Diseases Commons^™

The Impact Of Ultra-Processed Foods On Cardiovascular Diseases And Cancer: Epidemiological And Mechanistic Insights, Olorunfemi Oyewole Babalola, Ebenezer Akinnusi, Paul Olamide Ottu, Kpomah Bridget, Godspower Oyubu, Samuel Ayomikun Ajiboye, Sakariyau Adio Waheed, Amafili Chibuzo Collette, Hameedah Oluwatoyin Adebimpe, Chibuzo Valentine Nwokafor, Ebenezer Ayomide Oni, Precious Olayinka Aturamu, Opeyemi Iwaloye

Chemistry & Biochemistry Faculty Publications

Ultra-processed foods (UPFs) are increasingly recognized as contributors to the pathogenesis of cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) and cancer due to their adverse compositional and mechanistic effects. UPFs, distinguished by their high content of unhealthy fats, sodium, refined sugars, and synthetic additives, significantly increase dyslipidemia, hypertension, and obesity, which are key risk factors for CVDs. Chronic consumption leads to systemic inflammation, gut microbiota dysbiosis, endothelial dysfunction, and oxidative stress. Additives such as artificial sweeteners and sodium nitrites in UPFs are associated with carcinogenesis through mechanisms involving genotoxicity and promotion of inflammatory microenvironments. This review critically evaluates existing epidemiological, mechanistic, and clinical evidence …

Multi-Level Factors Associated With Low Dose Computed Tomography Lung Cancer Screening In The United States, Tung Sung Tseng, Chien Ching Li, Hui Yi Lin, Kelsey N. Witmeier, Chaoyi Zeng, Yu Wen Chiu, Michael D. Celestin, Edward J. Trapido

School of Public Health Faculty Publications

Low-dose computed tomography (LDCT) screening is recommended for high-risk smokers to decrease lung cancer-related mortality and increase prognosis. In the U.S., the uptake of LDCT screening among eligible smokers is suboptimal. The impacts of social-environmental and individual factors on LDCT screening uptake using nationally representative dataset recommendations are understudied. The current study investigated multi-level factors associated with LDCT screening using national data. Methods: The 2017-2021 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) data, social determinants of health (SDOH) and other state-level variables (Medicaid expansion status and the number of screening facilities using American Lung Association (ALA) 's State of Lung Cancer) …

Metastatic Squamous Cell Carcinoma In A Nonsmoker Presenting With Pathological Humeral Fracture, Nicholas Fuerstenau, Grant Cookson, Smit Jani

South Atlantic Division GME Research Day 2025

No abstract provided.

A Case Report Of Fatal Posterior Reversible Encephalopathy Syndrome Associated With Tivozanib In Renal Cell Carcinoma, Chad Michalenko, Ian Whitaker, Abhinav Rao

South Atlantic Division GME Research Day 2025

No abstract provided.

Targeted Therapies And Parpi Therapy Response Following Ici Therapy Failure In Advanced Melanoma, George Nassief, Renee Morecroft, Jordan Phillipps, David Chen, George Ansstas

South Atlantic Division GME Research Day 2025

No abstract provided.

Targeting The Glutamine-Arginine-Proline Metabolism Axis In Cancer, Di Wang, Jiang-Jie Duan, Yu-Feng Guo, Jun-Jie Chen, Tian-Qing Chen, Jun Wang, Shi-Cang Yu

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Metabolic abnormalities are an important feature of tumours. The glutamine-arginine-proline axis is an important node of cancer metabolism and plays a major role in amino acid metabolism. This axis also acts as a scaffold for the synthesis of other nonessential amino acids and essential metabolites. In this paper, we briefly review (1) the glutamine addiction exhibited by tumour cells with accelerated glutamine transport and metabolism; (2) the methods regulating extracellular glutamine entry, intracellular glutamine synthesis and the fate of intracellular glutamine; (3) the glutamine, proline and arginine metabolic pathways and their interaction; and (4) the research progress in tumour therapy …

