The main goal of this study is to seek the effects of some risk and prognostic factors contributing to survival of female invasive breast cancer in United States. The study presents the survival analysis for the adult female invasive breast cancer based on the datasets chosen from the Surveillance Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) program of National Cancer Institute (NCI). In this study, the Cox proportional hazard regression model and logistic regression model were employed for statistical analysis. The odds ratios (OR), hazard ratios (HR) and confidence interval (C.I.) were obtained for the risk and prognosis factors. The study results showed that some risk and prognosis factors, such as the demographic factors (race and age), social and family factor (marital status), biomedical factors (tumor size, disease stage, tumor markers and tumor cell differentiation level etc.) and type of treatment patients received had significant effects on survival of the female invasive breast cancer patients.

DNA diagnostics are important technologies in molecular and cellular biology. By allowing identification of specific sequences, DNA-based diagnostics potentially provide more accurate and rapid results than protein- or antigen-based diagnostics, primarily because phenotypic changes come much later than changes in genotype. Despite this advantage, there are fewer diagnostic or imaging systems that target DNA than those targeting proteins, antibodies, or antigens.Each type of DNA-based diagnostic has its own, unique set of limitations; however, most can be attributed to issues related to sequence restriction, signal detection, specificity, or some combination thereof. For example, while PCR-based methods allow amplification and assessment of specific DNA sequences, they lack the ability to report information of specific cells, or cell types, within the heterogeneous pool of cells typically found in a tumor biopsy. In addition, none of the currently available DNA detection methods has the potential to be utilized in living cells, a disadvantage which limits the potential applications.The work presented here describes the design and development of a new methodology for the detection of specific double-stranded DNA sequences. This detection method is based on the concept that two inactive fragments of a reporter protein, each coupled to engineered zinc finger DNA-binding motifs, are able to reassemble and form an active complex in the presence of a predefined DNA sequence. This system, designated sequence-enabled reassembly (SEER), can achieve single base-pair specificity, and has the potential to be utilized in living cells.In this dissertation, we discuss the efforts from constructing to refining the system, as well as the future applications of SEER in diagnostics and therapeutics. Chapter I will provide an introduction to DNA detection methods, on which the principles of the SEER system are based. Chapter II describes the design and construction of an enzymatic SEER system, SEER-LAC, using beta-lactamase as the enzyme. In Chapter III, we outline the in vitro characterization of the SEER-LAC system, followed by its optimization in Chapter IV. Chapter V illustrates the efforts to develop SEER system for mammalian cell culture applications. In the final chapter, the future developments and applications of SEER are discussed.

131 f. / Submitted by Rodrigo Meirelles (rodrigomei@ufba.br) on 2012-04-13T21:14:00Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertação__Rodrigo_Meirelles_Revisada.pdf: 2355260 bytes, checksum: 5edad7a2ae07c060ff719c2df7ae1d85 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2012-04-13T21:14:00Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertação__Rodrigo_Meirelles_Revisada.pdf: 2355260 bytes, checksum: 5edad7a2ae07c060ff719c2df7ae1d85 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2009-06-10 / Estudo exploratório que analisa as mudanças promovidas no processo editorial, a partir da adoção do Sistema Eletrônico de Editoração de Revistas (SEER) nos periódicos CCRH, RBSPA, RFACED da Universidade Federal da Bahia (UFBA), comparando a adoção do SEER com a gestão do processo editorial utilizado anteriormente e averiguando o nível de aceitação do sistema pelos autores, avaliadores e editores dos periódicos estudados. A coleta de dados foi realizada por meio de questionários on-line, através da plataforma web do sistema SurveyMonkey, aplicados aos autores, avaliadores e editores da revistas mencionadas. Na análise dos dados foram verificadas as questões relativas ao processo editorial do SEER, com os processos utilizados anteriormente, fazendo uma análise quantitativa/qualitativa de acordo com a revisão de literatura e a fundamentação teórica realizada nesta pesquisa. Os resultados apontam um alto nível de aceitação quanto ao uso do sistema. Do total dos sujeitos da pesquisa, 97% consideraram entre bom e ótimo a avaliação geral do sistema, com uma média de mais de 80% entre bom e ótimo para todos os itens avaliados. Ao comparar o processo editorial do SEER com outros processos editoriais utilizados anteriormente, mais de 60% dos respondentes consideraram o processo de avaliação melhor e mais rápido com o SEER e cerca de 80% afirmaram não ter nenhuma ou pouca dificuldade durante o processo. Estes resultados demonstram um bom grau de aceitação e desempenho do SEER na gestão das revistas estudadas, trazendo melhorias para o processo editorial, disseminação e divulgação das publicações. Porém, recomenda-se melhorias no sistema, destacadas no capítulo ”Análise e discussão dos dados”, e a realização de novas pesquisas sobre o uso do SEER e do Modelo Acesso Aberto em outras revistas, a fim de aperfeiçoar o padrão editorial dos periódicos científicos no Brasil. / Salvador

Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, Centro de Ciências da Educação, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ciência da Informação, Florianópolis, 2010 / Made available in DSpace on 2012-10-25T02:08:05Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 284470.pdf: 2795101 bytes, checksum: 030287036fffdc94c4b9ef72319a1718 (MD5) / Esta dissertação avalia o sistema de navegação no fluxo do processo editorial do Sistema Eletrônico de Editoração de Revistas (SEER), verificando se o mesmo alcança o propósito de usabilidade junto aos editores. O plano metodológico adotado é o de Rosenfeld e Morville, que procura estudar e identificar elementos da Arquitetura da Informação (AI), relacionando-os ao usuário, ao contexto e ao conteúdo. Utiliza, como contexto de pesquisa, o Portal de Periódicos da Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina e as revistas eletrônicas que fazem parte desse portal. Emprega duas formas de coleta de dados: um questionário aplicado junto aos editores das revistas, seguindo a lógica das heurísticas de Nielsen de usabilidade, os atributos da usabilidade e os atributos do contexto de uso - NBR 9241-11; e uma ficha de avaliação (checklist), aplicada pelo pesquisador, para identificar elementos da arquitetura da informação no sistema de navegação do SEER. Dentre os 38 questionários enviados, 19 retornaram e, destes, 17 foram considerados válidos para esta análise. Os resultados apontam que o SEER está alcançando, de forma satisfatória, o propósito de usabilidade junto aos editores. Conforme as respostas obtidas, 64,7% indicam que a utilização do SEER é de forma integral; 47,1% afirmam que, eventualmente, o SEER é interativo/intuitivo; 52,9% consideram baixo o grau de dificuldade para aprender e memorizar as etapas do fluxo do processo editorial; 76,5% garantem que o suporte do Portal sempre responde as dúvidas e questionamentos e 94,1% dos respondentes avaliam o fluxo do processo editorial do SEER, de um modo geral, entre bom (58,8%) e ótimo (35,3%), atingindo o propósito de usabilidade. Quanto à eficácia, 75% dos respondentes estão alcançando seus objetivos, mostrando que a eficácia do sistema está entre alta (25%) e média (50%); e 80% dos respondentes declaram que o grau de eficiência do SEER está entre alto (20%) e médio (60%). Quanto à satisfação, 80% dos respondentes estão satisfeitos com o SEER. Referente à avaliação do sistema de navegação do SEER através do checklist, algumas sugestões foram listadas. Na síntese para aprimoramento do SEER recomenda-se: revisão no sistema de navegação, rótulos mais claros, listagem de pareceristas/avaliadores, tutoriais mais explicativos, ajuda on-line, documentação e mensagens mais claras.

