Digital Commons Network^™

Underuse And Potential Detrimental Effect Of Radiotherapy In The Management Of Ureteral Cancer, Reza Nabavizadeh, Mashya Abbassi, Emma C. Fields Md

MD Student Summer Research Fellowship Program Posters

Ureteral cancer is extremely rare, with only 3530 cases predicted in 2016. Therefore, published studies on ureteral cancers are limited to single-institution retrospective studies, which have not elucidated a clear recommendation on the best treatment modality. Large cancer databases such as the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results program (SEER) are ideal for providing data for these rare cancers. Epidemiological studies using the SEER database with large sample sizes (13,800) found rising incidence of ureteral cancer over the past 30 years with worsened outcomes in older patients, males, and patients with regional/distant spread. However, to date, these studies have not used …

Can Plan Recommendations Improve The Coverage Decisions Of Vulnerable Populations In Health Insurance Marketplaces?, Andrew J. Barnes, Yaniv Hanoch, Thomas Rice

Health Administration Publications

Objective

The Affordable Care Act’s marketplaces present an important opportunity for expanding coverage but consumers face enormous challenges in navigating through enrollment and re-enrollment. We tested the effectiveness of a behaviorally informed policy tool—plan recommendations—in improving marketplace decisions.

Study Setting

Data were gathered from a community sample of 656 lower-income, minority, rural residents of Virginia.

Study Design

We conducted an incentive-compatible, computer-based experiment using a hypothetical marketplace like the one consumers face in the federally-facilitated marketplaces, and examined their decision quality. Participants were randomly assigned to a control condition or three types of plan recommendations: social normative, physician, and government. …

Accountable Care Organizations And Transaction Cost Economics, Stephen S. Farnsworth Mick, Patrick D. Shay

Health Administration Publications

Using a Transaction Cost Economics (TCE) approach, this paper explores which organizational forms Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) may take. A critical question about form is the amount of vertical integration that an ACO may have, a topic central to TCE. We posit that contextual factors outside and inside an ACO will produce variable transaction costs (the non-production costs of care) such that the decision to integrate vertically will derive from a comparison of these external versus internal costs, assuming reasonably rational management abilities. External costs include those arising from environmental uncertainty and complexity, small numbers bargaining, asset specificity, frequency of …

An Analysis Of Particulate Matter In Central Virginia, Elizabeth Garrett, Arif Sikder

Rice Rivers Center Research Symposium

Virginia is consistently rated as a state with high rates of asthma (Asthma and Allergy Foundation 2014). Although this respiratory disease has many causes, certain air pollutants can be a trigger. The EPA currently identifies, monitors, and regulates seven types of air pollutants. One of these pollutants, particulate matter, can occur both naturally and culturally. The primary anthropogenic cause of particulate matter is fly ash, which is formed during fossil fuel combustion. Different technology installed in the power plant can capture some of the fly ash but these methods are not entirely effective.

This study focused on estimating the ratio …

International Health Workers Spend Year At Vcu, Vanessa Gleiser

The Scope

Samuel Hanu, a psychiatric nurse from Ghana, is among a dozen health professionals from throughout the world spending the year at VCU as part of the Hubert H. Humphrey Fellowship Program. He is researching how the United States treats substance abuse and mental illness.

Exploring Links Between Diabetes And Depression, Kirby Farineau

The Scope

Some people may think mental health and physical health are completely unrelated, but in fact, they are closely linked, says Dr. Briana Mezuk, a researcher and professor at VCU. She recently received a grant from the C. Kenneth and Dianne Wright Center for Clinical and Translational Research at VCU to study the relationship between diabetes and depression.

Time-Course Analysis Of Brain Regional Expression Network Responses To Chronic Intermittent Ethanol And Withdrawal: Implications For Mechanisms Underlying Excessive Ethanol Consumption, Maren L. Smith, Marcelo F. Lopez, Kellie Archer, Aaron R. Wolen, Howard C. Becker, Michael F. Miles

Pharmacology and Toxicology Publications

Long lasting abusive consumption, dependence, and withdrawal are characteristic features of alcohol use disorders (AUD). Mechanistically, persistent changes in gene expression are hypothesized to contribute to brain adaptations leading to ethanol toxicity and AUD. We employed repeated chronic intermittent ethanol (CIE) exposure by vapor chamber as a mouse model to simulate the cycles of ethanol exposure and withdrawal commonly seen with AUD. This model has been shown to induce progressive ethanol consumption in rodents. Brain CIE-responsive expression networks were identified by microarray analysis across five regions of the mesolimbic dopamine system and extended amygdala with tissue harvested from 0-hours to …

