Objective: To compare college students' perceived disease risk with disease prevalence rates. Methods: Data were analyzed from 625 college students collected with an Internet-based survey. Paired t-tests were used to separately compare participants' perceived 10-year and lifetime disease risk for 4 diseases: heart disease, cancer, diabetes, and…

The aim of this study was to use an ethnographic case study approach to explore breast cancer survivors' experiences scaling Mt. Kilimanjaro from a posttraumatic growth perspective. Three breast cancer survivors who participated in interviews and observations during a nine-day climb on the mountain were included in this study. Findings are…

Women with developmental disabilities are significantly less likely than women without disabilities to receive cervical and breast cancer screening according to clinical guidelines. The reasons for this gap are not understood. The present study examined the extent of women's knowledge about cervical and breast cancer screening, with the intention…

Background: Women with developmental disabilities are much less likely than nondisabled women to receive cervical and breast cancer screening according to clinical guidelines. One barrier to receipt of screenings is a lack of knowledge about preventive screenings. Method: To address this barrier, we used a randomized control trial (n = 175 women)…

In life sciences, the internet is an indispensable medium for research, but has not yet realized its full potential for teaching. The concept of e-learning has been developed over the past decades for undergraduate, graduate and postgraduate programs. We set up an e-learning lecture on cancer biology and pharmacology that was first offered in 2003…

African Americans have a higher rate of colorectal cancer (CRC) mortality than other racial/ethnic groups. This disparity is alarming given that CRC is largely preventable through the use of endoscopy (screening colonoscopy or sigmoidoscopy), yet rates of CRC screening among African Americans is suboptimal. Only 48.9% of African Americans are…

Translation of the instrumental activities of daily living (IADL) was carried out and its psychometric properties were assessed in a Greek sample of patients with advanced cancer. The scale was translated with the forward-backward procedure into the Greek language. It was initially administered to 136 advanced cancer patients. To assess…

Recent approval of HPV vaccines and their widespread provision to young women provide an interesting context to gain experience with the application of statistical methods in current research. We demonstrate how we have used data extracted from a meta-analysis examining the efficacy of HPV vaccines in clinical trials with students in applied…

Cancer can be one of the most serious diseases that can result in a costly reduction in the quality of life. Among a number of cancer risk factors, tobacco use has been identified as the leading preventable cause of deaths. Prior research has suggested that cancer information seeking may be a pre-step to adopt health protective behaviors that can…

Background: Cancer is a disease that is perceived negatively, especially in the African American community. Cultural attitudes, beliefs, and the lack of relevant health information all play a role in the extent of the negative perceptions of this multifaceted disease. Purpose: To conduct a qualitative assessment of the perceptions of cancer of…

Objective: To discuss how the effects of culture, economy, and geographical location intersect to form a gestalt triad determining health-related disparities in rural areas. Methods: We critically profile each component of the deterministic triad in shaping current health-related disparities in rural areas; evaluate the uniquely composed…

To reduce the high incidence of cervical cancer among Latinas in the United States it is important to understand factors that predict screening behavior. The aim of this study was to test the utility of theory of planned behavior in predicting cervical cancer screening among a group of Latinas. A sample of Latinas (N = 614) completed a baseline…

In the United States, an estimated 1.5 million people are diagnosed annually with some type of cancer (American Cancer Society, 2011). Work is an important stabilizing factor for cancer survivors (Arnold, 1999). De Boer and colleagues (2009) identified a rate of 33.8% unemployment among cancer survivors beyond the age of 18 compared to 15.2% among…

Using 3 diversified datasets, we explored the pattern-recognition ability of the Self-Organizing Map (SOM) artificial neural network as applied to diversified nonlinear data distributions in the areas of behavioral and physiological research. Experiment 1 employed a dataset obtained from the UCI Machine Learning Repository. Data for this study…

Introduction: The infamy of Nazi medical research conjures up images of horrific experiments in the concentration camps and SS (Schutzstaffel) doctors like Josef Mengele. However, the anti-smoking campaign of Nazi Germany is perhaps one of the least examined aspects of public health history and state sponsored anti-tobacco advocacy. Nazi public…