PAIN AND ANXIETY AND QUALITY OF LIFE IN BREAST CANCER SURVIVORS

poster abstractBACKGROUND: Pain and anxiety are symptoms that frequently occur as co-related groups termed “clusters.” While it is known that pain may be associated with decreased quality of life (QOL), less is understood about the effects of anxiety on breast cancer survivors (BCS). PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to: 1) determine levels of pain and anxiety in breast cancer survivors and 2) examine the relationship between anxiety and pain on quality of life in breast cancer survivors (BCS) controlling for age and time post-treatment. THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK: Ferrell’s Quality of Life Model guided this study. METHODS: A cross-sectional, descriptive design was used. BCS enrolled in a longitudinal cognitive behavioral study completed self-report questionnaires including the Medical Outcome Scale-Short Form, Pain Subscale, Spielberger State-Trait Anxiety Instrument (STAI) State Subscale to measure anxiety, and Ferrell’s QOL Instrument which measures Physical, Psychological, Social and Spiritual Well-being (higher scores indicating higher quality of life). Covariates of age and time post-treatment were controlled for. All data were collected at a baseline assessment before randomization in the cognitive intervention study. Data were evaluated using descriptive statistics and general linear regression. RESULTS: 88 female BCS averaging 57 years old (range 40-74; SD=8.54), primarily Caucasian (88.6%), college-educated (88%), approximately 5.3 (SD=4.0) years post-treatment participated. Cancer-related pain (4 lymphedema, 4 neuropathy) was specified by 8 participants. BCS reported low-moderate pain (x= 66.0114; sd = 22.348) and moderate anxiety (x̅=35.0227; sd= 8.7749). Clinically significant levels of anxiety (≥ 39 on the STAI-S where higher scores indicated higher anxiety) were reported in 24% of BCS. Age, anxiety, and pain significantly accounted for 45% of the total variance on QOL in the regression model (R = 0.45, F = 18.61; p = <0.000), controlling for age and time post-treatment. CONCLUSIONS: This study provides support for the fact that both pain and anxiety are negatively associated with QOL. Anxiety is a significant long-term symptom for a sub-set of BCS which negatively impacts all dimensions of BCS quality of life. Findings indicate the need for comprehensive assessment of symptoms of anxiety in long-term BCS and the development of evidenced-based interventions to alleviate anxiety and improve QOL

Liquid Crystal Dimers and Smectic Phases from the Intercalated to the Twist-Bend

Funding: This research received no external funding. Acknowledgments: The authors gratefully acknowledge Professor Nataša Vaupoticˇ for her central role in the interpretation of the resonant soft X-ray scattering (RSoXS) data and the preparation of the original figures. The authors also wish to thank Ewan Cruickshank for many helpful discussions.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

The Effect of Vitamin E on the Survival Rate of unc-13 Caenorhabditis elegans mutants under Oxidative Stress

Caenorhabditis elegans unc-13 mutants express decreased neuronal activity and thus are a good model strain for examining defective nervous systems. These unc-13 mutants as well as wild type N2 strains, show rapid mortality when under oxidative stress. However, the antioxidant vitamin E may prolong survival in unc-13 mutant and N2 strains under oxidative stress. The addition of vitamin E to organisms under oxidative stress has a protective effect in both N2 and unc-13 C. elegans strains. Interestingly, vitamin E resulted in a greater increase in survival rate in N2 worms than with unc-13 mutant worms. While both strains displayed lower mortality rates with the addition of vitamin E, this finding suggests that vitamin E more efficiently increases survival rates of C. elegans with typical nervous system function. The efficacy of vitamin E implies that use of antioxidants may lessen the damage caused by oxidative stress in both N2 and mutant worms

Remarkable smectic phase behaviour in odd-membered liquid crystal dimers : The CT6O.mseries

Funding Information: EG and DP acknowledge the support of the National Science Centre (Poland): (Grant Number 2016/22/A/ST5/00319). RW gratefully acknowledges The Carnegie Trust for the Universities of Scotland for funding the award of a PhD scholarship 2015-2018.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

