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The Multifaceted Role Of Neutrophils In Hiv-1-Infection, Nathan Bowers Jan 2014

The Multifaceted Role Of Neutrophils In Hiv-1-Infection, Nathan Bowers

All ETDs from UAB

In recent years, a new appreciation of the role of neutrophils in regulating the immune system has emerged. Neutrophils are the most abundant leukocyte population and are traditionally recognized as essential effector cells of the innate immune system in the host defense against invading organisms. Neutrophils play a critical role in controlling bacterial and fungal infections by multiple mechanisms including phagocytosis, degranulation, and formation of neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs). Neutrophils have been shown to play important roles in viral pathogenesis, a knowledge gap exists in our understanding of the function of neutrophils in individuals infected with human immunodeficiency virus-1 (HIV-1). …


Cd5-Dependent Ck2 Activation Is Critical For The Maintenance Of B-1a B Cells, Kevin S. Cashman Jan 2014

Cd5-Dependent Ck2 Activation Is Critical For The Maintenance Of B-1a B Cells, Kevin S. Cashman

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CD5 has classically been shown to act as a negative regulator of antigen receptor signaling, however recent evidence has discerned that the CD5 molecule contains a previously undefined cytoplasmic domain which constitutively binds inactive CK2 and facilitates its activation through CD5 ligation. With the development of a mouse model which contains a micro-deletion knock-in form of CD5 which lacks the amino acids necessary to facilitate this CD5-CK2 interaction, it is now understood that CD5 plays a more significant role in cellular physiology than previously appreciated. T cells from this mouse model show increased AICD and dysregulation in T helper subset …


Role Of Immunoregulatory Cytokines Il-12 And Il-23 In Skin Cancer, Tahseen H. Nasti Jan 2014

Role Of Immunoregulatory Cytokines Il-12 And Il-23 In Skin Cancer, Tahseen H. Nasti

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The incidence of new cases of skin cancer, which includes non-melanoma epithelial tumors and melanoma, has increased dramatically over the last few decades. Approximately 75% of all skin cancer-related deaths is due to melanoma, which is one of the most aggressive and difficult cancers to treat. The initiating events and mechanisms that influence melanoma development are not fully known, due in part to a paucity of animal models amenable to identifying new oncogenic mutations, and investigating mechanisms of immunosurveillance. Transgenic mouse models often harbor an activating mutation in a known oncogene in all somatic cells, and its widespread expression from …


Promoting Worksite Stair Use By Launching The "Stepping Up" Campaign, Lynne A. Obiaka Jan 2014

Promoting Worksite Stair Use By Launching The "Stepping Up" Campaign, Lynne A. Obiaka

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Background: Obesity and overweight contribute to worksite absenteeism and decreased productivity. Encouraging employees to frequent the stairs is one approach towards increasing worksite physical activity. Methods: An explanatory, mixed methods research design was used to explore the impact of a health communications campaign entitled "Stepping Up" on worksite stair use in health department employees. The campaign included octagonal shaped posters similar to traffic signs, email prompts and printed materials. A pretest and posttest were administered before and after the intervention to assess stair use frequencies and identify predictors. A Wilcoxon signed-rank test for related samples, Spearman correlations and multiple rank …


The Effect Of Medicaid Dental Coverage On Dental Care Utilization Among Older Americans, Ahyuda Oh Jan 2014

The Effect Of Medicaid Dental Coverage On Dental Care Utilization Among Older Americans, Ahyuda Oh

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This dissertation examines the impact of Medicaid dental coverage on dental care utilization and oral health outcome of low-income elderly and non-elderly adults, using a fixed-effects model with longitudinal data of all states and multiple years from the Behavioral Risk Factors Surveillance System (BRFSS). By exploiting within-state variation over time in adult Medicaid dental coverage, the study estimates the effects of Medicaid dental coverage on dental care utilization (i.e., dental visits and dental cleanings) and oral health outcome (i.e., tooth loss). The study evaluates the effects of Medicaid dental benefits with preventive dental services on each of the three dental …


