Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

The Scripps Research Institute Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship, Ezana Assefa

Trick to the Treat of Internships and Research

This program is a 10-week internship designed for undergraduates interested in the scientific field to engage in current research. Students have the option of requesting to work under three mentors, one of which they will be paired. Students will work in the lab with the principal investigator and other members of the lab. Along with working in the lab, students in the program will also attend bi-weekly talks/lectures from researchers, grad students, and professionals at TSRI as well as participating in two presentations and a final poster or oral presentation.

Time From Screening Mammography To Biopsy And From Biopsy To Breast Cancer Treatment Among Black And White, Women Medicare Beneficiaries Not Participating In A Health Maintenance Organization, Rebecca Selove, Barbara Kilbourne, Mary Kay Fadden, Maureen Sanderson, Maya Foster, Regina Offodile, Baqar Husaini, Charles Mouton, Robert S. Levine

Sociology Faculty Research

Purpose

There is a breast cancer mortality gap adversely affecting Black women in the United States. This study assessed the relationship between number of days between abnormal mammogram, biopsy, and treatment among Medicare (Part B) beneficiaries ages 65 to 74 and 75 to 84 years, accounting for race and comorbidity.

Methods

A cohort of non-Hispanic Black and non-Hispanic White women residing in the continental United States and receiving no services from a health maintenance organization was randomly selected from the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services denominator file. The cohort was followed from 2005 to 2008 using Center …

The Pharmacy (Organization) Divide: A Focus On The Impact In Pediatric Pharmacy, Chad A. Knoderer, Lisa Lubsch, Kristin C. Klein

Scholarship and Professional Work – COPHS

No abstract provided.

Analysis Of The Rna Binding Specificity Landscape Of C5 Protein Reveals Structure And Sequence Preferences That Direct Rnase P Specificity., Hsuan-Chun Lin, Jing Zhao, Courtney N Niland, Brandon Tran, Eckhard Jankowsky, Michael E Harris

School of Medicine and Health Sciences Student Works

RNA binding proteins (RBPs) are typically involved in non-equilibrium cellular processes, and specificity can arise from differences in ground state, transition state, or product states of the binding reactions for alternative RNAs. Here, we use high-throughput methods to measure and analyze the RNA association kinetics and equilibrium binding affinity for all possible sequence combinations in the precursor tRNA binding site of C5, the essential protein subunit of Escherichia coli RNase P. The results show that the RNA sequence specificity of C5 arises due to favorable RNA-protein interactions that stabilize the transition state for association and bound enzyme-substrate complex. Specificity is …

Correlation Of Pre-Admission Math Aptitude Test With The Medical Dosimetry Program Gpa, Shirley Ann Johnston, Ms, Rt(R)(T)Cmd, Carolyn Giordano, Phd

Department of Radiologic Sciences Faculty Papers

Who are Dosimetrists?

The Medical Dosimetrist is a member of the radiation oncology team who has knowledge of the overall characteristics and clinical relevance of radiation oncology treatment machines and equipment, is cognizant of procedures commonly used in brachytherapy and has the education and expertise necessary to generate radiation dose distributions and dose calculations in collaboration with the medical physicist and radiation oncologist.

Age-Related Effect Of Viral-Induced Wheezing In Severe Prematurity, Geovanny F. Perez, Amisha Jain, Bassem Kurdi, Rosemary Megalaa, Krishna Pancham, Shehlanoor Huseni, Natalia Isaza, Carlos E. Rodriguez-Martinez, Mary C. Rose, Dinesh Pillai, Gustavo Nino

Pediatrics Faculty Publications

Abstract: Premature children are prone to severe viral respiratory infections in early life, but the age at which susceptibility peaks and disappears for each pathogen is unclear. Methods: A retrospective analysis was performed of the age distribution and clinical features of acute viral respiratory infections in full-term and premature children, aged zero to seven years. Results: The study comprised of a total of 630 hospitalizations (n = 580 children). Sixty-seven percent of these hospitalizations occurred in children born full-term (> 37 weeks), 12% in preterm (32–37 weeks) and 21% in severely premature children (< 32 weeks). The most common viruses identified were rhinovirus (RV; 60%) and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV; 17%). Age-distribution analysis of each virus identified that severely premature children had a higher relative frequency of RV and RSV in their first three years, relative to preterm or full-term children. Additionally, the probability of RV- or RSV-induced wheezing was higher overall in severely premature children less than three years old. Conclusions: Our results indicate that the …

Plant Expression Of Cocaine Hydrolase-Fc Fusion Protein For Treatment Of Cocaine Abuse, Guojun Wang, Ting Zhang, Haifeng Huang, Shurong Hou, Xiabin Chen, Fang Zheng, Chang-Guo Zhan

Molecular Modeling and Biopharmaceutical Center Faculty Publications

BACKGROUND: A recently reported cocaine hydrolase (CocH3) fused with fragment crystallizable (Fc) region of human immunoglobulin G1, denoted as CocH3-Fc, is known as a promising therapeutic candidate for the treatment of cocaine overdose and addiction. A challenge for practical therapeutic use of this enzyme exists in the large-scale protein production and, therefore, it is interesting to identify a low-cost and feasible, sustainable source of CocH3-Fc production.

