Digital Commons Network^™

Improving Life Satisfaction Of Elders Through Oral History: The Narrator's Perspective, Mary B. Ligon

Theses and Dissertations

Oral history is a method of preserving historical information through in-depth interviews. Because the process requires narrators to use remote recall while sharing their life experiences, it can also be considered a reminiscence-related activity. Before this study, the positive effects on narrators of providing an oral history were noted in the research literature but had not been evaluated through quantitative methods. Based on theoretical constructs of Erikson and Butler, it was hypothesized that participation in oral history interviews would improve the life satisfaction of narrators. Life satisfaction was operationalized and measured using the Life Satisfaction Index Version A (LSIA). The …

Maximising Parent Involvement In The Pedestrian Safety Of 4 To 6 Year Old Children: Final Report, Child Health Promotion Research Centre

Research outputs pre 2011

In Australia pedestrian injury is the leading specific cause of death among 5-9 year old children, and pedestrian injuries among 0-14 year old children in 1999-20000 were the second highest cause of hospitalisation. This mortality and morbidity can be attributed largely to unsafe road environments and under 10 year old children's significant deficits in cognitive and perceptual abilities when crossing roads. For all children under 10 years learning to cross the road needs to be taught by parents in the same way that children learn to swim i.e. under close adult supervision and in the 'real' environment where the skills …

The Pulmonary Effects Of Intravenous Adenosine In Asthmatic Subjects, Nausherwan K. Burki, Mahmud Alam, Lu-Yuan Lee

Physiology Faculty Publications

BACKGROUND: We have shown that intravenous adenosine in normal subjects does not cause bronchospasm, but causes dyspnea, most likely by an effect on vagal C fibers in the lungs [Burki et al. J Appl Physiol 2005; 98:180-5]. Since airways inflammation and bronchial hyperreactivity are features of asthma, it is possible that intravenous adenosine may be associated with an increased intensity of dyspnea, and may cause bronchospasm, as noted anecdotally in previous reports.

METHODS: We compared the effects of placebo and 10 mg intravenous adenosine, in 6 normal and 6 asthmatic subjects.

RESULTS: Placebo injection had no significant (p > 0.05) effect …

Cdx4 Dysregulates Hox Gene Expression And Generates Acute Myeloid Leukemia Alone And In Cooperation With Meis1a In A Murine Model, Dimple Bansal, Claudia Scholl, Stefan Frohling, Elizabeth Mcdowell, Benjamin H. Lee, Konstanze Döhner, Patricia Ernst

Dartmouth Scholarship

HOX genes have emerged as critical effectors of leukemogenesis, but the mechanisms that regulate their expression in leukemia are not well understood. Recent data suggest that the caudal homeobox transcription factors CDX1, CDX2, and CDX4, developmental regulators of HOX gene expression, may contribute to HOX gene dysregulation in leukemia. We report here that CDX4 is expressed normally in early hematopoietic progenitors and is expressed aberrantly in approximately 25% of acute myeloid leukemia (AML) patient samples. Cdx4 regulates Hox gene expression in the adult murine hematopoietic system and dysregulates Hox genes that are implicated in leukemogenesis. Furthermore, bone marrow progenitors that …

Effects Of A Personified Guide On Adherence To An Online Program For Alcohol Abusers., Daniel Z Lieberman

Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences Faculty Publications

The quality of the therapeutic alliance has robust effects on the outcome of psychotherapy and psychopharmacologic interventions. Automated behavioral health programs that are being developed to increase access to mental health treatment are administered in the absence of direct human participation, thereby precluding the development of a traditional therapeutic relationship. The aim of this study was to develop a personified guide designed to stimulate reactions similar to those experienced in a therapeutic relationship, and evaluate the effect of the guide on adherence to and satisfaction with an online alcohol use evaluation program. After completing a battery of four standard questionnaires …

Time To Renal Disease And End-Stage Renal Disease In Profile: A Multiethnic Lupus Cohort, Graciela S. Alarcón, Gerald Mcgwin, Michelle Petri, Rosalind Ramsey-Goldman, Barri J. Fessler, Luis M. Vilá, Jeffrey C. Edberg, John D. Reveille, Robert P. Kimberly

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

BACKGROUND: Renal involvement is a serious manifestation of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE); it may portend a poor prognosis as it may lead to end-stage renal disease (ESRD). The purpose of this study was to determine the factors predicting the development of renal involvement and its progression to ESRD in a multi-ethnic SLE cohort (PROFILE).

