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Pathways Involved In Interleukin-1Β-Mediated Murine Cardiomyocyte Apoptosis, Yi Shen, Jie Qin, Peili Bu

The Texas Heart Institute Journal

Accumulating evidence suggests that interleukin-1 (IL-1) signaling plays an essential role in the pathogenesis of heart failure by inducing cardiomyocyte apoptosis, but the mechanisms of this process are poorly defined. We further explored these molecular pathways.

We isolated cardiomyocytes from neonatal mice and then cultured and stimulated them with murine IL-1β in vitro. Cell apoptotic ratios were measured by means of flow cytometry. Expression of effector molecules was analyzed by means of enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, Western blotting, and real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction. The results showed that IL-1β induced murine cardiomyocyte apoptosis through a release of cytochrome c into cytoplasm …

Transcatheter Aortic Valve Implantation Despite Challenging Vascular Access, Angelo Nascimbene, Federico Azpurua, James J Livesay, R David Fish, Zvonimir Krajcer

The Texas Heart Institute Journal

We describe transcatheter aortic valve implantation in a patient who had severe peripheral artery disease. The patient's vascular condition required additional preliminary peripheral intervention to enable adequate vascular access.

A 78-year-old man with severe aortic stenosis, substantial comorbidities, and severe heart failure symptoms was referred for aortic valve replacement. The patient's 20-mm aortic annulus necessitated the use of a 23-mm Edwards Sapien valve inserted through a 22F sheath, which itself needed a vessel diameter of at least 7 mm for percutaneous delivery. The left common femoral artery was selected for valve delivery. The left iliac artery and infrarenal aorta underwent …

Prenatal Diagnosis Of Left Pulmonary Artery-To-Pulmonary Vein Fistula And Its Successful Surgical Repair In A Neonate, Oleksii Ostras, Andrii Kurkevych, Lyubomyr Bohuta, Tetyana Yalynska, Tammo Raad, Mark Lewin, Illya Yemets

The Texas Heart Institute Journal

Pulmonary arteriovenous fistula is a rare disease. To the best of our knowledge, prenatal diagnosis of a fistula between the left pulmonary artery and the left pulmonary vein has not been described in the medical literature. We report a case of the prenatal diagnosis of a left pulmonary artery-to-pulmonary vein fistula, followed by successful neonatal surgical repair.

Ms171: Interview With Robin Britt, Robin Britt Edd, Rn, Houston Academy Of Medicine-Texas Medical Center Library

Texas Medical Center - Women's History Project

An oral history interview with Robin Britt, EDD, RN of Texas Woman's University College of Nursing. See more at Texas Medical Center-Women's History Project and its finding aid.

Ms171: Interview With Elizabeth Travis, Elizabeth Travis Ph.D., Houston Academy Of Medicine-Texas Medical Center Library

Texas Medical Center - Women's History Project

An oral history interview with Elizabeth Travis, PhD of MD Anderson Cancer Center. See more at Texas Medical Center-Women's History Project and its finding aid.

Ms171: Interview With Asha Kapadia, Asha Kapadia Ph.D., Houston Academy Of Medicine-Texas Medical Center Library

Texas Medical Center - Women's History Project

An oral history interview with Asha Kapadia, PhD of University of Texas School of Public Health. See more at Texas Medical Center-Women's History Project and its finding aid.

Ms171: Interview With Janet Butel, Janet Butel Ph.D., Houston Academy Of Medicine-Texas Medical Center Library

Texas Medical Center - Women's History Project

An Oral history interview with Janet Butel, PhD of Baylor College of Medicine. See more at Texas Medical Center-Women's History Project and its finding aid.

