Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Analyzing The Impact Of 23 Mg/Day Donepezil On Language Dysfunction In Moderate To Severe Alzheimer's Disease, Steven H. Ferris, Frederick A. Schmitt, Judith Saxton, Sharon Richardson, Joan Mackell, Yijun Sun, Yikang Xu

Sanders-Brown Center on Aging Faculty Publications

INTRODUCTION: Progressive language impairment is among the primary components of cognitive decline in Alzheimer's disease (AD). Because expressive and receptive language help to maintain emotional connections to caregivers and support the management of AD patients' functional needs, language plays a critical role in patients' emotional and physical health. Using data from a large prospective clinical trial comparing two doses of donepezil in patients with moderate to severe AD, we performed a post hoc analysis to determine whether a higher dose of donepezil was associated with greater benefits in language function.

METHODS: In the original randomized, double-blind clinical trial, 1,467 patients …

Virological And Clinical Characteristics Of Hepatitis Delta Virus In South Asia, Khalid Mumtaz, Umair S. Ahmed, Sadik Memon, Ali Khawaja, Muhammad T. Usmani, Tariq Moatter, Saeed Hamid, Wasim Jafri

Section of Gastroenterology

Background & Aims:There is a paucity of data on the impact of hepatitis D virus (HDV) in Patients with hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection from South Asia. We studied the impact of HDV co-infection on virological and clinical characteristics.

Methods: We collected data of 480 Patients with HBsAg positive and a detectable HBV DNA PCR, who presented to the Aga Khan University, Karachi and Isra University in Hyderabad, Pakistan in the last 5 years. HDV co-infection was diagnosed on the basis of anti-HDV. ALT, HBeAg, HBeAb and HBV DNA PCR quantitative levels were checked in all Patients. We divided …

Medical School Watercooler Newsletter - June 19, 2011, Lindsey Lyle

Watercooler Newsletter

This is the June 19, 2011 edition of the Frederick P. Whiddon College of Medicine's newsletter - watercooler

Contents Include

• Tips for the "Sandwich Generation"
• USA College of Medicine to Host White Coat Ceremony
• USA Medicine Magazine - Online First Edition
• Mark Your Calendars - Special Seminar

Health Initiatives By Indigenous People In Australia, Stephanie Clark

Aboriginal Policy Research Consortium International (APRCi)

No abstract provided.

Up-Regulated Dicer Expression In Patients With Cutaneous Melanoma, Soheil S. Dadras, Elizabeth Fleming, Helen Swede

UCHC Articles - Research

Background

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small non-coding RNAs (18–24 nucleotides) that have recently been shown to regulate gene expression during cancer progression. Dicer, a central enzyme in the multi-component miRNA biogenesis pathway, is involved in cutting precursor miRNAs to functionally mature forms. Emerging evidence shows that Dicer expression is deregulated in some human malignancies and it correlates with tumor progression, yet this role has not yet been investigated in skin cancers.

Methods and Findings

Using an anti-human monoclonal antibody against Dicer and immunohistochemistry, we compared the expression of Dicer protein among 404 clinically annotated controls and skin tumors consisting of melanocytic …

Perflurorochemical (Pfc) Exposure In Children: Associations With Impaired Response Inhibition, Brooks B. Gump, Qian Wu, Amy K. Dumas, Kurunthachalam Kannan

Falk College Research Center

Background: Perfluorinated chemicals (PFCs) have been used widely in consumer products since the 1950s and are currently found at detectable levels in the blood of humans and animals across the globe. In stark contrast to this widespread exposure to PFCs, there is relatively little research on potential adverse health effects of exposure to these chemicals.Objectives: We performed this cross-sectional study to determine if specific blood PFC levels are associated with impaired response inhibition in children. Methods: Blood levels of 11 PFCs were measured in children (N = 83) and 6 PFCs: perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS), perfluorohexane sulfate (PFHxS), perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), …

Understanding Of Functions Of Selenoproteins And Dietary Selenium By Using Animal Models, Marina V. Kasaikina

Department of Biochemistry: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Selenium (Se) is a trace element that is incorporated into proteins in the form of the 21^st amino acid, selenocysteine (Sec). Se supplementation was reported to have beneficial roles in prevention of cardiovascular and muscle disorders, cancer prevention and enhancement of the immune function. However, recent studies also showed that excessive dietary Se increases the risk of development of type 2 diabetes mellitus. Thus, better understanding of Se and selenoprotein functions is required. We used three approaches to address this problem.

