Body image dissatisfaction in patients undergoing breast reconstruction: Examining the roles of breast symmetry and appearance investment.

Objective: Reconstruction as part of treatment for breast cancer is aimed at mitigating body image concerns after mastectomy. Although algorithms have been developed to objectively assess breast reconstruction outcomes, associations between objectively quantified breast aesthetic appearance and patient-reported body image outcomes have not been examined. Further, the role of appearance investment in explaining a patient's body image is not well understood.

UT Biomedical Informatics Lab (BMIL) Probability Wheel.

A probability wheel app is intended to facilitate communication between two people, an "investigator" and a "participant," about uncertainties inherent in decision-making. Traditionally, a probability wheel is a mechanical prop with two colored slices. A user adjusts the sizes of the slices to indicate the relative value of the probabilities assigned to them.

Helping patients make choices about breast reconstruction: a decision analysis approach.

Decision analysis can help breast reconstruction patients and their surgeons to methodically evaluate clinical alternatives and make hard decisions. The purpose of this article is to help plastic surgeons guide patients in making decisions though a case study in breast reconstruction. By making good decisions, patient outcomes may be improved.

Assessing Women's Preferences and Preference Modeling for Breast Reconstruction Decision-Making.

Background: Women considering breast reconstruction must make challenging trade-offs amongst issues that often conflict. It may be useful to quantify possible outcomes using a single summary measure to aid a breast cancer patient in choosing a form of breast reconstruction.

Methods: In this study, we used multiattribute utility theory to combine multiple objectives to yield a summary value using nine different preference models.

Plastic Surgeon Expertise in Predicting Breast Reconstruction Outcomes for Patient Decision Analysis.

Background: Decision analysis offers a framework that may help breast cancer patients make good breast reconstruction decisions. A requirement for this type of analysis is information about the possibility of outcomes occurring in the form of probabilities. The purpose of this study was to determine if plastic surgeons are good sources of probability information, both individually and as a group, when data are limited.

Recent advances in computational analysis of mass spectrometry for proteomic profiling.

The proteome, defined as an organism's proteins and their actions, is a highly complex end-effector of molecular and cellular events. Differing amounts of proteins in a sample can be indicators of an individual's health status; thus, it is valuable to identify key proteins that serve as 'biomarkers' for diseases. Since the proteome cannot be simply inferred from the genome due to pre- and posttranslational modifications, a direct approach toward mapping the proteome must be taken.

Activation of Go-coupled dopamine D2 receptors inhibits ERK1/ERK2 in pituitary cells. A key step in the transcriptional suppression of the prolactin gene.

In pituitary lactotrophs the prolactin gene is stimulated by neuropeptides and estrogen and is suppressed by dopamine via D2-type receptors. Stimulatory signals converge on activation of the mitogen-activated protein kinases ERK1/2, but dopamine regulation of this pathway is not well defined. Paradoxically, D2 agonists activate ERK1/2 in many cell types.