Digital Commons Network^™

Integrated Psychological Care In Head And Neck Cancer: Views From Health Care Providers, Patients, And Supports, Michelle T. Jesse, Michael Ryan, Anne Eshelman, Tamer Ghanem, Amy M. Williams, Lisa R. Miller-Matero, Kathleen Yaremchuk

Otolaryngology Articles

OBJECTIVES/HYPOTHESIS: An evaluation by head-and-neck cancer (HNC) staff, patients, and patient support feedback regarding integrated psychological care and perceived benefit based on patient characteristics.

STUDY DESIGN: Cross-sectional survey of HNC staff, patients, and their primary supports; and retrospective chart review of psychiatric characteristics of HNC patients.

METHODS: HNC staff, patients (who were evaluated by the integrated psychologist), and their primary supports were given questionnaires on their perception of benefit of including a psychologist in the evaluation and treatment of HNC patients. Also, a retrospective chart review on patients who were psychiatrically evaluated by the psychologist on sociodemographics and psychiatric characteristics. …

Is Autologous Or Heterologous Pericardium Better For Valvuloplasty? A Comparative Study Of Calcification Propensity, Arthur W Bracey

The Texas Heart Institute Journal

No abstract provided.

Target-Specific Oral Anticoagulants: Should We Switch From Warfarin?, Payam Safavi-Naeini, Mohammad Saeed

The Texas Heart Institute Journal

No abstract provided.

Magnetic Resonance Imaging In Pediatric Pulmonary Hypertension, Ayhan Pektas, Rana Olgunturk, Ayhan Cevik, Semiha Terlemez, Emre Kacar, Yusuf Ali Oner

The Texas Heart Institute Journal

The present study aims to determine the efficacy and reliability of cardiovascular magnetic resonance imaging in establishing the diagnosis and prognosis of pulmonary hypertension in children.

This is a retrospective comparison of 25 children with pulmonary hypertension and a control group comprising 19 healthy children. The diagnosis of pulmonary hypertension was made when the mean pulmonary artery pressure was ≥25 mmHg by catheter angiography.

The children with pulmonary hypertension had significantly lower body mass indices than did the healthy children (P=0.048). In addition, the children with pulmonary hypertension had significantly larger main pulmonary artery diameters and ascending aortic diameters (both …

Prophylactic Methylprednisolone To Reduce Inflammation And Improve Outcomes From One Lung Ventilation In Children: A Randomized Clinical Trial., Mary C. Theroux, Alicia Olivant Fisher, Maria E. Rodriguez, Robert P. Brislin, Kirk W. Reichard, Suken A. Shah, Matt Mccoy, Melinda Brown, Kirk W. Dabney, William G. Mackenzie, Douglas A. Katz, Thomas H. Shaffer

Department of Anesthesiology Faculty Papers

BACKGROUND: One lung ventilation (OLV) results in inflammatory and mechanical injury, leading to intraoperative and postoperative complications in children. No interventions have been studied in children to minimize such injury.

OBJECTIVE: We hypothesized that a single 2-mg·kg(-1) dose of methylprednisolone given 45-60 min prior to lung collapse would minimize injury from OLV and improve physiological stability.

METHODS: Twenty-eight children scheduled to undergo OLV were randomly assigned to receive 2 mg·kg(-1) methylprednisolone (MP) or normal saline (placebo group) prior to OLV. Anesthetic management was standardized, and data were collected for physiological stability (bronchospasm, respiratory resistance, and compliance). Plasma was assayed for …

Effects Of Individualized Centrifugation Training On Orthostatic Tolerance In Men And Women, Nandu Goswami, Joyce Evans, Stefan Schneider, Melanie Von Der Wiesche, Edwin Mulder, Andreas Rössler, Helmut Hinghofer-Szalkay, Andrew P. Blaber

Biomedical Engineering Faculty Publications

AIMS: Exposure to artificial gravity (AG) at different G loads and durations on human centrifuges has been shown to improve orthostatic tolerance in men. However, the effects on women and of an individual-specific AG training protocol on tolerance are not known.

