Meaning-Centered-Psychotherapy in the Cancer Setting provides a theoretical context for Meaning-Centered Psychotherapy (MCP), a non-pharmalogic intervention which has been shown to enhance meaning and spiritual well-being, increase hope, improve quality of life, and significantly decrease depression, anxiety, desire for hastened death, and symptom burden distress in the cancer setting. Based on the work of Viktor Frankl and his concept of logotherapy, MCP is an innovative intervention for clinicians practicing in fields of Psycho-oncology, Palliative Care, bereavement, and cancer survivorship. This volume supplements two treatment manuals, Meaning-Centered Group Psychotherapy (MCGP) for Patients with Advanced Cancer and Individual Meaning -Centered Psychotherapy (IMCP) for Patients with Advanced Cancer by Dr. Breitbart, which offer a step-wise outline to conducting a specific set of therapy sessions. In addition to providing a theoretical background on the MCP techniques provided in the treatment manuals, this volume contains chapters on adapting MCP for different cancer-related populations and for different purposes and clinical problems including: interventions for cancer survivors, caregivers of cancer patients, adolescents and young adults with cancer, as a bereavement intervention, and cultural and linguistic applications in languages such as Mandarin, Spanish, and Hebrew.

Pancreatic cancer is a formidable disease, and advances in early detection and improved therapeutics have been slow to come forth. With new advances in molecular genetics in the field of pancreatic tumorigenesis, it is an opportune time to use these recent discoveries to enhance our understanding of pancreatic cancer biology and to improve outcomes in patients. In this volume, leading experts in the field shed light on these findings describing the mutational landscape of pancreatic cancer, including new inroads into our understanding of familial pancreatic cancer, epidemiology, the biology of K-ras signaling, and the emerging contribution of epigenetic alterations to disease initiation and progression. The distinctive pancreatic cancer-stroma ecosystem as determined by the dynamic interplay of inflammation, hallmark mutations, EMT, and cancer stem cells is described, and implications of these interactions in the context of development of novel, personalized therapeutic options are explored.

A cutting-edge review of how derangements in the hormonal and growth factor mechanisms controlling normal mammary development lead to breast cancer. Drawing on the multidisciplinary expertise of leading authorities, the book highlights the roles of oncogenes and tumor suppressor genes, spelling out the importance of autocrine/paracrine loops (e.g., stromal epithelial interactions) in supporting breast cancer cell proliferation and the progression to hormone independence. The book's many prominent contributors also illuminate significant recent advances in the biochemistry and physiology of hormone receptors and review the state-of -the-art in the endocrine therapy of breast cancer. Endocrinology of Breast Cancer provides a unique integrated overview of the most significant basic and clinical developments concerning the hormonal aspects of breast cancer.

Despite advances in detection and treatment, cancer remains a source of pain and distress to patients and of complex challenges to the loved ones caring for them. The trend toward shorter hospital stays in particular has increased the physical, psychological, and financial burden on caregivers, often leading to adverse effects on patients.

"Cancer Caregiving in the United States" illuminates these complex concerns with authoritative detail. This wide-ranging volume provides a comprehensive survey of cancer-related issues, including those affecting the care triad (patients-family members- professionals) and quality of care as well as the numerous physical, emotional, and financial challenges that caregivers may need to confront. Sources of caregiver difficulty at each stage of the disease, from diagnosis to end of life, are explored. Each chapter analyzes its topic in terms of practice, research, education, and policy, providing a wealth of literature reviews, assessment and care models, interventions, and recommendations for future study and practice.

Coverage includes:

Caregiving issues for cancer patients with long-term, short-term, and intermittent needs.Family caregivers as members of the treatment team.The impact of health disparities on caregivers.Cancer care policy and advocacy.End-of-life issues for cancer caregivers.Legal, financial, and ethical issues.

"Cancer Caregiving in the United States" is a core reference for researchers, professionals/scientist-practitioners, and graduate students in such caregiving fields as clinical psychology, social work, nursing, public health and medicine, social policy, and educational policy."

