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For a printable PDF version of SOM e-NEWS, click here.
News and information (appointments, searches, events, awards, etc.) pertaining to the School of Medicine are featured in SOM e-NEWS in abstract form and are linked to the web for more detailed information. If you have information you would like published in this newsletter, please contact Denise Gonzalez, in the Dean of Medicine Office via email (djgonzal@utmb.edu) or by fax (29598). Please let us know your ideas and suggestions for this communication format. You may send your comments via email to Jackie Genovese, Director of Communications, School of Medicine, jmgenove@utmb.edu.
April 2007
Click on topic to read announcement or scroll 2. DR. garland d. anderson receives Baden-Gibbs Lifetime Achievement Award from taog 3. DR. COURTNEY M. TOWNSEND, JR., ELECTED President of asa 4. TAPAN K. BANERJI, Ph.D. SCHOLARSHIP ESTABLISHED BY FAMILY, FRIENDS AND COLLEAGUES 5. DR. LINDA G. PHILLIPS ELECTED CHAIR OF ABPS 6. Center for Addiction Research - Spotlight: study on cognitive development By DR. karen e. smith 7. NEW FACULTY HONORED AT RECEPTION 8. PEDIATRICS access and outreach efforts result in increaseD patient volume 9. UTMB taking leadership role in clinical ataxia research 10. CALL FOR NOMINATIONS--2007 MARION SPENCER FAY AWARD 11. FULBRIGHT SCHOLAR PROGRAM FOR U.S. FACULTY AND PROFESSIONALS
12. SCHOOL
OF MEDICINE IN THE NEWS
May
7, 2007: Town Meeting affords opportunity to meet presidential finalist
Yamada featured at inaugural Powell Lecture
The Don W. Powell Lecture endowment was established in honor
of Dr. Powell by the Edward and Sally Futch Charitable Fund. This lecture is
open to the public, but reservations are appreciated. Please respond by May
8, 2007, to (409) 772-6377 or
events.oua@utmb.edu.
SCHOOL OF MEDICINE COMMENCEMENT
FACULTY OF MEDICINE MEETING _____________________________________________________________
2. DR. garland d. anderson receives Baden-Gibbs Lifetime Achievement Award from taog
Dr. Garland D. Anderson, Dean of the School of
Medicine, was presented with a lifetime achievement award on April 13 at the 78th Annual Joint Meeting of the Texas Association of Obstetricians
and Gynecologists/Texas Section ACOG in Houston. The Baden-Gibbs Award is
presented annually to a member of the organization who has exhibited a
lifelong commitment to foster and stimulate improvements in women’s health
care and within the specialty of Obstetrics and Gynecology, and who has
exhibited outstanding leadership in medicine in the state of Texas.
See press release.
_____________________________________________________________
3.
DR. COURTNEY M. TOWNSEND, JR., ELECTED President of asa
Information about the Association is available on-line, click here.
_____________________________________________________________
4. Tapan K. Banerji, Ph.D. Scholarship established by family, friends and colleagues
Mrs. Sutapa Banerji along with family members, friends, colleagues and students established the Tapan K. Banerji, Ph.D. Scholarship in memory of Dr. Banerji who was greatly admired and respected as an excellent teacher, mentor and advisor to students, residents and post doctoral fellows. Dr. Banerji took the time to encourage his students and had unwavering faith in his students’ potential for success. At the time of his death in December 2005 Dr. Banerji was a professor of neuroscience and cell biology and had been at UTMB for 28 years.
This endowed scholarship will be awarded to a student in the School of
Medicine with the highest cumulative grade point average at the
completion of the second year. Dean of Medicine, Garland Anderson,
thanked the Banerji family for the opportunity to reward and encourage
future medical doctors, “Tapan was an outstanding educator, researcher
and champion of his students. He gave valuable time and experience and
commitment to the interactive learning track. Each year as we recognize
an outstanding medical student, Dr. Banerji will be remembered and
honored.” Additional contributions may be sent in honor of Dr. Tapan Banerji to Ann Anderson, 301 University Boulevard, Galveston, Texas 77555-1041.
_____________________________________________________________
5.
DR. LINDA G. PHILLIPS ELECTED
CHAIR OF ABPS
Linda G. Phillips, M.D., Truman Graves Blocker, Jr., M.D., Distinguished Chair in Plastic Surgery and Senior Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs, has been elected as Chair of the American Board of Plastic Surgery, Inc. (ABPS), effective May 19, 2007. The mission of the ABPS is to promote safe, ethical, efficacious plastic surgery to the public by maintaining high standards for the education, examination, certification and recertification of plastic surgeons as specialists and subspecialists.
_____________________________________________________________
6. Center for Addiction Research - Spotlight: study on cognitive development By DR. karen e. smith
_____________________________________________________________
7. NEW FACULTY HONORED AT RECEPTION
New members of the Faculty of Medicine, appointed between
February 1, 2007 and March 31, 2007, were introduced at a reception on
April 2, 2007. These receptions are held as an opportunity for new faculty
members to meet the UTMB community.
See
additional photos of new faculty.