More Than A Drop In The Bucket: The Social And Economic Costs Of Dropouts And Grade Retentions Associated With Exclusionary Discipline, Miner P. Marchbanks Iii, Jamilia J. Blake, Danielle Smith, Allison L. Seibert, Dottie Carmichael, Eric A. Booth, Tony Fabelo

Journal of Applied Research on Children: Informing Policy for Children at Risk

Each year many students are subject to exclusionary discipline, in fact, 60% of students in Texas are disciplined at-least once between grades 7 through 12. The purpose of this study is to examine the impact of school discipline contact on students’ risk for grade retention and school dropout using a statewide sample of nearly one million 7th grade students tracked through their 12th grade year. Results indicate that school discipline relates to a 24% increase in high school dropout. These additional dropouts are associated with an economic effect of between $750 million and $1.35 billion per year.

Results also indicate …

Avoid Simple Solutions And Quick Fixes: Lessons Learned From A Comprehensive Districtwide Approach To Improving Student Behavior And School Safety, David Osher, Jeffrey Poirier, Roger Jarjoura, Russell Brown, Kimberly Kendziora

Journal of Applied Research on Children: Informing Policy for Children at Risk

We examine the effects of the Cleveland Metropolitan School District’s (CMSD) districtwide efforts to improve school safety, order, and conditions for learning. These approaches include implementing (1) a social and emotional learning program for elementary students (PATHS); (2) a planning model for students exhibiting academic or nonacademic needs (student support teams); and (3) a learner-centered approach to discipline (planning centers). We found that improved conditions for learning as well as student support interventions can foster safer, more productive schools. Suspension and expulsion rates decreased, but racial/ethnic disparities remained. Implementation quality also mediated outcomes. Transforming conditions contributing to exclusionary discipline often …

Disturbing Inequities: Exploring The Relationship Between Racial Disparities In Special Education Identification And Discipline, Daniel Losen, Cheri Hodson, Jongyeon Ee, Tia Martinez

Journal of Applied Research on Children: Informing Policy for Children at Risk

This study used negative binomial regression to investigate whether exposure to novice teachers and risk for identification for special education predicted suspension rates. Data from the 2009-2010 Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC) was used. The sample was comprised of 72,168 schools from nearly 7,000 school districts from nearly every state. Identification as having emotional disturbance and specific learning disabilities were found to predict an increase in suspension rates for some subgroups across some school levels. Conversely, identification as being autistic was found to predict a decrease in suspension rates for some subgroups across some school levels. Policy implications are discussed.

Reconsidering The Alternatives: The Relationship Between Suspension, Disciplinary Alternative School Placement, Subsequent Juvenile Detention, And The Salience Of Race, Judi Vanderhaar, Marco Munoz, Joseph Petrosko

Journal of Applied Research on Children: Informing Policy for Children at Risk

Background: Alternative school settings for students who are identified as “disruptive or dangerous” are playing an increasingly prominent role in the world of public education, yet significant gaps in our understanding of their efficacy remain.

Objective: This longitudinal investigation within a large school district serving 100,000 students examines multiple factors to determine how the risk of placement in the disciplinary alternative schools is systematically related to predictors and the risk of juvenile subsequent juvenile detention between 3rd and 12th grade.

Methods: Four groups of discrete-time hazard models were run separately to determine the most significant predictors in each variable category …

Eliminating The Racial Disparity In Classroom Exclusionary Discipline, Anne Gregory, Joseph P. Allen, Amori Yee Mikami, Christopher A. Hafen, Robert Pianta

Journal of Applied Research on Children: Informing Policy for Children at Risk

Advocates call for schools with high suspension rates to receive technical assistance in adopting “proven-effective” systematic supports. Such supports include teacher professional development. This call is justified given evidence that good teaching matters. But what types of professional development should be funded? Increasingly, research points to the promise of programs that are sustained, rigorous, and focused on teachers’ interactions with students. The current study tests whether a professional development program with these three characteristics helped change teachers’ use of exclusionary discipline practices—especially with their African American students. Exclusionary discipline is when a classroom teacher sends a student to the administrators’ …

Misbehavior, Suspensions, And Security Measures In High School: Racial/Ethnic And Gender Differences, Jeremy D. Finn, Timothy J. Servoss

