Barriers to Clinical Trial Participation: Comparative Study Between Rural and Urban Participants.

Background: The National Clinical Trials Network program conducts phase 2 or phase 3 treatment trials across all National Cancer Institute's designated cancer centers. Participant accrual across these clinical trials is a critical factor in deciding their success. Cancer centers that cater to rural populations, such as The University of Kansas Cancer Center, have an additional responsibility to ensure rural residents have access and are well represented across these studies.

Long-term high copper intake: effects on indexes of copper status, antioxidant status, and immune function in young men.

Background: Short-term high copper intake does not appear to affect indexes of copper status or functions related to copper status, but the effects of long-term high copper intake are unknown.

Objective: A study was conducted in men to determine the effect of long-term high copper intake on indexes of copper status, oxidant damage, and immune function.

Design: Nine men were confined to a metabolic research unit (MRU) for 18 d and were fed a 3-d rotating menu providing an average of 1.

Zinc supplementation has no effect on circulating levels of peripheral blood leucocytes and lymphocyte subsets in healthy adult men.

As a result of evidence documenting harmful effects of Zn supplementation on immune function and Cu status, thirty-eight men were recruited onto a Zn supplementation trial. The aim was to examine the effects of chronic Zn supplementation on circulating levels of peripheral blood leucocytes and lymphocyte subsets. Subjects (n 19) took 30 mg Zn/d for 14 weeks followed by 3 mg Cu/d for 8 weeks to counteract adverse effects, if any, of Zn supplementation on immune status resulting from lowered Cu status.

Nonagenarians from the Swedish NONA Immune Study have increased plasma antioxidant capacity and similar levels of DNA damage in peripheral blood mononuclear cells compared to younger control subjects.

The results of previous work from our laboratories have suggested that free radical damage to T cells as they age may contribute to the age-related decline in the T cell-mediated immune response. The aims of this investigation were to assess the efficiency of in vivo antioxidant capacity through determining the antioxidant capacity of plasma using the ferric reducing ability of plasma assay, and to assess the levels and types of DNA damage (as a measure of in vivo antioxidant efficiency) using the alkaline comet assay and two enzymatic modifications of the comet assay, in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) from nonagenarian subjects drawn from the Swedish NONA Immune Study. The results obtained were compared with those from middle-aged (40-60 years) controls to identify potential anti-immunosenescent effects of in vivo antioxidants.