Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

State Mental Hospital Continuity Of Care Study: Addendum To Year One Report, Timothy Boaz, Keith Vossberg

Mental Health Law & Policy Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

State Mental Hospital Continuity Of Care Study: Preliminary Report, Timothy Boaz, Keith Vossberg

Mental Health Law & Policy Faculty Publications

This study reports on the analysis of several existing administrative data sets to examine issues related to the continuity of care in the community for persons discharged from the Florida state mental health hospitals. The validity of conclusions based on such analysis is dependent on the adequacy of the existing data. While certain types of reporting errors can be identified and remediated (to a degree), other types of errors, particularly omission of reporting, often cannot be identified or remediated. Thus, the conclusions of this report need to be taken somewhat tentatively.

Evidence For A Partially Folded Intermediate In Α-Synuclein Fibril Formation, Vladimir N. Uversky, Jie Li, Anthony L. Fink

Molecular Medicine Faculty Publications

Intracellular proteinaceous aggregates (Lewy bodies and Lewy neurites) of α-synuclein are hallmarks of neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson's disease, dementia with Lewy bodies, and multiple systemic atrophy. However, the molecular mechanisms underlying α-synuclein aggregation into such filamentous inclusions remain unknown. An intriguing aspect of this problem is that α-synuclein is a natively unfolded protein, with little or no ordered structure under physiological conditions. This raises the question of how an essentially disordered protein is transformed into highly organized fibrils. In the search for an answer to this question, we have investigated the effects of pH and temperature on the structural …

Is Congo Red An Amyloid-Specific Dye?, Ritu Khurana, Vladimir N. Uversky, Liza Nielsen, Anthony L. Fink

Molecular Medicine Faculty Publications

Congo red (CR) binding, monitored by characteristic yellow-green birefringence under crossed polarization has been used as a diagnostic test for the presence of amyloid in tissue sections for several decades. This assay is also widely used for the characterization of in vitro amyloid fibrils. In order to probe the structural specificity of Congo red binding to amyloid fibrils we have used an induced circular dichroism (CD) assay. Amyloid fibrils from insulin and the variable domain of Ig light chain demonstrate induced CD spectra upon binding to Congo red. Surprisingly, the native conformations of insulin and Ig light chain also induced …

Metal-Triggered Structural Transformations, Aggregation, And Fibrillation Of Human Α-Synuclein: A Possible Molecular Link Between Parkinson′S Disease And Heavy Metal Exposure, Vladimir N. Uversky, Jie Li, Anthony L. Fink

Molecular Medicine Faculty Publications

Parkinson's disease involves the aggregation of α-synuclein to form fibrils, which are the major constituent of intracellular protein inclusions (Lewy bodies and Lewy neurites) in dopaminergic neurons of the substantia nigra. Occupational exposure to specific metals, especially manganese, copper, lead, iron, mercury, zinc, aluminum, appears to be a risk factor for Parkinson's disease based on epidemiological studies. Elevated levels of several of these metals have also been reported in the substantia nigra of Parkinson's disease subjects. We examined the effect of various metals on the kinetics of fibrillation of recombinant α-synuclein and in inducing conformational changes, as monitored by biophysical …

Stabilization Of Partially Folded Conformation During Α-Synuclein Oligomerization In Both Purified And Cytosolic Preparations, Vladimir N. Uversky, He-Jin Lee, Jie Li, Anthony L. Fink, Seung-Jae Lee

Molecular Medicine Faculty Publications

Aggregation of α-synuclein is tightly associated with many neurodegenerative diseases, such as Parkinson's disease, dementia with Lewy body, Lewy body variant of Alzheimer's disease, multiple system atrophy, and Hallervorden-Spatz disease, implicating a crucial role of aggregated forms of α-synuclein in the pathogenesis. Here, we examined the effect of elevated temperature on the oligomerization and structural changes of α-synuclein in the early stage of aggregation and show that self-assembly is crucial for the stabilization of a partially folded conformation. The efficiency of α-synuclein oligomerization increased proportional to the temperature increase, both in purified form and in crude cytosolic preparation. This oligomerization …

Cannabinoids And The Immune System, Thomas W. Klein, Catherine A. Newton, Herman Friedman

