Digital Commons Network^™

An Examination Of Maternal Stress, Inflammatory Markers, And Preterm Labor In Pregnant Women, Cecilia Boateng

Kaleidoscope

No abstract provided.

An Ecological Analysis Of Same-Sex Domestic Violence Between Gay Men, Ericka Barbour

Kaleidoscope

No abstract provided.

Novel Role Of A Cypovirus In Polydnavirus-Parasitoid-Host Relationship, Philip Houtz

Kaleidoscope

No abstract provided.

Childhood Depression And Obesity: Role Of The Hypothalamic-Pituitary-Adrenal (Hpa) Axis Activity, Joanne Tyler

Kaleidoscope

This study examined relations between child depression and eating behavior and weight problems, including the role ofbaseline cortisol and cortisol reactivity in these relations. Data were drawn from a larger study, and included 50 children between the ages of6 and 12. Children reported on their depressive symptoms, and children and parents reported on child engagement in external eating, under-eating, over-eating, parental pressure to eat, enjoyment of food, and food and satiety responsiveness. For children exhibiting hypercortisolism, depression was associated with decreased over-eating and food responsiveness. Hypercortisolism was especially important for girls and children later in pubertal development. The reduced appetite …

Socioeconomic Challenges Of Patients With Clinical Blindness In Rural China, Yuen Aimee Chan

Kaleidoscope

Clinical blindness of 20/200 vision or greater in both eyes is rampant throughout Africa. Remarkably, most of these cases are either curable or preventable. There are 45 million blind people in the world and those who live in sub-Saharan Africa have a mortality rate four times higher than other areas worldwide [1]. Unite For Sight (UFS) is a non-profit organization that promotes eye health and reduce preventable blindness in communities worldwide. UFS has assisted over 1,000,000 patients and has provided 32,000 sight-restoring surgeries free of charge [2]. An opportunity for combination of volunteer work with research will contribute to this …

Morphological And Genetic Activation Of Microglia After Diffuse Traumatic Brain Injury In The Rat, Tuoxin Caou, Amanda M. Lisembee, Kelley D. Hall, James R. Pauly, Jonathan Lifshitz

Kaleidoscope

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) survivors experience long, term post-traumatic morbidities. In diffuse brain injured rats, a chronic sensory sensitivity to whisker stimulation models agitation in brain injury survivors and provides anatomical landmarks across the whisker-barrel circuit to evaluate traumatic neuropathology. As a consequence of TBI, acute and chronic microglial activation can contribute to degenerative and reparative events underlying post-traumatic morbidity. Here, we hypothesize that delayed microglial activation is concomitant with neuroplastic change after diffuse brain injury in the rat, by examining differential microglial activation states and neuroplasticity through gene and protein expression. Adult male, Sprague-Dawley rats were subjected to a …

College Drinking: A Call To Physicians, Shawn Sorrel, Hatim A. Omar

Pediatrics Faculty Publications

The aim of this paper was to review literature related to prevalence of drinking on college campuses and current prevention practices targeting this population. This paper focuses on current data surrounding alcohol use and misuse. It further discusses strategies which have been successful to prevent alcohol abuse. Finally, it discusses the need for further research to determine the role of the physician in alcohol prevention at university student health services.

Childhood Income Volatility And Adult Outcomes, Bradley Hardy

University of Kentucky Center for Poverty Research Discussion Paper Series

Using data linked across generations in the Panel Study of Income Dynamics, I estimate the relationship between exposure to volatile income during childhood and a set of socioeconomic outcomes in adulthood. The empirical framework is an augmented intergenerational income mobility model that includes controls for income volatility. I measure income volatility at the family level in two ways. First, instability as measured by squared deviations around a family-specific mean, and then as percent changes of 25 percent or more. Volatility enters the model both separately and interacted with income level. I find that family income instability during childhood has a …

Need For General Surgeons In Kentucky’S Communities, Willie Bates

Center of Excellence in Rural Health Presentations

Objective

Examine the distribution of general surgeons and need for them throughout Kentucky and their characteristics in terms of practice location and practice type, e.g., community-based private practice, hospital based, and contracted.

Methods

A review of policy and other research literature was conducted to determine trends in the availability of general surgeons for community hospitals and high need rural areas. Data for 2011 from the Kentucky Board of Medical Licensure was the main source for this study. Data showing the distribution of general surgeons were coded for location by county using the 2003 Rural-Urban Continuum Codes.

