Digital Commons Network^™

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 …

Ergonomics: Implications On Computer End-Users, Maheen Ghauri, Dr. Arshad Siddiqi

International Conference on Information and Communication Technologies

Ergonomics is the application of scientific information related to humans to the design of objects, systems and environment for human use. The objective is to apply human characteristics to the design of computer-based work environments to reduce problems of people at work. Lack of ergonomics has serious repercussions on end-users, including physical and mental illnesses. Using ergonomics to design computer-intensive environments would maximize efficiency, productivity and job satisfaction of employees. Unfortunately, in the Government Sector in Pakistan, there is no application of ergonomics in computer-based environments, and this leads to inefficiencies, errors, and safety and health issues. The purpose of …

Identification And Expansion Of Pancreatic Stem/Progenitor Cells., You-Qing Zhang, Marcie Kritzik, Nora Sarvetnick

Journal Articles: Regenerative Medicine

Pancreatic islet transplantation represents an attractive approach for the treatment of diabetes. However, the limited availability of donor islets has largely hampered this approach. In this respect, the use of alternative sources of islets such as the ex vivo expansion and differentiation of functional endocrine cells for treating diabetes has become the major focus of diabetes research. Adult pancreatic stem cells /progenitor cells have yet to be recognized because limited markers exist for their identification. While the pancreas has the capacity to regenerate under certain circumstances, questions where adult pancreatic stem/progenitor cells are localized, how they are regulated, and even …

Automated Migration Analysis Based On Cell Texture: Method & Reliability, Jianfeng Qin, Thomas W. Chittenden, Ling Gao, Justin D D. Pearlman

Dartmouth Scholarship

Background: In this paper, we present and validate a way to measure automatically the extent of cell migration based on automated examination of a series of digital photographs. It was designed specifically to identify the impact of Second Hand Smoke (SHS) on endothelial cell migration but has broader applications. The analysis has two stages: (1) preprocessing of image texture, and (2) migration analysis.

Results: The output is a graphic overlay that indicates the front lines of cell migration superimposed on each original image, with automated reporting of the distance traversed vs. time. Expert preference compares to manual placement of leading …

Clinical Characteristics Of Individuals Using An Online Alcohol Evaluation Program., Daniel Z Lieberman

Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences Faculty Publications

Access to treatment for substance abuse disorders is limited, and practical strategies are needed to expand opportunities for individuals to receive effective interventions. Automated or semi-automated treatments have shown promise in other disorders. Identifying the characteristics of patients who will be able to benefit from this unconventional approach will increase the likelihood of success. The current study examined 1,297 individuals using an online alcohol evaluation program. Subjects had high scores on the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT) and a substantial amount of ambivalence about the possible harm that their drinking caused, but they also had very low levels of …

Visual Error Augmentation For Enhancing Motor Learning And Rehabilitative Relearning, Yejun Wei, Preeti Bajaj, Robert A. Scheidt, James L. Patton

Biomedical Engineering Faculty Research and Publications

We developed a real-time controller for a 2 degree-of-freedom robotic system using xPC Target. This system was used to investigate how different methods of performance error feedback can lead to faster and more complete motor learning in individuals asked to compensate for a novel visuo-motor transformation (a 30 degree rotation). Four groups of normal human subjects were asked to reach with their unseen arm to visual targets surrounding a central starting location. A cursor tracking hand motion was provided during each reach. For one group of subjects, deviations from the "ideal" compensatory hand movement (i.e. trajectory errors) were amplified with …

Global Gene Expression Profiling Of Cells Overexpressing Smc3., Giancarlo Ghiselli, Chang-Gong Liu

