Medical Specialties Commons^™

Clinical Placement Before Or After Simulated Learning Environments? A Naturalistic Study Of Clinical Skills Acquisition Amongst Early-Stage Paramedicine Students, Brennen W. Mills Mr, Owen Carter A/Prof, Cobie Rudd Prof, Nathan Ross Mr, Louise Claxton Mrs

eCULTURE

Background

There is conflicting evidence surrounding the merit of clinical placements (CP) for early-stage health-profession students. Some contend early-stage CPs facilitate contextualisation of subsequently learned theory. Others argue attending CP before attaining skills competency is problematic and should only occur after training in simulated-learning environments (SLE). The evidentiary basis surrounding the extent to which either is true remains limited.

Methods

First-year paramedicine students (n=85) undertook three days of CP and SLEs as part of course requirements. Students undertook CP either before or after participation in SLEs creating two groups (Clin→Sim/Sim→Clin). Clinical skills acquisition was measured via objectively-structured clinical examinations (OSCE) …

Using Eye Tracking, Time-To-Action, Heart-Rate And Perceived Task Difficulty To Assess Level Of Distraction And Performance Of Entry-Level Paramedicine Students In Low- Versus High-Fidelity Simulation, Owen Carter, Brennen W. Mills, Cobie Rudd, Natalie Strobel, Louise Claxton, Nathan Ross

eCULTURE

Introduction

There is limited research investigating the usefulness of high-fidelity simulations (HFS) for early-stage students. Some argue the additional expense of HFS over low-fidelity simulation (LFS) is unnecessary as early-stage students are too easily distracted by non-relevant stimuli inhibiting student’s ability to focus on the core task. However, the extent to which this is true is yet to be empirically tested.

Methods

First-year paramedicine students were randomly assigned to complete either a LFS or HFS involving a collapsed patient with an obstructed airway. Level of distraction was measured via eye-tracking, arousal via heart-rate (HR), task difficulty via the NASA TLX, …

Veraflo Negative Pressure Wound Therapy With Household Bleach For Refractory Driveline Infection In A Patient With Left Ventricular Assist Device., Amr Idris, Amanda Hart, Sarah Branam, Maya Guglin

The VAD Journal

Driveline infections and sepsis are amongst the most common causes of morbidity and mortality in a patient with a left ventricular assist device. In this case, we present a patient with a multi drug resistant pseudomonas aeruginosa driveline exit site infection. Initially, it was treated with dual antibiotics, followed by surgical debridement utilizing Dakin’s solution irrigation and standard negative pressure wound therapy. Wound healing was minimal determined by poor granulation appearance, unchanged size from surgical debridement, purulent drainage, and the wound base remained colonized with multi drug resistant pseudomonas aeruginosa. A novel treatment of VeraFlo negative pressure wound therapy in …

Targeted Dna Damage At Individual Telomeres Disrupts Their Integrity And Triggers Cell Death, Luxi Sun, Rong Tan, Jianquan Xu, Justin Laface, Ying Gao, Yanchun Xiao, Myriam Attar, Carola Neumann, Guo-Min Li, Bing Su, Yang Liu, Satoshi Nakajima, Arthur S. Levine, Li Lan

Markey Cancer Center Faculty Publications

Cellular DNA is organized into chromosomes and capped by a unique nucleoprotein structure, the telomere. Both oxidative stress and telomere shortening/dysfunction cause aging-related degenerative pathologies and increase cancer risk. However, a direct connection between oxidative damage to telomeric DNA, comprising <1% of the genome, and telomere dysfunction has not been established. By fusing the KillerRed chromophore with the telomere repeat binding factor 1, TRF1, we developed a novel approach to generate localized damage to telomere DNA and to monitor the real time damage response at the single telomere level. We found that DNA damage at long telomeres in U2OS cells is not repaired efficiently compared to DNA damage in non-telomeric regions of the same length in heterochromatin. Telomeric DNA damage shortens the average length of telomeres and leads to cell senescence in HeLa cells and cell death in HeLa, U2OS and IMR90 cells, when DNA damage at non-telomeric regions is undetectable. Telomere-specific damage induces chromosomal aberrations, including chromatid telomere loss and telomere associations, distinct from the damage induced by ionizing irradiation. Taken together, our results demonstrate that oxidative damage induces telomere dysfunction and underline the importance of maintaining telomere integrity upon oxidative damage.

