Medical Specialties Commons^™

The Write Stuff - Winter 2017 (Vol. 14, No. 1), Research Medical Library

Write Stuff 2017

• Reusing your own previously published material: When is it okay?
• Think. Check. Submit: Selecting a trusted journal for your manuscript
• NIH revises its grant appendix policy and font recommendations
• Minimizing text on scientific posters
• Winter and spring schedule for the Research Medical Library webinar program
• Unusual terms used in scientific writing and publishing: Predatory journals, misleading metrics, and other publishing hazards

The Potential Of Raman Spectroscopy For Cytological Diagnosis Of Thinprep Samples From A Cervical Cancer Screening Population, Ines Ramos

Doctoral

Cervical cancer is the second most common cancer in women worldwide. For decades, most developed countries have applied organized cytology screening programs using the Papanicolau (PAP) test to identify abnormal cases. Despite a high specificity of 95-98%, Pap test sensitivity is reported to vary greatly from 74 to 96% with constant testing needed to achieve the highest values. Semi-automated cytology screening platforms, immunocytochemistry panels and other methodologies such as human papilloma virus (HPV) testing has been developed to help reduce false negative rates. More recently, HPV testing, thus far used for triage of abnormal cytology cases and test of cure, …

Genome-Scale Crispr-Cas9 Knockout Screen Identifies Huwe1 As A Modifier Of Egfr Dependence In Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer Cells, Jon Dimaina

MUSC Theses and Dissertations

Non-small cell lung cancers (NSCLC) with epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) gene mutations can exhibit a strong dependence on mutant EGFR signaling for growth and survival. They are also sensitive to EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs), which provide superior clinical benefits to conventional chemotherapy. However, despite initial response, most patients experience relapse with resistant tumors within a year. This study aims to identify modifiers of dependence on mutant EGFR signaling and the mechanisms by which they do so in order to improve therapeutic strategies and outcomes. A genome-scale CRISPR-Cas9 genetic knockout screen was conducted to identify genes whose loss-of-function confer …

Anti-Proliferative Role Of Recombinant Lethal Toxin Of Bacillus Anthracis On Primary Mammary Ductal Carcinoma Cells Revealing Its Therapeutic Potential, Rekha Khandia, Bramhadev Pattnaik, Katherikamem Rajukumar, Atul Pateriya, Sandeep Bhatia, Harshad Murugkar, Anil Prakash, Hare Krishna Pradhan, Kildeep Dhama, Ashol Munjal, Sunil K. Joshi

Bioelectrics Publications

Bacillus anthracis secretes three secretary proteins; lethal factor (LF), protective antigen (PA) and edema factor (EF). The LF has ability to check proliferation of mammary tumors, chiefly depending on mitogen activated protein kinase (MAPK) signaling pathway. Evaluation of therapeutic potential of recombinant LF (rLF), recombinant PA (rPA) and lethal toxin (rLF + rPA = LeTx) on the primary mammary ductal carcinoma cells revealed significant (p < 0.01) reduction in proliferation of tumor cells with mean inhibition indices of 28.0 ±1.37% and 19.6 ± 1.47% respectively. However, treatment with rPA alone had no significant anti-proliferative effect as evident by low mean inhibition index of 3.4 ± 3.87%. The higher inhibition index observed for rLF alone as compared to LeTx is contrary to the existing knowledge on LF, which explains the requirement of PA dependent endocytosis for its enzymatic activity. Therefore, the plausible existence of PA independent mode of action of LF including direct receptor mediated endocytosis or modulation of signal transduction cascade via unknown means is hypothesized. In silico protein docking analysis of other cellular receptors for any plausibility to play the role of receptor for LF revealed c-Met receptor showing strongest affinity for LF (H bond = 19; Free energy = …

Novel Hla-Dp Region Susceptibility Loci Associated With Severe Acute Gvhd., Rakesh K. Goyal, S J. Lee, T Wang, M Trucco, M Haagenson, S R. Spellman, M Verneris, R E. Ferrell