Introduction: Lymphoepithelial carcinoma (LEC) in the oropharynx is rare. Current understanding of the disease is derived mainly from case reports and small case series, prompting further elucidation of its epidemiology and prognostic factors that affect outcome. The aim of this retrospective cohort study was to examine demographic characteristics, clinicopathologic features, and prognostic factors in patients with oropharyngeal LEC. Methods: The U.S. National Cancer Institute’s SEER registry was queried to obtain data on patients with primary oropharyngeal LEC from 1975 to 2016. Variables examined include age at diagnosis, sex, race, year of diagnosis, primary site of tumor origin, tumor size, extent, nodal status, overall stage, tumor grade, surgical treatment, and county socioeconomic status (SES). Kaplan-Meier univariable and Cox regression model multivariable analyses were conducted to identify independent predictors of survival. Results: In total, 199 cases of primary LEC in the oropharynx were found. Overall survival rates at 2-, 5-, and 10-years were 81.0%, 74.0%, and 56.0%, respectively. Disease-specific survival rates at 2-, 5-, and 10-years were 85.0%, 80.0%, and 77.0%, respectively. Multivariable analysis identified older age at diagnosis, Black race, and tonsil primary site to be independent predictors of worse survival. Contrarily, a more recent year of diagnosis, surgical resection, and higher county SES were identified to be associated with an improved prognosis. Conclusion: Oropharyngeal LEC is a rare malignancy that is diagnosed mostly in White males in the fifth decade of life. Patient age, race, year of diagnosis, primary site of tumor origin, surgical treatment, and county SES were found to significantly affect survival. Although oropharyngeal LEC is associated with a relatively favorable prognosis, detecting disease early and including surgical resection in treatment may aid in further improving survival.

Congenital and infant acute leukemia remain one of the most puzzling clinical issues in pediatric hematology-oncology. There is a paucity of studies focused on these rare, aggressive, acute leukemias; specifically, there is little study on the differences in disease in the youngest of infants less than 1 year of age unlike the numerous studies of the disease in older children. The United States National Cancer Institute’s Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) cancer population registry program has been integral for a plethora of clinical population and pathology research studies for numerous diseases in the last 40 years and has an excellent resource for investigation of the infant population. Laboratory medicine and pathology professionals must use pathology results not only to diagnose individuals after the disease has been discovered, but the information must be applied retrospectively to develop new testing strategies. By classifying the intense heterogeneity within these cancers, the distinct changes of the diseases within individuals can be established, ultimately reshaping diagnostic methodologies. Through the application of Integrative Molecular Pathological Epidemiology to a 325-infant case series from the SEER program from 2008 to 2014, this dissertation study was used to evolve the classification of these pediatric cancers with the application of scientific nosology. This dissertation study has documented characteristics of this population for application in further precision medicine investigations to influence laboratory medicine algorithms for diagnosis and management of patients guiding health policy that are aimed at improving outcomes in the youngest of children.

Introduction Pleural mesothelioma constitutes about 80% of all mesotheliomas. The peak incidence of malignant mesothelioma estimated using the cancer registries was in early 1990 to 2000 in the United States. The disease is primarily associated with asbestos exposure. The latency period between asbestos exposure and the development of malignant pleural mesothelioma (MPM) can range anywhere from 15 to 60 years. Asbestos exposure was peaked during the industrial revolution and World War II due to military and shipyard exposures. It is often difficult for the pathologist to distinguish different histological subtypes; due to the disease's rarity and the inadequate tissue sample obtained. There is no available data on the difference in epidemiology of different subtypes of MPM. Surveillance Epidemiology and End Results (SEER), cancer incidence data include population-based registries covering approximately 34.6% of the U.S. population. Here in our study, we analyze malignant pleural mesothelioma epidemiology in the United States, emphasizing different histological subtypes. Methods SEER data from 2000 to 2016 was used in our study. The primary site of cancer is selected as pleura, and malignant behavior only is selected as the filter. Data were analyzed using the SEER stat program. Overall epidemiology of MPM and epidemiology of epithelioid, fibrous, and biphasic histological subtypes were analyzed separately. We used annual percentage change (APC) to evaluate the trend in the epidemiology of MPM. Results summary A total of 11,857 cases of MPM were included in the primary cohort from the SEER 18 registry from 2000 to 2016. The total prevalence of MPM was highest in 2009 and was lowest in 2016. The APC in MPM incidence during this period is -2.0. After removing 5,989 cases with non-specified histology during the same period, the APC for each histological type is -0.7 for fibrous type, 1.8 for epithelioid type, and 2.9 for biphasic type. Out of 17 regional registries included in the study, the greatest statistically significant change in APC was seen in the Hawaiian registry -4.1. In contrast, the lowest statistically significant difference was seen in Seattle (Puget Sound) registry -1.7. The APC in the incidence of MPM among males during the study period was -2.4 while that of females was -0.9. The Iowa registry showed a statistically significant increase in APC of the epithelioid malignant mesothelioma with a statistically insignificant reduction in the overall MPM APC. Conclusion The overall incidence of MPM in the United States is declining, while the data showed an increase in the incidence of epithelioid and biphasic histological subtypes. The authors believe that these conflicting results can be attributed to improved histological diagnosis and improved biopsy techniques.