What Do Cancer Genetic Providers Want Us To Know About Variant Reclassification And Recontact That We Are Not Asking? A Thematic Analysis Of Open-Ended Survey Responses, Kerri Brown, Marisel Ponton, Elenita Davidson, Banu Arun, Robert J Volk, Sanjay Shete, Susan K Peterson, Sukh Makhnoon

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

BACKGROUND: Accurate variant classification and relaying reclassified results to patients is critical for hereditary cancer care delivery. Over a 5- to 10-year period, 6%-15% of variants undergo reclassification. As the frequency of reclassifications increases, the issue of whether, how, when, and which providers should recontact patients becomes important but remains contentious.

METHODS: The authors used inductive thematic analysis to analyze open-ended comments offered by oncologists and genetic counselors (GCs) from a large national survey.

RESULTS: Of the 634 oncologists and cancer GCs, 126 (20%) offered substantive free-text comments. Four thematic areas emerged: 1) ambiguity over professional responsibility to recontact, 2) …

Mechanisms Of Extracellular Vesicle Uptake And Implications For The Design Of Cancer Therapeutics, Stephanie R Jackson Cullison, Joseph P Flemming, Kubra Karagoz, Peter J Wermuth, Mỹ G Mahoney

Rowan-Virtua School of Osteopathic Medicine Departmental Research

The translation of pre-clinical anti-cancer therapies to regulatory approval has been promising, but slower than hoped. While innovative and effective treatments continue to achieve or seek approval, setbacks are often attributed to a lack of efficacy, failure to achieve clinical endpoints, and dose-limiting toxicities. Successful efforts have been characterized by the development of therapeutics designed to specifically deliver optimal and effective dosing to tumour cells while minimizing off-target toxicity. Much effort has been devoted to the rational design and application of synthetic nanoparticles to serve as targeted therapeutic delivery vehicles. Several challenges to the successful application of this modality as …

Trends In The Use Of Biologic Disease-Modifying Antirheumatic Drugs In Patients With Rheumatoid Arthritis And Recently Diagnosed Colorectal, Lung, Or Prostate Cancer, Maria E Suarez-Almazor, Juan I Ruiz, Xiudong Lei, Chi-Fang Wu, Hui Zhao, Suja S Rajan, Sharon H Giordano

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

INTRODUCTION: Biologic disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (bDMARD) are often discontinued when a patient with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is diagnosed with cancer. Our aim was to determine trends in bDMARD utilization in patients with RA and recently diagnosed cancer.

METHOD: We examined two national claims databases to identify adults with RA and recently diagnosed colorectal, lung, or prostate cancer (Optum's de-identified Clinformatics® Data Mart Database 2008-2022, and Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results Program (SEER) Medicare-linked 2008-2017). We determined time trends in bDMARD and tumor necrosis factor inhibitor (TNFi) prescriptions during the first 3 years after cancer with Cochram-Armitage tests and multivariable logistic …

Micrornas Are Enriched At Covid-19 Genomic Risk Regions, And Their Blood Levels Correlate With The Covid-19 Prognosis Of Cancer Patients Infected By Sars-Cov-2, Simone Anfossi, Faezeh Darbaniyan, Joseph Quinlan, Steliana Calin, Masayoshi Shimizu, Meng Chen, Paola Rausseo, Michael Winters, Elena Bogatenkova, Kim-Anh Do, Ivan Martinez, Ziyi Li, Loredana Antal, Tudor Rares Olariu, Ignacio Wistuba, George A Calin

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Background: Cancer patients are more susceptible to an aggressive course of COVID-19. Developing biomarkers identifying cancer patients at high risk of COVID-19-related death could help determine who needs early clinical intervention. The miRNAs hosted in the genomic regions associated with the risk of aggressive COVID-19 could represent potential biomarkers for clinical outcomes.

