Faculty Bibliography

Arab immigrants living in the United States total between 1.5 million and 3.5 million, and have been growing in number each decade. New York's Arab population, at 405,000, ranks third in the U.S. after California and Michigan. Despite the large numbers, little health research has focused on this population. Data about the cancer incidence, mortality, and screening practices of Arab Americans is overwhelmingly lacking. To better understand the health care and cancer knowledge, attitudes, and beliefs of Arab American immigrants, five single-gender focus groups were convened with Arab men and women in New York City. Attention was given to factors that act as barriers to utilization of general health care services, and of cancer prevention, treatment, and support services. The data revealed the importance of providing culturally and linguistically appropriate health interventions in partnership with trusted community leaders, and the need for follow-up research of this understudied immigrant population

Online support groups (OSGs) may be a particularly promising option for immigrants. They can be a cost-effective method that easily addresses geographic isolation and immigrants' needs for privacy This article examines the viability of OSGs for Hispanic immigrants with breast cancer and the effectiveness of OSGs for the participants. The authors hypothesized that OSGs are a feasible mechanism for delivering support to Latina women with breast cancer, as immigrant Latinas with breast cancer in OSGs showed significant improvement compared to a control group on depression, in coping with pain, in quality of life, and personal growth. Of 85 potential participants approached, 68 Spanish-dominant speaking immigrant women with breast cancer were recruited into the Virtual Community for Immigrants with Cancer (VCIC). Forty-eight were randomly assigned to OSGs and 20 were assigned to a usual care control group. VCIC participants were grouped into OSGs with eight participants in each. Each group met for 90 minutes once a week for 30 weeks. The groups were facilitated by trained bilingual facilitators and issues of interest to the group were discussed, such as managing symptoms and side effects from medications, family concerns, and alienation. The dropout rate from the groups was 13%. The VCIC experiences suggest that OSGs are acceptable to and feasible for immigrant minorities, including those with limited English proficiency. While none of the outcome measures showed statistically significant change pre-post compared to the control group, statistical trends were noted suggesting beneficial impact on outcomes. When compared to the controls, the experimental had increases in seeing new possibilities (F = 2.81, P = .09) and increased feelings of strength (F = 3.59, P = .06).

Seizure-induced damage elicits a loss of hippocampal neurons mediated to a great extent by the p75 neurotrophin receptor (NTR). Proneurotrophins, which are potent apoptosis-inducing ligands for p75(NTR), were increased in the hippocampus, particularly in astrocytes, by pilocarpine-induced seizures; and infusion of anti-pro-NGF dramatically attenuated neuronal loss after seizures. The p75(NTR) is expressed in many different cell types in the nervous system, and can mediate a variety of different cellular functions by recruiting specific intracellular binding proteins to activate distinct signaling pathways. In this study, we demonstrate that neurotrophin receptor-interacting factor (NRIF) mediates apoptotic signaling via p75(NTR) in hippocampal neurons in vitro and in vivo. After seizure-induced injury, NRIF(-/-) mice showed an increase in p75(NTR) expression in the hippocampus; however, these neurons failed to undergo apoptosis in contrast to wild-type mice. Treatment of cultured hippocampal neurons with proneurotrophins induced association of NRIF with p75(NTR) and subsequent translocation of NRIF to the nucleus, which was dependent on cleavage of the receptor. Neurons lacking NRIF were resistant to p75(NTR)-mediated apoptosis in vitro and in vivo. In addition, we demonstrate some mechanistic differences in p75(NTR) signaling in hippocampal neurons compared with other cell types. Overall, these studies demonstrate the requirement for NRIF to signal p75(NTR)-mediated apoptosis of hippocampal neurons and that blocking pro-NGF can inhibit neuronal loss after seizures.