Risk Assessment And Staging Of Cardiometabolic Diseases, Fangjian Guo Jan 2014

Risk Assessment And Staging Of Cardiometabolic Diseases, Fangjian Guo

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Obesity is associated with elevated risk for morbidity and mortality and has become an epidemic both in the United States and around the world. Insulin resistance is essentially involved in the pathogenic process of cardiometabolic diseases in obese people, which involves defects in glucose production by the liver and insulin-stimulated glucose uptake and utilization by peripheral tissues. Insulin resistance appears at an early stage of life and is the first step in the development of cardiometabolic diseases. Long-term insulin resistance will induce metabolic syndrome and prediabetes and eventually will cause type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular diseases. Obesity may exacerbate insulin …


Assessing System Congruence By Analyzing The Relationship Between Employee And Patient Driven Outputs, Timothy J. Harlin Jan 2014

Assessing System Congruence By Analyzing The Relationship Between Employee And Patient Driven Outputs, Timothy J. Harlin

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Patients are at risk for employee driven preventable adverse events during hospital stays. These adverse events are varied and include such things as medication errors, pressure ulcers, hospital acquired infections, and falls. Preventable adverse events continue at alarming frequency despite significant academic, regulatory, and management attention to the topic over the past 14 years since the Institute of Medicine's (IOM) To Err is Human report. In addition to being at risk for preventable adverse events, patients experience aspects of the health care system such as ease of access, employee attitude, skill and efficiency of staff, and perceived value. Although purporting …


Mitochondrial Genetics And Cellular Metabolism Regulate Tumorigenicity And Metastatic Potential, Kyle Paul Feeley Jan 2014

Mitochondrial Genetics And Cellular Metabolism Regulate Tumorigenicity And Metastatic Potential, Kyle Paul Feeley

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Current paradigms of carcinogenic risk suggest that genetic, hormonal, and environmental factors combine to influence an individual's predilection for breast cancer and related metastatic tumor formation. The genetic component, in particular, has become the focus of many emergent studies. A renewed focus on cancer metabolism and the Warburg effect has similarly cast a spotlight on the role, if any, of the mitochondrion in directing disease progression. Analysis of the direct contribution of mitochondrial DNA on tumorigenicity is made possible through the use of mitochondrial-nuclear exchange (MNX) mice in which nuclei from normal FVB mice (the background strain of the tg: …


Tumorgraft Models As A Platform For Molecular Characterization And Drug Evaluation In Pancreaticobiliary Malignancies, Patrick Lee Garcia Jan 2014

Tumorgraft Models As A Platform For Molecular Characterization And Drug Evaluation In Pancreaticobiliary Malignancies, Patrick Lee Garcia

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Pancreatic cancer (PC) and cholangiocarcinoma (CCA) are the most common malignancies of the pancreaticobiliary system and represent a serious health concern worldwide. These cancers present late in the course of disease limiting treatment options, with the majority of patients receiving chemotherapy. However, currently available chemotherapy has not impacted overall patient survival, and new therapies are urgently needed. Preclinical drug testing is essential to identifying chemotherapeutic agents that have potential clinical utility and it is essential that we utilize models that can best predict clinical efficacy. One model, the patient derived xenograft (tumorgraft) model has been shown to retain tumor heterogeneity, …


Urbanization And Land-Use Change In Puerto Maldonado, Peru: Categorizing The Landscape Using High-Resolution Satellite Imagery For Potential Use In Public Health Research, Laura Brianna Gast Jan 2014

Urbanization And Land-Use Change In Puerto Maldonado, Peru: Categorizing The Landscape Using High-Resolution Satellite Imagery For Potential Use In Public Health Research, Laura Brianna Gast

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Environmental change, especially rapid urbanization, has measurable effects on human health. Over 70 percent of the global population is expected to live in urban areas by 2025, and at least 1 in 3 of these individuals will live in extreme poverty. Living in a slum or shantytown exposes individuals to health and safety risks including inadequate sanitation, lack of access to clean water, air pollution, violence, over-crowding and risk of infectious disease. Remote sensing technologies are an effective tool for detection and prediction of areas with significant land use change, which enables identification of populations with the highest risk of …


