Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Cannabinoids And The Immune System, Thomas W. Klein, Catherine A. Newton, Herman Friedman

Molecular Medicine Faculty Publications

The effect of cannabimimetic agents on the function of immune cells such as T and B lymphocytes, natural killer cells and macrophages has been extensively studied over the past several decades using human and animal paradigms involving whole animal models as well as tissue culture systems. From this work, it can be concluded that these drugs have subtle yet complex effects on immune cell function and that some of the drug activity is mediated by cannabinoid receptors expressed on the various immune cell subtypes. However, the overall role of the cannabinoid system of receptors and ligands in human health and …

Stabilization Of Partially Folded Conformation During Α-Synuclein Oligomerization In Both Purified And Cytosolic Preparations, Vladimir N. Uversky, He-Jin Lee, Jie Li, Anthony L. Fink, Seung-Jae Lee

Molecular Medicine Faculty Publications

Aggregation of α-synuclein is tightly associated with many neurodegenerative diseases, such as Parkinson's disease, dementia with Lewy body, Lewy body variant of Alzheimer's disease, multiple system atrophy, and Hallervorden-Spatz disease, implicating a crucial role of aggregated forms of α-synuclein in the pathogenesis. Here, we examined the effect of elevated temperature on the oligomerization and structural changes of α-synuclein in the early stage of aggregation and show that self-assembly is crucial for the stabilization of a partially folded conformation. The efficiency of α-synuclein oligomerization increased proportional to the temperature increase, both in purified form and in crude cytosolic preparation. This oligomerization …

Are Inflammatory Cytokines Potential Mediators Of Phenytoin-Induced Gingival Overgrowth?, Nurcan Buduneli̇, Gül Ati̇lla, Neci̇l Kütükçüler

Turkish Journal of Medical Sciences

The levels of interleukin-1beta, tumour necrosis factor-alpha, and interleukin 6 in gingival crevicular fluid of phenytoin-treated patients (from sites exhibiting overgrowth and sites not exhibiting overgrowth) and control subjects were investigated. Six epileptic patients exhibiting severe phenytoin-induced gingival overgrowth, 12 patients with chronic gingivitis and 11 subjects with clinically healthy periodontium were included in the study. The cytokine levels were analysed by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and expressed as ng/2 sites. Wilcoxon signed-rank test, Kruskall-Wallis, Mann-Whitney U test and Spearman rank correlation were used for statistical analysis of the data. Overgrown sites showed significantly higher levels of interleukin-1beta compared to the …

The Effect Of Moderate +Gz Force On The Cervical Spine Bone Mineral Density In Raaf Pc-9 Pilots, Meghan C. Grant

Theses : Honours

Previous research on exercise and bone mineral density (BMD) has established that increases in BMD are site specific, responding to unusual strain and particularly to high magnitude loading. The positive Gz forces generated during high performance flying provide all three variables. Naumann, Bennell and Wark (2000) investigated the effects of moderate gravitational force on the BMD of fighter pilots. The pilots in this study had significant increases in BMD and bone mineral content (BMC) for the thoracic spine, pelvis and total body. However, it is now suspected that the cervical spine, which was unable to be analysed at that time …

Integrated Hospital System Administration System, Siao Wei Ng

Student Works (2000-2009)

The concept of Integrated Hospital System have been brought up to take advantage of the modern technologies; the tremendous growth of information technology has change the olden style of management into electronic based. Based on the objective, the system is build to substitute the manual process that is practiced in most of the hospital especially in government hospital now a day. It is aim to reduce the time spent from registration, help get pharmacy done quickly, helps to generate the bill faster and accurately and help people to get their information in their fingertips when and where they need it. …

September 11th And Beyond: What Is The Role For Public Health?, Susan J. Koch

International Journal of Global Health

As Maureen McCue so aptly describes in this second issue of the International Journal of Global Health, public health professionals can and often do play a crucial role in responding to natural disasters like Hurricane Mitch. But with the world still shuddering from the events on September 11th when over 5,000 people were killed in terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, public health professionals and those who educate them are now also compelled to examine and expand their roles in responding to a new global threat - now evident to all.

