Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Involvement Of Gdap1 In The Regulation Of Mtorc1 Activity In A Drosophila Mliv Model, Kristen Clemons

Dissertations and Theses (Open Access)

The master regulator of metabolism and growth, mechanistic target of rapamycin complex 1 (mTORC1), is responsible for maintaining metabolic homeostasis by sensing nutrient and energy levels within the cell to promote or inhibit translation and autophagy accordingly. In the childhood neurodevelopmental disorder Mucolipidosis type IV (MLIV), mTORC1 activity is decreased. The underlying mechanism for reduced mTORC1 signaling in MLIV is poorly understood. The gene encoding ganglioside-induced differentiation associated protein 1 (GDAP1) is transcriptionally upregulated in MLIV. This project investigated the involvement of GDAP1 in MLIV disease pathology. Using the UAS/GAL4 system in an established MLIV Drosophila model, we …

A Compressed Sensing Approach To Detect Immobilized Nanoparticles Using Superparamagnetic Relaxometry, Sara Thrower

Dissertations and Theses (Open Access)

Superparamagnetic relaxometry (SPMR) is an emerging technology that leverages the unique properties of biologically targeted superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles to detect cancer. The use of ultra-sensitive sensors enables SPMR to detect tumors ten times smaller than current imaging methods. Reconstructing the distribution of cancer-bound nanoparticles from SPMR measurements is challenging because the inverse problem is ill posed. Current methods of source reconstruction rely on prior knowledge of the number of clusters of bound nanoparticles and their approximate locations, which is not known in clinical applications. In this work, we present a novel reconstruction algorithm based on compressed sensing methods that …

Behavioral Insights Into Nociceptor Function: A Systematic Approach To Understanding Postsurgical And Neuropathic Pain Mechanisms In Rats, Max Odem

Dissertations and Theses (Open Access)

Postsurgical and neuropathic pain are each clinically common, and often associated with ongoing pain. Ongoing pain has been linked to ongoing activity (OA) in human C-fiber nociceptors. Preclinical studies using rodent neuropathic models have concentrated on allodynia driven by OA generated in non-nociceptive Aβ fibers, but little attention has been paid to postsurgical pain in sham controls or to C-fiber nociceptor OA promoting ongoing pain.

Operant assays that reveal negative motivational and cognitive aspects of voluntary pain-related behavior may be particularly sensitive to pain-related alterations. In the mechanical conflict (MC) test, rodents can freely choose to escape from a brightly …

Targeting Ph Domain Proteins For Cancer Therapy, Zhi Tan

Dissertations and Theses (Open Access)

Targeted therapy has been one of the most promising treatment options for cancer during the past decade. Discoveries of potent and selective small molecule inhibitors are critical to new and promising targeted therapy. Pleckstrin Homology (PH) domain proteins are one of the biggest protein families in the human proteome. However, no drugs have been achieved to the late development stages, let alone getting to the market. Thus, a deeper understanding of this protein family is required and there is an urgent need to develop novel small molecule compounds targeting these proteins.

Studies of PH domains began around two decades ago …

A Role For Epac1 And Epac2 In Nociceptor Hyperexcitability And Chronic Pain After Spinal Cord Injury, Samantha Berkey

Dissertations and Theses (Open Access)

Chronic pain is a major complaint of those living with spinal cord injury (SCI), affecting 65-80% of the SCI population, but the treatment options remain limited or non-existent. The cAMP sensor EPAC has previously been shown to play a key role in chronic inflammatory and neuropathic pain, though the contribution from each of its two main isoforms, EPAC1 and EPAC2, is unclear. Here I test the hypothesis that both EPAC1 and EPAC2 play a key role in the maintenance of persistent nociceptor hyperexcitability and chronic pain after SCI.

