaplastic (undifferentiated) thyroid cancer (ATC). While the majority of thyroid cancers are well-differentiated in nature and have an excellent prognosis, ATC is rare, nonresponsive to conventional therapies, and is nearly universally fatal. In this study, I employed high-throughput screening of kinase inhibitors to identify candidate drugs to control ATC and expanded these studies to include a focus on studying the underlying progression from WDTC to ATC. Two compounds, lestaurtinib (JAK2 inhibitor) and flavopiridol (pan-CDK inhibitor) were selected from the …

The Development And Evaluation Of Resources To Improve The Quality Of Care For Patients With Knee Osteoarthritis, Laura K. Churchill

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Purpose: The non-operative management of patients with knee osteoarthritis (OA) is often considered suboptimal. Sub-optimal management includes inadequate use of non-surgical treatments, misuse of diagnostic imaging, and non-operative referrals to surgeons in consideration of total knee replacement (TKR). These inefficiencies result from an interplay of factors involving primary care physicians, patients, and the systems in which they function. The overall purpose of this thesis is to develop a means to optimize the management of patients with knee OA, and the timing and quality of referrals to TKR.

Methods: This thesis includes three studies. In study 1, we identified and cross-validated …