Beyond medical schools' historical focus on pillar missions including clinical care, education, and research, several medical schools now include community engagement (CE) as a mission. However, most academic health systems (AHSs) lack the tools to provide metrics, evaluation, and standardization for quantifying progress and contributions of the CE mission. Several nationwide initiatives, such as that driven by the Institute of Medicine recommending advances in CE metrics at institutions receiving Clinical and Translational Science Awards, have encouraged the research and development of systematic metrics for CE, but more progress is needed.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: The institutions that comprise the Clinical and Translational Science Award (CTSA) consortium and the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences continue to explore and develop community-engaged research strategies and to study the role of community academic partnerships in advancing the science of community engagement.
Objectives: To explore CTSA institutions in relation to an Institute of Medicine recommendation that community engagement occur in all stages of translational research and be defined and evaluated consistently.
Methods: A sequential multimethods study starting with an online pilot survey followed by survey respondents and site informant interviews.
Background: The value proposition of including patients at each step of the research process is that patient perspectives and preferences can have a positive impact on both the science and the outcomes of comparative effectiveness research. How to accomplish engagement and the extent to which approaches to community engagement inform strategies for effective patient engagement need to be examined to address conducting and accelerating comparative effectiveness research.
Objectives: To examine how various perspectives and diverse training lead investigators and patients to conflicting positions on how best to advance patient engagement.
Introduction: Community engagement (CE) has become more prevalent among academic health centers (AHCs), with significant diversity in practices and language. The array of approaches to CE contributes to confusion among practitioners.
Methods: We have reviewed multiple models of CE utilized by AHCs, Clinical and Translational Science Awards, and higher education institutions overall.
Introduction: Science Cafés facilitated by the Clinical and Translational Science Institute of Southeast Wisconsin seek to increase health and scientific literacy through informal conversation between researchers and community members. The goal was to understand what factors have the greatest influence on attendees' perceived changes in health and science literacy levels (PCHSL) to increase impact.
Methods: Previous research established the evaluation used in the Science Cafés to measure PCHSL.
Introduction: Social Network Analysis (SNA) provides an important, underutilized approach to evaluating Community Academic Partnerships for Health (CAPHs). This study examines administrative data from 140 CAPHs funded by the Healthier Wisconsin Partnership Program (HWPP).
Methods: Funder data was normalized to maximize number of interconnections between funded projects and 318 non-redundant community partner organizations in a dual mode analysis, examining the period from 2003-2013.
Engagement of the community through informal dialogue with researchers and physicians around health and science topics is an important avenue to build understanding and affect health and science literacy. Science Cafés are one model for this casual interchange; however the impact of this approach remains under researched. The Community Engagement Key Function of the Clinical and Translational Science Institute of Southeast Wisconsin hosted a series of Science Cafés in which topics were collaboratively decided upon by input from the community.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBiochem Biophys Res Commun
September 2011
α(1D)-Adrenergic receptors, key regulators of cardiovascular system function, are organized as a multi-protein complex in the plasma membrane. Using a Type-I PDZ-binding motif in their distal C-terminal domain, α(1D)-ARs associate with syntrophins and dystrophin-associated protein complex (DAPC) members utrophin, dystrobrevin and α-catulin. Three of the five syntrophin isoforms (α, β(1) and β(2)) interact with α(1D)-ARs and our previous studies suggest multiple isoforms are required for proper α(1D)-AR function in vivo.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a prevalent psychiatric disorder precipitated by exposure to extreme traumatic stress. Yet, most individuals exposed to traumatic stress do not develop PTSD and may be considered psychologically resilient. The neural circuits involved in susceptibility or resiliency to PTSD remain unclear, but clinical evidence implicates changes in the noradrenergic system.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPrecise spatial and temporal expression of the recently identified G-protein coupled receptor GPR54 is critical for proper reproductive function and metastasis suppression. However, regulatory factors that control GPR54 expression remain unknown. Thus, the identification of these cis-acting DNA elements can provide insight into the role of GPR54 in reproduction and cancer.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe G-protein-coupled receptor (GPCR) GPR54 is essential for the development and maintenance of reproductive function in mammals. A point mutation (L148S) in the second intracellular loop (IL2) of GPR54 causes idiopathic hypogonadotropic hypogonadism, a disorder characterized by delayed puberty and infertility. Here, we characterize the molecular mechanism by which the L148S mutation causes disease and address the role of IL2 in Class A GPCR function.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFHypertension is a cardiovascular disease associated with increased plasma catecholamines, overactivation of the sympathetic nervous system, and increased vascular tone and total peripheral resistance. A key regulator of sympathetic nervous system function is the alpha(1D)-adrenergic receptor (AR), which belongs to the adrenergic family of G-protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs). Endogenous catecholamines norepinephrine and epinephrine activate alpha(1D)-ARs on vascular smooth muscle to stimulate vasoconstriction, which increases total peripheral resistance and mean arterial pressure.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFNorbinaltorphimine (NorBNI), guanidinonaltrindole, and atrans-(3R,4R)-dimethyl-4-(3-hydroxyphenyl) piperidine (JDTic) are selective kappa opioid receptor (KOR) antagonists having very long durations of action in vivo despite binding non-covalently in vitro and having only moderately high affinities. Consistent with this, we found that antagonist treatment significantly reduced the subsequent analgesic response of mice to the KOR agonist U50,488 in the tail-withdrawal assay for 14-21 days. Receptor protection assays were designed to distinguish between possible explanations for this anomalous effect, and we found that mice pretreated with the readily reversible opioid antagonists naloxone or buprenorphine before norBNI responded strongly in the tail-flick analgesia assay to a subsequent challenge with U50,488 1 week later.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFNat Struct Mol Biol
November 2005
Regulation of messenger RNA is crucial in many contexts, including development, memory and cell growth. The 3' untranslated region is a rich repository of regulatory elements that bind proteins and microRNAs. Here we focus on PUF proteins, an important family of mRNA regulatory proteins crucial in stem-cell proliferation, pattern formation and synaptic plasticity.
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