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Clinical Utility Of The Dsm-5 Alternative Model For Borderline Personality Disorder: Differential Diagnostic Accuracy Of The Bfi, Scid-Ii-Pq, And Pid-5, J Christopher Fowler, Alok Madan, Jon G Allen, Michelle Patriquin, Carla Sharp, John M Oldham, B Christopher Frueh

Staff and Researcher Publications

Background: With the publication of DSM 5 alternative model for personality disorders it is critical to assess the components of the model against evidence-based models such as the five factor model and the DSM-IV-TR categorical model. This study explored the relative clinical utility of these models in screening for borderline personality disorder (BPD).

Methods: Receiver operator characteristics and diagnostic efficiency statistics were calculated for three personality measures to ascertain the relative diagnostic efficiency of each measure. A total of 1653 adult inpatients at a specialist psychiatric hospital completed SCID-II interviews. Sample 1 (n=653) completed the SCID-II interviews, SCID-II Questionnaire (SCID-II-PQ) …

Left Atrial Structure And Function In Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy Sarcomere Mutation Carriers With And Without Left Ventricular Hypertrophy, Hoshang Farhad, Sara B Seidelmann, Davis Vigneault, Siddique A Abbasi, Eunice Yang, Sharlene M Day, Steven D Colan, Mark W Russell, Jeffrey Towbin, Mark V Sherrid, Charles E Canter, Ling Shi, Michael Jerosch-Herold, David A Bluemke, Carolyn Ho, Tomas G Neilan

Open Access Publications

BACKGROUND: Impaired left atrial (LA) function is an early marker of cardiac dysfunction and predictor of adverse cardiac events. Herein, we assess LA structure and function in hypertrophy in hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) sarcomere mutation carriers with and without left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH).

METHOD: Seventy-three participants of the HCMNet study who underwent cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) imaging were studied, including mutation carriers with overt HCM (n = 34), preclinical mutation carriers without HCM (n = 24) and healthy, familial controls (n = 15).

RESULTS: LA volumes were similar between preclinical, control and overt HCM cohorts after covariate adjustment. However, there was …

An Assessment Of Emotional Intelligence In Emergency Medicine Resident Physicians., Dimitrios Papanagnou, Kathryn M Linder, Anuh Shah, Kory Scott London, Shruti Chandra, Robin Naples

Department of Emergency Medicine Faculty Papers

Objectives: To define the emotional intelligence (EI) profile of emergency medicine (EM) residents, and identify resident EI strengths and weaknesses.

Methods: First-, second-, and third-year residents (post-graduate years [PGY] 1, 2, and 3, respectively) of Thomas Jefferson University Hospital's EM Program completed the Emotional Quotient Inventory (EQ-i 2.0), a validated instrument offered by Multi-Health Systems. Reported scores included total mean EI, 5 composite scores, and 15 subscales of EI. Scores are reported as means with 95% CIs. The unpaired, two-sample t-test was used to evaluate differences in means.

Results: Thirty-five residents completed the assessment (response rate 97.2%). Scores were normed …

An Assessment Of Emotional Intelligence In Emergency Medicine Resident Physicians., Dimitrios Papanagnou, Kathryn Linder, Anuj Shah, Kory Scott London, Shruti Chandra, Robin Naples

Department of Emergency Medicine Faculty Papers

OBJECTIVES: To define the emotional intelligence (EI) profile of emergency medicine (EM) residents, and identify resident EI strengths and weaknesses.

METHODS: First-, second-, and third-year residents (post-graduate years [PGY] 1, 2, and 3, respectively) of Thomas Jefferson University Hospital's EM Program completed the Emotional Quotient Inventory (EQ-i 2.0), a validated instrument offered by Multi-Health Systems. Reported scores included total mean EI, 5 composite scores, and 15 subscales of EI. Scores are reported as means with 95% CIs. The unpaired, two-sample t-test was used to evaluate differences in means.