This book is about "Angiogenesis". A process in which new vasculature is formed from pre-existing capillaries. Angiogenesis process is associated with the proliferation and growth of both physiologically normal and neoplastic tissues, through the formation of vascular supply, essential for delivering growth requirements such as oxygen and nutrients. The book describes more than 100 genes and their key regulatory functions in the context of normal healthy condition, disease and malignancy, cancer proliferation and progression. New insights into the role of angiogenesis and the therapeutic inhibition of its regulators are investigated, due to the great potential for exploitation in the development of a novel treatment for cancer. New scientists, junior researchers and biomedical science students will find this book an invaluable introductory reference to their insight about angiogenesis and angiogenic role of more than 100 angiogenes and their role in healthy, disease and malignant conditions.

Protein kinase CK2 (formerly casein kinase II or 2) is known to play a critical role in the control of cell growth and cell death and is thus intimately involved in the development of cancer. More specifically, CK2 has been found to be elevated in all cancers examined. While CK2 levels are known to be high in proliferating normal cells, CK2 has also been found to be a potent suppressor of apoptosis and is a link to the cancer cell phenotype, which is characterized by deregulation of both cell proliferation and cell death. Indeed, it would appear that CK2 impacts many of the hallmarks of cancer and it has now gained considerable attention as a potential target for cancer therapy. Protein Kinase CK2 and Cellular Function in Normal and Disease States increases knowledge of the role of CK2 in the development of cellular dysfunction and emphasizes that this protein may serve as a target of drug development for improved cancer therapy. In addition, it is a handy tool that provides cancer researchers, graduate students, and all scientists involved in CK2 research with one main source for the latest advances in CK2 research.

This book is based on presentations by some of the world 's leading experts at the Sixth International Conference on Clinical Cancer Prevention, held in St. Gallen, Switzerland, during March 2010. The main themes are the latest advances in the prevention of breast and prostate cancer and the role of infection in the development of liver and gastric cancer. Special emphasis is given to perspectives on the chemoprevention of breast cancer, as the conference included an international consensus meeting on this subject. New research findings are presented and potentially more effective cancer prevention strategies are discussed, with careful consideration of controversies. The expertise of the contributors encompasses genetics and microbiology, epidemiology, and health economics, as well as clinical cancer prevention. This book will be of interest to all who wish to learn about the most recent progress in combating the development of cancer.

Much of organic chemistry is based on the ability of suitably structured chemicals to bind together through the formation of covalent bonds. Biochemistry is replete with exam ples of enzymatically catalyzed reactions in which normal body constituents can be linked through covalent bonds during the process of intermediary metabolism. The finding that xenobiotic chemicals that enter the body from the environment, are metabolized to highly reactive species, and then covalently react with cellular macromolecules to induce toxic and carcinogenic effects was an observation that spawned the research featured in the Fifth International Symposium on Biological Reactive Intermediates (BRI V). The group of investigators that became fascinated with this process and its signifi cance in terms of human health began their discussions in Turku, Finland (J 975), and continued them at Guildford, England (1980), College Park, Maryland (1985), Tucson, Arizona (1990), and Munich, Germany (1995). Among the results were a series of reports listed below, as well as the book for which this serves as the Preface. * Jollow, DJ., Kocsis, J.J., Snyder, R. and Vainio, H. (eds), Biological Reactive Intermediates: Formation, Toxicity and Inactivation, Plenum Press, NY, 1975. * Snyder, R., Park, D.V., Kocsis, J.J., Jollow, D.V., Gibson, G.G. and Witmer, C.M. (eds), Biological Reactive Intermediates II: Chemical Mechanisms and Biological Effects, Plenum Press, N.Y., 1982.