Using both a T9 SCI mouse model and a T10 SCI rat …

Adenylyl Cyclase Type 9: Regulation And Cardiac Function, Tanya A. Baldwin, Tanya A. Baldwin

Dissertations and Theses (Open Access)

Abnormalities in cardiac stress signaling underlie a number of cardiovascular diseases (e.g. arrhythmias and heart failure). Cardiac stress signaling pathways normally integrate signals from the sympathetic nervous system to promote efficient contraction and relaxation under stress. Sympathetic control through β-adrenergic stimulation is propagated by adenylyl cyclase (AC). AC synthesizes cyclic AMP (cAMP), an important second messenger that initiates signaling pathways to modulate physiological and pathophysiological functions of the heart, including the activation of PKA and subsequent phosphorylation of ion channels, contractile machinery, and stress response proteins that enhance cardiac function. Alterations of cAMP signaling occur in the failing heart and …

3d Scintillator Detector Quenching Characterization For Scanning Proton Beams, Fahed Alsanea

Dissertations and Theses (Open Access)

Proton pencil beam scanning is becoming the standard treatment delivery technique for proton therapy centers. Scanned proton pencil beams provide a highly conformal dose distribution. The complex dose distribution poses challenges for quality assurance measurements leading to sophisticated detector setups and time consuming measurements. Fast 3D measurements are therefore desirable to verify the complex dose distribution and to enable the utilization of the full potential of proton therapy. The overall objective of this project is to improve volumetric scintillators detectors to provide 3D measurements for applications for beam commissioning, quality assurance program, and patient-specific treatment delivery verification.

Detectors based on …

Integrative Bioinformatics Approaches To Elucidating Prostate Cancer Cell Heterogeneity, Plasticity, And Treatment Response, Hsueh-Ping Chao

Dissertations and Theses (Open Access)

Prostate cancer (PCa) is the most common non-cutaneous tumor in American men, and the second leading cause of cancer-related deaths. PCa-related deaths can be attributed to heterogeneous tumors containing metastatic and therapy-resistant cancer cells. Cancer stem cells (CSC) are an important contributor to this tumor heterogeneity, which are present in primary tumors and become enriched in castration resistant PCa (CRPC). Our lab has demonstrated that the prostate cancer stem cells (PCSCs) are enriched in the phenotypically undifferentiated PCa cell population that lacks the expression of differentiation marker prostate-specific antigen (PSA). Our work has also demonstrated that PCa cells manifest significant …

Investigation Of Novel Virulence Mechanisms In Candida Albicans, Elisa Marie Tafoya Vesely

Dissertations and Theses (Open Access)

Candida albicans is the most important fungal species associated with humans. Normally present in the human microbiome as a commensal colonizer, C. albicans is also the fourth most prevalent organism isolated from bloodstream infections in hospitals. Disseminated infections have an associated mortality rate of around 40%. The results of the work described in this dissertation cover the broad subject of C. albicans adaptation to the host and the mechanisms by which this organism is able to survive and cause infection through a variety of means. A key determinant in disease progression is interaction with innate immune cells, specifically macrophages and …

Il-1Α Blockade Reduces Immune Suppression In The Early Tumor Micro-Environment, Brenda Melendez

Dissertations and Theses (Open Access)

IL-1α Blockade Reduces Immune Suppression in the Early Tumor Micro-Environment

Brenda Melendez, B.S.

Advisory Professor: Gregory Lizee, PhD.

Immunotherapy against melanoma has shown great promise in the clinic for treating advanced-stage patients. However, a major barrier against effective T cell mediated cytotoxicity is immunosuppression in the tumor micro-environment. It has been described that tumors secrete pro-inflammatory cytokines capable of modulating immune responses that favors the growth of tumor cells. Specifically, IL-1 plays a critical role in myeloid cell recruitment and activation, which can in turn inhibit T cell activity in vivo. Moreover, IL-1 is also known to up-regulate immune inhibitory …

Heme Peroxidase Hpx-2 Protects Caenorhabditis Elegans From Pathogens, Yi Liu

Dissertations and Theses (Open Access)

Heme-containing peroxidases are important components of innate immunity. Many of them functionally associate with NADPH oxidase (NOX)/dual oxidase (DUOX) enzymes by using the hydrogen peroxide they generate in downstream reactions. In Caenorhabditis elegans, a ShkT-containing peroxidase, SKPO-1, and the dual oxidase, BLI-3, contribute to resistance against the human pathogen Enterococcus faecalis, likely functioning in conjunction with each other. However, the exact mechanism(s) by which peroxidases and NOX/DUOXs contribute to pathogen resistance remain unclear. Here, we demonstrated that another peroxidase, HPX-2 (Heme-PeroXidase 2), is required for resistance against some, but not all pathogens. Tissue specific …

Scientific Proceedings Of The Texas Children’S Hospital’S 17th Session Of The Advanced Quality Improvement And Patient Safety Program, Arjun M. Dangre Bds Mph, Kelly Wallin Ms Rn Chse, Gertrude A. Leidich Mba, Rn, Angelo P. Giardino Md, Phd

