Look good feel better workshops: a "big lift" for women with cancer.

BACKGROUND: Look Good Feel Better (LGFB) aims to help women manage appearance-related side effects of cancer and its treatment. In this pilot study, we assessed the impact of LGFB workshops on self-image, social interactions, perceived social support, and anxiety. METHODS: We administered scales preworkshop and postworkshop participation. We conducted semistructured telephone interviews following attendance. RESULTS: Statistically and qualitatively, subjects experienced significant improvement in self-image, social interaction, and anxiety. Participant anxiety decreased, but greater social support was anticipated than actually obtained. CONCLUSIONS: LGFB workshops increase self-image, improve social interactions, and reduce anxiety.

Initial presentation of unscreened children with sickle cell disease: the Toronto experience.

BACKGROUND: The morbidity and mortality related to sickle cell disease (SCD) has decreased since the introduction of newborn screening in the United States. Given the multicultural nature of the Canadian population and the growing African Canadian population, it is concerning that there is no national neonatal screening program for SCD in Canada. The objective of this study was to evaluate the most common manner in which SCD is diagnosed in children when neonatal screening is not available routinely. PROCEDURE: The study design was a retrospective chart review. All children aged from birth to 18 years with SCD and an admission to the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, Canada, between 1978 and 2004 were eligible for inclusion. RESULTS: Fifty-two percent of the children with SCD were diagnosed through some form of screening while 48% were diagnosed with symptoms suggestive of their disease. The median age at time of diagnosis was 0.75 years in the "screened" group, and 2 years in the "symptom" group (P < 0.05). The most common symptomatic presentation was with a vaso-occlusive crisis. Fifteen percent presented with more severe symptoms including acute chest syndrome (5.5%), acute splenic sequestration (5%), sepsis (3.3%), aplastic crisis (1%), priapism (0.5%), meningitis (0.5%), stroke (0.5%), and death (1%). CONCLUSIONS: Fifteen percent of children with undiagnosed SCD presented initially with severe complications of the disease. The morbidity and mortality related to undiagnosed SCD underscores the need for a national neonatal screening program in Canada.

Modulation of prion formation, aggregation, and toxicity by the actin cytoskeleton in yeast.

Self-perpetuating protein aggregates transmit prion diseases in mammals and heritable traits in yeast. De novo prion formation can be induced by transient overproduction of the corresponding prion-forming protein or its prion domain. Here, we demonstrate that the yeast prion protein Sup35 interacts with various proteins of the actin cortical cytoskeleton that are involved in endocytosis. Sup35-derived aggregates, generated in the process of prion induction, are associated with the components of the endocytic/vacuolar pathway. Mutational alterations of the cortical actin cytoskeleton decrease aggregation of overproduced Sup35 and de novo prion induction and increase prion-related toxicity in yeast. Deletion of the gene coding for the actin assembly protein Sla2 is lethal in cells containing the prion isoforms of both Sup35 and Rnq1 proteins simultaneously. Our data are consistent with a model in which cytoskeletal structures provide a scaffold for generation of large aggregates, resembling mammalian aggresomes. These aggregates promote prion formation. Moreover, it appears that the actin cytoskeleton also plays a certain role in counteracting the toxicity of the overproduced potentially aggregating proteins.