Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Developing Burrowing As A Non-Evoked Readout Assessment For Novel Analgesic Drug Efficacy, Kayla Lindros, Denise Giuvelis, Ed Bilsky

Neuroscience Student Research Posters

Traditional drug development efforts to diminish the problem of chronic pain rely heavily on pain-evoked assays that can yield false positives, leading to confounding assessments of novel drugs. To avoid this, we are looking at burrowing as a novel readout assessment of analgesic efficacy. Preliminary data shows that induction of post-surgical pain reduces this innate behavior by about 35%. In attempt to increase this number, we tested a variety of additional parameters. Blue pads, placed at the bottom of each chamber in order to reduce the sound made when gravel is displaced, increased baseline amounts roughly 40%. Conversely, neither sex …

Small Drusen And Age-Related Macular Degeneration: The Beaver Dam Eye Study, Ronald Klein, Chelsea E. Myers, Kristine E. Lee, Ronald E. Gangnon, Theru A. Sivakumaran, Sudha K Iyengar, Barbara E. K. Klein

Pathology and Laboratory Medicine Faculty Publications

We tested the hypothesis that large areas of small hard drusen (diameter <63 μm) and intermediate drusen (diameter 63-124 μm) are associated with the incidence of age-related macular degeneration (AMD). Eyes of 3344 older adults with at least 2 consecutive visits spaced 5 years apart over a 20-year period were included. A 6-level severity scale including no drusen, 4 levels of increasing area (from minimal (<2596 μm²) to large (>9086 μm²)) of only small hard drusen, and intermediate drusen was used. The 5-year incidence of AMD was 3% in eyes at the start of the interval with no, minimal, small, and moderate areas of only small drusen and 5% and 25% for eyes with large area of only small drusen and intermediate drusen, respectively. Compared to eyes with a moderate area of small drusen, the odds ratio (OR) of developing AMD in eyes with a large area of only small …

Flight Physician - March, 2015, Civil Aviation Medical Association

Browse all Civil Aviation Medical Association Newsletters

An eleven page newsletter of the Civil Aviation Medical Association. The newsletter provided news about civil aviation medicine and information related to the organization.

Knowledge And Attitudes Of College Students Concerning Hiv/Aids, Anita Ihuwan

2015 Awards for Excellence in Student Research and Creative Activity - Documents

The purpose of this study was to learn more about the knowledge and attitudes of college students concerning HIV/AIDS. Further investigation of this topic sought to provide insight into the perspective of college students. This study utilized a convenience sample of 25 students at a Midwestern university. Participants were administered questionnaires featuring questions concerning their knowledge and attitudes towards HIV/AIDS. Findings indicated that although the majority of participants believed they were well educated about HIV/AIDS, their response to knowledge questions showed otherwise. Findings also indicated that students would like to see more HIV programming on their campus. The implications of …

Deletion Of Shank1 Has Minimal Effects On The Molecular Composition And Function Of Glutamatergic Afferent Postsynapses In The Mouse Inner Ear, Jeremy P. Braude, Sarath Vijayakumar, Katherine Baumgarner, Rebecca Laurine, Timothy A. Jones, Sherri M. Jones, Sonya J. Pyott

Department of Special Education and Communication Disorders: Faculty Publications

Abstract

Shank proteins (1-3) are considered the master organizers of glutamatergic postsynaptic densities in the central nervous system, and the genetic deletion of either Shank1, 2, or 3 results in altered composition, form, and strength of glutamatergic postsynapses. To investigate the contribution of Shank proteins to glutamatergic afferent synapses of the inner ear and especially cochlea, we used immunofluorescence and quantitative real time PCR to determine the expression of Shank1, 2, and 3 in the cochlea. Because we found evidence for expression of Shank1 but not 2 and 3, we investigated the morphology, composition, and function of afferent postsynaptic densities …

