Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Novel Splenic Antigen-Presenting Cells Derive From A Lin-C-Kitlo Progenitor, Pravin Periasamy, Jonathan Tan, Helen O'Neill

Helen O'Neill

No abstract provided.

Adjuvant Concurrent Chemoradiation Using Intensity-Modulated Radiotherapy And Simultaneous Integrated Boost For Resected High-Risk Adenocarcinoma Of The Distal Esophagus And Gastro-Esophageal Junction., Brian Yaremko, David Palma, Abigail Erickson, Gregory Pierce, Richard Malthaner, Richard Inculet, Rashid Dar, George Rodrigues, Edward Yu

Richard A. Malthaner

Purpose: Multimodality therapy leads to improved outcomes for adenocarcinoma of the distal esophagus and gastroesophageal junction (GEJ) over surgery alone. At our institution, adjuvant chemoradiation (chemoRT) using IMRT and SIB is standard of care for resected high-risk disease. In this study, we review our experience with a recent cohort of patients treated in this manner. Methods and materials: We identified 18 patients with resected T3 and/or N1 adenocarcinoma of the distal esophagus and GEJ who received adjuvant chemoRT. A large elective volume (PTV1) and a smaller high-risk volume (PTV2) were irradiated simultaneously using IMRT and an SIB technique. All patients …

Adjuvant Concurrent Chemoradiation Using Intensity-Modulated Radiotherapy And Simultaneous Integrated Boost For Resected High-Risk Adenocarcinoma Of The Distal Esophagus And Gastro-Esophageal Junction., Brian Yaremko, David Palma, Abigail Erickson, Gregory Pierce, Richard Malthaner, Richard Inculet, Rashid Dar, George Rodrigues, Edward Yu

Richard A. Malthaner

Purpose: Multimodality therapy leads to improved outcomes for adenocarcinoma of the distal esophagus and gastroesophageal junction (GEJ) over surgery alone. At our institution, adjuvant chemoradiation (chemoRT) using IMRT and SIB is standard of care for resected high-risk disease. In this study, we review our experience with a recent cohort of patients treated in this manner. Methods and materials: We identified 18 patients with resected T3 and/or N1 adenocarcinoma of the distal esophagus and GEJ who received adjuvant chemoRT. A large elective volume (PTV1) and a smaller high-risk volume (PTV2) were irradiated simultaneously using IMRT and an SIB technique. All patients …

Cultural Immersion – What Impact Does It Have?, Janie Smith, S Springer, B Murphy, C Wolfe, J Togno, Katrina Bramstedt, Sally Sargeant

Sally Sargeant

No abstract provided.

Assessment Of Medical Students’ Learning Outcomes In Australia : Current Practice, Future Possibilities, David Wilkinson, Benedict Canny, Jacob Pearce, Hamish Coates, Daniel Edwards

Dr Jacob Pearce

All 19 medical schools in Australia examine and assess the performance of their students, but do so largely in isolation from each other. That is, most schools design, develop and deliver their own exams, against their own curriculum and standards, and students pass, fail and are graded with little external moderation or comparison. Accreditation of schools by the Australian Medical Council (AMC) provides some reassurance that assessment practices are appropriate in medical schools. However, very limited data are available for benchmarking performance against any national standard, or between medical schools in Australia. The Australian Medical Assessment Collaboration has been designed …

Same Admissions Tools, Different Outcomes : A Critical Perspective On Predictive Validity In Three Undergraduate Medical Schools, Daniel Edwards, Tim Friedman, Jacob Pearce

Dr Jacob Pearce

Admission to medical school is one of the most highly competitive entry points in higher education. Considerable investment is made by universities to develop selection processes that aim to identify the most appropriate candidates for their medical programs. This paper explores data from three undergraduate medical schools to offer a critical perspective of predictive validity in medical admissions. This study examined 650 undergraduate medical students from three Australian universities as they progressed through the initial years of medical school (accounting for approximately 25 per cent of all commencing undergraduate medical students in Australia in 2006 and 2007). Admissions criteria (aptitude …

Same Admissions Tools, Different Outcomes : A Critical Perspective On Predictive Validity In Three Undergraduate Medical Schools, Daniel Edwards, Tim Friedman, Jacob Pearce

