Life Sciences Commons^™

Accuracy And Self Correction Of Information Received From An Internet Breast Cancer List: Content Analysis, Adol Esquivel, Funda Meric-Bernstam, Elmer V Bernstam

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

OBJECTIVES: To determine the prevalence of false or misleading statements in messages posted by internet cancer support groups and whether these statements were identified as false or misleading and corrected by other participants in subsequent postings. DESIGN: Analysis of content of postings. SETTING: Internet cancer support group Breast Cancer Mailing List. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Number of false or misleading statements posted from 1 January to 23 April 2005 and whether these were identified and corrected by participants in subsequent postings. RESULTS: 10 of 4600 postings (0.22%) were found to be false or misleading. Of these, seven were identified as false …

A Role For Cetp Taqib Polymorphism In Determining Susceptibility To Atrial Fibrillation: A Nested Case Control Study, Folkert W. Asselbergs, Jason H. Moore, Maarten P. Van Den Berg, Eric B. Rimm

Dartmouth Scholarship

Studies investigating the genetic and environmental characteristics of atrial fibrillation (AF) may provide new insights in the complex development of AF. We aimed to investigate the association between several environmental factors and loci of candidate genes, which might be related to the presence of AF. A nested case-control study within the PREVEND cohort was conducted. Standard 12 lead electrocardiograms were recorded and AF was defined according to Minnesota codes. For every case, an age and gender matched control was selected from the same population (n = 194). In addition to logistic regression analyses, the multifactor-dimensionality reduction (MDR) method and interaction …

Prenatal Cocaine Exposure Alters Alpha2 Receptor Expression In Adolescent Rats, Rosemarie M. Booze, David R. Wallace, Janelle M. Silvers, Barbara J. Strupp, Diane M. Snow, Charles F. Mactutus

Neuroscience Faculty Publications

BACKGROUND: Prenatal cocaine exposure produces attentional deficits which to persist through early childhood. Given the role of norepinephrine (NE) in attentional processes, we examined the forebrain NE systems from prenatal cocaine exposed rats. Cocaine was administered during pregnancy via the clinically relevant intravenous route of administration. Specifically, we measured alpha2-adrenergic receptor (alpha2-AR) density in adolescent (35-days-old) rats, using [3H]RX821002 (5 nM).

RESULTS: Sex-specific alterations of alpha2-AR were found in the hippocampus and amygdala of the cocaine-exposed animals, as well as an upregulation of alpha2-AR in parietal cortex.

CONCLUSION: These data suggest that prenatal cocaine exposure results in a persistent alteration …

Type 3 Deiodinase Is Critical For The Maturation And Function Of The Thyroid Axis, Arturo Hernandez, M. Elena Martinez, Steven Flering, Valerie Anne Galton, Donald St. German

Dartmouth Scholarship

Developmental exposure to appropriate levels of thyroid hormones (THs) in a timely manner is critical to normal development in vertebrates. Among the factors potentially affecting perinatal exposure of tissues to THs is type 3 deiodinase (D3). This enzyme degrades THs and is highly expressed in the pregnant uterus, placenta, and fetal and neonatal tissues. To determine the physiological role of D3, we have generated a mouse D3 knockout model (D3KO) by a targeted inactivating mutation of the Dio3 gene in mouse ES cells. Early in life, D3KO mice exhibit delayed 3,5,3′-triiodothyronine (T3) clearance, a markedly elevated serum T3 level, and …

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 …

Ecological Costs And Benefits Of Defenses In Nectar, Lynn S. Adler, Rebecca E. Irwin

Dartmouth Scholarship

The nectar of many plant species contains defensive compounds that have been hypothesized to benefit plants through a variety of mechanisms. However, the relationship between nectar defenses and plant fitness has not been established for any species. We experimentally manipulated gelsemine, the principal alkaloid of Carolina jessamine (Gelsemium sempervirens), in nectar to determine its effect on pollinator visitation, nectar robber visitation, and male and female plant reproduction. We found that nectar robbers and most pollinators probed fewer flowers and spent less time per flower on plants with high compared to low nectar alkaloids. High alkaloids decreased the donation of fluorescent …

Donepezil Effects On Mood In Patients With Schizophrenia And Schizoaffective Disorder, S Craig Risch, Michael D. Horner, Susan R. Mcgurk, Simmy Palecko, John S. Markowitz, Ziad Nahas, C. Lindsay Devane