Decreased Interleukin-4 Release From The Neurons Of The Locus Coeruleus In Response To Immobilization Stress, Hyun-Ju Lee, Hyun-Jung Park, Angela Starkweather, Kyungeh An, Insop Shim

School of Nursing Publications

It has been demonstrated that immobilization (IMO) stress affects neuroimmune systems followed by alterations of physiology and behavior. Interleukin-4 (IL-4), an anti-inflammatory cytokine, is known to regulate inflammation caused by immune challenge but the effect of IMO on modulation of IL-4 expression in the brain has not been assessed yet. Here, it was demonstrated that IL-4 was produced by noradrenergic neurons in the locus coeruleus (LC) of the brain and release of IL-4 was reduced in response to IMO. It was observed that IMO groups were more anxious than nontreated groups. Acute IMO (2 h/day, once) stimulated secretion of plasma …

Wses Classification And Guidelines For Liver Trauma, Federico Coccolini, Fausto Catena, Ernest E. Moore, Rao Ivatury, Walter Biffl, Andrew Peitzman, Raul Coimbra, Sandro Rizoli, Yoram Kluger, Fikri M. Abu-Zidan, Marco Ceresoli, Giulia Montori, Massimo Sartelli, Dieter Weber, Gustavo Fraga, Noel Naidoo, Frederick A. Moore, Nicola Zanini, Luca Ansaloni

Surgery Publications

The severity of liver injuries has been universally classified according to the American Association for the Surgery of Trauma (AAST) grading scale. In determining the optimal treatment strategy, however, the haemodynamic status and associated injuries should be considered. Thus the management of liver trauma is ultimately based on the anatomy of the injury and the physiology of the patient. This paper presents the World Society of Emergency Surgery (WSES) classification of liver trauma and the management Guidelines.

Wses Guidelines For The Management Of Acute Left Sided Colonic Diverticulitis In The Emergency Setting, Massimo Sartelli, Fausto Catena, Luca Ansaloni, Federico Coccolini, Ewen A. Griffiths, Fikri M. Abu-Zidan, Salomone Di Saverio, Jan Ulrych, Yoram Kluger, Ofir Ben-Ishay, Frederick A. Moore, Rao R. Ivatury, Raul Coimbra, Andrew B. Peitzman, Ari Leppaniemi, Gustavo P. Fraga, Ronald V. Maier, Osvaldo Chiara, Jeffry Kashuk, Boris Sakakushev, Dieter G. Weber, Rifat Latifi, Walter Biffl, Miklosh Bala, Aleksandar Karamarkovic, Kenji Inaba, Carlos A. Ordonez, Andreas Hecker, Goran Augustin, Zaza Demetrashvili, Renato Bessa Melo, Sanjay Marwah, Sanoop K. Zachariah, Vishal G. Shelat, Michael Mcfarlane, Miran Rems, Carlos Augusto Gomes, Mario Paulo Faro, Gerson Alves Pereira Júnior, Ionut Negoi, Yunfeng Cui, Norio Sato, Andras Vereczkei, Giovanni Bellanova, Arianna Birindelli, Isidoro Di Carlo, Kenneth Y. Kok, Mahir Gachabayov, Georgios Gkiokas, Konstantinos Bouliaris, Elif Çolak, Arda Isik, Daniel Rios-Cruz, Rodolfo Soto, Ernest E. Moore

Surgery Publications

Acute left sided colonic diverticulitis is one of the most common clinical conditions encountered by surgeons in acute setting. A World Society of Emergency Surgery (WSES) Consensus Conference on acute diverticulitis was held during the 3rd World Congress of the WSES in Jerusalem, Israel, on July 7th, 2015. During this consensus conference the guidelines for the management of acute left sided colonic diverticulitis in the emergency setting were presented and discussed. This document represents the executive summary of the final guidelines approved by the consensus conference.