Journal of Nursing & Interprofessional Leadership in Quality & Safety

The Texas Children’s Hospital’s Advanced Quality Improvement and Patient Safety (AQI) Program is a six month mixed didactic and experiential learning experience designed to improve patient care, lower costs, change the culture, and develop quality leaders. As a part of AQI program participants are grouped into teams and each team completes a healthcare related Quality Improvement (QI) project. Each project demonstrates use of various QI tools including process maps, fishbone diagrams, and key driver diagrams. The projects use ‘Model for Improvement’ as the primary QI methodology to achieve their aim. Three or more Plan-do-study-act (PDSA) cycles are required for each …

Scientific Proceedings Of The Texas Children’S Hospital’S 16th Session Of The Advanced Quality Improvement And Patient Safety Program, Arjun M. Dangre Bds, Mph, Kelly Wallin Ms, Rn, Chse, Gertrude A. Leidich Mba, Rn, Angelo P. Giardino Md, Phd

Journal of Nursing & Interprofessional Leadership in Quality & Safety

The Texas Children’s Hospital’s Advanced Quality Improvement and Patient Safety (AQI) Program is a six month mixed didactic and experiential learning experience designed to improve patient care, lower costs, change the culture, and develop quality leaders. As a part of AQI program participants are grouped into teams and each team completes a healthcare related Quality Improvement (QI) project. Each project demonstrates use of various QI tools including process maps, fishbone diagrams, and key driver diagrams. The projects use the IHI ‘Model for Improvement’ as the primary QI methodology to achieve their aim. Three or more Plan-do-study-act (PDSA) cycles are required …

Effects Of A Community Population Health Initiative On Blood Pressure Control In Latinos, James R Langabeer, Timothy D Henry, Carlos Perez Aldana, Larissa Deluna, Nora Silva, Tiffany Champagne-Langabeer

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Background Hypertension remains one of the most important, modifiable cardiovascular risk factors. Yet, the largest minority ethnic group (Hispanics/Latinos) often have different health outcomes and behavior, making hypertension management more difficult. We explored the effects of an American Heart Association-sponsored population health intervention aimed at modifying behavior of Latinos living in Texas. Methods and Results We enrolled 8071 patients, and 5714 (65.7%) completed the 90-day program (58.5 years ±11.7; 59% female) from July 2016 to June 2018. Navigators identified patients with risk factors; initial and final blood pressure ( BP ) readings were performed in the physician's office; and interim …

Evidence-Based Skin Champion Program Reduces Pressure Injuries In A Pediatric Hospital, Alexandra Luton Mn, Rn, Ncns-Bc, Mary D. Gordon Phd, Rn, Cns-Bc, Megnon Stewart Msn, Rn, Ellena Steward-Scott Msn, Rn, Joellan Mullen Msn, Rn, Ccrn-K, Angela Jones Mn, Rn, Ne-Bc, Joseph Hagan Scd

Journal of Nursing & Interprofessional Leadership in Quality & Safety

Prevention of pressure injuries (PIs) in pediatric patients is an important nurse-sensitive quality goal. The PI rate at a large urban pediatric hospital triggered a call to action by the Chief Nursing Officer to establish a Hospital Acquired PI (HAPI) Task Force which identified the Skin Champion program as a key improvement strategy. The goals of the Skin Champion program are to lower the rate of HAPIs, empower front line care providers to implement evidence-based care bundles, achieve consistency of practice, and provide resource availability at the point of care. The implementation of the Skin Champion quality improvement program achieved …

Exome Sequencing Identifies Gene Variants And Networks Associated With Extreme Respiratory Outcomes Following Preterm Birth, Aaron Hamvas, Rui Feng, Yingtao Bi, Fan Wang, Soumyaroop Bhattacharya, Jared Mereness, Madhurima Kaushal, C Michael Cotten, Philip L Ballard, Thomas J Mariani

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

BACKGROUND: Previous studies have identified genetic variants associated with bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD) in extremely preterm infants. However, findings with genome-wide significance have been rare, and not replicated. We hypothesized that whole exome sequencing (WES) of premature subjects with extremely divergent phenotypic outcomes could facilitate the identification of genetic variants or gene networks contributing disease risk.

