Digital Commons Network^™

Quantitation Of Contacts Among Sensory, Motor, And Serotonergic Neurons In The Pedal Ganglion Of Aplysia, Han Zhang, Marcy Wainwright, John H. Byrne, Leonard J. Cleary

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Present models of long-term sensitization in Aplysia californica indicate that the enhanced behavioral response is due, at least in part, to outgrowth of sensory neurons mediating defensive withdrawal reflexes. Presumably, this outgrowth strengthens pre-existing connections by formation of new synapses with follower neurons. However, the relationship between the number of sensorimotor contacts and the physiological strength of the connection has never been examined in intact ganglia. As a first step in addressing this issue, we used confocal microscopy to examine sites of contact between sensory and motor neurons in naive animals. Our results revealed relatively few contacts between physiologically connected …

Genetic Polymorphisms Of The Interleukin-1 Gene And Early Marginal Bone Loss Around Endosseous Dental Implants, Hitomi Shimpuku, Yasuhiro Nosaka, Tatsuya Kawamura, Yoichi Tachi, Mitsuko Shinohara, Kiyoshi Ohura

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Dental implant surgery commonly proceeds in two stages. It is generally accepted that bone loss around implants does not occur at stage-II surgery because implants do not receive mechanical loading. However, early marginal bone loss around implants occasionally does occur during the healing period. Genetic polymorphisms in the interleukin-1 (IL-1) gene have been reported to be important for bone homeostasis and susceptibility to bone disease. We therefore investigated whether the idiopathic early marginal bone loss around implants is related to polymorphisms in the IL-1 gene. We performed a case-control study. Patients demonstrating marginal bone loss around implants at stage-II surgery …

Gsbs News, Summer 2003, Graduate School Of Biomedical Sciences, University Of Texas Health Science Center At Houston/M.D. Anderson Cancer Center

GSBS News

No abstract provided.

Residency Program At Michael E Debakey Department Of Surgery, Baylor College Of Medicine, F Charles Brunicardi

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

No abstract provided.

Advances In Teaching & Learning Day Abstracts 2003, Cynthia L. Phelps

Advances in Teaching and Learning Day Abstracts

Proceedings of the Advances in Teaching & Learning Day Regional Conference held at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston in 2003.

The Association Of Academic Health Sciences Libraries Annual Statistics: A Thematic History, James Shedlock, Gary D. Byrd

Library Press and Events

No abstract provided.

Gene Therapy For Pediatric Cancer: State Of The Art And Future Perspectives, Ettore Biagi, Catherine Bollard, Raphael Rousseau, Malcolm Brenner

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

While modern treatments have led to a dramatic improvement in survival for pediatric malignancy, toxicities are high and a significant proportion of patients remain resistant. Gene transfer offers the prospect of highly specific therapies for childhood cancer. "Corrective" genes may be transferred to overcome the genetic abnormalities present in the precancerous cell. Alternatively, genes can be introduced to render the malignant cell sensitive to therapeutic drugs. The tumor can also be attacked by decreasing its blood supply with genes that inhibit vascular growth. Another possible approach is to modify normal tissues with genes that make them more resistant to conventional …

Library Electronic Kiosk, Vol.16 (1) January - February 2003, Houston Academy Of Medicine-Texas Medical Center Library

Library Lines (1998-2009)

No abstract provided.

A Renewed Day For Family Preservation, Alvin Sallee

Journal of Family Strengths

The philosophy and principles of family preservation have emerged in new forms over the past eight years. From the Family Preservation and Support Act of 1993 to the Adoption and Safe Families Act (ASFA) of today, the value of the family to individuals and society is clear. While family preservation "programs" per se may not be as plentiful, the principals are founding almost every array of services from children, corrections, D.D. to mental health and work with the elderly. The Administration's priorities of healthy marriage, fatherhood, incarcerated parents, and faith-based programs reflect a family-centered approach to social issues. This redefining …

Targeting Special Populations For Family Preservation: The Influence Of Worker Competence And Organizational Culture, Ramona W. Denby, Keith A. Alford, Carla M. Curtis

Journal of Family Strengths

Today there are approximately 581,000 children in the United States foster care system. Children of color, one special population group, are disproportionately represented in the foster care system. Family preservation, a program that aims to improve family functioning and thus decrease the need for foster care, has been examined closely. Some researchers believe that family preservation programs have failed partly due to practitioners' inability to target appropriate families (Feldman, 1990; Schuerman, Rzepnicki & Littell, 1994). Additionally, research confirms that children of color are not the target of family preservation services (Denby, Curtis, & Alford, 1998). Improvements in the effectiveness of …

Front Matter

Journal of Family Strengths

Table of Contents, Editorial Board, General Information

State Of The Library Report 2002-2003, Houston Academy Of Medicine-Texas Medical Center Library

Annual Reports: 1943 - Present

This file contains the State of the Library Report for the library from 2002-2003.

Ham-Tmc Facts And Figures 2002-2003, Houston Academy Of Medicine-Texas Medical Center Library

Library Statistics

No abstract provided.

