Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Synapse, Alabama Health Libraries Association

Synapse - Newsletter of ALHeLa

This is the Winter, 2010 edition of the ALHeLa newsletter - Synapse.

Contents include:

• President's Column
• Alabama Health Libraries Association - 2009 Executive Committee
• News from around the state
• Robert Avant Award Student Essay
• Membership News
• ALHeLA disaster preparedness virtual meeting
• Executive Committee meting minutes

Climate Change And Sea Level Rise Initiative (Ccslri), Larry P. Atkinson

CCSLRI Brochures

Brochure of the Old Dominion University Climate Change and Sea Level Rise Initiative (CCSLRI)

A Toolkit For Rapid Gene Mapping In The Nematode Caenorhabditis Briggsae, Daniel C. Koboldt, Julia Staisch, Bavithra Thillainathan, Karen Haines, Scott E. Baird, Helen M. Chamberlin, Eric S. Haag, Raymond D. Miller, Bhagwati P. Gupta

Open Access Publications

No abstract provided.

A Crossover Intervention Trial Evaluating The Efficacy Of A Chlorhexidine-Impregnated Sponge In Reducing Catheter-Related Bloodstream Infections Among Patients Undergoing Hemodialysis, Bernard C. Camins, Amy M. Richmond, Kathrin L. Dyer, Heather N. Zimmerman, Daniel W. Coyne, Marcos Rothstein, Victoria J. Fraser

Open Access Publications

No abstract provided.

Phosphorylation Of Exo1 Modulates Homologous Recombination Repair Of Dna Double-Strand Breaks, Emma Bolderson, Nozomi Tomimatsu, Derek J. Richard, Didier Boucher, Rakesh Kumar, Tej K. Pandita, Sandeep Burma, Kum K. Khanna

Open Access Publications

No abstract provided.

Parallel Input Channels To Mouse Primary Visual Cortex, Enquan Gao, Gregory C. Deangelis, Andreas Burkhalter

Open Access Publications

No abstract provided.

Periorbital Edema Secondary To Imatinib Mesylate, Collin M. Mcclelland, George J. Harocopos, Philip L. Custer

Open Access Publications

No abstract provided.

Direction Discrimination Thresholds Of Vestibular And Cerebellar Nuclei Neurons, Sheng Liu, Tatyana Yakusheva, Gregory C. Deangelis, Dora E. Angelaki

Open Access Publications

No abstract provided.

Using Rasch Modeling To Investigate The Psychometric Properties Of The Osce, Carole Steketee, Elina Tor

Medical Conference Papers

Background

It is vital that undergraduate medical students demonstrate competency in clinical skills upon graduation. To confidently state that students are competent in these skills, medical schools must assess students using tools that provide an accurate measure of their abilities. As with many medical schools, the School of Medicine at the University of Notre Dame Australia uses the Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE). Research findings strongly support the OSCE as a reliable and valid measure of students’ clinical competence. However, traditional item analyses of OSCE papers were not providing the School with enough insight into how individual stations were performing …

Himmelfarb Library Annual Report 2010, George Washington University, Himmelfarb Health Sciences Library

Himmelfarb Library Annual Report

No abstract provided.

What About The Children? Benjamin And Arendt: On Education, Work, And The Political, Jules Simon

Departmental Papers (Philosophy)

This article is a rough draft of an article that I contributed to an edited volume of articles dealing with progressive education theory. I reflect on articles that Hannah Arendt and Walter Benjamin wrote that deal with educational reform and innovation, both political in nature.

Correlates Of Weight Concern And Control In A Hispanic College Student Sample., J. Blow, T. Taylor, Theodore Cooper, C. Redfearn

Departmental Papers (Psych)

No abstract provided.

Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, Angela Bigelow

Graduate Research Papers

Obsessive Compulsive Disorders have the potential to destroy people's lives. The negative consequences of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder can affect so many people-the people suffering from the disorder, the family of the sufferer, as well as the lack of insight of the disorder within the community. According to the Obsessive Compulsive Foundation (2010), the disorder affects between 2 to 3 million adults in the United States and around 500,000 children and teens have Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. Due to the alarming statistics and the secret lives of incredible pain and humiliation OCD sufferers' experience, it is imperative that mental health counselors educate …

For Only A Moment, Daniel Weintraub

Quill & Scope

No abstract provided.