_____________________________________________________________
8. PEDIATRICS access and outreach efforts result in increaseD patient volume
In the last year, the Department of Pediatrics faculty, together with pediatric sub-specialty faculty across many departments, have focused on increasing patient access in all areas of Children’s Health. Since focusing on patient access and outreach to regional primary care physicians and our community, the department has seen excellent results. Their mainland specialty clinic has seen an increase of 88% for new patients; inpatient admissions have increased 13% and newborn care has increased 8%. In the past 10 months, the department has implemented several programs focusing on patient-centered care and community outreach:
For more information on the Department of Pediatrics programs, please contact Patricia Birkmeyer at 25750 or pbirkmey@utmb.edu
_____________________________________________________________
9.
UTMB
taking leadership role in clinical ataxia research
During its last NIH Workshop, the Cooperative
Ataxia Group (CAG) decided to move its headquarters from Emory
University to UTMB. CAG is a national consortium of physician scientists
who aim to develop treatments for spinocerebellar degeneration, a group
of neurodegenerative diseases that cause a loss of motor coordination of
limbs, gait, swallowing and speech, leading to total disability and
death. _____________________________________________________________
10.
CALL FOR
NOMINATIONS--2007 MARION SPENCER FAY AWARD _____________________________________________________________
11. FULBRIGHT SCHOLAR PROGRAM FOR U.S. FACULTY AND PROFESSIONALS
For over 50 years, the Council for International Exchange of
Scholars (CIES) has helped administer the Fulbright Scholar Program, the
U.S. government's flagship academic exchange effort, on behalf of the U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs.
Founded in 1947, CIES is a private organization. It is a division of the
Institute of International Education (IIE). Fulbright Scholar Programs
offer U.S. faculty, administrators and professionals grants to lecture, do
research or participate in seminars. For detailed award descriptions
and contact information, visit the CIES web site at
www.cies.org. _____________________________________________________________
12.
SCHOOL OF MEDICINE IN THE NEWS
Below is a listing of SOM faculty or programs in the news:
Cameron Herald, March 29, Cameron celebrates Dr. Sidney Richardson Day. Well-wishers crowded into Bea's Kitchen March 24 to celebrate Dr. Sidney Richardson Day as proclaimed by Cameron Mayor Bill Meacham. A reception hosted by Central Texas Hospital and its Auxiliary volunteers honored Dr. Richardson on 50 years in medical practice in Cameron. He also serves as medical director of Milam County Public Health Unit. Originally from Wichita Falls, Dr. Richardson opened his practice in Cameron on July 1, 1957. He is a 1954 graduate of the University of Texas Medical Branch with an internship at Brackenridge Hospital in Austin. He came to Cameron after two years in practice in Smithville. http://www.cameronherald.com/articles/2007/03/29/news/news06.txt Galveston County Daily News, March 30, Triathlon means three times the work. Preparations are under way at Moody Gardens for two days of three-sport competition. The inaugural Lone Star Triathlon Festival, scheduled for Saturday and Sunday, has attracted nearly 2,000 athletes to Galveston to swim in Offatts Bayou, cycle the island’s West End, and run through Moody Gardens. “We first thought of Moody Gardens as a triathlon venue six years ago, after visiting on a day trip from Houston,” race director Keith Jordan said. Jordan and his wife, Claire, who serves as the race’s logistical director, have been putting the finishing touches on the course this week. “I’ve been working out six days a week to train for this,” Dr. Krystal Revai said. “I spin twice a week, run twice a week, and do some swimming. It’s my first triathlon, and my goal is to finish with a decent run.” Revai, a physician at UTMB, took on the challenge just recently. http://news.galvestondailynews.com/story.lasso?ewcd=f28a1c31a1ee5bbe Abilene Reporter-News, March 30, University News. Howard Payne University senior Phillip Scott tied for first place in the undergraduate poster competition at the 110th Annual Meeting of the Texas Academy of Science, held at Baylor University. The title of his poster, ''Photosynthetic Effects of Different Light Intensities on Mutant and Wild-type Arabadopsis thaliana,'' was based on his research project done under the supervision of Dr. Nathan Reyna, assistant professor of biology at HPU. Scott has been accepted to medical school at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston for the fall. http://www.reporter-news.com/abil/nw_ed_coll_univ/article/0,1874,ABIL_7950_5452775,00.html Austin American-Statesman, March 31, Revealing drug deals eliminates side effects; editorial. Every year, pharmaceutical companies heap millions of dollars in gifts on physicians that range from take-out meals for their office staffs to junkets at lavish resorts. It's a practice that mostly takes place out of the view of the public because few states require companies to disclose such gifts, travel or speaking or consulting fees. There is nothing illegal about doctors accepting money or gifts from pharmaceutical