House [Television Program] -- It occurs in about 1 in 10,000 pregnancies, when an ectopic or extrauterine gestational sac finds its way beyond the fallopian tube into the abdominal cavity, where it attaches to the bowel or omentum (the fatty sheath over the bowel), to the wall of the pelvis, onto an ovary, or to the broad ligament that anchors the uterus in the pelvis

Evaluation of therapeutic agents for Friedreich Ataxia (FA) has been limited by a lack of adequate markers of disease progression. We assessed the capacity of health related quality of life (HRQOL) questionnaires to reflect disease status in FA. The SF-36 and several symptom-specific scales were administered to an FA cohort. Scores were compared with norms for the United States population, and to a disease-free control group of similar age and gender. FA patients had significantly lower SF-36 Physical Component Summary scores (PCS) and Physical Functioning Subscale (PFS) scores, and both PCS and PFS scores correlated significantly with disease duration and disability status. Mental Component Summary scores (MCS) did not differ between FA patients and controls. Among symptom-specific scales, scores for the Pain Effects, Bladder Control, and Modified Fatigue Impact scales were significantly worse among FA patients than controls, and generally correlated with markers of disease progression. Findings of this study are consistent with the phenotypic characteristics of FA, and suggest that HRQOL measures are potentially useful as clinical markers of disease status in FA.

RNA is the close chemical cousin of DNA, or deoxyribonucleic acid, the material in a cell nucleus that contains genetic code. These scientists found that snippets of RNA act as genetic regulators governing many activities in animals and plants. Scientists now have implicated micro-RNAs in viral infections, heart failure, cancer, other diseases and in normal functions like muscle action and blood cell specialization. At the time, many scientists were skeptical about the safety of lowering the amount of cholesterol because it was an essential body chemical. But by 1980, [Akira Endo]'s team found that the statin lowered the LDL, or 'bad' cholesterol level known as low-density lipoprotein, in the blood by 17 percent. The three winners in the basic research category were honored for expanding the versatility of RNA, long regarded as DNA's poor cousin. Previous scientific convention held that proteins, not RNAs, governed gene activity in animal cells

Dr. Endo, 74, was chosen for ushering in a new era in preventing and treating coronary heart disease, the leading cause of death in the United States and many other countries, said Dr. Joseph L. Goldstein, chairman of the 24-member scientific jury that selects the Lasker recipients

Community-associated methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (CA-MRSA) strains typically carry genes encoding Panton-Valentine leukocidin (PVL). We used wild-type parental and isogenic PVL-deletion (Delta pvl) strains of USA300 (LAC and SF8300) and USA400 (MW2) to test whether PVL alters global gene regulatory networks and contributes to pathogenesis of bacteremia, a hallmark feature of invasive staphylococcal disease. Microarray and proteomic analyses revealed that PVL does not alter gene or protein expression, thereby demonstrating that any contribution of PVL to CA-MRSA pathogenesis is not mediated through interference of global gene regulatory networks. Inasmuch as a direct role for PVL in CA-MRSA pathogenesis remains to be determined, we developed a rabbit bacteremia model of CA-MRSA infection to evaluate the effects of PVL. Following experimental infection of rabbits, an animal species whose granulocytes are more sensitive to the effects of PVL compared with the mouse, we found a contribution of PVL to pathogenesis over the time course of bacteremia. At 24 and 48 hours post infection, PVL appears to play a modest, but measurable role in pathogenesis during the early stages of bacteremic seeding of the kidney, the target organ from which bacteria were not cleared. However, the early survival advantage of this USA300 strain conferred by PVL was lost by 72 hours post infection. These data are consistent with the clinical presentation of rapid-onset, fulminant infection that has been associated with PVL-positive CA-MRSA strains. Taken together, our data indicate a modest and transient positive effect of PVL in the acute phase of bacteremia, thereby providing evidence that PVL contributes to CA-MRSA pathogenesis

The segment begins in the family's home, where Sears counsels the parents and the child, Joelle, on behavior modification techniques, including 'bedtime tickets' for a limited number of questions, hugs and times she can leave the room before mandatory sleep time.