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Biomedical subjects

H Myers

Publications and source records attributed to H Myers.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2005

Regulation of telomerase by human papillomaviruses.

The E6 oncoprotein of human papillomaviruses (HPVs) induces telomerase activity in primary human epithelial cells. This activity is dependent on association of E6 with E6AP, a cellular ubiquitin ligase. E6 activates the transcription of hTERT, the catalytic subunit of telomerase. E boxes near the start of hTERT transcription are required for E6; however, acetylated histones are only present in the E6 cells. We identified two isoforms of NFX1, a new binding partner of E6/E6AP. The NFX1- 91 isoform binds to an X-box motif located adjacent to the proximal E box, binds Sin3A and HDACs, repressing hTERT transcription. It preferentially binds E6/E6AP and is targeted for ubiquitin-mediated degradation. The NFX1-123 isoform has the opposite activity, increasing hTERT transcription or translation. This is the first example of viral oncoproteins disrupting regulation of telomerase, a critical event in tumorigenesis.

Binding Sites↗
PubMed2001

A failed fall prevention study in an acute care setting: lessons from the swamp.

Designing and implementing fall intervention studies in acute care settings presents researchers with a number of challenges. To date, there are no fall prevention interventions that have unequivocal empirical support in these settings. Based on the best available evidence a multistrategy fall prevention program was implemented using a pretest-post-test design over a 12-month period. The results indicated no reduction in the fall rate. Contrary to the expected result, the fall rate increased post the implementation of the multistrategy fall prevention program. To assist other researchers understand the contextual and methodological barriers to conducting fall prevention research in acute care settings, this paper discusses the difficulties experienced in this study.

Accidental Falls↗
PubMed2001

Nurses' use of restraints and their attitudes toward restraint use and the elderly in an acute care setting.

A descriptive correlation study was conducted in an acute-care hospital to explore the relationship between nurses' use of restraints and their attitudes toward restraint use and the elderly. A total of 201 nurses returned a questionnaire that collected demographic information and included two research instruments: (i) Perceptions of Restraint Use Questionnaire and (ii) Attitudes toward the Aged Semantic Differential. Results showed slightly positive attitudes towards the elderly and toward the use of restraints, although there was no correlation between scores on the two scales. Furthermore, nurses' attitudes did not predict their self-reported use of restraints.

Adult↗
PubMed2001

Behavioral treatment of hypertensive heart disease in African Americans: rationale and design of a randomized controlled trial.

African Americans experience higher morbidity and mortality than Whites do as a result of hypertension and associated cardiovascular disease. Chronic psychosocial stress has been considered an important contributing factor to these high rates. The authors describe the rationale and design for a planned randomized controlled trial comparing Transcendental Meditation, a stress-reduction technique, with lifestyle education in the treatment of hypertension and hypertensive heart disease in urban African Americans. They pretested 170 men and women aged 20 to 70 years over a 3-session baseline period, with posttests at 6 months. Outcomes included clinic and ambulatory blood pressure, quality of life, left ventricular mass measured by M-mode echocardiography, left ventricular diastolic function measured by Doppler, and carotid atherosclerosis measured by beta-mode ultrasound. This trial was designed to evaluate the hypothesis that a selected stress reduction technique is effective in reducing hypertension and hypertensive heart disease in African Americans.