Becoming Baby-Friendly, Harvard Law School Mississippi Delta Project

Delta Directions: Publications

This report is written in collaboration with the Mississippi State Health Department’s Office of Preventative Health in order to assist them in their mission to increase breastfeeding rates in the state of Mississippi. The health department has received a grant from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, in order to increase breastfeeding rates in the state of Mississippi through the use of the Baby-Friendly Hospital model. The Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative is an initiative created by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) to encourage hospitals to promote and become a supportive environment for breastfeeding.3 …

Utilization Of An Electronic Best Practice Advisory Decreases Brain Computed Tomography In An Academic Emergency Department Setting, Donald Szlosek

Thinking Matters Symposium Archive

More than 1.3 million people seek emergency care following a mild traumatic brain injury (MTBI) each year. While most MTBI patients are safely discharged, a small proportion experience serious intracranial processes. The wide availability of computed tomography (CT) has generated a dramatic increase in the number of CTs performed to identify those patients with clinically important traumatic brain injury (ciTBI), generating expense and radiation exposure risks for patients. To address unwarranted variation in practice, we implemented an electronic best practice advisory (eBPA) based upon a validated clinical prediction rule that appears when emergency department (ED) clinicians order CT following MTBI.

Fighting Microbial Drug Resistance: A Primer On The Role Of Evolutionary Biology In Public Health, Gabriel Perron, R. Inglis, Pleuni Pennings, Sarah Cobey

Biology Department Faculty Works

Although microbes have been evolving resistance to antimicrobials for millennia, the spread of resistance in pathogen populations calls for the development of new drugs and treatment strategies. We propose that successful, long-term resistance management requires a better understanding of how resistance evolves in the first place. This is an opportunity for evolutionary biologists to engage in public health, a collaboration that has substantial precedent. Resistance evolution has been an important tool for developing and testing evolutionary theory, especially theory related to the genetic basis of new traits and constraints on adaptation. The present era is no exception. The articles in …

Blood Transfusion And Colorectal Cancer Outcome, Christina Jenkins, Albert B. Lowenfels

NYMC Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Management Of Rfid Systems In Hospital Transfusion Services, Alberto Coustasse, Brian Cunningham, Stacie Deslich, Eric Wilson, Pamela Meadows

Management Faculty Research

Radio Frequency Identification Devices (RFID) technology is used by hospital supply chains to track various medical products and monitor inventories. To improve overall operations, hospitals have implemented RFID as part of their supply chain processes. Hospitals have also have begun incorporating RFID technology as part of their transfusion services processes. The purpose of this review was to analyze how healthcare organization supply chains can benefit from the utilization of RFID systems in transfusion services departments. The methodology for this study was a literature review following the steps of a systematic review with a total of 51 sources referenced.

RFID technology …

Benefits And Barriers For Adoption Of Personal Health Records, Brittany Vance, Brent Tomblin, Jena Studney, Alberto Coustasse

Management Faculty Research

A Personal Health Record (PHR) is an electronic, universally available, lifelong resource of health information maintained by individuals. There are numerous potential benefits to PHRs, including improved patient-provider relationships, increased patient empowerment, and enhanced care safety, efficiency, coordination, and quality. However, privacy, security, cost, and adoption issues have been significant barriers to implementation. The purpose of this research was to determine how the use of PHRs affects patient outcomes, as well as to analyze benefits and barriers of adoption of PHRs. The methodology for the examination of the benefits and barriers to PHR implementation was conducted following the basic principles …

Assisted Living: Trends In Cost And Staffing, Amy Kisling, David P. Paul, Alberto Coustasse

Management Faculty Research

Assisted living communities (ALFs), which provide a community for residents who require assistance throughout their day, is an important part of the long-term care system in the US. Trained individuals assist residents with activities known as Activities of Daily Living (ADL). The costs of ALFs are paid either out of pocket, by Medicaid or by Long-Term Care Insurance (LTCI). Medicare does not pay for ALFs. Monthly costs of ALFs have increased over the past five years on an average of 4.1%. The major reason for this cost increase is probably the increased healthcare needs of the baby boomers generation, but …

