Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Low-Income African American Women's Perceptions Of Primary Care Physician Weight Loss Counseling: A Positive Deviance Study, Elaine Seaton Banerjee, Md

Master of Public Health Capstone Presentations

The purpose of this study was to qualitatively and quantitatively evaluate the interactions between low-income, African American women who successfully lost weight and the healthcare system. This mixed methods study followed a positive deviance approach, identifying a population at high risk for obesity and then identifying positive deviants within this population. In this case, positive deviants were low-income, African American women who had been obese, and had successfully lost at least 10% of their weight and maintained this loss for at least six months. We collected data from electronic medical records (EMR) and participant surveys of both positive deviant cases, …

Approche Intégrée Pour Une Conception Et Une Manipulation Sécuritaires Des Nanomatériaux : Un Programme Basé Sur Une Concertation Entre L’Industrie Et Des Évaluateurs Des Risques Sanitaires, Claude Emond, Serge Kouassi, Frédéric Schuster

Rapports de recherche scientifique

Les nanotechnologies de synthèse se développent à un rythme presque exponentiel. Les estimations anticipées des retombées de cette technologie font miroiter un potentiel économique énorme à la grandeur de la planète. Par conséquent, plusieurs pays investissent massivement dans ce domaine de nouvelles technologies. Cependant, les responsables industriels des nanomatériaux et les spécialistes en évaluation des risques sanitaires ont une compréhension différente des programmes de sécurité devant baliser l’utilisation de cette nouvelle technologie dont on connaît peu les dangers pour la santé et la sécurité des travailleurs.

Plusieurs études montrent l’existence d’une réactivité biologique particulière des nanoparticules en raison de leur …

Les Emplois Verts Au Québec : Définition Et Appréciation De Leurs Risques Chimiques Ou Biologiques Potentiels Pour La Santé Des Travailleurs, Erwan Cheneval, Marc-Antoine Busque, Claude Ostiguy, Jacques Lavoie, Robert Bourbonnais, France Labrèche, Joseph Zayed

Rapports de recherche scientifique

Les emplois générés par les efforts d’écologisation de l’économie sont en pleine croissance. Ces emplois, couramment appelés « emplois verts », étaient estimés en 2010 à plus de 155 000 au Québec et à 682 000 au Canada. Ces chiffres dépendent bien entendu des définitions données aux termes « écologie » et « environnement », mais donnent une idée de l’importance de ce secteur en croissance. Plusieurs nouvelles technologies se développent et il est impératif d’en apprécier les risques potentiels pour la santé des travailleurs.

L’objectif de cette recherche est de tracer le portrait québécois des emplois verts et d’apprécier …

Deregulation Of Mir-34b/Sox2 Predicts Prostate Cancer Progression., Irene Forno, Stefano Ferrero, Maria Veronica Russo, Giacomo Gazzano, Sara Giangiobbe, Emanuele Montanari, Alberto Del Nero, Bernardo Rocco, Giancarlo Albo, Lucia R Languino, Dario C Altieri, Valentina Vaira, Silvano Bosari

Department of Cancer Biology Faculty Papers

Most men diagnosed with prostate cancer will have an indolent and curable disease, whereas approximately 15% of these patients will rapidly progress to a castrate-resistant and metastatic stage with high morbidity and mortality. Therefore, the identification of molecular signature(s) that detect men at risk of progressing disease remains a pressing and still unmet need for these patients. Here, we used an integrated discovery platform combining prostate cancer cell lines, a Transgenic Adenocarcinoma of the Mouse Prostate (TRAMP) model and clinically-annotated human tissue samples to identify loss of expression of microRNA-34b as consistently associated with prostate cancer relapse. Mechanistically, this was …

Comparison Of The Equine Reference Sequence With Its Sanger Source Data And New Illumina Reads, Jovan Rebolledo-Mendez, Matthew S. Hestand, Stephen J. Coleman, Zheng Zeng, Ludovic Orlando, James N. Macleod, Ted Kalbfleisch