Assessing Patient Care Quality From Hospital Employed Physicians, Kerry Gil Gillihan Jan 2014

Assessing Patient Care Quality From Hospital Employed Physicians, Kerry Gil Gillihan

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ASSESSING PATIENT CARE QUALITY FROM HOSPITAL EMPLOYED PHYSICIANS KERRY GILLIHAN ADMINISTRATION-HEALTH SERVICES ABSTRACT Background: Physician employment by hospitals and healthcare systems has become a growing phenomenon in America. Also the emphasis on improving patient care quality is receiving increasing attention. Moreover, recent changes in federal regulation and reimbursement have made improving patient care quality an imperative for hospitals and their medical staffs. The purpose of this study was to determine if there is a demonstrable relationship between hospital employed physicians and the quality of their patient care. Methods: Physician quality measurements were obtained from a prominent community hospital with roughly …


Synaptic And Circuit Mechanisms Of Glutamate Spillover Signaling, Luke Teichert Coddington Jan 2014

Synaptic And Circuit Mechanisms Of Glutamate Spillover Signaling, Luke Teichert Coddington

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Glutamate is the most prominent fast excitatory neurotransmitter released at mammalian central synapses, where point-to-point activation of receptors in postsynaptic densities is accepted to be the primary pathway for information flow through neural circuits. More controversial are the activities of synaptically-released glutamate outside the synaptic cleft of origin, as "spillover" glutamate may signal through neighboring synapses or through extrasynaptic receptors. The role of such extrasynaptic signaling in physiological neuronal communication is unproven and its inappropriate occurrence has been proposed to underlie a range of neurodegenerative conditions. Elucidation of spillover signaling mechanisms thus benefits our understanding of the brain in both …


Actions Of Grape Seed Extract In Rodent Brain And Differences In Metabolism Of Its Polyphenols In A Rodent Model Of Menopause, John Kenneth Cutts Jan 2014

Actions Of Grape Seed Extract In Rodent Brain And Differences In Metabolism Of Its Polyphenols In A Rodent Model Of Menopause, John Kenneth Cutts

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Grape seed extract (GSE), a dietary supplement, has potential in the treatment and prevention of human chronic age-related diseases including cancers, cardiovascular diseases, and neurodegenerative diseases. GSE and adult hippocampal neurogenesis, independently, have enhanced learning and memory in rodents. We hypothesized that GSE enhances learning and memory, at least partially, by enhancing hippocampal neurogenesis. However, adult mice given GSE did not exhibit increased number of progenitor cells or new neurons, established markers of neurogenesis, in the dentate gyrus (DG). Also, 26-day-old pups whose mother was given GSE only while nursing had fewer new neurons in the DG compared to control …


The Relationship Between Emergency Department Wait Times And Inpatient Satisfaction, Polly Jean Davenport Jan 2014

The Relationship Between Emergency Department Wait Times And Inpatient Satisfaction, Polly Jean Davenport

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Examining The Role Of G Protein-Coupled Estrogen Receptor 1 (Gper) Activation In 17beta-Estradiol-Mediated Protection In Traumatic Brain Injury, Nicole Day Jan 2014

Examining The Role Of G Protein-Coupled Estrogen Receptor 1 (Gper) Activation In 17beta-Estradiol-Mediated Protection In Traumatic Brain Injury, Nicole Day

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Traumatic brain injury (TBI) affects millions of persons per year, potentially leading to permanent disability or death, and exacts a staggering financial toll. Despite the severity of this public health problem, there are no clinically proven pharmacotherapeutics available that effectively attenuate the secondary neurochemically-mediated damage that follows the initial biomechanical insult. In addition, the heterogeneous nature of TBI and complexity of secondary injury cascades suggest that a polytherapeutic approach could be a powerful strategy with which to simultaneously target more than one deleterious pathway. Recently, sex steroid hormones have sparked interest as possible neuroprotective agents after traumatic injury. One of …


Evidence Of Altered Ampa Receptor Localization And Regulation In Schizophrenia, Jana Drummond Jan 2014

Evidence Of Altered Ampa Receptor Localization And Regulation In Schizophrenia, Jana Drummond