RESULTS: The Prematurity and Respiratory Outcomes Program (PROP) recruited a cohort of > 765 extremely preterm infants for the identification of markers of respiratory morbidity. We completed WES on 146 PROP subjects (85 affected, 61 unaffected) representing extreme phenotypes of early respiratory morbidity. We tested for …

Effect Of Aspirin On All-Cause Mortality In The Healthy Elderly, John J Mcneil, Mark R Nelson, Robyn L Woods, Jessica E Lockery, Rory Wolfe, Christopher M Reid, Brenda Kirpach, Raj C Shah, Diane G Ives, Elsdon Storey, Joanne Ryan, Andrew M Tonkin, Anne B Newman, Jeff D Williamson, Karen L Margolis, Michael E Ernst, Walter P Abhayaratna, Nigel Stocks, Sharyn M Fitzgerald, Suzanne G Orchard, Ruth E Trevaks, Lawrence J Beilin, Geoffrey A Donnan, Peter Gibbs, Colin I Johnston, Barbara Radziszewska, Richard Grimm, Anne M Murray

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

BACKGROUND: In the primary analysis of the Aspirin in Reducing Events in the Elderly (ASPREE) trial, now published in the Journal, we report that the daily use of aspirin did not provide a benefit with regard to the primary end point of disability-free survival among older adults. A numerically higher rate of the secondary end point of death from any cause was observed with aspirin than with placebo.

METHODS: From 2010 through 2014, we enrolled community-dwelling persons in Australia and the United States who were 70 years of age or older (or ≥65 years of age among blacks and Hispanics …

Effect Of Aspirin On Cardiovascular Events And Bleeding In The Healthy Elderly, John J Mcneil, Rory Wolfe, Robyn L Woods, Andrew M Tonkin, Geoffrey A Donnan, Mark R Nelson, Christopher M Reid, Jessica E Lockery, Brenda Kirpach, Elsdon Storey, Raj C Shah, Jeff D Williamson, Karen L Margolis, Michael E Ernst, Walter P Abhayaratna, Nigel Stocks, Sharyn M Fitzgerald, Suzanne G Orchard, Ruth E Trevaks, Lawrence J Beilin, Colin I Johnston, Joanne Ryan, Barbara Radziszewska, Michael Jelinek, Mobin Malik, Charles B Eaton, Donna Brauer, Geoff Cloud, Erica M Wood, Suzanne E Mahady, Suzanne Satterfield, Richard Grimm, Anne M Murray

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

BACKGROUND: Aspirin is a well-established therapy for the secondary prevention of cardiovascular events. However, its role in the primary prevention of cardiovascular disease is unclear, especially in older persons, who have an increased risk.

METHODS: From 2010 through 2014, we enrolled community-dwelling men and women in Australia and the United States who were 70 years of age or older (or ≥65 years of age among blacks and Hispanics in the United States) and did not have cardiovascular disease, dementia, or disability. Participants were randomly assigned to receive 100 mg of enteric-coated aspirin or placebo. The primary end point was a …

Effect Of Aspirin On Disability-Free Survival In The Healthy Elderly, John J Mcneil, Robyn L Woods, Mark R Nelson, Christopher M Reid, Brenda Kirpach, Rory Wolfe, Elsdon Storey, Raj C Shah, Jessica E Lockery, Andrew M Tonkin, Anne B Newman, Jeff D Williamson, Karen L Margolis, Michael E Ernst, Walter P Abhayaratna, Nigel Stocks, Sharyn M Fitzgerald, Suzanne G Orchard, Ruth E Trevaks, Lawrence J Beilin, Geoffrey A Donnan, Peter Gibbs, Colin I Johnston, Joanne Ryan, Barbara Radziszewska, Richard Grimm, Anne M Murray

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

BACKGROUND: Information on the use of aspirin to increase healthy independent life span in older persons is limited. Whether 5 years of daily low-dose aspirin therapy would extend disability-free life in healthy seniors is unclear.

METHODS: From 2010 through 2014, we enrolled community-dwelling persons in Australia and the United States who were 70 years of age or older (or ≥65 years of age among blacks and Hispanics in the United States) and did not have cardiovascular disease, dementia, or physical disability. Participants were randomly assigned to receive 100 mg per day of enteric-coated aspirin or placebo orally. The primary end …

8th Annual Postdoctoral Science Symposium, University Of Texas Md Anderson Cancer Center Postdoctoral Association

Annual Postdoctoral Science Symposium Abstracts

The mission of the Annual Postdoctoral Science Symposium (APSS) is to provide a platform for talented postdoctoral fellows throughout the Texas Medical Center to present their work to a wider audience. The MD Anderson Postdoctoral Association convened its inaugural Annual Postdoctoral Science Symposium (APSS) on August 4, 2011.