Manuscripts, Articles, Book Chapters and Other Papers

Despite HLA allele matching, significant acute GvHD remains a major barrier to successful unrelated donor BMT. We conducted a genome-wide association study (GWAS) to identify recipient and donor genes associated with the risk of acute GvHD. A case-control design (grade III-IV versus no acute GvHD) and pooled GWA approach was used to study European-American recipients with hematological malignancies who received myeloablative conditioning non-T-cell-depleted first transplantation from HLA-A, -B, -C, -DRB1, -DQB1 allele level (10/10) matched unrelated donors. DNA samples were divided into three pools and tested in triplicate using the Affymetrix Genome-wide SNP Array 6.0. We identified three novel susceptibility …

Is Necitumumab An Effective Addition To Traditional Chemotherapeutic Regiments When Treating Stage Iv Lung And Colon Cancer?, J. Ross Hosford

PCOM Physician Assistant Studies Student Scholarship

Objective: The objective of this selective EBM review is to determine whether or not Necitumumab is an effective add on treatment to traditional chemotherapy regimes when treating stage IV lung or colon cancer.

Study Designs: Review of two open label, randomized, controlled phase III trials and one single arm multicenter phase II study.

Outcomes Measured: Objective tumor response rate was measured for patients with colon cancer. Overall survival rate and length of survival were measured for patients with lung cancer. This was measured in Kapler Meier Methodology.

Results: For two trials the addition of Necitumumab improved …

Are Five Sessions Of Individual Based Art Therapy Effective In Reducing Emotional Problems In Swedish Women With Nonmetastatic Breast Cancer Receiving Radiation Therapy?, Sarah C. Hayes

PCOM Physician Assistant Studies Student Scholarship

OBJECTIVE: The objective of this selective EBM review is to determine “Are five sessions of individual based art therapy effective in reducing emotional problems in Swedish women with nonmetastatic breast cancer receiving radiation therapy?”

STUDY DESIGN: This review is based on three randomized control studies, two which were published in 2009 and one that was published in 2006.

DATA SOURCES: All articles used were published in English, in peer-reviewed journals, and found using PubMed, Ebscohost, and Cochrane Review databases.

OUTCOMES MEASURED: For all studies, factors pertaining to emotional problems were measured through self-assessment questionnaires.

RESULTS: …

Is Rolapitant Effective In Reducing The Incidence Of Chemotherapy-Induced Nausea And Vomiting (Cinv) In Patients Receiving Emetogenic Chemotherapy?, Brandon E. Eberts

PCOM Physician Assistant Studies Student Scholarship

Objective: The objective of this selective EBM review is to determine whether or not rolapitant is safe and effective in reducing the incidence of chemotherapy induced nausea and vomiting (CINV) in patients receiving emetogenic chemotherapy.

Study Design: This review is based on three randomized controlled trials (RCTs) all published in 2015. The studies compared the safety and efficacy of rolapitant in decreasing the incidence of CINV.

Data Sources: All articles used were published in English, in peer-reviewed journals, and found using PubMed and the Cochrane Review database.

Outcomes Measured: All included studies measured the safety and …

Is Combination Nivolumab And Ipilimumab Safe And Effective In Patients With Melanoma?, Jacob L. Toscano

PCOM Physician Assistant Studies Student Scholarship

Objective: The objective of this selective EBM review is to determine whether or not combination nivolumab and ipilimumab is safe and effective in patients with melanoma.

Study design: Review of two randomized controlled trials (RCTs) published in 2015, and one cohort study published in 2013.

Data Sources: All of the articles were published in English language, peer reviewed journals and were found using PubMed and Cochrane databases.

Outcomes Measured: The safety of combination nivolumab and ipilimumab was measured by treatment-related grade 3 or 4 adverse effects. The effectiveness was measured by progression-free survival, which is based …

Mechanisms Of Hormonal Regulation Of Invasiveness And Metastasis Of Luminal Breast Cancer, Thomas Mcfall