METHODS: We examined the effects of 90 minutes of AG vs. 90 minutes of supine rest on the orthostatic tolerance limit (OTL), using head up tilt and lower body negative pressure until presyncope of 7 men and 5 women. Subjects were placed in the centrifuge nacelle while instrumented and after one-hour they underwent either: 1) AG exposure …

Macrophage Migration Inhibitory Factor Mediates Par-Induced Bladder Pain., Dimitrios E. Kouzoukas, Katherine L. Meyer-Siegler, Fei Ma, Karin N. Westlund, David E. Hunt, Pedro L. Vera

Physiology Faculty Publications

INTRODUCTION: Macrophage migration inhibitory factor (MIF), a pro-inflammatory cytokine, is constitutively expressed in urothelial cells that also express protease-activated receptors (PAR). Urothelial PAR1 receptors were shown to mediate bladder inflammation. We showed that PAR1 and PAR4 activator, thrombin, also mediates urothelial MIF release. We hypothesized that stimulation of urothelial PAR1 or PAR4 receptors elicits release of urothelial MIF that acts on MIF receptors in the urothelium to mediate bladder inflammation and pain. Thus, we examined the effect of activation of specific bladder PAR receptors on MIF release, bladder pain, micturition and histological changes.

METHODS: MIF release was measured …

Successful Implementation Of A Packed Red Blood Cell And Fresh Frozen Plasma Transfusion Protocol In The Surgical Intensive Care Unit, Benjamin E. Szpila, Tezcan Ozrazgat-Baslanti, Jianyi Zhang, Jennifer Lanz, Ruth Davis, Annette Rebel, Erin Vanzant, Lori F. Gentile, Alex G. Cuenca, Darwin N. Ang, Huazhi Liu, Lawrence Lottenberg, Peggy Marker, Marc Zumberg, Azra Bihorac, Frederick A. Moore, Scott Brakenridge, Philip A. Efron

Anesthesiology Faculty Publications

BACKGROUND: Blood product transfusions are associated with increased morbidity and mortality. The purpose of this study was to determine if implementation of a restrictive protocol for packed red blood cell (PRBC) and fresh frozen plasma (FFP) transfusion safely reduces blood product utilization and costs in a surgical intensive care unit (SICU).

STUDY DESIGN: We performed a retrospective, historical control analysis comparing before (PRE) and after (POST) implementation of a restrictive PRBC/FFP transfusion protocol for SICU patients. Univariate analysis was utilized to compare patient demographics and blood product transfusion totals between the PRE and POST cohorts. Multivariate logistic regression …

Ventilation Heterogeneity In Ex-Smokers Without Airflow Limitation., Damien Pike, Miranda Kirby, Fumin Guo, David G Mccormack, Grace Parraga

Medical Biophysics Publications

RATIONALE AND OBJECTIVES: Hyperpolarized (3)He magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) ventilation abnormalities are visible in ex-smokers without airflow limitation, but the clinical relevance of this is not well-understood. Our objective was to phenotype healthy ex-smokers with normal and abnormally elevated ventilation defect percent (VDP).

MATERIALS AND METHODS: Sixty ex-smokers without airflow limitation provided written informed consent to (3)He MRI, computed tomography (CT), and pulmonary function tests in a single visit. (3)He MRI VDP and apparent diffusion coefficients (ADCs) were measured for whole-lung and each lung lobe as were CT measurements of emphysema (relative area [RA] with attenuation ≤-950 HU, RA950) and …

Disease-Related Microglia Heterogeneity In The Hippocampus Of Alzheimer's Disease, Dementia With Lewy Bodies, And Hippocampal Sclerosis Of Aging, Adam D. Bachstetter, Linda J. Van Eldik, Frederick A. Schmitt, Janna H. Neltner, Eseosa T. Ighodaro, Scott J. Webster, Ela Patel, Erin L. Abner, Richard J. Kryscio, Peter T. Nelson

