IUPUI Research Day 2013

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https://hdl.handle.net/1805/4887

A program book describing the Research Day 2013 events and posters is available from: http://hdl.handle.net/1805/4914.

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Regulation of EVI5, VEGF and P53bp2 during Amphibian Limb Regeneration
(Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research, 2013-04-05) Elkhatib, Wiaam
Understanding limb regeneration on a molecular level could lead to new methods of healing for humans, therefore revolutionizing current medical treatments. The axolotl salamander possesses capabilities of limb regeneration that are lost in the Xenopus laevis froglet. The hypothesized reason is that elevated levels of EVI5 (ecotropic viral integration site 5) binding protein allow the axolotl to regenerate by delaying the mitosis of dedifferentiated cells until they have established a blastema. VEGF (vascular endothelial growth factor) and P53bp2 (tumor protein 53 binding protein 2) genes also take part in this process by stimulating blood vessel formation and regulating apoptosis and cell growth in regenerated tissue. The objective of this study is to clone EVI5, VEGF, and P53BP2 cDNA that can be used to detect their mRNA transcripts during limb regeneration in the axolotl and Xenopus laevis. To accomplish this, RNA is extracted from axolotl and Xenopus laevis limb tissue using an RNeasy kit. Total RNA concentration is then measured spectrophotometrically. RT-PCR (reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction) is used to clone the cDNAs, which are identified by Agarose gel electrophoresis and later sequenced for verification. It took half a year to get high enough RNA concentrations from both species’ tissues and then clone the three genes. The EVI5 band size was determined to be about 200bps, VEGF about 370bps, and P53bp2 about 500bps using the Agarose gel electrophoresis, signifying successful gene cloning. The long-term goal is to determine the role these genes play in limb regeneration with the aim of applying that knowledge to new medical treatments.
The Effect of Body Mass Index on Blood Pressure Varies by Race among Children
(Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research, 2013-04-05) Li, Zhuokai; Eckert, George; Tu, Wanzhu; Gupta, Sandeep; Carroll, Aaron; Pratt, J. Howard; Hannon, Tamara S.
The effect of adiposity on blood pressure (BP) intensifies as children become obese, and black children tend to have greater body mass index (BMI) and higher BP than age-matched white children. But few studies have compared the magnitude of the effect of BMI on BP in obese black and white children. We used a novel analytic technique to examine the influence of age and BMI on BP in children seen at a hospital-based obesity clinic. The study sample included 821 overweight and obese children (age and sex adjusted BMI% ranged from 87% to 100%; 306 males, 515 females, 362 blacks, and 459 whites). The mean age of the study subjects was 11.72 ± 3.48 years, the mean BMI was 36.22 ± 8.51 kg/m2, and the mean systolic and diastolic BP were 109.36 ± 16.10 and 69.99 ± 10.48 mmHg, respectively. In comparison, blacks and whites were similar in age (11.89 vs 11.58; p=0.197); while black patients had higher BMI (37.32 vs 35.34 kg/m2; p=0.0010), and higher systolic BP% than whites (58.71 vs 50.72 mmHg; p=0.00062). Semiparametric regression models showed that while age and BMI were significantly associated with systolic BP% in both race groups, black children had significantly higher BP% values as compared with white children of the same age and BMI (Fig 1 (a) and (b)). Although BP% values have taken into account the effect of age, there continued to be a significant effect of age on BP% in black children. In conclusion, among children referred for treatment of obesity, black children are at a significantly greater risk for having elevated BP as compared with their white peers of similar age and severity of obesity. Further research is needed to better understand this population-specific intensification of the adiposity effect on BP in obese black children.
