Diseases Commons^™

Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation Used For Tinnitus Suppression: A Voxel-Based Morphometry Study, Lauren E. Laitman

Honors Theses

Tinnitus is a debilitating disorder with unknown underlying mechanisms, often induced by loud noises. Tinnitus symptoms include the conscious perception of constant sound absent an external source. This study sought to determine effectiveness of treatment with repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS), and to use voxel-based morphometry (VBM) to identify treatment related neuronal reorganization. One hertz rTMS was delivered for 20 minutes on each of 5 consecutive days. Tinnitus suppression was measured with the Tinnitus Handicap Questionnaire (THQ), and VBM was carried out on structural Magnetic Resonance images collected before and after sham-treatment and rTMS. Findings indicate the effectiveness of rTMS …

Chronic Disease Self-Management Programs: Relevance For Persons With Dementia, Nina M. Silverstein, Alison S. Gottlieb

Gerontology Institute Publications

The context for this study is the work of the Healthy Brain Initiative. The CDC has established a cooperative agreement with the Alzheimer’s Association to develop and implement a multifaceted approach to look at cognitive health as a public health issue. Late in 2010, the Association commissioned a review of the major chronic disease prevention programs from a systems approach to begin to understand the source of findings that Medicare beneficiaries with Alzheimer’s and related disorders are much higher cost than those simply with a single chronic disease and no AD. This led to the conclusion that Chronic Disease Self‐Management …

Femoroacetabular Impingement: Saving The Joint, Ronald Huang, Javad Parvizi

Department of Orthopaedic Surgery Faculty Papers

Many factors have been linked to the development of osteoarthritis (OA) of the hip, but often, cases are still considered “idiopathic.” Femoroacetabular impingement (FAI) has been suggested as a possible etiologic factor for the otherwise “idiopathic” cases. It is theorized that the subtle morphologic abnormalities seen at the head-neck junction and acetabulum in FAI may lead to labral tears, chondral damage, and subsequent progression of OA. Prevalence of FAI has been suggested to be as high as 14% in the general population. It often presents in young active patients that subject their hip joint to repetitive micro trauma associated with …

Successful Aging And The Epidemiology Of Hiv, David E. Vance, Teena Mcguinness, Karen Musgrove, Nancy Ann Orel, Pariya L. Fazeli

Gerontology Faculty Publications

By 2015, it is estimated that nearly half of those living with HIV in the US will be 50 years of age and older. This dramatic change in the demographics of this clinical population represents unique challenges for patients, health care providers, and society-at-large. Fortunately, because of highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) and healthy lifestyle choices, it is now possible for many infected with HIV to age successfully with this disease; however, this depends upon one’s definition of successful aging. It is proposed that successful aging is composed of eight factors: length of life, biological health, cognitive efficiency, mental health, …

Ischemia Impairs Vasodilation In Skeletal Muscle Resistance Artery, Kyle Remington Struthers

Master's Theses

Functional vasodilation in arterioles is impaired with chronic ischemia. We sought to examine the impact of chronic ischemia and age on skeletal muscle resistance artery function. To examine the impact of chronic ischemia, the femoral artery was resected from young (2-3mo) and adult (6-7mo) mice and the profunda femoris artery diameter was measured at rest and following gracilis muscle contraction 14 days later using intravital microscopy. Functional vasodilation was significantly impaired in ischemic mice (14.4±4.6% vs. 137.8±14.3%, p<0.0001 n=8) and non-ischemic adult mice (103.0±9.4% vs. 137.8±14.3%, p=0.05 n=10). In order to analyze the cellular mechanisms of the impairment, a protocol was developed to apply pharmacological agents to the experimental preparation while maintaining tissue homeostasis. Endothelial and smooth muscle dependent vasodilation were impaired with ischemia, 39.6 ± 13.6% vs. 80.5 ± 11.4% and 43.0 ± 11.7% vs. 85.1 ± 10.5%, respectively. From this data, it can be supported that smooth muscle dysfunction is the reason for the observed impairment in arterial vasodilation.

Surgical Management Of Complete Atrioventricular Septal Defect: Associations With Surgical Technique, Age, And Trisomy 21., Andrew M. Atz, John A. Hawkins, Minmin Lu, Meryl S. Cohen, Steven D. Colan, James Jaggers, Ronald V. Lacro, Brian W. Mccrindle, Renee Margossian, Ralph S. Mosca, Lynn A. Sleeper, L Luann Minich, Pediatric Heart Network Investigators, Girish S. Shirali

Manuscripts, Articles, Book Chapters and Other Papers

OBJECTIVES: We sought to evaluate the contemporary results after repair of a complete atrioventricular septal defect and to determine the factors associated with suboptimal outcomes.

METHODS: The demographic, procedural, and outcome data were obtained within 1 and 6 months after repair of a complete atrioventricular septal defect in 120 children in a multicenter observational study from June 2004 to 2006.