Department of Microbiology and Immunology Faculty Papers

BACKGROUND: The Structural Maintenance of Chromosome 3 protein (SMC3) plays an essential role during the sister chromatid separation, is involved in DNA repair and recombination and participates in microtubule-mediated intracellular transport. SMC3 is frequently elevated in human colon carcinoma and overexpression of the protein transforms murine NIH3T3 fibroblasts. In order to gain insight into the mechanism of SMC3-mediated tumorigenesis a gene expression profiling was performed on human 293 cells line stably overexpressing SMC3. RESULTS: Biotinylated complementary RNA (cRNA) was used for hybridization of a cDNAmicroarray chip harboring 18,861 65-mer oligos derived from the published dEST sequences. After filtering, the hybridization …

Control Of Mitochondrial Motility And Distribution By The Calcium Signal: A Homeostatic Circuit., Muqing Yi, David Weaver, György Hajnóczky

Department of Pathology, Anatomy, and Cell Biology Faculty Papers

Mitochondria are dynamic organelles in cells. The control of mitochondrial motility by signaling mechanisms and the significance of rapid changes in motility remains elusive. In cardiac myoblasts, mitochondria were observed close to the microtubular array and displayed both short- and long-range movements along microtubules. By clamping cytoplasmic [Ca2+] ([Ca2+]c) at various levels, mitochondrial motility was found to be regulated by Ca2+ in the physiological range. Maximal movement was obtained at resting [Ca2+]c with complete arrest at 1-2 microM. Movement was fully recovered by returning to resting [Ca2+]c, and inhibition could be repeated with no apparent desensitization. The inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate- or …

Improved Quantification Of Small Objects In Near-Infrared Diffuse Optical Tomography, Subhadra Srinivasan, Brian W. Pogue, Hamid Dehghani, Shudong Jiang, Xiaomei Song, Keith D. Paulsen

Dartmouth Scholarship

Diffuse optical tomography allows quantification of hemoglobin, oxygen saturation, and water in tissue, and the fidelity in this quantification is dependent on the accuracy of optical properties determined during image reconstruction. In this study, a three-step algorithm is proposed and validated that uses the standard Newton minimization with Levenberg-Marquardt regularization as the first step. The second step is a modification to the existing algorithm using a two-parameter regularization to allow lower damping in a region of interest as compared to background. This second stage allows the recovery of the actual size of an inclusion. A region-based reconstruction is the final …

Efficacy Of Quality Criteria To Identify Potentially Harmful Information: A Cross-Sectional Survey Of Complementary And Alternative Medicine Web Sites, Muhammad Walji, Smitha Sagaram, Deepak Sagaram, Funda Meric-Bernstam, Craig Johnson, Nadeem Q Mirza, Elmer V Bernstam

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

BACKGROUND: Many users search the Internet for answers to health questions. Complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) is a particularly common search topic. Because many CAM therapies do not require a clinician's prescription, false or misleading CAM information may be more dangerous than information about traditional therapies. Many quality criteria have been suggested to filter out potentially harmful online health information. However, assessing the accuracy of CAM information is uniquely challenging since CAM is generally not supported by conventional literature. OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study is to determine whether domain-independent technical quality criteria can identify potentially harmful online CAM content. …

Characterization Of Hemoglobin, Water, And Nir Scattering In Breast Tissue: Analysis Of Intersubject Variability And Menstrual Cycle Changes, Brian W. Pogue, Shudong Jiang, Hamid Dehghani, Christine Kogel, Sandra Soho, Subhadra Srinivasan, Xiaomei Song, Tor D. Tosteson, Steven P. Poplack, Keith D. Paulsen

Dartmouth Scholarship

Near-infrared imaging was used to quantify typical values of hemoglobin concentration, oxygen saturation, water fraction, scattering power, and scattering amplitude within the breast tissue of volunteer subjects. A systematic study of the menstrual variations in these parameters was carried out by measuring a group of seven premenopausal normal women (aged 41 to 47 years) in the follicular (days 7 to 14 of the cycle) and secretory phases (days 21 to 28) of the cycle, for two complete menstrual cycles. An average increase in hemoglobin concentration of 2.6 μM or 13% of the background breast values was observed in the …