Maxwell H. Gluck Equine Research Center Faculty Publications

The reference assembly for the domestic horse, EquCab2, published in 2009, was built using approximately 30 million Sanger reads from a Thoroughbred mare named Twilight. Contiguity in the assembly was facilitated using nearly 315 thousand BAC end sequences from Twilight's half brother Bravo. Since then, it has served as the foundation for many genome-wide analyses that include not only the modern horse, but ancient horses and other equid species as well. As data mapped to this reference has accumulated, consistent variation between mapped datasets and the reference, in terms of regions with no read coverage, single nucleotide variants, and small …

Annotation Of The Protein Coding Regions Of The Equine Genome, Matthew S. Hestand, Theodore S. Kalbfleisch, Stephen J. Coleman, Zheng Zeng, Jinze Liu, Ludovic Orlando, James N. Macleod

Veterinary Science Faculty Publications

Current gene annotation of the horse genome is largely derived from in silico predictions and cross-species alignments. Only a small number of genes are annotated based on equine EST and mRNA sequences. To expand the number of equine genes annotated from equine experimental evidence, we sequenced mRNA from a pool of forty-three different tissues. From these, we derived the structures of 68,594 transcripts. In addition, we identified 301,829 positions with SNPs or small indels within these transcripts relative to EquCab2. Interestingly, 780 variants extend the open reading frame of the transcript and appear to be small errors in the equine …

An Examination Of The Relationship Between Childhood Abuse, Anger And Violent Behavior Among A Sample Of Sex Offenders, Stephanie R. Ramirez, Elizabeth L. Jeglic, Cynthia Calkins

Publications and Research

Background: Increasing attention has focused on the emotional dysregulation that can result from adverse childhood experiences among those who commit sexually violent crimes. While studies confirm a relationship between child maltreatment and anger the research is limited and it is unclear how anger and child maltreatment effect the use of violence during the commission of the sex crime.

Methods: This study examined the relationship between childhood maltreatment, anger and violent behavior by reviewing the records of 571 adult male offenders convicted of sexual assault or child molestation. The aims of the present study were to 1) examine differences in anger …

The Family Caregiver's Experience: Examining The Positive And Negative Aspects Of Compassion Satisfaction And Compassion Fatigue Using A Stress Process Model, Susan Lynch

Nursing ETDs

Family caregivers significantly contribute to the provision of health care for their family members. This complex care can result in stress that may lead to both positive and negative consequences for the caregiver. Current literature tends to focus on negative consequences such as caregiver burden. Therefore, compassion fatigue and compassion satisfaction are proposed as concepts that may better reflect the family caregiving experience. Compassion fatigue is comprised of two components; burnout and secondary traumatic stress. The purpose of this study was to examine the concept of compassion fatigue and compassion satisfaction among family caregivers and to explore the relationship between …

Caspase-8 Scaffolding Function And Mlkl Regulate Nlrp3 Inflammasome Activation Downstream Of Tlr3., Seokwon Kang, Teresa Fernandes-Alnemri, Corey Rogers, Lindsey Mayes, Ying Wang, Christopher Dillon, Linda Roback, William Kaiser, Andrew Oberst, Junji Sagara, Katherine A Fitzgerald, Douglas R Green, Jianke Zhang, Edward S Mocarski, Emad S Alnemri

Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Faculty Papers

TLR2 promotes NLRP3 inflammasome activation via an early MyD88-IRAK1-dependent pathway that provides a priming signal (signal 1) necessary for activation of the inflammasome by a second potassium-depleting signal (signal 2). Here we show that TLR3 binding to dsRNA promotes post-translational inflammasome activation through intermediate and late TRIF/RIPK1/FADD-dependent pathways. Both pathways require the scaffolding but not the catalytic function of caspase-8 or RIPK1. Only the late pathway requires kinase competent RIPK3 and MLKL function. Mechanistically, FADD/caspase-8 scaffolding function provides a post-translational signal 1 in the intermediate pathway, whereas in the late pathway it helps the oligomerization of RIPK3, which together with …

Probiotic Therapy For The Prevention Of Recurrent Spontaneous Preterm Birth, Kali O’Dell

