Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Gitr Activation Induces An Opposite Effect On Alloreactive Cd4(+) And Cd8(+) T Cells In Graft-Versus-Host Disease., Stephanie J Muriglan, Teresa Ramirez-Montagut, Onder Alpdogan, Thomas W Van Huystee, Jeffrey M Eng, Vanessa M Hubbard, Adam A Kochman, Kartono H Tjoe, Carlo Riccardi, Pier Paolo Pandolfi, Shimon Sakaguchi, Alan N Houghton, Marcel R M Van Den Brink

Department of Medical Oncology Faculty Papers

Glucocorticoid-induced tumor necrosis factor receptor family-related gene (GITR) is a member of the tumor necrosis factor receptor (TNFR) family that is expressed at low levels on unstimulated T cells, B cells, and macrophages. Upon activation, CD4(+) and CD8(+) T cells up-regulate GITR expression, whereas immunoregulatory T cells constitutively express high levels of GITR. Here, we show that GITR may regulate alloreactive responses during graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) after allogeneic bone marrow transplantation (BMT). Using a BMT model with major histocompatibility complex class I and class II disparity, we demonstrate that GITR stimulation in vitro and in vivo enhances alloreactive CD8(+)CD25(-) T …

Lyme Disease In Newfoundland

Zoonotics and Wildlife Disease: Publications

Lyme Disease, spread by ticks, is an illness affecting both humans and domestic animals. The presence of the bacteria causing this illness was reported for the first time in this province in July 2001. This fact sheet provides details on the disease and its spread.

Ada News - 07/12/2004, American Dental Association, Publishing Division

ADA News

Established in 1970 as the official newspaper of the American Dental Association, the ADA News serves practicing dentists and others allied to the dental profession in the U.S. and internationally. It is the No. 1 source of news and information about the many benefits and services the ADA delivers to members daily as well as timely information on scientific, social, political and economic developments affecting dentistry and health care.

Vav Gefs Are Required For Beta2 Integrin-Dependent Functions Of Neutrophils, M. Angelica Martinez Gakidis, Xavier Cullere, Timothy Olson, Julie L. Wilsbacher, Bin Zhang, Sheri L. Moores, Klaus Ley, Wojciech Swat, Tanya Mayadas, Joan S. Brugge

Open Access Publications

No abstract provided.

Long-Term Evaluation Of The Use Of The Transdermal Contraceptive Patch In Adolescents, Stephanie Logsdon, Jessica Richards, Hatim A. Omar

Pediatrics Faculty Publications

The transdermal contraceptive patch, Ortho Evra™, was approved in December 2001 and released on the market in June 2002. In this study, we reviewed clinical data of young women who started the patch between June 2002 and December 2003 in the adolescent medicine clinic at a university-based outpatient center. A total of 62 patients started the patch in that period and two of them were lost to follow-up. Mean age of patients was 17.9 years and mean length of use was 10 cycles. Only 10 patients (16.7%) discontinued use. Reasons for discontinuation were moderate to severe skin irritation (3 patients, …

Clinical Profiles, Occurrence, And Management Of Adolescent Patients With Hair-An Syndrome, Hatim A. Omar, Stephanie Logsdon, Jessica Richards

Pediatrics Faculty Publications

The syndrome of hyperandrogenism, insulin resistance, and acanthosis nigricans (HAIR-AN) is a subphenotype of the polycystic ovary syndrome. It is one of the most common causes of menstrual problems, hyperandrogenic symptoms, and insulin resistance among young women. Review of clinical data in an outpatient adolescent clinic showed that of the 1,002 young women (ages 10-21 years) attending the clinic over a 2-year period, 50 (5%) were diagnosed with HAIR-AN syndrome. Mean age of the patients was 15.5, initial mean weight at diagnosis was 94.5 kg, and the mean BMI was 33.33 kg/m2. Patients were treated with a weight-stabilization and -reduction …

Social Support Protects Against The Negative Effects Of Partner Violence On Mental Health, Ann L. Coker, Paige H. Smith, Martie P. Thompson, Robert E. Mckeown, Lesa Bethea, Keith E. Davis

CRVAW Faculty Journal Articles

Objectives: Social support for abused women may reduce the impact of abuse on mental health, yet few studies have addressed this issue. We wish to determine associations between intimate partner violence (IPV) and mental health outcomes and to assess the protective role of abuse disclosure and support on mental health among abused women.

Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted of 1152 women, ages 18–65, recruited from family practice clinics from 1997 through 1999. They were screened for IPV during a brief in-clinic interview, and physical and mental health status was assessed in a follow-up interview.

Results: IPV, defined as sexual, …

Transcriptional Activation Of The Human Prostatic Acid Phosphatase Gene By Nf-Kappab Via A Novel Hexanucleotide-Binding Site., Stanislav Zelivianski, Richard Glowacki, Ming-Fong Lin

Journal Articles: Biochemistry & Molecular Biology

Human prostatic acid phosphatase (PAcP) is a prostate epithelium-specific differentiation antigen. Cellular PAcP functions as a neutral protein tyrosine phosphatase and is involved in regulating androgen-promoted prostate cancer cell proliferation. Despite the fact that the promoter of the PAcP gene has been cloned, the transcriptional factors that regulate PAcP expression remain unidentified. This article describes our analyses of the promoter of the PAcP gene. Deletion analyses of the promoter sequence up to -4893 (-4893/+87) revealed that a 577 bp fragment (-1356/-779) represents the unique positive cis-active element in human prostate cancer cells but not in HeLa cervix carcinoma cells. Interestingly, …

Flash Artifact Suppression In Two-Dimensional Ultrasound Imaging, Richard Yung Chiao, Gregory Ray Bashford, Mark Peter Feilen, Cynthia Andrews Owen

Biomedical Imaging and Biosignal Analysis Laboratory

Flash artifacts in ultrasound flow images are suppressed to achieve enhanced flow discrimination. Flash artifacts typically occur as region of elevated signal strength (brightness or equivalent color) within an image. A flash suppression algorithm included the steps of estimating the flash within an image and then suppressing the estimated flash. The mechanism for flash suppression is spatial filtering. An extension of this basic method used information from adjacent frames to estimate the flash and/or to smooth the resulting image sequence. Temporal information from adjacent frames is used as an adjunct to improve performance.

Probabilistic Disease Classification Of Expression-Dependent Proteomic Data From Mass Spectrometry Of Human Serum, Ryan H. Lilien, Hany Farid, Bruce R. Donald

Dartmouth Scholarship

We have developed an algorithm called Q5 for probabilistic classification of healthy vs. disease whole serum samples using mass spectrometry. The algorithm employs Principal Components Analysis (PCA) followed by Linear Discriminant Analysis (LDA) on whole spectrum Surface-Enhanced Laser Desorption/Ionization Time of Flight (SELDI-TOF) Mass Spectrometry (MS) data, and is demonstrated on four real datasets from complete, complex SELDI spectra of human blood serum.

Q5 is a closed-form, exact solution to the problem of classification of complete mass spectra of a complex protein mixture. Q5 employs a novel probabilistic classification algorithm built upon a dimension-reduced linear discriminant analysis. Our solution is …

Healthnet News V.19:No.2 Summer 2004, Judith S. Kronick, Alberta Richetelle

Articles - Patient Care

A newsletter for public librarians and others interested in consumer health information services.

Health Education’S New Frontier In Addressing Corporate Influences On Health: An Interview With Nicholas Freudenberg, Nicholas Freudenberg, Ellen Jones, Lori Dorfman

Publications and Research

Nick Freudenberg is Distinguished Professor of Public Health at Hunter College, City University of New York. For the past 25 years, he has worked with community organizations to develop, implement, and evaluate community interventions to improve the well-being of low-income urban communities. He has also worked for many years in the New York City jail, running programs to improve the transition from jail to the community, and advocating for policy changes related to jail conditions and postrelease drug treatment, health care, and housing. More recently, he has turned his attention to the role of corporate policies and practices on the …

Mid-Atlantic Ethics Committee Newsletter, Fall 2004

Mid-Atlantic Ethics Committee Newsletter

No abstract provided.

Mid-Atlantic Ethics Committee Newsletter, Summer 2004

Mid-Atlantic Ethics Committee Newsletter

No abstract provided.

Living Well And Medicaid: Better Health For Consumers -- Lower Costs For States, Craig Ravesloot Ph.D., University Of Montana Rural Institute

Health and Wellness

The United States has the world’s most expensive healthcare system. In 2002, health spending rose to nearly 15 percent of U.S. Gross Domestic Product. Healthcare policymakers charged with balancing cost containment with quality healthcare for consumers are desperate for solutions (Levit, Smith, Cowan, Sensenig, and Catlin, 2004).