METHODS AND FINDINGS: PROFILE includes SLE patients from five different United States institutions. We examined at baseline the socioeconomic-demographic, clinical, and genetic variables associated with the development of renal involvement and its progression to ESRD by univariable and multivariable Cox proportional hazards regression analyses. Analyses of …

Pregnant Teenager Involvement In Sexual Activity And The Social Context, Maria José Carvalho Sant'anna, Júlia Kerr Catunda, Kepler Alencar Mendes Carvalho, Verônica Coates, Hatim A. Omar

Pediatrics Faculty Publications

Pregnancy during adolescence represents a challenge to society as a whole. Its incidence is increasing and brings about social and medical consequences to both the teen mothers and their children. The purpose of this study was to evaluate pregnant teenager involvement in sexual activity and the social context. The group studied comprised 152 pregnant teenagers attending the Department of Pediatrics, Santa Casa de Sao Paulo (SCSP) General Hospital. All information was analyzed. The age at first intercourse was 14.2 years and the average period between first intercourse and pregnancy was 1.4 years. Most pregnancies (75%) were neither planned nor wanted, …

Case Report: Sigmoid Schwannoma As The Lead Point For Intussusception In An Adult Patient With Neurofibromatosis, Roger Coron, Herve Boucard, Robert Richards

Department of Medicine Faculty Papers

No abstract available.

Arsenic Exposure Is Associated With Decreased Dna Repair In Vitro And In Individuals Exposed To Drinking Water Arsenic, Angeline S. Andrew, Jefferey L. Burgess, Maria M. Meza, Eugene Demidenko, Mary G. Waugh, Joshua W. Hamilton, Margaret R. Karagas

Dartmouth Scholarship

The mechanism(s) by which arsenic exposure contributes to human cancer risk is unknown; however, several indirect cocarcinogenesis mechanisms have been proposed. Many studies support the role of As in altering one or more DNA repair processes. In the present study we used individual-level exposure data and biologic samples to investigate the effects of As exposure on nucleotide excision repair in two study populations, focusing on the excision repair cross-complement 1 (ERCC1) component. We measured drinking water, urinary, or toenail As levels and obtained cryopreserved lymphocytes of a subset of individuals enrolled in epidemiologic studies in New Hampshire (USA) and Sonora …

Correlation Between Number Of Retrieved Oocytes And Pregnancy Rate After In Vitro Fertilization/Intracytoplasmic Sperm Infection, Tanya Timeva, Tanya Milachich, Irena Antonova, Tanya Arabaji, Atanas Shterev, Hatim A. Omar

Pediatrics Faculty Publications

The implementation of safe and maximally effective ovarian stimulation is a major aim for in vitro fertilization (IVF) teams. The goal of controlled ovarian hyperstimulation (COH) is to supply enough oocytes with normal maturation to insure the consequent biological procedures. A variety of different stimulation protocols have been suggested and an individual selection of the correct stimulation protocol is mandatory. The aim of the present study is to evaluate the correlation between number of retrieved oocytes and clinical pregnancy rate (CPR) after IVF or intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) procedures. We reviewed 1017 cycles in a total of 975 patients. The …

Dissociation Of Automatic And Strategic Lexical-Semantics: Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging Evidence For Differing Roles Of Multiple Frontotemporal Regions, Brian T. Gold, David A. Balota, Sara J. Jones, David K. Powell, Charles D. Smith, Anders H. Andersen

Neuroscience Faculty Publications

Behavioral research has demonstrated three major components of the lexical-semantic processing system: automatic activation of semantic representations, strategic retrieval of semantic representations, and inhibition of competitors. However, these component processes are inherently conflated in explicit lexical-semantic decision tasks typically used in functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) research. Here, we combine the logic of behavioral priming studies and the neurophysiological phenomenon of fMRI priming to dissociate the neural bases of automatic and strategic lexical-semantic processes across a series of three studies. A single lexical decision task was used in all studies, with stimulus onset asynchrony or linguistic relationship between prime and …

