New Partnerships for a New Generation

Objective:This poster will demonstrate how partnering with civic and community organizations to host a traveling exhibit helps the library reach beyond its primary clientele to: 1) heighten awareness of the historical roles of women physicians, 2) encourage young women to enter the medical fields, 3) promote medical librarians and library services, and 4) increase visibility of the medical school. Method:In the summer of 2004, a core group of library staff gathered to prepare the application to host the ALA/NLM traveling exhibit, “Changing the Face of Medicine: Celebrating America’s Women Physicians.” Once selected as a host site, the group reached out to a diverse mix of academic and administrative staff from across the Medical School, as well as members of the local community. This group became the formal steering committee to plan programming to accompany the exhibit, helping meet the educational and promotional goals set forth in the initial application. Some outreach events included movie nights at the public library, an essay contest for grade school students, a career day with Girl Scouts, a review of research in women’s health (WHI), etc. Promotional methods/vehicles included “save the date” postcards, flyers, posters, and coverage through area radio, television, and newspapers. Results:Seventeen events were held in conjunction with the Library’s hosting of the exhibit. During the six-week period, approximately 60,000 individuals visited the Library, more than 750 specifically devoted to viewing the display. Two hundred people from the medical school community and the public at large attended the opening ceremony, 100 area Girl Scout members participated in multiple educational events, local middle and high school students took part in an essay contest, and more than 100 people attended book signings, film screenings, and a dramatic performance about Elizabeth Blackwell. Six groups provided financial support of the exhibit, totaling more than $7,000. Conclusion:The exhibit encouraged new experiences for Library staff including collaboration, marketing and outreach to a wider audience. It introduced many first-time Library visitors to a valued local resource, helped develop relationships between medical school students and the public, and introduced a different and important historical perspective on medicine to all. Presented at the Medical Library Association Annual Meeting on May 20, 2007, in Philadelphia, PA

Methods for Fine Scale Functional Imaging of Tactile Motion in Human and Nonhuman Primates

In the visual and auditory systems specialized neural pathways use motion cues to track object motion and self-motion, and use differential motion cues for figure-ground segregation. To examine the neural circuits that encode motion in the somatosensory system, we have developed neuroimaging methods to study motion processing in human and nonhuman primates. We have implemented stimulus presentation paradigms to examine neural encoding of apparent motion percepts. These paradigms are designed to be compatible with fMRI, optical imaging, and electrophysiological methods, thereby permitting direct comparison of data derived across neurofunctional scales. An additional motivation for using a common tactile motion stimulation paradigm is to bridge two disparate bodies of work, that derived from neuroimaging studies in humans and another from neuroimaging, neurophysiological and neuroanatomical studies in monkeys. Here, we demonstrate that such an approach through the use of optical imaging and 9.4 Tesla fMRI experiments in monkeys, and 7 Tesla fMRI experiments in humans is effective in revealing neural regions activated by tactile motion stimuli. These methods span spatial scales capable of detecting 100 μm sized domains to those that would reveal global whole brain circuits. Armed with such capabilities, our long-term goals are to identify directionally selective areas and directionally se-lective functional domains and understand the global pathways within which they reside. Such knowledge would have great impact on our thinking regarding not only tactile motion processing, but also general strategies underlying somatosensory cortical processing

Predictive biomarker discovery through the parallel integration of clinical trial and functional genomics datasets

The European Union multi-disciplinary Personalised RNA interference to Enhance the Delivery of Individualised Cytotoxic and Targeted therapeutics (PREDICT) consortium has recently initiated a framework to accelerate the development of predictive biomarkers of individual patient response to anti-cancer agents. The consortium focuses on the identification of reliable predictive biomarkers to approved agents with anti-angiogenic activity for which no reliable predictive biomarkers exist: sunitinib, a multi-targeted tyrosine kinase inhibitor and everolimus, a mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) pathway inhibitor. Through the analysis of tumor tissue derived from pre-operative renal cell carcinoma (RCC) clinical trials, the PREDICT consortium will use established and novel methods to integrate comprehensive tumor-derived genomic data with personalized tumor-derived small hairpin RNA and high-throughput small interfering RNA screens to identify and validate functionally important genomic or transcriptomic predictive biomarkers of individual drug response in patients. PREDICT's approach to predictive biomarker discovery differs from conventional associative learning approaches, which can be susceptible to the detection of chance associations that lead to overestimation of true clinical accuracy. These methods will identify molecular pathways important for survival and growth of RCC cells and particular targets suitable for therapeutic development. Importantly, our results may enable individualized treatment of RCC, reducing ineffective therapy in drug-resistant disease, leading to improved quality of life and higher cost efficiency, which in turn should broaden patient access to beneficial therapeutics, thereby enhancing clinical outcome and cancer survival. The consortium will also establish and consolidate a European network providing the technological and clinical platform for large-scale functional genomic biomarker discovery. Here we review our current understanding of molecular mechanisms driving resistance to anti-angiogenesis agents, the current limitations of laboratory and clinical trial strategies and how the PREDICT consortium will endeavor to identify a new generation of predictive biomarkers

The State of the Region: Hampton Roads 2018

[From the introductory material] This is Old Dominion University’s 19th annual State of the Region report. While it represents the work of many people connected in various ways to the university, the report does not constitute an official viewpoint of Old Dominion, its president, John R. Broderick, the Board of Visitors, the Strome College of Business or the generous donors who support the activities of the Dragas Center for Economic Analysis and Policy. The report maintains the goal of stimulating thought and discussion that will ultimately make Hampton Roads an even better place to live. We are proud of our region’s many successes and the key role we play in national security. We also realize that it is possible to improve our performance. To do so, we must have accurate, objective information about “where we stand” so we can move to “where we want to be.

