Publications by authors named "Jennifer Chan"

Oncolytic viruses (OV) are designed to selectively infect and kill cancer cells, while simultaneously eliciting antitumour immunity. The mechanism is expected to originate from infected cancer cells. However, recent reports of tumour regression unaccompanied by cancer cell infection suggest a more complex mechanism of action.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • Understanding the diffuse invasion of glioblastoma cells is crucial for addressing tumor aggressiveness and resistance to treatment, which negatively impacts patient prognosis.
  • The study utilizes a novel computational method to analyze GBM xenografts, distinguishing human tumor cells from the mouse tumor microenvironment (TME), resulting in a detailed overview of 15 tumor cell programs linked to invasion pathways.
  • The findings suggest targeted interventions on tumor and TME components could lead to improved therapies by revealing compensatory mechanisms that might aid in developing more effective combination treatments.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Objective: To synthesize the methodologies of studies that evaluate the impacts of heat exposure on morbidity and mortality.

Methods: Embase, MEDLINE, Web of Science, and Scopus were searched from date of inception until 1 March 2023 for English language literature on heat exposure and health outcomes. Records were collated, deduplicated and screened, and full texts were reviewed for inclusion and data abstraction.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Treatment options for patients with advanced neuroendocrine tumors are limited. The efficacy of cabozantinib in the treatment of previously treated, progressive extrapancreatic or pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors is unclear.

Methods: We enrolled two independent cohorts of patients - those with extrapancreatic neuroendocrine tumors and those with pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors - who had received peptide receptor radionuclide therapy or targeted therapy or both.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Preclinical studies suggest that simultaneous HER2/VEGF blockade may have cooperative effects in gastroesophageal adenocarcinomas. In a single-arm investigator initiated clinical trial for patients with untreated advanced HER2+ gastroesophageal adenocarcinoma, bevacizumab was added to standard of care capecitabine, oxaliplatin, and trastuzumab in 36 patients (NCT01191697). Primary endpoint was objective response rate and secondary endpoints included safety, duration of response, progression free survival, and overall survival.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The research delves into the perceptions regarding the necessary assistance and support required for the development of river tourism along the Petagas-Putatan River. An exploratory qualitative with a total of four focus group discussions consisting of a total of 13 local communities, two local authorities and two local representatives of the district. Assistances needed include financial, tourism trainings related to river tourism and safety, planning and itineraries, customer services, marketing, and promotion.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

As society rapidly digitizes, successful aging necessitates using technology for health and social care and social engagement. Technologies aimed to support older adults (e.g.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Human mobility data have been used as a potential novel data source to guide policies and response planning during the COVID-19 global pandemic. The COVID-19 Mobility Data Network (CMDN) facilitated the use of human mobility data around the world. Both researchers and policy makers assumed that mobility data would provide insights to help policy makers and response planners.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Posterior fossa group A (PFA) ependymoma is a lethal brain cancer diagnosed in infants and young children. The lack of driver events in the PFA linear genome led us to search its 3D genome for characteristic features. Here, we reconstructed 3D genomes from diverse childhood tumor types and uncovered a global topology in PFA that is highly reminiscent of stem and progenitor cells in a variety of human tissues.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Purpose: The incidence of young-onset colorectal cancer (YOCRC; defined as patients who are diagnosed with CRC before age 50 years) is rising rapidly, and CRC is predicted to be the leading cause of cancer death in this age group by 2030. Yet, there has been limited research into the experiences and needs of patients with YOCRC and their caregivers. The goal of this study was to better understand the experiences and needs of patients with YOCRC and their caregivers.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Mood disorders are an enigmatic class of debilitating illnesses that affect millions of individuals worldwide. While chronic stress clearly increases incidence levels of mood disorders, including major depressive disorder (MDD), stress-mediated disruptions in brain function that precipitate these illnesses remain largely elusive. Serotonin-associated antidepressants (ADs) remain the first line of therapy for many with depressive symptoms, yet low remission rates and delays between treatment and symptomatic alleviation have prompted skepticism regarding direct roles for serotonin in the precipitation and treatment of affective disorders.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Global emergency medicine (GEM) is situated at the intersection of global health and emergency medicine (EM), which is built upon a history of colonial systems and institutions that continue to reinforce inequities between high-income countries (HICs) and low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) today. These power imbalances yield disparities in GEM practice, research, and education.

Approach: The Global Emergency Medicine Academy (GEMA) of the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine formed the Decolonizing GEM Working Group in 2020, which now includes over 100 worldwide members.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Purpose: Several allelic variants of the gene encoding dihydropyrimidine dehydrogenase (DPD) are associated with impaired metabolism of the systemic fluoropyrimidine fluorouracil (5FU) and its oral prodrug, capecitabine, which elevates the risk for severe toxicity. Following a patient death related to capecitabine toxicity in which DPD deficiency was suspected, a multidisciplinary advisory panel was convened to develop an institution-wide approach to future patients planned for a systemic fluoropyrimidine.