Molecular Diagnosis Of Burkitt's Lymphoma., Sandeep S. Dave, Kai Fu, George W. Wright, Lloyd T. Lam, Philip Kluin, Evert-Jan Boerma, Timothy Greiner, Dennis D. Weisenburger, Andreas Rosenwald, German Ott, Hans-Konrad Müller-Hermelink, Randy D. Gascoyne, Jan Delabie, Lisa M. Rimsza, Rita M. Braziel, Thomas M. Grogan, Elias Campo, Elaine S. Jaffe, Bhavana J. Dave, Warren Sanger, M Bast, Julie M. Vose, James O. Armitage, Joseph M. Connors, Erlend B. Smeland, Stein Kvaloy, Harald Holte, Richard I. Fisher, Thomas P. Miller, Emilio Montserrat, Wyndham H. Wilson, Manisha Bahl, Hong Zhao, Liming Yang, John Powell, Richard Simon, Wing C. Chan, Louis M. Staudt

Journal Articles: Pathology and Microbiology

BACKGROUND: The distinction between Burkitt's lymphoma and diffuse large-B-cell lymphoma is crucial because these two types of lymphoma require different treatments. We examined whether gene-expression profiling could reliably distinguish Burkitt's lymphoma from diffuse large-B-cell lymphoma.

METHODS: Tumor-biopsy specimens from 303 patients with aggressive lymphomas were profiled for gene expression and were also classified according to morphology, immunohistochemistry, and detection of the t(8;14) c-myc translocation.

RESULTS: A classifier based on gene expression correctly identified all 25 pathologically verified cases of classic Burkitt's lymphoma. Burkitt's lymphoma was readily distinguished from diffuse large-B-cell lymphoma by the high level of expression of c-myc target …

Representation Of Head-Centric Flow In The Human Motion Complex., Jeroen Goossens, Sean P Dukelow, Ravi S Menon, Tutis Vilis, Albert V Van Den Berg

Brain and Mind Institute Researchers' Publications

Recent neuroimaging studies have identified putative homologs of macaque middle temporal area (area MT) and medial superior temporal area (area MST) in humans. Little is known about the integration of visual and nonvisual signals in human motion areas compared with monkeys. Through extra-retinal signals, the brain can factor out the components of visual flow on the retina that are induced by eye-in-head and head-in-space rotations and achieve a representation of flow relative to the head (head-centric flow) or body (body-centric flow). Here, we used functional magnetic resonance imaging to test whether extra-retinal eye-movement signals modulate responses to visual flow in …

Incidence Of Galactorrhea In Young Women Using Depot-Medroxyprogesterone Acetate, Hatim A. Omar, Rana M. Zakharia, Shibani Kanungo, Marlene B. Huff, Kimberly K. Mcclanahan

Pediatrics Faculty Publications

Galactorrhea is rarely mentioned as a possible side effect of the use of Depot-Medroxyprogesterone Acetate (DMPA). Over the last few years, we have noticed an increased number of patients complaining of galactorrhea. A review of clinical data showed that between 1999 and 2005, 360 adolescents in our clinic used DMPA for at least 6 months. After medical follow-up, 13 (3.6%) of these patients were found to have developed galactorrhea. The mean age of the patients was 19.4 years with a range from 13-24. Prolactin levels in these patients were normal, and in all subjects, the galactorrhea resolved spontaneously within the …

Mixed Germ Cell Sex Cord-Stromal Tumors Of The Testis And Ovary. Morphological, Immunohistochemical, And Molecular Genetic Study Of Seven Cases, Michal Michal, Tomas Vanacek, Radek Sima, Petr Mukensnabl, Ondrej Hes, Dmitry V. Kazakov, Jozef Matoska, Anna Zuntova, Vladimir Dvorak, Alexander Talerman