Journal of Applied Research on Children: Informing Policy for Children at Risk

This study used merged data from three national surveys to address questions about security measures in American high schools, suspension rates, and student misbehavior. First, the study identified the characteristics of schools that implemented the most extreme security measures and those with the highest levels of discipline. Second, the study used data on individual students to examine misbehavior and race and gender disparities in suspensions not attributable to misbehavior. The main findings were: (1) In-school suspensions serve a ‘gateway’ function with regard to out-of-school suspensions. They may provide a time and place to address behavior problems before they escalate or …

Dads On The Dotted Line: A Look At The In-Hospital Paternity Establishment Process, Cynthia Osborne, Daniel Dillon

Journal of Applied Research on Children: Informing Policy for Children at Risk

In the U.S., two out of five children are born to unmarried parents. These children do not have a legal father until paternity is established, a process completed by most families in the hospital at the time of the birth. Over the last 30 years, the percentage of unmarried parents voluntarily establishing paternity in the hospital has climbed considerably, driven in large part by a series of policy changes aimed at easing and incentivizing the process. Despite the apparent success of these policies, few have examined the mechanics of the paternity establishment process itself to understand whether it is functioning …

Unintended Consequences: Reverberations Of Special Immigrant Juvenile Status, Lauren Heidbrink

Journal of Applied Research on Children: Informing Policy for Children at Risk

This paper details the socio-legal factors that shape the relationship between the child, the family, and the state, and the ways unaccompanied migrant children’s lives have come to be defined and contested. The legal identity of migrant children is socially situated within a history that intertwines social movements of helping professionals, legal jurisdictions characterized by increasingly intolerant approaches to juveniles, and shifts in the treatment of unauthorized migrant youth under immigration law over time. In a globalized world, this triangular relationship between children, families, and the state becomes increasingly complex and dynamic. Social policies and legal norms often lag far …

The Journey To Oz: How Practice, Research, And Law Have Been Used To Combat Domestic Minor Sex Trafficking In Kansas, Karen I. Countryman-Roswurm, Bailey Patton Brackin

Journal of Applied Research on Children: Informing Policy for Children at Risk

Domestic Minor Sex Trafficking is a form of modern day slavery and is one of the most hidden means of child abuse in the United States. In response to encountering the reality of this abuse and exploitation of our children, multidisciplinary professionals in Kansas were impassioned to develop and implement collaborative practices, community-based research, and law and policy in order to combat trafficking. This paper presents a summary of such efforts that, expanding over a decade, have culminated in a new Kansas Anti-Trafficking Law. A brief summary of the definitions and demographics of trafficking are provided followed by a …

Education Of Children With Disabilities: Voices From Around The World, Shannon Peairson, Cary Haynes, Charles Johnson, Carol Bergquist, Kash Krinhop

Journal of Applied Research on Children: Informing Policy for Children at Risk

Education of Children with Disabilities: Voices from Around the World combines research on children with disabilities and women/girls with disabilities. These projects provided opportunities to interview disability professionals, policy-makers and persons with disabilities from around the world with the purpose of learning about needs, issues and services, in diverse countries. A unique international analysis, this research compares various cultural responses on the education of children with disabilities emphasizing the girl child. Discussion includes findings based on 177 interviews of disability professionals from over 57 countries including the stated reasons and consequences of lost educational opportunities. Techniques locating participants included internet …

Focusing On Children’S Strengths: Accessing Effective Mental Health Services For Juvenile Justice-Involved Youth Through Collaboration And Understanding Federal Entitlements To Care, Fiza A. Quraishi, Hannah Benton

Journal of Applied Research on Children: Informing Policy for Children at Risk

Between 65 and 70 percent of youth in the juvenile justice system have mental health disorders, with some studies estimating that at least 20 percent of these youth have severe disorders that significantly impair functioning. Many of these youth are entitled to adequate and responsive mental health services through federal programs like Medicaid’s Early Periodic Screening Diagnosis and Treatment Program (EPSDT), the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (Section 504). Despite these entitlements to care, by and large, the systems that serve youth fail to provide mental health services that address …

