Facilitating lifestyle changes to manage menopausal symptoms in women with breast cancer : delivering the Pink Women’s Wellness Program

Women diagnosed as having breast cancer may experience difficulties with posttreatment effects such as menopausal symptoms. The aims of this pilot study were to (1) evaluate the impact of a multimodal lifestyle program on reducing menopausal symptoms in women with breast cancer and (2) examine the impact of the program on health-related quality of life (HRQoL) and adherence to lifestyle recommendations.

The Pink Women's Wellness Program Journal

The Pink Women's Wellness Program Journal is a Queensland University of Technology (School of Nursing and Midwifery) initiative supported by IHBI, The Kim Walters Choices Program, Cancer Council Queensland and HOCA. The 12-week program provides participants recovering from acute breast cancer treatment a comprehensive set of information and tools designed to help get their lives back on track. Through the adoption of positive lifestyle habits, the focus of the program is the management of key side effects such as menopausal symptoms, increased risk of osteoporosis, heart disease and type 2 diabetes. This website brings a successful pilot program to an online medium, offering participants many advantages over the existing print journal. Some of the key services offered by the website version are: - Easy to use data capture tools to track exercise, BMI, nutrition and menopausal symptoms. - Real-time graphs illustrating participants' progress day by day and week by week. - The opportunity for participants to interact through simple social media tools. - Program related reminders, notifications and motivational messages.

Facilitating lifestyle changes to manage menopausal symptoms in women with breast cancer: A randomized controlled pilot trial of The Pink Women’s Wellness Program

OBJECTIVE Women diagnosed as having breast cancer may experience difficulties with posttreatment effects such as menopausal symptoms. The aims of this pilot study were to (1) evaluate the impact of a multimodal lifestyle program on reducing menopausal symptoms in women with breast cancer and (2) examine the impact of the program on health-related quality of life (HRQoL) and adherence to lifestyle recommendations. METHODS Overall, 55 women aged 45 to 60 years with one moderate to severe menopausal symptom and a history of breast cancer were randomized into an intervention group (n = 26) or a control group (n = 29). Women in the intervention group received a lifestyle intervention (The Pink Women’s Wellness Program) that included clinical consultations and a tailored health education program. Measurements of menopausal symptoms (Greene Climacteric Scale), HRQoL (SF-12 and Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy—Breast), and modifiable lifestyle factors (food intake, physical activity, smoking and alcohol use, and sleep disturbance) were taken at baseline and 12 weeks. RESULTS Women in the intervention group reported clinically significant reductions in many menopausal symptoms, specifically somatic symptoms (d = 0.52), vasomotor symptoms (d = 0.55), sexual dysfunction (d = .65), and overall menopausal symptoms (d = 0.54), at 12 weeks compared with the control group (d = 0.03, d = 0.24, d = 0.18, and d = 0.05, respectively). Women in the intervention group reported improvements in Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy—Breast subscale scores, physical well-being and functional well-being, and Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy—General total scores (intervention group: d = 0.54, d = 0.50, and d = 0.48, respectively; control group: d = 0.22, d = 0.11, and d = 0.05, respectively). CONCLUSIONS The Pink Women’s Wellness Program is effective in decreasing menopausal symptoms, thus improving HRQoL. This being a pilot study, further research is recommended to investigate the benefits of combining nonpharmacological interventions for women with breast cancer to reduce their treatment-related menopausal symptoms.

In the pink

The article describes three years work carried out by the author and Elizabeth Tindle, on the Greater Flamingo (Phoenicopterus ruber) in the Galapagos Islands Ecuador. Further studies have verified that the Galapagos flamingo has evolved into a new sub-species since arriving from the Caribbean 70 thousand years ago.

The effect of foliar sprays of the synthetic auxin 3-5-6 TPA, on fruit drop, fruit size and seed development in three lychee (Litchi chinensis) cultivars: Tai So, Fay Zee Sui and Kwai Mai Pink.

