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Medical School Watercooler Newsletter - May 11, 2014, Lindsey Lyle

Watercooler Newsletter

This is the May 11, 2014 edition of the Frederick P. Whiddon College of Medicine's newsletter - Watercooler.

Contents Include:

• Journal of Pediatric Infectious Diseases Society Features Art of USA Physician's Son
• COM Training Program Begins Third Cycle of Funding from National Heart, Lung, Blood Institute
• May Med School Café - 'Your Brain is What You Feed It: Effects of Nutrition on the Brain'
• Medical School Graduates Participate in Honors Convocation Ceremony

Experiential Global Health Education For The Health Professions: Lessons Learned From Experience-Based Learning For Students, Residents And Healthcare And Population Health Professionals, Rob Simmons, James D. Plumb, John Donnelly, Pilar Martin, Carinne Brody, Tricia Todd

College of Population Health Lectures, Presentations, Workshops

Experiential Education/Learning Perspectives

• “For the things we have to learn before we can do them, we learn by doing them” - Aristotle

• “Education is lifelong through: auditory (instruction), visual (observation), and kinesthetic (hands-on activities, learning modalities)” - John Dewey

• “Behavior is a function of a person in their environment” - Kurt Lewin

• “Learner creates knowledge through direct experience that is meaningful to the student with guided reflection and analysis” - David Kolb

• Building learning experiences, discussing experiences via problem-based learning, case studies changes teacher’s role as a facilitator and mentor

High School Female Recruiting Guide To College Soccer, Elizabeth Sinclair

Senior Theses

Ask any athlete how she got to where she is today. Did she play on an Olympic Development Team (ODP), or did she get recruited from a showcase tournament? There are a variety of paths when trying to play collegiate soccer, and one path is not better than the other. Even the thirty girls on the same college team may experience a vastly different recruiting process, but, somehow, they all end up in the same place. This paper offers mere overall guidance to the recruiting process for female high school soccer players, with helpful tips to use along the way. …

The Role Of Lipocalin 2 In Early Stage Colon Cancer Metastasis To The Liver, Fides Elamparo

Senior Theses

Metastasis, frequently from the colon to the liver, is the major cause of death with colorectal cancer, reducing the five-year survival to less than 6%. Metastasis occurs due to productive collaborations between tumor cells and host-derived cells in the tumor microenvironment, where a pre-metastatic niche is created to prime for cancer cell invasion into the target organ. In a highly metastatic colorectal cancer cell line implanted into the cecum of Balb/c mice, microarray analysis showed lipocalin 2 (Lcn2) is one of the most highly expressed proteins in the liver of tumor-bearing mice prior to metastasis.

When RT-PCR was performed, greater …

Inactive To Active: A Positive Life Change, William Mclachlan

Senior Theses

Not only has research unanimously supported the claim that physical activity is good for you, it is an idea that many people see as wide-spread enough to be considered banal. However, at a time when the United States is facing rising rates of obesity (Haskell et al., 2007), it is important to appreciate the importance of that information. In order to gain a personal understanding of the importance of physical activity, I engaged in resistance training five days per week and an additional four hours and 40 minutes, on average, of other physical activities, including yoga, stretching, and tennis, for …

A Comparison Of Angiography Versus Intravascular Ultrasound In The Treatment Of Peripheral Arterial Disease, Michael Pompliano

Senior Theses

Peripheral Arterial Disease is a growing epidemic throughout the United States. It is estimated that 8 to 12 million Americans currently suffer from PAD, a disease of the circulatory system that limits blood flow to your hands and feet. This limited blood flow is due to the narrowing of the arteries that supply blood throughout your body and can disrupt the balance of the nerves and tissues that make up your extremities. If left untreated, it can cause irreparable, life- threatening damage that may result in amputation of the diseased limb. Although the mechanism of PAD is known and well …