Department of Pathology, Anatomy, and Cell Biology Faculty Papers

We present the morphological, immunohistochemical, and molecular genetic features of three cases of testicular and four cases of ovarian mixed germ cell sex cord-stromal tumors (MGSCT). The germ cells in the testicular MGSCTs morphologically differed from those in classical seminomas by lacking the typical "square off" quality of the nuclei. In contrast to the nuclei in classical seminomas, their size in testicular MGSCTs was smaller and nucleoli were inconspicuous and the cytoplasm was Periodic Acid-Schiff(PAS) negative. Quite on the contrary, the variability in the size of the nuclei of the germ cells in the testicular MGSCTs was more similar to …

Successful Treatment Of Depot Medroxyprogesterone Acetate-Related Vaginal Bleeding Improves Continuation Rates In Adolescents, Kristin M. Rager, Amy Fowler, Hatim A. Omar

Pediatrics Faculty Publications

High discontinuation rates for depot medroxyprogesterone acetate (DMPA) in adolescents may contribute to the number of unintended pregnancies. Many cite vaginal bleeding as a reason for discontinuing DMPA use. In this study, we attempted to determine if treating DMPA-associated vaginal bleeding with monophasic oral contraceptive pills (OCP) raised continuation rates. A total of 131 patients who reported vaginal bleeding while on DMPA were included in this study and 83 were treated with monophasic OCP. Of those who received OCP, 38.7% reported that vaginal bleeding stopped completely, 51.8% reported that vaginal bleeding stopped temporarily, and 6.0% reported no change. Overall, 94% …

Clinical Holistic Medicine: Holistic Sexology And Acupressure Through The Vagina (Hippocratic Pelvic Massage), Søren Ventegodt, Birgitte Clausen, Hatim A. Omar, Joav Merrick

Pediatrics Faculty Publications

Many gynecological and sexological problems (like urine incontinence, chronic pelvic pains, vulvodynia, and lack of lust, excitement, and orgasm) are resistant to standard medical treatment. In our work at the Research Clinic for Holistic Medicine in Copenhagen, we have found that vaginal acupressure, or Hippocratic pelvic massage, can help some of these problems. Technically, it is a very simple procedure as it corresponds to the explorative phase of the standard pelvic examination, supplemented with the patient's report on the feelings it provokes and the processing and integration of these feelings. Sometimes it can be very difficult to control the emotions …

Abnormal Expression Of Rest/Nrsf And Myc In Neural Stem/Progenitor Cells Causes Cerebellar Tumors By Blocking Neuronal Differentiation, Xiaohua Su, Vidya Gopalakrishnan, Duncan Stearns, Kenneth Aldape, Fredrick F Lang, Gregory Fuller, Evan Snyder, Charles G Eberhart, Sadhan Majumder

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Medulloblastoma, one of the most malignant brain tumors in children, is thought to arise from undifferentiated neural stem/progenitor cells (NSCs) present in the external granule layer of the cerebellum. However, the mechanism of tumorigenesis remains unknown for the majority of medulloblastomas. In this study, we found that many human medulloblastomas express significantly elevated levels of both myc oncogenes, regulators of neural progenitor proliferation, and REST/NRSF, a transcriptional repressor of neuronal differentiation genes. Previous studies have shown that neither c-Myc nor REST/NRSF alone could cause tumor formation. To determine whether c-Myc and REST/NRSF act together to cause medulloblastomas, we used a …

Pharmacy & Therapeutics Update: Drug Information For Health Care Professionals, January 2006, Medical University Of South Carolina, Paul W. Bush, Nannette M. Berensen, Kelli L. Davis, Holly M. Macfall, Krystal L. Moorman

Pharmacy & Therapeutics Update: Drug Information for Health Care Professionals

No abstract provided.

Cutaneous And Presumed Visceral Leishmaniasis In A Soldier Deployed To Afghanistan, James P. Woodrow, Joshua D. Hartzell, Jim Czarnik, David Brett-Major, Glenn Wortmann

Journal Articles: Epidemiology

Leishmaniasis has been frequently diagnosed in US military personnel returning from duty in Southwest Asia. The majority of cases have demonstrated cutaneous disease, although a few cases of visceral disease have been documented. We present the case of an immunocompetent, HIV-negative, US Army soldier who suffered both visceral and cutaneous manifestations of leishmaniasis after returning from deployment in Afghanistan. Overlap of cutaneous and visceral involvement is rare and has not been reported in our cohort. Latent Plasmodium vivax infection may have been an exacerbating cofactor. We discuss this case and present a review of the literature.

