The LIVESTRONG Survivorship Center of Excellence Network

The LIVESTRONG™ Survivorship Center of Excellence Network consists of eight National Cancer Institute-designated Comprehensive Cancer Centers funded by the LAF between 2004 and 2008. The Network was created to accelerate the pace of progress in addressing the needs of the growing survivor community

Likes, dislikes, supports and barriers: the experience of students with disabilities in university in Ireland

There are more students with disabilities going to college than ever before. It is important that colleges understand the experiences of students with disabilities when in university. This research project was carried out by 12 students with intellectual disabilities who are enrolled in an Irish university,under the guidance of their lecturers. The project looked at four research questions: (1) what do we like about going to college; (2) what do we dislike about going to college; (3) what supports do students with disabilities experience to participation in college; and (4) what barriers do students withdisabilities experience to participation in college? The results show many interesting findings about what students with disabilities experience in college and this information can be used to help colleges better support students with disabilities

Following Lives Undergoing Change (Flux) study: Implementation and baseline prevalence of drug use in an online cohort study of gay and bisexual men in Australia

Background: Drug use among gay and bisexual men (GBM) is higher than most populations. The use of crystal methamphetamine, erectile dysfunction medication (EDM), and amyl nitrite have been associated with sexual risk behaviour and HIV infection among gay and bisexual men (GBM). Objective: This paper describes an online prospective observational study of licit and illicit drug use among GBM and explores baseline prevalence of drug use in this sample. Capturing these data poses challenges as participants are required to disclose potentially illegal behaviours in a geographically dispersed country. To address this issue, an entirely online and study specific methodology was chosen. Methods: Men living in Australia, aged 16.5 years of age or older, who identified as homosexual or bisexual or had sex with at least one man in the preceding 12 months were eligible to enrol. Results: Between September 2014 and July 2015, a total of 2250 participants completed the baseline questionnaire, of whom, 1710 (76.0%) consented to six-monthly follow-up. The majority (65.7%) were recruited through Facebook targeted advertising. At baseline, over half (50.5%) the men reported the use of any illicit drug in the previous six months, and 28.0% had used party drugs. In the six months prior to enrolment, 12.0% had used crystal methamphetamine, 21.8% had used EDM, and 32.1% had used amyl nitrite. Among the 1710 men enrolled into the cohort, 790 men had used none of these drugs. Conclusion: Ease of entry and minimal research burden on participants helped ensure successful recruitment into this online cohort study. Study outcomes will include the initiation and cessation of drug use, associated risk behaviours, and health consequences, over time. Results will provide insights into the role gay community plays in patterns of drug use among GBM

International variation in childhood cancer mortality rates from 2001 to 2015: Comparison of trends in the International Cancer Benchmarking Partnership countries

Despite improved survival rates, cancer remains one of the most common causes of childhood death. The International Cancer Benchmarking Partnership (ICBP) showed variation in cancer survival for adults. We aimed to assess and compare trends over time in cancer mortality between children, adolescents and young adults (AYAs) and adults in the six countries involved in the ICBP: United Kingdom, Denmark, Australia, Canada, Norway and Sweden. Trends in mortality between 2001 and 2015 in the six original ICBP countries were examined. Age standardised mortality rates (ASR per million) were calculated for all cancers, leukaemia, malignant and benign central nervous system (CNS) tumours, and non-CNS solid tumours. ASRs were reported for children (age 0-14 years), AYAs aged 15 to 39 years and adults aged 40 years and above. Average annual percentage change (AAPC) in mortality rates per country were estimated using Joinpoint regression. For all cancers combined, significant temporal reductions were observed in all countries and all age groups. However, the overall AAPC was greater for children (-2.9; 95% confidence interval = -4.0 to -1.7) compared to AYAs (-1.8; -2.1 to -1.5) and adults aged >40 years (-1.5; -1.6 to -1.4). This pattern was mirrored for leukaemia, CNS tumours and non-CNS solid tumours, with the difference being most pronounced for leukaemia: AAPC for children -4.6 (-6.1 to -3.1) vs AYAs -3.2 (-4.2 to -2.1) and over 40s -1.1 (-1.3 to -0.8). AAPCs varied between countries in children for all cancers except leukaemia, and in adults over 40 for all cancers combined, but not in subgroups. Improvements in cancer mortality rates in ICBP countries have been most marked among children aged 0 to 14 in comparison to 15 to 39 and over 40 year olds. This may reflect better care, including centralised service provision, treatment protocols and higher trial recruitment rates in children compared to older patients.</p

