Living as a cancer survivor : a qualitative study on the experiences of Belgian adolescents and young adults (AYAs) after childhood cancer

PURPOSE: Insight was sought in how a childhood cancer experience plays a role in daily life of adolescents and young adults (AYA) survivors. DESIGN AND METHODS: A qualitative research in which semi-structured interviews were held with 21 AYA survivors of childhood cancer between the ages of 14 and 25. The AYA survivors were recruited from two pediatric oncology departments of two university hospitals in Belgium. RESULTS: The current situation and behavior of AYA-survivors who have been treated for childhood cancer are covered in 5 categories: The Feeling of Being Different while Aiming for Normalcy in Relationships, Living with Existential Uncertainty, The Conscious Protection of Health, The Attachment to the Parent(s) with Whom the Cancer Experience was Shared, and The Desire to Be Meaningful to Others. CONCLUSIONS: The AYA survivors did not feel that their cancer experience dominated their current daily life, yet, the cancer experience had an important impact on their functioning. PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS: The findings of the study can be used to optimize holistic psychosocial care of AYA survivors. By starting from the key elements in their current functioning, health care professionals can tailor their support to the way in which AYA survivors have integrated their cancer experience into their everyday lives

2013 Convocation

Prelude Music: Jonathan Besancon, IMSA World Language Faculty Member Welcome: Robert Hernandez, Director of Student Affairs Pledge of Allegiance: Anthony Marquez, Student Council President Opening Remarks: Catherine C. Veal, IMSA President; Branson Lawrence Jr., IMSA Principal Featured Piece: Alan Shramuk, 2012 IMSA Graduate Keynote Speaker: Jenny Deller, Writer-Director-Producer of the feature film, Future Weather Closing Remarks: Branson Lawrence Jr., IMSA Principa

Effect of irrigation on sap flux density variability and water use estimate in cherry (Prunus avium) for timber production: Azimuthal profile, radial profile and sapwood estimation

9 páginas.-- 7 figuras.-- 3 tablas.-- 30 referenciasInformation on tree water use in plantations for high quality wood is scarce, thus studies are needed toproperly estimate the irrigation demand of these plantations. Plant water use estimation with sap flowsensors has been used extensively. However, biases in tree sap flow estimate can arise from variationson radial and azimuthal profiles of sap flux density and also from the sapwood area considered for theup-scaling from sap flux density to sap flux. This work aimed to (1) study the spatial variations of sapflux density in cherry trees in a timber orientated plantation, (2) compare several methods to estimatesapwood depth in cherry trees and (3) to evaluate the effect of drip irrigation on these factors. The resultsshowed that most of the studied trees had decreasing radial sap flux density profiles with depth asexpected. However, the three irrigated trees of bigger sizes still showed high sap flux densities in theirinner tissues, at contrast with the rest of the trees and especially with the non irrigated ones of similarsize with values close to 20% of the sap flux density measured at 1 cm depth from cambium. On the otherhand, the different methods tested to estimate sapwood depth gave significantly different results andonly the two methods of visual identification in wood cores based on color change and measurementsof sap flux densities along the xylem radius may be considered suitable for scaling purposes. Moreover,azimuthal variation pattern was found to be random in all the studied trees, and the ranking between theaspects (north, south, east and west) was not affected by either drip irrigation or sun exposition, and thusmeasuring sap flux density in any particular aspect has been shown to be suitable to estimate the overalltree sap flux. We conclude that more studies are necessary to properly assess the radial profile of sapflux density, especially when considering the high sap flux density in the inner tissues of the three biggerirrigated trees as compared to the other trees, and also how this pattern seemed to indicate sapwooddepths values very contrasted to the ones estimated from color change in wood cores.Acknowledgments MONTES (CSD 2008-00040) projectsfunded by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation. The firstauthor was the recipient of a FPI grant from the Spanish Ministryof Economy and Competitiveness. The field work of Eulalia Serra,Beatriz Grau, Marc Ferrer and Cristian Morales is highly appreci-ated.Peer reviewe

Skin, hair and beyond: the impact of menopause.

The skin is an endocrine organ and a major target of hormones such as estrogens, androgens and cortisol. Besides vasomotor symptoms (VMS), skin and hair symptoms often receive less attention than other menopausal symptoms despite having a significant negative effect on quality of life. Skin and mucosal menopausal symptoms include dryness and pruritus, thinning and atrophy, wrinkles and sagging, poor wound healing and reduced vascularity, whereas skin premalignant and malignant lesions and skin aging signs are almost exclusively caused by environmental factors, especially solar radiation. Hair menopausal symptoms include reduced hair growth and density on the scalp (diffuse effluvium due to follicular rarefication and/or androgenetic alopecia of female pattern), altered hair quality and structure, and increased unwanted hair growth on facial areas. Hormone replacement therapy (HRT) is not indicated for skin and hair symptoms alone due to the risk–benefit balance, but wider potential benefits of HRT (beyond estrogen’s effect on VMS, bone, breast, heart and blood vessels) to include skin, hair and mucosal benefits should be discussed with women so that they will be able to make the best possible informed decisions on how to prevent or manage their menopausal symptoms.post-print1529 K