Wses Jerusalem Guidelines For Diagnosis And Treatment Of Acute Appendicitis, Salomone Di Saverio, Arianna Birindelli, Micheal D. Kelly, Fausto Catena, Dieter G. Weber, Massimo Sartelli, Michael Sugrue, Mark De Moya, Carlos Augusto Gomes, Aneel Bhangu, Ferdinando Agresta, Ernest E. Moore, Kjetil Soreide, Ewen Griffiths, Steve De Castro, Jeffry Kashuk, Yoram Kluger, Ari Leppaniemi, Luca Ansaloni, Manne Andersson, Federico Coccolini, Raul Coimbra, Kurinchi S. Gurusamy, Fabio Cesare Campanile, Walter Biffl, Osvaldo Chiara, Fred Moore, Andrew B. Peitzman, Gustavo P. Fraga, David Costa, Ronald V. Maier, Sandro Rizoli, Zsolt J. Balogh, Cino Bendinelli, Roberto Cirocchi, Valeria Tonini, Alice Piccinini, Gregorio Tugnoli, Elio Jovine, Roberto Persiani, Antonio Biondi, Thomas Scalea, Philip Stahel, Rao Ivatury, George Velmahos, Roland Andersson

Surgery Publications

Acute appendicitis (AA) is among the most common cause of acute abdominal pain. Diagnosis of AA is challenging; a variable combination of clinical signs and symptoms has been used together with laboratory findings in several scoring systems proposed for suggesting the probability of AA and the possible subsequent management pathway. The role of imaging in the diagnosis of AA is still debated, with variable use of US, CT and MRI in different settings worldwide. Up to date, comprehensive clinical guidelines for diagnosis and management of AA have never been issued. In July 2015, during the 3rd World Congress of the …

Role Of Tissue And Systemic Hypoxia In Obesity And Type 2 Diabetes, Lei Xi, Chin-Moi Chow, Xingxing Kong

Internal Medicine Publications

Human lifestyle in most modern and developing societies has dramatically changed over past decades. Physical inactivity along with unrestricted access to calorie dense foods has established an “obesogenic” environment and contributed to a serious epidemic of obesity and type 2 diabetes (T2D), associated with increased morbidity and mortality. In 2005 a population-based study conducted by Reichmuth et al. of University of Wisconsin with a cross-sectional and longitudinal analysis identified that among 1387 participants the odds ratio for T2D with an apnea-hypopnea index (AHI) > 15 versus an AHI < 5 was 2.30 (1.28–4.11; p < 0.01) after adjustment for age, sex, and body habitus. Therefore it has been assumed that intermittent hypoxic periods associated with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) may play a pathogenic role in inducing insulin resistance and T2D. At organ/tissue levels, in 2007–2009 Ye and colleagues first proposed a central role played by adipose tissue hypoxia resulting from adipocyte expansion in promoting chronic inflammation, adiponectin reduction, adipocyte dysfunction, and death in obese individuals. This group of researchers later identified the mediator roles played by hypoxia inducible factor 1α (HIF-1α) and other hypoxia-triggered signaling mechanisms that may promote free fatty acid release and inhibit glucose uptake in adipocytes by inhibition of the insulin-signaling pathway and induction of cell death.

Development And Pilot Of A Checklist For Management Of Acute Liver Failure In The Intensive Care Unit, Oren K. Fix, Iris Liou, Constantine J. Karvellas, Daniel R. Ganger, Kinberly A. Forde, Ram M. Subramanian, Alice Boylan, James Hanje, R. Todd Stravitz, William M. Lee, Acute Liver Failure Study Group

Internal Medicine Publications

Introduction

Acute liver failure (ALF) is an ideal condition for use of a checklist. Our aims were to develop a checklist for the management of ALF in the intensive care unit (ICU) and assess the usability of the checklist among multiple providers.

Methods

The initial checklist was developed from published guidelines and expert opinion. The checklist underwent pilot testing at 11 academic liver transplant centers in the US and Canada. An anonymous, written survey was used to assess the usability and quality of the checklist. Written comments were used to improve the checklist following the pilot testing period.