Indiana Center for Intercultural Communication: Translating Health Discourse Research into Action
(Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research, 2013-04-05) Connor, Ulla
The Indiana Center for Intercultural Communication (ICIC) is a university-based research and service organization created to enhance links between the city of Indianapolis, the state of Indiana, and cultures/nations throughout the world. ICIC conducts internationally recognized research on language and intercultural communication and applies its expertise to benefit the wider community. The Center also offers group training programs and individualized tutoring in language for specific purposes and intercultural communication to students, faculty, medical residents, postdoctoral researchers, and business professionals in the community as well as international language educators. ICIC’s research focuses on health discourse from the perspective of intercultural rhetoric. The Center’s strong linguistic background provides a unique multimodal approach to the study of factors and forms of interaction and communication that impact medication adherence, risk comprehension, and patient disease management and decision-making. In keeping with the Signature Center Initiative mandate to conduct research that translates into practice, the results of ICIC’s research translate into action in the form of training to healthcare providers and guidelines for patient-tailored language and communication strategies. This poster features results from recent ICIC research projects, among them a study of linguistic indicators related to diabetes patient self-management and an intercultural analysis of sources of medical information in Spanish-speaking diabetes patients. Also featured are ongoing and future projects: a psychosociolinguistic study of patient voices to be applied to the development of patient-tailored messaging and the health-literacy oriented redesign of the Walther Cancer Center information portal for patients.
Paced Respiration for Vasomotor and Other Menopausal Symptoms: A Randomized, Controlled Trial
(Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research, 2013-04-05) Carpenter, Janet S.; Burns, Debra S.; Wu, Jingwei; Otte, Julie L.; Yu, Menggang
Background: Paced respiration has been internationally recommended for vasomotor symptoms (e.g., hot flashes, night sweats) despite limited empirical evidence. Objective: To evaluate efficacy of a paced respiration intervention against breathing control and usual care control for vasomotor and other menopausal symptoms. Design: A 16-week, 3-group, partially blinded, controlled trial with 2:2:1 randomization and stratification by group (breast cancer, no cancer) was conducted in a Midwestern city and surrounding area. Participants: 218 randomized women (96 breast cancer survivors, 122 menopausal women without cancer) were recruited through community mailings and registries (29% minority). Interventions: Training, home practice support, and instructions to use the breathing at the time of each hot flash were delivered via compact disc with printed booklet (paced respiration intervention) or digital videodisc with printed booklet (fast shallow breathing control). Usual care control received a letter regarding group assignment. Main Measures: Outcomes included hot flash frequency, severity, and bother (primary), hot flash interference in daily life, perceived control over hot flashes, and mood and sleep disturbances (secondary). Intervention performance, adherence, and adverse events were assessed. Key Results: There were no significant group differences for primary outcomes at 8- or 16-weeks post-randomization. Most intervention participants did not achieve 50% reduction in vasomotor symptoms despite demonstrated ability to correctly do paced respiration and daily practice. Statistically significant differences in secondary outcomes at 8- and 16-weeks were small, not likely to be clinically relevant, and as likely to favor intervention as breathing control. Conclusions: Paced respiration is unlikely to provide clinical benefit for vasomotor or other menopausal symptoms in breast cancer survivors or menopausal women without cancer.
Exercise Completed When Young Provides Lifelong Benefit to Cortical Bone Structure and Estimated Strength
(Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research, 2013-04-05) Warden, Stuart J.; Roosa, Sara Mantila; Hurd, Andrea L.; Fuchs, Robyn K.
Exercise induces greatest bone gains during growth, yet reduced bone strength is an age-related phenomenon. This raises the question of whether exercise-induced bone changes when young persist into adulthood. The current studies used Major/Minor League Baseball (MLB/MiLB) players to explore whether exercise-induced gains in humeral bone structure and strength accrued when young persist lifelong. MLB/MiLB players are a unique model as the unilateral upper extremity loading associated with throwing enables the contralateral side to serve as an internal control site and former MLB/MiLB players were consistently exposed to extreme loading reducing secular variations in exercise levels between generations. Dominant-to-nondominant (D-to-ND) differences in humeral cross-sectional properties in MLB/MiLB players were normalized to matched controls to correct for side-to-side differences due to elevated habitual loading associated with arm dominance. Exercise when young induced significant skeletal benefits, with active MLB/MiLB players having nearly double the estimated ability to resist torsion (polar moment of inertia, IP) in the humerus of their dominant arm. The cortical bone mass and area benefits of exercise observed in active MLB/MiLB players were lost in former MLB players following 40-49 years of detraining as a result of elevated medullary expansion and endocortical trabecularization. However, 42% of the total bone area benefit persisted following 50+ years of detraining and contributed to the maintenance of 24% of the benefit on IP. In MLB players who continued to exercise during aging, medullary expansion and endocortical trabecularization were reduced and there was maintenance of the cortical bone mass and area benefits of exercise. These cumulative data indicate: 1) the extreme plasticity of the growing skeleton to exercise; 2) that exercise when young has lifelong benefits on cortical bone size and estimated strength, but not bone mass, and; 3) exercise continued during aging maintains the bone mass benefits of exercise.