Dartmouth Scholarship

Donepezil, 5 mg/d for 6 wk then 10 mg/d for 6 wk, and placebo daily for 12 wk in a double-blind cross-over paradigm, was added to the therapeutic regimen of 13 patients with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorders, clinically stable on atypical antipsychotic medications. Patients had varying degrees of depressive symptoms, ranging from no depression to clinically significant depression. There was no worsening or induction of depression in individual patients or the group as a whole. In addition there was a statistically significant antidepressant effect in the group as a whole during the donepezil condition and a clinically significant antidepressant effect …

Predicting Childhood Sexual Or Physical Abuse: A Logistic Regression Geo-Mapping Approach To Prevention, Roland K. Tadoum, Kamila Smolij, Michelle A. Lyn, Craig W. Johnson

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

This study investigates the degree to which gender, ethnicity, relationship to perpetrator, and geomapped socio-economic factors significantly predict the incidence of childhood sexual abuse, physical abuse and non- abuse. These variables are then linked to geographic identifiers using geographic information system (GIS) technology to develop a geo-mapping framework for child sexual and physical abuse prevention.

Two Drosophila Suppressors Of Cytokine Signaling (Socs) Differentially Regulate Jak And Egfr Pathway Activities, Jason S. Rawlings, Gabriela Rennebeck, Susan M.W. Harrison, Rongwen Xi, Douglas A. Harrison

Biology Faculty Publications

BACKGROUND: The Janus kinase (JAK) cascade is an essential and well-conserved pathway required to transduce signals for a variety of ligands in both vertebrates and invertebrates. While activation of the pathway is essential to many processes, mutations from mammals and Drosophila demonstrate that regulation is also critical. The SOCS (Suppressor Of Cytokine Signaling) proteins in mammals are regulators of the JAK pathway that participate in a negative feedback loop, as they are transcriptionally activated by JAK signaling. Examination of one Drosophila SOCS homologue, Socs36E, demonstrated that its expression is responsive to JAK pathway activity and it is capable of downregulating …

A Subset Of Liver Nk T Cells Is Activated During Leishmania Donovani Infection By Cd1d-Bound Lipophosphoglycan, Joseph L. Amprey, Jin S. Im, Salvatore J. Turco, Henry W. Murray, Petr A. Illarionov, Gurdyal S. Besra, Steven A. Porcelli, Gerald F. Späth

Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry Faculty Publications

Natural killer (NK) T cells are activated by synthetic or self-glycolipids and implicated in innate host resistance to a range of viral, bacterial, and protozoan pathogens. Despite the immunogenicity of microbial lipoglycans and their promiscuous binding to CD1d, no pathogen-derived glycolipid antigen presented by this pathway has been identified to date. In the current work, we show increased susceptibility of NK T cell–deficient CD1d^−/− mice to Leishmania donovani infection and Leishmania-induced CD1d-dependent activation of NK T cells in wild-type animals. The elicited response was Th1 polarized, occurred as early as 2 h after infection, and was independent from …

The Caenorhabditis Elegans F-Box Protein Sel-10 Promotes Female Development And May Target Fem-1 And Fem-3 For Degradation By The Proteasome, Sibylle Jager, Hillel T. Schwartz, H. Robert Horvitz, Barbara Conradt

Dartmouth Scholarship

The Caenorhabditis elegans F-box protein SEL-10 and its human homolog have been proposed to regulate LIN-12 Notch signaling by targeting for ubiquitin-mediated proteasomal degradation LIN-12 Notch proteins and SEL-12 PS1 presenilins, the latter of which have been implicated in Alzheimer's disease. We found that sel-10 is the same gene as egl-41, which previously had been defined by gain-of-function mutations that semidominantly cause masculinization of the hermaphrodite soma. Our results demonstrate that mutations causing loss-of-function of sel-10 also have masculinizing activity, indicating that sel-10 functions to promote female development. Genetically, sel-10 acts upstream of the genes fem-1, fem-2, and fem-3 and …

The Cohesion Protein Ord Is Required For Homologue Bias During Meiotic Recombination, Hayley A. Webber, Louisa Howard, Sharon E. Bickel

