An interprofessional web-based approach to providing breast cancer education.

This paper describes the process that nursing, social work, and pharmacy faculty at a state university undertook to develop interprofessional web-based breast cancer education modules for incorporation into required curriculum. Eight web modules initially developed to educate baccalaureate nursing students on breast cancer were revised and expanded at each health professional school to include discipline-specific information pertinent to social work and pharmacy scope of practice. A specialized internet-accessible web-delivered application was constructed consisting of eight reusable learning objects, or modules, including epidemiology, risk factors and screening, diagnosis, staging and grading, treatment, survivorship, disparities, and metastatic breast cancer.

Improving nursing students' breast cancer knowledge through a novel academic and non-profit foundation partnership.

The unique partnership between an affiliate of the Susan G. Komen for the Cure(©) foundation and a school of nursing offered faculty the ability to creatively inject breast cancer content into the baccalaureate curriculum. In-house breast cancer experts and external consultants developed seven breast cancer-specific educational Web-based modules to supplement a packed curriculum taught by generalists in a cost-efficient manner.

Telomere-based cancer treatment: emerging targeted therapies.

Chemotherapy and radiation therapy are standard care in cancer treatment; however, both have numerous adverse side effects because they affect healthy as well as cancerous cells. The side effects, including decreased white blood cell count, nausea, hair loss, and fatigue, can be severe enough that patients may decide to forgo treatment. Targeted therapies are treatments that focus on specific molecules in cancerous cells and avoid disruption of healthy cells.

Cancer screening across the aging continuum.

Objectives: To review current screening guidelines and practice related to cancer screening among older adults and to establish a best practice approach to screening for older individuals applicable to all levels of care.

Study Design: A comprehensive literature search was performed with consideration given to research and practice.

Methods: Review article.

Predictors of nosocomial bloodstream infections among critically ill adult trauma patients.

Objective: To identify the independent predictors of nosocomial bloodstream infections (BSIs) among critically ill adult trauma patients.

Design: A prospective, cohort design was used to study patients who met predetermined inclusion criteria. Basic descriptive and univariate statistical analyses were performed to identify unadjusted predictors.

Biology of lung cancer with implications for new therapies.

Purpose/objectives: To provide an overview of the biology of lung cancer with respect to genetic carcinogenesis and specific mutations and to discuss new therapies being developed to target lung cancer's biologic processes.

Data Sources: Published articles, abstracts, book chapters, lectures, and personal experiences with experimental agents.

Data Synthesis: Lung cancer is the number one cause of cancer deaths for men and women in the United States, with minimal changes in the five-year survival rate during the past decade.

Cellular origins of ultraviolet radiation-induced corneal tumours in the grey, short-tailed South American opossum (Monodelphis domestica).

Corneal tumours were induced in almost 100% of grey, short-tailed South American opossums (Monodelphis domestica) exposed three times weekly to ultraviolet radiation (UVR) for periods of a year or more. Five tumours, representing the morphological spectrum of UVR-induced corneal tumours (two fibrosarcomas, one malignant fibrous histiocytoma, one putative haemangiosarcoma, and one squamous cell carcinoma overlying a sarcoma), were assayed immunohistochemically for reactivity with antibodies against the intermediate filaments vimentin, smooth muscle actin (alpha isoform), muscle-specific actins (alpha and gamma isoforms), desmin and cytokeratin, and with antibodies against the vascular endothelial marker von Willebrand factor. The squamous cell carcinoma was cytokeratin-positive.

Expression and function of angiopoietin-1 in breast cancer.

Angiopoietin-1 (Ang1) has been shown to act as an angiogenic promoter in embryonic angiogenesis by promoting vascular branching, pericyte recruitment and endothelial survival. We have investigated the role of Ang1 in tumour neovascularization under clinical conditions and in animal models. The expression of Ang1 in clinical breast cancer specimens was analysed by using laser-capture microdissection and reverse transcriptase-linked polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) on RNA isolated from the samples.

Fibroblast growth factors, their receptors and signaling.

