Digital Commons Network^™

Plasma Antibodies To Oral Bacteria And Risk Of Pancreatic Cancer In A Large European Prospective Cohort Study, Dominique S. Michaud, Jacques Izard, Charlotte S. Wilhelm-Benartzi, Doo-Ho You, Verena A. Grote, Anne Tjønneland, Christina C. Dahm, Kim Overvad, Mazda Jenab, Veronika Fedirko, Marie Christine Boutron-Ruault, Françoise Clavel- Chapelon, Antoine Racine, Rudolf Kaaks, Heiner Boeing, Jana Foerster, Antonia Trichopoulou, Pagona Lagiou, Dimitrios Trichopoulos, Carlotta Sacerdote, Sabina Sieri, Domenico Palli, Rosario Tumino, Salvatore Panico, Peter Siersema, Petra Hm Peeters, Eiliv Lund, Aurelio Barricarte, José-María Huerta, Esther Molina-Montes, Miren Dorronsoro, J. Ramón Quirós, Eric J. Duell, Weimin Ye, Malin Sund, Björn Lindkvist, Dorthe Johansen, Kay-Tee Khaw, Nick Wareham, Ruth C. Travis, Paolo Vineis, H. Bas Bueno-De-Mesquita, Elio Riboli

Department of Food Science and Technology: Faculty Publications

Objective: Examine the relationship between antibodies to 25 oral bacteria and pancreatic cancer risk in a prospective cohort study.

Design: We measured antibodies to oral bacteria in prediagnosis blood samples from 405 pancreatic cancer cases and 416 matched controls, nested within the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition study (EPIC). Analyses were conducted using conditional logistic regression and additionally adjusted for smoking status and body mass index.

Results: Individuals with high levels of antibodies against Porphyromonas gingivalis ATTC 53978, a pathogenic periodontal bacteria, had a 2-fold higher risk of pancreatic cancer than individuals lower levels of …

Assessments Of Student-Teacher Relationships In Residential Treatment Center Schools, Kathleen Moritz Rudasill, Amy B. Gonshak, Patrick Pössel, Andrew Nichols, Natalie Stipanovic

Department of Educational Psychology: Faculty Publications

Students in residential treatment center (RTC) schools are likely to have histories of extreme or ongoing relational trauma (e.g., abuse and neglect by primary caregivers), have substantial interpersonal and relationship problems, and exhibit many high-risk behaviors. Accordingly, these students may have particular difficulty forming positive relationships with teachers, yet student-teacher relationship quality in RTC schools has not been empirically studied. This study examines links between RTC school students’ assessments of their relationships with teachers and their perceptions of self and others. Participants were 113 students in 2 RTC schools from 5th to 12th grade. Results indicate that male and female …

The Mir-17/92 Cluster: A Comprehensive Update On Its Genomics, Genetics, Functions And Increasingly Important And Numerous Roles In Health And Disease., Elena Mogilyansky, Isidore Rigoutsos

Computational Medicine Center Faculty Papers

The miR-17/92 cluster is among the best-studied microRNA clusters. Interest in the cluster and its members has been increasing steadily and the number of publications has grown exponentially since its discovery with more than 1000 articles published in 2012 alone. Originally found to be involved in tumorigenesis, research work in recent years has uncovered unexpected roles for its members in a wide variety of settings that include normal development, immune diseases, cardiovascular diseases, neurodegenerative diseases and aging. In light of its ever-increasing importance and ever-widening regulatory roles, we review here the latest body of knowledge on the cluster's involvement in …

Remote Estimation Of Nitrogen And Chlorophyll Contents In Maize At Leaf And Canopy Levels, Michael Schlemmer, Anatoly A. Gitelson, James S. Schepers, Richard B. Ferguson, Y. Peng, J. Shanahan, Donald Rundquist

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

Leaf and canopy nitrogen (N) status relates strongly to leaf and canopy chlorophyll (Chl) content. Remote sensing is a tool that has the potential to assess N content at leaf, plant, field, regional and global scales. In this study, remote sensing techniques were applied to estimate N and Chl contents of irrigated maize (Zea mays L.) fertilized at five N rates. Leaf N and Chl contents were determined using the red-edge chlorophyll index with R2 of 0.74 and 0.94, respectively. Results showed that at the canopy level, Chl and N contents can be accurately retrieved using green and red-edge Chl …

