Electrospun Spiderskin Bandage for Epidermal Protection and Recovery

Spider silk is one of nature\u27s most promising biomaterial s for a variety of applications, however, due to the inability to farm spiders, transgenic hosts are required for large-scale production. With the unique combination of strength, elasticity, and biocompatibility, spider silk has an incredible potential for use in the human body. This study was conducted to merge two major applications of spider silk for the creation of a novel bandaging product. Electrospinning technology was utilized to create a spider silk/polymer bandage matrix to be applied with an aqueous spider silk skin adhesive. In designing the bandaging matrix , the mechanical properties of the electrospun silk were evaluated against commercially-available product s and known values of human skin. The chosen formulation had physical properties more comparable human skin than commercially-available products. The aqueous adhesive was tested in conjunction with the electro spun matrix for its adhesion and found comparable to commercial products. The durability of the bandage was tested via cyclic stresses and found analogous to commercial products. The common antimicrobial chlorhexidine was incorporated into the adhesive and had a release profile lasting about 4 days. With this incorporation into the aqueous adhesive, the adhesive can be reapplied to provide additional antimicrobial protection, a necessity in the healthcare industry. The bandaging showed no signs of inhibiting mammalian cell proliferation under cytotoxicity testing. The final product, deemed SpiderSkin, presents a unique bandaging solution capable of providing a healthy environment for the regeneration of epidermal tissue, while protecting the wound from outside infection , and providing mechanical stability similar to that of human skin

How Children Describe Negative Adoption Experiences

Adoption faces stigmas from society which affects peoples\u27 perceptions of adoptees, their birth parents, and adoptive parent s; one of the most prominent being that adoption is the second best route to getting children (Baxter, Norwood, Asbury, & Scharp , 2014). Adoption success is mixed with some adapting well, while others have negative experience s. Studying themes about how and why negative adoption experiences happen could be beneficial to preventing them in the future. There is a unique perspective between parents and children and so the central research question for this study is: how do children describe their negative adoption experiences? Facebook, adoption comments were analyzed from January 2017-November 2018 on an adoption dedicated page. The comments were coded and analyzed for themes that reappeared that could indicate negative adoption experiences. The posts revealed themes including loss of family or identity, lies, rejection, and rights to birth records and knowledge. Overall, these themes illuminate negative adoption experiences and hold important implications for practitioners and counselors

Wild Mustangs

A mustang is a wild horse, a broomtail, a cayuse, a fantail, or any of several other terms cowboys use to describe this tame animal gone wild. To you, my children, and your children and theirs, I give this book of stories about mustangs. The action and excitement I experienced while capturing mustangs are described here. Using helicopters today to run down wild horses removes both the thrill and sport in their capture. It was surely more exciting and certainly a greater challenge to pit a saddle horse and rider against the fear and speed of a wild horse. The better conditioning of the saddle horse and the knowledge the man had of his quarry were the main advantages the cowboy had over his wild friend, the mustang. I call the mustang a friend to the cowboy because hundreds of these animals were captured and, after breaking, became fine saddle horses. When I rode for the Utah Construction Company, we had nearly two hundred saddle horses in the cavy during the summer work season until the cattle were on winter feed grounds or desert range. Over half of these horses were captured mustangs. Nearly sixty mustangs-potential saddle horses-were captured each year, animals ranging from four to seven years old with few exceptions. A mustang stud was not considered too old to break to ride until he was past seven, and then only because his useful life span was shortened by age. The prime of life for a working saddle horse ranges from about seven to twelve years. I hope you can feel some of the thrills I experienced with the mustangs as you read the following stories.https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/usupress_pubs/1171/thumbnail.jp

Family history of prostate and colorectal cancer and risk of colorectal cancer in the Women's health initiative.

BackgroundEvidence suggests that risk of colorectal and prostate cancer is increased among those with a family history of the same disease, particularly among first-degree relatives. However, the aggregation of colorectal and prostate cancer within families has not been well investigated.MethodsAnalyses were conducted among participants of the Women's Health Initiative (WHI) observational cohort, free of cancer at the baseline examination. Subjects were followed for colorectal cancer through August 31st, 2009. A Cox-proportional hazards regression modeling approach was used to estimate risk of colorectal cancer associated with a family history of prostate cancer, colorectal cancer and both cancers among first-degree relatives of all participants and stratified by race (African American vs. White).ResultsOf 75,999 eligible participants, there were 1122 colorectal cancer cases diagnosed over the study period. A family history of prostate cancer alone was not associated with an increase in colorectal cancer risk after adjustment for confounders (aHR =0.94; 95% CI =0.76, 1.15). Separate analysis examining the joint impact, a family history of both colorectal and prostate cancer was associated with an almost 50% increase in colorectal cancer risk (aHR = 1.48; 95% CI = 1.04, 2.10), but similar to those with a family history of colorectal cancer only (95% CI = 1.31; 95% CI = 1.11, 1.54).ConclusionsOur findings suggest risk of colorectal cancer is increased similarly among women with colorectal cancer only and among those with both colorectal and prostate cancer diagnosed among first-degree family members. Future studies are needed to determine the relative contribution of genes and shared environment to the risk of both cancers

