Cell cycle plasticity underlies fractional resistance to palbociclib in ER+/HER2- breast tumor cells.

The CDK4/6 inhibitor palbociclib blocks cell cycle progression in Estrogen receptor-positive, human epidermal growth factor 2 receptor-negative (ER+/HER2-) breast tumor cells. Despite the drug's success in improving patient outcomes, a small percentage of tumor cells continues to divide in the presence of palbociclib-a phenomenon we refer to as fractional resistance. It is critical to understand the cellular mechanisms underlying fractional resistance because the precise percentage of resistant cells in patient tissue is a strong predictor of clinical outcomes.

Tamoxifen Response at Single-Cell Resolution in Estrogen Receptor-Positive Primary Human Breast Tumors.

Purpose: In estrogen receptor-positive (ER+)/HER2- breast cancer, multiple measures of intratumor heterogeneity are associated with a worse response to endocrine therapy. We sought to develop a novel experimental model to measure heterogeneity in response to tamoxifen treatment in primary breast tumors.

Experimental Design: To investigate heterogeneity in response to treatment, we developed an operating room-to-laboratory pipeline for the collection of live normal breast specimens and human tumors immediately after surgical resection for processing into single-cell workflows for experimentation and genomic analyses.

Using Community-Based Participatory Research to Conduct a Collaborative Needs Assessment of Mental Health Service Users: Identifying Research Questions and Building Academic-Community Trust.

Attempts to meaningfully engage people with serious mental illnesses (SMI) as allies in conducting research have often failed because researchers tend to decide on the research topic without including community members. Academic researchers can avoid this pitfall by collaborating with community members to conduct a needs assessment to identify relevant research topics and build trust. Here, we report on the results of a psychosocial needs assessment for adult mental health service users in Massachusetts conducted by an academic-peer research team.

Tamoxifen Response at Single Cell Resolution in Estrogen Receptor-Positive Primary Human Breast Tumors.

In ER+/HER2- breast cancer, multiple measures of intra-tumor heterogeneity are associated with worse response to endocrine therapy. To investigate heterogeneity in response to treatment, we developed an operating room-to-laboratory pipeline for the collection of live human tumors and normal breast specimens immediately after surgical resection for processing into single-cell workflows for experimentation and genomic analyses. We demonstrate differences in tamoxifen response by cell type and identify distinctly responsive and resistant subpopulations within the malignant cell compartment of human tumors.

High expression of the RET receptor tyrosine kinase and its ligand GDNF identifies a high-risk subset of estrogen receptor positive breast cancer.

Purpose: Resistance to endocrine therapy is the primary cause of treatment failure and death in patients with ER-positive (ER +)/luminal breast cancer. Expression and activation of the RET receptor tyrosine kinase may be driving poor outcomes. We aim to identify high-risk patients and druggable pathways for biomarker-based clinical trials.

Hemangioblastoma and mosaic von Hippel Lindau disease: rare presentation and review of the literature.

Hemangioblastomas are benign vascular tumors that can occur throughout the central nervous system (CNS) sporadically or in association with von Hippel-Lindau (VHL) disease. We present a case of an 11-year-old girl with a hemangioblastoma that tested negative for germline mutation of VHL disease at the time of diagnosis. Our patient went on to have multiple recurrences and further areas of concern for disease within the CNS.

The role of oncology pharmacists and comprehensive medication reconciliation in informing treatment plans for older adults with cancer and downstream outcomes.

Purpose Of Review: Proper medication management is an essential part of older adult cancer care. An aging population, an increase in anticancer treatment options, and high rates of comorbid conditions make navigating general medication reconciliation complicated. This review will highlight the recent literature describing the roles of the oncology pharmacist in caring for older adults with cancer.

The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on peer specialists.

Objective: Individuals with mental health challenges are at particularly high risk of experiencing negative outcomes (e.g., worsening of mental health, increased risk of mortality) due to the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic.

Supporting Community-Based Family Medicine Residency Training Programs in North Carolina and their Potential Impact on Healthy NC 2030.

