Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Editorial: Born To Swim?, Stephen J. Langendorfer Ph.D.

International Journal of Aquatic Research and Education

Can a child's eventual swim kick and stroke preference be predicted shortly after birth? Read this editorial....

Pharmacological Properties Of Chromobacterium Violaceum Violacein At The Human Serotonin 2c Receptor, Letimicia S. Fears, Mary E. Curtis, Terrance L. Johnson, Hugh M. Fentress

Biology Faculty Research

The monoamine neurotransmitter serotonin (5-HT) plays a role in many physiological responses by interacting with various receptor subtypes. The 5-HT_2C receptor subtype is a 7-transmembrane, G protein-coupled receptor (GPCR) that is involved in neuronal excitability, spatial learning, mood, and appetite. The microorganism Chromobacterium violaceum produces a purple pigment, violacein, which can be extracted and purified. Violacein has antibiotic, antileishmanial, antifungal and antitumoral properties in various cancer cell lines. Violacein is derived from the amino acid tryptophan as is 5-HT and therefore, the two have similar chemical structures. However, no one has reported the activity of violacein at 5-HT receptors. …

Can You Float? Part I - Perceptions And Practice Of Unsupported Flotation Competency Among Young Adults, Kevin Moran Ph.D.

International Journal of Aquatic Research and Education

The capacity to maintain the airway through buoyancy control when immersed in water is critical in preventing drowning (Stallman, Moran, Quan & Langendorfer, 2017). In this first phase of the Can you Float? study, perceived and real unsupported flotation competency of a group of students (n=37) with known water proficiency was examined. Using a modified version of Borgs Rating of Perceived exertion (RPE), participants were asked to estimate exertion levels before and after a practical test of five stationary floating tasks of increasing difficulty ranging from treading water to motionless floating. Most participants (82%) were able to tread water for …

Adgrl3 (Lphn3) Variants Predict Substance Use Disorder, Mauricio Arcos-Burgos, Jorge I. Vélez, Ariel F. Martinez, Marta Ribasés, Josep A. Ramos-Quiroga, Cristina Sánchez-Mora, Vanesa Richarte, Carlos Roncero, Bru Cormand, Noelia Fernández-Castillo, Miguel Casas, Francisco Lopera, David A. Pineda, Juan D. Palacio, Johan E. Acosta-López, Martha L. Cervantes-Henriquez, Manuel G. Sánchez-Rojas, Pedro J. Puentes-Rozo, Brooke S. G. Molina, Mta Cooperative Group, Margaret T. Boden, Deeann Wallis, Brett Lidbury, Saul Newman, Simon Easteal, James Swanson, Hardip Patel, Nora Volkow, Maria T. Acosta, Francisco X. Castellanos, Jose De Leon

Psychiatry Faculty Publications

Genetic factors are strongly implicated in the susceptibility to develop externalizing syndromes such as attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), oppositional defiant disorder, conduct disorder, and substance use disorder (SUD). Variants in the ADGRL3 (LPHN3) gene predispose to ADHD and predict ADHD severity, disruptive behaviors comorbidity, long-term outcome, and response to treatment. In this study, we investigated whether variants within ADGRL3 are associated with SUD, a disorder that is frequently co-morbid with ADHD. Using family-based, case-control, and longitudinal samples from disparate regions of the world (n = 2698), recruited either for clinical, genetic epidemiological or pharmacogenomic studies of ADHD, we …

Cytisine-Linked Isoflavonoid Antineoplastic Agents For The Treatment Of Cancer, Chunming Liu, David S. Watt, Mykhaylo S. Frasinyuk, Vitaliy M. Sviripa, Wen Zhang, Svitlana P. Bondarenko

Markey Cancer Center Faculty Patents

Cytisine-linked isoflavonoids, or pharmaceutically acceptable salts thereof or pharmaceutically acceptable compositions thereof, are useful for the treatment of conditions in which cells have a reliance on peroxisomal HSD17B4 to degrade very long chain fatty acids and provide necessary energy for cell proliferation, such as is seen in colorectal cancer and prostate cancer, for example.