companies. There is something wrong, however, with continuing the practice in the dark. A bill by state Sen. Eddie Lucio Jr., D-Brownsville, would shine a light on those ties by requiring pharmaceutical companies and drug marketers to publicly report gifts worth more than $75 to the Department of Health Services. Doctors are not of one mind on the topic, and some are more in touch with public sentiment than others, saying that the arrangement compromises professional ethics. "I commonly hear physicians get outraged that they can be bought for a sandwich, but show me one doctor who has been bought by a sandwich. It's a series of sandwiches" that raises questions about conflicts of interest, said Dr. Howard Brody, director of the University of Texas Medical Branch Institute for Medical Humanities in Galveston, who is writing a book on the topic. He said Lucio's bill might pressure doctors to think twice before accepting gifts. The costs of those gifts add to the high price of drugs, he said. http://www.statesman.com/opinion/content/editorial/stories/03/31/31drugs_edit.html Galveston County Daily News, Letters to the Editor, April 1, We have the right to expect clean air, water. As Galveston County residents, we live in one of the most polluted and unhealthy places in the country, according to a new report entitled Toxic Pollution and Health released by Environment Texas. The report, which provides specific information on toxic emissions, clearly shows that Texas is the worst state in America for releases of toxic pollutants overall, with the Gulf Coast region being a particularly dangerous area. As a fourth-year medical student at the University of Texas Medical Branch, I was concerned to learn that Texas ranks first in the nation for releases of carcinogens, neurological toxins and dioxin (an extremely toxic chemical that can cause cancer) into our air and water. Texas is second for releases of developmental and reproductive toxins in the air and water, which can result in sterility, spontaneous abortion and birth defects. http://news.galvestondailynews.com/story.lasso?ewcd=328b3e299a8f4422 Galveston County Daily News, April 3, $275,000 for UTMB diabetes research. Building upon a commitment to fund diabetes research and patient education, the Emmett and Miriam McCoy Foundation recently contributed $275,000 to support innovative stem cell studies at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston, as well as a university-sponsored conference for diabetes patient educators. Diabetes is an incurable disease that prevents the body from producing or properly using insulin, the hormone needed to convert sugar, starches and other food into energy. http://news.galvestondailynews.com/story.lasso?ewcd=079add3abc9dd9d7&-session=TheDailyNews:42F948A809d73008B1Lgin72F0E1 U.S. News & World Report, April 3, Pregnancy Pounds Linked to Weight Gain in Toddlers. Doctors routinely tell pregnant women with healthy body mass indexes to gain only 25 to 35 pounds during pregnancy. Underweight women are given a 28 to 40 pound range, while overweight women are urged to keep their weight gain between 15 to 25 pounds. Now, however, a new study published in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology finds that these guidelines may be far too generous. Many experts had already been arguing that the current guidelines, laid down in 1990, are out of date since most pregnant women gain more than the recommended amount nowadays. With this new study and several others indicating the risks of excessive weight gain, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists could revise its weight recommendations downward in the coming months, according to Dr. Gary Hankins, chair of the obstetrics practice committee of ACOG and chair of the department of obstetrics and gynecology at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston. Hankins isn't waiting; he advises his patients to gain less than the recommended amounts. "I tell women with a healthy body mass index that 15 to 20 pounds is a really good target to shoot for and that they shouldn't gain more than 25 pounds." Although he would recommend a larger weight gain if a baby wasn't growing properly, Hankins says that this amount is usually enough to ensure a healthy baby and makes it easier for women to get back to their prepregnancy weight. http://www.usnews.com/usnews/health/articles/070403/3health.pregnancy.htm
Science Daily, April 4, New Approach To Studying How Cells Respond To Pathogens. A Sandia National Laboratories research team led by Anup Singh is taking a new approach to studying how immune cells respond to pathogens in the first few minutes and hours of exposure. Sandia optical tweezer designer Thomas Perrod assists biologist Meiye Wu with sorting of macrophage cells in microfluidic devices using MISL technology. Their method looks at cells one at a time as they start trying to fight the invading pathogens. Called the Microscale Immune Studies Laboratory (MISL) Grand Challenge, the work is in its second of three years of funding by the internal Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) program. Sandia is partnering on the project with the University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB) at Galveston and the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/04/070403134603.htm (This story appeared in multiple publications.)