North Carolina is a leader in family medicine, but a growing health care chasm exists between the state's urban centers and rural areas. Training family medicine residents in rural communities can address disparities in health care access and improve rural population health metrics for all subsets of the population, goals that align well with renewed state and national strategies.

Inhibition of growth by masarimycin.

Despite renewed interest, development of chemical biology methods to study peptidoglycan metabolism has lagged in comparison to the glycobiology field in general. To address this, a panel of diamides were screened against the Gram-positive bacterium to identify inhibitors of bacterial growth. The screen identified the diamide masarimycin as a bacteriostatic inhibitor of growth with an MIC of 8 µM.

Elevated Dopamine Synthesis as a Mechanism of Cognitive Resilience in Aging.

Aging is associated with declines in multiple components of the dopamine system including loss of dopamine-producing neurons, atrophy of the dopamine system's cortical targets, and reductions in the density of dopamine receptors. Countering these patterns, dopamine synthesis appears to be stable or elevated in older age. We tested the hypothesis that elevation in dopamine synthesis in aging reflects a compensatory response to neuronal loss rather than a nonspecific monotonic shift in older age.

Student and faculty perceptions of integrated therapeutics courses in a doctor of pharmacy program.

Introduction: There has been a movement in clinical education towards integrating foundational and applied course content. It remains unclear what best practices are for integration or how meaningful integration is for improving learning. We assessed the impact and perceptions of different degrees of integration in Integrated Pharmacy Care and Patient Management (IPC) courses.

Evaluation of [F]-JNJ-64326067-AAA tau PET tracer in humans.

The [F]-JNJ-64326067-AAA ([F]-JNJ-067) tau tracer was evaluated in healthy older controls (HCs), mild cognitive impairment (MCI), Alzheimer's disease (AD), and progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP) participants. Seventeen subjects (4 HCs, 5 MCIs, 5 ADs, and 3 PSPs) received a [C]-PIB amyloid PET scan, and a tau [F]-JNJ-067 PET scan 0-90 minutes post-injection. Only MCIs and ADs were amyloid positive.

Managing Polypharmacy in Older Adults with Cancer Across Different Healthcare Settings.

The care of older patients with cancer is becoming increasingly complex. Common challenges for this population include management of comorbidities, safe transitions of care, and appropriate medication use. In particular, polypharmacy-generally defined as the regular use of five or more medications-and inappropriate medication use can lead to adverse effects and poor outcomes in older adults with cancer, including falls, hospital readmissions, cognitive impairment, poor adherence to essential medications, chemotherapy toxicity, and increased mortality.

Simulation as a Platform for Development of Entrustable Professional Activities: A Modular, Longitudinal Approach.

Background The Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) has recently identified a list of integrated activities to be expected of all medical school graduates entering residency: the core Entrustable Professional Activities (EPAs). Direct observation and deliberate practice of individual EPA behaviors in the clinical setting has multiple challenges, and there is limited literature describing a comprehensive, longitudinal curriculum dedicated to formative EPA assessment.  Approach We present a model curriculum to develop and provide formative assessment of EPA skills longitudinally throughout the clinical years.

Integration of cannabidiol oil education into a pharmacy therapeutics curriculum.

Introduction: To identify the impact of implementing a lecture regarding cannabidiol (CBD) oil delivered within a special populations therapeutics course on third-year (P3) pharmacy students' knowledge and confidence of CBD therapeutics.

Methods: A two-hour lecture which contained the pharmacological properties, therapeutic uses, and legal considerations of CBD products was added to a two-credit course in the final didactic semester of a doctor of pharmacy (PharmD) curriculum. Prior to the session, learners completed a 10-question knowledge-based questionnaire, ranking confidence in each answer with a 5-point Likert scale.

Knockdown of N-Acetylglucosaminyltransferase-II Reduces Matrix Metalloproteinase 2 Activity and Suppresses Tumorigenicity in Neuroblastoma Cell Line.