Evaluation Of An Educational Campaign To Improve The Conscious Consumption Of Recreationally Caught Fish, Corey A. Krabbenhoft, Susan Manente, Donna R. Kashian

Environmental Science and Geology Faculty Research Publications

Consumption guidelines are a common way of improving conscious consumption behaviors in areas where game fish are known to contain contaminants. However, guideline information can be difficult to distribute, and effectiveness difficult to measure. To increase the distribution and effectiveness of guideline information for the Detroit River, an educational campaign was launched in 2010, which included distribution of pamphlets with consumption information, posting of permanent signs at popular fishing locations, and hiring River Walkers to personally communicate with anglers. In 2013 and 2015, we conducted in-person surveys of active shoreline anglers to determine the effectiveness of education and outreach efforts. …

Hyperautofluorescent Dots Are Characteristic In Ceramide Kinase Like-Associated Retinal Degeneration., Jesse D Sengillo, Galaxy Y Cho, Maarjaliis Paavo, Winston Lee, Eugenia White, Ruben Jauregui, Janet R Sparrow, Rando Allikmets, Stephen H Tsang

Reading Hospital Internal Medicine Residency

There is a lack of studies which seek to discern disease expression in patients with mutations that alter retinal ceramide metabolism, specifically in the ceramide kinase like (CERKL) gene. This cross-sectional case series reports a novel phenotypic manifestation of CERKL-associated retinopathy. Four unrelated patients with homozygous CERKL mutations underwent a complete ocular exam, spectral-domain optical coherence tomography, short-wavelength fundus autofluorescence (SW-AF), quantitative autofluorescence (qAF), and full-field electroretinogram (ffERG). Decreased visual acuity and early-onset maculopathy were present in all patients. All four patients had extensive hyperautofluorescent foci surrounding an area of central atrophy on SW-AF imaging, which has not been previously …

Measurement Of Anterior Translation Of The Mandibular Condyle Using Sonography, Kai-Yu Ho, Brooke Laskowski, Danielle Garcia, Christensen J. Hardy, Emilio Puentedura

Physical Therapy Faculty Research

[Purpose] To establish a standardized sonographic approach to quantify anterior translation of the mandibular condyle during mouth opening by examining the reliability of image acquisition and processing, and to understand how anterior condylar translation contributes to mouth opening. [Participants and Methods] Twenty-eight participants without temporomandibular disorder (TMD) participated. During day 1 of data collection, all participants performed maximal mouth opening while an examiner recorded anterior condylar translation using sonography. The mouth opening range of motion was also obtained. On day 2 of data collection, the same procedure was performed on 6 participants that participated in day 1 of data collection. …

Assessing The Use Of Social Media In Physician Assistant Education., Gregory K. Wanner, Andrew W. Phillips, Dimitrios Papanagnou, Md

Department of Emergency Medicine Faculty Papers

Objectives: This study aims to assess physician assistant (PA) students' experiences with social media (SM) as a part of their medical education.

Methods: The study is split into two phases: Phase 1- A cross-sectional survey emailed to all PA students at four PA school campuses to assess students' prior SM experiences (226 responses, 71.1% response rate); and Phase 2- Inclusion of SM educational resources, via Twitter, within lectures performed at two PA schools. A phase-2 survey assessed students' opinions of educational SM (50 responses, 59.5% response rate) and SM usage was tracked.

Results: The phase-1 survey respondents indicated that 97.3% …

Applying Quality Improvement Methods To Neglected Conditions: Development Of The South Asia Burn Registry (Sabr), Nukhba Zia Nukhba Zia, Asad Latif, Saidur Rahman Mashreky, Ehmer Al-Ibran, Madiha Hashmi, A. K. M. Fazlur Rahman, Sazzad Khondoker, Mohammed Saeed Quraishy, Adnan A. Hyder

Department of Anaesthesia

Objective: South Asia has the highest mortality rate from burns in the world. Application of quality improvement methods to burn care can help identify health system gaps. Our overall aim is to introduce a sustainable hospital-based burn registry for resource-constrained settings to assess health outcomes of burn injury patients presenting to dedicated burn injury centers in South Asia.
Results: The South Asia Burn Registry (SABR) is implemented through collaborative approach in selected burn centers in Bangladesh and Pakistan. Th registry collects data on burn injury events, the care provided, and the functional status of patients at discharge from burn centers. …

Nurse-Identified Patient Care And Health Services Research Priorities In The United Arab Emirates: A Delphi Study, Nabeel Al-Yateem, Muna Al-Tamimi, Maria Brenner, Hanan Al Tawil, Alaa Ahmad, Sharon Brownie, Shameran Slewa-Younan

School of Nursing & Midwifery, East Africa

Background: The need for improved research on ill health has been recognized internationally and locally in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The UAE Nursing and Midwifery Council recently committed to enhancing the status and contributions of nursing in healthcare research across the UAE by establishing a National Committee for Research Development. This study using a Delphi method to identify research priorities from the perspective of nurses delivering frontline healthcare.

Methods: A two-phase Delphi design was implemented with 1032 nurses participating in phase one of the study and 1339 in phase two.