Research in Palliative and End-of-Life Communication and Training (RESPECT) Center: Year 3 2012-2013
(Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research, 2013-04-05) Hickman, Susan E.; Haase, Joan E.; Sachs, Greg
The mission of the Research in Palliative and End-of-Life Communication and Training (RESPECT) Center is to build a collaborative, interdisciplinary scientific community of researchers and clinicians to work together to advance the science of communication in palliative and end-of-life care across the lifespan. Center Goals: • Accelerate the development of innovative descriptive and intervention research trials relevant to communication and decision-making in children, adolescents, adults, and elders with serious and/or life-threatening illness • Develop new community partnerships for translational science to enhance palliative and end-of-life care research and practice • Create mentorship opportunities for developing scholars who will become the next generation of productive, passionate palliative and end-of-life care researchers The RESPECT Center is comprised of 19 faculty, 3 post-doctoral trainees and 3 staff members. Faculty meet twice a month to review and provide feedback to support the development of ideas and submission of research grants. In the 2011-2012 funding year, RESPECT Center faculty submitted 11 grants and received over $7.9 million dollars in funding, representing an increase of 21 % from the previous year. Additionally, faculty collaborated on the dissemination of findings and published XX articles on palliative and end-of-life care. The Center’s Visiting Scholar Series has hosted visits by 7 nationally recognized experts to consult with faculty and share their expertise with the community. On March 1, 2013, the RESPECT Center hosted a one-day statewide conference to bring together researchers and clinicians in Carmel, Indiana. The conference entitled, Translating Research into Best Practice: Improving Palliative and End-of-life Care, was attended by approximately 150 participants from 45 organizations. Finally, the RESPECT Center awarded 5 pilot study grants to help researchers develop critically important pilot data and continues to mentor developing scholars interested in the science of communication in palliative and end-of-life care.
Ethanol-induced Retinal Defects are Rescued by Retinoic Acid Supplement in Developing Zebrafish Embryos
(Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research, 2013-04-05) Muralidharan, Pooja; Sarmah, Swapnalee; Marrs, James A.
Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) is caused by prenatal alcohol exposure, producing a spectrum of defects including facial abnormalities, sensory (visual and auditory) deficits, impaired fine motor skills and learning deficits including mental retardation. Our laboratory has used a zebrafish model for FASD that exposes embryos to ethanol during early development (midblastula transition through somitogenesis). Children diagnosed with FASD frequently show severe eye defects ranging from small eyes, underdeveloped optic nerve, and cataract. Zebrafish embryos exposed to ethanol showed defects similar to human eye birth defects. Presence of ethanol affected the differentiation of many retinal cell types including, retinal ganglion cells and photoreceptors. We hypothesize that ethanol may affect retinal patterning by competing with Retinaldehyde dehydrogenase (Raldh), reducing retinoic acid (RA) synthesis and signaling. Co-treatment of embryos with ethanol and 10-9 M RA could rescue the photoreceptor and retinal ganglion cell differentiation defects in the retina. RA plays a crucial role in the dorso-ventral patterning of the retina, and the enzymes involved in RA biosynthesis are expressed in the ventral retina during mid-somitogenesis stage. Our experiments showed that ethanol exposure during that critical time window when Raldh is expressed in the ventral retina causes severe defects in retinal cell specification. No defects were induced by ethanol exposure at the earlier stages. Presence of RA during photoreceptor differentiation could rescue ethanol-induced photoreceptor differentiation defects. Future work will dissect molecular mechanisms underlying ethanol defects, including retinoic acid-mediated eye development mechanisms. Determining the effects of ethanol exposure on retinal morphogenesis and differentiation will help identify potential therapeutic targets for ocular defects in this regrettably frequent birth defect syndrome.