The APSS provides a professional venue for postdoctoral scientists to develop, clarify, and refine their research as a result of formal reviews and critiques of faculty and other postdoctoral scientists. Additionally, attendees discuss current research on a broad range of subjects while promoting academic interactions and enrichment and developing new collaborations.

Knockdown Of Crispld2 In Zebrafish Identifies A Novel Network For Nonsyndromic Cleft Lip With Or Without Cleft Palate Candidate Genes, Brett T Chiquet, Qiuping Yuan, Eric C Swindell, Lorena Maili, Robert Plant, Jeffrey Dyke, Ryan Boyer, John F Teichgraeber, Matthew R Greives, John B Mulliken, Ariadne Letra, Susan H Blanton, Jacqueline T Hecht

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Orofacial development is a multifaceted process involving tightly regulated genetic signaling networks, that when perturbed, lead to orofacial abnormalities including cleft lip and/or cleft palate. We and others have shown an association between the cysteine-rich secretory protein LCCL domain containing 2 (CRISPLD2) gene and nonsyndromic cleft lip with or without cleft palate (NSCLP). Further, we demonstrated that knockdown of Crispld2 in zebrafish alters neural crest cell migration patterns resulting in abnormal jaw and palate development. In this study, we performed RNA profiling in zebrafish embryos and identified 249 differentially expressed genes following knockdown of Crispld2. In silico pathway analysis identified …

Comparing Attributional And Relational Similarity As A Means To Identify Clinically Relevant Drug-Gene Relationships, Safa Fathiamini

Dissertations and Theses (Open Access)

In emerging domains, such as precision oncology, knowledge extracted from explicit assertions may be insufficient to identify relationships of interest. One solution to this problem involves drawing inference on the basis of similarity. Computational methods have been developed to estimate the semantic similarity and relatedness between terms and relationships that are distributed across corpora of literature such as Medline abstracts and other forms of human readable text. Most research on distributional similarity has focused on the notion of attributional similarity, which estimates the similarity between entities based on the contexts in which they occur across a large corpus. A relatively …

Ontology-Based Clinical Information Extraction Using Snomed Ct, Jun Li

Dissertations and Theses (Open Access)

Extracting and encoding clinical information captured in unstructured clinical documents with standard medical terminologies is vital to enable secondary use of clinical data from practice. SNOMED CT is the most comprehensive medical ontology with broad types of concepts and detailed relationships and it has been widely used for many clinical applications. However, few studies have investigated the use of SNOMED CT in clinical information extraction.

In this dissertation research, we developed a fine-grained information model based on the SNOMED CT and built novel information extraction systems to recognize clinical entities and identify their relations, as well as to encode them …

An Expanded Toolkit For Gene Tagging Based On Mimic And Scarless Crispr Tagging In, David Li-Kroeger, Oguz Kanca, Pei-Tseng Lee, Sierra Cowan, Michael T Lee, Manish Jaiswal, Jose Luis Salazar, Yuchun He, Zhongyuan Zuo, Hugo J Bellen

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

We generated two new genetic tools to efficiently tag genes in Drosophila. The first, Double Header (DH) utilizes intronic MiMIC/CRIMIC insertions to generate artificial exons for GFP mediated protein trapping or T2A-GAL4 gene trapping in vivo based on Cre recombinase to avoid embryo injections. DH significantly increases integration efficiency compared to previous strategies and faithfully reports the expression pattern of genes and proteins. The second technique targets genes lacking coding introns using a two-step cassette exchange. First, we replace the endogenous gene with an excisable compact dominant marker using CRISPR making a null allele. Second, the insertion is replaced …

Meta-Analysis Of The Incidence And Patterns Of Second Neoplasms After Photon Craniospinal Irradiation In Children With Medulloblastoma, Abhishek Bavle, Sayani Tewari, Amy Sisson, Murali Chintagumpala, Michael Anderson, Arnold C Paulino

Library Staff Publications

BACKGROUND: Second neoplasms (SNs) are a well-established long-term adverse effect of radiation therapy (RT), but there are limited data regarding their incidence and location relative to the radiation field, specific to medulloblastoma (MB) survivors after craniospinal irradiation (CSI).