Results

As a state …

Patterns Of Interaction Public Health Pbrns: Insight From Network Analysis, Rachel A. Hogg, Glen P. Mays

Health Management and Policy Reports

This report presents data from a network analysis survey conducted with public health practice-based research networks (PBRNs) to examine patterns of interaction among researchers and public health practitioners who participate in the networks. These data provide a baseline for tracking the types and frequencies of interaction that occur within networks, and reveal opportunities for promoting more productive patterns of engagement in applied public health research. Over time, these types of data can reveal how and under what circumstances PBRNs facilitate the production and application of research about public health services and delivery systems. The analysis includes data on more than …

Adhd Medication: Wide Variation Across Kentucky Raises Questions, Michael T. Childress

Issue Brief on Topics Affecting Kentucky’s Economy

No abstract provided.

Hormonal Induction Of Polo-Like Kinases (Plks) And Impact Of Plk2 On Cell Cycle Progression In The Rat Ovary, Feixue Li, Misung Jo, Thomas E. Curry, Jing Liu

Obstetrics and Gynecology Faculty Publications

The highly conserved polo-like kinases (Plks) are potent regulators of multiple functions in the cell cycle before and during mitotic cell division. We investigated the expression pattern of Plk genes and their potential role(s) in the rat ovary during the periovulatory period. Plk2 and Plk3 were highly induced both in intact ovaries and granulosa cells in vivo after treatment with the luteinizing hormone (LH) agonist, human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG). In vitro, hCG stimulated the expression of Plk2 in granulosa cells, but not Plk3. This induction of Plk2 expression was mimicked by both forskolin and phorbol 12 myristate 13-acetate (PMA). Moreover, …

Analgesic Narcotics: Effects Beyond Pain Relief, Michael T. Childress

Issue Brief on Topics Affecting Kentucky’s Economy

No abstract provided.

Antipsychotics: Broadened Use Brings Concerns, Michael T. Childress

Issue Brief on Topics Affecting Kentucky’s Economy

No abstract provided.

Kentucky Medicaid Pharmaceutical Utilization Guide, 2000‐2010, Michael T. Childress

CBER Research Report

From the preface:

Understanding Medicaid pharmaceutical utilization in Kentucky is important: over $6.6 billion was expended in the state from 2000 to 2010 on outpatient medication; it has the potential to fundamentally transform the health and well‐being individuals, and by extension wider communities; and there is a continuing trend in the nonmedical use (and abuse) of prescription drugs, exacting a heavy toll on individuals, their families, and the wider community. The Kentucky Medicaid Pharmaceutical Utilization Guide, 2000‐2010 provides information on the 50 most utilized pharmaceuticals in Kentucky with respect to prescriptions, costs, and total grams—and presents this information for children …

Optimizing Cdes And Chws For Kentucky’S Rural Diabetes Belt Counties, Frances J. Feltner

Center of Excellence in Rural Health Presentations

CDC scientists have identified a diabetes belt located mostly in the southern portion of the United States. This diabetes belt consists of 644 counties in 15 states. Sixty-eight (68) of Kentucky’s 120 counties are in this diabetes belt, which requires that ≥ 11% of adults aged ≥ 20 have been diagnosed as having type 2 diabetes.

Certified Diabetes Educators (CDEs) are a major resource for health campaigns to prevent type diabetes, delay its onset, and to lessen its serious negative health outcomes. Unfortunately Kentucky has only 257 publicly listed CDEs and becoming a CDE is a long and arduous process. …

Family And Personal Adjustment Of Economically Disadvantaged Chinese Adolescents In Hong Kong, Daniel T. L. Shek, Pik Fong Tsui

Pediatrics Faculty Publications

This study attempted to examine the relationship between poverty and adolescent developmental outcomes in the family and personal domains in 3,328 Chinese secondary school students in Hong Kong. Developmental outcomes included positive youth development constructs, problem behaviors, perceived family interaction, and parental parenting. Results showed that adolescents experiencing poverty did not differ from nonpoor adolescents in terms of risk behavior and in most indicators of positive youth development. On the other hand, adolescents with economic disadvantage displayed lower levels of positive identity, family interaction, and perceived paternal parenting than did those without economic disadvantage.

