Chick chorioallantoic membrane assay as an in vivo model to study the effect of nanoparticle-based anticancer drugs in ovarian cancer.

New therapy development is critically needed for ovarian cancer. We used the chicken egg CAM assay to evaluate efficacy of anticancer drug delivery using recently developed biodegradable PMO (periodic mesoporous organosilica) nanoparticles. Human ovarian cancer cells were transplanted onto the CAM membrane of fertilized eggs, resulting in rapid tumor formation. The tumor closely resembles cancer patient tumor and contains extracellular matrix as well as stromal cells and extensive vasculature. PMO nanoparticles loaded with doxorubicin were injected intravenously into the chicken egg resulting in elimination of the tumor. No significant damage to various organs in the chicken embryo occurred. In contrast, injection of free doxorubicin caused widespread organ damage, even when less amount was administered. The lack of toxic effect of nanoparticle loaded doxorubicin was associated with specific delivery of doxorubicin to the tumor. Furthermore, we observed excellent tumor accumulation of the nanoparticles. Lastly, a tumor could be established in the egg using tumor samples from ovarian cancer patients and that our nanoparticles were effective in eliminating the tumor. These results point to the remarkable efficacy of our nanoparticle based drug delivery system and suggests the value of the chicken egg tumor model for testing novel therapies for ovarian cancer.

Planning an organizational wellness initiative at a multi-state social service agency.

Increasingly, organizations in general, and social service organizations, specifically, are recognizing the importance of planning and evaluating organizational wellness initiatives. Yet, few participatory models for carrying out these aims exist. For this study, researchers utilized concept mapping (CM) to explicate a conceptual framework for planning, and subsequently evaluating, a wellness initiative at a multi-state social service organization. CM is a participatory approach that analyzes qualitative data via multi-dimensional scaling and hierarchical cluster analyses. Outputs include a number of visual depictions that allow researchers to explore complex relationships among sets of the data. Results from this study indicated that participants (N=64), all of whom were employees of the agency, conceptualized organizational wellness via an eight-cluster solution, or Concept Map. Priority areas of this framework, specifically importance and feasibility, were also explored. After a brief review of pertinent literature, this article explicates the CM methodology utilized in this study, describes results, discusses lessons learned, and identifies apt areas for future research.