Fruit drop in lychee can cause major yield losses in Australia, the severity varying with cultivar and season. Research in China, South Africa and Israel has demonstrated the potential for synthetic auxins used as foliar sprays to reduce fruit drop in lychee. Trials were initiated in Australia to test the efficacy of the synthetic auxin, 3-5-6 Trichloro-2-phridyl-oxyacetic acid (3-5-6 TPA) at 50 ppm on the cultivars Tai So, Fay Zee Sui and Kwai Mai Pink. Results indicate that in most cases the TPA reduced natural fruit drop however the size of the fruit at the time of application affects the response and the ideal application time varies with cultivar; approximately 13 mm fruit length in 'Kwai Mai Pink', 20 mm in 'Fay Zee Sui' and 27 mm in 'Tai So'. If applied too early in 'Tai So', it caused an increase in fruit drop. The TPA was most effective when natural fruit drop was high, reducing fruit drop from 74.7 to 34.9% in 'Kwai Mai Pink' and least effective when natural fruit drop was low. An increase in the percentage of fruit with poorly developed (chicken tongue) seed and slightly larger fruit size was also observed in treated trees.

Surviving the effects of barotrauma: assessing treatment options and a ‘natural’ remedy to enhance the release survival of line caught pink snapper (Pagrus auratus)

A new technique to ameliorate the effects of barotrauma was tested based on observations of pink snapper, Pagrus auratus (Forster), inadvertently piercing their everted stomach with their teeth and releasing trapped swim bladder gases. This technique was termed buccal venting and involved piercing the everted stomach protruding into the buccal cavity or out of the mouth with a 16-gauge hypodermic needle (a practice previously not encouraged). Short-term (~3 days) survival of buccal-vented fish was not significantly different from laterally vented fish nor untreated controls. Both buccal and lateral venting techniques were shown to cause no harm and allowed fish to return to depth. The short-term (1–3 days) post-release survival of line caught snapper was 88% with no significant difference in survival across three depth ranges tested (37–50, 51–100 and 101–180 m). Survival of sublegal pink snapper (<35 cm TL) was not significantly different (P > 0.05) from that of legal-sized fish (≥35 cm TL). Healing of the swim bladder was observed in 27% of pink snapper dissected after ≤3 days in captivity, and healing of stomachs was observed in 64% of pink snapper that had been buccal vented. Relatively high post-release survival rates of line caught pink snapper may offer some protection for snapper stocks where high fishing pressure and legal size restrictions result in the majority of the catch having to be released.

The effect of 3-5-6 TPA on fruit drop and fruit size in the lychee (Litchi Chinensis) cultivars 'Fay Zee Siu' (feizixiao) , 'Kaimana', 'Kwai Mai Pink', 'Souey Tung' and 'Tai So' (Mauritus)

Fruit drop can cause major yield losses in Australian lychee orchards, the severity varying with cultivar and season. Research in China, South Africa and Israel has demonstrated the potential for synthetic auxins used as foliar sprays to reduce fruit drop in lychee. Trials tested the efficacy of the synthetic auxin 3-5-6 trichloro-2-phridyl-oxyacetic acid (TPA) applied as a foliar spray at 50 ppm on fruit drop and fruit size on the cultivars ‘Fay Zee Siu’, ‘Kaimana’, ‘Kwai Mai Pink’, ‘Souey Tung’ and ‘Tai So’. TPA reduced fruit drop when applied to fruit greater than 12 mm in length but increased fruit drop when fruit were smaller. Fruit size at the time of application had less effect on the response than the level of natural fruit drop. When natural fruit drop was high, TPA significantly reduced it; by up to 18.7 in ‘Fay Zee Siu’, 37.1 in ‘Kaimana’, 39.8 in ‘Kwai Mai Pink’, 15.1 in ‘Souey Tung’ and 7.7 in ‘Tai So’. TPA was less effective when natural fruit drop was low. TPA increased the number of large fruit and frequently increased the number of small fruit at harvest. The small fruit were associated with an increase in the retention of fruit with poorly developed (chicken tongue) seed. Average fruit size was generally larger (up to 12.7 in ‘Souey Tung’ and 22 in ‘Tai So’) with TPA applications.

Information concerning the pink shrimp trawl fishery off northern California

(PDF contains 25 pages.)

