Factors Influencing Mammography Uptake Following a Screening Intervention among Asian American Women: A Systematic Review.

Asian American women, both immigrant and US-born, are known to have low mammography screening rates. To reduce health disparities and address community health needs, we undertook a systematic review to identify factors that affect mammography uptake among Asian American women following a mammography screening intervention. Following the PRISMA guidelines, we searched four databases and selected 12 studies that met our inclusion criteria. We identified 22 relevant factors and developed a new conceptual model that comprehensively captures these sociodemographic; cultural; knowledge, attitude, and perception; health history; health care accessibility and availability; and intervention factors, including components and mode of intervention. This conceptual model can be used to guide development of interventions that effectively promote mammography screening. Future research should focus on the effect of acculturation on screening behaviors and the importance of culturally tailored intervention and information-sharing elements to improving mammography screening among Asian Americans.

The National Cancer Institute R25 Cancer Education Grants Program: A Workshop Report.

Through the R25 Cancer Education Grants Program (CEGP), the National Cancer Institute (NCI) has been supporting the broad educational needs of the cancer research and cancer healthcare communities since 1974. NCI sponsored a workshop on September 13, 2016 in Bethesda, Maryland, with the objectives of sharing best practices in cancer education, communicating R25 CEGP programmatic information, and gathering ideas to strengthen the R25 CEGP to better meet the emerging needs in cancer education in the face of a rapidly changing landscape in cancer research and cancer care. With 53 leaders in cancer education in attendance, the workshop featured an overview of the R25 CEGP by NCI Program Staff, a showcase of several types of CEGP programs by current R25 grantees, and in-depth discussions on a broad range of questions critical for the continued success of the R25 CEGP. The workshop afforded an opportunity, for the first time, for cancer researchers and clinicians conducting different forms of cancer education activities to gather in one place as leaders of a community of increasing importance. The discussion resulted in a set of suggestions that will benefit the R25 CEGP and cancer education in general. There was a general consensus among the participants that bringing the cancer education community together is a significant achievement of the workshop that will have a long-lasting impact on cancer education.

The role of pheophorbide a oxygenase expression and activity in the canola green seed problem.

Under normal field growth conditions, canola (Brassica napus) seeds produce chloroplasts during early seed development and then catabolize the photosynthetic machinery during seed maturation, producing mature seeds at harvest that are essentially free of chlorophyll (Chl). However, frost exposure early in canola seed development disrupts the normal programming of Chl degradation, resulting in green seed at harvest and thereby significantly devaluing the crop. Pheophorbide a oxygenase (PaO), a key control point in the overall regulation of Chl degradation, was affected by freezing. Pheophorbide a, the substrate of PaO, accumulated during late stages of maturation in seeds that had been exposed to freezing during early seed development. Freezing interfered with the induction of PaO activity that normally occurs in the later phases of canola seed development when Chl should be cleared from the seed. Moreover, we found that the induction of PaO activity in canola seed was largely posttranslationally controlled and it was at this level that freezing interfered with PaO activation. The increased accumulation of PaO transcript and protein levels during seed development was not altered by the freezing episode, and the increase in PaO protein was small compared to the increase in PaO activity. We found that PaO could be phosphorylated and that phosphorylation decreased with increasing activity, implicating PaO dephosphorylation as an important posttranslational control mechanism for this enzyme. Two PaO genes, BnPaO1 and BnPaO2, were identified in senescing canola leaves and during early seed development, but only BnPaO2 was expressed in maturing, degreening seeds.