First, we used high-throughput sequencing to examine composition of the gut microflora in mice maintained on selenium-deficient, selenium-sufficient, …

Media Attention On African Americans With Human Immunodeficiency Virus, Charles S. Beverley Jr., Edith M. Williams, Saundra H. Glover

Faculty Publications

Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is a disease that has captured the attention of the media in various ways and to varying degrees. One of the ongoing debates and areas of research in HIV that provide many opportunities for discovery is the disproportionate number of African Americans infected with HIV compared to the amount of attention they receive in the media. This manuscript addresses the question that has preoccupied the minds of many people: Why have African Americans infected with HIV received so little media attention? Analysis of this question suggests that there are many reasons for this lack of media …

What Is New For An Old Molecule? Systematic Review And Recommendations On The Use Of Resveratrol, Ole Vang, Nihal Ahmad, Karen Brown, Anna Csiszar, Thomas Szekeres, Thomas Walle, Joseph M. Wu

NYMC Faculty Publications

BACKGROUND: Resveratrol is a natural compound suggested to have beneficial health effects. However, people are consuming resveratrol for this reason without having the adequate scientific evidence for its effects in humans. Therefore, scientific valid recommendations concerning the human intake of resveratrol based on available published scientific data are necessary. Such recommendations were formulated after the Resveratrol 2010 conference, held in September 2010 in Helsingør, Denmark.

METHODOLOGY: Literature search in databases as PUBMED and ISI Web of Science in combination with manual search was used to answer the following five questions: (1)Can resveratrol be recommended in the prevention or treatment of …

Creating An Environment That Fosters Feedback Among Nurses, Anne M. Egan

Theses and Graduate Projects

The goal of the project is to provide a voice for the nursing staff by adding their input on potential changes to the unit and to ultimately build stronger relationships among nurses. Involving staff from the beginning, this project started with a communication needs assessment completed in one unit at a small rural hospital in the Midwest. This included session meetings and a ballot survey. A project was designed to strengthen feedback among nurses on the unit, addressing horizontal violence in the workplace, and relating to Watson's nursing care theory. The project's goal is to create an environment that fosters …

The Self- Caring Tree: A Model Of Nursing Self-Care, Cynthia M. Severson

Theses and Graduate Projects

Being a nurse can be physically, emotionally, and spiritually exhausting. Nurses are exposed to sickness, sadness, trauma, suffbring, terminal illnesses, and potentially harmful contagions in their daily work. Nurses tend to care for others more than they care for themselves and can become overwhelmed, lose their resilience, and burnout. Nurses who practice daily self-care benefit by experiencing greater self-esteem, resilience, and ultimately wisdom and compassion. This project focuses on the development of a self- care model for nurses to help nurses learn how to care for themselves. The model is grounded in the work of Dr. Jean Watson and her …

Let Your Life Speak: Exploring The Lived Experience Of Graduate Nurses In An Emergency Department Setting, Mary Margaret Healy

Theses and Graduate Projects

The purpose of this research was to explore the lived experience of graduate nurses (GNs) who made the transition from academic to practice environment in the high-acuity setting of a Level 1 trauma center. These GNs entered clinical practice through a nurse residency program at Truman Medical Center (TMC) emergency department (ED) in Kansas City, Missouri. The researcher interviewed 6 GNs participating in the nurse residency program with IRB approval from the University of Missouri, Kansas City IRB. The method of inquiry was hermeneutic phenomenology. The basic research question for this study was as follows: As a participant in a …

Psychostimulants As Cognitive Enhancers: The Prefrontal Cortex, Catecholamines And Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, Craig Berridge, David M. Devilbiss

Rowan-Virtua School of Osteopathic Medicine Departmental Research

Psychostimulants exert behavioral-calming and cognition-enhancing actions in the treatment of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Contrary to early views, extensive research demonstrates that these actions are not unique to ADHD. Specifically, when administered at low and clinically-relevant doses, psychostimulants improve a variety of behavioral and cognitive processes dependent on the prefrontal cortex (PFC) in subjects with and without ADHD. Despite the longstanding clinical use of these drugs, the neural mechanisms underlying their cognition-enhancing/therapeutic actions have only recently begun to be examined. At behaviorally-activating doses, psychostimulants produce large and widespread increases in extracellular levels of brain catecholamines. In contrast, cognition-enhancing doses …