Implementation Of Resident-Driven, Quality-Based Improvement Projects At A Single Academic Institution: Resident Value And Institutional Outcomes, Kathleen M. Lamb, Md, Randi E. Altmark, Rn, Bsn, Cnor, Adam P. Johnson, Md, Mph, Richard A. Burkhart, Md, Karen A. Chojnacki, Md, Facs, Scott W. Cowan, Md, Facs

Department of Surgery Faculty Papers

Significance

Finding a viable and sustainable methodology for resident involvement in surgical quality improvement is not only a GME requirement, but also imperative to patient care.

Dna Methylation In Ductal Carcinoma In Situ Related With Future Development Of Invasive Breast Cancer, Kevin C. Johnson, Devin C. Koestler, Thomas Fleischer, Panpan Chen, Erik G. Jenson, Jonathan D. Marotti, Tracy Onega, Vessela N. Kristenen, Brock C. Christensen

Dartmouth Scholarship

Background: Ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) is a heterogeneous, pre-invasive lesion associated with an increased risk for future invasive ductal carcinoma. However, accurate risk stratification for development of invasive disease and appropriate treatment decisions remain clinical challenges. DNA methylation alterations are early events in the progression of cancer and represent emerging molecular markers that may predict invasive recurrence more accurately than traditional measures of DCIS prognosis.

Results: We measured DNA methylation using the Illumina HumanMethylation450K array of estrogen-receptor positive DCIS (n = 40) and adjacent-normal (n = 15) tissues from subjects in the New Hampshire Mammography Network longitudinal breast imaging …

Inflammation Mediated Metastasis: Immune Induced Epithelial-To-Mesenchymal Transition In Inflammatory Breast Cancer Cells., Evan N Cohen, Hui Gao, Simone Anfossi, Michal Mego, Neelima G Reddy, Bisrat Debeb, Antonio Giordano, Sanda Tin, Qiong Wu, Raul J Garza, Massimo Cristofanilli, Sendurai A Mani, Denise A Croix, Naoto T Ueno, Wendy A Woodward, Raja Luthra, Savitri Krishnamurthy, James M Reuben

Department of Medical Oncology Faculty Papers

Inflammatory breast cancer (IBC) is the most insidious form of locally advanced breast cancer; about a third of patients have distant metastasis at initial staging. Emerging evidence suggests that host factors in the tumor microenvironment may interact with underlying IBC cells to make them aggressive. It is unknown whether immune cells associated to the IBC microenvironment play a role in this scenario to transiently promote epithelial to mesenchymal transition (EMT) in these cells. We hypothesized that soluble factors secreted by activated immune cells can induce an EMT in IBC and thus promote metastasis. In a pilot study of 16 breast …

Gallic Acid, A Phenolic Compound, Exerts Anti-Angiogenic Effects Via The Pten/Akt/Hif-1Α/Vegf Signaling Pathway In Ovarian Cancer Cells, Zhiping He, Allen Y. Chen, Yon Rojanasakul, Gary O. Rankin, Yi Charlie Chen

Pharmaceutical Science and Research

Gallic acid (GA), a polyphenol, is widely found in numerous fruits and vegetables, particularly in hickory nuts. In the present study, we found that gallic acid, a natural phenolic compound isolated from fruits and vegetables, had a more potent growth inhibitory effect on two ovarian cancer cell lines, OVCAR-3 and A2780/CP70, than the effect on a normal ovarian cell line, IOSE-364. These results demonstrated that GA selectively inhibits the growth of cancer cells. Gene expression was examined by ELISA and western blot analysis, and gene pathways were examined by luciferase assay. It was found that GA inhibited VEGF secretion and …

Inflammatory Muscle Diseases., Marinos Dalakas

Department of Medicine Faculty Papers

No abstract provided.