This volume details basic principles of experimental and computational methods for the study of microRNAs in cancer research and, therefore, provides a firm grounding for those who wish to develop further applications. Written in the highly successful Methods in Molecular Biology series format, chapters include introductions to their respective topics, lists of the necessary materials and reagents, step-by-step, readily reproducible laboratory protocols, and tips on troubleshooting and avoiding known pitfalls. Authoritative and cutting-edge, MicroRNA and Cancer: Methods and Protocols, Second Edition aims to ensure successful results in the further study of this vital field

This book is about melanoma-its biology, immunology, and pathology, as well as the initial use of powerful genomic tools to study its fundamental mole- lar and genetic characteristics. The study of cancer will be profoundly impacted by the Human Genome Project. I would like to discuss some of these changes. The first draft of the human genome sequence was announced in June 2000, and we have just scratched the surface of the changes it will engender in medicine. A relevant question is what are the long-term effects of the Human Genome Project for medicine? I would argue that there are three, and each of these three point toward the view that systems biology will dominate biology and medicine of the 21st century. First, the Human Genome Project introduced a new type of s- ence-discovery science. Discovery science takes a biological system (e. g. , the genome) and defines all of its elements (e. g. , the sequences of the 24 human ch- mosomes). Thus, it creates a rich infrastructure from which the classical hypo- esis-driven science can be done more effectively. The effective integration of discovery- and hypothesis-driven science is a key for systems approaches to bi- ogy and medicine. Second, the Human Genome Project has provided a "periodic table of life.

The series, Hormones in Health and Disease, was launched in 1993 to provide a scientific platform for investigators engaged in research on the biological actions of hormones and to anticipate relevance for their findings in clinical applications. The first volume of the series was dedicated to the discussion and understanding of molecular mechanisms by which steroid hormones influence target cells in normal and pathological conditions. With the diversity of information and the vast amount of literature on steroid hormone physiology, a more thorough treatment of Hormones and Cancer was identified as a timely topic. In this second volume in the series, Dr. Wayne V. Vedeckis has success fully undertaken the monumental task of editing the findings of the leading investigators in hormone and cancer research. Dr. Vedeckis brings to this project two decades of research experience in hormone action; he is actively engaged in elucidating hormone and cancer interrelations. It is a pleasure to welcome him to the series as an editor and congratulate him and all contribu tors in presenting this comprehensive treatise. The 20 chapters include discussions on contemporary topics relating control of cell division and signal transduction to the basic mechanisms of carcinogenesis by cloning patient genes, and recognizing the importance of steroid receptors in treatment protocols of various endocrine abnormalities."

The goal of this work is summarize the contribution that insertional mutagenesis has made to our understanding of cancer. A variety of insertional mutagens are presented that have been used to study a variety of tumor types in several model organisms. In addition, the impact of insertional mutagenesis in several gene therapy trials is discussed along with strategies to avoid such complications in future clinical trials.

The ?eld of cellular responses to DNA damage has attained widespread recognition and interest in recent years commensurate with its fundamental role in the ma- tenance of genomic stability. These responses, which are essential to preventing cellular death or malignant transformation, are organized into a sophisticated s- tem designated the "DNA damage response". This system operates in all living organisms to maintain genomic stability in the face of constant attacks on the DNA from a variety of endogenous by-products of normal metabolism, as well as exogenous agents such as radiation and toxic chemicals in the environment. The response repairs DNA damage via an intricate cellular signal transduction network that coordinates with various processes such as regulation of DNA replication, tr- scriptional responses, and temporary cell cycle arrest to allow the repair to take place. Defects in this system result in severe genetic disorders involving tissue degeneration, sensitivity to speci?c damaging agents, immunode?ciency, genomic instability, cancer predisposition and premature aging. The ?nding that many of the crucial players involved in DNA damage response are structurally and functionally conserved in different species spurred discoveries of new players through similar analyses in yeast and mammals. We now understand the chain of events that leads to instantaneous activation of the massive cellular responses to DNA lesions. This book summarizes several new concepts in this rapidly evolving ?eld, and the advances in our understanding of the complex network of processes that respond to DNA damage.

Teddi Mervis lost her fight with cancer when she was 12 years old. Beginning with the diagnosis of her brain tumor, the story tells of her three-year battle for life--a struggle she eventually lost. Although Teddi passed away, her memory inspired those who had helped her to deal with her suffering to band together to aid other children who are facing cancer. These people and thousands of others inspired by Teddi's story--from construction workers to college students to bank presidents--helped form an organization whose primary purpose is to make the lives of children as happy and rewarding as possible. The organization, Camp Good Days and Special Times, Inc., has become one of the largest and most successful organizations of its kind in the world. It is credited with breaking down the barriers for children with cancer and creating pioneering new programs. The 2001 Edition carries the story forward from 1990 with new photographs and an afterword. This book serves to teach and guide those who must cope with the devastating ordeal of childhood cancer.