The Chiral Twist-Bend Nematic Phase (N*TB)

Acknowledgements E.G. and D.P. acknowledge the support of the National Science Centre (Poland): (Grant Number 2016/22/A/ST5/00319). R.W. gratefully acknowledges The Carnegie Trust for the Universities of Scotland for funding the award of a PhD scholarship.Peer reviewedPostprin

Supramolecular liquid crystals exhibiting a chiral twist-bend nematic phase

Funding The work was supported by the National Science Centre (Poland) under the grant no. 2016/22/A/ST5/00319. Acknowledgements RW gratefully thanks the Carnegie Trust for the Universities of Scotland for the award of a PhD Scholarship (2015–2018).Peer reviewedPublisher PD

The ferroelectric nematic phase: on the role of lateral alkyloxy chains.

The synthesis and characterisation of the 4-({[4’-nitro-(1,1'-biphenyl)−4-yl]oxy}carbonyl)phenyl 2-alkoxy-4-methoxybenzoates are reported: the 1O(m-On)PEPEBNO2 series. These materials include an additional phenyl ring compared to the extensively studied ferroelectric nematogen RM734, added to increase the liquid crystal transition temperatures. All members of the series exhibited both conventional nematic (N) phase and ferroelectric nematic (NF) phases; TNI and TNFN both decrease on increasing n, the length of the lateral alkoxy chain. The properties of this four-ring series are compared with analogous three-ring laterally substituted variants of RM734; the addition of the extra phenyl ring has a significantly more pronounced effect on the value of TNI than on TNFN. The increase in TNI may be attributed to the enhanced structural anisotropy and more favourable intermolecular interactions arising from the insertion of the phenyl ring, whereas the much weaker effect on TNFN may reflect a change in the shape of the molecule. We also report two materials with three-ring structures, the 4'-nitro-(1,1'-biphenyl)-4-yl 2-alkoxy-4-methoxybenzoates: 1O(m-On)PEBNO2 (n=1 and 2). The removal of the ester linkage between RM734 and 1O(m-O1)PEPNO2 extinguishes the NF phase and this appears to be consistent with a model in which the molecules are described in terms of a longitudinal surface charge density wave

Twist-Bend Nematogenic Supramolecular Dimers and Trimers Formed by Hydrogen Bonding

The work was supported by the National Science Centre (Poland) under the grant no. 2016/22/A/ST5/00319.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

New patterns of twist-bend liquid crystal phase behaviour : the synthesis and characterisation of the 1-(4-cyanobiphenyl-4′-yl)-10-(4-alkylaniline-benzylidene-4′-oxy)decanes (CB10O·m)

Open Access via the RSC OA Agreement Funding Information: A. F. A. wishes to thank the Ministry of Education and the University of Hail, Saudi Arabia through the Cultural Bureau of Saudi Arabia, London for their financial support during the study period. E. G. and D. P. thank the National Science Centre (Poland) for financial support under the grant no. 2016/22/A/ST5/00319.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Hydrogen bonding and the design of twist-bend nematogens

Acknowledgements The work was supported by the National Science Centre (Poland) under the grant no. 2016/22/A/ST5/00319. RW gratefully thanks the Carnegie Trust for the Universities of Scotland for the award of a PhD Scholarship (2015-2018). The Erasmus programme is thanked for supporting a study visit for CAC to Warsaw. Declaration of competing interests The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper. Author statement Rebecca Walker: Investigation, Formal analysis, Validation, Visualisation, Writing – Original Draft, Writing – Reviewing and Editing Damian Pociecha: Visualisation, Investigation, Formal analysis Catriona Crawford: Investigation, Formal analysis John MD Storey: Resources, Supervision Ewa Gorecka: Investigation, Formal analysis, Resources, Supervision Corrie T Imrie: Conceptualization, Supervision, Resources, Writing – Reviewing and EditingPeer reviewedPostprin