2010 Supplement Vol. 1, American Dental Association

ADA Transactions

This item is part of the Supplements subtitle of The ADA Transactions, a serial publication of the annual activities of the ADA House of Delegates (HOD)/Board of Trustees (BOT) made up of three separate subtitles: Annual Reports and Resolutions, Supplements, and the Transactions. Generally, The ADA Transactions are published in multiple volumes throughout the year. The Supplements function like an appendix and are, in more recent editions, numbered separately with page numbers determined by HOD reference committee assignation. Items are described variously as "Supplement #", "Volume #", etc. throughout the series but have been labeled here as Vol. # for …

What's Happening: January, 2010, Maine Medical Center

What's Happening

No abstract provided.

Egfr/Met Association Regulates Egfr Tki Resistance In Breast Cancer, Kelly L. Mueller, Zeng-Quan Yang, Ramsi Haddad, Stephen P. Ethier, Julie L. Boerner

Wayne State University Associated BioMed Central Scholarship

Abstract

Breast cancers show a lack of response to epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs), despite 30% of tumors expressing EGFR. The mechanism of this resistance is unknown; however, we have recently shown that Met kinase activity compensates for loss of EGFR kinase activity in cell culture models. Met has been implicated in the pathogenesis of breast tumors and therefore may cooperate with EGFR for tumor growth. Here we have found that EGFR phosphorylation and cell proliferation is in part regulated by Met expression. In addition, we found that Met constitutive phosphorylation occurred independent of the Met …

“Applied” Aspects Of The Drug Resistance Strategies Project, Michael L. Hecht, Michelle Miller-Day

Communication Faculty Articles and Research

This paper discusses the applied aspects of our Drug Resistance Strategies Project. We argue that a new definitional distinction is needed to expand the notion of “applied” from the traditional notion of utilizing theory, which we call “applied.1”, in order to consider theory-grounded, theory testing and theory developing applied research. We label this new definition “applied.2” research. We then explain that our descriptive work describing the social processes of adolescent substance use, identity and use, and drug norms, as well as the subsequent development and dissemination of our keepin’ it REAL middle school substance use curriculum are examples of “applied.1” …

Hyperandrogenism And Obesity, Amit M. Deokar, Shawn J. Smith, Amanda J. Goodwin, Hatim A. Omar

Pediatrics Faculty Publications

This chapter has a two-fold objective. One, ti addresses the association of hyperandrogenism and obesity and the complex metabolic derangements that are part of the problem. Clinical management of these co-morbidities is challenging and complex. Second, this chapter will aid health care providers with the key features to an early diagnosis and intervention to decrease the morbidities in the short as well as long term. Method: Systematic review of articles and information on the topic of interest that were published in the last 15 years. Conclusion: Obesity and hyperandrogenism are integral parts of Metabolic Syndrome/Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS)/Hyperandrogenism, Insulin resistance, …

School Of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences: 2010 Annual Report

School of Veterinary and Biomedical Sciences: Information and History

On September 4, 2009, The Department of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences was renamed the School of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences. The School is informally organized into six functional areas: • Undergraduate Teaching • Research and Graduate Studies • Extension • Veterinary Diagnostic Center (VDC) • Great Plains Veterinary Educational Center (GPVEC) • Professional Program in Veterinary Medicine (PPVM) While teaching and research activities bridge the entire faculty, subsets of the faculty are primarily involved with one area, i.e., the undergraduate program, the research and graduate program, the veterinary medical students clinical teaching at the GPVEC, the pre-clinical teaching …

Surgical Intervention For Infective Endocarditis In A Veteran Population, Lorraine D. Cornwell, Danny Chu, Scott A. Lemaire, Joseph Huh, Shubhada Sansgiry, Joseph S. Coselli, Faisal G. Bakaeen

United States Public Health Resources

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Surgical management of infective endocarditis can be challenging. Veteran patients are unique because they often have significant comorbidities, and surgical management of endocarditis in this population has not been well described.