Genetic architecture of age-related cognitive decline in African Americans

Objective: To identify genetic risk factors associated with susceptibility to age-related cognitive decline in African Americans (AAs). Methods: We performed a genome-wide association study (GWAS) and an admixture-mapping scan in 3,964 older AAs from 5 longitudinal cohorts; for each participant, we calculated a slope of an individual's global cognitive change from neuropsychological evaluations. We also performed a pathway-based analysis of the age-related cognitive decline GWAS. Results: We found no evidence to support the existence of a genomic region which has a strongly different contribution to age-related cognitive decline in African and European genomes. Known Alzheimer disease (AD) susceptibility variants in the ABCA7 and MS4A loci do influence this trait in AAs. Of interest, our pathway-based analyses returned statistically significant results highlighting a shared risk from lipid/metabolism and protein tyrosine signaling pathways between cognitive decline and AD, but the role of inflammatory pathways is polarized, being limited to AD susceptibility. Conclusions: The genetic architecture of aging-related cognitive in AA individuals is largely similar to that of individuals of European descent. In both populations, we note a surprising lack of enrichment for immune pathways in the genetic risk for cognitive decline, despite strong enrichment of these pathways among genetic risk factors for AD

The IMPROVE guidelines (Ischaemia Models: Procedural Refinements Of in Vivo Experiments)

Most in vivo models of ischaemic stroke target the middle cerebral artery and a spectrum of stroke severities, from mild to substantial, can be achieved. This review describes opportunities to improve the in vivo modelling of ischaemic stroke and animal welfare. It provides a number of recommendations to minimise the level of severity in the most common rodent models of middle cerebral artery occlusion, while sustaining or improving the scientific outcomes. The recommendations cover basic requirements pre-surgery, selecting the most appropriate anaesthetic and analgesic regimen, as well as intraoperative and post-operative care. The aim is to provide support for researchers and animal care staff to refine their procedures and practices, and implement small incremental changes to improve the welfare of the animals used and to answer the scientific question under investigation. All recommendations are recapitulated in a summary poster (see supplementary information)

How confident are young adult cancer survivors in managing their survivorship care? A report from the LIVESTRONG™ Survivorship Center of Excellence Network

This study examined the association between sociodemographic, cancer treatment, and care delivery factors on young adult cancer survivors’ confidence in managing their survivorship care

Exercise and Physical Therapy Interventions for Children with Ataxia: a systematic review

The effectiveness of exercise and physical therapy for children with ataxia is poorly understood. The aim of this systematic review was to critically evaluate the range, scope and methodological quality of studies investigating the effectiveness of exercise and physical therapy interventions for children with ataxia. The following databases were searched: AMED, CENTRAL, CDSR, CINAHL, ClinicalTrials.gov, EMBASE, Ovid MEDLINE, PEDro and Web of Science. No limits were placed on language, type of study or year of publication. Two reviewers independently determined whether the studies met the inclusion criteria, extracted all relevant outcomes, and conducted methodological quality assessments. A total of 1988 studies were identified, and 124 full texts were screened. Twenty studies were included in the review. A total of 40 children (aged 5-18 years) with ataxia as a primary impairment participated in the included studies. Data were able to be extracted from eleven studies with a total of 21 children (aged 5-18 years), with a range of cerebellar pathology. The studies reported promising results but were of low methodological quality (no RCTs), used small sample sizes and were heterogeneous in terms of interventions, participants and outcomes. No firm conclusions can be made about the effectiveness of exercise and physical therapy for children with ataxia. There is a need for further high-quality child-centred research

TSPO ligand residence time influences human glioblastoma multiforme cell death/life balance

Abstract Ligands addressed to the mitochondrial Translocator Protein (TSPO) have been suggested as cell death/life and steroidogenesis modulators. Thus, TSPO ligands have been proposed as drug candidates in several diseases; nevertheless, a correlation between their binding affinity and in vitro efficacy has not been demonstrated yet, questioning the specificity of the observed effects. Since drug-target residence time is an emerging parameter able to influence drug pharmacological features, herein, the interaction between TSPO and irDE-MPIGA, a covalent TSPO ligand, was investigated in order to explore TSPO control on death/life processes in a standardized glioblastoma cell setting. After 90 min irDE-MPIGA cell treatment, 25 nM ligand concentration saturated irreversibly all TSPO binding sites; after 24 h, TSPO de-novo synthesis occurred and about 40 % TSPO binding sites resulted covalently bound to irDE-MPIGA. During cell culture treatments, several dynamic events were observed: (a) early apoptotic markers appeared, such as mitochondrial membrane potential collapse (at 3 h) and externalization of phosphatidylserine (at 6 h); (b) cell viability was reduced (at 6 h), without cell cycle arrest. After digitonin-permeabilized cell suspension treatment, a modulation of mitochondrial permeability transition pore was evidenced. Similar effects were elicited by the reversible TSPO ligand PIGA only when applied at micromolar dose. Interestingly, after 6 h, irDE-MPIGA cell exposure restored cell survival parameters. These results highlighted the ligand-target residence time and the cellular setting are crucial parameters that should be taken into account to understand the drug binding affinity and efficacy correlation and, above all, to translate efficiently cellular drug responses from bench to bedside