Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Response Of Human Small Intestinal Epithelium To Fractionated Irradiation: Dynamical Modeling Approach, Francis A. Cucinotta, Olga A. Smirnova

Health Physics and Diagnostic Sciences Faculty Research

A biologically motivated mathematical model of the dynamics of the small intestinal epithelium in humans treated with fractionated radiotherapy has been developed and is further investigated here. This model, originating from our previous work, is implemented as a system of nonlinear ordinary differential equations, in which the variables and parameters have a clear biological meaning. The model also includes, as input, the key parameters of fractionated irradiation. The modeling results on the dynamical response of the human normal small intestinal epithelium to fractionated radiation therapy regimens were in agreement with the corresponding empirical data, which, in turn, demonstrates the capability …

Meta-Analysis Of Cognitive Performance By Novel Object Recognition After Proton And Heavy Ion Exposures, Eliedonna Cacao, Francis A. Cucinotta

Health Physics and Diagnostic Sciences Faculty Research

Experimental studies of cognitive detriments in mice and rats after proton and heavy ion exposures have been performed by several laboratories to investigate possible risks to astronauts exposed to cosmic rays in space travel and patients treated for brain cancers with proton and carbon beams in Hadron therapy. However, distinct radiation types and doses, cognitive tests and rodent models have been used by different laboratories, while few studies have considered detailed dose-response characterizations, including estimates of relative biological effectiveness (RBE). Here we report on the first quantitative meta-analysis of the dose response for proton and heavy ion rodent studies of …

Patterns Of Treatment For Psychiatric Disorders Among Children And Adolesecents In Mississippi Medicaid, John Young, Sujith Ramachandran, Andrew J. Freeman, John P. Bentley, Benjamin F. Banahan

Psychology Faculty Research

The nature of services for psychiatric disorders in public health systems has been understudied, particularly with regard to frequency, duration, and costs. The current study examines patterns of service reception and costs among Medicaid-covered youth newly diagnosed with anxiety, depression, or behavioral disturbance in a large data set of provider billing claims submitted between 2015–2016. Eligibility criteria included: 1) identification of an initial diagnosis of a single anxiety, unipolar mood, or specific behavioral disorder; 2) continuous Medicaid eligibility over the duration of the time period studied; and 3) under 18 years of age on the date of initial psychiatric diagnosis. …

Accelerated Estimation And Permutation Inference For Ace Modeling, Xu Chen, Elia Formisano, Gabriëlla A. Blokland, Lachlan T. Strike, Katie L. Mcmahon, Greig I. De Zubicaray, Paul M. Thompson, Margaret J. Wright, Anderson M. Winkler, Tian Ge

School of Medicine Publications

There are a wealth of tools for fitting linear models at each location in the brain in neuroimaging analysis, and a wealth of genetic tools for estimating heritability for a small number of phenotypes. But there remains a need for computationally efficient neuroimaging genetic tools that can conduct analyses at the brain-wide scale. Here we present a simple method for heritability estimation on twins that replaces a variance component model-which requires iterative optimisation-with a (noniterative) linear regression model, by transforming data to squared twin-pair differences. We demonstrate that the method has comparable bias, mean squared error, false positive risk, and …

On The Fabrication And Development Of Tissue On A Chip Devices With Included Perfused Vasculatures, Usama Ismail

McKelvey School of Engineering Graduate Student Theses & Dissertations

The advent of Tissue-on-a-Chip (TiOC) devices has provided a novel way for researchers to approach biological study and drug development. As a platform that enables human in vivo conditions to be accurately replicated ex vivo, TiOC can accelerate both fundamental biological research to answer basic questions regarding tissue behavior and function (e.g., cell-cell interactions in the tumor microenvironment (TME)) and translational research that includes testing of standard and novel therapeutics. The reported work focuses on development of processes and technologies common to two classes of TiOC. The first device is a single-layer, multi-compartment microfluidic device for investigation of pancreatic …