Subjective Outcome Evaluation Of The Project P.A.T.H.S. In Different Cohorts Of Students, Daniel T. L. Shek, Cecilia M. S. Ma

Pediatrics Faculty Publications

The project P.A.T.H.S. is an indigenously developed positive youth development program in Hong Kong. In the extension phase (2009/2010 school year), subjective outcome evaluation data were collected from 231 schools involving 89,068 participants after completion of the curricula-based Tier 1 Program. With schools as the units of analysis, results showed that participants generally had positive perceptions of the program content and implementers, with over four-fifth of the participants regarded the program as helpful to them. There were some significant grade differences in the subjective outcome evaluation findings, although the related effect size was not strong. Multiple regression analyses revealed that …

Student Classroom Misbehavior: An Exploratory Study Based On Teachers' Perceptions, Rachel C. F. Sun, Daniel T. L. Shek

Pediatrics Faculty Publications

This study aimed to examine the conceptions of junior secondary school student misbehaviors in classroom, and to identify the most common, disruptive, and unacceptable student problem behaviors from teachers' perspective. Twelve individual interviews with teachers were conducted. A list of 17 student problem behaviors was generated. Results showed that the most common and disruptive problem behavior was talking out of turn, followed by nonattentiveness, daydreaming, and idleness. The most unacceptable problem behavior was disrespecting teachers in terms of disobedience and rudeness, followed by talking out of turn and verbal aggression. The findings revealed that teachers perceived student problem behaviors as …

Classroom Misbehavior In The Eyes Of Students: A Qualitative Study, Rachel C. F. Sun, Daniel T. L. Shek

Pediatrics Faculty Publications

Using individual interviews, this study investigated perceptions of classroom misbehaviors among secondary school students in Hong Kong (N = 18). Nineteen categories of classroom misbehaviors were identified, with talking out of turn, disrespecting teacher, and doing something in private being most frequently mentioned. Findings revealed that students tended to perceive misbehaviors as those actions inappropriate in the classroom settings and even disrupting teachers' teaching and other students' learning. Among various misbehaviors, talking out of turn and disrespecting teacher were seen as the most disruptive and unacceptable. These misbehaviors were unacceptable because they disturbed teaching and learning, and violated the values …

Postlecture Evaluation Of A Positive Youth Development Subject For University Students In Hong Kong, Daniel T. L. Shek

Pediatrics Faculty Publications

The purpose of this study was to examine the postlecture evaluation by the students taking a course (Tomorrow's Leaders) that attempted to promote their leadership qualities and intrapersonal competencies at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University in Hong Kong. Except for the last lecture, students were invited to respond to a 12-item postlecture questionnaire after each lecture. Results showed that the students had positive perceptions of the subject, class, and teacher attributes, and they had positive global evaluation of the teacher and the subject. The postlecture evaluation questionnaire was found to possess good psychometric properties. Multiple regression analyses showed that subject, …

Peripheral Nerve Injury Increases Glutamate-Evoked Calcium Mobilization In Adult Spinal Cord Neurons, Suzanne Doolen, Camille B. Blake, Bret N. Smith, Bradley K. Taylor

Physiology Faculty Publications

BACKGROUND: Central sensitization in the spinal cord requires glutamate receptor activation and intracellular Ca2+ mobilization. We used Fura-2 AM bulk loading of mouse slices together with wide-field Ca2+ imaging to measure glutamate-evoked increases in extracellular Ca2+ to test the hypotheses that: 1. Exogenous application of glutamate causes Ca2+ mobilization in a preponderance of dorsal horn neurons within spinal cord slices taken from adult mice; 2. Glutamate-evoked Ca2+ mobilization is associated with spontaneous and/or evoked action potentials; 3. Glutamate acts at glutamate receptor subtypes to evoked Ca2+ transients; and 4. The magnitude of glutamate-evoked Ca2+ responses increases in the setting of …

Modeling Of Pharmacokinetics Of Cocaine In Human Reveals The Feasibility For Development Of Enzyme Therapies For Drugs Of Abuse, Fang Zheng, Chang-Guo Zhan

Pharmaceutical Sciences Faculty Publications

A promising strategy for drug abuse treatment is to accelerate the drug metabolism by administration of a drug-metabolizing enzyme. The question is how effectively an enzyme can actually prevent the drug from entering brain and producing physiological effects. In the present study, we have developed a pharmacokinetic model through a combined use of in vitro kinetic parameters and positron emission tomography data in human to examine the effects of a cocaine-metabolizing enzyme in plasma on the time course of cocaine in plasma and brain of human. Without an exogenous enzyme, cocaine half-lives in both brain and plasma are almost linearly …

Brain Microvascular Endothelial Cell Association And Distribution Of A 5 Nm Ceria Engineered Nanomaterial, Mo Dan, Michael T. Tseng, Peng Wu, Jason M. Unrine, Eric A. Grulke, Robert A. Yokel

Pharmaceutical Sciences Faculty Publications

PURPOSE: Ceria engineered nanomaterials (ENMs) have current commercial applications and both neuroprotective and toxic effects. Our hypothesis is that ceria ENMs can associate with brain capillary cells and/or cross the blood-brain barrier.