Optimal Copper Supply Is Required For Normal Plant Iron Deficiency Responses, Brian M. Waters, Laura C. Armbrust

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

Iron (Fe) and copper (Cu) homeostasis are tightly linked across biology. Understanding crosstalk between Fe and Cu nutrition could lead to strategies for improved growth on soils with low or excess metals, with implications for agriculture and phytoremediation. Here, we show that Cu and Fe nutrition interact to increase or decrease Fe and/or Cu accumulation in leaves and Fe uptake processes. Leaf Cu concentration increased under low Fe supply, while high Cu lowered leaf Fe concentration. Ferric reductase activity, an indicator of Fe demand, was inhibited at insufficient or high Cu supply. Surprisingly, plants grown without Fe were more susceptible …

Elementary Implantable Force Sensor For Smart Orthopaedic Implants, Rebecca A. Wachs, David Ellstein, John Drazan, Colleen P. Healey, Richard L. Uhl, Kenneth A. Connor, Eric H. Ledet

Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Faculty Publications

Implementing implantable sensors which are robust enough to maintain long term functionality inside the body remains a significant challenge. The ideal implantable sensing system is one which is simple and robust; free from batteries, telemetry, and complex electronics. We have developed an elementary implantable sensor for orthopaedic smart implants. The sensor requires no telemetry and no batteries to communicate wirelessly. It has no on-board signal conditioning electronics. The sensor itself has no electrical connections and thus does not require a hermetic package. The sensor is an elementary L-C resonator which can function as a simple force transducer by using a …

Repeated Elevational Transitions In Hemoglobin Function During The Evolution Of Andean Hummingbirds, Joana Projecto-Garcia, Chandrasekhar Natarajan, Hideaki Moriyama, Roy E. Weber, Angela Fago, Zachary A. Cheviron, Robert Dudley, Jimmy A. Mcguire, Christopher C. Witt, Jay F. Storz

School of Biological Sciences: Faculty Publications

Animals that sustain high levels of aerobic activity under hypoxic conditions (e.g., birds that fly at high altitude) face the physiological challenge of jointly optimizing blood-O₂ affinity for O₂ loading in the pulmonary circulation and O₂ unloading in the systemic circulation. At high altitude, this challenge is especially acute for small endotherms like hummingbirds that have exceedingly high mass-specific metabolic rates. Here we report an experimental analysis of hemoglobin (Hb) function in South American hummingbirds that revealed a positive correlation between Hb-O₂ affinity and native elevation. Protein engineering experiments and ancestral- state reconstructions revealed that this …

Making Advanced Trauma Life Support More Effective, Sanjay Meena, Amit Singla, Buddhadev Chowdhury

Saudi Medical Journal

No abstract provided.

Proximal Gastrectomy Versus Total Gastrectomy For Proximal Gastric Carcinoma: A Meta-Analysis On Postoperative Complications, 5-Year Survival, And Recurrence Rate, Yu-Wei Pu, Wei Gong, Yong-You Wu, Qiang Chen, Teng-Fei He, Chun-Gen Xing

Saudi Medical Journal

OBJECTIVE: To compare proximal gastrectomy (PG) with total gastrectomy (TG) for proximal gastric carcinoma, through the 5-year survival rate, recurrence rate, postoperative complications, and long-term life quality. METHODS: The meta-analysis was carried out in the General Surgery Department of the Second Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University, Suzhou, Jiangsu Province, China. We searched Medline, EMBASE, and the Cochrane Library from June to November 2012. The literature searches were carried out using medical subject headings and free-text word: “proximal gastrectomy” “total gastrectomy” “partial gastrectomy” “stomach neoplasms” and “gastric cancer”. Two different reviewers carried out the search and evaluated studies independently. RESULTS: Two …

Effects Of Roselle On Arterial Pulse Pressure And Left Ventricular Hypertrophy In Hypertensive Patients, Ahmad I. Al-Shafei, Ola A. El-Gendy

Saudi Medical Journal

OBJECTIVE: To characterize the effects of regular Roselle ingestion on blood pressure and left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) in patients with established moderate essential hypertension. METHODS: This non-randomized quasi-experimental study was conducted in Kafr El-Shaikh, Egypt, for 8 weeks, from September 2012 to November 2012. The effects of a 4-week period of regular Roselle ingestion followed by a 4-week recovery period on systolic blood pressure (SBP), diastolic blood pressure (DBP), pulse pressure (PP), and heart rates (HR) was studied in 2 equal, gender- and age-matched groups (n=50 each; average age - 50±5 years) of normotensive subjects, and patients with moderate essential …