RESULTS: The median age at surgery was 3.7 months (range, 9 days to 1.1 years). The type of surgical repair was a single patch (18%), double patch (72%), and a single atrial septal defect patch with primary ventricular septal defect …

Use Of Mobile Telemedicine For Cervical Cancer Screening, Kelly E. Quinley, Rachel H. Gormley, Sarah Ratcliffe, Ting Shih, Zsofia Szep, Ann Steiner, Doreen Ramogola-Masire, Carrie Kovarik

Botswana-UPenn Scholarly Publications

Visual inspection of the cervix with application of 4% acetic acid (VIA) is an inexpensive alternative to cytology-based screening in areas where resources are limited, such as in many developing countries. We have examined the diagnostic agreement between off-site (remote) expert diagnosis using photographs of the cervix (photographic inspection with acetic acid, PIA) and in-person VIA. The images for remote evaluation were taken with a mobile phone and transmitted by MMS. The study population consisted of 95 HIV-positive women in Gaborone, Botswana. An expert gynaecologist made a definitive positive or negative reading on the PIA results of 64 out of …

Spread Of Extensively Drug-Resistant Tuberculosis In Kwazulu-Natal Province, South Africa, Prashini Moodley, N. Sarita Shah, Nabihah Tayob, Cathy Connolly, Nicola Zetola, Neel Gandhi, Gerald Friedland, A. Willem Sturm

Botswana-UPenn Scholarly Publications

Background

In 2005 a cluster of 53 HIV-infected patients with extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis (XDR-TB) was detected in the Msinga sub-district, the catchment area for the Church of Scotland Hospital (CoSH) in Tugela Ferry, in KwaZulu-Natal province (KZN), South Africa. KZN is divided into 11 healthcare districts. We sought to determine the distribution of XDR TB cases in the province in relation to population density.

Methods

In this cross-sectional study, the KZN tuberculosis laboratory database was analysed. Results of all patients with a sputum culture positive for Mycobacterium tuberculosis from January 2006 to June 2007 were included. Drug-susceptibility test results for …

Renin-Angiotensin-Aldosterone Genotype Influences Ventricular Remodeling In Infants With Single Ventricle., Seema Mital, Wendy K. Chung, Steven D. Colan, Lynn A. Sleeper, Cedric Manlhiot, Cammon B. Arrington, James F. Cnota, Eric M. Graham, Michael E. Mitchell, Elizabeth Goldmuntz, Jennifer S. Li, Jami C. Levine, Teresa M. Lee, Renee Margossian, Daphne T. Hsu, Pediatric Heart Network Investigators, Girish S. Shirali

Manuscripts, Articles, Book Chapters and Other Papers

Background: We investigated the effect of polymorphisms in the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system (RAAS) genes on ventricular remodeling, growth, renal function, and response to enalapril in infants with single ventricle.

Methods and results: Single ventricle infants enrolled in a randomized trial of enalapril were genotyped for polymorphisms in 5 genes: angiotensinogen, angiotensin-converting enzyme, angiotensin II type 1 receptor, aldosterone synthase, and chymase. Alleles associated with renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system upregulation were classified as risk alleles. Ventricular mass, volume, somatic growth, renal function using estimated glomerular filtration rate, and response to enalapril were compared between patients with ≥2 homozygous risk genotypes (high risk), and those …

S.O.S. For Huntington's Disease Families, And An Important Bill In Congress, Kenneth P. Serbin

At Risk for Huntington's Disease

No abstract provided.

Variations In Mre11/Rad50/Nbs1 Status And Dna Damage-Induced S-Phase Arrest In The Cell Lines Of The Nci60 Panel, Kristen M. K. Garner, Alan Eastman

Dartmouth Scholarship

The Mre11/Rad50/Nbs1 (MRN) complex is a regulator of cell cycle checkpoints and DNA repair. Defects in MRN can lead to defective S-phase arrest when cells are damaged. Such defects may elicit sensitivity to selected drugs providing a chemical synthetic lethal interaction that could be used to target therapy to tumors with these defects. The goal of this study was to identify these defects in the NCI60 panel of cell lines and identify compounds that might elicit selective cytotoxicity.

Holding The Potential Cure In My Hand, Kenneth P. Serbin

At Risk for Huntington's Disease

No abstract provided.

Hivtoolbox, An Integrated Web Application For Investigating Hiv, David P. Sargeant, Sandeep Deverasetty, Yang Luo, Angel Villahoz Baleta, Stephanie Zobrist, Viraj Rathnayake, Jacqueline C. Russo, Jay Vyas, Mark A. Muesing, Martin Schiller

Life Sciences Faculty Publications

Many bioinformatic databases and applications focus on a limited domain of knowledge federating links to information in other databases. This segregated data structure likely limits our ability to investigate and understand complex biological systems. To facilitate research, therefore, we have built HIVToolbox, which integrates much of the knowledge about HIV proteins and allows virologists and structural biologists to access sequence, structure, and functional relationships in an intuitive web application. HIV-1 integrase protein was used as a case study to show the utility of this application. We show how data integration facilitates identification of new questions and hypotheses much more rapid …

Staphylococcus Aureus Skin And Soft Tissue Infections At A Tertiary Hospital In Botswana, Hong Truong, Samir S. Shah, Johnathan Ludmir, Ephraim O. Tawanana, Margaret Bafana, Sarah M. Wood, Howard Moffat, Andrew P. Steenhoff

Botswana-UPenn Scholarly Publications

Objectives. To study the epidemiology of Staphylococcus aureus skin and soft-tissue infections (SSTIs) in hospitalised children and adults in Gaborone, Botswana, and to describe the changes in antimicrobial susceptibilities of S. aureus isolates over time.

