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Biomedical subjects

R E Gallagher

Publications and source records attributed to R E Gallagher.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

Survey design and observations relating to cancer education funding. Cancer Education Survey II: cancer education in United States medical schools (conducted by The American Association for Cancer Education with the support of the American Cancer Society).

A survey has been conducted of cancer education programs for medical students in United States medical schools by the American Association for Cancer Education with grant support from the Department of Detection and Treatment of the American Cancer Society (formerly the Professional Education Department). Two questionnaires were used, an Educational Resources Questionnaire (ERQ), which 126 of the 128 medical schools completed and returned, and a Faculty and Curriculum Questionnaire (FCQ), which was completed and returned by 1,035 faculty members who had been named as active in undergraduate medical student cancer education by respondents in each school who had been designated by the Dean's Office to complete the ERQ. Overall conclusions included: (1) increased coordination of cancer education activities is a major need in many schools; (2) there is widespread interest in the further development of cancer education objectives; (3) development of a national cancer education curriculum is needed; (4) there is interest in the development of improved instructional materials and methods; (5) development of evaluation methods is needed for cancer education programs; and (6) an ongoing funding process is needed to provide support for interdepartmental coordination of cancer education activities. Cancer prevention and detection topics were ranked above cancer treatment in plans for future curriculum emphasis. More detailed conclusions and recommendations are provided in this publication and three subsequent articles in this issue of the Journal of Cancer Education.

American Cancer Society

Instructional methods and the use of teaching resources in cancer education curricula. Cancer Education Survey II: cancer education in United States medical schools.

The findings on cancer teaching methodology presented in this abstract come from an American Association for Cancer Education (AACE)/American Cancer Society-sponsored survey of American allopathic medical schools in 1989 and 1990 to determine how and how well cancer is presented in the medical school curriculum. Responses were received from 126 institutional and approximately 1,000 faculty respondents. Approximately one-third (368) of faculty respondents indicated the use of specific learning objectives; utilization does vary across disciplines. The lecture remains the dominant form of instructional method. Computers were reported as an instructional modality by only 16% of the faculty respondents. Prepared audiovisual instructional materials appeared to be widely utilized. Use varied from 86% for 35mm slides to 11% for video discs. Faculty favored the development of new teaching materials for ten topic areas ranging from approximately 40% for early detection and prevention to a low of approximately 25% for rehabilitation and continuing care. The survey identified an underutilization of existing outpatient facilities and tumor registries for cancer teaching purposes. The findings give rise to questions concerning the appropriateness of the match between specific instructional goals and the teaching methods employed. Eight recommendations designed to strengthen cancer training are made.

Computer-Assisted Instruction

Cancer prevention education in United States medical schools. Cancer Education Survey II: cancer education in United States medical schools.

The Cancer Education Survey collected data from 126 of 128 US Medical Schools on the current status of cancer-related educational activities for undergraduate medical students. The study was conducted by a Supervisory Committee of the American Association for Cancer Education, with funding from the American Cancer Society. The survey obtained data concerning institutional characteristics in support of undergraduate medical student cancer education, ie, administrative structures, current cancer-related curricula, sources of financial support, and anticipated changes in these characteristics. Institutions were also queried on specific topics of cancer prevention, detection, and diagnosis that might be taught as identifiable areas of instruction for medical students. Three-fourths of the institutions had a lecture on the principles of cancer screening, and, among those, nearly three-fourths classified it as a part of a required course or rotation. Detection of common cancers is taught in virtually all institutions. The least likely cancer prevention lecture topics are related to prevention and cessation of smoking, a well-verified cancer risk. Also, no consistent pattern emerges that might indicate that association with a cancer center imparts to a medical school a greater emphasis on delivery of cancer prevention topics.

American Cancer Society

Changing the cancer curriculum: a curriculum committee's response to the results of the AACE Cancer Education Survey II. Cancer Education Survey II: cancer education in United States medical schools.