RESULTS: CocH3-Fc was transiently expressed in plant Nicotiana benthamiana leaves. The plant-expressed protein, denoted as pCocH3-Fc, was as active as that expressed in mammalian cells both in vitro and in vivo. However, compared to …

A Proteogenomic Approach To Understanding Myc Function In Metastatic Medulloblastoma Tumors., Jerome A Staal, Yanxin Pei, Brian R. Rood

Pediatrics Faculty Publications

Brain tumors are the leading cause of cancer-related deaths in children, and medulloblastoma is the most prevalent malignant childhood/pediatric brain tumor. Providing effective treatment for these cancers, with minimal damage to the still-developing brain, remains one of the greatest challenges faced by clinicians. Understanding the diverse events driving tumor formation, maintenance, progression, and recurrence is necessary for identifying novel targeted therapeutics and improving survival of patients with this disease. Genomic copy number alteration data, together with clinical studies, identifies c-MYC amplification as an important risk factor associated with the most aggressive forms of medulloblastoma with marked metastatic potential. Yet despite …

Unusual Presentation Of A Young Man With Disseminated Tuberculosis And Right Ventricular Mass, Shahrukh Hashmani, Fateh Ali Tipoo Sultan, Muhammad Qamar Masood

Section of Cardiology

We report a 22-year-old man who presented to the emergency department with worsening shortness of breath and chronic fever for 2 months. Physical examination was unremarkable except for raised jugular venous pressure and palpable liver. Echocardiogram showed a large right ventricular mass causing obstruction at tricuspid valve. A subsequent chest CT scan confirmed the presence of a large mass in the right ventricle. There were multiple enlarged lymph nodes and consolidation in the right upper lobe. Diagnosis of disseminated tuberculosis(TB) was made and later confirmed by histopathology of lymph node biopsy along with positive sputum culture for acid-fast bacilli. Remarkable …

High-Throughput Allele-Specific Expression Across 250 Environmental Conditions, Gregory A. Moyerbrailean, Allison L. Richards, Daniel Kurtz, Cynthia A. Kalita, Gordon O. Davis, Chris T. Harvey, Adnan Alazizi, Donovan Watza, Yoram Sorokin, Nancy J. Hauff, Xiang Zhou, Xiaoquan Wen, Roger Pique-Regi, Francesca Luca

Center for Molecular Medicine and Genetics

Gene-by-environment (GxE) interactions determine common disease risk factors and biomedically relevant complex traits. However, quantifying how the environment modulates genetic effects on human quantitative phenotypes presents unique challenges. Environmental covariates are complex and difficult to measure and control at the organismal level, as found in GWAS and epidemiological studies. An alternative approach focuses on the cellular environment using in vitro treatments as a proxy for the organismal environment. These cellular environments simplify the organism-level environmental exposures to provide a tractable influence on subcellular phenotypes, such as gene expression. Expression quantitative trait loci (eQTL) mapping studies identified GxE interactions in response …

Ionis Phase I Huntington’S Disease Trial At Halfway Mark: 'No Surprises So Far' Means Good News, Kenneth P. Serbin

At Risk for Huntington's Disease

No abstract provided.

A Prospective Evaluation Of Opioid Utilization After Upper-Extremity Surgical Procedures: Identifying Consumption Patterns And Determining Prescribing Guidelines., Nayoung Kim, Jonas L. Matzon, Jack Abboudi, Christopher M. Jones, William Kirkpatrick, Charles Leinberry, Frederic Liss, Kevin F F. Lutsky, Mark L. Wang, Mitchell Maltenfort, Asif M Ilyas

Rothman Institute Papers

BACKGROUND: Although adequate management of postoperative pain with oral analgesics is an important aspect of surgical procedures, inadvertent overprescribing can lead to excess availability of opioids in the community for potential diversion. The purpose of our study was to prospectively evaluate opioid consumption following outpatient upper-extremity surgical procedures to determine opioid utilization patterns and to develop prescribing guidelines.