"Transforming Care Through Disruptive Design": Incorporating A Midwifery Model Of Care Into Obstetric Practices, Lauren Marsh

Senior Theses

Maternal and child health outcomes in the United States are far poorer than in other industrialized nations. To improve women’s experiences with the maternity care system, nurse-midwife Sharon Schindler-Rising developed the CenteringPregnancy (CP) group model of prenatal care (PNC). Research comparing CP with ‘traditional’ one-on-one PNC has found that implementing CP results in decreased rates of preterm birth and low birth weight, increased rates of breastfeeding, and improved outcomes for women who typically experience health disparities, including African Americans. Documented success of the model in the Greenville Health System convinced the South Carolina Department of Health and Human Services of …

"What Happens In Romania..." Comes Back To The United States And Becomes A Quilt, Ashley Ehlers, Kaitlyn Torres

Senior Theses

Our senior thesis project is a quilt that chronicles our experiences on the Maymester trip to Romania through the Honors College, during which we were able to shadow surgeons in the Oncology Hospital and General Surgery III Hospital in Cluj-Napoca. In our quilt, we included some of the most common surgeries we saw while shadowing Romanian doctors: breast removal, gall bladder removal, appendix removal, removal of a section of the large intestine, and removal of the uterus. The final product of this quilt shows every level of the abdominal muscles and organs from the anterior skin to the kidneys.

To …

Exploring Obstacles To Perinatal Care-Seeking Behavior In Women Of Rural Odisha, India Using A Community Based Participatory Research Approach, Sarah Law, Runjhun Bhatia

Senior Theses

This project resulted from collaboration between USC student organization GlobeMed and the Alternative for Rural Movement (ARM), a non-governmental organization in Odisha, India. Rajendra Rana, the head of ARM, expressed the need to delineate the factors underlying the tendency of rural Odishan women to deliver with unskilled birth attendants as opposed to institutionally. A literature review was conducted to explore possible economic, cultural, and social factors. During five weeks in Odisha, discussions with women's groups, community health workers, and ARM staff members built on the literature review. A preliminary survey and plan for its dissemination were developed. The community based …

Sense Of Self And Relational Connections Through The Use Of Textile Arts, Lisa Thompson-Gibson

Art Therapy Counseling Final Research Projects

This thesis explores the use of textile arts to inform sense of self and authenticity in developing growth fostering relationships. Through narrative inquiry, 11 textile artists were interviewed to explore the question of how relational cultural theory (RCT) and textile arts can inform a sense of self and authenticity for use in art therapy settings. Themes in the research findings included an understanding of how participants originally became involved in textiles, their approach in the creative process, their development of relational connections with others, and how they repair relational disconnections through textile work. Relational cultural theory provided the theoretical framework …

Bodypump And The Rep Effect: An Instructor's Evaluation Of The Low-Weight, High-Repetition Group Exercise Program, Meredith Pritchett

Senior Theses

My senior thesis project was to become a certified Les Mills BODYPUMP instructor. In order to obtain my certification I had to go through training, which was paid for by the University of South Carolina. Training was a mentally and physically demanding weekend full of lifting weights and learning everything there is to know about BODYPUMP techniques, choreography, and coaching. Afterwards, I had sixty days to send in a video of myself teaching the class to a group of participants in order for my teaching skills to be evaluated by Les Mills. I passed my evaluation and am now a …

A Longitudinal View Of Primate Life In Two American Laboratories, Jonathan Balcombe

Experimentation Collection

If representative of other facilities, our findings uncover serious welfare concerns for the wellbeing of primates kept in American research facilities. These animals face regular or chronic sources of pain and distress including noxious experimental and non‐experimental events and illness and injury; and severe and prolonged social disruptions. Pain relief is meager by comparison to that normally provided to humans, despite legislative requirements to minimize pain and distress and assume similarity to humans in terms of ability to experience pain and distress. Living environments are usually confinement indoors to a metal cage, often alone, and often with a minimum of …