Education Not Incarceration: A Conceptual Model For Reducing Racial And Ethnic Disproportionality In School Discipline, Kent Mcintosh, Erik J. Girvan, Robert H. Horner, Keith Smolkowski

Journal of Applied Research on Children: Informing Policy for Children at Risk

Extension of retribution- and incapacitation-based criminal justice policies and practices to schools has exacerbated racial and ethnic disproportionality in school discipline, a serious and unsolved threat to equity in education and social opportunity. Common approaches implemented to reduce discipline disproportionality have not been shown to be widely effective. A more comprehensive, theory-driven understanding of the factors associated with disproportionate discipline is needed to enhance equity. In this article, we propose a conceptual model of how racial and ethnic bias affects school discipline, with direct implications for practical interventions. The model includes a multidimensional view of bias, informed by research from …

Housing And Child Health: Safety Net Strategies, Regulations And Neighborhood Challenges, Daniel Skinner Ph.D., Jenelle Donovan-Lyle, Kelly J. Kelleher M.D., M.P.H.

Journal of Applied Research on Children: Informing Policy for Children at Risk

Abstract: “Improving Neighborhoods: An Innovative Program of Hospital-Community Collaboration”

Although often overlooked as a key factor in health status, stable and affordable housing plays a critical role in protecting children and adolescents. This article examines possibilities as well as challenges in health-oriented housing interventions for children, with particular attention to understanding how the law—and its limits—shape the nature of non-profit housing work. First, the authors discuss the scholarly literature on the relationship between health and housing to consider why healthcare institutions generally and children’s hospitals specifically might enter into the challenging fray of housing advocacy for the poor. They then …

Co-Enrollment For Child Health: How Receipt And Loss Of Food And Housing Subsidies Relate To Housing Security And Statutes For Streamlined, Multi-Subsidy Application, Megan Sandel, Diana Cutts, Alan Meyers, Stephanie Ettinger De Cuba, Sharon Coleman, Maureen M. Black Ph.D,, Patrick H. Casey, Mariana Chilton, John T. Cook, Amanda Shortell, Timothy Heeren, Deborah Frank

Journal of Applied Research on Children: Informing Policy for Children at Risk

In light of recent policy debates around funding food and housing subsidies, the combined influence of these programs on housing security (HS), defined as housing without crowding or frequent moves, remains unstudied. In a multi-city study of young children, federal nutrition and housing subsidies together increased the odds of HS, whereas loss of nutrition subsidies lowered the odds of HS even after controlling for housing subsidy receipt. Ensuring eligible families’ access to both nutrition and housing subsidies may sustain HS. The results of this study inform and support current efforts by states to streamline online applications for social services and …

Legal Safety Nets: The Law As A Change Agent For Children, Robert D. Sanborn, Angelo P. Giardino

Journal of Applied Research on Children: Informing Policy for Children at Risk

Robert Sanborn and Angelo P. Giardino's introduction for Volume 5, Issue 2: Legal Safety Nets

Improved Systemic Saturation After Ventricular Assist Device Implantation In A Patient With Decompensated Dextro-Transposition Of The Great Arteries After The Fontan Procedure, Ali Abdul Jabbar, Wayne J Franklin, Leo Simpson, Andrew B Civitello, Reynolds M Delgado, O H Frazier

The Texas Heart Institute Journal

We report the successful implantation of a HeartMate II left ventricular assist device after a failed Fontan procedure in a patient with dextro-transposition of the great arteries. The patient had developed significant intrapulmonary arteriovenous shunting. Despite the theoretical risk of worsening intrapulmonary shunting due to the decrease in systemic vascular resistance after device implantation, our patient did well. He was discharged from the hospital in stable condition and had better oxygen saturation than before the device was implanted. To our knowledge, ours is the 2nd report of the use of a ventricular assist device after the failure of a Fontan …

