Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

"It’S Just Another Thing”: Perceptions Of Well Water Quality And Barriers In An Arsenic Hot Spot, Linzy Rosen

Honors Theses

Privately owned water is the primary source of drinking water for 43 million Americans. Although residential or private wells are susceptible to a variety of contaminants, the Safe Drinking Water Act of 1974 positions individuals as responsible for the testing, remediation, and management of this water. Despite the elevated presence of arsenic in Maine, which is linked to various cancers, cardiovascular disease, and neurological damage, little is known about how private well owners perceive the safety and quality of their own water.

This study takes a qualitative approach to understanding concerns and opinions by conducting semi - structured interviews with …

Use Of Small Molecule Fanconi Anemia Pathway Inhibitors As Sensitizing Agents To Laromustine., Sam W. Marchant

Honors Theses

Laromustine is an experimental chemotherapeutic sulfonyl hydrazine prodrug shown in clinical trials to be effective against acute myeloid leukemia. The mechanism of action of laromustine involves interstrand crosslinking, via chloroethylation, and enzyme inhibition, caused by carbamoylation. The work described herein aims to investigate whether inhibition of the replication-dependent interstrand crosslink repair Fanconi Anemia pathway further sensitizes cells to laromustine. By measuring metabolic activity immediately after drug exposure, we find laromustine to be equally as cytotoxic towards Fanconi Anemia deficient and wild type cells. However, through clonogenic assays we show Fanconi Anemia mutations sensitize cells to laromustine’s anti-proliferative effect. Furthermore, we …

The Effect Of Cannabinoids On Triple Negative Breast Cancer Cells, Haley Dahl

Honors Theses

Triple Negative Breast Cancer (TNBC) is a difficult type of cancer to treat because it is negative for progesterone, estrogen, and HER-2 receptors. Because TNBC is negative for these three receptors, it does not respond to normal hormonal therapies. The purpose of my experiment is to see if different cannabinoids, compounds from the cannabis plants, could be used as alternative treatment options. These experiments employed three different cannabinoids: ajulemic acid, cannabidiol, and hemp oil. Cell viability was measured after 72 hours of treatment using a MTT assay. The results showed that the three cannabinoids could be used to effectively destroy …

The Effects Of Ajulemic Acid On The Metatastic Potential Of Ewing's Sarcoma, Nolan J. West

Honors Theses

Ewing's Sarcoma belongs in the Ewing's Sarcoma Family of Tumors (EFST) which represents approximately 2% of all cancers found in children and young adults. These tumors are generally treated by chemotherapy along with either surgery or radiation therapy which can themselves have debilitating effects on the patients. Dr. Lori Hensley's research has shown that ajulemic acid (AJA), a synthetic cannabinoid compound, exhibits extraordinary anti-tumor effects. In addition, AJA has not expressed any psychotropic side effects typically seen with other cannabinoids. Furthermore, ajulemic acid has been shown to eliminate the tumors by apoptosis, the preferred method of cell death. The purpose …