Sanders-Brown Center on Aging Faculty Publications

Introduction: Neuropathological, genetic, and biochemical studies have provided support for the hypothesis that microglia participate in Alzheimer's disease (AD) pathogenesis. Despite the extensive characterization of AD microglia, there are still many unanswered questions, and little is known about microglial morphology in other common forms of age-related dementia: particularly, dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) and hippocampal sclerosis of aging (HS-Aging). In addition, no prior studies have attempted to compare and contrast the microglia morphology in the hippocampus of various neurodegenerative conditions.

Results: Here we studied cases with pathologically-confirmed AD (n = 7), HS-Aging (n = 7), AD + HS-aging …

Genetic Heterogeneity Of Pseudoxanthoma Elasticum: The Chinese Signature Profile Of Abcc6 And Enpp1 Mutations., Liang Jin, Qiujie Jiang, Zhengsheng Wu, Changxia Shao, Yong Zhou, Luting Yang, Jouni Uitto, Gang Wang

Department of Dermatology and Cutaneous Biology Faculty Papers

Pseudoxanthoma elasticum (PXE), an autosomal recessive disorder characterized by ectopic mineralization, is caused by mutations in the ABCC6 gene. We examined clinically 29 Chinese PXE patients from unrelated families, so far the largest cohort of Asian PXE patients. In a subset of 22 patients, we sequenced ABCC6 and another candidate gene, ENPP1, and conducted pathogenicity analyses for each variant. We identified a total of 17 distinct mutations in ABCC6, 15 of them being, to our knowledge, previously unreported, including 5 frameshift and 10 missense variants. In addition, a missense mutation in combination with a recurrent nonsense mutation in ENPP1 was …

Optimization Of Image Reconstruction For Magnetic Resonance Imaging–Guided Near-Infrared Diffuse Optical Spectroscopy In Breast, Yan Zhao, Michael A. Mastanduno, Shudong Jiang, Fadi Ei-Ghussein, Jiang Gui, Brian W. Pogue, Keith D. Paulsen

Dartmouth Scholarship

An optimized approach to nonlinear iterative reconstruction of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)–guided near-infrared spectral tomography (NIRST) images was developed using an L-curve-based algorithm for the choice of regularization parameter. This approach was applied to clinical exam data to maximize the reconstructed values differentiating malignant and benign lesions. MRI/NIRST data from 25 patients with abnormal breast readings (BI-RADS category 4-5) were analyzed using this optimal regularization methodology, and the results showed enhanced p values and area under the curve (AUC) for the task of differentiating malignant from benign lesions. Of the four absorption parameters and two scatter parameters, the most significant …

Regulators Associated With Clinical Outcomes Revealed By Dna Methylation Data In Breast Cancer, Matthew H. Ung, Frederick S. Varn, Shaoke Lou, Chao Cheng

Dartmouth Scholarship

The regulatory architecture of breast cancer is extraordinarily complex and gene misregulation can occur at many levels, with transcriptional malfunction being a major cause. This dysfunctional process typically involves additional regulatory modulators including DNA methylation. Thus, the interplay between transcription factor (TF) binding and DNA methylation are two components of a cancer regulatory interactome presumed to display correlated signals. As proof of concept, we performed a systematic motif-based in silico analysis to infer all potential TFs that are involved in breast cancer prognosis through an association with DNA methylation changes. Using breast cancer DNA methylation and clinical data derived from …

Ferritin Levels In The Cerebrospinal Fluid Predict Alzheimer's Disease Outcomes And Are Regulated By Apoe, Scott Ayton, Noel G. Faux, Ashley I. Bush, Charles D. Smith, Greg A. Jicha, Peter A. Hardy, Partha Sinha, Elizabeth Oates, Gary Conrad, Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative

Neurology Faculty Publications

Brain iron elevation is implicated in Alzheimer's disease (AD) pathogenesis, but the impact of iron on disease outcomes has not been previously explored in a longitudinal study. Ferritin is the major iron storage protein of the body; by using cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) levels of ferritin as an index, we explored whether brain iron status impacts longitudinal outcomes in the Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI) cohort. We show that baseline CSF ferritin levels were negatively associated with cognitive performance over 7 years in 91 cognitively normal, 144 mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and 67 AD subjects, and predicted MCI conversion to AD. …

Quantification Of Atrial Dynamics Using Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance: Inter-Study Reproducibility., Johannes T. Kowallick, Geraint Morton, Pablo Lamata, Roy Jogiya, Shelby Kutty, Gerd Hasenfuß, Joachim Lotz, Eike Nagel, Amedeo Chiribiri, Andreas Schuster

Journal Articles: Cardiology

BACKGROUND: Cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) offers quantification of phasic atrial functions based on volumetric assessment and more recently, on CMR feature tracking (CMR-FT) quantitative strain and strain rate (SR) deformation imaging. Inter-study reproducibility is a key requirement for longitudinal studies but has not been defined for CMR-based quantification of left atrial (LA) and right atrial (RA) dynamics.

METHODS: Long-axis 2- and 4-chamber cine images were acquired at 9:00 (Exam A), 9:30 (Exam B) and 14:00 (Exam C) in 16 healthy volunteers. LA and RA reservoir, conduit and contractile booster pump functions were quantified by volumetric indexes as derived from fractional …

Prospective Study Of Recovery From Copperhead Snake Envenomation: An Observational Study, Eric J. Lavonas, Charles J. Gerardo, Rebecca C. Bowers, Joann Short, Copperhead Snakebite Recovery Outcome Group

Emergency Medicine Faculty Publications

BACKGROUND: Although much is known about signs, symptoms, and management in the acute phase of crotaline snake envenomation, little is known about signs, symptoms, function, and quality of life during the recovery phase. The purpose of this observational pilot investigation is to evaluate the utility of several clinical outcome instruments in the setting of copperhead snakebite, and to characterize the clinical course of recovery.

METHODS: This is a multi-center prospective, open-label, observational study of patients envenomated by copperhead snakes. We administered the Disabilities of the Arm, Shoulder, and Hand (DASH), Lower Extremity Functional Scale (LEFS), Patient-Specific Functional Scale …

Metformin Prevents Aggressive Ovarian Cancer Growth Driven By High-Energy Diet: Similarity With Calorie Restriction, Zaid Al-Wahab, Ismail Mert, Calvin Tebbe, Jasdeep Chhina, Miriana Hijaz, Robert T. Morris, Rouba Ali-Fehmi, Shailendra Giri, Adnan R. Munkarah, Ramandeep Rattan

Hematology/Oncology Articles

Caloric restriction (CR) was recently demonstrated by us to restrict ovarian cancer growth in vivo. CR resulted in activation of energy regulating enzymes adenosine monophosphate activated kinase (AMPK) and sirtuin 1 (SIRT1) followed by downstream inhibition of Akt-mTOR. In the present study, we investigated the effects of metformin on ovarian cancer growth in mice fed a high energy diet (HED) and regular diet (RD) and compared them to those seen with CR in an immunocompetent isogeneic mouse model of ovarian cancer. Mice either on RD or HED diet bearing ovarian tumors were treated with 200 mg/kg metformin in drinking water. …

Emerge: A Randomized Phase Ii Study Of The Antibody-Drug Conjugate Glembatumumab Vedotin In Advanced Glycoprotein Nmb-Expressing Breast Cancer, Denise A. Yardley, Robert Weaver, Michelle E. Melisko, Mansoor N. Saleh, Francis P. Arena, Andres Forero, Tessa Cigler, Alison Stopeck, Dennis Citrin, Ira Oliff, Rebecca Bechhold, Randa Loutfi, Agustin A. Garcia, Scott Cruickshank, Elizabeth Crowley, Jennifer Green, Thomas Hawthorne, Michael J. Yellin, Thomas A. Davis, Linda T. Vahdat

