Living with Life-threatening Illness: An Inquiry into Children\u27s Experience of Cancer

Previous studies concerning children living with illness have been limited by (a) a narrow focus on the child\u27s cognitive development, (b) reliance on sources outside of the child\u27s experience, (c) reliance on methods based on the language and quantitative modes of measuring used by adults rather than the experience of the child, (d) models that emphasize methods of control in coping, and (e) a tendency to pathologize the responses of the child. In contrast, the current study involved speaking directly with school-aged children living with a diagnosis of cancer. The qualitative method developed for this study involved a two-fold approach, coupling drawings with interviews. This approach involved participants in a natural activity that allowed them to open up by showing their world, and then narrating the story behind the pictures. This approach led to significantly more elaboration and attention to their individual experiences. Recommendations are made for using the method of combining drawings and interviews both in research and in the ongoing care of children living with illness. Results indicate that these children do not fundamentally identify themselves with having cancer, describing themselves as normal kids, rather than as patients. Participants described varying ways of getting through the tough times, including distraction and the support of family and friends. Most participants identified the worst part of having cancer concretely in terms of painful procedures or the unfamiliar environment of the hospital. Though participants dreaded painful procedures, each spoke of the care with which they were treated by the doctors and nurses who performed them. Participants sought to give meaning to their painful present and uncertain future by strengthening relationships or seeking to use their experience to help others. The prevailing metaphor in current literature portrays the patient and doctor as soldier and general engaged in battle. Here a new metaphor is introduced involving medical staff as guides who lend their expertise in leading patients along an uncertain and often treacherous path. In this new metaphor, patients are not abandoned if they begin to lose the fight, but are instead guided through to the end of their journey

Photoproduction of pi0 omega off protons for E(gamma) < 3 GeV

Differential and total cross-sections for photoproduction of gamma proton to proton pi0 omega and gamma proton to Delta+ omega were determined from measurements of the CB-ELSA experiment, performed at the electron accelerator ELSA in Bonn. The measurements covered the photon energy range from the production threshold up to 3GeV.Comment: 8 pages, 13 figure

Photoproduction of meson pairs: First measurement of the polarization observable I^s

The polarization observable I^s, a feature exclusive to the acoplanar kinematics of multi-meson final states produced via linearly polarized photons, has been measured for the first time. Results for the reaction g p -> p pi0 eta are presented for incoming photon energies between 970 MeV and 1650 MeV along with the beam asymmetry I^c. The comparably large asymmetries demonstrate a high sensitivity of I^s to the dynamics of the reaction. Fits using Bonn-Gatchina partial wave analysis demonstrate that the new polarization observables carry significant information on the contributing partial waves.Comment: 11 pages, 6 figures, v2 to appear in Phys. Lett.

Quasi-free photoproduction of eta-mesons of the neutron

Quasi-free photoproduction of eta-mesons off nucleons bound in the deuteron has been measured with the CBELSA/TAPS detector for incident photon energies up to 2.5 GeV at the Bonn ELSA accelerator. The eta-mesons have been detected in coincidence with recoil protons and recoil neutrons, which allows a detailed comparison of the quasi-free n(gamma,eta)n and p(gamma,eta)p reactions. The excitation function for eta-production off the neutron shows a pronounced bump-like structure at W=1.68 GeV (E_g ~ 1 GeV), which is absent for the proton.Comment: accepted for publication in Phys. Rev. Let

Testing the theory of immune selection in cancers that break the rules of transplantation

Modification of cancer cells likely to reduce their immunogenicity, including loss or down-regulation of MHC molecules, is now well documented and has become the main support for the concept of immune surveillance. The evidence that these modifications, in fact, result from selection by the immune system is less clear, since the possibility that they may result from reorganized metabolism associated with proliferation or from cell de-differentiation remains. Here, we (a) survey old and new transplantation experiments that test the possibility of selection and (b) survey how transmissible tumours of dogs and Tasmanian devils provide naturally evolved tests of immune surveillance