Results: The most important priority was patient safety and …

Two-Stage Bagging Pruning For Reducing The Ensemble Size And Improving The Classification Performance, Hua Zhang, Yujie Song, Bo Jiang, Bi Chen, Guogen Shan

Environmental & Global Health Faculty Research

Ensemble methods, such as the traditional bagging algorithm, can usually improve the performance of a single classifier. However, they usually require large storage space as well as relatively time-consuming predictions. Many approaches were developed to reduce the ensemble size and improve the classification performance by pruning the traditional bagging algorithms. In this article, we proposed a two-stage strategy to prune the traditional bagging algorithm by combining two simple approaches: accuracy-based pruning (AP) and distance-based pruning (DP). These two methods, as well as their two combinations, “AP+DP” and “DP+AP” as the two-stage pruning strategy, were all examined. Comparing with the single …

Operationalizing A Theoretical Framework To Improve Patient Perception Of Care, Debra J. Morton

DNP Qualifying Manuscripts

The Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services publicly report information that allows comparisons to be made across all hospitals to support consumer choice. A hospital’s reputation, coupled with the financial impact, depends on patient satisfaction, which must be taken seriously. Care experience scores are primarily nurse-driven, and nurse leaders have a large responsibility to produce results. The practice of commanding and directive leadership has never been effective long term. Nurses want leaders to make sense of a situation and explain the why. The need to inspire and create alternative ways to help nurses connect purpose to practice is imperative …

Src Family Kinase Inhibitors Block Translation Of Alphavirus Subgenomic Mrnas, Rebecca Broeckel, Sanjay Sarkar, Nicholas A. May, Jennifer Totonchy, Craig N. Kreklywich, Patricia Smith, Lee Graves, Victor R. Defilippis, Mark T. Heise, Thomas E. Morrison, Nathaniel Moorman, Daniel N. Streblow

Pharmacy Faculty Articles and Research

Alphaviruses are arthropod-transmitted RNA viruses that can cause arthralgia, myalgia, and encephalitis in humans. Since the role of cellular kinases in alphavirus replication is unknown, we profiled kinetic changes in host kinase abundance and phosphorylation following chikungunya virus (CHIKV) infection of fibroblasts. Based upon the results of this study, we treated CHIKV-infected cells with kinase inhibitors targeting the Src family kinase (SFK)–phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K)–AKT–mTORC signaling pathways. Treatment of cells with SFK inhibitors blocked the replication of CHIKV as well as multiple other alphaviruses, including Mayaro virus, O’nyong-nyong virus, Ross River virus, and Venezuelan equine encephalitis virus. Dissecting the effect of …

What's Happening: January 28, 2019, Maine Medical Center

What's Happening

No abstract provided.

Measurement Instruments For Quantifying Physical Resilience In Aging: A Scoping Review Protocol, Sue Peters, Theordore D. Cosco, Dawn C. Mackey, Gurkaran S. Sarohia, Jeffrey Leong, Andrew Whister

Physical Therapy Publications

Background: Physical resilience is the ability to optimize or recover motor function in the face of disease, injury, or aging-related decline. Greater knowledge of how some individuals regain or maintain function despite pathology may help identify protective factors and approaches that promote healthy aging. To date, a scoping review on physical resilience has not been conducted. The aims are to (1) identify measurement instruments for physical resilience, (2) synthesize and map the key concepts of physical resilience, and (3) identify gaps and make recommendations for future research.

Methods: A scoping review of Scopus, Web of Science, Cumulative Index to Nursing …

Overview Of The Biocreative Vi Precision Medicine Track: Mining Protein Interactions And Mutations For Precision Medicine, Rezarta Islamaj Doğan, Sun Kim, Andrew Chatr-Aryamontri, Chih-Hsuan Wei, Donald C. Comeau, Rui Antunes, Sérgio Matos, Qingyu Chen, Aparna Elangovan, Nagesh C. Panyam, Karin Verspoor, Hongfang Liu, Yanshan Wang, Zhuang Liu, Berna Altınel, Zehra Melce Hüsünbeyi, Arzucan Özgür, Aris Fergadis, Chen-Kai Wang, Hong-Jie Dai, Tung Tran, Ramakanth Kavuluru, Ling Luo, Albert Steppi, Jinfeng Zhang, Jinchan Qu, Zhiyong Lu

