Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Experiencing Cancer In Appalachian Kentucky, Melanie Mccomsey, David Ahern, Robin C. Vanderpool, Timothy W. Mullett, Ming-Yuan Chih, Meghan Johnson, Michele Ellison, Karen Onyeije, Bradford W. Hesse, Eliah Aronoff-Spencer

Journal of Appalachian Health

Nothing tells the story of people working together better than a community quilt. A diversity of talents, colors, and materials brought together through skill and shared purpose. Perhaps never before have we as Americans needed a stronger reminder that many hands make short work of big problems. The work presented here by the L.A.U.N.C.H. Collaborative offers a new framework for health care that could be compared to a digital quilt, powered by community-based participatory design, with lived expertise and the newest advances in broadband-enabled connected health solutions. This work demonstrates the value and need to engage local communities and what …

Preface: Experiencing Cancer In Appalachian Kentucky, Michele Ellison, Robin C. Vanderpool

Journal of Appalachian Health

Connected cancer care is of increasing importance in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Linking & Amplifying User-Centered Networks through Connected Health (L.A.U.N.C.H.) Collaborative in Appalachian Kentucky has pioneered a new roadmap for equipping communities with the transformative power of broadband to innovate around the future of cancer care and to better scale their ideas. The roadmap involves reaching across disciplines, including public health, anthropology, telecommunications, and user-centered design. The goal is to leverage connectivity and cancer communication research and practice to make a real difference for patients and families.

Epidemiology Of Cancers In Men Who Have Sex With Men (Msm): A Protocol For Umbrella Review Of Systematic Reviews, Manoj Kumar Honaryar, Yelena Tarasenko, Maribel Almonte, Vitaly Smelov

Biostatistics, Epidemiology & Environmental Health Sciences: Faculty Publications

While earlier studies on men having sex with men (MSM) tended to examine infection-related cancers, an increasing number of studies have been focusing on effects of sexual orientation on other cancers and social and cultural causes for cancer disparities. As a type of tertiary research, this umbrella review (UR) aims to synthesize findings from existing review studies on the effects of sexual orientation on cancer. Relevant peer-reviewed systematic reviews (SRs) will be identified without date or language restrictions using MEDLINE, Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, and the International Prospective Register for Systematic Reviews, among others. The research team members will …

Evaluation Of Geographic Disparities In Cervical Cancer Survival Across Maine, Kaylee Underkofler, Jason Lachance

Journal of Maine Medical Center

Introduction. National data exists suggesting the existence of geographic disparities in oncology care within the United States. It is unknown whether geographic disparities present a problem for women with gynecologic malignancies locally in Maine.

Methods. Data for each cervical cancer case diagnosed or treated under the MaineHealth system between 2007 and 2011 were acquired from the MaineHealth Network Registry. Average annual incidence and 5-year survival were calculated for each county in Maine and were mapped using geographic information systems (GIS) software. Next, cases were divided into 2 groups: those residing less than or equal to 60 miles from the sole …

Guide Lines Vol. Ii, Issue 5 - July 2020, College Of Health And Human Services

GUIDE Lines

Periodic Newsletter of the Governors State University - University of Illinois, Chicago - Disparities Education Cancer research training and education project (The GUIDE Project).

Microbial Experience Influences Tumor- Infiltrating T Lymphocytes, Hanna Groeber

Masters Theses

Immune cells, including T cells, have been used for anti-cancer therapy with varying degrees of success. One potential reason for immunotherapy failures in clinical trials may be that typical specific pathogen free (SPF) mice do not accurately replicate human microbial experience, which has important influence on shaping the adaptive immune response. Recently, several previous studies have shown that the immune system of SPF mice more closely resembles newborn human immunity, whereas immune systems from mice exposed to diverse pathogens more closely reflect adult human immunity.