Multi-Dimensional Extension Of The Alternating Minimization Algorithm In X-Ray Computed Tomography, Jingwei Lu

McKelvey School of Engineering Graduate Student Theses & Dissertations

X-ray computed tomography (CT) is an important and effective tool in medical and industrial imaging applications. The state-of-the-art methods to reconstruct CT images have had great development but also face challenges. This dissertation derives novel algorithms to reduce bias and metal artifacts in a wide variety of imaging modalities and increase performance in low-dose scenarios. The most widely available CT systems still use the single-energy CT (SECT), which is good at showing the anatomic structure of the patient body. However, in SECT image reconstruction, energy-related information is lost. In applications like radiation treatment planning and dose prediction, accurate energy-related information …

Microrna And Mrna Interactions In Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell Reprogramming Of Lymphoblastoid Cell Lines, Satish Kumar, Erika C. Espinosa, Ana C. Leandro, Joanne E. Curran, John Blangero

School of Medicine Publications

A large number of Epstein Barr virus (EBV) immortalized lymphoblastoid cell lines (LCLs) have been generated and maintained in genetic/epidemiological studies as a perpetual source of DNA and as a surrogate in vitro cell model. Recent successes in reprograming LCLs into induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) has paved the way to generate more relevant in vitro disease models using this existing bioresource. However, the latent EBV infection in the LCLs make them a unique cell type by altering expression of many cellular genes and miRNAs. These EBV induced changes in the LCL miRNome and transcriptome are reversed upon reprogramming into …

Determining Known-Group Validity And Test-Retest Reliability In The Peq (Personalized Exercise Questionnaire), Isabel B. Rodrigues, Jonathan D. Adachi, Karen A. Beattie, Arthur Lau, Joy C. Macdermid

Bone and Joint Institute

© 2019 The Author(s). Background: To determine the known-group validity, a type of construct validity, and the test-retest reliability of a newly developed tool, the Personalized Exercise Questionnaire (PEQ), that assesses the barriers, facilitators, and preferences to exercise in individuals with low bone mass and osteoporosis. Methods: A comparative design was used to assess known-group validity and a test-retest design to examine the reproducibility. Ninety-five participants with low bone mass and osteoporosis were recruited from an outpatient clinic in Hamilton, Ontario. The questionnaire was administered to 95 participants at baseline and a subset of 42 participants completed the survey again …

A Mixed-Methods, Randomized Clinical Trial To Examine Feasibility Of A Mindfulness-Based Stress Management And Diabetes Risk Reduction Intervention For African Americans With Prediabetes, Cheryl L. Woods-Giscombe, Susan A. Gaylord, Yin Li, Carrie E. Brintz, Shrikant I. Bangdiwala, John B. Buse, John D. Mann, Chanee Lynch, Pamela Phillips, Sunyata Smith, Karyn Leniek, Laura Young, Saada Al-Barwani, Jeena Yoo, Keturah Faurot

Publications and Research

African Americans have disproportionately high rates of stress-related conditions, including diabetes and diabetes-related morbidity. Psychological stress may negatively influence engagement in risk-reducing lifestyle changes (physical activity and healthy eating) and stress-related physiology that increase diabetes risk. ,is study examined the feasibility of conducting a randomized trial comparing a novel mindfulness-based stress management program combined with diabetes risk-reduction education versus a conventional diabetes risk-reduction education program among African American adults with prediabetes and self-reported life stress. Participants were recruited in collaboration with community partners and randomized to the mindfulness- based diabetes risk-reduction education program for prediabetes (MPD; n = 38) or …

Utilizing Temporal Information In The Ehr For Developing A Novel Continuous Prediction Model, Kang Lin Hsieh

Dissertations and Theses (Open Access)

Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is a nation-wide prevalent chronic condition, which includes direct and indirect healthcare costs. T2DM, however, is a preventable chronic condition based on previous clinical research. Many prediction models were based on the risk factors identified by clinical trials. One of the major tasks of the T2DM prediction models is to estimate the risks for further testing by HbA1c or fasting plasma glucose to determine whether the patient has or does not have T2DM because nation-wide screening is not cost-effective.