Normal Hand Grip Strength In The Adult Malaysian Population, Tunku Kamarul, T.S. Ahmad, W.Y.C. Loh

Research Publications (2006 to 2010)

PURPOSE: To measure the hand grip strength of Malaysians aged 18 to 65 years. METHODS: Between January and April 2003, 412 subjects (200 women and 212 men) were recruited from staff, students, and visitors of the University of Malaya Medical Centre. Socioeconomic, general health, and lifestyle data were collected from each subject using a standard questionnaire. Weight and height were measured prior to testing. Standardised positioning and instructions based on several hand grip protocols were used. Data were collected using the LIDO kinetic work set. RESULTS: 93 of the subjects were right-hand dominant and 7 were left-hand dominant. Hand grip …

Modality Effects On Adult Learning, Earl S Douglas

UNLV Retrospective Theses & Dissertations

This paper focuses on improving older adults' recall of important health information. The study's objective is to test which of three presentation modalities (text, audio or text plus audio) leads to improved performance of older adults' learning health information. The total number of participants consisted of 16 males and 18 females, or a total of 34 participants. The mean age of the group was 72.5. The participants were divided into three groups and each group was presented with one of three modalities (i.e. text, text plus audio, and audio), selected randomly, on an "auto start" CD, using PowerPoint as a …

The Long Term Effects Of Divorce On Professional Adult Dancers, Brent Fladmo

UNLV Retrospective Theses & Dissertations

The most dramatic change in family life in contemporary society is the divorce rate (Amato, 2000), with numerous studies analyzing and examining divorce and its implications (Rao, 2002). According to the U.S. Census Bureau, nearly 50% of marriages are terminated (Bowles, 2005). In addition, Martin, Specter, Martin, and Martin (2003) reported that the United States has the highest remarriage rate in the world, and second marriages account for nearly half of all current marriages (Wallerstein, 2005). Children who experience divorce are subjected to more stressful life changes, such as relocation (Harris, 1995), economic decline (Hetherington, 1989; Nelson, 1993), a decrease …

Analysis Of Epstein-Barr Virus Reservoirs In Paired Blood And Breast Cancer Primary Biopsy Specimens By Real Time Pcr., R Serene Perkins, Katherine Sahm, Cindy Marando, Diana Dickson-Witmer, Gregory R Pahnke, Mark Mitchell, Nicholas J Petrelli, Irving M Berkowitz, Patricia Soteropoulos, Virginie M Aris, Stephen P Dunn, Leslie J Krueger

Department of Surgery Faculty Papers

INTRODUCTION: Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) is present in over 90% of the world's population. This infection is considered benign, even though in limited cases EBV is associated with infectious and neoplastic conditions. Over the past decade, the EBV association with breast cancer has been constantly debated. Adding to this clinical and biological uncertainty, different techniques gave contradictory results for the presence of EBV in breast carcinoma specimens. In this study, minor groove binding (MGB)-TaqMan real time PCR was used to detect the presence of EBV DNA in both peripheral blood and tumor samples of selected patients. METHODS: Peripheral blood and breast …

Visibility, Visual Awareness, And Visual Masking Of Simple Unattended Targets Are Confined To Areas In The Occipital Cortex Beyond Human V1/V2, Peter U. Tse, Susanna Martinez-Conde, Alexander A. Schlegel, Stephen L. Macknik

Dartmouth Scholarship

In visual masking, visible targets are rendered invisible by modifying the context in which they are presented, but not by modifying the targets themselves. Here, we localize the neuronal correlates of visual awareness in the human brain by using visual masking illusions. We compare monoptic visual masking activation, which we find within all retinotopic visual areas, with dichoptic masking activation, which we find only in those retinotopic areas downstream of V2. Because monoptic and dichoptic masking are equivalent in magnitude perceptually, the present results establish a lower bound for maintenance of visual awareness of simple unattended targets. Moreover, we find …

Near-Infrared Characterization Of Breast Tumors In Vivo Using Spectrally-Constrained Reconstruction, Subhadra Srinivasan, Brian W. Pogue, Ben Brooksby, Shudong Jiang, Hamid Dehghani, Christine Kogel, Wendy A. Wells, Steven P. Poplack, Keith D. Paulsen

