The Challenging Problems of Cancer and Serious Mental Illness.

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: Patients with Serious Mental Illness (SMI) are reported to be at higher risk for somatic disorders (e.g. cardiovascular and metabolic diseases) and higher mortality, compared to the general population, because of the consequences of SMI including psychotropic medication side effects, sedentary and unhealthy lifestyle, difficult access to physical health care.

Psychological Considerations Associated with Lobular Breast Cancer.

Purpose Of Review: Through an overview of invasive lobular carcinoma (ILC), this review highlights the unique complexities the diagnosis and treatment of this disease represents, followed by psychological considerations for both patients and providers. Perspectives from members of the multidisciplinary treatment team are included.

Recent Findings: A cancer diagnosis can be difficult for patients and their families and can also have a significant impact on the treatment team.

Castrate-resistant prostate cancer response to taxane is determined by an HNF1-dependent apoptosis resistance circuit.

Metastatic castrate-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC) is a genetically and phenotypically heterogeneous cancer where advancements are needed in biomarker discovery and targeted therapy. A critical and often effective component of treatment includes taxanes. We perform a high-throughput screen across a cohort of 30 diverse patient-derived castrate-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC) organoids to a library of 78 drugs.

Development and Clinical Validation of Liquid Chromatography-Tandem Mass Spectrometry for Measuring Ruxolitinib in Steroid-Refractory Graft-Versus-Host Disease: A First Step Towards Optimized Treatment.

Objective: This non-interventional, prospective, single-center study aimed to develop a technique to measure ruxolitinib (RUX) concentrations and provide preliminary data on the distribution of plasma drug levels in patients with steroid refractory (SR) GvHD.

Methods: Between April 2023 and May 2024, we analyzed 48 blood samples from 29 patients with SR-GvHD.

Results: Median individual plasma concentrations varied across different RUX doses and largely overlapped: 39.

Nurse-reported workplace violent events: Results from a repeated statewide survey.

Background: Workplace violence significantly affects registered nurses, contributing to burnout and intention to leave.

Methods: The Michigan Nurses Study conducted surveys in 2022 and 2023, examining the prevalence of verbal, physical, and sexual violence, and coworker bullying. Personal and workplace factors associated with reporting any violent event were examined using multivariable logistic regression.

Mouse brain contains age-dependent extraparenchymal granular structures and astrocytes, both reactive to natural IgM antibodies, linked to the fissura magna.

Background: Mouse brains can contain specific polyglucosan aggregates known as Periodic Acid-Schiff (PAS)-granules. Generated in astrocytes, these granules increase with age and exhibit neo-epitopes of carbohydrate nature that are recognized by natural IgM antibodies (IgMs). The existence of neoepitopes on PAS granules suggests the presence of neoepitopes in other brain structures, and this is investigated here.

Cross-Site Evaluation of Alcohol Screening and Brief Intervention Implementation Programs in Healthcare Systems Serving Individuals of Reproductive Age.

Background: With US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention funding, from 2018 to 2022, 4 large healthcare systems (n = 53 health centers across 7 states) serving people of reproductive age trained staff and provided implementation support for alcohol screening and brief intervention (SBI). This cross-site evaluation explores each healthcare system's implementation approach to implement SBI, reduce excessive alcohol use, and prevent prenatal alcohol exposure (PAE) and fetal alcohol spectrum disorders.

Methods: The SBIRT (Screening, Brief Intervention, and Referral to Treatment) Program Matrix framed the multilevel strategies to implement alcohol SBI programs from 2018 to 2022.

Changes in Registered Nurse Employment Plans and Workplace Assessments.

Importance: The US registered nurse (RN) workforce is in flux, with high rates of burnout, intention to leave, and vacancies. Rapid, repeated assessments of the nursing workforce can help hospital executives and policymakers enact effective recruitment and retention strategies.

Objective: To identify changes in practicing RNs' employment plans and workplace assessments between the 2022 and 2023 surveys.

Optimization of a home hospitalization program for hematopoietic stem cell transplantation with ehealth integration and clinical pharmacist involvement.

Home hospitalization represents an alternative to traditional hospitalization, providing comparable clinical safety for hematological patients. At-home therapies can range from the delivery of intravenous antibiotics to more complex scenarios, such as the care during the early period after hematopoietic stem cell transplantation and chimeric antigen receptor T-cell therapy. Early discharge from conventional hospitalization is feasible and helps reduce hospital resources and waiting lists.

The Risk and The Course of Cancer Among People with Severe Mental Illness.

The paucity of data regarding patients with Serious Mental Illness (SMI) and cancer is alarming given the fact that people with SMI, especially schizophrenia, bipolar disorders and severe depressive disorders, have in general poorer access to physical health care and higher morbidity and mortality because of physical illnesses. The aims of this review were to examine the current evidence from existing literature on the risk of developing cancer and its course among people with SMI. Equivocal results emerge regarding the risk of developing some kind of cancer among people with SMI, with contrasting data on a possible higher, similar or lower risk in comparison with the general population.

Disrupting pro-survival and inflammatory pathways with dimethyl fumarate sensitizes chronic lymphocytic leukemia to cell death.