Galveston County Daily News, April 4, Hearing loss and child development, By Drs. Sally Robinson and Keith Bly. Hearing loss in infants and children is not a common occurrence, but the effects, when it occurs, may devastate parents. Repeated temporary interruptions in hearing during the intense period of development in the six months after birth can have permanent effects on language facility later in life. Infants need to receive auditory feedback if they are to learn the speech motor skills involved in talking. http://news.galvestondailynews.com/story.lasso?tool=print&ewcd=55d6fd81059e5df1 Galveston County Daily News, April 7, UTMB launches ‘groundbreaking' asthma study. Everyone already knows what causes asthma attacks: It’s an allergic reaction to things like cigarette smoke, house dust, cat hair, horse hair, cockroach feces and other environmental substances, right? Maybe not. The University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston, which the National Institutes of Health recently designated as part of its Asthma Clinical Research Network, has joined seven other premier respiratory centers nationwide in a federally funded study of whether the conventional medical wisdom is wrong, in whole or in part. http://news.galvestondailynews.com/story.lasso?ewcd=7259b63f87bc2980 Houston Business Journal, April 7, Companies form joint venture to market new biotech product. Working together to solve a medical research challenge has led to the formation of a joint venture by a small biotech research operation based at The University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston and a Houston-based technology company. When AptaMed, Inc. needed help to automate a key process in the development of strands of chemically modified DNA known as thioaptamers, it called NASA's Space Alliance Technology Outreach Program. http://houston.bizjournals.com/houston/stories/2007/04/09/story8.html Dallas Morning News, April 8, 1990 MacArthur graduate honored. Douglas Won, a 1990 graduate of MacArthur High School, was recently honored as Outstanding Graduate by the Irving school board. The native of South Korea came to Irving with his family when he was 11. He graduated from Northwestern University and earned a medical degree from the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston. Dr. Won is a spine surgeon specialist for the Southwest Spine Institute and also serves as a clinical assistant professor for UT Southwestern Medical School in Dallas. http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/city/irving/stories/DN-irvcongrats_06wes.ART.West.Edition1.44788c7.html Medical News, April 10, Weak Immune Response Critical To Disease That Causes Most Infant Hospitalizations. The most common cause of infant hospitalization in the United States, respiratory syncytial virus, infects virtually all children by age two. Along with the influenza virus, RSV is a major contributor to the approximately two million infant deaths worldwide caused every year by respiratory infections, according to the World Health Organization. Worse yet, there's no safe and effective RSV vaccine available to prevent severe respiratory infections, and no specific antiviral therapy to treat them. For the past four decades, medical science thought it knew how this dangerous condition arose from such a common virus. Scientists blamed an overreaction in the lungs by specific immune-system cells, T lymphocytes (also known as "T cells"), for the infection. But now, researchers at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston (UTMB), the State University of New York at Buffalo, the University of Chile, the Hospital Roberto del Rio in Santiago, Chile, the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, and MedImmune Inc. of Gaithersburg, Md., have turned that dogma on its head. http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/medicalnews.php?newsid=67411 Beaumont Journal, April 10, Awards of Distinction. Dr. Mark Kubala is not only important to this area as a neurosurgeon but in the entire medical society, according to Nathan. There are 41 thousand people in the Texas Medical Association (TMA) who thought him worthy of the 2006 Distinguished Service Award, TMA's highest honor, for his tireless advocacy for patients and physicians at the local, state, and national level. His peers at the University of Texas Medical Branch Galveston awarded him the Ashbel Smith Distinguished Alumnus Award. http://www.beaumontjournal.com/news/2007/0411/Accolades_announcements/043.html Battle Creek Enquirer, April 11, Holocaust survivor exhibit at Art Center. "In A Confined Silence," an exhibition of mixed media photography by Ann Arbor artist and Holocaust survivor Dr. Miriam Brysk, is on display at the Art Center of Battle Creek now through April 28th. Brysk is a scientist, and Professor Amerita of the University of Texas Medical Branch. She is now an artist, writer and lecturer on the Holocaust. Her art and book are displayed at www.miriambrysk.com and her current book "Amidst the Shadows of Trees: A Holocaust Child's Survival in the Partisans" is available in the Art Center's gift shop. http://battlecreekenquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070411/LIFESTYLE08/704110304 Houston Chronicle, April 11, Hankins named to chair at UTMB in Galveston (Education News), Dr. Gary D.V. Hankins is the new chairman of obstetrics and gynecology at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston. He served as vice chair for 11 years and was named interim chair when Dr. Garland Anderson was appointed UTMB dean of medicine in October. Hankins has been named one of America's Top Doctors by Castle Connolly Guide for four years. http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/nb/bay/news/4703969.html Galveston County Daily News, April 11, Hot weather’s near: Parental guidance advised, By Drs. Sally Robinson and Keith Bly. Glaciers are now melting and retreating. In the past decade, Texas and rest of the United States have experienced some the warmest annual temperatures ever recorded. And in Galveston County in early April, it’s already humid and beginning to feel sticky and warm. Within a month or two the temperatures may well rise enough to be truly dangerous. You don’t necessarily have to exercise or work out-of-doors to be threatened by the heat. Too often, older people die in homes or apartments that don’t have air conditioning — or in those that have it but whose occupants don’t have the hundreds of dollars each month required to pay for the electricity to use it. http://news.galvestondailynews.com/story.lasso?ewcd=5bbf45e1b6b496fe