Dartmouth Scholarship

Multi-wavelength Near-Infrared (NIR) Tomography was utilized in this study to non-invasively quantify physiological parameters of breast tumors using direct spectral reconstruction. Frequency domain NIR measurements were incorporated with a new spectrally constrained direct chromophore and scattering image reconstruction algorithm, which was validated in simulations and experimental phantoms. Images of total hemoglobin, oxygen saturation, water, and scatter parameters were obtained with higher accuracy than previously reported. Using this spectral approach, in vivo NIR images are presented and interpreted through a series of case studies (n=6 subjects) having differing abnormalities. The corresponding mammograms and ultrasound images are also evaluated. Three of six …

Cpg Oligodeoxynucleotides Stimulate Cord Blood Mononuclear Cells To Produce Immunoglobulins., Cheri D Landers, Subbarao Bondada

Microbiology, Immunology, and Molecular Genetics Faculty Publications

CpG oligodeoxynucleotides (ODNs) stimulate adult B cells leading to cellular proliferation and immunoglobulin production. It is unknown if CpG-ODNs similarly stimulate neonatal human B cells. Neonates have immature immune responses and are poorly responsive to thymus independent antigens such as polysaccharides. We determined umbilical cord cells' response to CpG-ODNs. Adult and umbilical cord B cells produced similar amounts of IgM (adult 1371 +/- 352 vs. cord 1873 +/- 1084 ng/ml) in response to CpG-ODN stimulation. Although CpG-ODN was able to stimulate adult IgG and IgA production, cord cells produced less IgG (153 +/- 58 vs. 10 +/- 2.5 ng/ml) and …

The Neural Mechanisms Of Speech Comprehension: Fmri Studies Of Semantic Ambiguity, Jennifer M Rodd, Matthew H Davis, Ingrid Johnsrude

Brain and Mind Institute Researchers' Publications

A number of regions of the temporal and frontal lobes are known to be important for spoken language comprehension, yet we do not have a clear understanding of their functional role(s). In particular, there is considerable disagreement about which brain regions are involved in the semantic aspects of comprehension. Two functional magnetic resonance studies use the phenomenon of semantic ambiguity to identify regions within the fronto-temporal language network that subserve the semantic aspects of spoken language comprehension. Volunteers heard sentences containing ambiguous words (e.g. 'the shell was fired towards the tank') and well-matched low-ambiguity sentences (e.g. 'her secrets were written …

Basal Endothelial Nitric Oxide Release Is Preserved In Overweight And Obese Adults, Christopher A Desouza, Gary P. Van Guilder, Jared J Greiner, Derek T Smith, Greta L Hoetzer, Brian L Stauffer

Health and Nutritional Sciences Faculty Publications

OBJECTIVE: Impaired basal nitric oxide release is associated with a number of cardiovascular disorders including hypertension, arterial spasm, and myocardial infarction. We determined whether basal endothelial nitric oxide release is reduced in otherwise healthy overweight and obese adult humans.
RESEARCH METHODS AND PROCEDURES: Seventy sedentary adults were studied: 32 normal weight (BMI/m(2)), 24 overweight (BMI > or = 25 < 30 kg/m(2)), and 14 obese (BMI > or = 30 kg/m(2)). Forearm blood flow (FBF) responses to intra-arterial infusions of N(g)-monomethyl-L-arginine (5 mg/min), a nitric oxide synthase inhibitor, were used as an index of basal nitric oxide release.
RESULTS: N(g)-monomethyl-L-arginine elicited significant reductions in FBF in the normal weight …

A Model Program For Youth Suicide Prevention, Hatim A. Omar

Pediatrics Faculty Publications

Youth suicide continues to be one of the leading causes of death in the United States. Nation wide it is the third leading cause of death in the 10-24 year old age group. The rate of suicide varies somewhat from state to state. In the state of Kentucky, youth suicide is the second leading cause of death. This article describes a grass root, community-based program for youth suicide prevention and its impact on the community. The Stop Youth Suicide Campaign was launched in October 2000 and included more than 30 local agencies. This program worked. through public education, education of …