Wayne State University Dissertations

ABSTRACT

MECHANISMS OF HORMONAL REGULATION OF INVASIVENESS AND METASTASIS OF LUMINAL BREAST CANCER

By

THOMAS MCFALL

December 2017

Advisor: Dr. Manohar Ratnam

Major: Cancer Biology

Degree: Doctor of Philosophy

Over 20% of breast cancer cases present with distal metastasis and they are predominantly of luminal subtypes. As luminal breast cancer is relatively indolent, it is believed that progression to metastasis must occur over many years, generally well into post-menopausal years. Unfortunately, very little is known about the mechanisms by which these hormone receptor positive tumors metastasize, likely in part due to their slow metastatic rates in animal model systems as …

Functional Analysis Of Rad6 In Brca1 Wild Type And Brca1 Mutant Triple Negative Breast Cancer Drug Response, Brittany Haynes

Wayne State University Dissertations

TNBCs account for 15-20% of all breast and are unsuitable for common targeted therapies as they lack expression of estrogen, progesterone, and Her2/neu receptors. Cisplatin, a DNA damaging agent, is currently under clinical investigation for treatment of TNBCs and paclitaxel, a mitotic spindle poison, is a first-line treatment option for this disease. While both agents elicit therapeutic benefit BRCA1 mutation status, toxicity, and resistance are limiting factors. Rad6 functions as an E2 ubiquitin conjugating protein and its enzymatic activity is critical for its cellular function. Rad6 is known to play a critical role in the translesion synthesis (TLS) damage response …

Posthurricane Environment's Impact On Childhood Cancer Rates In Louisiana, 2004-2010, Lenora M. Robinson

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Childhood cancer is the second leading cause of death in children aged 0-19 years. Research efforts to identify factors associated with or influencing this growing health problem are limited. The purpose of this research study was to examine, in reference to Louisiana during the period 2004-2010, the annual number of children diagnosed with cancer; the types of cancers; the possible effects of the environmental aftermath resulting from Hurricanes Katrina, Rita, and Gustav; and any correlation between environmental contaminants following these hurricanes with the number of children diagnosed with cancer. This study employed correlational quantitative methodology using archival data from the …

Advancing Vibrational Spectroscopy For Cellular And Sub Cellular Analysis: Raman Spectroscopy As An In Vitro Chemotherapeutic Screeening And Assessment Protocol, Zeineb Farhane

Doctoral

Vibrational spectroscopy, including Raman micro-spectroscopy, has attracted considerable attention over the last few years, as a powerful, non-invasive tool for clinical applications, especially in cancer diagnosis, in vivo and ex vivo. As a molecular fingerprinting technique with optical resolution, Raman micro-spectroscopy is able to monitor biochemical processes, drug uptake, efficacy and mode of action and mechanisms of interaction of chemotherapeutic drugs at a subcellular level. In vitro applications may be more strategically achievable, and can help guide drug design and discovery, and eventually evaluate To this end, different lung cell lines were used and Raman micro-spectroscopy was coupled to valuable …

Assessing The Impact Timing Of Chemotherapy Education Has On A Patient's Ability To Self-Manage Common Side Effects, Deanna Anderson

DNP Projects

Purpose

A new diagnosis of cancer will often cause an individual to feel overwhelmed, confused and anxious (Kessels, 2003). Many patients often experience anxiety not only related to their cancer diagnosis but also in regards to the plausible side effects of chemotherapy (Greene, Nail, Fieler, Dudgeon, & Jones, 1994; Williams & Schreier, 2004). The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the association between timing of education provided to newly diagnosed patients undergoing chemotherapy for breast cancer and number of self-manageable triage calls to the oncologist’s office

Methods

A retrospective study design was conducted on newly diagnosed breast cancer patients …

Prevention Of Ovarian And Endometrial Cancer By Combined Oral Contraceptives: A Demographics Study, Joanna S. Heywood

CMC Senior Theses

Endometrial cancer is the most common gynecologic cancer with 54,870 cases occurring in the United States in 2015 and causing 10,170 deaths, an 18.5% mortality rate (Elit and Reade, 2015). Ovarian cancer, while less common, is much more fatal. In 2015 in the United States, 21,290 cases occurred and resulted in 14,180 deaths, a 66.6% mortality rate. This mortality rate makes ovarian cancer the fifth most deadly cancer for women in the United States, which is largely explained by ineffective screening strategies and limited treatment possibilities (Cramer, 2012). Thus, developing effective prevention strategies is especially important to saving the lives …