Kinase Insert Domain Receptor/Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor Receptor 2 (Kdr) Genetic Variation Is Associated With Ovarian Hyperstimulation Syndrome, Travis J. O'Brien, Arthur F. Harralson, Tuyen Tran, Ian Gindoff, Funda E. Orkunoglu-Suer, David Frankfurter, Paul Gindoff

Pharmacology and Physiology Faculty Publications

Background

The objective of this investigation was to determine if kinase insert domain/vascular endothelial growth factor receptor 2 (KDR/VEGFR2) genetic variation was associated with the development of ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome (OHSS) in patients undergoing controlled ovarian hyperstimulation (COH).

Methods

This was a case-control study of 174 patients who underwent controlled ovarian stimulation. Patient blood samples were genotyped for single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) spanning the KDR locus. OHSS development, clinical outcome variables, SNP and haplotype frequencies were compared between control (n = 155) and OHSS (n = 19) groups.

Results

Patients who developed OHSS had significantly higher response markers (estradiol levels …

Assessing The Potential Impact Of The Affordable Care Act On Uninsured Community Health Center Patients: An Update, Peter Shin, Jessica Sharac, Sara J. Rosenbaum

Geiger Gibson/RCHN Community Health Foundation Research Collaborative

No abstract provided.

Household Reporting Of Childhood Respiratory Health And Air Pollution In Rural Alaska Native Communities, Desirae N. Ware, Johnnye Lewis, Scarlett Hopkins, Bert Boyer, Luke Montrose, Curis W. Noonan, Erin O. Semmens, Tony J. Ward

Biomedical and Pharmaceutical Sciences Faculty Publications

Background. Air pollution is an important contributor to respiratory disease in children.

Objective. To examine associations between household reporting of childhood respiratory conditions and household characteristics related to air pollution in Alaska Native communities.

Design. In-home surveys were administered in 2 rural regions of Alaska. The 12-month prevalence of respiratory conditions was summarized by region and age. Odds ratios (ORs) were calculated to describe associations between respiratory health and household and air quality characteristics.

Results. Household-reported respiratory health data were collected for 561 children in 328 households. In 1 region, 33.6% of children aged/or bronchitis. Children with these conditions …

Effects Of Eph/Ephrin Mutations On Pre Pulse Inhibition In Mice, Andrea Marie Liuzzo

Dissertations, 2014-2019

The acoustic startle response (ASR) is a reliable reflexive behavioral response in mammals elicited by an unexpected intense acoustic startle eliciting stimulus (SES). It is mediated by a sub-cortical pathway that includes the inferior colliculus (IC). The ASR amplitude can be measured with an accelerometer beneath the subject attached to the cage, and can be decreased in amplitude by presenting a less intense, non-startling stimulus 20-300 ms before the SES. This reflexive decrement in ASR is called pre pulse inhibition (PPI) and indicates that the relatively soft pre pulse was heard. Murine species have been used to study this response …

Effects Of Auditory And Visual Distracters On Acceptable Background Noise Level In Hearing-Impaired Listeners, Elizabeth A. Ripley

Dissertations, 2014-2019

Acceptable Noise Level (ANL), is an established procedure for determining the amount of background noise a listener is willing to accept while listening to speech. ANL is established by having the listener select most amount of background noise they are willing to accept while listening to a speech stimulus presented at their most comfortable listening level (MCL). While ANLs have been established as good predictors of hearing aid use, little is known on how hearing aid users accept background noise while engaged in cognitively demanding tasks. Previous research in normal hearing listeners has demonstrated that listeners will allow the most …

The Neural Representation And Behavioral Detection Of Frequency Modulation, Daniel Elliott Shearer