Hematology/Oncology Articles

PURPOSE: Glycoprotein NMB (gpNMB), a negative prognostic marker, is overexpressed in multiple tumor types. Glembatumumab vedotin is a gpNMB-specific monoclonal antibody conjugated to the potent cytotoxin monomethyl auristatin E. This phase II study investigated the activity of glembatumumab vedotin in advanced breast cancer by gpNMB expression.

PATIENTS AND METHODS: Patients (n = 124) with refractory breast cancer that expressed gpNMB in ≥ 5% of epithelial or stromal cells by central immunohistochemistry were stratified by gpNMB expression (tumor, low stromal intensity, high stromal intensity) and were randomly assigned 2:1 to glembatumumab vedotin (n = 83) or investigator's choice (IC) chemotherapy (n …

A Patient With Polymerase E1 Deficiency (Pole1): Clinical Features And Overlap With Dna Breakage/Instability Syndromes., Isabelle Thiffault, Carol Saunders, Janda Jenkins, Nikita Raje, Kristi Canty, Mukta Sharma, Lauren Grote, Holly I. Welsh, Emily Farrow, Greyson Twist, Neil Miller, David Zwick, Lee Zellmer, Stephen F. Kingsmore, Nicole P. Safina

Manuscripts, Articles, Book Chapters and Other Papers

BACKGROUND: Chromosome instability syndromes are a group of inherited conditions associated with chromosomal instability and breakage, often leading to immunodeficiency, growth retardation and increased risk of malignancy.

CASE PRESENTATION: We performed exome sequencing on a girl with a suspected chromosome instability syndrome that manifested as growth retardation, microcephaly, developmental delay, dysmorphic features, poikiloderma, immune deficiency with pancytopenia, and myelodysplasia. She was homozygous for a previously reported splice variant, c.4444 + 3A > G in the POLE1 gene, which encodes the catalytic subunit of DNA polymerase E.

CONCLUSION: This is the second family with POLE1-deficency, with the affected individual demonstrating a more …

A Randomized Controlled Trial Of Koru: A Mindfulness Program For College Students And Other Emerging Adults., Jeffrey M Greeson, Michael K Juberg, Margaret Maytan, Kiera James, Holly Rogers

College of Science & Mathematics Departmental Research

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the effectiveness of Koru, a mindfulness training program for college students and other emerging adults.

PARTICIPANTS: Ninety students (66% female, 62% white, 71% graduate students) participated between Fall 2012 and Spring 2013.

METHODS: Randomized controlled trial. It was hypothesized that Koru, compared with a wait-list control group, would reduce perceived stress and sleep problems, and increase mindfulness, self-compassion, and gratitude.

RESULTS: As hypothesized, results showed significant Group (Koru, Wait-List)×Time (Pre, Post) interactions for improvements in perceived stress (F[1, 76.40]=4.50, p=.037, d=.45), sleep problems (F [1, 79.49]=4.71, p=.033, d=.52), mindfulness (F [1, 79.09]=26.80, p

CONCLUSIONS: Results support the …

Depressive And Anxiety Symptom Trajectories From School Age Through Young Adulthood In Samples With Autism Spectrum Disorder And Developmental Delay., Katherine Gotham, Steven M. Brunwasser Phd, Catherine Lord

College of Science & Mathematics Departmental Research

OBJECTIVE: The objectives of this study were to model growth in anxiety and depressive symptoms from late school age through young adulthood in individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and controls with developmental delay (DD), and to assess relationships among internalizing growth patterns, participant characteristics, baseline predictors, and distal outcomes.