A Mathematical Investigation On Tumor-Immune Dynamics: The Impact Of Vaccines On The Immune Response, Jonathan Quinonez, Neethi Dasu, Mahboob Qureshi

College of Osteopathic Medicine (TUN) Publications and Research

Mathematical models analyzing tumor-immune interactions provide a framework by which to address specific scenarios in regard to tumor-immune dynamics. Important aspects of tumor-immune surveillance to consider is the elimination of tumor cells from a host’s cell-mediated immunity as well as the implications of vaccines derived from synthetic antigen. In present studies, our mathematical model examined the role of synthetic antigen to the strength of the immune system. The constructed model takes into account accepted knowledge of immune function as well as prior work done by de Pillis et al. All equations describing tumor-immune growth, antigen presentation, immune response, and interaction …

Mhealth In Palliative Care For Cancer Patients & Care Givers, Newton Andebe, Peter Waiganjo, John Weru

Internal Medicine, East Africa

Patients and caregivers in palliative care experience multidimensional pain. In current practice, information about a cancer patient progress is known when they visit a clinic or make a distress call when their conditions worsen. This strategy is not efficient for systematic monitoring of symptoms, which is key in improving palliative care. Mobile phones have helped to transform healthcare through diagnosis, health education and symptoms management of chronic illnesses. In this study, a mobile phone assessment tool was implemented at an outpatient palliative care clinic for cancer patients in Aga Khan University Hospital, Nairobi. The usefulness of the mobile phone application …

Clinicopathology And Molecular Determinants Underlying Benign Breast And Breast Cancer Lesions, Andreana Holowatyj Holowatyj

Wayne State University Dissertations

Despite converging incidence rates for breast cancers by race, disparities in mortality persist where black women suffer from poorer prognosis compared to white counterparts. To understand the clinical, demographic, and molecular characteristics underlying these disparities, we examined differences among patients with breast cancer to understand the role of human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) status, age, and race/ethnicity among women diagnosed with hormone receptor-positive breast cancer, and disparities in surgical therapy among female patients with early stage young-onset breast cancer. Benign breast disease, another known risk factor for breast cancer, includes a histological spectrum of lesions, could contribute to …

Pet Imaging Of Early Therapeutic Response In Solid Tumors, Stephanie J. Blocker

Wayne State University Dissertations

An important pillar of precision medicine for oncology is the ability to identify patients who respond to treatment early into their therapy. Positron emission tomography (PET) allows physicians and researchers to measure changes in tumor behavior prior to noticeable differences in morphology.

Objective: Determine the utility of multiple tracers for PET in assessing early changes in tumor activity that result from treatment.

Methods: Two tracers for PET were studied. 64Cu-labeled liposomes were used to assess changes in liposome delivery two solid colon tumors early into treatment with bevacizumab (Bev). 18F-FMAU thymidine analog (1-(2'-deoxy-2'-fluoro-beta-D-arabinofuranosyl)thymine), was utilized to detect early response to …

Effectiveness Of Hydrotherapy As An Adjunct Treatment For The Management Of Breast Cancer Related Lymphoedema In Women Following Breast Cancer Surgery: A Systematic Review, Eleanor Bills, Matthew Delsar, Steven O'Donnell, Alexandra Rice, Cory Stone, Saravana Kumar

Internet Journal of Allied Health Sciences and Practice

Cancer is a leading cause of death and disability around the world. Of all cancers, breast cancer commonly ranks amongst the top three. Surgical intervention for breast cancer is common and a possible side effect of this is breast cancer related lymphoedema (BCRL). Women with breast cancer related lymphoedema commonly have regional limb swelling and pain, which can negatively impact mental and social well-being as well as upper limb function. Hydrotherapy is therapeutic modality which may be used as an adjunct to self-management strategies after the intensive phase of lymphoedema management. Yet despite its popularity, recent research has questioned its …

Impact Of Telephone Call On Patient Satisfaction In Adult Oncology Patients, Victoria Maria Frazier-Warmack