Results

We …

Intravenous Vitamin C Administered As Adjunctive Therapy For Recurrent Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome, Amit Bharara, Catherine Grossman, Daniel Grinnan, Aamer Syed, Bernard Fisher, Christine Dewilde, Ramesh Natarajan, Alpha A. (Berry) Fowler

Internal Medicine Publications

This case report summarizes the first use of intravenous vitamin C employed as an adjunctive interventional agent in the therapy of recurrent acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). The two episodes of ARDS occurred in a young female patient with Cronkhite-Canada syndrome, a rare, sporadically occurring, noninherited disorder that is characterized by extensive gastrointestinal polyposis and malabsorption. Prior to the episodes of sepsis, the patient was receiving nutrition via chronic hyperalimentation administered through a long-standing central venous catheter. The patient became recurrently septic with Gram positive cocci which led to two instances of ARDS. This report describes the broad-based general critical …

Regulation Of Reactive Oxygen Species And The Antioxidant Protein Dj-1 In Mastocytosis, Do-Kyun Kim, Michael A. Beaven, Joseph M. Kulinski, Avanti Desai, Geethani Bandara, Yun Bai, Calman Prussin, Lawrence B. Schwartz, Hirsh Komarow, Dean D. Metcalfe, Ana Olivera

Internal Medicine Publications

Neoplastic accumulation of mast cells in systemic mastocytosis (SM) associates with activating mutations in the receptor tyrosine kinase KIT. Constitutive activation of tyrosine kinase oncogenes has been linked to imbalances in oxidant/antioxidant mechanisms in other myeloproliferative disorders. However, the impact of KIT mutations on the redox status in SM and the potential therapeutic implications are not well understood. Here, we examined the regulation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and of the antioxidant protein DJ-1 (PARK-7), which increases with cancer progression and acts to lessen oxidative damage to malignant cells, in relationship with SM severity. ROS levels were increased in both …

Mitochondrial Membrane Permeability Inhibitors In Acute Myocardial Infarction Still Awaiting Translation, Cory Trankle, Clinton J. Thurber, Stefano Toldo, Antonio Abbate

Internal Medicine Publications

Despite therapeutic advances, acute myocardial infarction (AMI) remains a leading cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. One potential limitation of the current treatment paradigm is the lack of effective therapies to optimize reperfusion after ischemia and prevent reperfusion-mediated injury. Experimental studies indicate that this process accounts for up to 50% of the final infarct size, lending it importance as a potential target for cardioprotection. However, multiple therapeutic approaches have shown potential in pre-clinical and early phase trials but a paucity of clear clinical benefit when expanded to larger studies. Here we explore this history of trials and errors of the …

Donor Ifnl4 Genotype Is Associated With Early Post-Transplant Fibrosis In Recipients With Hepatitis C, Taylor Aiken, Ari Garber, Dawn Thomas, Nicole Hamon, Rocio Lopez, Rajesh Konjeti, Arthur Mccullough, Nizar Zein, John Fung, Medhat Askar, Binu V. John

Internal Medicine Publications

Background and Aims

Early post-transplant hepatic fibrosis is associated with poor outcomes and may be influenced by donor/recipient genetic factors. The rs368234815 IFNL4 polymorphism is related to the previously described IL28B polymorphism, which predicts etiology-independent hepatic fibrosis. The aim of this study was to identify the impact of donor and/or recipient IFNL4 genotype on early fibrosis among patients transplanted for hepatitis C (HCV).

Methods

Clinical data were collected for 302 consecutive patients transplanted for HCV. 116 patients who had available liver biopsies and donor/recipient DNA were included. 28% of these patients with stage 2 fibrosis or greater were compared to …

Increased Pleiotrophin Concentrations In Papillary Thyroid Cancer, Youn Hee Jee, Samira M. Sadowsk, Francesco S. Celi, Liqiang Xi, Mark Raffeld, David B. Sacks, Alan T. Remaley, Anton Wellstein, Electron Kebebew, Jeffrey Baron

Internal Medicine Publications

Background Thyroid nodules are common, and approximately 5% of these nodules are malignant. Pleiotrophin (PTN) is a heparin-binding growth factor which is overexpressed in many cancers. The expression of PTN in papillary thyroid cancer (PTC) is unknown. Method and Findings 74 subjects (age 47 ± 12 y, 15 males) who had thyroidectomy with a histological diagnosis: 79 benign nodules and 23 PTCs (10 classic, 6 tall cell, 6 follicular variant and 1 undetermined). Fine-needle aspiration (FNA) samples were obtained ex vivo from surgically excised tissue and assayed for PTN and thyroglobulin (Tg). Immunohistochemistry (IHC) was performed on tissue sections. In …

Day 1 - Research Collaborations Outside Home Institution, Tara Albrecht

Ready, Set, Grant! Presentations

In the increasingly competitive world of grant funding, strategic collaborations can take your grant to a new level. Enjoy a discussion with a panel of research teams and learn how they established and maintain interdisciplinary research collaborations. Also, panel members will discuss the benefits and challenges of research collaborations and what to expect from such collaborations.

Suzanne Mazzeo, Professor, Department of Psychology and Brian Cassel, Director, Analytic Services, Massey Cancer Center

Amanda Dickinson, Assistant Professor, Department of Biology and Daniel Conway, Assistant Professor, Department of Biomedical Engineering

Tara Albrecht, Assistant Professor, Department of Adult Health and Nursing Systems

Day 2 - Grant Writing For Robert Wood Johnson Foundation: Building A Culture Of Health: Funding And Publishing Opportunities, Mona Shah

Ready, Set, Grant! Presentations

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's mission is to improve the health and health care of all Americans. In 2014 the foundation announced that it will continue to work on issues it believes are key to the well-being of all Americans, but within its organization it will no longer divide its efforts into the silos of health and health care. Rather, all that it does will serve one goal: building a culture of health. Given VCU's research assets and strengths, how can investigators work with the sponsor to suggest new and creative approaches to solving health and health care problems? Mona …

Day 3 - Creative Collaborations Iii: Community-Academic Collaborations, Jennifer Early, Patricia Carcaise-Edinboro, Amber Haley

Ready, Set, Grant! Presentations

A community-engaged approach to research has been recognized as a powerful vehicle for strengthening the links between research and practice. Because of its potential benefits, many leading funding sources (NIH, NSF, & RWJ to name a few!) increasingly encourage researchers to utilize a community-engaged approach. However, community-engaged research requires partnership development, cooperation and negotiation, collaboration with non-academic partners and a commitment to address stakeholders’ issues—each warranting special attention in the proposal development and grant-writing process. This session is aimed at developing strategies for writing community-academic collaborations into successful grant proposals. Presenters will discuss their success strategies, as well as tips …

Day 1 - How To Have A Painless* Budget Meeting With Your Grant Administrator, Heather Lennon, Jaime L. Petrasek, Sara Twombly, Tricia Zeh

Ready, Set, Grant! Presentations

Are you a researcher who feels overwhelmed by the prospect of developing or managing a sponsored project budget? Are you a grant administrator who spends far too much time cleaning up after budgeting disasters? Then this is the session for you! Grant administrators are experts in pre and post award grant administration, effort reporting, federal grant regulations and cost accounting standards. This workshop will discuss ways in which PIs and fiscal administrators can work together proactively to develop sponsored project budgets that maximize competitiveness while minimizing aggravation. Topics to be discussed include: ● Being realistic: important rules to consider and …

Day 1 - Navigating Nih: From Nascent Concept To Award, Brett Miller

Ready, Set, Grant! Presentations

Over the course of the Ready, Set, Grant event, program staff from funding agencies representing major areas of research interest at VCU will be on hand to provide an overview of the sponsors’ mission and structure, current priorities and outlook, and major funding programs. A significant proportion of VCU investigators, across disciplines, target the National Institutes of Health throughout their careers. It is important for faculty, staff, and students to educate themselves continually on agency's current trends and focus, as well as the policies and processes that impact decision-making about their grant applications. Our presenter for the workshop on Competitive …

Day 2. Don't Let Your Data Management Plan Kill Your Grant, Margaret E. Henderson

Ready, Set, Grant! Presentations

The National Science Foundation has rejected grants with bad Data Management Plans (DMPs). And now, most Federal agencies, and some private funders, will require these plans with your grant application. You will also need to provide public aces to you digital data. Learn how to write a competitive plan and share your data so you don’t miss out on an award. This session will focus on writing DMPs for NSF, Department of Defense, Department of Energy, NASA, National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), and USDA grant applications.

Day 3 - Creative Collaborations Ii: Workshop On Trust, Communication, And Negotiation, Monika S. Markowitz, Mark E. Rubin

Ready, Set, Grant! Presentations

Let’s face it: teamwork can be a real challenge sometimes. Conflicts that arise within a research team can negatively impact the careers of team members and the outcomes of the research itself, so learning to avoid and solve conflicts through trust, communication, and negotiation is key to research team success. In this session, Dr. Monika Markowitz, Director of the Office of Research Integrity and Ethics, and Mark Rubin, Executive Director of the Virginia Center for Consensus Building, will help attendees understand some of the most common research, professional, and interpersonal conflicts that occur in research teams, as well as how …

Day 1 - Proposal Review 101: What You Need To Know To Be A Pre-Award Research Administrator, Brigette Pfister

Ready, Set, Grant! Presentations

This workshop is a pre-award-focused step-by-step guide for newcomers to the profession, both in central offices and at the department level, illustrating an efficient and effective way to handle comprehensive pre-award proposal reviews, communicate with faculty, and make sure the proposal is ready for submission. Specific points in the process are highlighted to show where the various rules and regulations are involved, and what criteria we should be looking for during pre-award proposal review. We will touch on compliance with sponsor guidelines and applicable regulations, budget preparation, and much more. Handouts will include: A written step-by-step guide for initial (pre-award) …

Infant Hand Preference And The Development Of Cognitive Abilities, George F. Michel, Julie M. Campbell, Emily C. Marcinowski, Eliza L. Nelson, Iryna Babik

Physical Therapy Publications

Hand preference develops in the first two postnatal years with nearly half of infants exhibiting a consistent early preference for acquiring objects. Others exhibit a more variable developmental trajectory but by the end of their second postnatal year, most exhibit a consistent hand preference for role-differentiated bimanual manipulation. According to some forms of embodiment theory, these differences in hand use patterns should influence the way children interact with their environments, which, in turn, should affect the structure and function of brain development. Such early differences in brain development should result in different trajectories of psychological development. We present evidence that …

Burden And Depression Among Caregivers Of Visually Impaired Patients In A Canadian Population, Zainab Khan, Puneet S. Braich, Karim Rahim, Jaspreet S. Rayat, Lin Xing, Munir Iqbal, Karim Mohamed Mohamed, Sanjay Sharma, David Almeida

Ophthalmology Publications

Purpose/Background. This study reports the degree of burden and the proportion at risk for depression among individuals who provide care to visually impaired patients. Study Design. This is clinic-based, cross-sectional survey in a tertiary care hospital. Methods. Caregivers were considered unpaid family members for patients whose sole impairment was visual. Patients were stratified by vision in their better seeing eye into two groups: Group 1 had visual acuity between 6/18 and 6/60 and Group 2 were those who had 6/60 or worse. Burden was evaluated by the Burden Index of Caregivers and the prevalence of being at …

Burden And Depression Among Caregivers Of Visually Impaired Patients In A Canadian Population, Zainab Khan, Puneet S. Braich, Karim Rahim, Jaspreet S. Rayat, Lin Xing, Munir Iqbal, Karim Mohamed, Sanjay Sharma, David Almeida

Ophthalmology Publications

Purpose/Background. This study reports the degree of burden and the proportion at risk for depression among individuals who provide care to visually impaired patients. Study Design. This is clinic-based, cross-sectional survey in a tertiary care hospital. Methods. Caregivers were considered unpaid family members for patients whose sole impairment was visual. Patients were stratified by vision in their better seeing eye into two groups: Group 1 had visual acuity between 6/18 and 6/60 and Group 2 were those who had 6/60 or worse. Burden was evaluated by the Burden Index of Caregivers and the prevalence of being at risk for depression …

Role Of The Calcium Plateau In The Neuronal Injury And Behavioral Morbidities Following Organophosphate Intoxication, Laxmikant S. Deshpande, Robert E. Blair, Kristin F. Phillips, Robert J. Delorenzo

Neurology Publications

Organophosphate (OP) chemicals include nerve agents and pesticides, and there is a growing concern of OP based chemical attacks against civilians. Current antidotes are essential in limiting immediate mortality associated with OP exposure. However, further research is needed to identify molecular mechanisms underlying long-term neurological deficits following survival of OP toxicity in order to develop effective therapeutics. We have developed rat survival models of OP induced status epilepticus (SE) that mimic chronic mortality and morbidity following OP intoxication. We have observed significant elevations in hippocampal calcium levels after OP SE that persisted for weeks following initial survival. Drugs inhibiting intracellular …