Traumatic Retroclival Epidural Hematoma In Pediatric Patient- Case Report And Review Of Literature, Muhammad Zubair Tahir, S. A. Quadri, Sonia Hanif, Gohar Javed

Section of Neurosurgery

Background: Retroclival epidural hematoma (REDH) is a very rare entity in the practical field of neurosurgery. Only a few cases have been reported in literature. The authors present to you case of a 12-year-old female, a victim of road traffic accident (RTA), who had presented to us with loss of consciousness and seizures.
Case description: Magnetic resonance imaging revealed retroclival hematoma. She was managed on conservative grounds and discharged with assurance of multiple follow-up visits.
Conclusion: Very few cases of REDH have been reported in pediatric population to date. It should be suspected in children with head and neck injuries …

Marital Status And Survival In Pancreatic Cancer Patients: A Seer Based Analysis., Michael J. Baine, Freshta Sahak, Chi Lin, Subhankar Chakraborty, Surinder K. Batra, Elizabeth R. Lyden

Journal Articles: Biochemistry & Molecular Biology

BACKGROUND: Recent findings suggest that marital status affects survival in patients with different types of cancer. However, its role in the survival of patients with pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma is unknown. In this study, we investigated whether there was an association between marital status and overall survival (OS) in patients with pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC).

METHODS: Adult patients diagnosed with PDAC between 1998 and 2003 with known marital statuses were identified from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results registry of the National Cancer Institute. OS for these patients was plotted using the Kaplan-Meier method. Comparative risks of mortality were evaluated by …

Public Health Nursing And The Community: Partnering To Improve Health By Improving The Environment, Anna Haubrich

Theses and Graduate Projects

Florence Nightingale wrote that the environment is the single most important factor to a person's health. This paper discusses the process of bringing public health nursing together with community members to implement a Healthy Homes primary prevention project that improves the environment for people living in the Rondo Neighborhood of Saint Paul. The Rondo Neighborhood has a high ratio of low-income people. People living in lower socio-economic neighborhoods have poorer health outcomes, partially because of systemic environmental conditions. The framework of this community engagement project is guided by Community Based Participatory Action Research to emphasize the value of community involvement …

The Definition Of Insulin Resistance Using Homa-Ir For Americans Of Mexican Descent Using Machine Learning, Hui-Qi Qu, Quan Li, Anne R. Rentfro, Susan P. Fisher-Hoch, Joseph B. Mccormick

School of Nursing Faculty Publications

Objective

The lack of standardized reference range for the homeostasis model assessment-estimated insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) index has limited its clinical application. This study defines the reference range of HOMA-IR index in an adult Hispanic population based with machine learning methods.

Methods

This study investigated a Hispanic population of 1854 adults, randomly selected on the basis of 2000 Census tract data in the city of Brownsville, Cameron County. Machine learning methods, support vector machine (SVM) and Bayesian Logistic Regression (BLR), were used to automatically identify measurable variables using standardized values that correlate with HOMA-IR; K-means clustering was then used to classify …

Phssr Research Agenda, F. Douglas Scutchfield Md

Preventive Medicine and Environmental Health Presentations

No abstract provided.

Sonic Hedgehog Dependent Phosphorylation By Ck1Α And Grk2 Is Required For Ciliary Accumulation And Activation Of Smoothened, Yongbin Chen, Noriaki Sasai, Guoqiang Ma, Tao Yue, Jianhang Jia, James Briscoe, Jin Jiang

Markey Cancer Center Faculty Publications

Hedgehog (Hh) signaling regulates embryonic development and adult tissue homeostasis through the GPCR-like protein Smoothened (Smo), but how vertebrate Smo is activated remains poorly understood. In Drosophila, Hh dependent phosphorylation activates Smo. Whether this is also the case in vertebrates is unclear, owing to the marked sequence divergence between vertebrate and Drosophila Smo (dSmo) and the involvement of primary cilia in vertebrate Hh signaling. Here we demonstrate that mammalian Smo (mSmo) is activated through multi-site phosphorylation of its carboxyl-terminal tail by CK1α and GRK2. Phosphorylation of mSmo induces its active conformation and simultaneously promotes its ciliary accumulation. We demonstrate that …