Oscillatory Cerebral Blood Flow Is Associated With Impaired Neurocognition And Functional Hyperemia In Postural Tachycardia Syndrome During Graded Tilt, Julian M. Stewart, Andrew T. Del Pozzi, Akash Pandey, Zachary R. Messer, Courtney Terilli, Marvin S. Medow

NYMC Faculty Publications

We hypothesize that upright cognitive impairment in patients with postural tachycardia syndrome (POTS) is caused by reduced cerebral blood flow (CBF). The CBF velocity (CBF(v)) measured by transcranial Doppler ultrasound decreased excessively during 70° tilt in a minority of patients with intermittent hyperpnea/hypocapnia. Incremental tilt showed no difference in mean CBF(v). But N-back memory tasking indicated progressive compromised memory, reduced functional hyperemia, and reduced neurovascular coupling. Orthostasis caused slow oscillations in CBF(v) linked to oscillations in arterial pressure in patients with POTS. We also hypothesize that oscillatory CBF(v) degrades neurovascular coupling. We performed 2-back testing when subjects were in supine …

Medical Education Digest, Vol. 17 No. 2 (March-April 2015), Nova Southeastern University

Medical Education Digest

No abstract provided.

Identification Of The Ps1 Thr147ile Variant In A Family With Very Early Onset Dementia And Expressive Aphasia, James Denvir, Shirley Neitch, Jun Fan, Richard M. Niles, Goran Boskovic, Bernard G. Schreurs, Donald A. Primerano, Daniel L. Alkon

Biochemistry and Microbiology

Background: Early onset dementias have variable clinical presentations and are often difficult to diagnose. We established a family pedigree that demonstrated consistent recurrence of very early onset dementia in successive generations.

Objective and Method: In order to refine the diagnosis in this family, we sequenced the exomes of two affected family members and relied on discrete filtering to identify disease genes and the corresponding causal variants.

Results: Among the 720 nonsynonymous single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) shared by two affected members, we found a C to T transition that gives rise to a Thr147Ile missense substitution in the presenilin 1 (PS1) …

Follow-Up Of Patients After Stereotactic Radiation For Lung Cancer: A Primer For The Nonradiation Oncologist., Kitty Huang, David A Palma

Medical Biophysics Publications

BACKGROUND: The use of stereotactic ablative radiotherapy (SABR) as primary treatment for early stage non-small-cell lung cancer, or for ablation of metastases, has increased rapidly in the past decade. With local recurrence rates reported at approximately 10%, and a patient population that is becoming increasingly fit and amenable to salvage treatment, appropriate multidisciplinary follow-up care is critical. Appropriate follow-up will allow for detection and management of radiation-related toxicity, early detection of recurrent disease and differentiation of recurrence from radiation-induced lung injury.

METHODS: This narrative review summarizes issues surrounding follow-up of patients treated with SABR in the context of a multidisciplinary …

Web-Based Personalized Feedback: Is This An Appropriate Approach For Reducing Drinking Among High School Students?, Diana M. Doumas

Counselor Education Faculty Publications and Presentations

Research indicates brief web-based personalized feedback interventions are effective in reducing alcohol use and the negative associated consequences among college students. It is not clear, however, that this is an appropriate strategy for high school students. This study examined high school students’ perceptions of a brief web-based personalized feedback program to assess the appropriateness of this approach for this age group. Results indicated that the majority of students found the program to be user-friendly and to have high utility. Additionally, students reporting alcohol use found the program more useful and indicated they would be more likely to recommend the program …

Himmelfarb Library Liaison Letter - March 2015, George Washington University, Himmelfarb Health Sciences Library

Himmelfarb Library Liaison Letters

No abstract provided.