Patients and methods: Plasma samples were collected at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center from cancer patients (N = 128) affected by COVID-19. Serum samples were collected from vaccinated healthy individuals (n = 23) at the Municipal Clinical Emergency Teaching Hospital in Timisoara, Romania. An in …

Multicohort Epigenome-Wide Association Study Of All-Cause Cardiovascular Disease And Cancer Incidence: A Cardio-Oncology Approach, Arce Domingo-Relloso, Angela L Riffo-Campos, Naisi Zhao, Guillermo Ayala, Karin Haack, Carlos Manterola, Dorothy A Rhoades, Jason G Umans, M Daniele Fallin, Miguel Herreros-Martinez, Marina Pollan, Eric Boerwinkle, Elizabeth A Platz, Miranda R Jones, Jan Bressler, Roby Joehanes, Calen P Ryan, Juan R Gonzalez, Daniel Levy, Daniel W Belsky, Shelley A Cole, Dominique S Michaud, Ana Navas-Acien, Maria Tellez-Plaza

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

BACKGROUND: Emerging evidence reveals a complex relationship between cardiovascular disease (CVD) and cancer, which share common risk factors and biological pathways.

OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to evaluate common epigenetic signatures for CVD and cancer incidence in 3 ethnically diverse cohorts: Native Americans from the SHS (Strong Heart Study), European Americans from the FHS (Framingham Heart Study), and European Americans and African Americans from the ARIC (Atherosclerosis Risk In Communities) study.

METHODS: A 2-stage strategy was used that included first conducting untargeted epigenome-wide association studies for each cohort and then running targeted models in the union set of …

Dna Vaccines Against Gprc5d Synergize With Pd-1 Blockade To Treat Multiple Myeloma, Praveen Neeli, Perry Ayn Mayson A Maza, Dafei Chai, Dan Zhao, Xen Ping Hoi, Keith Syson Chan, Ken H Young, Yong Li

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Multiple myeloma (MM), a hematological malignancy of the bone marrow, remains largely incurable. The orphan G protein-coupled receptor, GPRC5D, which is uniquely expressed in plasma cells and highly expressed in MM, is a compelling candidate for immunotherapy. In this study, we investigated the efficacy of a combination of DNA vaccine encoding mouse GPRC5D and PD-1 blockade in preventing and treating MM using the 5TGM1 murine model of MM. The mouse vaccine alone was effective in preventing myeloma growth but required PD-1 antibodies to inhibit established MM tumors. We next evaluated the prophylactic and therapeutic efficacy of a nanoplasmid vector encoding …

Frequent Chd1 Deletions In Prostate Cancers Of African American Men Is Associated With Rapid Disease Progression, Miklos Diossy, Viktoria Tisza, Hua Li, Pranshu Sahgal, Jia Zhou, Zsofia Sztupinszki, Denise Young, Darryl Nousome, Claire Kuo, Jiji Jiang, Yongmei Chen, Reinhard Ebner, Isabell A Sesterhenn, Joel T Moncur, Gregory T Chesnut, Gyorgy Petrovics, Gregory T Klus, Gabor Valcz, Pier Vitale Nuzzo, Dezso Ribli, Judit Börcsök, Aurel Prosz, Marcin Krzystanek, Thomas Ried, David Szuts, Kinza Rizwan, Salma Kaochar, Shailja Pathania, Alan D D'Andrea, Istvan Csabai, Shiv Srivastava, Matthew L Freedman, Albert Dobi, Sandor Spisak, Zoltan Szallasi

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

We analyzed genomic data from the prostate cancer of African- and European American men to identify differences contributing to racial disparity of outcome. We also performed FISH-based studies of Chromodomain helicase DNA-binding protein 1 (CHD1) loss on prostate cancer tissue microarrays. We created CHD1-deficient prostate cancer cell lines for genomic, drug sensitivity and functional homologous recombination (HR) activity analysis. Subclonal deletion of CHD1 was nearly three times as frequent in prostate tumors of African American than in European American men and it associates with rapid disease progression. CHD1 deletion was not associated with HR deficiency associated mutational signatures or HR …