Religiosity And Sexual Risk Behaviors Among Latina Adolescents: Trends From 1995 To 2008, Lisa M. Edwards, Kristin Haglund, Richard J. Fehring, Jessica E. Pruszynski

College of Nursing Faculty Research and Publications

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to determine trends in the influence of religiosity on sexual activity of Latina adolescents in the United States from 1995 to 2008 and to determine if differences existed between the Mexican American and other Latina groups.

Methods: The sample comprised the subset of unmarried, 15–21-year-old (mean 17 years) Latina female respondents in the 1995 (n=267), 2002 (n=306), and 2006–2008 (n=400) National Survey of Family Growth (NSFG) datasets. Associations between religiosity (importance of religion and service attendance) and history of ever having sex, number of sex partners, and …

Caractérisation Des Poussières Dans Le Secteur Des Assaisonnements Alimentaires, Brigitte Roberge, Simon Aubin, Yves Cloutier

Rapports de recherche scientifique

Les épices et les herbes aromatiques contiennent des substances organiques - nommées également substances actives - pouvant causer des irritations ou ayant un potentiel allergène pour la peau et pour le système respiratoire. De 1995 à 2007, la CSST a indemnisé 9 cas d’asthme survenus dans le secteur des autres industries de produits alimentaires qui comprennent notamment la production d’assaisonnements. Les auteurs ont caractérisé les poussières dans l’air d’établissements de fabrication de mélanges d’assaisonnement à base d’épices et d’herbes aromatiques en termes de poussières totales, de fractions inhalable et respirable ainsi que la granulométrie des poussières générées lors de diverses …

Antivirulence Potential Of Tr-700 And Clindamycin On Clinical Isolates Of Staphylococcus Aureus Producing Phenol-Soluble Modulins, Jason Yamaki, Timothy Synold, Annie Wong-Beringer

Pharmacy Faculty Articles and Research

Staphylococcus aureus strains (n = 50) causing complicated skin and skin structure infections produced various levels of phenol-soluble modulin alpha-type (PSMα) peptides; some produced more than twice that produced by the control strain (LAC USA300). TR-700 (oxazolidinone) and clindamycin strongly inhibited PSM production at one-half the MIC but exhibited weak to modest induction at one-fourth and one-eighth the MICs, primarily in low producers. Adequate dosing of these agents is emphasized to minimize the potential for paradoxical induction of virulence.

Code Simulations And Death: Processing Of Emotional Distress, Jane D. Leavy, Calvin J. Vanderhoff, Patricia K. Ravert

Faculty Publications

It is important for nursing students to be exposed to critical patient care scenarios because high stress clinical situations, such as patient codes, occur unexpectedly and infrequently in the clinical setting. In addition, it is important for nursing students to be exposed to the reality of patient death in order to help them overcome fears associated with death and to develop effective coping strategies. Students may or may not have an opportunity to deal with patient codes or patient death in the clinical setting, therefore simulation labs provide students with the opportunity to practice important clinical skills and discuss emotions …

Patterns Of Fetal Heart Rate Response At ∼30 Weeks Gestation Predict Size At Birth, C. Sandman, C. J. Cordova, E. P. Davis, Laura M. Glynn, C. Buss

Psychology Faculty Articles and Research

There is evidence that fetal exposure to maternal stress is associated with adverse birth outcomes. Less is known about the association between fetal responses to a stressor and indicators of fetal maturity and developmental outcomes. The purpose of the present study was to determine whether fetal heart rate (FHR) patterns in response to a startling stimulus at ∼30 weeks of gestation were associated with gestational age at birth and birth weight. FHR was measured in 156 maternal–fetal dyads following a vibroacoustic stimulus. All pregnancies were singleton intrauterine pregnancies in English-speaking women who were primarily married, middle class, White and at …

Medical School Watercooler Newsletter - June 12, 2011, Lindsey Lyle

Watercooler Newsletter

This is the June 12, 2011 edition of the Frederick P. Whiddon College of Medicine's newsletter - watercooler