Match Bias In Wage Gap Estimates Due To Earnings Imputation, Barry T. Hirsch, Edward J. Schumacher

Health Care Administration Faculty Research

About 30% of workers in the Current Population Survey have earnings imputed. Wage gap estimates are biased toward zero when the attribute being studied (e.g., union status) is not a criterion used to match donors to nonrespondents. An expression for “match bias” is derived in which attenuation equals the sum of match error rates. Attenuation can be approximated by the proportion with imputed earnings. Union wage gap estimates with match bias removed are presented for 1973–2001. Estimates for recent years are biased downward 5 percentage points. Bias in gap estimates accompanying other non–match criteria (public sector, industry, etc.) is examined.

Neuroanatomical Structure Of The Spinner Dolphin (Stenella Longirostris Orientalis) Brain From Magnetic Resonance Images, Lori Marino, Keith Sudheimer, William A. Mclellan, John I. Johnson

Veterinary Science and Medicine Collection

High-resolution magnetic resonance (MR) images of the brain of an adult spinner dolphin (Stenella longirostris orientalis) were acquired in the coronal plane at 55 antero-posterior levels. From these scans a computergenerated set of resectioned virtual images in the two remaining orthogonal planes was constructed with the use of the VoxelView and VoxelMath (Vital Images, Inc.) programs. Neuroanatomical structures were labeled in all three planes, providing the first labeled anatomical description of the spinner dolphin brain.

Comparative Analysis Of Coronary Artery Bypass: Costs Of Off-Pump Vs. Conventional Techniques With Variable Bonded Circuits And Drug Strategies, Michael M. Wyckoff

Graduate Research Projects

As baby boomers age, estimated to reach 78.8 million Americans over the age of 65 by 2050, their health care costs are skyrocketing. Increased costs in coronary artery bypass surgery have been linked to length of stay (LOS), the inflammatory response, and blood loss related to conventional coronary artery bypass (C-CAB). Off-pump coronary artery bypass (OPCAB) has become a popular alternative to C-CAB. Utilizing proximal connector devices has truly made this option "clampless." If detrimental outcomes can be linked to cross clamping, the use of cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) may diminish. When the use of CPB is necessary, there are a …

Individual And Regional Determinants Of Mammography Uptake, Anita Kothari, Stephen Birch

Health Studies Publications

Background: Analysis of mammography utilization has traditionally been performed from an individual-level perspective. The purpose of this study was to explore the combined influence of individual- and regional-level determinants of mammography utilization.

Methods: Logistic hierarchical multilevel modelling was used to investigate the influences of region of residence and individual characteristics on mammography utilization. Socioeconomic status information about health planning regions was derived from the 1996 Canadian Census. Individual-level information was extracted from the 1996 National Population Health Survey.

Results: After controlling for individual-level education, regions with fewer high school graduates had lower levels of mammography utilization. A cross-level interaction between …

Gaining Compliance And Losing Weight: The Role Of The Service Provider In Health Care Services, Stephanie Dellande, Mary C. Gilly, John L. Graham

Business Faculty Articles and Research

This research provides and empirically tests a conceptualization of health care services in which customer compliance outside of the service organization is necessary for successful health outcomes. Using data from service providers and customers in a weight-loss clinic, the authors examine the provider's role in gaining customer compliance. They find that provider expertise and attitudinal homophily play a role in bringing about customer role clarity, ability, and motivation. This study demonstrates that compliance leads to goal attainment, which results in satisfaction. More important, compliance also leads to satisfaction directly; consumers who comply with program requirements have greater satisfaction with the …

Inside Unlv, Holly Ivy De Vore, Carol C. Harter, Stuart Mann

Inside UNLV

No abstract provided.

Unlv Magazine, Carol C. Harter, Holly Ivy De Vore, Andy Grossman, David G. Schwartz, Mayumi Itoh, Tascha Boychuk-Spears, Hal K. Rothman, John F. Gallagher, Lori Bachand, Gian Galassi, Doug Mcinnis, Erin Auerbach, Gillian Silver, Laurie Fruth

UNLV Magazine

No abstract provided.

Genetics: The Not-So-New Thing, Dena S. Davis

Law Faculty Articles and Essays

Practical knowledge of heredity predates history. Indigenous peoples laid the foundations of modern agriculture by developing plants such as corn. However, the language and metaphors of the Human Genome Project treat modern genetics as if it had no historical antecedents and fail to acknowledge these early contributions to the science of heredity. The results of this blindness are twofold: it exacerbates reluctance of native peoples to take part in genetic research and to garner the benefits of genetic medicine, and it encourages "biopiracy," as modern scientists "discover" and patent native plants.