Honey: A Natural Recipe For The Management Of Pancreatic Cancer, Aun A. Bangash, Muhammad A. Bangash, Georgina Villanueva, Haider Ahsan, Shiza Khan, Rida Shareef, Mudassier Ahmad, Dae J. Kim, Sahir S. Alvi, Bilal B. Hafeez

Research Colloquium

Background: Pancreatic cancer (PanCa) is the fourth deadliest cancer worldwide and expected to become the second deadliest cancer by 2030. In the USA, the National Cancer Institute put forth a grim prediction stating that there will be 64,050 new cases in 2023 alone and about 50,000 of these patients will die. The first line treatment for pancreatic cancer is Folfrinox, a three-drug regimen consisting of 5-Fluorouracil, irinotecan, and oxaliplatin. The second line treatment is gemcitabine combined with paclitaxel. Only 19% of patients who are prescribed the former regimen survive past 18 months of treatment while just 6% of patients survive …

Barriers And Opportunities In Pancreatic Cancer Immunotherapy, Yixin Ju, Dongzhi Xu, Miao-Miao Liao, Yutong Sun, Wen-Dai Bao, Fan Yao, Li Ma

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) presents a fatal clinical challenge characterized by a dismal 5-year overall survival rate, primarily due to the lack of early diagnosis and limited therapeutic efficacy. Immunotherapy, a proven success in multiple cancers, has yet to demonstrate significant benefits in PDAC. Recent studies have revealed the immunosuppressive characteristics of the PDAC tumor microenvironment (TME), including immune cells with suppressive properties, desmoplastic stroma, microbiome influences, and PDAC-specific signaling pathways. In this article, we review recent advances in understanding the immunosuppressive TME of PDAC, TME differences among various mouse models of pancreatic cancer, and the mechanisms underlying resistance to …

Mitochondrial Reprogramming By Activating Oxphos Via Glutamine Metabolism In African American Patients With Bladder Cancer, Karthik Reddy Kami Reddy, Danthasinghe Waduge Badrajee Piyarathna, Jun Hyoung Park, Vasanta Putluri, Chandra Sekhar Amara, Abu Hena Mostafa Kamal, Jun Xu, Daniel Kraushaar, Shixia Huang, Sung Yun Jung, Livia S Eberlin, Jabril R Johnson, Rick A Kittles, Leomar Y Ballester, Krishna Parsawar, M Minhaj Siddiqui, Jianjun Gao, Adriana Langer Gramer, Roni J Bollag, Martha K Terris, Yair Lotan, Chad J Creighton, Seth P Lerner, Arun Sreekumar, Benny Abraham Kaipparettu, Nagireddy Putluri

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Bladder cancer (BLCA) mortality is higher in African American (AA) patients compared with European American (EA) patients, but the molecular mechanism underlying race-specific differences are unknown. To address this gap, we conducted comprehensive RNA-Seq, proteomics, and metabolomics analysis of BLCA tumors from AA and EA. Our findings reveal a distinct metabolic phenotype in AA BLCA characterized by elevated mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation (OXPHOS), particularly through the activation of complex I. The results provide insight into the complex I activation-driven higher OXPHOS activity resulting in glutamine-mediated metabolic rewiring and increased disease progression, which was also confirmed by [U]13C-glutamine tracing. Mechanistic studies further …

Combination Therapy Of Ido1 Inhibition And Anti-Pd1 Mediates Anti-Tumor Immunity By Promoting Memory Immunity Development And Cytotoxicity Of Γδ T And Nk Cells Via Il-2 Signaling And By Overcoming Pro-Tumor Effects Of Tgf-Β Signaling, Hyuk Jee