Dissertations, 2014-2019

Understanding a speech signal is reliant on the ability of the auditory system to accurately encode rapidly changing spectral and temporal cues over time. Evidence from behavioral studies in humans suggests that relatively poor temporal fine structure (TFS) encoding ability is correlated with poorer performance on speech understanding tasks in quiet and in noise. Electroencephalography, including measurement of the frequency-following response, has been used to assess the human central auditory nervous system’s ability to encode temporal patterns in steady-state and dynamic tonal stimuli and short syllables. To date, the FFR has been used to investigate the accuracy of phase-locked auditory …

Motor Axon Synapses On Renshaw Cells Contain Higher Levels Of Aspartate Than Glutamate, Dannette Shanon Richards, Ronald W. Griffith, Shannon H. Romer, Francisco J. Alvarez

Neuroscience, Cell Biology & Physiology Faculty Publications

Motoneuron synapses on spinal cord interneurons known as Renshaw cells activate nicotinic, AMPA and NMDA receptors consistent with co-release of acetylcholine and excitatory amino acids (EAA). However, whether these synapses express vesicular glutamate transporters (VGLUTs) capable of accumulating glutamate into synaptic vesicles is controversial. An alternative possibility is that these synapses release other EAAs, like aspartate, not dependent on VGLUTs. To clarify the exact EAA concentrated at motor axon synapses we performed a quantitative postembedding colloidal gold immunoelectron analysis for aspartate and glutamate on motor axon synapses (identified by immunoreactivity to the vesicular acetylcholine transporter; VAChT) contacting calbindin-immunoreactive (-IR) Renshaw …

Effects Of Running Sprint Interval Training Versus Traditional Endurance Exercise On Metabolic Indices In Sedentary, Overweight And Obese Women, Jennifer Lynn Espinoza

Masters Theses, 2010-2019

Evidence suggests that sprint interval training (SIT) is a time efficient alternative for improving aerobic fitness or insulin sensitivity due to its reduced training volume and is of increasing interest since most sedentary individuals indicate lack of time as their number one barrier to being physically active. However, most SIT research uses cycling exercise performed with healthy active males, and limited research examines its effects on women or individuals at higher risk for inactivity related diseases, as well as different modes of exercise. PURPOSE: To evaluate the effects of running SIT (R-SIT) versus moderate intensity endurance training (MIET) on aerobic …

Psychometric Evaluation Of The Functional Capacity Card Sort: Measuring Caregiver Appraisal Of Functional Capacity In Persons With Dementia, Catherine V. Piersol, Phd, Otr/L

Department of Occupational Therapy Posters and Presentations

Background

Caregivers play a vital role in the safety and well-being of people with dementia

• Majority of people with dementia live at home, are cared for by families or close friends/neighbors, and require supervision or assistance with daily activities

• 80% of care provided in the home is delivered by unpaid caregivers (Alzheimer’s Association, 2013, Family Caregiver Alliance, 2006)

  Functional capacity in the person with dementia is usually assessed by caregiver interview

• Caregiver report is an important proxy measure in dementia care as the person with the cognitive impairment tends to overestimate function (Karagiozis et al., 1998; Kiyak, et al., 1994) …

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Producing Population Health: Collective Action Requires Infrastructure, Incentives & Evidence, Glen P. Mays

Health Management and Policy Presentations

Population health improvement strategies are collective action problems that require targeted infrastructure, incentives, and information to succeed. Research on collective action problems and solutions in public health and other spheres of practice offer insight for the successful scale and spread of population health innovations.

Chemical Profiling And Biological Activity Of Two Tunicate-Associated Marine Bacteria, Lyubina Yankova

Honors Scholar Theses

Marine natural products have recently been an increasingly abundant source of novel antibiotics. Given that there is an increasing resistance to current drug therapies, finding new sources such as marine natural products is essential. Tunicate-associated marine bacteria can be a significant source of antibacterial compounds. Two tunicates of the species Eudistoma were collected from Portobelo National Park on the Salmedina Reef of Panama in the Caribbean Sea. Bacteria associated with the tunicate were isolated, cultured, extracted, and fractionated. Fractions were tested against an array of clinically relevant bacterial pathogens in the BioMAP assay. Two fractions MB0086E and MB0088E demonstrated activity …

College Of Public Health News, Georgia Southern University

College of Public Health: News & Publications

• Differences in Definitions

Health Policy & Management News, Georgia Southern University

Health Policy & Community Health: News & Publications (2011-2018)

• Differences in Definitions

The Santa Clara, 2014-05-08, Santa Clara University

The Santa Clara

No abstract provided.