Those models had substantial limitations on data quality, such as missing values. In this dissertation, I …

Factors Related To Intra-Tendinous Morphology Of Achilles Tendon In Runners, Kai-Yu Ho, Ari Baquet, Yu-Jen Chang, Lung-Chan Chien, Michelle Harty, Gregory Bashford, Kornelia Kulig

Physical Therapy Faculty Research

The purpose of this study was to determine and explore factors (age, sex, anthropometry, running and injury/pain history, tendon gross morphology, neovascularization, ankle range of motion, and ankle plantarflexor muscle endurance) related to intra-tendinous morphological alterations of the Achilles tendon in runners. An intra-tendinous morphological change was defined as collagen fiber disorganization detected by a low peak spatial frequency radius (PSFR) obtained from spatial frequency analysis (SFA) techniques in sonography. Ninety-one runners (53 males and 38 females; 37.9 ± 11.6 years) with 8.8 ± 7.3 years of running experience participated. Height, weight, and waist and hip circumferences were recorded. Participants …

Design And Architecture Of An Ontology-Driven Dialogue System For Hpv Vaccine Counseling, Amith Faheem Muhammad

Dissertations and Theses (Open Access)

Speech and conversational technologies are increasingly being used by consumers, with the inevitability that one day they will be integrated in health care. Where this technology could be of service is in patient-provider communication, specifically for communicating the risks and benefits of vaccines. Human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine, in particular, is a vaccine that inoculates individuals from certain HPV viruses responsible for adulthood cancers - cervical, head and neck cancers, etc. My research focuses on the architecture and development of speech-enabled conversational agent that relies on series of consumer-centric health ontologies and the technology that utilizes these ontologies. Ontologies are computable …

Designing High-Quality Implementation Research: Development, Application, Feasibility And Preliminary Evaluation Of The Implementation Science Research Development (Impres) Tool And Guide, Louise Hull, Lucy Goulding, Zarnie Khadjesari, Rachel E. Davis, Andy Healey, Ioannis Bakolis, Nick Sevdalis

Faculty Publications

BACKGROUND: Designing implementation research can be a complex and daunting task, especially for applied health researchers who have not received specialist training in implementation science. We developed the Implementation Science Research Development (ImpRes) tool and supplementary guide to address this challenge and provide researchers with a systematic approach to designing implementation research. METHODS: A multi-method and multi-stage approach was employed. An international, multidisciplinary expert panel engaged in an iterative brainstorming and consensus-building process to generate core domains of the ImpRes tool, representing core implementation science principles and concepts that researchers should consider when designing implementation research. Simultaneously, an iterative process …

Ewing Kauffman, Friend Of Kcu, Robyn Oro

Notes from the Archives

No abstract provided.

Laboratory Animal Welfare And Human Attitudes: A Cross-Sectional Survey On Heterospecific Play Or “Rat Tickling”, Megan R. Lafollette, Sylvie Cloutier, Colleen Brady, Brianna N. Gaskill, Marguerite E. O'Haire

Purdue University Libraries Open Access Publishing Fund

Introduction

Laboratory rat welfare is critically influenced by laboratory animal personnel through their implementation, or lack of implementation, of various enrichment techniques. One such promising technique is heterospecific play, or “rat tickling”, which mimics aspects of rat rough-and-tumble play and can contribute to improving welfare, but may be infrequently implemented. The theory of planned behavior can be used to study implementation by measuring intentions and beliefs about rat tickling, including behavioral attitudes (whether it is good or bad), subjective norms (whether there is social/professional pressure to provide it), and control beliefs (whether they feel in control of providing it). Therefore, …

Infertility In Muslim Refugees: A Review Of The Literature, Simone N. Reaves, Fern R. Hauck