RESULTS: Thirty-five residents completed the assessment (response rate 97.2%). Scores were normed …

Latino Male College Students' Identities, Psychological Stress, And Coping Mechanisms, Ana E. Ramirez

Dissertations

Latino male college students’ identities impact their personal experiences, academic achievement, and well-being. This qualitative study uses a narrative inquiry approach to research Latino male college students’ racial and ethnic, gender, and academic identities and to investigate how these identities impact their psychological stress and the coping mechanisms they implement to manage their stress. Latino males undergo an identity development in which they engage in negotiating their gender identities in order to prioritize higher education academic requirements. When Latino males are determined to achieve a college degree, they are able to adjust their familism gender role expectations and shift their …

Physical Aggressiveness And Gray Matter Deficits In Ventromedial Prefrontal Cortex, David S. Chester, Donald R. Lynam, Richard Milich, C. Nathan Dewall

Psychology Faculty Publications

What causes individuals to hurt others? Since the famous case of Phineas Gage, lesions of the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (VMPFC) have been reliably linked to physically aggressive behavior. However, it is unclear whether naturally-occurring deficits in VMPFC, among normal individuals, might have widespread consequences for aggression. Using voxel based morphometry, we regressed gray matter density from the brains of 138 normal female and male adults onto their dispositional levels of physical aggression, verbal aggression, and sex, simultaneously. Physical, but not verbal, aggression was associated with reduced gray matter volume in the VMPFC and to a lesser extent, frontopolar cortex. Participants …

Influence Of Dietary Salt Knowledge, Perceptions, And Beliefs On Consumption Choices After Stroke In Uganda, Martin N. Kaddumukasa, Elly Katabira, Martha Sajatovic, Svetlana Pundik, Mark Kaddumukasa, Larry B. Goldstein

Neurology Faculty Publications

Background

Previous research on Uganda's poststroke population revealed that their level of dietary salt knowledge did not lead to healthier consumption choices.

Purpose

Identify barriers and motivators for healthy dietary behaviors and evaluate the understanding of widely accepted salt regulation mechanisms among poststroke patients in Uganda.

Methods

Convergent parallel mixed methods triangulation design comprised a cross-sectional survey (n = 81) and 8 focus group discussions with 7-10 poststroke participants in each group. We assessed participant characteristics and obtained insights into their salt consumption attitudes, perceptions, and knowledge. Qualitative responses were analyzed using an inductive approach with thematic analytic procedures. Relationships …

Cognitive Trajectory Changes Over 20 Years Before Dementia Diagnosis: A Large Cohort Study., Ge Li, Eric B Larson, Jane B Shofer, Paul K Crane, Laura E Gibbons, Wayne Mccormick, J D Bowen, Mary Lou Thompson

Articles, Abstracts, and Reports

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: Longitudinal studies have shown an increase in cognitive decline many years before clinical diagnosis of dementia. We sought to estimate changes, relative to "normal" aging, in the trajectory of scores on a global cognitive function test-the Cognitive Abilities Screening Instrument (CASI).

DESIGN: A prospective cohort study.

SETTING: Community-dwelling members of a U.S. health maintenance organization.

PARTICIPANTS: Individuals aged 65 and older who had no dementia diagnosis at baseline and had at least two visits with valid CASI test score (N = 4,315).

MEASUREMENTS: Average longitudinal trajectories, including changes in trajectory before clinical diagnosis in those who would be diagnosed …

Measuring Heightened Attention To Alcohol In A Naturalistic Setting: A Validation Study, Ramey G. Monem, Mark T. Fillmore

Psychology Faculty Publications

Attentional bias to alcohol-related stimuli is believed to be an important contributor to the development and maintenance of drug abuse. There is a considerable body of research examining attentional bias, much of which has typically utilized image-display tasks as a means to assess the phenomenon. Little, however, is known about the nature of this bias in an individual’s natural environment. The current study sought to implement a novel approach to assessing attentional bias in vivo. Participants wore portable eye-tracking glasses that recorded video from their point of view and measured fixation time to objects they observed. They entered a room …