METHODS: All patients undergoing outpatient upper-extremity surgical procedures over a consecutive 6-month period had the following prospective data collected: patient demographic characteristics, surgical details, anesthesia type, and opioid prescription and consumption patterns. Analysis of variance and post hoc comparisons were performed using …

Pleckstrin Homology (Ph) Domain Leucine-Rich Repeat Protein Phosphatase Controls Cell Polarity By Negatively Regulating The Activity Of Atypical Protein Kinase C, Xiaopeng Xiong, Xin Li, Yang-An Wen, Tianyan Gao

Markey Cancer Center Faculty Publications

The proper establishment of epithelial polarity allows cells to sense and respond to signals that arise from the microenvironment in a spatiotemporally controlled manner. Atypical PKCs (aPKCs) are implicated as key regulators of epithelial polarity. However, the molecular mechanism underlying the negative regulation of aPKCs remains largely unknown. In this study, we demonstrated that PH domain leucine-rich repeat protein phosphatase (PHLPP), a novel family of Ser/Thr protein phosphatases, plays an important role in regulating epithelial polarity by controlling the phosphorylation of both aPKC isoforms. Altered expression of PHLPP1 or PHLPP2 disrupted polarization of Caco2 cells grown in 3D cell cultures …

Interleukin-17a Promotes Cd8 T Cell Cytotoxicity To Facilitate West Nile Virus Clearance, Amber M. Paul, Dhiraj Acharya, Penghua Wang, Jianfeng Dai, David Gate

Publications

CD8 T cells are crucial components of immunity and play a vital role in recovery from West Nile virus (WNV) infection. Here, we identify a previously unrecognized function of interleukin-17A (IL-17A) in inducing cytotoxic-mediator gene expression and promoting CD8 T cell cytotoxicity against WNV infection in mice. We find that IL-17A-deficient (Il17a/) mice are more susceptible to WNV infection and develop a higher viral burden than wild-type (WT) mice. Interestingly, the CD8 T cells isolated from Il17a/ mice are less cytotoxic and express lower levels of cytotoxic-mediator genes, which can be restored by supplying recombinant IL-17A in vitro and in …

E-Cigarette Use Among Students And E-Cigarette Specialty Retailer Presence Near Schools, Georgiana Bostean, Catherine M. Crespi, Patsornkarn Vorapharuek, William J. Mccarthy

Sociology Faculty Articles and Research

Objective. This study examined the association between presence of e-cigarette specialty retailers near schools and e-cigarette use among middle and high school students in Orange County (OC), CA.

Methods. The OC subsample of the 2013-2014 California Healthy Kids Survey (N=67,701) was combined with geocoded e-cigarette retailers to determine whether a retailer was present within one-quarter mile of each public school in OC. Multilevel logistic regression models evaluated individual-level and school-level e-cigarette use correlates among middle and high school students.

Results. Among middle school students, the presence of an e-cigarette retailer within one-quarter mile of their school predicted …

A Literature Review Of Wipe Sampling Methods For Pesticides In Published Exposure Measurement Studies In The United States, Christopher Michael Low

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Pesticides in the United States are frequently used to control pests in many settings from residential homes to agricultural crops. Most pesticides, when used in accordance with their manufacturer's label are relatively safe, and will naturally degrade once exposed to the environment, however, these natural degradative processes can be hindered when introduced indoors. Furthermore, it has been shown that pesticides can easily bond to surface dislodgeable residues (SDRs) commonly known as dust. There are various methods that can be used to characterize the presence and exposure of pesticides indoors. Wipe sampling is one of the important methods commonly used to …

Local Intra-Uterine Ang-(1-7) Infusion Attenuates Pge2 And 6-Keto Pgf1Α In Decidualized Uterus Of Pseudopregnant Rats, K. B. Brosnihan, V. M. Pulgar, M. S. Bharadwaj, L. A. Neves, L. M. Yamaleyeva

Pharmaceutical Sciences

No abstract provided.

Antiviral Cd8(+) T Cells Restricted By Human Leukocyte Antigen Class Ii Exist During Natural Hiv Infection And Exhibit Clonal Expansion., Srinika Ranasinghe, Pedro A Lamothe, Damien Z Soghoian, Samuel W Kazer, Michael B Cole, Alex K Shalek, Nir Yosef, R. Brad Jones, Faith Donaghey, Chioma Nwonu, Priya Jani, Gina M Clayton, Frances Crawford, Janice White, Alana Montoya, Karen Power, Todd M Allen, Hendrik Streeck, Daniel E Kaufmann, Louis J Picker, John W Kappler, Bruce D Walker