Dr Tim Friedman

Admission to medical school is one of the most highly competitive entry points in higher education. Considerable investment is made by universities to develop selection processes that aim to identify the most appropriate candidates for their medical programs. This paper explores data from three undergraduate medical schools to offer a critical perspective of predictive validity in medical admissions. This study examined 650 undergraduate medical students from three Australian universities as they progressed through the initial years of medical school (accounting for approximately 25 per cent of all commencing undergraduate medical students in Australia in 2006 and 2007). Admissions criteria (aptitude …

Black Hispanic And Black Nonhispanic Breast Cancer Survival Data Analysis With Half-Normal Model Application, Hafiz Mohammad Rafiqullah Khan, Anshul Saxena, Veronica Vera, Faheema Abdool-Ghany, Kemesha Gabbidon, Nancy Perea Perea, Ts Stewart, Venkataraghavan Ramamoorthy Ramamoorthy

USF St. Petersburg campus Faculty Publications

Background: Breast cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death for women in the United States. Differences in survival of breast cancer have been noted among racial and ethnic groups, but the reasons for these disparities remain unclear. This study presents the characteristics and the survival curve of two racial and ethnic groups and evaluates the effects of race on survival times by measuring the lifetime data-based half-normal model. Materials and Methods: The distributions among racial and ethnic groups are compared using female breast cancer patients from nine states in the country all taken from the National Cancer Institute’s …

Cocaine Enhances Hiv-1 Infectivity In Monocyte Derived Dendritic Cells By Suppressing Microrna-155, Jessica Napuri, Sudheesh Pilakka-Kanthikeel, Andrea Raymond, Marisela Agudelo, Adriana Yndart-Arias, Madhavan Nair, Shailendra K. Saxena

HWCOM Faculty Publications

Cocaine and other drugs of abuse increase HIV-induced immunopathogenesis; and neurobiological mechanisms of cocaine addiction implicate a key role for microRNAs (miRNAs), single-stranded non-coding RNAs that regulate gene expression and defend against viruses. In fact, HIV defends against miRNAs by actively suppressing the expression of polycistronic miRNA cluster miRNA-17/92, which encodes miRNAs including miR-20a. IFN-g production by natural killer cells is regulated by miR-155 and this miRNA is also critical to dendritic cell (DC) maturation. However, the impact of cocaine on miR-155 expression and subsequent HIV replication is unknown. We examined the impact of cocaine on two miRNAs, miR-20a and …

Research News: 2013, University Of Mississippi. School Of Pharmacy

Research News: Grants and Publications (2000-2014)

Grants and contracts recently awarded

The Effects Of Nesting Environment On Neonatal Hypoxic-Ischemic Injury, Laura Grace Rollins

Graduate Masters Theses

Term neonates with hypoxic-ischemic (HI) injury are at risk for devastating neurological sequelae. The objective of this study is to determine if altering the early environment for maternal care-taking impacts the immediate and long-term sequelae of HI offspring. The Rice-Vannucci model was used to induce HI in postnatal day (PND) 7 Long-Evans pups. Litters were assigned to a closed nest (CN) or normal standard housing (SH) condition. Neurobehavioral development, cognitive ability, and stress response were assessed to establish any benefits of the CN condition. Finally, postmortem brain tissue was analyzed for morphometric markers of injury.

It’S Playoff Time – And A Reminder That Brain Health Comes First, Kenneth P. Serbin

At Risk for Huntington's Disease

No abstract provided.

Obesity Reduces Left Ventricular Strains, Torsion, And Synchrony In Mouse Models: A Cine Displacement Encoding With Stimulated Echoes (Dense) Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance Study, Sage P. Kramer, David K. Powell, Christopher M. Haggerty, Cassi M. Binkley, Andrea C. Mattingly, Lisa A. Cassis, Frederick H. Epstein, Brandon K. Fornwalt

Pediatrics Faculty Publications

BACKGROUND: Obesity affects a third of adults in the US and results in an increased risk of cardiovascular mortality. While the mechanisms underlying this increased risk are not well understood, animal models of obesity have shown direct effects on the heart such as steatosis and fibrosis, which may affect cardiac function. However, the effect of obesity on cardiac function in animal models is not well-defined. We hypothesized that diet-induced obesity in mice reduces strain, torsion, and synchrony in the left ventricle (LV).

