An Interactive Module to Teach Common Biostatistical Tests to Learners in the Health Professions.

Biostatistics are ubiquitous in medicine, providing quantitative insights into trials and experiments that shape the healthcare field. Despite training in evidence-based medicine, medical students and residents struggle to master biostatistical concepts and apply biostatistics to appraise research. There are limited resources available for students to quickly and cost-effectively learn biostatistical tests.

Mini-Residencies to Improve Care for Women Veterans: A Decade of Re-Educating Veterans Health Administration Primary Care Providers.

Many primary care providers (PCPs) in the Veterans Health Administration need updated clinical training in women's health. The objective was to design, implement, and evaluate a training program to increase participants' comfort with and provision of care to women Veterans, and foster practice changes in women's health care at their local institutions. The Women's Health Mini-Residency was developed as a multi-day training program, based on principles of adult learning, wherein knowledge gleaned through didactic presentations was solidified during small-group case study discussions and further enhanced by hands-on training and creation of a facility-specific action plan to improve women Veterans' care.

Investigation of Ferrocene Linkers in β-Substituted Porphyrins.

A series of β-ferrocene-modified zinc porphyrins, with various electron-withdrawing units appended to the ferrocene, were synthesized, and their electronic properties were investigated. The ferrocene was able to be modified with the substituents, with its oxidation potential increased by up to 0.3 V, without significantly perturbing the porphyrin core.

Electrofluidic control of bioactive molecule delivery into soft tissue models based on gelatin methacryloyl hydrogels using threads and surgical sutures.

The delivery of bioactive molecules (drugs) with control over spatial distribution remains a challenge. Herein, we demonstrate for the first time an electrofluidic approach to controlled delivery into soft tissue models based on gelatin methacryloyl (GelMA) hydrogels. This was achieved using a surgical suture, whereby transport of bioactive molecules, including drugs and proteins, was controlled by imposition of an electric field.

Development of rhamnose-rich hydrogels based on sulfated xylorhamno-uronic acid toward wound healing applications.

An array of biological properties is demonstrated in the category of extracts broadly known as ulvans, including antibacterial, anti-inflammatory and anti-coagulant activities. However, the development of this category in biomedical applications is limited due to high structural variability across species and a lack of consistent and scalable sources. In addition, the modification and formulation of these molecules is still in its infancy with regard to progressing to product development.

When "Donor-Acceptor" Dyes Delocalize: A Spectroscopic and Computational Study of D-A Dyes Using "Michler's Base".

In this study, we show that the "Michler's base" motif can be combined in a donor-acceptor arrangement with a range of acceptor units (indandione, indandione with cyano substituents, barbituric acid, or rhodanine) to give photophysical properties that are dominated by delocalized excited states. By changing the acceptor unit and by altering the planarity of this system, it is possible to tune the low-energy absorption feature in terms of intensity from 23 000 to 67 000 M cm and energy between 500 and 700 nm. Resonance Raman spectroscopy and time-dependent density functional theory indicate that this absorption feature has two underlying transitions: a weaker charge-transfer transition around 500 nm and a strong mixed or delocalized transition between 550 and 700 nm.

A simple and versatile method for microencapsulation of anti-epileptic drugs for focal therapy of epilepsy.

Nearly 30% of epilepsy cases cannot be adequately controlled with current medical treatments. The reasons for this are still not well understood, but there is a significant body of evidence pointing to the blood-brain barrier. Resective surgery can provide an alternative method of epilepsy control; however this treatment option is not suitable for most epilepsy sufferers.

Reproductive health diagnoses of women veterans using department of Veterans Affairs health care.

Background: Little is known regarding the reproductive health needs of women Veterans using Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) health care.

Objective: To describe the reproductive health diagnoses of women Veterans using VA health care, how these diagnoses differ across age groups, and variations in sociodemographic and clinical characteristics by presence of reproductive health diagnoses.

Research Design: This study is a cross-sectional analysis of VA administrative and clinical data.

Readying the workforce: evaluation of VHA's comprehensive women's health primary care provider initiative.

Background: Veterans Health Administration (VHA) primary care providers (PCPs) often see few women, making it challenging to maintain proficiency in women's health (WH). Therefore, VHA in 2010 established Designated WH Providers, who would maintain proficiency in comprehensive WH care and be preferentially assigned women patients.

Objective: To evaluate early implementation of this national policy.

Improving trends in gender disparities in the Department of Veterans Affairs: 2008-2013.

Increasing numbers of women veterans using Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) services has contributed to the need for equitable, high-quality care for women. The VA has evaluated performance measure data by gender since 2006. In 2008, the VA launched a 5-year women's health redesign, and, in 2011, gender disparity improvement was included on leadership performance plans.

Delivery of gender-sensitive comprehensive primary care to women veterans: implications for VA Patient Aligned Care Teams.

The Veterans Health Administration (VA) has undertaken a major initiative to transform primary care delivery through implementation of Patient Aligned Care Teams (PACTs). Based on the patient-centered medical home concept, PACTs aim to improve access, continuity, coordination, and comprehensiveness using team-based care that is patient driven and patient centered. However, how PACT principles should be applied to meet the needs of special populations, including women veterans, is not entirely clear.

Students delivering health care to a vulnerable Appalachian population through interprofessional service-learning.

Interprofessional student service-learning experiences are integrated into the preventive care of older adult residents of public housing in Appalachia. Receiving a Health Resources and Services Administration grant provided the College of Nursing at East Tennessee State University the opportunity to expand interprofessional clinical experiences for students by partnering with the College of Pharmacy, the College of Clinical & Rehabilitative Health Sciences, and the local public housing authority. Select faculty from each college met and developed a plan to form student teams from all three colleges to conduct in-home comprehensive medical and nutrition assessments and medication chart reviews of high-risk older adults.