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Although the glutamate hypothesis of schizophrenia posits altered glutamatergic transmission is occurring in this illness, the precise mechanisms be-hind these proposed changes in schizophrenia brain remain elusive. Recent evidence from our laboratory supports a model of altered forward trafficking of glutamate receptors to synaptic membranes in schizophrenia, which could contribute to changes in neurotransmission. The AMPA subtype of ionotropic glutamate receptor (AMPAR), is the main facilitator of fast, excitatory neurotransmission in the brain, and changes in AMPAR number at synapses may control synaptic strength and plasticity. One mechanism that could alter AMPAR trafficking to synapses is abnormal expression of AMPAR …


Mitochondrial Genetics Modify Body Composition, Metabolic Efficiency And Myocardial Metabolism, Kimberly Joanne Dunham Jan 2014

Mitochondrial Genetics Modify Body Composition, Metabolic Efficiency And Myocardial Metabolism, Kimberly Joanne Dunham

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Obesity and cardiometabolic pathologies have reached epidemic levels worldwide over the last 30 years. Currently, the majority of research investigating possible genetic causes of obesity is focused on nuclear DNA (nDNA). While this has lead to the development of numerous animal models, it is apparent the etiology of obesity is more complex than single gene mutations. Recently it has also been suggested that mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) mutations sustained during evolution as a consequence of our prehistoric environment may influence individual propensity and risk of disease. Contemporary human populations are no longer faced with the challenges of our ancestors such as …


The Role Of Wnt5a In Tumor Suppression And Differentiation, Stephanie Easter Jan 2014

The Role Of Wnt5a In Tumor Suppression And Differentiation, Stephanie Easter

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TGF-beta and the Wnt signaling pathways play key roles in regulating ductal growth and branching morphogenesis in the mammary gland. Disruption to this signaling can cause deregulation of the normal mammary stem cell population and foster an environment favorable for tumorigenesis and recurrence. Recent studies show that TGF-beta up-regulates expression of the non-canonical Wnt, Wnt5a, in the mammary gland and that Wnt5a antagonizes canonical Wnt/beta-catenin signaling in mammary epithelial cells. Canonical Wnt/beta-catenin signaling has been strongly implicated in expanding the mammary stem/progenitor cell pool. Here, we test the hypothesis that Wnt5a suppresses the expansion of the mammary stem and progenitor …


Francisella Tularensis Lvs Invasion Of Primary Murine Macrophages And Mtor Signaling, Michael Warren Edwards Jan 2014

Francisella Tularensis Lvs Invasion Of Primary Murine Macrophages And Mtor Signaling, Michael Warren Edwards

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Francisella tularensis is an intracellular pathogen and the etiologic agent of tularemia. Because virulent strains cause morbidity and lethality in human, the attenuated live vaccine strain (LVS) has been used to study F. tularensis pathogenesis in murine models, since the disease in mice resembles human tularemia. Despite growing knowledge about host responses to Francisella infection, there is scarce information on the cell signaling events involved in Francisella host cell entry and in early immune re-sponses. Therefore, the purpose of this dissertation was to assess the involvement of the mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) in these processes. First, we evaluated the …


Southern African American Women's Perception Of Cononary Artery Disease After A Myocardial Infarction: A Phenomenological Inquiry, Loretta Jones Jan 2014

Southern African American Women's Perception Of Cononary Artery Disease After A Myocardial Infarction: A Phenomenological Inquiry, Loretta Jones

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The American Heart Association (AHA) reported that cardiovascular diseases kill nearly 50,000 African-American (AA) women annually. Of AA women ages 20 and older, 49% have heart diseases. Only 52% of AA women are aware of the signs and symptoms of a heart attack and only 36% of AA women know that heart disease is their greatest health risk. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to explore the lived experience of African American women, 50 years and older, who had experienced a myocardial infarction within the past five years. The primary research questions addressed the women's knowledge of risk factors, …


