Mentorship Across a Decade: From Early Career to Mid-Career

As a member of the editorial board of the Journal of Integrative Physiology, I was asked to share my reflections on mentoring. The way I functioned as a mentor when I was a junior faculty member was strongly shaped by the mentorship I received through my training years. The way I function as a mentor in my mid-career era has brought pearls from my training mentors but it has become unique to me as a person and a professional

Using a Cadaveric Model of Lumbar Scoliosis to Determine Optimal Patient Positioning for Reliable Bone Mineral Density Measures Using a Hologic DEXA Scanner

Introduction: Osteoporosis and osteopenia affect roughly 10 million and 43 million older adults, respectively, in the United States. The primary way to detect osteoporosis and osteopenia is through a bone mineral density (BMD) scan, as is often done using dual energy x-ray absorptiometry (DEXA). However, previous research shows DEXA to be unreliable when assessing BMD in individuals with lumbar scoliosis. The purpose of this study was to test the effect of spine orientation on the DEXA scanning bed on lumbar BMD measures, using a cadaver spine as a model. Methods: One female cadaver was dissected to the skeletal level. The articulating joints of the lumbar vertebrae were dissected and reattached to cause right lateral bending and a Cobb angle of 35 degrees, falling into the moderate scoliosis categorization. The cadaver spine was scanned in an identical location on the scanning bed five times each in 10 different orientations. The mean values from each position were calculated and compared across orientations through the Friedman non-parametric rank sum test, and standard error of the mean and coefficient of variation were calculated to assess reliability within each orientation. Results: Across the 10 orientations, mean BMD ranged from 0.634 and 0.965 g/cm3 (t-scores ranged from -0.7 to -3.7), and 95.6% of pairwise comparisons were statistically significantly different. However, across the five scans taken for each orientation, the standard error of the mean was ≤0.003 g/cm3 and coefficient of variation was ≤0.83%. A subanalysis with three spine orientations where the spine was moved up or down by 3 cm on the scanning bed (while maintaining orientation) had little effect on BMD (mean absolute difference ≤0.025 g/cm3). Conclusion: BMD data were highly reliable when scanned multiple times in the same orientation. However, changing spine orientation resulted in dramatic changes in BMD. Future studies should seek to identify methods to best replicate spine orientation in those with lumbar scoliosis to optimize reliability across multiple scans

Michigan Academician, Volume 49, Issue 3

Michigan Academician Volume 49, Issue

Temporomandibular Joint Osteoarthritis and Systemic Inflammation: A Cadaveric Study for Dental Insights

The objective of this study was to determine if gross signs of cadaveric osteoarthritis (OA) have a tendency to present systemically and if this presentation includes pathology found at the temporomandibular joint (TMJ). Signs of OA were then correlated to gross alterations of the aorta and common carotid arteries seen with atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease. Ipsilateral synovial joints including the TMJ, knee joint, radiocarpal joint and trapeziometacarpal (TMC) joint were all assessed for signs of OA in 4 cadaveric donors (3 males; 72, 82 and 92 years-old / 1 female; 89 years-old) using a validated scale of disease severity. A Grade 0-4 disease severity score was assigned to the condyle for each TMJ along with the femoral condyles, the distal radius, scaphoid, lunate, trapezium and base of the first metacarpal. Atherosclerosis was noted as absent, present or severe at each donor’s arch of the aorta, bifurcations of the aorta and common carotid arteries. The female donor was the only donor to demonstrate severe OA at all assessed joints. With each decade of life, male donors increased in average disease severity across their pool of assessed joints (Averaged Disease Severity Scores: Male 72- 2, Male 82 - 3.1, Male 92- 3.7). Scoring on TMJ condyles, regardless of sex or age, mirrored femoral condyle scoring. It may be hypothesized that females with Grade 4 OA at the knee, wrist and/or TMC joints may also experience Grade 4 TMJ OA based on the consistently severe scoring the female joints had for signs of OA. The presence of atherosclerosis was used as a marker for systemic metabolic or inflammatory conditions that can exacerbate OA progression. The female donor and the 82 years-old male donor were the only donors to present with severe atherosclerosis and both demonstrated these findings at two of the three assessed sites. In conclusion, systemic OA and holistic health deterioration may potentially present at a greater rate and severity of progression in females compared to males. Once males reach their 70s, they may begin to progress through the phases of OA degeneration that occur earlier in females, beginning at ‘Mild OA’ and progressing to ‘Moderate’ in their 80s and ‘Severe’ in their 90s. Female patients should be more carefully observed and managed for TMJ OA compared to men and their clinical history should be thoroughly evaluated and discussed in a holistic health fashion in the dental clinic. Presentation of OA in other joints or diagnosed vascular diseases may have strong correlation to a patient’s tendency to develop temporomandibular joint disorders (TMDs)

Michigan Academician, Volume 49, Issue 2

Michigan Academician Volume 49, Issue 2

Welcome to The Journal of Integrative Physiology

The Journal of Integrative Physiology is dedicated to the development of you, the student researcher as you learn to publish your scholarly works via the peer review process. We welcome your physiology related research studies that you conduct in conjuction with your faculty mentor

Michigan Academician, Volume 49, Issue 1

2024 Conference Abstract

2024 Honors Day Abstracts

oai:digitalcommmons.alma.edu:honors_day-100