METHODS: A systematic literature review, per Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses, identified six studies reporting the incidence and locations of SNs for 1,114 patients with MB, after CSI, with a median follow-up of ∼9 years (7.6-15.4 years). The study-specific cumulative incidence (CI) of SNs, second benign neoplasms (SBNs), and second malignant neoplasms (SMNs) were standardized to a 10-year time …

Development And Implementation Of A Homogeneous And A Heterogeneous Anthropomorphic End To End Quality Assurance Audit System Phantom For Magnetic Resonance Guided Radiotherapy Modalities Ranging From 0.35 T To 1.50 T, Angela Steinmann

Dissertations and Theses (Open Access)

Introduction: Magnetic resonance (MR) guided radiation therapy (MRgRT) is an emerging field that integrates an MR imager with either a linear accelerator or three radioactive cobalt-60 sources. Before institutions participate in multi-institutional NCI-sponsored clinical trials, they are required to perform a credentialing test provided by IROC-Houston. During the credentialing test, end-to-end phantoms are used to evaluate the institution’s ability to perform consistent and accurate radiation treatments. IROC-Houston’s conventional anthropomorphic phantoms are not visible in MR, thus they are insufficient for MRgRT systems. The purpose of this work was to create an anthropomorphic thorax and a head and neck (H&N) phantom …

Simvastatin Does Not Sensitize Ibc3 Her2+ Inflammatory Breast Cancer Brain Metastases To Whole Brain Irradiation In An Immunocompromised Mouse Model, Swaminathan Kumar

Dissertations and Theses (Open Access)

Retrospective data analysis suggests that inflammatory breast cancer (IBC) patients who take statins have better locoregional control after radiotherapy than those who do not [23]. Our lab has previously demonstrated that simvastatin radiosensitizes IBC cells in vitro [23], and brain metastases have strong expression of cholesterol-regulation genes compared to lung metastases in vivo [unpublished]. Delaying whole-brain irradiation (WBI) beyond 21 days is insufficient to reduce the incidence of brain metastases (developed by injecting IBC3 cells through the tail vein) in our mouse model because even high rates of cell killing leave substantial cell volume in established metastases [unpublished].

With the …

Development And Commissioning Of An Independent Peer Review System For A Small Animal Irradiator, Mary Peters

Dissertations and Theses (Open Access)

Dosimetry for small animal irradiators lacks the standardization of clinical radiotherapy practice, yet plays a central translational role in human trial design. The purpose of this work was to improve the dosimetric accuracy and consistency of animal studies by developing an independent peer review system to verify dose delivery from animal irradiators. This study focused on the development of a mouse phantom and characterization of the thermoluminescent dosimetry system for a commonly used small animal irradiator.

First, a mouse model and irradiation stand were designed with the purpose of being used in a mailable audit. Two mouse phantoms were machined …

Ischemic Stroke Damage Is Reduced By Inhibition Of Il-6 Signaling With To Cilizumab, Jacob Hudobenko

Dissertations and Theses (Open Access)

Introduction:

Stroke is the leading cause of serious long-term disability and is the 5^th leading cause of death causing approximately 130,000 deaths in the United States every year {1}. Stroke is also the 2^nd leading cause of death in American women {2}. Women are 33% more likely to require nursing home care then men, have a higher lifetime risk of stroke and are 13% less likely to receive thrombolytic (clot busting) treatment than men {2}. Interleukin 6 (IL-6) is a pro-inflammatory cytokine involved in the regulation of the immune system in multiple disease states such as rheumatoid …

Equipment To Address Infrastructure And Human Resource Challenges For Radiotherapy In Low-Resource Settings, Rachel Mccarroll

Dissertations and Theses (Open Access)

Millions of people in low- and middle- income countries (LMICs) are without access to radiation therapy and as rate of population growth in these regions increase and lifestyle factors which are indicative of cancer increase; the cancer burden will only rise. There are a multitude of reasons for lack of access but two themes among them are the lack of access to affordable and reliable teletherapy units and insufficient properly trained staff to deliver high quality care. The purpose of this work was to investigate to two proposed efforts to improve access to radiotherapy in low-resource areas; an upright radiotherapy …