Multilevel Interventions To Address Health Disparities Show Promise In Improving Population Health

Multilevel interventions are those that affect at least two levels of influence—for example, the patient and the health care provider. They can be experimental designs or natural experiments caused by changes in policy, such as the implementation of the Affordable Care Act or local policies. Measuring the effects of multilevel interventions is challenging, because they allow for interaction among levels, and the impact of each intervention must be assessed and translated into practice. We discuss how two projects from the National Institutes of Health’s Centers for Population Health and Health Disparities used multilevel interventions to reduce health disparities. The interventions, which focused on the uptake of the human papillomavirus vaccine and community-level dietary change, had mixed results. The design and implementation of multilevel interventions are facilitated by input from the community, and more advanced methods and measures are needed to evaluate the impact of the various levels and components of such interventions

Predictors of Colorectal Cancer Screening in Two Underserved U.S. Populations: A Parallel Analysis

BackgroundDespite declining colorectal cancer (CRC) incidence and mortality rates in the U.S., significant geographic and racial disparities in CRC death rates remain. Differences in guideline-concordant CRC screening rates may explain some of these disparities. We aim to assess individual and neighborhood-level predictors of guideline-concordant CRC screening within two cohorts of individuals located within CRC mortality geographic hotspot regions in the U.S.MethodsA total of 36,901 participants from the Southern Community Cohort Study and 4,491 participants from the Ohio Appalachia CRC screening study were included in this study. Self-reported date of last CRC screening was used to determine if the participant was within guidelines for screening. Logistic regression models were utilized to determine the association of individual-level predictors, neighborhood deprivation, and residence in hotspot regions on the odds of being within guidelines for CRC screening.ResultsLower household income, lack of health insurance, and being a smoker were each associated with lower odds of being within guidelines for CRC screening in both cohorts. Area-level associations were less evident, although up to 15% lower guideline adherence was associated with residence in neighborhoods of greater deprivation and in the Lower Mississippi Delta, one of the identified CRC mortality hotspots.ConclusionThese results reveal the adverse effects of lower area-level and individual socioeconomic status on adherence to CRC guideline screening

Promoting patient engagement in cancer genomics research programs: An environmental scan

Background: A national priority in the United States is to promote patient engagement in cancer genomics research, especially among diverse and understudied populations. Several cancer genomics research programs have emerged to accomplish this priority, yet questions remain about the meaning and methods of patient engagement. This study explored how cancer genomics research programs define engagement and what strategies they use to engage patients across stages in the conduct of research.Methods: An environmental scan was conducted of cancer genomics research programs focused on patient engagement. Research programs were identified and characterized using materials identified from publicly available sources (e.g., websites), a targeted literature review, and interviews with key informants. Descriptive information about the programs and their definitions of engagement, were synthesized using thematic analysis. The engagement strategies were synthesized and mapped to different stages in the conduct of research, including recruitment, consent, data collection, sharing results, and retention.Results: Ten research programs were identified, examples of which include the Cancer Moonshot Biobank, the MyPART Network, NCI-CONNECT, and the Participant Engagement and Cancer Genome Sequencing (PE-CGS) Network. All programs aimed to include understudied or underrepresented populations. Based on publicly available information, four programs explicitly defined engagement. These definitions similarly characterized engagement as being interpersonal, reciprocal, and continuous. Five general strategies of engagement were identified across the programs: 1) digital (such as websites) and 2) non-digital communications (such as radio broadcasts, or printed brochures); 3) partnering with community organizations; 4) providing incentives; and 5) affiliating with non-academic medical centers. Digital communications were the only strategy used across all stages of the conduct of research. Programs tailored these strategies to their study goals, including overcoming barriers to research participation among diverse populations.Conclusion: Programs studying cancer genomics are deeply committed to increasing research participation among diverse populations through patient engagement. Yet, the field needs to reach a consensus on the meaning of patient engagement, develop a taxonomy of patient engagement measures in cancer genomics research, and identify optimal strategies to engage patients in cancer genomics. Addressing these needs could enable patient engagement to fulfill its potential and accelerate the pace of cancer genomic discoveries