Rural Breast Cancer Patients and Survivors Perspectives using Online Health Resources

Background: Breast cancer is the second most common cancer in women, with over 2.5 million breast cancer survivors in the United States. These patients, survivors and their loved ones use the Internet to find information about breast cancer, search for treatment options and connect with support groups. For women in medically underserved areas, especially rural areas, the Internet could be one of their only sources of information. Objective: The study investigates rural breast cancer patients’ and survivors’ motivations to seek online information, ability to use the Internet as a health information source, barriers to finding the information they seek, and the search strategy they use when seeking information online. Methods: This qualitative study used “think-aloud” interviews with rural breast cancer patients and survivors to examine the thought process used to select online breast cancer information. Data were analyzed using thematic analysis in NVivo 9. Results: Patients use Internet searches to corroborate provider recommendations and treatment plans. They preferred websites affiliated with nationally recognized cancer centers and breast cancer support organizations with few advertisements and comprehensive information. Conclusions: The importance of trust within the provider-patient relationship is a core theme. Although the provider is the preferred source of information, patients will use the Internet to verify provider recommendations. Implications for Practice: Rural breast cancer patients desire Internet search training. Nurses and breast cancer survivors would be effective trainers to increase patient online search information satisfaction and provide reliable resources for patients seeking accurate health

Area-level factors associated with spatial variation of prostate cancer incidence for black men

Purpose: Black men are disproportionately affected by prostate cancer (CaP) compared to any other racial/ethnic groups within the United States. Identifying CaP hotspots along with associated local area-level risk factors is crucial to tackling the significant burden of CaP and the disparity seen in Black men. The objective of this study was to determine the scope of geographical variation in CaP incidences and to assess the degree to which this variation is associated with county-level risk and protective factors.Methods: The study population was Black men diagnosed with prostate cancer between 2006-2010 in Florida. County-level CaP incidence rates were computed as the ratios of the numbers of new CaP cases diagnosed between 2006 and 2010 to the corresponding 2000 US census population of Black men 20 and over years old data (US Census 2000). Other county-level environmental and health care factors were also obtained. A random effects Poisson model and Geographical Information System (GIS) were used to map and assess the spatial patterns of CaP incidences in 67 Florida counties. These statistical techniques involved a Bayesian approach for estimating the underlying county-specific CaP risk since the data are very sparse.Results: The findings showed that an increasing CaP incidence of Black Men in Florida  was significantly associated with an increasing unemployment rate ( 2     with 95% CI: (.0025, .2703), does not include zero suggesting significance) and with increasing number of physicians per capita after controlling for other county characteristics. There was a negative association between poverty and CaP incidence. Regarding spatial distribution of CaP incidence, we observed that there are clustering and hotspots of high CaP incidence rates in Palm Beach county in South Florida, and Alachua and Marion counties in north Florida.Conclusion: Our findings showed that indicators of socioeconomic status and accessibility of health care services such as poverty, unemployment and health care providers are important variables that explain spatial variation of prostate cancer incidence rates of Black Men. Better understanding of such risk factors and identifying specific counties with a disproportionate burden of CaP disease may help formulate targeted interventions and resource allocation by state and local public official

The Vehicle, February 1960, Vol. 2 no. 1

Vol. 2, No. 1 Table of Contents Editorialpage 2 A White Man\u27s BurdenRobert Mills Frenchpage 4 Passing TrainWayne Bakerpage 8 AutumnMajor Dan Ragainpage 8 Chaos in CulturevilleJ.B. Youngpage 9 Cure-allJerry N. Whitepage 13 Love-Long DistanceMary Ellen Mockbeepage 13 Metropolitan CaravanThomas McPeakpage 14 Ode to the Lion HuntersRichard Blairpage 16 ImmortalityM.E.M.page 16 EntranceSam Martinpage 16https://thekeep.eiu.edu/vehicle/1006/thumbnail.jp

The Vehicle, February 1960, Vol. 2 no. 1

Vol. 2, No. 1 Table of Contents Editorialpage 2 A White Man\u27s BurdenRobert Mills Frenchpage 4 Passing TrainWayne Bakerpage 8 AutumnMajor Dan Ragainpage 8 Chaos in CulturevilleJ.B. Youngpage 9 Cure-allJerry N. Whitepage 13 Love-Long DistanceMary Ellen Mockbeepage 13 Metropolitan CaravanThomas McPeakpage 14 Ode to the Lion HuntersRichard Blairpage 16 ImmortalityM.E.M.page 16 EntranceSam Martinpage 16https://thekeep.eiu.edu/vehicle/1006/thumbnail.jp