Common Tdp1 Polymorphisms In Relation To Survival Among Small Cell Lung Cancer Patients: A Multicenter Study From The International Lung Cancer Consortium, Pawadee Lohavanichbutr, Lori C. Sakoda, Christopher I. Amos, Susanne M. Arnold, David C. Christiani, Michael P. A. Davies, John K. Field, Eric B. Haura, Rayjean J Hung, Takashi Kohno, Maria Teresa Landi, Geoffrey Liu, Yi Liu, Michael W. Marcus, Grainne M. O'Kane, Matthew B. Schabath, Kouya Shiraishi, Stacey A. Slone, Adonina Tardón, Ping Yang, Kazushi Yoshida, Ruyang Zhang, Xuchen Zong, Gary E. Goodman, Noel S. Weiss, Chu Chen

Internal Medicine Faculty Publications

Background—DNA topoisomerase inhibitors are commonly used for treating small-cell lung cancer (SCLC). Tyrosyl-DNA phosphodiesterase (TDP1) repairs DNA damage caused by this class of drugs and may therefore influence treatment outcome. In this study, we investigated whether common TDP1 single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) are associated with overall survival among SCLC patients.

Methods—Two TDP1 SNPs (rs942190 and rs2401863) were analyzed in 890 patients from 10 studies in the International Lung Cancer Consortium (ILCCO). The Kaplan–Meier method and Cox regression analyses were used to evaluate genotype associations with overall mortality at 36 months postdiagnosis, adjusting for age, sex, race, and tumor stage. …

Successful Reversal Of Furosemide-Induced Secondary Hyperparathyroidism With Cinacalcet., Tarak Srivastava, Shahryar Jafri, William E. Truog, Judith Sebestyen Vansickle, Winston M. Manimtim, Uri S. Alon

Manuscripts, Articles, Book Chapters and Other Papers

Secondary hyperparathyroidism (SHPT) is a rare complication of furosemide therapy that can occur in patients treated with the loop diuretic for a long period of time. We report a 6-month-old 28-weeks premature infant treated chronically with furosemide for his bronchopulmonary dysplasia, who developed hypocalcemia and severe SHPT, adversely affecting his bones. Discontinuation of the loop diuretic and the addition of supplemental calcium and calcitriol only partially reversed the SHPT, bringing serum parathyroid hormone level down from 553 to 238 pg/mL. After introduction of the calcimimetic Cinacalcet, we observed a sustained normalization of parathyroid hormone concentration at 27 to 63 pg/mL …

Linkage, Whole Genome Sequence, And Biological Data Implicate Variants In Rab10 In Alzheimer's Disease Resilience., Perry G Ridge, Celeste M Karch, Simon Hsu, Ivan Arano, Craig C Teerlink, Mark T W Ebbert, Josue D Gonzalez Murcia, James M Farnham, Anna R Damato, Mariet Allen, Xue Wang, Oscar Harari, Victoria M Fernandez, Rita Guerreiro, Jose Bras, John Hardy, Ronald Munger, Maria Norton, Celeste Sassi, Andrew Singleton, Steven G Younkin, Dennis W Dickson, Todd E Golde, Nathan D Price, Nilüfer Ertekin-Taner, Carlos Cruchaga, Alison M Goate, Christopher Corcoran, Joann Tschanz, Lisa A Cannon-Albright, John S K Kauwe

Articles, Abstracts, and Reports

BACKGROUND: While age and the APOE ε4 allele are major risk factors for Alzheimer's disease (AD), a small percentage of individuals with these risk factors exhibit AD resilience by living well beyond 75 years of age without any clinical symptoms of cognitive decline.