To study the impact of microbial experience on the immune response, we have adopted a …

The Effectiveness Of Patient Education Utilizing The Teach-Back Method To Improve Patient Satisfaction, Gladys Cajucom Apuli

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this Evidence-Based Project is to determine the effectiveness of using “teach-back” method in giving education to patients receiving chemotherapy and how this method can increase patient satisfaction with understanding of medication action and side effects. Teach-back method is a way of checking patient’s understanding by asking them to state in their own words the information about their health. It is a way to confirm that the explanations given by their provider is understood. Teach-back method can improve patient’s understanding and adherence, decrease call backs and cancelled appointments. This project was developed to improve the organization’s patient satisfaction …

Hpv Vaccination In Females: The Role Of Primary Health Care And Primary Health Care Providers, Brooke Bouza

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Two reasons for subpar coverage of the Human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine are missed clinical opportunities and nonacceptance of the vaccine upon recommendation from a medical provider. The purpose of study one was to examine factors associated with access and adherence to physician’s recommendations in association with HPV vaccine uptake. Data were obtained from National Health Interview Survey (2017). Variables theoretically related to clinical opportunities and adherence to physician’s recommendations were examined in association with HPV vaccine uptake. Univariate logistic regressions were run to determine the associations between the aforementioned variables and uptake of the HPV vaccine. Multinomial logistic regressions were …

The Roles Of Primary Cilia In Cardiovascular Diseases And Cancer, Maha Jamal

Pharmaceutical Sciences (PhD) Dissertations

Primary cilia are sensory organelles present in most mammalian cell types and regulate cell cycle and signaling pathways. Biochemical and molecular dysfunctions of primary cilia are associated with a wide range of diseases, including cancer, ciliopathies polycystic kidney disease (PKD, liver disorders, mental retardation, and obesity to cardiovascular diseases. Dysfunction in endothelial cilia contributes to aberrant fluid-sensing and results in vascular disorders, such as hypertension, aneurysm, and atherosclerosis. In this dissertation, the most recent outcomes on the roles of endothelial primary cilia within vascular biology have been summarized. Moreover, we evaluate the correlation between cilia formation or length and cell …

Log File-Based Dose Reconstruction To Moving Targets During Lung Stereotactic Body Radiation Therapy, Andrew S. Mcguffey

LSU Master's Theses

Purpose: To perform film-based verification of 4D dose reconstruction to moving targets during lung stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT).

Introduction: Current patient-specific quality assurance measures to test deliverability of plans with dynamic intensity modulation involve delivering beams to static measurement device and comparing the planned dose to measurement. However, motion-induced dose errors are not detected with static measurement. Previous studies have investigated combining machine log data with respiratory tracking to determine moving-target dose. By combining machine log data with anatomic and density information at each breathing phase from 4D-CT, intrafraction anatomical deformation due to respiration may be accounted for. However, …

An In Silico Study Of Small Molecule Anti-Cancer Agents Targeting Dna G-Quadruplexes, Holli-Joi Sullivan

Theses and Dissertations

Free ligand binding molecular dynamic simulations are a powerful tool used to probe the ligand binding process, mechanism and pathway and the insight gained can help expedite the early stages of drug discovery. Using these methods, we model the binding of two small molecule anti-cancer agents BRACO19 and CX-5461 to a variety of DNA G-quadruplexes (G4s) and a DNA Duplex. The first study focuses on the binding of BRACO19 to three different topological folds (parallel, anti-parallel and hybrid) of the human telomeric G4s. Our detailed analysis identified the most stable binding modes were end stacking and groove binding for the …

Evaluation Of New Dietary Guideline Recommendations On Red Meat Consumption, Dalia Azizi

Physician Assistant Studies | Student Authored Articles

Objective: To evaluate the strength of evidence of the studies used to formulate the new dietary guideline recommendations published by the “Annals of Medicine” that encourage continuation of red meat consumption which contradicts existing guidelines.

Methods: The studies used to formulate the dietary guidelines were analyzed for their quality of evidence and compared to established existing evidence that associates meat consumption with negatives health outcomes

Results: Upon further evaluation, many biases and limitations to these studies exist and the quality of the evidence is low

Conclusion: The new dietary guidelines published by the “Annals of Internal Medicine …

Formative Research To Design A Culturally-Appropriate Cancer Clinical Trial Education Program To Increase Participation Of African American And Latino Communities, Jennifer Cunningham-Erves, Claudia Barajas, Tilicia Mayo-Gamble, Caree R. Mcafee, Pamela Hull, Maureen Sanderson, Juan Canedo, Katina Beard, Consuelo H. Wilkins

Health Policy & Community Health: Faculty Publications

Background: Addressing knowledge deficiencies about cancer clinical trials and biospecimen donation can potentially improve participation among racial and ethnic minorities. This paper describes the formative research process used to design a culturally-appropriate cancer clinical trials education program for African American and Latino communities. We characterized community member feedback and its integration into the program.