METHOD: Data were collected between ages 6 and 24 years in 165 participants (n = 109 with ASD; n = 56 with nonspectrum DD), most of whom received diagnostic evaluations in both childhood and early adulthood. Questionnaires were collected approximately every 3 to 6 months between ages 9 and 24 …

Evaluation Of A Pharmacist-Led Medication Assessment Used To Identify Prevalence Of And Associations With Polypharmacy And Potentially Inappropriate Medication Use Among Ambulatory Senior Adults With Cancer., Ginah Nightingale, Emily Hajjar, Kristine Swartz, Jocelyn Andrel-Sendecki, Andrew Chapman

College of Pharmacy Faculty Papers

PURPOSE: The use of multiple and/or inappropriate medications in seniors is a significant public health problem, and cancer treatment escalates its prevalence and complexity. Existing studies are limited by patient self-report and medical record extraction compared with a pharmacist-led comprehensive medication assessment.

PATIENTS AND METHODS: We retrospectively examined medication use in ambulatory senior adults with cancer to determine the prevalence of polypharmacy (PP) and potentially inappropriate medication (PIM) use and associated factors. PP was defined as concurrent use of five or more and less than 10 medications, and excessive polypharmacy (EPP) was defined as 10 or more medications. PIMs were …

Cell Signaling Events Differentiate Er-Negative Subtypes From Er-Positive Breast Cancer, Maria Worsham, Dhananjay A. Chitale, Kang-Mei Chen, Indrani Datta, George Divine

Otolaryngology Articles

Currently available markers routinely used in clinical practice are of limited value to patients with estrogen receptor-negative (ER(-)) breast cancer [basal-like and HER2neu-positive (HER(+))], an aggressive subtype. Our aim was to uncover molecular pathways and signaling networks exposed by differentially methylated genes informative of the biology of ER(-) breast cancer (BC) subtypes versus ER-positive (ER(+)). Whole-genome methylation array analysis was carried out using the Illumina Infinium HumanMethylation27 BeadChip on 14 primary BC: five ER(+), four triple-negative (TNBC), and five ER(-)HER2(+). Degree of methylation was calculated as a β-value (ranging from 0 to 1), and M-values [log (β/(1 - β)] were …

Sex-Specific Parental Effects On Offspring Lipid Levels, Irene M. Predazzi, Rafal S. Sobota, Serena Sanna, William S. Bush, Jacquelaine Bartlett, Jessica S. Lilley, Macrae F. Linton, David Schlessinger, Francesco Cucca, Sergio Fazio, Scott M. Williams

Dartmouth Scholarship

Background:

Plasma lipid levels are highly heritable traits, but known genetic loci can only explain a small portion of their heritability.

Methods and Results:

In this study, we analyzed the role of parental levels of total cholesterol (TC), low‐density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL‐C), high‐density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL‐C), and triglycerides (TGs) in explaining the values of the corresponding traits in adult offspring. We also evaluated the contribution of nongenetic factors that influence lipid traits (age, body mass index, smoking, medications, and menopause) alone and in combination with variability at the genetic loci known to associate with TC, LDL‐C, HDL‐C, and TG levels. …

Resource Value As A Mediating Factor Of Aggression During Within-Sex Competition Between Female Siamese Fighting Fish (Betta Splendens), Jessica M. Heppard

Biology Honors Theses

In order to acquire and defend resources, individuals make decisions about the benefits of acquiring a resource weighed against the potential cost of injury and lost time and energy. Individual investment into aggression is expected to be proportional to the value of the contested resource, and that investment in defense of different categories of resources (e.g. food, mates) will vary depending on the value of each category of resource. Female Siamese fighting fish (Betta splendens) competed in dyadic trials with other female bettas in two experiments: one for food of either high or low value (small or large amount of …

Comparison Of Survival In Patients With T Cell Lymphoma After Autologous And Allogeneic Stem Cell Transplantation As A Frontline Strategy Or In Relapsed Disease., Amer Beitinjaneh, Rima M. Saliba, L. Jeffrey Medeiros, Francesco Turturro, Gabriela Rondon, Martin Korbling, Luis Fayad, Michelle A. Fanale, Amin M. Alousi, Paolo Anderlini, Oran Betul, Uday R. Popat, Barbara Pro, Issa F. Khouri

