American Power and International Theory at the Council on Foreign Relations, 1953-54

Between December 1953 and June 1954, the elite think-tank the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) joined prominent figures in International Relations, including Pennsylvania’s Robert Strausz-Hupé, Yale’s Arnold Wolfers, the Rockefeller Foundation’s William Thompson, government adviser Dorothy Fosdick, and nuclear strategist William Kaufmann. They spent seven meetings assessing approaches to world politics—from the “realist” theory of Hans Morgenthau to theories of imperialism of Karl Marx and V.I. Lenin—to discern basic elements of a theory of international relations. The study group’s materials are an indispensable window to the development of IR theory, illuminating the seeds of the theory-practice nexus in Cold War U.S. foreign policy. Historians of International Relations recently revised the standard narrative of the field’s origins, showing that IR witnessed a sharp turn to theoretical consideration of international politics beginning around 1950, and remained preoccupied with theory. Taking place in 1953–54, the CFR study group represents a vital snapshot of this shift This book situates the CFR study group in its historical and historiographical contexts, and offers a biographical analysis of the participants. It includes seven preparatory papers on diverse theoretical approaches, penned by former Berkeley political scientist George A. Lipsky, followed by the digest of discussions from the study group meetings. American Power and International Theory at the Council on Foreign Relations, 1953–54 offers new insights into the early development of IR as well as the thinking of prominent elites in the early years of the Cold War

Distributive and anti-distributive Mendelsohn triple systems

We prove that the existence spectrum of Mendelsohn triple systems whose associated quasigroups satisfy distributivity corresponds to the Loeschian numbers, and provide some enumeration results. We do this by considering a description of the quasigroups in terms of commutative Moufang loops. In addition we provide constructions of Mendelsohn quasigroups that fail distributivity for as many combinations of elements as possible. These systems are analogues of Hall triple systems and anti-mitre Steiner triple systems respectively

AXL modulates extracellular matrix protein expression and is essential for invasion and metastasis in endometrial cancer

The receptor tyrosine kinase AXL promotes migration, invasion, and metastasis. Here, we evaluated the role of AXL in endometrial cancer. High immunohistochemical expression of AXL was found in 76% (63/83) of advanced-stage, and 77% (82/107) of high-grade specimens and correlated with worse survival in uterine serous cancer patients. In vitro, genetic silencing of AXL inhibited migration and invasion but had no effect on proliferation of ARK1 endometrial cancer cells. AXL-deficient cells showed significantly decreased expression of phospho-AKT as well as uPA, MMP-1, MMP-2, MMP-3, and MMP-9. In a xenograft model of human uterine serous carcinoma with AXL-deficient ARK1 cells, there was significantly less tumor burden than xenografts with control ARK1 cells. Together, these findings underscore the therapeutic potentials of AXL as a candidate target for treatment of metastatic endometrial cancer

Obese endometrial cancer survivors\u27 perceptions of weight loss strategies and characteristics that may influence participation in behavioral interventions

We aimed to evaluate obese endometrial cancer (EC) survivors\u27 perceptions of weight loss barriers and previously attempted weight loss methods and to identify characteristics that predicted willingness to enroll in a behavioral intervention trial. We administered a 27-question baseline survey at an academic institution to EC survivors with body mass index ≥ 30 kg/

Debating the Sources and Prospects of European Integration

LetterOutput Type: Lette

Quantification of ovarian lesion and fallopian tube vasculature using optical-resolution photoacoustic microscopy