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Patient satisfaction is an ongoing action in which hospitals and health care providers are constantly seeking strategies to improve their satisfaction ratings. In the ambulatory oncology infusion setting, patient satisfaction is also a key metric that is being monitored, but actual patient satisfaction is unknown. Guided by Lewin's change theory and King's theory of goal attainment, the aim of this project was to use a strategy of conducting follow-up telephones calls to determine if patient satisfaction improved in an ambulatory oncology setting. A descriptive comparative approach was used to evaluate patient satisfaction before and after a telephone follow-up intervention. Participants …

Mammary Extracellular Matrix Directs Differentiation Of Testicular And Embryonic Stem Cells To Form Functional Mammary Glands In Vivo, Robert D. Bruno, Jodie M. Fleming, Andrea L. George, Corinne A. Boulanger, Pepper Schedin, Gilbert H. Smith

School of Medical Diagnostics & Translational Sciences Publications

Previously, we demonstrated the ability of the normal mammary microenvironment (niche) to direct non-mammary cells including testicular and embryonic stem cells (ESCs) to adopt a mammary epithelial cell (MEC) fate. These studies relied upon the interaction of transplanted normal MECs with non-mammary cells within the mammary fat-pads of recipient mice that had their endogenous epithelium removed. Here, we tested whether acellular mammary extracellular matrix (mECM) preparations are sufficient to direct differentiation of testicular-derived cells and ESCs to form functional mammary epithelial trees in vivo. We found that mECMs isolated from adult mice and rats were sufficient to redirect testicular derived …

The Experience Of Qigong Among Women Cancer Survivors, Jennifer Sveund

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

Research has shown that qigong can be beneficial for a variety of health related conditions; However, evidence suggests that in the United States, a lack of well designed clinical trials limits the efficacy of qigong in the context of cancer treatment. Research has indicated that careful consideration should be given to the design of randomized control trials using qigong due to the conflicting philosophical methodologies. In the United States, qigong has been under investigated, particularly lacking are qualitative inquiries into qigong use and cancer survivorship. This study is an interpretative phenomenological inquiry that sought to understand women’s experience of qigong …

Pediatric Ovarian Growing Teratoma Syndrome., Rebecca M. Rentea, Aaron Varghese, Atif Ahmed, Alexander Kats, Michelle Manalang, Tazim Dowlut-Mcelroy, Richard J. Hendrickson

Manuscripts, Articles, Book Chapters and Other Papers

Ovarian immature teratoma is a germ cell tumor that comprises less than 1% of ovarian cancers and is treated with surgical debulking and chemotherapy depending on stage. Growing teratoma syndrome (GTS) is the phenomenon of the growth of mature teratoma elements with normal tumor markers during or following chemotherapy for treatment of a malignant germ cell tumor. These tumors are associated with significant morbidity and mortality due to invasive and compressive growth as well as potential for malignant transformation. Current treatment modality is surgical resection. We discuss a 12-year-old female who presented following resection of a pure ovarian immature teratoma …

Health-Related Quality Of Life (Hr-Qol) And Chronic Health Conditions In Survivors Of Childhood Acute Myeloid Leukemia (Aml) With Down Syndrome (Ds): A Report From The Children's Oncology Group., Kris Ann P. Schultz, Lu Chen, Alicia Kunin-Batson, Zhengjia Chen, William G. Woods, A S. Gamis, Toana Kawashima, Kevin C. Oeffinger, H Stacy Stacy Nicholson, Joseph P. Neglia

Manuscripts, Articles, Book Chapters and Other Papers

Survival rates for children with Down syndrome (DS) and acute myeloid leukemia (AML) are high; however, little is known regarding the health-related quality of life (HR-QOL) of these survivors. Individuals who survived ≥5 years following diagnosis of childhood AML were invited to complete parent or patient-report surveys measuring HR-QOL and chronic health conditions. In total, 26 individuals with DS had a median age at diagnosis of 1.8 years (range, 0.77 to 10.9 y) and median age at interview of 15 years (range, 8.3 to 27.6 y). Participants with DS and AML were compared with AML survivors without DS whose caregiver …

Yap And The Hippo Pathway In Pediatric Cancer., Atif Ahmed, Abdalla D. Mohamed, Melissa Gener, Weijie Li, Eugenio Taboada

