Combination of dociparstat sodium (DSTAT), a CXCL12/CXCR4 inhibitor, with azacitidine for the treatment of hypomethylating agent refractory AML and MDS.

Leukemia stem cells utilize cell adhesion molecules like CXCR4/CXCL12 to home to bone marrow stromal niches where they are maintained in a dormant, protected state. Dociparstat sodium (DSTAT, CX-01) is a low anticoagulant heparin with multiple mechanisms of action, including inhibition of the CXCR4/CXCL12 axis, blocking HMGB1, and binding platelet factor 4 (PF-4). We conducted a pilot study adding DSTAT to azacitidine for patients with AML or MDS unresponsive to or relapsed after prior hypomethylating agent therapy, hypothesizing that DSTAT may improve response rates.

A multicenter phase II study of temozolomide plus disulfiram and copper for recurrent temozolomide-resistant glioblastoma.

Purpose: Preclinical studies have suggested promising activity for the combination of disulfiram and copper (DSF/Cu) against glioblastoma (GBM) including re-sensitization to temozolomide (TMZ). A previous phase I study demonstrated the safety of combining DSF/Cu with adjuvant TMZ for newly diagnosed GBM. This phase II study aimed to estimate the potential effectiveness of DSF/Cu to re-sensitize recurrent GBM to TMZ.

Combination of the low anticoagulant heparin CX-01 with chemotherapy for the treatment of acute myeloid leukemia.

Relapses in acute myelogenous leukemia (AML) are a result of quiescent leukemic stem cells (LSCs) in marrow stromal niches, where they resist chemotherapy. LSCs employ CXCL12/CXCR4 to home toward protective marrow niches. Heparin disrupts CXCL12-mediated sequestration of cells in the marrow.

Stromal heparan sulfate differentiates neuroblasts to suppress neuroblastoma growth.

Neuroblastoma prognosis is dependent on both the differentiation state and stromal content of the tumor. Neuroblastoma tumor stroma is thought to suppress neuroblast growth via release of soluble differentiating factors. Here, we identified critical growth-limiting components of the differentiating stroma secretome and designed a potential therapeutic strategy based on their central mechanism of action.

Modulation of protein C activation by histones, platelet factor 4, and heparinoids: new insights into activated protein C formation.

Objective: Histones are detrimental in late sepsis. Both activated protein C (aPC) and heparin can reverse their effect. Here, we investigated whether histones can modulate aPC generation in a manner similar to another positively charged molecule, platelet factor 4, and how heparinoids (unfractionated heparin or oxygen-desulfated unfractionated heparin with marked decrease anticoagulant activity) may modulate this effect.

Randomized, controlled trial of a multimodal intervention to improve cancer screening rates in a safety-net primary care practice.

Background: Cancer screening rates are suboptimal for low-income patients.

Objective: To assess an intervention to increase cancer screening among patients in a safety-net primary care practice.

Design: Patients at an inner-city family practice who were overdue for cancer screening were randomized to intervention or usual care.

Examining the Relationship between Choice, Therapeutic Alliance and Outcomes in Mental Health Services.

Background: Self-determination within mental health services is increasingly recognized as an ethical imperative, but we still know little about the impact of choice on outcomes among people with severe mental illnesses. This study examines whether choice predicts outcomes and whether this relationship is mediated by therapeutic alliance.

Method: The study sample of 396 participants completed a survey measuring choice, therapeutic alliance, recovery, quality of life and functioning.

Evaluating postgraduate public health and biomedical training program outcomes: : lost opportunities and renewed interest.

To identify recent studies in the scientific literature that evaluated structured postgraduate public health and biomedical training programs and reported career outcomes among individual trainees, a comprehensive search of several databases was conducted to identify published studies in English between January 1995 and January 2012. Studies of interest included those that evaluated career outcomes for trainees completing full-time public health or biomedical training programs of at least 12 months duration, with structured training offered on-site. Of the over 600 articles identified, only 13 met the inclusion criteria.

Assessing the value of team science: a study comparing center- and investigator-initiated grants.

Background: Large cross-disciplinary scientific teams are becoming increasingly prominent in the conduct of research.

Purpose: This paper reports on a quasi-experimental longitudinal study conducted to compare bibliometric indicators of scientific collaboration, productivity, and impact of center-based transdisciplinary team science initiatives and traditional investigator-initiated grants in the same field.

Methods: All grants began between 1994 and 2004 and up to 10 years of publication data were collected for each grant.

U.S. primary care physicians' lung cancer screening beliefs and recommendations.

Background: No high-quality study to date has shown that screening reduces lung cancer mortality, and expert groups do not recommend screening for asymptomatic individuals. Nevertheless, lung cancer screening tests are available in the U.S.

Mapping U.S. government tobacco control leadership: networked for success?

Introduction: In order to better understand how tobacco control efforts are coordinated across agencies of the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), we assessed tobacco control-related communication between tobacco control leaders across DHHS.

Methods: Cross-sectional surveys were collected from individuals representing 11 DHHS agencies, and social network analyses were used to assess linkages and map agencies' tobacco control communication.