Neonatal Hemochromatosis: Case Series From Bahrain, Hasan M. Isa, Afaf M. Mohamed

Saudi Medical Journal

OBJECTIVE: To review clinical presentations, diagnosis, response to treatment, and outcome of infants with neonatal hemochromatosis (NH). METHODS: This is a retrospective review of all cases admitted to the Pediatric Department at Salmaniya Medical Center, Manama, Bahrain between March 2008 and May 2011. The diagnosis was based on serum iron and ferritin, alpha-fetoprotein levels (AFP), liver and buccal biopsies, and abdominal MRI scan. RESULTS: Ten patients (8 males and 2 females) were diagnosed with NH. Two patients were intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR) and 6 were preterm. The median birth weight was 1.700 grams. The median age at presentation was 16 …

Quality Of Life Among Children With Beta-Thalassemia Major Treated In Western Saudi Arabia, Mohammed D. Ayoub, Suhaib A. Radi, Abdulrahman M. Azab, Abdulrahman A. Abulaban, Abdulrahman H. Balkhoyor, Seif-Eleslam W. Bedair, Soad K. Aljaouni, Jameela A. Kari

Saudi Medical Journal

OBJECTIVE: To assess the quality of life among children and adolescents with thalassemia major. METHODS: This cross-sectional study used the Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory (PedsQL). Children and adolescents with beta-thalassemia major who attended the Day Care Unit at King Abdulaziz University Hospital, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia from October 2012 to February 2013 were surveyed. The questions highlighted 4 health status scales, namely physical functioning (PF), emotional functioning (EF), school performance (SC), and social functioning (SF). Scores were calculated for each patient and data were analyzed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences. RESULTS: We recruited 46 children (60.9% males). The …

Perceptions And Effects Of Antenatal Education, Mohammed A. Al-Ateeq, Amal A. Al-Rusaiess, Aida A. Al-Dughaither

Saudi Medical Journal

OBJECTIVE: To assess the quality and effect of antenatal health education on health-related issues during pregnancy, and the benefits to women during the peripartum period. METHODS: This is a descriptive study of 300 women attending the Postnatal Clinics and Women Health Clinics in 2 Family Medicine centers at King AbdulAziz Medical City, National Guard Health Affairs, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The study was carried out between November 2009 and February 2010. A predesigned questionnaire was used. RESULTS: Three hundred women completed the questionnaire. Most women made their first antenatal visit during the fourth month of pregnancy, and most had 3-6 antenatal …

Idiopathic Scrotal Calcinosis, Orcun Celik, Tumay Ipekci, Hatem Kazimoglu

Saudi Medical Journal

Idiopathic scrotal calcinosis is a rare scrotal benign disease. Its distinct features are painless, non-pruritic, semi-soft palpable calcific transdermal nodules. We report a 42-year-old-man with asymptomatic multiple calcified scrotal skin nodules for 10 years. Under spinal anesthesia, the affected scrotal skin was excised and the nodules removed. We aim to explain the etiology, pathophysiology, diagnosis, and treatment modalities of this rare disease.

Diffusion Tensor Imaging Findings Associated With Cognitive Performance In Hydrocephalus Patients, Hongwei Cheng, Wenming Hong, Xiaojie Wang, Xiaopeng Hu

Saudi Medical Journal

No abstract provided.

Propylene Glycol Allergic Contact Dermatitis: A Quick Reference Guide For Propylene Glycol-Free Topical Corticosteroids In Saudi Arabia, Mohammed I. Aljasser, Ibrahim A. Al-Omair

Saudi Medical Journal

No abstract provided.