Environmental Health Research And Student Training Project, Transylvania, Romania, Catherine Zeman, Diane Depken

International Journal of Global Health

Nitrate/nitrite impacts human health through a number of mechanisms via involvement in potentially detrimental biochemical processes. In the acute sense, nitrite interacts with the iron components of the hemoglobin molecule, the functional, biochemical unit of the red blood cell responsible for carrying oxygen throughout the body. These iron components are essential for the normal bonding of the hemoglobin molecule with oxygen and when chemically altered, result in a form of hemoglobin known as methemoglobin. When somewhere between 3-15% of the hemoglobin in the blood is reduced to methemoglobin an individual is said to have methemoglobinemia due to the low oxygen …

Letter Of Welcome, Susan Koch

International Journal of Global Health

As Associate Vice President of Academic Affairs at the University of Northern Iowa and co-founder of the UNI Global Health Corps, it is a great pleasure for me to take this opportunity to both reflect back on the founding of our organization here at the University of Northern Iowa and to look toward the future, as the Global Health Corps continues to grow and have an important impact, not only on UNI students and faculty, but also as a model for developing globally oriented programs in higher education everywhere.

The Globalization Of Public Health: The First 100 Years Of International Health Diplomacy, David P. Fidler

Articles by Maurer Faculty

Global threats to public health in the 19th century sparked the development of international health diplomacy. Many international regimes on public health issues were created between the mid-19th and mid-20th centuries. The present article analyses the global risks in this field and the international legal responses to them between 1851 and 1951, and explores the lessons from the first century of international health diplomacy of relevance to contemporary efforts to deal with the globalization of public health.

Asian American Mental Health Clients: Effects Of Ethnic Match And Age On Global Assessment And Visitation, Richard H. Dana, Glenn Gamst, Aghop Der-Karabetian, Terry Kramer

Regional Research Institute for Human Services

Effects of client-counselor ethnic match (i.e., match, no match) and client age group (child, adult) on counselor-evaluated Global Assessment of Function (GAF) and visitation were investigated. The sample consisted of 253 Asian-American outpatient clients (24.9% children 75.1% adults) of a community mental health center. Unadjusted results indicated that ethnically matched clients had more positive GAF evaluations and more clinic visits than nonmatched clients. When adjusted for eight covariates, results showed ethnically matched clients continued to show higher levels of visitation. Analysis of separate diagnostic categories showed that ethnically matched mood-disorder clients had higher levels of visitation. Conversely, nonethnically matched anxiety …

An Open Label Study Of The Effects Of Levetiracetam In Children With Autism, Teresa C. Samsock

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

This was an open-label study of levetiracetam in children with autism. Many anticonvulsant medications are used for management of externalizing behaviors and mood stability in autism; however, they are not consistently effective and adverse reactions limit their use. The objective of this study was to test the following research questions: (1) to determine whether levetiracetam reduces problematic externalizing behaviors in children with autism, and (2) to determine whether a nootropic effect from levetiracetam may be seen in cognition, memory, and/or language function in children with autism. Evaluations were gathered pre-treatment and during treatment using a battery of cognitive and behavioral …

From Patna To Paris: Providing Safe And Humane Abortion, Carmen Barroso, Martha Brady, Batya Elul, Shelley Clark, Sneh Vishwanath, Sunanda Rabindranathan

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

With access to safe, legal abortion under severe constraint or debate in many parts of the world, less attention has been paid to the issue of quality of abortion care. This issue of Quality/Calidad/Qualité explores two programs that operate in very different settings but with a shared commitment to providing high-quality abortion care in a context of broader reproductive health services: the Clinique d’Orthogénie of Broussais Hospital in France and Parivar Seva Sanstha in India. In both programs, each woman or girl who arrives for abortion receives crucial basic care, including: appropriate medical treatment to ensure complete abortion and safe …