Depressed Type 1 Cytokine Synthesis By Superantigen-Activated Cd4+ T Cells Of Women With Human Papillomavirus-Related High-Grade Squamous Intraepithelial Lesions, Bang-Ning Lee, Michele Follen, De-Yu Shen, Anais Malpica, Karen Adler-Storthz, William T. Shearer, James M. Reuben

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Carcinoma of the cervix is causally related to infection with the human papillomavirus (HPV), and T cells play a pivotal role in the immune response of the host to rid itself of HPV infection. Therefore, we assessed the T-cell function of women with HPV-related cervical neoplasia against a superantigen, Staphylococcus enterotoxin B (SEB). Each woman provided a cervical brush specimen for HPV DNA testing and Papanicolaou (Pap) smears for the staging of cervical lesions. They also provided a blood specimen for determination of the ability of CD4(+) T and CD8(+) T cells to synthesize Th1 (interleukin-2 [IL-2], gamma interferon [IFN-gamma], …

Environmental Risk Factors In Hospital Suicide., Daniel Z Lieberman, Harvey L P Resnik, Vicenzio Holder-Perkins

Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences Faculty Publications

Suicide of hospitalized patients is the most common sentinel event reviewed by The Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations. Shorter lengths of stay, sicker patients, and higher patient to staff ratios challenge the ability of the hospital to maintain safety. Risk factors associated with the physical environment of the inpatient psychiatric unit, cited as the most common root cause of inpatient suicide, may be neglected because evaluation of these factors is generally not included in medical education and training. Minimization of fixtures that can facilitate strangulation and other high risk aspects within the hospital environment is an important element …

Surveillance For Waterborne-Disease Outbreaks Associated With Drinking Water--United States, 2001-2002, Brian G. Blackburn, Gunther F. Craun, Jonathan S. Yoder, Vincent Hill, Rebecca L. Calderon, Nora Chen, Sherline H. Lee, Deborah A. Levy, Michael J. Beach

Journal Articles: Epidemiology

PROBLEM/CONDITION: Since 1971, CDC, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and the Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists have maintained a collaborative surveillance system for collecting and periodically reporting data related to occurrences and causes of waterborne-disease outbreaks (WBDOs). This surveillance system is the primary source of data concerning the scope and effects of waterborne disease outbreaks on persons in the United States.

REPORTING PERIOD COVERED: This summary includes data on WBDOs associated with drinking water that occurred during January 2001-December 2002 and on three previously unreported outbreaks that occurred during 2000.

DESCRIPTION OF SYSTEM: Public health departments in the states, …

Modeling Of Hemoglobin In Dengue Fever And Dengue Hemorrhagic Fever Using Bioelectrical Impedance, F. Ibrahim, N.A. Ismail, M.N. Taib, W.A.B. Wan Abas

Research Publications (2000 to 2005)

This paper describes a model for predicting hemoglobin (Hb) by using bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA) in dengue patients in the Hospital Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (HUKM). Bioelectrical impedance measurements were conducted on 83 (47 males and 36 females) serologically confirmed dengue fever (DF) and dengue hemorrhagic fever (DHF) patients during their hospitalization. The predictive equation for Hb was derived using multivariate analysis. We investigated all the parameters in BIA, patients' symptom and demographic data. In this developed model, four predictors (reactance (Xc), sex, weight and vomiting) were found to be the best predictive factors for modeling Hb in dengue patients. However, …

Surveillance For Waterborne-Disease Outbreaks Associated With Recreational Water--United States, 2001-2002, Jonathan S. Yoder, Brian G. Blackburn, Gunther F. Craun, Vincent Hill, Deborah A. Levy, Nora Chen, Sherline H. Lee, Rebecca L. Calderon, Michael J. Beach

Journal Articles: Epidemiology

PROBLEM/CONDITION: Since 1971, CDC, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and the Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists have maintained a collaborative surveillance system for collecting and periodically reporting data related to occurrences and causes of waterborne-disease outbreaks (WBDOs) related to drinking water; tabulation of recreational water-associated outbreaks was added to the surveillance system in 1978. This surveillance system is the primary source of data concerning the scope and effects of waterborne disease outbreaks on persons in the United States.