Yale School of Medicine Physician Associate Program Theses

Preterm birth is the national leading cause of neonatal morbidity and mortality. Nearly 500,000 infants are born prematurely each year in the United States and the annual cost of prematurity averages over $26 billion dollars. Despite multiple interventions to reduce infection related prematurity many spontaneous preterm births remain attributed infection and inflammation. We hypothesize that prevention of infection and inflammation related spontaneous preterm birth is possible through enrichment, stabilization, and normalization of the vaginal microbiome. To test this hypothesis we will perform a randomized, double blind, placebo-controlled trial of intravaginal Lactobacillus probiotic in women at high-risk for spontaneous preterm birth. …

Iron Toxicity In The Retina Requires Alu Rna And The Nlrp3 Inflammasome, Bradley D. Gelfand, Charles B. Wright, Younghee Kim, Tetsuhiro Yasuma, Reo Yasuma, Shengjian Li, Benjamin J. Fowler, Ana Bastos-Carvalho, Nagaraj Kerur, Annette Uittenbogaard, Youn Seon Han, Dingyuan Lou, Mark E. Kleinman, W. Hayes Mcdonald, Gabriel Núñez, Philippe Georgel, Joshua L. Dunaief, Jayakrishna Ambati

Ophthalmology and Visual Science Faculty Publications

Excess iron induces tissue damage and is implicated in age-related macular degeneration (AMD). Iron toxicity is widely attributed to hydroxyl radical formation through Fenton's reaction. We report that excess iron, but not other Fenton catalytic metals, induces activation of the NLRP3 inflammasome, a pathway also implicated in AMD. Additionally, iron-induced degeneration of the retinal pigmented epithelium (RPE) is suppressed in mice lacking inflammasome components caspase-1/11 or Nlrp3 or by inhibition of caspase-1. Iron overload increases abundance of RNAs transcribed from short interspersed nuclear elements (SINEs): Alu RNAs and the rodent equivalent B1 and B2 RNAs, which are inflammasome agonists. Targeting …

D-Tagatose-Based Compositions And Methods For Preventing And Treating Atherosclerosis, Metabolic Syndrome, And Symptoms Thereof, Robert A. Lodder, Lisa A. Cassis

Pharmacology and Nutritional Sciences Faculty Patents

Pharmaceutical compositions including D-tagatose along with a stilbene or stilbenoid component, or a salt or derivative thereof. Methods of prophylaxis and therapy by administering to a mammal a pharmaceutically effective amount of D-tagatose, optionally in combination with a stilbene or stilbenoid component, or a salt or derivative thereof to prevent or treat atherosclerosis, the metabolic syndrome, obesity, or diabetes.

A Randomized Controlled Trial Of The Feasibility And Preliminary Efficacy Of A Texting Intervention On Medication Adherence In Adults Prescribed Oral Anti-Cancer Agents: Study Protocol, Sandra L. Spoelstra, Charles W. Given, Alla Sikorskii, Constantinos K. Coursaris, Atreyee Majumder, Tracy Dekoekkoek, Monica Schueller, Barbara A. Given

Peer Reviewed Articles

Aim: The aim of this study was to report a study protocol that examines feasibility, preliminary efficacy and satisfaction of a text message intervention on the outcome of medication adherence in adult patients prescribed oral anti-cancer agents.

Background: Administration of oral anti-cancer agents occurs in the home setting, requiring patients to self-manage the regimen as prescribed. However, many barriers to medication adherence exist: regimens are often complex, with cycling of two or more medications; side effects of treatment; most cancer patients are older with comorbid conditions and competing demands; and cognitive decline and forgetfulness may occur. Research indicates patients miss …

Increasing Organizational Accountability And Performance: Activity Tracking For Employment Consultants, Alberto Migliore, Kelly Nye-Lengerman, Jeanine Pavlak, Steve Aalto, Thinkwork! At The Institute For Community Inclusion At Umass Boston

ThinkWork! Publications

No abstract provided.