Adult↗
PubMed2000

Effects of stress reduction on carotid atherosclerosis in hypertensive African Americans.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: African Americans suffer disproportionately higher cardiovascular disease mortality rates than do whites. Psychosocial stress influences the development and progression of atherosclerosis. Carotid intima-media thickness (IMT) is a valid surrogate measure for coronary atherosclerosis, is a predictor of coronary outcomes and stroke, and is associated with psychosocial stress factors. Stress reduction with the Transcendental Meditation (TM) program decreases coronary heart disease risk factors and cardiovascular mortality in African Americans. B-mode ultrasound is useful for the noninvasive evaluation of carotid atherosclerosis. METHODS: This randomized controlled clinical trial evaluated the effects of the TM program on carotid IMT in hypertensive African American men and women, aged >20 years, over a 6- to 9-month period. From the initially enrolled 138 volunteers, 60 subjects completed pretest and posttest carotid IMT data. The assigned interventions were either the TM program or a health education group. By use of B-mode ultrasound, mean maximum IMT from 6 carotid segments was used to determine pretest and posttest IMT values. Regression analysis and ANCOVA were performed. RESULTS: Age and pretest IMT were found to be predictors of posttest IMT values and were used as covariates. The TM group showed a significant decrease of -0.098 mm (95% CI -0. 198 to 0.003 mm) compared with an increase of 0.054 mm (95% CI -0.05 to 0.158 mm) in the control group (P=0.038, 2-tailed). CONCLUSIONS: Stress reduction with the TM program is associated with reduced carotid atherosclerosis compared with health education in hypertensive African Americans. Further research with this stress-reduction technique is warranted to confirm these preliminary findings.

Black People↗
PubMed2000

Frailty, family, and church support among urban African American elderly.

A community-based survey of 507 African Americans aged 60 and older from South Central Los Angeles was conducted to estimate the prevalence of frailty and describe the correlation between frailty, social support from family and church, and use of community services. Persons were considered frail if they met criteria for any of four conditions: functional impairment, depression, urinary incontinence, falls. Sixty-seven percent met criteria for frailty. Analyses revealed that frail elderly were significantly less likely to report feeling very close to family. Family contact, feeling that church was important, and receiving church support were similar for the frail and nonfrail. Frail elderly were more likely to use community services. These findings suggest that frail elderly in this population may not receive more support from family and church than nonfrail elderly. There is a need for caution when assuming families and churches in urban African American communities are able to support the most vulnerable elderly.

Activities of Daily Living↗
PubMed1999

American Academy of Pediatrics. Committee on Practice and Ambulatory Medicine and Committee on Medical Liability. Pediatric physician profiling.

Employers, insurers, and other purchasers of health care services collect data to profile the practice habits of pediatricians and other physicians. This policy statement delineates a series of recommendations that should be adopted by health care purchasers to guide the development and implementation of physician profiling systems.

Benchmarking↗
PubMed1998

Racial differences in functional status among elderly U.S. migrants from the South.

This study describes patterns of functional status among older blacks and whites by their history of birth in and migration out of the South. We used multivariate regression to analyze data on functional status of US-born non-Hispanic blacks (N = 1868) and whites (N = 13469) age 60 years or above. In general, the functional status of blacks who were born in the South and migrated was similar to that of blacks born outside the South and better than those born in the South who did not migrate. Whites who migrated from the South had functional status similar to those who did not migrate and worse than those born outside of the South. Socioeconomic status did not explain differences by race and migration history. These results differ sharply from mortality studies, which have found a consistent pattern of high mortality among black migrants from the South. Differences among race groups by migration history vary across health measures. Selective migration and selective survival may account for the complex patterns of racial differences in geographic distributions of function and health.

Black or African American↗
PubMed1997

Neurochemical alterations in asymptomatic abstinent cocaine users: a proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy study.

Cocaine can cause a variety of neuropsychiatric and neurobehavioral complications; however, it is uncertain whether cocaine causes persistent cerebral structural and neurochemical abnormalities in asymptomatic users. We studied 52 African-American men (26 human immunodeficiency virus-negative asymptomatic heavy cocaine users and 26 normal subjects). Ventricle-to-brain ratio (VBR) and white matter lesions (WML) were quantified on magnetic resonance imaging. N-acetyl-containing compounds (NA), total creatine, choline-containing compounds, myo-inositol, and glutamate + glutamine were measured with in vivo proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy, VBR and WML were not significantly different in the cocaine users compared to the normal controls. Elevated creatine (+7%; p = .05) and myo-inositol (+18%; p = .01) in the white matter were associated with cocaine use. NA, primarily a measure of N-acetyl aspartate and neuronal content, was normal. Normal NA suggest no neuronal loss or damage in the brain regions examined in these cocaine users. Therefore, we conclude that neurochemical abnormalities observed might result from alterations in nonneuronal brain tissue.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1993

Cerebral perfusion and neuropsychological consequences of chronic cocaine use.