Informational report: Bycatch reduction devices used in the Pink Shrimp trawl fishery

The California Fish and Game Commission (Commission) has the authority to require one or any combination of Bycatch Reduction Device (BRD) types in the trawl fishery within California waters for Pacific ocean shrimp (Pandalus jordani), most commonly referred to as pink shrimp. The purpose of this report is to provide the Commission with the best available information about the BRDs used in the pink shrimp trawl fishery. The mandatory requirement for BRDs occurred in California in 2002, and in Oregon and Washington in 2003, resulting from an effort to minimize bycatch of overfished and quota managed groundfish species. Three types of BRDs currently satisfy the requirement for this device in the California fishery: 1) the Nordmøre grate (rigid-grate excluder); 2) soft-panel excluder; and 3) fisheye excluder; however, the design, specifications, and efficacy differ by BRD type. Although no data has been collected on BRDs directly from the California pink shrimp fishery, extensive research on the efficacy and differences among BRD types has been conducted by the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW) since the mid-1990s. Rigid-grate excluders are widely considered to be the most effective of the three BRD types at reducing groundfish bycatch. Over 90 percent of the Oregon pink shrimp fleet use rigid-grate excluders. The majority of the current California pink shrimp fleet also uses rigid-grate excluders, according to a telephone survey conducted by the California Department of Fish and Game (Department) in 2007-2008 of pink shrimp fishermen who have been active in the California fishery in recent years. Hinged rigid-grate excluders have been developed in recent years to reduce the bending of the BRD on vessels that employ net reels to stow and deploy their trawl nets, and they have been used successfully on both single- and double-rig vessels in Oregon. Soft-panel excluders have been demonstrated to be effective at reducing groundfish bycatch, although excessive shrimp loss and other problems have also been associated with this design. Fisheye excluders have been used in the California fishery in the past, but they were disapproved in Oregon and Washington in 2003 because they were found to be less effective at reducing groundfish bycatch than other designs. The reputation of the United States west coast pink shrimp fishery as one of the cleanest shrimp fisheries in the world is largely attributed to the effectiveness of BRDs at reducing groundfish bycatch. Nevertheless, BRD research and development is still a relatively new field and additional modifications and methods may further reduce bycatch rates in the pink shrimp fishery.(PDF contains 12 pages.)

Synopsis of biological data on the pink shrimp, Pandalus borealis Kroyer, 1838

This synopsis of the literature was designed to summarize the biological and biochemical studies involving Pandalus borealis as well as to provide a summary of the literature regarding the fisheries data published before early 1984. Included are many unpublished observations, drawn from studies at the State of Maine Department of Marine Resources Laboratory in West Boothbay Harbor, Maine. (PDF file contains 63 pages.)

Size composition of the catches of the pink shrimp Penaeus duorarum notialis in the shrimp fishery of Sierra Leone

Measurements were taken of size distribution of P. d. notialis collected off Sierra Leone over a period of six months from October 1977 to March 1978. From the frequency distribution curves it is observed that the curves for male shrimps show only one or two major modes, which show prominence between 12.5 and 14.1 cm of total length. Females mostly exhibited size groups with three or four different length ranges and occasional occurrence of 1 to 5 modes. These size groups were observed to show continuous changes. No one group could be said to be permanent. The point of entry into the fishery of male shrimps was found to be at an average total length of 10.5 cm, while females did so at 11 cm. Sex ratios in the different samples were usually 1:1 but in one case the males were more numerous by 2:1 and in four other samples females were significantly preponderent. These departures from the 1:1 ratio may have been artificially created by sorting of the catches on board the ships.

Population structure of pink salmon (Oncorhynchus gorbuscha) in British Columbia and Washington, determined with microsatellites

Population structure of pink salmon (Oncorhynchus gorbuscha) from British Columbia and Washington was examined with a survey of microsatellite variation to describe the distribution of genetic variation. Variation at 16 microsatellite loci was surveyed for approximately 46,500 pink salmon sampled from 146 locations in the odd-year broodline and from 116 locations in the even-year broodline. An index of genetic differentiation, FST, over all populations and loci in the odd-year broodline was 0.005, with individual locus values ranging from 0.002 to 0.025. Population differentiation was less in the even-year broodline, with a FST value of 0.002 over all loci, and with individual locus values ranging from 0.001 to 0.005. Greater genetic diversity was observed in the odd-year broodline. Differentiation in pink salmon allele frequencies between broodlines was approximately 5.5 times greater than regional differentiation within broodlines. A regional structuring of populations was the general pattern observed, and a greater regional structure in the odd-year broodline than in the even-year broodline. The geographic distribution of microsatellite variation in populations of pink salmon likely ref lects a distribution of broodlines from separate refuges after the last glaciation period.