Fibroblast growth factors (FGFs) are small polypeptide growth factors, all of whom share in common certain structural characteristics, and most of whom bind heparin avidly. Many FGFs contain signal peptides for secretion and are secreted into the extracellular environment, where they can bind to the heparan-like glycosaminoglycans (HLGAGs) of the extracellular matrix (ECM). From this reservoir, FGFs may act directly on target cells, or they can be released through digestion of the ECM or the activity of a carrier protein, a secreted FGF binding protein.

The Syk tyrosine kinase suppresses malignant growth of human breast cancer cells.

Syk is a protein tyrosine kinase that is widely expressed in haematopoietic cells. It is involved in coupling activated immunoreceptors to downstream signalling events that mediate diverse cellular responses including proliferation, differentiation and phagocytosis. Syk expression has been reported in cell lines of epithelial origin, but its function in these cells remains unknown.

Overexpression of fibroblast growth factor 1 in MCF-7 breast cancer cells facilitates tumor cell dissemination but does not support the development of macrometastases in the lungs or lymph nodes.

Mice bearing primary tumors produced by LacZ-tagged MCF-7 human breast carcinoma cells transfected with fibroblast growth factor (FGF) 1 have frequent micrometastases, but macrometastases are not observed. i.v.

Latex allergy and gloving standards.

In response to universal precautions, latex gloves are used more frequently in health care settings, and more health care workers are reporting latex sensitivity or allergic reactions to natural rubber latex (NRL). As a result, there continues to be controversy about what gloves should be used in clinical practice and what are the appropriate clinical recommendations about gloving practices. This article reviews the current issues about gloving practices, addresses national standards related to gloving, and makes recommendations about future gloving practices.

Understanding latex allergy.

Latex allergy is an increasingly important problem in both health-care workers and patients. Predisposing factors to development of latex allergies include a history of atopy or allergy and frequent exposure to latex products. Identified allergens include latex proteins from the rubber tree that remain in manufactured products, as well as smaller molecules that remain from the latex purification and manufacturing process.

Tumor growth of FGF or VEGF transfected MCF-7 breast carcinoma cells correlates with density of specific microvessels independent of the transfected angiogenic factor.

We have previously shown that fibroblast growth factor (FGF)-1-, FGF-4-, or vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF/VPF)-transfected MCF-7 breast carcinoma cells growing as tumors in nude mice are tamoxifen resistant and/or estrogen independent. These transfectants provide opportunity for study of in situ tumor-induced angiogenesis promoted by the individual angiogenic factors under growth-promoting versus growth-inhibiting hormonal conditions. In the present study, vessels in tumors harvested at varying times after tumor cell injection were immunohistochemically highlighted and vessel morphology and topography were scored on a scale of 0 to 4 by blinded observers.

Tamoxifen-resistant fibroblast growth factor-transfected MCF-7 cells are cross-resistant in vivo to the antiestrogen ICI 182,780 and two aromatase inhibitors.

Although the antiestrogen tamoxifen has been the mainstay of therapy for estrogen receptor (ER)-positive breast cancer, successful treatment of responsive tumors is often followed by the acquisition of tamoxifen resistance. Subsequently, only 30-40% of patients have a positive response to second hormonal therapies. This lack of response might be explained by mechanisms for tamoxifen resistance that sensitize ER pathways to small amounts of estrogenic activity present in tamoxifen or that bypass ER pathways completely.

MCF-7 breast carcinoma cells overexpressing FGF-1 form vascularized, metastatic tumors in ovariectomized or tamoxifen-treated nude mice.

FGF-1 is expressed in a high proportion of breast tumors. While overexpression of FGF-4 in the MCF-7 breast carcinoma cell line confers the ability to form spontaneously metastasizing tumors in ovariectomized nude mice without estrogen supplementation and in mice that receive tamoxifen pellets, the response of a cell to individual FGFs can be controlled at multiple levels, and the significance of FGF-1 expression in human breast tumors is uncertain. To study the role of FGF-1, MCF-7 human breast cancer carcinoma cells, previously transfected with bacterial beta-galactosidase, were retransfected with FGF-1 expression vectors.

Molecules involved in mammalian sperm-egg interaction.