Microbiology, Immunology, and Tropical Medicine Faculty Publications

CD8(+) T cell recognition of virus-infected cells is characteristically restricted by major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class I, although rare examples of MHC class II restriction have been reported in Cd4-deficient mice and a macaque SIV vaccine trial using a recombinant cytomegalovirus vector. Here, we demonstrate the presence of human leukocyte antigen (HLA) class II-restricted CD8(+) T cell responses with antiviral properties in a small subset of HIV-infected individuals. In these individuals, T cell receptor β (TCRβ) analysis revealed that class II-restricted CD8(+) T cells underwent clonal expansion and mediated killing of HIV-infected cells. In one case, these cells comprised 12% …

2016 October 18 - Medical Student Education Committee Minutes, Medical Student Education Committee, East Tennessee State University

Medical Student Education Committee Minutes

No abstract provided.

Can Academic Medicine Lead The Way In The Refugee Crisis?, Amir A Afkhami

Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences Faculty Publications

The world is currently in the midst of the largest refugee crisis since World War II, with the highest interval of mass displacement in recorded history according to the United Nations. The United States has pledged to maintain its position as one of the world's top resettlement countries in response to this crisis. These new immigrants will arrive with exceptional chronic and acute medical needs, including higher rates of behavioral health disorders. The author describes the health care challenges experienced by refugees seeking asylum in the United States and outlines the ways in which our health care system is currently …

Compact Heat Exchanger For Veno-Venous Perfusion-Induced Systemic Hyperthermia Systems, Dongfang Wang, Joseph B. Zwischenberger

Surgery Faculty Patents

A compact heat exchanger for vena-venous perfusion-induced hyperthermia includes an integral pneumatic pump and a hollow tubule heat exchange array. A vena-venous perfusion-induced hyperthermia system incorporating the compact heat exchanger is described. The heat exchanger provides a compact, efficient design allowing a lesser heat exchanging surface area and lesser required pumping power compared to conventional systems. In turn, the system provides a shorter blood circuit compared to conventional systems, allowing maintaining a lower blood temperature than such conventional systems while supplying sufficiently heated blood to patient visceral organs to provide a therapeutic effect, such as in supplementing chemotherapy drugs.

Divergent Relationship Of Circulating Ctrp3 Levels Between Obesity And Gender: A Cross-Sectional Study, Roy Marshall Wagner, Kamesh Sivagnanam, W. Andrew Clark, Jonathan M. Peterson

ETSU Faculty Works

C1q TNF Related Protein 3 (CTRP3) is a novel adipose tissue derived secreted factor, or adipokine, which has been linked to a number of beneficial biological effects on metabolism, inflammation, and survival signaling in a variety of tissues. However, very little is known about CTRP3 in regards to human health. The purpose of this project was to examine circulating CTRP3 levels in a clinical population, patients with symptoms requiring heart catheterization in order to identify the presence of obstructive coronary artery disease (CAD). It was hypothesized that serum CTRP3 levels would be decreased in the presence of CAD.

Methods

Body …

Environmental Health News, Georgia Southern University

Biostatistics, Epidemiology & Environmental Health Sciences: News & Publications (2011-2018)

• Georgia Southern Partners to Examine a Multiagency Approach to Reducing West Nile Virus

Constrained Multivariate Association With Longitudinal Phenotypes, Phillip E. Melton, Juan M. Peralta, Laura Almasy

School of Medicine Publications

The incorporation of longitudinal data into genetic epidemiological studies has the potential to provide valuable information regarding the effect of time on complex disease etiology. Yet, the majority of research focuses on variables collected from a single time point. This aim of this study was to test for main effects on a quantitative trait across time points using a constrained maximum-likelihood measured genotype approach. This method simultaneously accounts for all repeat measurements of a phenotype in families. We applied this method to systolic blood pressure (SBP) measurements from three time points using the Genetic Analysis Workshop 19 (GAW19) whole-genome sequence …

Finding Potential Cis-Regulatory Loci Using Allele-Specific Chromatin Accessibility As Weights In A Kernel-Based Variance Component Test, Juan M. Peralta, Marcio A. Almeida, Lawrence J. Abraham, Eric K. Moses, John Blangero

School of Medicine Publications

We present a novel approach to detect potential cis-acting regulatory loci that combines the functional potential, an empirical DNase-seq based estimate of the allele-specificity of DNase-I hypersensitivity sites, with kernel-based variance component association analyses against expression phenotypes. To test our method we used public ENCODE whole genome DNase-I sequencing data, from a single sample, to estimate the functional potentials of the subset of 10,552 noncoding heterozygous single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) that were also present in the Genetic Analysis Workshop 19 (GAW19) family-based data set. We then built two covariance kernels, one nonweighted and one weighted by the functional potentials, and …