Galveston County Daily News, April 10, Finding a cure for restless leg syndrome, By Dr. Howard Brody. In an old joke, when a patient says, “My head hurts when I bang it against the wall,” the doc replies: “Then stop banging your head against the wall.” Could it be that, if the patient says, “I feel like I want to move my legs,” the doc should say: “Maybe you should move your legs”? Few people had heard of restless legs syndrome (RLS) a while ago, but now it is well known, thanks to a profusion of TV ads. I’m sure it is only a coincidence that an expensive brand-name drug, specifically approved for restless legs, was recently released on the market. http://news.galvestondailynews.com/story.lasso?ewcd=0f8a41a687c38dd4 About Asthma, April 12, New Treatment Research for Asthma. Could asthma be caused by germs, rather than the more commonly accepted triggers such as pollen, mold, dust, pet dander, and tobacco smoke? It's definitely possible. Conventional medical wisdom is that asthma usually has an allergic basis and that medicines such as inhaled steroids are most effective in treating it. However, it's also true that some people who have asthma do NOT seem to have allergic triggers, nor do they respond very well to inhaled steroids. Researchers believe this may be because—at least for those people—asthma may be related more to an infectious organism. So, a new National Institutes of Health research study being conducted at The University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston (among other places throughout the US) will study the effectiveness of an antibiotic called clarithromycin in controlling asthma symptoms. They are currently recruiting participants. http://asthma.about.com/b/a/000085.htm Waxahachie Daily Light, April 13, Advocates say expanding stem cell research could boost economy. Texas risks missing out on billions of dollars in economic benefits and tens of thousands of jobs if it does not create a more welcoming atmosphere for stem cell research, according to a study released on Thursday by advocates of the emerging field. Dr. Larry Denner, an associate professor at the University of Texas Medical Branch-Galveston, said biotechnology in Texas won’t take off unless the state lets scientists know they are free to pursue such research. Denner, who focuses on the use of adult stem cells in treating Type 1 diabetes, said it’s hard for him to lure researchers to his lab when they’re afraid that lawmakers could clamp down on their work at any time. “We’ve earned that reputation for better or worse, and it definitely complicates trying to recruit top-notch scientists,” he said. http://www.waxahachiedailylight.com/articles/2007/04/13/dailylight/news/05-04-13-capitol.txt Washington Post (HealthDay News), April 13, Scientists Frustrated in Search for Genital Herpes Vaccine. Experts say a lack of funds is slowing attempts to find a truly effective vaccine against genital herpes, a sexually transmitted disease that can be devastating for the one in five Americans over 12 who carry the virus. Genital infection with the herpes simplex viruses (HSV) 1 or 2 is not just an inconvenience, doctors note. It is a painful, recurrent illness that causes psychological distress, raises health risks for newborns, and boosts the carrier's odds for a much more deadly virus, HIV. These nerve cells are "a protected site, immunologically," explained Dr. Lawrence Stanberry, director of the Sealy Center for Vaccine Development at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston. "Needless to say, we don't like to have our immune system attacking our nerves," he said, so vaccines with that kind of reach are hard to develop. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/13/AR2007041300663.html Austin American-Statesman, April 15, Commentary: Decisions made in good faith, Dr. Howard Brody, University of Texas Medical Branch. Perhaps no medical issue is fraught with more emotion than whether to continue or suspend health care at the end of life. The Texas Advance Directives Act contains provisions that would allow a hospital to cease treatment for a patient after the staff has determined, with careful review, that ongoing treatment won't produce a reasonable chance of recovery or survival. In health care circles, this circumstance is defined as "medical futility." Several futility cases have been reported in the media over the last two years, often in ways that depicted the doctors and the hospital as heartless. The medical outcomes of such cases tell a very different story. No patient for whom the futility law was invoked has yet recovered or in any way shown that the determination of the medical facts by the staff was incorrect. http://www.statesman.com/opinion/content/editorial/stories/04/15/15brody_edit.html Galveston County Daily News, April 16, Doctors and Nurses Performed A Miracle. In regard to the story, “UTMB, TLC plan conference on brain injuries” (The Daily News, April 12): I just wanted to give a tremendous thanks to the doctors and nurses at University of Texas Medical Branch for saving the life of my very good friend’s 15-year-old daughter on April 7. She was taken by Life Flight in for serious head trauma and needed a life-saving surgery. The doctors acted so fast that it seems she will recover just fine. They removed a hematoma off her brain the size of a fist. The doctors told us that 95 percent of people with that type of injury don’t survive, and if they do, it is usually not without disabilities. Well, they got her in and to me performed a miracle surgery. She was even released Tuesday just three days after almost losing her life. Now tell me those doctors weren’t sent from heaven. Again thanks so much for giving back this beautiful girl’s life. God bless you all at UTMB Trauma Unit.-Mary Gordon. http://galvestondailynews.com/letters.lasso?-session=TheDailyNews:42F942220a2233911FqLT30C12E7 Galveston County Daily News April 18, Important information about the HPV vaccine, Column by Drs. Sally Robinson and Keith Bly. When most of today’s middle-aged adults were children, we averaged seven vaccine injections during our formative years. Today’s youngsters will receive approximately 36 vaccine shots in the course of their childhood. And we are being told that now there is available another vaccine for our female children to guard against the Human Papillomaviruses Infection. As parents and concerned adults, we naturally have a lot of concerns and questions about this virus, the vaccine and the protection it will have for our daughters or other young women in our lives. First, let’s discuss some of the facts that are known about the HPV virus. The Centers for Disease Control estimates that, in the United States alone, 65 million people are currently living with an incurable sexually transmitted disease. Of this number, the estimated number of people currently infected with HPV is 20 million; and women