To achieve fertilization, sperm and egg are equipped with specific molecules which mediate the steps of gamete interaction. In mammals, the first interaction between sperm and egg occurs at an egg-specific extracellular matrix, the zona pellucida (zp). The three glycoproteins, ZP1, ZP2, and ZP3, that comprise the zp have been characterized from many species and assigned different roles in gamete interaction.

Effects of AGM-1470 and pentosan polysulphate on tumorigenicity and metastasis of FGF-transfected MCF-7 cells.

Previously, we described FGF-1- or FGF-4-transfected MCF-7 breast carcinoma cells which are tumorigenic and metastatic in untreated or tamoxifen-treated ovariectomised nude mice. In this study, we have assessed the effects of AGM-1470, an antiangiogenic agent, and pentosan polysulphate (PPS), an agent that abrogates the effects of FGFs, on tumour growth and metastasis produced by these FGF-transfected MCF-7 cells. Untreated or tamoxifen-treated ovariectomised mice were injected with FGF-transfected cells, treated with AGM-1470 or PPS, and tumour growth and metastasis analysed.

Mechanisms of inhibition of IL-6-mediated immunoglobulin secretion by dexamethasone and suramin in human lymphoid and myeloma cell lines.

The cytokine IL-6 has been proposed as an autocrine growth factor in multiple myeloma, and is also required for stimulation of immunoglobulin production and secretion in normal plasma cells and myeloma cells. In this study, we showed that secreted IL-6 is detectable by Western blot analysis in a panel of lymphoid and myeloma cell lines. Previous studies in our laboratory have shown that dexamethasone and suramin inhibit cell proliferation and IL-6-mediated immunoglobulin secretion in various lymphoblastoid and myeloma cell lines.

Fibroblast growth factor overexpressing breast carcinoma cells as models of angiogenesis and metastasis.

Progression of breast cancer from an estrogen-dependent, slowly growing tumor amenable to tamoxifen treatment to an aggressive, metastatic, estrogen-independent phenotype has been mimicked by the transfection of MCF-7 breast carcinoma cells with fibroblast growth factors 1 or 4. FGF-transfected cells are aggressively tumorigenic in ovariectomized or tamoxifen-treated nude mice, conditions under which the parental cells would not produce tumors. When detection of metastasis was enhanced by lacZ transfection, the FGF-transfected MCF-7 cells were reliably metastatic to lymph nodes and frequently metastatic to lungs, in further contrast to parental cells.

Emergence of MCF-7 cells overexpressing a transfected epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) under estrogen-depleted conditions: evidence for a role of EGFR in breast cancer growth and progression.

Overexpression of epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) is correlated with loss of estrogen receptor and poor prognosis in breast cancer. To investigate this phenomenon, we transfected a cytomegalovirus expression vector directing the expression of EGFR into estrogen receptor-positive MCF-7 breast cancer cells and into a clone of MCF-7 cells previously transfected with transforming growth factor alpha. Cells arising from single clones or pooled polyclonal populations maintained in charcoal-stripped calf serum, a medium devoid of estrogen, overexpressed EGFR.

Fibroblast growth factor-4 enhanced G2 arrest and cell survival following ionizing radiation.

Fibroblast growth factors (FGFs) bind to cell membrane receptors and activate signal transduction pathways related to cell growth, angiogenesis, and tumorigenesis. FGFs have been shown to be abundantly expressed in some of the human tumors, which are known to be poorly responsive to radiation therapy. Using adrenal cortical carcinoma cells genetically engineered to express FGF-4, we have tested cellular survival following exposure to ionizing radiation.

Delineation of discrete domains for substrate, cocaine, and tricyclic antidepressant interactions using chimeric dopamine-norepinephrine transporters.

Neurotransmitter transporters determine the intensity and duration of signal transduction by controlling the rapid removal of transmitter molecules from the synaptic cleft. The importance of their function is further reflected by the medical and social implications of compounds that inhibit their activity such as the antidepressants and cocaine. Molecular characterization of these transporters has revealed that they are members of a large family of membrane proteins with 12 putative transmembrane domains.