Arts in Medicine for the Reduction of Pain and Stress in Cancer Patients During Chemotherapy.

Context: Rates of pain and stress are found in greater numbers in cancer patients than in the general population. Cancer patients often are concerned about unwanted side effects that can arise from taking medications to lower their pain and stress. As doctors are reaching for evidence-based, non-pharmaceutical, adjunct modalities, previous research indicates that visual art-making shows promise to help improve perceptions of pain and stress caused by a cancer diagnosis and treatment.

Aurora B inhibition induces hyper-polyploidy and loss of long-term proliferative potential in RB and p53 defective cells.

Polyploidy is a common outcome of chemotherapies, but there is conflicting evidence as to whether polyploidy is an adverse, benign or even favourable outcome. We show Aurora B kinase inhibitors efficiently promote polyploidy in many cell types, resulting in the cell cycle exit in RB and p53 functional cells, but hyper-polyploidy in cells with loss of RB and p53 function. These hyper-polyploid cells (>8n DNA content) are viable but have lost long-term proliferative potential in vitro and fail to form tumours in vivo.

Breast Cancer Survivors' Perceptions of Mastectomy Reconstruction: A Comparative Analysis of Medical Tattooing Impact on Aesthetics.

Background: Studies indicate that physical appearance changes affect a significant proportion of breast cancer survivors, often leading to post-surgical distress. Both reconstructive surgery and medical tattoos are associated with patient-reported satisfaction, yet further research is necessary to understand their combined impact on aesthetic outcomes from the patient perspective. This study examined how breast cancer survivors evaluated the cosmetic and decision satisfaction of other patients who made various cosmetic intervention choices post-mastectomy.

Electron microscopy evidence of gadolinium toxicity being mediated through cytoplasmic membrane dysregulation.

Past functional toxicogenomic studies have indicated that genes relevant to membrane lipid synthesis are important for tolerance to the lanthanides. Moreover, previously reported imaging of patient's brains following administration of gadolinium-based contrast agents shows gadolinium lining the vessels of the brain. Taken together, these findings suggest the disruption of cytoplasmic membrane integrity as a mechanism by which lanthanides induce cytotoxicity.