In 1890, just a few years after the discovery of the chromosomes, David Paul Hansemann, a pathologist-in-training with the famous Rudolph Virchow in Berlin, produced a theory of the pathogenesis of cancer involving the key current concept: that the first change which occurs in cancer is an alteration of the hereditary material of a normal cell at the site where the cancerous process begins.

In the process of linking cancer to chromosomal material, Hansemann coined the terms "anaplasia" and "dedifferentiation." These terms have remained the basis of descriptive terms concerning the microscopical appearances of tumours ever since. Nevertheless, despite the popularity of his terminology, Hansemann's ideas were attacked vigorously by almost all proponents of rival theories of the nature of cancer. Partly due to these disputes during his life-time, and partly due to other factors, interest in von Hansemann's ideas diminished during the twentieth century and his works are rarely mentioned today.

This book presents translations of all the relevant German texts, and analyses the background and context of Hansemann's theories as well as the reasons why he was almost completely forgotten. It shows that some of Hansemanna (TM)s ideas may still be relevant to cancer research today, and that he deserves to be remembered in relation to cancer as Vordenker unter den fA1/4hrenden Denkern seiner Zeit - The foremost of the leading thinkers of his time.

Newly developed molecular target anticancer drugs have shown remarkable efficacy even in the treatment of intractable cancers such as hepatoma and renal cell carcinoma. As cancer research is becoming a multidisciplinary endeavor, close cooperation across the basic, translational, and clinical research fields holds the promise of further advances in cancer therapeutics. This book sets forth new strategies for development: cancer therapy targeting receptor tyrosine kinases with clinical utilization of new signaling regulations; interaction between cancer progression and extracellular environments such as inflammatory cytokines and the extracellular matrix; and investigation of biomarkers for personalized cancer therapy, with microarray analysis and pharmacogenomics technology. These and other findings from the latest investigations into cancer cell biology and therapeutics make this book an invaluable source for investigators in both the clinical and basic cancer research fields.

If there is one aspect of current cancer research that represents a major ch- lenge in both novice and experienced researchers, it is the rapid advance in our understanding of the disease. Researchers can be required to switch from analysis of gene expression to kinetics of protein activation, from genetic studies to the analysis of protein funtion. Cancers are highly complex disease systems and researchers aiming to understand the functioning of cancer systems require access to a wide range of laboratory techiques from a broad range of research disciplines. Increasingly, however, published methods are incomplete or refer back to a series of previous publications each containing only a small part of the complete pro- col. The aim of Ovarian Cancer: Methods and Protocols is to provide for ovarian cancer researchers in the first instance, a laboratory handbook that will facilitate research into cancer systems by providing a series of expert protocols, with proven efficacy, across a broad range of technical expertise. Thus, there are sections on tumor genetics and cellular signal transduction, as well as sections on apoptosis and RNA analysis. The value of Ovarian Cancer: Methods and Protocols to the ovarian cancer researcher will, I trust, be considerably enhanced by (1) the provision of a series of overviews relating to the biology, diagnosis, and treatment of this important neoplasm, and (2) the provision of a series of technical overviews introducing each part that provides an expert review of the applications and pitfalls of the various techniques included.

This thesis offers an accessible guide to biomedical phase-contrast imaging with over 20 radiographic illustrations. It focuses on research to improve radiography, and particularly mammography applications, by using a novel X-ray imaging modality that exploits the wave-nature of X-rays, rather than just their absorption in tissue. Further, it explores a broad range of potential applications - from the assessment of breast cancer and the evaluation of microcalcification clusters, to the examination of renal stones. X-ray imaging is an indispensable tool in modern medical diagnostics, and ranges from simple radiography applications to advanced CT imaging protocols. This novel phase-contrast approach has the potential to deliver significantly improved diagnostic information, also and especially in cases where mammography is used for screening purposes. The thesis is based on several studies conducted by the author - working in close interdisciplinary cooperation with medical doctors at two university clinics in Munich - and successfully demonstrates this diagnostic potential in pre-clinical experiments.