Methods: We incorporated three engagement approaches into the formative research process to iteratively develop the program: including community-based organization (CBO) leaders as research team members, conducting focus groups and cognitive interviews with community members as reviewers/consultants, and interacting with two community advisory groups. An …

Comparative Molecular Transporter Properties Of Cyclic Peptides Containing Tryptophan And Arginine Residues Formed Through Disulfide Cyclization, Eman H. M. Mohammed, Dindyal Mandal, Saghar Mozaffari, Magdy Abdel-Hamied Zahran, Amany Mostafa Osman, Rakesh Kumar Tiwari, Keykavous Parang

Pharmacy Faculty Articles and Research

We have previously reported cyclic cell-penetrating peptides [WR]₅ and [WR]₄ as molecular transporters. To optimize further the utility of our developed peptides for targeted therapy in cancer cells using the redox condition, we designed a new generation of peptides and evaluated their cytotoxicity as well as uptake behavior against different cancer cell lines. Thus, cyclic [C(WR)_xC] and linear counterparts (C(WR)_xC), where x = 4–5, were synthesized using Fmoc/tBu solid-phase peptide synthesis, purified, and characterized. The compounds did not show any significant cytotoxicity (at 25 µM) against ovarian (SK-OV-3), leukemia (CCRF-CEM), gastric adenocarcinoma (CRL-1739), breast …

Impact Of Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation On Survival In Cancer Patients: Do Not Resuscitate Before Or After Cpr?, Dana E Giza, Jordan Graham, Teodora Donisan, Dinu V Balanescu, John Crommet, Gregory Botz, Cristina Gutierrez, Mariberta Vidal, Rodrigo Mejia, Cezar Iliescu

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

No abstract provided.

A Web-Based, Positive Emotion Skills Intervention For Enhancing Posttreatment Psychological Well-Being In Young Adult Cancer Survivors (Empower): Protocol For A Single-Arm Feasibility Trial, John M. Salsman, Laurie E. Mclouth, Michael Cohn, Janet A. Tooze, Mia Sorkin, Judith T. Moskowitz

Behavioral Science Faculty Publications

BACKGROUND: Adolescent and young adult cancer survivors (AYAs) experience clinically significant distress and have limited access to supportive care services. Interventions to enhance psychological well-being have improved positive affect and reduced depression in clinical and healthy populations but have not been routinely tested in AYAs.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this protocol is to (1) test the feasibility and acceptability of a Web-based positive emotion skills intervention for posttreatment AYAs called Enhancing Management of Psychological Outcomes With Emotion Regulation (EMPOWER) and (2) examine proof of concept for reducing psychological distress and enhancing psychological well-being.

METHODS: The intervention development and testing are …

Rapamycin Treatment Correlates Changes In Primary Cilia Expression With Cell Cycle Regulation In Epithelial Cells, Maha Jamal, Ane C.F. Nunes, Nosratola D. Vaziri, Ramani Ramchandran, Robert L. Bacallao, Andromeda M. Nauli, Surya M. Nauli

Pharmacy Faculty Articles and Research

Primary cilia are sensory organelles that regulate cell cycle and signaling pathways. In addition to its association with cancer, dysfunction of primary cilia is responsible for the pathogenesis of polycystic kidney disease (PKD) and other ciliopathies. Because the association between cilia formation or length and cell cycle or division is poorly understood, we here evaluated their correlation in this study. Using Spectral Karyotyping (SKY) technique, we showed that PKD and the cancer/tumorigenic epithelial cells PC3, DU145, and NL20-TA were associated with abnormal ploidy. We also showed that PKD and the cancer epithelia were highly proliferative. Importantly, the cancer epithelial cells …

Exploring The Experience Of Psychological Distress For Young Adults With Cancer: Implications For A New Diagnosis Of Medical Traumatic Stress, Audrey Ryan

Counseling and Psychology Dissertations

The purpose of this qualitative study was to investigate how a serious medical diagnosis, such as cancer, can act as an acute or prolonged trauma. This was explored through the lived experiences of psychological distress of young cancer survivors. Participants were 12 men and women who had been diagnosed with cancer within the past seven years when they were between the ages of 18 and 39. From these interviews several themes emerged that describe the phenomenon of what I have termed medical traumatic stress.

