Introduction to IPE: A School-Wide Orientation Initiative

Session Objectives: Present an innovative approach to orienting new students from various healthcare disciplines on Interprofessional Educa(on (IPE). Discuss strategies to shape incoming students’ attitudes toward working in teams. Discuss challenges and opportunities in coordinating a large-­‐scale IPE event. Synopsis Interprofessional experiences are a vital part of healthcare education, and early introduction can positively impact students’ attitudes and knowledge about their team members’ roles. While students at academic health centers (AHC’s) have opportunites to engage in IPE, such opportunites can be overwhelming given significant challenges to coordination and implementation. Addressing these challenges, an interprofessional team at Jefferson School of Health Professions in Philadelphia developed a large-­‐scale event where students could meet other healthcare students and be oriented to IPE as a community. This session discusses the pragmatic and conceptual challenges of the two month planning process of the orientation event, its implementation, and outcomes

Immunomodulation Targeting Abnormal Protein Conformation Reduces Pathology in a Mouse Model of Alzheimer's Disease

Many neurodegenerative diseases are characterized by the conformational change of normal self-proteins into amyloidogenic, pathological conformers, which share structural properties such as high β-sheet content and resistance to degradation. The most common is Alzheimer's disease (AD) where the normal soluble amyloid β (sAβ) peptide is converted into highly toxic oligomeric Aβ and fibrillar Aβ that deposits as neuritic plaques and congophilic angiopathy. Currently, there is no highly effective treatment for AD, but immunotherapy is emerging as a potential disease modifying intervention. A major problem with most active and passive immunization approaches for AD is that both the normal sAβ and pathogenic forms are equally targeted with the potential of autoimmune inflammation. In order to avoid this pitfall, we have developed a novel immunomodulatory method that specifically targets the pathological conformations, by immunizing with polymerized British amyloidosis (pABri) related peptide which has no sequence homology to Aβ or other human proteins. We show that the pABri peptide through conformational mimicry induces a humoral immune response not only to the toxic Aβ in APP/PS1 AD transgenic mice but also to paired helical filaments as shown on AD human tissue samples. Treated APP/PS1 mice had a cognitive benefit compared to controls (p<0.0001), associated with a reduction in the amyloid burden (p = 0.0001) and Aβ40/42 levels, as well as reduced Aβ oligomer levels. This type of immunomodulation has the potential to be a universal β-sheet disrupter, which could be useful for the prevention or treatment of a wide range of neurodegenerative diseases

Interferon-gamma and tumour necrosis factor production in patients with Helicobacter pylori infection

The production of the cytokines, interferon-gamma and tumour necrosis factor by human antral mucosa cells and stimulated peripheral blood mononuclear cells were determined by enzyme linked immunosorbent assay and L929 bioassay respectively. Tumour necrosis factor production by peripheral blood mononuclear cells in response to Helicobacter pylori stimulation was depressed in Helicobacter pylori positive individuals, compared to Helicobacter pylori negative individuals (