Carbon Dioxide Challenge and Hot Flashes
(Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research, 2013-04-05) Dorsey, Sarah E.; Carpenter, Janet S.
Little is known about the pathophysiology of menopausal hot flashes, although there appear to be many similarities between hot flashes and panic attacks. While hot flashes occur at random and are difficult to study, there is a method of testing panic attacks. A Carbon Dioxide (CO2) Challenge is a validated method that has been used to induce panic attacks in a laboratory setting. The aim of this study is to test whether a CO2 Challenge using inhalations of 20% and 35% CO2 can provoke a hot flash in menopausal women. We hypothesize that women who have many hot flashes each day (4+) will have a hot flash when exposed to the increased concentration of CO2 using this challenge. Six healthy women attended a study session lasting ninety minutes. In this placebo controlled, cross-over study, women inhale room air, 20% CO2 for 40 seconds, rest for 15 minutes, and 35% CO2 using a double-breath vital capacity inhalation. Anxiety was measured on a numeric rating scale (NRS) and a State Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI). Most participants have reported a hot flash within minutes of the CO2Challenge. There have been no significant changes in anxiety during the study. Findings provide evidence of the proposed link between hot flashes and panic.
Institute for American Thought
(Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research, 2013-04-05) IUPUI (Campus). Institute for American Thought
This poster will have images of recent volumes published by the critical editions being edited by the Institute for American Thought. Information will tell how long the critical editions have been in existence, how much funding has been received. The five critical editions of the Institute along with its two academic programs will be mentioned.
Wnt Signaling in Zebrafish Fin Regeneration: Chemical Biology Using GSK3b Inhibitors
(Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research, 2013-04-05) Curtis, Courtney; Sarmah, Swapnalee; Collins, Kayla; Chu, Shaoyou; Sato, Mas; Sanchez-Felix, Manuel; Marrs, James A.
Bone growth can be impaired due to disease, such as osteoporosis, and Wnt signaling pathways regulate bone growth. The parathyroid hormone (PTH) is therapeutic for anabolic bone growth (bone building), which activates Wnt signaling, leading to bone growth. GSK3b (glycogen synthetase kinase 3 beta) protein inhibitors activate Wnt signaling, including in bone growth models. Our study utilized a zebrafish model system to study Wnt activated fin regeneration and bone growth. Wnt signaling is the first genetically identified step in fin regeneration, and bony rays are the main differentiated cell type in fins. Thus, zebrafish fin regeneration may be a useful model to study Wnt signaling mediated bone growth. Fin regeneration experiments were conducted using various concentrations of GSK3b inhibitor compound for different treatment periods and regenerative outgrowth was measured at 4 and 7 days post amputation. Experiments revealed continuous low concentration (5-6 nM) treatment to be most effective at increasing regeneration. Higher concentrations inhibited fin growth, perhaps by excessive stimulation of differentiation programs. In situ hybridization experiments were performed to examine effects of Gsk3b inhibitor on Wnt responsive gene expression. Initial experiments show temporal and spatial changes on individual gene markers following GSK3b inhibitor treatment. Additionally, confocal microscopy and immunofluorescence labeling data indicated that the Wnt signaling intracellular signal transducer, betacatenin, accumulates throughout Gsk3b inhibitor treated tissues. Finally, experiments are underway to quantify phosphohistone-3 staining in regenerating tissue to measure effects of Gsk3b inhibitor on cell proliferation. Together, these data indicate that bone growth in zebrafish fin regeneration is improved by activating Wnt signaling. Zebrafish Wnt signaling experiments provide good model to study bone growth and bone repair mechanisms, and may provide an efficient drug discovery platform.

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