Efficacy Of Galactose And Adalimumab In Patients With Resistant Focal Segmental Glomerulosclerosis: Report Of The Font Clinical Trial Group., Howard Trachtman, Suzanne Vento, Emily Herreshoff, Milena Radeva, Jennifer Gassman, Daniel T. Stein, Virginia J. Savin, Mukut Sharma, Jochen Reiser, Changli Wei, Michael Somers, Tarak Srivastava, Debbie S. Gipson

Manuscripts, Articles, Book Chapters and Other Papers

BACKGROUND: Patients with resistant focal segmental glomerulosclerosis (FSGS) who are unresponsive to corticosteroids and other immunosuppressive agents are at very high risk of progression to end stage kidney disease. In the absence of curative treatment, current therapy centers on renoprotective interventions that reduce proteinuria and fibrosis. The FONT (Novel Therapies for Resistant FSGS) Phase II clinical trial (NCT00814255, Registration date December 22, 2008) was designed to assess the efficacy of adalimumab and galactose compared to standard medical therapy which was comprised of lisinopril, losartan, and atorvastatin.

METHODS: Key eligibility criteria were biopsy confirmed primary FSGS or documentation of a causative …

Caffeine Consumption Contributes To Skin Intrinsic Fluorescence In Type 1 Diabetes., Karen M Eny, Trevor J Orchard, Rachel Grace Miller, John Maynard, Denis M Grant, Tina Costacou, Patricia A. Cleary, Barbara H Braffett, Andrew D Paterson, Dcct/Edic Research Group

GW Biostatistics Center

Background: A variant (rs1495741) in the gene for the N-acetyltransferase 2 (NAT2) protein is associated with skin intrinsic fluorescence (SIF), a noninvasive measure of advanced glycation end products and other fluorophores in the skin. Because NAT2 is involved in caffeine metabolism, we aimed to determine whether caffeine consumption is associated with SIF and whether rs1495741 is associated with SIF independently of caffeine.

Materials and Methods: SIF was measured in 1,181 participants with type 1 diabetes from the Epidemiology of Diabetes Interventions and Complications study. Two measures of SIF were used: SIF1, using a 375-nm excitation light-emitting diode (LED), and …

Nf-Κb Regulation Of C-Flip Promotes Tnfα-Mediated Raf Inhibitor Resistance In Melanoma., Yongping Shao, Kaitlyn Le, Hanyin Cheng, Andrew E. Aplin

Department of Cancer Biology Faculty Papers

Targeted inhibitors elicit heterogeneous clinical responses in genetically stratified groups of patients. Although most studies focus on tumor intrinsic properties, factors in the tumor microenvironment were recently found to modulate the response to inhibitors. Here, we show that in cutaneous BRAF V600E melanoma, the cytokine tumor necrosis factor-α (TNFα) blocks RAF inhibitor-induced apoptosis via activation of NF-κB. Several NF-κB-dependent factors are upregulated following TNFα and RAF inhibitor treatment. Of these factors, we show that death receptor inhibitor cellular caspase 8 (FLICE)-like inhibitory protein (c-FLIP) is required for TNFα-induced protection against RAF inhibitor. Overexpression of c-FLIP_S or c-FLIP_L isoform decreased RAF …

Assessment Of Cardiovascular Physiology Using Dobutamine Stress Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance Reveals Impaired Contractile Reserve In Patients With Cirrhotic Cardiomyopathy., Francisco Sampaio, Pablo Lamata, Nuno Bettencourt, Sophie Charlotte Alt, Nuno Ferreira, Johannes Tammo Kowallick, Joana Pimenta, Shelby Kutty, José Fraga, Michael Steinmetz, Paulo Bettencourt, Vasco Gama, Andreas Schuster

Journal Articles: Pediatrics

BACKGROUND: Liver cirrhosis has been shown to affect cardiac performance. However cardiac dysfunction may only be revealed under stress conditions. The value of non-invasive stress tests in diagnosing cirrhotic cardiomyopathy is unclear. We sought to investigate the response to pharmacological stimulation with dobutamine in patients with cirrhosis using cardiovascular magnetic resonance.

