Breast Cancer Awareness: How Risk Factors and Screening Methods Impact Detection

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Description
The purpose of this paper is to create awareness around breast cancer risk factorsand screening methods. Five overarching intrinsic risk factors, including: the patient’s age at the time of diagnosis, race, familial susceptibility, and the role of natural hormone changes, and one…

The purpose of this paper is to create awareness around breast cancer risk factorsand screening methods. Five overarching intrinsic risk factors, including: the patient’s age at the time of diagnosis, race, familial susceptibility, and the role of natural hormone changes, and one extrinsic risk factor, dietary habits, were selected for consideration. Along with risk factors, four screening methods were taken into consideration. These included self-breast exams, mammograms, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and ultrasound. The recommendation of screening methods was then determined in relation to a women’s risk for breast cancer. Two categories of risk (average and high risk) were defined and the recommended screening methods were determined based on the risk. Overall, mammography was found to be a useful tool in both average and high risk women. For high risk women, mammography with MRI had a greater sensitivity and was able to detect more breast cancers. More research needs to be conducted on the efficacy of Breast MRI, Ultrasound, and breast self-exams as supplemental tools to mammography in both average and high-risk women
Date Created
2023
Agent

The Nature of Cancer: Unifying Evolutionary Theory in Cancer Biology

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Description
Evolutionary theory provides a rich framework for understanding cancer dynamics across scales of biological organization. The field of cancer evolution has largely been divided into two domains, comparative oncology - the study of cancer across the tree of life, and…

Evolutionary theory provides a rich framework for understanding cancer dynamics across scales of biological organization. The field of cancer evolution has largely been divided into two domains, comparative oncology - the study of cancer across the tree of life, and tumor evolution. This work provides a theoretical framework to unify these subfields with the intent that an understanding of the evolutionary dynamics driving cancer risk at one scale can inform the understanding of the dynamics on another scale. The evolution of multicellular life and the unique vulnerabilities in the cellular mechanisms that underpin it explain the ubiquity of cancer prevalence across the tree of life. The breakdown in cellular cooperation and communication that were required for multicellular life define the hallmarks of cancer. As divergent life histories drove speciation events, it similarly drove divergences in fundamental cancer risk across species. An understanding of the impact that species’ life history theory has on the underlying network of multicellular cooperation and somatic evolution allows for robust predictions on cross-species cancer risk. A large-scale veterinary cancer database is utilized to validate many of the predictions on cancer risk made from life history evolution. Changing scales to the cellular level, it lays predictions on the fate of somatic mutations and the fitness benefits they confer to neoplastic cells compared to their healthy counterparts. The cancer hallmarks, far more than just a way to unify the many seemingly unique pathologies defined as cancer, is a powerful toolset to understand how specific mutations may change the fitness of somatic cells throughout carcinogenesis and tumor progression. Alongside highlighting the significant advances in evolutionary approaches to cancer across scales, this work provides a lucid confirmation that an understanding of both scales provides the most complete portrait of evolutionary cancer dynamics.
Date Created
2023
Agent

Advancing Tumor Control: The Promise of Adaptive Therapy

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Description
This review aims to provide a comprehensive review of the most recent literature on adaptive therapy, a promising new approach to cancer treatment that leverages evolutionary theory to prolong tumor control1. By capitalizing on the competition between drug-sensitive and drug-resistant…

This review aims to provide a comprehensive review of the most recent literature on adaptive therapy, a promising new approach to cancer treatment that leverages evolutionary theory to prolong tumor control1. By capitalizing on the competition between drug-sensitive and drug-resistant cells, adaptive therapy has led to a paradigm shift in oncology. Through mathematical and in silico models, researchers have examined key factors such as dose timing, cost of resistance, and spatial dynamics in tumor response to adaptive therapy. With a partial focus on preclinical experiments involving ovarian and breast cancer, this review will discuss the demonstrated effectiveness of adaptive therapy in improving progression free survival and tumor control. Through the review process, it was determined that dose modulation outperformed drug-vacation strategies, emphasizing the significance of tumor heterogeneity and spatial structure in accurately modeling adaptive therapy mechanisms. The potential of ongoing clinical trials to improve patient outcomes and long-term treatment efficacy is emphasized, while a thorough analysis of study methodologies shapes the future direction of adaptive therapy research.
Date Created
2023
Agent

