UIC Chancellor Receives $1.4 Million to Recruit Transfer Students in Sciences

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Newswise — Backed by a $1.4 million federal grant, the University of Illinois at Chicago will launch a new program to increase the number of underrepresented students who pursue degrees and research careers in the behavioral and biomedical sciences.

The five-year grant from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences, one of the National Institutes of Health, partners UIC with the City Colleges of Chicago in an effort to bolster recruitment, training, mentorship, and degree completion in health-related fields for students from underrepresented backgrounds.

Beginning in 2014, UIC’s Behavioral and Biomedical Sciences Bridges to the Baccalaureate Program will recruit 58 students, 18 in the first year and 10 in each of the remaining four years, who qualify to transfer to UIC from the City Colleges. Participants will pursue their UIC degree in one of three areas aligned with their research and career interests: nursing; public health; or liberal arts and sciences, in subject areas such as biology, chemistry, psychology or physics.

“Researchers from underrepresented populations are in high demand, given persistent societal health disparities,” said UIC Chancellor Paula Allen-Meares, the grant’s principal investigator.

“As one of the most diverse universities in the nation, UIC is well-positioned, and eager, to offer this program that will give transfer students from underrepresented backgrounds the skills to be successful not only in their academic career, but as professional health scientists,” Allen-Meares said.

The program will offer students an intensive summer research skills workshop, an assigned research mentor, access to peer-tutors, and support for science and academic skill development through group activities. A health science conference is also being planned.

Students selected for the program will begin preparation for baccalaureate studies at the conclusion of their freshman year.

The program’s public health track seeks to advance knowledge and skills not only in basic sciences, but in two disciplines — epidemiology and biostatistics — that are considered critical to understanding public health problems.

Students who bridge to the undergraduate nursing program will be trained in research methods and statistical analysis along with skills in managing the health-care needs of individuals and communities.

Students in any of the liberal arts and sciences subject areas will prepare for professional and graduate study in diverse specialties such as cancer biology, tissue engineering and neuroscience.

“This program will enhance the students’ basic research skills, such as quantitative and qualitative analysis, critical thinking and innovation,” Allen-Meares said. ”These skills, and the capacity for leadership and collaboration, will be gained by working alongside faculty members in their respective programs.”

Retention and graduation rates will be tracked during and after the funding period to gauge the success of the program’s student support system.

The participants’ educational and career paths after graduation will be followed to gauge the program’s success in elevating the number of students from underrepresented backgrounds that enter graduate programs, receive doctoral degrees and pursue research careers.
The program also aims to foster collaborations and professional development opportunities between UIC and City Colleges of Chicago faculty that will enhance the educational experience for participating students, Allen-Meares said.

Current partnerships between UIC and the City Colleges include the Guaranteed Admission Transfer program, which offers City Colleges students guaranteed undergraduate admission to UIC after successful completion of their first two years of college, and a NIH-sponsored Bridges to the Doctorate for Minority Nursing Students program in the UIC College of Nursing.

The new program is also tied to UIC’s role directing the Illinois State Board of Education’s Health Science Learning Exchange, which began in 2012 as part of a $10.3 million public-private partnership to better prepare Illinois students for careers in science, technology, engineering and math fields. Allen-Meares and Bruce C. Neimeyer, associate vice chancellor for special programs, are co-investigators for a five-year $833,090 grant from the Department of Education to coordinate the exchange’s statewide network of businesses, employer associations, education partners, and other stakeholders.

Co-investigators on the new National Institute of General Medical Sciences grant include Neimeyer, Karin Opacich, Brian Kay, and Julie Zerwic of UIC and Michael Davis of the City Colleges of Chicago.

The City Colleges of Chicago is the largest community college system in Illinois and one of the largest in the nation, with 5,800 faculty and staff serving 120,000 students annually at seven colleges city-wide.

UIC ranks among the nation’s leading research universities and is Chicago’s largest university with 27,500 students, 12,000 faculty and staff, 15 colleges and the state’s major public medical center. A hallmark of the campus is the Great Cities Commitment, through which UIC faculty, students and staff engage with community, corporate, foundation and government partners to improve the quality of life in metropolitan areas around the world.

More about UIC.