Research In Home-Care Telemedicine: Challenges In Patient Recruitment, Usha Subramanian, Faith Hopp, Julie Lowery, Peter Woodbridge, David Smith

Social Work Faculty Publications

This study reports challenges in recruiting patients for a randomized controHed trial of home-care telemedicinae. Descriptive statistics on patient eligibility for home-care telemedidne services and patient refusals for participation are provided. Frequency counts of reasons for study exclusion and participant refusal and Chi-square tests to compare race and age-related differences are given. Of 302 home-care patients reviewed, 197 (65.2%) did not meet inclusion criteria. The most common reasons for study exclusion were patients either needing <2 visits per month (n = 59, 30%) or >3 skilled nurse visits per week (n = 46, 23.4%). Of the eligible patients (n = 105), 79 …

Teacher In The Spotlight, Bjorn Karlman,

Lake Union Herald

No abstract provided.

Jefferson Medical College Annual Report, 2004, Thomas J. Nasca

Jefferson Medical College Administrative Documents and Reports

No abstract provided.

Annual Report To The Nation On The Status Of Cancer, 1975–2001, With A Special Feature Regarding Survival, Ahmedin Jemal, Limin X. Clegg, Elizabeth Ward, Lynn A. G. Ries, Xiao-Cheng Wu, Patricia Jamison, Phyllis A. Wingo, Holly L. Howe, Robert N. Anderson, Brenda K. Edwards

United States Public Health Resources

BACKGROUND. The American Cancer Society (ACS), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the National Cancer Institute (NCI), and the North American Association of Central Cancer Registries (NAACCR) collaborate annually to provide updated information regarding cancer occurrence and trends in the U.S. This year’s report features a special section on cancer survival.

METHODS. Information concerning cancer cases was obtained from the NCI, CDC, and NAACCR and information concerning recorded cancer deaths was obtained from the CDC. The authors evaluated trends in age-adjusted cancer incidence and death rates by regression models and described and compared survival rates over …

Relative Importance Of Heat-Labile Enterotoxin In The Causation Of Severe Diarrheal Disease In The Gnotobiotic Piglet Model By A Strain Of Enterotoxigenic Escherichia Coli That Produces Multiple Enterotoxins, Emil M. Berberov, You Zhou, David H. Francis, Michael A. Scott, Stephen D. Kachman, Rodney A. Moxley

School of Veterinary and Biomedical Sciences: Faculty Publications

Enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli (ETEC) strains that produce multiple enterotoxins are important causes of severe dehydrating diarrhea in human beings and animals, but the relative importance of these enterotoxins in the pathogenesis is poorly understood. Gnotobiotic piglets were used to study the importance of heat-labile enterotoxin (LT) in infection with an ETEC strain that produces multiple enterotoxins. LT^- (ΔeltAB) and complemented mutants of an F4⁺ LT⁺ STb⁺ EAST1⁺ ETEC strain were constructed, and the virulence of these strains was compared in gnotobiotic piglets expressing receptors for F4⁺ fimbria. Sixty percent of the piglets …

Comparison Of Medical Subject Headings And Text-Word Searches In Medline To Retrieve Studies On Sleep In Healthy Individuals, Elizabeth Sergeevna Jenuwine, Judith A. Floyd

Nursing Faculty Research Publications

Objective: The objective was to investigate the performance of two search strategies in the retrieval of primary research papers containing descriptive information on the sleep of healthy people from MEDLINE.

Methodology: Two search strategies - one based on the use of only Medical Subject Headings (MeSH), the second based on text-word searching - were evaluated as to their specificity and sensitivity in retrieving a set of relevant research papers published in the journal Sleep from 1996 to 2001 that were preselected by a hand search.

Results: The subject search provided higher specificity than the text- word search …

Universal Coverage And The American Health Care System Crisis (Again), Rick Mayes

Political Science Faculty Publications

Ten years after President Clinton’s ambitious attempt at comprehensive health care reform died, several old and new issues with the health care system have emerged. First, the number of uninsured Americans rose to 43.6 million in 2002—and the numbers have since increased. Also, the costs for those who do not have insurance are rapidly increasing. In addition health care related problems are one of the leading causes of personal bankruptcy in the United States. Finally, the government’s two primary health insurance programs—Medicare and Medicaid—are experiencing considerable financial strain. Dr. Mayes examines these problems in depth before and revisits President Clinton’s …