Importance Of Cbct Setup Verification For Optical-Guided Frameless Radiosurgery., Lei Fu, Harold Perera, Xiao Ying, Yan Yu

Department of Medical Genetics Faculty Papers

The purpose of this study is to quantify the discrepancy between optical guidance platform (OGP) frameless localization system (Varian) and Trilogy on-board imaging (OBI) system (Varian) for setting up phantom and stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) patient; and to determine whether cone-beam CT (CBCT) is necessary for OGP patient setup, and compare CBCT and orthogonal kV-kV in term of their verification capability. Three different phantoms were used in the study: a custom-made phantom, a Penta-Guide phantom, and a RANDO phantom. Five patients using both OGP and CBCT setup and 14 patients using CBCT setup alone were analyzed. One patient who had big …

Exome-Wide Association Study Of Endometrial Cancer In A Multiethnic Population, Maxine M. Chen, Marta Crous-Bou, Veronica W. Setiawan, Jennifer Prescott, Sarah H. Olson, Nicolas Wentzensen, Amanda Black, Louise Brinton, Chu Chen, Constance Chen, Linda S. Cook, Jennifer Doherty

Dartmouth Scholarship

Endometrial cancer (EC) contributes substantially to total burden of cancer morbidity and mortality in the United States. Family history is a known risk factor for EC, thus genetic factors may play a role in EC pathogenesis. Three previous genome- wide association studies (GWAS) have found only one locus associated with EC, suggesting that common variants with large effects may not contribute greatly to EC risk. Alternatively, we hypothesize that rare variants may contribute to EC risk. We conducted an exome-wide association study (EXWAS) of EC using the Infinium HumanExome BeadChip in order to identify rare variants associated with EC risk. …

Using Global Positioning Systems (Gps) And Temperature Data To Generate Time-Activity Classifications For Estimating Personal Exposure In Air Monitoring Studies: An Automated Method, Elizabeth Nethery, Gary Mallach, Daniel Rainham, Mark S. Goldberg, Amanda J. Wheeler

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

Background: Personal exposure studies of air pollution generally use self-reported diaries to capture individuals’ time-activity data. Enhancements in the accuracy, size, memory and battery life of personal Global Positioning Systems (GPS) units have allowed for higher resolution tracking of study participants’ locations. Improved time activity classifications combined with personal continuous air pollution sampling can improve assessments of location-related air pollution exposures for health studies. Methods: Data was collected using a GPS and personal temperature from 54 children with asthma living in Montreal, Canada, who participated in a 10-day personal air pollution exposure study. A method was developed that …

Effectiveness Of Multiple Recruitment Strategies For A Large Clinical Trial With Learner Teen Drivers, Julia Lockyer, Megan Fisher-Thiel, Allison Curry, Jessica Mirman, Flaura Winston, James Massey, Dennis Durbin

Research Day

Many studies do not achieve their goal for participant enrollment (Mapstone, Elbourne, & Roberts, 2002).

• Longitudinal studies with teen drivers are rare, in part due to the difficulty with recruitment and attrition as well as necessarily strict inclusion criteria (Lee et al., 2011; McCartt, Farmer, 7 Jenness, 2010).• The sources used for recruitment can be a determining factor in the effectiveness of the overall enrollment rates.

• A community-based randomized controlled trial required recruitment of a large number of participants, 512 parent-teen dyads, in a short period of time. This is a post-hoc analysis of the most effective forms …