Dartmouth Scholarship

During meiosis, sister chromatid cohesion is required for normal levels of homologous recombination, although how cohesion regulates exchange is not understood. Null mutations in orientation disruptor (ord) ablate arm and centromeric cohesion during Drosophila meiosis and severely reduce homologous crossovers in mutant oocytes. We show that ORD protein localizes along oocyte chromosomes during the stages in which recombination occurs. Although synaptonemal complex (SC) components initially associate with synapsed homologues in ord mutants, their localization is severely disrupted during pachytene progression, and normal tripartite SC is not visible by electron microscopy. In ord germaria, meiotic double strand breaks appear …

Ec04-469 When Words Are Used As Weapons: The Signs Of Verbal Abuse (Part 2 Of A Four Part Series), Kathy Bosch

University of Nebraska-Lincoln Extension: Historical Materials

Verbal abuse finally is being recognized as a form of domestic violence and as the behavior that usually precedes physical violence. There has been little support for individuals who are verbally abused because it's not as readily visible as a black eye or bruise. However, many individuals, particularly women, suffer with verbal assaults from their partners.

Ec04-464 There's No Excuse For Abuse (Part 1 Of A Four Part Series), Kathy Bosch

University of Nebraska-Lincoln Extension: Historical Materials

In this series of four articles, information will be provided from the Family Violence Prevention Fund, the Nebraska and Kansas Coalitions Against Sexual and Domestic Violence, K-State Research and Extension, Nebraska Cooperative Extension, and many other research-based sources. You will learn more about how you can help a woman who is being abused, how you can offer support to children in abusive situations, how you may approach potential abusers, how to access resources, steps that can be taken in the workplace to help end domestic violence, what to teach children about partner abuse, how to raise community awareness, and how …

Ec04-465 There's No Excuse For Abuse: Men Can Help Stop Domestic Violence (Part 2 Of A Four Part Series), Kathy Bosch

University of Nebraska-Lincoln Extension: Historical Materials

One of the hardest things to do is to confront a family member, friend, co-worker, or neighbor who abuses his wife or girlfriend about his inexcusable and wrongful behavior. You may feel that you don't know what to say, are fearful of becoming involved, or that his behavior towards his significant other is none of your business.

Your friend may want to talk about the problem but has not had the opportunity because no one has had the courage to address the issue with him. Your friend may hesitate to talk about his behavior but at least you can let …

Ec04-470 When Words Are Used As Weapons: What Can I Do? (Part 3 Of A Four Part Series), Kathy Bosch

University of Nebraska-Lincoln Extension: Historical Materials

In the midst of conflict, it's sometimes difficult to determine if the argument is hostile or actually a misunderstanding. However, according to Elaine Johannes, Kansas State University Extension family and community mental health specialist, if the conflict intentionally humiliates, degrades, belittles or antagonizes, there is no confusion whether or not the conflict comes from conversational style differences; it's definitely abuse.

One theory that examines the lack of understanding between women and men is attributed to gender differences in the ways they speak. Problems may exist when couples ignore these differences in conversational styles. The differences are neither good or bad, …

The Effects Of Neoprene Sleeve Application On Knee Joint Proprioception In Adolescent Female Athletes., George Ballou Barrett

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Fifteen female subjects ages 13-16 were recruited to determine if differences exist in knee joint proprioception, with and without application of a neoprene knee sleeve (NKS), when performing reproduction of target angle test (RTA), movement sensation test (MS) using a Biodex testing machine, and single leg standing test. Ten subjects had not worn a NKS and five subjects had worn a NKS.

After completing all IRB approved documentation subjects underwent a test trial of each of the three testing methods. Subjects were randomly assigned a number that determined if the subject began the test trial with or without a NKS. …

Il-23 Produced By Cns-Resident Cells Controls T Cell Encephalitogenicity During The Effector Phase Of Experimental Autoimmune Encephalomyelitis, Burkhard Becher, Brigit G. Durell, Randolph J. Noelle

Dartmouth Scholarship

CNS-resident cells, in particular microglia and macrophages, are a source of inflammatory cytokines during inflammation within the CNS. Expression of IL-23, a recently discovered cytokine, has been shown to be critical for the development of experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE) in mice. Expression of the p40 subunit of IL-12 and IL-23 by microglia has been shown in situ and in vitro, but direct evidence for a functional significance of p40 expression by CNS cells during an immune response in vivo is still lacking. Here we report that p40 plays a critical role in maintaining encephalitogenicity during the disease course. By using …