Kimmel Cancer Center Papers, Presentations, and Grand Rounds

We studied the roles of autologous (A) and allogeneic (allo) stem cell transplantation (SCT) in the treatment of 134 patients with T cell lymphoma (TCL) at our center. For frontline SCT, 58 patients were studied. The 4-year overall survival (OS) rates for ASCT (n = 47; median age, 49 years) and alloSCT (n = 11; median age, 55 years) groups were 76% and 54%, respectively (P > .05). The 4-year OS rates for first complete remission (CR1) patients were 84% and 83%, respectively. For SCT for relapsed disease, 76 patients were studied (41 with ASCT and 35 with alloSCT). The 4-year …

Lindenwood Students’ Cultural Domain Of Female Beauty, Courtney Cox

Undergraduate Psychology Research Methods Journal

In this study, the shared cultural domain of female physical beauty on the Lindenwood campus was identified. A cultural domain is essentially, “things that somehow go together” (Bernard 2006, p. 299). The domain is established by systematic use of free lists, a method in which participants list all of the attributes that they can in response to a prompt. A written free list method was selected so that a large group of students could provide their data in a quick and anonymous manner. In this case, the domain of interest was “attributes that are physically beautiful in women.” After providing …

Adolescent And Adult African Americans Have Similar Metabolic Dyslipidemia., Samuel S. Gidding, Scott W. Keith, Bonita Falkner

Department of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics Faculty Papers

BACKGROUND: African Americans (AAs) have lower triglyceride (TG) and higher high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) than other ethnic groups; yet, they also have higher risk for developing diabetes mellitus despite the strong relationship of dyslipidemia with insulin resistance. No studies directly compare adolescents and adults with regard to relationships among dyslipidemia, high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP), and insulin resistance. Here, we compare AA adolescents to adults with regard to the relationships of adiposity-related lipid risk markers (TG-to-HDL ratio and non-HDL-C) with body mass index (BMI), waist circumference (WC), homeostasis model of insulin resistance (HOMA), and hs-CRP.

METHODS: Two cohorts of healthy AA …

Experiences Of African American Female First Generation College Students, Ashley Green

Dissertations

The purpose of this qualitative phenomenology study was to gain a better understanding of the experiences of African American, female, first generation college students attending a large, predominantly White research university and to understand what motivates them. The major research question guiding this study was: How do African American, female, first generation college students (in good academic standing) describe their college experience? The researcher asked the participants to discuss their challenges, how they responded to challenges, sources of motivation, and factors that contributed to their success in college.

Through individual, face to face, interviews with 10 African American, female, FGC …

Increasing Adipocyte Lipoprotein Lipase Improves Glucose Metabolism In High Fat Diet-Induced Obesity, R. Grace Walton, Beibei Zhu, Resat Unal, Michael Spencer, Manjula Sunkara, Andrew J. Morris, Richard Charnigo, Wendy S. Katz, Alan Daugherty, Deborah A. Howatt, Philip A. Kern, Brian S. Finlin

Barnstable Brown Diabetes Center Faculty Publications

Lipid accumulation in liver and skeletal muscle contributes to co-morbidities associated with diabetes and obesity. We made a transgenic mouse in which the adiponectin (Adipoq) promoter drives expression of lipoprotein lipase (LPL) in adipocytes to potentially increase adipose tissue lipid storage. These mice (Adipoq-LPL) have improved glucose and insulin tolerance as well as increased energy expenditure when challenged with a high fat diet (HFD). To identify the mechanism(s) involved, we determined whether the Adipoq-LPL mice diverted dietary lipid to adipose tissue to reduce peripheral lipotoxicity, but we found no evidence for this. Instead, characterization …