are the ones who suffer most from this STD. http://news.galvestondailynews.com/story.lasso?ewcd=d17fcc7354ab171d Scientists Find Science Daily, April 19, Hepatitis A and Hepatitis C Attack Same Protein to Block Immune Defenses. Despite the fact that they both infect the liver, the hepatitis A and hepatitis C viruses actually have very little in common. The two are far apart genetically, are transmitted differently, and produce very different diseases. Hepatitis A spreads through the consumption of fecal particles from an infected person (in pollution-contaminated food or water, for example), but hepatitis C is generally transmitted only by direct contact with infected blood. According to researchers at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston (UTMB), though, these two otherwise unrelated liver viruses have one important thing in common: a trick for avoiding destruction by the immune system. Both dodge immune attacks by attacking the same protein — an essential link in a chain of molecular signals that triggers antiviral responses. "With 30,000-plus proteins in the cell, it’s really remarkable that these two very different viruses have chosen to strike at the same one," said Dr. Stanley Lemon, director of UTMB’s Institute for Human Infections and Immunity and National Institutes of Health-funded Hepatitis C Research Center. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/04/070418163709.htm (This story appears in multiple national and international publications.) Journal Newspapers, April 19, New hospital chief named. There is now some ‘Love’ in high places at the Oakwood Annapolis Hospital in Wayne. J Timothy Love, MD, is the newly elected chief of staff, effective immediately. As the medical leader for Annapolis, Love will offer input and direction representing medical staff and serve as a liaison between hospital administration, medical staff and the board of trustees for the quality of medical care delivered at the facility. “Quality and communication play an integral role in health care and we are all responsible. We have a really good staff at Oakwood Annapolis Hospital and we get good results, but I think it’s possible to get even better.” Love specializes in critical care medicine and internal medicine. He received his medical degree from the University of Texas Medical Branch in 1984 and completed his internship and residency at Oakwood Hospital and Medical Center in Dearborn. He completed a fellowship at University of Pittsburgh Medical Center and earned a master’s degree in medical management from Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pa. http://www.journalgroup.com/Wayne/4046/new-hospital-chief-named Houston Chronicle, April 19, Deep-Space Health: Centrifuges, other devices may keep astronauts fit. The first astronauts headed for Mars will be carrying a lot more than a first-aid kit. NASA might consider equipping a Mars-bound spacecraft with a centrifuge, a rotating mechanism in which astronauts could spin to help avoid the bone loss that accompanies long space travel. Deep-space voyagers also may train to use computers with counseling software to diagnose depression or resolve the conflicts that seem sure to arise among crew members. Most likely, future deep-space travel will require a combination of new gadgetry, medications, as well as careful screening to select the healthiest astronauts, something the space pioneers of the Apollo era called The Right Stuff. Recently, 15 volunteers participated in a three-week bed-rest study at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston. Bed-rest studies, which require the heads of the volunteers to be slightly lower then the rest of their bodies, simulate many of the physical effects of weightlessness. http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/4728356.html Houston Chronicle, April 20, BP Texas City plant workers taken to hospitals. More than 80 BP Texas City plant workers underwent decontamination at hospitals late Thursday after complaining of nausea and dizziness, officials said. Texas City emergency management coordinator Bruce Clawson said more than 50 workers were examined and released from Mainland Memorial Medical Center by about 1 a.m. after being taken there around 10 p.m. Another 30 or so workers were decontaminated at John Sealy Hospital at the University of Texas Medical Branch, UTMB spokeswoman Marsha Canright said. http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/4733076.html Houston Chronicle, April 20, Daughter of victims says safety-program money doesn't buy her forgiveness. The woman whose lawsuit forced BP to contribute $5 million to an industrial safety program at College of the Mainland said Thursday that the money cannot win her forgiveness. Rowe's parents, James and Linda Rowe, were among 15 people killed March 23, 2005, when a massive explosion tore through part of BP's Texas City plant. Rowe settled with BP last year for an undisclosed amount and a pledge by the company to contribute at least $30 million to charitable foundations. The balance of the $30 million established two other funds. One is for the Truman G. Blocker Adult Burn Unit at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, where 25 burn victims from the explosion were treated. http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/4732541.html (This story appeared in multiple publications.)
Galveston County Daily News, April 21, UTMB cancer center gets $4 million gift. The Sealy & Smith Foundation has given $4 million to the Comprehensive Cancer Center at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston. Officials said the center is being transformed into an advanced clinical resource for patients with cancer. Dr. Mark Evers, director of the UTMB center, said this funding supports the university’s efforts to create a new approach where clinical care is delivered alongside ongoing basic and applied research and prevention and education. http://news.galvestondailynews.com/story.lasso?ewcd=8f213209ffdd82da