METHODS: Thirty-six patients and eight controls were scanned using a 1.5 T scanner (Siemens Symphony TIM; Siemens, Erlangen, Germany). Conventional volumetric and feature tracking analysis using dedicated software (CMR42; Circle Cardiovascular Imaging Inc, Calgary, Canada and Diogenes MRI; Tomtec; Germany, respectively) were performed at rest and during low to …

Arthroscopic Transosseous Rotator Cuff Repair: A Prospective Study On Cost Savings, Surgical Time, And Outcomes, Luke S. Austin, Eric M. Black, Nicholas J. Lombardi, Matthew D. Pepe, Mark D. Lazarus

Rothman Institute Papers

Objectives: Health expenditures in the United States are outpacing national income, and affordability has become a major policy issue. Over 500,000 rotator cuff repairs (RCR) are performed annually in the United States making RCR a potential source of cost savings. Arthroscopic trans-osseous equivalent (TOE) repair using a double row of anchors has shown superior biomechanical strength compared to other techniques, but at a higher cost. The arthroscopic transosseous (TO) repair is a novel technique allowing arthroscopic rotator cuff repair to be performed without suture anchors. Arthroscopic TO repair may be a means to provide similarly excellent patient outcomes while lowering …

Carmen Pettapiece, D.O. Scrapbook 3, Carmen Pettapiece D.O.

Carmen Pettapiece, D.O. Scrapbooks

Scrapbook of personal papers and osteopathy-related materials from the collection of Carmen Pettapiece, D.O.

Sex Differences In Clinical Features Of Early, Treated Parkinson's Disease, Erika F. Augustine, Adriana Pérez, Rohit Dhall, Chizoba C. Umeh, Aleksandar Videnovic, Franca Cambi, Anne-Marie A. Wills, Jordan J. Elm, Richard M. Zweig, Lisa M. Shulman, Martha A. Nance, Jacquelyn Bainbridge, Oksana Suchowersky

Neurology Faculty Publications

INTRODUCTION: To improve our understanding of sex differences in the clinical characteristics of Parkinson's Disease, we sought to examine differences in the clinical features and disease severity of men and women with early treated Parkinson's Disease (PD) enrolled in a large-scale clinical trial.

METHODS: Analysis was performed of baseline data from the National Institutes of Health Exploratory Trials in Parkinson's Disease (NET-PD) Long-term Study-1, a randomized, multi-center, double-blind, placebo-controlled study of 10 grams of oral creatine/day in individuals with early, treated PD. We compared mean age at symptom onset, age at PD diagnosis, and age at randomization between …

Meteorological Conditions, Climate Change, New Emerging Factors, And Asthma And Related Allergic Disorders. A Statement Of The World Allergy Organization., Gennaro D'Amato, Stephen T. Holgate, Ruby Pawankar, Dennis K. Ledford, Lorenzo Cecchi, Mona Al-Ahmad, Fatma Al-Enezi, Saleh Al-Muhsen, Ignacio Ansotegui, Carlos E. Baena-Cagnani, David J. Baker, Hasan Bayram, Karl Christian Bergmann, Louis-Philippe Boulet, Jeroen T M Buters, Maria D'Amato, Sofia Dorsano, Jeroen Douwes, Sarah Elise Finlay, Donata Garrasi, Maximiliano Gómez, Tari Haahtela, Rabih Halwani, Youssouf Hassani, Basam Mahboub, Guy Marks, Paola Michelozzi, Marcello Montagni, Carlos Nunes, Jay Jae-Won Oh, Todor A. Popov, Jay M. Portnoy, Erminia Ridolo, Nelson Rosário, Menachem Rottem, Mario Sánchez-Borges, Elopy Sibanda, Juan José Sienra-Monge, Carolina Vitale, Isabella Annesi-Maesano