Identifying State Resources And Support Programs On E-Government Websites For Persons With Intellectual And Developmental Disabilities, Kathleen M. Fisher, Justin D. Peterson, Jon D. Albert

Medicine Faculty Publications

This descriptive cross-sectional study identified resources and programs that are available nationwide on the Internet to support individuals and families with intellectual and developmental disabilities (I/DD), with a focus on intellectual disability. This evaluation included easily identifiable information on specific resources and highlighted unique programs found in individual states that were linked from e-government websites. Researchers documented the ease of access and available information for all 50 states and the District of Columbia. A number of disparities and areas for improvement were recorded for states and I/DD websites. The researchers conclude that a number of additional health and support services …

Relationship Of Physical Activity And Healthy Eating With Mortality And Incident Heart Failure Among Community-Dwelling Older Adults With Normal Body Mass Index, Ahmed Abdelmawgoud, Cynthia J. Brown, Xuemei Sui, Gregg C. Fonarow, Peter F. Kokkinos, Vera Bittner, Wilbert S. Aronow, Raya Kheirbek, Ross D. Fletcher, Steven N. Blair, Ali Ahmed

Medicine Faculty Publications

Aims

Normal body mass index (BMI) is associated with lower mortality and may be achieved by physical activity (PA), healthy eating (HE), or both. We examined the association of PA and HE with mortality and incident heart failure (HF) among 2040 community-dwelling older adults aged ≥ 65 years with baseline BMI 18.5 to 24.99 kg/m² during 13 years of follow-up in the Cardiovascular Health Study.

Methods and results

Baseline PA was defined as ≥500 weekly metabolic equivalent task-minutes and HE as ≥5 daily servings of vegetable and fruit intake. Participants were categorized into four groups: (i) PA−/HE− (n …

Effect Of Handoff Skills Training For Students During The Medicine Clerkship: A Quasi-Randomized Study, Juan A. Reyes, Larrie W. Greenberg, Richard L. Amdur, James Gehring, Linda Lesky

Medicine Faculty Publications

Continuity is critical for safe patient care and its absence is associated with adverse outcomes. Continuity requires handoffs between physicians, but most published studies of educational interventions to improve handoffs have focused primarily on residents, despite interns expected to being proficient. The AAMC core entrustable activities for graduating medical students includes handoffs as a milestone, but no controlled studies with students have assessed the impact of training in handoff skills. The purpose of this study was to assess the impact of an educational intervention to improve third-year medical student handoff skills, the durability of learned skills into the fourth year, …

Community Health Centers: A 2013 Profile And Prospects As Aca Implementation Proceeds, Peter Shin, Jessica Sharac, Zoe Barber, Sara J. Rosenbaum, Julia Paradise

Geiger Gibson/RCHN Community Health Foundation Research Collaborative

In 2013, more than 1,200 federally funded community health centers provided access to care for low-income populations living in medically underserved communities throughout the country. The Affordable Care Act made expansion of health centers a key part of its strategy for ensuring that these communities would realize the benefits of increased health insurance coverage for their residents. As health insurance coverage expands under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and the demand for primary care increases, the role of health centers is likely to increase. A key question going forward is whether health centers’ expanded capacity, developed over the past five …

Burnout Syndrome In Hospital Nurses, Priscilla Holdren, David P. Paul Iii, Alberto Coustasse

Management Faculty Research

Burnout is a state of mental, physical and emotional stress resulting in a chronic state of pressure or stress at work and is associated with individuals who do “people work” (Aiken and Sloane, 1997), a category into which nurses obviously fall. The number of nurses suffering from burnout has increased over the years, possibly causing negative effects on patient care, working environments and staffing shortages.

Hospitals should focus on creating a healthy work environment in which nurses feel supported by their coworkers and management. Hospitals should also make available stress management programs that address symptoms of burnout and assure safe …

The Stethoscoop, March 2015, Mennonite College Of Nursing

The Stethoscoop

The Stethoscoop is the newsletter for Mennonite College of Nursing students.

