No description available.

No description available.

A recent clinical trial for locally advanced breast cancer patients treated with epirubicin and docetaxel prior to surgery reported significant dose-dependent reductions in tumour RNA integrity values which correlated with pathological complete response. The purpose of the present study was to assess whether similar chemotherapy-dependent alterations in RNA integrity could occur in vitro and to assess its relationship, if any, to apoptosis. Treatment of wildtype A2780 ovarian carcinoma cells with taxanes resulted in dose- and time-dependent RNA degradation, identified as several unique bands on electropherograms having mobilities lower than the 28S and 18S rRNAs. We refer to this chemotherapy-dependent generation of aberrant RNA bands on electropherograms as “RNA disruption”. RNA disruption was found to be temporally associated with the induction of apoptosis, as determined by the appearance of a sub G1 peak of DNA content, positive annexin-V staining, and both PARP-1 and caspase-3 cleavage. Treatment of cells with a caspase-3 inhibitor resulted in a significant reduction in rRNA disruption, suggesting the involvement of caspase-3 or related caspases in RNA disruption. In contrast, docetaxel-dependent rRNA disruption was absent when docetaxel was administered to docetaxel-resistant A2780DXL cells, indicating that changes in RNA integrity may possibly differentiate between responsive and non-responsive tumours in cancer patients.

Background: Thrombosis is a common and critical consequence of cancer. Changes in thrombotic potential were examined after exercise training in patients with cancer. Methods: Eight cancer patients (65 ± 11 yrs) completed this study, five exercising and three non-exercising controls. Venous blood samples were obtained at baseline and after approximately 12 weeks of study participation. Weekly physical activity was measured using a standard, validated physical activity questionnaire. APTT, PT, fibrinogen and factor VIII were measured before and after the 12-week intervention. Results: A time x group interaction trend (p=0.067) was observed for fibrinogen. Plasma concentrations decreased in the exercise group (355 ± 49.3 mg/dL to 331 ± 19.5 mg/dL), but increased in the control group (341 ± 52.4 mg/dL to 384 ± 107.9 mg/dL). Physical activity significantly decreased over time in both groups. Conclusions: Exercise training may reduce coagulation potential in cancer patients more than usual and customary care. / School of Physical Education, Sport, and Exercise Science

This study offers a brief review of the literature on resilience. The review served as a basis for designing a qualitative study to observe how resilience develops in survivors of breast cancer. Survivors are those who lead productive, satisfying and/or inspirational lives, after their treatment has ended. By using qualitative data collection methods and post hoc data analysis, a purposive sampling of 11 women, in the Midwest, resilient survivors of breast cancer were studied. These women were asked to write brief autobiographies, detailing the important factors and contexts that were evidence of the development of resilience in themselves. Tape recorded interviews allowed participants to add to or delete from their autobiographies.The findings showed the eleven participants shared six common characteristics: (1) making a spiritual connection; (2) having meaningful work; (3) engaging in social activism; (4) being a self-directed learner; (5) living a healthy lifestyle; and (6) expressing a wide range of feelings. In addition, the taped interviews revealed the importance of creativity and authentic relationships. A resilience wheel illustrates the definition of resilience, i.e., as a positive attitude about one's body, mind, spirit and emotions, manifested by living a healthy lifestyle; engaging in meaningful work; forming and maintaining authentic relationships; and-expressing a wide range of feelings appropriately. The study demonstrated resilience is more than effective coping. It is observed and characterized by others as a zest for life.Among these participants, resilience/zest for life was found to have developed in their youth, when they identified with a positive role model/s, who modeled resilient attitudes/values. As children they internalized these values, acting on them in small ways, until adulthood when a life event triggered a shift. As adults they, then, claimed these internalized values as "my own philosophy."Although there was not sufficient evidence to discuss resilience as a developmental process in adulthood, the ages of the participants (40-77) imply the process of learning and growing continues throughout the life span.Suggestions for teaching resilience are offered along with recommendations for future research. / Department of Educational Leadership

Religious coping is used to describe how individuals use their religion and religious beliefs to help them cope with difficult situations. Researchers have investigated the role of religious coping in those with cancer; however, little research has been completed with long-term survivors of cancer. Additionally, little research has been completed regarding religious coping and long-term survivorship using advanced statistical analyses. This investigation sought to clarify the role of religious coping in long-term survivors of cancer and their quality of life. Using structural equation modeling, religious coping was tested as both a mediator and a moderator of quality of life. The study used a sample of 213 participants who were long-term survivors of cancer. The participants completed mail surveys assessing demographic variables, quality of life, and religious coping. Despite poor model fit, religious coping was a mediator in the relationship between demographic variables and quality of life. In the mediation model, both age and sex predicted religious coping. In the moderation model, the only significant path was between religious coping and quality of life. Results of the study indicate that religious coping acts as a mediator in the relationship between demographic variables and quality of life. Religious coping influences quality of lifeand may be beneficial to explore when working with long-term survivors of cancer. These findings enhance the clinical perspective of religious coping and have important ramifications on psychotherapeutic interventions for working with survivors of cancer. Psychologists who work with survivors of cancer should consider and respect the role religious coping has on the survivor. Future research must continue to explore the pathways through which religious coping operates. More work must be done with long-term survivors of cancer and with ethnically diverse populations. Researchers must continue to use advanced statistics to study these complex relationships instead of relying on simple count and frequency data that only measure if religious coping is present. As the world of psycho-oncology continues to grow, so must the understanding of the variables involved in healthy and happy survivorship / Department of Counseling Psychology and Guidance Services

There is no abstract available for this dissertation. / Department of Educational Studies

There is no abstract available for this dissertation. / Department of Counseling Psychology and Guidance Services

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2007. / Includes bibliographical references. / viii, 12 leaves, bound ill. 29 cm

This Heideggerian phenomenological hermeneutic study explores the lived experience of those coming to terms with the diagnosis of a life-threatening form of cancer. It offers an interpretation of the narratives of eight adult New Zealanders, three men and five women, aged between 25 and 60 years of age who had been recently diagnosed. The study, based upon van Manen's (1990) six-step method, uncovers the experience of the person facing up to being told they have a life-threatening form of cancer within New Zealand society. It is informed by the writing of Heidegger. The study explores the meaning of cancer to the person involved and how this meaning affects them and their world. The study explores the changes within the person and how this change in the person subsequently changes the understanding they have of themselves and the world. The narratives of participants reveal a journey that is undertaken, a journey they thought they would never undertake and were not prepared to take. The cancer journey begins suddenly, is frightening in its intensity, towards a perceived destination of probable death. The real journey for many takes an unforeseen detour along the way, a detour of hope and eventual enlightenment. The final journey for all human beings will always end in death. The realisation that all human journeys must and do end in death and learning to live with the reality of this one fact in life is the major lesson learnt by those who experience the cancer journey. The journey is made more difficult and lonely by a society that wishes to fool itself that this journey does not happen or wishes to believe that one day this journey may be totally avoided. Society, and the people that make up society, need to face the reality of the cancer journey for many of its members in order to better prepare the person for the journey and to support the person while on this journey.