Regulation Of Cks1 Protein Turnover In Cancer Cells, Vinayak Khattar Jan 2014

Regulation Of Cks1 Protein Turnover In Cancer Cells, Vinayak Khattar

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Cks1 is a crucial cell cycle regulator which plays pleiotropic roles in cancer cell growth and is highly expressed at both the protein, and mRNA levels, in cancer cells. In contrast, normal cells exhibit barely detectable levels of this protein, even though they express substantial Cks1 mRNA. One reason for high Cks1 protein in cancers appears to be its stabilization in these cells. Cks1 is known to be ubiquitinated and degraded by the proteasome. Coordinated ubiquitination dependent proteasomal degradation of cell cycle proteins is a major mechanism that regulates their activity. Therefore aberrant accumulation of Cks1, frequently observed in cancer, …


Effect Of Abutment Position On Retention After Cyclic Loading Of Cantilevered Y-Tzp Fpds, Aikaterini Kostagianni Jan 2014

Effect Of Abutment Position On Retention After Cyclic Loading Of Cantilevered Y-Tzp Fpds, Aikaterini Kostagianni

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Purpose: The influence of the vertical abutment positions on the retention of a three-unit implant supported cantilevered FPD restoration was measured and compared. Methods: The study included four groups (n=10) of cantilevered FPDs restorations, fabricated of monolithic zirconia. Prefabricated titanium implant abutments were used and connected to their analogs. The analogs were fixated on a split mold and their vertical position was adjusted on a 2 mm bases depending on the group, resulting also to an alteration of the occlusal thickness of the restorative material. The prosthesis were cemented to the abutments with Rely X Luting Plus resin modified glass …


Osteomimmunology Of Bone Fracture Healing And Cell And Gene Therapy Approaches For Nonunion Bone Defects, Seth G. Levy Jan 2014

Osteomimmunology Of Bone Fracture Healing And Cell And Gene Therapy Approaches For Nonunion Bone Defects, Seth G. Levy

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Despite the body's ability to repair bone fractures under normal circumstances, up to 10% of the 7.9 million fractures suffered in the United States each year do not achieve bony union. Bone fractures heal with overlapping phases of inflammation, cell proliferation, and bone remodeling. Osteogenesis and angiogenesis are known to work in concert to control many stages of this process, but when one is impaired it leads to failure of bone healing, referred to as a nonunion. Such nonunion fractures often result from critical-size defects that will not completely heal over the natural lifetime of the animal. Based on this …


Formaldehyde Exposure In Pregnant Women And Its Relationship To Fetal Growth, Azita Amiri Jan 2014

Formaldehyde Exposure In Pregnant Women And Its Relationship To Fetal Growth, Azita Amiri

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Formaldehyde exposure during pregnancy has been linked to adverse pregnancy outcomes such as poor fetal growth, although few studies have examined formaldehyde exposure during pregnancy and its relationship to fetal growth. The purpose of this study was to determine the level of formaldehyde exposure during pregnancy and examine the relationship between formaldehyde exposure and fetal growth. Formaldehyde exposure was examined, using vapor monitor badge and urine formic acid, in 140 women in their second trimester of pregnancy. One time urine samples were collected during a routine prenatal visit, and women wore the vapor badges for 24 hours. Fetal growth was …


Modulating The Cxcl12/Cxcr4 Axis In The Pulmonary Vasculature By Adenoviral Vector-Mediated Delivery Of Soluble Cxcr4 (Scxcr4): A Prophylactic Approach To The Prevention Of Cancer Metastasis To The Lung, Anand Chandrasekaran Annan Jan 2014

Modulating The Cxcl12/Cxcr4 Axis In The Pulmonary Vasculature By Adenoviral Vector-Mediated Delivery Of Soluble Cxcr4 (Scxcr4): A Prophylactic Approach To The Prevention Of Cancer Metastasis To The Lung, Anand Chandrasekaran Annan

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Cancer metastasis is a multi-step process, and different cancer cells metastasize to different organs. The process includes proliferation and angiogenesis of the primary tumor, detachment of the primary tumor and invasion of the tumor into the lymphatics and capillaries, with embolization of the tumor cells to distant organs. The tumor cells then undergo arrest followed by extravasation with establishment of the tumor microenvironment and proliferation/angiogenesis of tumor cells to develop metastatic clones. However, evidence of metastasis is almost always associated with a poor prognosis. Multiple treatment modalities are being evaluated for cancer metastasis targeting one or more of the aforementioned …


