Biomedical subjects

Virginia Lee

Publications and source records attributed to Virginia Lee.

6 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2006

Meaning-making intervention during breast or colorectal cancer treatment improves self-esteem, optimism, and self-efficacy.

Existential issues often accompany a diagnosis of cancer and remain one aspect of psychosocial oncology care for which there is a need for focused, empirically tested interventions. This study examined the efficacy of a novel psychological intervention specifically designed to address existential issues through the use of meaning-making coping strategies on psychological adjustment to cancer. Eighty-two breast or colorectal cancer patients were randomly chosen to receive routine care (control group) or up to four sessions that explored the meaning of the emotional responses and cognitive appraisals of each individual's cancer experience within the context of past life events and future goals (experimental group). This paper reports the results from 74 patients who completed and returned pre- and post-test measures for self-esteem, optimism, and self-efficacy. After controlling for baseline scores, the experimental group participants demonstrated significantly higher levels of self-esteem, optimism, and self-efficacy compared to the control group. The results are discussed in light of the theoretical and clinical implications of meaning-making coping in the context of stress and illness.

Adaptation, Psychological↗

PubMed2005

Confusion: geriatric self-learning module.

The Geriatric Resource Nurse Model is used at the University of Virginia to improve the competency of staff in caring for older adults. Eight self-learning educational modules were developed to address common concerns in hospitalized elders. The Confusion. Geriatric Self-Learning Module is published here, along with a post-test. This is the third in a four-part publication of self-learning modules.

Acute Disease↗

PubMed2004

Evidence of a founder effect in families with frontotemporal dementia that harbor the tau +16 splice mutation.

The +16 exon 10 splice mutation of the tau gene (microtubule-associated protein tau, MAPT) has been reported in numerous families with frontotemporal dementia (FTD). To date, the majority of these families are from England and Wales in the UK, although families with this mutation have been reported from Australia and the USA. Our own analysis has identified eight families with the +16 MAPT splice mutation from around the Manchester and North Wales areas of the UK. Given the proximity of the UK families to one another it is likely that they are related and represent a single extended pedigree. In order to investigate this possibility, and the possibility that the families with this mutation from London, the USA, and Australia are related, we genotyped 11 microsatellite markers around the tau locus. In most cases (20/25, 80%), a common haplotype, approximately 3 cM in size, was identified. In the remaining cases, this haplotype appears to have been varyingly reduced in size by recombination. We demonstrate that the +16 mutation is on the H1 tau haplotype and that H1 specific polymorphisms are also shared by these families. These data provide evidence that the MAPT +16 splice mutation cases from around the world analyzed in this study are indeed related and represent a single pedigree that probably originated in the North Wales area of the UK. Furthermore, this single large pedigree may be of use in the identification of disease modifying loci in FTD.

Australia↗

PubMed2004

Competent to care: strategies to assist staff in caring for elders.

A three-pronged approach used at the University of Virginia to improve the competency of staff in caring for older adults within the health system is highlighted. The Geriatric Resource Nurse Model was established more than a decade ago. Subsequent initiatives included the development of eight selflearning educational modules that address common concerns in hospitalized elders. Guidelines were created to highlight a variety of examples of age-appropriate care that managers could use in the staff evaluation process. Finally, the efforts to build a collaborative multidisciplinary environment supportive of exemplary geriatric care are described

Aged↗

PubMed2002

Tobacco and alcohol use-prevention program for Hispanic migrant adolescents.

OBJECTIVE: Evaluate a community-based tobacco/alcohol use-prevention program group compared with an attention-control condition (first aid/home safety) group. METHODS: A total of 660 adolescents and 1 adult caregiver for each were recruited through the Migrant Education Program to participate in an 8-week intervention. Random assignment to the two groups occurred in 22 schools. Seventy 8-week intervention groups (37 tobacco/alcohol and 33 attention-control) were conducted. Assessments occurred at baseline, immediate post-intervention, and 1- and 2-year follow-ups. Susceptibility to smoking and alcohol as well as smoking and drinking over the past 30 days were the primary outcomes of interest. RESULTS: Following intervention, no between-group differences in smoking or drinking were significant. Thirty-day smoking started and remained at very low levels, with the highest group prevalence at any measurement period being 4.7% and the lowest 2.5%. Those considered susceptible to smoking dropped by nearly 40% in the attention-control group and by 50% in the intervention group from baseline to the final follow-up. (The overall reduction from post-test to final follow-up was statistically significant.) Less-acculturated children were less likely to report drinking in the past 30 days. CONCLUSIONS: The current intervention was not demonstrated to be effective in preventing cigarette or alcohol consumption. This perhaps is due to very low baseline levels of smoking and drinking in the migrant youth participants.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2002

Increased free radical production in hypertension due to increased expression of the NADPH oxidase subunit p22(phox) in lymphoblast cell lines.

OBJECTIVES: To confirm increased production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) in hypertension, to demonstrate the source of ROS and to analyse NADPH oxidase subcomponent expression in hypertension. DESIGN: A lymphoblast model was used, as this has previously been used in the study of hypertension and of NADPH oxidase. Chemiluminescence (CL) was chosen to assay ROS production, as it is simple and sensitive. METHODS: Lymphocytes from 12 hypertensive patients (HT), and 12 age- and sex-matched normotensive (NT) subjects, were immortalized. Luminol, isoluminol and Cypridina luciferin analogue (CLA) CL were used to assay ROS production. NADPH oxidase subunits were measured by Western blot analysis. RESULTS: Stimulation with 50 micromol/l arachidonic acid (AA) resulted in increased ROS production in HT cell lines with luminol, CLA and isoluminol CL. Stimulation with 500 nmol/l 12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol-13-acetate (TPA) produced a detectable increase in HT ROS production with luminol and with CLA, whereas there was no significant difference with isoluminol. The ROS production was abolished by diphenyleneiodonium chloride (DPI) but not by rotenone, indicating that a non-mitochondrial flavoprotein such as NADPH oxidase is the source of ROS. Analysis of NADPH oxidase subcomponents revealed an increase in p22(phox) in HT subjects. CONCLUSIONS: We have shown there is increased ROS production in lymphoblasts derived from hypertensive subjects, probably originating from NADPH oxidase. As the ROS production persists in transformed cells, this suggests a genetic predisposition to increased ROS production. Increased expression of p22(phox) in HT lymphoblasts may account for some of the increased ROS.

Arachidonic Acid↗