METHODS: Ten 12-week-old C57BL/6 J mice were randomized to a high-fat or low-fat diet. After 5 months on …

Xenograft Tumors Vascularized With Murine Blood Vessels May Overestimate The Effect Of Anti-Tumor Drugs: A Pilot Study, Zhihong Dong, Atsushi Imai, Sudha Krishnamurthy, Zhaocheng Zhang, Benjamin David Zeitlin, Jacques E. Nör

All Dugoni School of Dentistry Faculty Articles

Recent evidence demonstrated that endothelial cells initiate signaling events that enhance tumor cell survival, proliferation, invasion, and tumor recurrence. Under this new paradigm for cellular crosstalk within the tumor microenvironment, the origin of endothelial cells and tumor cells may have a direct impact on the pathobiology of cancer. The purpose of this pilot study was to evaluate the effect of endothelial cell species (i.e. murine or human) on xenograft tumor growth and response to therapy. Tumor xenografts vascularized either with human or with murine microvascular endothelial cells were engineered, side-by-side, subcutaneously in the dorsum of immunodefficient mice. When tumors reached …

Joint Effect Of Multiple Common Snps Predicts Melanoma Susceptibility, Shenying Fang, Jiali Han, Mingfeng Zhang, Li-E Wang, Qingyi Wei, Christopher I. Amos, Jeffrey E. Lee

Dartmouth Scholarship

Single genetic variants discovered so far have been only weakly associated with melanoma. This study aims to use multiple single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) jointly to obtain a larger genetic effect and to improve the predictive value of a conventional phenotypic model. We analyzed 11 SNPs that were associated with melanoma risk in previous studies and were genotyped in MD Anderson Cancer Center (MDACC) and Harvard Medical School investigations. Participants with ≥15 risk alleles were 5-fold more likely to have melanoma compared to those carrying ≤6. Compared to a model using the most significant single variant rs12913832, the increase in predictive …

Concepts Of Illness Among The Swahili Of Lamu, Kenya, Rebecca Gearhart, Munib Abdulrehman

Rebecca Gearhart

The Public Health Pbrn Program: A Summative Report, Glen P. Mays

Glen Mays

This report provides a six-year summary of the work of the Public Health Practice-Based Research Networks Program, supported by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

The Public Health Pbrn Program: A Summative Report, Center For Public Health Systems And Services Research

UKCPHSSR Research Briefs and Reports

This program seeks to expand the volume and quality of evidence on how best to organize, finance, and deliver public health services by: (1) helping to organize and develop practice-based research networks (PBRNs) comprised of public health agencies and skilled research institutions; (2) selecting grantees to receive funding and technical assistance for PBRN research projects; and (3) facilitating the successful development, implementation, and translation of research projects through PBRNs by providing technical assistance, fostering peer learning, and leading selected multi-network research activities.

Jefferson Digital Commons Quarterly Report: October-December 2012, Daniel G. Kipnis, Msi

Jefferson Digital Commons Reports

Jefferson Digital Commons quarterly report includes statistics, top 10 most downloaded items and new assets added to the collection.

Novel And Predominant Pathogen Responsible For The Enterovirus-Associated Encephalitis In Eastern China, Lei Zhang, Jie Yan, David M. Ojcius, Huakun Lv, Ziping Miao, Yin Chen, Yanjun Zhang, Jvying Yan

All Dugoni School of Dentistry Faculty Articles

Enteroviruses (EV) have been increasingly identified as the causative agent for unknown etiological encephalitis in many parts of the world, but the long period surveillance for enterovirus-associated encephalitis (EAE) was not reported in China. From 2002-2012 in Zhejiang, Coxsackieviruses A9, B1, B2, B3, B4, B5; and echoviruses 3, 4, 6, 9, 14, 25, 30 were detected from the unknown etiological encephalitis cases, with coxsackievirus B4 been identified here for the first time. From 2002-2004 and 2010-2012, echovirus 30 was found to be the periodically predominant serotype for in the EAE. The molecular typing results showed that all the EV isolates …

What's Happening: December 30, 2013, Maine Medical Center

What's Happening

No abstract provided.