Kenia: Detectar La Sifilis Durante La Consulta Prenatal Resulta Costo-Efectivo, Frontiers In Reproductive Health

Reproductive Health

La Organización Mundial de la Salud ha estipulado que la detección y tratamiento de sífilis para todas las mujeres embarazadas resulta eficaz en función de los costos si al menos el 0.1 por ciento de ellas están infectadas. Para atender el problema de la alta tasa de sífilis entre mujeres embarazadas (6.5–7.3%), el Concejo de la Ciudad de Nairobi (CCN) introdujo en 1989 la detección y tratamiento de sífilis materna en sus clínicas de atención prenatal. Sin embargo, su enfoque centralizado—que requiere llevar las muestras de sangre recolectadas a un laboratorio central para hacer la prueba—era ineficiente. Por lo tanto, …

Influencing Reproductive Health Policy And Programs In The Philippines: Implementing An Advocacy Model For Utilization Of Operations Research, Saniata Masulit, Marilou P. Costello, Sahar Hegazi

Reproductive Health

This project tested a model of operations research (OR) dissemination and utilization targeting program managers in Mindanao, the second largest island of the Philippines. The model combines capacity-building with the use of innovative advocacy approaches to disseminate OR results, by creating a network of policy champions who will advocate the use of OR findings through a variety of strategies after they have been provided with information on the advocacy issue and their presentation skills enhanced. The project demonstrated that this type of network could lead to significant program changes, but also revealed that there is no single strategy or approach …

Oncolog, Volume 46, Number 01, January 2001, Kerry L. Wright, Dawn Chalaire, Emil J. Freireich Md

OncoLog MD Anderson's Report to Physicians (All issues) Archives

• New Melanoma Staging System Reflects Key Prognostic Factors
• House Cell: Preventing Cancer: Food for Thought
• Educational Conferences Explore Issues Related to Cancer Care and Research
• DiaLog: Leukemia: Setting the "Stage" for Effective Treatments, by Emil J. Freireich, MD, Professor, Department of Leukemia
• Updated M. D. Anderson Website Designed to Meet the Online Needs of Patients and Physicians

Indonesia: Train Journalists To Write About Reproductive Health, Frontiers In Reproductive Health

Reproductive Health

After government control over the media was liberalized in 1998, Indonesian journalists had a new mandate to explore new issues and foster public debate. Several studies had found evidence that women’s health worsened from 1997–99, yet media coverage of this topic was limited. To increase press coverage of reproductive health (RH) topics, the Population Council conducted an 18-month media project in collaboration with the State Ministry for Women’s Empowerment and other key agencies. The project focused on improving RH knowledge and reporting skills among 22 print journalists. Project staff monitored RH coverage in 22 major newspapers, magazines, and tabloids. After …

Household Size And Composition In The Developing World, John Bongaarts

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

This study uses data from recent household surveys in 43 developing countries to describe the main dimensions of household size and composition in the developing world. Average household size varies only modestly among regions, ranging from 5.6 in the Near East/North Africa to 4.8 in Latin America. These averages are similar to levels observed in the second half of the nineteenth century in Europe and North America. About four out of five members of the household are part of the nuclear family of the head of the household. Household size is found to be positively associated with the level of …

Household Size And Composition In The Developing World [Arabic], John Bongaarts

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

This study uses data from recent household surveys in 43 developing countries to describe the main dimensions of household size and composition in the developing world. Average household size varies only modestly among regions, ranging from 5.6 in the Near East/North Africa to 4.8 in Latin America. These averages are similar to levels observed in the second half of the nineteenth century in Europe and North America. About four out of five members of the household are part of the nuclear family of the head of the household. Household size is found to be positively associated with the level of …

Obstacles To Contraceptive Use In Pakistan: A Study In Punjab, John B. Casterline, Zeba Sathar, Minhaj Ul Haque