Methods. A retrospective cohort study evaluated SSTI isolates from January 2000 to December 2007 at Princess Marina Hospital (PMH), a large tertiary referral centre in Gaborone. Eligible subjects were those hospitalised at PMH during the study period who had a skin or soft-tissue culture yielding a bacterial or fungal pathogen. The primary outcome measure was a skin or soft-tissue culture yielding S. aureus …

Childhood Meat Eating And Inflammatory Markers: The Guangzhou Biobank Cohort Study, Mary Schooling, Chao Q. Jiang, Tai H. Lam, W. S. Zhang, Kar Keung Cheng, Gabriel M. Leung

Publications and Research

Background
We hypothesized that socio-economic development could, via nutritionally driven levels of pubertal sex-steroids, promote a pro-inflammatory state among men but not women in developing countries. We tested this hypothesis, using recalled childhood meat eating as a proxy for childhood nutrition, in southern China.

Methods
We used multivariable linear regression in the Guangzhou Biobank Cohort Study phase 3 (2006-8) to examine the adjusted associations of recalled childhood meat eating, <1/week (n = 5,023), about once per week (n = 3,592) and almost daily (n = 1,252), with white blood cell count and its differentials among older (≥50 years) men (n = 2,498) and women (n = 7,369).

Results
Adjusted for age, childhood socio-economic position, education and smoking, childhood meat eating had sex-specific associations with white blood cell count and lymphocyte count, but not granulocyte count. Men with childhood …

The Effects Of Computer-Based Education On Children's Knowledge About Asthma, Matyt L. Adler

Evidence-Based Practice Project Reports

Asthma is a global health problem affecting people of all ages that can cause severe limitations when uncontrolled. In the United States, asthma was the most prevalent chronic disease among children and youth in 2008 (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2009). Because day-to-day management of asthma is the responsibility of the child or the parent, education of patients is one of four crucial components to effectively provide quality asthma care. Changes in workload complexities with primary care visits has increased and visit duration decreased, resulting in less available time to address individual patient needs including the education aspect …

The Huntington’S Community Rising And Converging, Kenneth P. Serbin

At Risk for Huntington's Disease

No abstract provided.

Influenza And Bacterial Coinfections In The 20th Century, Xuan-Yi Wang, Paul E. Kilgore, Kyung Ah Lim, Song-Mei Wang, Jeongseok Lee, Wei Deng, Mei-Qi Mo, Batmunkh Nyambat, Jing-Chen Ma, Michael O. Favorov, John D. Clemens

Department of Pharmacy Practice

To help understand the potential impact of bacterial coinfection during pandemic influenza periods, we undertook a far-reaching review of the existing literature to gain insights into the interaction of influenza and bacterial pathogens. Reports published between 1950 and 2006 were identified from scientific citation databases using standardized search terms. Study outcomes related to coinfection were subjected to a pooled analysis. Coinfection with influenza and bacterial pathogens occurred more frequently in pandemic compared with seasonal influenza periods. The most common bacterial coinfections with influenza virus were due to S. pneumoniae, H. influenzae, Staphylococcus spp., and Streptococcus spp. …

Cardiovascular Risk Scores Do Not Account For The Effect Of Treatment: A Review, Su May Liew, Jenny Doust, Paul Glasziou

Paul Glasziou

Objective - To compare the strengths and limitations of cardiovascular risk scores available for clinicians in assessing the global (absolute) risk of cardiovascular disease.Design - Review of cardiovascular risk scores.Data sources - Medline (1966 to May 2009) using a mixture of MeSH terms and free text for the keywords ‘cardiovascular’, ‘risk prediction’ and ‘cohort studies’.Eligibility - criteria for selecting studies A study was eligible if it fulfilled the following criteria: (1) it was a cohort study of adults in the general population with no prior history of cardiovascular disease and not restricted by a disease condition; (2) the primary objective …

Cardiovascular Risk Scores Do Not Account For The Effect Of Treatment: A Review, Su May Liew, Jenny Doust, Paul Glasziou

Jenny Doust

Objective - To compare the strengths and limitations of cardiovascular risk scores available for clinicians in assessing the global (absolute) risk of cardiovascular disease.Design - Review of cardiovascular risk scores.Data sources - Medline (1966 to May 2009) using a mixture of MeSH terms and free text for the keywords ‘cardiovascular’, ‘risk prediction’ and ‘cohort studies’.Eligibility - criteria for selecting studies A study was eligible if it fulfilled the following criteria: (1) it was a cohort study of adults in the general population with no prior history of cardiovascular disease and not restricted by a disease condition; (2) the primary objective …