METHODS: We used over 200 "AD resilient" individuals and an innovative, pedigree-based approach to identify genetic variants that segregate with AD resilience. First, we performed linkage analyses in pedigrees with resilient individuals and a statistical excess of AD deaths. Second, we used whole genome sequences to identify candidate SNPs in significant linkage regions. Third, we replicated SNPs …

Reducing Symptom Distress In Patients With Advanced Cancer Using An E-Alert System For Caregivers: Pooled Analysis Of Two Randomized Clinical Trials, David H. Gustafson, Lori L. Dubenske, Amy K. Atwood, Ming-Yuan Chih, Roberta A. Johnson, Fiona Mctavish, Andrew Quanbeck, Roger L. Brown, James F. Cleary, Dhavan Shah

Health and Clinical Sciences Faculty Publications

Background: Symptom distress in patients toward the end of life can change rapidly. Family caregivers have the potential to help patients manage those symptoms, as well as their own stress, if they are equipped with the proper resources. Electronic health (eHealth) systems may be able to provide those resources. Very sick patients may not be able to use such systems themselves to report their symptoms but family caregivers could.

Objective: The aim of this paper was to assess the effects on cancer patient symptom distress of an eHealth system that alerts clinicians to significant changes in the patient’s symptoms, as …

Precision Newborn Screening For Lysosomal Disorders, Melissa M. Minter Baerg, Stephanie D. Stoway, Jeremy Hart, Lea Mott, Dawn S. Peck, Stephanie L. Nett, Jason S. Eckerman, Jean M. Lacey, Coleman T. Turgeon, Dimitar Gavrilov, Devin Oglesbee, Kimiyo Raymond, Silvia Tortorelli, Dietrich Matern, Lars Mørkrid, Piero Rinaldo

Pathology and Laboratory Medicine Faculty Publications

Purpose: The implementation of newborn screening for lysosomal disorders has uncovered overall poor specificity, psychosocial harm experienced by caregivers, and costly follow-up testing of false-positive cases. We report an informatics solution proven to minimize these issues.

Methods: The Kentucky Department for Public Health outsourced testing for mucopolysaccharidosis type I (MPS I) and Pompe disease, conditions recently added to the recommended uniform screening panel, plus Krabbe disease, which was added by legislative mandate. A total of 55,161 specimens were collected from infants born over 1 year starting from February 2016. Testing by tandem mass spectrometry was integrated with multivariate pattern recognition …

Low Arousal Positive Emotional Stimuli Attenuate Aberrant Working Memory Processing In Persons With Mild Cognitive Impairment, Lucas S. Broster, Shonna L. Jenkins, Sarah D. Holmes, Gregory A. Jicha, Yang Jiang

Behavioral Science Faculty Publications

Emotional enhancement effects on memory have been reported to mitigate the pathophysiology of Alzheimer’s disease (AD). However, relative to their manifestation in persons without pathologic aging, these effects may be reduced in magnitude or even deleterious, especially in tasks that more closely model ecologic memory performance. Based upon a synthesis of such reports, we hypothesized that in persons with AD low arousal positive stimuli would evoke relatively intact emotional enhancement effects, but that high arousal negative stimuli would evoke disordered emotional enhancement effects. To assess this, participants with and without mild cognitive impairment (MCI) presumed to be due to AD …

Suppurative Complications Of Acute Hematogenous Osteomyelitis In Children, Jennifer J. Johnston, Cristina Murray-Krezan, Walter N. Dehority

Pediatrics Research and Scholarship

We carried out a case-control study in children with acute hematogenous osteomyelitis (AHO) with and without suppurative complications discharged from our institution over an 11-year period to test the hypothesis that abscess formation was associated with a delayed presentation to care. Of 102 children with AHO, 54 abscesses were documented in 46 patients (25 bone, 29 muscle). A delay in presentation was not associated with abscess formation (6.5 vs. 5.0 days, P=0.26). Overall, 78% of all bone abscesses were visible on initial MRI. Consistent use of MRI at presentation may identify children with suppurative complications of AHO.