Ethnic Differences In Medicinal Plant Use Among University Students: A Cross-Sectional Survey Of Self-Reported Medicinal Plant Use At Two Midwest Universities, Rachel Craft, Katrina C. Mcclure, Steven Corbett, Maria Pontes Ferreira, Ashley M. Stiffarm, Kelly Kindscher

Wayne State University Associated BioMed Central Scholarship

Background: Numerous surveys of medicinal plant use among college students abound, but none compare use between students enrolled in two different Universities with significantly different ethnic compositions. The objective of this study is to compare medicinal plant use between two different ethnic college populations and explore differences between student medicinal plant users and non-users for comparison with previous research.

Methods: Students (n = 721) at a large research university (n = 498) and a Pan-Tribal University for Native Americans (n = 233) completed surveys in October 2011 to assess past year medicinal plant use. The Mann-Whitney U test, Chi Square …

The Sox9 Upstream Region Prone To Chromosomal Aberrations Causing Campomelic Dysplasia Contains Multiple Cartilage Enhancers, Baojin Yao, Qiuqing Wang, Chia-Feng Liu, Pallavi Bhattaram, Wei Li, Timothy J. Mead, James F. Crish, Véronique Lefebvre

Biomedical Sciences

Two decades after the discovery that heterozygous mutations within and around SOX9 cause campomelic dysplasia, a generalized skeleton malformation syndrome, it is well established that SOX9 is a master transcription factor in chondrocytes. In contrast, the mechanisms whereby translocations in the –350/–50-kb region 5 of SOX9 cause severe disease and whereby SOX9 expression is specified in chondrocytes remain scarcely known. We here screen this upstream region and uncover multiple enhancers that activate Sox9-promoter transgenes in the SOX9 expression domain. Three of them are primarily active in chondrocytes. E250 (located at – 250 kb) confines its activity to condensed prechondrocytes, …

Oral Health Care Access In New Hampshire, Eleanor M. Jaffee, Joan Widmer, Lisa Speropolous

Carsey Publications

In this brief, authors Eleanor M. Jaffee, Joan Widmer, and Lisa I. Speropolous provide an overview of the current state of oral health care in New Hampshire. They report that although New Hampshire is rated above the national average on most measures of pediatric oral health, performance varies substantially by county and by region. Access to adequate oral health care for both children and adults is particularly challenging for low-income families in the sparsely populated northern region of the state. Programs that address oral health care access issues by bringing services to those with the greatest need, such as school-based …

Ganoderma Lucidum Reduces Obesity In Mice By Modulating The Composition Of The Gut Microbiota, Chih-Jung Chang, Chuan-Sheng Lin, Chia-Chen Lu, Jan Martel, Yun-Fei Ko, David M. Ojcius, Shun-Fu Tseng, Tsung-Ru Wu, Yi-Yuan Margaret Chen, John Ding-E. Young, Hsin-Chih Lai

All Dugoni School of Dentistry Faculty Articles

Obesity is associated with low-grade chronic inflammation and intestinal dysbiosis. Ganoderma lucidum is a medicinal mushroom used in traditional Chinese medicine with putative anti-diabetic effects. Here, we show that a water extract of Ganoderma lucidum mycelium (WEGL) reduces body weight, inflammation and insulin resistance in mice fed a high-fat diet (HFD). Our data indicate that WEGL not only reverses HFD-induced gut dysbiosis—as indicated by the decreased Firmicutes-to-Bacteroidetes ratios and endotoxin-bearing Proteobacteria levels—but also maintains intestinal barrier integrity and reduces metabolic endotoxemia. The anti-obesity and microbiota-modulating effects are transmissible via horizontal faeces transfer from WEGL-treated mice to HFD-fed mice. We further …

Understanding The Sympathetic Nervous System In Response To Food In Children With Autism And Typically Developing Children, Jonathon D. Haskell

Occupational Therapy Graduate Student Evidenced-Based Research Reviews

Previous research behind sympathetic nervous system functioning in children with Autism Spectrum Disorder has shown disturbances in their ability to regulate their arousal level (Miller et al., 2003; Tomcheck and Dunn, 2000). Depicting this notion in previous research, children diagnosed with autism are likely to be comorbid with Sensory Over-responsitivity (SOR) or Sensory under-responsitivity (SUR), and could ultimately elicit variable sympathetic nervous system functioning in response to their sensory environment-whether it be taste, smell, auditory, tactile, or visual stimuli. Although previous research depicts inconsistent measures involving sympathetic responses to stimuli in children with autism, research specifically involving food selectivity provided …