REPORTING PERIOD COVERED: This summary includes data on WBDOs associated with recreational water that occurred during January 2001-December 2002 and on …

Determinants Of Satisfaction With An Automated Alcohol Evaluation Program., Daniel Z Lieberman

Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences Faculty Publications

High rates of untreated mental illness cause serious health problems in the United States and worldwide. The use of computer-administered therapy has the potential to increase access to mental health care for certain patient populations. An online version of an alcohol check-up was developed that guided subjects through a series of standardized questionnaires, and provided them with feedback designed to enhance their appreciation of the negative aspects of their alcohol use. Ratings of the helpfulness of the questionnaires were evaluated in order to determine the characteristics of individuals who would potentially benefit from an automated substance abuse intervention, and to …

Melanoma And Seborrheic Keratosis Differentiation Using Texture Features, Srinivas V. Deshabhoina, Scott E. Umbaugh, William V. Stoecker, Randy Hays Moss, Subhashini K. Srinivasan

Chemistry Faculty Research & Creative Works

Purpose: To explore texture features in two-dimensional images to differentiate seborrheic keratosis from melanoma.

Methods: A systematic approach to consistent classification of skin tumors is described. Texture features, based on the second-order histogram, were used to identify the features or a combination of features that could consistently differentiate a malignant skin tumor (melanoma) from a benign one (seborrheic keratosis). Two hundred and seventy-one skin tumor images were separated into training and test sets for accuracy and consistency. Automatic induction was applied to generate classification rules. Data analysis and modeling tools were used to gain further insight into the feature space. …

Interpreting Hemoglobin And Water Concentration, Oxygen Saturation, And Scattering Measured In Vivo By Near-Infrared Breast Tomography, Subhadra Srinivasan, Brian W. Pogue, Shudong Jiang, Hamid Dehghani, Christine Kogel, Sandra Soho, Jennifer J. Gibson, Tor D. Tosteson, Steven P. Poplack, Keith D. Paulsen

Dartmouth Scholarship

Near-infrared spectroscopic tomography was used to measure the properties of 24 mammographically normal breasts to quantify whole-breast absorption and scattering spectra and to evaluate which tissue composition characteristics can be determined from these spectra. The absorption spectrum of breast tissue allows quantification of (i) total hemoglobin concentration, (ii) hemoglobin oxygen saturation, and (iii) water concentration, whereas the scattering spectrum provides information about the size and number density of cellular components and structural matrix elements. These property data were tested for correlation to demographic information, including subject age, body mass index, breast size, and radiographic …

Organizational Characteristics And Restraint Use For Hospitalized Nursing Home Residents., Meg Bourbonniere, Neville E. Strumpf, Lois K. Evans, Greg Maislin

College of Nursing Faculty Papers & Presentations

OBJECTIVES: To examine the effect of organizational characteristics on physical restraint use for hospitalized nursing home residents.

DESIGN: Secondary analysis of data obtained between 1994 to 1997 in a prospective phase lag design experiment using an advanced practice nurse (APN) intervention aimed at reducing physical restraint for a group of hospitalized nursing home residents.

SETTING: Eleven medical and surgical units in one 600-bed teaching hospital.

PARTICIPANTS: One hundred seventy-four nursing home residents aged 61 to 100, hospitalized for a total of 1,085 days.