Early Detection Of A Cavopulmonary Tumor Embolus With The Use Of Transesophageal Echocardiography, Magdy M El-Sayed Ahmed, Raed M Al-Najjar, Muhammad Aftab, James M Anton, John S Colen, Ross M Reul

The Texas Heart Institute Journal

Pulmonary tumor embolization from renal cell carcinoma is associated with severe cardiopulmonary morbidity and high perioperative mortality rates. We report the case of a 71-year-old woman who presented with right-sided abdominal pain. Magnetic resonance images revealed a mass originating from the upper pole of the right kidney and extending into the infrahepatic portion of the inferior vena cava. Transesophageal echocardiography was continuously used to monitor the mass during intended radical nephrectomy and tumor resection. When the right kidney was mobilized, intracaval thrombus detached and migrated to the patient's right atrium, causing severe hemodynamic instability. After emergent sternotomy and during the …

Taking The Risk: The Other Side Of The Story, Herbert L Fred

The Texas Heart Institute Journal

No abstract provided.

Echocardiographic Versus Histologic Findings In Marfan Syndrome, Xiaoyan Gu, Yihua He, Zhian Li, Jiancheng Han, Jian Chen, J V Ian Nixon

The Texas Heart Institute Journal

This retrospective study attempted to establish the prevalence of multiple-valve involvement in Marfan syndrome and to compare echocardiographic with histopathologic findings in Marfan patients undergoing valvular or aortic surgery.

We reviewed echocardiograms of 73 Marfan patients who underwent cardiovascular surgery from January 2004 through October 2009. Tissue histology was available for comparison in 29 patients.

Among the 73 patients, 66 underwent aortic valve replacement or the Bentall procedure. Histologic findings were available in 29 patients, all of whom had myxomatous degeneration. Of 63 patients with moderate or severe aortic regurgitation as determined by echocardiography, 4 had thickened aortic valves. The …

Impact And Predictors Of Noncircular Left Ventricular Outflow Tract Shapes On Estimating Aortic Stenosis Severity By Means Of Continuity Equations, Nirmanmoh Bhatia, Buddhadeb Dawn, Tariq S Siddiqui, Marcus F Stoddard

The Texas Heart Institute Journal

Determining aortic stenosis (AS) severity is clinically important. Calculating aortic valve (AV) area by means of the continuity equation assumes a circular left ventricular outflow tract (LVOT). The full impact of this assumption in calculating AV area is unknown. Predictors of noncircular LVOT shape in patients with AS are undefined.

In 109 adult patients with AS who underwent multiplanar transesophageal echocardiography, we calculated AV area by means of the standard continuity method and by a modified method involving planimetric LVOT area.

We found 54 circular, 37 horizontal-oval, 8 vertical-oval, and 10 irregular LVOTs. Area derived by direct planimetry correlated better …

Using Appreciative Inquiry To Identify Strengths In Refugee And Immigrant Families: Implication For Family And Community Assessment, Noël Bezette-Flores, Sacha Lazarre

Journal of Family Strengths

Houston is a diverse and international city. According to the U.S. Census (2000) the racial makeup of the city was 49.3% Caucasian, 25.3% African American, 5.3% Asian, Native American 5.3%, 16.5 % other and 37% Hispanic. In an effort to improve upon existing strengths within the refugee and immigrant families living in Houston communities the Office of International Communities along with the Mayor’s advisory Committee of Immigrant and refugee affairs (Advisory Committee Office of International Communities) tasked an engagement working group to explore the aspirations of the families utilizing an Appreciative Inquiry (AI) methodology with the goal of informing service …

Annual Report 2014-2015, Houston Academy Of Medicine - Texas Medical Center Library

Annual Reports: 1943 - Present

This file contains the Annual Report for the library from 2014-2015.

Ms225: 2015 Faculty Meeting Minutes, Thomas R. Cole

Thomas R. Cole, PhD Papers

Original Filename: Faculty Meeting Minutes 010715.docx. Format Details: fmt/412; Microsoft Word for Windows; 2007 onwards. See more at Thomas R. Cole, PhD Papers and its finding aid.