Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Oncolog, Volume 50, Number 12, December 2005, Sunni Hosemann, Diane Witter

OncoLog MD Anderson's Report to Physicians (All issues)

• Moving New Drugs from "Bench to Bedside and Back"
• House Call: When the End Is Near: Ways to Cope When a Loved One Is Terminally Ill
• After Katrina: Caring for Cancer Patients in the Wake of the Storm

Harvest Health: Chronic Disease Self-Management Program For Older African-Americans, Nancy L. Chernett, Laura N. Gitlin

Population Health Matters (Formerly Health Policy Newsletter)

No abstract available.

Short- And Long-Term Cause-Specific Survival Of Patients With Inflammatory Breast Cancer, Patricia Tai, Edward Yu, Ross Shiels, Juan Pacella, Kurian Jones, Evgeny Sadikov, Shazia Mahmood

Edward Yu

Background: Inflammatory breast cancer (IBC) had been perceived to have a poor prognosis. Oncologists were not enthusiastic in the past to give aggressive treatment. Single institution studies tend to have small patient numbers and limited years of follow-up. Most studies do not report 10-, 15- or 20-year results. Methods: Data was obtained from the population-based database of the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results program of the National Cancer Institute from 1975-1995 using SEER*Stat5.0 software. This period of 21 years was divided into 7 periods of 3 years each. The years were chosen so that there was adequate follow-up information to …

The Role Of Spiritual Well-Being In Moderating Frail Elders' Affective Response To Functional Difficulty, Marie P. Dennis, Laura N. Gitlin, Laraine Winter, Yeon K. Chee

Center for Applied Research on Aging and Health Research Papers

Anxiety and depression have been well documented as affective consequences of functional impairment. Little research, however, has examined factors that moderate these associations. The present cross-sectional study examined the role of spiritual well-being in buffering the impact of functional difficulty on the anxiety and depressive symptoms of 319 functionally vulnerable community-dwelling elders, aged 70 or older, participating in a 6-month randomized controlled trial designed to enhance function. As demonstrated in recent research on spirituality and health, we expected that spiritual well-being would moderate the association between functional difficulty and anxiety as well as the relationship between functional difficulty and depression. …

The Tension Of Loss In Old Age, Christa Caruso, Helen K. Black

Center for Applied Research on Aging and Health Research Papers

Our poster is based on a larger qualitative study that explores the personal meaning of suffering to 122 community-dwelling elders. Because loss in old age emerges as a significant aspect of suffering in elders' narratives, we focus on suffering as loss. We are recruiting community dwelling elders aged 80 and above, stratified by ethnicity, gender and self-reported health for extended qualitative interviews. Respondents tell their life story and story of suffering along with personal definitions of suffering. Through narrative analysis we examine responses to the many losses experienced during a long life and the suffering that results from loss. By …

What Is Valuation Of Life For Frail Community-Dwelling Older Adults: Factor Structure And Criterion Validity Of The Vol, Marie P. Dennis, Laraine Winter, Helen K. Black, Laura N. Gitlin

Center for Applied Research on Aging and Health Research Papers

Lawton et al. (1999) defined valuation of life (VOL) as a cognitive-affective schema consisting of complex judgments, emotions and projections influenced by demographic and QOL factors. However, little is known about what constitutes VOL for frail elders. The present study evaluated the psychometric properties of a 13-item version of Lawton et al's. (2001) VOL Scale and examined correlational evidence in support of its construct validity with 319 elders enrolled in the Project ABLE study. Responses of half the sample (N=159) were submitted to principal axis factoring, yielding two factors (spiritual well-being, a = .88 and goal-related self-efficacy, a = .84), …

Experts Recommend Strategies For Strengthening The Use Of Advanced Practice Nurses In Nursing Homes., Mathy Mezey, Sarah Greene Burger, Harrison G Bloom, Alice Bonner, Mary Bourbonniere, Barbara Bowers, Jeffrey B Burl, Elizabeth Capezuti, Diane Carter, Jacob Dimant, Sarah A Jerro, Susan C Reinhard, Marilyn Ter Maat

College of Nursing Faculty Papers & Presentations

In 2003, The John A. Hartford Foundation Institute for Geriatric Nursing, New York University Division of Nursing, convened an expert panel to explore the potential for developing recommendations for the caseloads of advanced practice nurses (APNs) in nursing homes and to provide substantive and detailed strategies to strengthen the use of APNs in nursing homes. The panel, consisting of nationally recognized experts in geriatric practice, education, research, public policy, and long-term care, developed six recommendations related to caseloads for APNs in nursing homes. The recommendations address educational preparation of APNs; average reimbursable APN visits per day; factors affecting APNs caseload …

Near-Infrared Characterization Of Breast Tumors In Vivo Using Spectrally-Constrained Reconstruction, Subhadra Srinivasan, Brian W. Pogue, Ben Brooksby, Shudong Jiang, Hamid Dehghani, Christine Kogel, Wendy A. Wells, Steven P. Poplack, Keith D. Paulsen

Dartmouth Scholarship

Multi-wavelength Near-Infrared (NIR) Tomography was utilized in this study to non-invasively quantify physiological parameters of breast tumors using direct spectral reconstruction. Frequency domain NIR measurements were incorporated with a new spectrally constrained direct chromophore and scattering image reconstruction algorithm, which was validated in simulations and experimental phantoms. Images of total hemoglobin, oxygen saturation, water, and scatter parameters were obtained with higher accuracy than previously reported. Using this spectral approach, in vivo NIR images are presented and interpreted through a series of case studies (n=6 subjects) having differing abnormalities. The corresponding mammograms and ultrasound images are also evaluated. Three of six …

The Personal Care Partnership Program, Christopher Minnick, Jennifer Campbell, Pearl Beth Graub, Ed Ratajczak, Carol A. Irvine

Population Health Matters (Formerly Health Policy Newsletter)

No abstract available.