MEASUREMENTS: Physical restraint use, APN intervention, age, perceived fall risk, behavioral phenomena, perceived treatment interference, mental state, …

Copper Chelation Represses The Vascular Response To Injury, Lazar Mandinov, Anna Mandinova, Stanimir Kyurkchiev, Dobroslav Kyurkchiev, Ivan Kehayov, Vihren Kolev, Raffaella Soldi, Cinzia Bagala, Ebo D. De Muinck, Volkhard Lindner, Mark J. Post, Michael Simons

Dartmouth Scholarship

The induction of an acute inflammatory response followed by the release of polypeptide cytokines and growth factors from peripheral blood monocytes has been implicated in mediating the response to vascular injury. Because the Cu2+-binding proteins IL-1alpha and fibroblast growth factor 1 are exported into the extracellular compartment in a stress-dependent manner by using intracellular Cu2+ to facilitate the formation of S100A13 heterotetrameric complexes and these signal peptideless polypeptides have been implicated as regulators of vascular injury in vivo, we examined the ability of Cu2+ chelation to repress neointimal thickening in response to injury. We observed that the oral administration of …

Human Acyl-Coenzyme A:Cholesterol Acyltransferase Expressed In Chinese Hamster Ovary Cells: Membrane Topology And Active Site Location, Song Lin, Xiaohui Lu, Catherine C.Y. Chang, Ta-Yuan Chang

Dartmouth Scholarship

Acyl-CoA:cholesterol acyltransferase (ACAT) is a membrane-bound enzyme that produces cholesteryl esters intracellularly. Two ACAT genes (ACAT1 and ACAT2) have been identified. The expression of ACAT1 is ubiquitous, whereas that of ACAT2 is tissue restricted. Previous research indicates that ACAT1 may contain seven transmembrane domains (TMDs). To study ACAT2 topology, we inserted two different antigenic tags (hemagglutinin, monoclonal antibody Mab1) at various hydrophilic regions flanking each of its predicted TMDs, and expressed the recombinant proteins in mutant Chinese hamster ovary cells lacking endogenous ACAT. Each tagged ACAT2 was expressed in the endoplasmic reticulum as a single undegraded protein band …

An Automated Treatment For Jet Lag Delivered Through The Internet., Daniel Z Lieberman

Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences Faculty Publications

Seventy percent of persons who suffer from psychiatric illness do not receive treatment. Cost-effective, automated treatment can be delivered through the Internet but can be complicated by the lack of professional supervision. This open study piloted a fully automated, publicly available treatment for jet lag as a means of highlighting some of the issues involved in delivering treatment over the Internet. Twenty study participants rated the severity of their jet lag symptoms and their adherence to a light-exposure schedule calculated to accelerate adaptation to a new time zone. A significant negative correlation was observed between how closely participants followed the …

Platelets Stimulate Fibroblast-Mediated Contraction Of Collagen Gels, Ulrika Zagai, Karin Fredriksson, Stephen I. Rennard, Joachim Lundahl, C. Magnus Sköld

Journal Articles: Pulmonary & Critical Care Med

BACKGROUND: Platelets are thought to play a role in a variety of inflammatory conditions in the lung, some of which may lead to fibrosis. In the current study we tested the hypothesis that whole platelets and platelet lysate can mediate remodelling of extracellular matrix in vitro by affecting fibroblast-mediated contraction of a collagen gel. We also sought to determine to what extent platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF) and transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-beta) contribute to this effect.

METHODS: Washed platelets, isolated from healthy blood donors, and platelet lysate (freezing and thawing), were cast together with human lung fibroblasts in three-dimensional collagen gels. …

An Author Co-Citation Analysis Of Medical Informatics, James E. Andrews

School of Information Faculty Publications

Objective: This study presents the results of an author co-citation analysis of the interdisciplinary field of medical informatics.

Methods: An author co-citation analysis was conducted for the years 1994 to 1998, using the fifty most-cited American College of Medical Informatics fellows as an author population. Co-citation data were calculated for every author pair, and multivariate analyses were performed to ultimately show the relationships among all authors. A multidimensional map was created, wherein each author is represented as a point, and the proximity of these points reflects the relationships of authors as perceived by multiple citers.