Genetic Polymorphisms Of The Interleukin-1 Gene And Early Marginal Bone Loss Around Endosseous Dental Implants, Hitomi Shimpuku, Yasuhiro Nosaka, Tatsuya Kawamura, Yoichi Tachi, Mitsuko Shinohara, Kiyoshi Ohura

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Dental implant surgery commonly proceeds in two stages. It is generally accepted that bone loss around implants does not occur at stage-II surgery because implants do not receive mechanical loading. However, early marginal bone loss around implants occasionally does occur during the healing period. Genetic polymorphisms in the interleukin-1 (IL-1) gene have been reported to be important for bone homeostasis and susceptibility to bone disease. We therefore investigated whether the idiopathic early marginal bone loss around implants is related to polymorphisms in the IL-1 gene. We performed a case-control study. Patients demonstrating marginal bone loss around implants at stage-II surgery …

Distinct Neural Systems Subserve Person And Object Knowledge, Jason P. Mitchell, Todd F. Heatherton, C. Neil Macrae

Dartmouth Scholarship

Studies using functional neuroimaging and patient populations have demonstrated that distinct brain regions subserve semantic knowledge for different classes of inanimate objects (e.g., tools, musical instruments, and houses). What this work has yet to consider, however, is how conceptual knowledge about people may be organized in the brain. In particular, is there a distinct functional neuroanatomy associated with person knowledge? By using event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), we measured neural activity while participants made semantic judgments about people or objects. A unique pattern of brain activity was associated with person judgments and included brain regions previously implicated in other …

Meiotic Cohesion Requires Accumulation Of Ord On Chromosomes Before Condensation, Eric M. Balicky, Matthew W. Endres, Cary Lai, Sharon E. Bickel

Dartmouth Scholarship

Cohesion between sister chromatids is a prerequisite for accurate chromosome segregation during mitosis and meiosis. To allow chromosome condensation during prophase, the connections that hold sister chromatids together must be maintained but still permit extensive chromatin compaction. In Drosophila, null mutations in the orientation disruptor (ord) gene lead to meiotic nondisjunction in males and females because cohesion is absent by the time that sister kinetochores make stable microtubule attachments. We provide evidence that ORD is concentrated within the extrachromosomal domains of the nuclei ofDrosophila primary spermatocytes during early G2, but accumulates on the meiotic chromosomes by …

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 …

Critical Analysis Of Cerebrovascular Autoregulation During Repeated Head-Up Tilt., R L Hughson, M R Edwards, D D O'Leary, J K Shoemaker

Kinesiology Publications

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Cerebrovascular autoregulation has been described with a phase lead of cerebral blood flow preceding changes in cerebral perfusion pressure (CPP), but there has been less focus on the effect of CPP on cerebral vascular resistance. We investigated these relations during spontaneous fluctuations (control) and repeated head-up tilt.

METHODS: Eight healthy adults were studied in supine rest and repeated tilt with 10-second supine, 10 seconds at 45 degrees head-up tilt for a total of 12 cycles. Cerebral blood flow was estimated from mean flow velocity (MFV) by transcranial Doppler ultrasound, CPP was estimated from corrected finger pressure (CPP(F)), …

Impaired Fast-Spiking, Suppressed Cortical Inhibition, And Increased Susceptibility To Seizures In Mice Lacking Kv3.2 K+ Channel Proteins, David Lau, Eleazar Vega-Saenz De Miera, Diego Contreras, Alan Chow, Richard Paylor, Christopher S. Leonard, Bernardo Rudy

NYMC Faculty Publications

Voltage-gated K(+) channels of the Kv3 subfamily have unusual electrophysiological properties, including activation at very depolarized voltages (positive to -10 mV) and very fast deactivation rates, suggesting special roles in neuronal excitability. In the brain, Kv3 channels are prominently expressed in select neuronal populations, which include fast-spiking (FS) GABAergic interneurons of the neocortex, hippocampus, and caudate, as well as other high-frequency firing neurons. Although evidence points to a key role in high-frequency firing, a definitive understanding of the function of these channels has been hampered by a lack of selective pharmacological tools. We therefore generated mouse lines in which one …

Mri Measures Of Middle Cerebral Artery Diameter In Conscious Humans During Simulated Orthostasis., J M Serrador, P A Picot, B K Rutt, J K Shoemaker, R L Bondar

Kinesiology Publications

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: The relationship between middle cerebral artery (MCA) flow velocity (CFV) and cerebral blood flow (CBF) is uncertain because of unknown vessel diameter response to physiological stimuli. The purpose of this study was to directly examine the effect of a simulated orthostatic stress (lower body negative pressure [LBNP]) as well as increased or decreased end-tidal carbon dioxide partial pressure (P(ET)CO(2)) on MCA diameter and CFV.