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

The principal aim of this study is to assess the strength in Pakistan of a set of hypothesized obstacles to practicing contraception. Our concern is those factors that prevent women from translating a desire to avoid becoming pregnant into contraceptive practice, a common predicament in Pakistan in recent decades. We analyze survey data collected in Punjab province in 1996 that contain unusually detailed measurement of various perceived costs of practicing contraception, as well as focused measurement of fertility motivation. The framework guiding the research specifies six major obstacles to contraceptive use: the strength of motivation to avoid pregnancy, awareness and …

Whose Education Counts? The Impact Of Grown Children's Education On The Physical Functioning Of Their Parents In Taiwan, Zachary Zimmer, Albert I. Hermalin, Hui-Sheng Lin

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

Research has identified education as an important predictor of physical functioning in old age. Older adults in Taiwan tend to experience close ties to family members and high rates of adult child coresidence, much more so than is typical in Western cultures. These circumstances might imply additional health-related benefits stemming from the education of grown children. This association could arise in a number of ways, for instance through the sharing of health-related information between child and parent, the quality of caregiving efforts, monetary assistance for medical and other services, or through other psychosocial avenues. In this study, a nationally representative …

Immunization Status And Child Survival In Rural Ghana, Philomena Nyarko, Brian Wells Pence, Cornelius Debpuur

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

For three decades, the Expanded Programme on Immunization (EPI) has been promoted as one of the key child health interventions in developing countries. Vaccines for six childhood diseases (diphtheria, measles, pertussis, poliomyelitis, tetanus, and tuberculosis) have been shown to be efficacious in preventing disease-specific morbidity and mortality, yet not all commentators are convinced that the EPI reduces all-cause child mortality. Numerous studies have found that measles vaccination programs substantially reduce all-cause child mortality, but recent findings from Guinea-Bissau suggest that diphtheria, pertussis, and tetanus (DPT) vaccine may increase all-cause child mortality. The present study uses five years of data from …

Living Arrangements Of Older Adults In The Developing World: An Analysis Of Dhs Household Surveys, John Bongaarts, Zachary Zimmer

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

Using data from Demographic and Health Surveys, this study examines living arrangements of older adults in 43 developing countries and compares patterns by gender, world regions, and macro-level measures of socioeconomic development. Indicators include household size, headship, relationship to head, and coresidence with spouse, children, and others. Unweighted regional averages and OLS regressions determine whether variations exist. Average household sizes are large, but a substantially higher proportion of elderly adults live alone than do individuals in other age groups. Females are more likely than males to live alone and are less likely to live with a spouse or to head …

The Reporting Of Sensitive Behavior Among Adolescents: A Methodological Experiment In Kenya, Barbara Mensch, Paul C. Hewett, Annabel Erulkar

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

This paper assesses whether audio computer-assisted self-interviewing (audio-CASI), a technique designed in the United States to collect data on sensitive behaviors, is a feasible method of survey data collection in a developing-country setting and whether it produces more valid reporting of sexual activity and related behaviors than traditional survey methods. The analysis is based on interviews with nearly 4,400 unmarried adolescents aged 15-21 in Nyeri, a rural district of Kenya that was selected because previous research had indicated a wide discrepancy in the reporting of premarital sexual behavior between boys and girls. The study was based on a quasi-experimental design …

The End Of The Fertility Transition In The Developed World, John Bongaarts

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

By the late 1990s fertility in the developed world had declined to 1.6 births per woman, a level substantially lower than projected in the 1980s. This study examines recent trends and patterns in fertility in the developed world with particular emphasis on the effects and implications of changes in the timing of childbearing. The main objective is to demonstrate that while fertility in these countries is indeed low, women’s childbearing levels are not as low as period measures such as the total fertility rate suggest. To obtain a full understanding of the various dimensions of fertility change, several indicators are …

Social Networks And Contraceptive Dynamics In Southern Ghana, Mark R. Montgomery, Gebre-Egziabher Kiros, Dominic K. Agyeman, John B. Casterline, Peter Aglobitse, Paul C. Hewett