The AACE Cancer Education Survey-II offers an unusual opportunity based on data from 125 medical schools and 1,035 experienced cancer educators to effect constructive change with regard to cancer education. The changes suggested include more coordination; integration; and a shift of emphasis to include more on topics of prevention, early diagnosis, tumor biology, rehabilitation, palliative care, and psychosocial issues. Ample opportunities, especially in the ambulatory care arena, exist at most medical schools, and there is a great deal of interest in improving the situation. This article reviews the factors contributing to resistance to change, the data on adult learning, and the major movements and dilemmas facing medical education today. It also discusses some of the external forces like the Liaison Committee on Medical Education (LCME) and foundation support, which are being harnessed to effect change. Given these barriers, forces, and opportunities, the article ends with a possible action plan for an individual, an institution, and national bodies interested in cancer education. The knowledge, skills, values, and attitudes must be defined, taught effectively, and evaluated. It is an opportune time, armed with this useful data, to bring about change in how cancer subjects are taught. The ultimate goal is more knowledgeable and effective practitioners and scientists who can decrease the morbidity and mortality from cancer.

Curriculum

Expression of aberrant O-glycans attached to leukosialin in differentiation-deficient HL-60 cells.

Promyelocytic leukemia HL-60 cells can be induced to differentiate into granulocytic cells by various agents including retinoic acid (RA), dimethyl sulfoxide, and 6-thioguanine (6-TG). Although the induced cells are no longer capable of proliferation, a few cells continue to divide in the presence of inducers, and these cells are resistant to terminal differentiation by these inducers (R. E. Gallagher, D. A. Giangiulio, C-S. Chang, C. J. Glover, and R. L. Felsted, Blood, 68: 1402-1406, 1986). The present study examined the structures of O-glycans attached to leukosialin, a major sialoglycoprotein in HL-60 cells, and the activities of glycosyltransferases involved in O-glycan synthesis. Leukosialin from RA-resistant and 6-TG-resistant HL-60 sublines migrated much more slowly than those from wild-type HL-60 cells when applied to sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. The dimethyl sulfoxide-resistant HL-60 subline, on the other hand, expressed leukosialin with a molecular weight similar to wild-type HL-60 cells. RA-resistant and 6-TG-resistant HL-60 cells were found to express a significant amount of tetrasaccharides that contain no sialic acid residue, while wild-type HL-60 cells expressed mainly disialosyl hexasaccharides and contained no detectable amount of asialo-oligosaccharides. Furthermore, wild-type HL-60 cells treated with the inducers for 4 days were found to express the same saccharides present in untreated wild-type HL-60 cells, indicating that the altered O-glycans present in RA and 6-TG sublines were not caused by a direct effect of these agents but rather are intrinsically unique to these sublines. To better understand the mechanisms underlying the differences in O-glycans, the activities of four sialyltransferases were measured: Gal beta 1----3GalNAc alpha 2----3sialyltransferase, Gal beta 1----4(3) GlcNAc alpha 2----3sialyltransferase, Gal beta 1----4GlcNAc alpha 2----6sialyltransferase, and GalNAc alpha 2----6sialyltransferase. Among them, Gal beta 1----3GalNAc alpha 2----3sialyltransferase and Gal beta 1----4(3)GlcNAc alpha 2----3sialyltransferase were much lower in the RA- or 6-TG-resistant HL-60 subline than in wild-type HL-60 cells. These findings indicate that the differences in O-glycans are due to the differences in alpha 2----3sialyltransferase activities. These results strongly suggest that O-glycans associated with leukosialin may play some role in HL-60 cell differentiation.

Antigens, CD

Normal functional characteristics of cultured human promyelocytic leukemia cells (HL-60) after induction of differentiation by dimethylsulfoxide.

The HL-60 human promyelocytic leukemia cell line can be induced to terminally differentiate to mature myeloid cells sharing a number of functional characteristics with normal granulocytes including response to chemoattractants, development of complement receptors, phagocytosis, superoxide production, and nitroblue tetrazolium dye reduction. Hence the Me2SO-induced HL-60 cells provide a unique in vitro model for studying various important aspects of human myeloid cell differentiation.

Binding Sites

Gibbon ape leukemia virus-Hall's Island: new strain of gibbon ape leukemia virus.

