Overview: The Future of Animal Agriculture in North America

Livestock Production/Industries,

The Future of Animal Agriculture in North America

Livestock Production/Industries, Q18,

Brain putamen volume changes in newly-diagnosed patients with obstructive sleep apnea.

Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is accompanied by cognitive, motor, autonomic, learning, and affective abnormalities. The putamen serves several of these functions, especially motor and autonomic behaviors, but whether global and specific sub-regions of that structure are damaged is unclear. We assessed global and regional putamen volumes in 43 recently-diagnosed, treatment-naïve OSA (age, 46.4 ± 8.8 years; 31 male) and 61 control subjects (47.6 ± 8.8 years; 39 male) using high-resolution T1-weighted images collected with a 3.0-Tesla MRI scanner. Global putamen volumes were calculated, and group differences evaluated with independent samples t-tests, as well as with analysis of covariance (covariates; age, gender, and total intracranial volume). Regional differences between groups were visualized with 3D surface morphometry-based group ratio maps. OSA subjects showed significantly higher global putamen volumes, relative to controls. Regional analyses showed putamen areas with increased and decreased tissue volumes in OSA relative to control subjects, including increases in caudal, mid-dorsal, mid-ventral portions, and ventral regions, while areas with decreased volumes appeared in rostral, mid-dorsal, medial-caudal, and mid-ventral sites. Global putamen volumes were significantly higher in the OSA subjects, but local sites showed both higher and lower volumes. The appearance of localized volume alterations points to differential hypoxic or perfusion action on glia and other tissues within the structure, and may reflect a stage in progression of injury in these newly-diagnosed patients toward the overall volume loss found in patients with chronic OSA. The regional changes may underlie some of the specific deficits in motor, autonomic, and neuropsychologic functions in OSA

A Partnership to Improve Health Care in Kosovo: Dartmouth Medical School and Kosovar nurses worked together on a two-year project to rebuild primary health care in the postconflict city of Gjilan

Partnership between a health municipality in Kosova, in the former Republic of Yugoslavia and Dartmouth Medical School, New Hampshire, to rebuild the primary care system after the war. The project, which included nurses from both countries, is described, focusing on the changing roles of nurses

Instruct. Influence. Inspire: The Blended Librarian and Schools

Blended learning is an integration of traditional and online instruction that provides educational opportunities to facilitate student achievement. An important aspect of blended learning is to ensure flexible access to library resources for both teachers and students. This presentation focuses on how Putnam County secondary school libraries provide resources and services that support blended learning. The session will emphasize methods to embed research into blended learning and will also incorporate tips, modeling and best practices that the librarians have found to be successful at various depths of integration

The validity and responsiveness of three quality of life measures in the assessment of psoriasis patients: results of a phase II study

BACKGROUND: Patient-reported outcome (PROs) measures are being used more frequently in investigational studies of treatments for moderate to severe plaque psoriasis. The objective of this study was to examine the relationships among the Dermatology Life Quality Index (DLQI), the Short Form 36 (SF-36), and the EuroQOL 5D (EQ-5D) and to assess their validity, responsiveness, and estimates of minimum important differences. METHODS: A Phase II, randomized, double-blind, parallel group, placebo-controlled, multi-center clinical trial assessed the clinical efficacy and safety of two doses of subcutaneously administered adalimumab vs. placebo for 12 weeks in the treatment of 147 patients with moderate to severe plaque psoriasis. This study provided the opportunity to evaluate the validity and responsiveness to change in clinical status of PROs instruments. Patients completed the DLQI, SF-36, and EQ-5D questionnaires at baseline and at 12 weeks. Blinded investigators assessed the Psoriasis Area and Severity Index (PASI) scores and the Physician's Global Assessment (PGA) scores of enrolled patients. The responsiveness of the measures to changes in the clinical endpoints from baseline to Week 12 was assessed. Estimates of minimum important differences (MID) were derived. All analyses were performed with blinded data; findings and conclusions were not biased based on treatment condition. RESULTS: The dermatology-specific DLQI was highly correlated to clinical endpoints at baseline and at Week 12, and was the most responsive PRO to changes in endpoints. Compared with the SF-36, the EQ-5D index score and VAS scores were generally more highly correlated with clinical endpoints, but displayed about the same degree of responsiveness. The most responsive SF-36 scales were the Bodily Pain and Social Functioning scales. Estimates of the MID for the DLQI ranged from 2.3–5.7 and for the SF-36 Physical Component Summary (PCS) score ranged from 2.5–3.9. CONCLUSION: This study provides support for the continued use of the DLQI and SF-36 PCS in the assessment of treatments for psoriasis. On the basis of the results from this trial, the EQ-5D should be considered as a general PRO measure in future clinical trials of patients with moderate to severe plaque psoriasis

Calibration and quality assurance for rounded leaf‐end MLC systems

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/134970/1/mp3517.pd