Molecular Medicine Faculty Publications

The effect of cannabimimetic agents on the function of immune cells such as T and B lymphocytes, natural killer cells and macrophages has been extensively studied over the past several decades using human and animal paradigms involving whole animal models as well as tissue culture systems. From this work, it can be concluded that these drugs have subtle yet complex effects on immune cell function and that some of the drug activity is mediated by cannabinoid receptors expressed on the various immune cell subtypes. However, the overall role of the cannabinoid system of receptors and ligands in human health and …

Report Of The Data Workgroup Of The Florida Commission On Mental Health And Substance Abuse, Data Workgroup Of The Florida Commission On Mental Health And Substance Abuse

FMHI Publications

This abridged technical report contains the findings and recommendations of the Data and Needs Assessment Workgroup of the Florida Commission on Mental Health and Substance Abuse. The Commission was created by House Bill 2003 for the purpose of conducting a systematic review of the overall management of the state's mental health (MH) and substance abuse (SA) system. Through this review, the Commission will make recommendations to the Governor and Legislature regarding change and improvement in planning, service strategies, funding, accountability, emergency behavioral health services, and the unique needs of older persons.

Florida Commission On Mental Health & Substance Abuse Final Report, Florida Commission On Mental Health & Substance Abuse

FMHI Publications

The Florida Commission on Mental Health and Substance Abuse was created in 1999 to conduct a systematic review of the state’s mental health and substance abuse system. The Commission was asked to make recommendations in areas including planning, service strategies, funding, accountability, emergency behavioral health services, and the unique needs of older persons.

Twenty-three Commissioners from throughout Florida were appointed by the governor and the legislature to broadly represent the key constituencies in mental health and substance abuse. Four workgroups were formed to examine and report on special issues including: 1) information needs and technology; 2) children’s; 3) adults’; and …

Report Of The Children's Workgroup Of The Florida Commission On Mental Health And Substance Abuse, Children's Workgroup Of The Florida Commission On Mental Health And Substance Abuse

FMHI Publications

The 1999 Legislature created the Florida Commission on Mental Health and Substance Abuse to study the management, operation, and effectiveness of the existing mental health and substance abuse system in Florida, and to develop recommendations for strengthening the system. The Commission in turn established four workgroups to conduct more in depth examinations of particular issues than it was possible for the entire Commission to do. This serves as the Executive Summary of the report of the Children's Workgroup.

Report Of The Older Adult Workgroup Of The Florida Commission On Mental Health And Substance Abuse, Older Adult Workgroup Of The Florida Commission On Mental Health And Substance Abuse

FMHI Publications

No abstract provided.

Evaluation Of Florida’S Sub-Acute Inpatient Psychiatric Program (Sipp), Kristen M. Snyder, Angela Gomez, Mary L. Armstrong, Kathy Thompson-Dailey, Tom Massey

Mental Health Law & Policy Faculty Publications

In March 1998, the State of Florida received approval of a 1915 (b) waiver from the Health Care Financing Administration (HCFA) to implement an alternative, Sub-acute Inpatient Psychiatric Program (SIPP) for children under the age of 18, who had two or more psychiatric inpatient stays in a year, or a length of stay greater than thirteen days. For these high risk youth, who were typically served in general hospitals, the SIPP model was designed to improve the transition from inpatient care to community based care, in an effort to reduce the high rates of readmission and improve their chances of …

Research Across Multiple Systems: Probabilistic Population Estimation (Ppe), Diane Haynes, Rebecca Larsen, Shabnam Mehra

Mental Health Law & Policy Faculty Publications

Today, social service administrators are examining client service utilization using cross system analysis, because often a client's needs require accessing governmentfunded services from multiple organizations. One technical problem that arises is that organizations do not share common unique identifiers from which to link one individual’s information together (i.e., system #1 uses Social Security Number (SSN) and system #2 uses Personal Identification Number (PIN)). Different methods have been employed to deal with the issue of working with information across data sets when there is no common unique identifier. Probabilistic Population Estimation (PPE), Caseload Segregation/Integration Ratio (C/SIR), and Probabilistic Population Matching (PPM) …