Dartmouth College Master’s Theses

Cutaneous melanoma is the most aggressive form of skin cancer even though it takes only about 1% of all skin cancers. Even among all cutaneous melanomas, NRAS-mutant melanoma is more aggressive than any other, and about 10-25% of all cutaneous melanoma cases have mutations in NRAS. NRAS is a member of the RAS family of proto-oncogenic GTPase proteins, and it plays a key role in signal transduction pathways responsible for cellular survival, proliferation, and metabolism. Immunotherapy is the first line of defense against NRAS-mutant melanoma because, despite tremendous efforts made for decades, it has not been successful to develop small …

Whole Genome And Reverse Protein Phase Array Landscapes Of Patient Derived Osteosarcoma Xenograft Models, Chia-Chin Wu, Licai Huang, Zhongting Zhang, Zhenlin Ju, Xingzhi Song, E Anders Kolb, Wendong Zhang, Jonathan Gill, Min Ha, Malcolm A Smith, Peter Houghton, Christopher L Morton, Raushan Kurmasheva, John Maris, Yael Mosse, Yiling Lu, Richard Gorlick, P Andrew Futreal, Hannah C Beird

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Osteosarcoma is the most common primary bone malignancy in children and young adults, and it has few treatment options. As a result, there has been little improvement in survival outcomes in the past few decades. The need for models to test novel therapies is especially great in this disease since it is both rare and does not respond to most therapies. To address this, an NCI-funded consortium has characterized and utilized a panel of patient-derived xenograft models of osteosarcoma for drug testing. The exomes, transcriptomes, and copy number landscapes of these models have been presented previously. This study now adds …

Genetic Analysis Of Kmt2d Loss In Tumorigenesis Using Genetically Engineered Mouse Models, Yingda Jiang

Dissertations and Theses (Open Access)

The Cancer Genome Atlas Program (TCGA) has discovered multiple tumor suppressors that are commonly mutated across a variety of human cancers, such as chromatin regulators in COMPASS and SWI/SNF complexes. KMT2D, a histone H3K4 methyltransferase in the COMPASS complex, is frequently mutated in human lymphoma, melanoma, and epithelial carcinoma. Biochemically, KMT2D shapes the cellular enhancer landscape as the major writer of the putative enhancer mark H3K4me1. Given the critical role of cellular enhancer landscape in determining cellular lineage in embryonic development, it is unknown whether enhancer dysregulation caused by KMT2D loss leads lineage switch of tumor cells, which has …

A Retrospective Analysis Of Primary Breast Cancer Surgical Procedures (Mastectomy Versus Breast Conserving Surgery) Performed On Women Living In Rural And Urban Counties In South Carolina, Talitha M. Massaquoi

MUSC Theses and Dissertations

Women dealing with a diagnosis of breast cancer may be challenged when attempting to seek and obtain medical care while living in a rural community. It is not known whether geography impacts the decision-making process for women considering elective breast cancer surgery (mastectomy versus breast conserving surgery (BCS)) in South Carolina. We performed a retrospective analysis of breast cancer surgical options offered to women to examine if a difference exists in both rural and urban settings. Although there was a higher proportion of women in South Carolina who elected to undergo a mastectomy instead of BCS (4,416 [79.5%] vs. 1,139 …

Assessing Breast Disease With Deep Learning Model Using Bimodal Bi-View Ultrasound Images And Clinical Information, Fengping Liang, Yihua Song, Xiaoping Huang, Tong Ren, Qiao Ji, Yanan Guo, Xiang Li, Yajuan Sui, Xiaohui Xie, Lanqing Han, Yuanqing Li, Yong Ren, Zuofeng Xu