Computer Science Faculty Publications

The Precision Medicine Initiative is a multicenter effort aiming at formulating personalized treatments leveraging on individual patient data (clinical, genome sequence and functional genomic data) together with the information in large knowledge bases (KBs) that integrate genome annotation, disease association studies, electronic health records and other data types. The biomedical literature provides a rich foundation for populating these KBs, reporting genetic and molecular interactions that provide the scaffold for the cellular regulatory systems and detailing the influence of genetic variants in these interactions. The goal of BioCreative VI Precision Medicine Track was to extract this particular type of information and …

Deep Learning Based Analysis Of Histopathological Images Of Breast Cancer, Juanying Xie, Ran Liu, Joseph Luttrell Iv, Chaoyang Zhang

Faculty Publications

Breast cancer is associated with the highest morbidity rates for cancer diagnoses in the world and has become a major public health issue. Early diagnosis can increase the chance of successful treatment and survival. However, it is a very challenging and time-consuming task that relies on the experience of pathologists. The automatic diagnosis of breast cancer by analyzing histopathological images plays a significant role for patients and their prognosis. However, traditional feature extraction methods can only extract some low-level features of images, and prior knowledge is necessary to select useful features, which can be greatly affected by humans. Deep learning …

A Learning-Based Automatic Segmentation And Quantification Method On Left Ventricle In Gated Myocardial Perfusion Spect Imaging: A Feasibility Study, Tonghe Wang, Yang Lei, Haipeng Tang, Zhou He, Richard Castillo, Cheng Wang, Dianfu Li, Kristin Higgins, Tian Liu, Walter J. Curran, Walter J. Curran, Weihua Zhou, Xiaofeng Yang

Faculty Publications

Background: The performance of left ventricular (LV) functional assessment using gated myocardial perfusion SPECT (MPS) relies on the accuracy of segmentation. Current methods require manual adjustments that are tedious and subjective. We propose a novel machine-learning-based method to automatically segment LV myocardium and measure its volume in gated MPS imaging without human intervention.

Methods: We used an end-to-end fully convolutional neural network to segment LV myocardium by delineating its endocardial and epicardial surface. A novel compound loss function, which encourages similarity and penalizes discrepancy between prediction and training dataset, is utilized in training stage to achieve excellent performance. …

Week Of January 28, 2019, New York Medical College

InTouch

• Heart Transplant Specialist to Address 23rd Annual Medical Student Research Forum
• HSL Pilots Critical Appraisal Institute for Librarians

Defining Patient-Oriented Research For The Average Person (And Potential Research Partner), Dennis J. Baumgardner

Journal of Patient-Centered Research and Reviews

In this introduction to the first issue of 2019, the editor-in-chief of Journal of Patient-Centered Research and Reviews offers additional context to the findings of Kaur and Pluye (p. 7), who methodically formalized an operational definition of patient-oriented research for the purposes of searching bibliographic databases. A possible succinct, lay definition of patient-oriented research for the average “person on the street” is proposed.

Delineating And Operationalizing The Definition Of Patient-Oriented Research: A Modified E-Delphi Study, Navdeep Kaur, Pierre Pluye

Journal of Patient-Centered Research and Reviews

Purpose: The importance of patient-oriented research (POR) has been recognized by the scientific community and governmental agencies, and its development is exponential across most health-related disciplines. The current Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) definition of POR is overly broad and hinders the reliable selection of POR-related publications from bibliographic databases. The present study was aimed to adapt CIHR’s definition of POR into an operational definition that can be used by stakeholders for selecting POR publications.

Methods: Eighteen POR experts in Québec, Canada, were invited to participate in a modified e-Delphi study. Two rounds of Delphi surveys were undertaken to …

Development Of The Resident Wellness Scale For Measuring Resident Wellness, R. Brent Stansfield, Dan Giang, Tsveti Markova

Journal of Patient-Centered Research and Reviews

Purpose: Graduate medical education programs have a responsibility to monitor resident wellness. Residents are at risk of burnout, depression, and suicide. Burnout and depression are associated with poor patient care. Many existing tools measure burnout, depression, and general human well-being, but resident wellness is a distinct construct. We aimed to develop an instrument to measure resident wellness directly.

Methods: An expert panel from two purposefully different graduate medical education institutions generated a behavior- and experience-based model of resident wellness. The panel and resident leaders from both institutions generated 92 items, which were tested alongside anchor scales measuring burnout, depression, personality, …

Patient Perceptions Of Planned Organ Removal During Hysterectomy, Zeinab Kassem, Chad M. Coleman, Andrew S. Bossick, Wan-Ting Su, Roopina Sangha, Ganesa Wegienka

Journal of Patient-Centered Research and Reviews

Purpose: Previous reports indicate many women may not have a firm grasp on likely outcomes of different hysterectomy procedures. This study aimed to assess women’s self-reported expectations of how they think their anatomy will change after hysterectomy.