Family Preservation Journal, 2003, Volume 7. (Entire Issue)

Journal of Family Strengths

Entire issue (large pdf file)

Articles include:

• Social Workers' Perceptions of Family Preservation Programs. Elaine M Maccio, David Skiba, Howard J Doueck, Karen A. Randolph, Elisabeth A. Weston, and Lorie E. Anderson
• Targeting Special Populations for Family Preservation: The Influence of Worker Competence and Organizational Culture. Ramona W: Denby, Keith A. Alford, and Carla M Curtis
• Understanding and Fostering Family Resilience. Robert G. Blair
• Walking Our Talk in the Neighborhoods: Building Professional/Natural Helper Partnerships. Jill Kinney and Margaret Trent
• Intersystem Collaboration: A Statewide Initiative to Support Families. Elizabeth M Tracy, David E. Biegel, Ann C. Rebeck, and Jeffrey A. Johnsen

Walking Our Talk In The Neighborhoods: Building Professional/Natural Helper Partnerships, Jill Kinney, Margaret Trent

Journal of Family Strengths

This article describes our efforts in Tacoma, Washington, to establish professional and natural helper partnerships to work with families involved in the child protective service system. It uses our experiences to describe the ways that natural helpers and professionals can help one another in getting better results for families.

Intersystem Collaboration: A Statewide Initiative To Support Families, Elizabeth M. Tracy, David E. Beigel, Ann C. Rebeck, Jeffrey A. Johnsen

Journal of Family Strengths

The study described in this paper utilized a qualitative case study method to assess the processes involved in inter-system collaboration in the context of one state's system change initiative. The collaborative experience is described from the perspective of participating service system professionals and family members. The major themes of collaboration that emerged from the study included changes in communication across systems, changes in inter-system relationships, changes in attitudes, changes in interactions with families, and changes in the ways services are delivered. Lessons learned and practice implications of each theme are discussed.

Social Workers' Perceptions Of Family Preservation Programs, Elain M. Maccio, David Skiba, Howard J. Doueck, Karen A. Randolph, Elisabeth A. Weston, Lorie E. Anderson

Journal of Family Strengths

The passage of the Adoptions and Safe Families Act of 1997, with its focus on child safety and concurrent planning, has presented family preservation workers with new challenges and new opportunities. Twenty volunteers from a large comprehensive social service agency were interviewed to determine their experiences with two models of family preservation—Multisystemic Therapy (MST) and Traditional Family Preservation Service (TFPS) or practice as usual. Workers from both programs were able to articulate values consistent with family preservation as important strengths of the programs— keeping families together and empowering families for example. Information from referring agencies was described as variable and …

Understanding And Fostering Family Resilience, Robert G. Blair

Journal of Family Strengths

This paper examines a model of resilience and provides a fictional case example from the classical musical, Fiddler on the Roof along with a discussion of how this model may be helpful in assisting families at various levels of functioning to bounce back and perhaps even experience growth through facing difficult challenges.

Family Preservation Conference Participants And The Internet: Opinions About On-Line Continuing Education, Timothy Barnett-Queen

Journal of Family Strengths

Development of distance and distributed learning continuing education (CE) opportunities for human services workers requires existence of such CE offerings, participant access to the Internet, knowledge of the Internet's use, and willingness to enroll in such programs. A survey of human services professionals who attended the Family Preservation Annual Conferences in 2000 (N = 230) and 2002 (N - 197) revealed that 92% (n = 206) of 2000 survey participants and 98% (192) of 2002 survey participants have used the Internet, while 76% of 2000 and 56% of 2002 respondents reported no formal training in the use of the Internet …

Effects Of Information Display On The Construction Of Clinician Mental Models, Constance M. Johnson

Dissertations and Theses (Open Access)

Objective: To determine how a clinician’s background knowledge, their tasks, and displays of information interact to affect the clinician’s mental model. Design: Repeated Measure Nested Experimental Design Population, Sample, Setting: Populations were gastrointestinal/internal medicine physicians and nurses within the greater Houston area. A purposeful sample of 24 physicians and 24 nurses were studied in 2003. Methods: Subjects were randomized to two different displays of two different mock medical records; one that contained highlighted patient information and one that contained non-highlighted patient information. They were asked to read and summarize their understanding of the patients aloud. Propositional analysis was used to …

A Process For Achieving Comparable Data From Heterogeneous Databases, Rachel L. Richesson

Dissertations and Theses (Open Access)

The current state of health and biomedicine includes an enormity of heterogeneous data ‘silos’, collected for different purposes and represented differently, that are presently impossible to share or analyze in toto. The greatest challenge for large-scale and meaningful analyses of health-related data is to achieve a uniform data representation for data extracted from heterogeneous source representations. Based upon an analysis and categorization of heterogeneities, a process for achieving comparable data content by using a uniform terminological representation is developed. This process addresses the types of representational heterogeneities that commonly arise in healthcare data integration problems. Specifically, this process uses a …

Ic079: Headlines Newsletters, Vol. 6, Nos. 2-5, March 2003-February 2004, John P. Mcgovern Museum Of Health And Medical Science

Museum Publications (1998-2009)

McGovern Museum of Health and Medical Science March-May 2003 bulletin, September-November 2003 and December 2003-February 2004 featuring news and information on upcoming museum events, exhibits, and programs.