METHODS: Using a prospective database, 46 consecutive patients who underwent valve surgery for acute infective endocarditis between 1987 and 2009 were identified. Survival was assessed using the Kaplan-Meier method.

RESULTS: All patients were men (mean age, 56±9 years). The most common indication for surgical intervention was congestive heart failure (60%). The aortic valve was the only valve infected in most patients (65%). Operative morbidity …

Mortality Patterns Of Army Chemical Corps Veterans Who Were Occupationally Exposed To Herbicides In Vietnam, Yasmin Cypel, Han Kang

United States Public Health Resources

PURPOSE: This research examined the risk of disease-related mortality of the Army Chemical Corps (ACC) veterans who handled/sprayed herbicides in Vietnam in comparison with their non-Vietnam veteran peers or U.S. men.

METHODS: Vital status was determined through December 31, 2005. All-cause mortality and cause-specific mortality were compared for individuals who served in Vietnam (n Z 2872) versus those who did not (n Z 2737). Similar analyses were completed on a subset of the original Vietnam cohort that consisted of individuals who either reported spraying herbicide (n Z 662) or not (n Z 811). The observed deaths for each …

Public Health Clinical Demonstration Project For Smoking Cessation In Veterans With Posttraumatic Stress Disorder, Eric A. Dedert, Sarah M. Wilson, Patrick S. Calhoun, Scott D. Moore, Kim W. Hamlett-Berry, Jean C. Beckham

United States Public Health Resources

Veterans with post traumatic stress disorder are at high risk for smoking and experience difficulty with smoking cessation. We designed this clinical demonstration project to provide a low-cost, feasibly implemented smoking cessation intervention that would maximize the number of smokers who accessed the intervention. Five hundred eighty-four veteran smokers were contacted by invitational letters. Interested veterans received follow-up telephone calls using standardized scripts offering three intervention resources: 1) a referral to the National Cancer Institute's Smoking Quitline, 2) web-based counseling, and 3) local Veteran Affairs pharmacologic treatment for smoking cessation. Twenty-three percent of survey recipients participated in the clinical program. …

An Examination Of The Construct Validity Of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder With Veterans Using A Revised Criterion Set, Anouk L. Grubaugh, Mary E. Long, Jon D. Elhai, B. Christopher Frueh, Kathryn M. Magruder

United States Public Health Resources

Ongoing concerns exist in the literature regarding the construct of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and how to best conceptualize and measure this disorder. We compared the traditional DSM-IV PTSD symptom criteria (i.e., symptoms from clusters B, C, and D) to a revised criterion set that omits overlapping mood and other anxiety symptoms on PTSD prevalence, PTSD diagnostic caseness, associated psychiatric comorbidity, functional status, and structural validity using a cross-sectional, multi-site primary care sample of 747 veterans. After removing items theorized to overlap with mood and other anxiety disorders, PTSD prevalence was identical using both criterion sets (i.e., 12%). Overall, there …

Positive Correlation Of Employment And Psychological Well-Being For Veterans With Major Abdominal Surgery, David J. Horner, Christopher S. Wendel, Raymond Skeps, Susan M. Rawl, Marcia Grant, C. Max Schmidt, Clifford Y. Ko, Robert S. Krouse

United States Public Health Resources

BACKGROUND: Intestinal stomas (ostomies) have been associated negatively with multiple aspects of health-related quality of life. This article examines the relationship between employment status and psychological well-being (PWB) in veterans who underwent major bowel procedures with or without ostomy.

METHODS: Veterans from 3 Veterans Affairs (VA) medical centers were surveyed using the City of Hope ostomy-specific questionnaire and the Short Form 36 item Veteran’s version (SF-36V). Response rate was 48% (511 of 1,063). Employment and PWB relationship was assessed using multiple regression with age, income, SF-36V physical component summary (PCS), and employment status as independent variables.

