Web-based SBIRT skills training for health professional students and primary care providers.

The authors have developed and assessed 2 innovative, case-based, interactive training programs on substance abuse, one for health professional students on alcohol and one for primary care providers on screening, brief intervention, and referral to treatment (SBIRT). Both programs build skills in substance abuse SBIRT. Real-world effectiveness trials involving medical students (n = 10) and nursing students (n = 60) were completed; trials involving primary care providers (n = 65) are in progress during 2011.

Oral hygiene in scleroderma: The effectiveness of a multi-disciplinary intervention program.

Purpose: To investigate whether oral hygiene improves after persons with scleroderma received structured oral hygiene instructions and facial and hand exercises.

Methods: Seventeen persons with scleroderma received a baseline dental evaluation including an examination for decayed or missing teeth, calculus, sites that bleed upon probing, measures of oral aperture, and the Patient Hygiene Performance Index. Upper extremity functioning including strength, joint motion, and dexterity were also measured.

Developing a novel Internet-based psychoeducational intervention for dementia caregivers.

DementiaCareCentral.com is a new online intervention for family caregivers of individuals with Alzheimer's disease and other dementias. The website includes a combination of educational information, psychosocial and peer support tools, and interactive resources.

Developing an Internet-based practice tool to assist physicians associated with buprenorphine treatment of opioid addiction.

The Buprenorphine Practice Advisor (BPA) is a new web-based tool for primary care physicians who see opioid-dependent patients in their practices. The website (BupPractice.com) provides physicians with information and resources on referring patients for buprenorphine treatment, medical management of patients on buprenorphine, and setting up and managing office-based buprenorphine treatment.

The influence of clinical and demographic risk factors on the establishment of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma cell lines.

The purpose of this study was to generate stable cell cultures from head and neck squamous cell carcinomas (HNSCC), and retrospectively analyze the factors associated with successful cell line establishment. Fifty-two HNSCC cell lines were isolated from a series of 199 tumors collected between 1992 and 1997 at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. Cell lines were characterized at the molecular and cellular level to determine the features associated with cell line formation.