Contents Include

• Med School Café - Expert Advice for the Community

• USA College of Medicine Welcomes Dr. Steve M. Cordina

• USA Medical Alumni Association Hosts Annual Alumni Weekend

• USA College of Medicine Welcomes Dr. Christopher Paul Eckstein

Bapcap2-1 Does Preoperative Aspirin Improve Outcomes In Cardiac Surgery Patients?, Jian-Zhong Sun, L. Cao, H. Liu, W. Sun, S Silvestry, J. Diehl

Department of Anesthesiology Faculty Papers

Best Abstracts - Runner-up Session 2 presented at Euroanaesthesia 2011 in the Netherlands.

Background and Goal of Study: The effects of preoperative aspirin on major cardiocerebral and renal outcomes and mortality remain uncertain.

Cis 3,4', 5-Trimethoxy-3'-Aminostilbene (Stilbene 5c) Induces Apoptosis And Protective Autophagy In B16f10 Melanoma Cells, Betelehem Asnake

Theses and Dissertations

The weak selectivity of chemotherapeutic drugs against tumors has sustained efforts to develop better chemotherapeutic agents that are more potent and selective at destroying tumor cell populations versus normal tissues. This project focuses on evaluating the cell killing effects of the microtubule inhibitor, stilbene 5c, against melanoma cancer. We utilized an in vitro murine melanoma model to study the effects of stilbene 5c on tumor proliferation and survival, as well as growth arrest and cell death. Our findings indicate that stilbene 5c promotes dose dependent cell death in melanomas with the induction of apoptosis and autophagy. The role of autophagy …

Tnfα Enhances The Motility And Invasiveness Of Prostatic Cancer Cells By Stimulating The Expression Of Selective Glycosyl- And Sulfotransferase Genes Involved In The Synthesis Of Selectin Ligands., Prakash Radhakrishnan, Vishwanath Chachadi, Ming-Fong Lin, Rakesh Singh, Reiji Kannagi, Pi-Wan Cheng

Journal Articles: Biochemistry & Molecular Biology

Sialyl Lewis x (sLe(x)) plays an important role in cancer metastasis. But, the mechanism for its production in metastatic cancers remains unclear. The objective of current study was to examine the effects of a proinflammatory cytokine on the expression of glycosyltransferase and sulfotransferase genes involved in the synthesis of selectin ligands in a prostate cancer cell line. Androgen-independent human lymph node-derived metastatic prostate cancer cells (C-81 LNCaP), which express functional androgen receptor and mimic the castration-resistant advanced prostate cancer, were used. TNFα treatment of these cells increased their binding to P-, E- and L-selectins, anti-sLe(x) antibody, and anti-6-sulfo-sialyl Lewis x …

Librarians As Partners Of The Nursing Faculty In Teaching Scholarly Inquiry In Nursing To Undergraduates At Brigham Young University, Jane Lassetter, Barbara L. Mandleco, Lynn C. Callister, Elizabeth S. Hopkins, Meagan Astill

Faculty Publications

This paper describes collaboration between the nursing librarian and faculty members teaching Scholarly Inquiry in Nursing (Nursing Research), a course for baccalaureate nursing students. Workshops presented by the librarian enhanced nursing students' information literacy skills, particularly related to accessing evidence-based sources. Student perceptions of the library integration with Scholarly Inquiry in Nursing are presented, and suggest that librarians empower them with knowledge and skills that enhance their ability to integrate evidence into their nursing practice.

Emotional Climate, Feeding Practices, And Feeding Styles: An Observational Analysis Of The Dinner Meal In Head Start Families, Sheryl O Hughes, Thomas G Power, Maria A Papaioannou, Matthew B Cross, Theresa A Nicklas, Sharon K Hall, Richard M Shewchuk

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

BACKGROUND: A number of studies conducted with ethnically diverse, low-income samples have found that parents with indulgent feeding styles had children with a higher weight status. Indulgent parents are those who are responsive to their child's emotional states but have problems setting appropriate boundaries with their child. Because the processes through which styles impact child weight are poorly understood, the aim of this study was to observe differences in the emotional climate created by parents (including affect, tone of voice, and gestures) and behavioral feeding practices among those reporting different feeding styles on the Caregiver's Feeding Styles Questionnaire. A secondary …