Microenvironmental signals strongly influence chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) cells through the activation of distinct membrane receptors, such as B-cell receptors, and inflammatory receptors, such as Toll-like receptors (TLRs). Inflammatory pathways downstream of these receptors lead to NF-κB activation, thus protecting leukemic cells from apoptosis. Dimethyl fumarate (DMF) is an anti-inflammatory and immunoregulatory drug used to treat patients with multiple sclerosis and psoriasis in which it blocks aberrant NF-κB pathways and impacts the NRF2 antioxidant circuit.

Using Behavioral Economics to Reduce Low-Value Care Among Older Adults: A Cluster Randomized Clinical Trial.

Importance: Use of low-value care is common among older adults. It is unclear how to best engage clinicians and older patients to decrease use of low-value services.

Objective: To test whether the Committing to Choose Wisely behavioral economic intervention could engage primary care clinicians and older patients to reduce low-value care.

Stool Microbiome Signature Associated with Response to Neoadjuvant Pembrolizumab in Patients with Muscle-invasive Bladder Cancer.

Neoadjuvant pembrolizumab has been shown to be a valid treatment for patients affected by muscle-invasive bladder cancer (MIBC), as demonstrated in the PURE-01 clinical trial (NCT02736266). Among the tumor-extrinsic factors influencing immunotherapy efficacy, extensive data highlighted that the microbiome is a central player in immune-mediated anticancer activity. This report aimed to investigate the composition and role of stool microbiome in patients enrolled in the PURE-01 clinical trial.

Insomnia in adult patients with cancer: ESMO Clinical Practice Guideline.

• Insomnia is common in patients with cancer, with a higher prevalence than observed in the general population. • Insomnia is often under-recognised and inadequately treated in patients with cancer. • Brief validated screening tools are available for the evaluation of insomnia in clinical practice.

Anticipatory anxiety and participation in cancer screening. A systematic review.

Objectives: To synthesize current evidence on the association between anticipatory anxiety, defined as apprehension-specific negative affect that may be experienced when exposed to potential threat or uncertainty, and cancer screening to better inform strategies to maximize participation rates.

Methods: Searches related to cancer screening and anxiety were conducted in seven electronic databases (APA PsycINFO, Scopus, Web of Science, Embase, Cochrane Library, PubMed, CINAHL), with potentially eligible papers screened in Covidence. Data extraction was conducted independently by multiple authors.

Toll-like receptor 9 signaling in chronic lymphocytic leukemia cell lines.

Chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) is a prototypic neoplasia in which malignant cells strongly depend on microenvironmental stimulations in the lymphoid tissues where they accumulate; leukemic cells are exposed to interaction with bystander and accessory cells, as well as inflammatory soluble mediators. Cell lines are frequently used to model the pathobiology of this disease; however, they do not always recapitulate leukemic cell growth and response to stimulation, and no data are available on Toll-like receptors (TLR) signaling in CLL cell lines. To address this gap, we analyzed HG3, MEC2, and PCL12 cell lines, before and after CpG stimulation, by RNA-sequencing followed by bioinformatic analyses and validation experiments.

Dimethyl itaconate selectively targets inflammatory and metabolic pathways in chronic lymphocytic leukemia.

Chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) co-evolves with its own microenvironment where inflammatory stimuli including toll-like receptors (TLR) signaling can protect CLL cells from spontaneous and drug-induced apoptosis by upregulating IκBζ, an atypical co-transcription factor. To dissect IκBζ-centered signaling pathways, we performed a gene expression profile of primary leukemic cells expressing either high or low levels of IκBζ after stimulation, highlighting that IκBζ is not only an inflammatory gene but it may control metabolic rewiring of malignant cells thus pointing to a novel potential opportunity for therapy. We exploited the capacity of the dimethyl itaconate (DI), an anti-inflammatory electrophilic synthetic derivative of the metabolite Itaconate, to target IκBζ.

Parent Versus Individual Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Youth Anxiety: Protocol for an Overview of Systematic Reviews Over Time.

Background: Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) has shown to be highly effective for treating youth anxiety; yet, there is ongoing debate as to whether involving parents improves outcomes. For example, parents who attend may learn CBT skills to help their child in an ongoing way; yet, they could also distract their child from treatment depending on how they interact. As evidence has accumulated, reviews and meta-analyses have attempted to examine the most effective treatment format.

Analyzing the Virchow pioneering report on brain corpora amylacea: shedding light on recurrent controversies.

The first report of corpora amylacea (CA) is attributed to Morgagni, who described them in the prostate in the eighteenth century. Nearly a hundred years later, and following the lead started by Purkinje, Virchow described them in the brain. He made a detailed description of the most useful techniques to visualize them, but he failed to describe the cause of why CA do appear, why they are mainly linked with the elderly, and which is their clinical significance.

NCCN Guidelines® Insights: Distress Management, Version 2.2023.

These NCCN Guidelines for Distress Management discuss the identification and treatment of psychosocial problems in patients with cancer. All patients experience some level of distress associated with a cancer diagnosis and the effects of the disease and its treatment regardless of the stage of disease. Clinically significant levels of distress occur in a subset of patients, and identification and treatment of distress are of utmost importance.