Manuscripts, Articles, Book Chapters and Other Papers

The prevalence of allergic airway diseases such as asthma and rhinitis has increased dramatically to epidemic proportions worldwide. Besides air pollution from industry derived emissions and motor vehicles, the rising trend can only be explained by gross changes in the environments where we live. The world economy has been transformed over the last 25 years with developing countries being at the core of these changes. Around the planet, in both developed and developing countries, environments are undergoing profound changes. Many of these changes are considered to have negative effects on respiratory health and to enhance the frequency and severity of …

Trna-Derived Short Non-Coding Rna As Interacting Partners Of Argonaute Proteins., Megumi Shigematsu, Yohei Kirino, Phd

Computational Medicine Center Faculty Papers

The advent of next-generation sequencing technologies has not only accelerated findings on various novel non-coding RNA (ncRNA) species but also led to the revision of the biological significance and versatility of fundamental RNA species with canonical function, such as transfer RNAs (tRNAs). Although tRNAs are best known as adapter components of translational machinery, recent studies suggest that tRNAs are not always end products but can further serve as a source for short ncRNAs. In many organisms, various tRNA-derived ncRNA species are produced from mature tRNAs or their precursor transcripts as functional molecules involved in various biological processes beyond translation. In …

Improving Early Infant Hiv Diagnosis In Kenya: Study Protocol Of A Cluster-Randomized Efficacy Trial Of The Hitsystem., Sarah Finocchario-Kessler, Kathy Goggin, Samoel Khamadi, Brad Gautney, Jacinda K. Dariotis, Charles Bawcom, An-Lin Cheng, Niaman Nazir, Catherine Martin, Andrea Ruff, Michael Sweat, Vincent Okoth

Manuscripts, Articles, Book Chapters and Other Papers

BACKGROUND: Early infant diagnosis among human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-exposed infants is a critical component of prevention of mother-to-child transmission programs. Barriers to early infant diagnosis include poor uptake, low retention at designated re-testing intervals, delayed test results, passive systems of communication, and poor linkage to treatment. This study will evaluate the HIV Infant Tracking System (HITSystem), an eHealth intervention that streamlines communication and accountability between the key early infant diagnosis stakeholders: HIV+ mothers and their HIV-exposed infants, healthcare providers, and central laboratory personnel. It is hypothesized that the HITSystem will significantly improve early infant diagnosis retention at 9 and 18 …

Nitric Oxide-Releasing Aspirin Suppresses Nf-Κb Signaling In Estrogen Receptor Negative Breast Cancer Cells In Vitro And In Vivo, Niharika Nath, Mitali Chattopadhyay, Deborah B. Rodes, Anna Nazarenko, Ravinder Kodela, Khosrow Kashfi

Publications and Research

Estrogen receptor negative (ER(−)) breast cancer is aggressive, responds poorly to current treatments and has a poor prognosis. The NF-κB signaling pathway is implicated in ER(−) tumorigenesis. Aspirin (ASA) is chemopreventive against ER(+) but not for ER(−) breast cancers. Nitric oxide-releasing aspirin (NO-ASA) is a safer ASA where ASA is linked to an NO-releasing moiety through a spacer. In vitro, we investigated anti-proliferation effects of NO-ASA (para- and meta-isomers) against ER(−) breast cancer cells MDA-MB-231 and SK-BR-23, effects on NF-κB signaling, and reactive oxygen species by standard techniques. In vivo, effects of NO-ASA were evaluated in a mouse xenograft model …

Burn Injury Alters The Intestinal Microbiome And Increases Gut Permeability And Bacterial Translocation, Zachary M. Earley, Suhail Akhtar, Stefan J. Green, Ankur Naqib, Omair Khan '15, Abigail R. Cannon, Adam M. Hammer, Niya L. Morris, Xiaoling Li, Joshua M. Eberhardt, Richard L. Gamelli, Richard H. Kennedy, Mashkoor A. Choudhry