Contact Lens Discomfort: What Is It, Why Does It Occur and How Can It Be Treated?

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Newswise — BOSTON, MA, October 21, 2013 – Contact lens discomfort (CLD) may be the leading cause of patient dissatisfaction with, and discontinuation of, contact lens wear throughout the world — but there is little agreement among vision researchers and eye care professionals about how to define and manage its causes.

“Up to half of all contact lens wearers experience CLD,” explained Jason J. Nichols, OD, MPH, PhD, Professor at the University of Houston College of Optometry. “However, there is no global consensus concerning the definition, classification, epidemiology, pathophysiology, diagnosis, management and the proper design of clinical studies for CLD.”

To lay the groundwork for defining and treating this widespread issue, the Tear Film & Ocular Surface Society (TFOS; www.tearfilm.org) organized the TFOS International Workshop on Contact Lens Discomfort (CLD), which was chaired by Nichols. The findings were reported Friday in the current issue of journal Investigative Ophthalmology & Visual Science (www.iovs.org).

The CLD Workshop took 18 months to complete and involved 79 experts from around the world. “Workshop participants used an evidence-based approach and a process of open communication, dialogue, and transparency in order to achieve a global consensus concerning multiple aspects of CLD,” noted Mark Willcox, PhD, FBCLA, FAAO, MASM, Professor, School of Optometry & Vision Science, University of New South Wales, and Vice-Chair of the Workshop.

“This TFOS report will significantly increase awareness of factors that may, and may not, contribute to the generation of CLD. Ideally, this TFOS report will stimulate innovative research in this very important field,” commented David A. Sullivan, MS, PhD, FARVO,

Founder and recent past TFOS President, Senior Scientist, Schepens Eye Research Institute/Harvard Medical School and Organizer of the TFOS CLD Workshop.

The TFOS International Workshop on Contact Lens Discomfort Report is freely available to scientists and clinicians worldwide. Complete or partial translations of the report will be offered in numerous languages.

Interviews can be scheduled by emailing Amy Gallant Sullivan: Amy@TearFilm.org

About the Tear Film & Ocular Surface Society

Founded in 2000, The Tear Film & Ocular Surface Society (TFOS) is a world leader in eye health education headquartered in Boston that's dedicated to advancing the research, literacy and educational aspects of the scientific field of the eye’s surface. The TFOS network includes basic scientists, academic clinicians and industry representatives originating from more than 80 countries. The society has published The TFOS International Dry Eye Workshop (DEWS 2007), The TFOS International Report on Meibomian Gland Dysfunction (MGD 2011) and the TFOS International Workshop on Contact Lens Discomfort (CLD 2013). More information about TFOS and these reports are available at www.TearFilm.org.

Please note: TFOS received support for this Workshop from Alcon, Allergan, Bausch & Lomb, Santen, Menicon, Vistakon, Laboratoies Théa, Optima Pharmazeutische, OCULUS, CooperVision and Contact Lens Spectrum.

About IOVS
The peer-reviewed journal Investigative Ophthalmology & Visual Science (IOVS) publishes results from original hypothesis-based clinical and laboratory research studies, as well as Reviews, Perspectives, and Special Issues. IOVS 2012 Impact Factor ranks No. 5 out of 58 among ophthalmology journals. The journal is online-only and articles are published daily. IOVS is published by the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO), the largest eye and vision research organization in the world. Members include more than 12,000 eye and vision researchers from over 80 countries. ARVO advances research worldwide into understanding the visual system and preventing, treating and curing its disorders.

Hitchhiking Virus Confirms Saga of Ancient Human Migration

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Newswise — MADISON, Wis. — A study of the full genetic code of a common human virus offers a dramatic confirmation of the “out-of-Africa” pattern of human migration, which had previously been documented by anthropologists and studies of the human genome.

The virus under study, herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1), usually causes nothing more severe than cold sores around the mouth, says Curtis Brandt, a professor of medical microbiology and ophthalmology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Brandt is senior author of the study, now online in the journal PLOS ONE.

When Brandt and co-authors Aaron Kolb and Cécile Ané compared 31 strains of HSV-1 collected in North America, Europe, Africa and Asia, “the result was fairly stunning,” says Brandt.

