Training scholars in dissemination and implementation research for cancer prevention and control: A mentored approach

Abstract Background As the field of D&I (dissemination and implementation) science grows to meet the need for more effective and timely applications of research findings in routine practice, the demand for formalized training programs has increased concurrently. The Mentored Training for Dissemination and Implementation Research in Cancer (MT-DIRC) Program aims to build capacity in the cancer control D&I research workforce, especially among early career researchers. This paper outlines the various components of the program and reports results of systematic evaluations to ascertain its effectiveness. Methods Essential features of the program include selection of early career fellows or more experienced investigators with a focus relevant to cancer control transitioning to a D&I research focus, a 5-day intensive training institute, ongoing peer and senior mentoring, mentored planning and work on a D&I research proposal or project, limited pilot funding, and training and ongoing improvement activities for mentors. The core faculty and staff members of the MT-DIRC program gathered baseline and ongoing evaluation data regarding D&I skill acquisition and mentoring competency through participant surveys and analyzed it by iterative collective reflection. Results A majority (79%) of fellows are female, assistant professors (55%); 59% are in allied health disciplines, and 48% focus on cancer prevention research. Forty-three D&I research competencies were assessed; all improved from baseline to 6 and 18 months. These effects were apparent across beginner, intermediate, and advanced initial D&I competency levels and across the competency domains. Mentoring competency was rated very highly by the fellows––higher than rated by the mentors themselves. The importance of different mentoring activities, as rated by the fellows, was generally congruent with their satisfaction with the activities, with the exception of relatively greater satisfaction with the degree of emotional support and relatively lower satisfaction for skill building and opportunity initially. Conclusions These first years of MT-DIRC demonstrated the program’s ability to attract, engage, and improve fellows’ competencies and skills and implement a multicomponent mentoring program that was well received. This account of the program can serve as a basis for potential replication and evolution of this model in training future D&I science researchers

Learning and teaching approaches promoting resilience in student nurses: An integrated review of the literature.

Undergraduate nursing students face challenges that can result in stress leading to impaired performance, physical illness, high turnover and sickness absence (Kinman and Jones 2001). Students therefore require skills and knowledge to help them cope with the challenges of learning professional practice. This paper explores the concept of resilience, with an emphasis on how educational programmes can foster resilient practices among student nurses. Educators can facilitate resilience by incorporating resilience teaching and training that includes, the core concepts of resilience: self-efficacy, reflective ability and self-confidence. Critical appraisal and synthesis of the literature resulted in the identification of three themes: attributes, programmes and transition. The following five key learning and teaching methods were identified as supporting the development of resilience: peer activities; reflective practice; directed study; problem based learning/enquiry based learning and experiential learning Having resilience and resilient qualities is an integral part of nursing, having a positive impact upon the health and well-being of the nurse as practitioner. Resilient qualities and behaviours can be developed through the facilitation of appropriate learning and teaching interventions

Physcion and Physcion 8-O-β-D-glucopyranoside: Natural Anthraquinones with Potential Anti-cancer Activities.

Nature has provided prodigious reservoirs of pharmacologically active compounds for drug development since times. Physcion and physcion 8-O-β-D-glucopyranoside (PG) are bioactive natural anthraquinones which exert anti-inflammatory and anti-cancer properties with minimum or no adverse effects. Moreover, physcion also exhibits anti-microbial and hepatoprotective properties while PG is known to have anti-sepsis as well as ameliorative activities against dementia. This review aims to highlight the natural sources and anti-cancer activities of physcion and PG along with asso-ciated mechanisms of actions. On the basis of the literature, physcion and PG regulate multitudinous cell signaling path-ways through the modulation of various regulators of cell cycle, protein kinases, microRNAs, transcriptional factors, and apoptosis linked proteins resulting in the effective killing of cancerous cells in vitro as well as in vivo. Both compounds effectively suppress metastasis, furthermore, physcion acts as inhibitor of 6PGD and also play an important role in chemosensitization. This review article suggests that physcion and PG are potent anti-cancer drug candidates but further investigations on their mechanism of action and pre-clinical trials are mandatory in order to comprehend the full potential of these natural cancer killers in anti-cancer remedies

Malic enzyme 2 as a potential therapeutic drug target for cancer

PubMed ID: 30160039Reprogrammed metabolic profile is a biochemical fingerprint of cancerous cells, which represents one of the “hallmarks of cancer.” The aberrant expression pattern of enzymatic machineries orchestrates metabolic activities into a platform that ultimately promotes cellular growth, survival, and proliferation. The NADP(+)-dependent mitochondrial malic enzyme 2 (ME2) has been widely appreciated due to its function as a provider of pyruvate and reducing power to the cell for biosynthesis of fatty acids and nucleotides along with maintenance of redox balance. Multiple lines of evidences have indicated that ME2 is a bonafide therapeutic target and novel biomarker which plays critical role during tumorigenesis. The objective of this review is to provide an update on the cancer-specific role of ME2 in order to explore its potential for therapeutic opportunities. Furthermore, we have discussed the potential of genetic and pharmacological inhibitors of ME2 in the light of previous research work for therapeutic advancements in cancer treatment. It is contemplated that additional investigations should focus on the use of ME2 inhibitors in combinational therapies as rational combinations of metabolic inhibitors and chemotherapy may have the ability to cure cancer. © 2018 IUBMB Life, 70(11):1076–1083, 2018. © 2018 International Union of Biochemistry and Molecular BiologyThis study was supported by the research grant The Nagai Foundation Tokyo, Japan (NFT-R-2018) and NRPU Research Grant (8381/Punjab/NRPU/R&D/HEC/2017). Authors would also like to thank Higher Education Commission (HEC), Pakistan for providing access to related papers from various journals