Science Daily, April 24, Level of Special Protein Is Critical To Proper Formation of Muscles. Proper formation of the proteins that power heart and skeletal muscle seems to rely on a precise concentration of a "chaperone" protein known as UNC-45, according to a new study. This basic discovery may have important implications for understanding and eventually treating heart failure and muscle wasting elsewhere in the body resulting from burns, brain trauma, diabetes, cancer and the effects of aging, the senior author of the paper, Dr. Henry Epstein, said. The finding resulted from experiments using tiny, genetically engineered worms at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston (UTMB), and is reported in a paper featured on the cover of the April 23, 2007, issue of the Journal of Cell Biology. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/04/070423185320.htm (This story appeared in multiple publications.) Galveston County Daily News, April 24, A computer record we should be trying to beat, Editorial by Dr. Howard Brody. Does your physician use a computerized health record? Does she need one? A group from the Commonwealth Fund surveyed primary care physicians (family doctors, general internists and general pediatricians) in the United States, Canada, Britain, Australia, New Zealand, the Netherlands and Germany. You can find the report, "On the front lines of care," at the website www.healthaffairs.org. This team asked a number of questions about how their office systems ran and about their ability to deliver quality care. The first thing they discovered was that America and Canada lagged way behind the other countries in the use of computerized medical records in these physicians' offices. http://galvestondailynews.com/guestcolumns.lasso Reuters, April 24, Obese workers cost employers more, study finds. Obese individuals appear more likely to file workers' compensation claims for injuries on the job. According to a report in the April 23 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals. A second report in the same issue suggests that older Americans with a body mass index (BMI) of between 25 and 30-considered to be overweight-may have a higher risk of disability but a lower risk of death than those with BMI in the recommended range of 18.5 to 25. In the second study, Soham Al Snih, M.D., Ph.D., and colleagues at the University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, studied 12,725 adults 65 years or older who were not disabled at the beginning of the study. At initial interviews, which occurred between 1982 and 1993, researchers gathered information about health conditions, demographic information and psychosocial characteristics. Blood pressure, height and weight, and physical function were also measured. Follow-up interviews, in person or by phone, were conducted annually for seven years. http://www.reuters.com/article/healthNews/idUSN2334871320070424 (This story appeared widely in national and international print and electronic news.) Galveston County Daily News, April 25, Frequently asked questions about HPV, By Drs. Sally Robinson and Keith Bly. In last week’s column, we presented information and statistics about the Human Papillomaviruses Infection. As promised, you will find some frequently asked questions that the CDC has provided on its Web site about the safety of this vaccine below: How long does vaccine protection last? Will a booster shot be needed? The length of vaccine protection (immunity) is usually not known when a vaccine is first introduced. So far, studies have followed women for five years and found that women are still protected. More research is being done to find out how long protection will last, and if a booster vaccine is needed years later. http://news.galvestondailynews.com/story.lasso?ewcd=45efc2bc7e45965c PhysOrg,Com, April 26, New mosquito-borne illness may be headed to United States. The next mosquito-borne illness in the United States may be chikungunya (“chicken-GUN-ya”) and despite its odd name the viral disease is no laughing matter, University of Florida experts say.Though generally not fatal, chikungunya has sickened 1.6 million people in the Indian Ocean region since early 2005 and could be transmitted by two mosquitoes found in the southern United States, said Walter Tabachnick of UF’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences. It’s not possible to predict when a U.S. chikungunya outbreak might occur but experts agree on the likely scenario, said Tabachnick, director of the Florida Medical Entomology Laboratory in Vero Beach. Few U.S. universities study chikungunya, partly because funding is scarce, said Dr. Stephen Higgs, a pathology professor at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston. Higgs, who’s studied the disease for several years, said the United States should have been better prepared for the West Nile disease outbreak in 1999. “There was a tremendous influx of funding for research of vector-borne diseases after the West Nile virus was introduced, but that has diminished,” he said. “We need to maintain expertise in this country.” http://www.physorg.com/news96826987.html Galveston County Daily News, April 29, Self-management program for diabetics starts. The University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston is expanding its diabetes self-management program with an evening session at the Mall of the Mainland in Texas City. The program, called Take Action, focuses on diabetes self-care behaviors. The Take Action program focuses on seven self-care behaviors to manage diabetes. A new topic, “Diabetes and Disaster Planning,” has been added to the schedule, which starts in May at most locations. Galveston County Daily News, Column by Dr. Howard Brody, Downside of little-known tests: patient information. This column just got more complicated as it went along. I started out with an article in the journal Radiology by Dr. Christoph I. Lee and colleagues, from Yale. They were concerned that patients coming through the emergency room could end up having unnecessary CT ("cat") scans without anyone informing them of the risks from the doses of radiation they were getting. They calculated that a CT scan of the abdomen gives the body a radiation that is the equivalent of between 100 and 250 chest X-rays. But they found that only seven percent of the patients said they had been told this. And relatively few of the ER docs could correctly state what the radiation dose was, or what this did to the patient's lifetime risks of getting cancer. So, bottom line, Lee and colleagues argued that few patients were making informed choices in the ER about recommended imaging tests. http://galvestondailynews.com/columns.lasso Houston Chronicle, April 30, Texas Residents Object to Incinerator. At the Carver Terrace housing projects, only a chain-link fence and a cluster of no-trespassing signs separate brightly painted jungle gyms from the Motiva oil refinery. On warm days, the playground is filled with children playing in the shadow of the towers and pipes that spew smoke and spread a sulfurous, rotten-egg smell over this mostly poor, mostly black city of 60,000 along the Louisiana state line. For decades, Port Arthur residents have lived with the refineries and chemical plants that ring their neighborhoods and loom over their backyards. And they have tolerated the cancer, asthma, and liver and kidney disease that some blame on the pollution. But when a company won a $49 million contract to incinerate chemical waste from