Purpose: In 2006, Sharp Health Plan (SHP) conducted a campaign to increase mammography screening for at-risk female members that consisted of mailing each eligible member an informational mammography postcard with an appointment tracker. Then came an automated phone call reminder. After the mammography campaign, 70 percent of SHP members sought mammography screening while 30 percent remained nonadherent. SHP decided to conduct a survey to better understand members' barriers to breast cancer screening.
Design: A survey based on Prochaska and Velicier's Transtheoretical Model of Change was designed to assess members' behavioral stage and barriers to breast cancer screening.
Methodology: The survey was administered to all nonadherent members via personal phone calls with nearly 50 percent of the nonadherent completing the interview. All quantitative data were examined, and a code book was created to assess additional qualitative data. Findings were further analyzed by stage of change, ethnicity/race, and region of San Diego.
Principal Findings: The top three barriers identified were: Mammogram not a priority, Knowledge deficit, and Had a bad experience in the past.
Conclusion: A common set of mammography barriers was found in the SHP member population. However, when segmented into ethnic, racial, geographic, and behavioral stage groups, various barriers were identified. SHP providers can use this information to develop more tailored interventions and to increase the rate of breast cancer screening for their member population.
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Ann Surg
January 2025
Wisconsin Surgical Outcomes Research Program, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI.
Objective: To understand how breast cancer patients experience the surgical decision process and identify strategies surgeons can employ to empower patients to engage in decision-making.
Background: Patient engagement in decision-making is associated with improved patient outcomes. Although, some patients prefer that their healthcare provider drive the decision, the benefits of engaging in decision-making hold true even for patients who prefer to defer to their provider.
Cureus
December 2024
Pulmonary and Critical Care, Brody School of Medicine, East Carolina University, Greenville, USA.
Lung cancer is the third most prevalent cancer, following breast cancer in women and prostate cancer in men. However, it remains the leading cause of cancer-related mortality. As treatment options have advanced, the significance of accurate diagnosis has increased, enabling targeted and more personalized therapeutic treatments.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFFront Oncol
January 2025
The Pq Laboratory of BiomeDx/Rx, Department of Biomedical Engineering, Binghamton University, Binghamton, NY, United States.
Introduction: Circulating tumor cells (CTCs) have attracted significant interest as a biomarker for cancer diagnosis. In this study, we judiciously constructed a recombinant MUC1-dependent adenovirus (rAdF35-MUC1) that can selectively replicate and overexpress copepod super green fluorescent proteins (copGFP) in MUC1-positive tumor cells to investigate its role in the detection of CTCs.
Methods: We conducted a comparative study between rAdF35-MUC1 and the existing hTERT-dependent adenovirus (rAdF35-hTERT).
JACS Au
January 2025
UCIBIO-Applied Molecular Biosciences Unit, Department of Chemistry, NOVA School of Science and Technology, NOVA University Lisbon, 2829-516 Caparica, Portugal.
The mucin -glycan sialyl Tn antigen (sTn, Neu5Acα2-6GalNAcα1--Ser/Thr) is an antigen associated with different types of cancers, often linked with a higher risk of metastasis and poor prognosis. Despite efforts to develop anti-sTn antibodies with high specificity for diagnostics and immunotherapy, challenges in eliciting high-affinity antibodies for glycan structures have limited their effectiveness, leading to low titers and short protection durations. Experimental structural insights into anti-sTn antibody specificity are lacking, hindering their optimization for cancer cell recognition.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJACS Au
January 2025
Department of Chemistry, Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology, and Cancer Center at Illinois, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, Illinois 61801, United States.
Cancer cells with high expression of aldehyde dehydrogenase 1A1 (ALDH1A1) are more resistant to chemotherapy, contribute to tumor progression, and are associated with poor clinical outcomes. ALDH1A1 plays a critical role in protecting cells from reactive aldehydes and, in the case of stem cells, regulates their differentiation through the retinoic acid signaling pathway. Despite the importance of this enzyme, methods to study ALDH1A1 high-expressing cancer cells in vivo remain limited.
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