Manuscripts, Articles, Book Chapters and Other Papers

The Hippo pathway is an important signaling pathway that controls cell proliferation and apoptosis. It is evolutionarily conserved in mammals and is stimulated by cell-cell contact, inhibiting cell proliferation in response to increased cell density. During early embryonic development, the Hippo signaling pathway regulates organ development and size, and its functions result in the coordinated balance between proliferation, apoptosis, and differentiation. Its principal effectors, YAP and TAZ, regulate signaling by the embryonic stem cells and determine cell fate and histogenesis. Dysfunction of this pathway contributes to cancer development in adults and children. Emerging studies have shed light on the upregulation …

Pd-L1 Expressing Circulating Tumour Cells In Head And Neck Cancers, Arutha Kulasinghe, Chris Perry, Liz Kenny, Majid E. Warkiani, Colleen Nelson, Chamindie Punyadeera

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

Background

Blockade of the PD-1/PD-L1 immune checkpoint pathway is emerging as a promising immunotherapeutic approach for the management and treatment of head and neck cancer patients who do not respond to 1st/2nd line therapy. However, as checkpoint inhibitors are cost intensive, identifying patients who would most likely benefit from anti PD-L1 therapy is required. Developing a non-invasive technique would be of major benefit to the patient and to the health care system.

Case presentation

We report the case of a 56 year old man affected by a supraglottic squamous cell carcinoma (SCC). A CT scan showed a 20 mm right …

Biofunctionalized Capillary Flow Channel Platform Integrated With 3d Nanostructured Matrix To Capture Circulating Tumor Cells, Shashwat Banerjee, Ganesh Khutale, Vrushali Khobragade, Narendra Kale, Milind Pore, Govind Chate, Archana Jalota-Badhwar, Manoj Dongare, Jayant Khandare

Articles

Circulating tumor cells (CTCs) from peripheral blood account genetic information for cancer diagnosis and overall disease monitoring. Analysis of “liquid biopsy” holds immense promise as it may lead to new approaches for cancer treatment. The study reports effective and continuous flow microchannel system for isolating CTCs using transferrin conjugated 3D matrix synthesized by crosslinking polyethylene glycol-Fe3O4 nanostructures for rapid and efficient capturing of CTCs. The platform provides option of using multiple microchannel units in series that can influence higher cell-capture efficiency due to increasing cell-substrate contact frequency. CTCs are captured with high efficiency even at low concentration of target cells …

Using Tcr Transgenic, Gp100 Reactive T Cells And Checkpoint Inhibition To Target Lymphangioleimyomatosis, Christian Ankney

Master's Theses

Lymphangioleiomyomatosis (LAM) is a low-grade neoplastic disease affecting primarily women. It is characterized by cystic lung disease as well as renal and retroperitoneal tumors called angiomyolipomas and lymphangiomas. Tumor cells have smooth muscle features as well as neuroendocrine cell surface markers, and the disease can be diagnosed by HMB45 staining of tumor cells. We questioned whether expression of melanocytic antigens, specifically gp100, creates an opportunity to treat LAM by adoptive T cell transfer. LAM lung lesions demonstrate poor immune surveillance, therefore adoptive T cell transfer could offer benefits in this disease.

A link was made between melanoma and depigmenting vitiligo …

"C-Terminal Binding Protein 2" An Emerging Oncogene In Colon And Pancreatic Cancers, Ayesha Chawla

Theses and Dissertations

The C terminal binding proteins (CtBP) 1 and 2 are a family of transcriptional co-repressors overexpressed in a variety of cancers, and are frequently associated with poor prognosis and chemoresistance. CtBP has also been characterized in cell culture models as drivers of migration/invasion and epithelial-mesenchymal transition. CtBP mediates its transcriptional corepressor activity via its dehydrogenase domain, and inhibition of this domain interferes with CtBP oncogenic functions. The role of CtBP in APC mutant neoplasia remains obscure even though APC is responsible for degradation of both β-catenin and CtBP in suppressing colorectal tumorigenesis. Our prior work demonstrated that CtBP proteins can …