the destruction of the deadly nerve agent VX, Hilton Kelley and others said enough was enough. A 2003 survey by researchers from the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston found that residents of the Beaumont-Port Arthur area had higher rates of a variety of symptoms, particularly respiratory, ear-nose-and-throat and skin conditions, than a group from Galveston. http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/fn/4762161.html (This story has run widely in national and international news.) Innovations Report, April 30, Protein found that slows hepatitis C growth in liver cells. Biomedical researchers have identified a cellular protein that interferes with hepatitis C virus replication, a finding that ultimately may help scientists develop new drugs to fight the virus. The anti-hepatitis C activity of the protein, called “p21-activated kinase 1” (PAK1), was discovered by scientists at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston (UTMB), who describe their findings in an article in the current issue of the Journal of Biological Chemistry. In addition to presenting the researchers’ discovery that PAK1 controls the rate at which hepatitis C virus replicates, the paper describes the biochemical pathways that lead to PAK1 activation and the specific mechanisms by which PAK1interferes with the ability of hepatitis C to hijack liver cells and make more copies of itself. http://www.innovations-report.de/html/berichte/biowissenschaften_chemie/bericht-83504.html (This story has appeared widely in the national and international science news.) Galveston County Daily News, Column by Drs. Sally Robinson and Keith Bly, Vitamin D and its importance to growing children. We have all heard how important Vitamin D is for promoting healthy bone growth in children and its lasting effect on their bones and teeth from childhood to adulthood. This is because Vitamin D helps our body absorb calcium. But did you know that almost one quarter of adolescents have a Vitamin D deficiency? http://news.galvestondailynews.com/story.lasso?ewcd=da490626184bb1ce Jacksonville Progress, May 1, Former pilot prefers interiors. When you go out to eat at Jacksonville’s newest restaurant - Posaditos, which opens May 15 - take a look at the paintings on the wall. They’re made by Vietnamese native and Dallas-based senior engineer Dao Dinh, who escaped from a concentration camp before finding his way to success in the U.S. He came to the U.S. in 1981 with his wife Wendy after escaping from a concentration camp in the South Vietnam highlands. Because Dinh was trained by the U.S. Air Force in the early 1970s in Wichita Falls, he was able to obtain permission to emigrate to the U.S. quickly. He painted building interiors during the day and attended The University of Texas at Arlington, where he earned an engineering degree. He went to work for MCI, which is now Verizon. Dao and Wendy Dinh have two grown daughters. Diana Dinh, 25, attends The University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston while Daily Dinh, 19, is studying fashion design at The University of North Texas. http://www.jacksonvilleprogress.com/homepage/local_story_121174102.html?keyword=leadpicturestory Longview News Journal, May 3, Mental health event set. Living with schizophrenia and information about recovery will be the topics of a presentation tonight by the National Alliance on Mental Illness of Greater Longview. The event will feature Dr. Michael Fuller, who is to share his story of living with bipolar disorder, said Paula Hendrix, president of the local NAMI chapter. "Today there are more treatment options and more opportunities available for individuals with schizophrenia than there have ever been," Hendrix said. Fuller is an associate professor in the department of psychiatry and behavior sciences at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston. He received the NAMI Exemplary Psychiatrist Award in 2006 and was selected Faculty Member of the Year by the Mu Delta honorary medical society, according to the University of Texas Medical Branch Web site. "A diagnosis of mental illness does not necessarily mean a person is no longer able to contribute to society," Hendrix said. "The purpose of this educational program is to help people understand schizophrenia, its treatment and how its treatment can lead to achieving therapeutic goals and recovery." http://www.news-journal.com/news/content/news/stories/05032007_mental_health.html
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Faculty and administrators are encouraged to submit their
department's news for inclusion in SOM e-NEWS. This information may be
submitted via email to
djgonzal@utmb.edu.
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Submit your information for SOM e-NEWS: · Via email to djgonzal@utmb.edu · On the phone to ext. 23967 · Via fax at 29598 SOM e-NEWS is an initiative of the Office of the Dean of Medicine, to improve communication with faculty and staff in the school. The editor of the newsletter is Jackie Genovese. An archive of the newsletter is available on the SOM web site: http://www.som.utmb.edu/e-NEWS/eNEWS-TOC.htm. Thank you for your interest and time. Copyright 2001, The University of Texas Medical Branch
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The UTMB Campus Community is invited to the inaugural Don W.
Powell Lecture:"Perspectives on Global Health" by Tadataka Yamada, M.D.,
President, Global Health Program, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, on
Thursday, May 10, 2007, 11:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m., William C. Levin Hall North
Auditorium. 
Dr. Courtney M.
Townsend, Jr., chair, Department of Surgery, and holder of the John
Woods Harris Distinguished Chair in Surgery, 
Karen E. Smith,
Ph.D., professor in the Departments of Neurology and Pediatrics and
member of the Center for Addiction Research was quoted in USA Weekend
(March 9-11, 2007) in the “Annual Report on Baby Steps.” She is
the lead author of a study with Susan Landry, Ph.D. and Paul R. Swank,
Ph.D. (Children’s Learning Institute, University of Texas Health Science
Center at Houston) published in Pediatrics in May, 2006, which showed
that very low birth weight babies show stronger cognitive development
when their mothers were highly responsive to their needs across early
childhood. This was true even when controlling for maternal
responsiveness during school ages. Smith suggests that parents
respond promptly and in a warm and sensitive manner when their baby offers
cues not only when crying but when showing interest in objects and
activities. Smith is currently extrapolating knowledge from
premature infants and infants born to drug-abusing mothers to help
accelerate cognitive development.