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Breast cancer is the second leading cause of carcinoma-linked death in women. We developed a multi-modal deep-learning model (BreNet) to differentiate breast cancer from benign lesions. BreNet was constructed and trained on 10,108 images from one center and tested on 3,762 images from two centers in three steps. The diagnostic ability of BreNet was first compared with that of six radiologists; a BreNet-aided scheme was constructed to improve the diagnostic ability of the radiologists; and the diagnosis of real-world radiologists' scheme was then compared with the BreNet-aided scheme. The diagnostic performance of BreNet was superior to that of the radiologists …

Intratumoral Microbiome Of Adenoid Cystic Carcinomas And Comparison With Other Head And Neck Cancers, Tatiana V Karpinets, Yoshitsugu Mitani, Chia-Chi Chang, Xiaogang Wu, Xingzhi Song, Ivonne I Flores, Lauren K Mcdaniel, Yasmine M Hoballah, Fabiana J Veguilla, Renata Ferrarotto, Lauren E Colbert, Nadim J Ajami, Robert R Jenq, Jianhua Zhang, Andrew P Futreal, Adel K El-Naggar

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Adenoid cystic carcinoma (ACC) is a rare, usually slow-growing yet aggressive head and neck malignancy. Despite its clinical significance, our understanding of the cellular evolution and microenvironment in ACC remains limited. We investigated the intratumoral microbiomes of 50 ACC tumor tissues and 33 adjacent normal tissues using 16S rRNA gene sequencing. This allowed us to characterize the bacterial communities within the ACC and explore potential associations between the bacterial community structure, patient clinical characteristics, and tumor molecular features obtained through RNA sequencing. The bacterial composition in the ACC was significantly different from that in adjacent normal salivary tissue, and the …

Origins Of Cancer: Ain’T It Just Mature Cells Misbehaving?, Charles J Cho, Jeffrey W Brown, Jason C Mills

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

A pervasive view is that undifferentiated stem cells are alone responsible for generating all other cells and are the origins of cancer. However, emerging evidence demonstrates fully differentiated cells are plastic, can be coaxed to proliferate, and also play essential roles in tissue maintenance, regeneration, and tumorigenesis. Here, we review the mechanisms governing how differentiated cells become cancer cells. First, we examine the unique characteristics of differentiated cell division, focusing on why differentiated cells are more susceptible than stem cells to accumulating mutations. Next, we investigate why the evolution of multicellularity in animals likely required plastic differentiated cells that maintain …

Strength Of Selection In Lung Tumors Correlates With Clinical Features Better Than Tumor Mutation Burden, Ivan P Gorlov, Olga Y Gorlova, Spyridon Tsavachidis, Christopher I Amos

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Single nucleotide substitutions are the most common type of somatic mutations in cancer genome. The goal of this study was to use publicly available somatic mutation data to quantify negative and positive selection in individual lung tumors and test how strength of directional and absolute selection is associated with clinical features. The analysis found a significant variation in strength of selection (both negative and positive) among tumors, with median selection tending to be negative even though tumors with strong positive selection also exist. Strength of selection estimated as the density of missense mutations relative to the density of silent mutations …

Clinical Features And Genomic Epidemiology Of Bloodstream Infections Due To Enterococcal Species Other Than Enterococcus Faecalis Or E Faecium In Patients With Cancer, Dierdre B Axell-House, Patrycja A Ashley, Stephanie L Egge, Truc T Tran, Claudia Pedroza, Meng Zhang, An Q Dinh, Shelby R Simar, Pranoti V Sahasrabhojane, William R Miller, Samuel A Shelburne, Blake M Hanson, Cesar A Arias

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

BACKGROUND: Non–Enterococcus faecium, non–E. faecalis (NFF) enterococci are a heterogeneous group of clinically pathogenic enterococci that include species with intrinsic low-level vancomycin resistance. Patients with cancer are at increased risk for bacteremia with NFF enterococci, but their clinical and molecular epidemiology have not been extensively described.