A Multistep Approach To Single Nucleotide Polymorphism–Set Analysis: An Evaluation Of Power And Type I Error Of Gene-Based Tests Of Association After Pathway-Based Association Tests, Alessandra Valcarcel, Kelsey Griinde, Kaitlyn Cook, Alden Green, Nathan L. Tintle

Faculty Work Comprehensive List

The aggregation of functionally associated variants given a priori biological information can aid in the discovery of rare variants associated with complex diseases. Many methods exist that aggregate rare variants into a set and compute a single p value summarizing association between the set of rare variants and a phenotype of interest. These methods are often called gene-based, rare variant tests of association because the variants in the set are often all contained within the same gene. A reasonable extension of these approaches involves aggregating variants across an even larger set of variants (eg, all variants contained in genes within …

Comparing Performance Of Non-Tree-Based And Tree-Based Association Mapping Methods, Katherine L. Thompson, David W. Fardo

Statistics Faculty Publications

A central goal in the biomedical and biological sciences is to link variation in quantitative traits to locations along the genome (single nucleotide polymorphisms). Sequencing technology has rapidly advanced in recent decades, along with the statistical methodology to analyze genetic data. Two classes of association mapping methods exist: those that account for the evolutionary relatedness among individuals, and those that ignore the evolutionary relationships among individuals. While the former methods more fully use implicit information in the data, the latter methods are more flexible in the types of data they can handle. This study presents a comparison of the 2 …

Optical Tracer Size Differences Allow Quantitation Of Active Pumping Rate Versus Stokes–Einstein Diffusion In Lymphatic Transport, Alisha V. Dsouza, Kayla Marra, Jason R. Gunn, Kimberley S. Samkoe, Brian W. Pogue

Dartmouth Scholarship

Lymphatic uptake of interstitially administered agents occurs by passive convective–diffusive inflow driven by interstitial concentration and pressure, while the downstream lymphatic transport is facilitated by active propulsive contractions of lymphatic vessel walls. Near-infrared fluorescence imaging in mice was used to measure these central components of lymphatic transport for the first time, using two different-sized molecules––methylene blue (MB) and fluorescence-labeled antibody immunoglobulin G (IgG)-IRDye 680RD. This work confirms the hypothesis that lymphatic passive inflow and active propulsion rates can be separated based upon the relative differences in Stokes–Einstein diffusion coefficient. This coefficient specifically affects the passive-diffusive uptake when the interstitial volume …

Exposure To Large-Scale Social And Behavior Change Communication Interventions Is Associated With Improvements In Infant And Young Child Feeding Practices In Ethiopia, Sunny S. Kim, Rahul Rawat, Edina M. Mwangi, Roman Tesfaye, Yewelsew Abebe, Jean Baker, Edward A. Frongillo Jr., Marie T. Ruel, Purnima Menon

Faculty Publications

Optimal breastfeeding (BF) practices in Ethiopia are far below the government’s targets, and complementary feeding practices are poor. The Alive & Thrive initiative aimed to improve infant and young child feeding (IYCF) practices through large-scale implementation of social and behavior change communication interventions in four regions of Ethiopia. The study assessed the effects of the interventions on IYCF practices and anthropometry over time in two regions–Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples Region and Tigray. A pre- and post-intervention adequacy evaluation design was used; repeated cross-sectional surveys of households with children aged 0–23.9 mo (n = 1481 and n = 1494) and …

5-Fluorouracil Upregulates Cell Surface B7-H1 (Pd-L1) Expression In Gastrointestinal Cancers, Lauren Van Der Kraak, Gaurav Goel, Krishnaveni Ramanan, Christof Kaltenmeier, Lin Zhang, Daniel P. Normolle, Gordon J. Freeman, Daolin Tang, Katie S. Nason, Jon M. Davison, James D. Luketich, Rajeev Dhupar, Michael T. Lotze

Markey Cancer Center Faculty Publications

Background: Resistance to chemotherapy is a major obstacle in the effective treatment of cancer patients. B7-homolog 1, also known as programmed death ligand-1 (PD-L1), is an immunoregulatory protein that is overexpressed in several human cancers. Interaction of B7-H1 with programmed death 1 (PD-1) prevents T-cell activation and proliferation, sequestering the T-cell receptor from the cell membrane, inducing T-cell apoptosis, thereby leading to cancer immunoresistance. B7-H1 upregulation contributes to chemoresistance in several types of cancer, but little is known with respect to changes associated with 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) or gastrointestinal cancers.

Methods: HCT 116 p53^+/+, HCT 116 p53^−/− colorectal …