Effect Of Social Skill Training Programs On Bullying, Kaycee Johns, Megan Kloska

Occupational Therapy Graduate Student Evidenced-Based Research Reviews

Bullying is a problem that is often found in schools during the adolescence age. Although this is not a new concept, bullying continues to lead to the victimization of children and adolescents all over the world. Research has played a critical role in understanding bullying, victimization, and prevention programs. However, bullying and victimization still continue to be problems within schools and peer relationships.

The primary purpose of this systematic review is to assist practitioners by investigating evidence-based studies related to school social skill programs, and their effectiveness in reducing victimization of bullying throughout adolescence.

Effectiveness Of Executive Function Performance Test (Efpt) In Stroke Population, Faryal Shaheen

Occupational Therapy Graduate Student Evidenced-Based Research Reviews

Stroke is the leading cause of long term disability in the U.S, causing 15,000 deaths each year (Hall et al, 2015). It has been estimated that 71% of clients are discharged with minimal to no services from acute/subacute after stroke because of deficits that go undetected (2015).

One of the most common deficits in stroke is loss in executive functioning (EF). Occupational therapists (OTs) have typically used a combination of tools to measure EF and most of these assessments did not involve observations in the everyday environment (Morrison et al, 2015). A new measure, known as the Executive Function Performance …

Neuromuscular Electrical Stimulation And Post-­‐Stroke Glenohumeral Subluxation, Tera Richards, Jason Colon

Occupational Therapy Graduate Student Evidenced-Based Research Reviews

A cerebral vascular accident (CVA) occurs when the blood supply to the brain is interrupted, either because a blood vessel has been occluded or the blood vessel has ruptured. This typically results in hemiplegia or paralysis of the muscles on the side of the body contralateral to the lesion site within the brain.

Effects Of Reducing Fatigue In Muscular Dystrophy Through Physical Activity, Callie Toaso, Alea Brown

Occupational Therapy Graduate Student Evidenced-Based Research Reviews

Myopathy is a functional impairment of muscle tissue; muscular dystrophy is a type of myopathy (Rakowicz & Lane, 2004). Muscular dystrophy (MD) consists of progressive muscle weakness and affects limbs and facial muscles. The most common types include Duchenne muscular dystrophy, Fascioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy (FSHD), and Limb-girdle muscular dystrophy (Mercuri & Muntoni, 2013). One common complaint found with patients with muscular dystrophy is fatigue. It is noted that fatigue affects daily activities, but it is believed that physical activity can help reduce this. The purpose of this systematic review is to research how effective physical activity is at reducing fatigue …

What's Happening: June 22, 2015, Maine Medical Center

What's Happening

No abstract provided.

Prevalence And Correlates Of Food Insecurity Among Palestinian Refugees In Lebanon: Data From A Household Survey, Hala Ghattas Ph.D., Annie Belle J. Sassine, Karin Seyfert, Mark Nord, Nadine R. Sahyoun

Faculty Publications

Lebanon hosts the highest per capita refugee concentration worldwide. The Palestinian presence in Lebanon dates from 1948 and they remain a marginalized population. No information on their food security status has been reported previously. A survey of a representative sample of Palestinian refugee households in Lebanon (n = 2501) was conducted using a stratified two stage cluster sampling approach. We measured food insecurity using a modified USDA household food security module, locally validated. We collected data on household demographic, socioeconomic, health, housing, coping strategies and household intake of food groups and analysed these by food security status. About 41% (CI: …

Sexism And How It Mediates The Relationship Between Gender And Rape Myth Acceptance, Caroline Feinberg