METHODS: An aqueous dispersion of ∼5 nm ceria ENM was synthesized and characterized in house. Its uptake space in the Sprague Dawley rat brain was determined using the in situ brain perfusion technique at 15 and 20 mL/minute flow rates; 30, 100, and 500 μg/mL ceria perfused for 120 seconds at 20 mL/minute; and 30 μg/mL perfused for 20, 60, and 120 seconds at 20 mL/minute. The capillary …

Development Of One-Step Taqman® Real-Time Reverse Transcription-Pcr And Conventional Reverse Transcription-Pcr Assays For The Detection Of Equine Rhinitis A And B Viruses, Zhengchun Lu, Peter J. Timoney, Jena White, Udeni B R Balasuriya

Veterinary Science Faculty Publications

BACKGROUND: Equine rhinitis viruses A and B (ERAV and ERBV) are common equine respiratory viruses belonging to the family Picornaviridae. Sero-surveillance studies have shown that these two viral infections are prevalent in many countries. Currently, the diagnosis of ERAV and ERBV infections in horses is mainly based on virus isolation (VI). However, the sensitivity of VI testing varies between laboratories due to inefficient viral growth in cell culture and lack of cytopathic effect. Therefore, the objective of this study was to develop molecular diagnostic assays (real-time RT-PCR [rRT-PCR] and conventional RT-PCR [cRT-PCR] assays) to detect and distinguish ERAV from ERBV …

Early Stage Drug Treatment That Normalizes Proinflammatory Cytokine Production Attenuates Synaptic Dysfunction In A Mouse Model That Exhibits Age-Dependent Progression Of Alzheimer's Disease-Related Pathology, Adam D. Bachstetter, Christopher M. Norris, Pradoldej Sompol, Donna M. Wilcock, Danielle Goulding, Janna H. Neltner, Daret St. Clair, D. Martin Watterson, Linda J. Van Eldik

Sanders-Brown Center on Aging Faculty Publications

Overproduction of proinflammatory cytokines in the CNS has been implicated as a key contributor to pathophysiology progression in Alzheimer's disease (AD), and extensive studies with animal models have shown that selective suppression of excessive glial proinflammatory cytokines can improve neurologic outcomes. The prior art, therefore, raises the logical postulation that intervention with drugs targeting dysregulated glial proinflammatory cytokine production might be effective disease-modifying therapeutics if used in the appropriate biological time window. To test the hypothesis that early stage intervention with such drugs might be therapeutically beneficial, we examined the impact of intervention with MW01-2-151SRM (MW-151), an experimental therapeutic that …

The Use Of Social Media For Academic Practice: A Review Of Literature, Retta Guy

Kentucky Journal of Higher Education Policy and Practice

Social media has become extremely popular among college students. It is estimated that several million students across the globe use these resources for personal interactions on a daily basis. As Web-based technologies are designed to support the social architecture of a community, educators and researchers are exploring the integration of social media in education. As scholars explore these new online communities, it is necessary to examine the use of social media tools by students of color, a segment of the population that has historically experienced inequalities associated with the use of and access to technology. The current literature review reports …

Academics-Athletics Forums: An Initiative To Improve Communication And Understanding Across The University, Joseph L. Fink Iii

Kentucky Journal of Higher Education Policy and Practice

Conception, evolution and implementation of a series of informal sessions to enhance communication and understanding across the institution is described. Format and content are described and evaluation tabulations are presented. Suggestions for consideration by others considering implementing such a series are presented.

Technology In The Classroom: A Deweyan Perspective, Heather E. Davis

Kentucky Journal of Higher Education Policy and Practice

Approximately one hundred years ago, John Dewey responded to societal changes brought about by the Industrial Revolution by writing a philosophy of education that encouraged experiential learning. Like the Industrial Revolution, the Information Revolution has created similar need for an adjusted philosophy of education. This article explores the educational and pedagogical issues created by the Information Revolution through a Deweyan lens.

Making The Case For Public Health: Estimating Roi And Value, Glen P. Mays

Health Management and Policy Presentations

This presentation describes recent progress and new directions for estimating the value of public health strategies and infrastructure.