Intelligence and the Prediction of Academic Achievement in Closed-Head Injured Adolescents and Young Adults

The present study examined the relationship between intellectual, other neuropsychological variables and academic achievement in a sample of closed-head injured adolescents and young adults (N = 61). Specifically, severity of injury, crystallized ability and fluid ability were examined as to their prediction of academic achievement. Severity of injury was measured as length of post-traumatic amnesia. Crystallized ability was measured as the average of WAIS-R Information, Vocabulary and Comprehension subtests (age corrected standard scores). Fluid ability was measured as the average of WAIS-R Picture Completion, Block Design, and Object Assembly subtests (age corrected standard scores). Three mediation models are described examining the importance of crystallized and fluid variables in mediating between severity of injury and academic achievement. Crystallized ability was found to be a significant mediator as determined by a significant change in beta between the unmediated effect of PTA on achievement ([beta] = -.287; SE = .005, p \u3c .05) and the mediated effect ([beta] = -.031; SE = .004, p \u3e .1. Fluid ability was also found to be a significant mediator as determined by a significant change in beta between the unmediated effect of PTA on achievement ([beta] = -.287; SE = .005, p \u3c .05) and the mediated effect ([beta] = -.034; SE = .004, p \u3e .1. The difference score between crystallized and fluid variables failed the criteria to be considered as a significant mediator between severity of injury and academic achievement. Implications for these findings are discussed

Childish, offensive attack

I was shocked when I read the article Pink Jeans, in Wednesday\u27s paper. I am referring to the emotions expressed by John Sandblom when he wrote he would like to punch every gay, throw up on them and that they just aren\u27t any good anyway

The X-ray Luminosity Function Evolution of Quasars and the Correlation Between the X-ray and Ultraviolet Luminosities

We explore the evolution of the X-ray luminosity function of quasars and the intrinsic correlation between the X-ray and 2500\AA $\,$ ultraviolet luminosities, utilizing techniques verified in previous works and a sample of over 4000 quasars detected with Chandra and XMM-Newton in the range $0<z<5$. We find that quasars have undergone significantly less evolution with redshift in their total X-ray luminosity than in other wavebands. We then determine that the best fit intrinsic power law correlation between the X-ray and ultraviolet luminosities, of the form $L'_{\rm X} \propto ({L'_{\rm UV}})^{\gamma}$, is $\gamma=0.28\pm$0.03, and we derive the luminosity function and density evolution in the X-ray band. We discuss the implications of these results for models of quasar systems.Comment: 9 pages, 7 figures, updated to version published in Ap

Impaired Lymphocyte Proliferative Response to Mitogen in Alcoholic Patients. Absence of a Relation to Liver Disease Activity

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/66283/1/j.1530-0277.1988.tb00151.x.pd

Duodenal Ulcer, Hepatic Abscesses, and Fatal Hemobilia with Behcet's Syndrome: A Case Report

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/72312/1/j.1572-0241.1982.tb05907.x.pd

Critical Importance of Using FibroScan to Identify Patients with Cirrhosis in a Predominantly African American Patient Population

Introduction: Identifying patients with cirrhosis is complicated, but the availability of Transient Elastography by FibroScan for non-invasive assessment of fibrosis appears to have resolved this issue. The objective of our study was to use a Fibroscan database to identify patients with cirrhosis in our primarily African American Hepatitis C patients and to track outcome especially of patients with Hepatitis C (HCV). Methods: The electronic medical records of 79 out of the 332 individuals (24%) with a Fibroscan between 2014 and 2016 and a score of \u3e12.5 kPa laboratory values recorded, and etiology and outcomes evaluated. AST to Platelet Ratio Index (APRI) and Fibrosis-4 (FIB-4) scores were calculated. An APRI score \u3e0.7 and FIB-4 score \u3e3.25 was used for predicting advanced fibrosis. Results: Cirrhotic patients were 92% AA, 52% male, and the majority had Hepatitis C (92%). In patients who had FibroScan-defined cirrhosis, neither their APRI nor FIB-4 scores were as reliable as FibroScan for identifying cirrhosis. The lack of accuracy for APRI and FIB-4 was due to low serum-based scores in patients with early onset cirrhosis. Outcomes for patients with HCV who were treated or not treated were tracked using improvement in FibroScan scores, and development of decompensated cirrhosis. For patients who had a subsequent FibroScan performed after HCV eradication (SVR), there was a statistically significant improvement in fibrosis, as compared to the non-treated patients (p Conclusions: FibroScan is useful for evaluating for cirrhosis in a predominantly African American population, including regression of fibrosis after HCV eradication

In vitro thymosin effect on T lymphocytes in alcoholic liver disease

The in vitro effect of thymosin fraction 5, a thymic gland extract, on thymus-dependent lymphocytes was studied in 12 patients with alcoholic hepatitis (AH) and in 18 patients with compensated alcoholic cirrhosis (CAC). The baseline number and proportion of spontaneous rosette-forming T lymphocytes were significantly reduced in AH as compared to the controls. No such decrease was seen in CAC. When the lymphocytes of patients with AH were incubated in the presence of thymosin fraction 5, the subsequent number and proportion of rosette-forming T lymphocytes showed a significant increase. There was no significant reponse to thymosin in CAC or in control subjects. There appears to be a subset of immature T lymphocytes in patients with AH that is responsive to exogenous thymic factors with subsequent activation of the capacity to form spontaneous rosettes.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/23618/1/0000581.pd