Theses and Dissertations

Rape is a significant social and health problem in the United States with around 17.7 million women being forcibly raped at some time in their lives. While a rape-supportive culture and victim blame are concepts that aid in explaining rape, understanding societal held ideas about rape and traditional gender role beliefs can explain. Therefore, the present study focuses on how ambivalent sexist belief structures mediate the relationship between gender and rape myth acceptance. It was hypothesized that ambivalent sexism (AS) when divided into its four separate concepts: hostile (HS), protective paternalism (PP), complementary gender differentiation (CGD), and heterosexual intimacy (HI), …

Assessing The Education And Training Needs Of Nebraska's Public Health Workforce, Brandon L. Grimm, Patrik Johansson, Preethy Nayar, Bettye A. Apenteng, Samuel T. Opoku, Anh Nguyen

Health Policy & Management: Faculty Publications (2006-2018)

Introduction: In 2012, the Great Plains Public Health Training Center (Grant #UB6HP22821) conducted an online survey of state and local health departments and the American Indian (tribal clinics, tribal health departments, and urban Indian clinic) public health workforce across three professional levels. The objectives of the needs assessment were to determine the competency levels of the state’s public health workforce, assess gaps in public health competencies, identify public health training interests, needs, and preferences, and to determine the barriers and motivators to participate in public health training.

Methods: The assessment was developed using the Council on Linkages Between Academia and …

A Cysteine Zipper Stabilizes A Pre-Fusion F Glycoprotein Vaccine For Respiratory Syncytial Virus, Guillaume B. E. Stewart-Jones, Paul V. Thomas, Man Chen, Aliaksandr Druz, Gordon M. Joyce, Wing-Pui Kong, Mallika Sastry, Conque Soto, Yongping Yang, Baoshan Zhang, Lei Chen, Gwo-Yu Chuang, Ivelin S. Georgiev, Jason S. Mclellan

Dartmouth Scholarship

Recombinant subunit vaccines should contain minimal non-pathogen motifs to reduce potential off-target reactivity. We recently developed a vaccine antigen against respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), which comprised the fusion (F) glycoprotein stabilized in its pre-fusion trimeric conformation by “DS-Cav1” mutations and by an appended C-terminal trimerization motif or “foldon” from T4-bacteriophage fibritin. Here we investigate the creation of a cyste- ine zipper to allow for the removal of the phage foldon, while maintaining the immunogenic- ity of the parent DS-Cav1+foldon antigen. Constructs without foldon yielded RSV F monomers, and enzymatic removal of the phage foldon from pre-fusion F trimers resulted in …

Fresolimumab Treatment Decreases Biomarkers And Improves Clinical Symptoms In Systemic Sclerosis Patients, Lisa M. Rice, Cristina M. Padilla, Sarah R. Mclaughlin, Allison Mathes, Jessica Ziemek, Salma Goummih, Sashidhar Nakerakanti, Michael York, Giuseppina Farina, Michael L. Whitfield, Robert F. Spiera, Romy B. Christmann, Jessica K. Gordon, Janice Weinberg, Robert Lafyatis

Dartmouth Scholarship

BACKGROUND. TGF-β has potent profibrotic activity in vitro and has long been implicated in systemic sclerosis (SSc), as expression of TGF-β–regulated genes is increased in the skin and lungs of patients with SSc. Therefore, inhibition of TGF-β may benefit these patients.

METHODS. Patients with early, diffuse cutaneous SSc were enrolled in an open-label trial of fresolimumab, a high-affinity neutralizing antibody that targets all 3 TGF-β isoforms. Seven patients received two 1 mg/kg doses of fresolimumab, and eight patients received one 5 mg/kg dose of fresolimumab. Serial mid-forearm skin biopsies, performed before and after treatment, were analyzed for expression …

Short Report: Raising Children Bilingually, Henriette Langdon

Faculty Publications

The purpose of this article is to describe the process of becoming bilingual by sharing my own experience being raised in a four-language environment and how it influenced the upbringing of my daughter in two, and subsequently three languages. The other purpose is to dispel the myth that children with language, developmental and/or intellectual impairments or those diagnosed as being on the autism spectrum cannot or should not be exposed to two languages because it is confusing, or because they simply cannot handle two languages due to their disability. As a bilingual speech and language pathologist (SLP) who has practiced …