Gibbon ape leukemia virus-Hall's Island (GaLV-H), a type C virus related to previous isolates of GaLV and simian sarcoma virus, was isolated from a gibbon ape with lymphocytic leukemia from a small colony of free-ranging gibbon apes on Hall's Island near Bermuda. We show here by molecular hybridization experiments that GaLV-H is approximately 60% related to three previous isolates of GaLV (GaLV-SF, GaLV-SEATO, and GaLV-Br) and is less closely related to simian sarcoma virus. The oligopyrimidine pattern of a transcript of the terminal 135 +/- 5 nucleotides of the viral RNA of GaLV-H is similar to that of GALV-Br but distinct from that of GaLV-SF and simian sarcoma virus. GaLV-H thus represents a fifth distinct strain of the infectious primate type C viruses, which among the previously described isolates of GaLV is most closely related to GaLV-Br.

Animals

Antigenic characterization of a new gibbon ape leukemia virus isolate: seroepidemiologic assessment of an outbreak of gibbon leukemia.

A type-C virus recently isolated from a leukemic gibbon in a colony located on Hall's Island, Bermuda, was characterized with respect to the antigenic properties of its gag and env gene-coded proteins. This virus, designated GaLV-H, was found to be closely related immunologically to type-C viruses previously isolated from gibbons (GaLV-SF, GaLV-SEATO, GaLV-Br) and from woolly monkey (SSAV). However, GaLV-H was readily differentiated from these isolates in a radioimmunoassay for its env gene product, gp70. Seroepidemiology established that GaLV-H was horizontally transmitted among gibbons within the colony. There was no evidence of exposure leading to an immune response to the virus or viral antigenemia in humans working in association with these animals.

Animals

Terminal differentiation of human promyelocytic leukemia cells induced by dimethyl sulfoxide and other polar compounds.

A human leukemic cell line (designated HL-60) has recently been established from the peripheral blood leukocytes of a patient with acute promyelocytic leukemia. This cell line displays distinct morphological and histochemical commitment towards myeloid differentiation. The cultured cells are predominantly promyelocytes, but the addition of dimethyl sulfoxide to the culture induces them to differentiate into myelocytes, metamyelocytes, and banded and segmented neutrophils. All 150 clones developed from the HL-60 culture show similar morphological differentiation in the presence of dimethyl sulfoxide. Unlike the morphologically immature promyelocytes, the dimethyl sulfoxide-induced mature cells exhibit functional maturity as exemplified by phagocytic activity. A number of other compounds previously shown to induce erythroid differentiation of mouse erythroleukemia (Friend) cells can induce analogous maturation of the myeloid HL-60 cells. The marked similarity in behavior of HL-60 cells and Friend cells in the presence of these inducing agents suggests that similar molecular mechanisms are involved in the induction of differentiation of these human myeloid and murine erythroid leukemic cells.

Butyrates

Oncornavirus lytic activity in the serum of gibbon apes.

Fresh blood serum from normal gibbon apes (Hylobates lar) contained heat-sensitive lytic activity for various mammalian oncornaviruses. Lytic activity quantitatively similar to that in gibbon serum was demonstrated in serum from three other primate species, including man; it was demonstrated to be low or absent in lower mammalian species with the exception of domestic cats, which had intermediate levels of serum lytic activity. Gibbons that acquired infectious gibbon ape leukemia virus, either naturally by exposure to a virus-shedding ape or experimentally by deliberate virus inoculation, had the same levels of serum lytic activity as did unexposed gibbons that had no detectable antibodies to gibbon ape leukemia virus. A leukemic-viremic gibbon had low or absent serum oncornavirus lytic activity. These results indicated that serum lytic activity does not necessarily protect against infection by oncornaviruses, although it may limit virus replication and/or dissemination.

Animals

Interpersonal problem solving: a theoretical perspective and methodology for the evaluation of residency education and its' relationship to health care processes and outcomes.

The study conceptualizes and implements an interaction model of interpersonal problem solving in the clinical milieu. This method of representing the interpersonal problem solving process and its relation to patient adherence is shown as an important tool for the evaluation of residency programs.

Evaluation Studies as Topic