Reflections On The Metamorphosis At Robben Island: The Role Of Institutional Work And Positive Psychological Capital, Wayne F. Cascio, Fred Luthans

Department of Management: Faculty Publications

Nelson Mandela and other political prisoners from South Africa were imprisoned on notorious Robben Island from the mid-1960s until the end of the apartheid regime in 1991. The stark conditions and abusive treatment of these prisoners has been widely publicized. However, upon reflection and in retrospect, over the years, a type of metamorphosis occurred. Primarily drawing from firsthand accounts of the former prisoners and guards, it seems that Robben Island morphed from the traditional oppressive prison paradigm to one where the positively oriented prisoners disrupted the institution with a resulting climate of learning and transformation that eventually led to freedom …

Towards Operationalizing Complexity Leadership: How Generative, Administrative And Community-Building Leadership Practices Enact Organizational Outcomes, James K. Hazy, Mary Uhl-Bien

Department of Management: Faculty Publications

Over five years ago, The Leadership Quarterly published a special issue on complexity to advance a new way of thinking about leadership. In shifting attention away from the individual to the organizing process itself, complexity added an important focus on process and context to leadership and management research. Yet, the complexity approach creates challenges for researchers who must combine or replace individual level constructs—like those built through surveys or factor analysis—with richer theories that investigate networked meso dynamics, multilevel phenomena, emergent processes, and organizational outcomes. To address this challenge, the present analysis draws on theoretical and empirical work over the …

On Head Lice And Social Interaction In Archaic Andean Coastal Populations, Bernardo Arriaza, Vivien Standen, Karl Reinhard, Aduto Araújo, Jörg Heukelbach, Katharina Dittmar

Karl Reinhard Publications

Archaic mummies from northern Chile were examined for the presence of Pediculus humanus capitis. The excellent preservation of mummies and louse nits/eggs permitted a study of the degree of head lice infestation. We studied 63 Chinchorro mummies (ca. 5000–3000 years B.P.) from the Arica-Camarones coast. An area of 2 cm × 2 cm on each mummy’s head was systematically inspected for louse nits/eggs. Hairs with nits/eggs and lice were collected and analyzed using optic and scanning electronic microscopy. About 79% (50/63) of the mummies resulted positive for pediculosis, with an average of 2.1 nits/ eggs/cm2 per positive individual. Microscopic …

Rational Analysis Of The Adaptive And Predictive Nature Of Memory, Jeffrey R. Stevens, Thorsten Pachur, Lael J. Schooler

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

In his target article, Klein (2013) makes the important point that many approaches to studying memory neglect the function of memory, in particular its capacity to help predict the future. Here, we complement Klein’s argument in two ways. First, we point to an existing and well-developed research program that formalizes a functional approach to memory, exploring its adaptive nature. Second, we illustrate how this approach can be applied to analyze regularities in social interactions, which memory might exploit to predict future interactions.

John R. Anderson and colleagues (Anderson and Milson, 1989, Anderson and Schooler, 1991, Anderson and Schooler, 2000 and …

Online And In-Person Health-Seeking For Infertility, Kathleen S. Slauson-Blevins, Julia Mcquillan, Arthur L. Greil

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

Using data from Wave 1 (2004–2006) of the National Survey of Fertility Barriers (NSFB), a national probability sample of women ages 25–45, we examine online information-seeking among ever-infertile women. Of the 1352 women who met criteria for infertility, 459 (34%) neither talked to a doctor nor went online for information, 9% went online only for information, 32% talked to a doctor but did not go online, and 25% did both. Guided by Chrisman’s Health-Seeking Model and previous research on Internet use to obtain health information, we employ multinomial logistic regression to compare these four groups of ever-infertile women. Findings generally …

Tiers 2 & 3 Intervention: Behavior Monitoring, Emily Moss, Ann O'Connor, Reece L. Peterson

Department of Special Education and Communication Disorders: Faculty Publications

Conclusion

Individual student behavior monitoring is useful at all grade levels as part of a behavior changes strategy, starting early in a child’s education and continuing throughout high school. Through monitoring and teaching students to set behavior goals, schools can expect improved behavior, and behavior monitoring is an essential element of efforts to change individual student behavior. Its use has strong research support when part of a more comprehensive plan to monitor and intervene to change individual behaviors.

School personnel can also use long term behavior monitoring as a way to identify student who are at risk for dropping out …

Tier 3 Intervention: Youth Courts, Ann O'Connor, Emily Moss, Jenna Strawhun, Reece L. Peterson

Department of Special Education and Communication Disorders: Faculty Publications

Conclusion

Youth courts represent a promising approach to developing youth involvement in diminishing juvenile delinquency and substance abuse, and as such, represent a useful approach to crime and violence prevention. As with conflict resolution education and peer mediation programs, the potential benefit of youth courts is two-fold. First, it has the possibility of diminishing youth crime and recidivism directly through the sanctions imposed and restorative practices used. Secondly, it may affect a wider group of teens through the skills, training and experiences of the youth volunteers. Based on the evaluation data to date, the youth court program appears to be …