Loss Of Atrx Does Not Confer Susceptibility To Osteoarthritis, Lauren A. Solomon, Bailey A. Russell, David Makar, Nathalie G. Bérubé, Frank Beier

Paediatrics Publications

The chromatin remodelling protein ATRX is associated with the rare genetic disorder ATR-X syndrome. This syndrome includes developmental delay, cognitive impairment, and a variety of skeletal deformities. ATRX plays a role in several basic chromatin-mediated cellular events including DNA replication, telomere stability, gene transcription, and chromosome congression and cohesion during cell division. We have used a loss-of-function approach to directly investigate the role of Atrx in the adult skeleton in three different models of selective Atrx loss. We specifically targeted deletion of Atrx to the forelimb mesenchyme, to cartilage and to bone-forming osteoblasts. We previously demonstrated that loss of ATRX …

Sphingosine-1-Phosphate-Mediated Mobilization Of Hematopoietic Stem/Progenitor Cells During Intravascular Hemolysis Requires Attenuation Of Sdf-1-Cxcr4 Retention Signaling In Bone Marrow, Kasia Mierzejewska, Yuri M. Klyachkin, Janina Ratajczak, Ahmed Abdel-Latif, Magda Kucia, Mariusz Z. Ratajczak

Saha Cardiovascular Research Center Faculty Publications

Sphingosine-1-phosphate (S1P) is a crucial chemotactic factor in peripheral blood (PB) involved in the mobilization process and egress of hematopoietic stem/progenitor cells (HSPCs) from bone marrow (BM). Since S1P is present at high levels in erythrocytes, one might assume that, by increasing the plasma S1P level, the hemolysis of red blood cells would induce mobilization of HSPCs. To test this assumption, we induced hemolysis in mice by employing phenylhydrazine (PHZ). We observed that doubling the S1P level in PB from damaged erythrocytes induced only a marginally increased level of mobilization. However, if mice were exposed to PHZ together with the …

Role Of Defensins In The Pathogenesis Of Chronic Lung Allograft Rejection, Venkataswarup Tiriveedhi, Babak Banan, Saini Deepti, Angaswamy Nataraju, Ramsey Hachem, Elbert Trulock, Patterson G. Alexander, Thalachallour Mohanakumar

Biology Faculty Research

Chronic rejection predominantly manifested as bronchiolitis obliterans syndrome (BOS), still remains a major problem affecting long-term outcomes in human lung transplantation (LTx). Donor specific antibodies (DSA) and infiltration of neutrophils in the graft have been associated with the development of BOS. This study determines the role of defensins, produced by neutrophils, and its interaction with α-1-antitrypsin (AAT) towards induction of airway inflammation and fibrosis which are characteristic hallmarks of BOS. Bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) and serum from LTx recipients, BOS+ (n=28), BOS− (n=26) and normal healthy controls (n=24) were analyzed. Our results show that BOS+ LTx recipients had higher α-defensins (HNP1–3) …

Trypanosomatid Aquaporins: Roles In Physiology And Drug Response, Goutam Mandal, Jose F. Orta, Mansi Sharma, Rita Mukhopadhyay

HWCOM Faculty Publications

In the class Kinetoplastida, we find an order of parasitic protozoans classified as Trypanosomatids. Three major pathogens form part of this order, Trypanosoma cruzi, Trypanosoma brucei, and Leishmania, which are responsible for disease and fatalities in millions of humans worldwide, especially in non-industrialized countries in tropical and sub-tropical regions. In order to develop new drugs and treatments, the physiology of these pathogenic protozoans has been studied in detail, specifically the significance of membrane transporters in host parasites interactions. Aquaporins and Aquaglyceroporins (AQPs) are a part of the major intrinsic proteins (MIPs) super-family. AQPs are characterized for their ability to facilitate …

Primary Care-Based Educational Interventions To Decrease Risk Factors For Metabolic Syndrome For Adults With Major Psychotic And/Or Affective Disorders: A Systematic Review, Cynthia Nover, Sarah S. Jackson

Epidemiology Faculty Publications

Background

Individuals with major psychotic and/or affective disorders are at increased risk for developing metabolic syndrome due to lifestyle- and treatment-related factors. Numerous pharmacological and non-pharmacological interventions have been tested in inpatient and outpatient mental health settings to decrease these risk factors. This review focuses on primary care-based non-pharmacological (educational or behavioral) interventions to decrease metabolic syndrome risk factors in adults with major psychotic and/or affective disorders.