Student Publications & Research

Sepsis remains one of the leading causes of death in burn patients who survive the initial insult of injury. Disruption of the intestinal epithelial barrier has been shown after burn injury; this can lead to the translocation of bacteria or their products (e.g., endotoxin) from the intestinal lumen to the circulation, thereby increasing the risk for sepsis in immunocompromised individuals. Since the maintenance of the epithelial barrier is largely dependent on the intestinal microbiota, we examined the diversity of the intestinal microbiome of severely burned patients and a controlled mouse model of burn injury. We show that burn injury induces …

Characteristics Of A Novel Treatment System For Linear Accelerator–Based Stereotactic Radiosurgery, Ning Wen, Haisen Li, Kwang Song, Karen Chin-Snyder, Yujiao Qin, Jinkoo Kim, Maria Bellon, Misbah Gulam, Stephen Gardner, Anthony Doemer, Suneetha Devpura, James Gordon, Indrin Cherry, Farzan Siddiqui, Munther Ajlouni, Robert Pompa, Zane Hammoud, Michael Simoff, Steven Kalkanis, Benjamin Movsas, M. Salim Siddiqui

Internal Medicine Faculty Publications

The purpose of this study is to characterize the dosimetric properties and accuracy of a novel treatment platform (Edge radiosurgery system) for localizing and treating patients with frameless, image-guided stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) and stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT). Initial measurements of various components of the system, such as a comprehensive assessment of the dosimetric properties of the flattening filter-free (FFF) beams for both high definition (HD120) MLC and conical cone-based treatment, positioning accuracy and beam attenuation of a six degree of freedom (6DoF) couch, treatment head leakage test, and integrated end-to-end accuracy tests, have been performed. The end-to-end test of the …

Inferring Interaction Type In Gene Regulatory Networks Using Co-Expression Data, Pegah Khosravi, Vahid H. Gazestani, Leila Pirhaji, Brian Law, Mehdi Sadeghi, Bahram Goliaei, Gary D. Bader

Publications and Research

Background

Knowledge of interaction types in biological networks is important for understanding the functional organization of the cell. Currently information-based approaches are widely used for inferring gene regulatory interactions from genomics data, such as gene expression profiles; however, these approaches do not provide evidence about the regulation type (positive or negative sign) of the interaction.

Results

This paper describes a novel algorithm, “Signing of Regulatory Networks” (SIREN), which can infer the regulatory type of interactions in a known gene regulatory network (GRN) given corresponding genome-wide gene expression data. To assess our new approach, we applied it to three different benchmark …

Toll-Like Receptors And Dectin-1, A C-Type Lectin Receptor, Trigger Divergent Functions In Cns Macrophages, John C. Gensel, Yan Wang, Zhen Guan, Kyle A. Beckwith, Kaitlyn J. Braun, Ping Wei, Dana M. Mctigue, Phillip G. Popovich

Spinal Cord and Brain Injury Research Center Faculty Publications

Spinal cord injury (SCI) activates macrophages, endowing them with both reparative and pathological functions. The mechanisms responsible for these divergent functions are unknown but are likely controlled through stochastic activation of different macrophage receptor subtypes. Various danger-associated molecular patterns released from dying cells in the injured spinal cord likely activate distinct subtypes of macrophage pattern recognition receptors, including bacterial toll-like receptors (TLRs) and fungal C-type lectin receptors (e.g., dectin-1). To determine the in vivo consequences of activating these receptors, ligands specific for TLR2 or dectin-1 were microinjected, alone or in combination, into intact spinal cord. Both ligands elicit a florid …

Altered Lysosomal Proteins In Neural-Derived Plasma Exosomes In Preclinical Alzheimer Disease, Edward J. Goetzl, Adam Boxer, Janice B. Schwartz, Erin L. Abner, Ronald C. Petersen, Bruce L. Miller, Dimitrios Kapogiannis

Sanders-Brown Center on Aging Faculty Publications

OBJECTIVE: Diverse autolysosomal proteins were quantified in neurally derived blood exosomes from patients with Alzheimer disease (AD) and controls to investigate disordered neuronal autophagy.