This volume contains a collection of writings from the leaders in the fields of Molecular Biology and Melanoma Research which will begin to tell the ever-expanding story of the most recent findings, discoveries, and potential of BRAF-directed targets in melanoma. Recent research has shown that BRAF inhibitors are effective for a short period of time, but there is little hope that this drugs as single agents will lead to durable benefit in a majority of patients. Among scientists and researchers who work in drug discovery, there is a lot of interest in the development of molecularly targeted cancer agents. Namely, the identification of a molecular target, the selection of molecules which effectively inhibit this target. What is starkly different about the development of this class of compounds, however, is that the mechanism of action of these agents are not as straightforward as was once previously assumed and the mechanisms of resistance that tumor cells employ to evade complete destruction are unlike any that have been described before. These discoveries in addition to utilization of modern molecular biology techniques have led to a series of hypotheses regarding which other types of molecules could be used in combination with BRAF-inhibitors in hopes of revolutionizing the potential of therapeutics in melanoma.

Rhim and Kremer s state-of-the-art volume on "Human Cell Transformation: Role of Stem Cells and the Microenvironment" highlights the latest findings on the current state of human cell transformation model systems and provides the insight into the molecular and cellular changes involved in the conversion of normal cells to neoplastic cells.

Chapters cover all recently developed novel human cell models. In addition, the rapidly growing fields of knowledge regarding not only stem cells in cancer progression, but also the role of the microenvironments in human carcinogenesis are discussed. A wealth of topics is presented including:

. Derivation of epithelial, fibroblastic, and hematopoietic "in vitro" model systems

. Oncogenes

. Tumor suppressor genes

. Viral transformation

. "In vitro" model systems for viral, chemical and radiation carcinogenesis

. Cell aging

. The multistep nature of human carcinogenesis. The role of stem cells and the microenvironment in tumorigenesis

. The genes involved in multistep carcinogenesis

Unique in both scope and focus devoted solely to human cell transformation systems "Human Cell Transformation: Role of Stem Cells and the Microenvironment" provides unparalleled, in-depth coverage for cancer researchers, cell and molecular biologists, hematologists, virologists, and workers in related fields.

Essential reading for everyone who needs to be kept up-to-date in this fast-paced area

Features

O Multistep models

O Breast cancer/Stem cells

O Prostate cancer/Stem cells

O Multistep / Genes"

Creating clinical guidelines is a modern trend. Published studies pertaining to a given theme are collected, their credibility evaluated, and then treatment options in the form of evidence-based guidelines are offered. There are a number of guidelines for the treatment of thyroid tumors that have established positions in clinical practice in North America and in Western European countries. In Japan, however, where radioisotope facilities are of limited availability, treatment plans for differentiated thyroid cancer differ considerably from those of America and Europe, and the associated clinical guidelines need modification before they can be adopted. In addition, although thyroid tumor is a common disease in endocrine practice, its management can differ even among specialists. Thus, a Japanese clinical guideline for the treatment of thyroid tumor was desired by many clinicians. As a combination of evidence-based and consensus-based guidelines for the treatment of thyroid tumor, this book offers alternatives to conventional approaches in the West. Ultimately, the authors hope the guideline will lead to the best possible treatment for patients all over the world in the not-distant future.

Technical and Biological Components of Marrow Transplantation presents up to date information on the scientific and technological advances that will extend and improve the clinical application of bone marrow transplantation. The book includes the latest information on chronic myeloid leukemia and thalassemia; advances in supportive care: cytokines and progenitor expansion; and cord stem cell technology. Soon more of patients will receive marrow transplants as part of the therapy for solid tumors and metabolic disease than for the treatment of hematologic disease. The contributors to this volume describe some of these applications, hinting at yet further, exciting possibilities.