Assuring Individualized Pharmacotherapy For The Elderly, Richard G. Stefanacci

Population Health Matters (Formerly Health Policy Newsletter)

No abstract available.

Pharmaceutical Care For An Aging America, Jennifer B. Koenig

Population Health Matters (Formerly Health Policy Newsletter)

No abstract available.

The Medication Safety Program: Medication-Food Risks And Behaviors Among The Pace Elderly, William E. Staas Jr.

Population Health Matters (Formerly Health Policy Newsletter)

No abstract available.

Does Sex Influence The Impact That Smoking, Treatment Interruption And Impaired Pulmonary Function Have On Outcomes In Limited Stage Small Cell Lung Cancer Treatment?, Gregory Videtic, Pauline Truong, Robert Ash, Edward Yu, Walter Kocha, Mark Vincent, Anna Tomiak, A Dar, Frances Whiston, Larry Stitt

Edward Yu

PURPOSE: To look for survival differences between men and women with limited stage small cell lung cancer (LS-SCLC) by examining stratified variables that impair treatment efficacy. METHODS: A retrospective review of 215 LS-SCLC patients treated from 1989 to 1999 with concurrent chemotherapy-radiotherapy modelled on the 'early-start' thoracic radiotherapy arm of a National Cancer Institute of Canada randomized trial. RESULTS: Of 215 LS-SCLC patients, 126 (58.6%) were men and 89 (41.4%) were women. Smoking status during treatment for 186 patients (86.5%) was: 107 (58%) nonsmoking (NS) (76 [71%] male [M]; 31 [29%] female [F]) and 79 (42%) smoking (S) (36 M …

Surgical Images: Soft Tissue. Incarcerated Gallbladder In A Parastomal Hernia., Shawn D. St Peter, Jacques Heppell

Manuscripts, Articles, Book Chapters and Other Papers

No abstract provided.

Long-Term Survival Rates Of Laryngeal Cancer Patients Treated By Radiation And Surgery, Radiation Alone, And Surgery Alone: Studied By Lognormal And Kaplan-Meier Survival Methods, Patricia Tai, Edward Yu, Ross Shiels, Jon Tonita

Edward Yu

Background: Validation of the use of the lognormal model for predicting long-term survival rates using short-term follow-up data. Methods: 907 cases of laryngeal cancer were treated from 1973-1977 by radiation and surgery (248), radiation alone (345), and surgery alone (314), in registries of Connecticut and Metropolitan Detroit of the SEER database, with known survival status up to 1999. Phase 1 of this study used the minimum chi-square test to assess the goodness of fit of the survival times of those who died with disease to a lognormal distribution. Phase 2 used the maximum likelihood method to estimate long-term survival rates …

A Pilot Randomized, Controlled Trial Of An In-Home Drinking Water Intervention Among Hiv + Persons, John M. Colford, Sona R. Saha, Timothy J. Wade, Catherine C. Wright, Mai Vu, Sandra Charles, Peter Jensen, Alan Hubbard, Deborah A. Levy, Joseph N. S. Eisenberg

Journal Articles: Epidemiology

Although immunocompromised persons may be at increased risk for gastrointestinal illnesses, no trials investigating drinking water treatment and gastrointestinal illness in such patients have been published. Earlier results from San Francisco suggested an association (OR 6.76) between tap water and cryptosporidiosis among HIV + persons. The authors conducted a randomized, triple-blinded intervention trial of home water treatment in San Francisco, California, from April 2000 to May 2001. Fifty HIV-positive patients were randomized to externally identical active (N = 24) or sham (N = 26) treatment devices. The active device contained a filter and UV light; the sham provided no treatment. …

Occupational Therapy Driving Protocol For The Elderly Population, Terra Nelson, Courtney Marrs

Occupational Therapy Capstones

No abstract provided.

A Randomized, Controlled Trial Of In-Home Drinking Water Intervention To Reduce Gastrointestinal Illness, John M. Colford, Timothy J. Wade, Sukhminder K. Sandhu, Catherine C. Wright, Sherline Lee, Susan Shaw, Kim Fox, Susan Burns, Anne Benker, M. Alan Brookhart, Mark Van Der Laan, Deborah A. Levy

Journal Articles: Epidemiology

Trials have provided conflicting estimates of the risk of gastrointestinal illness attributable to tap water. To estimate this risk in an Iowa community with a well-run water utility with microbiologically challenged source water, the authors of this 2000-2002 study randomly assigned blinded volunteers to use externally identical devices (active device: 227 households with 646 persons; sham device: 229 households with 650 persons) for 6 months (cycle A). Each group then switched to the opposite device for 6 months (cycle B). The active device contained a 1-microm absolute ceramic filter and used ultraviolet light. Episodes of "highly credible gastrointestinal illness," a …