Evaluation of sugarcane promising clones based on the morphophysiological traits developed from fuzz

Sugarcane is one of the critical commercial crops and principal sources of ethanol and sugar worldwide. Unfavorable conditions and poor seed setting rates hinder variety development in sugarcane. Countries like Pakistan directly import fuzz (true seed) and other propagation material from the USA, China, Brazil, etc. In this study, we imported fuzz from China, developed 29 genotypes germinating in the glasshouse, and evaluated at field conditions along with two local checks (CPF-251 and HSF-240). Morphophysiological data were recorded, including plant height (PH), cane length (CL), internodal length (IL), tiller number (TN), brix percentage (B), cane diameter (CD), chlorophyll a (Chl. a), chlorophyll b (Chl. b), and total chlorophyll (T. Chl). Results showed highly significant (p < 0.001) differences among the sugarcane accessions for all the studied traits. High broad-sense heritability (81.89% to 99.91%) was recorded for all the studied parameters. Genetic Advance (GA) ranges from 4.6% to 65.32%. The highest GA was observed for PH (65.32%), followed by CL (63.28%). Chlorophyll leaching assay was also performed at different time points (0, 50, 100, 150, and 200 min). All the genotypes showed the same leaching trend at all times, and better performing genotypes showed less leaching compared to poor performing, indicating the high amount of cutin and wax on the leaf surface. Correlation analysis showed that PH, CL, IL, and TN had significant associations. Principal components analysis (PCA) further confirms these results. Based on PCA and correlation results, PH, CL, IL, and TN can be utilized as a selection criterion for sugarcane improvement. Genotypes such as NS-4a, NS-5, NS-6, NS-8, NS-9, and NS-15 are recommended for future breeding programs related to sugarcane variety development

Seed-Borne Fungal Diseases of Maize (Zea Mays L.): A Review

Introduction: Maize (Zea mays) is one of the most important cereal crops. It is ranked as&nbsp;3rd after wheat&nbsp;and rice. Due to its wide adaptability, diversified uses, and low production costs, it has great potential as a cereal crop. In the case of yield losses, various factors are involved. The fungal diseases of maize play a significant role in the reduction of both quantity as well as the quality of maize. Review Results: At the seedling stage, maize suffers from numerous diseases and many of them are seed-borne diseases. Anthracnose stalk rot (Colletotrichum graminicola), Charcoal rot of maize (Macrophomina phaseolina), Crazy top downy mildew disease (Sclerophthora macrospora), Corn grey leaf spot disease (Cercospora zeae-maydis), Aspergillus ear and kernel rot (Aspergillus flavus), Corn smut (Ustilago maydis), Southern corn leaf blight disease (Bipolaris maydis) etc. are important among these diseases.Chemical control of seed-borne pathogens of maize is rather difficult to achieve as a reasonably good. Due to the hazardous environmental effects of chemicals, the Integrated Management of the seed-borne fungal pathogens of corn is mostly preferred. The distribution, disease cycle, symptoms of the damage, effects of environmental factors, economical importance of disease, and integrated disease management options of major seed-borne fungal pathogens of maize have been reviewed in this review article from various currently available sources

Evaluation of Green Super Rice Lines for Agronomic and Physiological Traits under Salinity Stress

Rice (Oryza sativa) is an important staple food crop worldwide, especially in east and southeast Asia. About one-third of rice cultivated area is under saline soil, either natural saline soils or irrigation with brackish water. Salinity stress is among the devastating abiotic stresses that not only affect rice growth and crop productivity but also limit its cultivation area globally. Plants adopt multiple tolerance mechanisms at the morphological, physiological, and biochemical levels to tackle salinity stress. To identify these tolerance mechanisms, this study was carried out under both a controlled glass house as well as natural saline field conditions using 22 green super rice (GSR) lines along with two local varieties (&ldquo;IRRI 6 and Kissan Basmati&rdquo;). Several morpho-physiological and biochemical parameters along with stress-responsive genes were used as evaluation criteria under normal and salinity stress conditions. Correlation and Principal Component Analysis (PCA) suggested that shoot-related parameters and the salt susceptible index (SSI) can be used for the identification of salt-tolerant genotypes. Based on Agglomerative Hierarchical Cluster (AHC) analysis, two saline-tolerant (&ldquo;S19 and S20&rdquo;) and saline-susceptible (&ldquo;S3 and S24&rdquo;) lines were selected for further molecular evaluation. Quantitative RT-PCR was performed, and results showed that expression of 1-5-phosphoribosyl -5-5-phosphoribosyl amino methylidene amino imidazole-4-carboxamide isomerase, DNA repair protein recA, and peptide transporter PTR2 related genes were upregulated in salt-tolerant genotypes, suggesting their potential role in salinity tolerance. However, additional validation using reverse genetics approaches will further confirm their specific role in salt tolerance. Identified saline-tolerant lines in this study will be useful genetic resources for future salinity breeding programs