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Purpose: This article explores the results of community-engaged PhotoVoice research with the Family Tree Clinic (FTC) in St. Paul, MN. FTC has >45 years of experience providing sexual, reproductive, and primary health care, with a central mission of overcoming issues for their patients including those of poverty, oppression, lack of access, and discrimination in meeting health care needs. Methods: This research presents the findings of social justice-inspired PhotoVoice focus groups with patients of the clinic that asked two central questions: "Why do you choose Family Tree Clinic" and "What stands in the way of achieving your goals for your health?" Results: When health equity is a central priority and evident in clinic culture, practices, and policies, patients articulate positive experiences despite real structural and systemic barriers outside the clinic. Conclusion: We offer suggestions for a health equity-oriented approach to clinic care.
RESUMO
The objective of this study was to determine the spatial expression of matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) and their physiologic inhibitors, the tissue inhibitor of MMP (TIMP)-3 and TIMP-4, in ovarian carcinoma compared to normal ovaries. Immunohistochemistry was carried out in this study. Tissue sections prepared from normal ovarian tissues from throughout the menstrual cycle (N = 20) and ovarian carcinomas (N = 45) characterized as stage I (N = 5), stage III/IV (N = 40) were immunostained using polyclonal antibodies to the latent and the active form of MMP-26, TIMP-3, and a monoclonal antibody to TIMP-4. Immunoreactive MMP-26, TIMP-3, and TIMP-4 were detected in all the ovarian cell types in normal and tumor tissues. In normal ovarian tissues, theca externa and luteal cells immunostained with high intensity for MMP-26 and TIMPs while theca/granulosa cell staining intensity increased as lutenization progressed. There was low immunostaining of the ovarian stromal and surface epithelial cells for MMP-26, with moderate staining for TIMPs. In the carcinoma specimens, cancer cells and vascular endothelial cells displayed the highest staining intensity compared to adjacent nontumor areas. The immunostaining intensity of MMP-26 and TIMP-3 increased with stage of tumor with the invading tumor cells displaying the strongest immunostaining. MMP-26, TIMP-3, and TIMP-4 are expressed in normal ovarian as well as ovarian tumors with elevated expression in the invasive tumor cells suggesting a potential role for MMP-26 in normal ovary and ovarian cancer biologic function.