Psammaplysin derivatives from the Balinese marine sponge Aplysinella strongylata.

Twenty-one new psammaplysin derivatives (4-24) exhibiting a variety of side chains, as well as six previously known psammaplysins, were identified from the Indonesian marine sponge Aplysinella strongylata. The double bond on the side chain of the fatty acid-containing psammaplysins was located by GC-MS analysis of the fatty acid methyl esters and their pyrrolidide derivatives. HPLC and Mosher ester studies confirmed that the isolated metabolites possessing a 19-OH substituent were mixtures of diastereomers.

Enzyme-substrate complementarity governs access to a cationic reaction manifold in the P450(BM3)-catalysed oxidation of cyclopropyl fatty acids.

The products of cytochrome P450(BM3)-catalysed oxidation of cyclopropyl-containing dodecanoic acids are consistent with the presence of a cationic reaction intermediate, which results in efficient dehydrogenation of the rearranged probes by the enzyme. These results highlight the importance of enzyme-substrate complementarity, with a cationic intermediate occurring only when the probes used begin to diverge from ideal substrates for this enzyme. This also aids in reconciling literature reports supporting the presence of cationic intermediates with certain cytochrome P450 enzyme/substrate pairs.

Substrate analog studies of the ω-regiospecificity of Mycobacterium tuberculosis cholesterol metabolizing cytochrome P450 enzymes CYP124A1, CYP125A1 and CYP142A1.

We report the synthesis and evaluation of a series of cholesterol side-chain analogs as mechanistic probes of three important Mycobacterium tuberculosis cytochrome P450 enzymes that selectively oxidize the ω-position of the methyl-branched cholesterol side-chain. To probe the structural requirements for the thermodynamically disfavored ω-regiospecificity we compared the binding of these substrate analogs to each P450, determined the turnover rates, and characterized the enzymatic products. The results are discussed in the context of the structure-activity relationships of the enzymes and how their active sites enforce ω-oxidation.

Contraceptive care in the VA health care system.

Background: Little is known about contraceptive care within the Veterans Affairs (VA) health care system. This study was conducted to assess the prevalence of documented contraception by race/ethnicity within the VA and to examine the association between receiving primary care in women's health clinics (WHCs) and having a documented contraceptive method.

Study Design: We examined national VA administrative and pharmacy data for 103,950 female veterans aged 18-45 years who made at least one primary care clinic visit in 2008.

Oxidative processes in the Australian marine sponge Plakinastrella clathrata: isolation of plakortolides with oxidatively modified side chains.

Sixteen new cyclic peroxides (1-16) with a plakortolide skeleton and the methyl ester derivative of a didehydroplakinic acid (17) were isolated from the Australian sponge Plakinastrella clathrata Kirkpatrick, 1900. Structural elucidation and configurational assignments were based on spectroscopic analysis and comparison with data for previously isolated plakortolides and revealed both phenyl- and methyl-terminating side chains attached to the plakortolide core. Plakortoperoxides A-D (5-8) each contained a second 1,2-dioxine ring; a cis configuration for the side chain endoperoxide ring was determined by a low-temperature NMR study and by comparison of chemical shift values with those of reported compounds.

Crotalaria medicaginea associated with horse deaths in northern Australia: new pyrrolizidine alkaloids.

Crotalaria medicaginea has been implicated in horse poisoning in grazing regions of central-west Queensland, which resulted in the deaths of more than 35 horses from hepatotoxicosis in 2010. Liver pathology was suggestive of pyrrolizidine alkaloidosis, and we report here the isolation of two previously uncharacterized pyrrolizidine alkaloids from C. medicaginea plant specimens collected from pastures where the horses died.

Revision of the absolute configurations of bethosides B and C and their aglycone.

The absolute stereochemistry of the steroidal saponins bethosides B and C was previously assigned as (22R,25R) on the basis of work that employed Horeau's method. Our studies of helosides A and B created doubt about both the original assignment and consequently our conclusion that relied upon it. The absolute configurations of bethosides B and C are revised to (22S,25R) following X-ray crystallographic analysis of their aglycone.

Using research to transform care for women veterans: advancing the research agenda and enhancing research-clinical partnerships.

The purpose of this paper is to report on the outcomes of the 2010 VA Women's Health Services Research Conference, which brought together investigators interested in pursuing research on women veterans and women in the military with leaders in women's health care delivery and policy within and outside the VA, to significantly advance the state and future direction of VA women's health research and its potential impacts on practice and policy. Building on priorities assembled in the previous VA research agenda (2004) and the research conducted in the intervening six years, we used an array of approaches to foster research-clinical partnerships that integrated the state-of-the-science with the informational and strategic needs of senior policy and practice leaders. With demonstrated leadership commitment and support, broad field-based participation, strong interagency collaboration and a push to accelerate the move from observational to interventional and implementation research, the Conference provided a vital venue for establishing the foundation for a new research agenda.

New women veterans in the VHA: a longitudinal profile.

Objective: The number of women veterans using Veterans Health Administration (VHA) services has increased rapidly, but the characteristics of women joining VHA are not well understood. We sought to describe sociodemographic characteristics, utilization, and retention of new and returning women VHA patients over a 7-year period.

Methods: We identified women veterans who used VHA outpatient services from VHA Enrollment and Utilization files for fiscal years 2003 through 2009.

Polyunsaturated alkyl amides from Echinacea: synthesis of diynes, enynes, and dienes.

The synthesis of 20 alkyl amides, including 15 naturally occurring polyunsaturated alkyl amides previously identified from Echinacea spp. (1-13 and 62) or from Achilla sp. (55) and five previously unknown geometric isomers (23, 28, 67, 73, and 80), is described.