Epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) is the leading cause of death from gynecologic malignancy, with high mortality attributable to widespread intra-peritoneal (i.p.) metastases. Recent meta-analyses report an association between obesity, ovarian cancer incidence, and ovarian cancer survival, but the effect of obesity on metastasis has not been evaluated. The objective of this study was to use an integrative approach combining in vitro, ex vivo, and in vivo studies to test the hypothesis that obesity contributes to ovarian cancer metastatic success. Initial in vitro studies using three-dimensional meso-mimetic cultures showed enhanced cell-cell adhesion to the lipid-loaded mesothelium. Furthermore, in an ex vivo colonization assay, ovarian cancer cells exhibited increased adhesion to mesothelial explants excised from mice modeling diet-induced obesity (DIO), in which they were fed a "Western" diet. Examination of mesothelial ultrastructure revealed a substantial increase in the density of microvilli in DIO mice. Moreover, enhanced i.p. tumor burden was observed in overweight or obese animals in three distinct in vivo models. Further histological analyses suggested that alterations in lipid regulatory factors, enhanced vascularity, and decreased M1/M2 macrophage ratios may account for the enhanced tumorigenicity. Together, these findings show that obesity potently impacts ovarian cancer metastatic success, which likely contributes to the negative correlation between obesity and ovarian cancer survival.
Psychological flexibility refers to a way of interacting with internal experiences and the external environment that advances one toward chosen values whereas psychological inflexibility reflects rigid adherence to ineffective responses such that valued living is compromised. Psychological flexibility is a critical variable of interest in acceptance and commitment therapy, thus, accurate assessment of this construct is pertinent to professionals in the field. Numerous measures of psychological flexibility for specific conditions exist and the psychometric validation of each of these measures varies in breadth and depth. To orient professionals to the scope of available measures as well as their psychometric properties, the current review summarizes the existing literature on context-specific measures of psychological flexibility. Most measures demonstrated satisfactory basic psychometric properties, though their clinical utility (e.g., treatment sensitivity) has largely been underexplored. Generally, context-specific measures performed better than a generic measure of psychological flexibility with respect to incremental validity and treatment sensitivity. Still, further research is needed to validate these measures (e.g., discriminant validity) in order to justify their use across settings and study designs.
Clinical perfectionism is characterized by imposing excessively high standards on oneself and experiencing severe distress when standards are not met. It has been found to contribute to the development and maintenance of various clinical presentations including anxiety, obsessivecompulsive, and eating disorders. The present study tested the efficacy of ten weekly individual sessions of acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) relative to a waitlist control on clinical perfectionism and global outcomes among 53 individuals with clinical perfectionism. ACT is a process-based therapy that targets maladaptive underlying processes (e.g., rigid adherence to unrealistic high standards) rather than symptom topography (e.g., anxiety, depression). Participants completed assessments at pretreatment, posttreatment, and one-month follow-up. Results indicated compared to the waitlist condition, the ACT condition led to greater improvements in clinical perfectionism as well as outcomes related to wellbeing, functional impairment, distress, and processes of change. Our study suggests targeting core dysfunctional processes (i.e., clinical perfectionism) rather than symptom topography with treatments like ACT is feasible and efficacious, supporting a shift from symptom-focused to process-based care. We also note potential weaknesses in our treatment protocol and study methodology that should be addressed in future research. Study limitations included a small sample size and high dropout rate (35.7%).
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