Methods: The panel selected an opt-out testing strategy which focused on developing reliable processes to collect and report test results and targeted education.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Importance: Postpolypectomy surveillance is a common colonoscopy indication in older adults; however, guidelines provide little direction on when to stop surveillance in this population.

Objective: To estimate surveillance colonoscopy yields in older adults.

Design, Setting, And Participants: This population-based cross-sectional study included individuals 70 to 85 years of age who received surveillance colonoscopy at a large, community-based US health care system between January 1, 2017, and December 31, 2019; had an adenoma detected 12 or more months previously; and had at least 1 year of health plan enrollment before surveillance.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • - Recent trials indicate that PD-1-directed immunotherapy, specifically pembrolizumab, may help some patients with anal squamous cell carcinoma, but there is a need for reliable biomarkers to predict who will respond to the treatment.
  • - In a phase II clinical trial involving 32 patients, the objective response rate (ORR) to pembrolizumab was low at 9.4%, with a median progression-free survival of only 2.2 months, and most patients showed low levels of beneficial immune cells.
  • - Some patients had long-term responses to pembrolizumab, with one patient lasting over 5 years, particularly those with HPV-positive tumors and no liver metastases, but challenges remain due to ongoing HPV infection
View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • Brain development relies on proper serotonin (5-HT) signaling from various sources during embryogenesis, with the placenta playing a key role in supplying 5-HT for fetal health.
  • Recent research has uncovered that serotonin can modify histone proteins through a process called H3 serotonylation, impacting gene transcription and metabolism during placental development.
  • The study used transgenic mice to show that serotonin uptake by the serotonin transporter (SERT) is crucial for maintaining H3 serotonylation levels, which in turn is linked to essential neurodevelopmental gene networks in early brain tissues.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: The current standard of care (SoC) for the initial treatment of unresectable or metastatic well-differentiated gastroenteropancreatic neuroendocrine tumours (GEP-NET) requires initiation of first-generation somatostatin receptor ligand (SRL) therapy, octreotide and lanreotide, which provide safe and efficacious tumour/symptom control in most patients. However, disease progression can occur with SoC SRL treatment and the optimal dose response of SRL remains unknown. Octreotide subcutaneous depot (CAM2029) is a novel, long-acting, high-exposure formulation that has shown greater bioavailability and improved administration than octreotide long-acting release (LAR) with a well-tolerated safety profile.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Brain development requires appropriate regulation of serotonin (5-HT) signaling from distinct tissue sources across embryogenesis. At the maternal-fetal interface, the placenta is thought to be an important contributor of offspring brain 5-HT and is critical to overall fetal health. Yet, how placental 5-HT is acquired, and the mechanisms through which 5-HT influences placental functions, are not well understood.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Purpose: To develop recommendations for systemic therapy for well-differentiated grade 1 (G1) to grade 3 (G3) metastatic gastroenteropancreatic neuroendocrine tumors (GEP-NETs).

Methods: ASCO convened an Expert Panel to conduct a systematic review of relevant studies and develop recommendations for clinical practice.

Results: Eight randomized controlled trials met the inclusion criteria for the systematic review.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

In order to supply adequate iron during pregnancy, the levels of the iron regulatory hormone hepcidin in the maternal circulation are suppressed, thereby increasing dietary iron absorption and storage iron release. Whether this decrease in maternal hepcidin is caused by changes in factors known to regulate hepcidin expression, or by other unidentified pregnancy factors, is not known. To investigate this, we examined iron parameters during pregnancy in mice.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Neuroendocrine tumors (NETs) are rare cancers that most often arise in the gastrointestinal tract and pancreas. The fundamental mechanisms driving gastroenteropancreatic (GEP)-NET growth remain incompletely elucidated; however, the heterogeneous clinical behavior of GEP-NETs suggests that both cellular lineage dynamics and tumor microenvironment influence tumor pathophysiology. Here, we investigated the single-cell transcriptomes of tumor and immune cells from patients with gastroenteropancreatic NETs.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) exhibits elevated levels of autophagy, which promote tumor progression and treatment resistance. ATG4B is an autophagy-related cysteine protease under consideration as a potential therapeutic target, but it is largely unexplored in PDAC. Here, we investigated the clinical and functional relevance of ATG4B expression in PDAC.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • Inherited epidermolysis bullosa (EB) is a rare genetic condition causing severe skin and mucosal fragility, necessitating a palliative approach to manage its life-limiting symptoms and improve patient comfort.
  • A consensus guideline was established by an international panel, which included medical experts and individuals affected by EB, to develop evidence-based recommendations for effective palliative care.
  • The article outlines best practices for interdisciplinary healthcare teams to address the specific needs of EB patients, enhancing their quality of life regardless of the disease stage or subtype.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Of great import for biochemistry articles is the inclusion of chemical structures in figures; they are common for showing reactions, detailing protein side chains and modifications, and depicting chemical probes. In this ninth installment of the TrendsTalk Special series: Scientific figure development, two scientists share their thoughts: what aspects do you consider when generating a figure that contains chemical structures? How do you decide how to represent the chemical/residue structure(s) (i.e.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF