Digital Commons Network^™

Association Between Community Health Center And Rural Health Clinic Presence And County-Level Hospitalization Rates For Ambulatory Care Sensitive Conditions: An Analysis Across Eight Us States, Janice C. Probst, James N. Laditka, Sarah B. Laditka

Faculty Publications

Background: Federally qualified community health centers (CHCs) and rural health clinics (RHCs) are intended to provide access to care for vulnerable populations. While some research has explored the effects of CHCs on population health, little information exists regarding RHC effects. We sought to clarify the contribution that CHCs and RHCs may make to the accessibility of primary health care, as measured by county-level rates of hospitalization for ambulatory care sensitive (ACS) conditions.

Methods: We conducted an ecologic analysis of the relationship between facility presence and county-level hospitalization rates, using 2002 discharge data from eight states within the US (579 counties). …

Positional Identification Of Variants Of Adamts16 Linked To Inherited Hypertension, Bina Joe, Yasser Saad, Norman H. Lee, Bryan C. Frank, Ovokeraye H. Achinike, Truong V. Luu, Kathirvel Gopalakrishnan, Edward J. Toland, Phyllis Farms, Shane Yerga-Woolwine, Ezhilarasi Manickavasagam, John P. Rapp, Michael R. Garrett, David Coe, Suneel S. Apte, Tuomo Rankinen, Louis Pérusse, Georg B. Ehret, Santhi K. Ganesh, Richard S. Cooper, Ashley O'Connor, Treva Rice, Alan B. Weder, Aravinda Chakravarti, Dabeeru C. Rao, Claude Bouchard

Faculty Publications

A previously reported blood pressure (BP) quantitative trait locus on rat Chromosome 1 was isolated in a short congenic segment spanning 804.6 kb. The 804.6 kb region contained only two genes, LOC306664 and LOC306665. LOC306664 is predicted to translate into A Disintegrin-like and Metalloproteinase with Thrombospondin Motifs-16 (Adamts16). LOC306665 is a novel gene. All predicted exons of both LOC306664 and LOC306665 were sequenced. Non-synonymous variants were identified in only one of these genes, LOC306664. These variants were naturally existing polymorphisms among inbred, outbred and wild rats. The full-length rat transcript of Adamts16 was detected in multiple tissues. Similar to ADAMTS16 …

Yy1'S Role In Dna Methylation Of Peg3 And Xist, Jeong Do Kim, Keunsoo Kang, Joomyeong Kim

Faculty Publications

Unusual clusters of YY1 binding sites are located within several differentially methylated regions (DMRs), including Xist, Nespas and Peg3, which all become methylated during oogenesis. In this study, we performed conditional YY1 knockdown (KD) to investigate YY1's roles in DNA methylation of these DMRs. Reduced levels of YY1 during spermatogenesis did not cause any major change in these DMRs although the same YY1 KD caused hypermethylation in these DMRs among a subset of aged mice. However, YY1 KD during oogenesis resulted in the loss of DNA methylation on Peg3 and Xist, but there were no changes on Nespas and H19. …

Modulation Of Lung Inflammation By Vessel Dilator In A Mouse Model Of Allergic Asthma, Xiaoqin Wang, Weidong Xu, Xiaoyuan Kong, Dongqing Chen, Gary Hellermann, Terry A. Ahlert, Joseph D. Giaimo, Stephania A. Cormier, Xu Li, Richard F. Lockey, Subhra Mohapatra, Shyam S. Mohapatra

Faculty Publications

Background: Atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP) and its receptor, NPRA, have been extensively studied in terms of cardiovascular effects. We have found that the ANP-NPRA signaling pathway is also involved in airway allergic inflammation and asthma. ANP, a C-terminal peptide (amino acid 99-126) of pro-atrial natriuretic factor (proANF) and a recombinant peptide, NP73-102 (amino acid 73-102 of proANF) have been reported to induce bronchoprotective effects in a mouse model of allergic asthma. In this report, we evaluated the effects of vessel dilator (VD), another N-terminal natriuretic peptide covering amino acids 31-67 of proANF, on acute lung inflammation in a mouse model …

Trauma, Attachment, And Family Therapy With Grandfamilies: A Model For Treatment, Deena D. Strong, Roy A. Bean, Leslie L. Feinauer

Faculty Publications

Population estimates indicate that approximately 1.5 million children are in grandparent-headed households without any parents present. This type of grandfamily is often created when biological parents are unable or unwilling to care for their children. Trauma is often experienced as a precursor to, or a consequence of, the biological parents' inability or unwillingness to care for their children. The well-being of both grandparent and grandchild may be affected in grandfamilies. A treatment model is presented that integrates trauma, attachment, and family systems theories and proposes that healing is facilitated through the emerging attachment between the grandparent and grandchild.

Guatemala's Green Revolution: Synthetic Fertilizer, Public Health, And Economic Autonomy In The Mayan Highland, David Carey

Faculty Publications

Despite extensive literature both supporting and critiquing the Green Revolution, surprisingly little attention has been paid to synthetic fertilizers' health and environmental effects or indigenous farmers' perspectives. The introduction of agrochemicals in the mid-twentieth century was a watershed event for many Mayan farmers in Guatemala. While some Maya hailed synthetic fertilizers' immediate effectiveness as a relief from famines and migrant labor, others lamented the long-term deterioration of their public health, soil quality, and economic autonomy. Since the rising cost of agrochemicals compelled Maya to return to plantation labor in the 1970s, synthetic fertilizers simply shifted, rather than alleviated, Mayan dependency …

Forward: Sandra Day O'Connor, Earl F. Nelson, And State Judicial Selection And Retention Systems, R. Lawrence Dessem

Faculty Publications

In difficult cases, in unpopular cases, in cases that may draw criticism from the executive branch of government, the legislature, the media, or the general populace, it is essential that judges be insulated from public pressure. However much we believe in the strength and integrity of the human spirit, we cannot expect judges to do justice without establishing an institutional framework that guarantees them that their next decision, however loathsome or unpopular, will not be their last.

A Curious Thing Happened On The Way To Constructivism, Sherry S. Herron

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Teaching Transactional Skills In First-Year Writing Courses, Wayne Schiess, Craig T. Smith, Pamela Wilkins, Danton Berube, Irene Segal Ayers

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Developmental Emergence Of Power-Law Wake Behavior Depends Upon The Functional Integrity Of The Locus Coeruleus, Andrew J. Gall, Badal Joshi, Janet Best, Virginia R. Florang, Jonathan A. Doorn, Mark S. Blumberg

Faculty Publications

STUDY OBJECTIVES:

Daily amounts of sleep and wakefulness are accumulated in discrete bouts that exhibit distinct statistical properties. In adult mammals, sleep bout durations follow an exponential distribution whereas wake bout durations follow a power-law distribution. In infant Norway rats, however, wake bouts initially follow an exponential distribution and only transition to a power-law distribution beginning around postnatal day 15 (P15). Here we test the hypothesis that the locus coeruleus (LC), one of several wake-active nuclei in the brainstem, contributes to this developmental transition.

DESIGN:

At P7, rats were injected subcutaneously with saline or DSP-4, a neurotoxin that targets noradrenergic …

Oncology Nurses' Perceptions Of Obstacles And Supportive Behaviors At The End Of Life, Renea L. Beckstrand, Josie Moore, Lynn Callister, A. Elaine Bond

Faculty Publications

Purpose/Objectives: To determine the magnitude of selected obstacles and supportive behaviors in providing end-of-life (EOL) care to patients with cancer as perceived by oncology nurses.

Design: Cross-sectional survey.

Setting: National survey sample.

Sample: A geographically dispersed national random sample of 1,000 Oncology Nursing Society members who had cared for inpatient patients with cancer, could read English, and had experience in EOL care.

Methods: Eligible respondents received a 68-item questionnaire in the mail adapted from previous studies and were asked to rate the size of obstacles and supportive behavior items in caring for patients with cancer at the EOL.

Main Research …

Social Rights And The Relational Value Of The Rights To Participate In Sport, Recreation And Play, Janet E. Lord, Michael Ashley Stein

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Carbohydrate Intake And Overweight And Obesity Among Healthy Adults, Anwar T. Merchant, Hassanali Vatanparast, Shahzaib Barlas, Mahshid Dehghan, Syed Mahboob Ali Shah, Lawrence De Koning, Susan E. Steck

Faculty Publications

Background - Little is known about the dietary habits of people with optimal body weight in communities with high overweight and obesity prevalence.

Objective - To evaluate carbohydrate intake in relation to overweight and obesity in healthy, free-living adults

Design - We used a cross-sectional analysis

Subjects/setting - The Canadian Community Health Survey Cycle 2.2 is a cross-sectional survey of Canadians conducted in 2004-2005. There were 4,451 participants aged 18 years and older with anthropometric and dietary data and no comorbid conditions in this analysis.

Main outcome measures - Outcome variables were body mass index (BMI; calculated as kg/m^{2 …}

Reasons Why Women Do Not Initiate Breastfeeding: A Southeastern State Study, Chinelo A. Ogbuanu, Janice C. Probst, Sarah B. Laditka, Jihong Liu, Jongdeuk Baek, Saundra Glover

Faculty Publications

Purpose - Despite the increase in breastfeeding initiation and duration in the United States, only five states have met the three Healthy People 2010 breastfeeding objectives. Our objectives are to study women's self-reported reasons for not initiating breastfeeding and to determine whether these reasons vary by race/ethnicity, and other maternal and hospital support characteristics.

Methods - Data are from the 2000-2003 Arkansas Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System, restricting the sample to women who did not initiate breastfeeding (unweighted n = 2,917). Reasons for not initiating breastfeeding are characterized as individual reasons, household responsibilities, and circumstances. Analyses include the χ^{2 …}

Book Review Of Unspeakable: The Story Of Junius Wilson, Michael Ashley Stein, Aviam Soifer

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

The Open High School Of Utah: Openness, Disaggregation, And The Future Of Schools, David Wiley

Faculty Publications

While the charter movement has a rich history in Utah, virtual charters are a recent development. In 2007, a founding board consisting of faculty, staff, and graduate students in Utah State University's Center for Open and Sustainable Learning prepared and submitted an application to create the state's second virtual charter, called the Open High School of Utah (OHSU). OHSU opens its virtual doors to ninth graders in the fall of 2009. While students are not yet through the virtual doors, OHSU still provides a glimpse at the ways in which openness, disaggregation, and the Internet will shape the future of …

Supporting Induction Teachers' Development Using Performance-Based Video Evidence, Peter Rich, Richard E. West, Michael Hannafin, Arthur Recesso, Craig Shepherd

Faculty Publications

This formative research study was designed to inform the development of the Teacher Success Model (TSM), an initiative to develop a systematic, evidence-informed model for teacher assessment. While the overall initiative includes all teachers, support professionals, and evaluators, this study focused on induction teachers and their mentors/administrators. Participants were shown sample digital videos corresponding to seven pre-selected TSM attributes, and were asked to identify, annotate, and rate instances where specific attributes were evident. Overall, our findings indicated that participants could identify examples of key teaching attributes in the videos and that group reflection and discussion enabled many to refine their …

A Narrative Account Of The Wider Impact Of The 7 July 2005 London Bomb Attacks, Shahid Bux, Sarah M. Coyne

Faculty Publications

The London bombings on 7 July 2005 highlighted the prevailing terrorist threat to the UK. The present study addressed the psychological response of community (n=294) indirectly exposed to the attacks to discern he broader impact and effects of terrorism. Qualitative content analysis was used to develop a profile of emotions and responses to the attacks. This was supplemented by the use of linguistic analysis demonstrating the enormous heterogeneity and complexity of responses to terrorism. In light of previous work on the wider impact of terrorism, the present study highlighted a relatively restrained impact of terrorism. Notwithstanding this observation, responses were …

The Effects Of School-Wide Positive Behavior Support On School Climate: A Middle School Logitudinal Study, K. Richard Young, Ryan H. Shatzer, Ellie L. Young, Paul Caldarella, Richard E. West

Faculty Publications

Questions: What strategies and resources are needed to implement a successful SWPBS program in middle schools? How can you measure the effects of SWPBS in middle schools?

Hierarchical Additive Modeling Of Nonlinear Association With Spatial Correlations - An Application To Relate Alcohol Outlet Density And Neighborhood Assault Rates, Qingzhao Yu, Bin Li, Richard Allen Scribner

Faculty Publications

Previous studies have suggested a link between alcohol outlets and assaults. In this paper, we explore the effects of alcohol availability on assaults at the census tract level over time. In addition, we use a natural experiment to check whether a sudden loss of alcohol outlets is associated with deeper decreasing in assault violence. Several features of the data raise statistical challenges: (1) the association between covariates (for example, the alcohol outlet density of each census tract) and the assault rates may be complex and therefore cannot be described using a linear model without covariates transformation, (2) the covariates may …

Open Access: What Is It And What Does It Mean For Academic Authors?, C. Jeffrey Belliston

Faculty Publications

What is Open Access? The modern Open Access (or OA) movement has historical roots — some fairly recent and some much older. If one has a correct understanding of these historical roots, the OA movement will properly be seen as evolutionary rather than as revolutionary. In addition to this theoretical treatment of the "what is OA" question, a treatment of what John Willinsky has called the "flavors" of OA will elucidate the very practical side of the same question." What does OA mean for academic authors? Just as with the "what is OA" question, there are multiple sides to the …

Findsite: A Combined Evolution/Structure-Based Approach To Protein Function Prediction, Jeffrey Skolnick, Michal Brylinski

Faculty Publications

A key challenge of the post-genomic era is the identification of the function(s) of all the molecules in a given organism. Here, we review the status of sequence and structure-based approaches to protein function inference and ligand screening that can provide functional insights for a significant fraction of the ∼50% of ORFs of unassigned function in an average proteome. We then describe FINDSITE, a recently developed algorithm for ligand binding site prediction, ligand screening and molecular function prediction, which is based on binding site conservation across evolutionary distant proteins identified by threading. Importantly, FINDSITE gives comparable results when high-resolution experimental …

Follow-Up Of A Major Linkage Peak On Chromosome 1 Reveals Suggestive Qtls Associated With Essential Hypertension: Gennet Study, Georg B. Ehret, Ashley A. O'Connor, Alan Weder, Richard S. Cooper, Aravinda Chakravarti

Faculty Publications

Essential hypertension is a major cardiovascular risk factor and a large proportion of this risk is genetic. Identification of genomic regions consistently associated with hypertension has been difficult in association studies to date as this requires large sample sizes. We previously published a large genome-wide linkage scan in Americans of African (AA) and European (EA) descent in the GenNet Network of the Family Blood Pressure Program (FBPP). A highly significant linkage peak was identified on chr1q spanning a region of 100cM. In this study, we genotyped 1569 SNPs under this linkage peak in 2379 individuals to identify whether common genetic …

Complex Segregation Analysis Of Pedigrees From The Gilda Radner Familial Ovarian Cancer Registry Reveals Evidence For Mendelian Dominant Inheritance, Bamidele O. Tayo, Richard A. Dicioccio, Yulan Liang, Maurizio Trevisan, Richard S. Cooper, Shashikant Lele, Lara Sucheston, Steven M. Piver, Kunle Odunsi

Faculty Publications

Background: Familial component is estimated to account for about 10% of ovarian cancer. However, the mode of inheritance of ovarian cancer remains poorly understood. The goal of this study was to investigate the inheritance model that best fits the observed transmission pattern of ovarian cancer among 7669 members of 1919 pedigrees ascertained through probands from the Gilda Radner Familial Ovarian Cancer Registry at Roswell Park Cancer Institute, Buffalo, New York. Methodology/Principal Findings: Using the Statistical Analysis for Genetic Epidemiology program, we carried out complex segregation analyses of ovarian cancer affection status by fitting different genetic hypothesis-based regressive multivariate logistic models. …

Nutrient Limitation On Phytoplankton Growth In The Upper Barataria Basin, Louisiana: Microcosm Bioassays, Ling Ren, Nancy N. Rabalais, R. Eugene Turner, Wendy Morrison, Warren Mendenhall

Faculty Publications

The Davis Pond Diversion (DPD) was constructed to divert Mississippi River (MR) water into the Barataria Basin to reduce the salinity in support of wetland restoration on the Louisiana coast. To assess the phytoplankton nutrient limitation in adjacent water systems and potential impacts of DPD, 12 seasonal nutrient-phytoplankton bioassay experiments were conducted from October 2003 to July 2004 using the natural phytoplankton assemblages from freshwater and brackish-water lakes, Cataouatche and Salvador, LA (USA), which receive Mississippi River water from the DPD, and from a nearby freshwater lake, Lac des Allemands, that does not. Dissolved inorganic nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), and …

Isca/Sufa Paralogues Are Required For The [4fe-4s] Cluster Assembly In Enzymes Of Multiple Physiological Pathways In Escherichia Coli Under Aerobic Growth Conditions, Guoqiang Tan, Jianxin Lu, Jacob P. Bitoun, Hao Huang, Huangen Ding

Faculty Publications

IscA/SufA paralogues are the members of the iron-sulfur cluster assembly machinery in Escherichia coli. Whereas deletion of either IscA or SufA has only a mild effect on cell growth, deletion of both IscA and SufA results in a null-growth phenotype in minimal medium under aerobic growth conditions. Here we report that cell growth of the iscA/sufA double mutant (E. coli strain in which both iscA and sufA had been in-frame-deleted) can be partially restored by supplementing with BCAAs (branched-chain amino acids) and thiamin. We further demonstrate that deletion of IscA/SufA paralogues blocks the [4Fe-4S] cluster assembly in IlvD (dihydroxyacid dehydratase) …

Purification Of A Water Extract Of Chinese Sweet Tea Plant (Rubus Suavissimus S. Lee) By Alcohol Precipitation, Gar Yee Koh, Guixin Chou, Zhijun Liu

Faculty Publications

The aqueous extraction process of the leaves of Rubus suavissimus often brings in a large amount of nonactive Polysaccharides as part of the constituents. To purify this water extract for potential elevated bioactivity, an alcohol precipitation (AP) consisting of gradient regimens was applied, and its resultants were examined through colorimetric and HPLC analyses. AP was effective in partitioning the aqueous crude extract into a soluble supernatant and an insoluble precipitant, and its effect varied significantly with alcohol regimens. Generally, the higher the alcohol concentration, the purer was the resultant extract. At its maximum, approximately 36% (w/w) of the crude extract, …

Aebp2 As A Potential Targeting Protein For Polycomb Repression Complex Prc2, Hana Kim, Keunsoo Kang, Joomyeong Kim

Faculty Publications

AEBP2 is a zinc finger protein that has been shown to interact with the mammalian Polycomb Repression Complex 2 (PRC2). In the current study, we characterized this unknown protein and tested its potential targeting roles for the PRC2. AEBP2 is an evolutionarily well-conserved gene that is found in the animals ranging from flying insects to mammals. The transcription of mammalian AEBP2 is driven by two alternative promoters and produces at least two isoforms of the protein. These isoforms show developmental stage-specific expression patterns: the adult-specific larger form (51 kDa) and the embryo-specific smaller form (32 kDa). The AEBP2 protein binds …

Dynamical Instability Determines The Effect Of Ongoing Noise On Neural Firing., O'Gorman De, White Ja, Shera Ca

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Hostility And Anger In: Cardiovascular Reactivity And Recovery To Mental Arithmetic Stress., Elizabeth J. Vella, Bruce H. Friedman

Faculty Publications

Hostility and anger have been attributed as psychosocial risk factors for coronary heart disease. Heightened cardiovascular reactivity (CVR), and poor recovery, to provocative stressors are thought to hasten this risk. Purpose: To examine the relationship between hostility and anger inhibition (AI), and the moderating situational influences of harassment and evaluation, in predicting CVR and recovery to mental arithmetic (MA) stress using a multiple regression approach.