Methods: Women scheduled for hysterectomy at a tertiary care hospital, for non-oncological reasons, reported their planned procedure type and the organs they understood would be removed 2 weeks prior to surgery. Patient reports and electronic medical records were reviewed, and kappa statistics (κ) were calculated to assess agreement for all women and within subgroups.

Results: Most of the 456 study participants (mean age: …

Coordinating An Oncology Precision Medicine Clinic Within An Integrated Health System: Lessons Learned In Year One, Michael A. Thompson, Jennifer J. Godden, Deborah Wham, Antony Ruggeri, Michael P. Mullane, Amanda Wilson, Shamsuddin Virani, Scott M. Weissman, Brenda Ramczyk, Pamela Vanderwall, James L. Weese

Journal of Patient-Centered Research and Reviews

Precision medicine is a term describing strategies to promote health and prevent and treat disease based on an individual’s genetic, molecular, and lifestyle characteristics. Oncology precision medicine (OPM) is a cancer treatment approach targeting cancer-specific genetic and molecular alterations. Implementation of an OPM clinical program optimally involves the support and collaboration of multiple departments, including administration, medical oncology, pathology, interventional radiology, genetics, research, and informatics. In this review, we briefly introduce the published evidence regarding OPM’s potential effect on patient outcomes and discuss what we have learned over the first year of operating an OPM program within an integrated health …

Confidential Care For Adolescents In The U.S. Health Care System, Priya R. Pathak, Adriana Chou

Journal of Patient-Centered Research and Reviews

In providing care for adolescents, maintaining confidentiality should be considered a human right and an evidence-based component of quality care. Unfortunately, complexities in the U.S. legal and health care systems have created a setting in which confidential care is inaccessible to many adolescent patients. Federal laws provide a minimum standard for confidentiality protections, but variations in state legislation relating to minor consent, special health care services, and confidentiality exemptions create large variability in adolescent confidentiality rights across the country. In certain contexts, such as consensual sexual activity, legal provisions may not align with professional ethical standards in adolescent care. In …

Acknowledgment Of 2018 Jpcrr Peer Reviewers

Journal of Patient-Centered Research and Reviews

The editors of Journal of Patient-Centered Research and Reviews gratefully acknowledge the contributions of submission reviewers from the previous year. Peer review is an essential component to publishing quality, trustworthy scientific literature.

Elbow Angle Modulates Corticospinal Excitability To The Resting Biceps Brachii At Both Spinal And Supraspinal Levels, Siobhan C. Dongés, Janet L. Taylor, James L. Nuzzo

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

NEW FINDINGS:

What is the central question of this study?

Corticospinal excitability to biceps brachii is known to modulate according to upper-limb posture. Here, cervicomedullary stimulation was used to investigate potential spinal contributions to elbow angle-dependent changes in corticospinal excitability at rest.

What is the main finding and its importance?

At more extended elbow angles, biceps responses to cervicomedullary stimulation were decreased, whereas cortically evoked responses (normalized to cervicomedullary-evoked responses) were increased. Results suggest decreased spinal excitability but increased cortical excitability as the elbow is placed in a more extended position, an effect that is unlikely to be attributable to …

Parent Challenges, Perspectives And Experiences Caring For Children Who Are Deaf Or Hard-Of-Hearing With Other Disabilities: A Comprehensive Review, John J. Whicker, Karen F. Muñoz, Lauri H. Nelson

Communicative Disorders and Deaf Education Faculty Publications

Objective: The purpose of this literature review was to explore parent challenges in caring for children who are deaf or hard of hearing with other disabilities and discuss implications for audiologists related to supporting families.

Design: A comprehensive literature review was conducted, and through qualitative analysis, emergent themes were identified, and a narrative summary generated.

Study sample: Nine research studies were included in this review. Combined, these studies reflect a sample of 111 children, 23 families and 41 parents.

Results: Three broad themes were identified, and include parent-reported challenges related to family, professional and child variables. Sub-themes were identified within …

Medical School Watercooler Newsletter - January 27, 2019, Lindsey Lyle

Watercooler Newsletter

This is the January 27, 2019 edition of the Frederick P. Whiddon College of Medicine's Newsletter - Watercooler.

Contents Include:

Mark Your Calendar: Pediatric Grand Rounds Feb. 15

Dr. Barry Porter Named Director of Operations for Emergency Medicine, Radiology

USA Department of Neurology Recognized as a Partner in MS Care by National Multiple Sclerosis Society