Faculty Bibliography

Thiazolidinediones (TZDs) are a class of drugs which improve insulin receptor sensitivity and reverse the insulin resistance typically seen in type 2 diabetes. Since most type 2 diabetics have too few receptors per body surface area, the TZDs are very useful drugs. The fact that patients on the remaining two TZDs (Avandia and Actos) can gain weight on these drugs is not news. To give just one example as it relates to TZDs, it is clear that controlling blood sugar is important in preventing diabetic end organ damage

in a regression setting, the partial correlation coefficient is often used as a measure of 'standardized' partial association between the outcome y and each of the covariates in x' = [x(1),...,xk]. a linear regression model estimated using ordinary least squares, with y as the response, the estimated partial correlation coefficient between y and x(k) can be shown to be a monotone function, denoted f(z), of the Z-statistic for testing if the regression coefficient Of x(k) is 0. When y is non-normal and the data are clustered so that y and x are obtained from each member of a cluster, generalized estimating equations are often used to estimate the regression parameters of the model for y given x. In this paper, when using generalized estimating equations, we propose using the above transformation f (z) of the GEE Z-statistic as a measure of partial association. Further, we also propose a coefficient of determination to measure the strength of association between the outcome variable and all of the covariates. To illustrate the method, we use a longitudinal study of the binary outcome heart toxicity from chemotherapy in children with leukaemia or sarcoma

The survey's senior author, Dr. Martin A. Makary, a surgeon at Johns Hopkins, said in an interview that surgeons had made ''little progress in the last 20 years'' in preventing needle stick injuries. And hospitals, he said, ''are not doing what they should to care for their own providers, their families and patients.'' Such an experience among surgeons in training ''traumatizes their psyche on top of the stress of residency,'' Dr. Makary said. ''They do not know whether to tell their significant other,'' he said, ''and if they do report it to hospital officials, they worry about being stigmatized.''

Another goal is to increase treatment of drug-resistant cases to 110,000 from about 15,000 in 2005. Such cases occur most commonly in Africa, Eastern Europe, China and India. An even more serious form, known as extremely drug-resistant tuberculosis, does not respond to any of the fluoroquinolone class and to at least one of three second-line drugs (amikacin, capreomycin and kanamycin) that are given by injection

There are about 450 laboratories in the world now that can detect drug-resistant tuberculosis, although many are not performing to capacity, Dr. Mario Raviglione, who directs the health agency's tuberculosis department in Geneva, said by telephone. Other countries may send teams to well-run laboratories elsewhere to learn how to determine the sensitivity and susceptibility of the bacteria isolated from each case to various drugs. Under the plan, all laboratories would perform 1.8 million cultures for tuberculosis in 2007 and 2.2 million in 2008, up from the estimated 200,000 in 2006. The laboratories would perform 750,000 drug-susceptibility tests in 2007 and 900,000 in 2008, up from 75,000 in 2005

An even more serious form, known as XDR-TB for extremely drug-resistant tuberculosis, does not respond to any of the fluoroquinolone class and to at least one of three second-line drugs (amikacin, capreomycin and kanamycin) that are given by injection. There are about 450 laboratories in the world now that can detect drug-resistant tuberculosis, although many are not performing to capacity, Dr. Mario C. Raviglione, who directs the health agency's tuberculosis department in Geneva, said in a telephone interview. Under the plan, all laboratories would perform 1.8 million cultures for tuberculosis in 2007 and 2.2 million in 2008, up from the estimated 200,000 in 2006. The laboratories would perform 750,000 drug susceptibility tests in 2007 and 900,000 in 2008, up from 75,000 in 2005

Radiologists sometimes made house calls, usually for patients bedridden with a fractured hip. Dad's ''black bag'' was a portable X-ray machine the size of a large suitcase and heavy. Use of portable X-rays was limited, because the radiation exposure time was long and the quality of the films seldom matched those taken in an office. X-ray films were developed in a darkened room with the type of chemical solutions used for camera film. A technician mixed fresh solutions daily, and they stank. Radiologists would give a preliminary ''wet reading'' after looking at the X-rays before they dried. The digital age has eliminated those steps by making X-ray film obsolete. ''The more experienced eye can take in a complex pattern of shadows and images almost at a glance and become instinctively sensitive to an abnormal contour or shadow,'' said Dr. Joseph T. Ferrucci Jr., the emeritus chairman of radiology at Boston University, whose radiologist father was one of my dad's colleagues

Heartland [Television Program] -- The premise: At St. Jude's Regional Transplant Center in Pittsburgh, transplant surgeon Nate Grant (Treat Williams) is having difficulty finding a heart that is the proper size and match for 14- year-old heart failure patient Leslie Walker. Grant's ex-wife Kate Armstrong (Kari Matchett) is the transplant coordinator, and she approaches the parent of a dying potential donor who turns her down. Walker's mother then attempts to overdose on her daughter's morphine so that her own heart can be used. Armstrong finally finds a match, Sarah Evans, 24, who is dying from car accident injuries, and obtains consent from Sarah's father. During the transplant operation, however, the harvested heart becomes ischemic (doesn't get enough oxygen), and after the operation, Walker develops an irregular heartbeat, for which she's given mechanical support as well as anti-rejection drugs. Grant considers performing a new transplant, but Dr. Bart Jacobs, former chief of surgery, recommends Grant give the current heart 'a chance to take.'

Chemistry was developed to synthesize the title series of compounds. The ability of these novel ligands to bind to the glucocorticoid receptor was investigated. These compounds were also tested in a series of functional assays and some were found to display the profile of a dissociated glucocorticoid. The SAR of the 6,5-bicyclic series differed markedly from the previously reported 6,6-series. Molecular modeling studies were employed to understand the conformational differences between the two series of compounds, which may explain their divergent activity. Two compounds were profiled in vivo and shown to reduce inflammation in a mouse model. An active metabolite is suspected in one case.