Rapid Rest/Stress Regadenoson Ungated Perfusion Cmr For Detection Of Coronary Artery Disease In Patients With Atrial Fibrillation., Erik T Bieging, I Haider, G Adluru, L Chang, P Suksaranjit, D Likhite, A Shaaban, L Jensen, B D Wilson, C J Mcgann, E Dibella

Articles, Abstracts, and Reports

Cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) perfusion has been established as a useful imaging modality for the detection of coronary artery disease (CAD). However, there are several limitations when applying standard, ECG-gated stress/rest perfusion CMR to patients with atrial fibrillation (AF). In this study we investigate an approach with no ECG gating and a rapid rest/stress perfusion protocol to determine its accuracy for detection of CAD in patients with AF. 26 patients with AF underwent a rapid rest/regadenoson stress CMR perfusion imaging protocol, and all patients had X-ray coronary angiography. An ungated radial myocardial perfusion sequence was used. Imaging protocol included: rest …

Oral Apolipoprotein A-I Mimetic D-4f Lowers Hdl-Inflammatory Index In High-Risk Patients: A First-In-Human Multiple-Dose, Randomized Controlled Trial., Richard L. Dunbar, Rajesh Movva, Leanne T. Bloedon, Danielle Duffy, Robert B. Norris, Mohamad Navab, Alan M. Fogelman, Daniel J. Rader

Department of Medicine Faculty Papers

A single dose of the apolipoprotein (apo)A-I mimetic peptide D-4F rendered high-density lipoprotein (HDL) less inflammatory, motivating the first multiple-dose study. We aimed to assess safety/tolerability, pharmacokinetics, and pharmacodynamics of daily, orally administered D-4F. High-risk coronary heart disease (CHD) subjects added double-blinded placebo or D-4F to statin for 13 days, randomly assigned 1:3 to ascending cohorts of 100, 300, then 500 mg (n = 62; 46 men/16 women). D-4F was safe and well-tolerated. Mean ± SD plasma D-4F area under the curve (AUC, 0-8h) was 6.9 ± 5.7 ng/mL*h (100 mg), 22.7 ± 19.6 ng/mL*h (300 mg), and 104.0 ± …

Partner Relationships And Injection Sharing Practices Among Rural Appalachian Women, Michele Staton, Justin C. Strickland, Martha Tillson, Carl Leukefeld, J. Matthew Webster, Carrie B. Oser

Behavioral Science Faculty Publications

Background—The role of relationships in initiating and maintaining women’s risk behaviors has been established. However, understanding factors that may underlie partner relationships and women’s risky drug use, particularly in rural contexts, is limited. This study is the first to examine the association between injecting partners and women’s risky injection practices as a function of relationship power perception.

Methods—Female participants were recruited from three rural jails in the Appalachian region. Women were randomly selected, provided informed consent, and screened for study eligibility criteria. This cross-sectional analysis focuses on women who inject drugs (WWID) during the year before entering jail …

Dynamic Range Of Frontoparietal Functional Modulation Is Associated With Working Memory Capacity Limitations In Older Adults, Jonathan G. Hakun, Nathan F. Johnson

Physical Therapy Faculty Publications

Older adults tend to over-activate regions throughout frontoparietal cortices and exhibit a reduced range of functional modulation during WM task performance compared to younger adults. While recent evidence suggests that reduced functional modulation is associated with poorer task performance, it remains unclear whether reduced range of modulation is indicative of general WM capacity-limitations. In the current study, we examined whether the range of functional modulation observed over multiple levels of WM task difficulty (N-Back) predicts in-scanner task performance and out-of-scanner psychometric estimates of WM capacity. Within our sample (60–77 years of age), age was negatively associated with frontoparietal modulation range. …

Outlier Identification In Radiation Therapy Knowledge-Based Planning: A Study Of Pelvic Cases., Yang Sheng, Yaorong Ge, Lulin Yuan, Taoran Li, Fang-Fang Yin, Qingrong Jackie Wu

Department of Radiation Oncology Faculty Papers

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to apply statistical metrics to identify outliers and to investigate the impact of outliers on knowledge-based planning in radiation therapy of pelvic cases. We also aimed to develop a systematic workflow for identifying and analyzing geometric and dosimetric outliers.