Rigorously Assessing Whether The Data Backs The Back School, David T. Vinh, Craig W. Johnson, Cynthia L. Phelps

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

A rigorous between-subjects methodology employing independent random samples and having broad clinical applicability was designed and implemented to evaluate the effectiveness of back safety and patient transfer training interventions for both hospital nurses and nursing assistants. Effects upon self-efficacy, cognitive, and affective measures are assessed for each of three back safety procedures. The design solves the problem of obtaining randomly assigned independent controls where all experimental subjects must participate in the training interventions.

Randomized Comparisons Among Health Informatics Students Identify Hypertutorial Features As Improving Web-Based Instruction, Craig W. Johnson, Yan Xing, Lan Yang

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Hypertutorials optimize five features - presentation, learner control, practice, feedback, and elaborative learning resources. Previous research showed graduate students significantly and overwhelmingly preferred Web-based hypertutorials to conventional "Book-on-the-Web" statistics or research design lessons. The current report shows that the source of hypertutorials' superiority in student evaluations of instruction lies in their hypertutorial features. Randomized comparisons between the two methodologies were conducted in two successive iterations of a graduate level health informatics research design and evaluation course. The two versions contained the same text and graphics, but differed in the presence or absence of hypertutorial features: Elaborative learning resources, practice, feedback, …

An Extended Hierarchical Task Analysis For Error Prediction In Medical Devices, Phillip H. Chung, Jiajie Zhang, Todd R. Johnson, Vimla L. Patel

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

This paper introduces an extended hierarchical task analysis (HTA) methodology devised to evaluate and compare user interfaces on volumetric infusion pumps. The pumps were studied along the dimensions of overall usability and propensity for generating human error. With HTA as our framework, we analyzed six pumps on a variety of common tasks using Norman’s Action theory. The introduced method of evaluation divides the problem space between the external world of the device interface and the user’s internal cognitive world, allowing for predictions of potential user errors at the human-device level. In this paper, one detailed analysis is provided as an …

Family Connectedness And Sexual Risk-Taking Among Urban Youth Attending Alternative High Schools, Christine M Markham, Susan R Tortolero, S Liliana Escobar-Chaves, Guy S Parcel, Ronald Harrist, Robert C Addy

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

CONTEXT: Youth in alternative high schools engage in risky sexual behavior at higher rates than do their peers in regular schools, placing themselves at an increased risk of sexually transmitted disease and unintended pregnancy. Family connectedness is associated with reduced adolescent sexual risk-taking, although this association has not been tested among alternative school youth.

METHODS: A sample of 976 urban, predominantly minority alternative high school students in Houston, Texas, were surveyed in 2000-2002. Survey data were analyzed using logistic regression to determine whether family connectedness is related to sexual risk-taking.

RESULTS: Overall, 68% of students reported ever having had sex. …

Encouraging Adolescents Toward Mental Health Careers Via Website Biographies, Irmi U. Willcockson, Prabhu R. Shankar, Cynthia L. Phelps, Craig W. Johnson

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

This project designed, developed, implemented and is currently evaluating the effectiveness of an interactive, multi-media website designed to encourage adolescents to consider careers in mental health. This Web-based learning environment features biographies of mental health scientists. Evaluation is conducted in a systematic, structured way using cognitive achievement, usability (ease of use), and affective scales (e.g., fun to use) as outcome measures

The Physician's Perception Of Medical Error And Its Application To The Development Of An Educational Training Tool, Johnny E. Bates, Cynthia Phelps, Craig W. Johnson

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

It is becoming clear that if we are to impact the rate of medical errors it will have to be done at the practicing physician level. The purpose of this project was to survey the attitude of physicians in Alabama concerning their perception of medical error, and to obtain their thoughts and desires for medical education in the area of medical errors. The information will be used in the development of a physician education program.

The Extended Family: Reviewing An Invaluable Resource, Elaine Walton, Jini Roby, Richard Sullivan, Amy Frandsen

Journal of Family Strengths

During the last two decades, the extended family has been rediscovered as a viable and meaningful resource for nurturing and protecting children. The purpose of this article is to provide an historical context for involving the extended family in child welfare cases and to identify key factors influencing that involvement.

A Reduced Model Clarifies The Role Of Feedback Loops And Time Delays In The Drosophila Circadian Oscillator, Paul Smolen, Douglas A. Baxter, John H. Byrne

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Although several detailed models of molecular processes essential for circadian oscillations have been developed, their complexity makes intuitive understanding of the oscillation mechanism difficult. The goal of the present study was to reduce a previously developed, detailed model to a minimal representation of the transcriptional regulation essential for circadian rhythmicity in Drosophila. The reduced model contains only two differential equations, each with time delays. A negative feedback loop is included, in which PER protein represses per transcription by binding the dCLOCK transcription factor. A positive feedback loop is also included, in which dCLOCK indirectly enhances its own formation. The model …