“The viral strains sort exactly as you would predict based on sequencing of human genomes. We found that all of the African isolates cluster together, all the virus from the Far East, Korea, Japan, China clustered together, all the viruses in Europe and America, with one exception, clustered together,” he says.

“What we found follows exactly what the anthropologists have told us, and the molecular geneticists who have analyzed the human genome have told us, about where humans originated and how they spread across the planet.”

Geneticists explore how organisms are related by studying changes in the sequence of bases, or “letters” on their genes. From knowledge of how quickly a particular genome changes, they can construct a “family tree” that shows when particular variants had their last common ancestor.

Studies of human genomes have shown that our ancestors emerged from Africa roughly 150,000 to 200,000 years ago, and then spread eastward toward Asia, and westward toward Europe.

Scientists have previously studied herpes simplex virus type 1 by looking at a single gene, or a small cluster of genes, but Brandt notes that this approach can be misleading. “Scientists have come to realize that the relationships you get back from a single gene, or a small set of genes, are not very accurate.”

The PLOS ONE study used high-capacity genetic sequencing and advanced bioinformatics to analyze the massive amount of data from the 31 genomes.

The technology of simultaneously comparing the entire genomes of related viruses could also be useful in exploring why certain strains of a virus are so much more lethal than others. In a tiny percentage of cases, for example, HSV-1 can cause a deadly brain infection, Brandt notes.

“We’d like to understand why these few viruses are so dangerous, when the predominant course of herpes is so mild. We believe that a difference in the gene sequence is determining the outcome, and we are interested in sorting this out,” he says.

For studies of influenza virus in particular, Brandt says, “people are trying to come up with virulence markers that will enable us to predict what a particular strain of virus will do.”

The researchers broke the HSV-1 genome into 26 pieces, made family trees for each piece and then combined each of the trees into one network tree of the whole genome, Brandt says. “Cécile Ané did a great job in coming up with a new way to look at these trees, and identifying the most probable grouping.” It was this grouping that paralleled existing analyses of human migration.

The new analysis could even detect some intricacies of migration. Every HSV-1 sample from the United States except one matched the European strains, but one strain that was isolated in Texas looked Asian. “How did we get an Asian-related virus in Texas?” Kolb asks. Either the sample had come from someone who had travelled from the Far East, or it came from a native American whose ancestors had crossed the “land bridge” across the Bering Strait roughly 15,000 years ago.

“We found support for the land bridge hypothesis because the date of divergence from its most recent Asian ancestor was about 15,000 years ago. Brandt says. “The dates match, so we postulate that this was an Amerindian virus.”

Herpes simplex virus type 1 was an ideal virus for the study because it is easy to collect, usually not lethal, and able to form lifelong latent infections. Because HSV-1 is spread by close contact, kissing or saliva, it tends to run in families. “You can think of this as a kind of external genome,” Brandt says.

Furthermore, HSV-1 is much simpler than the human genome, which cuts the cost of sequencing, yet its genome is much larger than another virus that also has been used for this type of study. Genetics often comes down to a numbers game; larger numbers produce stronger evidence, so a larger genome produces much more detail.

But what really jumped out of the study, Brandt says, “was clear support for the out-of-Africa hypothesis. Our results clearly support the anthropological data, and other genetic data, that explain how humans came from Africa into the Middle East and started to spread from there.”

The correspondence with anthropology even extends, as before, to the details. In the virus, as in human genomes, a small human population entered the Middle East from Africa. “There is a population bottleneck between Africa and the rest of the world; very few people were involved in the initial migration from Africa,” Brandt says. “When you look at the phylogenetic tree from the virus, it’s exactly the same as what the anthropologists have told us.”

The PLOS ONE paper is available at http://www.plosone.org/article/
info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0076267. These studies were supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health: R01EY07336 and R01EY018597.

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Ravichandran Named the Irene and Robert Bozzone '55 Distinguished Chair in the Lally School of Management at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

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Newswise — Troy, N.Y. – Information systems expert T. (Ravi) Ravichandran has been named the Irene and Robert Bozzone ’55 Distinguished Chair in the Lally School of Management at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. An endowed professorship is among the highest honors bestowed on a Rensselaer faculty member.