Renal Safety and Racial Disparity in Patients on Antiviral Treatment for Chronic Hepatitis B

Background: Many African Americans (AA) are chronically infected with Hepatitis B (HBV). While antiviral therapy is highly effective, clinical trials suggest a treatment-related decline in kidney function is possible. Given that chronic HBV predominately affects Asians worldwide, most studies have contained few AA patients. We evaluated these treatment-related kidney function changes in our predominately AA patient population. Methods: From 225 HBV patients, we identified 42 patients who were not co-infected with HIV or HCV, had a recent visit, and at least one earlier visit (before Jan 2017). If on treatment with antivirals it must have been for at least 2 years. There were 27 AA (65%) and 15 non-AA (7 Asian, 6 Caucasian, 2 other). There were 24 patients on antiviral treatment and 18 patients not on treatment. Most patients were treated with tenofovir disoproxil fumarate (TDF; n= 19), with the remaining 5 treated with entecavir. Serum creatinine levels (mg/dL) and glomerular filtration rate (GFR; mL/min/1.73m2) were obtained from the earliest visit and the most recent visit. The average time between measurements was 7.4 years (range from 2-15; median 6.5). Results : The data in the figure below presents the average creatinine and GFR for all patients by race both before and after treatment. The p-value is for pairwise analysis of the change between the two visits. Patients treated with antivirals had nearly double the increase in serum creatinine as compared to untreated patients (treated: 0.091± 0.0439, p\u3c0.05; vs untreated: 0.047 ± 0.045, not significant). There was also a greater decrease in kidney function as defined by GFR for patients on treatment as compared to untreated patients (treated: -13.9 ± 5.0, p\u3c0.05; vs untreated: -11.3 ± 5.9, not significant). The creatinine increase was also significant in AA but not in non-AA (+0.76 for AA, p\u3c0.05; vs +0.11 for non-AA). Racial disparity for GFR was not as noticeable (-12.2/95.2= 13% decrease; p\u3c0.005 for AA, and -16.2/92.3= 18% decrease; p\u3c0.05 for non-AA). When limited to just TDF, the induced increase in creatinine (+0.10; p\u3c0.05) and the decline in GFR (-14; p\u3c0.005) were statistically significant. Conclusions: While few patients had a clinically relevant rise in creatinine and/or decrease in GFR to raise the issue of stopping medication, the value of continuing to monitor especially the AA patients on anti-viral treatment is revealed by our data. The data supports the counselling of AA patients that switching to the newer formulation of tenofovir alafenamide (TAF) which is associated with less renal toxicity than TDF should be strongly considered

Lymphocyte cytotoxicity in human liver disease using rat hepatocyte monolayer cultures

Isolated rat hepatocytes were used to determine the cytotoxicity of peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBM) from patients with alcoholic liver disease (ALD) and chronic active hepatitis (CAH). The specificity of the cytotoxic effect on liver cells was monitored using rat kidney cells. PBM from patients with CAH and ALD showed increased spontaneous cell-mediated cytolysis (SCMC) for hepatocytes. The SCMC against kidney cells was comparable for the patient groups and controls. Incubation of liver cells with antibody to human liver-specific protein significantly increased the cytotoxic activity of control PBM but did not block cytotoxicity by PBM of patients with CAH. Incubation of PBM from untreated CAH patients with thymosin fraction 5, a polypeptide extract of the thymus gland, significantly lowered cytotoxicity. Our findings suggest that rat liver cells provide a model for studies of cell-mediated immunity in human liver disease and that thymosin fraction 5 decreases the cytotoxic activity of sensitized lymphocytes in CAH.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/23186/1/0000113.pd

Crohn’s Disease and Treatment in a Predominantly African American General GI Clinic

Given the high percentage of African Americans (AA) in our GI clinics and the paucity of AA focused studies on Crohn’s Disease (CD), we assessed racial disparity of the disease and its treatment in our predominately AA patient population. Patient records were examined to determine the accuracy of the CD diagnosis and to obtain relevant information for characterizing patients’ characteristics and treatments. In addition to race, patients were also categorized by GI visits to distinguish between patients under long term care (three or more visits) and those being seen to establish care (one or two visits). The 146 CD patients were 55% male, 71% AA, and the average age at diagnosis was 28 years. Patients with 3 or more visits were not significantly different with respect to therapy as compared to patients with only 1 or 2 visits to GI. AA patients with multiple visits had higher C-Reactive Protein (CRP) early in their disease as compared to non-AA patients (40.7 ng/ml vs 18.8 ng/ml). Although Non-AA patients were more likely to be on combination therapy, the difference was not statistically significant (single therapy (AA 61% vs non-AA 56%); combination therapy (AA 29% vs non-AA 37%)). When improvement of CRP was used as the objective criteria of therapeutic efficacy of the current therapy, both AA and Non-AA patients improved in individual CRP, but only the AA improvement was statistically significant