Nail As A Foreign Body In A Neonate, An Unusual Presentation At An Unusual Age, Sayyeda Ghazala Irfan Kazi, Muhammad Irfan Habib, Badar Afzal, Irum Qamar Khan, Emaduddin Siddiqui, Maryam Aftab

Department of Emergency Medicine

Children are prone to ingest substances due to their exploratory nature and tendency to put everything in the mouth. Commonly ingested foreign bodies are coins, batteries and buttons. Foreign body ingestion in neonates is a very rare presentation and always needs important consideration as it can be a part of child abuse and can lead to serious life threatening consequences

Amp-Activated Protein Kinase Controls Exercise Training - And Aicar-Induced Increases In Sirt3 And Mnsod, Josef Brandauer, Marianne A. Andersen, Holti Kellezi, Steve Risis, Christian Frozig, Sara G. Vienberg, Jonas T. Treebak

Health Sciences Faculty Publications

The mitochondrial protein deacetylase sirtuin (SIRT) 3 may mediate exercise training-induced increases in mitochondrial biogenesis and improvements in reactive oxygen species (ROS) handling. We determined the requirement of AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) for exercise training-induced increases in skeletal muscle abundance of SIRT3 and other mitochondrial proteins. Exercise training for 6.5 weeks increased SIRT3 (p < 0.01) and superoxide dismutase 2 (MnSOD; p < 0.05) protein abundance in quadriceps muscle of wild-type (WT; n = 13–15), but not AMPK α2 kinase dead (KD; n = 12–13) mice. We also observed a strong trend for increased MnSOD abundance in exercise-trained skeletal muscle of healthy humans (p = 0.051; n = 6). To further elucidate a role for …

Determination Of The Factors Leading To Noncompliance With Antiepileptic Drug, Abdul Haz, Naila Naeem Shahbaz, Jai Perkash, Muslim Ali Lakhair

Pakistan Journal of Neurological Sciences (PJNS)

Background:
Epilepsy is a chronic disorder or group of chronic disorder in which the indispensable feature is recurrence of seizures that are typically unprovoked and usually unpredictable. It is well established that non-adherence to antiepileptic drugs may lead to a loss of seizure control. Negative outcomes that may be associated with a loss of seizure control include: injury, increase hospitalizations, and decrease in productivity. All of these contribute to increased direct and indirect healthcare costs related to epilepsy.

Objective:
To determine factors leading to noncompliance with antiepileptic drugs in patients attending a tertiary care hospital.

Methods & Results:
In the …

Psychiatric Diagnosis And Human Emotions, Riffat Moazam Zaman

Pakistan Journal of Neurological Sciences (PJNS)

No abstract provided.

Restless Legs Syndrome In Patients With Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus, Shaista A. Siddiqi, Javeria Rauf, Anita Haroon, Bilal Ahmed, Saera Suhail Kidwai, Lubna Nazir

Pakistan Journal of Neurological Sciences (PJNS)

Objective:
To determine the frequency of restless legs syndrome (RLS) and its associated factors in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus.

Design and Methods:
It was single centered, cross-sectional study done with convenient sampling. The study population comprised 174 subjects (120 diabetics and 54 non-diabetics). Participants were recruited from the Diabetes clinic of Jinnah Medical College Hospital, Karachi. The relevant clinical and laboratory parameters were obtained by clinical history and chart review. Multivariable logistic regression was done to identify the factors of RLS among diabetics.

Results:
Using the International RLS Study Group (IRLSSG) criteria, RLS was identified only in …

Re-Recurrent Dermatofibrosarcomaprotuberans Of The Chest Wall., Niaz Hussain, Mujtaba Zaki Naveed, Ghulam H

Section of Pulmonary & Critical Care

Dermatofibrosarcomaprotuberans is a rare, soft tissue tumour with high rate of recurrence. It is locally aggressive, with a low rate of metastasis. We describe the case of a 42 year old man who presented with a re-recurrent, large tumour situated on the anterior chest wall in the sternal region. We did a wide local excision and covered the resulting defect by using bilateral, pectoralis major myocutaneous flaps. Histopathology and immunohistochemical staining findings were consistent with the diagnosis of Dermatofibrosarcoma Protuberance. Post operatively the patient was treated with chemotherapy and radiotherapy.