“Dr. Ravichandran is an internationally recognized expert in the fields of business strategy, information technology management, and supply chain management. Scholars in these fields recognize the strength and impact of his research, which positions Rensselaer and its students at the forefront of learning about and preparing for today’s global marketplace,” said Tom Begley, dean of the Lally School at Rensselaer. “We commend him on his appointment to the Irene and Robert Bozzone ’55 Distinguished Chair and look forward to his continued scholarly achievements in this new leadership role.”

The Bozzone Chair advances the management and technology program at the Lally School, and was established by colleagues of former Rensselaer Board of Trustees member Robert P. Bozzone ’55 to pay tribute to his exceptional career and accomplishments in building Allegheny Technologies Inc., into one of America’s outstanding corporations.

“Robert was a pioneer in leading his industrial company through the changes necessary to compete effectively internationally, and he has been a longtime loyal supporter of Rensselaer,” Begley said. “We are immensely pleased that we have the opportunity to honor the contributions of our Lally School faculty member through the efforts of Robert Bozzone.”

Ravichandran joined Rensselaer faculty in 1996 as an assistant professor at the Lally School. He was promoted to a full professor in 2009 and named associate dean for research at the Lally School in 2012.

“I feel honored to be awarded the Irene and Robert Bozzone ’55 Distinguished Chair, and would like to thank President Shirley Ann Jackson, Provost Prabhat Hajela, and Dean Tom Begley for the support I have received at Rensselaer,” said Ravichandran. “I look forward to continuing our efforts to build a pre-eminent business school at Rensselaer that creates and disseminates knowledge to leverage advanced management practices, analytical insights, and technology for the benefit of society.”

Ravichandran’s research focuses on the strategic implications of information technology, supply chain management, business-to-business electronic markets, innovation diffusion, and assimilation and organizational renewal/growth through innovation. This work examines how information technology creates value for firms and transforms organizations, industrial supply chains, and industries. His research has developed deep insights about how the competitive behaviors of firms are shaped by the information systems and about the mechanisms to facilitate the effective design, development, assimilation, and use of information systems within organizations and in value networks.

Ravichandran has published more than 100 research papers in leading academic journals and conference proceedings. He currently serves as a department editor for IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management. He has also served as an associate editor of Information Systems Research and an associate editor of MIS Quarterly.

Ravichandran also works closely with several large firms on IT strategy, supply chain management, and innovation management. He has had extensive business experience as a consultant to the Reliance Group, Bombay; as the assistant director of the National Productivity Council, India; and as a production manager in Flakt AB (now Asea Brown Boveri). He has also been a successful entrepreneur, starting an IT services firm.

Ravichandran received his doctoral degree in business administration with a focus on information systems from Southern Illinois University, Carbondale; a postgraduate diploma in industrial and systems engineering from the National Productivity Council in India; and a bachelor’s degree in production engineering from the University of Madras.
For more information about the Lally School of Management, visit: http://lallyschool.rpi.edu/.

For more information regarding Ravichandran and his research at Rensselaer, visit: http://lallyschool.rpi.edu/faculty/ravit.html.

Follow Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute on Twitter at: http://www.twitter.com/RPInews

For more story ideas, visit the Rensselaer research and discovery blog at: http://approach.rpi.edu

Breast Milk Protein May Be Key to Protecting Babies From HIV Infection

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Released: 10/16/2013 3:15 PM EDT
Embargo expired: 10/21/2013 3:00 PM EDT
Source Newsroom: Duke Medicine

Newswise — DURHAM, N.C. – A substance in breast milk that neutralizes HIV and may protect babies from acquiring HIV from their infected mothers has been identified for the first time by researchers at Duke Medicine.

The protein, called Tenascin-C or TNC, had previously been recognized as playing a role in wound healing, but had not been known to have antimicrobial properties. The discovery could lead to potential new HIV-prevention strategies.

Reporting in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences during the week of Oct. 21, 2013, the researchers describe how the TNC protein in breast milk binds to and neutralizes the HIV virus, potentially protecting exposed infants who might otherwise become infected from repeated exposures to the virus.

