Patient vs. Community Engagement: Emerging Issues.

Background: The value proposition of including patients at each step of the research process is that patient perspectives and preferences can have a positive impact on both the science and the outcomes of comparative effectiveness research. How to accomplish engagement and the extent to which approaches to community engagement inform strategies for effective patient engagement need to be examined to address conducting and accelerating comparative effectiveness research.

Objectives: To examine how various perspectives and diverse training lead investigators and patients to conflicting positions on how best to advance patient engagement.

Gene Expression, and Fatigue in Puerto Rican Men during Radiotherapy for Prostate Cancer: an Exploratory Study.

Objective: To examine the trajectory of fatigue experienced by 26 Puerto Rican (PR) men over the course of External Beam Radiation Therapy (EBRT) and to assess gene expression changes from baseline to midpoint of EBRT using microarray technology. Design/Research Approach- Prospective exploratory and comparative design study. Setting- RT facility located in San Juan, PR.