Trauma from a medical event does not currently meet criteria for PTSD in the DSM-5 …

Reducing Frustration With Wait Times Utilizing Technology And Education: A Patient Satisfaction Improvement Model, Tiffany Brown

Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) Projects

Problem: Patients spend considerable amounts of valuable time waiting to be seen by physicians in outpatient clinical settings. Many consider waiting as wasted time, inactive time, or as a lost opportunity which can cause frustration. Research suggests that long clinic wait times have a major impact on patients with cancer causing a significant amount emotional distress. Context: At the hospital and thoracic oncology clinic implementation site which is located in northern California, the target time for a New Patient Visit (NPV) is less than or equal to 90 minutes, and less than or equal to 60 minutes for a Return …

Using Case-Level Context To Classify Cancer Pathology Reports, Shang Gao, Mohammed Alawad, Noah Schaefferkoetter, Lynne Penberthy, Xiao-Cheng Wu, Eric B. Durbin, Linda Coyle, Arvind Ramanathan, Georgia Tourassi

Kentucky Cancer Registry Faculty Publications

Individual electronic health records (EHRs) and clinical reports are often part of a larger sequence-for example, a single patient may generate multiple reports over the trajectory of a disease. In applications such as cancer pathology reports, it is necessary not only to extract information from individual reports, but also to capture aggregate information regarding the entire cancer case based off case-level context from all reports in the sequence. In this paper, we introduce a simple modular add-on for capturing case-level context that is designed to be compatible with most existing deep learning architectures for text classification on individual reports. We …

Development Of Hyaluronic Acid-Derived Macromolecular Agents For Multimodal Imaging Probes And Nanomedicine, William M. Payne

Theses & Dissertations

Cancer, one of the most challenging maladies facing modern medicine, is a complex family of diseases that requires a multifaceted treatment regime. In recent years, increased research effort has been placed on the development of nanoscale formulations as a potential method to improve therapeutic efficacy and offer better treatment. Both drug formulation and biomedical imaging has benefitted from the development of new, nanoscale agents. Hyaluronic Acid (HA), a naturally occurring glycosaminoglycan, is a promising platform for the development of new drug delivery systems. Furthermore, hyaluronic acid is the principal ligand for the cell surface receptor CD44, which is overexpressed on …

Efforts To Improve Breast Cancer Screening In A Rural Primary Care Clinic, Michelle Voudrie, Simi Dhillon

Doctor of Nursing Practice Projects

Breast cancer is the second-leading cause of cancer-related deaths among women in the United States. The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) recommend women at average risk of breast cancer to begin screening mammography starting at age 40. Mammography has been recognized as the most substantial tool to detect breast cancer. However, many rural organizations have seen a decrease in mammography compliance rates. The goal of this project was to create an evaluation and follow-up protocol for women in a rural primary care clinic who meet the criteria for ACOG’s guidelines for breast cancer screening which promotes increased compliance …

How Can We Stop Cancer?, Joseph R. Current

The Review: A Journal of Undergraduate Student Research

Cancer is a disease that humans have been struggling to combat for centuries. It originates from the accumulation of several mutations over the life of a cell that causes it to evade cell death and multiply rapidly. It can affect any tissue in the body and can spread to other parts of the body through metastasis. Cancer comes in numerous shapes and sizes with different levels of aggression, growth speeds, and health risks. Many treatments for cancer exist today, three of the most popular being surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation therapy, which can be used in combinations with other treatments to …

Guide Lines Vol. Ii, Issue 3 - May 2020, College Of Health And Human Services

GUIDE Lines

Periodic Newsletter of the Governors State University - University of Illinois, Chicago - Disparities Education Cancer research training and education project (The GUIDE Project).

The Management Of Cancer Pain: Should Interventional Therapies Be Approached As First-Line Treatment Along With Beginning An Opioid Regimen?, Sarah Holmes

The Eleanor Mann School of Nursing Undergraduate Honors Theses

Cancer produces many symptoms, and pain is one of them. When a person is having pain due to cancer, many aspects of the person’s life may be altered or inhibited; for example, activities of daily living may be difficult to perform, their psychological state may be altered, their social lives may be changed, and their overall physical function may be affected in a way that the person may need to modify what they typically do in a normal day. The pain a person experiences depends on the type of cancer, how far the cancer has progressed, and the treatment being …

Parents' Experiences Of Camp For Siblings Of Pediatric Oncology Patients, Kristen Lauren Krueger

Graduate Theses/Dissertations

The diagnosis and treatment of childhood cancer is oftentimes a stressful experience for individuals other than the patient, such as parents and siblings of pediatric oncology patients. Parents and siblings may be impacted in many ways, but there are interventions to help. The purpose of this qualitative study was to understand parents’ lived experiences of having a child who has attended a camp designed for siblings of pediatric oncology patients. Parents (n=5) of siblings that have attended camp for siblings were interviewed with open-ended questions. Data was analyzed using phenomenology procedures. Results from this study indicated that mothers and fathers …

An Examination Of The Use Of Corticosteroids For Adverse Effects Related To Immunotherapy Treatment In Cancer Patients, Leanne Kilzer

Nursing Capstones

No abstract provided.

Association Of Perfluorinated Chemicals With Endocrino-Carcinogenetic, Obesogenic And Metabolic Health And With Markers Of Chronic Inflammation And Oxidative Stress, Ogbebor Enaholo Omoike

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

First, this study examined the association of perfluorinated chemicals with 1) cardio-metabolic health outcomes and 2) the association of phthalates with cardiometabolic health outcomes, and 3) cardio-metabolic health outcomes while assessing the possibility of additive interactions between perfluorinated chemicals (PFCs) and phthalates. Second, association with markers of chronic inflammation and oxidative stress were explored. Finally, this study examined the association of these chemicals with estrogenic cancers- Breast cancer, prostate cancer, uterine cancer and ovarian cancer.

Using data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), logistic regression models were used to investigate the relationship between PFCs and the cardio-metabolic …

Vestigial-Like 1 Is A Shared Targetable Cancer-Placenta Antigen Expressed By Pancreatic And Basal-Like Breast Cancers, Sherille Denae Bradley

Dissertations and Theses (Open Access)

Cytotoxic T lymphocyte (CTL)-based cancer immunotherapies have shown great promise for inducing clinical regression by targeting tumor-associated antigens (TAA). To expand the TAA landscape of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC), we performed tandem mass spectrometry analysis of HLA class I-bound peptides from tumors of PDAC patients. This led to the identification of a shared HLA-A*0101 restricted peptide derived from co-transcriptional activator Vestigial-like 1 (VGLL1), a novel putative TAA demonstrating overexpression in multiple tumor types and low or absent transcript expression in normal tissues with the exception of placenta. VGLL1-specific CTL isolated and expanded from the blood of a male PDAC patient …

Small Extracellular Vesicles Modulated By Αvβ3 Integrin Induce Neuroendocrine Differentiation In Recipient Cancer Cells, Fabio Quaglia, Shiv Ram Krishn, George G. Daaboul, Srawasti Sarker, Raffaella Pippad, Josep Domingo-Domenech, Gaurav Kumar, Paolo Fortina, Peter Mccuee, William K. Kelly, Himisha Beltran, Qin Liu, Lucia R. Languinoa

Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Faculty Papers

The ability of small extracellular vesicles (sEVs) to reprogram cancer cells is well established. However, the specific sEV components able to mediate aberrant effects in cancer cells have not been characterized. Integrins are major players in mediating sEV functions. We have previously reported that the αVβ3 integrin is detected in sEVs of prostate cancer (PαVβ3rCa) cells and transferred into recipient cells. Here, we investigate whether sEVs from -expressing cells affect tumour growth differently than sEVs from control cells that do not express αVβ3. We compared the ability of sEVs to stimulate tumour growth, using sEVs isolated from PrCa C4-2B cells …