“Even though we have antiretroviral drugs that can work to prevent mother-to-child transmission, not every pregnant woman is being tested for HIV, and less than 60 percent are receiving the prevention drugs, particularly in countries with few resources,” said senior author Sallie Permar, M.D., Ph.D., assistant professor of pediatrics, immunology and molecular genetics and microbiology at Duke. “So there is still a need for alternative strategies to prevent mother-to-child transmission, which is why this work is important.”

Worldwide in 2011, an estimated 330,000 children acquired HIV from their mothers during pregnancy or birth, or through breastfeeding according to UNICEF. As international health organizations have set a goal of eliminating mother-to-child infections, researchers have worked to develop safe and affordable alternatives to antiretroviral therapy that can be used to block HIV transmission to infants.

Permar and colleagues focused on breast milk, which has long been recognized as having some protective quality that inhibits mother-to-child transmission despite multiple daily exposures over months and even years of nursing. Earlier studies had identified some antiviral properties in breast milk, but the majority of the HIV-neutralizing activity of breast milk remained unexplained. More recent studies pointed to a large protein that had yet to be identified.

In their study, the Duke team screened mature milk samples from uninfected women for neutralizing activity against a panel of HIV strains, confirming that all of the detectable HIV-neutralization activity was contained in the high molecular weight portion. Using a multi-step protein separation process, the researchers narrowed the detectable HIV-neutralization activity to a single protein, and identified it as TNC.

“TNC is a component of the extracellular matrix that is integral to how tissues hold themselves together,” Permar said, noting that co-author Harold Erickson, Ph.D., professor of cell biology at Duke, was among the first to identify and describe TNC in the 1980s. “This is a protein involved during wound healing, playing a role in tissue repair. It is also known to be important in fetal development, but its reason for being a component of breast milk or its antiviral properties had never been described.”

Further analysis described how TNC works against HIV by blocking virus entry. The protein is uniquely effective in capturing virus particles and neutralizes the virus, specifically binding to the HIV envelope. These properties provide widespread protection against infection.

“It’s likely that TNC is acting in concert with other anti-HIV factors in breast milk, and further research should explore this,” Permar said. “But given TNC’s broad-spectrum HIV-1-binding and neutralizing activity, it could be developed as an HIV-prevention therapy, given orally to infants prior to breastfeeding, similar to the way oral rehydration salts are routinely administered to infants in developing regions.”

Permar said TNC would also appear to be inherently safe, since it is a naturally occurring component of breast milk, and it may avoid the problem of HIV resistance to antiretroviral regimens that complicate maternal/infant applications.

“The discovery of the HIV inhibiting effect of this common protein in breast milk provides a potential explanation for why nursing infants born to HIV-infected mothers do not become infected more often than they do,” said Barton F. Haynes, M.D., director of the Duke Human Vaccine Institute. “It also provides support for inducing inhibitory factors in breast milk that might be even more protective, such as antibodies, that would completely protect babies from HIV infection in this setting.”

In addition to Permar, co-senior author was S. Munir Alam. Other authors include Genevieve G. Fouda, Frederick H. Jaeger, Joshua D. Amos, Carrie Ho, Erika L. Kunz, Kara Anasti, Lisa W. Stamper, Brooke E. Liebl; Kimberly H. Barbas, Tomoo Ohashi, M. Arthur Moseley, Hua-Xin Liao and Harold P. Erickson.

The study was funded by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation Clinical Scientist Development Award; Duke University School of Medicine; Center for HIV/AIDS Vaccine Immunology; and the National Institute of Allergic and Immunologic Diseases (U19 AI067854) (K08AI087992) (CA047056).

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Lifestyle factors could put college-age women at increased risk of breast cancer

Newswise - Breast cancer prevention must become a conversation shared among women of all ages, as you can attack at any age and is usually more aggressive when diagnosed in women younger than 50 years. In the hope of awakening that discussion, Isabelle Mercier, PhD, Assistant Professor of research at the University of Sciences, compiled some tips of the awareness of key prevention for young women.

"Unfortunately, college-age women generally are not considered at risk for breast cancer," said Dr. Mercier. "However, there are several risk factors that contribute to the development of breast cancer that must understand early in life to prevent the development of the breast cancer in the road."