Journal of Refugee & Global Health

Many couples worldwide are affected by infertility, which is defined as an inability to conceive after at least one year of regular unprotected sexual intercourse. Many Muslim and Middle Eastern societies place a high societal value on having children and therefore, couples who are unable to conceive for various reasons often find themselves feeling stigmatized and socially isolated. Muslim refugees living in the United States face additional challenges and barriers to care due to their refugee status. This review is a synthesis of existing literature that 1) identifies Islamic viewpoints on infertility and assistive reproductive technology (ART), 2) explores the …

Factors Associated With Full Immunization Coverage Among Children Up To 12 Months, Kakuma Mission Hospital, Turkana County, Kenya, Kevin Lomuria, Naomi Nyakio, Elvis Oyugi, James A. Ransom

Journal of Refugee & Global Health

The 2014 Kenya Demographic Health Survey showed that only 56.7% of children in Turkana County had received all recommended vaccines by 12 months of age, which is 12% below national and 24% below World Health Organization global coverage rates. This study aimed to identify factors that influence full immunization coverage (FIC) by 12 months of age in Kakuma Mission Hospital (KMH), Turkana County, in 2015. Kakuma is the site of a UNHCR refugee camp, established in 1969. Administration of vitamin A by 6 months of age and administration of measles-containing vaccine by 9 months of age were predictive of FIC.

Barriers To Health Among Idps In Kabul, Afghanistan: A Qualitative Study, Yagana Parwak, Madhavi Dandu, Rohini J. Haar

Journal of Refugee & Global Health

Background: Forced displacement is a significant problem for regions experiencing prolonged humanitarian crises due to armed conflict. Afghanistan, having experienced over four decades of conflict, has an estimated 1.2 million internally displaced persons (IDPs), a majority of which are concentrated in urban centers. IDPs have limited resources and face challenges accessing health services through traditional channels, leading to a disproportionate burden of morbidity and mortality. Health care facilities created for and existing within IDP camps also face numerous challenges. We aim to understand the structural factors that negatively impact health and the specific barriers to healthcare access for IDPs using …

Health-Seeking Behavioral Patterns Among Refugee Groups – A Case-Study In South-Central Kentucky, Chika Ejike, Grace Lartey, Randy Capps, David Ciochetty

Journal of Refugee & Global Health

Each year, thousands of people get displaced from their homes due to genocide, famine, civil wars and other crises in their countries. The United States has traditionally been receptive to resettling refugees. These refugees view resettlement as an opportunity to obtain proper health care. Due to the diverse cultural identities of refugee populations, it is essential to research complex culturally dependent healthcare utilization patterns. A purposeful sample of four refugees from the Burmese, Congolese and Iraqi refugee communities in south-central Kentucky- completed interviews. They shared experiences and insights from their cultural points of view. Results showed demographic factors directly impacted …

Writing For Sciences, Michael Coppola

Open Educational Resources

No abstract provided.

Imaging Of Glucose Metabolism By 13c-Mri Distinguishes Pancreatic Cancer Subtypes In Mice, Shun Kishimoto, Jeffrey R. Brender, Daniel R. Crooks, Shingo Matsumoto, Tomohiro Seki, Nobu Oshima, Hellmut Merkle, Penghui Lin, Galen Reed, Albert P. Chen, Jan Henrik Ardenkjaer-Larsen, Jeeva Munasinghe, Keita Saito, Kazutoshi Yamamoto, Peter L. Choyke, James Mitchell, Andrew N. Lane, Teresa W. M. Fan, W. Marston Linehan, Murali C. Krishna

Center for Environmental and Systems Biochemistry Faculty Publications

Metabolic differences among and within tumors can be an important determinant in cancer treatment outcome. However, methods for determining these differences non-invasively in vivo is lacking. Using pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma as a model, we demonstrate that tumor xenografts with a similar genetic background can be distinguished by their differing rates of the metabolism of 13C labeled glucose tracers, which can be imaged without hyperpolarization by using newly developed techniques for noise suppression. Using this method, cancer subtypes that appeared to have similar metabolic profiles based on steady state metabolic measurement can be distinguished from each other. The metabolic maps from …