The heterogeneity in the pathological and clinical manifestations of ovarian cancer is a major hurdle impeding early and accurate diagnosis. A host of imaging modalities, including Doppler ultrasound, MRI, and CT, have been investigated to improve the assessment of ovarian lesions. We hypothesized that pathologic conditions might affect the ovarian vasculature and that these changes might be detectable by optical-resolution photoacoustic microscopy (OR-PAM). In our previous work, we developed a benchtop OR-PAM and demonstrated it on a limited set of ovarian and fallopian tube specimens. In this study, we collected data from over 50 patients, supporting a more robust statistical analysis. We then developed an efficient custom analysis pipeline for characterizing the vascular features of the samples, including the mean vessel diameter, vascular density, global vascular directionality, local vascular definition, and local vascular tortuosity/branchedness. Phantom studies using carbon fibers showed that our algorithm was accurate within an acceptable error range. Between normal ovaries and normal fallopian tubes, we observed significant differences in five of six extracted vascular features. Further, we showed that distinct subsets of vascular features could distinguish normal ovaries from cystic, fibrous, and malignant ovarian lesions. In addition, a statistically significant difference was found in the mean vascular tortuosity/branchedness values of normal and abnormal tubes. The findings support the proposition that OR-PAM can help distinguish the severity of tubal and ovarian pathologies

Gynecologic oncology patient perspectives and knowledge on advance care planning: A quality improvement intervention

OBJECTIVES: Assess and improve advance care planning (ACP) awareness and uptake among gynecologic oncology patients. METHODS: Using a quality improvement Plan-Do-Check-Act framework, we completed a single institution needs assessment and intervention. The needs assessment was a 26-question survey assessing baseline ACP knowledge and preferences of gynecologic oncology patients. We used this survey to implement an outpatient intervention in which patients were offered ACP resources (pamphlet, discussion with their gynecologic oncologist, and/or social work referral). We conducted a post-intervention survey among patients who had and had not received ACP resource(s) to assess whether our intervention increased ACP knowledge, discussions, or uptake. RESULTS: Among 106 patients surveyed in the needs assessment, 33 % had ACP documents, 26 % had discussed ACP with a physician, and 82 % thought discussing ACP was important. The majority preferred these conversations in the outpatient setting (52 %) with their gynecologic oncologist (80 %) instead of nurses or trainees. In the intervention, 526 patients were offered ACP resources. Compared to women who did not receive resources (n = 324), patients who received ACP resource(s) (n = 202) were more likely to have ACP discussions with their gynecologic oncologist (38 % vs 68 %, CONCLUSIONS: ACP uptake among gynecologic oncology patients is low, but ACP discussions with an oncologist during outpatient visits are important to patients and improve their knowledge regarding completing ACP documents

Community access to primary care is an important geographic disparity among ovarian cancer patients undergoing cytoreductive surgery

OBJECTIVE: Given the importance of understanding neighborhood context and geographic access to care on individual health outcomes, we sought to investigate the association of community primary care (PC) access on postoperative outcomes and survival in ovarian cancer patients. METHODS: This was a retrospective cohort study of Stage III-IV ovarian cancer patients who underwent surgery at a single academic, tertiary care hospital between 2012 and 2015. PC access was determined using a Health Resources and Services Administration designation. Outcomes included 30-day surgical and medical complications, extended hospital stay, ICU admission, hospital readmission, progression-free and overall survival. Descriptive statistics and chi-squared analyses were used to analyze differences between patients from PC-shortage vs not PC-shortage areas. RESULTS: Among 217 ovarian cancer patients, 54.4 % lived in PC-shortage areas. They were more likely to have Medicaid or no insurance and live in rural areas with higher poverty rates, significantly further from the treating cancer center and its affiliated hospital. Nevertheless, 49.2 % of patients from PC-shortage areas lived in urban communities. Residing in a PC-shortage area was not associated with increased surgical or medical complications, ICU admission, or hospital readmission, but was linked to more frequent prolonged hospitalization (26.3 % vs 14.1 %, p = 0.04). PC-shortage did not impact progression-free or overall survival. CONCLUSIONS: Patients from PC-shortage areas may require longer inpatient perioperative care in order to achieve the same 30-day postoperative outcomes as patients who live in non-PC shortage areas. Community access to PC is a critical factor to better understanding and reducing disparities among ovarian cancer patients