Results: Individuals within the Office of the Secretary and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) were most central to the network, and those of highest rank were most likely to be central to the network (F = 4.

Adolescent attributes and young adult smoking cessation behavior.

This study collected data five times between 1983 and 2002 from 400 participants who originally came from upstate New York. These participants completed structured interviews as did their mothers three times. LISREL analysis generally supported the hypothesized model.

Surveillance indicators for potential reduced exposure products (PREPs): developing survey items to measure awareness.

Background: Over the past decade, tobacco companies have introduced cigarettes and smokeless tobacco products (known as Potential Reduced Exposure Products, PREPs) with purportedly lower levels of some toxins than conventional cigarettes and smokeless products. It is essential that public health agencies monitor awareness, interest, use, and perceptions of these products so that their impact on population health can be detected at the earliest stages.

Methods: This paper reviews and critiques existing strategies for measuring awareness of PREPs from 16 published and unpublished studies.

Consumer awareness and attitudes related to new potential reduced-exposure tobacco product brands.

Introduction: In recent years, there has been a proliferation of potential reduced-exposure tobacco products (PREPs) marketed that claim to be less harmful or less addictive, compared with conventional cigarettes. Tobacco control scientists have raised concerns about the potential adverse impact of marketing of these products for smoking prevention and cessation efforts. Although these products have not been widely used among smokers, there are few data available on consumers' awareness and attitudes toward these products.

Monitoring the tobacco use epidemic I. Overview: Optimizing measurement to facilitate change.

Objective: This Overview paper (I of V) summarizes research work to date on monitoring the tobacco use epidemic, discusses the recommendations made at the November, 2002 National Tobacco Monitoring, Research and Evaluation Workshop sponsored by the U.S. National Cancer Institute (NCI), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the American Legacy Foundation, and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation on the topic of tobacco surveillance and evaluation, and discusses the current state of affairs.

Cigarette smoking and health-related quality of life in Medicare beneficiaries.

This study examined associations between cigarette smoking, cancer, and self-reported physical (SF-36 Physical Component Summary Score, [PCS]) and mental health (SF-36 Mental Component Summary Score, [MCS]) among 123,567 Medicare beneficiaries enrolled in managed care plans. As expected for a sample of older individuals, the SF-36 PCS mean (42.6) was lower than the U.

Systems thinking to improve the public's health.

Improving population health requires understanding and changing societal structures and functions, but countervailing forces sometimes undermine those changes, thus reflecting the adaptive complexity inherent in public health systems. The purpose of this paper is to propose systems thinking as a conceptual rubric for the practice of team science in public health, and transdisciplinary, translational research as a catalyst for promoting the functional efficiency of science. The paper lays a foundation for the conceptual understanding of systems thinking and transdisciplinary research, and will provide illustrative examples within and beyond public health.

Measuring collaboration and transdisciplinary integration in team science.

Purpose: As the science of team science evolves, the development of measures that assess important processes related to working in transdisciplinary teams is critical. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to present the psychometric properties of scales measuring collaborative processes and transdisciplinary integration.

Methods: Two hundred-sixteen researchers and research staff participating in the Transdisciplinary Tobacco Use Research Centers (TTURC) Initiative completed the TTURC researcher survey.

Gender differences among hardcore smokers: an analysis of the tobacco use supplement of the current population survey.

Background: Despite significant declines in smoking rates in the United States, a substantial percentage of adults continue to smoke. Improved understanding of current smokers and their contact with sources of cessation support future tobacco control efforts. Recent evidence suggests that hardcore smokers, established smokers without a history of quit attempts, have less contact with cessation support.

Successfully maintaining program funding during trying times: lessons from tobacco control programs in five states.

Despite negative financial conditions in recent years, several states were able to successfully maintain funding for tobacco prevention and control, which provided an opportunity to understand the factors associated with success. One explanation may be the level of long-term program sustainability in some states. According to a model developed by Saint Louis University researchers, the five elements critical to tobacco control sustainability are state political and financial climate; community awareness and capacity; program structure and administration; funding stability and planning; and surveillance and evaluation.

Pathways to smoking cessation among African American and Puerto Rican young adults.

Objectives: We examined the pathways to smoking cessation between late adolescence and young adulthood.

Methods: We obtained data from a sample of urban African American and Puerto Rican young adults (N=242), mean age 19 years, who reported tobacco use and determined cessation rates between late adolescence and young adulthood. We used structural equation modeling to examine the pathways of positive family relations, family smoking, maladaptive personality attributes, and substance use to smoking cessation.

Associations of perceived risk and worry with cancer health-protective actions: data from the Health Information National Trends Survey (HINTS).

This study examined the associations of susceptibility, conceptualized as both a cognition (risk) and as affect (worry) and their possible interaction, with cancer screening behaviors. Data for this study were obtained from the 2003 Health Information National Trends Survey (HINTS). Hierarchical regression models assessed the ability of risk, worry and their interaction (after controlling for other important variables) to predict cancer-screening behaviors.