The Vehicle, December 1959, Vol. 1 no. 5

Vol. 1, No. 5 Table of Contents To The Readerpage 2 JudyRobert Mills Frenchpage 3 The FarmerRobert C. Millerpage 5 Bah! Humbug!The Skepticpage 5 Looking BackwardThe Optimistpage 7 Strangers in the TownAl Brookspage 7 Not Once OnlyA.B. Carterpage 8 OlogyRon Kellypage 8 SnowJean Nightingalepage 8 Moment of PowerJ.B. Youngpage 9 LifeRobert C. Millerpage 13 The Restless SeaRhonda McGowanpage 14 Approaching of the YuleRoger Perkinspage 14 The Old ModelMary Ellen Mockbeepage 15 \u27Tis the SeasonR.M.F.page 15 The Spirit of ChristmasKathleen Ferreepage 16 Christmas in the HeartKathleen Ferreepage 16 That\u27s BoysKathleen Ferreepage 16https://thekeep.eiu.edu/vehicle/1001/thumbnail.jp

The Vehicle, December 1959, Vol. 1 no. 5

Vol. 1, No. 5 Table of Contents To The Readerpage 2 JudyRobert Mills Frenchpage 3 The FarmerRobert C. Millerpage 5 Bah! Humbug!The Skepticpage 5 Looking BackwardThe Optimistpage 7 Strangers in the TownAl Brookspage 7 Not Once OnlyA.B. Carterpage 8 OlogyRon Kellypage 8 SnowJean Nightingalepage 8 Moment of PowerJ.B. Youngpage 9 LifeRobert C. Millerpage 13 The Restless SeaRhonda McGowanpage 14 Approaching of the YuleRoger Perkinspage 14 The Old ModelMary Ellen Mockbeepage 15 \u27Tis the SeasonR.M.F.page 15 The Spirit of ChristmasKathleen Ferreepage 16 Christmas in the HeartKathleen Ferreepage 16 That\u27s BoysKathleen Ferreepage 16https://thekeep.eiu.edu/vehicle/1001/thumbnail.jp

Prefrontal cortical and striatal activity to happy and fear faces in bipolar disorder is associated with comorbid substance abuse and eating disorder

Background: The spectrum approach was used to examine contributions of comorbid symptom dimensions of substance abuse and eating disorder to abnormal prefrontal-cortical and subcortical-striatal activity to happy and fear faces previously demonstrated in bipolar disorder (BD). Method: Fourteen remitted BD-type I and sixteen healthy individuals viewed neutral, mild and intense happy and fear faces in two event-related fMRI experiments. All individuals completed Substance-Use and Eating-Disorder Spectrum measures. Region-of-Interest analyses for bilateral prefrontal and subcortical-striatal regions were performed. Results: BD individuals scored significantly higher on these spectrum measures than healthy individuals (p < 0.05), and were distinguished by activity in prefrontal and subcortical-striatal regions. BD relative to healthy individuals showed reduced dorsal prefrontal-cortical activity to all faces. Only BD individuals showed greater subcortical-striatal activity to happy and neutral faces. In BD individuals, negative correlations were shown between substance use severity and right PFC activity to intense happy faces (p < 0.04), and between substance use severity and right caudate nucleus activity to neutral faces (p < 0.03). Positive correlations were shown between eating disorder and right ventral putamen activity to intense happy (p < 0.02) and neutral faces (p < 0.03). Exploratory analyses revealed few significant relationships between illness variables and medication upon neural activity in BD individuals. Limitations: Small sample size of predominantly medicated BD individuals. Conclusion: This study is the first to report relationships between comorbid symptom dimensions of substance abuse and eating disorder and prefrontal-cortical and subcortical-striatal activity to facial expressions in BD. Our findings suggest that these comorbid features may contribute to observed patterns of functional abnormalities in neural systems underlying mood regulation in BD

Protein-coding variants implicate novel genes related to lipid homeostasis contributing to body-fat distribution.

Body-fat distribution is a risk factor for adverse cardiovascular health consequences. We analyzed the association of body-fat distribution, assessed by waist-to-hip ratio adjusted for body mass index, with 228,985 predicted coding and splice site variants available on exome arrays in up to 344,369 individuals from five major ancestries (discovery) and 132,177 European-ancestry individuals (validation). We identified 15 common (minor allele frequency, MAF ≥5%) and nine low-frequency or rare (MAF &lt;5%) coding novel variants. Pathway/gene set enrichment analyses identified lipid particle, adiponectin, abnormal white adipose tissue physiology and bone development and morphology as important contributors to fat distribution, while cross-trait associations highlight cardiometabolic traits. In functional follow-up analyses, specifically in Drosophila RNAi-knockdowns, we observed a significant increase in the total body triglyceride levels for two genes (DNAH10 and PLXND1). We implicate novel genes in fat distribution, stressing the importance of interrogating low-frequency and protein-coding variants