The embodied becoming of autism and childhood: a storytelling methodology

In this article I explore a methodology of storytelling as a means of bringing together research around autism and childhood in a new way, as a site of the embodied becoming of autism and childhood. Through reflection on an ethnographic story of embodiment, the body is explored as a site of knowledge production that contests its dominantly storied subjectivation as a ‘disordered’ child. Storytelling is used to experiment with a line of flight from the autistic-child-research assemblage into new spaces of potential and possibility where the becomings of bodies within the collision of autism and childhood can be celebrated

Survivorship Care Plan Information Needs: Perspectives of Safety-Net Breast Cancer Patients.

PurposeDespite the Institute of Medicine's (IOM) 2005 recommendation, few care organizations have instituted standard survivorship care plans (SCPs). Low health literacy and low English proficiency are important factors to consider in SCP development. Our study aimed to identify information needs and survivorship care plan preferences of low literacy, multi-lingual patients to support the transition from oncology to primary care and ongoing learning in survivorship.MethodsWe conducted focus groups in five languages with African American, Latina, Russian, Filipina, White, and Chinese medically underserved breast cancer patients. Topics explored included the transition to primary care, access to information, knowledge of treatment history, and perspectives on SCPs.ResultsAnalysis of focus group data identified three themes: 1) the need for information and education on the transition between "active treatment" and "survivorship"; 2) information needed (and often not obtained) from providers; and 3) perspectives on SCP content and delivery.ConclusionsOur data point to the need to develop a process as well as written information for medically underserved breast cancer patients. An SCP document will not replace direct communication with providers about treatment, symptom management and transition, a communication that is missing in participating safety-net patients' experiences of cancer care. Women turned to peer support and community-based organizations in the absence of information from providers.Implications for cancer survivors"Clear and effective" communication of survivorship care for safety-net patients requires dedicated staff trained to address wide-ranging information needs and uncertainties

Survivorship Care Plan Information Needs: Perspectives of Safety-Net Breast Cancer Patients.

PurposeDespite the Institute of Medicine's (IOM) 2005 recommendation, few care organizations have instituted standard survivorship care plans (SCPs). Low health literacy and low English proficiency are important factors to consider in SCP development. Our study aimed to identify information needs and survivorship care plan preferences of low literacy, multi-lingual patients to support the transition from oncology to primary care and ongoing learning in survivorship.MethodsWe conducted focus groups in five languages with African American, Latina, Russian, Filipina, White, and Chinese medically underserved breast cancer patients. Topics explored included the transition to primary care, access to information, knowledge of treatment history, and perspectives on SCPs.ResultsAnalysis of focus group data identified three themes: 1) the need for information and education on the transition between "active treatment" and "survivorship"; 2) information needed (and often not obtained) from providers; and 3) perspectives on SCP content and delivery.ConclusionsOur data point to the need to develop a process as well as written information for medically underserved breast cancer patients. An SCP document will not replace direct communication with providers about treatment, symptom management and transition, a communication that is missing in participating safety-net patients' experiences of cancer care. Women turned to peer support and community-based organizations in the absence of information from providers.Implications for cancer survivors"Clear and effective" communication of survivorship care for safety-net patients requires dedicated staff trained to address wide-ranging information needs and uncertainties

Brain metastasis

Brain metastasis, which commonly arises in patients with lung cancer, breast cancer and melanoma, is associated with poor survival outcomes and poses distinct clinical challenges. The brain microenvironment, with its unique cell types, anatomical structures, metabolic constraints and immune environment, differs drastically from microenvironments of extracranial lesions, imposing a distinct and profound selective pressure on tumour cells that, in turn, shapes the metastatic process and therapeutic responses. Accordingly, the study of brain metastasis could uncover new therapeutic targets and identify novel treatment approaches to address the unmet clinical need. Moreover, such efforts could provide insight into the biology of primary brain tumours, which face similar challenges to brain metastases of extracranial origin, and vice versa. However, the paucity of robust preclinical models of brain metastasis has severely limited such investigations, underscoring the importance of developing improved experimental models that holistically encompass the metastatic cascade and/or brain microenvironment. In this Viewpoint, we asked four leading experts to provide their opinions on these important aspects of brain metastasis biology and management.M.V. acknowledges support from the Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (MINECO) grant MINECO-Retos SAF2017-89643-R, the Bristol-Myers Squibb-Melanoma Research Alliance Young Investigator Award 2017 (498103), the Beug Foundation's Prize for Metastasis Research 2017, Fundacion Ramon Areces (CIVP19S8163), Worldwide Cancer Research (19-0177), Horizon 2020 Funding and Emerging Technologies (FET) Open (828972), the Clinic and Laboratory Integration Program Cancer Research Institute (CRI) Award 2018 (54545) and Spanish Association Against Cancer (AECC) Coordinated Translational Groups 2017 (GCTRA16015SEOA). M.V. is a Ramon y Cajal Investigator (RYC-2013-13365) and a member of the European Molecular Biology Organization Young Investigator Programme (EMBO YIP; 4053). L.G. is supported by CIHR Operating Grant PJT-162234, Terry Fox Research Institute grant TFRI1087, Canadian Cancer Society Research Institute CCS#705799, the Cancer Research Society and the C17 Research Network.S