RESULTS: Employed veterans reported …

The Past, Present, And Future Of Comparative Effectiveness Research In The Us Department Of Veterans Affairs, Joel Kupersmith, Alexander K. Ommaya

United States Public Health Resources

A particular challenge for the healthcare provider and the patient is to choose among competing therapeutic approaches for a particular condition. Often, the relative benefits and risks of potential therapies are not uniformly available from the existing scientific information. Many have pointed to the need for more comparative effectiveness research (CER) to aide in these decisions. The US Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has a long history of conducting CER. The success of the VA CER program has been facilitated by several important aspects of scientific infrastructure related to (1) research question refinement, (2) study design, planning and coordination, (3) …

Comparisons Of Quality Of Surgical Care Between The Us Department Of Veterans Affairs And The Private Sector, Sierra R. Matula, Amal N. Trivedi, Isomi Miake-Lye, Peter A. Glassman, Paul Shekelle, Steven Asch

United States Public Health Resources

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is the largest integrated health system in the United States. Since its establishment in 1930, the VA has provided medical and surgical care to veterans of US military service. VA services are provided primarily by salaried federal employees working in government-operated facilities.

By the 1990s, the VA had developed a negative reputation, with widespread concerns about poor quality of care and systematic inefficiencies.1-3 An overhaul of the organization took place in the mid-1990s to improve both clinical care and the greater VA health system.With regard to quality of surgical care in the VA, changes …

Demographic And Clinical Variation In Veterans Health Administration Provision Of Assistive Technology Devices To Veterans Poststroke, Sandra L. Hubbard Winkler, Diane C. Cowper Ripley, Samuel Wu, Dean M. Reker, Bruce Vogel, Shirley G. Fitzgerald, William C. Mann, Helen Hoenig

United States Public Health Resources

Objectives: To examine variation in provision of assistive technology (AT) devices and the extent to which such variation may be explained by patient characteristics or Veterans Health Administration (VHA) administrative region.

Design: Retrospective population-based study.

Setting: VHA.

Participants: Veterans poststroke in fiscal years 2001 and 2002 (N=12,046).

Interventions: Not applicable.

Main Outcome Measure: Provision of 8 categories of AT devices.

Results: There was considerable regional variation in provision of AT. For example, differences across administrative regions in the VHA ranged from 5.1 to 28.1 standard manual wheelchairs per 100 veterans poststroke. Using logistic …

Investigating The Risk Of Cancer In 1990–1991 Us Gulf War Veterans With The Use Of State Cancer Registry Data, Heather A. Young, Jessica D. Maillard, Paul H. Levine, Samuel J. Simmens, Clare M. Mahan, Han K. Kang

United States Public Health Resources

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to determine whether proportional cancer incidence is greater among Gulf War veterans compared with non-Gulf War veterans.

METHODS: Files obtained from the Defense Manpower Data Center included data for 621,902 veterans who were deployed to the Persian Gulf during the 1990 to 1991 Gulf War (August 2, 1990, to March 1, 1991) and 746,248 non-Gulf War veteran controls. Identification of veterans who received a cancer diagnosis between 1991 and 2006 was accomplished through record linkage of the Defense Manpower Data Center dataset with files from 28 state cancer registries and the Department of …

Detection Of West Nile Virus In Stable Flies (Diptera: Muscidae) Parasitizing Juvenile American White Pelicans, Gregory Johnson, Nicholas Panella, Kristina Hale, Nicholas Komar

United States Public Health Resources

Stable flies, Stomoxys calcitrans (L.) (Diptera: Muscidae), an economically important pest of livestock and humans, were observed parasitizing prefledged American white pelicans, Pelecanus erythrorhynchos (Pelecaniformes: Pelecanidae), in a pelican breeding colony in northeastern Montana where die-offs attributed to West Nile virus (family Flaviviridae, genus Flavivirus, WNV) have occurred since 2002. Engorged and unengorged flies were collected off nine moribund chicks. Of 29 blood-engorged flies testing positive for vertebrate DNA, all 29 contained pelican DNA. Virus isolation was performed on 60 pools (1,176 flies) of unengorged flies using Vero cell plaque assay. Eighteen pools were positive for WNV …