Dynamic Queue Management For Hospital Emergency Room Services, Kar Way Tan

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

The emergency room (ER) – or emergency department (ED) – is often seen as a place with long waiting times and a lack of doctors to serve the patients. However, it is one of the most important departments in a hospital, and must efficiently serve patients with critical medical needs. In the existing literature, addressing the issue of long waiting times in an ED often takes the form of single-faceted queue-management strategies that are either from a demand perspective or from a supply perspective. From the demand perspective, there is work on queue design such as priority queues, or queue …

Refugee Reflections: A Focus On The Lived Experiences Of African Refugees Resettling In Michigan, Diane Roushangar

Masters Theses

Refugee resettlement is often observed by focusing on external indicators of integration such as employment and English proficiency. What is often ignored is the multi-faceted process refugees experience in regard to the emotions that occur during these transitions of resettlement. Emotional stressors include financial concerns, work-related issues, a lack of adequate counseling services and ESL support that can all lead to increased anxiety. This paper examines the process of resettlement that northeast African and sub-Saharan African refugees have experienced including issues of unsafe working conditions, changing gender roles, and a lack of adequate time for adjusting to the culture.

Treatment For Acute Stroke: A Retrospective Study Of Erlanger Stroke Patients From 2004-2012, Sarah Henson

Graduate Research Projects

No abstract provided.

Synthesis And Study Of Stimuli-Responsive Fluorescent Polymeric Thin Films For Early Corrosion Detection By Directly Monitoring Iron Dissolution From Steel Substrates, Kevin William Harman

Master's Theses

The successful measurement and prediction of material lifetimes is of high importance for proper maintenance on metal infrastructures for prevention of asset loss through corrosive processes. Current testing protocols include mismatched accelerated weathering techniques in combination with visual corrosion detection that consume substantial amounts of time and resources and often lead to inaccurate extrapolation to natural conditions. For corrosion science and engineering to evolve further, accurate and early detection methods of efficiently evaluating materials are necessary. Fluorescence spectroscopy is one established non-destructive analytical technique that is highly sensitive and selective to a variety of metal ion species and chemical environments …

Melancholia & Metaphor In Kazuo Ishiguro's The Remains Of The Day, Kristin Lasheaú Teston

Master's Theses

Critics widely acknowledge the psychological grounding of Kazuo Ishiguro's writing. His 1989 novel The Remains of the Day presents a central character deeply afflicted by his inability to acknowledge his condition. Both literal and figurative loss proliferates throughout the novel, and turning to Sigmund Freud's influential essay, "Mourning and Melancholia," allows us to understand how loss influences Stevens's narrative. In this essay, Freud explores conditions that result after the loss of person or an ideal. For Stevens, the lost object is the myth of pre-war English traditions. Freud's theories regarding melancholia provide a crucial insight to Stevens's inability to acknowledge …

Adsorption/Desorption Process Of Stimuli-Responsive Polymers On Simulated Natural Surfaces Using Qcm-D & Afm Analysis, Yan Zong

Master's Theses

The stimuli-responsive adsorption of polyelectrolytes to biosurfaces provides an important vehicle for development of protective coatings, delivery of therapeutic agents, and cosmetic applications. Developing a fundamental understanding of the mechanisms and kinetics of adsorption/desorption processes of polymeric systems to biological surfaces is of critical importance in predicting performance and designing new formulations. This study describes quartz crystal microbalance and atomic force microscopy analysis of a poly(methyl vinyl ether-alt-maleic anhydride) copolymer (Gantrez® S97 BF) adsorption on dental mimicking surfaces to determine properties including thickness, morphology, viscoelasticy, and rate of adsorption/desorption of the polymer layer as a function of solution environment. A …

Maladaptive Personality Traits And Sex Addiction Profiles, Jonathan Knute Jore

Master's Theses

How do pathological personality traits relate to specific expressions of compulsive sexual behaviors? Previous studies have concluded that there are only small relationships between these two constructs, but such studies have usually conceptualized sexual compulsion as a unidimensional construct. The current study used a correlational design to evaluate the relationship between pathological personality traits and six general domains of sexually compulsive behaviors and cognitions in an inpatient and outpatient clinical sample (N = 540) of males seeking treatment for sex addiction. The pathological personality trait results were assessed using the MMPI-2 Psychopathology Five (PSY-5) domain and facet traits. The sexually …