Neuroblastoma (NB) development and progression are accompanied by changes in N-glycans attached to proteins. Here, we investigated the role of N-acetylglucosaminyltransferase-II (GnTII, ) protein substrates in neuroblastoma (NB) cells. was silenced in human BE(2)-C NB (HuNB) cells to generate a novel cell line, HuNB(-), lacking complex type N-glycans, as in rat B35 NB cells.

Relationship Between Grit Scale Score and Academic Performance in a Doctor of Physical Therapy Program: A Case Study.

Unlabelled: Admission into Doctor of Physical Therapy (DPT) programs includes assessment of academic and non-academic metrics. Due to a lack of reliability of non-academic data, programs may base the admission decision solely on academic metrics. The Grit Scale score (GSs) has well-documented reliability associated with perseverance and passion in the context of long-term goals.

Context-Dependent Role of Vinculin in Neutrophil Adhesion, Motility and Trafficking.

Neutrophils are innate immune effector cells that traffic from the circulation to extravascular sites of inflammation. β2 integrins are important mediators of the processes involved in neutrophil recruitment. Although neutrophils express the cytoskeletal protein vinculin, they do not form mature focal adhesions.

Gamifying the memorization of brand/generic drug names.

Background And Purpose: The objective of this study was to determine how the implementation of Quizlet, an electronic flashcard/quiz/gaming platform, affected the doctor of pharmacy candidate's ability to successfully complete quizzes based on brand and generic names of the most commonly used medications.

Educational Activity And Setting: Brand name, generic name, and class of Top 300 Prescription Medications were uploaded into the program in four different study sets. Students were encouraged to utilize the provided games to prepare for quizzes.

The Potential Clinical Implications and Importance of Drug Interactions Between Anticancer Agents and Cannabidiol in Patients With Cancer.

The objective of this review was to identify and examine the pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic interactions between cannabidiol (CBD)-only products, such as CBD oil, and anticancer agents. A literature search of PubMed (1980 to September 2018) and the Cochrane Collection (1980 to September 2018) was performed using the following search terms: "cannabidiol," "cancer," "cannabis," "marijuana," and "interaction," as well as any combination of these terms. Literature was excluded if it did not appear in the search when limited to the "full text" filter on PubMed, if it was not published in the English language, or if it did not explore potential pharmacodynamic or pharmacokinetic interactions of CBD and anticancer agents.

Lack of complex type N-glycans lessens aberrant neuronal properties.

Modifications in surface glycans attached to proteins via N-acetylglucosamine-β1-N-asparagine linkage have been linked to tumor development and progression. These modifications include complex N-glycans with high levels of branching, fucose and sialic acid residues. Previously, we silenced Mgat2 in neuroblastoma (NB) cells, which halted the conversion of hybrid type N-glycans to complex type, to generate a novel cell line, NB_1(-Mgat2).

Pharmacist-led medication assessment and deprescribing intervention for older adults with cancer and polypharmacy: a pilot study.

Purpose: The aims of this study were to compare the application of three geriatric medication screening tools to the Beers Criteria alone for potentially inappropriate medication quantification and to determine feasibility of a pharmacist-led polypharmacy assessment in a geriatric oncology clinic.

Methods: Adult patients with cancer aged 65 and older underwent a comprehensive geriatric assessment. A polypharmacy assessment was completed by a pharmacist and included a review of all drug therapies.

Bexarotene-Induced Hypertriglyceridemia: A Case Report.

We present a case of a patient with cutaneous T-cell lymphoma started on bexarotene 300 mg/m due to progressing disease. The patient experienced good clinical response, but unfortunately, she developed rapid and profound hypertriglyceridemia. Although hypertriglyceridemia occurs in high incidence with bexarotene therapy, management recommendations are scarce.

Validation of a Model for Predicting Pressure Injury Risk in Patients With Vascular Diseases.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to validate a 10-factor model of risk factors for hospital-acquired pressure injury (HAPI) risk in patients with vascular disease.

Subjects And Setting: Medical reviews identified 800 patients from a 1063 admissions to a 1400 bed quarternary care hospital in the midwestern United States.

Design: Retrospective review of medical records.