Research indicates that cocaine significantly constricts the cerebral vasculature and can lead to ischemic brain infarction. Long-term effects of intermittent or casual cocaine use in patients without symptoms of stroke or transient ischemic attack were investigated. Single-photon emission computed tomography with xenon-133 and [99mTc]hexamethylpropyleneamine oxime, magnetic resonance imaging, and selected neuropsychological measures were used to study cerebral perfusion, brain morphology, and cognitive functioning. Patients were drug free for at least 6 months before evaluation. All showed regions of significant cerebral hypoperfusion in the frontal, periventricular, and/or temporal-parietal areas. Deficits in attention, concentration, new learning, visual and verbal memory, word production, and visuomotor integration were observed. This study indicates that long-term cocaine use may produce sustained brain perfusion deficits and persistent neuropsychological compromise in some subgroups of cocaine-abusing patients.

Adult↗
PubMed1993

Psychological characteristics related to cocaine use during pregnancy: a postpartum assessment.

This study assessed four psychological factors that have been suggested by previous research to be highly correlated with drug use. Twenty-one postpartum urban African-American women served as the research participants. At parturition, 10 infants tested positive for cocaine and 11 did not. Measures of depression (Beck Depression Index), anxiety (Spielberger Trait Anxiety Inventory), anger/self-control (Self-Analysis Questionnaire), and sociopathy (California Personality Inventory subscale) were obtained from the mothers within 6 weeks of delivery. Women who gave birth to cocaine-positive infants were significantly more depressed and had significantly higher sociopathy scores than their cocaine-negative counterparts. No differences with respect to anxiety and anger were obtained. The implications of these findings, as well as the potential adverse effects of cocaine use during pregnancy, are discussed.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1991

Autonomic reactivity and hypertension in blacks: a review and proposed model.

In summary, according to the proposed model, race is viewed as a sociocultural designation that denotes differential exposure to chronic social stressors. It is proposed that black Americans are exposed to significantly more chronic social stressors than are white Americans. Many of these chronic social stressors have been associated with hypertension prevalence in epidemiological studies. Furthermore, chronic stress has been shown to augment cardiovascular reactivity to acute stress in both animals and humans, and to increase sodium retention in spontaneously hypertensive rats. Acute stress has also been demonstrated to increase sodium retention in humans. The essential element of our model is that chronic social stressors that are represented more within the black American population due to historical factors are related to an increase in sodium sensitivity and retention. This altered sodium metabolism may be further augmented by biological, behavioral, and psychological risk factors for hypertension and modulated by stress coping resources. It is hoped that this model will serve as a stimulus for further research on the biopsychosocial aspects of autonomic reactivity and hypertension in blacks.

Black or African American↗
PubMed1981

Field-dependence, sensation-seeking, and preference of paintings.

College students (122 males and 88 females) completed the Group Embedded Figures Test measure of field-dependence, and Sensation-Seeking Scale, and performed preference ratings on 40 slides of paintings. Factor analysis revealed six hypothesized and one unhypothesized preference dimensions that underlay preference ratings of paintings. It was hypothesized that the cognitive structuring ability associated with field-dependence would result in certain relationships between field-dependence and preference for paintings. Further, it was hypothesized that preference for novel, complex, and dynamic experiences, associated with sensation-seeking, would result in certain relationships between sensation-seeking and preference for paintings. For the full sample, three of five hypothesized relationships between field-dependence and preference for paintings were obtained, while three of four hypothesized relationships were found between sensation-seeking and preference for paintings.

Journal Article↗
PubMed1971

R. J. chair lift.

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Persons with Disabilities↗