Methods

The authors conducted database searches of PsychINFO, MEDLINE and the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, as well as manual searches and gray literature searches to identify included studies.

Results

The authors were …

Beyond Perceptual Expertise: Revisiting The Neural Substrates Of Expert Object Recognition, Assaf Harel, Dwight J. Kravitz, Chris I. Baker

Psychology Faculty Publications

Real-world expertise provides a valuable opportunity to understand how experience shapes human behavior and neural function. In the visual domain, the study of expert object recognition, such as in car enthusiasts or bird watchers, has produced a large, growing, and often-controversial literature. Here, we synthesize this literature, focusing primarily on results from functional brain imaging, and propose an interactive framework that incorporates the impact of high-level factors, such as attention and conceptual knowledge, in supporting expertise. This framework contrasts with the perceptual view of object expertise that has concentrated largely on stimulus-driven processing in visual cortex. One prominent version of …

Spatial Analysis Of Factors Influencing Long-Term Stress In The Grizzly Bear (Ursus Arctos) Population Of Alberta, Canada, Mathieu Bourbonnais, Trisalyn Nelson, Mark Cattet, Chris T. Darimont, Gordon Stenhouse

Physiology Collection

Non-invasive measures for assessing long-term stress in free ranging mammals are an increasingly important approach for understanding physiological responses to landscape conditions. Using a spatially and temporally expansive dataset of hair cortisol concentrations (HCC) generated from a threatened grizzly bear (Ursus arctos) population in Alberta, Canada, we quantified how variables representing habitat conditions and anthropogenic disturbance impact long-term stress in grizzly bears. We characterized spatial variability in male and female HCC point data using kernel density estimation and quantified variable influence on spatial patterns of male and female HCC stress surfaces using random forests. Separate models were developed for regions …

Men At Risk; A Qualitative Study On Hiv Risk, Gender Identity And Violence Among Men Who Have Sex With Men Who Report High Risk Behavior In Kampala, Uganda., Rachel King, Joseph Barker, Sylvia Nakayiwa, David Katuntu, George Lubwama, Danstan Bagenda, Tim Lane, Alex Opio, Wolfgang Hladik

Journal Articles: Epidemiology

In Uganda, men who have sex with men (MSM) are at high risk for HIV. Between May 2008 and February 2009 in Kampala, Uganda, we used respondent driven sampling (RDS) to recruit 295 MSM≥18 years who reported having had sex with another man in the preceding three months. The parent study conducted HIV and STI testing and collected demographic and HIV-related behavioral data through audio computer-assisted self-administered interviews. We conducted a nested qualitative sub-study with 16 men purposively sampled from among the survey participants based on responses to behavioral variables indicating higher risk for HIV infection. Sub-study participants were interviewed …

Inflammatory Cytokine Gene Expression In Mesenteric Adipose Tissue During Acute Experimental Colitis, William Conan Mustain, Marlene E. Starr, Joseph Daniel Valentino, Donald A. Cohen, Daiki Okamura, Chi Wang, B. Mark Evers, Hiroshi Saito

Markey Cancer Center Faculty Publications

BACKGROUND: Production of inflammatory cytokines by mesenteric adipose tissue (MAT) has been implicated in the pathogenesis of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Animal models of colitis have demonstrated inflammatory changes within MAT, but it is unclear if these changes occur in isolation or as part of a systemic adipose tissue response. It is also unknown what cell types are responsible for cytokine production within MAT. The present study was designed to determine whether cytokine production by MAT during experimental colitis is depot-specific, and also to identify the source of cytokine production within MAT.

METHODS: Experimental colitis was induced in 6-month-old C57BL/6 …