METHODS: Four groups (G1-G4) of pelvic plans were sampled in this study. These include the following three groups of clinical IMRT cases: G1 (37 prostate cases), G2 (37 prostate plus lymph node cases) and G3 (37 prostate bed cases). Cases in G4 were planned in accordance with dynamic-arc radiation therapy procedure and include 10 …

Bimodal Coupling Of Ripples And Slower Oscillations During Sleep In Patients With Focal Epilepsy., Inkyung Song, Iren Orosz, Inna Chervoneva, Zachary J. Waldman, Itzhak Fried, Chengyuan Wu, Ashwini Sharan, Noriko Salamon, Richard Gorniak, Sandra Dewar, Anatol Bragin, Jerome Engel, Michael R. Sperling, Richard Staba, Shennan A. Weiss

Department of Neurology Faculty Papers

OBJECTIVE: Differentiating pathologic and physiologic high-frequency oscillations (HFOs) is challenging. In patients with focal epilepsy, HFOs occur during the transitional periods between the up and down state of slow waves. The preferred phase angles of this form of phase-event amplitude coupling are bimodally distributed, and the ripples (80-150 Hz) that occur during the up-down transition more often occur in the seizure-onset zone (SOZ). We investigated if bimodal ripple coupling was also evident for faster sleep oscillations, and could identify the SOZ.

METHODS: Using an automated ripple detector, we identified ripple events in 40-60 min intracranial electroencephalography (iEEG) recordings from 23 …

Vitamin D, Heidi D Moretti, Vincent J Colucci, Bradley D Berry

Articles, Abstracts, and Reports

BACKGROUND: Vitamin D status may influence heart failure (HF) patient outcomes by affecting b-type natriuretic peptide (BNP), parathyroid hormone (PTH), and enhancing cardiac contractility. Vitamin D deficiency is associated with morbidity and mortality in HF patients. The objective of this study was to determine if vitamin D3 at a comparatively high dose would replete 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D) stores, improve BNP, PTH, cardiopulmonary function, reduce inflammatory markers, and improve quality of life (QOL) in HF patients.

METHODS: This was a 6 month, parallel group, double-blind, placebo-controlled, single clinic center, randomized trial of supplemental vitamin D3 using a dose of 10,000 IU …

Ufm1 Founder Mutation In The Roma Population Causes Recessive Variant Of H-Abc., Eline M C Hamilton, Enrico Bertini, Luba Kalaydjieva, Bharti Morar, Dana Dojčáková, Adeline Vanderver, Recessive H-Abc Research Group.

Neurology Faculty Publications

OBJECTIVE: To identify the gene defect in patients with hypomyelination with atrophy of the basal ganglia and cerebellum (H-ABC) who are negative for TUBB4A mutations.

METHODS: We performed homozygosity mapping and whole exome sequencing (WES) to detect the disease-causing variant. We used a Taqman assay for population screening. We developed a luciferase reporter construct to investigate the effect of the promoter mutation on expression.

RESULTS: Sixteen patients from 14 families from different countries fulfilling the MRI criteria for H-ABC exhibited a similar, severe clinical phenotype, including lack of development and a severe epileptic encephalopathy. The majority of patients had a …

Detection Of Activating Estrogen Receptor Gene (Esr1) Mutations In Single Circulating Tumor Cells, Carmela Paolillo, Zhaomei Mu, Giovanna Rossi, Matthew J. Schiewer, Thomas Nguyen, Laura Austin, Ettore Capoluongo, Karen E. Knudsen, Massimo Cristofanilli, Paolo Fortina