Changes in American Judicial Behavior in Disability Discrimination Cases in Response to Anti-Discrimination Legislation

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Description
Disabled people have historically lacked legal protection and often faced discrimination in healthcare, reproductive rights, education, and more despite being the largest minority group in the United States. One of the most common ways that American disability activists have advocated…

Disabled people have historically lacked legal protection and often faced discrimination in healthcare, reproductive rights, education, and more despite being the largest minority group in the United States. One of the most common ways that American disability activists have advocated for their rights is by challenging discriminatory behavior or regulations in court and advocating for policy change in local, state, and federal governments. As a result, understanding the relationships between legislation and the judicial processes by which American judges approach disability discrimination is crucial to protecting and expanding the rights of disabled Americans. This study analyzes five American disability rights cases from the last fifty years as well as two foundational pieces of federal legislation, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). I conducted this research as a member of the Embryo Project, where I wrote and peer-reviewed articles for the Embryo Project Encyclopedia, which is an online open-access resource for topics relating to reproduction, embryology, and development. In my articles, I summarize the litigation and holdings of each case with additional contextualization in science and society. The passage of the ADA represents a watershed moment after which the American judiciary observed the rights of the disabled as legislatively codified rather than only subject to interpretations of the Constitution. Since laws can be repealed far more easily than constitutional amendments, precedent from legislative interpretation is only as secure as the law on which it is based. Lawmakers must understand the need to craft legislation with reduced textual ambiguity to prevent undermining the original intent of the law. With the recent overturning of long-standing precedent and the composition of the Supreme Court as of 2023, disability rights are on fragile footing. Judicial behavior in response to disability legislation has historically narrowed the protections offered by federal statute and failed to bolster disability rights by refusing to base decisions on Constitutional protections.
Date Created
2023
Agent

An Evolutionary Perspective on Neoplastic Disease Across the Tree of Life

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Description
Cancer is a disease of multicellularity, with deep evolutionary origins. As such, the forces of both evolution and natural selection operate on multiple scales to govern tumor dynamics. As multicellular organisms increase in complexity, cellular-level fitness must be controlled in…

Cancer is a disease of multicellularity, with deep evolutionary origins. As such, the forces of both evolution and natural selection operate on multiple scales to govern tumor dynamics. As multicellular organisms increase in complexity, cellular-level fitness must be controlled in order to maintain organismal-level fitness. Mutations that might provide a benefit at the cellular level by allowing for rapid proliferation are subject to the same forces that function on the organismal level, wherein cancer suppression is a benefit – especially as organisms increase their body size and lifespan. In order to maintain these large cellular bodies and long lifespans, organisms must increase their means of cancer suppression, and it is likely that these two phenomena co-evolved together. On a smaller scale, the cooperative dynamics of circulating tumor cell (CTC) clusters engage in cooperation to form networks of connected single cells that provide protection, stability, and cooperative sharing of resources to enhance their survival as they detach from a primary tumor and metastasize at secondary sites. This work seeks to explore the phenomenon of multi-level selection in neoplastic disease by examining A) the mechanisms of cancer suppression at multiple scales, B) the ecological resilience and stability of cooperating cellular clusters and C) a large-scale dataset on cancer prevalence across mammals, sauropsids (birds and reptiles), and amphibians, illuminating the evolutionary life history characteristics that explain the tradeoffs between cancer suppression and overall organism fitness. By taking an ecological and evolutionary approach to understanding cancer, novel strategies of cancer treatment may be discovered alongside fundamental discoveries about the fundamental forces of selection that govern evolutionary dynamics from the cellular to the organismal scale.
Date Created
2022
Agent

Curtin Diet Plan (Spring 2022)

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Description

Cancer is an ever-relevant disease with many genetic, social, environmental, and behavioral risk factors. One factor which has been garnering interest is the impact of nutrition on cancer. As a disease process, cancer is primarily driven by an accumulation of…

Cancer is an ever-relevant disease with many genetic, social, environmental, and behavioral risk factors. One factor which has been garnering interest is the impact of nutrition on cancer. As a disease process, cancer is primarily driven by an accumulation of genetic aberrations. Recent epidemiological, pre-clinical, and clinical studies have demonstrated various impacts of bioactive food molecules on the promotion or prevention of these oncogenic mutations. This work explores several of these molecules and their relation to cancer prevention and provides a sample meal plan, which highlights many additional molecules that are currently being studied.