Locating the Social and Political in Secondary School Literacy

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/88064/1/RRQ.33.1.6.pd

Constructing a climate change logic: An institutional perspective on the "tragedy of the commons"

Despite increasing interest in transnational fields, transnational commons have received little attention. In contrast to economic models of commons, which argue that commons occur naturally and are prone to collective inaction and tragedy, we introduce a social constructionist account of commons. Specifically, we show that actor-level frame changes can eventually lead to the emergence of an overarching, hybrid "commons logic" at the field level. These frame shifts enable actors with different logics to reach a working consensus and avoid "tragedies of the commons." Using a longitudinal analysis of key actors' logics and frames, we tracked the evolution of the global climate change field over 40 years. We bracketed time periods demarcated by key field-configuring events, documented the different frame shifts in each time period, and identified five mechanisms (collective theorizing, issue linkage, active learning, legitimacy seeking, and catalytic amplification) that underpin how and why actors changed their frames at various points in time-enabling them to move toward greater consensus around a transnational commons logic. In conclusion, the emergence of a commons logic in a transnational field is a nonlinear process and involves satisfying three conditions: (1) key actors view their fates as being interconnected with respect to a problem issue, (2) these actors perceive their own behavior as contributing to the problem, and (3) they take collective action to address the problem. Our findings provide insights for multinational companies, nation-states, nongovernmental organizations, and other stakeholders in both conventional and unconventional commons

Intestinal microbiota in human health and disease: the impact of probiotics

The complex communities of microorganisms that colonise the human gastrointestinal tract play an important role in human health. The development of culture-independent molecular techniques has provided new insights in the composition and diversity of the intestinal microbiota. Here, we summarise the present state of the art on the intestinal microbiota with specific attention for the application of high-throughput functional microbiomic approaches to determine the contribution of the intestinal microbiota to human health. Moreover, we review the association between dysbiosis of the microbiota and both intestinal and extra-intestinal diseases. Finally, we discuss the potential of probiotic microorganism to modulate the intestinal microbiota and thereby contribute to health and well-being. The effects of probiotic consumption on the intestinal microbiota are addressed, as well as the development of tailor-made probiotics designed for specific aberrations that are associated with microbial dysbiosis

Identification of 12 new susceptibility loci for different histotypes of epithelial ovarian cancer.

To identify common alleles associated with different histotypes of epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC), we pooled data from multiple genome-wide genotyping projects totaling 25,509 EOC cases and 40,941 controls. We identified nine new susceptibility loci for different EOC histotypes: six for serous EOC histotypes (3q28, 4q32.3, 8q21.11, 10q24.33, 18q11.2 and 22q12.1), two for mucinous EOC (3q22.3 and 9q31.1) and one for endometrioid EOC (5q12.3). We then performed meta-analysis on the results for high-grade serous ovarian cancer with the results from analysis of 31,448 BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutation carriers, including 3,887 mutation carriers with EOC. This identified three additional susceptibility loci at 2q13, 8q24.1 and 12q24.31. Integrated analyses of genes and regulatory biofeatures at each locus predicted candidate susceptibility genes, including OBFC1, a new candidate susceptibility gene for low-grade and borderline serous EOC

Impact of COVID-19 on cardiovascular testing in the United States versus the rest of the world

Objectives: This study sought to quantify and compare the decline in volumes of cardiovascular procedures between the United States and non-US institutions during the early phase of the coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted the care of many non-COVID-19 illnesses. Reductions in diagnostic cardiovascular testing around the world have led to concerns over the implications of reduced testing for cardiovascular disease (CVD) morbidity and mortality. Methods: Data were submitted to the INCAPS-COVID (International Atomic Energy Agency Non-Invasive Cardiology Protocols Study of COVID-19), a multinational registry comprising 909 institutions in 108 countries (including 155 facilities in 40 U.S. states), assessing the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on volumes of diagnostic cardiovascular procedures. Data were obtained for April 2020 and compared with volumes of baseline procedures from March 2019. We compared laboratory characteristics, practices, and procedure volumes between U.S. and non-U.S. facilities and between U.S. geographic regions and identified factors associated with volume reduction in the United States. Results: Reductions in the volumes of procedures in the United States were similar to those in non-U.S. facilities (68% vs. 63%, respectively; p = 0.237), although U.S. facilities reported greater reductions in invasive coronary angiography (69% vs. 53%, respectively; p < 0.001). Significantly more U.S. facilities reported increased use of telehealth and patient screening measures than non-U.S. facilities, such as temperature checks, symptom screenings, and COVID-19 testing. Reductions in volumes of procedures differed between U.S. regions, with larger declines observed in the Northeast (76%) and Midwest (74%) than in the South (62%) and West (44%). Prevalence of COVID-19, staff redeployments, outpatient centers, and urban centers were associated with greater reductions in volume in U.S. facilities in a multivariable analysis. Conclusions: We observed marked reductions in U.S. cardiovascular testing in the early phase of the pandemic and significant variability between U.S. regions. The association between reductions of volumes and COVID-19 prevalence in the United States highlighted the need for proactive efforts to maintain access to cardiovascular testing in areas most affected by outbreaks of COVID-19 infection