METHODS: We conducted a retrospective review of all patients (n = 70) with NFF bacteremia from 2016 to 2022 at a major cancer center. The main outcomes assessed were 30-day mortality, microbiological failure (positive blood cultures for ≥4 days), and recurrence of bacteremia (positive blood cultureclearance). Whole-genome sequencing was performed on all …

Using Rapid Protein Degradation To Determine The Effect Of Runx1 Loss-Of- Function On Dna Damage Accumulation And Repair., Jackriel Pina Morales

Theses and Dissertations

Germline mutations in RUNX1 are associated with familial platelet disorder with a predisposition to myeloid malignancy (RUNX1-FPDMM), in which patients present with low platelet counts,excessive bleeding and bruising, and an increased risk of Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML)/Myelodysplastic Syndrome (MDS) development throughout their lifetime. To understand how these loss-of-function mutations in RUNX1 drive predispose to malignancy, it is important to develop a detailed understanding of the molecular basis of RUNX1 function. While RUNX1 is a transcription factor, preliminary data from our group and work from others suggests that RUNX1 also interacts with proteins that are critical for DNA damage …

Repurposing Clinically Relevant Metabolic Inhibitor Drugs, Difluoromethylornithine (Dfmo) And Orlistat, For Gammaherpesvirus Replication, Lay Paw

Honors Projects

Viruses, including herpesviruses, contribute up to 15% of all human cancers. Murine gammaherpesvirus-68 (MHV-68), a pathogen commonly found in mice, is studied due to its shared homology with several human herpesviruses. Studies done in the Delgado lab via metabolomics analysis show MHV-68 infected cells increase host cell metabolism. Clinically relevant metabolic inhibitor drugs, ɑ-Difluoromethylornithine (DFMO) and Orlistat, respectively block polyamine and lipid production demonstrated a reduction in MHV-68 viral production. Repurposing clinically relevant drugs through the exploration of a different target shows great promise in reducing oncogenic viral titer.

A Visual Journey Of Diseases, Joanna Ni

Honors Theses

Patient journey maps serve as invaluable tools in healthcare to comprehend and enhance the patient experience. This research explores the significance of patient journey maps in understanding the diverse interactions between patients and healthcare systems. By visualizing each stage of the patient’s experience, from initial symptoms to post-treatment care, the journey maps offer insights into patient needs, preferences, and pain points.

Of the eight patient journey maps identified, most examined a patient’s journey through cancer, and concerned a Canadian patient. Evaluation of these maps revealed that there are many factors that can challenge and facilitate a patient’s journey through the …

Resection And Reconstruction Of Ewing Sarcoma Of The Cuboid Utilizing Vascularized Fibular Autograft: A Case Report, Brandon Cunha, Alexandre Arkader

Rowan-Virtua Research Day

Ewing Sarcoma (EWS) rarely presents in the bones of the foot, and particularly in the cuboid, making it an exceedingly rare occurrence. We present the case of a 7-year-old female diagnosed with EWS of the right cuboid, detailing the management and outcomes of this rare presentation. The patient, now almost 5 years post-initial local control, exhibits restored foot function, a normalized gait, and no evidence of disease recurrence. This case underscores the potential for preserving lower extremity function and improving postoperative quality of life in rare presentations of EWS through innovative reconstruction strategies.

Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation Referrals In Cancer Patients, Bhumik Patel, Venkateswar Venkataraman, Deanna Janora, Jack Goldberg

Rowan-Virtua Research Day

Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation (PM&R) can address functional limitations in various conditions, including cancer. Cancer rehabilitation aims to address functional impairments resulting from both the disease itself and its treatments, striving to optimize physical, social, psychological, and vocational functioning. Existing literature indicates that PM&R services significantly benefit cancer patients by improving their overall quality of life. Studies have found that optimal utilization of PM&R services can increase the Functional Independence Measure (FIM) in cancer patients. Current National Comprehensive Cancer Network and American Cancer Society guidelines emphasize the importance of incorporating PM&R services into oncology care to enhance the function and …