Results and Conclusion: The results …

Ube1l Is A Retinoid Target That Triggers Pml/Rarα Degradation And Apoptosis In Acute Promyelocytic Leukemia, Sutisak Kitareewan, Ian Pitha-Rowe, David Sekula, Christopher H. Lowrey, Michael J. Nemeth, Todd R. Golub, Sarah J. Freemantle, Ethan Dmitrovsky

Dartmouth Scholarship

All-trans-retinoic acid (RA) treatment induces remissions in acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL) cases expressing the t(15;17) product, promyelocytic leukemia (PML)/RA receptor α (RARα). Microarray analyses previously revealed induction of UBE1L (ubiquitin-activating enzyme E1-like) after RA treatment of NB4 APL cells. We report here that this occurs within 3 h in RA-sensitive but not RA-resistant APL cells, implicating UBE1L as a direct retinoid target. A 1.3-kb fragment of the UBE1L promoter was capable of mediating transcriptional response to RA in a retinoid receptor-selective manner. PML/RARα, a repressor of RA target genes, abolished this UBE1L promoter activity. A hallmark of …

Breast Cancer On The World Wide Web: Cross Sectional Survey Of Quality Of Information And Popularity Of Websites, Funda Meric, Elmer V Bernstam, Nadeem Q Mirza, Kelly K Hunt, Frederick C Ames, Merrick I Ross, Henry M Kuerer, Raphael E Pollock, Mark A Musen, S Eva Singletary

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

OBJECTIVES: To determine the characteristics of popular breast cancer related websites and whether more popular sites are of higher quality.

DESIGN: The search engine Google was used to generate a list of websites about breast cancer. Google ranks search results by measures of link popularity---the number of links to a site from other sites. The top 200 sites returned in response to the query "breast cancer" were divided into "more popular" and "less popular" subgroups by three different measures of link popularity: Google rank and number of links reported independently by Google and by AltaVista (another search engine).

MAIN OUTCOME …

Toward A Cognitive Taxonomy Of Medical Errors, Jiajie Zhang, Vimla L Patel, Todd R Johnson, Edward H Shortliffe

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

One critical step in addressing and resolving the problems associated with human errors is the development of a cognitive taxonomy of such errors. In the case of errors, such a taxonomy may be developed (1) to categorize all types of errors along cognitive dimensions, (2) to associate each type of error with a specific underlying cognitive mechanism, (3) to explain why, and even predict when and where, a specific error will occur, and (4) to generate intervention strategies for each type of error. Based on Reason's (1992) definition of human errors and Norman's (1986) cognitive theory of human action, we …

Presented Antigen From Damaged Pancreatic Beta Cells Activates Autoreactive T Cells In Virus-Mediated Autoimmune Diabetes., Marc S. Horwitz, Alex Ilic, Cody Fine, Enrique Rodriguez, Nora Sarvetnick

Journal Articles: Regenerative Medicine

The induction of autoimmunity by viruses has been attributed to numerous mechanisms. In mice, coxsackievirus B4 (CB4) induces insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (IDDM) resembling the final step of disease progression in humans. The immune response following the viral insult clearly precipitates IDDM. However, the molecular pathway between viral infection and the subsequent activation of T cells specific for islet antigen has not been elucidated. These T cells could become activated through exposure to sequestered antigens released by damaged beta cells, or they could have responded to factors secreted by the inflammatory response itself. To distinguish between these possibilities, we treated mice …

A Pneumatically Actuated Manipulandum For Neuromotor Control Research, Aaron J Suminski, Kristina M. Ropella, Robert A. Scheidt

Biomedical Engineering Faculty Research and Publications

Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) techniques have great potential for identifying which neural structures are involved in the control of goal-directed reaching movements. However, fMRI techniques alone are not capable of probing the neural mechanisms involved in acquisition of novel motor behaviors because such studies require that the moving limb be perturbed in a controlled fashion. We outline a plan to design and develop a non-metallic, pneumatically actuated tool that, along with systems identification techniques and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), will characterize and quantify how the human central nervous system uses sensory information during practice-based motor learning.