‘Temporary Plasticiser’: A Novel Solution to Fabricate 3D Printed Patient-Centred Cardiovascular ‘Polypill’ Architectures

Hypertension and dyslipidaemia are modifiable risk factors associated with cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) and often require a complex therapeutic regimen. The administration of several medicines is commonly associated with poor levels of adherence among patients, to which World Health Organisation (WHO) proposed a fixed-dose combination unit (polypill) as a strategy to improve adherence. In this work, we demonstrate the fabrication of patient-specific polypills for the treatment of CVDs by fused deposition modelling (FDM) 3D printing and introduce a novel solution to meet critical quality attributes. The construction of poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA)-based polypills containing four model drugs (lisinopril dihydrate, indapamide, rosuvastatin calcium and amlodipine besylate) was revealed for the first time. The impact of tablet architecture was explored using multi-layered and unimatrix structures. The novel approach of using distilled water as a ‘temporary co-plasticiser’ is reported and was found to significantly lower the extruding (90°C) and 3D printing (150°C) temperatures from 170°C and 210°C respectively, with consequent reduction in thermal stress to the chemicals. XRD indicated that lisinopril dihydrate and amlodipine besylate maintained their crystalline form while indapamide and rosuvastatin calcium were essentially amorphous in the PVA tablets. From the multilayer polypills, the release profile of each drug was dependent on its position in the multilayer. In addition to the multilayer architecture offering a higher flexibility in dose titration and a more adaptive solution to meet the expectations of patient-centred therapy, we identify that it also allows orchestrating the release of drugs of different physicochemical characteristics. Adopting such an approach opens up a pathway towards low-cost multidrug delivery systems such as tablets, stents or implants for wider range of globally approved actives

Human and biophysical influences on fire occurrence in the United States

National-scale analyses of fire occurrence are needed to prioritize fire policy and management activities across the United States. However, the drivers of national-scale patterns of fire occurrence are not well understood, and how the relative importance of human or biophysical factors varies across the country is unclear. Our research goal was to model the drivers of fire occurrence within ecoregions across the conterminous United States. We used generalized linear models to compare the relative influence of human, vegetation, climate, and topographic variables on fire occurrence in the United States, as measured by MODIS active fire detections collected between 2000 and 2006. We constructed models for all fires and for large fires only and generated predictive maps to quantify fire occurrence probabilities. Areas with high fire occurrence probabilities were widespread in the Southeast, and localized in the Mountain West, particularly in southern California, Arizona, and New Mexico. Probabilities for large-fire occurrence were generally lower, but hot spots existed in the western and southcentral United States The probability of fire occurrence is a critical component of fire risk assessments, in addition to vegetation type, fire behavior, and the values at risk. Many of the hot spots we identified have extensive development in the wildland–urban interface and are near large metropolitan areas. Our results demonstrated that human variables were important predictors of both all fires and large fires and frequently exhibited nonlinear relationships. However, vegetation, climate, and topography were also significant variables in most ecoregions. If recent housing growth trends and fire occurrence patterns continue, these areas will continue to challenge policies and management efforts seeking to balance the risks generated by wildfires with the ecological benefits of fire.Keywords: MODIS active fires, Wildfire risk, Wildland–urban interface, Fire occurrenc

Airway Mucin Concentration as a Marker of Chronic Bronchitis

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is characterized by chronic bronchitic and emphysematous components. In one biophysical model, the concentration of mucin on the airway surfaces is hypothesized to be a key variable that controls mucus transport in healthy persons versus cessation of transport in persons with muco-obstructive lung diseases. Under this model, it is postulated that a high mucin concentration produces the sputum and disease progression that are characteristic of chronic bronchitis

Reduced expression of lamin A/C correlates with poor histological differentiation and prognosis in primary gastric carcinoma

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Lamin A/C is very important in DNA replication, RNA dependent transcription and nuclear stabilization. Reduced or absent lamin A/C expression has been found to be a common feature of a variety of different cancers. To investigate the role of lamin A/C in gastric carcinoma (GC) pathogenesis, we analyzed the correlations between the lamin A/C expression level and clinicopathological factors and studied its prognostic role in primary GC.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>The expression of lamin A/C at mRNA level was detected by the reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and real time RT-PCR, and western blot was used to examine the protein expression. Lamin A/C expression and its prognostic significance were investigated by performing immunohistochemical analysis on a total of 126 GC clinical tissue samples.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Both lamin A/C mRNA and protein expression were downregulated in the majority of tumours compared with corresponding normal gastric tissues (<it>p </it>= 0.011 and <it>p </it>= 0.036, respectively). Real time RT-PCR further validated that downregulation of lamin A/C is associated with poor histological differentiation (r = 0.438, <it>p </it>= 0.025). The immunohistochemical staining showed an evident decrease of lamin A/C expression in 55.6% (70/126) GC cases. Importantly, the negative lamin A/C expression correlated strongly with histological classification (r = 0.361, <it>p </it>= 0.034). Survival analysis revealed that patients with lamin A/C downregulation have a poorer prognosis (<it>p </it>= 0.034). In addition, lamin A/C expression was found to be an independent prognostic factor by multivariate analysis.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Data of this study suggest that lamin A/C is involved in the pathogenesis of GC, and it may serve as a valuable biomarker for assessing the prognosis for primary GC.</p