Investigating the Impact of the Deeper Learning Curriculum on High School Students\u27 Understanding of Drug Discovery

In the summer of 2014, 23 local high school students participated in a pipeline program on the campus of Cleveland State University. The program, entitled “Careers in Health and Medical Professions” (CHAMPS), serves to prepare college-bound students for careers in the medical field. CHAMPS utilizes a simulated drug discovery curriculum based on “Deeper Learning” (Jensen & Nicholsen, 2008) to provide the high school students with authentic hands-on research experience. There are four main goals in this program: increase awareness of medical careers, introduce knowledge related to drug discovery, build on students’ academic skills, and familiarize the students with 21st century skills. Three undergraduate student researchers were assigned to investigate these goals using a variety of methods, including surveys, individual and group interviews, and laboratory observations. General findings include participants were surprised at the source of drugs; their awareness of health and medical careers increased but their specific career did not change; and nearly all of the students possessed a proficient level of inter-personal skills, communication, and technology prowess.https://engagedscholarship.csuohio.edu/u_poster_2014/1009/thumbnail.jp

Loss of signal during intraoperative neuromonitoring of laryngeal nerves as a predictor of postoperative larynx paresis: Analysis of 1065 consequetive thyroid and parathyroid operations. Surgeons' algorythm (tactics)

During thyroid and parathyroid operations performed with laryngeal nerves neuromonitoring, a segmental or global loss of signal may occur. The most frequent cause of loss of signal – is tension of thyroid gland tissue and at the same time tension of the laryngeal nerves. There is no consensus if this complication arises regarding surgeon’s actions. Aim. Evaluation of predictive value of loss of signal during IONM regarding larynx paresis in postoperative period, and algorithm suggestion in case of loss of signal develops. Materials and methods. 1065 patients were operated on thyroid and parathyroid glands with neuromonitoring of laryngeal nerves. Neuromonitore C2 (Inomed, Emmendingen, Germany) was used. We evaluated frequency of loss of signal, described types of loss of signal, showed sensitivity and specificity of loss of signal and development of postoperative larynx paresis. Results. Loss of signal developed in 32 (1,9%) patients. More frequently loss of signal was detected at left side (p=0,01, χ2 = 4,2 OR=2,9). Sensitivity (Se)  of loss of signal and postoperative larynx paresis development reached 59,2%, specificity – 99,7% (Sp), positive predicitive value (PPV) – 91,4%, negative predictive value (NPV) – 97,8%. There are no statistically reliable differences in recovery periods of larynx function depending on type of loss of signal (segmental or global) (p=0,5). Conclusions. In most cases loss of electromyographical signal indicates injury of laryngeal nerves during operation on thyroid and parathyroid glands. When there is loss of signal in case of bilateral thyroid gland disease it is reasonable to make a decision to stop operation to prevent development of bilateral larynx paresis

Identification of Novel Epigenetic Markers of Prostate Cancer by NotI-Microarray Analysis

A significant need for reliable and accurate cancer diagnostics and prognosis compels the search for novel biomarkers that would be able to discriminate between indolent and aggressive tumors at the early stages of disease. The aim of this work was identification of potential diagnostic biomarkers for characterization of different types of prostate tumors. NotI-microarrays with 180 clones associated with chromosome 3 genes/loci were applied to determine genetic and epigenetic alterations in 33 prostate tumors. For 88 clones, aberrations were detected in more than 10% of tumors. The major types of alterations were DNA methylation and/or deletions. Frequent methylation of the discovered loci was confirmed by bisulfite sequencing on selective sampling of genes: FGF12, GATA2, and LMCD1. Three genes (BHLHE40, BCL6, and ITGA9) were tested for expression level alterations using qPCR, and downregulation associated with hypermethylation was shown in the majority of tumors. Based on these data, we proposed the set of potential biomarkers for detection of prostate cancer and discrimination between prostate tumors with different malignancy and aggressiveness: BHLHE40, FOXP1, LOC285205, ITGA9, CTDSPL, FGF12, LOC440944/SETD5, VHL, CLCN2, OSBPL10/ZNF860, LMCD1, FAM19A4, CAND2, MAP4, KY, and LRRC58. Moreover, we probabilistically estimated putative functional relations between the genes within each set using the network enrichment analysis