Department of Cancer Biology Faculty Papers

Purpose: Early detection is essential for treatment plans before onset of metastatic disease. Our purpose was to demonstrate feasibility to detect and monitor estrogen receptor 1 (ESR1) gene mutations at the single circulating tumor cell (CTC) level in metastatic breast cancer (MBC). Experimental Design: We used a CTC molecular characterization approach to investigate heterogeneity of 14 hotspot mutations in ESR1 and their correlation with endocrine resistance. Combining the CellSearch and DEPArray technologies allowed recovery of 71 single CTCs and 12 WBC from 3 ER-positive MBC patients. Forty CTCs and 12 WBC were subjected to whole genome amplification by MALBAC and …

Exosomal Microrna For Detection Of Cardiac Sarcoidosis., Elliott D Crouser, Nabeel Y Hamzeh, Lisa A Maier, Mark W Julian, May Gillespie, Mohammad Rahman, David Baxter, Xiaogang Wu, S Patrick Nana-Sinkam, Kai Wang

Articles, Abstracts, and Reports

No abstract provided.

Clinically Silent Alzheimer's And Vascular Pathologies Influence Brain Networks Supporting Executive Function In Healthy Older Adults, Brian T. Gold, Christopher A. Brown, Jonathan G. Hakun, Leslie M. Shaw, John Q. Trojanowski, Charles D. Smith

Neuroscience Faculty Publications

Aging is associated with declines in executive function. We examined how executive functional brain systems are influenced by clinically silent Alzheimer’s disease (AD) pathology and cerebral white matter hyperintensities (WMHs). Twenty-nine younger adults and thirty-four cognitively normal older adults completed a working memory paradigm while functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was performed. Older adults further underwent lumbar cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) draw for assessment of AD pathology and FLAIR imaging for assessment of WMHs. Accurate working memory performance in both age groups was associated with high fronto-visual functional connectivity (fC). However, in older adults, higher expression of fronto-visual fC was linked …

Associative Learning Contributes To The Increased Water Intake Observed After Daily Injections Of Angiotensin Ii, Maggie Postolache, Jessica Santollo, Derek Daniels

Biology Faculty Publications

Daily injections of angiotensin II (AngII) cause a progressive increase of water intake that resembles a classically ascribed non-associative sensitization. Consistent with the presumption that the observed increase in intake was sensitization, we hypothesized that it resulted from a pharmacological interaction between AngII and its receptor. To test this hypothesis, and remove the influence of drinking itself, we implemented a delay in water access after injection of AngII (icv) on four consecutive ‘induction days,’ and then measured intake on the next day (‘test day’) when rats were allowed to drink immediately after AngII. The delay in water access effectively reduced …

Increased Birth Weight Is Associated With Altered Gene Expression In Neonatal Foreskin, Leryn J. Reynolds, Rebecca I. Pollack, Richard J. Charnigo, Cetewayo S. Rashid, Arnold J. Stromberg, Shu Shen, John O'Brien, Kevin J. Pearson

Pharmacology and Nutritional Sciences Faculty Publications

Elevated birth weight is linked to glucose intolerance and obesity health-related complications later in life. No studies have examined if infant birth weight is associated with gene expression markers of obesity and inflammation in a tissue that comes directly from the infant following birth. We evaluated the association between birth weight and gene expression on fetal programming of obesity. Foreskin samples were collected following circumcision, and gene expression analyzed comparing the 15% greatest birth weight infants (n = 7) v. the remainder of the cohort (n = 40). Multivariate linear regression models were fit to relate expression levels on differentially …

Equality And The Defence Of Provocation: Irreconcilable Differences, Isabel Grant, Debra Parkes

Dalhousie Law Journal

Recent amendments to the defence of provocation have limited access to the defence to those who are provoked by conduct that, if prosecuted, would have been an indictable offence punishable by at least five years imprisonment. The paper argues that these amendments are both over- and under-inclusive and fail to confront the central problem surrounding provocation which is that it privileges loss-of-control rage often in the context of male violence against women or in response to same-sex advances. The paper supports the abolition of the defence of provocation but only if mandatory minimum sentences for murder are abolished providing trial …