Assessing The Active Kinome Of Influenza Virus Infected A549 Cells, Colm Atkins Jan 2014

Assessing The Active Kinome Of Influenza Virus Infected A549 Cells, Colm Atkins

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Influenza A Virus is a respiratory pathogen of the family Orthomyxoviridae and causes significant worldwide morbidity and mortality during seasonal epidemics and periodic pandemics. As with all viruses, influenza's limited coding capacity requires the use of host proteins and processes in its replication and release cycle. Phosphorylation, mediated by cellular kinases and phosphatases, represents a significant mechanism of post-translational modification of cellular products, and is responsible for regulating the activi-ty, lifespan and localization of many lipids and proteins in host-cells. Several cellular kinases have been associated with various steps of the Influenza lifecycle, including PKC-ßII (viral entry), PKR (host defense), …


Targeted Delivery Of Osteoinductive Peptides To Bone Graft Utilizing A Calcium Binding Domain To Enhance The Regenerative Potential, Jennifer Leigh Bain Jan 2014

Targeted Delivery Of Osteoinductive Peptides To Bone Graft Utilizing A Calcium Binding Domain To Enhance The Regenerative Potential, Jennifer Leigh Bain

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Bone grafting procedures are common practice. Autogenous bone is considered optimal, however, complications associated with bone harvesting often lead clinicians to use off-the-shelf materials that have limited osteoinductivity. Alternatively, bioactive factors passively adsorbed onto various carriers are available. These materials, while effective, are expensive to produce, require supraphysiological doses, and have adverse side effects due to dissemination from the graft site. This dissertation aims to reintroduce osteoinductive factors to bone grafts to enhance regenerative capacity. Specifically, we utilized negatively-charged calcium-binding domains (polyglutamate) to anchor two osteoinductive peptides bone graft materials including an allograft, xenograft, alloplast, and bone cement. The peptides …


Investigation Of Lateral Incisor Crown Root Angulation And Impacted Maxillary Canines, Samuel Philip Purnell Jan 2014

Investigation Of Lateral Incisor Crown Root Angulation And Impacted Maxillary Canines, Samuel Philip Purnell

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Objective: The primary aim of this study was to determine if there is a difference in the mesiodistal crown-root angulation of maxillary lateral incisors between patients with impacted maxillary canines and a control population. Secondary aim 1 compared the same angle measured on panoramic radiographs to determine if a difference existed between the CBCT measurement and the panoramic radiograph measurement. Secondary aim 2 looked to determine if there was a correlation between maxillary lateral incisor tooth width and the mesiodistal crown-root angulation. Materials and Methods: CBCT's were reformatted so that the mesiodistal crown-root angulation of maxillary lateral incisors could be …


Employment Of Physician Administrators (Ceos) In Acute Care Hospitals And Their Impact On Hospital Performance, Muhammad H. Al-Midani Jan 2014

Employment Of Physician Administrators (Ceos) In Acute Care Hospitals And Their Impact On Hospital Performance, Muhammad H. Al-Midani

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Employment of Physician Administrators (CEOS) in Acute Care Hospitals And Their Impact on Hospital Performance


Il-8 Is Necessary And Sufficient For X-Ray Radiation Enhanced Endothelial Adhesion., Stephen Kyle Babitz Jan 2014

Il-8 Is Necessary And Sufficient For X-Ray Radiation Enhanced Endothelial Adhesion., Stephen Kyle Babitz

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Ionizing radiation (IR) is a potent inflammatory stimulus to the human body. In the vasculature, inflammation is a major contributing factor for atherosclerosis. In addition, radiation from several sources has been linked with increased risk for multiple cardiovascular complications. A key compnent of radiation associated inflammation is an increase in the adhesiveness of the endothelium which leads to a pathogenic accumulation of leukocytes in the vascular wall. This is one of the initial steps in vascular inflammation and leads to a number of adverse complications such as heart disease and stroke. The molecular mechanisms behind radiaton enhanced endothelial adhesion have …