METHODS: Twelve subjects participated in a CO(2) manipulation protocol and/or an LBNP protocol. In the CO(2) manipulation protocol, subjects breathed room air (normocapnia) or 6% inspired CO(2) (hypercapnia), or they hyperventilated to approximately …

Physiology And Reproduction: Plasma 17Β-Estradiol Levels And Ovarian Interstitial Cell Structure In Embryonic Japanese Quail, M. A. Abdelnabi, M. R. Bakst, J. E. Woods, M. A. Ottinger

United States Department of Agriculture-Agricultural Research Service / University of Nebraska-Lincoln: Faculty Publications

Plasma concentrations of 17β-estradiol (E₂) and left ovarian histology were investigated by light and electron microscopy in female Japanese quail from Day 10 of embryonic development through Day 7, posthatch. Plasma E₂ levels remained relatively constant (102 to 140 pg/mL) in the embryo followed by a sharp decrease posthatch (47 to 70 pg/mL).

Beginning on Day 10 of incubation, cells in the medullary portion (medullary cell; MC) of the left ovaries exhibited ultrastructural evidence of steroidogenic capability. The MC had numerous lipid droplets in close proximity to the smooth endoplasmic reticulum (SER). Mitochondria were also …

Expression And Function Of Hoxc5 And Hoxc6 In The Murine Mammary Gland, Silvia Alejandra Garcia-Gasca

MUSC Theses and Dissertations

Homeotic genes encode transcription factors, believed to regulate cell proliferation, differentiation, as well as cell migration to create positional identities during embryogenesis. In the mouse, the Hox complex consists of at least 39 genes, organized into four clusters, in four different chromosomes. Hoxc5 and Hoxc6 are adjacent genes located in chromosome 15, and are expressed in the developing somites of the thoracic region and central nervous system with overlapping patterns. Both Hoxc5 and Hoxc6 are also expressed in the mammary gland. This study demonstrates that a targeted disruption of the Hoxc6 gene results in a failure of ductal development in …

The Effects Of Free Fatty Acids On Gluconeogenesis And Glycogenolysis In Normal Subjects, X Chen, N Iqbal, G Boden

Rowan-Virtua School of Osteopathic Medicine Departmental Research

We have quantitatively determined gluconeogenesis (GNG) from all precursors, using a novel method employing 2H20 to address the question of whether changes in plasma free fatty acids (FFA) affect GNG in healthy, nonobese subjects. In the first study (n = 6), plasma FFA were lowered at 16 to 20 hours with nicotinic acid (NA) and were then allowed to rise at 20 to 24 hours (FFA rebound after administration of NA). FFA decreased from 387 microM at 16 hours to 43 microM at 20 hours, and then rebounded to 1,823 microM at 24 hours. GNG decreased from 58.1% at 16 …

Mechanisms Of Immunotherapeutic Intervention By Anti-Cd40l (Cd154) Antibody In An Animal Model Of Multiple Sclerosis, Laurence M. Howard, Amy J. Miga, Carol L. Vanderlugt, Mauro C. Dal Canto, John D. Laman, Randolph J. Noelle, Stephen D. Miller

Dartmouth Scholarship

Relapsing experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (R-EAE) in the SJL mouse is a Th1-mediated autoimmune demyelinating disease model for human multiple sclerosis and is characterized by infiltration of the central nervous system (CNS) by Th1 cells and macrophages. Disease relapses are mediated by T cells specific for endogenous myelin epitopes released during acute disease, reflecting a critical role for epitope spreading in the perpetuation of chronic central CNS pathology. We asked whether blockade of the CD40–CD154 (CD40L) costimulatory pathway could suppress relapses in mice with established R-EAE. Anti-CD154 antibody treatment at either the peak of acute disease or during remission effectively blocked …

Nf98-361 The Female Athlete Triad, Linda S. Boeckner

University of Nebraska-Lincoln Extension: Historical Materials

As more and more females become active in sports, physicians, coaches, trainers, parents and athletes need to be aware of a potential condition termed the Female Athlete Triad.