METHODS: Blood exosomes obtained once from patients with AD (n = 26) or frontotemporal dementia (n = 16), other patients with AD (n = 20) both when cognitively normal and 1 to 10 years later when diagnosed, and case controls were enriched for neural sources by anti-human L1CAM antibody immunoabsorption. Extracted exosomal proteins were quantified by ELISAs and normalized with the CD81 exosomal marker.

RESULTS: Mean exosomal levels of cathepsin D, lysosome-associated membrane …

A Self-Lysis Pathway That Enhances The Virulence Of A Pathogenic Bacterium, Kirsty A. Mcfarland, Emily L. Dolben, Michele Leroux, Tracy K. Kambara, Kathryn Ramsey, Robin Kirkpatrick, Joseph Mougous, Deborah Hogan, Simon Dove

Dartmouth Scholarship

In mammalian cells, programmed cell death (PCD) plays important roles in development, in the removal of damaged cells, and in fighting bacterial infections. Although widespread among multicellular organisms, there are relatively few documented instances of PCD in bacteria. Here we describe a potential PCD pathway in Pseudomonas aeruginosa that enhances the ability of the bacterium to cause disease in a lung infection model. Activation of the system can occur in a subset of cells in response to DNA damage through cleavage of an essential transcription regulator we call AlpR. Cleavage of AlpR triggers a cell lysis program through de-repression of …

Bacterially-Based Immune Challenges And Trauma Elicit Terminal Investment In Male Aedes Aegypti, Molly K. Schumacher

Theses and Dissertations

Investment in life history traits such as immune function and reproduction is constrained by finite available resources. A cost-of-immunity trade-off may occur in response to infection when resources are diverted away from reproductive effort and into an immune response. Alternatively, an infected individual may enhance reproductive effort to maximize terminal reproductive success in response to the survival threat inherent to infection (terminal investment). We measured male Aedes aegypti reproductive behavior following inoculations with: living bacteria; killed bacteria as an immune elicitor; and a sham control. Mating competitiveness relative to naïve males was also determined through a binary mate choice experiment …

Regression Of Gastric Cancer By Systemic Injection Of Rna Nanoparticles Carrying Both Ligand And Sirna, Daxiang Cui, Chunlei Zhang, Bing Liu, Yi Shu, Tong Du, Dan Shu, Kan Wang, Fangping Dai, Yanlei Liu, Chao Li, Fei Pan, Yuming Yang, Jian Ni, Hui Li, Beate Brand-Saberi, Peixuan Guo

Markey Cancer Center Faculty Publications

Gastric cancer is the second leading cause of cancer-related death worldwide. RNA nanotechnology has recently emerged as an important field due to recent finding of its high thermodynamic stability, favorable and distinctive in vivo attributes. Here we reported the use of the thermostable three-way junction (3WJ) of bacteriophage phi29 motor pRNA to escort folic acid, a fluorescent image marker and BRCAA1 siRNA for targeting, imaging, delivery, gene silencing and regression of gastric cancer in animal models. In vitro assay revealed that the RNA nanoparticles specifically bind to gastric cancer cells, and knock-down the BRCAA1 gene. Apoptosis of gastric cancer cells …

Performance-Based Tools For Assessing Functional Performance In Individuals With Mild Cognitive Impairment, Patricia Da Cunha Belchior, Melanie Holmes, Nathalie Bier, Carolina Bottari, Barbara Mazer, Alexandra Robert, Navaldeep Kaur

The Open Journal of Occupational Therapy

Background: It is now recognized that individuals with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) face subtle functional declines that can compromise performance in everyday tasks. However, it is still not clear how to capture these declines in the clinical setting. Thus, the goal of this study was to conduct a scoping review to identify performance-based tools for which the psychometric properties have been evaluated with the MCI population.

Methods: A scoping review of the scientific literature was performed with the guidance of a health science librarian in searching the MEDLINE, PsychINFO, CINAHL, and EMBASE databases from their inception until May 2014.

Results: …

Development Of A Biosensor-Based Rapid Urine Test For Detection Of Urogenital Schistosomiasis., Kathleen E Mach, Ruchika Mohan, Shailja Patel, Pak Kin Wong, Michael Hsieh, Joseph C Liao

Urology Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.