At the end of 2013, expected more than 230,000 new cases of invasive breast cancer being diagnosed in the United States of those cases, not survive approximately 40,000 people, said Dr. Mercier. Women in their 20s should be early be aware of some key risk factors associated with breast cancer:

(1) See its family tree. A family history of breast cancer, particularly in a mother or sister, may increase the likelihood of developing breast cancer. Genetic tests are recommended for young women with prevalence of breast cancer in their families.

(2) Care for their weight. Obesity is responsible for up to 20 percent of the deaths associated with cancer in women. Being overweight or obese increases the risk of breast cancer through the creation of an environment conducive to cancer through the fat cells.

(3) Exercising regularly. Women striving for at least 2.5 hours of moderate, such as walking-intensity activity - reduce your risk of cancer of breast by 18 percent.

(4) Limit the consumption of alcohol. According to new research from the Washington University School of Medicine, if a woman an average of one drink a day increases your risk of breast cancer by 11 percent. Studies show that alcohol has estrogenic activity, thus promoting the growth of breast cancer cells.

(5) Visit yearly doc. Although mammograms are not recommended for women under 40 years of age, young women should still see their primary care physicians each year for the clinical breast exams. You are also encouraged to perform breast self-exam throughout the year.

(6) Limit the use of tobacco. Women who smoke have an increased risk of developing breast cancer, especially if they become smoking early in life. Smokers have increased levels of estrogen and testosterone that could disrupt the endocrine system of signalling in women and contribute to the development of these tumors.

An important part of the research of Dr. Mercier focuses on cancer prevention. The role of the intake of vitamin C in the development of breast cancer, progression, repetition and response to cancer therapy remains unclear. That is why Dr. Mercier and his research team are currently studying the role of dietary supplements in cancer risk, as well as assess new biomarkers for the early detection of breast cancer. He received his Ph.d. in Physiology and BS in Biochemistry from the University of Montreal. For assistance in making arrangements to interview Dr. Mercier, please contact Lauren Whetzel or Brian Kirschner.

At the University of Sciences, students embark on a challenging learning experience in a testing ground for successful professionals in science and health-related fields. A private institution dedicated to education, research and service, and distinguished as the first University in the nation's pharmacy, the University has produced leaders in science and health markets since its founding in 1821. Five universities in USciences students learn to Excel in scientific analysis and to apply their skills to improve health care in the lives of people around the world through such disciplines such as pharmacy, biology, chemistry, psychology, physics, physical therapy, business and political health of health. For more information, visit usciences.edu or Twitter @USciences.

Patients Report Doctors Not Telling Them of Overdiagnosis Risk in Screenings

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Newswise — A survey finds that most patients are not being told about the possibility of overdiagnosis and overtreatment as a result of cancer screenings, according to report in a research letter by Odette Wegwarth, Ph.D., and Gerd Gigerenzer, Ph.D., of the Max Planck Institute for Human Development, Berlin, Germany.

Cancer screenings can find treatable disease at an earlier stage but they can also detect cancers that will never progress to cause symptoms. Detection of these early, slow-growing cancers can lead to unnecessary surgery, chemotherapy and radiation, the authors write in the study background.

Researchers conducted an online survey of 317 U.S. men and women ages 50 to 69 years to find out how many patients had been informed of overdiagnosis and overtreatment by their physicians and how much overdiagnosis they would tolerate when deciding whether to start or continue screening.

Of the group, 9.5 percent of the study participants (n=30) reported their physicians had told them about the possibility of overdiagnosis and overtreatment. About half (51 percent) of the participants reported that they were unprepared to start a screening that results in more than one overtreated person per one life saved from cancer death. However, nearly 59 percent reported they would continue the cancer screening they receive regularly even if they learned that the test results in 10 overtreated people per one life saved from cancer death.

“The results of the present study indicate that physicians’ counseling on screening does not meet patients’ standards,” the study concludes.
(JAMA Intern Med. Published online October 21, 2013. doi:10.1001/jamainternmed.2013.10363. Available pre-embargo to the media at http://media.jamanetwork.com.)

Editor’s Note: This study was funded by the Harding Center for Risk Literacy at the Max Planck Institute for Human Development, a nonprofit research site. Please see article for additional information, including other authors, author contributions and affiliations, financial disclosures, funding and support, etc.

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