Rna-Based Compositions And Adjuvants For Prophylactic And Therapeutic Treatment, Peixuan Guo, Hui Li, Emil F. Khisamutdinov, Daniel L. Jasinski

Pharmaceutical Sciences Faculty Patents

The present invention is directed towards an artificial RNA nano structure comprising multiple external strands of RNA, each external strand comprising about 40-50 nucleotides; one internal strand of RNA comprising more than about 50 nucleotides; the internal strands and external strands assembled to form a triangle nanostructure, a square nanostructure, or a polygon nanostructure and a pRNA three-way junction (3WJ) motif at each vertex of the nanostructure. Such nanostructure can be provided in a composition together with an adjuvant for use in inducing the production of high affinity neutralizing antibodies or inhibitory antibodies, inducing the production of cytokines, inducing an …

03-05-19 Hsc Committee Meeting Minutes, Hsc Committee

HSC Committee (A subcommittee of the UNM Board of Regents)

No abstract provided.

Rig-I-Like Receptors Direct Inflammatory Macrophage Polarization Against West Nile Virus Infection., Amy E. L. Stone, Richard Green, Courtney Wilkins, Emily A. Hemann, Michael Gale Jr.

College of Osteopathic Medicine (TUN) Publications and Research

RIG-I-Like Receptors (RLRs) RIG-I, MDA5, and LGP2, are vital pathogen recognition receptors in the defense against RNA viruses. West Nile Virus (WNV) infections continue to grow in the US. Here, we use a systems biology approach to define the contributions of each RLR in the innate immune response to WNV. Genome-wide RNAseq and bioinformatics analyses of macrophages from mice lacking either RLR reveal that the RLRs drive distinct immune gene activation and response polarization to mediate an M1/inflammatory signature while suppressing the M2/wound healing phenotype. While LGP2 functions to modulate inflammatory signaling, RIG-I and MDA5 together are essential for M1 …

01-08-19 Hsc Committee Minutes, Hsc Committee

HSC Committee (A subcommittee of the UNM Board of Regents)

No abstract provided.

01-08-19 Hsc Committee Meeting Minutes, Hsc Committee

HSC Committee (A subcommittee of the UNM Board of Regents)

No abstract provided.

05-07-19 Hsc Committee Meeting Minutes, Hsc Committee

HSC Committee (A subcommittee of the UNM Board of Regents)

No abstract provided.

Flavonoid Intake Is Associated With Lower Mortality In The Danish Diet Cancer And Health Cohort, Nicola P. Bondonno, Frederik Dalgaard, Cecilie Kyrø, Kevin Murray, Catherine P. Bondonno, Joshua R. Lewis, Kevin D. Croft, Gunnar Gislason, Augustin Scalbert, Aedin Cassidy, Anne Tjønneland, Kim Overvad, Jonathan M. Hodgson

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

Flavonoids, plant-derived polyphenolic compounds, have been linked with health benefits. However, evidence from observational studies is incomplete; studies on cancer mortality are scarce and moderating effects of lifestyle risk factors for early mortality are unknown. In this prospective cohort study including 56,048 participants of the Danish Diet, Cancer, and Health cohort crosslinked with Danish nationwide registries and followed for 23 years, there are 14,083 deaths. A moderate habitual intake of flavonoids is inversely associated with all-cause, cardiovascular- and cancer-related mortality. This strong association plateaus at intakes of approximately 500 mg/day. Furthermore, the inverse associations between total flavonoid intake and mortality …

05-07-19 Hsc Committee Meeting Minutes, Hsc Committee

HSC Committee (A subcommittee of the UNM Board of Regents)

No abstract provided.

04-02-19 Hsc Committee Meeting Minutes, Hsc Committee

HSC Committee (A subcommittee of the UNM Board of Regents)

No abstract provided.