The objective of this research study is to explore trajectories of health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in older breast cancer survivors, along with their predictors. HRQoL is important because patients who show severe symptoms may wish to consider therapies or treatment plans that lead to better HRQoL. Older people are more vulnerable to low HRQoL scores since old age is associated with deteriorating health, multiple comorbidities, and low-socioeconomic status. To examine the HRQoL trajectory among older women with breast cancer, we used the data queried from the Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results Medicare Health Outcomes Survey database. A total of 1,089 older (≥ 65 years) women who were diagnosed with breast cancer in 1998-2012 and participated in the survey before and after the cancer diagnosis were identified. HRQoL was measured using SF-36/VR-12 questionnaire and summarized as Physical Component Summary (PCS) Score and Mental Component Summary (MCS) Score. Latent Class Growth Mixture Modeling was conducted to identify distinct groups of women with a similar trajectory of HRQoL. The results showed that there were three latent classes of HRQoL trajectories for PCS: the high-declining (46.5% of the sample), mid-declining (36.0%), and the low-improving (17.5%). Two latent classes of HRQoL trajectories were identified for MCS: high-stable (76.5%) and low-declining (23.5%). The results showed that age at diagnosis, BMI, level of education, geographic region, tumor grade, tumor size, and number of comorbidities were some of the major predictors of health-related quality of life. These predictors were further explored using multinomial logistic regression analysis which identified number of comorbidities as the most significant predictor for HRQoL-PCS scores and level of education as the most significant predictor for HRQoL-MCS scores. This suggests that future research needs to be conducted, identifying the most common comorbidities in older breast cancer survivors to develop interventions that better the physical HRQoL in patients, in addition to the development of mental HRQoL interventions for patients that are less educated.

We hypothesized that lymph node involvement in minor salivary gland cancers is associated with clinical and pathological factors commonly available to the clinician after a typical initial workup. Our aim was to identify these factors using a dataset that allowed us to compile the largest series of minor salivary gland cancers in the published literature. Using this dataset we also aimed to characterize the distribution of histological types by primary site, identify the predictors of the use of external beam radiation therapy and neck dissection, and examine the effect of lymph node involvement on survival. Using the SEER database, we identified 2667 minor salivary gland cancers with known lymph node status from 1988 to 2004. Univariate and multivariate analyses were conducted to identify factors associated with the use of neck dissection, the use of external beam radiation therapy, and the presence of cervical lymph node metastases. Kaplan Meier survival curves were constructed to examine the effect of lymph node involvement on survival. 426 (16.0%) patients had neck nodal involvement. Factors associated with neck nodal involvement on univariate analysis included increasing age, male gender, increasing tumor size, high tumor grade, T3-T4 stage, adenocarcinoma or mucoepidermoid carcinomas, and pharyngeal site of primary malignancy. On multivariate analysis, four statistically significant factors were identified, which included male gender, T3-T4 stage, pharyngeal site of primary malignancy, and high-grade adenocarcinoma or high-grade mucoepidermoid carcinomas. The proportions (and 95% confidence intervals) of patients with lymph node involvement for those with 0, 1, 2, 3 and 4 of these prognostic factors were 0.02 (0.01-0.03), 0.09 (0.07-0.11), 0.17 (0.14-0.21), 0.41 (0.33-0.49), and 0.70 (0.54-0.85) respectively. Grade was a significant predictor of metastasis for adenocarcinoma and mucoepidermoid carcinoma but not for adenoid cystic carcinoma. Overall survival was significantly worse at 5, 10, and 15 years for patients with lymph node involvement on presentation. A prognostic index using the four clinicopathological factors listed above can effectively differentiate patients into risk groups of nodal metastasis. The precision of this index is subject to the limitations of SEER data and it should be validated in further clinical studies.

Source: Masters Abstracts International, Volume: 47-03, page: 1618. Adviser: Victor M. Cardenas. Includes bibliographical references.