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This study aims to explore patients' with acute myeloid leukemia perceptions about precision medicine and their preferences for involvement in this new area of shared decision-making. Individual semi-structured interviews were conducted in Finland, Italy and Germany (n = 16). The study population included patients aged 24–79 years. Interviews were analyzed with thematic content analysis. Patient's perceived lack of knowledge as a barrier for their involvement in decision-making. Treatment decisions were often made rapidly based on the patient's intuition and trust for the physician rather than on information, in situations that decrease the patient's decision capacity. The patients emphasized that they are in a desperate situation that makes them willing to accept treatment with low probabilities of being cured. The study raised important issues regarding patients' understanding of precision medicine and challenges concerning how to involve patients in medical decision-making. Although technical advances were viewed positively, the role of the physician as an expert and person-of-trust cannot be replaced. Regardless of patients' preferences for involvement in decision-making, information plays a crucial role for patients' perceived involvement in their care. The concepts related to precision medicine are complex and will imply challenges to patient education. • Precision medicine was a new concept for patients. • Patients perceive lack of knowledge as a barrier for involvement in decision-making. • Patients use information for other purposes than decision-making. • Information provide patients with a sense of participation and control. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Early and open communication of palliative care (PC) and end‐of‐life (EoL)‐related issues in advanced cancer care is not only recommended by guidelines, but also preferred by the majority of patients. However, oncologists tend to avoid timely addressing these issues. We investigated the role of oncologists' personal death anxiety in the rare occurrence of PC/EoL conversations. Methods: We conducted a multicenter cross‐sectional study assessing oncologists' strengths and difficulties in self‐reported and externally rated PC/EoL communication skills as well as their association with death anxiety. Death anxiety was assessed via the Thanatophobia‐Scale. PC/EoL communication skills were assessed via validated questionnaires and study‐specific items plus an external rating of videotaped medical consultation with simulated patients. A general linear model was conducted to analyze associations. Results: One hundred fifty‐three oncologists participated (age: M(SD) = 32.9 years (6.9), 59.5% female). Both from the external and from their own perspective, oncologists had difficulties in addressing PC and the EoL. They avoided those aspects more than other topics in consultations with advanced cancer patients. Death anxiety was associated with more avoidant self‐reported communication strategies, lower self‐efficacy, less confidence in discussing the EoL and less confidence in discussing patients' goals and wishes, but was not associated with externally rated PC/EoL communication. Conclusions: Oncologists have experienced and externally observable difficulties in addressing PC and the EoL. Oncologists with higher death anxiety subjectively experience more difficulties. Group supervision and consultation offers might be means to empower oncologists, increase awareness of personal fears and enhance confidence and self‐efficacy. This might facilitate earlier PC/EoL communication. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Approximately 185,000 Gossypium EST sequences comprising >94,800,000 nucleotides were amassed from 30 cDNA libraries constructed from a variety of tissues and organs under a range of conditions, including drought stress and pathogen challenges. These libraries were derived from allopolyploid cotton (Gossypium hirsutum; AT and DT genomes) as well as its two diploid progenitors, Gossypium arboreum (A genome) and Gossypium raimondii (D genome). ESTs were assembled using the Program for Assembling and Viewing ESTs (PAVE), resulting in 22,030 contigs and 29,077 singletons (51,107 unigenes). Further comparisons among the singletons and contigs led to recognition of 33,665 exemplar sequences that represent a nonredundant set of putative Gossypium genes containing partial or full-length coding regions and usually one or two UTRs. The assembly, along with their UniProt BLASTX hits, GO annotation, and Pfam analysis results, are freely accessible as a public resource for cotton genomics. Because ESTs from diploid and allotetraploid Gossypium were combined in a single assembly, we were in many cases able to bioinformatically distinguish duplicated genes in allotetraploid cotton and assign them to either the A or D genome. The assembly and associated information provide a framework for future investigation of cotton functional and evolutionary genomics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To better understand the molecular basis of the defense response against the rice blast fungus (Magnaporthe grisea), a large-scale expressed sequence tag (EST) sequencing approach was used to identify genes involved in the early infection stages in rice (Oryza sativa). Six cDNA libraries were constructed using infected leaf tissues harvested from 6 conditions: resistant, partially resistant, and susceptible reactions at both 6 and 24 h after inoculation. Two additional libraries were constructed using uninoculated leaves and leaves from the lesion mimic mutant spill. A total of 68,920 ESTs were generated from 8 libraries. Clustering and assembly analyses resulted in 13,570 unique sequences from 10,934 contigs and 2,636 singletons. Gene function classification showed that 42% of the ESTs were predicted to have putative gene function. Comparison of the pathogen-challenged libraries with the uninoculated control library revealed an increase in the percentage of genes in the functional categories of defense and signal transduction mechanisms and cell cycle control, cell division, and chromosome partitioning. In addition, hierarchical clustering analysis grouped the eight libraries based on their disease reactions. A total of 7,748 new and unique ESTs were identified from our collection compared with the KOME full-length cDNA collection. Interestingly, we found that rice ESTs are more closely related to sorghum (Sorghum bicolor) ESTs than to barley (Hordeum vulgare), wheat (Triticurn aestivurn), and maize (Zea mays) ESTs. The large cataloged collection of rice ESTs in this study provides a solid foundation for further characterization of the rice defense response and is a useful public genomic resource for rice functional genomics studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Creative arts therapies have long made use of the interconnection between body, emotion, and mind. Movement is intimately intertwined with emotional and cognitive functions, and role play promotes perspective taking, empathy, and interactive competencies. In this pilot study, with a pre-/post-test waiting-group design of male prison inmates in three German prisons ( n = 47), we conducted an evaluation of the movement- and drama-therapy based, anti-violence training e|m|o processing® (Lutz, 2008). The training is an action-oriented and neuroscience informed method, including movement therapy interventions for handling rage and promoting respectful interaction by means of Aikido stick fighting practice, perspective taking, and enactments. Upon completion of the training, the experimental group reported an increase in body awareness and social competence, experienced distance to their own aggression, and experienced a higher degree of closeness to the group and trainer. No changes occurred on anger and on explicit as well as implicit aggression measures. Movement analysis from behavior observations indicated a decreased immediate aggression potential and an increase in expression of needs upon termination of the training. Statements from focus groups after the training indicated improved empathy, respect, and perspective taking, both among participants and in relation to victims. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]