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

There is accumulating evidence that social diffusion processes affect the pace of the adoption of modern contraception in societies undergoing fertility transition. In settings where mortality has declined and many other social and economic changes are underway, decisions about contraception are fraught with uncertainty and risk. In such circumstances, couples may rely on other persons for information and guidance. In this paper, we examine the influence of informal social networks on the contraceptive behavior of reproductive-age women, using longitudinal data collected in six communities in southern Ghana. Our results confirm the hypothesis that adoption of modern contraception is strongly affected …

Poverty And Public Services In Developing-Country Cities, Paul C. Hewett, Mark R. Montgomery

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

This paper examines the availability of basic public services such as water supply and sanitation in the cities and towns of developing countries, using data drawn from the Demographic and Health Surveys. Inadequate provision of public services can compromise health, hinder economic growth, and stymie efforts to reduce poverty. We find that wide rural-urban gaps remain in service delivery, and that smaller cities-where about half of urban residents live-are notably under-served by comparison with larger cities.

Sola No Eres Nada, Juntas Flotamos: El Movimiento Manuela Ramos, Judith Bruce, Debbie Rogow

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

This edition of Quality/Calidad/Qualité discusses the Manuela Ramos Movement and its efforts to improve women’s health and well-being through a range of empowerment strategies in rural Peru. A joint project with USAID, named Reprosalud, demonstrates how combining the resources of an international donor with local women’s organizations allows a more organic and multifaceted family planning program to develop. Such programs can produce impressive improvements on a number of indicators, including contraceptive use.

Bovine Tuberculosis In Brushtail Possums (Trichosurus Vulpecula): Studies On Vaccination, Experimental Infection, And Disease Transmission, L. A. L. Corner

Michigan Bovine Tuberculosis Bibliography and Database

The objectives of the research program were to obtain a better understanding of BCG as a tuberculosis vaccine in possums, and assess its potential as a tool for controlling tuberculosis in wild possum populations. A series of vaccination and challenge experiments were conducted, as well as studies on alternative experimental infection procedures. The program included two field studies, one on the epidemiology of tuberculosis in a population of possums regenerating after localised possum eradication, and the other examined the efficacy of BCG vaccine in a wild population in which tuberculosis was endemic.

The first experiments confirmed the earlier published findings …

Movement Patterns And Behavior At Winter-Feeding And Fall Baiting Stations In A Population Of White-Tailed Deer Infected With Bovine Tuberculosis In The Northeastern Lower Peninsula Of Michigan, Mark Stephen Garner

Michigan Bovine Tuberculosis Bibliography and Database

In 1994 bovine tuberculosis (Mycobacterium bovis) was discovered in a single free ranging white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) in northeastern Michigan (Deer Management Unit 452 @MU 452)). By the end of the 2000 hunting season, 325+ deer within the DMU 452 had been detected with M. bovis and it was generally believed that the disease had radiated from a single focus of infection. However, the presence of three TB positive deer discovered in 1999 well outside of DMU 452 suggested that M. bovis may be endemic at extremely low levels in Michigan white-tailed deer.

The primary mode …

Tuberculin Skin Testing In White-Tailed Deer (Odocoileus Virginianus), Mitchell V. Palmer, Diana L. Whipple, W. Ray Waters

Michigan Bovine Tuberculosis Bibliography and Database

The comparative cervical skin test for antemortem diagnosis of tuberculosis was done 169 times on 116 different white-tailed deer of known Mycobacterium bovis infection status. The sensitivity and specificity were 97 and 81%, respectively. The magnitude of change in skin thickness at test sites was not significantly influenced by dosage of inoculum, dissemination of the disease process, or repeated skin testing. However, the magnitude of change in skin thickness was significantly greater in deer infected for less than 109 days than in deer infected for more than 109 days. As used in the present study, the comparative cervical skin test …