Date Created
2022-05
Agent

Curtin Final Project (Spring 2022)

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Description

Cancer is an ever-relevant disease with many genetic, social, environmental, and behavioral risk factors. One factor which has been garnering interest is the impact of nutrition on cancer. As a disease process, cancer is primarily driven by an accumulation of…

Cancer is an ever-relevant disease with many genetic, social, environmental, and behavioral risk factors. One factor which has been garnering interest is the impact of nutrition on cancer. As a disease process, cancer is primarily driven by an accumulation of genetic aberrations. Recent epidemiological, pre-clinical, and clinical studies have demonstrated various impacts of bioactive food molecules on the promotion or prevention of these oncogenic mutations. This work explores several of these molecules and their relation to cancer prevention and provides a sample meal plan, which highlights many additional molecules that are currently being studied.

Date Created
2022-05
Agent

The Potential Utilization of Nutraceuticals as a Cancer Preventive Strategy

Description
Cancer is an ever-relevant disease with many genetic, social, environmental, and behavioral risk factors. One factor which has been garnering interest is the impact of nutrition on cancer. As a disease process, cancer is primarily driven by an accumulation of…

Cancer is an ever-relevant disease with many genetic, social, environmental, and behavioral risk factors. One factor which has been garnering interest is the impact of nutrition on cancer. As a disease process, cancer is primarily driven by an accumulation of genetic aberrations. Recent epidemiological, pre-clinical, and clinical studies have demonstrated various impacts of bioactive food molecules on the promotion or prevention of these oncogenic mutations. This work explores several of these molecules and their relation to cancer prevention and provides a sample meal plan, which highlights many additional molecules that are currently being studied.
Date Created
2022-05
Agent

ABCTL: The Implicit Modification Of The Patient-Physician Relationship To Reduce Medical Mistrust And Discriminatory Biases

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Description

The COVID-19 pandemic has led to high demand for testing. It also has affected minorities at disproportionate rates, and the impact is made worse due to the underlying mistrust minorities hold against medical institutions. A similar theme is observed against…

The COVID-19 pandemic has led to high demand for testing. It also has affected minorities at disproportionate rates, and the impact is made worse due to the underlying mistrust minorities hold against medical institutions. A similar theme is observed against physicians, especially Asian American healthcare providers experiencing firsthand discrimination. Therefore, there is this reciprocal relationship between the patient and provider rooted in mistrust and discriminatory biases. This thesis aims to analyze how ASU Biodesign COVID-19 Testing Lab (ABCTL) functions to implicitly modify potential effects of a patient-provider relationship based on the concepts of health equity and cultural humility. The analysis then suggests that ABCTL accomplished the concept of health equity through community partnerships and by recruiting community healthcare workers for long-term stability, it successfully achieved cultural humility.

Date Created
2022-05
Agent

National Pre-Health Conference: Inspiring the Next Generation of Healthcare Professionals

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Description

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, pre-health individuals around the world encountered a range of challenges. Research and internship opportunities were cancelled, clinical experience was unreachable, and prerequisites became more demanding in a remote setting. I myself was working in a…

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, pre-health individuals around the world encountered a range of challenges. Research and internship opportunities were cancelled, clinical experience was unreachable, and prerequisites became more demanding in a remote setting. I myself was working in a research lab in Switzerland when the pandemic was declared, resulting in my career-altering internship to be cut short six months. My life-long friend, Alejandra, had the same experience and reached out to me with an extraordinary idea to unite and empower pre-health individuals on a national level. With my skills in event planning combined with her vision, we built the National Pre-Health Conference (NPHC): a 3-day virtual event for pre-health individuals to explore medical careers and learn how to pursue their professional goals, particularly during these uncertain times. We held our inaugural conference with the theme A Future in Medicine in 2020 with over 1000 attendees from around the country. In 2021, we held our second-annual conference with the theme Unity in Healthcare with over 1000 attendees as well. In addition to planning the second-annual NPHC, I employed pre-event and post-event surveys to assess the confidence level of attendees before and after the conference in healthcare experience, research experience, standardized testing, community service, academics, essay writing, and completing graduate/professionals school applications. We found that NPHC improved the confidence level of attendees in all categories. Overall, understanding how NPHC benefits pre-health students will help our team improve for future conferences.

Date Created
2021-12
Agent
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